Jun 292011
E. Pluribus Gergely posed the question, and alexmagic demanded that it be brought to The Main Stage:
What musician maintained their coolness for the longest period? I defy anyone to come up with a better choice than Keef (1963-1972). That’s a pretty good run.
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As our resident Magic Man followed:
…we can get down into fighting over exact moments/years when people lost it.Is there anything that disqualifies James Brown between 1956 and 1976? The appearance in Ski Party in 1965 would seem to be the biggest stumbling block, but I think it only adds to his legend.
Keef (1963-1972)…James Brown (1956-1976)… Agree? Disagree? Have someone more worthy to propose? The time is yours.
Miles Davis. 1948-1975.
I think you’ve got to shave a few years off for Miles for allowing Keith Jarrett to take the stage dressed like a proto-Luke Skywalker in this 1971 performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KxdnID2Vl0&feature=related
If were bringing sidemen into this — which sounds like bullshit to me — then Keef is totally disqualified due to Bill Wyman.
Who is this Magic Man? After I typed out Keef’s name on the keyboard, I realized that James Brown was also a contender. The Ski Party cameo, though, is certainly nothing that tarnishes the magic. Check out the clip on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_xBT_xavzM
As far as I’m concerned, that’s the crystalization of cool. And the sweater actually accentuates his coolness.
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Agree 100 percent.
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I brought up the Ski Party appearance purely to knock it down as a potential disqualifier. I’m in complete agreement, everything Brown does in that clip is amazing and only adds to his greatness, including the sweater but especially the way he exits the lodge.
Incidentally, I’m going with ’76 as the cutoff date for JB since that’s the year he put out his last great single (and my favorite of his), Get Up Offa That Thing. I don’t know if there’s anything specific that happens in ’77 that ends his streak, but his output tails off right around there, and by ’83, he’s appearing in Doctor Detroit and it’s all over.
Otis Redding, 1962-1967
A favorite second-stringer from the same scene/era who never looked anything but cool: Dave Prater. I’m sure he lost it like everybody else in that Stax scene ’round about 1969, but up ’til then — like most of those cats — he was BOSS.
He’s alright in the Blues Brothers movie.
Brown crapped out around 1975 with the release of the “Reality” LP. That’s the sort of move you make when you just don’t give a rat’s ass about anything concerning quality. From there, you get retreads like “Sex Machine, Part 58”, “Please Please Me (Disco Version)”, “Mother Microwave Popcorn”, etc.
Stone dead? Yeah, his appearance in “Doctor Detroit” was definitely the end.
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Mick Avory, 1964-1966
John Lennon, 1965-1967
… oh, wait. I forgot this was a rock coolness *longevity* thing. Must think more.
Ok, but I’ll take a couple of years at the front end for Miles and make it 1945 (his first recordings with Parker date from ’45) and shave off some at the other end, ’cause I have no use for electric Miles. Miles Davis, 1945-1969.
Give me a break. Where is that insight coming from? How many killer diller filmed images are you basing that choice on? To my mind, there’s only one 100 percent killer clip, and that is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoZudL-07Vo&feature=fvst
Otis at his finest and easily one of the top ten greatest clips of all time. Unbelievably powerful shit. There’s a perfection in that clip that’s missing from the Monterey and RSG workouts.
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Mick Avory???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????/
Where in the name of God did that come from?
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“Mother Microwave Popcorn”–I like that!
But ’75 or ’76, definitely the string ended for JB around that time. After that, People, It’s Bad. Still, a pretty amazing 20 years.
Leonard Cohen, 1966-present. Fuck ALL y’all.
Dylan maybe was too polarizing even fairly early on, but a strong case can be made for 1962-70 (and the release of Self Portrait). I don’t think that Nashville Skyline substantially compromised the perception of coolness, but I wasn’t really around at the time. But for many, Self Portrait was an irreparable break, and, if he is to be trusted, a deliberate one.
But I suspect that the terminal date for Dylan’s coolness can be extended to 1978: it was not to survive Renaldo and Clara, Street-Legal (which I love, but would not claim is “cool”), or Live at Budokan.
Oh, Great Pasty 48!
YOU’RE SO PUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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62-66.
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Compare the respective performances of James Brown and the Rolling Stones at The T.A.M.I. show and your question is answered.
WRONG again, Plurbie. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LqkEi7BpoQ&feature=related for a start, but then — oh, just do us all a favor and report back on any clips of Otis you find that *aren’t* cool.
Images like this:
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/42176589.jpg
What, you’d choose Dave Davies?!
http://por-img.cimcontent.net/api/assets/bin-200904/2b74f474297cedc168ef3ff800c5cd42.jpg
It’s not answered. That’s an apples and oranges thing. Granted, Jagger’s aping Brown, which is pretty bold considering the fact that Jagger literally had about 15 minutes to digest Brown’s act and try to make it work even better for himself, but the Stones. . . you know what? You’re probably right. But Godalmighty, how do you top something like that? They definitely gave it their best shot. Imagine getting to see something like that live!
You win!
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Cool is as cool does. Robert Fripp – 1969 to date. Always calmly sitting on his stool while pulling insane sounds out of his guitar.
I wouldn’t go with either of them. And from what Cills tells me that’s not even a picture of Avory. That’s a college snaphot of you.
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Well, I can’t see that releasing nothing new in ’67 or JWH in ’68 did anything to compromise his cool rating, as it were.
If you were as talented as Jarrett, you’d be allowed a few eccentricities too.
Hey Moderator,
Do me a favor, Give the man some respect. Replace that hand-drawn Keef portrait with the following You Tube clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6XrbWSyX-8
I know it’s been seen a million times by all the RTHers, but it perfectly encapsulates his “elegantly wasted” 69-72 coolness.
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Tom Waits 1973 – present.
John Doe. Still as cool today as he was when they started. 1977 — present.
So cool in fact, that I don’t see that cool diminishing any time soon.
It is so nice to see EPG and The great 48 communicating with each other again. Just like the olden days!
He’s actually gotten cooler over the years.
Well, let’s say he’s no less cool now than he has ever been. How’s that for ambiguity?
I’m not a big fan of the hipster beatnik phase in the mid to late 70’s, so I start the clock at Sworfishtrombones.
Isn’t Nick Lowe still cool? I’d start his cool clock in ’69, but I suspect the Mod would want to subtract his Cowboy Outfit years. That’s an interesting idea, whether coolness can be lost and then regained.
And having just finished Keith Richards’ Life yesterday, I think he’s still pretty cool.
I stand corrected. Those orange snowmobile suits are KILLER!
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I’m assuming you’re being sarcastic here, in which case I remind you of the Wyman rule: SIDEMEN DON’T COUNT!
Lowe was the first guy I thought of, but yes, I had to stop the clock for His Cowboy Outfit.
Cool can be lost and regained. Dylan has done so on occasion Lennon. Others, I’m sure.
Jeff Tweedy has been pretty cool throughout the Uncle Tupelo and Wilco years. Just listend to A.M. the other day — kind of underrated.
Merle Haggard, for the last, oh, fifty years. Man, even in the dismal 70s and cheeseball 80s, that guy looked pretty cool. I win.
Hey Moderator, for the second friggnin time,
Do me a favor, Give the man some respect. Replace that hand-drawn Keef portrait with the following You Tube clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6XrbWSyX-8
I know it’s been seen a million times by all the RTHers, but it perfectly encapsulates his “elegantly wasted” 69-72 coolness.
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1974 — far from his proudest era as far as his Look was concerned. Still cool? Still cool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Dqo–Ly3g&feature=related
True dat.
Dude, that’s the same picture you’ve got hanging in your guest bathroom. Its placement in this thread was a no brainer.
I think Bo Diddley was cool from the beginning of his career to the end off his life.
I don’t think so. By the way, I love that new portrait in your hallway between the dining room and the stairs, the 3′ by 6′ poster photo of yourself in Ray Bans being pushed around in a rickshaw ($5.00 a ride) by a very young and thin Muong boy on the Atlantic City boardwalk.
If possible, I’d like a walletsized version for myself. Try to have that made up for me next time we get together.
Sincerely,
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You know who kicks ass in this discussion? Women.
Chrissie Hynde
Emmylou Harris
Lucinda Williams
Aimee Mann
Tracy Chapman
Joan Jett
Rickie Lee Jones
Christine McVie
and I’ll throw in Karen O, just for the hell of it.
Sorry, but: Tracy Chapman?! And Aimee Mann is like the personification of the opposite of “cool.”
Marianne Faithfull
New album this week too!
Aimee is so cool that one look from her will freeze you in your tracks. Trust me.
John Lennon 1960 to 2011.
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/06/28/lennon-was-a-closet-republican
Personally, I think it makes him even more cool but many now will not.
What is missing from the discussion is any broad-based understanding of what we mean when we talk about “cool.” My own understanding of it, when relating it to musicians, anyway, breaks it down, not necessarily evenly, between projecting something intangible (or maybe it is very tangible, I don’t know!) in one’s look and attitude AND creating work of exceptional quality and relevance. Thus, however much Tom Waits projects an image of “cool,” and I acknowledge that he does, the music has never interested me so I cannot consider him in this context.
This, I realize, is where that mysterious thing, personal taste, enters into things.
Chrissie Hynde definitely occurred to me yesterday: but while she is still cool in some ways, it’s been 25 years, at least, since she was relevant or great musically.
Patti Smith is almost definitively cool, as a person, in my book: but I only really am interested in a few of her songs.
Leonard Cohen may be the most interesting choice yet offered. While he never reached the heights of cool scaled by Dylan in ’65-66 or Keith ’69-’72, he has always maintained and never lost a very high level. So if Dylan and Richards are the Ruth and Mays of rock cool, Cohen is more of a Stan Musial type: consistently maintaining high averages over a long career but not quite as riveting or iconic perhaps for just that reason.
Neil Young from the 60’s until now, even through his Geffen years, because he doesn’t give a crap what you people think about him.
I was thinking about Neil, but I still think you need to discount most of the ’80s. (Unless that bullshit John Lennon item is making everything reconsider the whole rockers-for-Reagan thing.) And his new music has been kinda pointless for the last ten years or so, right?
I think Nick is currently very cool. Not faux cool like some… just good only elderly Brit cool.
I’d argue that his music has been sporadically pointless for his entire career. But we’re not talking about who has the highest quality catalog over the longest period of time, we’re talking about who is the coolest. Neil has made some confounding decisions which seem to be dictated to him by a muse with bizarre sense of humor, and he’s made those decisions with a confidence that makes me think that the problem must be with me because I don’t get it. He sometimes seems like he’s trying to destroy his own career on purpose, and that’s pretty cool.
I’m pretty pissed off that Jungleland didn’t contribute to this thread. And because he decided to fuck off and do something supposedly better with his time, I’m going to submit contribututions for him:
1) Feargal Sharkey (Based solely on his hair in the “Good Heart” video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx9qUR9P2ZQ&feature=related
2) The female drumming powerhouse duo in Feargal Sharkey’s “Good Heart” video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx9qUR9P2ZQ&feature=related
3) Mick Jagger (Based solely on his appearance in “One Hit to the Body” video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUy8Ydq-oUA&feature=related
4) Billy Joel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl3E-cwA6y8
5) Nick Gilder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El6iQ2_dvlc
More to follow!
Sincerely,
Jungleland
Friend of mine dated her. She’s cool.
Your friend isn’t the mean guy in the Voices Carry video, is he?
Hadn’t seen that video in ages. No, he’s not the mean guy. I recognize the street in Boston’s South End where some of the exterior shots were filmed though.
Paul Simonen’s the coolest mofo this side of Buddy Guy.
aloha
LD
O shit the bed, I continued scrolling the main page and, well, yeah, you know what I found.
Well Hot Damn, I stand by my original charge. I own up to Not Being Able to Keep Track of Everything
aloha
LD