Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons On Sundays post. On the birthday front, Irish actor Liam Neeson turned another year older on Friday, as he had guest starred in the episode The Father, The Son And The Holy Guest Star, as Father Shon, The kindly Priest who has Bart’s back while in Catholic school.
This week it’s Simpsons Sabbatical season again and for this week, I am going to be talking about two famous people, with one being a group and the other, a comedian and awards show host. First, Bon Jovi and just in time for the release of the new album called Forever. A few weeks ago, I had inserted a video of singer John Bon Jovi covering Elton John so, why not? I am a fan, but I had been left behind after a change in direction in the 2000s, which I will get to further down. I want to talk about how I got into Bon Jovi too so, here we go.
I had discovered Bon Jovi in 1984, when the single Runaway was played on some radio stations, but things began to start to move, with the release of the second album 7800º Fahrenheit in 1985. The singles 恋の切り札 – In And Out Of Love, Only Lonely and Silent Night got my attention, as they were played either on the radio, on Much Music in Canada, or in the air. Actually, it is more from media than anything else at the time as nobody at school owned any albums by Jon Bon Jovi and Company, as I didn’t either. I first heard John speak for the first time on Rockline in early 1986 before they went on tour with Rat. Remember them?
Of course, the big break open was in 1986 with Slippery When Wet, with the three classics: You Give Love A Bad Name, Livin’ On A Prayer and Wanted Dead Or Alive, still being played on classic rock, active rock and mainstream rock radio to this day. Why not? I was lucky enough to see Bon Jovi in July 1987 and it was a great show, even with the hot weather we had at the time. Unfortunately, I had to answer the call of nature during the guitar solo, but I was able to hear it anyway.
Then, New Jersey came out in 1988 and what can I say? Bad Medicine, Born To Be My Baby and I’ll Be There For You are all songs I still love. Then, we have John going solo with Blaze Of Glory in 1990 and then, Bon Jovi came back as a group with Keep The Faith in 1992, with its many hits crossing over from rock and top 40 to adult contemporary. That irritated me a little bit, but the transition wasn’t over by a long shot. We had Always from a Greatest Hits package called Crossroads in 1994 and another studio album in 1995, focusing less on hard rock and more on ballads.
John got into acting with the Young Guns II movie in 1990 and did more movie and soundtrack work in the mid 90s. Then in 2000, It’s My Life from the album Crush was a welcome return to hard rock and even Bounce in 2002, kept it going. Then John and the boys went back to adult contemporary and even country, which totally lost me to this day. Well, he had to grow as an artist and I except that, but I wish that bands would try harder to stick to what brought them here, while expanding their range. Either way, I will always remember the days I would eagerly wait for the next single, the next album and the next interview John, or guitarist Richie Sambora would do on Radio over the phone, or as an album premiere. I hope that John’s issues with his voice are over for good and speaking of that, his speaking voice sounds different from when he was younger. I remember hearing him on Rockline, Mettalshop and Off The Record with Mary Turner and both his singing and speaking voices sounded much different, than they do now in voice timbre. Just look for interviews with John on Youtube today and back in the 80s, 90s and the 2000s and there is a noticeable difference to his sound. Anyway, I am glad that he is still active and the rest of the surviving members of the classic lineup of Bon Jovi two. I have yet to listen to the new album, but judging from the first single it sounds like contemporary Bon Jovi so, I may get around to listening to it, or I may not in coming days. Anyway, here is an interview with John conducted by Kelly Clarkson on her TV show. https://youtu.be/0vogzLVB0Mk?si=YhnaC_-JpRpdE81y
Next, I am going to talk about Billy Crystal, a comedian and alumnus of Saturday Night Live, who had put out his only album in 1985 called Mahvelous. He was just as delightful as Bart Simpson says at the end of the Season 4 episode The Front and not just as a host of the Oscars either. He even does voices including: teenagers, the late Sammy Davis, Jr., Howard Cosell and a character called The Face, which I believe may be based on the great jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. I don’t know, but it sounds that way to me when I hear the voice and this guy is a saxophonist and a 75-year-old guy at that. No, Billy Crystal was actually 37 when this album had come out and I got my dad to buy it for me on cassette, in the fall of 1985. I wanted it mainly for the first single called You Look Marvelous, which was actually played on the rock radio station I listened to at the time, despite being more of a contemporary 80s dance type song, complete with female backing vocals, synthesizers and drum machine. It features the character Fernando and if you haven’t heard it, I have this. https://youtu.be/hXydX9p_ZxA?si=jJXJh89cSmA9tmZZ
By the way, the single had no audience on it, unlike the album version and for the record, this album was recorded live at The Bottom Line in New York, with the album being based on mainly New York characters and even talking about his own struggles as a dad. I mean, just listen to the routines called A Mind of Its Own and Now!, where he does a really deep voice way down below his speaking voice register. To this day, I have no idea what that is called when you do that using you’re breathing, in order to make sounds which are audible and may or may not be a vocal pitch. Then, there’s the Frank Welker technique of what he did with Dr. Klaw on Inspector Gadget, which is quite deep in vocal pitch and timbre. Again, I have no idea what that is called, but I know what they are doing. One moere thing about the album, is that both Billy Crystal and Paul Shaffer wrote the single and they both appear in the movie This Is Spinal Tap. I will do a post on the movie, closer to Season 36.
Billy Crystal also gets into his days as a child and living with his grandfather, who woke him up by farting. I admit to still giggling like a child when I hear that sound, obviously knowing what it is and where it comes from. The routine I am talking about is called Godammit, You…Bastard and you have to hear it, in order to get the full affect of why the text of the title is as such.
Anyway, I never had a problem with the man and I wonder why he didn’t ask to guest star on The Simpsons or if he did, why he hasn’t been able to do so as yet? Is it me, or does Billy Crystal and Dan Castellaneta sound similar in their natural speaking voices? I know there is a difference, but to me they sound so similar and because Billy Crystal did voices in his act, why not have him do a character on The Simpsons? The man is funny, charming and delightful and I hope that one day he will be allowed to stop by Springfield. After all, him and Harry Shearer did work together on that movie 40 years ago. Right?
I should also point out that I chose both Billy Crystal and Bon Jovi because of where they are from. Billy is from New York and Bon Jovi from New Jersey, two neighbouring states with a vibrant music history. After all, you have Bruce Springsteen and his other friends with their own careers such as Southside Johnny, Stephen Van Zandt and of course, John Bon Jovi. No, I haven’t forgotten about the great Frank Sinatra, as he is from Hoboken and Bruce is from asbury Park New Jersey. After all, why do you think the first album was called Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.? Also, radio show host Eddie Trunk is also a New Jersey native and I will do a post on him, on the week of his birthday.
For New York we have plenty of talent to go around and if you have had a chance to watch the Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways HBO documentary series and the episode on New York, you know that it has its own rich history of music and comedy. There are even record labels with head offices in New York, including metal label Roadrunner Records. If you haven’t heard of the label, you can just google it and you will be surprised at how many bands you know of, who were on the label at one time or another in more recent years. Not many, but there were some classic bands who managed to get on the label for a brief time.
Of course, The Simpsons has been to New Yokrk a couple of times and representing New Jersey, we have the character Leon Kompowsky, voiced by Hank Azaria, a native of New York as Leon is from Patterson New Jersey. Then again, Hank is going back (in a way) as he is doing Bruce Springsteen in his tribute band as I mentioned last week so, that could explain how I came up with this weeks post. Then again, it could all be a coincidence and I was thinking of this when finishing off the post, but not so much when I started on Thursday.
One more thing before I end this post, do you remember Billy Crystal taking on The Christmas Song, as made famous by the late Mel Tormé? Well, he did just in time for Christmas in 1985, using all of his character voices including ones I have not mentioned so far. I know it’s a few months away, but I want you to hear this now because it’s so goddamn funny. Bookmark the YouTube video for a playlist which you can create for Christmas and if people ask, tell them where you got it. Besides, this is one way for me to promote the blog if everyone works together. https://youtu.be/-aLtNQ0_SYY?si=UcdIi2-BJWJ6HwJV
Not to leave out Bon Jovi, here is a Christmas song that John had written in the 90s and again, save it for a Christmas playlist as it could come in handy. https://youtu.be/2qLql7S9oro?si=aeq3vjWtoKRX3cRf
Simpsons on Sundays 