Talk about synergy. Last week, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys played “Empire State of Mind” before Game 2 of the World Series. This love song to the Big Apple has become a sort of anthem for the Yanks and has become a huge national hit. Right after the Yankee stadium performance, the video premiered. Strangely, as much as I like the song, and like Jay and Alicia individually, I’m just not feeling the video. There’s a certain excitement that’s missing from it. Jay, who has never been a great performer, looks really stiff. Eh, whatever. The crappy video doesn’t take away from the fact that the song is great.
As expected, Michael Jackson’s “This is It” movie opened at the top of the box office this week. The film grossed 21 million dollars over the weekend and has grossed 33 million dollars since its’ midweek release. Sony Pictures has extended the movie’s release-previously, it was only scheduled for a two-week run, and now it will be running through Thanksgiving. Holiday shoppers? You won’t be able to get the DVD until early 2010…there’s a grace period between the time a movie hits theatres and the time it’s eligible to be released on DVD.
I was one of the folks who saw the movie on Wednesday night, and I have to admit, I was impressed. Michael had been sleepwalking through live performances since practically the early Nineties, so to see him singing live and fully involved in the production was a revelation. To see him doing it well was…whatever the step beyond revelation is. The state of his nose and the fact that many of his recent public performances had been lip-synched led me to believe that his voice was shot Mariah Carey-style, but he was full-on belting some of these songs, and singing live on “Billie Jean” and “Beat It”-songs he hadn’t sung live even at the height of his success! I’m fully convinced that Michael was going to reclaim his crown with this set of shows. It’s sad that we’ll never get to see a fully realized version of the “This is It” show. Something tells me that it would have been quite a sight.
Even if you’re not a MJ fan, I’d check this film out, not only because there’s a strong chance that you will be converted, but also because I thought it was really cool to see the mechanics involved with a show being built. I could have done without the rampant ass-kissing from director Kenny Ortega. It’s very easy to picture the guy standing next to MJ on the toilet volunteering to wipe his ass for him.
So here’s a question for all you music geeks out there. If a member of a band dies while said band is still active, does the remainder of the band still have the right to use the band’s name? Most would argue that something like this should be argued on a case-by-case basis.
Take Alice in Chains, for instance. When Layne Staley passed away in 2002, many thought the band was done, after all, Staley was the lead singer. However, he was NOT the band’s chief songwriter. That duty fell to guitarist Jerry Cantrell. In this case, the band was successfully able to enlist a new lead singer and carry on the band name without fans being too bent out of shape. Hell, the band was practically given a hero’s welcome, as “Black Gives Way to Blue” blasted onto the charts in the Top Five.
On the other side of the coin, take a band like Queen. No one will deny that Brian May and Roger Taylor are incredibly talented musicians. No one will deny that Paul Rodgers is one hell of a singer. But for better or for worse, Queen WAS Freddie Mercury. He gave the band its’ image, and even though the songwriting was split up fairly evenly, Mercury was so larger-than-life that anyone who comes after him is going to be looked at as a scab.
This brings us to the band Sublime. The trio toiled along the ska/punk scene in California and released a couple of successful albums independently before sigining with MCA in 1995. Just as they were set to release their major label debut a year later, lead singer and songwriter Brad Nowell died from an overdose. The band effectively ended, but their careers were just beginning. Released months after Nowell’s death, “Sublime” went on to sell 6 million copies.
The remaining band members, Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson, retired the band name, rounded up various musicians from the scene Sublime was a part of, and recorded and toured as the Long Beach Dub All-Stars. However, earlier this year, the two surviving members decided to tour with a new singer…as Sublime. Nowell’s survivors are none too pleased with this turn of events, and I don’t blame them.
All things are not created equal in this type of situation. You’ve got to look at not only the departing member’s musical importance to the band, but also look at how much the band’s identity was shaped around that person. For example, Keith Moon and John Entwistle died, and The Who was still the Who, right? Talented as they were, they weren’t really the public face of the band. If Pete Townshend or Roger Daltrey was to leave, it would be a different story. I mean, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic are talented musicians, but can you imagine what would have happened if they tried to carry on Nirvana with a new lead singer?
My opinion might not count for much, but I think that Bud and Eric should respectfully retire the “Sublime” name for good. After all, Brad essentially WAS the band.