Jonathan Richman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jonathan Richman | ||
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 Jonathan Richman Live
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| Background information | ||
| Born | 16 May 1951 | |
| Origin | Natick, Massachusetts U.S. | |
| Genre(s) | Rock | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist | |
| Years active | 1971–present | |
Jonathan Richman (born 16 May 1951) is an American proto-punk icon and one of the progenitors of "indie rock." He is known for his wide-eyed, near-childlike lyrical outlook, and music that, while rooted in 50's rock and roll structures, can be wildly eclectic.
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[edit] Biography
Born to a Jewish family in Natick, Massachusetts, Richman began playing music and writing his own songs in the mid-1960s. Richman became infatuated with the Velvet Underground, and in 1969 he moved to New York City, living on the couch of their manager, Steve Sesnick, while working odd jobs and trying to break in as a professional musician. Failing at this, he returned to Boston.
Having moved back, he formed The Modern Lovers, a proto-punk garage rock band. Other notable members of the group were keyboard player Jerry Harrison and drummer David Robinson, who later joined Talking Heads and The Cars, respectively. In 1972 they recorded a series of demos with producers such as Kim Fowley and John Cale (formerly of the Velvet Underground). Among these songs was the seminal "Roadrunner" and "Pablo Picasso" which were eventually released on the group's posthumous album Modern Lovers in 1976. The album was unique for its time, featuring Velvets-influenced basic three-chord rock ("Roadrunner" - based on just two chords - is a clear homage to "Sister Ray") at a time when glam and progressive rock were the norm. Cale produced the more cutting edge 'protopunk' tracks, including "Pablo Picasso" and "Roadrunner".
Shortly after these recordings were made, Richman broke up the band and embarked on his long and eclectic solo career. His first released recordings appeared on 1975's "Beserkley Chartbusters" compilation, where he was backed by members of Earth Quake and the Rubinoos; these four songs also appeared on singles on the independent Beserkely label. (Although this is a supposedly a singles compilation, it is possible that the LP preceded the singles.) For a while he continued recording under the "Modern Lovers" name (or rather, the more telling "Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers" appellation), but all the members were different, and in the new incarnation were essentially his backing band. These albums found Jonathan turning away from electric rock music towards gentler acoustic textures, with a strong rooting in 50's rock and roll (Chuck Berry's "Back in the USA" was part of his repertoire at this time), while his lyrical focus became more self-consciously childlike and naive. The album Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers was released in January 1977, Rock and Roll with the Modern Lovers followed a month later, and Modern Lovers Live in 1978.
In Britain, Richman was recognised as a progenitor of the punk rock scene, and several of his singles became hits - "Roadrunner" reached #11 in the UK pop charts, and its follow-up, the instrumental "Egyptian Reggae", made #5 in late 1977.
1979's Back in Your Life was released under the "Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers" moniker, but only about half the disc featured a backup band — the rest was solo work. This album was probably the most extreme detour by Richman into eclecticism; after the traditional acoustic rock of the previous albums, this one's solo tracks showed off a string bass and glockenspiel as main instruments.
Richman went on sabbatical for a few years, returning in 1983 with Jonathan Sings!. This was followed up with a series of pop efforts (Rockin' and Romance, It's Time for Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, and Modern Lovers 88 from 1985, 1986 and 1988 respectively). After the latter release, the "Modern Lovers" moniker was finally retired, and having begun a true "solo" career, he returned to swooping madly around the musical landscape: country music with 1990's Jonathan Goes Country, and Spanish translations of his earlier work (as well as traditional Spanish songs) with 1993's Jonathan, Te Vas a Emocionar!
Always possessing an ardent cult following, Richman has become better known in recent years thanks to a series of appearances on fan Conan O'Brien's show; also helping was a major part in the 1998 movie There's Something About Mary, where he played half of a two-man Greek chorus that commented on the plot while performing in the framed action itself. (He also appeared in a previous Farrelly Brothers film, Kingpin.)
He has continued his release schedule all along, with You Must Ask the Heart in 1995, Surrender to Jonathan in 1996, I'm So Confused in 1998, Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow in 2001 and Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love in 2004. In 1998 a live album of Modern Lovers recordings from the early '70s was released, Live at the Long Branch & More. There is also a DVD of a live performance Take me to the Plaza 2002. A tribute album, If I Were a Richman: a Tribute to the Music of Jonathan Richman, was released by Wampus Multimedia in 2001. In live 'solo' shows, he frequently tours with drummer Tommy Larkins, the other part of the two-man chorus mentioned above. Richman makes use of the flexibility allowed by the two-man format to keep his shows loose and spontaneous, frequently punctuating his songs with extemporaneous ruminations on life and love, on-the-spot transpositions of songs into any of five languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian and Hebrew), and unaccompanied dancing. This charisma as a performer has enabled him to maintain his devoted cult following into the present day. His fans call Richman by his nickname, "Jojo."
On Friday April 27, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival will show Victor Sjostrom's classic silent film The Phantom Carriage with an original live score written and performed by local icon Jonathan Richman, who chose the film because of its timeless themes.
[edit] Influence
Richman's work with the first incarnation of Modern Lovers is a major influence on punk rock -- artists as diverse as the Sex Pistols and Joan Jett have covered "Roadrunner", Simple Minds early work contains a track called "Pablo Picasso" with similar chorus lyrics and a version of "Pablo Picasso" performed by Burning Sensations was included in the 1984 cult film Repo Man. David Bowie has also covered "Pablo Picasso" on his album, Reality (album). Richman's music has set the tone for many quirky college rock acts like Violent Femmes, They Might Be Giants, Weezer, Tullycraft, Nerf Herder, who wrote the song "Jonathan" about him, the singer Frank Black, who composed the tribute song "The Man Who Was Too Loud", 90s British country rock band The Rockingbirds, who wrote the song "Jonathan Jonathan" about him, and Art Brut. "Roadrunner" is a song on the soundtrack of School of Rock; and in the commentary, director Richard Linklater mentions it is often called "the first punk song" and wanted to include it for that reason, along with all the other seminal rock songs in that film. He has also been called the "Godfather of Punk."
[edit] References
- Tim Mitchell, There's Something About Jonathan, London: Peter Owen Publishers, 1999, ISBN 0-7206-1076-1
[edit] Discography
[edit] The Modern Lovers
- The Modern Lovers (1976)
- The Original Modern Lovers (1981)
- Live at the Longbranch Saloon (1992)
- Precise Modern Lovers Order (1994)
- Live at the Longbranch and More (1998)
(These three live albums are from the same three 1971-3 performances, but add and subtract a few different songs. The latter two, combined, contain all the songs)
[edit] Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
- Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers (1976)
- Rock 'n' Roll with the Modern Lovers (1977)
- Modern Lovers 'Live' (1978)
- Back in Your Life (late 1978, or 1979)
- Jonathan Sings! (1983)
- Rockin' and Romance (1985)
- It's Time For (1986)
- Modern Lovers 88 (1988)
[edit] Jonathan Richman
[edit] Albums
- Beserkely Chartbusters (Compilation, 4 songs) (1975)
- Jonathan Richman (1989)
- Jonathan Goes Country (1990)
- Having a Party with Jonathan Richman (1991)
- I, Jonathan (1992)
- ¡Jonathan, Te Vas a Emocionar! (1994)
- You Must Ask the Heart (1995)
- Surrender to Jonathan (1996)
- I'm So Confused (1998)
- Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow (2001)
- Not So Much to Be Loved as to Love (2004)
[edit] Misc
- Our Dog Is Getting Older Now; on the charity album Colours Are Brighter - October 2006
- I Like Gumby; On the 'Gumby' Compilation album - Jonathan Richman
[edit] Trivia
- Guest starred (incorrectly introduced as having appeared on CHiPs) on Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode #22 (Transcript).[citation needed]
[edit] External links
- Boston Rock Storybook - Interviews with Jonathan and articles on the Modern Lovers and JR by Jonathan's friend, author and songwriter Joe Harvard
- Simes' Jonathan Richman Pages - a comprehensive Jonathan Richman discography
- Jonathan Richman Rockin' Lyrics Pages
- jojoblog - The Unofficial Jonathan Richman Fan Blog
- modernlovers.com
- The (Unofficial) Jonathan Richman Chords & Lyrics Site
- Another Jonathan Richman lyrics site, with corrections and annotations
- Comparison of contents of original Modern Lovers' live albums
