Squandering The Legacy: Worst Artists' Kids

Re: Fela's kids: have you heard this badass Femi Kuti song...?!?!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnEvx1URS2s

Damn it's crazy that Femi is now older than Fela was when he died

Surprised Lisa Marie wasn't included, for completeness' sake (though I hear her albums are actually pretty good)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_What_(Lisa_Marie_Presley_album)#/media/File:Lisa_Marie_Presley_-_Now_What.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/Lisa_Marie_Presley_-_Now_What.jpg

THE FUCK IS ROSANNE CASH DOING HERE

Most of these spawn have recorded at worst bog standard music and a few record music not at all like their parents' (Cash). Even Certified Asshole Hank, Jr.

xxxxp Hank Jr cannot be redeemed by Hank III. It's more like Hank III was just rebelling against his dad's music than he was somehow restoring his Grandpa's legacy. The legacy of the Hillbilly Shakespeare would continue above and beyond both of them no matter what they did.

People seem to rate Baxter Dury but he just sounds exactly like his dad to me

Are there any musical offspring that are arguably better than their parents? The Wainwrights maybe?

I wanna say Jean-Michel Jarre but I did not realize what an expansive career Maurice had

Seems like it's a fairly common story in interviews with famous musicians that one or both of their parents were musicians who never "made it" but raised them on a love of music with a will to succeed at it.

Are there any musical offspring that are arguably better than their parents? The Wainwrights maybe?

Apart from Zak Starkey?

Are there any musical offspring that are arguably better than their parents?

I wouldn't, but some might say Jeff Buckley.

I'm sure people have argued Liza Minella v Judy Garland before?

lol Minelli

Pete Seeger v Ruth Crawford Seeger?

It's a different benchmark depending what you think is worse:

- for someone's kid to achieve a certain level of (undeserved) fame and success
- or that they barely get a career started at all.

There's pathos in the latter; I believe Roger Daltrey told his son he'd never be good enough to be a well-known musician.

thank you Roger Daltrey for your dedicated service to the curse of nepotism in music, now you can fuck off as well

I feel like Jakob is objectively the worst of the choices here, YMMV

I have seen Caspar and Seun live and they both totally ruled, btw

I saw Caspar live once too (opening for Helmet) and he was amazing.

I would guess Kim Wilde is better than Marty Wilde but I've never really heard anything he did and I'm sure I read that some of his 60s stuff was pretty good.

jay weinberg is a better drummer than max weinberg

He's definitely in a better band, at any rate.

Can't vote for Sean and Julian L. because "Too Late for Goodbyes" is for real a good track.

I would guess Kim Wilde is better than Marty Wilde

he wrote most of her 80s stuff!

I used to have a concern with artists who did wildly ambitious work that sought to redefine entire paradigms of music...and then their children performed relatively straightforward "genre" music. A lot of that has to do with my own preoccupations with "advancement" in music, parental legacies, what children owe their parents, etc.
Also, if you don't know the musicians' work in detail, you're just dealing with stereotypes. For instance, there may be old-school Tim Buckley fans that consider Jeff's work run-of-the-mill "grunge".
Voted the Lennons, but this poll made me remember Christgau's review of Hank Williams Jr's Family Tradition:

Since "To Love Somebody" isn't exactly Hank's kind of song, I guess he disavowed the Ray Ruff-produced side of this. On the other hand, "Family Tradition" (guess who that's about) leads off the other side, and it is exactly Hank's kind of song. Exactly. That's not so great either. C

This is something James Redd, Sr. would often harp on and so, even though I haven't heard him do it recently, I am somewhat reluctant to pass judgement. Maybe will have a look-see anyway.

Think I see a clear winner here anyway.

I was curious about Emma Townshend's record when I read a review in 1998, still haven't heard it and it looks like she never made another.

Are there any musical offspring that are arguably better than their parents? The Wainwrights maybe?

Albert Hammond, Jr.?

George Formby

Kelly is the only even halfway reasonable choice here (and even she isn't totally indefensible)

Second round should include Willow, Shooter Jennings, Promise of the Real, Dweezil and Ahmet, Adam Cohen, and Miley Cyrus, for starters

Miley Cyrus is more talented than her old man.

Granted, that's not a huge accomplishment. Still, not much of a legacy to squander.

I only considered Kelly Osbourne briefly before concluding that she is inoffensive at worst.

The Wallflowers were terrible, milquetoast crap but Hank Jr is abominable in every possible way.

Never heard him, to be honest, but I would hazard a guess Ross McManus was somewhat outshone by Elvis Costello.

Thread needs more Wilson Phillips

Hank Jr is abominable in every possible way

as a human being, almost definitely, but as I recall there are a handful of great Hank Jr tunes

OTM

Charlotte Gainsbourg is the clear winner of the "kid that works in the same field as their parents but in an interesting non-competitive way"

are a handful of great Hank Jr tunes

― Paul Ponzi, Friday, December 31, 2021 6:39 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

This.

what is wrong with Caspar Brotzmann apart from sartorial choices?
Massaker were a great unit, I think they still are.

I am getting the strange feeling maybe I should start listening to Wolfgang Van Halen.

Missing option for Ravi Shankar-Norah Jones

Missing option for Ravi Shankar-Norah Jones

Also Miley,
Nancy & Frank Jr
Shooter Jennings
Arlo Guthrie
Natalie Cole

Norah doesn’t bear her father’s “name” (which is apparently a key criterion here)

Also – rude

Some musician who I can't remember expressed their Adam Cohen outrage: "Your father is Leonard Cohen...but your favourite artist is Sting?!?"

Not to be all captain save a Bocephus and no defense to his opinions at all, but it is probably not unsurprising he ended up being such a bitter hateful human in that he was pretty much exploited as a child and pushed out on stage at like age 8 as the family breadwinner after his dad died.

Miley Cyrus is more talented than her old man.

Granted, that's not a huge accomplishment. Still, not much of a legacy to squander.

― jimbeaux, Friday, December 31, 2021 4:27 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Thought it was hilarious when Old Town Road got huge and Billy Ray was more popular than his daughter for a brief moment

lol that "this year's Fiona Apple" is meat to be an insult

Here's how I would break it down:

Helped by parent's legacy, but actually have songs or albums that people care about on their own:
Hank Jr
Jakob Dylan
Roseanne Cash

Have albums/songs people care about on their own, parent's legacy helped to a smaller degree, but as more of a "fun fact" biographical detail:
Neneh Cherry
Norah Jones

Greatly helped by legacy, had a pleasant hit or two, not major artists
Ziggy Marley
Eagle Eye Cherry

Carried on tradition or spirit of parents work:
Ziggy Marley again
Sean Kuti

Useless rich kids:
Wolfgang Van Halen
Kelly Osbourne

Classic trust fund kid doing whatever arty stuff they want just because they never have to work ever (but some interesting stuff):
Sean Lennon

don't really know where to slot Caspar Brotzmann, he does his own thing but in that small niche world I'm sure his dad's name rang bells esp early on

stratch eagle eye from that an add julian lennon in pleasant hit category

Just heard Martha Wainwright's "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole," nice work.

it's weird to me to think that having rich, famous parents heavily connected to the music industry could only "help" you in terms of it being a promotional hook. it's about having doors opened for you, having all your family friends and well-wishing adults who watched you grow up being music industry people who want to help you succeed. just as much as if your parents owned a car dealership, you're probably in good with all the Chamber of Commerce folks in your town and are not going to have a problem getting a nice gig right out of school, if you want it. music-wise, you're getting into meetings and lunches and parties and conversations that other people, of similar or perhaps greater 'talent,' aren't going to get access to. it's not something we can exactly 'fix' or control for, and it's not by itself a slight against the music... but let's not pretend Norah Jones or Eagle Eye Cherry is just humbly sending in a demo, an exec hears it and goes "who is this kid?? find them and sign them!"

minor fact-check: i believe Neneh Cherry is Don Cherry's step-daughter. and he and her mother had Eagle Eye together, so he's her half-brother.

I'd sooner relisten to "Save Tonight" than anything by anyone else on the list ("Blue Moon with Heartache" is close).

uhhh what

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-ZxQyaWScE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCLGWTNZak

They're fine, don't really stand out for me?

let's not pretend Norah Jones or Eagle Eye Cherry is just humbly sending in a demo, an exec hears it and goes "who is this kid?? find them and sign them!"

I don't know Eagle Eye's story, but I think Jones got signed on her own merits.

Yeah, iirc Ravi wasn't even really a part of NJ's life growing up and she made her bones for years before anyone connected the dots.

Yeah, and she very very much went out of her way not to make the connection or talk about him.

She even legally changed her name from Geethali Norah Jones Shankar to Norah Jones.

Kip Beethoven

The musician Moby is following in the footsteps of his long-distant ancestor Herman Melville and turning to the literary arena, with a ...

huh, okay, did not realize Jones was that far distant from Shankar.

Also as someone whose dad is *technically* a stepdad and whose sister is *technically* a half sister I don’t see much value in those corrections tbh

Appreciate that - definitely don't mean to suggest that they are not meaningfully "his" kids. I should have represented that as additional biographical detail rather than a fact-check.

Shame Mabel didn't feature in the poll to see how she'd do against her mum.

don't really know where to slot Caspar Brotzmann, he does his own thing but in that small niche world I'm sure his dad's name rang bells esp early on

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 15:05 (five hours ago) link

The family connection was def a thing when I first became aware of him in the mid-90s, but yeah not sure where to slot him since other than been "intense" and "loud" he really isn't anything like P Broztmann musically.

I think you could make the case he would be roughly the same level of renown if his name were Joe Bag'O'Doughnuts. I mean I'd probably buy a Bag'O'Doughnuts Massakar record

Personal story, untold until now...

Back when I was trying to start or join a band based on my freshly written songs, one guy told me that one of my songs was very similar to a demo tape he'd heard of Julian Lennon's. Five years later, I got to hear his tune in the chart. My song was called "Too Late". And yes, it does sound like one or other of us was copying.

Nor does Hank, Jr.

Ew, no

Sean Lennon's politics aren't necessarily better than Hank Jr's!

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, January 12, 2022 1:53 PM (yesterday)

not gonna defend sean who seems like a pretty annoying bitcoin bro but i dunno, hank seems significantly worse to me

Hank's decent as long as his rowdy friends stay at home.

well they have settled down

listening to Hank Jr, "OD'd in Denver" rules

yeah not to be corny indie dude but i heard the Oldham/Callahan cover of that in 2020 and it really made me rethink my opinions on Hank Jr, hell of a song.