Terminally Unhip

I’ve just finished reading Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter by Randy L. Schmidt. I recommend it as an interesting read...

One of the things that I found interesting was the fact that, a lot of modern artists, as well as artists of the time the Carpenters were in their prime, hid the fact that they were fans of the duo’s music, and of Karen’s unique and beautiful voice. It just wasn’t hip to admit that you were a fan.

Well, here goes—I was and am a fan of the Carpenters. I totally appreciate a well crafted “pop” song—in fact, I’m much more of a “pop” guy than a “rocker”. I grew up with Top 40 “Boss Radio”—everything was a single. And unlike today, you could hear Barry Sadler’s “Ballad of the Green Beret” followed by “Strangers in the Night” by Frank Sinatra, then The Stones with “Paint it Black”. Even as the music evolved, you’d hear Yes, followed by Rick Springfield—Elton John followed by Sammy Davis, Jr.  I appreciate great arrangements, clean and crisp production, and excellent engineering, regardless of the genre of music.

This is not to say that I don’t enjoy kick-butt, three-chord rock—I do, both to listen to and to play. But I also like artists that have always been derided, defiled and dismissed by the “too-hip for the room” crowd.

For the record, besides the Carpenters, other taboo artists that I enjoy (and even own!): Barry Manilow? Check. Donny Osmond? Check. The Jackson Five? You bet. Michael Bolton, Wham!, Monkees, Tommy James and the Shondells and many more are all are in my music collection.

The irony of this is that, most of these artists’ hits can play, and everybody knows all the words. Disco may have “sucked”, capped by the disco records destruction in 1979 at Comisky Park organized by DJ Steve Dahl in Chicago, but at every wedding I’ve been to in the last 20 years, there isn’t a person that doesn’t know Y-M-C-A...including me.

What can I tell you? I’m just terminally unhip.

-M