B-b-b-b-but why go to Bette Midler for taste? Her vulgarity is her strength!

A number of years ago I was standing in the back of church before the start of a funeral, helping a couple do a sound check on Wind Beneath My Wings. The priest walked past me and said “If anyone tries to play this at my funeral, shoot them”. This song can certainly evoke strong feelings in either direction. I personally think it’s a well-written song, both musically and lyrically and while I don’t actively seek it out, I never minded having to play it numerous times over the years. Gary Morris’ staid but earnest country take was the first version I heard, and if that along with the underrated Lou Rawls version, remained the most popular ones, the song would have faded into obscurity. Bette’s overwrought vocal histrionics breathed new life into it and definitely made it come alive, but also sent it firmly into schmaltz territory, which will always cause a backlash. I don’t begrudge her for it. It’s exactly what the person described in the lyrics would do and Bette’s an actress playing a part. Sure, that part wasn’t a stretch for her, but she nailed it and we’re talking about it today, so she did her job.

Hope is a dangerous thing for a woman that is stoned at the nail salon to have

When we launch new comments platform it will get a separate list, I decided. We are really really close. It’s the stupid cache issue I need the devs to resolve first.

In the early 80s Bette had a book signing event at the store I worked at. Due to her popularity it was held in the 8th floor auditorium. I had to work and the line was too long to handle at lunchtime. Three hours later I went to the auditorium and she was still there signing books.

In front of me was a mermaid in a wheelchair. Those who know, know. Anyway about 15 minutes later we get to the front of the line and Bette gives the mermaid a huge hug.

I will always respect Bette. Someone who takes four hours of book signing and is smiling to the end is tops in my book.

The movie this is from however…. I left it feeling like I was manipulated. It has always impacted how I feel about this song.

Bette and a mermaid in a wheelchair 10/10

This song: I won’t score it.

Every time we start a thread on Benny’s record, I write up a defense. And then I trash it, because so many of you do it so much better than I ever could.

But our virtual 80’s times together are on the wane. We will not likely see too many more mentions of “Into The Night,” so I figured, I’ll take a shot.

Imagine that all you ever wanted from life was success in popular music. You worked really hard at it, and one day, stunningly, the effort paid off: you got a lucky break. You had a hit. And you got to hear Casey Kasem tell all the world that you just reached Number 11 on American Top 40.

And then you had a personal failing. The rockstar lifestyle was too much to handle and addiction took over your spirit and your soul. The toll was taken, and you never had another hit. Life became very hard.

And while this was going on, the times and attitudes shifted, as they always do. People who needed to have a laughable donkey to pin a collective tail on, went and dug up an old 35+ year-old recording and it’s very dated video. And they proceeded to pile on the only big thing that you ever accomplished during the previously successful chapter of you life. And now you realize that conventional wisdom has decreed that “Benny Mardones” shall from this moment on, be subtitled, “That Skeevy 80’s Song Perv Guy.”

And then you learn that you have Parkinson’s.

And then you get clean and sober. But life continues to be a struggle. Incrementally so. You wonder what you should do.

And so amid failing health, you make a decision. You decide that on December 16, 2017, you are going to stand up as best as you can. You will deliver a final performance and sing a final song. You’ll do it in the only way that you know how: with honor, passion and pride for your life’s work.

Let them laugh. I get it, and I stand with you. I know what you were trying to say when you sang your hit record in 1980. And you delivered it with more dignity and style in 2017 than I could in a dozen lifetimes.

Good on you, Benny Mardones. And a good weekend, my dear friends at TNOCS.

Good on you all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI8WjP4Sgw4

MEANWHILE ON THE SOUR GRAPES CHARTS

but really though…my short lived disappearance from these boards, which was probably met with joy for many, was due to me spending the past year or so getting sober. Thank you for your patience. Sorry to self promote but hey it’s better than reading someones therapy session/diary entry every week on here…

When David Essex recorded “Rock On” in 1974, he made a record that sounded like NOTHING else on the radio at the time.
When Michael Damian recorded his cover of “Rock On” in 1989, he made a record that sounded like EVERYTHING ELSE on the radio in 1989.
The first time 10-year-old me heard the David Essex original, I quickly gathered together the small change from my last few weekly allowances and went out and bought the record. It was cool and cryptic and mysterious. The original “Rock On” kicked ass, and was at least an 8/10.
Michael Damian, and his handlers, took that song and stripped away anything and everything that made it interesting, completely deleted all of the original’s mystique, and left us with a mechanized, industrial piece of white noise indistinguishable from all the rest of the mechanized, industrial-sounding noise that was passing for music at Top 40 radio in ’89. THIS version of “Rock On” gets a 3/10.

“Just a Friend” reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s a 10.

let me clarify. you cannot get about kanye’s music and still be a music fan. but if you actively protest against new music from Kanye – then you are not a music fan.

You cannot argue that you are a music fan and at the same time say you don’t want new music from ANYBODY.

and gatekeeping? please explain. you’re the one saying i’m posting garbage on the wrong site.

kanye has 5 classic albums soley to his name. if you don’t get excited about new music from Kanye, regardless of all of the shit he’s said or done or whatever else, YOU ARE NOT A MUSIC FAN. it is quite literally that simple.

Concern troll.

Nice humble brag bro. “Laden with bangers”–LOL. Someone please remind me why is this guy’s reputation is so high as a reviewer as to be granted these privileges. Couldn’t get through his Radiohead book–bad, cliche-LADEN writing and critical misreadings on nearly every page.

ur so edgy and cool 😍

“a warm organic ballad that feels like a truly unique entry in the band’s canon. It’s so good, you guys.”

send thoughts and prayers, cause we (me and my two daughters) are gonna Howse this bad boy.