Friday, January 16, 2009
Creamtastic Otis Redding and Sam Cooke Sign To Motown--at Least According Kings of Leon's Caleb Followill
Posted by Adam Gold on Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 7:07 AM
It would be more than fair to call our coverage of "local" stoogely brothers Kings of Leon hyper-critical. We've nit-picked and exploited all of their transgressions, from their eating disorders to their bizarre group sex proclivities to their musings on Animal Collective and beyond. And while it would probably be best for us to move on, do like Top 40 radio and ignore these guys completely, sometimes it's just too hard to look away.
The Jan. 15 issue of NME is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Motown with a feature titled "10 Incredible Motown Tracks You Haven't Heard." Strangely enough, two of their choices are The Commodores' "Brick House" and Mary Wells' "You Beat Me To The Punch." Hardly rarities. That might be explained by their panel of pop stars, including none other than Caleb Followill, who selected cuts by Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. Having never recorded for Motown, both Cooke and Redding turned in their respective graves while Berry Gordy wept.
I'd say as a general rule, if you don't know the difference between Northern and Southern soul, shut the fuck up and abstain from weighing in on the subject. Lately, I've been trying to wean myself off of using the term "fail," but I'm forced to make an exception for this one. Ultimate. FAIL. NME are partially to blame here as well. Why are they asking a Followill about Motown? That's like asking Dean Koontz what his favorite Salinger novel is. Perhaps next time they interview Caleb Followill they should stick to questions like, "Who's your favorite Strokes member?" or "Which of your brothers has the biggest cock?" Keep him in his element, ya know?
Anyway, despite our constant attempts at character assassination and their inability to have a single chart above #56 in the US, KOL seem to be doing just fine. They bring their caravan of ineptitude to Madison Square Garden--which they will be surprised to find is in New York, not Madison--on Jan. 29.
Comments (11)
Showing 1-11 of 11
like
dislike
EUREKA!!!, Gold. This is not nit picking, this is a very important thing to point out. There are very important differences in Northern and Southern soul and we all need to be aware of that fact.
Otis wasn't singing that polished up stuff from Detroit, he was singing sweet down and dirty Macon, Ga hambone soul. Thank God for Stax and Atlantic.
Here Here. One time on my birthday I was walking around Boston and ended up over at Cheapo Records in Cambridge where, it being my birthday and all, I rationalized a $100 impulse buy of the 9 disc Stax singles box set...Best purchase ever!
please stop posting about these retarded retards. we get it, they're stupid. i bet they think shrimp boat put their records out on touch and go! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!
Look, I don't think the Followills claimed to be music-history geniuses. They make great music and you're just jealous about their slow-but-steady success in the U.S.
Oh and BTW, I live in California and will travel to NYC to see them at their Madison Square Garden show where I will meet up with fellow fans from Ireland and the UK.
And the fact that Caleb doesn't know his Motown music didn't not make an ounce of difference when I decided to book my flight and hotel in NYC back in October!
calling what Adam does 'work' would be to use that term in the loosest of fashions.
dear Adam, if you're bored on a Thursday, just tell us. don't constantly write jealous trite about guys you'd obviously give your left and right nut to be for a single minute of any day of your life.
You know, Adam is just pointing out a pretty significant mistake made by a member of KOL and NME magazine. It may not seem that big to you, but it makes for entertaining writing, and that is one of the things the Cream is here to do.
And to add my own opinion, flying from Cali to NYC to see the Kings of Leon is a waste of fucking time and money. So KOL fan, have fun!!!!!!!!
Vote here for best Band of the Week
Slideshows
Top Commenters
