Zappa will always have name (and maybe face) recognition.
Way back when, when I was a kid, I remember reading a piece about the minimum information needed on an envelope to could get a letter to its recipient. Iirc, the two people whose faces alone could get a letter to its destination (at the time) were Reagan and Zappa.
Graham Parker played a huge role (literally) in that one Judd Apatow movie, but then, Judd Apatow's legacy has definitely worsened.
How is Van Halen looking these days? The problem with Spotify or whatever as a metric is that I can totally imagine no one under the age of, say, 40 listening to much Van Halen, but plenty of people over the age of 40 listening extensively to Van Halen (give or take some hyperbole). That is, monthly listens don't break down who is listening and how much, right? Just the total? Which makes it harder to measure current cultural impact/import. And there is no 19
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 July 2019 21:11 (four years ago) link
Ha, I think I was going to write "there is no 1984 or even early 2000s version of Spotify to compare the numbers to."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 July 2019 21:12 (four years ago) link
xp The Wire is supposed to have a themed issue next month, Excess All Areas!, with a feature on Zappa
― Dan S, Thursday, 18 July 2019 21:23 (four years ago) link
I think Van Halen are doing ok. Big Spotify numbers and vinyl dealers I know have no problem getting $$ for used DLR-era lps.
― frustration and wonky passion (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 18 July 2019 21:24 (four years ago) link
xp
oh mark s must be back at the wire! lol
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Thursday, 18 July 2019 21:24 (four years ago) link
van halen - 8.2 mil monthly listeners. top three cities that stream 'em? mexico city, sao paolo, and santiago.
― mott the hoopleheads (voodoo chili), Thursday, 18 July 2019 21:52 (four years ago) link
Genuinely never heard of Graham Parker before and have spent plenty of time listening to Costello and Joe Jackson, even some Nick Lowe. Really is an odd feeling to encounter a "famous" UK artist I've not heard of before.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 18 July 2019 22:04 (four years ago) link
you would probably like his records of that era!
― Skip Spence None the Richer (sleeve), Thursday, 18 July 2019 22:15 (four years ago) link
Yeah, seriously. And even some of the later ones. Hell, the Rumour reunion album (and tour!) was pretty strong.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 July 2019 22:17 (four years ago) link
yeah it's great pub rock from someone who *may* even have a more acidic worldview than early Costello
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 18 July 2019 22:19 (four years ago) link
“Discovering Japan” is a great GP song
― flappy bird, Thursday, 18 July 2019 22:53 (four years ago) link
Really is an odd feeling to encounter a "famous" UK artist I've not heard of before.
Judd Apatow thought him famous enough to build the entire plot of 2012 film This Is 40 around: Paul Rudd starts a boutique record label not out of his spare room, but in rented new-build high-ceilinged ground floor offices, with multiple staff, and a reformed Graham Parker & The Rumour as their sole signing.
(At least, IIRC, the record flops because nobody in America cares about GP & the R.)
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Thursday, 18 July 2019 23:16 (four years ago) link
Feels like I’ve seen graham parker in dollar bins for like 20 years now
― brimstead, Thursday, 18 July 2019 23:23 (four years ago) link
that's a lie, This is 40 doesn't have a plot
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 July 2019 23:24 (four years ago) link
looked it up bcz I couldn't remember if Rudd's label had a best-of or just the newie and ha ha he ends up saving the label by signing Ryan Adams
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Thursday, 18 July 2019 23:25 (four years ago) link
"He's not on a label at the moment..."
― stan by me (morrisp), Thursday, 18 July 2019 23:29 (four years ago) link
xp four hours ago, sorry...
Where's the proof that Elliott Smith's legacy has gone down?
When Rick and Morty did a bit on Elliott Smith back in 2015, would viewers have thought that the music was a parody of sad-sack singer-songwriters or the genuine article?
― Vernon Locke, Friday, 19 July 2019 00:14 (four years ago) link
The other area of music which strikes me as having experienced a noticeable uptick in interest over the past decade is 80s R&B outside the usual touchstones of MJ and Prince - at the top end this can be seen in the increase in consensus around Control as a classic album, but the rising tide seems to have lifted the boats of other Jam and Lewis artists like Alexander O'Neale and Cherrelle as well as Rene & Angela, DeBarge, the 80s output of Evelyn King and Stephanie Mills etc.
― Tim F, Friday, 19 July 2019 00:20 (four years ago) link
long championed by alfred iirc
― budo jeru, Friday, 19 July 2019 00:30 (four years ago) link
Alexander O'Neale and Cherrelle as well as Rene & Angela, DeBarge, the 80s output of Evelyn King and Stephanie Mills etc.
ha, that's everyone I've been listening to recently
― geoffreyess, Friday, 19 July 2019 00:50 (four years ago) link
We're a few days away from Graham Parker's annual free show at Brit's Pub in Minneapolis! I went last year, it was great.
― geoffreyess, Friday, 19 July 2019 00:53 (four years ago) link
_elliott smith has 1.36 mil monthly listeners on spotify. 300k or therebouts more than pavement._Damn!
― stan by me (morrisp), Friday, 19 July 2019 01:03 (four years ago) link
the 80s output of Evelyn King and Stephanie Mills etc.
the 'revival' of early 80s stuff like "love come down" happened at least ten years ago, though, right? agree that the later 80s stuff is hotter now (and that rules). even white instrumental funkateers like benedek are dropping in shuffly beats now.
― brimstead, Friday, 19 July 2019 01:04 (four years ago) link
Yes "Love Come Down" has been hot for maybe 12 years, but it feels like there's now heightened interest in delving deeper into those back catalogues (beyond like, just, "Love Come Down" and "Let The Music Play" and "I Feel For You" and "Ain't Nobody" and "Just Be Good To Me" and "Don't Look Any Further") rather than just treating R&B as a source of pop or dancefloor hits or effectively "post-disco" (although the Larry Levanish liminal space between disco and R&B will never not be hot).
― Tim F, Friday, 19 July 2019 01:10 (four years ago) link
In addition to the evangelising of people like Alfred I think one influence on that has been the success (again starting in the previous decade) of contemporary R&B that explicitly calls back to that sound - it's like, once people started lionising The-Dream (however fleetingly) it was only a matter of time before 80s R&B ideas would start to seem compelling again in and of themselves.
― Tim F, Friday, 19 July 2019 01:12 (four years ago) link
speaking of Zappa, do young people enjoy Beefheart?
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Friday, 19 July 2019 01:50 (four years ago) link
Have they ever?
― stan by me (morrisp), Friday, 19 July 2019 02:01 (four years ago) link
... yes
― budo jeru, Friday, 19 July 2019 02:03 (four years ago) link
My partner teaches high school English, and one of her students is into Beefheart...but I think they may be the only student at the school who does.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 19 July 2019 02:48 (four years ago) link
Which Beefheart do you mean
― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, 19 July 2019 05:39 (four years ago) link
Everyone still loves Elliott Smith.
― Simon H., Friday, 19 July 2019 06:06 (four years ago) link
Yeah, everyone absolutely still loves Elliott Smith. His legacy is pretty much static. No posthumous additions to catalogue in years. No massive new book or documentary (I mean there was a book and a documentary but there was nothing revelatory). He'll always be adored by anyone who likes acoustic guitars and songwriting.
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Friday, 19 July 2019 08:15 (four years ago) link
Yeah, he's got a very hardcore fanbase, and swathes of youngsters discovering him every year still.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 19 July 2019 08:21 (four years ago) link
i honestly can't be 100% sure this isn't correct
If Frank Zappa were alive today he'd be a Ben Shapiro stan— The Give Smart Guy (@BobbyBigWheel) December 13, 2018
― A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:26 (four years ago) link
flamboyant goon tie included at 12:39 19 Jul 19Which Beefheart do you meanLieutenant Colonel Beefheart
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:29 (four years ago) link
xpost You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a classical liberal.
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:31 (four years ago) link
I kinda feel like he'd hate Trump though, just how dumb and full of shit he is
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:32 (four years ago) link
wow, i've never watched "this is 40" but for a movie released this decade it sounds like it's aged incredibly poorly
― untuned mass damper (mh), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:33 (four years ago) link
would def hate trump
― A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:34 (four years ago) link
I wonder how the whole PMRC thing would be perceived if it happened today?
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:34 (four years ago) link
oh you rich musicians whining about freedom of speech wah wah wah
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:35 (four years ago) link
but then you've got the party of Family Values waddling around in "Fuck Your Feelings" t shirts so
― A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:37 (four years ago) link
zappa 100% would be a Facts and Logic guy now
― Simon H., Friday, 19 July 2019 13:46 (four years ago) link
maybe he'd be more a sam harris guy than fucking shapiro (if for no other reason than ben is so shrill and agitating) but yeah def on that facts and logic tip
― A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:51 (four years ago) link
No effing way would Zappa stan for a guy who wrote a book called Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future.
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:54 (four years ago) link
And who bros down with David Horowitz
A Bill Maher guy or something, maybe
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Friday, 19 July 2019 13:57 (four years ago) link
yep. don't really see him being down with Shapiro but him & Maher definitely seem like they'd be buds, smirking at everything through eternity
― frogbs, Friday, 19 July 2019 13:59 (four years ago) link
that makes sense. doesn’t seem like there a whole lot of distinction between Harris’ and Maher’s worldview
― A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Friday, 19 July 2019 14:01 (four years ago) link