TS: Jimmy Buffet vs. James Taylor

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I think this is a really tricky call. They seem to be almost the same guy (except for the talent and soul and stuff, naturally). Another title for this thread could be Opting Out of Singer-Songwriter Hell by Being a Complete Cheeseball Sellout: Classic or Dud?

(I know that sellout maybe doesn't even apply, but I think you know what I mean)

― juju, Tuesday, 17 February 2004 22:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Both of them make me want to gouge out my eyes and start screaming "fuck!" at the top of my lungs in a crowded theater.

― Tab25, Tuesday, 17 February 2004 22:51 (twenty-two years ago)

well yes. i said it was tricky. see, with JT there'd be a note of true sorrow as i did so. with JB, it'd be unmitigated fury.

― juju, Tuesday, 17 February 2004 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

This is so not a tricky call

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 17 February 2004 23:00 (twenty-two years ago)

yes?

― juju, Tuesday, 17 February 2004 23:04 (twenty-two years ago)

This is so not a tricky call

If you don't hate both, I suppose it's not. But that's a big if.

― ccccccc, Tuesday, 17 February 2004 23:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been a big fan of both at one point or another, though I have little use for either these days. Still, the choice is obvious.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 00:30 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe too obvious

(dun-dun-dun!)

― juju, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 00:37 (twenty-two years ago)

You coulda saved time by posting the more generalized "Jimmy vs. James", and the results would be equally illuminating!

Lessee...

JT - Guest voice on "The Simpsons" once
JB - Guest on SCTV once ("The Fishin' Musician")
JT - Former heroin addict
JB - Former leader of "The Coral Reefer Band"
JT - Campaigned for George McGovern and against nuclear power
JB - Wrote a novel about pirates or some such
JT - Had 5-6 hit songs that I'd recognize & would rather not hear
JB - Had one hit song that I'd recognize & would rather not hear

Winner: Too close to tell. Let me investigate further and try again.

― Myonga Von Bontee, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 03:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Don Cornelius of Soul Train called James Taylor "The funkiest nigga that ever walked."

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 03:52 (twenty-two years ago)

The Fishin' Musician!! Awesome!!! Puts me in mind of Celebrity Blow-Up ...

"OK, OK, Jimmy, that's great, Jamaica Mistaka, right--now let's get to the blowin' up!"

― juju, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 04:05 (twenty-two years ago)

James Taylor did a radio jingle for CVS
Jimmy Buffet's entire oveure is a jingle for tropical print shirts

― Michael Patrick Brady (Michael Patrick Brady), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 04:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll be the first one here to actually weigh in with a decision here...

Jimmy by a longshot. James Taylor's sad-eyed balladeering is so completely of its hippie-dippy time. I do enjoy some of his songs, but overall, there's an overt ickyness to his music.

Jimmy Buffet's Greatest Hits is roadtrip gold. He has more charisma and character in his little finger than an asylum full of James Taylors.

and I'm named after James Taylor, so you'd think I'd be biased. But then again, I could have just as well have been named after Jimmy Buffet - I mean, uhh, same name. But I wasn't.

I'm rambling. Jimmy Buffet.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 05:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm giving the nod to James because of his guitar skills and his brother Livingston.

― jim wentworth (wench), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 05:44 (twenty-two years ago)

you're onto something there, roger

― juju, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 06:27 (twenty-two years ago)

JT - Campaigned for George McGovern and against nuclear power

God, no wonder McGovern lost so badly. And now that I think about it, didn't Nixon manage to procure James BROWN for support? That's just unfair.

Still, given the current matchup, I'd give it to JT. I enjoy some of his early work, whereas I have never managed to squeeze one drop of enjoyment out of Jimmy Buffett.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 06:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Kenny - you gotta be drunk, man. Get yourself a bottle of tequila tonight and que up some Jimmy Buffet. You'll enjoy yourself.

Do the same with James Taylor and you won't make it till morning.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 06:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Roger otm. Buffett is more literary, more pop, more regional, less vocal but not dissimilar in politics, his sexism more explicit but not necessarily greater, his jocular but honest apathy more charming than Taylor's narcissistic "sensitivity". Perhaps most importantly, Buffett is far less marginal - you can name a couple of James Taylors, but it's hard to come up with another Buffett; the latter is also a fount of novelty songs.

I'll admit that I could be swayed by Buffett's sentimentality. And that Taylor is a bigger fan of music made by black people. I'll also give Taylor that he's a better technician - a moderately interesting guitar-player with a fine voice. And on balance, they both have good songs that are mostly weighed down, even on compilations, by neutral to bad ones.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

And that Taylor is a bigger fan of music made by black people.

I should have said soul, given Buffett's calypso fixation.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't stand the music of either one, but I'll pick James Taylor based purely on the fact that his fans do not refer to themselves as "parrot heads".

― BrianB (BrianB), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

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