[MBTI General] nf songwriters/musicians

[GZA]

Pete Townsend seems INTP
Jack Johnson seems to be IXFP
Captain Beefheart is INFJ

 

[sleuthiness]

Oh yeah, and about Arthur Russell... he just seems to have been the perpetually shy individual, dabbling in drug use and writing songs like "oh, what if she doesn't like me, maybe I should forget about her before we even say a word to each other." It's also been said that he never finished any of his songs; that he was constantly "reshaping" his sound.

And with his Kevin Shields has got to be infp. Emotion melting in his mouth like butter when he speaks, one record in almost 20 years even though he'd liked to have released many more (from the few interview on youtube), and if you want any more obvious evidence ... just look at the title of his big album (Loveless).

 

[speculative]

what about these people????

eddie vedder (infj) Makes sense...

lauryn hill (infp) What makes her INFP-ish? - Not arguing this typing, just curious since I don't know her work that well...
kanye west (esfp) Is he a "regular" ESFP? He seems unhealthy (for any type) due to his lack of maturity to me...

P.S. - this may be beyond the scope of this thread or our skill level, but I think it would be interesting if we could create a musical type description for each of the types, and add it to the initial post. Or, do you all feel that INFJs make ESTP music, or ENTPs make ISFJ music frequently enough that such descriptions would not be very useful...

PPS - thanks for putting the list together!

 

[Thursday]

hmm....Josh Homme ENFJ ?
yeah

 

[IEE623]

Paul Simon INFJ?

 

[the state i am in]

i can't see cat power as an intp. sufjan and andrew bird maybe, when i listen to them i always feel a big hole where the heart is supposed to be.

is ian curtis of joy division an infp?
and what about leonard cohen?
i'm not sure about typing morrissey an infj instead of an infp. are we getting Fe or Fi from the smiths?
i can see sonic youth being very intp, both kim and thursten. i've never seen a thursten interview, should probably check that out.
cat stevens an infj, enfj? i'm not sure...
bernard sumners does seem kinda s, i've never seen an interview. temptation seems less of an esfp song, and i'm not sure where the x stops and b.s. begins. still it makes sense. a lot of sense.
david bowie we need to hear more opinions. same with john lennon. and am i right listing marc bolan as enfp? he seems very much so, especially pre-1971 tyrannosaurus rex style.
i'm theorizing that nick drake is more isfp than infp, whereas elliot smith lyrics feel way more infp to me than isfp. jeff tweedy isfp too bc his metaphors are way too straining tertiary Ni, he doesn't produce enough Ne ideas to convince me. "down the neck to c, we fell into the sea" <---it's fucking embarrassing, and his best song is don't forget the flowers (anyway)

shannon hoon of blind melon, michael stipe (infp or infj? i really don't know rem at all), is thom yorke an infp or infj i waffle but now i'm back to guessing infp instead of infj. what about the kravitzs and the ben harpers? i don't like them, but i still wanna know.

mark mathersbaugh sp. from devo???? layne staley from alice in chains? what about jewel? fiona apple? michelle shocked? i want to be back in 1995. and neko case? i think cat power has to be an f, her voice seems un intp to me. as for paul simon, no idea, just regurgitating an old heresay.

and hip hop! who can do the entire wu tang clan? others? moguls? i'm somewhat out of my element here, we need serious help.

 

[simulatedworld]

hmm....Josh Homme ENFJ ?
yeah

ENTP, maybe ENTJ. Check out this rant he published after being vilified for going off on some kid at a show for throwing a shoe at him on stage:

Member of the Peanut Gallery:

Some journalists & citizens on the internet & are wondering: Q? Am I a homophobe because I included a slang for gay in with other "acceptable" curse words during a verbal lashing I gave a young concertgoer, after being hit by his shoe, during a show the other day? A= Nope. My gay family & friends, as well as myself, KNOW I am not a homophobe. For years now I've known gay is not a choice; one's skin color doesn't determine one's intelligence level; & red hair doesn't mean you're someone's stepchild. You see, it's not the words, it's their intent. I never said, nor suggested, that being gay is wrong, but apparently, based on your outrage to my flu-infused rant, you do! By that logic... I also told that young whipper snapper I'd have anal sex with him... how can I possibly reconcile these opposing viewpoints? I called him a pussy too. Does it mean I hate our one worlds' collective vagina? I never have been nor intend to be politically correct. That's your cross to bear. To me, that PC world would suck more shit than the porta-potty truck at Glastonbury. Homophobic? I'm in Queens of the Stone Age for crissake... You say, "So. Your band name doesn't prove anything." Maybe not. But it's a helluv a lot more definitive than the logic of some watchdog... (sorry canine-American, canine-European, canine-African, canine-Australian & canine-Asian) moralist, keeping score from pure perfectionville? If your glass house is squeegeed that clean & you need to do something, do what the great philosopher Bill Hicks once suggested: - forgive me-. Or don't. I'm not asking for either, OK? I think you should let both of your cheeks go loose so the stick will drop out. Either way I expect that you'll soon find another injustice from your chair, then roll to your bullhorn & point it out to the rest of us... Because you're so above it all. Or If you'll allow me to translate a wish of mine into your PC lingo:
Will you please go have, consensual, sex with yourself.
Pretty please with all natural, carbon offset sugar on top.

Sincerely,
Mr. Missundastood
A.K.A. Joshua, Baby Duck, Jho
Head Choreographer & Do Stuff Corporation's pansexual spokes-thing

I feel an NF likely would have responded with a lot less sarcasm and a lot more honest personal/emotional appeal. It would have been less scathing and more apologetic/idealistic. Instead he just got all that shit out of the way within the first few lines so he could launch into a smart ass tongue lashing, trying to outsmart his critics by picking apart their implied logic and making them look stupid. And then, of course, he made a point of explaining how much he doesn't care--can't appear emotionally fazed.

I wonder what temperament does that most often.

 

[simulatedworld]

and hip hop! who can do the entire wu tang clan? others? moguls? i'm somewhat out of my element here, we need serious help.

I used to play bass in a hip hop band that did a few sessions at Stankonia while I was in it, and during my time there I *very briefly* met Big Boi of Outkast.

I spent a grand total of maybe 15 minutes in the same room as him (I'd be very surprised if he remembered me at all), but I got a very jovial ENFP feel from him. (One day my guitar player and I were recording on a track he was considering for use on his solo album; he came in and listened for a brief moment, declared excitedly that it sounded "bangin'" and then wandered off to whatever other projects he had going on at the time.)

He seems to enjoy starting up a lot of different projects, and he's very excited about all of them, but follow-through is kind of a pain. We were in negotiations with Purple Ribbon for well over a year by the time I finally got kicked out of the band (personal issues with frontman.)

I think they did eventually sign with Purp after I left, but it was evident that, while Big was excited about the music, the band was never really too high on his priority list.

 

[Nonsensical]

Jim Morrison - possible ENFP
Hendrix- definitely an ISFP- nice call

p.s.

word has it that GZA plays the guitar, might want to add him in on the INFP category!

 

[GZA]

Nah, Hendrix was N fo sho, listen to his interviews. And he seemed to be very imaginative in the INFP sense as a child, too. Some of the ideas he starts talking about (but is too shy to elaborate on) are extremely abstract, like the "Electric Church" thing and stuff like that. Watch some interview videos and find some quotes... you'll see what I mean.

And yah, I play a few instruments, but you don't need to include me here

 

[the state i am in]

slums of shaolin? i wanna hear your typings of the entire wu tang clan.

 

[sleuthiness]

Paul Simon INFJ?

I think so.
Garfunkel? Perhaps.

Brian Eno? I'm leaning towards e rather than infj currently.

 

[sleuthiness]

ENTP, maybe ENTJ.

Valid points. Considering your data, entj makes the most sense.

 

[OrangeAppled]

i'm not sure about typing morrissey an infj instead of an infp. are we getting Fe or Fi from the smiths?

I'd love to think he is an INFP , but Morrissey is likely an INFJ, IMO. He is far too finicky to be an INFP.
In concert, his physical movements in concert & way of speaking seem more Fe to me. The way he'll put his hand to his heart and speak in an overly polite way.
He also speaks very articulately, and while INFPs express ourselves very well in writing, we tend to ramble and be far less clear in verbal conversation.
He can also be a bit self-righteous, and that's not very INFP.

 

[sleuthiness]

I don't care for his music at all, but Joey Ramone is entp. Think Howard Stern.

 

[sleuthiness]

more music I don't care for: the two main guys in mars volta are infj.

 

[simulatedworld]

^ wow, that explains the outrageously incomprehensible lyrics. I work with an INFJ guitarist/songwriter who insists on the most outlandish names for songs, and he thinks the symbolism is obvious to anyone other than him...it's kind of funny sometimes.

 

[simulatedworld]

P.S.,

Best pitchforkmedia headline ever, when TMV had some idiot throwing bottles of urine at them on stage:

Mars Volta Assaulted With Urine On Stage; Retaliate With New 18-Minute Jam, "Hexasymbiotic Extracellular Fluid Counteroffensive"

 

[the state i am in]

I'd love to think he is an INFP , but Morrissey is likely an INFJ, IMO. He is far too finicky to be an INFP.
In concert, his physical movements in concert & way of speaking seem more Fe to me. The way he'll put his hand to his heart and speak in an overly polite way.
He also speaks very articulately, and while INFPs express ourselves very well in writing, we tend to ramble and be far less clear in verbal conversation.
He can also be a bit self-righteous, and that's not very INFP.

this makes me think of a chappelle show skit based on the racial draft. i secretly WANT morrissey to be an infj, but in my heart of hearts i'm afraid to get my hopes up. yet part of me considers that maybe he in fact he IS an infj, and it's just all of the Fi (and particularly infps) types i know who love him that is skewing my interpretation.

(also, i don't really agree with some of your diagnostic. i think infps just take a longer time to develop their writing skills than infjs. by the time our tertiary Ti kicks in, our expression is pretty much complete. Fi takes a longer time to get a grip on, writing probably takes a bit more practice, but auxilary Ne is really creative at generating angles and ideas, and ter Si allows them to hold on to specific concrete things to anchor and focus them. we as infjs might read faster/more than infps as a whole, sometimes i feel like i'm scanning the pages and glossing over them more than slowly digesting them. looking for somethin Ni related, whereas Fi is sorting out and meditating on the feeling-tone of each object. infj learns how to adapt speech-voices to communicate with Fe, and it has more of an immediate conceptual insight from Ni dom. i find infj writing as easiest and most natural when it is at its most Fe talky. it is the first way we learn to express/extravert ourselves).

also, for some reason, my Ni tells me that morrissey and leonard cohen are the same. i am questioning that bc i have no reason to believe it, but that is what it is telling me.

i have not thought about brian eno at all, but when you mention him as an infj/enfj it doesn't compute as incorrect. very vast and florid, he is always exploring. plus i think infjs can make great producers. they are probably more me-centric than an enfj producer would be, they would put more of their own stamp on the product, but they can seamlessly blend ideas, concepts, directions. plus based on one interview i read, i felt like he had that look in the eye that infjs can get. views his role as synthesizing vast amounts of (musical) information, and very confident in his big picture understanding/judgment of what is important, relevant, etc.

joey ramone as entp, i'll remember that. i do not know him very well, i've read punk interview books more than i've listened to his music, seen him perform/talk, etc. it's on my to-do list.

ps candylandjoe and simulatedworld, your contributions to this thread are PRICELESS. what do you do, simulatedworld?

 

[Nonsensical]

Nah, Hendrix was N fo sho, listen to his interviews. And he seemed to be very imaginative in the INFP sense as a child, too. Some of the ideas he starts talking about (but is too shy to elaborate on) are extremely abstract, like the "Electric Church" thing and stuff like that. Watch some interview videos and find some quotes... you'll see what I mean.

And yah, I play a few instruments, but you don't need to include me here

Yeah, that was my second guess. I listened to a biography of him 'Room Full of Mirrors' and it was telling about how his mom died at a young age, and he was quoted as saying something along the lines of 'I'm going to be playing my music, someday, up to the stars for my mother', or 'I'm going to play my music into the stars for my mom'. Just a little example of the type of kid/person he was. You're prob. right on that call.