BEHIND THE MUSIC EPISODE GUIDE
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Behind the Music is one of the few shows
that I have ever made a point to watch every week. Certainly as the show declined and began
profiling contemporary artists who had a new album out that week they were
trying to sell it became harder to dig (I want to like you Hootie, but I
can’t!). But at its peak this was prime
addictive TV. It was low and silly but
also clever and thoughtful. It explored
the weaknesses and human frailties of people who are oft seen as above the rest
of us, and despite its inaccurate tabloid reputation, in fact featured less
sleaziness than empathy.
The show was
born after a successful VH1 documentary on heroin abuse sparked interest in a
documentary series. VH1 had always had a
rap of being the refuge for the baby boomers.
It was the Woodstock
generation’s MTV, where James Taylor would always have a home. But as that boomers aged out of wanting to
watch the channel, and as the children of the 70s and the 80s became too old
for MTV, the executives at VH1 wisely decided to create a show that could
appeal across demographics. Jeff Gaspin, VH1 vice prez, and producer Gay
Rosenthal had the idea to do a sympathetic profile of Milli Vanilli, the shamed
lip synchers who disappeared from the public eye and consciousness, but whose
story had to be interesting. The reason
the first episode of BTM is so good is because they worked so hard at it. They tracked their subjects down with
detectives and then spent two months wining and dining Milli and Vanilli, convincing
them that they were not going to railroad them.
BTM was establishing their longstanding policy of complete cooperation
of the artist, and though the stories would certainly feature embarrassing
elements, they promised to be respectful.
The table had
been set for a show like this. In the
90s Ken Burns had made talking head documentaries a respected art form, and
cable already had precedents with A&E’s venerable Biography (on the air since 1987!) and E! Network’s sleazy True Hollywood Story (which premiered in
late 1996). But to really figure out why
BTM became a landmark TV show in the 90s, look at how it related to other
iconic 90s shows. Much like Seinfeld and The Simpsons, Behind The
Music is really a triumph of writing.
Certainly it is hackneyed writing at times, but the key to the shows is
a tight, formulaic construction that mixes up clichés with clever, florid
writing, scripted to have power and force when delivered in the dire tones of
announcer Jim Forbes. The formula is set
in stone like some kind of ancient Kabuki play (or more accurately, like a
Christian morality play, as BTM often imposes a moralistic structure of vices
receiving punishment and redemption coming from repentance…or you could compare
the rigid structure to that other 90s fave, Law
and Order). There is a humble
beginning, a meteoric rise, a devastating fall and a redemptive mini rise at
the end. The formula made it ripe for
parody, but it also made the show structurally sound and guaranteed fascinating
episodes as long as they stuck to artist with amazing stories.
Unfortunately,
success crept in. As BTM became the network’s top rated show, putting VH1 on
the map and establishing it as the hip cable destination it is today, the
corporate culture of Viacom took over.
As the record biz began to realize that the show was impacting record
sales, things changed. Their Behind the
Music doubled Def Leppard’s weekly record sales, and for artists with
miniscule sales like Vanilla ice is increased sales exponentially. It also helped sell thousands of copies of
artist back catalogue the week after a show aired, The high ratings it boasted
(for cable, that is, three million or more viewers per new episode in 2000) and
the direct connection to album sales made the series move away from obscure,
interesting artists, and into marketable new subjects like Alanis Morrisette
and Green Day, despite the artists not having much history. In 1999 producer George Moll boasted, “We’re
moving away form heritage artists.”
The next year
VH1 explored Behind The Music as a
brand, saturating the market with CDs, books and videos under the BTM
banner. Instead of following the model
of A&E, whose Biography show will
easily reach its 20th anniversary in a few years, VH1 lost focus and
doomed the show. In 2003 less than a
handful of episodes were produced, and by April of 2004 only one new show has
aired. Because the structure poorly
served trendy, new artists, VH1 developed shows that worked better, like Driven, which has family friends
describe the early days leading up to stardom (and which purposely does not
interview the overexposed subject).
Also, BTM’s occasional ”year” shows, which had talking heads discuss
numerous events from a given historical year, begat the new trend on the
channel; shows in which comedians and stars flippantly deliver scripted, empty
quips about pop culture.
The network,
thanks to BTM, became a hip destination.
However, it is now too hip to feature a show that at its best involves
old people revealing their pathetic humanity.
A sad fate for one of my favorite shows.
But at least we’ll always have Leif.
One note, I
am very unsure of many of these dates,
VH1 often changes their schedules at the last minute, and it seems that
legal issues sometimes shelve a show for years (like the Badfinger episode) so
just because I found TV Guide listings or press releases from VH1 for air dates
doesn’t mean they are right. Sorry.
Contributing writers: CB – Chris Butler, EB
– Elliot Brennan, EF – Erica Feldman, EH – Emil Hyde, EO – Eric Ottens, GPG –
Gary Pig Gold, JA – Jake Austen, JB – John Battles, JP – James Porter, JR – Jon
Resh, KB - Ken Burke, MF – Mike Faloon, SL – Skippy Lange, TA – Tim Aher
MILLI VANILLI (8/17/97) (JA) This was
one of the best BTM episodes because it was the one that they put the most
effort into, and because it really was an example of what this show could be at
its finest: a fascinating, respectful human story that makes you care about the
protagonists even if you are not a fan of their music. This is the story of two muscle-bound
Euroboys, living in Germany
at the end of the 80s. One is a vacant
eyed Afro-Parisian named Fabrice Morvan.
The other, Rob Pilatus, the child of an African American GI and a
Caucasian German stripper will prove to be the classic tragic mulatto. The pretty boys decide to become stars and
work out athletic dance routines that accompany the cover songs they sing at
nightclubs. Impressed by their dancing
and looks, the evil German record producer Frank Farian, has them tour to support
a record he made with studio musicians and middle aged singers (Rob and Fab are
not on the actual record). It should be
noted that this was not an uncommon practice in the Bubblegum 60s, and more
importantly, the record they are dancing to was profoundly mediocre. Anyone
could have sung and rapped that record, it just so happened that these guys
didn’t. What follows is a whirlwind trip
to the top, as their album somehow becomes a global smash, ten times platinum,
and their looks and moves (and the fact that spandex was an acceptable fashion
statement) make them MTV darlings.
Though BTM acts like a concert in which their DAT starts skipping and
they are exposed as lip synchers was a big deal, many acts (especially dance
acts, as Downtown Julie Brown tells us in this show) mime live, and the
audience didn’t seem to care. But
trouble erupts after they win the Grammy for best new artist. “All we wanted
was to not get the Grammy, and we got the goddamn Grammy,” laments Rob in his melancholy,
heavy accent. Soon, despite them making
him millions, and despite the appeal of the act being primarily visual, the
awful producer decides it is his duty to reveal their charade. We then see the
amazing footage of the press conference, During the event, in which the sad
boys, who can hardly speak English, face a hostile press without the support of
their evil svengali or their record label, Rob pleads pathetically for empathy,
stating that if he hadn’t gone this route, “We would still be in Munich, I
would still work at the McDonalds.” They
try to regroup and record an album with their own vocals, but Rob (likely on
drugs) has a poor attention span in the studio, and when they debut on Arsenio only Fab is better than average,
and the album only sells several thousand copies. It’s downhill from there,
though Fab eventually rebounds and pulls himself together, developing his
talent and becoming a singer/songwriter in an earthy neo-soul mold. But while suddenly beautiful Fabrice, who
actually looks younger than he did in Milli Vanilli, has become centered and
focused, Rob has had a much harder time and looks haggard. Though they were good friends before, they
had to stop hanging out, partly because Rob felt he increased his chances to be
recognized and ridiculed if the two of them were together. Though staged scenes of a troubled man
walking on the beach should be hokey and false, they aren’t in this case, you
really can see how upset and disturbed he is.
Originally the show ended with us hearing of his drug abuse (he went
through rehab 11 times) sadly the show was updated later when he returned to Germany
to work with Frank again (who bailed him out of jail) and then killed himself
with a drug overdose in a hotel room.
Though the never repentant Frank should have earned redemption, I
suppose, for reaching out to Rob, he apparently didn’t do too good a job. This show ends with us pondering the pathetic
fate of a guy who it seems would have been better off still working at McDonalds
in Munich. Formally this show is spot
on, with the arc of rise, peak, lurking devastation, hard fall and (for Fab)
redemptive rise fully realized. They
make decisions to show the boom microphones and lights on occasion during
interviews to demystify the process (later they would go another direction and
have numerous interviewees be surrounded by candles, creating a mystifying
atmosphere). And one odd note, the
announcer, Jim Forbes, for some reason tried to go by the fake name “James
Jude” in this early episode. (JA)
MC HAMMER (8/24/97) What is most notable about this episode
is that BTM had not yet established their formula despite the near-perfect
premiere. This show has the wrong
announcer (a nasal-voiced guy) and the rhythm is off. The set up is v-e-r-y- long, almost fifteen
minutes. The repetition of information is more redundant than the stylized
redundancy BTM is known for. And the
writing is much worse than what BTM viewers would become familiar with (the
show ends with, “win or lose this time around, when it comes to everything he’s
accomplished, well, as Hammer might say, you can’t touch this”). The talking
heads commenting on Hammer are pretty interesting. A thoughtful Black journalist, Chuck D. and
Mrs. Hammer are all very insightful.
Arsenio Hall, on the other hand, seems very invested in being Arsenio
Hall and all his comments feel like either pre-written testimonials or stand up
routines (and his credibility is a little strained when he calls Hammer, “the
Michael Jackson of Hip Hop”). Best of
all is M. C. Hammer’s barber, Diamond Ken, who is the go to guy for VH1,
getting more screen time than anyone, despite the fact that he doesn’t know
what the fuck he’s talking about. What this show is mostly about is how a
sweet, god fearing, nerdy family guy with few vices rose from nothing to making
and blowing zillions of dollars with his excessive spending and his
generosity. The rise of street dancer
Stanley Burrell, who befriended pro baseball players and had them bankroll his
independent rap career, is based on savvy and talent. With all the early footage it becomes clear
that though M. C. Hammer was never a great rapper he actually was a brilliant
dancer and because of that artistry he deserved the attention and success he
got. After he becomes a mega-success he
blows tens of millions by buying a far too big house (this show is sort of set
up as an anti-MTV Cribs) and by
hiring everyone from his ghetto to be in the act/entourage. At one point they show his concert and the
stage is covered with almost a hundred unnecessary “dancers” and
standers-around, which led to a $500, 000 a month payroll. What happens when he loses the money is that
he declares bankruptcy, but he never becomes spiritually bankrupt, or mentally
off kilter and is never o[destitute. His
low is making a horny song with him in Speedos in the video. Not exactly crippling your friend in a drunk
driving accident or burning down your mansion out of spite. My favorite
character in this show is Oprah Winfrey’s image. When Hammer first appears on her show, bragging
about his success at the height of his glory bloated Oprah is not quite ready
for the 90s, wearing an outfit that basically looks like clown clothes. Hammer, in his absurd parachute-pants
superhero outfit, looks normal in comparison to her. On a later Oprah show, where Hammer nobly
explains his bankruptcy and tells everyone that he can’t be called broke or
poor when there are actual broke or poor people out there, stylish Oprah looks awesome.
She appears on screen for about one minute in this show and her
development is as compelling as Hammer’s!
And as the show raps up, Hammer looks great and feels positive about his
future. Here we get our first look at a
true BTM cliché: the artist in the studio making a comeback record that obvious
to everyone but the artist, is going nowhere.
But we also get to experience that great BTM feeling where we hope
beyond hope that somehow this will work out and our new friend will stay happy!
(JA)
BOY GEORGE (8/31/97) This episode in some ways feels like the
first real BTM because it is the
debut of the true Behind the Music
announcer Jim Forbes. The story opens
with a poor Irish Catholic kid from the UK
ghetto dressing in his mommy’s clothes and being a proud freak as a kid. His regular guy brother seems to have always
sort of admired George’s boldness and doesn’t speak judgmentally about the
poofster sibling. After seeing Bowie
when he was 12 George becomes a New Romantic, joins the punky dance scene,
supports himself as a DJ and a thief and forms a band. This is where it gets interesting. Jon Moss is the drummer for Culture
Club. A beautiful son of a millionaire,
Moss becomes the love of George’s life, and all the songs written for Culture
Club are about their relationship. They
clearly had an intense love affair, but when interviewed today Moss, acting
macho and manly, brushes off everything.
He wont say they didn’t have a relationship, but he also wont verbalize
in any way shape or form that he was gay at any point in his life. He isn’t denying anything, but he just
downplays it and tries to change the subject.
He was engaged to a woman when they met and he is a father now, and he
left George for a woman back in the day.
“Karma Chameleon,” and many other songs, were about Moss’ confusion, and
informed that he still is in denial George calls Jon, “a sad little liar.” That’s one of the interesting things about
this episode; the band was a huge, global phenomenon, but everything about
Culture Club was hinged on something as small as the relationship between two
lovers. The non-gay guitarist didn’t
really get to enjoy his rock stardom because of this, explaining, “It wasn’t my
idea of being in a band, I didn’t really want to be in some gay drama…where are
the drugs? Where are the girls?” Though
the girls were not forthcoming, after Jon left George the drugs were
plentiful. The most vivid imagery in
this show is George on heroin performing at a charity concert with some kind of
crusty cold cream on his face (he clearly doesn’t know it’s there), nodding off
while being interviewed and talking gibberish like a schizo street person. One shot shows visibly disturbed Sting and
Sade posing for photographers with George, and the BTM announcer very
explicitly tells us when to watch as our Boy actually passes out while still
standing up mid sentence. With his
family putting pressure on him he tries to get straight and finally a bald, sad
and gaunt George pulls himself together after three friends OD, one in his
house. The show ends with a fairly
together George (not the happiest guy in the world) lamenting that though he’s
over Jon he wished Jon would acknowledge their love they once shared. We also see Jon completely shrugging off and
denying any profound memories of their relationship. Like many episodes it’s
repetitive and tells things in many more words than necessary, but this also
really shows why this series is excellent because it covers fascinating human
mistakes and weaknesses in a way that is removed from tabloid sleaziness
because of the sympathetic nature of the documentarian’s lens and the total
involvement of the subject, a subject (in this case) who has good perspective
on his past problems. (JA)
FLEETWOOD MAC (9/7/97) Fleetwood Mac’s history from 1967 to 1974
(the year Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined) could be an entire Behind The Music in itself…or even three
(see Stevie:BTM and Lindsay:BTM). Even though the
pre-Buckingham/Nicks version of the band went through numerous personnel
changes and wrote the often covered “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In
Tonight” and the Judas Priest standard “Green Manalishi,” this period of the
band only gets about five minutes of coverage. But naturally the Lindsey and
Stevie era is the one that Fleetwood Mac is best known for. Anyway, this
episode not only chronicles the crazy level of success the band attained, but
it illustrates how absolute fame can corrupt absolutely. There are more mentions of drug use in these
interviews than there are killings in your average John Woo film. Then there
are the busted relationships, the rigors of the road, the tribulations of
recording and the triumphant reunion (which provides a framing device for the
episode, as the episode provides a promotional device for the reunion). It’s
everything you could hope for in a Behind
The Music. But what’s the deal with those balls on the cover of
“Rumours?”(CB)
NOWHERE TO
HIDE (9/21/97) This episode was made before the formula had been
worked out. It is a documentary on
people who stalk rock stars, and not on any one particular figure, so the “arc”
doesn’t apply. There’s a segment on John
Lennon’s murder and some expert psychologists explaining the stalking
phenomenon and there’s even a weird bit where a singer-songwriter is inspired
by her stalker to write a powerful song about stalkers (so the stalker was a
muse as well as a terrorist). The best
thing in this episode is that it was the first place I saw the riveting insane
footage of the fat maniac who videotaped himself constantly (including his
suicide) as he planned his stalking and murder of Bjork (don’t worry, his bomb
didn’t work and Bjork lives on, though this guy must have really rattled
her). One of the points of the
documentary was that female artists are easy to identify with and have a more
intimate relationship with their fans, and that really appeals to
stalkers. So the lesson is to be
unpleasant and distant. (JA)
IMAGEMAKERS (9/28/97)
This has not been rerun, since it didn’t fit the format, and I can only vaguely
remember the episode, but it is a documentary about rock photographers
(visionary geniuses, not paparazzi). It
includes an interview with photographer turned music video director Herb Ritts.
(JA)
LYNYRD
SKYNARD (10/19/97) Because news crews
arrived at the plane crash site almost immediately, because a great amount of
footage was shot directly after the accident and because there are survivors
who can give first hand accounts of the carnage, the tragedy at the heart of this episode is
grounded in reality more than any other episode except for perhaps
Aaliyah’s. Add to that the way the fat,
hairy and regularly gigging Skynards look today and you have a completely
unique, Southern-fried Behind The Music. The pre-crash stuff is pretty compelling, and
while you don’t really get a great handle on what made Ronnie Van Zant tick
(although footage of him fishing comes closest to doing so) you do see how
brilliant this band was musically. The
real fascinating stuff comes after the crash, as there is contention with some
band members about how survivors acted immediately in the wake of the crash
leading to a schism. Later there is a
long, successful but controversial reunion of the band, as they become the very
popular touring outfit they are today, with a younger Van Zant up front. The footage of the current band, including
reunions that include an ailing member, is a fascinating look into what being
in a band and what fan loyalty are all about. (JA)
TEDDY
PENDERGRASS (10/97) This is a really
interesting episode because it is centered in the rich 60s and 70s Philly Soul
scene which doesn’t get nearly enough historical attention paid to it (there’s
ten Motown documentaries, but this is the closest I can think of to a Philly
Soul doc). The older, grayer Pendergrass
that holds court in this show may not be the sex good with steam rising off him
from his heyday, but he certainly demonstrates ample soul, charm and sexiness
as he calmly recalls his days growing up listening to legends, his navigation
through the Philly scene, his mega success as a solo artist and his crippling
1982 accident. Philosophical and brave,
Teddy Bear doesn’t let you feel sorry for him, and as the documentarians build
up his Live Aid on-stage appearance as a climatic milestone his words make it
clear that as great as that was he realized that being onstage paled in
comparison to being alive. This was done
years before he made an earnest, powerful return to concert touring, and I saw
him on that tour and it was amazing.
Rarely rerun, this isn’t one of the most popular BTM’s, but as far as
being genuinely inspiring, it is one of the best. (JA)
BILLY JOEL (11/9/97)
I was totally ready for this to be a tale of a sordid descent into cocaine
fueled insanity but instead it is a lesson in rock economics. Billy Joel early on makes a mistake of handling
his music wrong, signing away rights to his songs that was basically like
giving someone a no limit platinum card.
But the super fucked up stuff is with his manager, who was basically a
family member, just reaming Joel and taking what the documentary led me to
believe was about 8 zillion dollars of Joel’s money and somehow never having to
return it. I’ve always thought of Joel
as a bitter, unpleasant guy who made contrived music, and at least this
explains why his soul is so wrinkled and awful; he has been screwed by
life. But he is still rich as hell, so I
don’t feel sorry enough to excuse him for “Pressure.” (JA)
LILITH FAIR (11/16/97)
Not a typical BTM, this was more like a concert documentary without very much
concert. Sarah McLachlan and Jewel and
the Indigo Girls discuss how this all women’s tour came to be and how
profoundly important it is to them and their fans. There’s backstage footage, a press conference
and even an offstage jam session with some of the rocking ladies. I haven’t seen this since it first aired (as
important as it was it must have also had a quick expiration date as VH1 has
not deemed it re-runnable) but I recall there was some pretty earnest
declarations by the participants including rockers from the 80s and singer songwriters
from the 70s as well as the 90s uber-coffehouse singers that dominated the
lineup. (JA)
ANDY GIBB (11/30/97)
This is a sad strange story of a young man who had everything. Though he perhaps wasn’t the most talented
Gibb brother he certainly could sing, and was surely the prettiest. His career, while somewhat undignified due
the era when he hit (who could have dignity in a satin baseball jacket and a
feathered hair helmet), would have been a great one if he just could have held
it together. He was with one of the
hottest ladies of the era, Victoria Principal, and he was about to become the
fourth Bee Gee. Gibb had supportive
family and friends and if he would just show up to claim it the world was his. And he just took an ass whooping from cocaine
that left him bloody, beaten, broken and eventually dead. This episode really shows how powerful drugs
can be and how utterly damaging it can be when they make you lose control. When Behind
The Music plays us Gibb’s unreleased recordings and they frighteningly
predict his pathetic death it is jarring.
And the way the show demonstrates his decline is very effective (if
anything is lower than being the host of Solid
Gold it is being such a fuck up that you fail at being the host of Solid Gold). Though it is hard to really paint a picture
of a guy without his participation, the affection that his brothers and Ms.
Principal express, and the loss they feel, really makes you feel sad for the
life Gibb didn’t get to live. (JA)
JIM CROCE (12/97) This is a nice episode because there really
is no dark side to Croce. A publishing
company screws him out of money, but it doesn’t reflect badly on him in any
way. Croce was a talented songwriter who
was on the rise when he was killed in a plane crash. While there was drugs in his life he never
reached a point that they were a huge problem, and one of the best sections of
this is his friends reminiscing about the communal partying and songwriting
they used to do together, which clearly was pot fueled (Cheech is one of his
buddies). The warmest part of this is
the relationship he had with his loving wife, and we even get to hear a Croce
rarity; a love song he wrote for her.
Her loss is tragic, but her loyalty, love and devotion she still feels
for him is inspiring. (JA)
THE CARPENTERS (1/1/98)
Todd Haynes’ 1987 Superstar: The Karen
Carpenter Story is not incredible because it uses Barbie dolls to re-enact
this story of a life lost to anorexia, but because it maintains distance from
and sympathy for its subject. Richard
Carpenter’s eyes betray an endless sadness in the loss of a partner and
sibling. This episode is too close to
both family and Herb Alpert to give anything but a glossy version of a messy
story, paying no respect to the sadness and strength of a lost voice. (EB)
SONNY BONO (1/11/98)
Sonny only got this because he died a crazy ski accident death; though his
story is fascinating and he was a creative genius he is generally considered a
footnote to Cher. Well, despite
the sad circumstances that got him on this show, it is excellent to see him get
this attention. His shtick was to act
like a loser, and compared to Cher his charisma certainly appeared to be minimal, at
least to the general public. But this
episode demonstrates that his friends and industry people and especially his
family really respected him. Even when
he entered politics, partly out of spite, you get the impression from his
colleagues that even though he knew nothing about government he made all the
right decisions (through his people) and did a good job. The number one thing this episode relates,
however, is that a mom outliving her son is a truly tragic thing, as Sonny’s
mother’s heartbreak and deep sadness are the most tangible elements of this
show. (JA)
MAMAS AND
THE PAPAS (1/18/98) This episode is a lot more sober and sympathetic
than what you expect from BTM. The Mamas & Papas helped pioneer the whole
1960's flower-pop craze that collectors now covet. True to their easygoing
image, all of the then-surviving members have a level-headed perspective
considering what they went through. All have maintained their sense of humor,
although former Papa Denny Doherty is a little too wound up at times.
Naturally, everyone becomes misty-eyed at the memory of deceased Mama Cass
Elliott, and the love triangles within the group are spelled out in minute
detail. Especially appreciated the footage of supercool manager/producer Lou
Adler, sitting tight in his Phat Farm polo shirt. At the time of broadcast,
tragedy still haunted them, as former members John Phillips and ex-wife
Michelle Phillips (nee Gilliam) weren't speaking to each other. We can only
hope they mended the fence at some point, as John died of heart failure in
March 2001. (JP)
MEAT LOAF (2/1/98) From
the BTM voiceover: "In 1972, a part in another play, More Than You Deserve, convinced him that he could really make it
as a singer." Hmmm...I would have thought that he came to that conclusion
long before that. The year before, he was part of a Detroit-based duo (Stoney
& Meatloaf) that recorded for a Motown subsidiary and had a Top 40 hit on
the soul charts with "What You See Is What You Get" (not the
similarly-titled Dramatics tune). It's pretty obvious that Mr. Loaf only
remembered what he wanted to remember - his struggles with his weight and his
voice, his abusive father, the death of his mother from breast cancer - yet his
Detroit rock years in the early 70's
are unaccounted for. This particular BTM has an unusual arc - it starts with
his heyday around '78 or so, dwells there for what seems like an eternity,
doubles back to his childhood in Dallas, TX, then takes a jet airliner to Los
Angeles where he gets a part in a stage production of Hair, then after diddling around with the thespians for a while,
it's straight to fame like a bat out of hell. Not even a mention of that
Ted Nugent album he sang on (Free-For-All).
Either VH1 was getting their chain yanked, or somebody goofed with the
research. (JP)
GLADYS
KNIGHT AND THE PIPS (2/15/98) Gladys is the baddest! One of the most down to earth subjects of a Behind The Music, it is a pleasure to
watch Ms. Knight tell her tale, as her speaking voice proves as beautiful as
her singing voice. However, as
devastating as her gambling addiction was financially, it does not make for the
juiciest BTM. And she also doesn’t seem
to have the most promising taste in men.
But her cousin Bubba sure seems like a great dude! I’m glad she kept that Pip around (and didn’t
lose him at a Vegas craps table). (JA)
WILLIE NELSON (3/1//98) There are many
reasons that this episode is a pleasure to watch, but mostly I was delighted by
the ample amount of old footage of young Willie. The arc of this has Willie achieving
songwriting success but very little recognition as an artist for decades, then
becoming a superstar when he was pushing 50 in the 1970s. Also, only a few years after his success the
revenuers stared a’comin’ after him. A decade of wars with the IRS ends with
Willie losing (to the tune of $10 million or so) and seeing such disrespectful
indignities befall such a legend is hard.
I also thought this episode put too much weight on his pop crossover,
and duets with other stars, and not enough weight was given to the Austin
scene and the Outlaw Country movement that he spearheaded. Overall, though, this features a great artist
and relates triumphs and tragedies in a very tangible way, which is what you
really want from BTM. (JA)
JERRY LEE
LEWIS (3/8/98) VH1 originally skewed
towards James Taylor-loving boomers, and would subsequently keep the age demographic
the same but start appealing to late 70s then 80s and now early 90s
nostalgia. Thus, there was little room
for the 50s, and this episode has been run very rarely. I vaguely recall seeing it really late one
night and my main impression was that after his marriage to his child bride
ends there seemed to be an avalanche of death and divorce and ugliness. Lewis is a brilliant musician but obviously
he is not the most focused person when it comes to making good life
decisions. I’d love to see it again, but
until advertisers start coveting 70 year olds I don’t expect them to dust this
off. (JA)
RICK JAMES (3/15/98) One reason that this is an all time classic
BTM is that, though he may be holding back some truths about some of the more
heinous crimes he’s been accused of, for the most part James not only is
incredibly candid about his drug use and awful behavior, he actually seems
particularly proud of it. This is not a
contrite former addict, this is a braggart of a (former?) addict! His musical career has an inauspicious
start. He meets Neil Young and forms a
rock band, the Mynah Birds, while living in Canada as a draft dodger.
The band gets signed to Motown but falls apart after some enemy of Rick
turns him in. For years I’ve been dying
to hear Mynah Birds stuff, hoping Motown would include the recordings on a Rick
James compilation, and this show actually played some of their music from the
Motown vault, so that alone made this BTM super-satisfying, but of course it
gets better. Rick works out his problems
and returns to Motown and proceeds to make some of he best Funk records of all
time, many in praise of the evil weed, many in praise of freaky sex. And his lifestyle is very 70s, with his onstage pot use dwarfed by his offstage cocaine
use, eventually culminating in spending prison time for some type of bizarre
cocaine-fueled sex kidnapping drugging torture scenario involving a young woman
perpetrated by Rick and his wife (talk about an open marriage). Seeing Rick in court in disconcerting, can
you imagine being on that jury? Anyhow,
the show ends with Rick free (claiming prison straightened him out) and on the
rebound. The worst thing I can say about
this episode it that it is obsolete now because of the Rick James episode of
Dave Chapelle’s show which featured the real Rick James and an associate
discussing a minor incident. This humble
episode may have summed up James’ life more than BTM’s broad biography. Unlike BTM which is dedicated to not make a
fool of the participants, Chapelle’s Show
operates on the opposite principal. Rick
(looking bizarre; he has suffered a stroke since the BTM so his face is a
little saggy, but he is also wearing mountains of makeup and lip gloss)
vehemently denies wrongdoing, then boldly admits it a minute later. The producers demonstratively rewind the tape
back to the contradiction to make sure no one missed it. And the show continually repeats James’
mantra to explain his behavior, and that pretty much should have also been the
last line of BTM, “Cocaine is a hell of
a drug.” (JA)
DAVID CROSBY (3/22/98) Honestly, what I wanted out of this show
was someone to explain to me why Buffalo Springfield belonged in the Rock &
Roll Hall of Fame, but in 45 minutes VH1 didn’t really have much time to cover
the actual music portion of David Crosby’s life. Instead you get a life devastated by drugs
and partying and hippie excess (though coke doesn’t seem like a very hippie
drug) that leads to prison and the operating table (Crosby
is the poster boy for “why did he get the kidney, he’s just gonna fuck it
up!). While this is a perfect BTM in
that here is drama and decadence and a heartwarming ending (he is reunited with
a grown son who becomes a musical collaborator in a band called CPR [Crosby,
Pevar and Raymond – his son is James Raymond]) what I really liked about it was
that Crosby’s presence alone explained why he could get away with so much
shit. His friendly eyes and his cute
little smile and his natural charm helped this man get all the pussy he could
handle, keep friends loyal, even after he let them down time and time again and
even keep him in one piece in prison. (JA)
SELENA (3/29/98) I love Selena and though the Selena movie
with J-Lo was schmaltzy I admired a number of things about it, most importantly
that it decided (out of respect for Selena and her fans) not to depict her
slaying at the wicked hands of troll-like Yolanda. This episode has no such convictions, and in
a very E! True Hollywood Story move
they obsess on the murder and even give voice to crazy-ass Yolanda by
interviewing her in jail. As hokey and
silly as the Selena biopic is I would still have to send Selena-newbies to
that, as it is a better primer than this.
By the way, my theory about J-Lo is that people feel loyal to her even
through inferior records and movies because they still see her as Selena, who
they genuinely want to love. (JA)
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE (4/5/98) If you are a baby boomer this was your band so I’m
sure you were pumped for it. As a
somewhat younger rock fan I’ve always liked some of their stuff but was never
that fond of Grace Slick’s voice, so I never really was a fan. This episode didn’t convince me that the band
is great but I am now 100% behind Grace Slick, mainly because she ends this
thing vowing to never be a rock star again because she feels that old rockers
on stage is stupid (her statements contrasting with Paul Kantner’s, who was
still trying to get the band back together).
This episode does a good job getting your head into the sex and drugs
60s scene, and relates how Slick’s wild child was magnetic in the early
days. This is also a nice example of
hippies-to–yuppies, as the ultimate peace and love and drugs band becomes the
ultimate corporate soulless rockers in the 80s.
And while I’m sure no one stopped cashing their “We Built This City”
checks, give most of them credit for knowing that Starship was awful. (JA)
TAKIN’ IT TO
THE STREETS (4/12/98) VH1 was still
pretty much series oriented at the time this came out (now they will introduce
specials or very limited series at the drop of a hat) so this odd documentary
about street musicians was shoehorned into the BTM format. What was notable was that this was used as
part of the “cable in the classroom” program, in which parents were encouraged
to videotape the shows and then bring them to schools, where VH1 would provide
a lesson plan for a school project based on this episode. Thus, it was actually pretty noble that they
produced an episode that featured independent artists without products to push
as subject matter, rather than having kids watch a 45-minute commercial for the
new Ozzy album. (JA)
OZZY OSBOURNE (4/19/98)
Five crazy-ass things
from Ozzy’s past that are mentioned in this episode:1. He bit the head off of a
live dove at a meeting with Epic executives. 2. He was arrested for pissing on
the side of the Alamo while wearing a green dress.
3. He bit the head off of a stunned but live bat someone had thrown on stage at
a concert in Des Moines. 4. Randy Rhodes, Ozzy’s
guitar player, died in an accident in which a plane he was flying in was
repeatedly buzzing Ozzy’s RV. 5. Ozzy was sued (3 times!) for allegedly putting
subliminal messages in a song called “Suicide Solution”. The songs lyrics are
actually inspired by Bon Scott’s death, and were intended to keep others from
suffering the same fate. I guess they
didn’t have time to mention that ant snorting incident with Motley Crue (see Motley BTM). Anyway, through it all,
Ozzy maintains a positive mental attitude, appears to be a genuinely sweet, good
hearted guy. The bleep quotient is slightly lower than the subsequent Osbournes reality show, but you can
already see how Ozzy’s uninhibited personality will work in the future. I think
Sharon sums it up best, “He has a
natural gift to entertain.” PS. “Musicologist”
“Dr.” Robert Walser offers absolutely no insight into the Sabbath/Ozzy story
whatsoever. But his superficial observations are pretty funny. (CB) OZZY “DIRECTOR’S CUT” (2001) After The Osbournes became a hit they added a
half hour to the Ozzy BTM and ran it briefly as an extended episode. I’m not positive, but I suspect the extra
footage may be the stuff Penelope Spheeris shot at Ozzfest for Decline of Western Civilization Pt. 4
that Sharon hijacked from her. (JA)
TED NUGENT (4/26/98) For some reason, I have a vivid
recollection of hearing “Where Have You Been All My Life” (from Ted Nugent’s
eponymous LP) on the juke box at a pizza place sometime in the mid 70s when I
was I was in my mid teens. I don’t know why it made such an impression. I guess
it just condensed everything juvenile about being, uh, juvenile. Unfortunately,
Ted never progresses beyond his teenaged mentality as evidenced by this episode
of Behind The Music. Ted spends the
bulk of this program proving what a hypocrite he is. He lambastes drug users
and alcohol drinkers, but repeatedly admits (without a trace of humility,
however) to being a serial pedophile. Two relationships (one with his wife and
one with “muse” Pele Massa, who was 17 when they started dating) were ended due
to Ted’s infidelity while on the road, often with underage women. But Ted
justifies his behavior with one of his trademark funny expressions:
“alternative flesh management.” And look, I’m not anti hunting, I mean I don’t
exactly dig the meat industry, but Ted has this attitude that you’re somehow
stupid if you don’t hunt. I just think it’s unrealistic to believe that
suddenly a nation of 290 million or so people are going to head to the woods
every night before dinner. What is really surprising is his disdain for both
fans and fellow band members. Both of which were necessary for his, um,
success. Ted accuses fans of being unable to handle the energy of his shows
when they behave violently, although tons of other bands have high energy shows
without incident. And his determination to subdue singer Derek St. Holmes,
resulting in his quitting the band seems incredibly pointless and stupid. You
just have to laugh (well, I did) when they get to the part where Ted finds out
that his management has blown all his money on chinchillas and horses. My
favorite piece of Nuge-stalgia, however, is the video for his 1982 song “Bound
And Gagged”. Ostensibly this song is in protest of the 1979 Iranian “hostage
crisis”, but in reality it’s just an excuse for Ted to whine about flag burning
while he and his band prance about in pastel spandex. Of course Ted never
mentions the CIA’s coup of democratically elected Mohammad Mossadeq, and the
atrocities of the US backed Shah
that led to the revolution in ‘79. Oh well. And then, there’s Damn Yankees.
Ouch! Ultimately Ted comes off like you or me when we were maybe 19 and we
thought we had the answers to everything (apologies to all you 19 year old know
it alls), and it was impossible to consider another view point. But Ted is
still like that, and he’s in his fifties. I guess he plays guitar pretty well,
though. (CB)
JOE COCKER (5/3/98)
As a subject Cocker is really a nod to VH1’s original boomer audience, as he
hasn’t had much of an impression on younger fans. However, this episode demonstrates that he
deserves to be heard from more, because (as the show accurately stated),
"Joe is singing like a man 25 years younger." And more importantly,
Joe looks much healthier and more together than he did in his ragged haired
heyday. What I liked most about this
episode was that they addressed what was up with him when he was away for the
spotlight for many years. Joe was
getting support from family, reconstructing a drug ravaged life and becoming
the dignified Englishman we see before us today singing R&B with as much
class as grit. I’m sure this was an
introduction of Joe to many of the viewers, and it was an excellent
introduction. (JA)
BEHIND THE
MUSIC NEWS SPECIAL: MILLI VANILLI
(5/98) this updates the story from the first BTM including the post-BTM suicide
of Rob. (JA)
STUDIO 54 (5/24/1998)
The
Studio 54 Behind the Music was
great. They focused, of course, on the
exclusivity of the club and how the bouncers would intentionally torment people
by telling a just married couple that one could enter but the other could
not. In what I thought was a very clever
set-up, they interviewed "three guys who couldn't get in" and kept
them on a couch behind a red velvet rope throughout the scene. I'm sure their coverage of Steve Rubell's
descent into drug addiction involved one of my favorite aspects of the show,
which is the stock footage they use for "drug addiction," grainy
black and white shots of half-filled glasses and dirty ashtrays. One particularly memorable scene was old
footage of Steve Rubell on a couch with two creepy Hare Krishna-looking guys
fondling him and he's clearly blitzed out of his mind slurring "I'm
happy." I think they referenced but
did not play or say by name Kid Creole's "Darrio," but they did have
Nile Rogers from Chic talking about how they wrote "Freak Out" as
"Fuck Off" after being denied entrance. There was more substance to the episode than
what I've recounted here, I just tend to remember the stupid stuff. Overall it was really well done, one of the
first episodes I saw that made me think the series was great and made VH1 a
significant part of my decision to get cable. (EO)
KEITH MOON (5/31/98) Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Roger
Daltrey may indeed have lost their all-time greatest drummist after Keith Moon
grilled his last steak breakfast, popped “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” into the
video player one last time, then settled back for the final in a lifelong
string of recreational overdoses. But
when Keith John Moon finally succeeded in finishing himself off very early on
the morning of September 7, 1978, we ALL lost our meaty beaty biggest-ever
bouncer, or, as Townshend himself so eloquently eulogized, “our great comedian;
the supreme melodramatist.” Yet on the
twentieth anniversary of Keith’s ultimate O.D., when Behind The Music finally got around to dedicating forty-five
minutes of prime airtime to the man who defiantly put the “oo!” into The Who,
all VH1 seemed to be able to come up with was an utterly predictable string of
not-so-vintage public domain performance clips of Moon and Co. in their
auto-destructive glory interspersed with a smattering of celebrity heads
regurgitating the same tired old “he emptied all the fire extinguishers into
the swimming pool!” party tales. While
click-trackin’ contemporary stickmen feebly attempt to swear to Keith’s rarest
of abilities behind the skins, only Ray Davies seems to have anything
intelligent to say …but, alas, his moment onscreen is over quicker than you can
say “Tommy Lee” (whilst diving for the remote).
May I instead direct the discriminating Who and/or rockumentary fan over
to the infinitely superior British televised tribute “The Real Keith Moon,”
wherein such genuinely kindred spirits as Pamela Des Barres and “Legs” Larry
Smith wax extremely poetic all over the magnificent Moon legacy while Keith’s
original partner in Holiday Inn crime, Hermit of Herman’s Karl Green, even
recounts step-by-step instructions on how best to insert lit cherry bomb
explosives into running toilets. Need I
say any more? “The Real Keith Moon” can
pretty easily be tracked down online, but whilst Googling be very aware of
stumbling instead into Keith’s BTM page on VH1.com, where the unsuspecting
cybersurfer is invited to, and I quote, “hear how Keith Moon became a member of
The Who by wrecking his drum kit!” and “hear how Keith Moon’s attempts to
overcome alcoholism led to his death!”
Somewhere, the REAL Keith Moon is at this moment flushing a jumbo cherry
bomb in VH1’s direction. (GPG)
BONNIE RAITT (6/98)
This episode wasn’t too memorable, but I do recall that Raitt seemed like a
really amazing, well-rounded person in her interviews, and the other musicians
they interviewed seemed to genuinely hold her in as high regard as any BTM
subject ever. She starts out bloozy and
goes Pop while keeping it Bluesalicious. (JA)
ROBBIE
ROBERTSON (6/98) OK, you’ve already seen a pretty good movie about The
Band and what was going on during their final days, so what does this have to
offer? Basically we learn that
Robertson, a thoughtful and intelligent man, who has kept up his chops doing
film scoring, and is way into being
Native American. (JA)
CULTURE CLUB
REUNION (6/13/98)
This updates the great Boy George episode, with the main highlight being Jon’s
finally addressing questions of his romance with George which he avoided in the
previous show. With their love publicly
acknowledged they go on to make beautiful music together as a touring band
again.
DEF LEPPARD
(6/21/98) What I find most notable about Def Leppard’s career is their
transcendence of their New Wave Of British Heavy Metal origin. I remember Def
Leppard in context with Tygers Of Pan Tang, Samson, Saxon, etc., none of whom
matched the consistent chart success of Def Leppard. Def Leppard’s genius was
wrapping pop songs in a metal image thereby making it acceptable for both boys
and girls (mooks and midriffs) to like the band. Of course, having Mutt Lange
produce your record doesn’t hurt either. Anyway, this episode touches on the
widely known moments in Def Leppard’s history (band members have ridiculous,
choreographed sex with groupies, band members drink to excess, drummer loses
arm, guitar player dies, etc.) and follows the band up until their “grunge”
album “Slang” from 1995. Certainly the
most memorable segment covers the arm-losing auto accident. As Rick Allen very calmly and honestly
recalls the incident without bitterness, we see one of the oddest recreations
in BTM history. As they show us sheep
grazing in the field near where the accident occurred the BTM editors add the
screeching sound effect of the car crash, causing one sheep to look up to,
presumably, see the (off camera) accident.
Particularly impressive are the interviews with the good Samaritans that
found Allen (and his arm, pinned under the dashboard) and saved his life. Special moment for punk fans, look for Joe
Elliott wearing a Misfits “Legacy Of Brutality” shirt at a show from 1988. (CB)
TONY ORLANDO (6/28/98) This was a landmark episode because it took someone that virtually no
one cared about and made a compelling show about him. In fact the promo for the show used to quote
a review that said “they even made Tony Orlando interesting…” The show had some
great moments, as the born again Orlando shamelessly remembers his cocaine
binging days that came to an end when his good buddy, and fellow mustachio,
Freddie Prinze killed himself after a deep drug descent. The story has a happy ending, if you consider
Branson, MO a happy ending.
This episode was apparently one of the highest rated ever and was
incessantly rerun, showing well over 100 times.
This should have demonstrated that the fans cared more about story than
stars but by the end of the century either the show’s attitude or the fans had
changed. There will never be an episode
like this produced again. (JA)
GLORIA ESTEFAN (7/98) You would think a
crippling bus crash, a heroic recovery and a loyal bearded husband would add up
to a fascinating, or at least inspirational, story, but this is pretty
dull. Estefan and her family and fans manage
to convey an incredibly passive, unemotional vibe even when they talk about the
most devastating or triumphant things, and even when they show the signs of
emotions it seems passionless. At least
she breaks the fiery Latino stereotype. (JA)
JAN AND DEAN (7/12/98) This is an episode that steps outside of
the confines of most BTMs, going way back to pre-Beatles days simply because
this story is too good to ignore. Often
these tales have tragic accidents, but this is the rarity in which the tragic
accident falls just short of fatal and you get to see and interview the
survivor. Jan and Dean made perfect
California Beach Doo Wop records, and their early days are told with flair, as
high school memories are vivid for Dean.
Jan is less verbal however, since he suffered the ironic accident of
crashing his car in a manner eerily similar to the crash in their hit song,
“Dead Man’s Curve.” Suffering brain
damage and partial paralysis he fought back to be able to stand on stage and
sort of sing thanks to dedicated speech therapist (interviewed for the show)
and a young doctor who was a big rock & roll fan and understood the
importance of him returning to the stage.
California scenesters
interviewed throughout include Lou Adler, Glen Campbell and Brian Wilson (Brian
finally seems ultra articulate compared to Jan’s post-accident speech pattern,
which sounds like a meek Frankenstein monster).
Interesting things here include the fact that their career received a
huge boost from a very shitty made for TV movie about them, that Jan, after
fighting to be able to stand and speak, decides to be a coke head, and most
unique, that this episode gives complete dignified validity to the oldies state
fair music circuit. (JA)
HARRY CHAPIN (7/19/98) Chapin’s “Cat’s In The Cradle” and
“Taxi” are masterpieces of emotionally manipulative hokeyness, but the
singer-songwriter apparently was one of the most sincere socially active
artists of his era. When the hits
stopped he relentlessly kept performing benefit after benefit, and his fatal
car crash occurred on the way to a charity concert. Hearing his family and friends talk about him
you see a portrait of a very down to earth, well loved guy. This is one of the most low key episodes of
the series, but also one of the warmest. (JA)
GLORIA GAYNOR (7/98) This is a video
version of Gaynor’s autobiography, as the “I Will Survive” Disco diva survives
indignities, tragedies and roadblocks that range from being overweight to a
scary concert accident to a relative’s murder to a crazy Disco coke addiction. While the up part of this arc is great
(humble jersey girl gets discovered by Clive Davis and goes on to win the only
Disco Grammy in history) the down part is almost too much. This was a popular episode for a little while
but then disappeared, I don’t think the audience really connected with the
show. I suspect that may be because the
happy plateau at the end involves Ms. Gaynor making a very serious lifestyle
change and becoming a born-again Christian.
I suspect this may not be a super satisfying ending because BTM is so
moral and Christian in its almost propaganda depiction of the Reefer Madness
effects of drugs and alcohol that actually ending one of these morality play in
an actual church sort of pulls the curtain back and shows the viewers what the show
is really about. (JA)
FRANK
SINATRA: NEWS SPECIAL - VH1 listed
this on their website, but to my knowledge this episode never aired.
MADONNA (8/16/1998, the show was
updated and expanded at a later date)
Madonna, who as we’re told is, “simply the most famous woman on earth,” appears
in a dizzying array of hair-styles and “looks” in a seemingly infinite number
of interviews that span her long career.
Her absurd media oversaturation sort of makes a show like this obsolete,
and add to that the fact that the less Madonna talks the more interesting she
is, you don’t really have a winner here.
When you look too closely at Madonna it’s not pretty. Her singing isn’t that great, her dancing in
mediocre and since the last time I watched this was after I’d seen the sorry
Britney Spears BTM, I couldn’t help but notice that at times she sounds as dumb
as Ms. Spears. That’s not really fair
because for all the things Madonna isn’t she initially made her splash because
of what she was: a unique, charismatic, street smart fashion innovator who drew
people to her. As she got farther from
the street her fashion sense became less unique and more calculated, but the
genuine magic Madonna originally had was all hers and not created by handlers –
Britney will never have that. Madonna is
a mediocre, self-important blowhard and her pride in winning a Golden Globe for
her shitty Evita movie seems
absurd. Madonna also seems to be taking
a lot more credit for her musical collaborations than she perhaps
deserves. “Ray of Light” was a cover of
an obscure British song and I remember reading about the songwriter falling off
his couch when he heard Madonna tell Oprah why she wrote it. I don’t mean for this to be a Madonna-bashing
party, there are great things here, like the shots of Madonna–wannabe kids in
the 80s, and the pre-Madonna rock band she was in. But for the most part this episode is as
charmless as her. (JA)
STEPPENWOLF (9/6/98)
This episode really sums up what can be magical about this series. Steppenwolf is thought of (if at all) as a
minor two-hit wonder (“Born To Be Wild” and “Magic Carpet Ride”) and one would
not expect a fascinating story with twists and turns. And then smack in the middle you get this
scene of Steppenwolf singer John Kay devilishly recounting with wicked glee how
he duped his sucker band mates into giving him the rights to the catalogue and
publishing in exchange for the band’s name, which they wanted to use to
continue their bright future as a band after Kay’s departure. Decades and a hundred “Born To Be Wild”
diaper and Dorito commercials later Kay is seen wealthy and still working
(under the Steppenwolf name, which he easily got back after the songs made him
wealthy and their legally named Steppenwolf act failed to succeed without their
lead singer). The ex-bandmates are
currently at various levels of failure.
That VH1 found them and had them tell their side is amazing, but that
they got Kay to revel in his cruel schemes, sounding like Mr. Burns on The Simpsons and almost going into an evil
cackle after declaring “I had them where I wanted them” was an unbelievable
Rock TV moment. This
struck me as the saddest of the Behind
the Musics I’ve seen. The show ends
with Kay strolling around his Tennessee estate, itself a sign of a
guy who has maximized life as a two-hit wonder.
These scenes are contrasted with those of a former bandmate. The scene etched in my mind goes as follows:
it is early morning, we see the plush rolling green hills of a golf
course and over the ridge emerges a golf cart driven by the down-on-his-luck
ex-Steppenwolfer; he is not squeezing in an early morning round on the links,
he is working maintenance. Cut to a TV
studio at which point he makes an on-camera plea to John Kay, in essence asking
for forgiveness and a chance to have back his old gig. Kay’s response is evasive but his tone is
clear: no way, man. The lingering
bitterness is palpable. (JA, MF)
JOHN DENVER (9/20/98) Henry John Deutschendorf was
born in 1943 to a peripatetic military family, learned how to play at age
twelve on his grandmother’s guitar and like Jerry Harrison and Ice Cube, quit
architecture for music. Though not a
great singer or guitarist, he became popular in LA clubs and his
provate-pressed single becomes a number
one hit when Peter, Paul and Mary record his “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” leading
to a deal with RCA. He moves to
Colorado, and is inspired by the most beautiful place he’s ever seen in his
life to write songs like “Rocky Mountain High” that combine with his
non-threatening, wholesome and photogenic image to make him superstar, on par with his goood friends the
Muppets. He marries and adopts children
and all is good until the 80s when a mid-life crisis brought on by death of his
father leads to a divorce and being dropped by RCA, and soon only flying a
plane brings him happiness. His life has
ups and downs (he remarries, then re-divorces, his sperm count finally peaks
allowing him to father a child, he stays involved in political causes, but is
less inn demand because of his hit-free music career) and then when things
started looking pretty bright (he was about to sign a new record deal and tour)
his Long-EZ experimental plane crashes into Pacific Ocean on October 12,
1997. The post-crash testimonials by
his family (his second wife maintained a close friend ship even after the
divorce) and his good buddy Geraldo Rivera (who thought that they were both
renegade outsiders) demonstrate that though he may have faded from the public
eye he was still one of the greats to his inner circle. (EB)
BLONDIE (9/27/98) Behind The
Music was a phenomenon at this point and it is really notable that this
episode seems to really take an overt position of trying to sell the new
Blondie album. Their new single “Maria”
is featured extremely prominently as the band returns to the studio to record
their reunion album, and the entire episode seems to be sandwiched between “Buy
our new single” messages. Now I’m never
going to seriously disparage Deborah Harry, not after I spent so many hours of
my childhood (to paraphrase Steve Martin’s Farrah joke) holding up her poster
with one hand. I will forever have a
crush on Ms. Harry, so it is with trepidation that I say that it is a little
hard to watch her as a talking head for the better part of an hour when said
head seems to have an uncomfortable amount of plastic surgery. As far as the story arc it is based around
Harry’s unique relationship with guitarist Chris Stein, who was her man for
years, and then they broke up yet still see or talk to each other every
day. That enough is unusual, but throw
in Stein falling deadly ill with Harry at his bedside coaxing him back into
rock & roll shape and you have a BTM!
Over the years I’ve seem pictures of Harry in Punk magazine and heard the Ramones talk about how they had never
seen anyone that beautiful, and it was weird that she was in their scene. I
have always thought that was a really odd idea; the beauty amongst the
beasts. I think this episode missed an
opportunity by not spending more time in the NY punk scene with Blondie before
they went on to talk about the band making it.
But all in all this was pretty good, and it made me dust (and wipe) a
few of my old Blondie posters off. (JA)
SHANIA TWAIN (10/4/98) This is a real landmark episode. Though it would be not be implemented until a
later season the phenomenal success of this episode (one of the highest rated
at the time, and it was released on video as well) proved that you could get
high ratings by profiling a currently hot artist instead of by seeking out the
most fascinating story. Combined with
record labels exploring the sales increases a BTM brought to a performers new
records and back catalogues, the days of Milli Vanilli and Tony Orlando
episodes (artists with no product or current following) were done./ Not to
imply that Shania’s story wasn’t interesting.
In fact, I’d go as far as to say that this show may have made it less
interesting. Canadian Shania isn’t
identifiable as the beauty she is today until she gets out of Canada
and gets a Nashville makeover, so
even though her early years are pretty remarkable I felt that they were
underplayed. The fact is that she had a
very short career when this was made.
Her life as a young woman was more interesting then her professional
story. She grew up poor, spent time on
an Indian reservation with her family (her stepfather was Native American) and
raising her siblings after an auto accident killed her parents. I guess it would be cruel to really dwell on
this event too long, but I didn’t feel it got the weight it should have. The most exciting footage of the show was
coming up, when we see video of young Shania performing in a cheap prom dress
and awful big stacked hair at a low budget Canadian entertainment review. She was discovered and moved to Nashville
where she flopped until Mutt Lange (who rarely appears on camera in BTMs but is
mentioned in many episodes) falls for her and uses his awesome powers of
production magic to make her a superstar.
The show claims that there were two controversies she had to overcome,
one being that she was outed as non-Native American (her Indian dad was not her
birth dad, and I guess she was billed as a “half-breed” by her publicists) and
one being that she showed her midriff in a video and traditional Nashville was
aghast. I don’t believe either of these
things were actual problems. But this episode wasn’t popular because of her
problems, it was popular because she stuck to her guns and kept showing her
naval. Man, she feels like a woman. (JA)
1968 (10/98) This was the first “year”
BTM, and it may be the best one. This
was subsequently used as a “Cable In The Classroom” teacher’s aide for high
schools, and you can see why. Even though
it is obviously a truncated, simplified history lesson (one of the most culturally
turbulent and exciting years of the twentieth century summarized in 44 minutes)
it manages to combine striking, powerful archival footage and eloquent,
passionate interviews with folks from the frontline. This episode really transcends just being about
music because the Viet Nam
war was such a real, powerful force, and there is plenty of footage and
passionate testimony to make it real for young viewers today. Lefty turned righty P.J. Rourke belittles the
concept of music changing the world, James Brown boasts of his stature in Black
America at an important time and Country Joe convinces you of the power of
flowers. And we learn that hippies still
hate Nixon. The latter is certainly a
valuable lesson in these trying times. (JA)
JOHN MELLENCAMP (11/8/98) A handful of
episodes are 90 minutes instead of an hour, usually because the artist is so
big and the career is so long, or so many fucked up things happened (the
Aerosmith is TWO HOURS long!). Making
Johnny Cougar’s show an hour and a half was a terrible mistake, as the story
drags on and is ill paced and at the end all you are left with in that
Mellencamp is arrogant, unpleasant and smokes too much. In 60 minutes they could have compacted it to
portray him as a Hoosier Springsteen, but instead he goes on and on until you
realize that the more you hear him talk the less you dig “Jack and Diane.” (JA)
METALLICA (11/22/98) The thing that baffled me most about
this episode was the fact that for some reason every member of Metallica was
confoundingly articulate. I saw them in
concert at medium sized clubs with lots of slurred, garbled growling between
songs, and I even asked people who hung out with them in the 80s and they
confirmed that Metallica were regular, rough-edged, dumb-acting dudes. Somehow since then they’ve transformed into
Noel Cowards and Oscar Wildes. Well I
guess Noel Coward’s pithy stories were never about blowing himself up with
stage pyrotechnics or cruelly waking up his fired guitarist to put him on a
bus. The band’s oration abilities best
serve the very vivid description of the tour bus accident that killed bassist
Cliff Burton. I think it may be one of
the most tangible descriptions of an accident in BTM history. Metallica’s transition from evil underground
Metalheads to their more genteel, short haired “Alternica” mode was well
underway when this show was made, but it would be fair to say that this TV
appearance, explaining their story in a civilized manner to America,
was an important moment in the band’s transformation to dignified elder
statesmen. (JA)
LIONEL RICHIE (11/98) My main
impression after watching this is that Richie is a confident man and a solid
songwriter, but basically he has merely crafted a series of catchy songs rather
than creating important music. Of course,
I say that because none of the love ballads moved me or won me any loving. Haile Berry,
who for some reason is the main commentator on Richie’s music, disagrees with
me wholeheartedly, and clearly had I tried to get some action with her by
writing lovenotes filled with Ramones lyrics I would have gotten no taste of Berry. This episode opens in Tuskegee,
his hometown that he truly loves, and we are treated to wonderful interviews
with his mother who is beaming with pride when discussing her talented
son. He joins the band at the local
college, the Commodores, and he marries Brenda, the cheerleader. Things bode poorly, as every photo of Brenda
has her looking very pretty, but never happy.
The band eventually splits with Lionel when his love songs make him a
standout star making tons more money (on song royalties) and his marriage
breaks up when he gets busted cheating with a woman named Dianne, resulting in
Brenda publicly beating Lionel. They try
to reconcile, and they adopt Nicolle Richie, Paris Hilton’s sidekick, and that
seems a little fishy to me. I always
figure rich people adoptions involve bringing an “illegitimate” kid into the
house, either secretly fathered by the man or born unto the teen daughter who
went away to a school for a few months.
The reason I would suspect the former in this case is because I don’t
know why a Black man and a Black woman would adopt a mixed race baby. But maybe there is more to the story than my
devious mind is concocting – but you can’t blame me for being fascinated with
Nicolle Richie. Anyhow, my fave part of
this is when Kenny Rogers recounts how Lionel invited him to hear the song he
wrote and just sings, “Lady…da da da da da da ,” which is all that was written
at the time…and is also how I still sing that song even after Lionel added more
lyrics! This show ends with him marrying
Dianne, who he recently divorced and who now has him in court demanding
$300,000 a month. (JA)
RICK SPRINGFIELD
(11/98) The Rick
Springfield story isn’t a narrative so much as it is a list of interesting
facts. As a teen, Springfield toured Vietnam as part of the Australian
band Rock House. He had his first taste
of success with the teen band Zoot. His
early solo albums flopped. He was
confused with Bruce Springsteen. He starred
in a Saturday morning cartoon show for two years. (Unmentioned in the show are his bit parts in
shows such as The Rockford Files, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Incredible Hulk.) He dated Linda Blair of The Exorcist fame. He played
Dr. Noah Drake on General
Hospital. His later solo albums were quite successful. He starred in the movie Hard to Hold. He had to
cancel a tour in the late 80s due to an accident on a four-wheeler. He stopped playing for about 10 years. He came back in the late 90s, and people
still like him. The producers of BTM try
to inject drama (Rick was depressed when his dad died; Rick did not fully enjoy
the heights of his success), but more than anything else Springfield
comes across as a nice guy who likes spending time with his wife and kids. (MF)
KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND (11/98) One
has to respect VH1 for resisting its typical sensationalist leanings here. It would be easy enough to either position KC
as a pathetic freak – after all, he spent a decade in seclusion with a $100,000
per annum drug habit – but Behind the
Music chooses instead to treat him as a Brian Wilson-style miracle recovery
story. The issue of KC’s sexuality is
never addressed, and it’s hard to imagine either VH1 arbitrarily deciding to
ignore one of its Behind the Music
subject’s sex life or KC being able to afford a kick-ass agent who negotiated
absolute privacy on that issue. Rather,
it seems like the show’s producers recognized KC’s reticence and decided not to
press the topic. The show suffers some
from the avoidance – KC’s momentous and acrimonious break from Richard Finch,
for example, might be better explained in that light, as would his 10-year
retreat from the world, which the show attributes to his grief after his
father’s death. Oddly, the show makes no
mention of the Miami-Bass reworking of “Please Don’t Go” that charted in the
early 90’s, right in the middle of KC’s drug hell! (TA)
STEVIE NICKS (12/98) I found the
Fleetwood Mac BTM interesting and was sorta intrigued by the unique perspective
of the Lindsay Buckingham episode, but I was underwhelmed by Stevie’s. The
witchy woman is an expressive vocalist, but she speaks very plainly and tells
her story in a fairly inexpressive, matter-of-fact way. Her struggles with her weight, illegal drugs,
legal drugs (she gets addicted to Klonopin), Ebsteinbar and Lindsay are all
covered in detail, but not with any emotional weight. At times this episode feels more like an
infomerical for her 3 CD box set than a Behind
The Music. (JA)
R.E.M. (12/6/98) This episode does a good job indicating how
important this band is to their fans, colleagues and their hometown. In addition to all the (of course, absurdly
articulate) band members we also hear from Kate of the B52s giving some insight
into the Athens, Georgia “scene” from whence “college rock” came, Courtney
Love’s crazy ass puts in her two cents and even the mayor of Athens declares
the boys to be local treasures. Although
the third act has the dramatic note of a band member falling ill on tour as the
band unifies to support him, for the most part the tragedy here is second hand,
as the sensitive Michael Stipe is deeply affected and inspired to create by the
untimely deaths of River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain. They also have Stipe talk about his “queerness”
to keep things hot. My fave thing in the
show is Stipe preserving his town by becoming a historical real estate tycoon,
buying up old buildings so they don’t get torn down for redevelopment. Can you imagine having Michael Stipe as your
landlord? (JA)
MOTLEY CRUE (12/13/98)
It would be hard not to
make a great Behind the Music out of
the Motley Crue story, and this episode does not disappoint. There’s all the
sex, drugs, death and bitter infighting you can eat here and the interviews are
spectacular! Ironically, the two most drug-addled lunatics in the band, Nikki
Sixx and Tommy Lee (both sober now, more or less), look pretty good in the
contemporary interviews while Vince Neil looks like a bloated beach bum and
Mick Mars looks like the mummified corpse of Ming the Merciless. Motley
Crue doesn’t get the audience rooting for them so much as staring in
slack-jawed disbelief at their epic excesses and this is a formula that BTM is
only too comfortable with. In Motley
Crue: Behind the Music, the form and the content meet like hand and glove
and the experience is completely satisfying. I give it an A+. (BC)
DAVID
CASSIDY (12/20/98) David Cassidy has
told his own story so many times that he can’t help but sound like an
over-rehearsed, smug, uncharming braggart when he describes his highs and lows
of being a teen star, getting no respect in the industry, and causing a
teenybopper fan frenzy that crushed a fan to death. What is notable about this episode is that
Cassidy ends up “on top” because he is doing an absurd Vegas special effects
play. While he is likely making more
money doing this than 75 per cent of BTM subjects somehow this feels as sadly
absurd and self-delusional as the BTM artists who are “back in the studio”
working on a new CD nobody is going to buy. (JA)
BETTE MIDLER (1/3/99) Born in Hawaii,
Midler moves to New York, becomes
a bathhouse singer, briefly stars in Fiddler,
then basically invents a one woman cabaret craze. Though she is an unsigned act Bette gets to
perform on The Tonight Show, and we
are treated to the footage of Johnny Carson praising her to the heavens,
telling her on air that she will become a big star. This is presented by BTM as a monumental,
historic, crucially important moment.
Viewers with foresight will figure out how this is going to work into
the story arc. Anyhoo, Bette gets a
recording contract, and I guess in the weird 70s when there was a few minutes
of eclectic, anything-goes FM radio programming, Bette’s bawdy Andrews Sisters
updates played alongside Led Zeppelin, and that’s why Bette gets to be on a
rock n roll channel biography.
Highlights include a bad record review devastating Bette, Ms. Midler
revealing the happiest time of her life was when she was an anonymous go go
dancer, and the Divine Miss M marrying a bizarre Australian performance
artist. The lowlight is Bruce
Vilanch. Since there was little crazy
career arc stuff they make the notable dramatic career highlight be (you
guessed it) Bette being the last guest on Carson’s
Tonight Show. Not exactly a spontaneous rock & roll
triumph, but I guess it was good show biz.
Unfortunately, after that Carson
moment the show wasn’t over, though it had ran out of steam. The last ten minutes is a dull, rote list of
Bette’s 90s records and movies and concerts and awards. Though Bette was a reasonably interesting
interview, this episode was one of the rare BTM structural failures. (JA)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
