The best artist who ever lived?

soer5523

New member
Hello everybody. I am new at the forum here. I am here because i love music. And i would like to hear your guys opinion. Who was the greatest and best artist there ever lived?. I think, that the best artist who ever lived, was the King of Rock and roll. Elvis Aaron Presley. - Simply the most talented man there ever lived.

Who do you think deserve this title.

(I am sorry for my english, i am from Denmark) :)
 
Krummhorn

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
:wave: Hi, welcome to this forum ... and don't ever be sorry for being from Denmark. I am Danish, too ... although born in the US, I still have relatives there.

I'll have to think awhile on an answer for the question ...

Kh :cool:
 
teddy

teddy

Duckmeister
Hello and welcome to the forum. A very hard question as this would I assume it would include musicians as well as singers. And if we look at all genre of music how do we compare say jack Teagarden - an accomplished singer as well as musician - wih someone like Presley. Thinking caps on.

teddy
 
John Watt

John Watt

Member
What kind of category is the "greatest artist who ever lived"?
If you're a musician, playing a musical instrument, writing a song comes next.
Elvis Presley never wrote a note in his entire life.
He used to make deals, saying your song can be on my album, if you list me as a co-writer.
Elvis didn't mind sharing royalties, he just wanted some for himself.
He'd sign any deal for anything, as long as he got half the money.
So he showed a total lack of artistic interest, considering what got made with his name and likeness.
 
John Watt

John Watt

Member
I just thought of artists who are artists all over the place.
Joni Mitchell, Tony Bennett and Keith Richards are just some who earn through music and visuals.
What about musicians who play an instrument they built themselves, or built the studio they use?
That's at least a tie-breaker, discussing these talents.

Too bad Vincent Van Gogh didn't sing and play an instrument, that we know of.
 
White Knight

White Knight

Spectral Warrior con passion
soer5523 said:
Hello everybody. I am new at the forum here. I am here because i love music. And i would like to hear your guys opinion. Who was the greatest and best artist there ever lived?. I think, that the best artist who ever lived, was the King of Rock and roll. Elvis Aaron Presley. - Simply the most talented man there ever lived.

Who do you think deserve this title.

(I am sorry for my english, i am from Denmark) :)
Click to expand...

How about narrowing this down a little. For instance, what about categories such as: The Best Musicians in different genres of music: Jazz , Classical, Prog Rock., etc.etc. and a list of reasons provided by the responder as to why he or she feels that way. The term artist used in your context is too amorphous and confusing to most of us trying to respond intelligently to your query--at least IMHO.
 
GoneBaroque

GoneBaroque

New member
In my opinion the question of who is the best in any field is an extremely subjective matter based on the responders personal opinion. There can be as many correct replies as there are people and for as many reasons. Personal preference seems to be a very nebulous thing. While it is interesting to learn different music lovers opinions, the answere would seem otherwise meaningless.

Rob
 
Chi_townPhilly

Chi_townPhilly

Sr. Regulator
Sr. Regulator
Greatest artist that ever lived...

hmmm...

Not sure I can tackle that one- but maybe I can help by defining the terms, and clarifying the inquiry...

1) Since this poser was mentioned in the 'General Music Debate' forum, I think the topic was meant to be limited to people from the world of music. Don't get me wrong- it was interesting to hear about interest in van Gogh-- but I don't think that's what the original poster was looking for (assuming this person is still looking).

2) Now the next line of inquiry gets straight to the heart of an entire branch of philosophy- aesthetics. What constitutes a great artist? There's something to be said about performance ability... but I'd say creativity ranks even higher in my book. Now Presley had performance ability- off-the-charts performance ability. I'm not sure you get much more than a baseline reading from him in the 'creativity' category, though.

If you want to make a case that Elvis Presley is the most riveting individual music-entertainer of the last 75 years, that's a more defensible position than greatest musical artist. Even that won't lead to any definitive consensus. The King of Rock & Roll will have competition from the Chairman of the Board. The King of Pop will be in the conversation, too!;)
 

smudgedude

New member
if you're talking about overall impact, then i don't think it's much of an argument for gershwin. he was the first to take european musicality and play it over percussion-based african music.

but in terms of staying power, personally i would say frank sinatra. the music, his voice, everything about him just transcends time and styles.
 
JHC

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
Gershwin an artist?? I know he could tinkle the ivories, but!
 
teddy

teddy

Duckmeister
I suppose it would have to be Bach. He had a majesty about his music which enthralls me.

teddy
 
John Watt

John Watt

Member
Actually, after all this time away, I have a new answer.
There truly is the greatest artist of all time.
In The Holy King James Bible, after mankind is disenfranchised from the Garden of Eden,
our heavenly father imparted three talents to help humanity cope with life on earth.
He names who received the knowledge of farming and wood-working,
and he lists Jubal as the first musician on earth. Yeah, no writing or painting.
He is the host of our musicality.
So as the oldest named musician in human history, hosting all of mankind throughout time,
there can't be too much argument.

I think Corno Dolce's father jammed with him.
 
JHC

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
Just being a pain again but the thread title 'The best artist who ever lived' surly they all lived :confused: a complete waste of a word no wonder countries are going broked :grin:
 
John Watt

John Watt

Member
I found a Bible last night, and looked up the Genesis origin of Jubal's story.
It moved me again, something I didn't remember, specifying that he played flute and organ.
I'm still trying to think that through. Some little voice tells me that merely thinking won't be enough.

Forget countries. I'm disappointed in Rolling Stone, the 100 best of anythings being a big part of their online.
www.rollingstone.com/ I'm looking at that more for investigative journalism about American finances.
 
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