I think he does fit. Consider the genre spanning records he did in the 80s like Joe’s Garage with every song from a different style. Consider how he found talent in unusual places and incorporated it, for instance Ruth playing the marimba in Inca Roads. But point also taken. No one mocks like All mocks
He’s not everyone’s cup of tea but he was one for the ages. I think it a quite reasonable comparison to speak of Zapps in the same breath as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, etc.
There’s probably quite a few that are really only known to their immediate friends, families, and communities.
There are a lot of really talented people out there, who will remain mostly anonymous. It’s probably nicer for most to not be in the limelight, though it sucks for the rest of us who will never know.
There are exceptions, but in general, in the modern music world, beauty trumps talent. You could be a great musician, but if you don’t look pretty on YouTube, the A&R people think no one wants to hear you.
Oh for sure! I can’t help but wonder if a straightforward upvote-downvote system without the bias of algorithms aimed at clicks and profit would allow more folks who didn’t look canonically sexy to have careers. I know there are biases in general, and it may turn out to be a small percent overall, but getting a few percent more of a spotlight would still increase the Mozart count.
I think modern media can offset that a little. There’s been plenty of people making use of virtual avatars to represent themselves in the past few years and still achieve decent success. Though obviously you’re quite limited in what you can do if you remain anonymous.
I recall a few years ago a singer rather like that, REOL, made her first music video which she herself starred in and it kind of did accelerate her popularity. It’s hard to remain anonymous if you’re also looking to tour and be on stage. As an aside; it’s delightful how her “face debut” song is about how she’s unsure how she wants to do her debut.
I bet there are a ton of Mozarts who have to work shitty jobs just to exist and will never fully develop their skills due to economic inequality. If we give everyone UBI, at least some of them would develop fully.
Yeah I can see this. I also think there’d be quite a few that just aren’t interested in the fame, or maybe want to keep their stuff private.
I know a person who writes her own songs every so often. They’re usually made as a way of dealing with something going on in her life. I had no idea about this until after like five years of knowing her she shared one. It was beautiful, she has a great voice, and she plays the guitar really well. Since the pieces are so personal it’s just not something she’ll share with most of the world.
Is she a Mozart? I don’t know, maybe. To me at least the experience was really profound.
“You know what the greatest tragedy is in the whole world?.. It’s all the people who never find out what it is they really want to do or what it is they’re really good at. It’s all the sons who become blacksmiths because their fathers were blacksmiths. It’s all the people who could be really fantastic flute players who grow old and die without ever seeing a musical instrument, so they become bad ploughmen instead. It’s all the people with talents who never even find out. Maybe they are never even born in a time when its even possible to find out. It’s all the people who never get to know what it is they can really be. Its all the wasted chances.”
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