Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb has died aged 62 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
I have been expecting this for quite some time after recently seeing him in a an interview. He was always a very thin guy, but his recent weight loss was clearly the result of a serious illness.
As I mentioned in the title I grew up in the 1970's, specifically attending high school in the late seventies when the Bee Gees became the most popular singing group in the world. It is NO exaggeration to say that there music was EVERYWHERE.
It was featured in the most popular films (Grease Saturday Night Fever, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), and was so omnipresent on the pop radio stations that if you did not immediately hear one of their songs after turning on the radio, one would surely play within the next fifteen minutes.
I was the generation that found ourselves identified by the Disco era so, being cool and all, I rejected the dance music out of hand right after it completely saturated our pop culture. For me it was just overkill, and the Bee Gees were the worst offenders by far in my opinion.
However I started to hang out with a group of kids at school that had bonded together over gymnastics.
They practiced after school across from the weight room where I spent an hour a day after school three times a week, and one day I wandered over out of curiosity after spotting one of the kids from my typing class.
After years of martial arts training I was very flexible, while the weightlifting had made me quite strong, so the very first thing I did was jump up on the rings and press into a handstand, which unbeknownst to me at the time was a rather advanced gymnastics maneuver. After they saw that, I was in the group whether I wanted to be or not.
Besides gymnastics the other love they all shared was a love of the Bee Gees music. Of course I immediately had to give them shit for listening to that "fucking disco crap." But they explained that THEY were fans of the Bee Gees earlier music and lent me an album called "Best of the Bee Gees."
I was hooked, and started buying up their older stuff everywhere I could find it.
Essentially it became the soundtrack for those last few years of high school. (Of course over the years my prejudice against disco softened and today I enjoy hearing "Jive Talking" almost as much as I enjoy hearing "I Started A Joke.")
It was sad enough when Maurice died back in 2003, but now with Robin gone it really does feel like the end of an era.
Well anyhow for all of you who may not know just how talented this trio was, or perhaps over the years have simply forgotten, let me share with you one of my favorite songs. (And yes of course it WAS written before they turned their considerable talents to disco.)
I was in high school when the early songs of the Bee Gees came out and those are the songs that bring back memories for me.
ReplyDeleteI like "Massachusetts".
ReplyDeleteHere too, G., my high school years were during the Bee Gees hiatus, and the disco craze, Abba, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Star Wars, it just seemed that the creativity that decade, was on a high, and the mood was more exuberant, optimistic then IMHO. Yep, those were the days...........am sounding more like my parents every day.
ReplyDeleteOops, forgot to say how Robin Gibbs and his brothers all seemed very genuine, great talents, and they'll never be forgotton. The surviving brother must be going through a tough time, and his mom too, losing her sons at early ages.
ReplyDeleteWell you can tell
ReplyDeleteby the way I use my walk
I'm a woman's man
no time to talk
Music loud and women warm
I've been kicked around
since I was born
And now it's all right, it's ok
and you may look the other way
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man
(chorus)
Whether you're a brother
or whether you're a mother
you're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Feel the city breakin
and everybody shakin'
and were stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive
.
.
.
Stayin' Alive Video
http://youtu.be/A3b9gOtQoq4
But MY favorite all-time by the BeeGees is
How Deep Is Your Love?
http://youtu.be/BBMriOspUvA
Wow, for the high school class of 1978-79, if those two tunes don't flood your head with some memories... That 2nd song was some major belly-rubbin' music raht thar, I don't care who ya are... lol
Wow, Gryphen -- my head just exploded. I can't believe that I totally forgot all of those great songs before the Bee Gees went disco. Now I can remember singing my angst-ridden teenage heart out to I Gotta Get a Message to You. These are the songs of the BeeGees that I loved but had totally forgotten. Thanks...
ReplyDeleteThat was a beautiful tribute!
ReplyDeleteI was a freshman in high school when the BeeGees had their first hit in 1967, IIRC. Their "Words," so beautifully sung by Robin, helped get me through my miserable sophomore year.
So to me, their disco era 10 years later, after I was working for a living, started as a great big WTF? But I did come to enjoy them all over again, and I rushed to see them in the Sgt. Pepper movie!
Shoot, their disco music was so appealing and accessible -- even my Lawrence Welk fan mother liked it and I actually got her the BeeGees Greatest Hits album one Christmas.
Robin and Maurice were especially precious to me because I'm a twin, too. They were only 2-1/2 years older than my twin sister and me.
Anyway, thanks for bringing back these sweet memories and for sharing your own, Gryphen. In the words of another of my all-time favorite singer/songwriters... Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone.
Goddess speed, Robin.
"How Can You Mend A Broken Heart"....LOVE that song! Don't forget we also lost Donna Summers last week. I guess Disco is finally dead.
ReplyDeleteRIP Donna and Robin
We had to learn the disco moves in order to escort gals in a big Junior Miss Pageant back in the day. Lucky for us before, this was LONG before camera phones made their debut. It must've been around 1980 or so.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the big songs of that event, More Than A Woman.
http://youtu.be/BQPBk0RD8d0
FLASHBACK: The emcee was a crazy guy that had been the local weatherman for at least 30 or 40 years. He had a list of all the guys' names and during the pageant when a wardrobe change that had some problems caused a delay, he called us out to front of the stage and got a "disco competition" started between us. It started a little slow because it was entirely impromptu, and we were petrified until he started giving us shit and embarrassing each of us until we realized it would be a helluva lot easier to just show of our moves wearing our black full dress tuxedos with tails, gloves, hats. It was definitely "gay" even before it was called that, but we quickly got the competitive juices flowing because the girls in the audience made it sound like a Beatles concert so we were all brave and really showing our ass. I think we used up the entire soundtrak of disco songs 2 or 3 times before they finally ran us off the stage. Donna Summer, stuff from Saturday Night Fever and Stayin' Alive.
Ahhh memories...lol Just a bunch of attention-starved rednecks fightin' for the spotlight... oh man, we were a bunch of yahoos! lol
Love all their work from the 60's before the falsetto decade. Lost their amazing harmonies with the disco stuff. Here are most of my favorites that also show just how talented they were. Not many acts this day can go unplugged and still sound terrific.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBGheZtvzXU
'How Deep Is Your Love' is one of the first songs I ever sang as a tot. My mom use to play it and I memorized the words. It's still one of my favorite songs at age 34.
ReplyDeleteI loved "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart". They did so much more than disco.
ReplyDeleteMore Bee Gees...
ReplyDelete1960 Bee Gees first TV appearance
http://youtu.be/x5taXY3hrOY
"I started a joke" could be sarah's theme song??
ReplyDeleteeven so, I really liked it, it made me be not so mean to people.
disco sucks
Thank goodness for these men. Thru thick and thin they were brothers and acted accordingly. I remember them live on VH1 doing story tellers or something along those lines.
ReplyDeleteBTW I have their DVD and was the only thing that would calm my dog down during a storm in TX.
For those who say that Disco became old....well the Beatles got old also. And look at whose being played in Grocery stores throughout the US....long live we baby boomers. Many of us couldn't have gotten thru the VietNam war years without the sounds and many other artists to numerous to mention.
I feel comfort in knowing the twins Robin & Maurice are together and creating sweet music. They are surely missed. Barry must be inconsolable.
OK I gotta be brutally honest here, when I was 18 years old, I dated a guy who's father owned a disco venue and we dabbled in Disco for a few years. It was kind of nice to go clubbing and finding men willing to dance/make fools of themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe Bee Gees were fantastic, their voices complemented the music, but if you read the lyrics they wrote, they were real musical talent.
I've always listened to a wide range of genres, and didn't rue the passing of the disco phenomenon because aside from the two we recently lost, most others were one hit wonders.
Thanks for bringing back memories, Gryphen. Even though the Bee Gees were usually associated with Australia , they were actually born on the Isle of Man. There's a beautiful song entitled Ellan Vannin which is the unofficial anthem of the Isle of Man. Robin often sang it in concerts. A few months ago he recorded a video of himself singing Ellan Vannin with a local school choir.It was to raise money for hospice care on the Isle of Man. This video was probably the last thing that Robin recorded. It is beautiful and moving http://youtu.be/DECeG5mZOjI
ReplyDeleteHe was my favourite Bee Gee. I will always remember being nine years-old, listening to him sing the bridge of "Nights on Broadway."
ReplyDeleteI was more into guitar rock about the time of Saturday Night Fever. When I was younger, I loved "I Started a Joke". I thought it was the saddest song ever. I found "New York Mining Disaster 1941" when I was older, but I think that my all time favorite is "Words".
ReplyDeleteSmile, an everlasting smile
A smile can bring you near to me
Don't ever let me find you gone
Cause that would bring a tear to me
This world has lost it's glory
Lets start a brand new story
Now my love
You think that I don't even mean
A single word I say...
It's only words
And words are all I have
To take your heart away
Talk, in everlasting words
And dedicate them all, to me
And I will give you all my life
I'm here if you should call to me
You think that I don't even mean
a single word I say...
A single word I say...
It's only words
And words are all I have
To take your heart away
I was a kid in the 70's, and I loved the bee gees. those disco songs were great! you know, for the times, lol. sad this guy had such a long illness before he went.
ReplyDelete