Misc Music Discussions without categories
In which yours truly tries to present a different side to familiar faces of pop musicians and hitmakers. With a hat tip to Spectrum Culture and Alfred Soto.
Anyone that lived through the 80s surely remembers the video for “Addicted to Love”. Robert Palmer’s endless demands to be addicted to love landed him the biggest hit of his career – all in the era when addiction to coke was far more commonplace, rock stars included. Even the Sonic Youth heard the call
That is about all the general public is likely to remember about Robert Palmer the musician/artist – that one ubiquitous hit overplayed to death, fickle bitch that fame is. And not to make a martyr out of Palmer, because he was clearly satisfied with fame and recognition achieved. I can’t help but wonder, though, whether behind the closed doors he lamented not being seen as more than just a mere pop musician. Had history been kinder/different he could’ve been in a pantheon of innovators like Bowie or Talking Heads.
Consider the following – the man sang a song in Urdu, was backed by The Meters and Lowell George of Little Feat on his debut album and contributed to percussion to Remain in Light by Talking Heads. He also helped the post-punk band Comsat Angels sign to Island and proclaimed himself a fan of theirs.
And then there’s covers…or specifically that one cover that upon the discovery makes your jaw drop all the way to the floor to never be picked up again
Yes, that’s Robert Palmer covering Husker Du’s New Day Rising – the rendition sounding even speedier than original, the jokes about high quality coke and Land Speed Record abound. As a matter of fact it sounds remarkably similar to Ministry’s early 90s smash Jesus Built My Hotrod.
Whether Al Jourgensen heard Palmer’s live cover remain unclear and its far more likely that uncle Al was inspired by Big Black and Minor Threat in his endless pursuit of extremes. Still, the point stands – there are few artists who can take a song completely outside of their wheelhouse and make it their own. Palmer accomplished this not only with Husker Du, but also with Devo and Motorhead – along with less surprising, but still tasteful covers of Marvin Gaye and Lady Day.
As Alfred Soto points out in his piece its likely that Palmer’s inability to escape the bland and vapid blue-eyed soul/pop image was largely one of his own making. Even so, I admit its a pleasure to find out more and more facts that paint Palmer in an entirely different light from the one perceived by the public – the innovator and the pioneer, ever the unrecognized one as such.
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