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?