4 ms·

I mean, to be fair, Steve Miller is like the blandest of bland dad rock. And Miles Davis is literally the coolest person who ever lived.

thomnottom 11y ago
To be fair, Miles Davis regularly beat his wives...
- yolesaber 11y ago
  Upvoted because you are right. Sometimes we let the work and creative persona of an artist overshadow their flaws. While I still deeply respect Davis the musician (not that he'd care what some white guy thinks), how he treated some of his wives was disgusting.
  - thomnottom 11y ago
    And yes, I said that as someone who absolutely loves Miles Davis the musician.
  - mercurial 11y ago
    He didn't treat people very well in general. You could say he was an unpleasant individual. Of course, drug and alcohol abuse didn't help.
- andreis_ 11y ago
  Related-ish: someone linked to this fantastic read [1] today in some HN thread, and after going through it in awe, I come across the guy's Wikipedia page [2]. Yikes! 1: http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/javaorigin.html http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/javaorigin.html 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Naughton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Naughton
  - thomnottom 11y ago
    Ugh, that reminded me of the story of ReiserFS and Hans Reiser [1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Reiser#Murder_investigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Reiser#Murder_investigati...
mathattack 11y ago
If you say this, you've only listened to early 80s Steve Miller. Check out his blues and folk. Lots are up on Youtube. (Which, to the point of the original article, probably doesn't pay him much)
- yolesaber 11y ago
  The Joker came out in 1973 and it's one of the lamest songs of all time in my opinion. Miller's watered-down style just isn't for me.
  - mathattack 11y ago
    Try Buffalo's Serenade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01WeCge6T1U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01WeCge6T1U If you don't like it, we'll have to agree to disagree. :-)
- mariodiana 11y ago
  I saw Steve Miller a few years back in concert. I wouldn't have even considered myself a fan before having seen him, but I came away very impressed. I was even dreading "Abracadabra," but so help me that song was great live. His singing and playing were both spot on. His sound was terrific. I'm a guitar player myself, and the tones he got from his Les Paul and Strat were textbook examples of classic, excellent tone. The band was tight as a band can be. It was a great night of music. The guy is a first rate musician.
  - mathattack 11y ago
    I've been watching many of his live performances on YouTube. He's a great musician, who happened to ride the pop wave. We shouldn't judge him just on that. It's like judging the Dead just on "Touch of Grey" or Bowie just "Young American".
bwanab 11y ago
This has to have been written by somebody who only knows of Steve Miller's admittedly bland hits in the middle 70s. He put out 5 remarkably good albums in the late 60s that sold, well, lukewarm at best. It's hard to blame him for realizing that the great stuff he'd been doing wasn't making his retirement secure. Even in coming out with a string of bland big sellers like he did took a degree of talent that most can't even imagine.
ArkyBeagle 11y ago
It's "Dad rock" because it worked. Cheerleaders never, to my knowledge, sang Miles songs on the way back from a football game. "We're not about to do a free-form jazz, uh, exploration in front of a festival crowd!" - David St. Hubbins, "Spinal Tap."
dipnuggetron 11y ago
This is bland dad rock? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gemlal7T-PY&nohtml5=False https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gemlal7T-PY&nohtml5=False

thomnottom 11y ago

To be fair, Miles Davis regularly beat his wives...

yolesaber 11y ago
Upvoted because you are right. Sometimes we let the work and creative persona of an artist overshadow their flaws. While I still deeply respect Davis the musician (not that he'd care what some white guy thinks), how he treated some of his wives was disgusting.
- thomnottom 11y ago
  And yes, I said that as someone who absolutely loves Miles Davis the musician.
- mercurial 11y ago
  He didn't treat people very well in general. You could say he was an unpleasant individual. Of course, drug and alcohol abuse didn't help.
andreis_ 11y ago
Related-ish: someone linked to this fantastic read [1] today in some HN thread, and after going through it in awe, I come across the guy's Wikipedia page [2]. Yikes! 1: http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/javaorigin.html http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/javaorigin.html 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Naughton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Naughton
- thomnottom 11y ago
  Ugh, that reminded me of the story of ReiserFS and Hans Reiser [1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Reiser#Murder_investigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Reiser#Murder_investigati...

mathattack 11y ago

If you say this, you've only listened to early 80s Steve Miller. Check out his blues and folk. Lots are up on Youtube. (Which, to the point of the original article, probably doesn't pay him much)

yolesaber 11y ago
The Joker came out in 1973 and it's one of the lamest songs of all time in my opinion. Miller's watered-down style just isn't for me.
- mathattack 11y ago
  Try Buffalo's Serenade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01WeCge6T1U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01WeCge6T1U If you don't like it, we'll have to agree to disagree. :-)
mariodiana 11y ago
I saw Steve Miller a few years back in concert. I wouldn't have even considered myself a fan before having seen him, but I came away very impressed. I was even dreading "Abracadabra," but so help me that song was great live. His singing and playing were both spot on. His sound was terrific. I'm a guitar player myself, and the tones he got from his Les Paul and Strat were textbook examples of classic, excellent tone. The band was tight as a band can be. It was a great night of music. The guy is a first rate musician.
- mathattack 11y ago
  I've been watching many of his live performances on YouTube. He's a great musician, who happened to ride the pop wave. We shouldn't judge him just on that. It's like judging the Dead just on "Touch of Grey" or Bowie just "Young American".

bwanab 11y ago

This has to have been written by somebody who only knows of Steve Miller's admittedly bland hits in the middle 70s. He put out 5 remarkably good albums in the late 60s that sold, well, lukewarm at best. It's hard to blame him for realizing that the great stuff he'd been doing wasn't making his retirement secure. Even in coming out with a string of bland big sellers like he did took a degree of talent that most can't even imagine.

ArkyBeagle 11y ago

It's "Dad rock" because it worked. Cheerleaders never, to my knowledge, sang Miles songs on the way back from a football game. "We're not about to do a free-form jazz, uh, exploration in front of a festival crowd!" - David St. Hubbins, "Spinal Tap."

dipnuggetron 11y ago

This is bland dad rock? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gemlal7T-PY&nohtml5=False https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gemlal7T-PY&nohtml5=False