Can you think of any musicians whose careers can best be described as bipolar? - question asked to Guitardedblog.com
One of my followers asked me this awesome question today and I would be more than happy to try and answer it. There has been lots of different musicians who people have thought to have been bipolar. There's a good link to a website that talks about some of them here, But the most prominent one that comes to mind is Axl Rose. Axl Rose has been described as Bipolar and his career would certainly lend credence to this.
"I'm very sensitive and emotional and things upset me and make me feel like not functioning or dealing with people... I went to a clinic, thinking it would help my moods. The only thing I did was to take one 500 question test - ya know, filling in the little black dots. All of a sudden I'm diagnosed manic-depressive.-Axl Rose As you can see Axl himself as alluded as much, but for every statement that he's made saying he was diagnosed manic-depressive he's also made statements that he's never been diagnosed.
I've not been diagnosed as being bipolar though many misconstrue statements I made earlier as alluding to such and unfortunately there's been an abundance of misguided or unqualified speculation of various events but I definitely can relate to needing my own space.-Axl Rose This in itself seems like very bipolar behavior in my opinion. He's had a history throughout his life of anger, drug/alcohol use, violent behavior, arrests. Being bipolar myself I can certainly relate to that, But that could really point to a lot of things. Then there's the whole thing with Guns n Roses where he wouldn't come onstage until he was damn good and ready, sometimes well after midnight. The constant firing and restructuring of the Guns n Roses lineup, the decade plus long wait for Chinese Democracy, etc...
AXL ROSE BEFORE AND AFTER...YES THAT IS REALLY HIM!!!
Why do most English singers sound American when they sing? - from my Brother Reverend Steve Galindo (and the only person to send in a question this week) visit his blog HERE
Answer:
If Rock n Roll had started in England then we would all be singing in British Accents. Dr. House is correct once again. Rock and Roll is an American creation so it's sung in an American accent. But let's expand on that.
Good artists copy, great artists steal.- Pablo Picasso
The singers from the British Invasion were inspired by the original rockers like Elvis, Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins etc...They wanted to be cool and sound like their idols. Later generations of British Rockers wanted to emulate those original rockers and so on... With the start of the Punk movement some rockers like The Clash and The Sex Pistols started to rebel against this and began singing with very pronounced British accents. Some American bands like Green Day even began to sing with a hint of a British Accent since they were inspired by some of those early punk bands like The Clash.
You can ask me anything about music, guitars, mental health. I'm in real need of some good questions so if you send me something you're pretty much guaranteed I'm going to answer it. And I will try to answer everything in as entertaining a manner as I can.
Do you sing, and are you dangerous? - question from youtube.
Ok, imagine, if you can Johnny Cash on heroin singing Lou Reed songs, then my singing voice sounds nothing like that.
Am I dangerous? ummm...well I don't own any weapons, and if I'm not required by law to notify anyone if I move. I probably bring a gentler, more mad/paranoid/genius brand of insanity to the table.
Hey Guitard! Let's show some love for the bass players out there! Who are some of your favorite bass players? Any bass players you feel are over/underrated? Do you have an opinion on the pick vs fingers debate? Also, what is your favorite horror film circa 1980-1995? - Tony, California.
* Favorite/Most Underrated Bassist:
Paul McCartney
Paul was one of the most innovative bass players
ever. And half the stuff that is going on now is directly ripped off from his
Beatles period.-- John Lennon1
Paul McCartney was a guitar player who was basically demoted to playing bass, setting the standard for most all rock bass players to follow, haha. Seriously though, he is, in my opinion, the most underrated bass player in Rock history. He has laid down some of the most taseful and melodic bass line's ever.
Listen to the bass lines on, A Day in the Life. Just because he's in the rhythm section doesn't mean he has to resign himself to just playing in the background. He treats the bass as if it were a lead instrument, but its not overpowering the vocals or other instruments. His bass stands out but its not stepping on anyone else's toes and it doesn't take away from the song.
One of my favorite songs, I Want You (She's So Heavy) has some haunting, trippy ass bass on it.
Cliff Burton:(for me there was no Metallica after Cliff died)
Justin Chancellor [Tool]
And yeah, yeah, I didn't say any other names like, Victor Wooten, John Myung, Jaco Pastorious and all them other overly technical, jazzy dudes. I'm not saying it's not good, but thats just not my type of music.
Most Overrated Bass Player/s
Michael Anthony: While I don't condone bass playing that's so complex it interferes with melody and overall song structure, I also don't condone doing nothing but riding root notes all night long. Have some f*kking imagination. I'm not saying he's a bad bass player, just an overrated one.
Billy Sheehan: If you're gonna do nothing but play bass solos and tapping like Eddie Van Halen, then just play a f*kking guitar. I wouldn't listen to a bass player just because he's fast, no more than I would start a conversation with someone just because they could talk fast. Just because it might be fast doesn't mean it's necessarily interesting. Just because you might have a larger vocabulary than anyone else doesn't mean you have anything profound to say. Shit Ava is 4 1/2, still learning to master the English language and some of the shit she says is more interesting than anything most of the people I went to college with ever had to say.
Geddy Lee: I've never been a Rush fan and as far as bass playing goes, I don't believe in self-indulgency, and complexity simply for the sake of being complex.
The dude from Green Day
The dude from U2
Gene Simmons
Jason Newstead
Flea *now he's ok, but some people think he's a bass God, and I refuse to give him any more credit than just a simple, "He's Ok."*
I'm somewhere in the middle on this one but I lean more towards a "no pick" philosophy. While I believe the bass should be learned without a pick, I also believe in a kind of "different tools for different jobs," type of thing too. If you're trying to achieve a certain tone, a pick could be appropriate.
But when all is said and done at the end of the day, I believe fingers vs pick is ultimate the difference between a Bass Player and simply, somebody who just plays bass.
The Shining [1980]: By the time I was 9 or 10 I had already seen movies like Faces of Death, The Exorcist and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I don't scare easily. In my leisure time I look at gory websites of murder scenes, car crashes, and war atrocities for fun. Ever been to www.rotten.com? that's kids stuff compared to the stuff I watch for fun.
Anyways, I don't get scared by movies, but I do get disturbed by them, and the only movie that ever came close to scaring me was "The Shining," When I first saw it I was about 10 years old and already a veteran of many horror films and I prided myself on being able to literally watch anything without getting scared or sick. The Shining gave me the creeps. I had to get thru it in two sittings. That had never happened before and hasn't happened since. As far as book adaptations go, maybe not the truest film depiction of a book ever done, but it's definitely a disturbing, great movie.
P.S. want some messed up trippy websites that are not for the squeamish?
