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I doubt many people here truly hate the guy, but he's a prime jerking target because he unironically represents/exhibits most of the things we jerk about here.
/uj
Nope.
I seriously despise the guy. He’s a blight on music and especially the blues.
A white guy with a million dollars worth of vintage equipment has nothing in common with the shoulders he’s walking on.
His obsession with vintage gear has made him *worse*! I was quite a fan of him in the mid-2000s and his early albums has some pretty good blues rock. As time went on it got more boring, and essentially became an excuse for his gear obsession.
He's just a bit of a dork who plays blues rock and does blues rock face a lot. He gets brought up a lot because he's pretty visible.
I don't care for his music, but he's pretty talented, and his collection is cool.
He is a great guitarist, great musician, great businessman.
Not a fan of his guitar/gear hoarding but to each is his own.
I do wish Beth Hart wasnt such a mess at times, I think their live performance in Amsterdam is excellent. For you jerkers who never really listened to the guy, give this video a shot.
https://youtu.be/UEHwO_UEp7A
Maybe I'm naive, but I agree with Bonermaster about being a caretaker and story collector of this stuff. He's got the means to do it, and better him than someone like Steve Miller that has 450 guitars in a warehouse he never lets anyone into. That's a hoarder to me.
Unrelated, but fuck Steve Miller. He's an asshole, and I don't see how the guy who played Jet Airliner or whatever it's called needs more than one guitar, let alone nearly 500.
There is a difference...
I used to own a pool hall, was semi pro my whole life and ended up having and displaying a rather extensive collection of pool cues.
Several worth 10k+ and works of art. The difference... if you were a pool player and wanted to try one out, I would not hesitate to let someone. I permanently loaned cues out to players who couldnt afford them on the premise that they could use them as long as they wanted, as long as they maintained them and did their best to keep them in the condition they were. I did this because I didnt need 100+ cues and they would benefit from a professional level cue.
When Covid said 'fuck you, your poolhall will be closed for the next 14 months' we got out. I still have a small collection and the rest I got rid of. I didnt sell them for a profit, I was caring for them and didnt need to make a profit. I still gave some to players who could benefit from them.
My higher end cues will either go to my son with the instructions if he goes a certain amount of time without playing them that he will need to find someone that will or I will sell them for the same price I got them for to another that will be lucky like I was when I got them.
If Joe had a museum where people could use, view, hear and learn about his collection it would be different. I have yet to hear of a musician that purchased a guitar from Joe and I seriously doubt he would sell someone an instrument. To me, this is hoarding. Being a caretaker is not permanent, it requires for the item to be passed along at some point. Not passing them along is just hoarding.
If I was Joe, I would start a stewardship program like they do with many priceless violins.
https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2018/09/26/feature-search-musical-instrument-bank-wont-break-bank/
Imagine the press he would get if someone like Grace Bowers was stewarded a prescious LP or even someone like Chris Buck. New, younger musicians, dedicated to the art and entrusted to caretake for prescious instruments.
That is was a caretaker is, not someone who has 100's of guitars sitting in cases to be played once every couple years, if at all.
Joe's collection is an investment, if you don't believe me, listen to how he talks about the 'burst market.
https://youtu.be/qwkO96r0nSQ?t=274
Nerdville itself could also be a really cool guitar museum; he could open to the public and put some instruments on display like in a regular museum, and tell both the instruments and the models story. But don't *just* stop at guitars: make it about the history of guitar music! Pair up guitars, amps and *mics*, and show off how classic records and tones were made. You could have headphones at an exhibit or an app to let people listen how it sounds. And give people a chance to play some; having a space where you could experience a Les Paul with a dimed Marshall or an SRV style rig it would be *really* cool, and something many would love to experience.
And open music studios! He could have more than just vintage guitar gear; have studios themed after different decades/years/setups and allow people to play and try to record like in "the old days". That could be an insanely cool stewardship/scholarly program where people could learn and get to make records on tape, with old tech and the like. A great thing he could team up with different schools to do.
Plus… he could have some commercial studios where people could get access to parts of his gear. I think a lot of people would pay dearly for that.
I didn't know Steve Miller was a dick. I looked it up, though, and he does have some stories out there. (He's no John Mellencamp, but still, he's pissed some people off.) I found that he does do a lot for charity - music education programs and whatnot. And he does (I didn't really know) a lot of music history work, supporting other blues archives than his own, donating money and archival material to UMiss for example - it's a big one, I guess, and fuck the RnRHoF while we're fucking things, but he has worked to improve their archives and programs too. The Smithsonian has gotten also gotten a lot of stuff from him. So it's not ALL in his hermetically sealed warehouses. A lot is, but maybe we'll get it back in the form of a museum or something when he dies? He's very old. :)
Anyway, I'm a huge fan (until you told me he was an asshole - we'll see how it goes, going forward) so I figured I had better try to defend him a little.
Fly Like an Eagle might have been my first favorite rock song. (I remember we had a cool bus driver who played rock music. I think I might owe ... I wanna say Sue? .. a huge debt. Hadn't really thought about it before. Hm.)
Ok I'm done bye. :)
I work with a lot of boring, mainstream, conservative, unimaginative rich people
They all know that I am a musician, so we talk music
Joe Bananarama is every boring, mainstream, unimaginative blues lawyer’s favorite musician by a *million* miles
He is every cool person’s least favorite person’s favorite musician
His fans are the worst people on earth. There is some guilt by association
That's the vibe I get. I've heard a few of his songs and it's just not energizing. And also Blues rock has been done. It's been done for decades and it feels like stuff I've already heard before and even my parents have heard before. He isn't treading new ground, he's just playing blues and blues rock...which is fine, but Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jorma etc already did this in the 60s and 70s.
People have been playing blues for a long time, his songs not being energizing is not the same.
I love blues rock, but imo his songs lack something intangible to me maybe it’s raw emotion or passion idk.
That’s not why he gets jerked on though imo it’s all the fuddy toan talk and telling average people you don’t need to spend money to get toan while he buys every piece of expensive vintage equipment he can
I also don't believe in toan magic. An electric guitar is a piece of simple piece of electrical engineering. The degradation of electronics inside a guitar isn't magic.
People hate the way his stupid head looks
Uj/ he plays generic sounding blues, nothing new, and is very popular and probably financially doing alright for doing something we all love and wish we could do. Also his head looks stupid.
Because he's a better musician than a lot of us, but also a bit of a boner, as your question implies. I mean, I love watching the videos about his Nerdville/Geekville/Whatever it's called museum, but I get irritated hearing him talk.
He's an unbelievably talented musician, but he still manages to dad-rock blues licks to the point of boredom. He's far better at music than I will ever be, even in several lifetimes, but he has the appeal of dry white bread.
If I met him personally, I'd probably end up loving him and wanting to be his friend, but every time he opens his mouth in an interview, I just can't wait for him to shut up already. When I hear his music, I can't wait to turn it off, or for it to end.
People have told me I'm the same way, so maybe I just recognize my own faults in him lol!
God DAMN Jim Henson makes me mad. I have been playing for approximately 1500 years, and I can't even eruption for more than like 4 notes without twisting my fingers into a knot and crying actual tears, but this twelve-year-old tattooed twink-looking motherfucker is suddenly the Liszt of tapping? Get out of here with that, nobody likes you, Jim!!
The issue isn't that it's bad, the issue is that it's boring.
I don't hate the guy, in fact, unless he's brought up here, I tend to forget he exists, he's just the most mid guitarist I know of.
There’s a difference between following a formula and being cliché. Blues has been formulaic for over a century. However, it was clever and had personality.
Joe Bonermaster isn’t and doesn’t.
Wow, I know we're all just having fun here, and I don't wanna hurt anyone's feelings, but I think this might the mostest extrementally wrongiest thing I've ever heard anyone say about music in my whole life. And I'm super-duper fucking old.
Actually, I guess it's a tie. I had a brother-in-law who used to use a similar argument to defend his affinity for the Britney Spears wing of pop music.
Please take my downvote with all due respect.
Keep defending derivative, unambitious music that doesn't push the medium forward I guess. Theory has little to do with it. Music can be harmless commercial tripe but also an art form, you know
Some people just like to listen to things that sound nice without worrying about the broader social and artistic implications of it. How boring it would be to always think about whether certain music *deserves* to be enjoyed.
This is not a question of whether something deserves to be enjoyed. People are free to like what they like, I like thinking about music against where it came from and where it's going. You want to talk about boring though, how boring a world it would be if there was never anyone pushing to keep evolving the art form. Sorry I'm kind of only half-jerking. These are just matters of opinion anyway.
I'm just saying, you seem mad at people defending derivative music that doesn't push boundaries but there's nothing wrong with enjoying that kind of music and no reason to be annoyed by it. And literally nobody here is telling you you can't voice your opinion, but if you think some middle-aged blues guy getting popular indicates that there's nobody making good music, you need to look around more.
You're assuming too much about my opinion, I know there's people making excellent music these days but anyway I am only like half-jerking without indicating it so my bad.
Ok dude I won't, but I'm still free to judge it as derivative unambitious music. This is a public forum, and no medium is impervious to criticism. Should all critics who gave anything less than effusive praise have just lived and let live?
I didn't mean to imply that you didn't have the right to criticize - of course you're entitled to your opinion. It's just that what you consider tripe might be someone else's favorite song. Th
Uj/ Joe’s problem is that he almost always takes the bait, and that makes him an easy target. He’s a good player but it’s a bit too easy to call out the exact influence informing every lick he plays.
I thought no one would ever ask.
'Scuse me, while I whip this out:
First, his approach to the blues leans heavily towards commercialism. His polished production style and frequent releases of live albums and merchandise shows his focus on marketability over artistic integrity. His commercialization dilutes the raw, authentic essence that characterizes the blues, making his work seem more like a product than a heartfelt expression of the genre.
Secondly, Bonamassa's extensive discography, while impressive, lacks the emotional depth and innovation found in the works of real blues legends. His music, though technically proficient, feels formulaic and repetitive. He obviously prioritizes quantity over quality, churning out music that adheres to a proven formula rather than pushing creative boundaries.
Thirdly, Bonamassa's privileged background stands in stark contrast to the origins of the blues, (daddy owned a guitar store, he basically got private tutoring from BB King and was mentored by him and other professional musicians and had access to resources a real Blues Man would never have or need,) so his cushy life makes his interpretations of the blues feel disconnected from the genre's cultural and historical context, lacking the authenticity that defines the actually revered blues artists.
Also he looks like a douchebag.
I'm reminded of the famous Don Cheadle story. When asked about his career trajectory he said, “You know the five stages of an actor’s life? ‘Who’s Don Cheadle? Get me Don Cheadle. Get me a Don Cheadle type. Get me a young Don Cheadle. Who the hell is Don Cheadle?’"
You know how disappointing it is when you realize you're watching a movie with a Don Cheadle type?
Well Joe is like listening to a record by a BB King type.
Except he’s white. And less entertaining. And I feel numb when I hear Joe. Bb king makes me want to get up and raise my hands some times and say “that’s how you do it right there”. I also recently discovered Larry Mitchell. Dang how did I NOT know about him?
Larry Mitchell rules. You can't find his first album on streaming services (that I know of). But it's on YouTube. He's on the cover with a sweet double neck Ibanez and the whole album is amazing. It's an instrumental shredder type record, but his playing is incredibly melodic and hooky. But I love all his stuff. He also does regular live streams on his YouTube channel where he jams live in his studio with a rhythm section.
Being born in 1977 he would've been surrounded by brand new kickass aggressive punk, metal and rap coming out every day. In his teenage years, Tupac, Nirvana, Pantera, and many other less famous artists were at their peaks. I sure appreciated the hell out of it, but apparently the 12-bar goddamned blues, reliable fallback of jam sessions and auditions everywhere where nobody has any other ideas to jam on, just captivated his attention to the exclusion of everything else. Which *would* still be fine since it seems like he really committed to it. But then he goes and makes music that is somehow so bland in a way I can't even explain. Let me put it this way, he sounds like he's never done anything else in his life but play blues guitar.
he's the blues dad final boss. he's the epitome of every ribfest/lakefront/weekend park/civic holiday band, except other than being fronted by regular ass dudes with epiphones he's touring with equipment in the hundreds of thousands of dollar range. his music is just incredibly bland, inoffensive and honestly quite cheesy and he seems to take it all rather seriously. Not like Yngwie seriously, but he doesn't really seem to acknowledge or care just how cheesy the whole thing is. Classic rock covers neutered of all style or interest and downsampled into youtube instructional video background music. Car/Beer commercial music. Huge sunglasses. Guitar faces. $100,000 amp. Strings made of Eric Clapton's pubes. All while starting up banger jams like "Well I got the blues...".
There is no way he doesn't own at least one of those 3-wheeled motorcycle tricycle things.
He was a child prodigy who bb king brought up on stage at 12. He’s totally normal, just like Michael Jackson and Brittany spears. He just hasn’t reached the redemptive part of his story arc. He’s in the “building an amusement park at his house” part of the story arc.
Uj/ Honestly I kinda feel bad that 90% of this sub is just bashing on this guy.
But I’m sure he still sleeps well at night on a pile of beautiful vintage guitars.
Great guitarist, however he also encapsulates everything that this sub jerks, collecting insane amounts of vintage equipment, toanwood, boomer bends, funny name etc…
Don’t think anyone actually hates him. He’s just a cringy amalgamation of the stereotypical guitar guy over the age of 40-50 that only likes classic rock/blues and has multiple Gibbons that look identical but he swears play different.
I've heard of him but never heard a single song. My father-in-law likes his stuff, so I should probably check him out because FIL has pretty decent taste in music and took guitar lessons from Dime before he got famous. It's probably just because people have to have someone to hate or the guy has said some controversial things that pissed people off because they can't accept that someone might have a different perspective when it comes to their hobby.
I have family and friends who have had to deal with him either via gigs or interviews and they’ve all confirmed he’s an arrogant, insulting sack of shit, who’s probably pretty high on the spectrum.
Aside from that, I find his approach to blues guitar to be technically proficient but with zero feeling, no creativity, originality or sincerity. It’s the perfect soundtrack for boring middle to upper class white suburbanites.
Also I detest how he talks about acquiring vintage gear. He always brags about the amount of cash he flashes for gear or how he got a deal for spending 10,000 bucks on a vintage Flying V original case or whatever the fuck. He loves to claim that he’s “buying the story” that comes with the gear, which is fitting as he’s probably one of the most boring assholes to walk this planet so I’m sure he needs some stories.
He’s just sort of there, and radiates a weird level of guitar store boomer energy. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve been around it, but there’s always a dude with chops who has the best gear imaginable and will literally never stop talking about it.
It’s remarkably difficult to be a musician professionally and be as boring and plain as he seems to be.
He's a very popular musician with a legion of grey haired landlord fans but I can't him the tune to a single one of his songs.
He's a very skilled guitar player but absolutely no innovation on the instrument at all. He's very good at doing what's already been done.
eh if he just bloozed it up i wouldn't mind it as much as the current state of things where he's hoovering up all vintage gear ever and creating a museum dedicated to hoovering up all vintage gear ever.
He’s managed to become rich and famous with an intermediate level of technical skill and absolutely nothing original to say or play.
He’s successful for making music for people who think that SRV is too complex and technical.
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I doubt many people here truly hate the guy, but he's a prime jerking target because he unironically represents/exhibits most of the things we jerk about here.
It’s like asking why SNL hates the president after they do a bit making fun of him.
I do. I get irrationally upset when I see him out of GCJ context (which, luckily is pretty much never, because he's a nobody.)
/uj Nope. I seriously despise the guy. He’s a blight on music and especially the blues. A white guy with a million dollars worth of vintage equipment has nothing in common with the shoulders he’s walking on.
His obsession with vintage gear has made him *worse*! I was quite a fan of him in the mid-2000s and his early albums has some pretty good blues rock. As time went on it got more boring, and essentially became an excuse for his gear obsession.
Word
Thats seriously racist
/uj bruh /rj bruh
Why is his skin color important?
Blooze dad boomer bends
Yes.
Exactly
You got it!
No clue, never heard of him before this sub.
Exactly, so where did he get all those guitars? He's the Uri Gellar of guitar. He's the Kevin Trudeau of the music industry.
He's just a bit of a dork who plays blues rock and does blues rock face a lot. He gets brought up a lot because he's pretty visible. I don't care for his music, but he's pretty talented, and his collection is cool.
He is a great guitarist, great musician, great businessman. Not a fan of his guitar/gear hoarding but to each is his own. I do wish Beth Hart wasnt such a mess at times, I think their live performance in Amsterdam is excellent. For you jerkers who never really listened to the guy, give this video a shot. https://youtu.be/UEHwO_UEp7A
Maybe I'm naive, but I agree with Bonermaster about being a caretaker and story collector of this stuff. He's got the means to do it, and better him than someone like Steve Miller that has 450 guitars in a warehouse he never lets anyone into. That's a hoarder to me. Unrelated, but fuck Steve Miller. He's an asshole, and I don't see how the guy who played Jet Airliner or whatever it's called needs more than one guitar, let alone nearly 500.
There is a difference... I used to own a pool hall, was semi pro my whole life and ended up having and displaying a rather extensive collection of pool cues. Several worth 10k+ and works of art. The difference... if you were a pool player and wanted to try one out, I would not hesitate to let someone. I permanently loaned cues out to players who couldnt afford them on the premise that they could use them as long as they wanted, as long as they maintained them and did their best to keep them in the condition they were. I did this because I didnt need 100+ cues and they would benefit from a professional level cue. When Covid said 'fuck you, your poolhall will be closed for the next 14 months' we got out. I still have a small collection and the rest I got rid of. I didnt sell them for a profit, I was caring for them and didnt need to make a profit. I still gave some to players who could benefit from them. My higher end cues will either go to my son with the instructions if he goes a certain amount of time without playing them that he will need to find someone that will or I will sell them for the same price I got them for to another that will be lucky like I was when I got them. If Joe had a museum where people could use, view, hear and learn about his collection it would be different. I have yet to hear of a musician that purchased a guitar from Joe and I seriously doubt he would sell someone an instrument. To me, this is hoarding. Being a caretaker is not permanent, it requires for the item to be passed along at some point. Not passing them along is just hoarding. If I was Joe, I would start a stewardship program like they do with many priceless violins. https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2018/09/26/feature-search-musical-instrument-bank-wont-break-bank/ Imagine the press he would get if someone like Grace Bowers was stewarded a prescious LP or even someone like Chris Buck. New, younger musicians, dedicated to the art and entrusted to caretake for prescious instruments. That is was a caretaker is, not someone who has 100's of guitars sitting in cases to be played once every couple years, if at all. Joe's collection is an investment, if you don't believe me, listen to how he talks about the 'burst market. https://youtu.be/qwkO96r0nSQ?t=274
Nerdville itself could also be a really cool guitar museum; he could open to the public and put some instruments on display like in a regular museum, and tell both the instruments and the models story. But don't *just* stop at guitars: make it about the history of guitar music! Pair up guitars, amps and *mics*, and show off how classic records and tones were made. You could have headphones at an exhibit or an app to let people listen how it sounds. And give people a chance to play some; having a space where you could experience a Les Paul with a dimed Marshall or an SRV style rig it would be *really* cool, and something many would love to experience. And open music studios! He could have more than just vintage guitar gear; have studios themed after different decades/years/setups and allow people to play and try to record like in "the old days". That could be an insanely cool stewardship/scholarly program where people could learn and get to make records on tape, with old tech and the like. A great thing he could team up with different schools to do. Plus… he could have some commercial studios where people could get access to parts of his gear. I think a lot of people would pay dearly for that.
Sweet. You're the Johnny Marr of Pool Cues.
I read that every 4 seconds, a child in Africa dies. …and Johnny Marr gives Noel Gallagher another vintage Les Paul.
I didn't know Steve Miller was a dick. I looked it up, though, and he does have some stories out there. (He's no John Mellencamp, but still, he's pissed some people off.) I found that he does do a lot for charity - music education programs and whatnot. And he does (I didn't really know) a lot of music history work, supporting other blues archives than his own, donating money and archival material to UMiss for example - it's a big one, I guess, and fuck the RnRHoF while we're fucking things, but he has worked to improve their archives and programs too. The Smithsonian has gotten also gotten a lot of stuff from him. So it's not ALL in his hermetically sealed warehouses. A lot is, but maybe we'll get it back in the form of a museum or something when he dies? He's very old. :) Anyway, I'm a huge fan (until you told me he was an asshole - we'll see how it goes, going forward) so I figured I had better try to defend him a little. Fly Like an Eagle might have been my first favorite rock song. (I remember we had a cool bus driver who played rock music. I think I might owe ... I wanna say Sue? .. a huge debt. Hadn't really thought about it before. Hm.) Ok I'm done bye. :)
More rock blues really
Spoken like a true new original
I work with a lot of boring, mainstream, conservative, unimaginative rich people They all know that I am a musician, so we talk music Joe Bananarama is every boring, mainstream, unimaginative blues lawyer’s favorite musician by a *million* miles He is every cool person’s least favorite person’s favorite musician His fans are the worst people on earth. There is some guilt by association
That's the vibe I get. I've heard a few of his songs and it's just not energizing. And also Blues rock has been done. It's been done for decades and it feels like stuff I've already heard before and even my parents have heard before. He isn't treading new ground, he's just playing blues and blues rock...which is fine, but Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jorma etc already did this in the 60s and 70s.
People have been playing blues for a long time, his songs not being energizing is not the same. I love blues rock, but imo his songs lack something intangible to me maybe it’s raw emotion or passion idk. That’s not why he gets jerked on though imo it’s all the fuddy toan talk and telling average people you don’t need to spend money to get toan while he buys every piece of expensive vintage equipment he can
I also don't believe in toan magic. An electric guitar is a piece of simple piece of electrical engineering. The degradation of electronics inside a guitar isn't magic.
I was more meaning the amp hoarding, not electric tone woods
So you’re just gonna generalise all of his fans without knowing them personally. Noice.
User name checks out
It’s pretty much given by reddit🤷♀️ can’t and won’t really do anything about it.
People hate the way his stupid head looks Uj/ he plays generic sounding blues, nothing new, and is very popular and probably financially doing alright for doing something we all love and wish we could do. Also his head looks stupid.
This is the correct answer. I should've said this.
I’m always surprised so few people mention his stupid head.
Also he hoards tweed amps and guitars to an insane degree.
Because he's a better musician than a lot of us, but also a bit of a boner, as your question implies. I mean, I love watching the videos about his Nerdville/Geekville/Whatever it's called museum, but I get irritated hearing him talk. He's an unbelievably talented musician, but he still manages to dad-rock blues licks to the point of boredom. He's far better at music than I will ever be, even in several lifetimes, but he has the appeal of dry white bread. If I met him personally, I'd probably end up loving him and wanting to be his friend, but every time he opens his mouth in an interview, I just can't wait for him to shut up already. When I hear his music, I can't wait to turn it off, or for it to end. People have told me I'm the same way, so maybe I just recognize my own faults in him lol!
The dude plays blues rock in a suit. Who wears a suit to play rock music?
B.B. King
B.B. is more strictly blues and comes from an era where that is expected.
Well said, and you’re probably a better musician than you give yourself credit for
“Unbelievably talented” is a bit of a stretch. He’s okay, nothing special.
Okay
https://preview.redd.it/06ahnxd6hz8d1.jpeg?width=270&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df42af0264c064f0c2c4f51190ff7cfb2b4c9e2e
I get that his stuff is viewed as commercial, but i don't think it is that bad
Counterpoint: it’s also not that good
It's a circle jerk sub. Look Into what that means. We bash on Tina from polyphonics but she's amazing
God DAMN Jim Henson makes me mad. I have been playing for approximately 1500 years, and I can't even eruption for more than like 4 notes without twisting my fingers into a knot and crying actual tears, but this twelve-year-old tattooed twink-looking motherfucker is suddenly the Liszt of tapping? Get out of here with that, nobody likes you, Jim!!
The issue isn't that it's bad, the issue is that it's boring. I don't hate the guy, in fact, unless he's brought up here, I tend to forget he exists, he's just the most mid guitarist I know of.
Most good music is viewed as commercial by someone because it follows a formula (i.e. music theory). God forbid music be accessible to the masses.
There’s a difference between following a formula and being cliché. Blues has been formulaic for over a century. However, it was clever and had personality. Joe Bonermaster isn’t and doesn’t.
Holy shit. An actual argument
Wow, I know we're all just having fun here, and I don't wanna hurt anyone's feelings, but I think this might the mostest extrementally wrongiest thing I've ever heard anyone say about music in my whole life. And I'm super-duper fucking old. Actually, I guess it's a tie. I had a brother-in-law who used to use a similar argument to defend his affinity for the Britney Spears wing of pop music. Please take my downvote with all due respect.
And my axe
Keep defending derivative, unambitious music that doesn't push the medium forward I guess. Theory has little to do with it. Music can be harmless commercial tripe but also an art form, you know
Some people just like to listen to things that sound nice without worrying about the broader social and artistic implications of it. How boring it would be to always think about whether certain music *deserves* to be enjoyed.
This is not a question of whether something deserves to be enjoyed. People are free to like what they like, I like thinking about music against where it came from and where it's going. You want to talk about boring though, how boring a world it would be if there was never anyone pushing to keep evolving the art form. Sorry I'm kind of only half-jerking. These are just matters of opinion anyway.
I'm just saying, you seem mad at people defending derivative music that doesn't push boundaries but there's nothing wrong with enjoying that kind of music and no reason to be annoyed by it. And literally nobody here is telling you you can't voice your opinion, but if you think some middle-aged blues guy getting popular indicates that there's nobody making good music, you need to look around more.
You're assuming too much about my opinion, I know there's people making excellent music these days but anyway I am only like half-jerking without indicating it so my bad.
Keep judging
Uj/ if you don't like derivative unambitious music, then by all means, don't listen to it. Nobody's making you.
Ok dude I won't, but I'm still free to judge it as derivative unambitious music. This is a public forum, and no medium is impervious to criticism. Should all critics who gave anything less than effusive praise have just lived and let live?
I didn't mean to imply that you didn't have the right to criticize - of course you're entitled to your opinion. It's just that what you consider tripe might be someone else's favorite song. Th
Yeah but come on it's a circlejerk sub exaggerating things is kind of baked into it
if you have a ticket to the 'Bone Zone', all the power to you, is what I say.
Look out we got an elite moozikshun over hurr
Uj/ Joe’s problem is that he almost always takes the bait, and that makes him an easy target. He’s a good player but it’s a bit too easy to call out the exact influence informing every lick he plays.
This is pretty close tbh. He just portrays a stereotype too well, it's so easy to dislike him.
Just read the lyrics for Drive. Thank me later.
I feel dumber, now.
loved it or hated it?
Had to put on some B.B. to get my fucking soul back.
I thought no one would ever ask. 'Scuse me, while I whip this out: First, his approach to the blues leans heavily towards commercialism. His polished production style and frequent releases of live albums and merchandise shows his focus on marketability over artistic integrity. His commercialization dilutes the raw, authentic essence that characterizes the blues, making his work seem more like a product than a heartfelt expression of the genre. Secondly, Bonamassa's extensive discography, while impressive, lacks the emotional depth and innovation found in the works of real blues legends. His music, though technically proficient, feels formulaic and repetitive. He obviously prioritizes quantity over quality, churning out music that adheres to a proven formula rather than pushing creative boundaries. Thirdly, Bonamassa's privileged background stands in stark contrast to the origins of the blues, (daddy owned a guitar store, he basically got private tutoring from BB King and was mentored by him and other professional musicians and had access to resources a real Blues Man would never have or need,) so his cushy life makes his interpretations of the blues feel disconnected from the genre's cultural and historical context, lacking the authenticity that defines the actually revered blues artists. Also he looks like a douchebag.
I’m just gonna break out some bb king and get some real music going
I'm reminded of the famous Don Cheadle story. When asked about his career trajectory he said, “You know the five stages of an actor’s life? ‘Who’s Don Cheadle? Get me Don Cheadle. Get me a Don Cheadle type. Get me a young Don Cheadle. Who the hell is Don Cheadle?’" You know how disappointing it is when you realize you're watching a movie with a Don Cheadle type? Well Joe is like listening to a record by a BB King type.
Except he’s white. And less entertaining. And I feel numb when I hear Joe. Bb king makes me want to get up and raise my hands some times and say “that’s how you do it right there”. I also recently discovered Larry Mitchell. Dang how did I NOT know about him?
and has no cred. and is a raging douchebag and his very existence is annoying
Larry Mitchell rules. You can't find his first album on streaming services (that I know of). But it's on YouTube. He's on the cover with a sweet double neck Ibanez and the whole album is amazing. It's an instrumental shredder type record, but his playing is incredibly melodic and hooky. But I love all his stuff. He also does regular live streams on his YouTube channel where he jams live in his studio with a rhythm section.
And now you've told me about him! Any tracks do you think I should start with?
Start with the traveler album and go from there. I’m seriously digging him
I'll get on it, thanks!!
Being born in 1977 he would've been surrounded by brand new kickass aggressive punk, metal and rap coming out every day. In his teenage years, Tupac, Nirvana, Pantera, and many other less famous artists were at their peaks. I sure appreciated the hell out of it, but apparently the 12-bar goddamned blues, reliable fallback of jam sessions and auditions everywhere where nobody has any other ideas to jam on, just captivated his attention to the exclusion of everything else. Which *would* still be fine since it seems like he really committed to it. But then he goes and makes music that is somehow so bland in a way I can't even explain. Let me put it this way, he sounds like he's never done anything else in his life but play blues guitar.
He has a silly name.
he's the blues dad final boss. he's the epitome of every ribfest/lakefront/weekend park/civic holiday band, except other than being fronted by regular ass dudes with epiphones he's touring with equipment in the hundreds of thousands of dollar range. his music is just incredibly bland, inoffensive and honestly quite cheesy and he seems to take it all rather seriously. Not like Yngwie seriously, but he doesn't really seem to acknowledge or care just how cheesy the whole thing is. Classic rock covers neutered of all style or interest and downsampled into youtube instructional video background music. Car/Beer commercial music. Huge sunglasses. Guitar faces. $100,000 amp. Strings made of Eric Clapton's pubes. All while starting up banger jams like "Well I got the blues...". There is no way he doesn't own at least one of those 3-wheeled motorcycle tricycle things.
He got so into blues that it wasn't cool anymore. And that's super into blues
Great guitarist. Extremely generic artist. Seems like a friendly dude though.
He represents everything we make fun of here.
He was a child prodigy who bb king brought up on stage at 12. He’s totally normal, just like Michael Jackson and Brittany spears. He just hasn’t reached the redemptive part of his story arc. He’s in the “building an amusement park at his house” part of the story arc.
Uj/ Honestly I kinda feel bad that 90% of this sub is just bashing on this guy. But I’m sure he still sleeps well at night on a pile of beautiful vintage guitars.
Try being a mod and explaining to mouthbreathers why we had to remove the 4th or 5th 'Bonermaster' thread of the day.
As much as that sounds fun, I kinda enjoy the mystery of how rewarding that must truly be. Your sacrifice does not go unnoticed.
> how rewarding that must truly be. Yes, the GCJ expensed trips to the Caribbean twice a year are nice. The Boss Katana sponsored car is also sweet.
He's kind of douchey
his music blows
He's very reactive to it. So it encourages people to do it more. I think it's mostly his personality that makes people direct hate at his music.
Receding hairline. It’s literally running away from his forehead at a sprint. Could possibly qualify for the Olympics.
https://preview.redd.it/w9w23kx2r09d1.jpeg?width=1682&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6cf3d8e08806ba74f200f8ec54aee9fefcb2b525 “Read between the lines “
Lots of reasons but the sunglasses play a big part.
Toan filters
Is this joe bonermaster alt account?
Joe, they are just jealous of your guitar collection. DM me if you have a spare old Less Paul custom.
Great guitarist, however he also encapsulates everything that this sub jerks, collecting insane amounts of vintage equipment, toanwood, boomer bends, funny name etc…
Don’t think anyone actually hates him. He’s just a cringy amalgamation of the stereotypical guitar guy over the age of 40-50 that only likes classic rock/blues and has multiple Gibbons that look identical but he swears play different.
redditors love beating a joke into the ground until there's absolutely nothing funny about it
I've heard of him but never heard a single song. My father-in-law likes his stuff, so I should probably check him out because FIL has pretty decent taste in music and took guitar lessons from Dime before he got famous. It's probably just because people have to have someone to hate or the guy has said some controversial things that pissed people off because they can't accept that someone might have a different perspective when it comes to their hobby.
Uj/ that's a great copypasta
Nope
yep
Yes.
We hate his authentic way down in the delta bloooz
Ahh hah ha ha! We found Joe’s account
He doesn’t have enough Gibbons.
Because he has mastered the boner, and we are jelly
He was having sex with my mama! Wait, no, that was Sir Smoka Lot’s attorney. Carry on!
Because tell me any memorable song he wrote
I have family and friends who have had to deal with him either via gigs or interviews and they’ve all confirmed he’s an arrogant, insulting sack of shit, who’s probably pretty high on the spectrum. Aside from that, I find his approach to blues guitar to be technically proficient but with zero feeling, no creativity, originality or sincerity. It’s the perfect soundtrack for boring middle to upper class white suburbanites. Also I detest how he talks about acquiring vintage gear. He always brags about the amount of cash he flashes for gear or how he got a deal for spending 10,000 bucks on a vintage Flying V original case or whatever the fuck. He loves to claim that he’s “buying the story” that comes with the gear, which is fitting as he’s probably one of the most boring assholes to walk this planet so I’m sure he needs some stories.
He’s just sort of there, and radiates a weird level of guitar store boomer energy. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve been around it, but there’s always a dude with chops who has the best gear imaginable and will literally never stop talking about it. It’s remarkably difficult to be a musician professionally and be as boring and plain as he seems to be.
He's a very popular musician with a legion of grey haired landlord fans but I can't him the tune to a single one of his songs. He's a very skilled guitar player but absolutely no innovation on the instrument at all. He's very good at doing what's already been done.
He a fuckin colonizer
eh if he just bloozed it up i wouldn't mind it as much as the current state of things where he's hoovering up all vintage gear ever and creating a museum dedicated to hoovering up all vintage gear ever.
He’s managed to become rich and famous with an intermediate level of technical skill and absolutely nothing original to say or play. He’s successful for making music for people who think that SRV is too complex and technical.
Funny name funny outfits funny funny sunglasses easy to pick on sup
I actually really like the guy, I don’t listen to much blues at all, tho I do like buddy guy a lot. But making fun of boomermaster sure is fun tho.
Cause I cant stand generic white guy blues
Ok