Why is it that everything that I watch or every interview I hear, people are praising John Mayer for being a guitar hero? A guitar hero? What the f...?

Personally, I respect the guy for doing some real music, like writing and playing his own stuff, but I hate his voice and I hardly think that he anywhere qualifies near what it takes to be a guitar hero from the music I've heard of his.

John Mayer is a good musician to me, although I think some critics are prone to overrate him. He isn't the second coming of anyone, just a moderately good singer/songwriter.

He seems to be developing this annoying singing mannerism (it's his drawl) that appeared on Heavier Things. It wasn't nearly as omnipresent on Room For Squares (listen to Your Body Is A Wonderland, for example, then listen to Daughters).

i heard so many things about this cat being another dave matthews type guy so i never gave any one of his tracks a listen. yesterday i listened to daughters for the first time...i'm glad i did. i like his style. its nothing new or groundbreaking but who cares. he writes good songs and sounds good singing them. that's all i need.

Oh, and the lyrical conceit of Daughters is that no woman can fend for herself. She definitely needs a man for shelter. Silly.

VoicesCarry said:

perhaps on the surface, with no real investigation into the lyrics, it seems like that. the song is talking about how men rely on women...not the other way around. take another listen to the lyrics and hear how he speaks about boys and men. this is definitely not a song about women being unable to fend for themselves.

SassyBritches said:

There are two lines in the song that suggest that. Read the rest, though:

i know a girl
she puts the color inside of my world
she's just like a maze
where all of the walls all continually change

I've done all i can
to stand on the steps with my heart in my hands
Now i started to think
maybe its got nothing to do with me.

so fathers be good to your daughters,
daughters will love like you do,
girls become lovers who turn into mothers
so mothers be good to your daughters too.

Oh

Oh you see that skin
its the same shes been standing in
since the day you two met
i bet i was on your mind
never ever any time

Oh yeah

so fathers be good to your daughters,
daughters will love like you do, yeah
girls become lovers who turn into mothers
so mothers be good to your daughters too.

boys you can break
find out how much they can take
boys will be strong and
boys soldier on
but boys would be gone
without warmth of a woman's good good heart

on behalf of every man
looking out for every girl
you are the god and the weight of her world
on behalf of ever man
who's looking out for every girl
you are the god and you are the weight of her world

so fathers be good to your daughters,
daughters will love like you do,
girls become lovers who turn into mothers
so mothers be good to your daughters too
so mothers be good to your daughters too
so mothers be good to your daughters too

i'm not going to bicker back and forth about the track. if art is what they say, everyone has a different view.

He really has some cool chops. He's kinda like our boy P in that you don't really get to experience the full talent of his guitar playing until you see him live. I'm not a big fan of his records, either, but I'd go see him live.

Just from a guitar perspective - he plays some real nice, jazzy chords. I dig him - his voice takes some getting used to, though. But it's all good.

He's good in his own right, but took me a while before I could let myself think of him more than just a Dave Matthews clone.

subhuman09 said:

My friend refuses to think that he sounds anything like DMB sans band. And she really doesn't like DMB...but LOVES John almost as much as we love Prince. Well she thinks it's the same type of thing...I say add about a decade and about 10 more albums under his belt, then talk to me.

I like Mayer's version of Starfish and Coffee.

BlaqueKnight said:

Agreed. John is a brilliant guitarist; he just happens to have built a career upon his songwriting. He has a very reserved style on record.