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Sunday, May 20, 2012
Death / Music Not Stayin' Alive
Posted by Goldy on Sun, May 20, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees died today of cancer at 62.
His fraternal twin brother and fellow Bee Gee Maurice died of a heart attack in 2003. His younger brother, solo pop star Andy, committed suicide died in 1988 at the age of 30. That leaves just Barry Gibb stayin' alive.
2
Til I finally died,
which started the whole world living,
oh, if I'd only seen
that the joke was on me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkG4oIPT7…
6
Bad week for disco.
And the Wikipedia says Andy died of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. 'Tho I seem to remember rumors of suicide.
Anyway, sad.
And the Wikipedia says Andy died of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. 'Tho I seem to remember rumors of suicide.
Anyway, sad.
11
It would really be a tragedy if the only thing people remembered the Bee Gees for was "Saturday Nigh Fever" and disco. They were as good a group of singers and writers as existed in the sixties, and that very much includes the Beatles. Robin Gibb was SEVENTEEN when he sang this great song "Holiday":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMp86vWf9…
I remember watching the Bee Gees on episodes of "The Midnight Special" and "Don Kirschner's Rock Concert", with the strange-looking Robin, before his dental work, notable for holding his finger in his ear all the time, trying to hear those harmonies. The loveliest harmonies ever.
Their first three albums after they returned to the UK are as solid a body of work as anyone ever produced. "1st", "Idea", and "Horizontal". Go listen to them, and weep. I will be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMp86vWf9…
I remember watching the Bee Gees on episodes of "The Midnight Special" and "Don Kirschner's Rock Concert", with the strange-looking Robin, before his dental work, notable for holding his finger in his ear all the time, trying to hear those harmonies. The loveliest harmonies ever.
Their first three albums after they returned to the UK are as solid a body of work as anyone ever produced. "1st", "Idea", and "Horizontal". Go listen to them, and weep. I will be.
16
@11: I sometimes like to ask people what year they think the Best of Bee Gees album was originally released. Most are a decade or so off.
17
Damnit, I was hoping Travolta croaked.
Yes, I am fully aware I am a bad person. Nevertheless, it is past time for that Scieno-freak to kick the bucket.
Yes, I am fully aware I am a bad person. Nevertheless, it is past time for that Scieno-freak to kick the bucket.
18
What #8 said. Andy Gibb died of a heart attack, not suicide, unless you consider cocaine abuse a form of suicide. I thought the headline was pretty tasteless too.
22
I recall a long ago time anxiously waiting for KJR to replay "Holiday" while listening to the station on my pocket transistor radio. I absolutely loved that song. Still do. That and "I Started a Joke". All things must pass, and it is sad.
23
@9 It'll be a disco personality, going w/ the theme. Unless you want to include Dick Clark, thus Mr. Gibb completes the trine.
Gallows humor aside, I have nothing but respect for the Bee Gees. However, I always kind of wince whenever I hear the "they weren't just disco" meme. I mean, it's true 'n all, but it comes w/ this assumption that all disco was bad. It's really a good form, a mixture of funk, rock & dance. And the Bee Gees were great at it.
There. I said it. And yes, it was done to death. One of the first cultural murders perpetrated by corporate marketing.
Gallows humor aside, I have nothing but respect for the Bee Gees. However, I always kind of wince whenever I hear the "they weren't just disco" meme. I mean, it's true 'n all, but it comes w/ this assumption that all disco was bad. It's really a good form, a mixture of funk, rock & dance. And the Bee Gees were great at it.
There. I said it. And yes, it was done to death. One of the first cultural murders perpetrated by corporate marketing.
25
Wow, just had a 30 year old flashback to my youth...
Well you can tell
by the way I use my walk
I'm a woman's man
no time to talk
... Ummm can't tell that from your voice, dude.
Rest in peace Robin.
Well you can tell
by the way I use my walk
I'm a woman's man
no time to talk
... Ummm can't tell that from your voice, dude.
Rest in peace Robin.
27
Bob Stanley of the Guardian with a fine tribute to Robin's gifts. It's hard to realize how massive they got so young - by the time Arif Mardin showed them what they ought to do next they figured they might be all washed up. He gave them "Main Course" and "Children of the World", without which they might never have got the Stigwood commission to write the Fever songs, which they did over a weekend in France. I loved them as part of my fantasy of having brothers to sing with.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblo…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblo…
28
@7 HA, ha, ha! That's good, that's good.
@15 I'm glad I'm not the only one who digs Schubert's lieds. Of the three cycles I've heard, I prefer Die schone Mullerin - more summery and less gloomy than, say, Winterreise. (Though I love Die Taubenpost, from Schwanengesang.). But more than all of Schubert's settings, I prefer the tenderness and idealistic passion of Beethoven's few lieds (An die ferne Geliebte) - some of which Fischer-Dieskau sang. He was really the only male interpreter for this sort of thing, kind of how Paul O'Dette has the lute market cornered. I thought Fischer-Dieskau had died decades ago, so I was surprised to hear of his recent death.
And I, for one, like Goldy's headline! I guess we're both equally callous.
@15 I'm glad I'm not the only one who digs Schubert's lieds. Of the three cycles I've heard, I prefer Die schone Mullerin - more summery and less gloomy than, say, Winterreise. (Though I love Die Taubenpost, from Schwanengesang.). But more than all of Schubert's settings, I prefer the tenderness and idealistic passion of Beethoven's few lieds (An die ferne Geliebte) - some of which Fischer-Dieskau sang. He was really the only male interpreter for this sort of thing, kind of how Paul O'Dette has the lute market cornered. I thought Fischer-Dieskau had died decades ago, so I was surprised to hear of his recent death.
And I, for one, like Goldy's headline! I guess we're both equally callous.
29
Agreed - tasteless headline. And, Andy Gibb died of a viral infection in the heart (so says Wikipedia), not suicide.
30
I was very into disco in the late 1970s - early 1980s, so that is the era that informed my memory of the Bee Gees. Fond memories, I might add. We may look back in hindsight and laugh at Saturday Night Fever, but at the time they were super hot, and I will freely confess to dancing my ass of to them many times.
Fnarf, thanks for the selection of their earlier works. I knew they had been around before the late 1970s, of course, but never really paid much attention to their earlier music.
Fnarf, thanks for the selection of their earlier works. I knew they had been around before the late 1970s, of course, but never really paid much attention to their earlier music.
31
Robin Gibb RIP.
I like the Bee Gees PRIOR to 1975. Listen to "Run to Me"
Their harmonies are awesome.
I like the Bee Gees PRIOR to 1975. Listen to "Run to Me"
Their harmonies are awesome.
33
@27 - thanks for the shout out to Arif Mardin, who deserves so much credit for all that he did. The Bee Gees were more than disco, but they were disco too, and there's nothing wrong with that. (I hope and pray I do not outlive my four siblings, all of us longer in tooth than we ever thought we would be.) RIP, Robin.
34
@9 unfortunately the only thing i know by the beegees is "staying alive", and every time i hear it it makes my testicles re-ascend out of fear.
did they do that corny falsetto in every song they made?
did they do that corny falsetto in every song they made?
35
@34, Barry's use of falsetto began with Arif Mardin pushing them in 1973 to adapt the vocal tropes of classic American R&B harmonizers. The boys claimed to have never known Barry could do that until Mardin egged them on.
And I love that you claim mild curiosity but won't click any of the links to their other work provided by helpful regulars. Very stylish of you.
And I love that you claim mild curiosity but won't click any of the links to their other work provided by helpful regulars. Very stylish of you.
36
@28 I got to meet Mr Fischer-Dieskau years ago after a Mahler recital in Boston. He was smoking a cigarette! But his personality was as smooth and charming as his unmatchable voice. He had this incredible German hottie Frau with him, in a mink coat, it was quite the experience.
38
@35, thanks for pointing out what should be obvious: there is a vigorous tradition of falsetto in soul, including a lot of almost ruinously studly masculine heterosexualists, and singing that way is a gorgeous form of art that has nothing whatever to do with effeminacy, reascended testicles, or gayness. And I've got the Chi-lites records to prove it.
Besides, that's Barry, not Robin. Barry was the hairy-chested, lantern-jawed, moose-knuckled superstud. I always preferred Robin, who always seemed kind of cracked or bent, fragile and odd-looking. Robin didn't sing falsetto except in harmony; he was more known for his wide vibrato, which in its more untamed moments seemed like it was going to warble right out of the song, saved from comedy at times only by the gut impact of the tune. From the ridiculous to the sublime. The man sung beautifully but no more.
the Bob Stanley piece you linked to you in the Guardian was excellent. He too noticed the constant ear-clutching. Stanley is my favorite music critic these days, at his blog Croydon Municipal. He's also the same Bob Stanley who was in St. Etienne, if anyone remembers them.
Besides, that's Barry, not Robin. Barry was the hairy-chested, lantern-jawed, moose-knuckled superstud. I always preferred Robin, who always seemed kind of cracked or bent, fragile and odd-looking. Robin didn't sing falsetto except in harmony; he was more known for his wide vibrato, which in its more untamed moments seemed like it was going to warble right out of the song, saved from comedy at times only by the gut impact of the tune. From the ridiculous to the sublime. The man sung beautifully but no more.
the Bob Stanley piece you linked to you in the Guardian was excellent. He too noticed the constant ear-clutching. Stanley is my favorite music critic these days, at his blog Croydon Municipal. He's also the same Bob Stanley who was in St. Etienne, if anyone remembers them.
39
I Started a Joke and First of May - Robin in best form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QTQdAKUZ…
40
Loved the BeeGees pre-SNF/disco in my pre-teens. Happily threw Saturday Night Fever soundtrack into the pyre at Comiskey Park. It was a sellout of something better, but what the BeeGees will be most known for.
41
Horizontal is probably my favorite one of theirs, so I was cringing as the news gave the Bee Gee's CV as disco artists extraordinaire. Ok, that soundtrack was HUGE in America, but fuck, so was "should I stay or should I go" and "come dancing", none of which are their respective group's best or most defining moments.
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