What would a Wilburys for the 00s look like?
I ask this question because I seem to recall a review somewhere comparing Monsters of Folk to the Wilburys.
I think that’s a silly crazy thing to say, but that’s just me. I hadn’t even heard of half the MoF – not that I’m uber musically educated, but at the time the Wilburys came out, pretty much everyone had heard of all of them. Except Jeff Lynne. I still don’t get him. I’ve heard a couple cool ELO songs since then but… it still doesn’t make sense (his producer cred maybe?). So, anyway, as a thought exercise I thought it would be fun to try and come up with some modern day equivalents.
SO. Wilburys, 1988.
- Bob Dylan: Fucking Bob Dylan. Making music for 26 years at that point. Folksy. Lots of cred pretty much everywhere. Musical chameleon?
- George Harrison: A fucking Beatle. One that wasn’t Ringo (he doesn’t smoke it no more). Also in the industry for 25-26 years at that point.
- Roy Orbison: One of the best pop singers of his era, had a truly remarkable (to me) voice. ~28 years in the business.
- Jeff Lynne: 17 years in the industry (I didn’t realize ELO had that many albums. Then again, you could fill the internet with things I don’t know about ELO). Strong producing cred. Not very well known publicly???.
- Tom Petty: The baby of the group at only 12 years in the industry. 6-7 strong albums under his belt. Southern rocker.
So what are we looking at for Wilburys 2009?
Re-using Dylan would be too easy. How about this Tom Waits guy? I actually don’t know much about him at all (I guess I should be embarrassed…). He fits the genre I think, but it’s hard to touch Dylan’s cred (ok, impossible?), but about 10 years too early.
Ah hah! Let’s go with Elvis Costello! He’s most definitely a musical chameleon, has cred up the ass, and came into the scene a bit later than Waits, putting him a bit closer to the age mark.
Now we need the ex-member of a gimongous supergroup to end all supergroups. Wait, that’s the Beatles, and there was only one of them. Was there a band with that kind of magic in the early 80s/late 70s that is still relevant today? Urk. Drawing a blank here. Instead I’m going to go with Springsteen, because I think any rock supergroup of this generation would just have to have him. He is something of a phenomenon too – not like the Beatles, but definitely something. He can fill something of the Dylan/folksy role too.
A 70s/80s vocal giant. That’s still alive (sorry Marvin :( ). Jen suggests Prince. I’m not familiar enough with his work outside the singles to judge the extent of his vocals, but seems like a solid suggestion. He’s got the star power. Not to mention those guitar chops! Other suggestions?
I don’ t know much about producers… how about Brian Eno? I hear the cool kids like him. Might be a bit too old. I need some serious help on this one folks. Ideas?
I’m thinking Eddy Vedder for the “young guy”. Not too many bands from the early 90s are still with us, and Pearl Jam’s 18 years (18? Holy fuck! I’m old!) puts them a little past Petty’s 12 in 1988…but is there someone of Vedder’s talent level and public familiarity still with us from 1997?
Firstly: Damnit, I typed out a long screed, hit submit, and wordpress told me I needed to sign in. Said screed has now escaped into the ether. Here’s a less-than-accurate and even-less-than-eloquent reproduction:
This is one hell of a post, and the kind of thing I tend to think about more than anything else. It’s pretty hard to argue with any of your choices, especially based on the individual popularity of each Wilbury as translated to “new” members. Additionally, I think most of these guys have played with each other multiple times before (except Eno, as he doesn’t perform live). Not to mention, I THINK all or almost all of the others played a cover or 2 together at some “Rock & Roll” Hall of Fame concert.
Considerations: If anyone comes close to Dylan’s cred, it just might be Tom Waits.
You could definitely sub in Butch Vig for Eno. People may not know him by name at first, but he produced Nevermind (and 2/3 of everything else in the 90s). Not to mention he was/is in Garbage.
And a possible switch for Eddie Vedder could be Beck. He’s got just as many records (probably sales too) as Pearl Jam, and he’s a better instrumentalist than Vedder, more along the lines of Petty. Shit, maybe even throw Dave Grohl in for good measure, as his collaborations (lately at least) have been far greater than his own albums. Plus, I think he played on that HOF thing too.
Anyhow, that’s all I’ve got for now, but I’m sure I’ll be pondering it for at least the rest of the day.
Sorry to hear about the comment fail – I’ve gotten into the habit of select-all + Control+C before I post any long comments these days – blogger has lost several comments I’ve attempted to post on friends blogs in the past.
I was really hoping you (and Wayne!) would jump in on this one, since you guys have a lot more musical knowledge than I, not to mention opinions I value.
I wasn’t sure on the Waits thing, but yeah he seemed like he might be the type. I finally decided to shift him out in lieu of the Costello/Springsteen mashup for the Dylan/Harrision mash-up just because of his age. The others are about 6-7 years closer to my target. Plus, I can get off easy without having to compare their careers and whatnot ;).
I’m all for switching Eno out, he’s a little too old, and he wasn’t a member of a successful pop-band. This Vig guy sounds like the perfect candidate, especially considering Garbage’s status as a somewhat decent pop band. I mean – how many people knew this Jeff Lynne guy by name?? [Waiting for Wayne to chime in here and correct me or something ;) ]
I agree that Beck is a solid contender in the young guy slot, I think I’d still have to give it to Eddy based on the “straight rock” angle though. None of Petty’s stuff was particularly avante garde (as most of Beck’s is), and neither is Vedder’s, barring Pearl Jam’s original contributions to the solidifying of grunge as a genre (except that it isn’t really anymore, now it’s “just rock”).
Good call on the Dave Grohl thing. I’m not a fan of most of his stuff, but I agree that he’s got the age, talent, cred, etc. I’d rank him over Beck again due to his more straight-rock leanings.
There are lots of others one could easily throw into a pop/rock supergroup, especially based on the “late 70s/early 80s” career start criteria… but I’m trying to capture the figurative “magic” of the Wilburys mesh here. From my armchair as it were.
Thoughts on a Prince alternative? I wasn’t cognizant enough of vocalists at that age to have any solid memories.
I think more people than you expect (at the time at least) recognize Jeff Lynne- especially since he was the leader of ELO. They had TONS of hit songs in the 70’s and maybe 80’s- for instance, “Do You Believe in Magic?” Also, Eno was in 2 successful and popular groups- Roxy Music and his early solo career… but this is immaterial.
Other thought for Jeff Lynne sub: Trent Reznor. Very popular, very well respected producer.
Can’t really come up with a sub for Prince… He’s just too multifaceted. Maybe Thom Yorke? Or, (ha!) Morrissey?
Additionally Jarvis should probably be thrown in for good (the best) measure.
The whole “popularity” criteria is really the sticking point that differentiates the Wilburys from all other “supergroups,” lots of whom are ultra-talented and some great (Raconteurs, Them Crooked Vultures, Desert Sessions, Electronic, Tempe of the DogZwan) And some became popular because they were “supergroup” (Cream, Led Zep). And some are just horrible abortions (Audioslave, Velvet Revolver, The Transplants).
Ok, I give up. Too hard.
Also, that’s “Temple of the Dog, Zwan.” But Tempe of the Dog is a killer band name.
I don’t have expectations of Jeff Lynne really – other than that I expect you are right, and I just have no knowledge or context of it ;).
I really like your Reznor call for this. He’s the perfect age/time period too. Which I’m using to heavily weight this thing just for the sake of simplicity.
Morrissey… that’s good food for thought too. And he, like Orbison, either isn’t known for (or doesn’t play) guitar. So in a way, Prince’s talent renders him overqualified for the Orbison spot too. Still, I think his universal popularity puts him back in the lead there – The Smiths, although mind-blowingly fucking awesome pop-gods, were not as popular in their day as Prince – or am I remembering incorrectly? I seem to recall only the mods knowing about the Smiths in high school – I don’t think I even discovered them until I bought a singles collection in 95 or 96.
I’d take Morrissey over Yorke. I don’t find his vocals particularly impressive, nor do I think his (especially later) work meets the popularity and wide appeal criteria. Plus I’m still annoyed that he turned radiohead into such a hipster/music snob band :P.
Is Them…is that Grohl’s new supergroup? I think I read something about that recently and it sounded interesting. Not familiar with Desert or Electronic, I’ll look them up.
Is it just me or was Zwan just underwhelming in general? I heard a couple tracks and promptly forgot them.
And Temple of the Dog, while technically a super-group, may have missed out on proper supergroup appeal because they were comprised of members of only two bands – and both those bands were from the same scene (?). Great sound though.
Transplants was…interesting. That dj guy was a douche though. Musically I mean. No idea personally.
Velvet Revolver seemed like it hit all the right notes to do well with its target demo, I’m surprised if that failed.
“Tempe” just sounds cool.