Why is Jack Johnson so popular?

DaytimeDilemma
DaytimeDilemma Posts: 2,008
edited February 2008 in Other Music
He is so fucking generic.



Can't believe people buy into this shit.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • HatredThrownDown
    HatredThrownDown Posts: 292
    i like him because it's very easy to listen to. makes me forget about how cold it is outside. new album is awesome
    Fav. Bands
    My Morning Jacket
    Pearl Jam
    Neil Young
    Wilco
    Tool
    Rush
    Drive By Truckers

    pj shows
    8/17/98
    8/15/00
    8/18/00
    8/20/00
    6/22/03
    10/2/04
    8/5/07
  • musicismylife78
    musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
    there are some of us who liked him, way back in 1999 or whenever his first record came out, way before it became a cliche to like his music.

    my cousin saw him here at a small bar, in like 1999.

    jack's music is good precisely because of its lack of technicality or tough chords or bizaare time signitures. He isnt tool or the mars volta or radiohead and he has never claimed to be.

    he makes modern day surf music, along with Ben Harper and xavier rudd define surfing and the outdoors and sunshine and the beach. Ben harper said something like, someone has to be the soundtrack to surfing, it might as well be me.

    same with jack.

    you dont buy a jack Johnson to be wowed by mondblowing lyrics and extensive guitar playing and robert plant like vocal exertions.

    His music is the ultimate chill out music. When the world seems messed up, when everything goes wrong, when you are sad, or upset, stressed, depressed, angry, Jack will pull you out of it. He is calm personified.

    It is music made for camp fire sing alongs. It is music made for amatuer guitarists, it is made for college kids sitting in and outside dorm doors and serenading the other residents.

    that said his change seems bizaare for the new record. He isnt his usual self, lines like "the futures just an empty promise" and "all at once the world can overwhelm, there is almost nothing you could say to calm me". ven his love songs to his wife and kids are sad, and meloncholy.

    remember last record he had a song about losing a friend to cancer and actually made the song somewhat calm and zen buddhist in nature

    Jack is a hero of mine, reguardless of his personality change. He is a calming serene presence in a world that is out of control

    I think his popularity and Sam Beam, Josh Radin, John mayer, etc... all tie in together. None of them other than John mayer is really making inroads in the guitar department. They are quiet, calm, whispered vocalists who make music about emotion rather than skill and technicality.

    Jack Johnson rules!
  • musicismylife78
    musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
    plus his records are synomous with summer, its bound to be almost summer time when he releases a new record or when someone is playing his cd
  • musicismylife78
    musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
    there is a time and place for loud, agressive, political, up in your face, radical, and experimental music, but there is also a time and place for warm, surfing, oceanic, calm and meditative summer tunes that are escapist in nature. jack fills that void
  • ledvedderman
    ledvedderman Posts: 7,762
    radiohead33 wrote:
    there are some of us who liked him, way back in 1999 or whenever his first record came out, way before it became a cliche to like his music.

    my cousin saw him here at a small bar, in like 1999.

    jack's music is good precisely because of its lack of technicality or tough chords or bizaare time signitures. He isnt tool or the mars volta or radiohead and he has never claimed to be.

    he makes modern day surf music, along with Ben Harper and xavier rudd define surfing and the outdoors and sunshine and the beach. Ben harper said something like, someone has to be the soundtrack to surfing, it might as well be me.

    same with jack.

    you dont buy a jack Johnson to be wowed by mondblowing lyrics and extensive guitar playing and robert plant like vocal exertions.

    His music is the ultimate chill out music. When the world seems messed up, when everything goes wrong, when you are sad, or upset, stressed, depressed, angry, Jack will pull you out of it. He is calm personified.

    It is music made for camp fire sing alongs. It is music made for amatuer guitarists, it is made for college kids sitting in and outside dorm doors and serenading the other residents.

    that said his change seems bizaare for the new record. He isnt his usual self, lines like "the futures just an empty promise" and "all at once the world can overwhelm, there is almost nothing you could say to calm me". ven his love songs to his wife and kids are sad, and meloncholy.

    remember last record he had a song about losing a friend to cancer and actually made the song somewhat calm and zen buddhist in nature

    Jack is a hero of mine, reguardless of his personality change. He is a calming serene presence in a world that is out of control

    I think his popularity and Sam Beam, Josh Radin, John mayer, etc... all tie in together. None of them other than John mayer is really making inroads in the guitar department. They are quiet, calm, whispered vocalists who make music about emotion rather than skill and technicality.

    Jack Johnson rules!

    Wow. You nailed it, man. Great post.

    New album is fantastic.
    E8toX.gif

    http://www.reverbnation.com/brianzilm
  • soulsinging
    soulsinging Posts: 13,202
    radiohead33 wrote:
    His music is the ultimate chill out music. When the world seems messed up, when everything goes wrong, when you are sad, or upset, stressed, depressed, angry, Jack will pull you out of it. He is calm personified.

    It is music made for camp fire sing alongs. It is music made for amatuer guitarists, it is made for college kids sitting in and outside dorm doors and serenading the other residents.

    only problem is those people (amateur guitarists who feel compelled to force us all to listen to their bullshit singer-songwriter crap to show how sensitive they are in public in an effort to get laid) are among the most annoying assholes on the planet, up there with emo drama queens and racist homophobic rednecks.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mm_txx8kEs

    jack johnson bores me to tears, and he's in the dave matthews camp... an incredibly boring and uninteresting musical act that rises to the level of satan-spawn by virtue of having his mediocrity worshipped by millions of lame, wannabe hippy suburban rich kids who think the music is somehow deep. see also jason mraz.
  • pjoasisrule
    pjoasisrule Posts: 3,412
    Cant stand him, boring as hell. Hate his voice too, the vocals sound so half assed.
    Alpine Valley 2000
    Summerfest 2006

    "Why would they come to our concert just to boo us?" -Lisa Simpson
  • DOSW
    DOSW Posts: 2,012
    Even his name is boring. :D
    It's a town full of losers and I'm pulling out of here to win
  • DOSW
    DOSW Posts: 2,012
    soulsinging wrote:
    only problem is those people (amateur guitarists who feel compelled to force us all to listen to their bullshit singer-songwriter crap to show how sensitive they are in public in an effort to get laid) are among the most annoying assholes on the planet, up there with emo drama queens and racist homophobic rednecks.

    Sounds like some repressed jealously to me...
    It's a town full of losers and I'm pulling out of here to win
  • soulsinging
    soulsinging Posts: 13,202
    DOSW wrote:
    Sounds like some repressed jealously to me...

    maybe. doesn't make it less true though.
  • Joe2TheRevenge
    Joe2TheRevenge Posts: 904
    i'm just going to say it:

    Hootie > Dave Matthews > Jack Johnson
    You can't spell "dumb" without DMB
  • Jammin909
    Jammin909 Posts: 888
    DaytimeDilemma wrote:
    He is so fucking generic.



    Can't believe people buy into this shit.

    Yes, I 100% agree. Granted different genre, but no more original than Nickelback.
    The less you know, the more you believe.
  • Mike Renzella
    Mike Renzella Posts: 55
    Please. As unoriginal as Nickelback? I am a big fan of Jack Johnson, and I wouldn't classify myself as a rich suburban hipster. Jacks' music has a calming effect on me. I love putting on his albums while driving to work in the middle of a crazy snowstorm, and I use his music to rock my baby to sleep. There is nothing wrong with mellow, breezy music that is easy to listen to.
    "A toast....to Canadian born Neil Young!!!" - Eddie Vedder

    CANADIAN AND PROUD OF IT!!!!!!
  • mca47
    mca47 Posts: 13,352
    radiohead33 wrote:
    there are some of us who liked him, way back in 1999 or whenever his first record came out, way before it became a cliche to like his music.

    my cousin saw him here at a small bar, in like 1999.

    jack's music is good precisely because of its lack of technicality or tough chords or bizaare time signitures. He isnt tool or the mars volta or radiohead and he has never claimed to be.

    he makes modern day surf music, along with Ben Harper and xavier rudd define surfing and the outdoors and sunshine and the beach. Ben harper said something like, someone has to be the soundtrack to surfing, it might as well be me.

    same with jack.

    you dont buy a jack Johnson to be wowed by mondblowing lyrics and extensive guitar playing and robert plant like vocal exertions.

    His music is the ultimate chill out music. When the world seems messed up, when everything goes wrong, when you are sad, or upset, stressed, depressed, angry, Jack will pull you out of it. He is calm personified.

    It is music made for camp fire sing alongs. It is music made for amatuer guitarists, it is made for college kids sitting in and outside dorm doors and serenading the other residents.

    that said his change seems bizaare for the new record. He isnt his usual self, lines like "the futures just an empty promise" and "all at once the world can overwhelm, there is almost nothing you could say to calm me". ven his love songs to his wife and kids are sad, and meloncholy.

    remember last record he had a song about losing a friend to cancer and actually made the song somewhat calm and zen buddhist in nature

    Jack is a hero of mine, reguardless of his personality change. He is a calming serene presence in a world that is out of control

    I think his popularity and Sam Beam, Josh Radin, John mayer, etc... all tie in together. None of them other than John mayer is really making inroads in the guitar department. They are quiet, calm, whispered vocalists who make music about emotion rather than skill and technicality.

    Jack Johnson rules!


    Well said.

    I can see people not liking his style, but to say the guy sucks for being boring, etc. is insane!
    Everytime I hear Jack I just get into a very happy mindset and can "get away" from whatever bullshit is going on around me.

    His live shows are a blast!
  • Anon
    Anon Posts: 11,174
    soulsinging wrote:
    only problem is those people (amateur guitarists who feel compelled to force us all to listen to their bullshit singer-songwriter crap to show how sensitive they are in public in an effort to get laid)
    Lord, beer me strength....
    i'm a guitarist and i just don't get that mentality. anyone that plays guitar purely because they think they are going to pull more chicks is retarded. if that's their reason for playing, then they are going to suck in my opinion because their passion to be a good guitarist is just not there. Any chick that only wants them for that reason, then you'd seriously have to question if the elevator actually goes to the top floor. i've been playing since i was young, it's taken around 13 years to get to where i am and i tell you it's a lot of freaking work. bazillions of hours. you gotta really love it. sometimes i'll be at a gig or i'll chat to people or meet new people and they find out i play guitar and some of them are instantly 'omg you play guitar', and you can see that they forget about me the person, and then get all goo goo ga ga over the 'guitar factor'. freakin insane. i just don't get it. to me, it's an insult as a musician that people are like that. i have no problems with people being impressed with my guitar playing, but don't be impressed just because i do play.

    anyways, i'm with radiohead33 on this one. been into jack since before he was famous and along with harper, he is my favorite go to 'chill out' musician. i love that i can just wind down and not think and still be moved by his music.
  • brainofPJ
    brainofPJ Posts: 2,361
    soulsinging wrote:
    only problem is those people (amateur guitarists who feel compelled to force us all to listen to their bullshit singer-songwriter crap to show how sensitive they are in public in an effort to get laid) are among the most annoying assholes on the planet, up there with emo drama queens and racist homophobic rednecks.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mm_txx8kEs

    jack johnson bores me to tears, and he's in the dave matthews camp... an incredibly boring and uninteresting musical act that rises to the level of satan-spawn by virtue of having his mediocrity worshipped by millions of lame, wannabe hippy suburban rich kids who think the music is somehow deep. see also jason mraz.


    i can't stand DMB but...

    Dave Matthews is a good guitarist.


    Esther's here and she's sick?

    hi Esther, now we are all going to be sick, thanks
  • restlesssoul
    restlesssoul Posts: 6,952
    DaytimeDilemma wrote:
    He is so fucking generic.



    Can't believe people buy into this shit.


    im with you.
    Van '98, Sea I+II '00, Sea '01, Sea II '02, Van '03, Gorge, Van, Cal, Edm '05, Bos I+II, Phi I+II, DC, SF II+III, Port, Gorge I+II '06, DC, NY I+II '08, Sea I+II, Van, Ridge , LA III+IV' 09, Indy '10, Cal, Van '11, Lond, Van, Sea '13, Memphis '14, RRHOF '17, Sea I+II '18, Van I+II, Vegas I+II, Sea I+II '24
  • Azwethinkweiz
    Azwethinkweiz Posts: 547
    He's okay.
  • harmless_little_f***
    harmless_little_f*** Posts: 8,005
    radiohead33 wrote:
    there are some of us who liked him, way back in 1999 or whenever his first record came out, way before it became a cliche to like his music.

    my cousin saw him here at a small bar, in like 1999.

    jack's music is good precisely because of its lack of technicality or tough chords or bizaare time signitures. He isnt tool or the mars volta or radiohead and he has never claimed to be.

    he makes modern day surf music, along with Ben Harper and xavier rudd define surfing and the outdoors and sunshine and the beach. Ben harper said something like, someone has to be the soundtrack to surfing, it might as well be me.

    same with jack.

    you dont buy a jack Johnson to be wowed by mondblowing lyrics and extensive guitar playing and robert plant like vocal exertions.

    His music is the ultimate chill out music. When the world seems messed up, when everything goes wrong, when you are sad, or upset, stressed, depressed, angry, Jack will pull you out of it. He is calm personified.

    It is music made for camp fire sing alongs. It is music made for amatuer guitarists, it is made for college kids sitting in and outside dorm doors and serenading the other residents.

    that said his change seems bizaare for the new record. He isnt his usual self, lines like "the futures just an empty promise" and "all at once the world can overwhelm, there is almost nothing you could say to calm me". ven his love songs to his wife and kids are sad, and meloncholy.

    remember last record he had a song about losing a friend to cancer and actually made the song somewhat calm and zen buddhist in nature

    Jack is a hero of mine, reguardless of his personality change. He is a calming serene presence in a world that is out of control

    I think his popularity and Sam Beam, Josh Radin, John mayer, etc... all tie in together. None of them other than John mayer is really making inroads in the guitar department. They are quiet, calm, whispered vocalists who make music about emotion rather than skill and technicality.

    Jack Johnson rules!

    Wow... I hate what I've heard of jack johnson but this post made me want to give it another go. True story. I just don't 'get him'.. this helped.
    'We're learning songs for baby Jesus' birthday. His mum and dad were Merry and Joseph. He had a bed made of clay and the three kings bought him Gold, Frankenstein and Merv as presents.'

    - the great Sir Leo Harrison
  • andreasjunge
    andreasjunge Posts: 20
    I went nuts when I first heard him in like 2001. I still like his stuff a lot, but seeing him live was a bit of a letdown. It was pretty much like 2,000 people llistening to his CDs and finding no place to sit down and get comfortable...
    www.myspace.com/andreasjunge

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