Saturday, July 08, 2006
Another Music Curse?
You probably know about the “27” curse – that’s the age at which Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Pigpen (from the Grateful Dead) and Kurt Cobain all died. Paul McCartney also was 27 at the time of his rumored death. But I think I’ve discovered another curse which seems more effective, although considerably less fatal.
Over the years I have noticed that a band that mentions itself in the title or chorus of a song has a habit of disappearing soon after. Examples
Rare Earth – “Rare Earth”
Big Country – “In a Big Country”
Talk Talk – “Talk Talk”
Madness – “Madness”
Pet Shop Boys – “Pet Shop Boys”
Vanilla Ice – “Ice Ice Baby”
Wang Chung – “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” (Everybody Wang Chung Tonight)
Chicago – “Chicago”
Night Ranger – “Night Ranger”
Blue Oyster Cult – “Blue Oyster Cult”
Referring to yourself in the verse seems to be reasonably safe; consider “Showbiz Kids” by Steely Dan and "Did You See Me?" by the Bus Boys. And if you’re looking for exceptions, I can think of Bad Company, as well as the king of self-referential titles, Bo Diddley, whose career is to a large extent built upon songs about himself.
I did manage to find a list of such songs, but most are by people I’ve never heard of in the first place (which actually supports my theory), and some are lesser-known songs that I can’t place in the band’s timeline. Maybe someone can help me out in proving or disproving the existence of this curse.
BTW, note that the page mentioned in the previous paragraph also links to a list of songs with artists in their titles (not necessarily by the same artist), and it looks like Bo also predominates this list.
Over the years I have noticed that a band that mentions itself in the title or chorus of a song has a habit of disappearing soon after. Examples
Rare Earth – “Rare Earth”
Big Country – “In a Big Country”
Talk Talk – “Talk Talk”
Madness – “Madness”
Pet Shop Boys – “Pet Shop Boys”
Vanilla Ice – “Ice Ice Baby”
Wang Chung – “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” (Everybody Wang Chung Tonight)
Chicago – “Chicago”
Night Ranger – “Night Ranger”
Blue Oyster Cult – “Blue Oyster Cult”
Referring to yourself in the verse seems to be reasonably safe; consider “Showbiz Kids” by Steely Dan and "Did You See Me?" by the Bus Boys. And if you’re looking for exceptions, I can think of Bad Company, as well as the king of self-referential titles, Bo Diddley, whose career is to a large extent built upon songs about himself.
I did manage to find a list of such songs, but most are by people I’ve never heard of in the first place (which actually supports my theory), and some are lesser-known songs that I can’t place in the band’s timeline. Maybe someone can help me out in proving or disproving the existence of this curse.
BTW, note that the page mentioned in the previous paragraph also links to a list of songs with artists in their titles (not necessarily by the same artist), and it looks like Bo also predominates this list.
