Exploring the Intriguing
Category: Music
I've told my US History classes that when I was 12 I was convinced nuclear war was imminent. The reason was simple: Ronald Reagan and Prince both said so. In the mid 80s those two people were important to me and agreed about virtually nothing. Except the likelihood of nuclear war.
Yep, I'm a child of the 80s.
FDO
I started writing about musical spin-offs last week and the Dixie Chicks are what got me thinking about that idea. It’s funny for me to think about it now because it happened in the mid 80s but James Taylor, the artist who spun me into the Dixie Chicks, could be considered a spin-off artist for me too. I first discovered JT via a CarQuest commercial. The commercial was not memorable except that they played JT’s version of ‘You’ve Got a Friend’. I immediately loved the 20 seconds of the song that was played and wanted to discover more about that voice. When I realized this dude had lots of albums, I was sincerely pleased. Since then, JT has introduced me to other artists as well, including George Jones and Buddy Holly. His covers of their songs led me to explore their catalogs and pay attention to music and artists I simply would never have thought to listen to.
Another spin-off I've thought about recently… I have been to a few Indigo Girls concerts and enjoyed them all. One was particularly memorable because the opening act was a group I'd never heard of before called Girlyman. They performed several songs I immediately loved and my wife bought the CD right after the show. During a recent event in which I was asked to give a speech, I used a Girlyman song as my closing music. Very good stuff. Girlyman is the kind of spin-off group I certainly was not going to discover independently. Even though the Indigo Girls did not work with them (except for pulling them on stage to sing background vocals), I totally associate Girlyman with the Indigo Girls because they were my introduction to them.
Spin-offs. Huh.
FDO
Something on TV sparked my inner monologue to begin singing “Wide Open Spaces” by the Dixie Chicks. That felt surprising but then I realized that I was actually ‘hearing' a version of that song the Dixie Chicks performed on TV with James Taylor. JT is one of my 10 favorite solo artists and I discovered the Dixie Chicks through that song and that performance. Since then, I’ve realized that I like lots more of their music but I would not have known that if it were not for my introduction to them via JT. I think this means that the Dixie Chicks are a ‘spin-off’ music group for me. I didn’t discover them because of themselves but because of another artist I liked. Very few musical acts are legitimate spin-offs in the same way that television shows or movies can be, but in my brain they’re pretty similar. (Funkadelic and Poco are the two true spin-off groups I think of first.)
I’m interested in this notion of ‘spin-off’ artists. What are your spin-off stories?
FDO
Talk about a tribute…
… around.
it’s not a surprise that Faith Evans still gets so much work. She’s the Black Courtney Love. Damn.
TP
upon seeing Jerry Lee Lewis at the Grammys tonight.
He’s gotta be mostly animatronic by now.
Ray Ray
That’s someone’s Uncle Rico.
(on seeing lead singer Lou Gramm in a Foreigner video.)
RAY
okay here’s the new story, Britney Spears is apparently pregnant again.
Maybe this time she’ll donate her baby for adoption to Angelina Jolie. Please, Brit, please.
TP
Okay, here’s the link. The Sports Guy on ESPN.com writes about Cry Me A River as “the most destructively vengeful song of all-time”. My wife and I have been talking about this for a couple years now. It’s hard for me to remember sometimes (or maybe I just want to forget) but Britney was the first White Aailyah.
{Eventually I ‘ll work through why NKOTV was the Black New Edition but it seems so obvious I haven’t bothered.}
When Aaliyah died it was national mourning for Black America; I suppose what we’re seeing now is the possibible slow death of Britney.
In Freakonomics, there’s a great line from Stephen Dubner about Britney Spears being ‘an effect not a cause’ (of her given name not anything more, uh, public). I like to think of her that way sometimes, ‘an effect not a cause’.
Apparently, vengeance hath no fury like a Justin scorned.
TP
The WhoDeannyPod 