The Saturday Morning Car-Tune News 07.04.09: Death Or Glory, Along With Other Stories

Posted by Lucas Wesley on 07.04.2009

With a new name, we examine the media circus created by death and pre-existing fame, along with news about Pixies, Beck, R.E.M, Kanye West, The Beach Boys, Paul McCartney, Silver Jews and more!

Happy Fourth of July, and welcome to The Saturday Morning Car-Tune News! Yes, we changed the title, looking for something a little more blunt. Mitch came to me with this title and it made me laugh quite hard, so I took it. Fear not, there's still some Sonic Youth references scattered throughout, but we must cater to all audiences first and foremost. So without further adieu, here's the car-tune news.

- Last Sunday, the BET Awards served as a de facto tribute to the late Michael Jackson. Throughout the night, dozens of tributes were held, with Janet Jackson giving a touching thank you as the Jackson family conduit. Jamie Foxx, New Edition and Ne-Yo stand as artists giving performance tributes, performing "I'll Be There," a Jackson 5 medley and "The Lady in My Life" respectively. Jackson patriarch Joseph Jackson also managed to use his son's death to plug his label, Ranch Records, giving me a personal reaction I can't really put into kind words right now. Winners include Beyonce, best female artist, Keri Hilson, best new artist, Lil' Wayne, best male hip hop artist, LeBron James, best male athlete and a Lifetime Achievement Award for The O'Jays.

- In other Michael news, the first tribute compilation of his work appears to be Hello World, a compilation of his solo Motown albums, featuring Got To Be There, Ben, Music & Me, Forever, Michael, later compilation One Day in Your Life and various master tracks and alternate mixes. Amazon lists the release date as July 21, but Hip-O Records, the label set to release the set, lists July 3 as the ship date on their web site. The label was coincidentally set for a June 30 release, and has now moved it back to accommodate to the King of Pop's death. It's a shame it took his death to get these albums a proper reissue, though.



There have also been rumors that Michael's final rehearsal, which took place the night before he died, along with many other bits and pieces of filmed rehearsals, may also be available in CD or DVD formats, or even in theaters or on Pay-Per-View, as they have been filmed by AEG Live. In a final bit of release news, there are also reports and rumors that Jackson may have left up to 200 unreleased songs to his children, for them to release and receive royalties for after his death. With over 200 songs, I'm sure there's some great ones stacked in the mix, but I hope the kids or whoever eventually releases them has some concept of quality control. I hope this doesn't turn out like Tupac releases where maybe one passable song is released on an otherwise unnecessary album.

- Pixies landmark album Doolittle turned 20 this April, and the band are looking to celebrate. Black Francis announced that the means of celebration will be to perform the album in full at their concerts this tour, along with all associated b-sides. Unfortunately, Francis can't scream anymore, which hurts the luster of some of the songs. Additionally, there's a lot of albums where I just don't understand the appeal of playing the whole thing live. Regardless, Doolittle is a classic, and there's no such thing as bad publicity, I suppose.

- Paul McCartney joined Neil Young for an unannounced appearance during "A Day in the Life," to close Young's June 27 concert at Hyde Park. Always exciting when two great performers get together, especially when both performers are in some way connecting to the song, McCartney of course being a co-writer, and Young using it as a main closer for his past few tours.



- Indie pop genius and one of my favorite artists as of late, Jens Lekman, has contracted the H1N1 virus (swine flu)! Luckily, he doesn't live in a third world country, so he'll be fine. But it's still pretty jarring. He contracted the virus while on tour in South America, but upon his return to native Sweden, he's receiving proper treatment and should be healthy enough that no shows scheduled for next month will be canceled.

- Beck just keeps getting busier. In addition to last week's reported Record Club cover series, a Sonic Youth project and a Charlotte Gainsbourg album, Beck is now working on a DJ series called Planned Obsolescence. "We are putting up a new section, a weekly DJ set, called Planned Obsolescence." Says Beck, "These are mixes of what we're listening to, put together by myself or guest DJs. Please enjoy." Part of me wants to be the old guy complaining about how he doesn't work on his own music anymore, but he did just make an album last year, so might as well let him have...fun? I don't know, it seems like work. But it's Beck, so I'm sure it's all pretty great. Check out all his projects at beck.com.

- Kanye West is on the road again this fall and has retired, for now, the old Glow in the Dark set. Instead, he's using the Aggro-Crag. Painted gold. Glad he's aiming big, at least.

- With the recent reissue of Reckoning, R.E.M. are starting a heavy release schedule. Coming July 7, the band will release a quick live EP calling Reckoning Songs From the Olympia. Bet you can guess what album the songs are from and where it was recorded. The EP supplements both the aforementioned reissue and an album slotted for this fall titled R.E.M. Live at the Olympia. Considering that the band has released three live albums since 2007, this being the fourth, I don't know that I see the point. But the session is culled from "working rehearsals," so there's a chance we'll see some interesting arrangements and versions here, I suppose. In better news (by my estimation), guitarist Peter Buck alleges the band is also working on a follow-up proper to last year's Accelerate. Busy veterans.

- Silver Jews frontman, David Berman, has released a book of cartoons called The Portable February. Imagine if Daniel Johnston was a little less awesome and a little more Gary Larson, not to imply that that isn't awesome in itself. The book continues the long lasting trend of musicians attempting and occasionally succeeding to branch out into other fields of art.

- Speaking of musicians in other fields of art, a new book/DVD set titled The Art Of Touring has recently been released. It is exactly as the title implies: artwork, photos, and various artifacts compiled by various touring musicians. The roster of contributors includes Thurston Moore, Nick Zinner, Devendra Banhart, Johanna Fateman and many more. I essentially offered my thoughts in the last sentence of that last bullet.

- Former Beach Boy, Al Jardine has reappeared in the news for three quick announcements: Fleet Foxes are awesome, Jason Mraz is awesome, and he has a new album in the mix with a hopeful Labor Day release. The album is set to be called A Postcard From California, and has a great bevy of guest stars, including David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, John Stamos, and maybe even Fleet Foxes themselves. As a fan, however, I can tell you this album has been in the works for quite some time, so we can't be too sure about it. For the other two announcements, however, I must say that there is little musical praise greater than one of Brian Wilson's friends saying you possess some level of genius.

Star Power

We've still only had one truly major piece of news this week, but there are so many facets of it, many parts of it can be examined in many ways. The aspect of the Michael Jackson story I will be examining today is his record performance on the Billboard Catalog Charts. The question of this week's Star Power is whether or not an artist's death, particularly an early death, will create legions of fans they hadn't had before.

A disclaimer: I mean no disrespect to any of the artists I'm about to examine or any of their fans. Everyone mentioned is truly talented, regardless of what I may think of them personally, and they all have fans world over who truly love them and their music. I'm looking at this through a sales and business perspective, and that requires a certain cynicism that may look callous at first glance. If you see it that way, I offer my apologies.

Last year, or hell, two weeks ago, if someone had said to me "You know, Nirvana's only famous because that guy killed himself," I would have disagreed. "Now, I'm not a fan," I would start, showing my neutral ground, "But you need to realize, they were exceptionally famous years before Cobain killed himself. His death certainly added to their lasting appeal, but it wasn't anywhere near the sole factor." However, now that I've witnessed the death of Michael Jackson as a lucid, media aware young adult, I'm not so sure. It's already legendary how well Michael performed on the charts this week: 25 songs on the top 75 Hot Digital Songs chart, peaking at #2 with "Thriller," and eight of the ten spots in the Album Catalog Charts. In fact, Michael became the first artist in history to sell over one million song downloads in a single week. His highest selling album this week, Number Ones, outsold the Billboard 200 chart topper, The E.N.D. by Black Eyed Peas, marking the first time in history the Catalog Chart outsold the regular one. Last week? Well, radio played Billie Jean a few times and Thriller sold okay for a 26-year-old album, but let's face it, this is popularity by death. Aforementioned "Thriller" saw a sales increase of 3,551%.



It's hard to figure out when the trend started without unbelievable Billboard chart scrutiny. Cracked.com made the joke that Hank Williams was the first to capitalize on an early death as a career move, and considering his 1953 death, that's possible. I also consider Robert Johnson's 1938 death, although the Billboard charts didn't quite exist at that time, and the entire concept of records as a market was rather new and skeletal. With Hank, however, at the time of his death, he was indeed doing well with the Country Singles Charts. Albums were still in the amniotic sac so to speak, so we can't watch how his albums sold ex post facto. His singles, however, we can take some note of. He didn't exactly get to endure a meteoric post-death rise, but after his death, several singles did rocket to #1. The final single of his life, ironically titled "I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive," stayed at #1 for some time after his death. Posthumous singles "Take These Chains from My Heart," "Kaw-Liga," I Won't Be Home No More," and "Weary Blues From Waitin'" all ended up in the Country top ten. However, because Hank was mostly a cult artist during his life, never breaking out of the country charts, and because the charts were still new at the time, we can't really see his death in terms of sales. An interesting start to a history of death as a career move, but it's hardly a definitive one.

Fast-forward to 1969, and the death of The Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones. The Rolling Stones were, of course, magnificently popular. Brian was kicked out of the band shortly before his death, but he remained an important and integral early member. Three more major rock deaths would occur in a two-year span: Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin in 1970, and Jim Morrison in 1971. All four deaths were of major performers at a young age, cut down in their prime. However, there were no apparent unbelievable spikes in album sales. Perhaps the artists already held such a powerful fame that there was little difference, and since that fame came only months before their death, there was no period of amazing nostalgia or revived interest. Many posthumous compilations and collections would be made, and people still get excited if a rare Jimi Hendrix live recording is found, remastered and given an official release. However, and perhaps this is the fact that their deaths were long before my youth speaking, it seems as though their legendary status and their deaths are far removed from one another. Of course, when people start to complain about how Rolling Stone only ranks Hendrix the best guitarist because of his death, I have no idea if that's true or not. I assume his influence and status would remain, but really, I don't know. The same goes for John Bonham and Keith Moon, who died shortly after. Would "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" be considered one of the best songs ever if Otis Redding hadn't died prior to its release? I once would have argued no. Now it's hard to say.



Eight years after the 27 Club finds it's final founding members, one of the most famous musicians of all time dies. The first King had fallen. I wasn't alive, so I don't know, but I imagine of all these events, the death of Elvis most mimicked the media circus we're currently caught up in. August 16, 1977 was the day Elvis Presley died at the age of 42. Elvis had his big comeback about four years prior to his death, but he was still well in the public eye, sporadically even recording new material. Talents diminishing at an incredibly accelerated rate due to drugs and weight gain, Elvis concerts were no longer an event and instead were a sad statement about overpowering fame. Yet, when he died, hundreds of thousands of fans went to Graceland, looking for a chance to say goodbye to their King. We're doing the same now, be it in the Staples Center or Neverland or wherever, proving again that past glories are far more important and powerful than the current state of fallen idols.

A different element is added to the post-death fame when such death is caused by a massive tragedy. Of course, any young death is a massive tragedy. Taken down early by drugs is a terrible way to go. But now I speak of John Lennon and of Marvin Gaye, of men who were shot and killed while only in their forties. Both men had been in the midst of comebacks when shot down, by a crazed fan and a father, respectively. Lennon's case is easier to examine, as his death caused three major career events: Double Fantasy hit number one, which likely would have happened anyway. Imagine was re-released and hit number one, which almost definitely wouldn't have happened otherwise. And lastly, Double Fantasy won John and Yoko the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Call me a cynic, but in a world where John was still alive, I doubt Yoko's name would even allow them the nomination. Of course, John Lennon was already one of the most famous men on the planet, let alone musicians. Despite the amount of fame allowed to every comeback, we must realize that Lennon had spent five years away from the music industry, and his previous two albums, Rock and Roll and Walls and Bridges, despite slight commercial success, where critical disappointments for the former Beatle. Then, along comes death, and he's Grammy Award winner once again. I don't mean to sound cynical, but that's the point of this article, I guess. I'll also take this time period to point out the tragic death of Ian Curtis of Joy Division, to question whether or not an early death can lead to notoriety, if not worldwide fame, in the indie communities of the world.



Moving on to the example that started this thought, Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994. Like I said at the beginning, Nirvana were indeed already wildly popular while he was alive. It's quite possible they were the most famous band in the world from 1991 to 1994, and could have stayed that way for years to come. MTV Unplugged In New York would have hit number one, alive or dead. The question becomes whether or not they would still remain so beloved and important fifteen years later. Of course, they were hugely influential of the time, but now, the only remaining (post-, nu-, whatever-) grunge bands are critical pariahs. And yet, when 2002's new Nirvana single, You Know You're Right came about, it hit number one on the Rock Charts. There's no saying whether or not that song could've been a hit were Kurt still alive, but there is saying that when a dormant band appears eight years later with a mediocre version of their past sound, fans don't get excited. They did for that song.

And now, of course, we're at Michael Jackson. Two weeks ago, the only way his albums were going to sell was if Conan made a particularly funny joke about him and some young kid got curious. Now, he's the top selling artist in the world. At first, as a huge fan, I liked this. The world was finally getting around to seeing what I had seen all along: that Michael is the King of Pop and deserves his massive album sales. I'm not going to question people here as phony fans or whatever, but we can say right now, he's only as popular as he is because he's dead. This is a shame for sure, since he's always deserved the same level of fame. But, as it's always been with Michael, the media circus is what controls him, not his talent, his songs or his fans. For now, we're just lucky the circus is back in his favor, telling you once again to buy his albums and hear his music.

So, what conclusion have I drawn? Is it a big deal that Michael's albums are selling, or is it just part of a long practiced trend of fame after death? Well, I think it's just part of the trend, but it's teaching us along the way. It teaches us that fame after death requires a definite level of fame before death as well. And perhaps that fame is even more important when it came some time ago, and not immediately with the death. Sure, fame from two weeks ago might incite the public to more tears, but it won't sell more records, because they all have them already. Lastly, we must learn not to judge people who becomes fans through death, since they are fans as well. Sure, it may seem annoying when someone tells you that you only listen to Michael now because he died, especially if you've listened to him your entire life like many of us have. But those people aren't the fans, so they don't understand why people would listen to the music as much as they do. Ultimately, death doesn't cause us to become fans, it reminds us of the artist and how great they were, bringing us back to our highest levels of fandom.

Or maybe it all comes down to words I read the other week by a source I'd love to give, but can't remember. They sell because these artists can't die as long as we keep listening, because they are forever in the music. And if that's the case, keep buying them, because these are people that we should never let go.

Farewell Song

The year of the week is 1959, and my favorite song of this year is an unquestionable classic. The song was written by the legendary duo of Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht, featured in The Threepenny Opera. Of course, that was 1928, and it wasn't until a good 31 years of covers and re-versions that someone got it perfectly right. Popularized in that period by Louis Armstrong, it would later be covered by Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Buffett, Ella Fitzgerald, The Psychedelic Furs, Sting, Tony Bennett, Nick Cave, Tito Puente and surely hundreds others. Simon Cowell calls it the greatest song ever written, and this version in particular was named the 251st best song of all time by Rolling Stone. The artist is Bobby Darin, and the song is "Mack The Knife."



Thanks for reading kids, and I hope to see you next week for another copy of the Saturday Morning Car-Tune News!