Merle Haggard is not hard to admire. The hits do their job beautifully. “Mama Tried.” “Sing Me Back Home.” “The Bottle Let Me Down.” “Working Man Blues.” “If We Make It Through December.” That already gives you the outline of the legend: the prison past, the Bakersfield snap, the working-class pride, the bruised romanticism, the…
There are worse fates than being remembered for “Don’t Dream It’s Over.” Plenty of bands get stuck with a novelty hit, or one accidental smash that barely sounds like the rest of their catalog. Crowded House got stuck with one of the most graceful pop songs of the 1980s. That’s a better problem than most….
I wish more people knew that Simple Minds are not just the Breakfast Club band. Yes, of course “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” is huge. It deserves to be huge and I still love it. The drum hit still lands, the chorus still lifts, and it will probably be attached to that freeze-frame ending forever….