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StonedOnSativa

SLightly stoopid - Ben harper is awesome and i have Live from Mars as well and i love it. However Harper cannot play the guitar anything like santana or clapton like you said. I play guitar and his songs are realy really basic and easy.

Now picture this. Imagine Ben Harper was played 30 times a day on Mtv (muchmusic here in the great north). Everyone would get sick of him just like how all the other mainstream gets overplayed. Then
ben HArper and all the other "unappreciated" band would go mainstream, commercial and compltely sell out. ALot of artists dont want to have a career like that. Why do you think Cobain was a mess? for that exact reason.

It is true though, Their are thousands of genius musicians out there who will never see a contract or any spotlight on Mtv. But thats how the industry is now. Bands are based on look, attitude and style, not music

 

Slightly Stoopid

Harper can play guitar very well. If you go to his concerts, he totaly changes some of his songs, and you will notice the 4 min guitar solo. His Cd's really don't reflect the talent of Ben Harper. Also, i disagree with you on that MTV thing. Sublime was played on MTV non stop for a few months with the release of the self-titled album, Sublime. And though they are mainstream, wern't, aren't they the best?

I think if Ben Harpers Music was played on mtv, he would also be mainstream. And that is good, because we would see music videos of harper, and we would hear more of his music, on radio, tv, baseball stadiums etc. Also, the fact ben harper isn't mainstream hurts his concert venues, because he dosn't attract the crowd that Dave Matthews does.

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Slightly Stoopid
"Before you knock it, try it first. You will learn that it is a blessing and not a curse"
-Ben Harper

Bailey1138

If I were you, I'd hope he stays in smaller venues as long as possible. Bigger places sound awful, and you lose the intimacy of the little ones. Plus, in order to be on MTV, you have to sellout big time, like Dave Matthews. That's just my 2 cents, I don't really dig Ben Harper that, much, but then again I haven't heard him much,Peace.

TheCleric

Bands like Radiohead and Spacehog they have made awesome music but try and find someone who actually listens to them now and you will have to look pretty hard. Also the talking heads i mean they rule hands down, and the clash too at first i thought the clash sucked but now i realize they rock hard! Ahh well at least when i find people that like the same music i know they have taste

Cleric

imported_dubstylee420

Yes, Sublime was mainstream for a few months, but they eventually faded off of the MTV playlist, mostly because of the fact that MTV knew for a fact that there wasn't going to be any new material. Sublime does still have a large cult following, however, and all die hard fans of them who haven't yet heard of the Long Beach Dub Allstars should go pick themselves up the cd Right Back, it is excellent, in my opinion, with the exception of one song on the cd. You can hear the Sublime influence on the cd, mainly because Eric Wilson is playing bass, the Field Marshall is still involved, Bud Gaugh plays drums, and the lead singer is Opie Ortiz, who was the Sublime's tattoo artist, who also drew the album covers and the such. Oh, and yes, he can sing. heh. There are also many other members, as it is a collection of some of dub's finest, such as Half Pint, HR(of Bad Brains fame), and Barrington Levy. Half Pint has some good cd's himself, he is toted as the 'Modern Day Bob Marley', worth checking out.

jah have his grilled cheese.

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Ignorance is most definitely NOT bliss.