Just yesterday a song came on my Spotify, MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams.” (I love the opening of the live version… “Right now it’s time to… time to… KICK OUT THE JAMS MOTHER F*****S!!!!)((MC5 were punk before punk was remotely invented.))
I decided to look up the band members and see where they were today. I guessed that they were probably all dead. I was nearly right, lots of them died in their 50s.
One nugget I had no idea about. One of the guitarists married Patti Smith, and they had a son who went on to marry White Stripes drummer, Meg White.
I love discovering that kind of stuff. (I never claimed I wasn’t a simple-minded man.)
Today I learned another bit of trivia.
I often talk about the worst plane crash (in terms of people) in the history of aviation. 520 out of 524 people were killed. (A baby was found alive in a tree well after authorities thought they would find anyone alive.)
The crash was also notable in that the people on the plane knew for at least a half hour that their fate was almost certainly sealed. The plane lost its ability to navigate after the tail section fell off, severing the hydraulics that controlled the aircraft.
Indeed, the plane ended up hitting a mountain.
There was a casualty on the plane that I wasn’t aware of, a singer. I know the song he was famous for. Although sung in Japanese it still charted in America. It was remade by a girl group in the early 80s and was, again, a hit here in America.
Read about it here
Aww the poor little baby all alone.
I actually remember the song from when I was a kid in Japan. Never knew the story behind it though.
I don’t even know what Spotify is.
@Just Sayin, it‘ an app you can pay a monthly fee to download as many songs as you want and sort of have a “radio station” with music you like or you can have ads with no fee, I think. I like it!
Sukiyaki is right at the top of my bookmarks on the Ipad. I play it almost every morning following my good morning prayers. Sukiyaki is followed by Lillie & Billy’s La Dee Dah. I’m diversified. LOL.
Of course, by day’s end, when 44 was pressy I wanted to scream, so I often turned to Navajo Joe.
Big Furry One. You probably know this story. I still find it amazing. Philip Taylor Kramer, if you don’t know it, it will pop the wax out of your ears.
Yes, Spotify is your own personal jukebox. It’s free, but every 5 or 6 songs they play a couple of commercials.
It has millions of songs and thousands of artists.
I recommend it.
About his disappearance and discovery?
At that same linked site was this little gem of a folk song by Alex Jones:
http://theconservativekitchentable.blogspot.com/2017/10/alex-jones-rants-as-indie-folk-song.html
Brad;
You talking about iron butterfly phil kramer? i was in socal when he went missing and all the theories were going around. i seem to remember his remains were found 5 years later by a hiker in malibu canyon, still at the wheel of his van?
Freaken FUR is to well informed. LOL. I find the NASA connection really interesting. Especially from a guy that most likely used his brain as a test tube for drugs.
I don’t necessarily follow musicians or other performers ala gossip magazines, but how they tie together can be pretty interesting.
The Cream song, “Badge,” writing by Eric Clapton and George Harrison, was named after Ringo mis-read the word “bridge” on a hand-written early copy of the lyrics.
Saw a documentary about the plane crash – the U.S Military showed up after the impact but were told to stand down by the Japanese that night. The Japanese search and rescue didn’t show up until the next morning due to rain and darkness, otherwise there would have been more survivors.
Kyu Sakimoto was making a comeback at the time of his death.
Don’t if figure. Love the song.
When I was a Junior and Senior in high school, (1989-91), I started listening to the KVI 570 Am radio station. They played nothing but oldies music, you know, 50’s-60’s tunes. I really didn’t have much choice because I drove a ’68 Ford pickemup truck, and it only had AM radio. I learned to love the oldies, and still do today. I remember this song. Occasionally KVI would play it. I swear to God, I would try to sing along even though I had no idea what the dude was saying. I always remembered this song, regardless of the language barrier, as being a happy song.
On more than one occasion as I was driving home from hockey practice as a teen on a Thursday, Big Jim Martin from KVI would bellow out at 12:03am, “IT’S FRIDAY!”…and sometimes this song would lead us in.
That is a good memory.
Did you know MC5 stood for Motor City? Loved Kick Out the Jams, it scared me a little.
I remember listening to Sukiyaki on the radio as a kid. I loved that song.
That’s cool. I always liked BOCs live version 🙂
https://youtu.be/HkdvWwY2yhs