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="G-Fafif":26an3yti]Shortly after Karen Carpenter died, my girlfriend at the time seemed a little obsessed about her death, and I scoffed that the Carpenters weren't all that memorable. "More memorable than the stupid Beatles," she replied, as if that would get me (speaking of those who recorded "Ticket to Ride").
The exchange taught me a lesson in dictating what is "memorable" to somebody else. Poor choice of words on my 20-year-old self's part.
The steady diet of Carpenters which filled the airwaves in the early '70s may have tempted some to go musically anorexic, but Karen and Richard, in small doses, left behind some gems. "Rainy Days and Mondays" is sometimes what you need right after a week of "Sunday Bloody Sunday".[/quote:26an3yti]
Did you ever stop to think that if Momma Cass had given Karen Carpenter half of her sandwich, they might both be alive today?
Later
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G-Fafif
Jan 12 2009 02:44 PM
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="MFS62":rhhdnbqg]Did you ever stop to think that if Momma Cass had given Karen Carpenter half of her sandwich, they might both be alive today?[/quote:rhhdnbqg]
She'd only just begun...to nosh.
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Edgy DC
Jan 12 2009 02:48 PM
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Joke about 20 years old.
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G-Fafif
Jan 12 2009 05:28 PM
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="Edgy DC":3fc7x4y4]Joke about 20 years old.[/quote:3fc7x4y4]
Oldies/classics talk will do that.
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metsguyinmichigan
Jan 12 2009 08:10 PM
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="G-Fafif":2oo7be9m]Shortly after Karen Carpenter died, my girlfriend at the time seemed a little obsessed about her death, and I scoffed that the Carpenters weren't all that memorable. "More memorable than the stupid Beatles," she replied, as if that would get me (speaking of those who recorded "Ticket to Ride").
The exchange taught me a lesson in dictating what is "memorable" to somebody else. Poor choice of words on my 20-year-old self's part.
The steady diet of Carpenters which filled the airwaves in the early '70s may have tempted some to go musically anorexic, but Karen and Richard, in small doses, left behind some gems. "Rainy Days and Mondays" is sometimes what you need right after a week of "Sunday Bloody Sunday".[/quote:2oo7be9m]
I think a lot of people have secret Carpenters faves.
I love the scene in "Tommy Boy" where they're driving and fighting over songs on the radio, and "Superstar' comes on, they both say in sucks, and after a quick cut away, they're both crying and singing at the top of their lungs.
"Don't you remember you told me you loved me, baby!"
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Frayed Knot
Jan 13 2009 06:32 AM
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The Carpenters version of 'Superstar' is OK until you hear the definition-of-sultry original by Bonnie Bramlett.
At that point you realize that, despite how good a song it is, Karen & Richard white-breaded the hell out of it.
My older sister had some Carpenters' stuff so they were among the first 'pop' records I ever heard.
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sharpie
Jan 13 2009 07:04 AM
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Delaney & Bonnie had the original version but I first knew the Rita Coolidge version from "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" which is also far better than the Carpenters' version. Richard Carpenter changed the line "I can hardly wait to sleep with you again" to "I can hardly wait to be with you again."
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Vince Coleman Firecracker
Jan 13 2009 07:16 AM
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Also better than the Carpenter's version: [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmnuMr5VMmI&feature=related:v3a4soc2]Sonic Youth's[/url:v3a4soc2], although Thurston Moore is considerably less sexy than any of the other singers mentioned.
The Carpenters beat [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBMISN_U144:v3a4soc2]Cher[/url:v3a4soc2], though.
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Edgy DC
Jan 13 2009 07:18 AM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 17 2009 10:27 AM
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Richard Carpenter had some issues.
I think the best argument you can make for the carpenters is that Karen had some passion and soul --- not a surfeit maybe, but Richard, in creating a context for it, just poured mayonnaisse all over it.
That's probably not altogether fair, but you hear the guy interviewed and he seems like the fella you avoid at a cocktail party.
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G-Fafif
Jan 13 2009 05:07 PM
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"Hot Stuff," which beat "Hot Legs" (and thus made the initial outrage list), was a flashpoint in the rock vs. disco summer of '79. "Hot Stuff" had all the makings, it was said, of a great rock record but was completely snubbed in such circles (namely rock radio) because it was Donna Summer and she was labeled the Queen of Disco and, of course, Disco Sucks. I think that systematic snubbing revealed what a crock the whole debate was, and (though I don't know from any contact with actual young people) it's a way more encouraging sign for society and music that there's been the kind of crossover between rock and hip-hop there's been in this decade...a phenomenon that had its roots, I suppose, in the work of my most celebrated [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/magazine/02rubin.t.html?_r=1:ugri1h50]high school classmate[/url:ugri1h50].
"Hot Legs" is a perfectly enjoyable number, a bit on the novelty side, I find, but there's no shame in it being upstaged by one of the great rock/dance fusion records of its time. Remember, this was a period when Paul McCartney ("Goodnight Tonight"), the Stones ("Miss You") and Rod Stewart himself ("Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?") were pilloried to varying extents by the rocknoscenti for dabbling in disco. "Hot Stuff" deserved more credit for the way it rocked.
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John Cougar Lunchbucket
Jan 13 2009 05:27 PM
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I have a personal thing for Hot Legs. I love the drumming in it and how raucous the whole thing is. I could take or leave a lot of 70s English singers doing blues inspired numbers too.
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batmagadanleadoff
Jan 13 2009 05:31 PM
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Now I get it. I thought "Hot Stuff" was the 1975 Rolling Stones version, a pre-disco disco influenced song in and of itself.
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batmagadanleadoff
Jan 13 2009 05:35 PM
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By the way, Disco died during that Summer of '79. Blame (I'd rather credit) Baseball. And Bill Veeck.
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G-Fafif
Jan 13 2009 05:53 PM
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Disco was still eating up the charts into the fall despite Steve Dahl's best efforts to blow it up. I always look to "Rapper's Delight," released in late '79, as having terminally upstaged disco (albeit while stealing a Chic bass line), just being more fun when disco had become, despite some outliers, as dreadfully dull and oppressive as any seven-minute drum solo. After the Sugar Hill Gang came along, all that was left was "Funkytown," a song that moved Homer Simpson like no other until Lurleen Lumpkin unveiled "Your Wife Don't Understand You But I Do" between schlepping Fudds. Lipps Inc. was the last of the no-name acts to ride what was left of that wave. Disco's time as a hitmaking genre was just about over come summer 1980. WKTU adapted by mixing in Olivia Newton-John and Queen. Life went on as Disco 92 even if it was never quite the nightlife again.
The definitive death notice was probably delivered in "Airplane!" when the title character took out the radio tower for "WZAZ in Chicago, where disco lives forever." Quite a cheer went up at the Sunrise Sixplex in Valley Stream.
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batmagadanleadoff
Jan 13 2009 06:03 PM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 13 2009 06:31 PM
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I'll defer to you because I don't know Disco nearly as well as you do without having to Google it to refresh my memory. I do remember hating it, and feeling that some of the quality of my teen-age years was being diminished between the music and the concurrent state of late '70's New York MLB.
I do know The Simpsons and Lurleen Lumpkin, though -- at least what I consider to be its' peak years (Bill Clinton's first term) when The Simpsons could plausibly lay claim to Best TV Show. Ever.
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G-Fafif
Jan 13 2009 06:10 PM
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Unless your name was Willie Stargell, '79 was rough all over.
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G-Fafif
Jan 16 2009 09:17 PM
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One more scab to pick over from the outrages list, that of the "Blinded by the Light"s. I went with Manfred Mann's version because that's the one I met first. Made a huge impression on me. Didn't know Bruce wrote it 'til Casey Kasem played a few bars. It is a wildly different and wildly wonderful original, but MM's just felt so out-of-this-world to me at 14, like NASA just picked it up on the radar. When it was first charting, only a short version got played. Then they bring in a longer one, and it was a cosmic treat. No disrespect to the "other" version, I just relate to this one.
Also, Manfred Mann had an entire Earth band. The other guy, his covered only one street.
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John Cougar Lunchbucket
Jan 16 2009 09:35 PM
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Like I said, just my opinion. I was also a Manfred Mann Man, you might say. Had the 45 (or Warner Brothers Records, I can still see the label). But, I have to say, the Bruce version really is better. It has to be one of the loosest, easiest sounding rock songs ever, just falls into place without any effort.
I didn't anticpate how brutal this thread could be (not brutal bad, but brutal harsh). Lotta killer songs have gone one-and-done!
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G-Fafif
Jan 16 2009 09:43 PM
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Sometimes I'll be watching Music Choice, say the '70s channel, thinking how much I'm enjoying this song, I really like this song, it may even be in my Top 500...and I change the channel anyway. That's what Song vs. Song is like. This is great -- but I wanna hear that.
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Gwreck
Jan 16 2009 10:38 PM
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In my opinion, that's exactly the problem.
The thread's become like operating an iPod without the headphones plugged in.
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G-Fafif
Jan 17 2009 08:12 AM
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Different strokes for different folks.
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Edgy DC
Jan 17 2009 11:02 AM
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Were is that "Hot Lets" video shot? I initially thought it was the southwestern US, but now I'm thinking Venezueala or something.
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John Cougar Lunchbucket
Jan 17 2009 09:30 PM
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="G-Fafif":20g0sxrm]Sometimes I'll be watching Music Choice, say the '70s channel, thinking how much I'm enjoying this song, I really like this song, it may even be in my Top 500...and I change the channel anyway. That's what Song vs. Song is like. This is great -- but I wanna hear that.[/quote:20g0sxrm]
I am coming around to seeing it that way, I guess. I was hoping people would be walking around all day dreaming up scenarios where they'd spring their surprise ringer.
"Blinded by the Light" (Manfred Mann's Earth Band) came on as I climbed the Manhattan Bridge on my run this afternoon. I was wrecked up like a douche.
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G-Fafif
Jan 17 2009 11:40 PM
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"Blinded By The Light" discussed in depth here:
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Edgy DC
Jan 18 2009 10:58 AM
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My next handle is going to be "Go-Cart Mozart."
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Frayed Knot
Feb 02 2009 12:39 PM
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'My Life', quite possibly Billy Joel's worst song, had far too long a winning streak in S-v-S
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Edgy DC
Feb 02 2009 12:44 PM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Feb 02 2009 01:46 PM
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Yeah, I made the mistake of making my first click in a week during that run.
"It's My Life" (Talk Talk) vs. "My Life"
NO! I screamed!
"My Life" vs. "It's My Life" (The Animals)
And NO! I cried.
"My Life" vs. "Living For The City"
Glory, NO!
"My Life" vs. "Matter of Trust"
NEIN!
"My Life" vs. "You Are Everything"
Thank you, Stylistics!
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G-Fafif
Feb 02 2009 01:24 PM
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I was thrilled when the Stylistics finally won something, but sorry it was at the expense of my second-favorite Billy Joel song.
I'll go back to my parallel musical universe now.
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batmagadanleadoff
Feb 02 2009 02:36 PM
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At it's peak, "Let's Put it All Together" was my mother's favorite song.
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G-Fafif
Feb 02 2009 02:46 PM
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That's a good one. More or less their last crossover hit. They still (with a blend of new and old members) still hit the high notes in concert.
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batmagadanleadoff
Feb 02 2009 02:51 PM
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="G-Fafif":l2yz50rv]That's a good one. More or less their last crossover hit. They still (with a blend of new and old members) still hit the high notes in concert.[/quote:l2yz50rv]
Would you like to take my mom to a Stylistics concert? She's been to a few Met games but knows nothing about Baseball. I can't say for sure whether she even knows I'm a Met fan. Her hamentashen is awesome.
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G-Fafif
Feb 02 2009 02:54 PM
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Homemade Hamantashen and "Betcha By Golly Wow"? I am so there.
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Frayed Knot
Feb 04 2009 09:48 AM
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Cripes!, I put Foghat in there as a joke.
I didn't expect it to actually win anything.
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metsguyinmichigan
Feb 04 2009 11:52 AM
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HEY! This is a serious competition. We got no time for your jokes.
:)
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