Rod Stewart's "Young Turks"

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Sorry for the single-song question -- these tend not to provoke good discussion -- but as a poll of sorts: what do you think of Rod Stewart's "Young Turks?"

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 4 November 2002 17:57 (twenty-three years ago)

I loved when Catherine OHara sang it (as Brooke Sheilds)

Dud. But catchy. Thanks for fucking getting it stuck in my head.

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 4 November 2002 18:06 (twenty-three years ago)

I LOVE IT!

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Monday, 4 November 2002 18:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Patti gave birth to a ten pound baby boy-oy-oy-oy!

Go Billy and Patti!!!

― Arthur (Arthur), Monday, 4 November 2002 18:19 (twenty-three years ago)

It's better than "Infatuation."

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Monday, 4 November 2002 18:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Billy got his ear pierced, drove a pickup like a luna-ti-i-ic

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Monday, 4 November 2002 18:27 (twenty-three years ago)

This was one of the first 7" singles I ever picked up. I love it and found it very sexy as a child ("gave birth" - huh huh, how'd that happen?!). Great tune, especially the organ melody. (I almost just said "organ medley" - that too!)

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 4 November 2002 18:31 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.wbr.com/rodstewart/iwfilt/img/tonight.JPG

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Monday, 4 November 2002 18:31 (twenty-three years ago)

thanks for the throwback Fritz! Rod's hair vs Limahl's hair: FITE!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 4 November 2002 18:48 (twenty-three years ago)

In the video it is the sunset "golden hour" and he is naturally backlit on a rooftop and he gets that great hair-halo effect where the edges of his coif are luminous and transparent!

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 4 November 2002 19:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I think it's one of his all-time best. "Life is so brief, and time is a thief, when you're undecided..."

― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 01:29 (twenty-three years ago)

One of the most disgustingly wonderful songs ever written--along with "Baby Jane".

― Ashley Andel, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 02:41 (twenty-three years ago)

I actually liked it a lot when it came out, too, and I would probably still like it now if the bits of it still rattling around in my head are accurate/non-romanticized. I remember when it came out that it seemed remarkably edgy for what I knew of Rod, which was admittedly only "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and maybe "Maggie May" at that point. And you know, I still think it is!

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 03:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Oddly enough I've been listening to that a lot lately. The McDonalds in my town oddly plays '80s hits like "Young Turks," "Johnny & Mary" by Robert Palmer, "Stand & Deliver" by Adam Ant, "Wishing" by Flock Of Seagulls and plenty of other more and less obscure stuff. I wish it had a dance floor. In the context of '80s pop, "Young Turks" is just more of that sweet shit, but in the context of his own career, I like how it acknowledges his age and distance from Young Turkdom and reaffirms that Rod, when he bothers, can rock over any backdrop, be it synth-beats or the Faces. Not unlike "Rose Is Still A Rose" by Aretha Franklin with a better beat and without a gratuitous thumbs-up from a younger star.

― Anthony Miccio, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 04:28 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

I had never heard this before today and immediately wanted to start a thread on it. It's terrific - disco Springsteen before Springsteen went disco!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 12:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Reading this thread makes me wonder: I thought everybody HATED Rod Stewart.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 12:46 (twenty-one years ago)

disco Springsteen

You say that like it's a good thing.

Are y'all going to be glorifying every bit of half-forgotten 80s dross now that the 80s are, you know, real cool and stuff now? Not that I have any particular axe to grind against "Young Turks" but it's very, very much b-level Rod and just cause it has some tinny synth beat doesn't suddenly make it great.

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 13:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I have always glorified every bit of half-forgotten 80s dross! The 90s are cooler now anyway, I will start glorifying them when the time comes.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorry to be harsh, "Young Turks" ain't bad (though the "Young Hearts, Run Free" steal always bugged me) but it's no "You Wear It Well"

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 14:30 (twenty-one years ago)

yeh i like this - what makes 'you wear it well' better tho?

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

also i think glorifying 'mediocre' 80s pop isn't really a bad thing when what's spurring that glory on is the memories you attach to the tracks and how that affects your view of the song.

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

what makes 'you wear it well' better tho?

Nothing much, just the tune, the vocals, the lyrics, the music.

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

("gave birth" - huh huh, how'd that happen?!).

The line "drove his pick up like a lunatic"

My ears heared an alternate word for "Pick"

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

You Wear It Well is the Maggie May that you've never seen your pissed up Aunt Dot dancing to at some hideous wedding or other.

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey what other eighties stuff has the same beat as "Young Turks" & "Johnny & Mary"?

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

They both open with basically the same programmed sound!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey what other eighties stuff has the same beat as "Young Turks" & "Johnny & Mary"?

Maniac by Michael Sembello. Interested to see what Tom makes of that.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:34 (twenty-one years ago)

My earliest thoughts of sex are intimately wrapped up in this song and "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy." He lost me with "Some Guys Have All the Luck."

― Pete Scholtes, Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Billy - I like Maniac a lot!

LondonLee - sure it's not as good as "You Wear It Well", but that's his best song. It's better than "Mandolin Wind", "Every Picture Tells A Story", "The Killing Of Georgie", etc etc.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Naff though it is, I do have a soft spot for "The Killing of Georgie"

If we're gonna be glorifying half-forgotten Rod singles then I'd like to praise "Farewell", the sort of lovely mandolin-and-fiddle driven ditty that reminds you how much The Pogues owe him.

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

ALL THESE SONGS MENTIONED ARE GREAT BECAUSE ROD IS GREAT THOUGH THANKFULLY NONE OF MY THOUGHTS ON SEX ARE INTIMATELY WRAPPED UP IN HIM. THANK GOD.

Rod roolz.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

and how does it compare to "Crazy About Her," though? Now THAT'S an underrated masterpiece.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I like Maniac too, apart from the vocals. Rod could've done a killer version of it.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Also the 80s were a really, really good time for commercial pop (by and large) so even mediocre singles tend to be enjoyable, and the likes of Rod were still young enough to raise their games and compete rather than going straight for the fifty-quid-man market.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i have a huge sentimental love for "young turks." it reminds of childhood summers spent driving around in my parents' impala with my babysitter & her best friend, both of whom took the song's bit about driving like a lunatic seriously.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey what other eighties stuff has the same beat as "Young Turks" & "Johnny & Mary"?

A-Ha 'Take On Me'
Jane Wiedlin 'Rush Hour'
Pat Benatar 'Love Is A Battlefield'
Propaganda 'Duel' (albeit slower)

all marvellous

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

seventeen years pass...

https://pitchfork.com/news/young-turks-changes-name-and-makes-donation-to-armenian-institute/

how did it take them this long

― ufo, Tuesday, 6 April 2021 15:32 (four years ago)

this is great, it's bugged me for ages that my Twigs records were on a label with that name (my wife is armenian so I never hear the end of it re: this terminology, whether it's around Cenk's stupid broadcast or this song. In fact she wrote a pretty good essay about her reaction when she learned this was the name of this song).

― akm, Tuesday, 6 April 2021 18:37 (four years ago)

I was just talking about this with an Armenian friend of mine, who’d never heard of the label, and he was amused by the founder’s claim that he was unaware of the term’s connotations despite initially electing a skull wearing a fez as the label’s logo.

― pomenitul, Tuesday, 6 April 2021 19:10 (four years ago)

yeah there's a similar comment on the post; though I could see them just doing that because it was a fez and a fez is associated with turks in general. I would not be surprised if they did not investigate this very deeply given their ages when the label launched.

― akm, Tuesday, 6 April 2021 19:29 (four years ago)

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