mayer for mayor?
This has nothing to do with Shanghai. This is just a story about a guy who won a Grammy.
Three short years ago John Mayer was playing cover tunes in my friend Brian’s basement in Atlanta. On Sunday at Madison Square Garden, Mayer won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, beating out industry “lightweights” like Sting, James Taylor and Elton John.
Not bad for a guy basically ignored by a bunch of drunk 20-somethings at a Christmas party back in 1999. The only way he got the crowd’s attention was by ditching his original stuff and launching into a rousing rendition of the the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way.” And then there were the 80s songs. Mayer played anything and everything … and he actually seemed to be enjoying himself. I ducked into Brian’s office and emerged with a banner reading, “Play Some Poison!”
“Every Rose Has A Thorn” was the next song on Mayer’s spontaneous setlist.
I spoke with Mayer for a while after he was done playing. (I can’t be sure how long this conversation lasted. I had been drinking. Mayer had not. So I assume it seemed longer to him than it did to me.) We learned that we liked a lot of the same music — mostly indie-rock stuff — and I actually ran into him again at an Elliott Smith show early the next year.
Brian was one of Mayer’s original fans in Atlanta, and he and I watched the crowds at his shows gradually get larger and larger, the audience demographics get more and more mainstream. That Mayer is a success is not a surprise. He’s an excellent singer and songwriter, a skilled guitar player. He’s also got that “rock talk” thing down. He can be damn funny on stage.
So I watched Mayer’s rise to fame with interest. There was a time last year when I couldn’t turn on M2 without seeing Mayer’s video for “No Such Thing.” I was curious about his major-label debut, Room for Squares, knowing it included many of the Mayer songs I had grown to like played live in smoke-filled bars. The songs were there. The lyrics, too. But something was missing. There was no intimacy, no rawness. Mayer was backed with a studio band paid to play the notes and keep their emotion at home. This was music for the masses — it wasn’t for me.
And it made me wonder: Would Mayer buy his own album? Would he too cringe at the sound of every over-produced chord? This wasn’t the music we discussed back in Brian’s basement. Now, all the money and the fame make the soft rock sound a bit sweeter, I suppose. Mayer surely doesn’t need to play Christmas parties anymore in order to eat.
But what happens next? He’s in his mid-20s and already labeled adult contemporary. Any indie-cred he once had was gone the minute he touched that Grammy, which tends to be more of a popularity contest than a judge of true talent. At least he’s not popular in China — that’s the ultimate kiss of death.
But Mayer has true talent. I want to like Mayer’s music. I want Mayer to like Mayer’s music. Maybe the Grammy will give him the leverage to do what he wants on his next album. Maybe he’ll make an album that’s less frat-boy friendly. Maybe then I’ll start listening to his stuff again.
Or he could do an entire album of Poison covers. I’d probably buy that, too.
02.26.2003, 1:31 AM · Music
5 Comments
on a music-related note … current album i can’t stop listening to: you are free by cat power.
WOW…how exciting! I, too, have followed John’s career rise…as his drummer grew up with one of my friends in Rutherford, NJ. Not nearly the same early connection Danny Boy has, but still pretty cool I think. Look out for baldie slamming away on things like LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY…and you can believe that HE has a talk show?! Excuse me as I drag my toaster with me into the tub…
ok. kiss of death. my students now know who john mayer is. i can find john mayer CDs on the black market here. and they play his music at my gym. none of this is good news.
I think what this dan character says is a good point of understanding for a person like John. Especially after the pretty harsh criticism he’s been recieving from people who think they know how the music business works. I personally come from something like the same angle as him, and see where it went wrong for him.. I think he DOES see Room for Squares and thinks, thank god I can put that behind me. Like you said, the music was there, but the production of the album couldn’t have had it sounding any more mainstream blah… If john reads this(which he wont) go for the heart of it while you can. you have the popularity, now get your feet back on the ground.
From an understanding comrad
Is there a recorded version somewhere of the cover of “every rose has its thorns”. Heard he sing it on the Chappelle show and it’s pretty damn good