Totally No Good, Very Bad Weekend

It was a lousy weekend in the world of music – one of what promises to be years of them, for fans of music that came out 40-60 years ago. 

Joey Molland passed away over the weekend.   He was the last surviving member of Badfinger – protegés of the Beatles, and one of the most glorious pop groups of the seventies.

Also one of the most snake-bitten, tragedy-wise:  after relocating from Swansea, Wales to London, they attracted the attention of George Harrison and Paul McCartney.  They signed Badfinger as the first clients of their new “Apple” musical label. Over the next 5-6 years, Badfinger released some of the best music ever, for my money. 

It’s hard to pick a favorite.  This one is one of the most perfect guitar parts of all time (contributed originally by George Harrison):

One of the best hooks ever? Sure – lip-synched here in all it’s seventies-licious glory:

Want something that’s just transcendant?  Gotcha (piano courtesy Leon Russell):

As Iris Dement said, nothing good ever lasts.  The band’s lead singer Pete Ham committed suicide 50 years ago,  at the peak of the band’s influence. Bass player and singer  Tom Evans, wracked with grief, followed suit 10 years to the day later.

The two survivors – Joey Molland and drummer Mike Gibbins- moved to the Twin Cities, and were based out of deep Haven for most of the last 40 years, were they carried on with a revived version of the band until drummer Mike Gibbins died (checks notes) 20 years ago.

Joey Molland has been carrying the banner since then. He’s stayed in the Twin Cities, running various versions of rebooted “Badfinger” revivals ever since. 

Molland passed away last Friday, after suffering from unspecified, but very serious health problems for the last three months or so.

This has been a particular kick in the head, to be honest. I met Molland (and Gibbins), back in 1986, when I booked him on the old “Don Vogel Show“. . I’ve always tried not to act like an obnoxious fanboy around musicians I admire – but it was not easy with Molland

David Johannson:  Arguably from the opposite extreme from Molland, David Johannson. started out as one of the prime movers of the American punk and new wave scenes in the ’70s.,  As leader of the New York Dolls, he (and the Ramones and the Dead Boys) were the bands that the soon-to-be future punks in the UK, the Pistols and the Clash, were listening to when they were figuring their way out of the pub rock ghetto. 

Unlike his more nihilistic counterparts both in the New York Dolls (Johnny Thunders) and elsewhere in the scene (Stiv Bators), Johansen became a musical omnivore – digging through basic three-chord post-punk rock and roll (including this personal favorite):

…and taking some definitive tours through the roots of that genre…

If you’re not a punk rock junkie, you may only know Johansen from his flukey side-hustle in the late ’80s, “Buster Poindexter” – which yielded the biggest hit of his career, a song he later called “bane of my life”:

Johansen died on Saturday of complications from the brain cancer he’s had for the past four years or so.

Ooof.  That was a rough weekend.