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By Josh Friedberg
You know, maybe it’s just my appreciation of sincerity, but sentimentality can get an unfair rap among many critics and fans. However, sometimes, it can make for classic pop music: think of Bill Withers’s “Lean on Me,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” for example.
But for the overwhelming majority of pop hits that could be called cheesy or sappy, there may be a deserving stigma for excessive emotion. That said, I wanted to list five of my favorite sentimental pop hits that deserve another listen. They are ranked, leading up to the one that could feel like the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. And I will defend each pick.
It’s easy to forget that in the last couple decades of Michael Jackson’s life, a lot of his music was panned. Despite the boring melody of this song, penned by R. Kelly, “You Are Not Alone” became the first song ever to debut at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. And for at least the last two minutes, such an achievement sounds justified. Ignore the steamy video with his then-wife Lisa Marie Presley, and just focus on Jackson’s passionate vocals, backed by a stirring gospel choir. As Little Richard once said of Jackson, “Michael’s one of the few people in rock ‘n’ roll that can really sing.”
[Welcome to the Fourth Wall, CHIRP's weekly e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the recent smash Get Out. This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.]
Kevin: At some point in the future, Clarence, we'll have to hold a larger discussion on the topic of horror as a whole? I'm a fan of the genre, but horror is often hamstrung by its own financial success. Studios know that there's a sizable chunk of young moviegoers (and let's be honest, they're the ones who drive box-office receipts) who will plunk down their dollars for any film inhabiting this world, and so we're often treated to lots of schlock as a result.
Get Out, however, is novel, and actually has some rather pertinent societal commentary to offer. In fact, it's a testament to the brilliant premise of the film that I walked out feeling a bit disappointed? But first, a quick, spoiler-free summary:
On December 3 and 4, 1996, tape manipulator and sound collagist Phil Milstein got together with Sonic Youth guitarist, singer, and songwriter Thurston Moore to take a musical trip. They didn’t physically travel far to record their two duets, one at the Iron Morse Music Hall in Northampton, MA and the other at The Middle East in Cambridge, MA. But what they created might help send a listener to the inner or outer limits.
Their recordings stand as the ultimate in “Anti-Pop” music: There are no 3-4 minute chart-friendly singles, no twenty-something starlets singing passages from their diary, no breaks featuring this month’s hot rap star. What you do have is two middle-aged dudes who recorded two very long tracks (Vol. 1 is 42 minutes long and Vol. 2 is 44 minutes) that set aside verses and hooks in favor of an approach similar to drone and noise music, something they’ve both been doing for decades.
Moore layers his guitar improvisations and effects over Milstein’s found-object sound structures as musical themes and ideas drift by like clouds. Their interactions are not unlike what jazz musicians do when they improvise, listening and responding to each other through the sounds they make.
Both volumes of this 2-record set are the kind of music where you can put your headphones on, press “play,” and lose track of time for a while. It’s good stuff if you need to add some active yet low-key abstraction to your life.
[photos by Jim Kirkhoff]
Music fans had a blast at Saturday Audio Exchange listening to John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. The gathering was part of the worldwide series Classic Album Sundays, where people gather in cities from Oslo to Miami to listen to and appreciate the same album.
Saturday Audio Exchange will be Chicago’s host for the next CAS session on Sunday, March 25th, where the spotlight album will be The Velvet Underground and Nico!