Vitnira
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tl;dr - Use this thread to post about the Buffett. Post memes, love, hate, commentary on my following post, whatever. Post pictures of food buffets. Go nuts.
The great bard, Jimmy Buffett, passed a few days ago leaving a legacy of 29 studio albums and a bunch of overpriced blenders.
And I want to ramble today about those two aspects of the Bard. Like it or not, he's a great songwriter. Even a genre-unrelated band like The Killers acknowledge that in the intro to their cover of Buffett's phenomenal and introspective "A Pirate Looks at 40". Songs like "Fruitcakes", "What if the Hokey Pokey is Really What It's All About?", and "Vampires, Mummies, and the Holy Ghost" are clever, funny and philosophical. Margaritaville, although overplayed, has a progressive plot. I genuinely enjoy all of his music. Yes, even the Christmas albums. He started life as a failed country musician and ended it creating a new genre of music (Gulf and Western or "trop rock") and influencing modern country music.
Buffett is also unique in that he sold out...to himself? He created a brand around a good song and became a billionaire. My in-laws are huge parrotheads and all their glassware is Buffett tervis tumblers. They have parrot hats. They nearly bought that stupid blender. I've been to the original Margaritaville in Key West, and it's remarkably hollow corporatism (the seafood mac n cheese was pretty good tho ngl). I've been to a now-defunct Cheeseburger in Paradise in the middle of nowhere where all the servers "hated that fucking song because it plays every goddamn hour", and it's as soulless as you'd expect. While Buffett's songs are soulful and interesting, his Brand is anything but.
What are we going to remember him for? The songs, or the shitty resort chain that keeps growing by the year? I don't even know anymore.
If I had the time and shits to give I'd love to make a Mallsoft-style album that plays Buffett songs with empty restaurant sounds to juxtapose those two elements of him. If you produce music and this sounds fun to you, steal my idea!
The great bard, Jimmy Buffett, passed a few days ago leaving a legacy of 29 studio albums and a bunch of overpriced blenders.
And I want to ramble today about those two aspects of the Bard. Like it or not, he's a great songwriter. Even a genre-unrelated band like The Killers acknowledge that in the intro to their cover of Buffett's phenomenal and introspective "A Pirate Looks at 40". Songs like "Fruitcakes", "What if the Hokey Pokey is Really What It's All About?", and "Vampires, Mummies, and the Holy Ghost" are clever, funny and philosophical. Margaritaville, although overplayed, has a progressive plot. I genuinely enjoy all of his music. Yes, even the Christmas albums. He started life as a failed country musician and ended it creating a new genre of music (Gulf and Western or "trop rock") and influencing modern country music.
Buffett is also unique in that he sold out...to himself? He created a brand around a good song and became a billionaire. My in-laws are huge parrotheads and all their glassware is Buffett tervis tumblers. They have parrot hats. They nearly bought that stupid blender. I've been to the original Margaritaville in Key West, and it's remarkably hollow corporatism (the seafood mac n cheese was pretty good tho ngl). I've been to a now-defunct Cheeseburger in Paradise in the middle of nowhere where all the servers "hated that fucking song because it plays every goddamn hour", and it's as soulless as you'd expect. While Buffett's songs are soulful and interesting, his Brand is anything but.
What are we going to remember him for? The songs, or the shitty resort chain that keeps growing by the year? I don't even know anymore.
If I had the time and shits to give I'd love to make a Mallsoft-style album that plays Buffett songs with empty restaurant sounds to juxtapose those two elements of him. If you produce music and this sounds fun to you, steal my idea!
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