Kenny Rogers

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Decorating our lives or a wooly grey shithouse rat out of control in the USA??

― Mike Hanle y, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like him - he's furry. Besides that - his contribution to the urban cowboy movement is legendary (up until his chain of Rotisserrie diners that reeked constantly of cooking chicken fat and his fading career)...

― jason, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Early singles are classic ("Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town", "Reuben James", "Something's Burning", "Just Dropped in to See What Condition My Condition Was In") and so's "Islands in the Stream". I like him, too. Has he released anything at all lately? I wouldn't call him "out of control" these da

― Arthur, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Uh, these days, that is.

― Arthur, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yah. Crap. I always imagine him with a little gold chain around his neck.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have a soft spot for "Lucille," because even though it's an ersatz shit-kicker it's still such a perfect distillation of the stereotypical shit-kicker song (wife dumps hard-workin' guy who then gets drunk).

Rest is ass, I guess, though I give Kenny Rogers songs as much thought as I give the wallpaper.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Men who look like Kenny Rogers

― nathalie, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Gambler's a great song.

― Ally, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

SHIT! I thought I bought his greatest hits but inside was his debut albuminstead! I want to hear " Lady", AND I'M MAD AS FUCK!!!!!!!!!

― Mike Hanle y, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ultimate dilemma - wanting to kill your wife with a shotgun but being held back on account of having no legs.

He didn't write that one, though. Duddest of duds.

― dave q, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm in two minds about Kenny but I was well up for it when I and some friends managed to blag an excellent box to watch him play the Albert Hall. Unfortunately there was a bomb scare (who would phone a bomb hoax through to disrupt a Kenny R show?).

Kenny was off down the road quicker than greased weasel doings off a shiny shovel, according to a very pleasant middle-aged lady I was talking to outside. Not such a gambler after all, it seems.

― Tim, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Coward of the County" is a great song, isn't it? Don't you just hate those Gatlin boys? BOO! HISS! They took turns at Becky, an' there were THREE of them!

It's the 'old country song' referred to in Belle & Sebastian's "Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It", too....

― MarkH, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

He's actually had 2 huge hits this year. Quite a comeback for a man who was flat broke in the 80's after selling millions and millions of records. I'm not a fan of Kenny's in any way, but I'm the guy who does the website, www.menwholooklikekennyrogers.com. If you haven't checked it out yet, you don't know what you're missing (or maybe you do).

― jaimie muehlhausen, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Five Kenny-related thoughts:

He and the First Edition had a TV show in Canada called "Rollin'" and the accompanying album features Kenny butchering The Beatles' "Long And Winding Road."

The flyer in one of his greatest hits collections in the late 70's offered lots of Kenny merchandise, including a book he wrote about how to succeed in the music business. I'd love to have a copy.

He tried a country-themed sci-fi concept for the song and video of "Planet Texas" in about '89. Failed miserably.

Mid-80's he had George Martin produce an album for him, with the single "Morning Desire" which featured guitar by jazzy finger-tapping Stanley Jordan.

And in the early 90's, he was featured on a promotional campaign for Kraft MiracleWhip salad dressing.

― Chuck Tomlinson, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i thought his chicken was pretty nice. when he opened a restaurant in my hometown he groped three of the high school age waitresses. he used to have a golf instruction video that was pretty classic.

― keith, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" = I have to concede CLASSIC, especially the fade.

― Robin Carmody, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

He seems so..unthreatening, yet strong.

― Mike Hanle y, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

What about his duet with Dottie West?

― Stringent Stepper (Stringent), Thursday, 12 February 2004 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Ever seen the Kenny Rogers movie "Six Pack," featuring a 15 year-old Diane Lane. Oh yes.

― Tab25, Thursday, 12 February 2004 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

What about the great old classic by Kenny & Dolly Islands In The Stream?

― Gale, Thursday, 12 February 2004 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

i love the MadTv kenny rogers more than i should

― kephm, Thursday, 12 February 2004 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Ally OTM. "The Gambler" is one of the twenty best songs ever, fact.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 12 February 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

islands in the stream is the best song.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 14 March 2004 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

ruby don't take your love to town is the best song

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Sunday, 14 March 2004 01:39 (twenty-one years ago)

but islands in the stream

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 14 March 2004 01:41 (twenty-one years ago)

just checked in!

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Sunday, 14 March 2004 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

eight months pass...

I'm going to go and buy some Kenny now, recommendations?

― Porkpie (porkpie), Friday, 26 November 2004 12:18 (twenty years ago)

Kenny Rogers' Xmas. This was, for better or worse, the *preferable* soundtrack during Decembers past. It was that or Anne Murray - and then they did an Xmas show at the Valley Forge Music Fair right before it closed for good!

Cue Nelson Muntz.

Nevertheless, I love this disc, but it's not for everyone. It can't touch that new, morbid "Xmas shoes" single tho'.

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Friday, 26 November 2004 19:15 (twenty years ago)

The flyer in one of his greatest hits collections in the late 70's offered lots of Kenny merchandise
From the Taking Sides: Kenny Rogers vs. Michael Bolton thread:

[I take the side of]
My namesake Kenny Rogers for the reasons given above and for his 70s proto-infomercial in which he said "Many of you have shelled out lots of money for guitars only to find out how expensive it is to learn to play them. That's why I created the Quick-pickin' [picks guitar] Fun-strummin' [strums guitar] Home Guitar Course."

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 26 November 2004 21:10 (twenty years ago)

blackmail beat me to the Kenny Rogers Christmas. it was a staple in my family's car for years during tis the season. i especially recommend "homemade christmas in kentucky." good stuff. "i'd damn near rob a bank to get that doll and billy's knife!" we didn't cuss in our family so if me and my brother were singing along in the backseat, we had to edit ourselves during the "damn" part.

also, my uncle played tennis with kenny once. apparently he's pretty good.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 26 November 2004 21:27 (twenty years ago)

kentucky homemade xmas = the best in working poor, Appalachian Xmas fantasy fetishism. it's also the best song on the disc. people really hate this disc viscerally in some quarters. i think if you were raised with it, your immunized to how much it can suck.

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Saturday, 27 November 2004 04:12 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Dude was on a morning tv show today and looked like this:

http://www.cbsnews.com/images/2006/03/24/image1435287g.jpg

― Je4nn3 Æ’urÂ¥ (Je4nne Fury), Friday, 24 March 2006 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

he looks like Tony Geary. Not in a good way, mind you.

― EZ Snappin (EZSnappin), Friday, 24 March 2006 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

argh. what's with the goatee (not to mention the orange face and sparkly shirt)?

Ruby is a classic though.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:13 (nineteen years ago)

eleven months pass...

The Gambler's a great song.

And now I can't get it out of my head for some reason. Maybe it was the Muppet Show rendition that cemented it. (Odd I'd not said anything about him before on here -- one of those ubiquitous dudes on the radio in my kidhood. I remember being impressed when somewhere in the Midwest in 1982 on our way moving from California to New York he was playing the Enormodome (or the equivalent) in some place we'd stopped for the evening.)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 22:25 (eighteen years ago)

as he sang w/ wyclef:

You got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em (soundbwoys)
Know when to walk away
Know when to run.. (hey, hey, hey, hey..)
You got to count your dub-plates
before you touch the turntables (DJ's)
Cause if you run out of big tunes
that means your sound is done.

― Eisbaer, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 22:43 (eighteen years ago)

Cue Nelson Muntz.

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 22:52 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

kayla to thread

― Surmounter, Thursday, 19 June 2008 04:08 (seventeen years ago)

hey kayla stop lurkin gurl

― The Brainwasher, Thursday, 19 June 2008 04:08 (seventeen years ago)

hi kayla!

― Surmounter, Thursday, 19 June 2008 04:09 (seventeen years ago)

THIS IS SO GOOD

― Eazy, Thursday, 19 June 2008 04:44 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

i can't really hate on KROG, but aren't his vocals a little colorless? i mean, in a way that seems to be his distinguishing feature.

― figuratively, but in a very real way (amateurist), Sunday, 27 December 2009 02:17 (fifteen years ago)

No one mentioned COWARD OF THE COUNTY!!

― US EEL (u s steel), Sunday, 27 December 2009 02:47 (fifteen years ago)

yes, someone did.

― figuratively, but in a very real way (amateurist), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 22:11 (fifteen years ago)

two years pass...

is Lucille about a transvestite?

― piscesx, Monday, 23 January 2012 03:49 (thirteen years ago)

two years pass...

A really good critical reassessment of his band, First Edition!

http://www.letoilemagazine.com/2015/01/07/we-will-rock-you-the-best-band-youve-never-heard-in-your-life-kenny-rogers-the-first-edition/

― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, 8 January 2015 20:28 (ten years ago)

I wish that First Edition stuff was easier to find, the one album I have is great

― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 January 2015 20:53 (ten years ago)

five years pass...

R.I.P., King

― morrisp, Saturday, 21 March 2020 06:33 (five years ago)

RIP Kenny

― God gave toilets rolls to you, gave toilet rolls to you (Tom D.), Saturday, 21 March 2020 09:33 (five years ago)

RIP, I was only reading about Kenny's fast food franchise the other day:

http://oldlarestaurants.com/kenny-rogers-roasters/

― Ward Fowler, Saturday, 21 March 2020 10:43 (five years ago)

Aw RIP Kenny!! He was a childhood favorite and I have a photo of him hugging me somewhere. He was like a comforting grandpa who wasn't technically mine but felt like he was mine all the same.

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 21 March 2020 14:08 (five years ago)

I used to sing "Ruby" to my dog Rudy all the time <3

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 21 March 2020 14:09 (five years ago)

I was surprised to learn back when that not only was Kenny Rogers not the first one to do "The Gambler," he wasn't even the only one to record it that year (1978). It had been recorded twice in the previous years, by Bobby Bare and also by its songwriter Don Schlitz, but then also in 1978 by Johnny Cash, whose version went nowhere.

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 21 March 2020 14:10 (five years ago)

You never know how much you love somebody until they’re gone. I’ve had so many wonderful years and wonderful times with my friend Kenny, but above all the music and the success I loved him as a wonderful man and a true friend. pic.twitter.com/hIQLIvt8pr
— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) March 21, 2020

― morrisp, Saturday, 21 March 2020 22:06 (five years ago)

RIP

We should probably poll one of his album's

― Bee OK, Sunday, 22 March 2020 00:11 (five years ago)

He was a singles artist imo

― Οὖτις, Sunday, 22 March 2020 00:14 (five years ago)

But... i might be up for a listening thread...

― Οὖτις, Sunday, 22 March 2020 00:14 (five years ago)

My first concert.

― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 22 March 2020 00:31 (five years ago)

I tried humanizing him.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 22 March 2020 00:35 (five years ago)

I'm told his records were among the few things that would console me as a toddler, but I haven't knowingly listened to him since! RIP, anyway.

― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Sunday, 22 March 2020 00:51 (five years ago)

i would love to participate in a listening thread if one eventuated

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 22 March 2020 03:51 (five years ago)

two weeks pass...

There's a tribute/benefit concert (for MusiCares) airing Wednesday night on CMT: http://www.cmt.com/news/1819791/new-cmt-giants-kenny-rogers-set-for-wed-april-8/

― morrisp, Sunday, 5 April 2020 22:17 (five years ago)

seven months pass...

forgot how much i love this classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_6dFjENafw

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 13 November 2020 03:33 (four years ago)

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