![]() It starts with W and ends with ‘-atergate’. It certainly didn’t help that they performed at the White House in 1973 and even posed in front of Richard Nixon, again, in goddamn 1973. In just about every interview you find of the duo in their prime, they were always pushing back against all the negative reviews, and, predictably, it only tanked their image even more. Like I said, they attracted widespread critical and commercial derision for their golly-gosh goody-two-shoes image, something which the Carpenter siblings themselves were painfully aware of. ![]() It’s just so straightforwardly emotional and vulnerable that even the most dedicated hipster can’t help but be moved by masterpieces like ‘ We’ve Only Just Begun’ and ‘ Rainy Days and Mondays’.īut it was also precisely that wholesomeness that made them such a poor fit for the early ‘70s. At their best, there’s just something so, well, pure and innocent and wholesome and heartbreaking about their music. But when they’re on, you can’t deny that they’re on. Now, I’m on record as not being a particularly big Carpenters fan, especially their more upbeat songs, which unfortunately had a bit too much of that cringey, white drunk wine mom, Toni Tennille energy that defined the Lame Seventies. So was this cover a creation worth looking down at from the top of the world? Well, we’ve only just begun, so sit tight.Īnd the song became indicative of the winning formula that would propel the Carpenters throughout the decade–Richard’s brilliant, surprisingly complex and richly layered arrangements, and Karen Carpenter’s soothing but heartbreakingly compelling vocals, which lent a tremendous amount of depth onto what could’ve been just another Muzak fodder pop song. And while Sonic Youth are not a band that was ever destined for mainstream popularity, this cover did attract quite a bit of notoriety, and has since become a mainstay of indie rock compilations and film soundtracks to this day. ![]() We’ll see just how deep their love of the group was in just a bit, but it was big enough that they eventually released a cover of one of the Carpenters’ biggest hits, ‘Superstar’ in 1994. But they were huge fans, and I mean huge. ![]() With their signature abrasive noise-pop sound and deliberately incomprehensible lyrics, Sonic Youth are not a band you’d think would be indebted to the Carpenters. A couple of key endorsements from the coolest of the cool acts of the 90s certainly helped, including the one we’ll be covering today–Sonic Youth. The critical reappraisal, powered by the mystique of Karen’s early death, has since become the dominant narrative, and Carpenters are now widely recognized as one of the greatest pop acts of the day. By the early ‘80s, the two started going solo, but the too-early death of Karen in 1983 due to the then-little known anorexia nervosa scotched any hope of a potential comeback or reunion for the group.Ĭarpenters wouldn’t really get their due until sometime in the 90s, when an entire generation of artists rediscovered their work and recognized the brilliance of both Richard’s lush and surprisingly complex arrangements, and the sheer melancholic beauty of Karen’s voice. By the late 70s, their career tanked due to a string of flop albums, including one which saw them experimenting with acid jazz and sci-fi, which went about as well as you’d expect. Eventually the public started tiring of them too, after years of overexposure combined with the changing trends of the day. Because while their near-constant presence atop the Billboard charts might’ve suggested public goodwill and affection, they were constantly getting trashed by the critics, who frequently decried their wholesome, goody-two shoes presentation in the age of hard rock hippie-dippie psychedelia, to the band’s eternal frustration. They were household names, emphasis on household. Richard and Karen Carpenter were easily one of the biggest acts of the day, racking up hit after hit and making their presence felt nationwide with no shortage of best-selling albums, TV specials, and even appearances at the White House. Not The Carpenters, just Carpenters, believe it or not. Back in the early ‘70s, if you needed a signifier for everything saccharine, whitebread and lame about the ever-disreputable easy listening genre, you had a lot of choices, but the clear kings and queens of this genre were a sibling duo by the name of Carpenters.
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