genetics

The “Harbowl” of Rock?

Jan 262013

Next week’s NFL Super Bowl game features a showdown between teams coached by brothers, John and Jim Harbaugh. This historic championship game between teams coached by brothers is probably a first in all professional sports—and likely the last in our lifetimes we’ll see a pair of brothers square off as coaches in the biggest game at the highest level of their sport. Super Bowl XLVII has been dubbed the “Harbowl.”

This got me thinking: Is there a rock ‘n roll equivalent of the Harbaugh brothers: two siblings who have risen to the top of their profession in separate bands/solo careers?

Siblings who established themselves in the same band do not count, so don’t give me Dave Davies‘ technically solo hit “Death of a Clown” in comparison with the Ray-led Kinks as a showdown of Harbaugh v Harbaugh implications. Thinks of what Mom and Dad Harbaugh must be going through. Do you think the Davies boys’ parents ever chewed their fingernails over the creative dominance of one brother to the other?

Siblings who are the result of “Whoops, I didn’t think we needed birth control at our age!” followed by a “Sorry kid, it’s too late to join your older siblings’ well-established group” father/band manager-talk don’t count. Sorry Andy Gibb, Janet Jackson, and Marie Osmond. This must be a head-to-head match-up of siblings’ musical achievements without one siblings’ aid of supporting siblings. So for whatever reason some Nevilles are part of the “Brothers” and some aren’t (and some of them may be cousins or offspring themselves, possibly answering a question on another recent thread), all Nevilles are off the board. It’s got to be a Harbaugh v Harbaugh dynamic.

Rock ‘n roll is littered with “also-ran” siblings, like Mike McGear (né McCartney) and Chris Jagger. Even a relatively accomplished sibling like Dee Dee Warwick, sister of Dionne, at the height of her chart success didn’t match up as a “top dog” alongside her sister in the music world. Ron and Art Wood, for instance, do not pose a Harbaugh v Harbaugh dynamic.

Kid brother Neil Finn would leave his older and relatively accomplished brother Tim in the dust, but both brothers led bands with hit songs. Although the brothers had brief stints in each others’ bands we won’t hold that against them for purposes of this discussion. The other set of siblings that comes to mind and that may hold the initial lead in determining the Harbowl of Rock, are the following:

Reigning Champ: Getting Old

Posted by al

Jan 252013

We could have a Last Man Standing on children of rock & rollers who have entered the business. but it seems like there are so many of them it would go on for weeks. (Maybe we could have an anti-LMS and have children of rock & rollers who have not entered the business.)

I saw a listing on a download site this morning that is a variation though. It was a concert recording of Roseanne Cash from 1981. I thought “Wow, 32 years in the business, I would have never guessed that.” And looking on Wiki, her first album was released in 1979, so she’s been in the biz for 44 34 years.

So, not a LMS but maybe a Reigning Champ. Who can come up with a second-generation rock & roller (loosely defined to include all the genres we generally talk about here) with more time in the business than Roseanne Cash?

Some rules. Backing vocals on Mom or Dad’s recording when you were 6 years old don’t count. And let’s arbitrarily keep it to musicians who were active post-1955. (Well, it’s not really arbitrary: Hank Williams died on January 1, 1953—and why didn’t I see any 60th anniversary mention of that anywhere a few weeks ago—and this way I can keep Bocephus out of the discussion.)

We Are Family

Posted by ladymisskirroyale

Jan 212013

Today is my younger sister’s birthday (Happy Birthday Younger Misskirroyale!). She is off skiing and crashing parties at Sundance this weekend, and who knows what sort of music she may be listening to.

But I can tell you a lot about what sort of music she was listening to when she was younger. As you may recall, I’ve been slowly carting my old vinyl from our parents’ home to mine. And there I was faced with the harsh reality of her teenage purchasing interests and power. Granted, my taste was not fabulous, but I can take pride that my adolescent record collection did not include EVERY BARRY MANILOW RECORD. It has been pretty easy to sort out her albums from mine. Loverboy? That goes to my sister. Carpenters? Either my brother or sister. Led Zep: that’s mine. Rumors? Ha! I had traded that with her for Billy Squier.

As we’ve become older, we still enjoy music and buy quite a bit of it. I can count on my sis purchasing any re-release of an ’80s Top 40 collection. She enjoys Mr. Paltrow and band, finding his music relaxing. She has now started buying Opera.

My sister is a mere 18 months younger than me. We both took piano lessons, ballet lessons, and were dragged to our father’s choral concerts. We listened to the same crappy Top 40 radio in the ’70s. We love The Eagles. (Hotel California – hmmm, that’s hers.)

Do you have similar head-scratching moments when you wonder, based on musical interests, how you can be related to a sibling? Granted, I love my sister very much, but I will not listen to a Barry Manilow record!