When I think of all the musicians whose contributions to culture I don’t like in the slightest despite my suspicion that they’re probably good eggs if I got to know them, Huey Lewis tops the list. I don’t like a single song by his in the slightest. It’s not that I dislike many of of his songs to the degree that I dislike the songs of, say Journey or Billy Joel. I just don’t like his music—not a thing about it, not even the fact that he works in a meat-and-potatoes stylistic range that is a healthy part of my diet. Not even the fact that Elvis Costello used members of Lewis’ pub rock band, Clover, on My Aim Is True helps me appreciate the career of Huey Lewis. Perhaps John Mellencamp is the only artist working in my basic food groups who comes close to boring me as much.
Music aside, there’s one thing I appreciate about the public works of Huey Lewis, one thing that he’s done that actually takes more talent than simply being himself, or a close facsimile thereof: taking a piss in Robert Altman‘s Short Cuts. Lewis showed promise as an actor. Wasn’t he in a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow about 10 years ago? I was tempted to see it for his acting, but it looked like he was going to sing in it, so I didn’t bother.
Finally, there’s a second thing I can enjoy about Huey Lewis, although admittedly this is more a result of his good egg tendency: his opinions on pre-recorded music at sporting events. Read about them here (thanks to Tvox for passing this along). Despite getting some kicks over players’ walk-up music, I think Lewis is right. Let the sounds of the game itself, including the fans, reign. Give the real organ player some! Suit up the marching bands! Let’s hear it for dead air!
I agree 100% — the music is getting worse at Nats Park and starting to get on my nerves.
Target Field in Minneapolis has the organist (Sue Nelson) in a second deck bar area, where you can chat her up — she’s so nice! The day the stadium opened I took a shot of her in action, which you can see in this litte ditty — in between shots of me and my bros and Rod Carew.
http://youtu.be/2dkpzHg-63k
Count me in too for getting rid of all music except for a live organ player at the ball games. One of my former high school classmates is the organist for the A’s so at least some teams have real music some of the time.
Like you, the gap between how nice Huey Lewis seems, and how little I care about his music, is colossal. His recent interview on WTF only bolstered my suspicion that he would be a great guy to hang out and have a few beers with. He really seems like a huge music fan that just lucked into a wonderful life and very much appreciates it. http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_384_-_huey_lewis
At least Huey “takes the piss” in many ways. Here he is with Weird Al: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2013/04/watch_huey_lewis_goes_american.php
I’ll be going to see the SF Giants this Friday so will report on the music status of the game.
I think Huey’s songs now sound fine if they come on the radio or something. Now that they’re less ubiquitous their virtues are more apparent.
Huey seems nice enough, but man, I really hate his songs. Actually, I don’t think I hate them. I think it’s worse. I think I’m indifferent to them. It’s too bad he’s not Joe Jackson, a guy that I like his first few albums, but the more I hear him talk the more I’m convinced is a complete moron.
I really dislike music at sporting events. Organ players are fine, but walk up music, between inning music, TV timeout music – all of these are stupid. Especially these days with the amount of vapid pop crap they play. Like that song about the girl crashing her car and being a general piece of crap, but the chorus is “I love it,” so they play this everywhere. The message seems to be “I’m a hedonistic narcissist, and you can fuck yourself and clean up after me. I love it!” How does annoying me make the game any better?
I am with you all on the old guys who can’t stand the crappy music in ballparks train. There seems to be some basic fear of ever leaving a moment at any sporting event where there isn’t loud and “exciting” music to get you all pumped up.
What are the apparent virtues of this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB5YkmjalDg
I think it sounds fine. Nice groove, effective vocals. I’m not talking about how the video looks or what the band or song represent culturally. I just mean that it’s a decent rock song.
Obviously you are pulling my leg.
I am not. It was 30 years ago. I don’t feel the need to fight those battles anymore. Like Devo, I’m Through Being Cool.
Of course, you are within your rights, but that’s a little like saying you’ve given up bathing.
You guys are lit. I’m baffled to read this shit. I grew up in the south Puget Sound and raised myself on a tasteful rejection of pop musical culture by selecting Pixies over Poison and Descendents over C&C Music Factory. Not easy to do as a pre-teen in the pre-internet era. My tastes and personal sound have evolved along the same elitist trajectory, and yet it wasn’t only for my obscurantist tendency to differ that I was stoked to discover -and remain stoked to retain awareness of- the fact that HUEY ROCKS during my own single-handed proto-80s revival while working at a Seattle vintage clothing store in 97. I mean WTF?! by maturing beyond the confinement of aesthetic difference I learned as everyone else did to appreciate excellent work by yesterday’s market dominators despite the irrelevant visual / attitude packaging. But Huey & TN is a part of the mid-2000s 80s revival that endures despite everyone trashing the wholesomeness his outfit radiated as “uncool” (I was dismayed 15 minutes ago to see elsewhere that even he trashes himself as “uncool” in a recent interview). The measure? Even in snobby indie-rock hipster bars from San Francisco to New York, when a bit of “Heart & Soul” or some other old Huey hit squeezes its way in at the end of the night, the river of skinny-jeaned hipsters or late-30s urban sophistos instantly reverses itself to rush back and rock the fuck out. Viva Huey!
Welcome to the show, denatured whiskey! That is some funny stuff. Don’t be a stranger. We need your perspective.