Rihanna is an Xer-Leaning Millennial! Try Again, Mike!

She's great but not one of your people, my friend.

Check out the ongoing musical dialogue between

Mike Kilgore

and me, 3 posts on the subject so far about the musicians we adore:

What's in your wallet... er... music library?

Who Is Generation X's Greatest Black Musician? Here's My Vote

Generation X's Greatest Black Musician? Rihanna, In My Humble Opinion.

And feel free to jump in with your recommendations!

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Mike,

Friend, buddy, pal… I’m so sorry but you’re going to have to pick another great black musician of your generation. I too was thinking that Rihanna was an Xer — otherwise I wouldn’t have published your post — then I thought to look her up. And UH-OH - turns out she was born in 1988! So while X-er leaning in her orientation - enough to fool us both into thinking she was one of you - she doesn’t count! Gotta get the artists between 1965 and 1980!

Regarding your other points in your piece… Six responses from me:

1. I found it very interesting that you note that you’re not that much into rap or country. I think there’s a particular reason for that - which I had planned to actually address in its own post - so look forward to my analysis of why those two genres are especially “problematic” and while they each have their gifted artists, as a whole I too just don’t appreciate them as much as many other forms of music.

2. But still! Give Tupac a chance! He was so badass!

3. OK, you’ve convinced me - Trent Reznor gets to make the list. I had totally forgotten about his wonderful film scores which do qualify him as a more diversified, complex artist than I thought just considering NIN’s output. That Social Network score was something else - and his Soul work certainly stood out and lifts him up an extra level in my level of respect.

And yeah, that Johnny Cash cover of Hurt is a masterpiece, and the Mark Romanek-directed music video of it is perhaps the greatest music video of all time.

4. OK, you’ve convinced me - Dave Grohl should be on the list. Foo Fighters have had some great songs and they’ve been pretty consistently excellent. So you proclaimed Grohl the GOAT. Does that mean he’s your pick for Gen-X’s top overall artist? I could see how he’d be in competition with Beck and Jack White, but is he really better than Billy Corgan? You want to argue that Foo Fighters are superior to Smashing Pumpkins? I don’t know… You’re going to have to make that case to me why they’re better. Admittedly, “Everlong” is a great music video, though:

5. Oh! Here’s somebody else of your generation I forgot who might qualify for the list: how about Moby?

As with some of the other Xer artists I was considering - I don’t think I’ve explored his discography enough to really be confident in adding him to the list. He’s a contender at least, though.

6. Now Linkin Park… I suppose they’re a contender… [goes to check Wikipedia when they were born to make sure they qualify]… Oh wow - almost all of the band members were born in 1977 - so yes, they can be considered. And of course their great vocalist, the late, great Chester Bennington - RIP - was 1976 so he counts.

OK - so your challenges for your next post: gotta decide on another great black Xer artist for your #1, if Dave Grohl is truly better than Billy Corgan then I want to hear your argument, and then: gotta rank ‘em. What’s the top 10? And if you need a top 15 or more then I suppose I’ll allow it.

warmest regards,

David