Obsidian Potency 3.0
Remembering Jeff Buckley
posted Wednesday, 13 June 2007
I don't know if I posted about this before, but I should have. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Jeff Buckley's death.
If you don't know who Jeff Buckley is, you should. He is one of the finest rock/soul/folk-tinged musicians of the 90s, and of all-time -- an artist whose star burned out far, far too soon. He is a personal inspiration to me, and an influence to a lot of contemporary artists you may have heard of: Thom Yorke of Radiohead, The Edge of U2, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, and many more. David Bowie said of Buckley's first and only fully-recorded album Grace that it was "one of the 10 albums he'd bring with him to a desert island." I totally agree, and I've told many people that the album is one that I'd want if I could only listen to 10-20 albums for the rest of my life. Thom Yorke allegedly wrote "Fake Plastic Trees" immediately after seeing Buckley perform; rumor has it that he recorded the verses, then immediately burst into tears.
I didn't discover Buckley until I was in NYC for grad school in 2002. I'd heard a song by a rock group called Ours, and heard that the lead singer had tutored under Buckley and sounded just like him (thanks, AllMusic ). His voice was ethereal. It was like nothing I'd ever heard...well, almost nothing. His uptempo songs remind me a lot of Led Zeppelin (apparently Zeppelin was his biggest influence), and his singing voice reminded me of Radiohead, Coldplay and a host of other inferior band vocalists.
That's not intended as a swipe at any of those bands -- it's just that nobody could sing like Buckley. His version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is the standard by which all other versions should be measured. Almost every single person I've ever played Buckley for has been moved to ask who the artist is they are listening to, in awe of his voice and songwriting. Jeff Buckley is one of the few modern rock performers whose voice is so amazing that I can't even fake my way through many of his songs. I literally can't keep up with him.
Anyway, thanks for the great music, Jeff. We miss you.
If you don't know who Jeff Buckley is, you should. He is one of the finest rock/soul/folk-tinged musicians of the 90s, and of all-time -- an artist whose star burned out far, far too soon. He is a personal inspiration to me, and an influence to a lot of contemporary artists you may have heard of: Thom Yorke of Radiohead, The Edge of U2, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, and many more. David Bowie said of Buckley's first and only fully-recorded album Grace that it was "one of the 10 albums he'd bring with him to a desert island." I totally agree, and I've told many people that the album is one that I'd want if I could only listen to 10-20 albums for the rest of my life. Thom Yorke allegedly wrote "Fake Plastic Trees" immediately after seeing Buckley perform; rumor has it that he recorded the verses, then immediately burst into tears.
I didn't discover Buckley until I was in NYC for grad school in 2002. I'd heard a song by a rock group called Ours, and heard that the lead singer had tutored under Buckley and sounded just like him (thanks, AllMusic ). His voice was ethereal. It was like nothing I'd ever heard...well, almost nothing. His uptempo songs remind me a lot of Led Zeppelin (apparently Zeppelin was his biggest influence), and his singing voice reminded me of Radiohead, Coldplay and a host of other inferior band vocalists.
That's not intended as a swipe at any of those bands -- it's just that nobody could sing like Buckley. His version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is the standard by which all other versions should be measured. Almost every single person I've ever played Buckley for has been moved to ask who the artist is they are listening to, in awe of his voice and songwriting. Jeff Buckley is one of the few modern rock performers whose voice is so amazing that I can't even fake my way through many of his songs. I literally can't keep up with him.
Anyway, thanks for the great music, Jeff. We miss you.
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