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10 True Blues Artists
- Posted by Spinner
Morrissey
If we didn't associate the color with the mood, the blues might have been called "miserablism." Which was what they called the arch melancholia of one Steven Patrick Morrissey. The former Smiths fromtman has elaborate nightmares, wallows in longing and holds a grudge like nobody's business. Morrissey is as blue as Bobby Vinton's velvet.
Blue Note: "The devil will find work for idle hands to do" --'What Difference Does It Make?')
Blue Note: "The devil will find work for idle hands to do" --'What Difference Does It Make?')
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The Notorious B.I.G.
'Ready to Die,' 'Life After Death': Like the myth-making Robert Johnson, Christopher Wallace had a hellhound on his trail. In another era, Biggie Smalls could have been the co-author of Howlin' Wolf's 'Three Hundred Pounds of Joy' – minus the joy, of course.
Blue Note: "Sippin' on booze in the House of Blues" --'Going Back to Cali'
Blue Note: "Sippin' on booze in the House of Blues" --'Going Back to Cali'
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Cat Power
Chan Marshall has covered John Lee Hooker and called her recent band the Dirty Delta Blues Band, and her musician father actually plays the blues. If the stubborn indie chanteuse has little to do with any actual blues formula, everything she does is downright bluesy.
Blue Note: "There's nothing like living in a bottle/And nothing like ending it all for the world" --'Lived in Bars'
Blue Note: "There's nothing like living in a bottle/And nothing like ending it all for the world" --'Lived in Bars'
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Hank Williams
The father of modern country music lived his 29 years on Earth like he'd just seen a ghost. The last single released before Williams' death was a lament every human being can relate to: 'I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive.'
Blue Note: "Hear that lonesome whippoorwill/He sounds too blue to fly" --'I'm So Lonesome I could Cry'
Blue Note: "Hear that lonesome whippoorwill/He sounds too blue to fly" --'I'm So Lonesome I could Cry'
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Chris Martin
Married to Gwyneth, double-daters with Jay-Z 'n' Beyonce, father to kids named Apple and Moses and, oh yes, leader of one of the free world's biggest bands: Chris Martin would seem to have little to be blue about. But there's no denying the Coldplay frontman recognizes a bummer when he feels one.
Blue Note: "I was lost, I was lost/Crossed lines I shouldn't have crossed" --'In My Place'
Blue Note: "I was lost, I was lost/Crossed lines I shouldn't have crossed" --'In My Place'
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Karen Carpenter
The band will forever be associated with soft rock, but few people are as hard on themselves as Karen Carpenter was. Just when the blues was supposed to be dying, the Carpenters personified the bleak 1970s with a string of forlorn hits – 'Goodbye to Love,' 'I Won't Last a Day Without You.'
Blue Note: "Sometimes I'd like to quit/ Nothing ever seems to fit" --'Rainy Days and Mondays'
Blue Note: "Sometimes I'd like to quit/ Nothing ever seems to fit" --'Rainy Days and Mondays'
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Ozzy Osbourne
Few rock bands have come from bleaker origins than Ozzy Osbourne's sooty factory upbringing in Birmingham, England. Black Sabbath found their persona based on a vision bassist Geezer Butler had of a shrouded black figure standing at the foot of his bed. No wonder they were 'Paranoid.'
Blue Note: "Wickedness lies in your poisoned lips/Your body moves just like the crack of a whip" --'Evil Woman'
Blue Note: "Wickedness lies in your poisoned lips/Your body moves just like the crack of a whip" --'Evil Woman'
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Elton John
When Sir Reg is down, he's all the way down. Few pop hits are as despondent as 'Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.' And he simultaneously admitted being a blues dilettante while nailing the mood in 'I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues.'
Blue Note: "If someone else is suffering enough to write it down ..." --'Sad Songs (Say So Much)'
Blue Note: "If someone else is suffering enough to write it down ..." --'Sad Songs (Say So Much)'
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Gerard Way
A song cycle about a patient dying of cancer. Good times! In fact, My Chemical Romance's 2006 tour-de-force, 'The Black Parade,' rises above the post-9/11, post-Katrina, pre-economic-collapse malaise by refusing to give in to it. Just like the power of the blues.
Blue Note: "Tell me I'm an angel, take this to my grave/Tell me I'm a bad man, kick me like a stray" --'House of Wolves'
Blue Note: "Tell me I'm an angel, take this to my grave/Tell me I'm a bad man, kick me like a stray" --'House of Wolves'
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Frank Sinatra
Sure, he was known for jaunty songs like 'High Hopes' and 'I've Got the World on a String.' But Ol' Blue Eyes also made it OK for would-be wiseguys to acknowledge their soft white underbellies. Sinatra's 1955 masterpiece, 'In the Wee Small Hours,' was a concept album of sorts, revolving around his shattered heart.
Blue Note: "Pal, you don't find rainbows in the bottom of a glass" --'Everything Happens to Me'
Blue Note: "Pal, you don't find rainbows in the bottom of a glass" --'Everything Happens to Me'
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Add a Comment
IZZY Dunne
If this article is not a parody, then the author is an effing moron.
July 16 2010 at 2:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
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Pentatonic Scale
While the list is a little wierd..i like it.
June 25 2010 at 10:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Lana
you THINK you know the blues............................
meet me on SAD STREET, Bobby Bland
Carl Henry
Blues artists? These are not, nor ever will be blues artists. Your a joke.
June 23 2010 at 1:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
I Just wasted my time?
This article just insulted my intelligence. I can not believe that the person who wrote this truly understand what blues is or what was written here. The only thing I can say is wow!!!! Frank Sinatra Sings The Blues..GET REAL..I must say this whole list is funny.
June 23 2010 at 3:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Michael Wayne Huff
I had to jump in because you really missed the boat here! What about Janis Joplin? She may be dead and her overdose was helped along by polital figures of the day, or you could just ask some of the question's that were raised in the way she was found and the blood in her car and the smack that killed her was enough to chock a horse,she was eliminated! But her music and voice will always' be the legend of the BLUES!
June 23 2010 at 1:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
S. Dobbie
Great new TNT show: Memphis Beat. Another hit for TNT; good job to all.
June 22 2010 at 11:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Drips
2 replies to Drips's comment
This list is a joke and an insult to all of the real blues men and women who spent their lives living it . . . the only one close is Hank and even he can't touch real blues musicians like Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Etta James, Koko Taylor, Hounddog Taylor, Lightning Hopkins and so many other true blues artists. This list is a joke, a bunch of white people that don't consider themselves blues artists because they know they aren't. This list just fosters ignorance.
June 22 2010 at 9:50 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Lana
And lets not forget Elmore James,John Lee Hooker and big ole nasty blues man Howlin' Wolf! More recently, Bobby(Blue)Bland needs mentioning here. This is the real blues. Listen up!
June 22 2010 at 11:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Drips
'nuff said. Let's run away together, Lana . . .
June 24 2010 at 3:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Kelly James
Singing about misery can be in any genre and has NOTHING to do with "THE blues". I'm sure the original black blues singers felt joy and excitement when they were hot to sing and play a hit blues song. The best definition of blues is to call it a 12 bar form using the I, IV, and V7 chords with melodies mostly using the minor and sometimes the major pentatonic scales.
June 22 2010 at 8:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
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