Tuesday Tunes 195: Celebrity Revisited

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Continuing my run through further selections of songs for previous themes, today it is the turn of Celebrity, for which I first played a set last September in #166 of this series. Looking back at it, that was a pretty good set, but as the desire for celebrity, and the disillusionment it can sometimes bring, are common themes in music I’m sharing a second set today. And they’re another good collection, I think.

I’ve only played one of these before, and as it is a fairly obvious one for this theme let’s get started with it:

Money For Nothing was a track on Dire Straits’ fifth album, Brothers In Arms – yes, that one! This was released in May 1985 and has become one of the most successful albums of all time: it spent 14 weeks at #1 in the UK Albums chart, 9 weeks in the US, and 34 weeks in Australia. Wikipedia’s listings show an unbroken line of #1 for every country they cover, and its sales have been phenomenal: 9m in the US, 4.3m in the UK, over 1m in each of Australia, Canada and France, and more than 30m world-wide. Five of its nine tracks were released as singles, all of them making the UK singles chart. This was the second, in June 1985, and it got to #1 in the US and Canada, and #4 in the UK. The intro vocals and some of the back up were provided by the distinctive voice of Sting, who performed with the band during their appearance at Live Aid in 1985. The video was also the first to be played on MTV Europe at its launch in 1987. Overall, a pretty good track record!

When I was growing up a new magazine started in the US and was soon imported to these shores. It was about music, politics and culture in general, and it quickly became a badge of honour to be featured on its front cover. So much so, in fact, that these guys made a song about it:

Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, to give them their full original name, released The Cover of Rolling Stone in 1972 on their second album, Sloppy Seconds – they didn’t take themselves too seriously, given what that phrase usually means! The album got to #41 in the US and #16 in Canada, but didn’t make the UK chart. This track was released as a single in October 1972, and peaked at #6 in the US, #2 in Canada, and #3 in New Zealand, but again wasn’t a UK hit, which I find a little surprising as they had a huge hit here earlier that year with Sylvia’s Mother. No accounting for taste, is there: I liked this one much better! This was written by Shel Silverstein, as was the whole of the album and most of their previous one. Shel was well known at the time as a children’s author as well as a songwriter: he also wrote the Johnny Cash hit A Boy Named Sue, though I’m not sure what that says about his track record!

Bringing things much closer to the modern day now. This is a song about the regrets that can come with fame, and I suspect there is a good deal of it which is autobiographical:

Fame doesn’t always bring exactly what you might have expected, does it? The Lucky One was first released in October 2012 as a track on Taylor Swift’s fourth album, Red, which went to #1 in the US, the UK, and many other countries. As part of her project to take back control of her music Taylor re-recorded the album, which came out in November 2021 as Red (Taylor’s Version) and again achieved top spot in both the US and the UK, as well as other countries. Though this song wasn’t released as a single from either version, the lyric video that I am playing was made for the re-release. I think the lyrics, which tell of sadness and disappointment, speak for themselves: was it all really worth it? I think her bank balance might be a comfort to her!

My next choice for today is from the perspective of someone who has made it and is enjoying life as a result, or is he:

“Everybody’s so different, I haven’t changed” gives a pretty good feel for how fame and fortune can have unexpected and unwanted side effects. As well as being a long time member of The Eagles, who he joined in 1975, Joe Walsh has had a long solo career. Life’s Been Good was a track on his fourth solo album, But Seriously, Folks, which came out in May 1978 and reached #8 in the US and #16 in the UK. The song was released as a single to coincide with the album, and peaked at #12 in the US and #14 in the UK. It’s one I’ve always liked, though I didn’t have the album.

Todays’s closing tune is another about someone dreaming of the riches, fame and fortune that can come with being a star, with a rather warped view of the excesses he will be able to afford:

Rockstar was first released on Nickelback’s fifth album, All The Right Reasons, in October 2005. The album was #1 in both the US and the UK, and has sold more than 11m copies worldwide: 7.9m in the US (Diamond status) and 900k in the UK (Triple Platinum). Rockstar was released as a single in August 2006, but only in North America. It was eventually a single here the following year: digitally in June 2007 and in a physical version in November. It made the UK Singles chart on the strength of digital sales, but the physical release was what helped it really take off: it spent 53 weeks on the chart, during which it peaked at #2 in February 2008, well over two years after the album first came out. Sales have been 1.8m in the UK and 4.5m in the US, where it peaked at #6 after it was re-released in June 2007. The video was made to support that re-release: apparently the record company didn’t think it worthwhile the first time round! It’s a fun record, and I like the way the video combines celebrities and unknowns lip synching the lyrics.

That’s all for this week, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this second set of songs about celebrity. I’ll see you again soon – until then, stay safe and warm 😊

51 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 195: Celebrity Revisited”

  1. Pingback: Bye Bye April | Take It Easy

  9. Love Dire Straits. Its a great song. Not sure I’ve heard the Dr Hook one. I did see them live in the late 70s and they were good fun. It was nice to hear that Joe Walsh one again. Not a fan of the Taylor Swift song but the lyrics are interesting. Really enjoyed Nickleback and Rockstar – the song and the video! Looking forward to more celebrity songs next week.

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    • I’m a big fan of everything Dire Straits did, and the video for this is great. Dr Hook didn’t do much here with that one, but judging by this video I’m sure they were fun to see. Joe Walsh doesn’t get played as much as he deserves, in my view. Sorry you didn’t take to Taylor – I’ve been a fan of hers since the beginning and she has many songs with intelligent lyrics like this one. Great video for Rockstar, isn’t it!

      Sorry to disappoint but next week will be a different theme. I’m working my way through songs I listed but didn’t play for previous themes, but the music will still be good, though 😊

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    • Thank you, Darlene, I’m pleased you enjoyed them. Dire Straits are still one of my favourite bands, even after 40 years or so. I didn’t like all of Dr Hook’s stuff but this one is fun 😊

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