OPO: Raspberries

for pure powerpop rush it's always "Tonight", for me

'Come Around And See Me' keeps popping into my head, particularly the delightfully vari-speed 'Don't ever think I'll be cruel to you / I'm a fool for you / Come a-round, and, seee mmeeeeee' part

Posting here as well as Rolling Music Theory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epqYft12nV4

Reposting here so I don’t forget:
https://observer.com/2017/08/eric-carmen-raspberries-pop-art-live-interview/

“Whose songs are the hardest?” and the entire band swirled around and pointed at me and said, “Eric’s!”

People thought the Raspberry stuff was real simple. I remember I was trying to teach the band Go All The Way and Dave Edmunds looked at me at some point and he said, “For God’s sake there is a fucking chord for every word! I’ve never seen anything like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0lHlczRwz0

^I've never seen this before, unless of course it's upthread and I forgot.

RIP Eric Carmen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqdiSN8aVIg

kind of insane how many great songs this dude wrote, absolute genius

just the other day I heard Hey Deanie and thought "dang this is really good who wrote this"

my opo is probably I Saw the Light

I wouldn't call him a genius, but he reminds me of Tom Petty in that he was a master of his genre and no more but unlike Petty was prone to distraction. As a teen I was shocked that the guy responsible for "Make Me Lose Control" and "Hungry Eyes" wrote "Go All the Way."

aw man RIP! amazing artist — my discovery of the raspberries is probably upthread. shame he didn’t live to see america great once again

"Overnight Sensation" has more hooks than many bands manage in one song.

xp blech didn't realize that. His Twitter account no longer exists, but someone blogged in 2019 that "most of his feed is right wing nut jobbery now."

You’re right, I didn’t realize that!

74-year-old white guy from Cleveland, checks out.

Ah. RIP Eric. V. talented dude.

recently picked up the first raspberries record at a thrift store, really great RIP

i mentioned it upthread and it's atypical for carmen/the raspberries but "i don't know what i want" rules so hard

^^ that one's a pretty successful Who rip

Had no idea Hungry Eyes was this dude.

the followup "Make Me Lose Control" is a shameless late '80s yuppie-smarm move that works imo

xp I can't stand the film enough to sit through it, but one of the most horrid conceits about Dirty Dancing is how they anachronistically shove mucusy '80s shlock into a story that plays out in the summer of 1963. Anachronisms can be brilliant, but not in the service of horrendous taste.

yeah, you are way wrong. The movie's rather good, especially since it foregrounds the young heroine's sexuality: she wants this dancer and she gets him. And there's an abortion in this movie! And no one apologizes for it.

If you don't think "I've Had the Time of My Life" works in context as beautifully as Solomon Burke's "Cry to Me" does in the seduction scene, then *throws hands up*

Movie not bad, but some people complain that for authenticity the music really should have been Latin, had the Latin Tinge.

The abortion was probably done well. It's not likely I've seen the whole movie - I've seen large chunks at different times - but the earliest bit of plot I can remember from the film was Orbach's father character finding out because they need his help and he gets really angry about it. But it sounds like I missed some crucial context and that would mean a lot in 1987.

Hate to say it, but I didn't enjoy the ending...again, given the way I probably saw it, maybe it needed some context or some kind of build because as-is it just seemed formulaic and corny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSaC8X7oNiA

(re: mean a lot in 1987, the idea that abortion is okay even if the elders don't think so )

Yeah sorry forgot about that mambo. I think some people wanted even more of that.

Formulaic and corny are the point of a musical!

Sorry. Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze have genuine chemistry, and it was and remains fascinating that the liberal Jewish gamine seduces the Irish blockhead while an abortion happens around her.

And, to put a period on this discussion, for millions of us '80s kids we learned about "Be My Baby," "Stay," Otis Redding's great obscurity "Love Man," "Do You Love Me?" and Solomon Burke's "Cry to Me" thanks to how forward this film was about sex.

I mean, I'm younger and gayer than you guys, so this film codes differently.

And ask the millions of young women who made it a staple of their coming-of-age.

the liberal Jewish gamine seduces the Irish blockhead while an abortion happens around her

To be fair, this does indeed sound interesting. Was Swayze's character Catholic?

It doesn't come up. All he wants to do is dance. And make romance. That's part of this film's queerness too: dancing is his life like it isn't for the women, in part b/c he can love'em and leave'em.

Was Swayze's character Catholic?

Is the Pope an Irish blockhead?

Does a bear eat Raspberries in the woods?

Is that what’s bothering you, Bunkie?

who’s coming in here saying anything against my beloved Dirty Dancing…
ESPECIALLY not having seen the whole thing? cmon.

Dirty Dancing
a)rules
ii)is awesome
thirdly) is unimpeachable
and 4) perfect in every way

Besmirch the excellence of Ms Grey, Mr Swayze and Cynthia Rhodes aka the former Mrs Richard Marx AT YOUR PERIL

honestly it’s very good

DD rules in every possible respect

I mean

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtZFfEy_Eyk

pass the kleenex i’m bawling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxL84qrV_LU

ORBACH THE GOAT

“When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong”

only Gene Hackman could've said the line besides Orbach.

On my Mt Rushmore of best movie dads
along with Gregory Peck, Steve Martin & Tom Hanks

This thread has become the equivalent of all the "Dirty Dancing Singer Dies" obit leads.

However, on that tip TIL Carmen co-wrote "Almost Paradise" from Footloose.

see!

he wrote everything! so many good songs

I had forgotten about his solo song “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again,” which I kind of used to have a little bit of a sweet spot for.

yeah i like that one too!

Also forgot how much I like “Don’t Want To Say Goodbye.”

“I Don’t Know What I Want” does indeed sound a lot like “Won’t Get Fooled Again” but it also sounds a bit like “No More Mr. Nice Guy.”

... which was inspired by "Substitute", and then later covered by Roger Daltrey on an Alice Cooper tribute album!