Originally Posted by mankycaaant

Now, radio contemporary pop was never my music of choice, mainly I enjoy hip-hop and emo music.

But James Blunt, regardless of whether or not his voice is a little nauseating, which I can see as a reasonable enough reason to dislike him but to hate in packs, no. (Nick Drake has an annoyingly nauseating voice but because he snorted so much sheetrock it gave him mental illness he's seen as some sort of iconic hero.) Was a genuine artist.

In my opinion, Blunt was one of the most openly emotional guys on the radio song circuit. Every song he wrote he wore his figurative heart on his sleeve and left himself open for the world to see.
There was no great complexity about his music, perhaps that'd have made him acceptable in many of your minds.
Perhaps had he chucked in obscure references to 80's anime that you shamelessly jacked off to or pretentiously spent 12 and a half minutes noodling whilst remaining unsigned and smoking heroin at the back of your local bar he'd reach cult like Music Banter status.

I didn't get the impression of this try-hard nature that is personified by many of the posters on Music Banter, who hawk lounge posts attempting to earn a cheap laugh by making crude and unfunny innuendos or lame puns, in Blunt's music.
If he was sh/t, he knew he was.
He never tried to be someone else, to create an illusion he was someone else. He was genuine about who he was, he was open and comfortable with it and that's why I find it hard to direct hatred towards this guy.

Take the infamous 'You're Beautiful' for example. In that song Blunt sings about seeing a women on the subway. She's got a boyfriend, yeah she's way out of his league, her boyfriends probably a complete douchebag, one of those guys that seems to have no redeemable characteristics yet has had everything presented to him in life including his striking girlfriend.
In an ideal world, that girl would be with someone like James. He knows however this is no ideal world and that she is just another girl who can never be with a guy like him, a nobody.
The reality in this should probably resonate with a lot of you. I'm sure there was always that girl at high school you liked that you couldn't win never. Nay, you never tried to win her over, because you knew she was too good for you.
The most you could hope for was her to merely look your way. Despite the fact you in inhabit the same room, you're on different planets.
You're Beautiful may not be presented in the most technically proficient manners, nor is it put in such a way that its sheer beauty and cleverness astound the listener, but the message is simple. It's clear. It's something the majority can relate to.

Another song, 1973 it's title I believe, I remember him wailing down late night Kingdom FM, reminiscing of a time gone by when he and another would stay up late together, presumably just content with the simplicity of having each others company.
It's displayed in a format that got me thinking. It's sorrowful whilst nostalgic. Is nostalgia this warm feeling of longing for a time when things were simpler, memories of good people, good fun, events, places that evoked greater emotions within us, or is nostalgia just a grim reminder to get the f/ck over yourselves, because those times, those places, those feelings, those people are gone and are never coming back.

That's how two of James Blunts songs made me feel, now I'm no superfan, heck those songs aren't in my extensive music collection, I couldn't tell you the name of his albums let alone his star sign and blood type, but I can tell you that those songs provoked more from me than any Nick Drake song did. Than any pretentious noodling did. Than any flavour of the month hipster Pitchfork/Zane Low unsigned good for nothing so indie that no label would touch us because we're not marketable wankery did.

How can anyone hate a guy, who was so open, so genuine and so comfortable with who he is. The guy knew reality, and he knew what he could expect, he probably knew he would never achieve critical success, perhaps You're Beautiful can be a metaphor for how he'd never be accepted by apparent 'educated' music fans.
Maybe honesty was not the best policy.

Originally Posted by mankycaaant

It's 2012, and people still believe 9/11 was caused solely by rouge novice pilots acting on the word of the evil CIA tactician Osama Bin Laden. Give me a break.

Originally Posted by mord

Actually, I like you a lot, Nea. That's why I treat you like ****. It's the MB way.

Originally Posted by mankycaaant

Now, radio contemporary pop was never my music of choice, mainly I enjoy hip-hop and emo music.

But James Blunt, regardless of whether or not his voice is a little nauseating, which I can see as a reasonable enough reason to dislike him but to hate in packs, no. (Nick Drake has an annoyingly nauseating voice but because he snorted so much sheetrock it gave him mental illness he's seen as some sort of iconic hero.) Was a genuine artist.

In my opinion, Blunt was one of the most openly emotional guys on the radio song circuit. Every song he wrote he wore his figurative heart on his sleeve and left himself open for the world to see.
There was no great complexity about his music, perhaps that'd have made him acceptable in many of your minds.
Perhaps had he chucked in obscure references to 80's anime that you shamelessly jacked off to or pretentiously spent 12 and a half minutes noodling whilst remaining unsigned and smoking heroin at the back of your local bar he'd reach cult like Music Banter status.

I didn't get the impression of this try-hard nature that is personified by many of the posters on Music Banter, who hawk lounge posts attempting to earn a cheap laugh by making crude and unfunny innuendos or lame puns, in Blunt's music.
If he was sh/t, he knew he was.
He never tried to be someone else, to create an illusion he was someone else. He was genuine about who he was, he was open and comfortable with it and that's why I find it hard to direct hatred towards this guy.

Take the infamous 'You're Beautiful' for example. In that song Blunt sings about seeing a women on the subway. She's got a boyfriend, yeah she's way out of his league, her boyfriends probably a complete douchebag, one of those guys that seems to have no redeemable characteristics yet has had everything presented to him in life including his striking girlfriend.
In an ideal world, that girl would be with someone like James. He knows however this is no ideal world and that she is just another girl who can never be with a guy like him, a nobody.
The reality in this should probably resonate with a lot of you. I'm sure there was always that girl at high school you liked that you couldn't win never. Nay, you never tried to win her over, because you knew she was too good for you.
The most you could hope for was her to merely look your way. Despite the fact you in inhabit the same room, you're on different planets.
You're Beautiful may not be presented in the most technically proficient manners, nor is it put in such a way that its sheer beauty and cleverness astound the listener, but the message is simple. It's clear. It's something the majority can relate to.

Another song, 1973 it's title I believe, I remember him wailing down late night Kingdom FM, reminiscing of a time gone by when he and another would stay up late together, presumably just content with the simplicity of having each others company.
It's displayed in a format that got me thinking. It's sorrowful whilst nostalgic. Is nostalgia this warm feeling of longing for a time when things were simpler, memories of good people, good fun, events, places that evoked greater emotions within us, or is nostalgia just a grim reminder to get the f/ck over yourselves, because those times, those places, those feelings, those people are gone and are never coming back.

That's how two of James Blunts songs made me feel, now I'm no superfan, heck those songs aren't in my extensive music collection, I couldn't tell you the name of his albums let alone his star sign and blood type, but I can tell you that those songs provoked more from me than any Nick Drake song did. Than any pretentious noodling did. Than any flavour of the month hipster Pitchfork/Zane Low unsigned good for nothing so indie that no label would touch us because we're not marketable wankery did.

How can anyone hate a guy, who was so open, so genuine and so comfortable with who he is. The guy knew reality, and he knew what he could expect, he probably knew he would never achieve critical success, perhaps You're Beautiful can be a metaphor for how he'd never be accepted by apparent 'educated' music fans.
Maybe honesty was not the best policy.



It's 2012, and people still believe 9/11 was caused solely by rouge novice pilots acting on the word of the evil CIA tactician Osama Bin Laden. Give me a break.

Originally Posted by mankycaaant

If he was sh/t, he knew he was.

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Guess what? This ain't his fault! So radio stations overplayed, to saturation, and then suicidial tenedency, point, that song. Not his fault. You think he asked them to? Hell, he was probably sick of hearing it himself!

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Mankycaant, I salute you. I'm not going to go quoting your whole text, but thanks for at least trying to defend Blunt.

It pisses me off that people here are so condescending towards the guy, when most of them openly admit they only know "that song". Yeah it's crap guys and I hate it too (read my review of his album in my journal if you don't believe me) but let's get one thing straight: for a huge majority of people the reason they hated Blunt's "You're beautiful" isn't because it's a terrible song (it is) but because no matter where they turned the dial at any time of the day, they couldn't escape the bloody thing on the radio! It seemed to be on about every third song, every station.

Guess what? This ain't his fault! So radio stations overplayed, to saturation, and then suicidial tenedency, point, that song. Not his fault. You think he asked them to? Hell, he was probably sick of hearing it himself!

But when you know little or nothing else of his music, you really haven't the right to be gloating as you are and making fun of the guy. I didn't see him as a star, I wouldn't have been a huge fan but he did make some excellent music that was, whether you like it or not, honest and at its heart quite simple. He didn't use vocoders, samples, intricate arrangements on bring in guest stars. His album "Back to Bedlam", is an exercise in the sort of songwriting that made stars of people like James Taylor and Harry Chapin in the 60s and 70s. It's from the heart, songs that tell a story and don't wander.

There are much worse people in the music biz, and I for one will miss him.
Oh, and manky's political comments were a direct response to someone talking, pretty much out of the blue, about OBL, so I think they were justified.

And now, just to annoy you, here are some JB videos. If you haven't heard these, try clicking them with a partially open mind. You might be surprised.
But I know you won't. Your minds are made up and I have to say the vast majority of you here seem to be as much sheep on this issue as those you say put him where he was just because it was "the cool thing" at the time. If you know his music, and hate it, fair enough. If you don't, exercise that well-known and prized open-mindedness MB is famous for and listen. Just listen, then judge.






Hands up those who skipped the videos and rolled their eyes at me? I rest my case.

Originally Posted by FRED HALE SR.

I watched the videos TH, and I didn't roll my eyes. Not my cup of tea but I gave them a fair run. I like James Taylor I even like Jack Johnson and i have survived the same ridicule for liking both of them. I just read an article about the Blunt retirement I think you could definitely identify with, i'll link it for you. What more could the guy want, hes got money,fame, supermodel girlfriend, villas in Ibiza and Switzerland, hell I want to sell out.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j..._VYFh2jqYJ-MvQ

You are aware that he is in the studio working on a new album as we speak and this was all a hoax from the daily mail right? Right? LOL

Scroll down my friend and rest easy.

Originally Posted by Il Duce

- Hendrix didn't even play the blues that well -