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Post by Kapitan on Oct 4, 2019 17:12:58 GMT
I was listening to the most recent Sound Opinions podcast, on which DeRogatis and Kot discussed some of the great family bands in history. I thought, this being a Beach Boys board, that was an interesting topic. Obviously there are tons of them in the history of rock/pop/country/folk music, and it would be pretty dull to just make a big list without any context or discussion. So instead I thought it might be fun for people to just list one or two at a time with some commentary, especially (but not only) as relates to that family aspect of it.
I'll get the elephant into the room immediately so we can get it back out again. The Beach Boys seem to have been blessed and cursed by the family core of their band. While I don't believe much in the "magical blend" idea, I do think that a long history of shared musical experiences helped the band understand one another's musical sensibilities. I also think it's likely that it helped hold them together during some of the earlier problems with Brian's mental health and drug abuse.
However, I think by the early 70s, the family aspect did more harm than good. It led to factions (or at least defined the factions). It seems to have prevented people who quite obviously didn't really want to work together anymore from going their separate ways. So we got a constant on-again, off-again "band" that neither existed nor ceased to exist.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 4, 2019 18:11:49 GMT
Influenced by Ken Burns' recent documentary on country music, I'm featuring the Carter Family. The original Carter Family was comprised of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara, and his sister-in-law Maybelle. All three were born and raised in southwest Virginia. A.P. Carter was a traveling salesman, and he also went on "trips" around the country, looking for and buying songs to record. Although he sang some lead vocals, A.P. mostly sang background vocals. Sara Carter played guitar and autoharp, but was mostly known for singing lead vocals on several of their songs. Sara preferred being a housewife and mother to performing and recording. Maybelle was the real musician of the group, playing guitar, autoharp, and banjo in addition to singing lead and background vocals. In addition to her pioneering guitar playing, Maybelle also wrote many of the Carter Family's popular songs.
While the Carter Family did not invent country music, their influence cannot be underestimated. They made one of the earliest recordings of country music in 1927 with producer Ralph Peer. They sold over 300,00 records by 1930. By 1936, Sara and A.P. divorced, and Sara married A.P.'s cousin, Coy Bates, and the two of them eventually moved to California. The public was not made aware of A.P. and Sara's separation and then-divorce, and the group continued to occasionally record. The original Carter Family then broke up in 1944. Maybelle went on to form The Carter Sisters with her daughters, Anita, June, and Helen. A.P. died in relative obscurity, and Sara, who occasionally performed and recorded with Maybelle, also preferred the quiet life in California.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 4, 2019 23:41:59 GMT
This is the first song ever recorded by the Carter Family in 1927. Sara Carter on lead vocal and autoharp. A.P. Carter on the background harmony vocal. Maybelle on guitar and background vocals. Maybelle was self-taught on guitar, banjo, and autoharp. Very unique style of playing. History here:
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 5, 2019 15:08:26 GMT
While they don't particularly look like it, or sound like it, or act like it, Ronald and Russell Mael are brothers. They formed Sparks (originally called Halfnelson) back in 1968. In another family connection, two of Sparks' earlier members were the brothers' Mankey, Jim on bass and Earle on guitar. Earle went on to engineer records for The Beach Boys. The group - in many different configurations but always led by Ron and Russ - proceeded to release 23 studio albums. Ron was the songwriter and keyboardist, and younger brother Ron was the singer. Sparks' musical styles consistently changed through the years from rock to pop to techno to dance and back to rock and pop. Their producers included Todd Rundgren, Muff Winwood, Tony Visconti, Rupert Holmes, and Giorgio Moroder. Ron Mael's songwriting is brilliant, and Sparks pretty much recorded whatever they wanted. It has cost them commercially and critically. They would win a group of fans which a particular style of music, only to alienate that fan base by going in an entirely different direction. It is generally accepted that Sparks' three album run in 1974-75 was its high point. Kimono My House, Propaganda, and Indiscreet are great albums that a lot people aren't familiar with. During that time, Sparks relocated to England and had some hit albums and hit singles. Their best song is "This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us". Check it out:
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 5, 2019 20:19:18 GMT
I'll raise a somewhat obscure one: Stryper, the Christian glam metal band who had some success in the late '80s. The core of that band was the brother duo of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Michael and drummer Robert Sweet.
This band released one of the two first albums I bought with my own money: as an 11-year-old in 1987 I bought their To Hell With the Devil and Europe's The Final Countdown. I have to admit that part of my thinking at the time was based on a desire for my parents to approve of the music I was buying. (I was raised in a church-going family.) Alas to my parents' credit, they were pretty open about music ... and pretty judgmental about bad music. It turns out overproduced glam metal wasn't up their alley regardless of the message.
The group had great success on MTV especially with the power ballad "Honestly." They toured the world with the likes of Ratt, Bon Jovi, and other popular hard rock and heavy metal bands of the time, making for odd pairings. In 1990 they released a not-overtly religious album, and then of course the entire genre of glam metal died almost entirely. Their activities since, frankly, do not matter in the slightest to almost anyone. And they weren't exactly a powerhouse even at their peak. But they were a formative band for me if only for their presence as I became an individual sovereign being buying my own music. As I listen now? Uhhh...not a fan.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 6, 2019 13:32:47 GMT
A modern family band has been one of my favorite groups the past few years, Haim. (The Haim sisters stylize the band name in all caps, but frankly that drives me nuts. I'll stick to conventional capitalization at the moment, thank you very much.) Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim started their music careers with their parents in a family covers band, but eventually the sisters began writing their own original music.
It took me a little while to warm up to them, but I'm increasingly smitten: after all, it's a group of actual musicians, people who play real, live instruments. Remember those? Keyboards, guitars, basses, and drums. Plus they've got a wide range of classic and a few modern influences, but all filtered through what I'll sincerely and complimentarily call mainstream, hooky pop-rock.
As far as I know, there's no family drama here, yet. Though their professional careers are only a few years old, so there's plenty of time to start hating one another or launching jealous solo projects!
Here's "Little Of Your Love," one of their great PT Anderson-directed videos, from their 2017 album Something to Tell You.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 6, 2019 17:30:43 GMT
The Cowsills were a successful "family band" in the late 1960's/early 1970's. They were originally comprised by mother, Barbara, and siblings Bill, Bob, Barry, John, Paul, and Susan. The Cowsills had three Top Ten singles - "The Rain, The Park, And Other Things" (#2), "Indian Lake" (#10), and "Hair" (#2). They also performed the theme song to the TV series, Love American Style for that show's first season.
The group was driven by their mother, and from 1968-1972, performed an average of 200 shows per year. The Cowsills appeared on several popular TV shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, American Bandstand, Playboy After Dark, and The Johnny Cash Show. They released five albums during 1968-1970 in addition to having their own comic book. The Cowsills were also the inspiration for the Partridge Family TV show with Shirley Jones in the role of the Cowsill's mother, Barbara.
In-fighting and tragedy plagued the group. Several members of the Cowsill family died at a relatively young age - mother Barbara (56), father Bud (66), Barry (who passed away in Hurricane Katrina at age 50), Bill (58), and Richard (64). Of course, John went on to drum for The Beach Boys. Bob, Paul, and Susan have been performing as The Cowsills on the Happy Together Tour since 2015. I saw them the last two years and they were excellent.
I really enjoyed The Cowsills' music on AM radio back in the late 1960's. They were psychedelic! My personal favorite song of theirs is "Hair":
...and on The Happy Together Tour:
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 6, 2019 17:34:50 GMT
Did you happen to notice that the Cowills are the opening act on one of Brian Wilson's 2020 shows? Jan. 17 in Orlando.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 6, 2019 17:50:48 GMT
Did you happen to notice that the Cowills are the opening act on one of Brian Wilson's 2020 shows? Jan. 17 in Orlando. Yeah, I caught that. They'll put on a good show. I wonder if John Cowsill will join them?
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 6, 2019 17:52:09 GMT
That's what I was wondering.
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Post by kds on Oct 7, 2019 12:30:54 GMT
They didn't keep it in the family for too long, but Scorpions were formed by brothers Michael and Rudolph Schenker. Michael left the group after their 1972 debut album, Lonesome Crow, to join UFO, and was replaced with Uli Jon Roth.
Michael did return briefly in 1979, after leaving UFO, and while Scorpions were transitioning between Roth and Mattias Jabs, and Michael plays on a few songs on the 1979 Lovedrive album.
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