Just sayin'

[trashcanman]

[Ben]

There's nothing I despise more than an artist who doesn't write his/her/their own material. At LEAST it has to be on a semi-regular basis. To deserve any of my respect.

[trashcanman]

Any tool can go into the studio, sing what they're told to sing, have engineers and producers alter their voice until it sounds "good", then memorize choreography and lipsync. A true artist can conceptualize, create, and perform with any damn thing they're given.

[The Curmudgeon]

As someone who's hero is a notorious control freak and celebrated songwriter and musician (Prince, not Britney), a whole lot of me agrees with this, but what about some of the most celebrated singers in music history? Sinatra? Didn't write any of his own material. Aretha Franklin may have commanded respect, but she sure didnt write it. And the most famous figure in rock and roll, Elvis Presley, didn't write any of his own hits either.

The songs and talents are obviously considerably greater than Bieber and the witless dross they spew out, but the idea is the same. Do we tar them with the same brush?

[trashcanman]

Nah, but the game has changed. Elvis (who did write some true classics: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Songs_written_by_Elvis_Presley), Sinatra, and Aretha didn't have their voices overproduced beyond all recognition and their material was original, artistically sound, and they had their own signature style. The new breed are clearly corporate drones and so are the teams of dicks who plagiarize ceaselessly and "write" their songs based entirely on whatever is popular this minute. So what worked in the 50's and 60's just ain't working out in the current climate.