Name your lame duck artist........

Dismissing Leonard Cohen as "pretentious dribble" (I presume you mean drivel) strikes me as awfully harsh. His particular genre ("contempopary art song" is probably as good a description as any) may strike some as pretentious in general, but Cohen is awfully good at it. Tom Waits is an interesting talent - no argument there -, but I suspect that you're in the minority as to his relative lyrical ability vis a vis Cohen. John Marks (IIRC) of Stereophile has written pretty extensively on Cohen and contemporary art song and offers some interesting insights.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but IMHO (and just IMHO) you're off base on this one.

Marty

My personal favorite nomination so far is Edge from U2. I just saw the dvd "It Might Get Loud" with Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White. Page and White were always looking to (essentially) unadulterated blues for inspiration, while Edge was stroking a giant battery of effects boxes. I kept waiting for White to ask "Who let this guy in here?"

Sit

Tom Waits is stuck in one boring droaning sound??? The guy is all over the place with his sound and that is what I like about him - far from safe.

Martkl

No, I had it right - dribble, better still, toilet flush. I just don't get it when a guy spurts out a torrent of supposed metaphors that mean nothing to anybody except himself, and I even doubt that. Such a poet, and a singer. He is probably laughing his ass off at all the people that pretend to get the absolute nonsense he passes off as "art" and are willing to pay $13.99 for.
Don't know what the hell Herbie Hancock was thinking when he brought the clown in on "River" - put a huge blemish on an otherwise great album, thank god it was the last track. I am already holding the remote ready to hit stop when the previous track fades out.
Still, whatever floats your boat, I know you would also cringe if you heard a lot of my favorites. Leonard Cohen just happens to be my personal pet peeve.

Darkmoebius

Exactly! People join a forum directing them to state who they think are in a position they don't deserve to be in, then when someone (including them) when we point out flaws in an artist we are "off mark" or cruel.

Entrope

"it seems everybody here doesn't like somebody"

Pretty amazing, eh.

Darkmoebius

Agree - Tesh makes Yanni look like Johnny Rotten.

Hey Thomas,

Whatever you say.

I guess that I'm with the easily mislead and terribly misguided Cohen fans - including the hundreds of musicians who have recorded almost 2,000 cover versions of Cohen's songs. We have all been taken in by a giant scam perpetrated by that talentless hoodlum, who's laughing behind our collective backs the whole time.

Thankfully, you've seen through the ruse! We're saved!

OTOH, it's also possible that Cohen's lyrics (often about the conflicts of religion vs. faith, and sex vs. love) speak eloquently to anyone willing and able to listen and understand them. That would include Jeff Buckly, John Cale, Joan Baez, Jennifer Warnes, Johnny Cash, Tori Amos, Roy Buchannon, Nick Cave and a host of similar fools who don't realize thast it's all just:

"Toilet Flush"

Marty

PS I do, however, believe you when you say that Cohen is your pet peeve,