Who was the bigger genius?

[MWA]

In music:

Mozart - a natural first alternative, he wrote musical compositions at the tender age of five and went on to create some of the most essential masterpieces of classical music.

Beethoven - Obviously he needs to be on the list too, he went deaf after his fifth symphony and despite this continued on and wrote 4 more symponies which are all considered masterpieces plus a handful of operas and various bits.

Bob Dylan - Like him or not, he's a genius.

Jimi Hendrix - he was around for only a short period of time, only four or five years I think, yet he made an astronomical impact and changed music forever.

John Lennon - It shouldn't even be necessary to start listing his merits. *cough* BEATLES! *cough* *cough* impressive career after Beatles. *cough* *cough*

Leonard Cohen - A poet, wonderful music as well. His lyrics, poems, novels, etc. are all magnificent.

Britney Spears - she's the best aerobic dancer of all the mentioned, plus she's a stupid, docile traliertrash idiot from Louisiana who grew up in a mall mimicing lame disney tunes in some mediocre talent show. Oh, that's right, her music is horrible and it's blaspemous to mention her name among these greats. Forget her.

I'll stop listing alternatives in this catogory, as I'm sure that you will be able to name a few others.

 

[gael]

I went to see Bob Dylan twice when i was in the states. I don't even like him, I think he sounds like a toilet flushing when he opens his mouth, but his lyrics are good.

 

[Richard III]

Unfair question. Forced me to rethink my worldview before I'd even had a cup of coffee.

Beethoven, Hendrix and Dylan are all equal, in my view. The others are overrated, except for Britney, who is a great displayt of the genius of genetics.

 

[animepornstar]

michael bolton

 

[col]

Wolfie Mozart - the most gifted musician ever to live.

He was the master of all forms of music he had access to - opera, symphonies, chamber, requiem . You name it. He could do it better than anyone else.

Interesting to speculate what kind of music he could and would produce if he were alive today.

 

[jpowers]

Bach has to be on the list. The complexity of his music will never be equaled (as long as Brittany Spears is considered a genius, at least).

 

[ApocalypseKurtz]

I would choose Bob Dylan but of course I am very biased towards him because I love his music. Not only is his music brilliant but his lyrics as well. And, although his voice is often smashed as his only weak point, I think he does a great job for what he was given. His inflections and stresses sound to us like he actually believes in what he is singing, and he wants us to feel what he is feeling.

I don't know a whole lot about them but Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach are all classical geniuses.

Hendrix and Lennon, too, but on a slightly lesser scale (though both are still amazing)

 

[meldor]

I will add to the list of those to be debated:

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II - How many songs of theirs form all of those shows can you recognize, even if you have never been to the theater.

Andrew Lloyd Webber - Same as above. I think we is second to R&H, but his stuff is some of the best. It is also newer than R&H.

The problem with any person who is contemporary, is that you really can not determine the long lasting effect of their music until enough time has past. The fact that the music of both Mozart and Beethoven, Brahms and Bach, is still played and appreciated today is a testimony to its quality. How much of the music of Lennon or Dylan will still be played a hundred years from now is...well...yet to be seen. That they have had an influence on modern music is unquestioned, will they influence generations is yet to be seen.

As for R&H and ALW, the same thing can be said, not enough time has passed to determine the long term influence. In the case for them, however, one can argue that no one has really been able to produce anything better. R&H shows are still run regularly, and many of them were converted to movies that play daily on TV.

Any more?

 

[Zcylen]

too bad, you missed Tschaikovsky.

and I'd also add Miklos Rosza

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

where are Vivaldi and Bach???????


Mozart was a genius, Beethoven had to work for it. makes him the greater, but not the greater genius!

 

[WildFire]

Good question, how bout i give you my own 'genius.'

Kurt Cobain

 

[Dralix]

"Amadeus was a genius.
Beethoven was a dog.
The Muppet Family Christmas is about a pig and frog!"

Although I prefer Beethoven's music , I would have to give Mozart the nod in terms of musical genius.

 

[Heffalump]

On this list I would have to say Beethoven -- although I find it hard to choose one above the others in terms of the 3 greats of classical music: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart.

If you'd said the Beatles instead of Lennon I would have agreed that their influence on rock & roll was as huge as the 3 classical greats was on classical music ... and most likely will be as enduring. But Lennon alone? No, the Beatles equaled more than the sum of their parts.

 

[MWA]

Good suggestions. It's hard to compare music which has passed the test of time to music which haven't as of yet but still probably will, but it's all in good fun.

 

[MWA]

Originally posted by Lt. 'Killer' M.
where are Vivaldi and Bach???????

They are now added on the list as I encouraged you to do. I could haved added a great deal of other deserving names to the list, but part of the fun lies in where you guys decide to take this thread. I only started the snowball rolling.

I think Mahler and Rossini should be added as well by the way.


The Beatles' success was a group effort, no doubt, and to impute their impact on music today solely to Lennon would be unfair - to put it mildly. However, although the Beatles was comprised of four brilliant musicians, Lennon is by many considered to be the one who stood out the most (not to say that the other members didn't stand out, because they certainly did); and thus he would qualify for the title. A group can't be described as a 'genius', although they can be described as simply 'genius'.

 

[andrewgprv]

Bheetoven!

 

[Greadius]

Okay, so I think everyone on your list from the 20th century was either overrated or just out of their league compared to the two classicalists, particularly Hendrix & Lennon.

But, since I get to throw in my vote for whatever criteria I choose, I'd say Britney Spears.
How can you vote against that

 

[MWA]

Originally posted by Greadius
Okay, so I think everyone on your list from the 20th century was either overrated or just out of their league compared to the two classicalists, particularly Hendrix & Lennon.

But, since I get to throw in my vote for whatever criteria I choose, I'd say Britney Spears.
How can you vote against that

Anyone else notice that it's SILICONE. ops, did I write that out loud? I didn't mean to do th...SILICONE. Damn, it happened again. Also, ever seen Britney without makeup?

Naturally the big classical composers aren't easy to compete with, but you must have some musical performer from the 20th century who at least deserves to be mentioned!



Chant with me now: SI-LI-CONE! SI-LI-CONE!

 

[jpowers]

Is it me, or do her eyes look a little Mongoloid? Her estimated shelf life is measured in minutes anyway.

 

[MWA]

Originally posted by jpowers
Is it me, or do her eyes look a little Mongoloid? Her estimated shelf life is measured in minutes anyway.

Yes, and her breasts look like an asscrack.