Squandering The Legacy: Worst Artists' Kids

if anyone votes for rosanne cash i’m kicking their ass

Voted Jakob. I've never heard him but I can't believe he'd be any good.

touch choice between kelly and hank jr.

this made me laugh heartily btw, thx.

This thread was inspired by the global thread, where I realized that I've never liked any music by Fela's kids, and then started wondering whether his kids or Bob Marley's kids had done less with the parent's legacy. Then I expanded the field.

Rude to include Neneh Cherry tbh

Write-in vote for Carnie Wilson.

In 2006, Carnie released an album of lullabies, A Mother's Gift: Lullabies from the Heart,[2] created shortly after the birth of her daughter, Lola. She released her second solo effort in October 2007, a Christmas album entitled Christmas with Carnie[3] featuring a song written by her husband; "Warm Lovin' Christmastime".

Actually I just listened to a couple of Wallflowers songs because I'd never heard them, and then voted Dylan. What a pile of middly, 90s, shit drum sound and crap Hammond lines mainstream rock. Abominable!

Hate to see most of these options when Chet Hanks is out there.

Voted Sean Lennon because he's apparently a bitcoin bro now.

Sean also does an annoying thing on his instagram where he uploads a single photo in sections across 9 separate posts.

are any other the other people mentioned here into crypto/NFTs? it seems like a good thing for the child of a famous pop star to be into.

If we're expanding to non-musical factors, Hank Jr. managed to drag his father's entire name (first and last) into the gutter.

it's not really fair doubling up Neneh with Eagle-eyes, she's done loads of good stuff and Buffalo Stance is the absolute fucking sound of the summer of '89.

or it seemed to be released in '88 but fuck knows!

the Nelson kids

If we're expanding to non-musical factors,

― Texas Medicine v. Railroad Gin (morrisp), Wednesday, December 29, 2021 1:06 PM

lol that was the only thing i considered in my vote, because c'mon.

the Nelson kids

― hopefully this review helped someone (Neanderthal), Wednesday, December 29, 2021 1:11 PM

see if we were going purely by worst music, that's a tough one to top.

Hank Jr also responsible for Hank III

Forgot about the Nelsons, but tbf I've mostly forgotten about Ricky Nelson, too.

bad poll

Have seen seun kuti live and enjoyed his last album.

Seun's albums are the only modern afrobeat records I like, aside from a few Tony Allen ones (RIP).

Re: Fela's kids: have you heard this badass Femi Kuti song...?!?!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnEvx1URS2s

Damn it's crazy that Femi is now older than Fela was when he died

Surprised Lisa Marie wasn't included, for completeness' sake (though I hear her albums are actually pretty good)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_What_(Lisa_Marie_Presley_album)#/media/File:Lisa_Marie_Presley_-_Now_What.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/Lisa_Marie_Presley_-_Now_What.jpg

THE FUCK IS ROSANNE CASH DOING HERE

Most of these spawn have recorded at worst bog standard music and a few record music not at all like their parents' (Cash). Even Certified Asshole Hank, Jr.

xxxxp Hank Jr cannot be redeemed by Hank III. It's more like Hank III was just rebelling against his dad's music than he was somehow restoring his Grandpa's legacy. The legacy of the Hillbilly Shakespeare would continue above and beyond both of them no matter what they did.

People seem to rate Baxter Dury but he just sounds exactly like his dad to me

Are there any musical offspring that are arguably better than their parents? The Wainwrights maybe?

I wanna say Jean-Michel Jarre but I did not realize what an expansive career Maurice had

Seems like it's a fairly common story in interviews with famous musicians that one or both of their parents were musicians who never "made it" but raised them on a love of music with a will to succeed at it.

Are there any musical offspring that are arguably better than their parents? The Wainwrights maybe?

Apart from Zak Starkey?

Are there any musical offspring that are arguably better than their parents?

I wouldn't, but some might say Jeff Buckley.

I'm sure people have argued Liza Minella v Judy Garland before?

lol Minelli

Pete Seeger v Ruth Crawford Seeger?

It's a different benchmark depending what you think is worse:

- for someone's kid to achieve a certain level of (undeserved) fame and success
- or that they barely get a career started at all.

There's pathos in the latter; I believe Roger Daltrey told his son he'd never be good enough to be a well-known musician.

thank you Roger Daltrey for your dedicated service to the curse of nepotism in music, now you can fuck off as well

I feel like Jakob is objectively the worst of the choices here, YMMV

I have seen Caspar and Seun live and they both totally ruled, btw

I saw Caspar live once too (opening for Helmet) and he was amazing.

I would guess Kim Wilde is better than Marty Wilde but I've never really heard anything he did and I'm sure I read that some of his 60s stuff was pretty good.

jay weinberg is a better drummer than max weinberg

He's definitely in a better band, at any rate.

Can't vote for Sean and Julian L. because "Too Late for Goodbyes" is for real a good track.

I would guess Kim Wilde is better than Marty Wilde

he wrote most of her 80s stuff!

I used to have a concern with artists who did wildly ambitious work that sought to redefine entire paradigms of music...and then their children performed relatively straightforward "genre" music. A lot of that has to do with my own preoccupations with "advancement" in music, parental legacies, what children owe their parents, etc.
Also, if you don't know the musicians' work in detail, you're just dealing with stereotypes. For instance, there may be old-school Tim Buckley fans that consider Jeff's work run-of-the-mill "grunge".
Voted the Lennons, but this poll made me remember Christgau's review of Hank Williams Jr's Family Tradition:

Since "To Love Somebody" isn't exactly Hank's kind of song, I guess he disavowed the Ray Ruff-produced side of this. On the other hand, "Family Tradition" (guess who that's about) leads off the other side, and it is exactly Hank's kind of song. Exactly. That's not so great either. C

This is something James Redd, Sr. would often harp on and so, even though I haven't heard him do it recently, I am somewhat reluctant to pass judgement. Maybe will have a look-see anyway.

has Wolfgang even released anything??

Mammoth WVH is the name of his band/project, and he topped the mainstream rock chart over the summer of 2021. It's pretty boilerplate stuff imo, but I follow Valerie Bertinelli on twitter and she's a proud mom.

Also, people are really shitty to him, so even though I don't like his music I don't think he deserves to be trapped in his dad's shadow.

Hank Jr. is a loud right wing dick, that is the reason he won this contest. As a country music artist, he's one of the most popular of the mid 70s to through the 80s. At his peak, he could sell out arenas - he's probably as 'popular' as all the rest of these people combined at least in the US.

More like BOGUScephus, amirite?

Hank Jr. is a loud right wing dick, that is the reason he won this contest.

I didn't vote for him but this is otm

Terrific Sinatra Jr. story from '94, almost feels like the basis for a Scorsese film

https://deadspin.com/frank-sinatra-jr-is-worth-six-buddy-grecos-1000516479

Reminds me of the Don Rickles story he told on Letterman, that Sinatra told him the kidnappers returned Jr. after they heard him "humming in the trunk"

Hank Jr. is a loud right wing dick, that is the reason he won this contest. As a country music artist, he's one of the most popular of the mid 70s to through the 80s.

Because being popular is always an indication of quality.

Mind you, I don't disagree that his personal convictions are why he so thoroughly dominated this poll, but saying he sold a lot of records doesn't hold a lot of sway for me.

Sean Lennon's politics aren't necessarily better than Hank Jr's!

Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound is a great album

or, put it this way, Hank Jr. has a shitload of fans that like him, because of his songs, that don't listen to his dad's music at all

Cherry (Neneh, Eagle Eye) 2

Two users need to stop huffing paint immediately, your friends are concerned about you. And I love don.

that's absurd lol for sure all the kids that were loving Buffalo Stance were like "did you hear??. she's DON CHERRY'S DAUGHTER how rad"

same with

Chappies banging dustbin lids together

(President Keyes) at 6:30 31 Dec 21

Missing option for Ravi Shankar-Norah Jones

also true for her, other than I'm assuming growing up affluent, she got no advantage from her dad's career, she didn't promote that fact and she works in a completely different

smh Roseanne Cash received the same amount of votes as Wolfgang Van Halen

This is ridiculous.

Rosanne Cash does not deserve inclusion. Who the fuck voted for her? Show yourselves.

Nor does Hank, Jr.

also true for her, other than I'm assuming growing up affluent, she got no advantage from her dad's career, she didn't promote that fact and she works in a completely different

Really? "Ravi Shankar's daughter" was one of the first things I heard any time someone mentioned her when her first big album came out. I might not be a representative listener, though.

Yeah, Marissa dot dot dot

Safe to say Willow is at least not squandering the allegedly brilliant lasting cultural legacy of (checks notes) the guy who did the "Men in Black" theme and (checks notes) the theme song of "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air."

the first two Fresh Prince/DJ Jazzy Jeff records are really charming and better than people give them credit for, they connected hip hop with an almost 50s everyteen aesthetic, think "Yakety Yak" etc, there's actually some really strong Run DMC era rapping on some album tracks

"Summertime" is obviously an all time classic, perfect song

"Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" is good if a bit corny

xpost sund4r I think that's not representative - she sold 12 million copies of that first album

either way she did it on her songs, her talent

I don't even think I knew who her dad was until way after she was famous

Interesting. It was mentioned in the AMG review but I fully acknowledge that my perception of it could have been slanted. In any case, I definitely don't think anyone listened to her adult contemporary/vocal jazz records and thought worse of her estranged father's sitar playing.

Of course not because “squandering the legacy” is not really a thing

come one we all know she coasted to fame on Ravi Shankars massive 2002-era popularity

He's not a minor figure. Even if people didn't listen to Hindustani music, they would have likely known of his name, reputation, connection to the Beatles, etc.; it wouldn't be a meaningless promotional hook.

See the first reply to this thread from 2002, for example, afaik the earliest Norah Jones thread on ILM: RFD: Norah Jones & Her Ilk

lol that "this year's Fiona Apple" is meat to be an insult

Here's how I would break it down:

Helped by parent's legacy, but actually have songs or albums that people care about on their own:
Hank Jr
Jakob Dylan
Roseanne Cash

Have albums/songs people care about on their own, parent's legacy helped to a smaller degree, but as more of a "fun fact" biographical detail:
Neneh Cherry
Norah Jones

Greatly helped by legacy, had a pleasant hit or two, not major artists
Ziggy Marley
Eagle Eye Cherry

Carried on tradition or spirit of parents work:
Ziggy Marley again
Sean Kuti

Useless rich kids:
Wolfgang Van Halen
Kelly Osbourne

Classic trust fund kid doing whatever arty stuff they want just because they never have to work ever (but some interesting stuff):
Sean Lennon

don't really know where to slot Caspar Brotzmann, he does his own thing but in that small niche world I'm sure his dad's name rang bells esp early on

stratch eagle eye from that an add julian lennon in pleasant hit category

Just heard Martha Wainwright's "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole," nice work.

it's weird to me to think that having rich, famous parents heavily connected to the music industry could only "help" you in terms of it being a promotional hook. it's about having doors opened for you, having all your family friends and well-wishing adults who watched you grow up being music industry people who want to help you succeed. just as much as if your parents owned a car dealership, you're probably in good with all the Chamber of Commerce folks in your town and are not going to have a problem getting a nice gig right out of school, if you want it. music-wise, you're getting into meetings and lunches and parties and conversations that other people, of similar or perhaps greater 'talent,' aren't going to get access to. it's not something we can exactly 'fix' or control for, and it's not by itself a slight against the music... but let's not pretend Norah Jones or Eagle Eye Cherry is just humbly sending in a demo, an exec hears it and goes "who is this kid?? find them and sign them!"

minor fact-check: i believe Neneh Cherry is Don Cherry's step-daughter. and he and her mother had Eagle Eye together, so he's her half-brother.

I'd sooner relisten to "Save Tonight" than anything by anyone else on the list ("Blue Moon with Heartache" is close).

uhhh what

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-ZxQyaWScE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCLGWTNZak

They're fine, don't really stand out for me?

let's not pretend Norah Jones or Eagle Eye Cherry is just humbly sending in a demo, an exec hears it and goes "who is this kid?? find them and sign them!"

I don't know Eagle Eye's story, but I think Jones got signed on her own merits.

Yeah, iirc Ravi wasn't even really a part of NJ's life growing up and she made her bones for years before anyone connected the dots.

Yeah, and she very very much went out of her way not to make the connection or talk about him.

She even legally changed her name from Geethali Norah Jones Shankar to Norah Jones.

Kip Beethoven

The musician Moby is following in the footsteps of his long-distant ancestor Herman Melville and turning to the literary arena, with a ...

huh, okay, did not realize Jones was that far distant from Shankar.

Also as someone whose dad is *technically* a stepdad and whose sister is *technically* a half sister I don’t see much value in those corrections tbh

Appreciate that - definitely don't mean to suggest that they are not meaningfully "his" kids. I should have represented that as additional biographical detail rather than a fact-check.

Shame Mabel didn't feature in the poll to see how she'd do against her mum.

don't really know where to slot Caspar Brotzmann, he does his own thing but in that small niche world I'm sure his dad's name rang bells esp early on

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 15:05 (five hours ago) link

The family connection was def a thing when I first became aware of him in the mid-90s, but yeah not sure where to slot him since other than been "intense" and "loud" he really isn't anything like P Broztmann musically.

I think you could make the case he would be roughly the same level of renown if his name were Joe Bag'O'Doughnuts. I mean I'd probably buy a Bag'O'Doughnuts Massakar record

Personal story, untold until now...

Back when I was trying to start or join a band based on my freshly written songs, one guy told me that one of my songs was very similar to a demo tape he'd heard of Julian Lennon's. Five years later, I got to hear his tune in the chart. My song was called "Too Late". And yes, it does sound like one or other of us was copying.

Nor does Hank, Jr.

Ew, no

Sean Lennon's politics aren't necessarily better than Hank Jr's!

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, January 12, 2022 1:53 PM (yesterday)

not gonna defend sean who seems like a pretty annoying bitcoin bro but i dunno, hank seems significantly worse to me

Hank's decent as long as his rowdy friends stay at home.

well they have settled down

listening to Hank Jr, "OD'd in Denver" rules

yeah not to be corny indie dude but i heard the Oldham/Callahan cover of that in 2020 and it really made me rethink my opinions on Hank Jr, hell of a song.