Famous Musicians You Respect as People
 

Name 'em :)

Not easy, huh?

I choose Pink. I sort of respect her, the ugly song about a lousy President notwithstanding. Many of her songs contain messages about dealing with interpersonal and intrapersonal problems, which clearly she has done in her private lifel and also (in "Stupid Girls") she calls out female celebrities for being vapid. I'd probably call her a positive body image role model for women too, though I'm not fond of the fat acceptance message in the "Raise Your Glass" clip. I grant Pink respect without being a big fan of her music

I respect Ani DiFranco a lot. I'm not even all that into her music (though I like some) but admire the fact that's she totally self-made and rose to popularity on her own label.

Tom Waits, Jack White, David Byrne, Sting...

Isn't Sting kind of an narcissistic control freak? I always heard that was the reason they disbanded and he went on to his mediocre solo career.

Okay, thanks for participating, but why those musicians? We're not going to learn anything unless people explain their reasons. Personally, I can think of at least one reason to think badly of Sting as a person.

^yeah definitely Jack White. I also respect Delores from the Cranberries (to Urban's disgust lol) for her working through severe depression and using her album To The Faithfully Departed to get through it while creating great tracks, Jim Morrison for his creativity and vocals that sink into you skin, Eric Clapton for being a brilliant guitarist, Keith Richard's (Life is brilliant for an entertaining read) for being the most sensual guitar and vocals and Marilyn Manson for staying true to his values and not changing for anyone. He really is quite intelligent.

Jim Morrison was by most accounts a terrible person and a womanizer btw. He had a lot of stage charisma, but he didn't seem like too good a person.

I forgot his explanation, he used drugs to focus his music creativity and I respect that. It doesn't mean he is perfect or treated people nicely but his binges turned him into quite the artist. :)

I would've loved to meet Frank Zappa. Seemed like a really cool guy with a sardonic sense of humor

Watching FZ on crossfire is one of the best things you can do with twenty minutes of your life. <3
Anywho, I respect all of them unless they do or say something completely rude and/or is an arrogant twit.
So basically everybody but Axl Rose.
Besides, I usually never research the personalities of artists I listen to, so for me to hear something bad about an artist it would have to be abhorrent enough to be heard by word-of-mouth.
(Gah, it's 1AM and I can't type worth a crap)

MJ of course, he always the NO. 1.

ASAP Rocky, he is such a nice humble guy in his interviews

I don't think respecting musicians for their technical proficiency counts much re "respect as people."

I normally don't pay much attention to their non-music doings and usually dislike what I hear of that.

Here are three musicians for now that I respect
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http://ll-media.extratv.com/archive/...joss-stone.jpg
http://www.bittenandbound.com/wp-con...on-married.jpg

Are you serious? He looked like a complete tool for large parts of his interview with Danny Brown, who is much more personable.

Besides, of course, Jim Morrison I have much respect for:
Roger Waters and David Gilmour - I love their philosophy.
Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley - I love their sense of humor.
And, of course, Beethoven - I respect his will and strength.

Tom Waits and Frank Zappa are the big ones for me. Both seem to be great people (seemed in Frank's case) who really had their heads on right when it comes to the music business and how the world works in general. Whenever I read interviews, hear them doing speeches, or just them talking in between songs during concerts they consistently impress me. There might be artists whose work I like more than theirs but they are the ones who I feel the most personal connection with and respect the most, and who I would most want to be like.

Devin Townsend. I love how he reacts to the crowd at this little performance:

I know someone who knew Frank Zappa decades ago, probably before I was born. I could ask for an opinion on him as a person, though it would be a little weird to bring up out of the blue.

I don't think it would, I'd love to have that kind of perspective. He was no doubt a fascinating individual.

I think anyone that rose to fame themselves, without the use of a stupid talent show on TV. I hate those things. Someone who actually worked hard for their cause. It may seem incredibly obvious, but Kurt Cobain. I read his autobiography recently and he went through a lot of stuff with Nirvana. He also made a huge change in music and basically everyone knows who he is...
What do you think?

I don't think that has something to do with a person's individuality. You can be the wisest man and have the best character and become famous pretty easy. Does it make you bad? You don't have to work hard to prove that you are good. To do it the easy way, if you can, is even the more intelligent way. On the other hand, who said that people who win the TV shows aren't working hard. There is so much competition that they have to work really hard.
I respect very much people who write their own music. But I respect them as musicians, that has nothing to do with what kind of people they are. You can be the best songwriter and still an a*shole.

I think all of them are not people easily shoved around by the music industry, they play what they want, and they aren't hyper-dramatic attention whores. Plus I think they all make killer music.

I won't argue, except for Sting. He invites attention and is rumored to be a womanizer.

I've always thought "womanizer" was a hilarious word. Is there such a thing as a manizer?

Slut?

That doesn't really have the same implication.

There are so many people worthy of respect in the music business ! Frank Zappa is a good choice because of his humour and intelligence.( Although Eric Burdon probably wouldn`t agree; he described a project he did with FZ as "like working with Hitler" )

Leaving aside their musical talents and acheivements, here are some other reasons for respecting various musicians :-

(i) for breaking down barriers and conventions ( John Lennon and Chuck Berry spring to mind )
(ii) for bringing attention to social issues ( Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Fela Kuti)
(iii) for battling personal difficulties ( Tina Turner, Brian Wilson, Syd Barrett, Ian Dury )
(iv) for using their success for the greater good ( Bob Geldoff and countless other charity performers )

:soapbox:

Not so easy to admire is Gary Glitter, however much we may cherish his music.

Also the guy in Green Day, who I saw once in a television interview. He was grumbling because his album release was overshadowed by media attention celebrating the anniversary of the publication of George Orwell`s 1984 and he concluded his complaint by saying, "George Orwell was an idiot anyway" - a remark that stuck in my mind as being overweening and petulant.

Another guy low on my admiration list is Kurt Cobain. I appreciate that he had lots of personal problems and professional pressure, but consider this:-Despite emoting about the trauma of his parent`s divorce, KC didn`t seem too concerned about his own daughter, whom he subjected to a far more troubling event. This poor girl will presumably go through live with a gaping question-mark in the middle of her soul, " Why didn`t my dad love me enough to stick around for me ?" Shame on you, Kurt.

how and by who?

thom yorke
david bryne
killer mike

Exactly Sting is only rumored to be happily married. And apparently his wife enjoys his tantric abilities also.

I've never heard of terrible things done by Noel Gallagher and he said more than a couple of smart things in life, according to the Special Issue of NME. I respect him, seems a nice person.

Justin Timberlake, too. He understood everything: never into drug scandals, always with beautiful women and out from useless media exposure. Maybe he's an idiot but he's using fame the right way.

I read the rumor in a newspaper. Considering how Sting ended up with Trudie Styler, it's probably true. And cheating with her in the first place would make it hard for me to respect Sting regardless of anything else.

Ok why does a person have to be seemingly perfect to be respected? That to me is almost fake in itself and a red flag. Not saying that their aren't genuinely good people out there but to me its a non factor for respect. I respect people I don't even like sometimes but anyway, mine of course would be Hendrix. To overcome so much in life from his childhood and still be able to leave his mark in historys is nothing short of what legends are made of. A testament of what true dedication, and talent can do when applied fully and passionately.

I used to love Jimi as a person. I respected him even more than Jim Morrison, but then I read a book about him (more than 500 pages) and I came to the conclusion that he isn't as great person as I thought. He's exactly a voodoo child, I mean he never thinks and let's things just happen. He does many stupid things, of course. I don't like this kind of people.

City Sonic: Damian Abraham (****ed Up) at Rotate This - YouTube

Damian Abraham from Fucked Up. For a guy who's in a band that makes such ambitious, arty punk music and is known for getting naked and making his forehead bleed onstage, he seems like a surprisngly nice guy. Fucked Up often get called "pretentious" in punk circles, but those people that say that clearly haven't watched any interviews. I guess the music is just too challenging for them...

That's right, I mean you respect people for certain attributes or skills, not because they ignore their family or love the bottle.

When someone says "respect as people", I do think of if they ignore their family and love the bottle. If OP had said "respect as musicians", I may have listed Jim Morrison or Sting.

Not trying to tell you what you should choose, just explaining my reasons for why I disagree. :pimp: