This thread got my mind going down memory lane tonight. I remember once watching some MTV video about Depeche Mode. DM was already legendary before MTV went all stupid and forgot what the M in MTV stood for and started playing non-music related reality shows about dopey roomates and shit.
In the video, one of the Depeche guys, it may have been Wilder or Gore, was screwing around on the keyboard and started playing a riff from one of their songs, I don't remember which, but he was tapping out 16th notes at moderate tempo (with perfect timing) and singing at the same time, and it sounded good enough that someone should have captured to master (I think it was on an Oberheim something or other but not sure about that). He was showing how he could hit a delay to compensate if he needed to drop back to 8ths! My point is, HOW MANY PEOPLE EVEN TAP OUT 8THS LIVE THESE DAYS? Nobody... Most modern artists don't even have the hand-eye coordination and timing skills to keep tempo with that even when they are 15 yrs old. I'm not going to call myself a modern artist, but I promise you I will be using an arpeggiator for that if I needed it today
The joys of modern technology (to be fair, they had the technology back then and probably employed it in the studio... but it is impressive to see someone do it well live).
I remember being in a popular resort area around 1988, and a buddy and myself walked by a T-Shirt airbrush artist on the strip that was selling existing painted shirts and offered to do custom work. He had apparently airbrushed his hair, too, he was kind of a Bon Jovi lookalike. I thought his painting was impressive, so trying to be friendly (in my own misaligned way), as I looked at all his shirts, which were mostly depicting bands like Metallica, Megadeath, etc....I said "love the work but where's the Depeche Mode shirts" (being that I was somewhat fucked up after a night of underage boozing, I guess I knew I would get a reaction)....
....I really wasn't being an ass with the comment, if he had stepped up, I would have gladly paid him to paint a truly unique-on-the-planet Depeche Mode shirt, but was mostly gauging his interest...
...He clearly took immediate offense, and said "Depeche Mode? Wonder what happens at their concert, a bunch of guys with synthesizers come out and stand around pushing buttons?"
And I said "you know what you never see at a Metallica concert? Someone hitting 16th notes in realtime".... he looked at me like a deer in headlights, no clue what I was even talking about.
I did not buy a shirt. Shame, by the looks of what he had on display, he did some fine things with an airbrush. Bet he does tats now. Probably limited to the hairband market. lol