Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Two Questions: "Music with Stories, and Stories with Music"

 

Redartz:  Music and stories (particularly comics), two of my favorite things. And most, if not all, of you would say the same, no doubt. Which brings us to this week's twin  questions:

1.  What are your favorite ' story songs'? 

I love story songs, As in songs that tell a tale, or carry a narrative, to some extent anyway. I'd have been quite comfortable back in the days of wandering minstrels, singing ballads touting the exploits of various heroes and heroines. Of course, there have been plenty of story songs within our lifetimes, even if no lute-bearing minstrel performed them. Two of those high on my list:

Men at Work, "Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive"

 


 

Vicki Lawrence, "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia"




2. What musically-themed comics (or novels) have you enjoyed? 

Other than reading several musical biographies, I can't off hand think of any novels, but there have been numerous comics inspired by or adapting musical themes that caught my fancy. A couple: 

Doctor Strange 32, in which Roger Stern culls a character from Gary Wright's 1976 classic tune.


 Then there's "Bop"; an anthology published by Kitchen Sink in 1982. Filled with a variety of musical stories, from such creators as Marc Hempel, Trina Robbins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Harvey Pekar and Alex Toth. Unfortunately it only appeared once, and promptly vanished from the comics horizon...




Now, as usual, the baton passes to you. What story songs kept your ear cocked to the radio; and what musical literature added melody to your reading?

 

 

57 comments:

Colin Jones said...

1) Some story songs that immediately come to mind are :

Coward Of The County - Kenny Rogers
I Did What I Did For Maria - Tony Christie
The Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band
Fernando - ABBA
Angelo - Brotherhood Of Man
I've Never Been To Me - Charlene
Emma - Hot Chocolate
Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight & The Pips
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John

2) The only two novels about music I could think of are:

The Commitments by Roddy Doyle (it was also a film)
Daisy Jones & The Six by...er...
but I haven't read either of those novels - I just know about them.

As for non-fiction books about music I mainly liked books about the music charts such as The Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles or Billboard #1 Hits by Joel Whitburn. Back in the '80s I bought a book called British Hit Singles Of The '70s which was a softcover book and all the pages fell out - I never trusted paperback books after that!

Edo Bosnar said...

Story songs?
I think one of my favorites is "A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash (I esp. love the part when he and his old man are rolling around fighting in the street outside of the bar in the "mud, blood and beer."
And, if it counts, Bruce Springsteen's "Rosalita."
Colin, re: "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" - I always thought the devil's fiddle solo was better than Johnny's.

As for stories with music, I can't really think of anything notable, except in the Defenders when David Anthony Kraft (and maybe Ed Hannigan also) were writing it. I think there were several issues in which the story titles were based on Rush and Blue Oyster Cult songs, and/or there were references to their songs in the stories themselves.

Mike Wilson said...

I quite like songs that tell a story with their lyrics. Some that come to mind: Come a Little Bit Closer by Jay and the Americans; Spanish Train by Chris DeBurgh; Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf; and American Pie by Don McLean (although that storyline is obscured by symbolism).

As for the second question, I can't really think of any music-type comics, unless that kiss comic from the late 70s counts, but I don't remember there being a lot of music in that one (plus it wasn't that great of a story anyway).

Humanbelly said...

The roller-rink seemed to be the natural home for a lot of those old bubble-gum, pop, protest, and/or southern-gothic story songs, didn't it? I'm not gonna recall a single artist, but I can surely offer several tunes that'll be familiar to all, regardless:

BILLY, DON'T BE A HERO-- cheesy, yes, and at first seems like a very late entry into the "Dead Teen Lover" genre'. . . but the final line really redeems it as a quietly subversive protest piece.

ONE TIN SOLDIER-- first line is literally, "Listen, children, to the story. . . "; another protest song, too.

IN THE YEAR 2525-- Demise of Humanity... quite a tale! (Zaeger & Evans)

ANGIE BABY-- trying to remember if it had a supernatural element?

ODE TO BILLY JOE-- Bobbi Gentry, right? Even SHE delighted in keeping everyone in the dark about exactly what the heck was bein' thrown off of that bridge. . .

BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERETS-- Scary propaganda anthem, IMO. Proud young father dies in war w/out seeing his son; urges young wife to make sure their son does the same thing. Yikes.

BAD, BAD LEROY BROWN-- Jim Croce

THE UNICORN-- The Irish Rovers (this song made us cry in, like, second grade. . . )

COPACABANA- Barry Manilow

THE NIGHT CHICAGO DIED-- although I never truly followed the story all that well. . .

Mike, I'm gonna suggest that Paradise By the Dashboard Light is the pinnacle of story song achievement-- great call.

Ha-- RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER!!! Tis the season!

HB

Anonymous said...

Defenders #s59-61 - "The Revenge of Vera Gemini" and all that - were the Blue Oyster Cult ones Edo, and I think Kraft also wrote Demon Hunter #1, "Harvester of Eyes", for Atlas.
Naturally being an insufferable European I much prefer Serge Clerc's "ME 262" from Metal Hurlant though...

Much better than any of that is The Residents Freak Show comic, with amazing stories like Brian Bolland's "Harry the Head", John Bolton's "Wanda the Worm Woman" and more by people like Dave McKean and Kyle Baker. It really needs a reprint.
"Voodoo Child", the Sienkiewicz book about Hendrix is fantastic of course.
As is "Billie Holiday" by Argentine writer Carlos Sampayo and artist Jose Munoz.

Seems like its worth adding Jaime Hernandez' Locas stories from Love & Rockets which are informed by the LA punk subculture if not about music per se.
And I still have my old early 80s V for Vendetta 12" single with the Alan Moore lyrics which soundtracked the "Vicious Cabaret" chapter of the comic series.

And hey, lets not forget that issue of Marvel Super-Villain Team-Up with AIM scientist George Clinton and Agent Collins from SHIELD's Bootsy Squad (no, really).

-sean

BobC said...

Hee hee! HB you brought up several songs I forgot about! But you left off Cher, who was the queen of story songs in the 70's. Half Breed,Dark Lady and Gypsies Tramps and Thieves! And here's a fun fact: Cher was first offered the song The Night the Lights Went Out in GA, but Sonny informed her that he felt that southerners would be insulted by the lyrics. He forbade her to record it. They went, instead, with Half Breed. Oh the irony...

Anonymous said...

Ha, yeah, “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” and “Half Breed” are way on the wrong side of Appropriateness these days (they’re still great tho!)

HB : “Angie Baby” definitely has a supernatural element (unless it’s all innAngie’s messed up little head).

Harry Chapin’s “Cats in the Cradle” — I used to like it but it feels a bitobvious to me now.

I adore Bobby Gentry’s haunting Hillbilly Gothic “Ode to Billy Joe”.

Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue” is probably my all-time favorite. I was always a fan but when I found out it’s told in non-linear fashion, basically completely out of sequence, it made more actual sense to me and I loved it all the more.

b.t.

Anonymous said...

“One Bad Stud” by The Blasters is Bad Bad LeRoy Brown’s tougher, manlier cousin. And ELP’s “Benny the Bouncer” could kick both their asses!

b.t.

Anonymous said...

Oh! And Peter Gabriel’s “Family Snapshot” is a BRILLIANT “song story”.

As for Musical Comics — hoo. Marvel’s various music-adjacent comics are all kinda awful — the two Kiss specials, the Alice Cooper issue of MARVEL PREMIERE (neat Sutton / Austin art tho), the Beatles Bio one-shot, etc. Did they do an adaptation of XANADU? I know they did an adaptation of the crap-tastic SGT. PEPPER movie but we never saw it here in the States (aw shucks).

Steve Gerber had an Alice Cooper-ish glam rocker in an issue of MAN-THING. Got killed by an axe-wielding longshoreman dressed up like a Viking.

Remember those weird Fotonovels? I’ve got the GREASE one around here someplace. That’s ALMOST a comic...

Roy Thomas incorporated elements from Wagner’s Ring Cycle into comics more than once (because of course he did). And Craig Russell did a bunch of opera adaptations.

Then of course there’s.... (wait for it).... RIIIIICCCKKK JONNNNESSSS!

b.t.

Anonymous said...

"Every so often it happens! A kid with a beat up guitar... strumming a pocketful of chords... listen, because this kid may be just seventeen but he's BEEN there..."
Rick Jones, voice of a generation!
Whichever generation it was (I'm just pleased it wasn't mine).

b.t., for the full Marvel music trip you want Agent Of SHIELD #11, in which the Million Megaton Explosion release their first album, with "Trilogy Of The Earthian Archives Of The Kree (A Rock Odyssey)".
And if you think that sounds like a crime against humanity, well yes - spoiler alert! - they were a plot by the Hate-Monger.

-sean

Colin Jones said...

HB mentioned Billy Don't Be A hero - how could I have forgotten that one?? I was only familiar with the UK version (which made #1 no less) but recently I finally got around to hearing the US version by Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods.

Redartz said...

Colin J- you have a pretty good list of story songs there. "Emma" seemed rather dark to me as a kid; still a mighty sombre lyric.
By the way, I share your affinity for non-fiction musical books. I too have that Joel Whitburn "Number 1" book, and also his "Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits". Both are great resource materials for doing a blog, incidentally.

Edo- those Defenders issues were good; actually the whole David Kraft run was enjoyable. Even for those of us who were, at the time, less familiar with the musical source material.
And yes, the devil could have made a case for a recount in that Charlie Daniels song...

HB- terrific list! And you make a solid point with "Rudolph"; many holiday tunes qualify as story songs. "Frosty", "Mr. Grinch", "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer". Okay, some were more 'storied' than others. And thanks for mentioning "Copacabana"; Mr. Manilow rarely gets a mention; but that song was catchy and cool.

Mike W- as HB said, you might have won the day with "Paradise". Not merely a story song, more like an operetta. With baseball references, no less!

Sean- aaaand, today you get the award for the 'must check this out' category: for "The Residents Freak Show". Totally never heard of this before, and you really have me intrigued.

BobC- great mention of Cher! She truly was the queen of story songs. Even going back to her days with Sonny; there was "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"...

b.t. and HB- "Angie Baby" was one I almost used as an example. Really odd story, almost creepy. Potential pervy kid gets trapped within a mystical radio and becomes the plaything of a rather unique girl. Not exactly what one might normally expect from Helen Reddy...



Anonymous said...

Redartz, second hand copies of Freak Show seem to be a bit pricey, so you might want to keep an eye out for the easier to find - and less costly - March '96 issue of Heavy Metal which reprinted the Brian Bolland story in b&w.
Or just read it at
https://mondofunky.tumblr.com/post/48148973098/harry-the-head-by-brian-bolland/amp

-sean

Edo Bosnar said...

I remembered "Cat's in the Cradle" later in the day, but I see b.t. brought it up. Pretty much everything by Harry Chapin is a story song.
I'm also a bit ashamed that I didn't immediately remember an obvious one: Dolly Parton. She wrote/recorded tons of story songs, esp. in the first part of her career, like "Gypsy, Joe and Me" or "The Bridge" (about young lovers), and I think even the rather popular "Coat of Many Colors" fits into this category.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

HB - You and I need to meet up one day, having had the same blast of culture from "chicago land" like WGN TV and WLS Radio! Reading your list was like reading silly putty's version of my recollections!

Hmmm... Is Pink Floyd's "The Wall" telling a story?

One might argue, abstractly, that The Beatles Sgt Pepper's album does as well especially concluding as it does with "A Day in the Life."

Those albums seem to be telling a story... perhaps not linearly... but it at least feels as if one is on some type of musical journey from beginning to end, no?

BobC said...

I loved Emma by Hot Chocolate! "Emma, Emma Lee"

DD said...

Trying not to copy anyone else's examples, a couple of songs I like that tell a story would be Klaattu"s "Subrosa Subway", about the first attempt at underground transportation and the Move's "Cherry Blossom Clinic". Would "Band on the Run" qualify? Tells a story I guess.
Musical comics? There WAS a Cowsills comic one-shot published by Harvey a few years back, lol

Redartz said...

Flamekeeper- you bet "Band on the Run" qualifies! Great song, and a great album. Probably Wings'best.
Good catch recalling that Cowsills comic! Forgot about that. Which reminds me, Charlton had a David Cassidy comic, and Gold Key had the Monkees...

Rick Dunn said...

There's an interesting issue of Shang-Chi Master of Kung Fu (#61) where lyrics from Fleetwood Mac's Rumours figure into the story and are used over several pages. CBR ran a story about it "Shang-Chi's Love Life Gets a Soundtrack of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours."

Anonymous said...


Charlie:

Forgive me, I’m about to fall down the Definition Rabbit Hole again. Join me, won’t you?

There seems to be no clear consensus, but generally speaking, a “concept album” is a cycle of songs that relate to one another by theme, or style or mood and may (or may not) possess an actual storyline. A “rock opera” is usually a cycle of songs that distinctly tells a story. Some folks think the two terms are interchangeable.

“The Wall” is definitely a concept album / rock opera that tells a distinct story. So is “Tommy”. And “Welcome To My Nightmare”. And “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”.

The Moodies’ “Days of Future Passed” is your classic concept album, about as basic as it gets — starts with some pompous poetry, then we get songs about all the different times of the day: dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, evening and finally night, and then another portentous poem to wrap it all up. But it’s all about the rigid framework of the concept; there’s not really any storyline beyond, “the sun rose in the morning and set in the evening, the end.”

To me, “Sgt. Pepper” is a concept album that doesn’t really have much in the way of a discernible storyline, either, though it’s sequenced in a way that certainly SUGGESTS a beginning and an end, as well as introducing several discrete “characters” along the way. But do these characters actually DO much? Billy Shears is introduced with a big fanfare and then sings a song. Mr. Kite will apparently challenge the world by performing some kind of feat at Bishop’s Gate, something to do with flying through a ring. And of course Henry the Horse dances the waltz. But is it a story? Also: A day in WHOSE life? One of the Hendersons maybe?

Switching gears now : at the crossroads of music and comics, surely someone has to mention Josie and the Pussycats, so it might as well be me.

b.t.

Colin Jones said...

Some more story songs:

Green Green Grass Of Home - Tom Jones
The Boy From Nowhere - Tom Jones
Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs - Brian & Michael
Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush
Ma Baker - Boney M
Mary's Boy Child - Harry Belafonte/Boney M (well, it is Christmas!)
And Edo mentioned Dolly Parton - her biggest UK hit was "Jolene" which counts as a story song, doesn't it?

In my first comment I forgot about music in COMICS but the obvious example is the Dazzler!

Red, Joel Whitburn was clearly a Beatles fan - in one of his books he said that the Beatles would be "the Classical music of future centuries". In my opinion the Classical music of future centuries will be...Classical music. Mozart, Beethoven & co will still be around!

DD said...

b.t. your examples shook some plaster loose in my head, I'm remembering "Sylvia's Mother" by Dr. Hook annnd, I almost afraid to add this, "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks (yikes)

Red, thanks for reminding me, I actually have a couple of issues of G.K.'s Monkees, I also have a Banana Splits issue too, they were sort of a group, haha

Steve Does Comics said...

Let's see, the first songs that spring to mind are:

Kim Wilde - "Cambodia."

Kate Bush - "Babooshka."

Rupert Holmes - "The Pina Colada Song." Mostly because it tells basically the same story as "Babooshka."

The Beatles - "Rocky Raccoon."

Rod Stewart - "The Killing of Georgie, Part 1."

Bruce Springsteen - "The River."

Bruce Springsteen - "Atlantic City."

The Boomtown Rats - "Rat Trap."

The Boomtown Rats - "Diamond Smiles."

Noosha Fox - "Georgina Bailey."

Marianne Faithfull/Dr Hook - "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan."

Hot Chocolate - "Brother Louie."

Anonymous said...

I was thinking about comics CREATORS who dabbled in the music biz. My list is pretty short.

When Barry Smith quit Conan the first time, I seem to remember Roy Thomas saying at the time that one of Barry’s reasons was because he wanted to spend more time playing guitar.

Ms.Tree writer/creator Max Allan Collins sang and played keyboards in a band called Seduction of the Innocent — they used to play at various comics conventions.

Steranko played guitar in several rockabilly bands in between his professions as escape artist, juvenile delinquent and genius comics innovator.

Michael Moorcock wrote songs and performed with Blue Oyster Cult and Hawkwind. The latter band put out an entire album of Moorcock-inspired songs, full of Black Blades and Champions Eternal. He even had his own short-lived band, The Deep Fix. I found it in a cut-out bin decades ago, bought it for about a buck and a half, and I know I played it at least once but have zero recollection of what it sounded like. I’m sure someone has uploaded it to YouTube but I can’t be arsed to go check it out.

b.t.

Anonymous said...

OH! And decades before “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” there was “Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero”. I had that one too, and remember thinking the songs were terrible.

b.t.

pfgavigan said...

Hiya,

Due to a tin ear I really don't have much to add to this list but I'll try.

Hotel California, The Eagles.

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Gordon Lightfoot.

Ghost Riders in the Sky, Various artists.

The last one actually touches upon a subject that I have an almost perverse fascination with; cover versions of songs. When Darrel Oates did a version of 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone' I thought it was fantastic. I can't begin to say what my favorite version of 'House of the Rising Sun' or 'Mr. Bojangles' is.

Anybody got a cover version that they like more than the original? Or were surprised to find out was a cover?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Seeya

pfgavigan

Anonymous said...

pfgavigan:

I had no idea “Wuthering Heights” was a Kate Bush song. I’d listened to Pat Benatar’s version for years before finding Kate’s original. So... I kinda prefer Pat’s cover. The Kate Bush version is a little nails-on-chalkboard for me, sorry to say.

Same with “Hanging on the Telephone” — never knew a band called The Nerves wrote and recorded it first. I prefer the Blondie version but the original is cool too ( it sounds VERY stripped-down, like a one-take/live-in-the-studio kinda thing).

Joan Jett’s cover of “Dirty Deeds” isn’t a patch on AC/DC’s original but it’s pretty fun.

b.t.

Steve Does Comics said...

pfgavigan, I can think of quite a few covers that I prefer to the original.

Jimi Hendrix - "All Along the Watchtower."

Rod Stewart - "Sailing."

The Hollies - "The Air that I Breathe."

Soft Cell - "Tainted Love."

Colin Blunstone - "Say You Don't Mind."

Manfred Mann's Earthband - "Blinded by the Light."

Embrace - "Gravity."

Melanie - "Ruby Tuesday."

Humanbelly said...

PFG-- To answer your question, I can use a story-song, in fact! Although I love both recordings, I prefer Pat Benatar's cover of "Don't Let It Show" (makes me cry, no kidding), originally from Alan Parsons Project's I, ROBOT album. Perhaps more of a "Last Words" song, than Story Song. . .but still very close.

FlameKeeper-- IIRC, almost all of KLAATU'S "Hope" album sort of vaguely follows the rise and collapse of a militaristic civilization on a far-off world. (Some lovely pop-opera-esque music on that record-!)

Charlie- While WLS was our mainstay station, WGN-TV was just too far away for us to catch the signal more than once every month or so. (We were about 20 miles north of South Bend) And that whole region was solidly UHF at any rate. . . It just seemed like this cool, mythical channel that my cousins watched all the time. . . totally different cartoons and kid-shows than we got. . .

HB

Colin Jones said...

Cover versions better than the original? Blondie's "The Tide Is High" springs to mind and HB mentioned Klaatu so I'll say that the Carpenters' version of "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" is better than Klaatu's original. I also prefer the Carpenters' version of "Please Mr. Postman".

Steve, you mentioned two Boomtown Rats songs but you forgot about "I Don't Like Mondays", surely their most famous story song.

Here in the UK Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" stayed at #1 for 4 weeks (in fact, it's her only #1 hit) so it's a famous song and I'm fascinated to discover there was a Pat Benatar version. I'm going to look for that on YouTube!

pfgavigan said...

Hiya,

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Guess what I'm doing this weekend.

Uh ... Unless you're named Endeavor Morris. If you are named Endeavor Morris I would thank you to mind your own bloody business and not guess what I'll be doing this weekend.

Seeya

pfg

Charlie Horse 47 said...

B.T. – Well said regarding entire albums telling a story.

Sgt. Peppers album indeed SUGGESTS it is a story. Perhaps it’s best to regard it as a collection of essays? And, the album’s denouement, “A Day in the Life,” certainly seems to tell a story in the same sense as the album with each verse is its own essay.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Abbey Road seems to suggest a story to me as well. Like we are on some type of journey perhaps, from song to song. And the same may be said with the album’s second-side, 8-song “Medley” which seems to be a journey in itself though clearly there is nothing there in terms of chronology.


All that said, we need not treat pop culture so literally? On the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder, based on numerous interviews I’ve read, I think he'd tell us to not take their music too seriously and just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

HB - WGN was the bomb, for sure, for us kids. What was super was this Thanksgiving, and I think they do this every Xmas as well, is they showed Bozo, Garfield Goose shows from the 1960s in their entirety.

Not much was really saved and fortunately we have these! What really was fascinating was the acts for entertainment. At one point two guys were on monocycles, playing clarinet big band music, with Bozo's horn band accompanying them. Wonderful!

Redartz said...

PFG- here's another for you. My ultimate "cover beats the original " is Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling ". Blows the original away. Oooga, oooga,oooga chakka...

As for a concept album, Alan Parsons offers some. Two favorite ones are Turn of a Friendly Card " and "Tales of Mystery and Imagination ".

Charlie- yes, Abbey Road evokes a progression, at any rate. Oh, and regarding WGN- they will always hold a place in my Hall of Fame, if for no other reason than that they showed the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon after school afternoons. Homework could wait!

Anonymous said...

I’ll take Cheap Trick’s cover of “California Man” over The Move’s original.

Tim Curry’s “Brontosaurus” is wonderful in its ponderously-paced echo-chambery weirdness but I like The Move original better.

I love the ELO and Move versions of “Do Ya” about equally.

I love the The Bangles version of “Hazy Shade of Winter” more than the Simon and Garfunkel original.

b.t.

BobC said...

I loved Wuthering Heights (was not a hit here in the states), as well as Hounds of Love and Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush.

Anonymous said...

b.t., taking things full circle, Michael Moorcock's Deep Fix (inevitably) appear in a comic book, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol 3: Century.
Their lp "New Worlds Fair" is a bit of a minor collectors item these days...

Not as much as British rock group Icarus' concept album - well, each track is about a comic book character - "Marvel World", one of those obscure early 70s records that now go for insane amounts of money.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGUhu9qmeeQ

There was actually a US edition - you lucky people got a gatefold sleeve by young Barry Smith! - so if you come across a cheap copy in a thrift store...

-sean

Anonymous said...

Record covers by comic book artists is a whole subject in itself of course...

-sean

Anonymous said...

Sean:

“New World Fair” was the Deep Fix album I got out of the cutout bin. I’m sure I ditched it along with the rest of my vinyl collection a few moves ago. I don’t even want to think about what it’s worth now ....

Ah yes, Rock Albums with covers by comics artists — NOW we’re talking’! Lenny White of Return To Forever did a jazz/rock fusion concept album called “The Adventures of Astral Pirates” that had stunning cover art by Mike Kaluta (seriously, Google it this very minute, you’ll thank me later). I wonder if I kept the sleeve at least when I did my big Vinyl Purge? If not, I share as hell SHOULDA.

Jim Fitzpatrick wasn’t really a comics artists (far as I know) but he sure SWIPED a lot of figures and imagery from guys like Steranko, Kirby and Neal Adams. I never did buy Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” album but man, I stared at that cover art a lot at Gemco.

Then of course there’s the famous Crumb cover for Janis Joplin’s “Cheap Thrills” album. And Richard Corben’s iconic “Bat Out Of Hell” cover. You’ve all heard that he passed away a few days ago, yes?

b.t.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Somehow... surely... predictably... Rick Jones has to fit into this discussion some how, rocker that he was!

pfgavigan said...

Hiya,

Richard Corben, creator of Den and Lovecraft aficionado and the artist behind Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell album cover, has reportedly passed away.

Crap.

Seeya.

pfgavigan

Colin Jones said...

This is nothing to do with the topic but as we're talking about songs, I'll just mention that Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" has just reached #1 on the UK singles chart - 26 years after it was first released (and a year after the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time).

Humanbelly said...

Ohhhhh-- it is SO OVERPLAYED that I've gotten to the point where I now turn it off. She sings the bejeepers out of it, no question. . . but it's just too much. That nerve-ending is worn raw. . .

HB

Charlie Horse 47 said...

What Colin and I (thanks to Colin) know is that #26 in the UK singles chart at this moment is Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"

Charlie confesses he prefers the older versions.

Steve Does Comics said...

I've just checked and there are currently 25 Christmas songs in the UK Top 50 - and it's not even the last chart before Christmas.

Colin Jones said...

Charlie, as you like the oldies here are some more from this week's UK Top 100:

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Frank Sinatra
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Dean Martin
The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley

And it can't just be you who prefers the older versions because in this country "Blue Christmas" and "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" were big hits in the '80s for Shakin' Stevens and Mel & Kim (Kim Wilde and comedian Mel Smith) but it's now the older versions of those two songs which are in this week's chart.

Colin Jones said...

Steve, the number of Christmas songs in the Top 100 is quite astonishing. Almost every famous British Christmas song from the last 50 years is back in this week's Top 100 with the exception of Greg Lake and Cliff Richard.

Redartz said...

Colin and Steve- I just checked and there are currently 15 Holiday tunes listed in the Billboard Top 40, including Mariah Carey at number 2. This must be a situation arising from a different manner of tallying the songs; I don't recall anything like this back when I followed the charts religiously. There are 7 more between 41 and 100. Intriguing.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

ON Xmas songs, I can only say that the local 93.9 WLIT (it may be syndicated USA wide) has it's "top hits" that they play every few hours it seems. They started playing them in early November.

And mostly there seems to be 1-2 versions of the old standards that get played over and over and over and they were recorded in the 60s.

Though "White Xmas" by Bing Crosby goes ack to the 1940s.

But it is indeed interesting how the old ballades take the charts at Xmas. Lovely!

(To be honest, I just don't get into the new ways of singing old songs that run up and down the octaves trying to sing just a few notes, lol.)

Colin Jones said...

Red, nowadays all these chart entries are digital downloads and/or streaming which is a big difference from when songs had to be released as actual records. That makes it a lot easier for Christmas songs to re-enter the singles chart year after year which never happened before - but I'm still surprised at the sheer number of Christmas songs in the current UK Top 100.

Redartz said...

Thanks for filling me in, Colin! That makes much sense.

Humanbelly said...

Folks in North America:

Do any of you recall HOW SATURATED the airwaves were with "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" that Christmas that it came out in wide-release? '81 or '82, maybe? (I feel like it might have been yet another WLS-driven trend in the upper midwest. . . )

HB

Redartz said...

HB- oh yes indeed. That song was EVERYWHERE that December. I found it funny the first couple times I heard it. Then just mildly amusing. Didn't take long for it to start wearing very thin. Buuuuut, that's often the case with many songs I hear that gain huge fast popularity. My burnout level must be fairly low. I still can't listen to Debby Boone and "You Light Up My Life"...

Anonymous said...

A few final thoughts on this past week’s ram-shackle, fascinating topic(s) before Redartz hits us with something new tomorrow:

Story songs:

Does “Amos Moses” by Jerry Reed count? How about Jim Stanford’s “My Girl Bill”?

Obscure, generally unloved comic with rock music elements:

DC’s 3-issue Nightmaster series in SHOWCASE. The lead character is a Bob Dylan-ish musician who becomes a sword-swinging hero in another dimension (or something — been awhile since I read it). Notable for very early Bernie Wrightson art on two of the three stories.

Music memoirs and bios I’ve enjoyed :

NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman
THE LOVE YOU MAKE by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines
RECKLESS by Chrissie Hynde
UNDER THE BIG BLACK SUN by John Doe (and Henry Rollins, Phil Alvin, Jane Wiedlin, et al)

And one I couldn’t finish:
ROTTEN: NO IRISH, NO BLACKS, NO DOGS by John Lydon

And finally, some fiction on the outermost edges of the Comics / Music connection:

“Dori Bangs” by Bruce Sterling. Bittersweet alternate history short story wherein legendary rock critic Lester Bangs and underground cartoonist Dori Seda hook up and find some semblance of happiness instead of tragically burning out and dying young.

THE POINT MAN, novel by Steve Englehart. Rock DJ “Barnaby Wylde” (GREAT name!) is actually Vietnam vet Max August, who discovers he has a secret destiny and latent psychic powers, gets involved in vaguely Dr. Strange-ish occult adventures. I read it when it was first published decades ago, don’t remember much about it, or whether or not I even enjoyed it. There were at least two sequels many years later.

Thanks, Redartz — this was a blast!

b.t.

Anonymous said...

OH! And the cover art of the first edition of THE POINT MAN was by the awesome Richard Corben.

R.I.P., sir.

b.t.

Anonymous said...

OH! And speaking of Richard Corben, one final “final thought”:

Astounding that this hasn’t come up yet (not directly, at least), as it’s one of the most obvious conjunctions of Music and Comics: the HEAVY METAL movie from 1981. Crazy-quilt of animated shorts (with a pretty lame talisman MacGuffin supposedly linking them all together) in a variety of styles and techniques. Two of the shorts are based directly on comics stories by Corben and Wrightson, two are somewhat inspired by (or knockoffs of, if you prefer) stories by Moebius, and the rest feature design and storyboard work by comics people like Mike Ploog, Howard Chaykin, Juan Gimenez, Thomas Warkentin and Angus McKie. Eclectic headbanging soundtrack features Blue Oyster Cult (with lyrics by Michael Moorcock), Black Sabbath , Grand Funk Railroad, Cheap Trick, Nazareth, Sammy Hagar, Devo, Don Felder, Stevie Nicks and a couple of bands you never heard of.

I saw it at the Hollywood Cinerama Dome on opening weekend. Even with a pipeful of pretty good grass in my system, I was aware that it wasn’t very good. Last time I watched the movie itself, it looked even cruder than I’d remembered. I did like the soundtrack, tho— I still listen to the CD occasionally.

b,t.

Anonymous said...

Sad to hear about Corben, possibly the only comic book artist of his generation who's more recent work was every bit as good as in his 70s heyday.

On the subject of the outermost edges of the comics/music connection, the weirdo avant garde original soundtrack of obscure mid-70s art-flick "O Sidarta" about Philippe Druillet (which sounds like the most French thing imaginable!) has just come out on a vinyl lp.
And on a British label no less, a heartwarming development in these days of le Brexit.

For anyone interested (I'm looking at you Charlie) theres a clip of the film at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0irW6vrFnQ

-sean

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