Who is the defining artist of this generation?

[Guest Felonies!]

You could argue U2...again.

 

You know what I find weird about U2 - they always get mentioned as one of the top bands in the world, known for having a wide reaching and devoted fanbase, but I've never met a person who was a fan of theirs. It's always "U2 sucks" or "I hate Bono."

I dunno. Maybe you only talk to dumbshits. I like U2. They have at least three outstanding albums(War, Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby), but it's been 15 years since the last outstanding one came out. Bono's whole Africa act is interesting, in that when you listen to him, you feel all warm and fuzzy and are like "oh Bono what can I do to help? I'll run a bake sale or something if you want!" but then when you're removed for it, you're like "hey, wait. he wants to raise our taxes for that damn money pit in Niger? fuck that"

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Everything I don't like is ancillary, too.

 

Also, if you're going to call everyone on the board stupid you should be able to spell the words that you use to belittle them.

[The Niggardly King 0]

It's Puff Daddy

[C Dubya 04 0]

I thought he was Diddy now. Or P Diddy, I can't remember if he dropped or added the P.

[Brett Favre 0]

More people at this moment in time, know about Eminem, than they know about anyone else mentioned as the defining artist of this generation. And with his record sales, clothing line, who he's helped produced, who he is, and what he's said; he's definitely not a bad choice. Just because you may think he stinks, doesn't not make him Limp Bizkit. That's an insult, and also a stupid thing to say.

[The Niggardly King 0]

It's Puff Daddy

[Carnival 0]

I suggest EricMM be burned at the stake.

[snuffbox 0]

It could end up being Modest Mouse.

[Annabelle 0]

eminem blew up for the exact same reason limp bizkit did. eminem didn't implode because rap is a much more stable genre than rap rock. but in all honesty, i don't see anything different between the two artists. no need to call me stupid. eminem "quit" for a reason. he's become a parody of everything thats wrong with music. he may have talent but its the same morons (see: tsm) with pierced eye brows & misled aggression who bought up all of his albums. not by anyone with any discernable musical taste. and i stand by that.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I'll consistently defend Eminem's first two albums (especially the first), which are funny, unique, and hold up very well. Funny, great wordplay. He's not the slouch Eric thinks he is--or wasn't, at least--nor is he even approaching "top 5 MCs" level, in my estimation. One great album, another very good album, and then an uninteresting career to follow.

 

Whoever said Outkast is probably the closest so far, or Radiohead. In the case of Outkast, I'm not sure they've been prolific enough, or, more appropriately, stayed in the public consciousness for more than a year or so after the release of each album.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

I thought he was Diddy now. Or P Diddy, I can't remember if he dropped or added the P.

 

He said the P was getting in between him and his fans.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Man the Eminem hate is ridiculous around here sometimes. No one says that you have to be a fan, but to totally discredit what he has done as some sort of fad or a creation for angst-ridden teens is ridiculous and shows you have no perception of popular culture outside of your own little world.

 

Eminem was one of the most well-known and respected underground freestylers for years before he was signed to Dre's label. He released a very good debut album, and two classic follow ups. He has a charisma and charm that has allowed him to have crossover appeal that appeals to a wide scope of people. My father, who won't even admit rap is a musical genre, owns an Eminem CD. My friend, a bassist from a successful SF-area hardcore band thinks Eminem Show is one of the finest albums he's ever heard. That's an example of widespread appeal and that's relevance.

 

Is he one of the five best pure MCs of all time? Probably not. But that doesn't discredit his success as an artist, producer, actor or clothes designer. He at least belongs in the discussion at this point as a defining artist.

[Guest Felonies!]

Everything I don't like is ancillary, too.

There's my racism at work again! Seriously, though. Go into a record store. Pop-slash-rock composes the majority of the racks in the store. Another section is for rap-slash-R&B, another for country. They're still niches in the grand scheme of things, wouldn't you say?

[Hawk 34 0]

Okay, I did a rough survey (i.e asked people on my buddy list) and I got 10 serious answers(that weren't loser trendy emo/indie pussy music) after defineing this generation as "post-cobain" and I got...

 

Eminem: 5 (Been covered)

 

Dave Matthews Band: 1 (Ugh, it's credible enough in the sense that they are really popular with the college scene but have enough name to carry outside of that demographic)

 

No Doubt: 1 (Seriously, while I don't hate them, I don't observe them as generation defining artists, esp when it was a glorifed Gwen act until she finally offically went solo. I didn't get an explanation for this, but I'm guessing the selection was they were one of the first bands to get popular after the grudge era died out and they remained popular ever since, and of course had/have a well known lead)

 

Snoop Dogg: 1 (This was a good pick I think because while musically he isn't the most beloved but on personality, popularity and cultural influence, he was a good choice on those points)

 

Kelly Clarkson: 2 (How did this one go pass everyone? Seriously, Clarkson might be the actual answer to this question. This generation has been defined as reality crazed and no one paid off from that more then Kelly Clarkson. While she broke the stigma of being the first AI winner, she is still responsible for the biggest ratings bonanza on TV in years and ushered in a franchise that has produced a slew of multi-platinum artists)

 

 

So after all of this, I'm changing my answer to Kelly Clarkson.

[Special K 0]

Eminem has charisma, yes. Charm? No. He's one of the least charming people in the fucking entire world.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Go into a record store. Pop-slash-rock composes the majority of the racks in the store. Another section is for rap-slash-R&B, another for country.

 

Bulletproof argument.

[Annabelle 0]

hey cheech, are you on of marshall mathers bastard step brothers? give it up, man.

 

i am discreditting why eminem has become so popular. there's no charm involved. edwin is on to something. his first album did trigger something in the minds of people. it made them listen. but the second album is what made him extremely popular. and for what reason? honestly. for a diss song on christina aguilera. or a simulation of the murder of his wife. i'm not debasing his music because of the morality issues but rather because of his laziness. there's no artform in what eminem became. don't give me the typical "he was a respected underground artists" bullshit. who fucking cares. he abandoned all of that to become a star. none of his past translated into "just lose it". he won't be remembered as a great artist. he'll be remembered as a "controversial figure" in music who depended on gay bashing, mysogyny, & lame duck comedy to tap into the braindead tasteless segment of society who tolerated his inane bullshit.

[Guest]

There isn't a defining artist of this generation. Can't narrow it down to one.

[Brett Favre 0]

eminem blew up for the exact same reason limp bizkit did. eminem didn't implode because rap is a much more stable genre than rap rock. but in all honesty, i don't see anything different between the two artists. no need to call me stupid. eminem "quit" for a reason. he's become a parody of everything thats wrong with music. he may have talent but its the same morons (see: tsm) with pierced eye brows & misled aggression who bought up all of his albums. not by anyone with any discernable musical taste. and i stand by that.

 

I disagree. Everyone, from teenage girls, to punk kids, and to inner-city youth bought Eminem cds. His new CD which sucked ass, may have altered whatever thought some people may have had on him. That album really didn't talk about gay bashing, and beating women. But since people did buy his CDs, they also heard his songs like Stan (which was great work), and this is what seperated him from Limp Bizkit. Limp Bizkit had the pop songs, but no substance anywhere else on any CD. Eminem had it both, and the fact that he was a white guy with so much hip hop talent, made movies, made clothing, and was associated with one of the better people in the business with Dre, it allowed him to get by with as much as he produced. I'll ask different people for their favorite Eminem songs, and I guarantee you that most will pick good ones.

[MrRant 0]

Real punk kids wouldn't buy Eminem.

[Guest Felonies!]

Go into a record store. Pop-slash-rock composes the majority of the racks in the store. Another section is for rap-slash-R&B, another for country.

 

Bulletproof argument.

God, am I gonna piss off every touchy white liberal by Friday or what? To say that pop and rock account for the majority of mainstream releases is not an outrageous claim. If I left rap out and said in spite of high record sales and critical acclaim, our defining artist couldn't come out of Nashville and just left it at that, you wouldn't care. If rap was more important than rock, why is rap relegated to just a few shelves in the store while rock and manufactured pop have the lion's share?

 

EDIT: Snoop Dogg?

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Go into a record store. Pop-slash-rock composes the majority of the racks in the store. Another section is for rap-slash-R&B, another for country.

 

Bulletproof argument.

God, am I gonna piss off every touchy white liberal by Friday or what? To say that pop and rock account for the majority of mainstream releases is not an outrageous claim. If I left rap out and said in spite of high record sales and critical acclaim, our defining artist couldn't come out of Nashville and just left it at that, you wouldn't care. If rap was more important than rock, why is rap relegated to just a few shelves in the store while rock and manufactured pop have the lion's share?

 

EDIT: Snoop Dogg?

 

You're the one who's making this about race, captain. I didn't say a thing.

 

Nor am I pissed off or touchy.

 

Your argument about where the music is put in stores is LAME, so I chose to ignore it.

 

I was raised on country music and still enjoy the songs my mom listened to when I was a kid, but no, I wouldn't have argued against such a statement about country music hasn't achieved the level of crossover appeal as rap.

 

Importance is subjective, and if a lot of people think Eminem is more important than Radiohead (a band that I like a lot), then perhaps he is?

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Edit

[Guest Felonies!]

Your argument about where the music is put in stores is LAME, so I chose to ignore it.

Not where it's put, how much of it there is. But whatever

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

It's blatently Fall out boy aaah

[Guest DaGoodz]

See I don't think Eminem belongs on here. He was extremely popular for a short period of time, but I don't think he made his mark on society the way a band like Nirvana or the others listed did. Are people still going to be talking about Eminem 15 years from now? Is "Hi, My Name is" going to be considered a classic song 15 years from now? I doubt it.

 

There was a good Spin Magazine article about Eminem a while ago - basically, he didn't make any culturally significant impact because all he did was relive Axl Rose's career. He followed it almost step-by-step. Both had enormous resent for their families and discussed it in songs, both made many homophobic comments, only to later perform with Elton John in "groundbreaking" performances. Both wanted to bury women in their backyard ("Used To Love Her" and "Cleaning Out My Closet"). Both attacked much weaker enemies than themselves to garner publicity (Axl vs. Vince Neil, Bob Guccione and Eminem vs. NSYNC and Moby).

 

But here's why I don't put Eminem up with those other bands, because Axl and GnR, whether you like them or not (and I know some here don't), made their mark because of their music first and foremost. Songs like "November Rain" and others will be remembered forever, and that is not the case with Eminem. Eminem has everything to compare with this "generation defining" bands except the music. He made music that was hot at the time, but it won't hold up long term - honestly, it barely even holds up NOW. His big songs like "Hi My Name is" and "The Real Slim Shady" are probably going to be laughed at decades from now.

[k thx 0]

Go into a record store. Pop-slash-rock composes the majority of the racks in the store. Another section is for rap-slash-R&B, another for country.

 

Bulletproof argument.

God, am I gonna piss off every touchy white liberal by Friday or what? To say that pop and rock account for the majority of mainstream releases is not an outrageous claim. If I left rap out and said in spite of high record sales and critical acclaim, our defining artist couldn't come out of Nashville and just left it at that, you wouldn't care. If rap was more important than rock, why is rap relegated to just a few shelves in the store while rock and manufactured pop have the lion's share?

 

Yhat's insinuating that pop and rock are one genre though. Fall Out Boy is different from Broken Social Scene, is different from Radiohead, is different from U2, is different from Kelly Clarkson.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I agree with Czech's basic argument, if not the way he's going about it.

[BUTT 0]

hey cheech, are you on of marshall mathers bastard step brothers? give it up, man.

 

i am discreditting why eminem has become so popular. there's no charm involved. edwin is on to something. his first album did trigger something in the minds of people. it made them listen. but the second album is what made him extremely popular. and for what reason? honestly. for a diss song on christina aguilera. or a simulation of the murder of his wife. i'm not debasing his music because of the morality issues but rather because of his laziness. there's no artform in what eminem became. don't give me the typical "he was a respected underground artists" bullshit. who fucking cares. he abandoned all of that to become a star. none of his past translated into "just lose it". he won't be remembered as a great artist. he'll be remembered as a "controversial figure" in music who depended on gay bashing, mysogyny, & lame duck comedy to tap into the braindead tasteless segment of society who tolerated his inane bullshit.

 

Which is why he's the defining artist of the generation. Decades from now, just like people associate the 50's with greasers, the 60's with hippies, and the 70's with disco, the stereotypical view of people in the early 00's will be college bros and Paris Hilton-types. I can't think of any artist who appeals better to that demographic than Eminem.

 

 

You don't necessarily have to be good to meet the requirement set in this thread's title. I think the fact that those who in the past have defined their generation (Dylan, Jackson, Cobain) were respected, critically acclaimed artists is rather incidental, and maybe says a lot about the tastes of prior generations compared to this one.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

Green Day and the Chilli Peppers have probably resulted in the most bands being formed in the last ten years.