Does anyone actually LIKE John Hiatt?

[RandomKoolzip]

I mean, like, really DIG the guy's music enough to buy his CDs and attend his concerts? I've never met anyone in real life who liked John Hiatt's music, but he's always always always all over adult contemporary radio, barking like a elephant seal with both The Blues and a nasty case of emphysema.

I get the feeling he's one of those kindsa guy/gals who critics and boring old white people over 50 like, but no one else does. A few musicians like Hiatt enough to cover his tunes, but maybe THERE'S the problem: he appeals to other songwriters. It's like in Nashville: a whole town of songwriters, playing in public in front of audiences of fellow songwriters, and nobody outside Nashville gives a shit.

I can't imagine an audience of people identifying with John Hiatt they way they do with U2, or Elvis Costello, or even the bigger hiphop artists. He seems like a part of that over-the-hill clique of "mature" songster/singers, like Marti Jones, Don Dixon, Sam Phillips, etc., who no one outside of the programming offices of contemparary radio stations gives a tiner's dam in Spain about. Hiatt is dead fucking boring, his music is about as exciting as getting slapped with a loaf of seven grain bread, and yet there's this illusion that people like his music. Why?

John Hiatt fans, step forward and explain yourselves.

[MadHound]

1. He's OK to listen to once in while

I'll catch him on the radio occaissonly, and find him to be OK. He has his good and his bad. I think that the trouble with Hiatt is that the songs he writes aren't suited to his singing style most of the time. I think that is why his songs do better under other artists.

And no, I don't own any of his CDs, though I did see him live once(though I didn't pay for the ticket, so I wasn't incredibly disappointed).

[RandomKoolzip]

5. See, to me that's worse than being TERRIBLE.

If some artist is so middlingly entertaining that even his fans go, "Eh, he's OK.", then I find that to be more offensive than twelve Britney Spearses kissing fourteen Madonnas. The artists that matter are the ones people have strong feelings about, whether negative or positive.

John Hiatt is neither so horrible that people just get uppity mentioning his name, nor is he just so amazing that fans sit in wide eyed wonder at his shows. The great artists are polarizers, and Hiatt is not a great artist.

[MadHound]

9. No, he isn't a great artists, and I agree with your sentiment.

But he is a great songwriter, and I think he should stick with that. He is overreaching in my opinion when he opens his mouth to sing.

[mac56]

2. I do.

Never have seen him in person, but have bought his CDs.

Good songwriter, passable vocalist, keeps good company with other quality musicians.

PS: Your favorite band sucks. :evilgrin:

[RandomKoolzip]

3. Yes, my favorite band sucks....if you don't like them.

But isn't Hiatt just insanely boring, though? Bland as tapioca cut with mineral water?! C'mon, fess up.

[mac56]

6. No, I don't find him so.

And every music thread here eventually devolves into "your favorite band sucks". I was just saving you the time.

You'll thank me later.

[RandomKoolzip]

12. Your favorite sucks band!

DAMN! I always get that wrong.

[underpants]

4. I think he "partied" ;-) with a lot of music people back int the day

You mention one of the performer who are held in a reverence or mentioned with such breathlessness that it has always made me curious.

BTW- this all sort of stems from a radio insider story that Howard Stern let see the light. "Stairway to Heaven" an "Freebird" got so much play because back to back they give you like 10 or so minutes to go outside and do blow or smoke or a groupie.

okay

"Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the waves-good song yes but it was a commercial mainstain almost immediately and a staple of "80's music" Why?

Madonna-not as mysterious as the biggee listed below but still hard to figure. You can only "reinvent" slut only so many ways.


Here is the biggee the big white whale

Annie Lennox-someone needs to explain this to me. The first Eurythmics album sure and of course the next one (everyone always buys the second one) I could see. I heard "...and Annie Lennox" on a teaser for SNL a few years ago and I thought "Good god is she still around??" I looked it up. She has been cranking out albums for years. Who on earth is actually buying them? Is it like the t-shirts made up for the team that ends up losing the Super Bowl-does the UN buy them up or something??? Are they bulk bought and given to homes or different sorts. Seriously someone needs to explain this to me.

[RandomKoolzip]

11. I sorta like Annie Lennox...."Walking on Broken Glass" was

a really good song, and just obnoxious enough to turn a lot of people off, which I think is great. :thumbsup:

She's got a big gay following, too...that's mainly who's buying her records.

But again, I'm damning her with faint praise; you're right, she's not even entertaining enough to talk about. Just sorta....there.

[Tallison]

22. Hey underpants...Do mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, and girlfriends a

a favor and reflect a little on the import of the term you use to slur Madonna.

Thanks.

Edited subject line 4:57pm

[underpants]

23. Okay

***** burping gutter snipe ? Does that help?

Sorry I have never gotten it with her. Bless her and best to her and all that but I have never understood it and I am FAR from being a snob or a prude.

[Tallison]

24. Thanks, and...

the fact is, it's really not about Madonna, or me, or underpants. ;-)

[tigereye]

35. but she's got great pipes

and is an excellent performer. Plus the androgyny thing.

[gmoney]

7. Used to love him... until he got clean and sober.

His first few albums were really hit and miss, but some of the hits are massive. (Doll Hospital, Slug Line, Pink Bedroom, etc.) Then "Warming up to the Ice Age" and "Riding with the King" were rock solid and great fun. From these albums "The Crush", "She Loves the Jerk" and "You May Already Be A Winner" are three of my favorite songs.

There's a live bootleg "Riot With Hiatt" on vinyl that shows how cool he could be, and I got to see him and the band play to about 30 people and they were amazing. That was then.

Then he turned into Bill Cosby with "Bring the Family" -- some good songs on that one, and Ry Cooder turned in some great guitar work. But that album was his "cleaned-up and sober" album after the suicide of his wife. Somehow, he got happy, and his music turned into just so much slick pap. The Little Village album was just so godawful none of the players involved wanted to release it under their own name (Hiatt, Cooder, Nick Lowe) and it's been all downhill ever since.

In a way though, you're right... it's hard to be passionate about John Hiatt... he's sort of the US version of Graham Parker... somehow, it's just hard to give a damn anymore.

[RandomKoolzip]

15. GREAT analogy...the US Graham Parker.

I love love LOVE the early GP albums, up until "The Up Escalator," when all of a sudden, he just ran out of steam, lyrically, musically, everything. If Parker had killed himself after "Squeezing Ourt Sparks," he'd be revered the way Kurt Cobain is today, because he meant it, maaaan.

But instead, he stuck around, making tedious "intelligent," "mature" records nobody outside a tiny cadre of aging critics could care less about, and those same critics point to those records' marketplace failure as validation of their tastes instead of proof that Parker fuckin' lost it. He coulda been huge.

Being passionate about Graham Parker today would require a boundless reservoir of wishful thinking and a lack of ears.

[Left Is Write]

18. I like The Up Escalator.

[mac56]

19. Me too.

RandomKoolZip's favorite band sucks.

[RandomKoolzip]

21. They do, actually.

Guided by Voices have put out some TERRIBLE songs, but they're still my favorite band.

[RandomKoolzip]

20. I actually like a few of his post-"Sparks" songs, too....

But am I passionate about them the way I am about "Howlin' Wind?" No. They're okay, but not earth-shatterring like his early records. A lesson here would be to dig up Rolling Stone's feature articles on Parker back in 1977 and 79 (which I did because I was such a fan) and read the gushing praise guys like Dave Marsh and Greil Marcus lavished on him back then; he seemed like a punk with soul, a pissed off Van Morrison (and who couldn't dig something like that?). Compare that to the press he's gotten after "Sparks" and it's like night and day. The dude still held on to his voice, but it just wasn't the same, somehow. His rants, once electrifying, became the complaints of a grumpy old man in his 30's, and the music didn't match the anger: too slick, too produced, too many synths.


Is there anything on those later albums that compares to "Don't Ask Me Questions" or "Nobody Hurts You" in terms of intensity of feeling, songwriting acumen, or galvanized musicianship? I've heard a couple songs that I like, but nothing that compares on those terms to the early work....in my opinion.

YMMV, as the kids say today.

[henslee]

38. I think GP rocks now more than ever.. I replay a cover of Sugaree

that he does all the time. http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/10585. Its the first cut on this stream. Yeah he has a problem of not really being dynamic... and his voice kind of sucks but hey, its rock n roll.

[musette_sf]

25. nice response

and I feel pretty much the same way. LOVED "Ice Age" and "Riding With The King".

Just bought the new one a couple of weeks ago, and eh. Hasn't made me want to play it again.

Also, I really hated when Slowhand and BB King did "Riding With The King". Any time you have to change a lyric because it ain't PC enough for the cover version, :hurts:

Oh yeah, and I LOVED Little Village. Some of the tunes hit the sloppy-great feeling of the Best Of Hiatt, like "The Action".

Oh edit: "Tiki Bar" had its moments too.

[gmoney]

27. Maybe I need to revisit the Little Village...

At the time, I thought it was the worst thing I'd ever heard and probably never listened to it more than two or three times... wonder if I still have it? Maybe it deserves another day in court...

Thanks...

[XNASA]

8. Not that I'm a fan or anything but.....

Hiatt WAS in a band with Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner. If the 'Jesus of Cool' thought he was OK, then I guess he is.

'Slow Turning' is about the only song of his I hear now and then. It doesn't inspire me.

[mac56]

10. "Little Village" was the band.

They were great.

[gmoney]

26. Same band as on "Meet the Family"

Lowe produced one side of "Riding with the King" as well...

Hiatt/Lowe/Cooder/Keltner released the good songs as "Meet the Family" -- to my ears, Little Village seems like the outtakes from the session rather than the work of a real band. "Solar Sex Panel"????? WTF?

After all that Hiatt decided to bring in the low-rent Sonny "One Riff" Landreth to replace Cooder on slide guitar... shudder.

[musette_sf]

31. "SSP" was THE sucky song on the CD

even too awful to be on "Little Head" ;-)

But all the others are good to great.

I've also heard an interesting version of "Do You Want My Job" by David Lindley and Wally Ingram on their weird and wonderful CD, "Twango Bango Deluxe".

[tigereye]

36. I really liked Little Village too - Keltner is the ur drummer

Hiatt has really grown on me... even more interesting than Parker, IMO. I love the way he growls, I love his songs, I love his cynical take on life and love. His albums have this great sound.


we seem to be in the minority though, Mac.

[skygazer]

13. Don't even know who he is

Wouldn't recognize him if I tripped over him.

[RandomKoolzip]

16. You're lucky.

HE growls instead of sings, and his backing band is as tame as a pussycat. He's like the male Lucinda Williams.

[tigereye]

37. hey, hey, hey!

have you seen Lucinda in concert? She is excellent. Great fucking songswriter! And I love growlers.

[tazkcmo]

14. Sorry, listening to ABBA

[Left Is Write]

17. Some of his stuff, yeah. I don't own any of it, though.

[peekaloo]

28. Years ago "Two Bit Monsters' kept me from wearing out my

Elvis Costello records. I still like that album but I seem to have lost interest in Hiatt's stuff after 'Riding with the King'.

[Orsino]

29. A lot of his stuff is incredible.

Some is kinda dull, but is always pleasant, at least.

Slow Turning, on which he acknowledges that he's "matured," but is still laughing about it, is fantastic.

[Metta]

30. Very talented and a seeming good guy.

I've enjoyed his work for many years both recorded and live. Solid stuff. A great songwriter.

[hippywife]

32. I like him!

I can't afford to go to many shows or buy a lot of CD's and the only one of his I had was stolen but I really do like him.

[mtowngman]

33. great song writer...

don't particularly like his singing. Check out Buddy Guy's version of "It Feels Like Rain"

[Tsiyu]

34. Yes

Explain myself?

Well, there is no accounting for tastes, as the saying goes. You would probably also hate all the unfinished paintings on my bedroom walls and you've probably never heard of the artist ;) and they are no doubt unispiring and bland to anyone but me.

But that's the way art is. I can't stand James McMurtry's voice but a lot of people enjoy his tunes. I couldn't put them down for this. Art provokes an individual response in each individual.

Fine by me.

[enigmatic]

39. yep

Love John Hiatt; one of my favorite songwriters. I used to play "Perfectly Good Guitar" all the time in my last band; at our last show I actually smashed my guitar at the end of the song. Just a beater I picked up at a thrift store a few years earlier, so it was no loss.

Anyway, I like his stuff alot..

[amerikat]

40. I'm 51 so stfu

I think "perfectly good guitar" says a lot about how we as a nation got to be where we are. Maybe i'm reading things into it.......but isn't that the point of music?