Thursday, August 03, 2006

An Open Letter to Clive Davis

I'm going to take a little break from my walk down memory lane. Wouldn't you know it? Clay just had to go and release a new CD. The nerve *g*

Anyway............

Dear Clive,

You Da Man. You found Janis, you discovered Bruce. You brought Whitney to the forefront. Three of THE most influential artists in the past 50 years. Now you're working with Clay Aiken:

WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?????????????

I do not understand how you could waste the talent of the century on songs shot to hell with pabulum like the track listing on A Thousand Different Ways. The greatest voice this generation will ever hear, and you found a way to cut him off at the balls. I just don't understand how one could take a talent as great as Clay and totally screw him over by making him sing warmed-over dreck. Did you not hear him KILL on 'Back For More'? Did you not witness the throngs of people who turned that song into a concert arena anthem? Did you not notice a quarter of a million people who attended The Jukebox Tour rock out with Clay? Did you not notice his song choices, like U2's 'Where the Streets have No Name', Prince's 'When Doves Cry', 'Chain of Fools'? That boy has some green-eyed soul in him and enough rocker to satisfy the most discriminating tastes.

There's a time and a place for ballads, and a Clay CD with 50% ballads would be OK. His middle-aged fans, of which I am one, do not want bland, syrupy songs, we want rocking songs, songs that kick ass, songs that we can groove to, dance to, be on our feet for a 2-1/2 hour concert. After all, we grew up with The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zep, Zappa, Hendrix, Bruce, Bon Jovi, etc, etc, etc. Just because we've aged doesn't mean that we've lost all semblance of our musicality.

Per Clay's press release, about you: He is a man who not only knows music, but really has his finger on the pulse of what listeners want to hear

The pulse just flat-lined.

Respectfully,

A Member of the Vanilla Revolution

Stay tuned, readers. I'll get over my initial disappointment and love the CD, I'm sure, because it's Clay Freaking Aiken singing, the greatest voice I've ever heard. I just need a moment (tm Jemock) or two to digest everything.


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4 comments:

Shadylil said...

F'Dawgie, I used to LOVE Grand funk railroad!

The ConCLAYve-Nan said...

Muah! I love ya! We're slowly coming to terms with it. I'm praying for interesting arrangements and a mix of r&b ballads, jazz infused ballads, acoustic ballads -- and I figure the tour will be Rocking cause he'll probably choose all uptempo songs to keep the energy high. And there will be another CD and someday even the embalming fluid keeping Clive going is going to evaporate!

Unknown said...

I respectfully disagree with you guys on the tracklisting. I think it's fantastic! As a younger Claymate, I love how Clay is giving us the opportunity of listening to some of the best songs we would've otherwise missed.

Shadylil said...

That's GREAT, Clayisouridol! I'm glad to hear from younger fans because your perspective can be quite different from mine. I hope most people have your outlook!