INFP Musicians

[highlander]

Here is what he says about INFP musicians:

• They have strongly held people centric values and this usually shows up very strongly in their music
• They tend to be more interested in the song and the message than the musicianship
• The self expression, the meaning and the message is what's most important
• How things feel to them is really important, which is very subjective and personal; as a result they tend to want creative control and have a hard time delegating to someone else and so they tend to be band leaders or solo artists
• As a result of Ne - intuiting the connections between things outside of yourself in real time - what feeds this is experimentation, exploration, doing new things and seeing what happens. So, they like novelty and to do things they haven’t done before, in contrast to INFJs who like to iterate and refine things over time; they are likely to be the kind of artist to play a show and not their hits because they want to do things they haven’t done before

Here are examples of INFP musicians:

Bob Dylan
Fiona Apple
Corinne Bailey Rae
Ben Gibbard
Joni Mitchell
Ben Harper
Zack De La Rocha
Heather Nova
John Frusciante
Neil Young
Bob Marley
Roger Hodgson (Supertramp)
Eddie Vedder
Bobby McFerrin
Tracy Chapman
Fred Schneider (B-52′s)
Sarah McLachlan
Elliott Smith
Carlos Santana
Sixto Rodriguez
Ronnie James Dio
Clark Graham

 

[Arctic Hysteria]

I'm pretty convinced that Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Bjök, Ian curtis, James Morrison, Thom Yorke, Jónsi (Sigur Rós) and Amy Winehouse belong to the INFP house.

 

[Kullervo]

Franz Schubert is the stereotypical INFP.

Other INFP composers include:
Hector Berlioz
Peter llyich Tchaikovsky
(possibly) Edward Elgar

INFPs are the stereotypical "tortured artist" (present-day emo).

 

[Arctic Hysteria]

Franz Schubert is the stereotypical INFP.

Other INFP composers include:
Hector Berlioz
Peter llyich Tchaikovsky
(possibly) Edward Elgar

INFPs are the stereotypical "tortured artist" (present-day emo).

Thanks. I grew up listening to a bit of Berlioz and Schubert, it's interesting to know.

 

[Forever_Jung]

Bob Dylan is definitely an ISFP, I think Joni Mitchell and Neil Young are as well, but I'm less sure of them. Fiona Apple is a great example of an INFP musician though.

 

[reckful]

In my experience, forumites who type people like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell ISFP are pretty often suffering from the influence (directly or indirectly) of Keirsey's biggest mistake.

 

[highlander]

In my experience, forumites who type people like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell ISFP are pretty often suffering from the influence (directly or indirectly) of Keirsey's biggest mistake.

That was a really excellent post. I think you are right. I think performers are often ISFPs but not so much artists.

 

[Flâneuse]

Bob Dylan is definitely an ISFP.

Yeah, I watched Don't Look Back and No Direction Home recently and nearly all my doubt that he is an ISFP with well-developed Ni has been extinguished. I think he's a highly atypical example of his type though (partially due to being 4w5, which is far more common among INFx's), so I can understand why he's mistyped as INFP or INFJ so often.

 

[Forever_Jung]

In my experience, forumites who type people like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell ISFP are pretty often suffering from the influence (directly or indirectly) of Keirsey's biggest mistake.

Nah, I'm just super obsessed with Bob Dylan and he just doesn't strike me as a Ne-user at all. Read his autobio Chronicles, watch documentaries, read what people close to him have to say about him. That dude is no INFP. And any amount of N in his lyrics are much more Ni than Ne.

I don't have time to fully get into this (I'm just on my 15 minute break), but when you read about his attitude towards performance (and make no mistake Bob Dylan identifies strongly with his performing side), it's classic ISFP. Perhaps I should return later and expand.

 

[Noll]

Gordon Gano

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Lennon isn't an INFP.

 

[Flâneuse]

My 2 cents:
John Lennon - ENTP
Bjork - ISFP
Jim Morrison - ENFP
Thom Yorke - INFJ
Amy Winehouse - ESTP

I think Kate Bush and Tori Amos are INFPs. I could possibly see Michael Stipe as one too, but I'm not sure -- he might be INFJ.

 

[chickpea]

Amy Winehouse - ESTP

No way, and I'll argue against this forever. ISFP over INFP though.

 

[Southern Kross]

I'd love to claim them, but I think Joni Mitchell and Neil Young are INFJs. And if we assume Bob Dylan isn't a ISFP, then I'd say he's probably a INFJ too. All three have a Ni-Se vibe with an intense need to express ideas through storytelling (like a ballad). There's also a sort of 'forcefulness' about them - that quietly fiery J-ness.

INFPs are more about expressing an internal experience: a mood, a mindset, a sensation. It's less linear and story driven and more about evoking a head space. It seems like INFJ musicians really like a beginning, middle and end of some kind, but I think for INFPs that isn't all that important.

Take a look at the differences between this Neil Young song and one by Antony and the Johnsons (Antony Hegarty seeming very much INFP to me):

Powderfinger - Neil Young

Look out, Mama,
there's a white boat comin' up the river
With a big red beacon,
and a flag, and a man on the rail
I think you'd better call John,
'cause it don't look like they're here
to deliver the mail
And it's less than a mile away
I hope they didn't come to stay
It's got numbers on the side and a gun
and it's makin' big waves

Daddy is gone,
and my brother's out hunting in the mountains
Big John's been drinking
since the river took Emmy-Lou
So the powers that be
left me here to do the thinkin'
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wonderin' what to do
And the closer they got,
The more those feelings grew

Daddy's rifle
in my hand felt reassurin'
He told me, red means run, son,
the numbers add up to nothin'
But when the first shot
hit the dock I saw it comin'
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why
Then I saw black,
and my face splashed in the sky

Shelter me
from the powder and the finger
Cover me with the thought
that pulled the trigger
Think of me as one you'd never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love,
I know I'll miss her.

Fistful of Love - Antony and the Johnsons

I was lying in my bed last night staring
at a ceiling full of stars
When it suddenly hit me
I just have to let you know how I feel

We live together in a photograph of time
I look into your eyes
and the seas open up to me
I tell you I love you
and I always will
And I know you can't tell me
I know you can't tell me

So I'm left to pick up
the hints, the little symbols of your devotion
So I'm left to pick up
the hints, the little symbols of your devotion

And I feel your fists
and I know it's out of love
And I feel the whip
and I know it's out of love
And I feel your burning eyes, burning holes
straight through my heart
It's out of love
It's out of love

I accept and I collect upon my body
the memories of your devotion
I accept and I collect upon by body
the memories of your devotion

And I feel your fists
and I know it's out of love
And I feel the whip
and I know it's out of love
And I feel your burning eyes, burning holes
straight through my heart
It's out of love, ooh hoo
It's out of love

Give me a little bit serious love
Give me a little full love
Be full of love

Fists, fists, fists full of love...

 

[OrangeAppled]

Gordon Gano

I'm thinking ISFP, but seems Fi-dom, yes.

---

Amy Winehouse is pretty obviously an SP, & Jim Morrison seem ISFP also.


Lots of INFPs in the 80s post-punk/ darkwave/new romantic music:

Robert Smith (The Cure)
Morrissey (The Smiths)
Ian McCulloch (Echo & the Bunnymen)
Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) and maybe Dave Gahan also (or ISFP)
Ian Curtis (Joy Divison)

I think those guys are all 4s also.

 

[solaunum]

Yes, Kurt Cobain was one of the most obvious INFP musicians to me. From all the interview tapes and such.

 

[Hairy McLairy]

just saw "Searching for Sugarman" and boy did he give me a HUGE INFP vibe! he was like the older version of 2 men I have been in love with, both musicians. It really made me cry for some reason, I have a thing for INFP men I guess

(mind you I never could stand Morrisey! )