John Mayer

Often personified as the ultimate batty-boy/homo I feel the question must be asked, does his undeniable talent balance his undeniable gay vibes and lack of manliness?

Well, his earlier efforts seem to tip things to the feminine side with songs like ‘Your Body is a Wonderland’ and ‘Free Fallin”. Seriously, who are you singing about? Because I cannot imagine that it is a woman, and this is backed by his latest album, the cover sports a picture of him trying to impersonate The Fonz and then having Taylor Swift in a song. Would The Fonz do that? No, no he wouldn’t.

Then again, The Fonz can’t sing, or play guitar. But John Mayer can do both, and boy can he do both like few others, I think that ‘Assasin’ from the album ‘Battle Studies’ is a perfect example of this. The lyrics aren’t anything special, but the blend of guitar and voice is a rare delicacy, like Aretha Franklin mixed with Ray Charles topped with a sprig of Jimmy Page to garnish, but without the inherent soul, and I can hear you saying ‘but Ray and Aretha Franklin without their soul are near nothing’ ,and this is where my frustration with John Mayer surfaces. If he ditches the 80’s white kid cool look, and sings a little soul then by god someone might respect him. There is hope however, the song ‘Crossroads’ from the same album is more guitar-central and gives the sublest hint that JM is capable of something a little more soulful perhaps even a little jazzy, but it isn’t followed up at all. Perhaps to please his ever more fickle female audience. 

But therin lies the rub, if John Mayer was to become a veritble artist and sing some music which could suit him perfectly, he would have to abandon his legions of screaming women, plus some questionable men, and start anew with a different musical style which may or may not work. What record company wants to do that, to try and fix something which, technically, ain’t broke, if a little bent? 

And that’s the problem with music today, money means more than respect, and no one understands that record sales don’t translate into musical excellence.

Sam Owles