Vocalists/Musicians Wasting Their Talent

Well, I know this is going to cause the brickbats to start flying, but I've always wondered that about Barbara Streisand. She's lionized by her fans and the press as an enigmatic all-time great vocal talent, but really, is her accomplishment truly in line with those accolades? My reading of the record shows she made a splash on Broadway in the late '60s, had several insignificant pop hits in the '70s and early '80s, acted in a series of movies of little to no lasting impact, and recorded a series of albums of great appeal to her fan base but that did nothing to shape our musical culture. But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Maybe anyone who spent their whole career singing pop qualifies, but the one person with the killer pipes who, to me, has squandered her talent more than anyone is Whitney Houston. And that's totally leaving aside her personal life, documented behavior on the road, etc. A real waste, IMO. and then of course, from another era there's Janis, Jimmi, Jim Morisson, Tim Buckley, Duane Allman, etc. Not really directly on point with respect to putting out crap, but I would argue that these early deaths due to excess robbed all of us of some awesome talent.

My comments may be slightly off the thread, but related. I think we'd all agree that the music industry as well as the talent pool clearly go through cycles of greatness to mediocrity and back. Just as the great rock era of 1967-1974 (approx.) was followed by the mediocrity of disco and a decline of rock later in the decade, we are currently in a mediocre period- have been for years. Iv'e read articles that even the record producers realize it too, but don't really know what to do about it.

Much has been written about the influence of the video and the importance of a camera friendly young face for TV. Muscial "acts" have replaced musicianship and virtuosity, and choreography and costumes are more important than creativity. Madonna, who probably started the modern era we're now in had talent, as did some of the early Rap pioneers. But now the bar has been lowered to such a point as to not even call the people who have followed musicians. There have always been teen stars and others of marginal talent, but the mediocrity of today's batch is almost embarassing. This level of performance used to be confined to bands that played high school dances, now they have record contracts (if they're sexy).

The talent is still out there, to be sure, but w/o the need to sacrifice to develop the level of musicianship of the past, I think very few are approaching the virtuosity of prior generations. As I watched Ken Burns Jazz, the primary thing I took away after 17 hours was the decline in musicianship of the modern era vs. the 1930's to 50's. Pride, hard work, self-sacrifice, and competition among musicians produced some extraordinary talent. Today that is largely missing from the music scene because it takes a long time and a lot of work to develop. It also takes role models which are currently nowhere in sight.

The search is for the next fresh face to launch into celebrity status, not the next great sound. In this evironment, I think even the big name stars have much less motivation to strive for the next level of greatness, because let's face it, nobody's going to bust their butt if they don't have to. It's a sad state of affairs, but histroy has taught us the cycle will turn and eventually move in the other direction. In the meantime, we can use it as an opportunity to explore some of the great music from previous eras.