PB & Julie + Julie C. Trivia

22 Awesome Albums From ’72

***** CONTENT WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS REFERENCES TO DEPRESSION, DRUG USE, SUICIDE, A PLANE CRASH, CANCER, AND DEATH *****

These albums are all turned fifty in 2022. This list is chronological by release date.

Paul Simon – Paul Simon

CHART POSITION: #4 in the US (it went to #1 in four other countries: Japan, Finland, Norway, and Sweden)

SINGLES: “Mother and Child Reunion”, “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”, “Duncan”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Mother and Child Reunion”, “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”, “Run That Body Down”, “Paranoia Blues”

FUN FACT: The inspiration for the name “Mother and Child Reunion” was a chicken-and-egg dish Simon saw on a Chinese menu.

Harvest – Neil Young

CHART POSITION: #1 (Harvest was the best-selling album of 1972 in the United States)

SINGLES: “Heart of Gold”, “Old Man”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Heart of Gold”, “The Needle and the Damage Done”

FUN FACT: Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor provided background vocals for “Old Man” and “Heart of Gold”.

Something/Anything? – Todd Rundgren

CHART POSITION: #29 in the US

SINGLES: “I Saw the Light”, “Couldn’t I Just Tell You”, “Hello It’s Me”, “Wolfman Jack”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference”, which was featured on the soundtrack to one of my all-time favorite films, Almost Famous.

FUN FACT: Rundgren was a prolific writer in those days (he claims to have written “I Saw the Light” in twenty minutes), which he has attributed to his use of Ritalin.

Eat a Peach – The Allman Brothers Band

CHART POSITION: #4 in the US

SINGLES: “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More”, “Melissa / Blue Sky”, “One Way Out”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “One Way Out” (ALSO featured on the Almost Famous soundtrack), “Mountain Jam” (based on Donovan’s “There Is a Mountain”)

FUN FACT: The album’s gatefold art, done by W. David Powell and J. F. Holmes, is incredible; the pair were “profoundly influenced” by Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch.

in 1991, *Rolling Stone* selected *Eat a Peach* as one of the 100 greatest album covers of all time; shown is the gatefold art by W. David Powell and J. F. Holmes

An example of Hieronymus Bosch’s work, *The Garden of Earthly Delights*

Pink Moon – Nick Drake

CHART POSITION: N/A

SINGLES: None

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: Written while Drake was in the throes of severe depression, the songs of Pink Moon are breathtaking but bleak, so “favorite” might not be the appropriate word. Pink Moon is worth experiencing; just be prepared to go to a dark place.

FUN FACT: Drake is one of the least commercially-successful artists on this list, but his music has inspired countless other artists, including Kate Bush, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, and The Cure’s Robert Smith (in fact, The Cure’s name is derived from a Nick Drake lyric from the song “Time Has Told Me”). His tragic death by suicide in 1974 meant that Pink Moon would be Drake’s final album.

Thick as a Brick – Jethro Tull

CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, Australia, Canada, and Denmark

SINGLES: None

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Thick as a Brick, Part I”, “Thick as a Brick, Part II”

FUN FACT: Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson, offended by a critic who labeled the band’s previous effort, Aqualung, a “concept album”, decided to record a Monty Python-style spoof of a concept album. Thick as a Brick consists of two songs, the aforementioned “Thick as a Brick, Part I” and “Thick as a Brick, Part II”. And while it received mixed reviews at the time of its release, Thick as a Brick is generally considered one of the ten best prog-rock albums ever.

Machine Head – Deep Purple

CHART POSITION: #7 in the US, #1 in six other countries, including the UK and Australia

SINGLES: “Never Before”, “Lazy”, “Highway Star”, “Smoke on the Water”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Highway Star”, “Smoke on the Water”, “Space Truckin'”

FUN FACT: Machine Head is a pivotal album in the development of heavy metal, but it almost didn’t happen. Deep Purple intended to record the album at the Montreaux Casino in Switzerland, but the casino burned to the ground when a fan set off a flare gun at a Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention show. Fortunately, there were no major injuries from the fire, and the band was able to book another venue. Deep Purple’s most iconic song, “Smoke on the Water”, was written about the incident.

You Don’t Mess Around With Jim – Jim Croce

CHART POSITION: #1 in the US and Canada

SINGLES: “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim”, “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)”, “Time in a Bottle”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “New York’s Not My Home”, “Photographs and Memories”, “Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy)”

FUN FACT: “Time in a Bottle” was not originally intended as a single (in fact, he’d released another album by then), but after Croce’s death in a plane crash in September of 1973, radio stations were bombarded with requests for the song, forcing the label to release it as a single. It went on to become Croce’s second #1 hit (“Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” was the first).

I had to include this clip of Jim Hopper (David Harbour) doing a dad dance to “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim”

Exile on Main St. – Rolling Stones

CHART POSITION: #1 in five countries, including the US, the UK, and Canada

SINGLES: “Tumbling Dice”, “Happy”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Tumbling Dice”, “Sweet Virginia”, “Rocks Off”, “Shine a Light”, “Soul Survivor”

FUN FACT: Liz Phair’s 1993 debut album, Exile in Guyville, is a song-by-song response to Exile on Main St (though not in the literal sense). A Spotify user helpfully put together a playlist for comparison.

Honky Château – Elton John

CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, #2 in the UK

SINGLES: “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time)”, “Honky Cat”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”, “Honky Cat”, “Rocket Man”

FUN FACT: Honky Château was Elton John’s first recording to feature two members of his road band, bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson. Olsson performs with John to this day (Murray died in 1992 of skin cancer).

Eagles – Eagles

CHART POSITION: #22 in the US, #13 in Canada

SINGLES: “Take It Easy”, “Witchy Woman”, “Peaceful Easy Feeling”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above

FUN FACT: “Take It Easy” was written by Jackson Browne and Eagle Glenn Frey. The lyric “Well, I’m a-standing on a corner/In Winslow, Arizona/Such a fine sight to see/It’s a girl, my Lord/In a flat-bed Ford/Slowin’ down to take a look at me ” was written after Browne’s vehicle broke down in Winslow (Frey added the part about the girl in the Ford). In 1999, the city of Winslow commissioned a statue and mural at the corner of Second Street and Kinsley Avenue. The mural depicts a red Ford flatbed truck and an eagle.

Obscured by Clouds – Pink Floyd

CHART POSITION: #46 in the US, #6 in the UK

SINGLES: “Free Four”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Burning Bridges”, “Wot’s… Uh the Deal?”, “Childhood’s End”

FUN FACT: Obscured by Clouds was the soundtrack to the Barbet Schroeder film La Vallée.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – David Bowie

CHART POSITION: #21 in the US, #5 in the UK

SINGLES: “Starman/Suffragette City”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Five Years”, “Moonage Daydream”, “Starman”, “Ziggy Stardust”

FUN FACT: The primary inspirations for the Ziggy Stardust character were English singer Vince Taylor and American proto-punk icon Iggy Pop.

Bowie performing “Starman” on Top of the Pops (the British equivalent of American Bandstand)

Roxy Music – Roxy Music

CHART POSITION: #10 in the UK; didn’t chart in the US

SINGLES: “Virginia Plain”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Re-Make/Re-Model”, “2HB”, “Bitters End”

FUN FACT: “Virginia Plain” was recorded during the Roxy Music sessions and released as a single in advance of the album, only to be scrubbed from the finished product. In later printings of the album, “Virginia Plain” is included. “2HB” is Bryan Ferry’s love letter to Humphrey Bogart and includes the lyric “Here’s looking at you kid”, as well as a sax solo influenced by “As Time Goes By”. The model on the cover, by the way, is Kari-Ann Muller, who also appeared on the cover of Mott the Hoople’s 1974 album, The Hoople. Muller would later marry Chris Jagger, Mick’s younger brother.

Superfly – Curtis Mayfield

CHART POSITION: #1 in the US

SINGLES: “Freddie’s Dead”, “Superfly”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: Just listen to the whole dang thing, okay?

FUN FACT: This funk/soul masterpiece was the soundtrack to the Blaxploitation film of the same name; the album was so successful, it’s one of the few soundtracks to outgross their accompanying movie.

#1 Record – Big Star

CHART POSITION: N/A

SINGLES: None

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Thirteen”, “The Ballad of El Goodo”, “In the Street”,

FUN FACT: #1 Record only sold about 10,000 copies upon its initial release but fifty years later, the album is considered a power-pop masterpiece. Big Star’s Alex Chilton, who’d achieved fame at the age of sixteen with The Box Tops (“The Letter”, “Cry Like a Baby”), is a legend of the genre who inspired artists like The Replacements, R.E.M., and The Posies.

Close to the Edge – Yes

CHART POSITION: #3 in the US, #4 in the UK

SINGLES: “And You and I”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Close to the Edge”, “And You and I”

FUN FACT: Among the inspirations for Close to the Edge: Symphony Nos. 6 and 7 by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, Wendy Carlos’s Sonic Seasonings (widely regarded as the first new-age album), and the Herman Hesse novel Siddhartha. Close to the Edge was the first Yes album to feature the iconic band logo created by Roger Dean.

Foxtrot – Genesis

CHART POSITION: #12 in the UK (Genesis didn’t crack the Billboard 200 until their follow-up to Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound)

SINGLES: “Watcher of the Skies”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Supper’s Ready”

FUN FACT: “Supper’s Ready”, at just over twenty-three minutes, is the longest song Genesis ever recorded. The song is comprised of seven parts and undergoes multiple key and time signature changes. Foxtrot was the last of three Genesis album covers to be designed by Paul Whitehead (Trespass and Nursery Cryme were the other two).

Here’s Genesis performing “Supper’s Ready” live in its entirety

Talking Book – Stevie Wonder

CHART POSITION: #3 in the US (#1 on the R&B chart)

SINGLES: “Superstition”, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Maybe Your Baby”, “You’ve Got It Bad Girl”, “Superstition”, “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)”

FUN FACT: Wonder’s Music of My Mind was also released in 1972, and while it’s a fine album, Talking Book is better. Talking Book earned Wonder his first Grammy, and on the same night, Wonder took home his first of three Album of the Year awards for his subsequent album, Innervisions, which was released during the same eligibility period.

Transformer – Lou Reed

CHART POSITION: #29 in the US, #13 in the UK

SINGLES: “Walk on the Wild Side/Perfect Day”, “Satellite of Love”, “Vicious”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, “I’m So Free”, “Goodnight Ladies”

FUN FACT: Transformer was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, who were both hugely influenced by Reed’s work with The Velvet Underground. “Vicious” was inspired by Reed’s friend and mentor Andy Warhol, who suggested Reed write a song about someone vicious. When Reed asked Warhol what he meant by “vicious”, Warhol replied, “Oh, you know, like I hit you with a flower.”

The World Is a Ghetto – War

CHART POSITION: #1 in the US

SINGLES: “The Cisco Kid”, “The World Is a Ghetto”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “The Cisco Kid”, “Four Cornered Room”, “The World Is a Ghetto”

FUN FACT: The World Is a Ghetto was the best-selling album of 1973 and was selected as Album of the Year by Billboard magazine.

Can’t Buy a Thrill – Steely Dan

CHART POSITION: #17 in the US

SINGLES: “Do It Again”, “Reelin’ in the Years”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Do It Again”, “Dirty Work”, “Only a Fool Would Say That”, “Reelin’ in the Years”, “Fire in the Hole”,

FUN FACT: Steely Dan’s name is a reference to a steam-powered, strap-on dildo in William S. Burroughs’ novel Naked Lunch (the dildo’s full name is Steely Dan III from Yokohama).

Grammy Best New Artist Headscratchers

The 64th annual Grammy Awards were held on April 3, and the coveted Best New Artist prize went to teenage pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo. Over the years, the Grammys have made some head-scratchingly bizarre decisions in the Best New Artist category, often favoring pop one-hit-wonders over genre artists who are more likely to stand the test of time.

Awards are by their nature subjective, and it’s definitely worth noting that some of the most significant musical artists of the modern era – including Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Simon & Garfunkel, The Rolling Stones, Bee Gees, Queen, Michael Jackson, Prince, U2, Madonna, Nirvana, The White Stripes, and Lady Gaga – WEREN’T EVEN NOMINATED.

Only time will tell what Rodrigo’s legacy will be, of course. In thirty years, will pop culture bloggers be wondering why she beat Glass Animals or Japanese Breakfast? It’s impossible to say, but her win got me thinking: which Best New Artist winners were the biggest head-scratchers, and more importantly, which other nominee(s) should have won instead?

Tom Jones (1965)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: THE BYRDS

No disrespect to Welch crooner Tom Jones, who burst onto the scene in 1965 with top ten hits “It’s Not Unusual” and “What’s New, Pussycat?”, but The Byrds are arguably the greatest and most influential American rock band of all time. These days, Jones is best known for his flashy Vegas performances and his philandering (Jones estimates he was sleeping with about 250 women per year at the height of his fame, all while married to his high school sweetheart Linda). Meanwhile, The Byrds released not one but two albums – Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn! – in 1965, and made some of the most important records of the late ’60s, including Fifth Dimension and Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

José Feliciano (1968)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: CREAM

Latin music artist José Feliciano is best known for his annoyingly catchy Christmas tune “Feliz Navidad” and his acoustic cover of The Doors’ “Light My Fire”. Meanwhile, Cream – rock’s first supergroup – was making some of the most enduring music of the late 1960s. Comprised of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce, Cream was a blues-rock/psychedelic powerhouse, and though they only released four albums, they remain one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

Starland Vocal Band (1976)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: Boston

Boston was, without a doubt, the best new artist of 1976. Their eponymous debut is an embarrassment of rock riches, featuring singles “More Than a Feeling”, “Long Time” and “Peace of Mind”, as well as several more songs that continue to get AOR airplay more than forty-five years later. Boston has sold more than twenty million copies worldwide and is still considered one of the greatest debut albums ever. But the Recording Academy went with literal one-hit wonders Starland Vocal Band, whose cheesetastic ode to daytime nookie “Afternoon Delight” went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Debby Boone (1977)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: Foreigner or Andy Gibb

Gospel artist Debby Boone – daughter of Pat – had one crossover hit, “You Light Up My Life” (the theme song to the movie of the same name), which went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for an unprecedented ten weeks. And though she’s technically not a one-hit-wonder (she had two other singles that cracked the Hot 100), Boone’s contributions to popular music begin and end with “You Light Up My Life”. Meanwhile, Foreigner’s self-titled debut featured three top-ten hits – “Feels Like the First Time”, “Cold as Ice” and “Long, Long Way from Home” – and kick-started their career as one of the most popular American rock bands of the 1970s and ’80s. Andy Gibb, younger brother to The Bee Gees, burst onto the pop scene at age nineteen with his debut, Flowing Rivers. The album produced two #1 hits: “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” and “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water”, and though Gibb’s career didn’t have the longevity of Foreigner’s, he still would have been a better Best New Artist pick than Boone.

A Taste of Honey (1978)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: The Cars, Elvis Costello or Toto

A Taste of Honey’s debut single “Boogie Oogie Oogie” was a smash hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it remains one of the most enduring songs of the disco era. I am unabashedly a disco fan, but when you stack A Taste of Honey’s career against The Cars, Elvis Costello, or even Toto, it just doesn’t hold up. Personally, I’d probably pick The Cars, one of my all-time favorite artists. The Cars’ eponymous debut is a power-pop classic, featuring the singles “Just What I Needed”, “My Best Friend’s Girl”, and “Good Times Roll”, as well as “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight”, “Bye Bye Love”, and my personal favorite, “Moving in Stereo”. Costello would have been a fine pick as well; his third album, Armed Forces, is the one that attracted the attention of the Recording Academy, and it is a banger. And yes, even Toto, whose single “Hold the Line” might be my favorite song of 1978, would have been a better choice.

Sheena Easton (1981)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: The Go-Go’s

Scottish chanteuse Sheena Easton exploded onto the pop scene in 1981 with the one-two punch of “Morning Train (Nine to Five)” and “For Your Eyes Only”, the theme song to the James Bond film of the same name. Easton is lovely, but The Go-Go’s were the rightful winners of the Best New Artist prize that year. Their debut album, Beauty and the Beat, remains the only #1 record in history by an all-female band who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments. I’ve waxed rhapsodic about Beauty and the Beat before (ICYMI: https://peanut-butter-and-julie.com/2021/07/08/beauty-and-the-beat-at-40/), and I’ll probably do so again; its importance in rock history – and my own personal life – cannot be overstated.

Milli Vanilli (1990)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: Literally anyone else (Neneh Cherry, Indigo Girls, Tone Lōc, and Soul II Soul were the other nominees)

In one of the most mortifying incidents in Grammy history, Milli Vanilli was forced to return their Best New Artist Grammy after it was revealed that the duo hadn’t actually provided the vocals for their debut album, Girl You Know It’s True. With the benefit of hindsight, Indigo Girls are the obvious choice, but literally any of the other nominees would have been a better pick, even Tone Lōc, who at least did his own rapping on hits like “Wild Thing” and “Funky Cold Medina”.

Hootie & the Blowfish (1995)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: Alanis Morissette

Hootie & the Blowfish’s debut album, Cracked Rear View, is inexplicably the 19th-best-selling album in US history, and while their brand of pop-rock is entirely too bland for my taste, I guess I understand their appeal to the general music-listening population. But you know what album sold even more copies than Cracked Rear View in 1995? Jagged Little Pill, the phenomenal debut album by Alanis Morissette that spawned six singles, including the top-ten hits “You Oughta Know” and “Ironic”. Morissette actually won four Grammys for Jagged Little Pill, including Album of the Year, which makes her Best New Artist loss to Hootie & the Blowfish even more inexplicable.

Paule Cole (1997)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: Fiona Apple

There’s nothing inherently wrong with singer-songwriter Paula Cole, known primarily for the top twenty hits “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” and “I Don’t Want to Wait”. It’s just that she isn’t Fiona Apple. Apple is one of those preternatural talents that comes along once in a generation, and her astonishing debut album Tidal was one of the best albums by any artist that year. Classically trained on the piano as a child, Apple began writing her own songs at the age of eight. The songs on Tidal – including “Sleep to Dream” and “Criminal” – were all written by the time she was seventeen. Apple did win a Grammy that night (Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for “Criminal”) but the fact that she went home without the Best New Artist prize is a travesty.

Evanescence (2003)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: Fountains of Wayne

Don’t get me wrong, if “Bring Me to Life” comes on the radio, I’m going to sing along, but Fountains of Wayne, led by Chris Collingwood and the late, great Adam Schlesinger, is one of the greatest pop bands of the 21 century. Welcome Interstate Managers was actually the band’s third album, but it’s the one that made the Recording Academy take notice. The album contains Fountains of Wayne’s biggest hit, “Stacy’s Mom”, as well as “Mexican Wine”, “Bright Future in Sales”, “Hackensack”, and my personal favorite (for obvious reasons), “Hey Julie”.

Adam Schlesinger died from complications of COVID-19 in March 2020; the remaining band members teamed up with Sharon Van Etten for a tribute

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (2013)

WHO SHOULD HAVE WON: Kendrick Lamar or Kasey Musgraves

This is the most recent entry, but enough time has passed to safely say that Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were a flash in the pan. Kendrick Lamar and Kasey Musgraves have written some of the past decade’s most compelling music in their respective genres (hip-hop and country). Lamar even won the incredibly prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Music, which typically goes to classical compositions, for 2018’s Damn.

AND ONE TIME THE GRAMMYS GOT IT INCONTROVERTIBLY RIGHT:

The Beatles (1964)

WHO THEY BEAT: Petula Clark, Astrud Gilberto, Antônio Carlos Jobim and Morgana King

Once in a blue moon, the Recording Academy gets it right. This was one of those times.

Quick Hits: April 15

The Stranger Things 4 trailer is finally here, and it’s a doozy!

Here’s an exclusive interview with the Duffers, who break down the trailer for us in a non-spoilery way:

The RMS Titanic, under the command of Captain Edward Smith, sank into the North Atlantic one hundred and ten years ago today, so it’s a good day to watch a Titanic-themed movie (although I know my hubby will veto this idea).

Leaving this here for no particular reason:

Today would have been Glenn Shadix’s 70th birthday. Now I know what you’re asking me: “‘Who the heck is Glenn Shadix?'” You might not know his name, but you’d probably recognize his face, or even just his voice. Shadix made small but memorable appearances in movies like Beetlejuice and Heathers, and he did extensive voice work in animation, including The Nightmare Before Christmas, for which he provided the voice of the Mayor of Halloweentown. Shaddix died in 2010 of blunt force trauma after he fell in the kitchen of his condo.

Flashdance was released on this day in 1983. The film was a surprise hit, grossing just over $200 million (it was the third-most-profitable movie of the year, after Return of the Jedi and Terms of Endearment) and was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Song for both “Maniac” and “Flashdance… What a Feeling” (the latter won). The soundtrack, which also includes songs by Kim Carnes, Donna Summer and Laura Branigan, was a huge hit as well, reaching #1 on the Billboard 200. It was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year (it lost, rightfully, to Thriller). Flashdance was the first collaboration between producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, a professional relationship that lasted until Simpson’s untimely death in 1996 and yielded hits like Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun and Crimson Tide.

Seth Rogen is celebrating his 40th birthday today. If you’re not already following Rogen on Twitter (@Sethrogen), do yourself a favor and check him out. He posts pictures of his pottery and talks about weed and his spaniel Zelda.

Gilbert Gottfried has died at the age of sixty-seven. After his death, Gottfried’s family revealed that he had suffered from ventricular tachycardia. Gottfried appeared in dozens of films and television series, but to me, he’ll always be Aladdin‘s Iago.

Bessie Smith, the “Empress of the Blues”, was born on this day in 1894. Raised in poverty and orphaned by the age of nine, Smith used her hardships as fuel for her music. She signed with Columbia Records in 1923, where she made more than 160 recordings. Smith’s recording career ended abruptly with the advent of the Great Depression, but she never stopped performing. Smith died from injuries sustained in a car crash on September 26, 1937; she was just forty-three years old.

If you’ve never seen HBO’s Emmy-winning *Bessie*, starring Queen Latifah, I highly recommend it.

Photos from the set of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer have made their way to the internet. Shown are Cillian Murphy as Robert J. Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, who served as commissioner of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Other cast members include Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty and Matt Damon as Manhattan Project head Leslie Groves. The film is slated for release in July 2023.

And finally, here is a toddler dancing to Eminem, and now I’m off the listen to The Eminem Show.

@caitlinhunter758
#funnybabie #toddlersoftiktok #fyp #foryoupage #foryou
♬ original sound – caitlinhunter758

I identify with this child soooooooooo much!

Quick Hits: April 11

It’s been three very long years since season one of Russian Doll. Like many series, filming on the existential time loop comedy’s second season was delayed due to COVID. Judging by the trailer, I think it will have been worth the wait. If you haven’t watched the first season, you have plenty of time to catch up before season two drops on April 20.

All hail Natasha Lyonne, Russian Doll‘s co-creator, executive producer, star, and all-around badass

At a concert in his hometown of Detroit, Jack White surprised the audience with a proposal to his girlfriend Olivia Jean. The two proceeded to get married onstage.

Estelle Harris died on April 2 at the age of ninety-three. Harris is best known for her role as Estelle Constanza on Seinfeld and her voice work as Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story series. Harris was born Estelle Nussbaum in Manhattan and grew up in the Pittsburgh area. She married Sy Harris in 1952 and raised three children. Once her youngest child was in school full time, Harris began pursuing her show business dreams, making her film debut in 1977’s Looking Up at the age of forty-nine.

On this day in 1967, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead made its London Debut at the Old Vic. Tom Stoppard’s existentialist/absurdist/meta tragicomedy takes two minor Hamlet characters and puts them center stage, where they live out their predetermined fates and contemplate the meaning of their existence. The play came to Broadway the following year and raked in eight Tony nominations and four wins, including Best Play. You can watch the film adaptation on Acorn, Tubi, Amazon, or (if you have a library card) Hoopla.

TRUE STORY

Everyone Loves Lady Gaga Right Now (buzzfeednews.com)

Business as Usual at 40

Business as Usual, the debut album by Men at Work, was released forty years ago this month. It would go on to become one of the best-selling albums ever by an Australian artist.

Men at Work was founded in 1979 by lead singer Colin Hay, guitarist Ron Strykert and drummer Jerry Speiser; they were later joined by multi-instrumentalist Greg Ham (saxophone, flute and keyboards) and bassist John Rees. They quickly became one of Australia’s most popular unsigned acts. In 1980, they recorded two songs, “Keypunch Operator” and “Down Under”, and released them as an independent single (“Down Under”, by the way, was the B-side). Although the single failed to chart, it was successful enough to get the band a contract with CBS Records.

Men at Work began recording Business as Usual in the summer of 1981. In the meantime, CBS released the band’s first Australian single, “Who Can It Be Now?”, which went to #2 in August and earned the band Best Debut Single at the annual Countdown Music Awards (the Aussie version of the Grammys). Business as Usual was released in October, along with their second single, a “popified” version of “Down Under”; both album and single went to #1 in Australia.

Despite Men at Work’s success in their native land, CBS was hesitant to release the album internationally. But the label’s A&R rep, Peter Karpin, believed in the band and convinced the label to release the album in Europe and North America.

Business as Usual arrived in the US in April of 1982. “Who Can It Be Now?” was the first single released in the US. Aided by a video that showcased the band’s quirkiness (and a stint opening for Fleetwood Mac on their North American tour), “Who Can It Be Now?” became Men at Work’s first #1 single in the US in October. Shortly thereafter, Business as Usual reached the top of the Billboard 200 – and stayed there for an astonishing fifteen weeks (the album would ultimately be the second-best-selling of the year in the US, behind only Michael Jackson’s Thriller).

“Down Under” was the band’s second US single, and also reached #1 in January 1983. Men at Work’s most iconic song, “Down Under” is a love letter to their homeland, complete with a reference to Vegemite. Once again, the band released a promotional video highlighting the goofy lyrics and Greg Ham’s iconic, and ultimately controversial, flute riff (more on that in a minute).

“Be Good Johnny” became the third and final single from Business as Usual, but by then the band was already working on their second album, Cargo.

At the 25th Grammy Awards, Men at Work received the coveted Best New Artist award, beating out Asia, Jennifer Holliday, The Human League and Stray Cats.

The band with their Best New Artist Grammy

Cargo, released in 1983, proved a more modest success, peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200 and producing two top-ten singles, “Overkill” and “It’s a Mistake”. Long-standing tensions between Colin Hay and Jerry Speiser led to Speiser and John Rees being dismissed from the band in 1984. Men at Work released just one more album, 1985’s Two Hearts; it was a critical and commercial flop. Men at Work disbanded the following year, though they have reunited for live performances over the years.

About that “Down Under” controversy: in 2007, on Australian quiz show Spicks and Specks, host Adam Hills asked, “What children’s song is contained in the song ‘Down Under’?”. The answer was “Kookaburra”, a popular Australian nursery rhyme. The following day, Larrikin Music, which owns the copyright to “Kookaburra”, was flooded with emails and phone calls. Larrikin decided to take legal action, and sued the song’s writers, Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, for copyright infringement. On 4 February 2010, Justice Peter Jacobson ruled that “Down Under” reproduced “a substantial part of ‘Kookaburra'” and that Larrikin’s copyright had indeed been infringed. Although he was not named in the suit, Greg Ham, who performed the flute riff in the song, took the judgment particularly hard. Ham lamented, “I’m terribly disappointed that that’s the way I’m going to be remembered—for copying something.” Ham began struggling with depression; rumors spread that he was using heroin as an escape. Ham was found dead at his Melbourne home on April 19, 2012. Though several newspapers reported that Ham had suffered a heart attack, his cause of death is still being debated.

It’s hard to overstate how dominant Men at Work was for about a two year period. Their brand of new wave/pop rock was infectious and fun, and they were a smash crossover success. And though the band flamed out quickly, we’ll always have Business as Usual to remember them by.

Quick Hits: April 4

I am enjoying Shining Vale immensely. A horror-comedy series that delivers both genuine laughs AND genuine chills, Shining Vale also offers a thoughtful, refreshingly candid take on marriage, mental health issues, and intergenerational trauma. The entire cast is crushing it, especially Courteney Cox as protagonist Patricia Phelps, an author with clinical depression and a massive case of writer’s block, and Mira Sorvino as Pat’s muse/alter ego/possible demon, Rosemary. The nod to The Shining isn’t in name only; a number of easter eggs pay homage to both Stephen King’s 1977 novel and Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 1980 film adaptation. This week’s episode, “Whispering Hope”, was the best yet, with Pat answering the question of how far she’ll go to complete her novel. With two episodes left in the season, I’m pleased to say I have no idea where the story will go next.

Greg Kinnear, Courteney Cox and Mira Sorvino star in *Shining Vale*

On this day in 2008, super couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z were married in New York City.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z are one of the most fabulous showbiz couples, whether performing together, walking the red carpet, or sitting courtside at a Brooklyn Nets game (Brooklyn-born Jay-Z was part owner of the team for ten years)

Stephen Sondheim’s Follies opened on this date in 1971 at the Winter Garden Theatre. Follies was directed by Broadway legends Harold Prince and Michael Bennett (Bennett was also the choreographer). Follies initially received a lukewarm critical reception, and it was a commercial flop as well, losing almost $800,000 by the time it ended its run after 522 performances. Follies nonetheless raked in eleven Tony nominations and took home seven awards (it lost Best Musical to Two Gentlemen of Verona, a musical adaptation of the Shakespeare comedy). A film adaptation is in the works; I am skeptical. Fun fact: The Munsters‘ Yvonne De Carlo originated the role of film star Carlotta, who sings one of Follies‘ show-stopping numbers, “I’m Still Here”.

Sondheim and book writer James Goldman were inspired to write *Follies* by a New York Times article about a reunion of Ziegfeld Follies showgirls

Anthony Perkins was born on this day in 1932. Although primarily known for his portrayal of Norman Bates in Psycho and its three sequels, Perkins was a versatile, Tony- and Oscar-nominated actor and singer who was equally adept at drama and comedy. He spent his early career playing romantic leading men while hiding his sexual orientation; in fact, his partner of several years was Tab Hunter, who also tended to play the romantic type (there’s a movie in development about their relationship, with Andrew Garfield the frontrunner to play Perkins). Perkins went to tragic lengths to deny his true self, but he did spend the last nineteen years of his life married to actress-photographer Berry Berenson, with whom he had two sons. Perkins passed away in 1992 of AIDS-related pneumonia at the age of sixty (to compound the tragedy of their story, Berenson was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01).

Tony Perkins hit teen-idol status in the late 1950s

The film that changed Perkins’ life, for the better and the worse

Perkins with Berry Berenson on their wedding day

Heath Ledger was born on this day in 1979. Ledger burst onto the scene in 1999 when he made his American film debut in 10 Things I Hate About You, Disney-Touchstone’s delightful take on The Taming of the Shrew. Ledger was charming as the film’s Petruchio, Patrick, and he had sparkly chemistry with Julia Stiles. Over the next several years, Ledger gave us one killer performance after another, alternating between crowd-pleasers like The Patriot and A Knight’s Tale and indies such as Monster’s Ball and Brokeback Mountain. The latter film garnered Ledger his first Oscar nomination; Philip Seymour Hoffman swept the awards circuit that year for his astonishing turn as Truman Capote in Capote, but Ledger sure gave him a run for his money. In 2008, he delivered his most iconic performance yet, as The Dark Knight‘s Joker. On January 22, 2008, twenty-eight-year-old Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment, the result of acute multiple-drug intoxication. The Dark Knight was released that July to critical acclaim and a massive box office haul (more than $1 billion); that awards season, Ledger posthumously won the Oscar, the BAFTA, the Golden Globe and the SAG.

Ledger with Jake Gylenhaal in Brokeback Mountain

ICONIC

Ledger’s ex-wife Michelle Williams with their daughter Matilda (who apparently plays the trombone, which is super badass)

Elmer Bernstein would have been 100 years old today. Bernstein composed music for more than 200 movies and television series, including To Kill a Mockingbird, The Magnificent Seven, Ghostbusters, The Age of Innocence, and Far From Heaven (his final film). Bernstein died in 2004 at the age of eighty-two.

Elmer Bernstein received a total of fourteen Oscar nominations, winning just once, for 1967’s *Thoroughly Modern Millie*

And finally, the Grammy Awards were held last night. As far as I know, no one slapped anyone else. Jon Batiste was the night’s big winner, with eleven nominations and five awards, including Album of the Year for We Are. Nineteen-year-old Olivia Rodrigo won three awards, including the coveted Best New Artist prize. Lady Gaga stunned on the red carpet in her black and pink Armani Privé gown. And Billie Eilish paid tribute to the late Taylor Hawkins while performing “Happier Than Ever”.

Sign O’ the Times at 35

If you’re making a list of the most brilliant double albums in history – Songs in the Key of Life, The Beatles, Bitches Brew, Blonde on Blonde, Physical Graffiti, and yes, 1999 – Prince’s 1987 masterpiece Sign O’ the Times has to be on that list.

In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that part of my love for this album is driven by nostalgia. Sign O’ the Times (along with George Harrison’s Cloud Nine, Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason, Terence Trent D’Arby’s Introducing the Hardline According to…, INXS’s Kick, George Michael’s Faith, and R.E.M.’s Document) was the soundtrack to my freshman year in college. And a very good year it was.

Nostalgia aside, Sign O’ the Times is a killer album, stacked with one amazing track after another. Is it Prince’s best album? That’s up for debate, obviously, though I’m guessing many people would say his best album is Purple Rain. But Sign O’ the Times is my favorite Prince album, hands down.

Released on March 31, 1987, Sign O’ the Times was Prince’s first album after the dissolution of his backing band, The Revolution. It was originally conceived as a triple album, but Warner Brothers balked at the idea and Prince was forced to trim it down to a double. The songs encompass an array of genres, including funk, R & B, rock, psychedelic pop, folk, and even gospel. Many of the tracks have a raw, unfinished feel, which was obviously by design (Prince never did anything by accident).

Fun fact: in 1986, Prince created an androgynous alter ego named Camille, whose voice Prince produced using a pitch-shifting technique. Prince actually recorded an entire album as Camille but the project was scrapped (the album will finally see a release sometime this year, according to Third Man Records, who recently acquired the rights). Four of the songs from the Camille sessions ultimately ended up on Sign O’ the Times: “Housequake”, “Strange Relationship”, “U Got the Look” and “If I Was Your Girlfriend”.

While not Prince’s most commercially successful outing – that’d be Purple Rain by a landslide – Sign O’ the Times sold well enough to land it in the top ten on the Billboard 200, where it peaked at #6. It also yielded three top ten singles – the title track, “U Got the Look” (with special guests Sheena Easton and Sheila E.) and “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” (an additional single, “If I Was Your Girlfriend”, made it to #67).

Sign O’ the Times was critically acclaimed as well. It was voted the best album of 1987 in The Village Voice‘s annual Pazz & Jop list. Robert Christgau, music critic for The Village Voice, called Sign O’ the Times “the most gifted pop musician of his generation proving what a motherfucker he is for two discs start to finish” and said the album “established Prince as the greatest rock and roll musician of the era—as singer-guitarist-hooksmith-beatmaster, he has no peer.” In 2004’s The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Michaelangelo Matos declared that Sign O’ the Times is “the most complete example of [Prince’s] artistry’s breadth, and arguably the finest album of the 1980s.”

At the 30th Grammy Awards, Sign O’ the Times was nominated for Album of the Year along with U2’s The Joshua Tree, Michael Jackson’s Bad, Whitney Houston’s Whitney and Trio by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. Though The Joshua Tree took home the prize, it would have been a tough vote for me. Prince probably didn’t give a shit about awards, anyway; he created music because the music was inside him. And maybe a little bit for the women.

Check out this very cool New York Times video about the creation of “Sign o’ the Times”, which includes interviews with sound engineer Susan Rogers and Prince’s former fiancée and muse Susannah Melvoin.

By the way, Susannah Melvoin co-wrote one of Sign O’ the Times‘ standout tracks, “Starfish and Coffee”. While researching this piece, I found this charming version featuring the Muppets. The song was inspired by a quirky former classmate of Melvoin’s, Cynthia Rose, who “always stood at the back of the line, a smile beneath her nose”.

The 94th Academy Awards

CONTENT WARNING: ASSAULT

Whew! Well, another Oscars ceremony is in the books, and what a doozy it was. I can’t believe I missed it!

Okay, let me explain. About a year ago, my husband and I ditched cable and went to streaming exclusively. We don’t have a live TV option because it’s just not cost-effective for us (the same way that cable wasn’t cost-effective for us), so for the first time since I honestly don’t remember when, I was unable to watch the Oscars. I really wasn’t that bummed about it until I woke up yesterday morning and found out what I missed.

Let me get this out of the way right up front: Chris Rock’s “joke” about Jada Pinkett Smith – who suffers from alopecia – was tasteless and demeaning. I want to give Rock the benefit of the doubt and assume he wasn’t aware of her alopecia, but she’s been pretty open about it (the Smiths, like it or not, are pretty open about a lot of topics) and frankly, it wouldn’t have made the joke funnier anyway. I’d love to see a moratorium on mocking people for their appearances. I’d also love to see a moratorium on toxic masculinity. Will Smith’s assault on Chris Rock – and make no mistake about it, it was an assault – was not about “defending her honor”, it was about Smith’s inability to control his emotions.

The remainder of the ceremony became the “Will Smith Show”. The presentation of the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, which went to Questlove and the team from Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), was completely overshadowed by the altercation. Minutes later, Smith used his Best Actor acceptance speech to tearfully apologize to the Academy and his fellow nominees but not to Rock himself [Smith released a public apology to Rock yesterday, and the Academy has announced it will conduct a formal review of the incident].

Lupita Nyong’o deserves an award for her facial expressions (and on an unrelated note, how fucking gorgeous is her skin?)

The slap wasn’t the evening’s only controversy. In a move intended to reduce the length of the broadcast, the Academy announced that the presentation and acceptance of the awards in eight categories – Best Animated Short Film, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Editing, Best Live Action Short Film, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Production Design and Best Sound – would be pre-taped an hour before the broadcast began. Criticism was swift and sharp. Eventual Best Actress winner Jessica Chastain let it be known that she planned to skip the red carpet in favor of seeing the presentation of Best Makeup and Hairstyling (the team from The Eyes of Tammy Faye won, and no doubt they appreciated the support from their leading lady). Ultimately, a bunch of super talented artists lost out on their big Oscar moment (and at three hours and forty-two minutes, the broadcast was the longest in four years anyway).

In another head-scratcher, Rachel Zegler (Maria in Best Picture nominee West Side Story) took to Instagram a week ago with the news that she hadn’t been invited to the ceremony to cheer on her fellow cast and crewmates. The Academy was quick to ask Zegler to attend the ceremony as a presenter. Zegler cheekily referenced the incident in her pre-award banter (co-presenter Jacob Elordi: “Growing up in Australia, I never thought that I would stand on this stage” Zegler: “And I never thought that I would be here six days ago”).

In an evening beset by scandal, there were high points as well. For the first time since 2018, the Oscars had an official host and not one or two but three amazing women (Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall) were selected for the job. Ariana DeBose became the first openly queer woman of color to win an Oscar (Best Supporting Actress for West Side Story). CODA‘s Troy Kotsur became just the second deaf actor in history to win an Oscar. Jane Campion became the third woman – and the second in a row! – to win a Best Director Oscar. We saw a Pulp Fiction reunion (Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta handed out the award for Best Actor) and tributes to the fiftieth anniversary of The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro were on-hand for that) and the sixtieth anniversary of the James Bond franchise. And in the evening’s most poignant moment, Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli presented the Best Picture Award; at one point, Minnelli’s confusion prompted Gaga to say “I got you”, to which Minnelli replied, “I know, thank you”. The exchange was picked up by the mics and hearts around the world melted.

This is like a lesson in how to facilitate older people while honouring who they are.
What a class act by @ladygaga with legend Liza Minnelli.
The conferred whispers of "I gotcha" "I know" picked up by the mikes make it especially touching.pic.twitter.com/2JOWyrTQxn
— Naomi O'Leary (@NaomiOhReally) March 28, 2022

The night’s biggest winners were Dune, which took home six awards – Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Visual Effects – and CODA, which won all three awards for which it was nominated (Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay). Kenneth Branagh finally took home an Oscar on his eighth try, winning Best Original Screenplay for Belfast (fun fact: Branagh is the only person to be nominated for Oscars in seven different categories!). And twenty-year-old Billie Eilish is now halfway to an EGOT after she and her brother Finneas won Best Original Song for “No Time to Die”.

And finally, the fashion:

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Elton John!

Elton John celebrated his 75th birthday on Friday. I was without wi-fi from Friday morning until earlier today (for the record, I needed a new modem). I’m assuming Sir Elton won’t be mad at me for being a couple days late.

Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner, Middlesex (Greater London area), Elton John began playing the piano at the age of seven. He saw Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard on television and knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. His father Stanley tried to steer him toward a professional career, but John was not meant for the nine-to-five world. At age eleven, John was awarded a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of London, and while he was something of a prodigy, he didn’t want to be a classical pianist; he wanted to be a showman.

A photo taken during John’s first professional shoot in 1968

At age fifteen, John (still known as Reggie) began playing at a local pub and formed a band called Bluesology; he would later use the names of two of his bandmates – Elton Dean and John Baldry – to create his stage name. At the age of twenty, John answered an ad in the New Musical Express looking to pair composers and lyricists; he was handed a random unopened envelope and was matched with Bernie Taupin. Taupin and John’s partnership continues to this day.

John and Taupin at the 92nd Academy Awards, where they won the Oscar for Best Original Song for *Rocketman*

Elton John has been one of the most commercially and critically successful artists of the past fifty years. He’s won two Oscars, six Grammys and a Tony. His nonprofit charity, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, has raised more than $600 million since its inception thirty years ago. He’s a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and a member of the Rock and Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame. He’s a husband and a father, a legend and an icon.

John with husband David Furnish and their kids Zachary and Elijah

In celebration of Elton John’s 75th, here is a list of my ten favorite John albums (and one bonus tribute album):

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia

SINGLES: “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” (US #12, UK #7), “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (US #2, UK #6), “Bennie and the Jets” (US #1, Canada #1, not released as a single in the UK), “Candle in the Wind” (UK #11, not released as a single in the US)

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, “Grey Seal”, “All the Girls Love Alice”, “Bennie and the Jets”

FUN FACT: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is John’s magnum opus and best-selling album (more than thirty million copies have been sold worldwide since its 1973 release), but it might have been titled something else: the working titles for the album were Vodka and Tonics and Silent Movies, Talking Pictures.

Honky Château

CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, #2 in the UK

SINGLES: “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time)” (#6 US, #2 UK), “Honky Cat” (#8 US, #31 UK)

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” (my absolute all-time favorite Elton John song), “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time)”, “Honky Cat”

FUN FACT: Honky Château was the first of seven consecutive Elton John #1 albums in the United States.

Madman Across the Water

CHART POSITION: #8 in the US and Australia, #9 in Canada, #41 in the UK

SINGLES: “Levon” (#24 US, #6 Canada), “Tiny Dancer” (#41 US, not released as a single in the UK)

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Tiny Dancer”, “Levon”, “Madman Across the Water” and “Holiday Inn”

FUN FACT: At 6:12, “Tiny Dancer” was more than twice as long as the typical pop song of the time. Because of its length, the song wasn’t even released as a single in the UK. Nevertheless, “Tiny Dancer” is one of John’s most enduring songs, both musically and culturally.

You had to know I would post this video…

…and this one

Too Low for Zero

CHART POSITION: #25 in the US, #7 in the UK, #2 in Australia and #17 in Canada

SINGLES: “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” (#4 US, #5 UK), “I’m Still Standing” (#12 US, #4 UK), “Kiss the Bride” (#25 US, #20)

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Cold as Christmas (In the Middle of the Year)”, “Whipping Boy”, “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues”, “Crystal”

FUN FACT: After a several-album critical and commercial slump, John reunited with Taupin and his old backing band for the first time since 1976’s Blue Moves – and struck gold (actually platinum).

Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player

CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, the UK, Australia and Canada

SINGLES: “Crocodile Rock” (#1 in the US and Canada, #2 in Australia, #5 in the UK), “Daniel” (#2 US, #4 UK)

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Daniel”, “Elderberry Wine”, “Have Mercy on the Criminal”, “I’m Going to Be a Teenage Idol”, “Crocodile Rock”

FUN FACT: John once spent an evening playing piano at a party hosted by Groucho Marx. Marx had been gently ribbing John all night and at one point made a “pistol” hand gesture, to which John replied, “Don’t shoot me, I’m only the piano player”. The Marx Brothers movie Go West is featured on the album’s cover art.

Elton John

CHART POSITION: #4 in the US, Australia and Canada, #5 in the UK

SINGLES: “Border Song” (#92 in the US, didn’t chart in the UK), “Your Song” (#8 in the US, #7 in the UK)

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Your Song”, “Take Me to the Pilot”, “No Shoe Strings on Louise”, “Border Song”

FUN FACT: John’s UK debut Empty Sky wasn’t released in the States until 1975, so Elton John was his US debut.

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, Australia and Canada, #2 in the UK

SINGLES: “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” (#4 US, #22 UK)

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” (the semi-autobiographical account of John’s 1968 suicide attempt), “Better Off Dead”, “We All Fall in Love Sometimes”

FUN FACT: The cover art by Alan Aldridge drew inspiration from The Garden of Earthly Delights, a Renaissance triptych painting by Hieronymus Bosch.

Rock of the Westies

CHART POSITION: #1 in the US and Canada, #4 in Australia, #5 in the UK

SINGLES: “Island Girl” (#1 US, #14 UK), “Grow Some Funk of Your Own”/”I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)” (#14 US)

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Island Girl”, “I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)”, “Medley: Yell Help / Wednesday Night / Ugly”

FUN FACT: Oscar-nominated film composer James Newton Howard, then a virtual unknown, played keyboards for Rock of the Westies. Howard also arranged strings for several other Elton John songs, including “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word”.

Tumbleweed Connection

CHART POSITION: #5 in the US, #2 in the UK

SINGLES: None in the US or the UK

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Come Down in Time”, “Burn Down the Mission”, “Country Comfort”

FUN FACT: Although the album is an ode to Americana, the cover photo was taken at the Sheffield Park railway station in East Sussex. Musically, the album was influenced by The Band’s Music from Big Pink.

Duets

CHART POSITION: #25 in the US, #5 in the UK

SINGLES: “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” with George Michael, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” with Marcella Detroit, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” with RuPaul

FUN FACT: Duets was initially conceived as a Christmas album.

Bonus – Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin

CHART POSITION: #18 in the US

SINGLES: “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by Oleta Adams (UK only, #33), “Rocket Man” by Kate Bush (#2 Australia, #12 UK)

MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Rocket Man”, “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” by Joe Cocker, “The Bitch is Back” by Tina Turner, “Madman Across the Water” by Bruce Hornsby, “Tonight” by George Michael, “Sacrifice” by Sinead O’Connor

FUN FACT: The title refers to a song on John’s album 21 at 33 titled “Two Rooms at the End of the World”

Kate Bush’s magical, reggae-tinged “Rocket Man” is one of the best covers of all time

The Complicated Legacy of Talented, Terrible Men

Content warning: this post contains references to sexual, physical and verbal abuse, and substance abuse.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

William Hurt’s death brought with it a reminder of Marlee Matlin’s allegations of abuse against him. They’re not for the faint of heart. In her 2009 memoir, I’ll Scream Later, Matlin accused Hurt of verbal abuse and rape. On the night of the 59th Academy Awards, where their movie Children of a Lesser God was up for five awards, Matlin became the youngest Best Actress winner ever – and the only deaf person in history to win an acting Oscar (that could change this year, as Matlin’s CODA co-star Troy Kutsor has a good shot at the Best Supporting Actor prize). After her win, Hurt supposedly asked her, “What makes you think you deserve it?” On another occasion, Matlin alleges that Hurt violently raped her, stating that he “…finally came home around 4:30 A.M. drunk and woke me up. The next thing I knew he’d pulled me out of the bed, screaming at me, shaking me. I was scared, I was sobbing. Then he threw me on the bed, started ripping off his clothes and mine. I was crying. ‘No, no, no. Please Bill, no.’ The next thing I remember is Bill ramming himself inside me as I sobbed.”

Matlin and Hurt at the 59th Academy Awards, held March 30, 1987

In a 2009 interview with E! News, Hurt responded to the allegations by saying “My own recollection is we both apologized and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused.” Sunday evening, on the red carpet at the Critics Choice Awards, Matlin was asked about Hurt’s death. She responded like the absolute pro she is: “We’ve lost a really great actor and working with him on-set in Children of a Lesser God will always be something I remember very fondly. He taught me a great deal as an actor and he was one of a kind.”

Matlin’s win should have been the happiest moment of her life; her Best Actress win was especially poignant because Hurt, the previous year’s Best Actor winner, presented her with the award. Now when I watch this, I can hear Hurt asking her later, “What makes you think you deserve it?”

Matlin was not Hurt’s only victim, just his most high-profile one. Hurt’s former partner Sandra Jennings also accused him of physical and verbal abuse; on one occasion, five days after Jennings gave birth to their son, Hurt allegedly “smashed me across the face”. And in a recent essay for Variety, author Donna Kaz recalled that “Bill would snap, physically shove, punch and beat me, followed by tears, apologies and him offering me expensive gifts. When the battering began I sloughed it off. He said he was sorry. Perhaps I instigated it. I only had to visit the ER once. It was only after many, many years I admitted to myself that I was the victim of domestic violence.”

It’s worth noting that substance abuse appears to have been a factor in at least one of these stories, but if I had to guess, it was a factor in all of them. And in Matlin’s case, at least, there was a pretty sizable power differential; not only was Hurt an established, Oscar-winning actor to Matlin’s film novice but he was also fifteen years her senior.

So how do we mourn a brilliant artist who was also a shitty human being? How do we reconcile their public image with their private behavior (especially in the #MeToo era and during Women’s History Month, no less)? Can I say that I loved Hurt in The Big Chill while also acknowledging that he may have been a domestic abuser and a rapist? There aren’t any easy answers, but I’d argue that holding these men to account while they’re still alive would be a great start. Then, we should give every abuse victim a voice, say their names, listen to their stories, and believe them.

[For the record, I acknowledge that false rape accusations do occur, but they are exceedingly rare. According to FBI statistics, as many as 8% of reported rapes end up being false but only about 35% of actual rapes are reported and 0% of unreported rapes are false allegations. In other words, false accusations are difficult to calculate, but they make up no more than 8% of the 35%. Sorry for the little foray into math.]

Finally, when these men die, we need to remind people of the loathsome things they did and not just their brilliant work, so we can get a full picture of their lives and the pain and trauma they may have caused. We simply cannot separate their private lives from their art.

Here are a few beloved artists who have died in the last five or so years and the details their official obituaries might have left out:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Bernardo Bertolucci, director of such films as The Last Emperor and Stealing Beauty, created a scandal in 1972 with the release of Last Tango in Paris. The story of a fifty-something man coping with his wife’s suicide by dominating a nineteen-year-old, Last Tango in Paris contained explicit nudity and gratuitous sex. In one particularly harrowing scene, Paul (Marlon Brando) anally rapes Jeanne (played by Maria Schneider) using butter as a lubricant. Schneider was obviously aware that her character would be raped in the scene, but she was not told in advance about the butter. Why? Well, it wasn’t in the script; Bertolucci and Brando came up with the idea together and conspired to withhold that information from Schneider. In 2013, two years after Schneider’s death, Bertolucci admitted in an interview that they improvised the butter “bit” on the set and intentionally kept that detail hidden from Schneider until the scene was filmed. The goal was to humiliate Schneider in order to get a better performance out of her. In 2013, Bertolucci appeared on a Dutch television show called College Tour and said about Schneider, “I feel guilty, but I don’t regret it.” Bertolucci died of lung cancer on November 26, 2018.

*Last Tango in Paris*‘s infamous butter rape scene

Kirk Douglas

In her 2001 biography of Natalie Wood, Suzanne Finstad alleged that Wood was violently raped by a major movie star when she was sixteen (though Finstad didn’t name the star). Physically injured and terrified of crossing a beloved, award-winning actor, Wood chose to keep the rape a secret. In a 2021 memoir, Wood’s sister Lana named Natalie’s A-list rapist: Kirk Douglas. It turns out, this story was one of Hollywood’s worst-kept secrets, but Kirk continued to be a beloved actor and patriarch of the Douglas dynasty long after the secret was out. Natalie Wood died in a mysterious, possibly murderous (though it’s never been proven) drowning on November 29, 1981 (more on Wood’s death later). Kirk Douglas died on February 5, 2020, at the age of 103, having never been held to account for his brutal assault on a sixteen-year-old girl.

Wood and Douglas at a B’nai B’rith dinner in January 1965, about ten years after the alleged rape took place (imagine standing inches from your rapist while he accepts an award for “Man of the Year” and “Citizen of the World”)

Sean Connery

Yes, Sean Connery was James Bond and Henry Jones Sr. and Robin Hood and William of Baskerville. But he was also (probably) a wife-beater. In 2006, Connery’s ex-wife Diane Cilento accused Connery of mentally and physically abusing her. It might have been difficult to believe had it not been for a 1965 interview with Playboy magazine in which Connery said, “I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong in hitting a woman, though I don’t recommend you do it in the same way you hit a man”. And a 1993 interview with Vanity Fair, where Connery said, “There are women who take it to the wire. That’s what they are looking for, the ultimate confrontation. They want a smack”. Of course, Connery denied Cilento’s claims but he had already shown us who he really was. Sir Sean Connery died in his sleep on October 31, 2020.

Chuck Berry

When Chuck Berry died on March 18, 2017, he was (appropriately) hailed for his pioneering contributions to the art of rock and roll. But there are a few more things you might not have read in those rapturous eulogies. For instance, did you know that in 1959, Berry was arrested on charges of transporting a fourteen-year-old girl across state lines for alleged “immoral purposes”? And did you know that in 1987, Berry was charged with assaulting a woman, who had mouth lacerations requiring stitches, two loose teeth and facial contusions? And did you also know that in 1990, Berry (who eventually settled out of court) was sued by a group of women who claimed that Berry had installed a camera in the bathroom of his restaurant?

So in the future, when the following men die, my blog posts may look something like this:

Roman Polanski

“Roman Polanski, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a thirteen-year-old girl in 1977 and then fled the country to avoid imprisonment and spent decades as a fugitive from justice, has died. Polanski also made movies.”

Polanski’s victim, Samantha Geimer, who was just thirteen years old at the time of the attack in which Polanski reportedly gave her drugs, sodomized her and took suggestive photos of her

Bill Cosby

“Bill Cosby, who admitted to giving out Quaaludes and Benadryl to ‘facilitate sexual encounters’, and definitely (allegedly) raped dozens of women, has died. Cosby co-created and starred in a couple of television shows we used to like. He also used to wear really stupid sweaters.”

In a 2015 interview with *New York* magazine, thirty-five of Cosby’s accusers told their strories

Woody Allen

“Woody Allen, who may or may not have molested his seven-year-old daughter Dylan and definitely had sex with and took nude photos of his twenty-one-year-old sort-of stepdaughter Soon-Yi Previn, has died. Allen wrote and directed a bunch of movies about neurotic Manhattanites.”

Woody Allen with a very young Dylan Farrow

Soon-Yi Previn with adopted mom Mia Farrow in 1991, around the time Woody Allen began sleeping with her

Tom Cruise

“Tom Cruise, who may have helped cover up a series of rapes perpetrated by a fellow actor/Scientologist [That ’70s Show‘s Danny Masterson] and probably allowed the ‘church’ to wiretap his wife’s phone and who definitely spoke out against people receiving necessary mental health services, has died. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to punch Cruise in his smug face. He loved to run in his movies.”

As an aside, I HIGHLY recommend the Alex Gibney documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, which you can stream on HBO Max.

Tom Cruise with Scientology leader David Miscavige

This photo, taken of Nicole KIdman moments after she left her attorney’s office to finalize her divorce with Cruise, kind of says it all

Sean Penn

“Sean Penn, who loved to beat people up and who was a homophobe and a transphobe and an all-around asshole, has died. Penn played the iconic Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and made some other movies.”

Kevin Spacey

“Kevin Spacey, who has denied the allegations*** made by several men that they were sexually harassed or molested by Spacey when they were as young as fourteen, has died. Spacey made a couple of stone-cold classics and a bunch of films I’ll never watch again.”

***Technically, Spacey denied all of the allegations but one: in 2017, when actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of an attempted sexual assault in 1986 when Rapp was fourteen, Spacey said he didn’t remember the encounter but that he was “beyond horrified to hear [Rapp’s] story” and he offered Rapp his “sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior”. After the BuzzFeed article in which Rapp made the allegations was published, fourteen more people came forward with accusations against Spacey, all of which he denied (presumably after his publicist got ahold of him).

Anthony Rapp (right) with Keith Coogan and Maia Brewton in 1987’s *Adventures in Babysitting*, around the time he met Kevin Spacey

Gary Oldman

“Gary Oldman, who was a homophobe and an anti-semite and probably a wife-beater, has died. Oldman overacted in some movies.”

In 1990, Oldman married his second wife, Uma Thurman, who at twenty was twelve years Oldman’s junior. Although Thurman has never publicly spoken about it, rumors have swirled for decades that Oldman used to beat her.

Plácido Domingo

“Plácido Domingo, who was accused of sexual harassment by at least fifteen women, has died. He was a pretty good singer.”

Marilyn Manson

“Marilyn Manson, who was accused by his former fiancee Evan Rachel Wood (and at least fifteen other women) of emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse, has died. He made some pretty decent music when he wasn’t being an absolute fucking monster.”

Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood, who met Manson when she was just eighteen years old and Manson was thirty-seven

Robert Wagner

“Robert Wagner, who was very likely responsible for wife Natalie Wood’s death, has died [author’s note: Wagner is ninety-two years old]. I literally can’t tell you anything he’s been in besides Hart to Hart and the Austin Powers movies, which you can definitely keep.”