In reply to the "Tell us about Glam rock pls" question- Americans, please explain Jimmy Buffett to non yanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUTf5qvS0Lo&feature=related

seriously what the FUCK?

in a similar way to phish/DMB, i'd think the vast majority of people in the UK and hopefully Europe, even huge music fans, have never heard one of his songs before. please explain him. he's pretty massive right?

i don't understand jimmy buffett, but this is the only time i felt like i was close to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX1Nh6c80wo

jimmy buffett was in status quo

It goes like this

Buffet:Vacationing Americans::Shitty techno:Europeans on Holiday

Hmm. is this something you enjoy as a child and then enjoy ironically, or a lifelong serious affliction?

Lifelong affliction. His fanbase is mostly his age.

yeah nobody under the age of maybe 50 cares about him

Jimmy Buffet is for middle-aged (or, i guess old) people who don't like anything close to "bad vibes" in their music when they are drinking (and possibly smoking a lil herb).

Hawaiian shirt wearing, pony-tailed (if they still have hair) white dudes who like vacations in the Carribean and not having to wear shoes.

yes, an excuse to post the best review of all time!

Jimmy Buffet, License to Chill

PRO-SOCIAL CONTENT
Buffett wants to relax and enjoy life (“Trip Around the Sun” with Martina McBride). On “Anything, Anytime, Anywhere” he assures a special lady, “Tell me what you need/I will surely come through.” Sailboats are a metaphor for unfulfilled dreams the singer is ready to pursue (“Boats to Build” with Alan Jackson). Amid sober reflections, a man claims to have learned from his mistakes on “Scarlet Begonias.”

OBJECTIONABLE CONTENT
The irreverent “Coastal Confessions” finds a cocky, unrepentant man prattling to a priest about impure thoughts and marijuana use, saying, “Bless me father/Yes, I have sinned/Given the chance I’ll probably do it again.” Strangers have a fling that involves cruising bars and buying a thong (“Conky Tonkin” with Clint Black). With bad-boy aplomb, the spiritually confused Buffett calls himself a “Piece of Work” (a Toby Keith duet). Aided by Kenny Chesney on the title track, he misuses Jesus’ name, ogles half-naked women and calls his boss a jerk. Profanities mar several cuts. Beyond an s-word, “Simply Complicated” imagines receiving perverse news about family members.

SUMMARY ADVISORY
It’s been 27 years since “Margaritaville,” and Buffett still lives for the weekends. A few positive moments aside, this CD finds him spiritually lost in a chronic midlife crisis full of bars, women and zero accountability.

This was not the first time Buffett had been assumed to be carrying drugs. In January 1996 his Grumman HU-16 airplane nicknamed "Hemisphere Dancer" was shot at by Jamaican police who believed the craft to be smuggling marijuana. The aircraft sustained minimal damage. On board the plane with Buffett were U2's Bono, and Island Records producer Chris Blackwell, and co-pilot Bill Dindy. The Jamaican government acknowledged the mistake and apologized to Buffett who penned the song "Jamaica Mistaica" for his Banana Wind album based on the experience.

do people listen to james taylor in the u.k.? i only ask cuz i remember maria saying that when she lived in holland nobody knew who james taylor was. not that the u.k. is holland. oh wait he was signed to apple, right? okay, then maybe they do know who he is.

Jimmy Buffet owns a restaurant chain named after the only damned song anyone knows:

http://www.margaritavillemyrtlebeach.com/templates/default/images/home_promo_main.jpg

He's also one of the wealthiest entertainers in the world.

Buffett has taken advantage of his name and the fan following for his music to launch several business ventures, usually with a tropical theme. He owns or licenses the Margaritaville Cafe and Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chains. As a baseball fan, he was part-owner of two minor league teams: the Fort Myers Miracle and the Madison Black Wolf. Between his restaurants, album sales, and tours, he earns an estimated $100 million a year.

terrible

his fans are called "parrot-heads"

thats all ive got

sometimes these are pretty OTM:

SUMMARY ADVISORY
It’s been 27 years since “Margaritaville,” and Buffett still lives for the weekends. A few positive moments aside, this CD finds him spiritually lost in a chronic midlife crisis full of bars, women and zero accountability.

Somewhere right now, and all the time until the end of summer and then some, Jimmy Buffett will be playing in the United States or in some tourist trap that mostly attracts we Yanks. Can glam rock make the same claim (except for Queen's "We Will Rock You?" which we've also taken over)? I don't think so.

is that wyatt cenac playing james ingram?

On February 4, 2001, Buffet was ejected from the American Airlines Arena in Miami during a Miami Heat/New York Knicks basketball game for cursing. After the game, referee Joe Forte said that he ordered the singer moved during the fourth quarter because "there was a little boy sitting next to him and a lady sitting by him. He used some words he knows he shouldn't have used."

However, Forte apparently didn't know who he'd just removed from the arena. Heat coach Pat Riley tried to explain who Buffett was to Forte and was censured himself because the referee thought Riley was insulting him by asking if he'd ever been a "Parrothead," the nickname for Buffett fanatics.

Awesome.

you guys

http://www.margaritaville.com/index.php?page=pphotos

I'm trying to think of the closest British analogue and I keep coming back to Wings

best i can explain is that he's one of those musicians where the music is secondary (or tertiary, or beyond) to the image/lifestyle being sold. his fans essentially live for that one day a year when he comes to their city, or whenever they can save enough to pull a week in key west.

Just basically take a young American guy who enjoys a good party and then grow him up into a middle-aged, middle-class American adult male, and then imagine the stuff he might like: it'd be nice to have your own boat, tell your jerk of a boss to shove it, sail down somewhere it's warm and just take 'er easy, get some cocktails on the beach, havin' some drinks, charmin' some ladies, you know, exotic island ladies or real classy types, it's all good, plus when you're drinking on the beach you never have to dress any better than you would if you were mowing your lawn, then maybe smoke a little weed now and then, up in your house there where it's warm, your own little piece of property, cuz you're an independent type, they can call you a bad-boy if they wanna, but you're just lookin' to take 'er easy and have some good times, hang out there with the characters down at the bar, hear some stories, tell some tales, sometimes have some buddies over and break out the old six-string and lay down a couple nice little tunes about how funny life can be and how nice it is to just take 'er easy, down somewhere it's warm.

basically there is a strain of mainstream American adult male for whom real non-conformist freedom isn't about any arty transgressive shit, it's about not having to wear shoes or trousers if you don't damn well feel like it

^^^good analysis

One of his restaurants is on the strip in Vegas. When i walked by there were approximately 6-8 people with straw hats and those enormous Slurpee-sized drinks that you see all over in Vegas. It looked like the worst place on the strip.

Also, didn't he get thrown out of a basketball game a few years ago?

i would say it's garrison keillor + "kokomo" + mom 'n' dad college football fandom (this might not help UK people much)

mom 'n' dad college football fandom = oh yes, this is very, very good

i would recommend that non-US people do an image search for "cheeseheads" in this context

http://www.theonion.com/content/columnists/i_got_to_find_a_new_place_to"">Jim Anchower + grown-up Bart Simpson + 2 middle-income dads with kids in college

I make no apologies about liking the song. It’s a nice soporific country-pop tune that goes down easy with no bitter aftertaste. And dammit, sometimes you just wanna kick back, wear flip-flops, and let your brain turn to jelly in the hot afternoon sun. Rebel against the man by being a lazy sod.

Parrotheads though, that’s something I can’t explain. I guess it’s like trying to explain cricket to a yank.

i once heard "cheeseburger in paradise" in a trader joe's and decided i had to leave... my soul was being overtaken by grinning white people in hawaiian shirts.

basically there is a strain of mainstream American adult male for whom real non-conformist freedom isn't about any arty transgressive shit, it's about not having to wear shoes or trousers if you don't damn well feel like it

Feelin' this.

too bad that "what a disaster" meme got played out so fast

basically there is a strain of mainstream American adult male for whom real non-conformist freedom isn't about any arty transgressive shit, it's about not having to wear shoes or trousers if you don't damn well feel like it

otm except "damn well feel like it" is a little bit confrontational phrasewise for a parrothead.

This was not the first time Buffett had been assumed to be carrying drugs. In January 1996 his Grumman HU-16 airplane nicknamed "Hemisphere Dancer" was shot at by Jamaican police who believed the craft to be smuggling marijuana. The aircraft sustained minimal damage. On board the plane with Buffett were U2's Bono, and Island Records producer Chris Blackwell, and co-pilot Bill Dindy. The Jamaican government acknowledged the mistake and apologized to Buffett who penned the song "Jamaica Mistaica" for his Banana Wind album based on the experience.

― Ømår Littel (Jordan)

good cover story by the jamaicans imo

To his credit, he came out vocally for Obama in the past election. And since a big chunk of his fanbase is white wealthy Republicans, his endorsement takes more balls and is more transgressive than, say, Grizzly Bear doing the same.

except he has nothing to lose. he already has all the money in the world.

i mean he could lose some fans, but so what at this point?

"buffett i guess."

fwiw i have known just two actual jimmy buffett fans. one was a sort of goofball science nerd in college who drank a lot of wine coolers. the other is a crotchety dude in his 40s who thinks rap was the end of "real music."

Oh man, our local fireworks display was "sponsored and soundtracked" by a local radio station and they played "Cheeseburger in Paradise" right between fucking "Rocky Top" and like Bon Jovi. It was hellish. But the back-to-back of Rush and AC/DC nearly made up for it.

in Florida, this shit is served like Key Lime Pie

Like every touristy section you go to has parrothead gear for sale next to the FUKENGRUVIN T-shirts and the gummi gators

yes james taylor was huge in the uk. stupid dutch people.

i think our only equivalent would be the hundreds of crappy bands who no longer have a chance in the charts, and so float about with two original members playing tiny provincial festivals or private parties so that the (generally) middle classes can dance to the hit? many of these events take place at stately homes where you can pack a picnic and some wine and 'rock out' with the kids (probably called Saskia and Quentin, the girl with massive awful hair, the boy with pink rugby shirt with upturned collar). see M People, The Lighthouse Family, UB40? - bands who play shows attended by people who could care less about the music and more about the self satisfied relaxed vibe (vomit). but then i assume and hope these bands don't make large amounts of money (less of it floating around over here i suppose?)

I have always wondered about Jimmy Buffett, so this thread is v. useful. I have always assumed he sounds like the Ween song, "Bananas and Blow", still never heard him.

Dylan's list is a good list.

"Buffett I guess. Lightfoot. Warren Zevon. Randy. John Prine. Guy Clark. Those kinds of writers."

This is one track Dylan purports to like. S'ok.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_wikdQ2Z0A

was that really necessary

i report, you decide

never underestimate the influence of modern commercial country radio...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp9Ftae0gN8

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/mexico_builds_border_wall_to_keep

He made it OK to have a mid-life crisis in your 20s. The man's a novelist too, let's not forget.

How can I forget what I never cared to learn?

Musically & image-wise he has at times verged on "tropical gangster" Kid Creole style, minus the dress code.

He's penned more top ten books than top ten songs. Three of his books went to #1. He is friends with but not related to Warren Buffett. How do you like him now?

wtf... http://www.gactv.com/gac/nw_headlines/article/0,,GAC_26063_5939987_,00.html

Oh my gosh it's a genuine Jimmy Buffett stan!

[iThat’s apparently the tragic outcome of an incident in Steamboat Springs, Colo., where an Iraq veteran died of head trauma after being beaten by two men, allegedly for playing Jimmy Buffett’s "Margaritaville."[/i]

next to: http://img.gactv.com/GAC/2006/10/02/jimmybuffett3_d.jpg 'hey guys!'

yah basically isnt the whole balearic downtempo thing like this except folks dress better

JEEZ NOT EVERYTHING IS BALEARIC YOU GUYS (except jimmy buffett)

Once I had to review a Jimmy Buffett concert at the local arena. I had a floor seat, and before his set about 400 beach balls were flying around the crowd. At first I gamely batted them away, but after a few minutes I said "fuck this" and stopped. About 8 balls collected on the floor near my seat. When the crowd got wind of this, they started booing me and throwing shit.

hahahahahaha

I always think of Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling when I think of Jimmy Buffett.

Predominately white tho

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 4:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

some ppl get jimmy buffett, some get frankie beverly & maze

While the dude's music is completely indefensible and the two fans I've had the displeasure of knowing in my lifetime were complete and utter d-bags, the projection on this thread is a little weird. I mean, really, are the Buffett concert-goers really that much better or worse than the idiot scenesters that look forward to Pitchfork Fest every year so they can dress up in their most ironic t-shirts and comedy mustaches and get blitzed on Sparks and 312 while grooving to some tunes? I mean, maybe some perspective here.

tbh most of this thread hasn't really been that judgmental, buffet fans are just typed really easily.

I've had to review 4 Buffett concerts and generally believe the crowds to be far worse than Pitchfork scenesters or even Deadheads. It's more like a college football experience than a concert. I've never seen more people throwing up around me than one time on the lawn towards the end of a mid-90s Buffett show. Seriously, it's like 100 frat parties taking place at the same time. Of course I have no data to support this. I'm meh on his music but Buffett sure plays up the drunken-idiot thing on stage, when he could have gone in a more Steve Goodman-type direction years ago. No money in that!

I've actually been surprised at how many young folks I know who are/were into Jimmy Buffett. Twice while taking road trips in college, it turned out that one of my compatriots just wanted to listen to Buffett on the radio, like, the whole fucking time (it's not like I'm blameless—I was probably equally obnoxious with trying to dominate the stereo with This Heat and Wolf Eyes, leading to a compromise of Beta Band). One of my friends from high school has followed Buffett around on tour, and used to do that on his summers, and I recently worked with a guy who was a huge Buffett fan and had been since his teens. I think with a lot of younger guys, there's a weird aspirational thing with the music. Like, middle aged dudes can think, if only I'd lived my life a little differently, that could be me right now, which is a comforting fantasy, but a lot less weird to me than the idea that if I start working at it right now, someday I'll be able to live my life like Jimmy Buffett.

http://mmmpictures.com/eff/jump.jpg

"I'm meh on his music but Buffett sure plays up the drunken-idiot thing on stage"

reminds me of the time i saw guided by voices. is bob pollard the indie-buffett?

i don't think bp is selling a lifestyle, or at least one that anybody would want to be a part of.

hmmm i think i lived a guided by voices lifestyle in the late 90s following college for a few years

While the dude's music is completely indefensible and the two fans I've had the displeasure of knowing in my lifetime were complete and utter d-bags, the projection on this thread is a little weird. I mean, really, are the Buffett concert-goers really that much better or worse than the idiot scenesters that look forward to Pitchfork Fest every year so they can dress up in their most ironic t-shirts and comedy mustaches and get blitzed on Sparks and 312 while grooving to some tunes? I mean, maybe some perspective here.

― the sideburns are album-specific (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, July 8, 2009 7:01 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

ok who exactly is projecting here?

I was probably equally obnoxious with trying to dominate the stereo with This Heat and Wolf Eyes, leading to a compromise of Beta Band).

WORST. ROADTRIP. EVER.

hahahaha i wasn't gonna say anything.

look forward to Pitchfork Fest every year so they can dress up in their most ironic t-shirts and comedy mustaches and get blitzed on Sparks

Wait, we have Sparks now?

I don't know that it's an adolescent vision he's selling so much as classic mid-life-crisis male behavior but without the crisis.

I think part of why I said "take your young man and grow him up" is that it's sort of both adolescent and mid-life, similar to the way "mid-life crisis behavior" is about a connection between adolescence and mid-life. Like the adolescent dreams of having the boat (or the sports car) and taking it easy; the adult wants to own the boat (or the sports car) and take it easy, in a real-world adult way. Which is surely a lot of why the Buffett party vibe can appeal to business owners and parents and "conservative" types, because it's in no way incompatible with visions like, say, hanging out barefoot on a boat with a cocktail in your hand while you check up on some stock trades on your laptop. It's good-time visions are sort of similar to adolescent-party good times, only in the form you get them after you're adult and reasonably successful and use your Amex card to book the flight down to the Caribbean or own the boat or run the bar tab. I think this is kind of cool, actually, but then I'm a big believer in people we consider uncool/boring/normal having valid good-time visions just like everyone else. Just talking about this is making me think it'd be sort of great to own a nice place with a patio and a pool where I could invite people over and stand in front of the grill in a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops. But then I'm older than I used to be and it's summer.

I say all that in the spirit of this, which is really OTM:

tbh most of this thread hasn't really been that judgmental, buffet fans are just typed really easily.

My sister and brother-in-law are huge Buffett fans. They met in college because one of them was wearing some Parrothead shirt and the other one went up and introduced themself. They own a boat, love the beach, are pretty laid back, are pretty liberal overall, nice people, not big fans of pants and shoes when they can be avoided, and go to at least one Buffett show every year with a margarita ball and friends while wearing grass skirts and shit.

I wore a hawaiian shirt when I stood in their wedding, no joke. And my mom actually invited Jimmy Buffett but alas he did not attend, but he sent a signed photo wishing them well.

so it was an orthodox parrothead wedding?

My old boss who retired a few years ago was a big Parrothead. At his fancy retirement party, in front of a few hundred people in a plush ballroom, he concluded his farewell-to-the-troops speech by stripping off his suit, dress shirt, and tie to reveal a Hawaiian shirt and bright yellow shorts. He's living in Florida now, of course.

hahahahahahah

that is amazing.

ok who exactly is projecting here?

Not so fun when your the target demo, huh? I kid, but I was trying to prove my point. From the outside, almost any group of "fans" can look pretty fucking stupid.

ust talking about this is making me think it'd be sort of great to own a nice place with a patio and a pool where I could invite people over and stand in front of the grill in a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops.

my boss has a pool and it's the best ever

We gave him a subscription to the Beer of the Month club as a retirement gift and for months he sent us e-mails about it: "Drinking this beer and thinking of you all." A scholar and a gentleman.

From the outside, almost any group of "fans" can look pretty fucking stupid.

um, thanks for showing us?

wkiw brad c.'s old boss

Jesus, I was just trying to point out how fucking petty it was for people to spend half the thread reducing anyone ever into Jimmy Buffett to ridiculous stereotypes.

come on, if you have a parrot on your head you are fair game for ridicule. it's in the bible!

"hahahaha i wasn't gonna say anything."

Dude, it's ILX. When I set up like that, I'm almost disappointed when no one finishes. (And actually, both the trips were pretty good. I learned long ago that nearly no one shares my particular tastes in music, so I try not to dismiss people just because they listen to what I think is crap.)

I liked Jimmy Buffett a lot, having heard only one of his songs, before I realized the song I liked was actually by Rupert Holmes. Wrong drink.

This fan video is kind of rad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVdhZwK7cS8

Abbot, I think you'd like Rupert Holmes. He's probably closer to Steely Dan than Buffet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBes4lVbKe8

More Rupert, and I think this song has keytar!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAF0YD_jdEQ&feature=related

Jon, I can't help but feel like you're taking a bold stand against "attempting to describe things" and "trying to evenhandedly sum up a cultural group" and "anecdotes about who likes certain things"

I saw the Breeders play at an open-air sports bar in around 1992 and in-between bands they played Jimmy Buffet's Greatest Hits. Since it was a long wait we heard the album about three times. The crowd got pretty angry and people were chanting "Turn this shit off" and "Fuck Jimmy Buffet." Ironically, many of these people were drunk--just like Jimmy Buffet is right now.

It means that someone at the bar has a sense of humor. Either that or there was a mismatch between audience and bar. I think that is hilarious. Get a life.

"get a life" not directed at the poster, but the drunks complaining.