Sting Scales Down For Spring Tour

[TimmyB]

I give you over twenty artists off the top of my head from A to C and all you can give me is 1. Ween 2. Pearl Jam 3. Tool? Come on you can do better than that, can't you?

Or do you want to be infallibe?

I enjoy all those bands. I've seen Ween twice and have a lot of their material. I've seen Pearl Jam seven times and have all of their body of work. I have yet to see Tool but would like to one day.

But come on are you telling me that Pearl Jam haven't been on a steady decline? I enjoy tracks off of everyone of their albums, including "Love Boat Captain," "I Am Mine" and especially "Bushleaguer" off of "Riot Act" but it doesn't even hold a candle to their first couple of efforts.

Sting's decline as a solo artist hasn't been anymore dramatic than Pearl Jam and I would argue that Sting's last couple of albums have been more consistant front to back to that of Pearl Jam's last couple.

By the way do you really like Tom Petty and if so what do you think of my list of recommended listening? Do you have any of those albums? Do you listen to any of those artists?

If you enjoy Petty you'll likely enjoy those albums.

[purple foot]

i'll bite on the pearl jam thing.

I don't even listen to these guys hardly anymore but i'd say binaural and riot act are pj's better albums. cameron adds so much to the band and you can see how they've all grown as songwriters and musicians on these discs.

But come on are you telling me that Pearl Jam haven't been on a steady decline? I enjoy tracks off of everyone of their albums, including "Love Boat Captain," "I Am Mine" and especially "Bushleaguer" off of "Riot Act" but it doesn't even hold a candle to their first couple of efforts.

I prefer these recording to the earlier ones. tighter band, eddie writing tunes as opposed to just lyrics. harder jams. maybe purposefully less commercially driven but i'll take artist integrity over album sales anyday.

and no i think the only petty disc i own is some willbury outtakes. I'm not that big a petty fan at all i really know are the radio tunes. which is more than i can say for sting. thanks for the reccomendations though you clearly went to a lot of work to impress me there so i'll concede this bullsh!t and just say thanks for links.

[TimmyB]

I don't listen to artists because of album sales. Just because some of the artists that I listen to sell a lot of records, doesn't mean that is how I judge the music that I listen to.

One of the points that I was making the other day with all of the Beatles, the Grateful Dead and U2 talk was that U2 are currently the "Biggest" band on the planet.

I do think U2 are better than the Grateful Dead but since I brought that up and used billboard as proof to being bigger I guess everyone here thinks that I only purchase albums based on how they chart.

That's not true my favorite current artists are bands like Wilco (who I've listened to since 1997), Calexcio (since 1998), The Jayhawks (since 1993), Guster (since 1999), Super Furry Animals (since 2003), The Flaming Lips (since 2002).

Other than Wilco who's albums currently chart in the top twenty of the Billboard charts. None of those bands sell a lot of albums.

But if they did would that make them bad? I'm happy for the artists I listen to when they sell a lot of records. I wanted Phish to sell millions of records and be a bigger band than they were, because I wanted all people to enjoy that band like I did.

It's the same with Sting and U2, two different artists that have succeeded commercially that I enjoy. When U2 come around in 2005 I hope they perform at the Skydome so nearly all people that want to see U2 get a chance to, instead of many looking outside in at the Air Canada Centre.

I don't believe that if artists are underground, or artistic are any better than artists that sell millions of records and visa versa.

[Chewie]

Of course this entire list would be debatable, but i believe these artists/bands put out better music than Sting, in the 80's:

...Stevie Ray Vaughn...

good observation Captain Obvious

[Jaimoe]

The thing that may drive people to dislike Sting nowadays, is that he seems to have reinvented his sound and style to the point where his music does not appeal to the majority of original Police fans. However, Sting's evolution is not done in the same survival urgency as middle of the road, adult contempory embracers like Bryan Adams, Phil Collins and Rod Stewart: They do it out of need to sell records and their inability to remain rock & roll relevant to younger audiences.

Sting I think, just got tired of Post-punk, New-Wave and has wanted to explore other music styles since his Police days. I don't like it, but I have a begrudging respect for Sting's musical choices.