I suspect I might get flamed for this, but I need to ask:
Why is Jimmy Buffett such a popular touring artist? He’s had only a few hits (and only one song that would be considered an all-time classic based on airplay: “Margaritaville”), but he sells out every concert, in reasonably large venues (here in the Cincinnati area, his concerts are the the first ones to sell out every summer at Riverbend), and has a huge fanbase (Parrotheads). He even has his own satellite radio station, and a restaurant connected to his fame (Cheeseburger In Paradise).
So, what makes him a permanent tour draw over a thousand other musical acts who have had the same level of radio success? Is it that he’s successfully marketed his tours as a “brand” featuring the concept of mellow music, good times and summer drinking? Is it the constant touring? Is it dumb luck? Is it just that he’s gotten the same 5,000 fans who have the money and inclination to follow him around on tour, thus giving the impression he’s popular in all these cities?
Dopers, Parrotheads, countrymen (and women), lend me your answers!
He presides over a concert experience that people really enjoy, one that has little to do with singing well or having radio hits. He is a very engaging live performer.
These. He’s a laid-back analog of the Grateful Dead. The Dead didn’t have any Top 40 hit(s) until very late in their career, but they always sold out concerts. Jimmy tours constantly, his shows are always entertaining, the fellowship and party atmosphere is contagious, and who doesn’t like dressing up and acting like a fool every once in awhile? Jimmy is also an excellent businessman. He has parlayed his musical career into an empire. Granted, it’s an empire that has a lot of dross. Never buy “Margaritaville” branded anything. It’s crap. But the restaurants are fun and have good food. He is also a very successful author.
silenus - Parrothead since the Key West days, when the Coral Reefer Band was just Jimmy and “Fingers” Taylor.
There’s an attraction to the whole beach bum thing, much like the Dead attracted people who were into the sixties counterculture, as it was called at the time. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never been to the beach, any more than it mattered that a lot of deadheads weren’t even born when there actually was such a thing as a hippie.
That, and that he’s a talented, engaging, consistent performer.
Yes. It’s essentially about everything but the music. Jimmy Buffet is the equivalent of a traveling amusement park or “adult playpen” like the popular Dave and Buster’s chain - it’s a bottled “vacation” for the average person who has sold themselves into the 9-5 existence. It’s a license for prim secretaries and office schlubs to “let their hair down” and “get loose” with a lei and a marguerita.
Buffett sells a cartoonish version of debauchery that’s ultimately inoffensive. His biggest fans like to think that deep down they’re rascals on the high seas who get drunk on the beach and fornicate with strangers by night, even though they’re cube-dwellers in Iowa with 2.5 kids and a mortgage. He lets them feel a little bit dangerous without any actual danger.
And, of course, he’s written a shitload of great songs that are fun to sing along with.
I saw him a couple of weeks ago in Chicago, although I would not describe myself as a Parrothead.
He played a lot of well-known songs (“Fins,” “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw?”, etc.), some songs that only his hard-coare fans would know (“Banana Republic”), a couple of new songs (“Surfing Through a Hurricane” really rocked) and a few covers like “Rocky Raccoon” and “Yellow Submarine.”
He threw in a lot of references to the Chicago area.
His band included several accomplished musicians and his rapport with his audience was incredible. He is a very good showman, and I wouldn’t hestitate to go to another concert.
He’s a fucking hack, and his most ardent followers are numbnutted zeroes. He’s popular because he’s safe, or more specifically, safe faux reckless abandon schtick.
Having said that, I actually think he’s got an interesting voice, is capable of writing some decent lyrics, and some of his lesser known songs are really cool.
All in all, there are definitely worse things that millions of people mysteriously like, so I don’t have any real problem with him. But I’d still like to see a big circle A get spraypainted on his Hawaiian shirt, figuratively speaking.
So he’s got an interesting voice, he’s written decent lyrics, and some of his songs are cool. How does that add up to “fucking hack”? The man has been writing and performing for over 40 years. Just out of curiousity, who else with that kind of record is/are fucking hacks? Stones? Beatles? Pink Floyd? Dylan? Paul Simon? Give me some context please.
To answer the OP, Jimmy is, first and foremost, a storyteller. As a storyteller, he often works through song. He is also a damn fine live entertainer. He is also, apparently, a bit of a dick when it comes to business, but hey, nobody’s perfect.
Parroting (heh) The Peyote Coyote, I saw him in Chicago in summer of 2002. I’m no fan, in fact I used to have a strong aversion to him since I had a college roommate who played him all the time. Usually at 3am and with a drunken accompaniment.
That said, the concert was fun and the people were obviously enjoying themselves. He was a good performer and made me like the songs despite myself. My only complaint was that he mentioned 9/11 and sang “City of New Orleans” as a tribute, mangling the lyrics in a couple places. My complaint was the mangling, not the 9/11 mention or tribute.
I wouldn’t call him a hack, but I have some of the same feelings as An Arky, so I’ll jump in.
I really hate the faux-Caribbean beach bum attitude, and I really dislike many of his well-known songs like “Margaritaville”, “Fins”, and “Cheeseburger in Paradise”. I also think that many of his fans are purely buying into that beach bum image (though I’m not equating those who wear costumes to those who buy into the image; I enjoy a good ridiculous costume for the sake of absurdity myself). And it’s definitely a money-making operation, though that’s no sin. But I do think that when he gets away from the attitude, he’s a talented musician and performer; I really like his album Barometer Soup, which has more music and less attitude.
You could say the same thing of the Grateful Dead. The only song of their’s that ever made it into the top 10 of the Billboard 100 was Touch of Grey, which doesn’t even really sound like a Grateful Dead Song. They also had a few hits on Billboard’s other charts like Mainstream Rock and Adult Contemporary, but the songs their fans most associate with them, Sugar Magnolia and Truckin’ only made it respectively to 91 and 64 on the Billboard 100.
Ditto DoctorJ and, as a mid-level parrothead who has yet to attend a show but listens to them on sat. radio, Buffett sells escape on CD. I like his music because you can sing along with it, without having any real musical talent and be fairly good.
However, I think he’s a snore of an author. I tried to read A Salty Piece of Land on an actual beach where he actually goes (in the Netherlands Antilles) and it put me to sleep. I think he’s a shrewd businessman and a force in the music industry despite his lack of so-called ‘hits’ and classification of his music (is it country? Rock? Folk?). He succeeds because what he puts out there is harmless but takes enough of a stand that it makes people believe. Look up “A Lot to Drink About”. That’s his most recent political song and though he smears just about everybody, he does it with a merry word and rhythm, soft southern charm and happily slips your money out of your pocket while you’re singing his song.
Are there sizable numbers of Black Parrotheads? I remember when I was teaching, I had a posse of colleagues who were middle-class kids from the 'burbs. We were grilling something one day, and “Margaritaville” came on the radio and they all freaked out and sang along. Thus I learned of the Jimmy Buffett stranglehold on White, middle-class culture. I mean, I’ve literally heard “Margaritaville” on the radio a handful of times, never once heard another one of his songs, but all of these kids - whether they were into hip-hop, reggae, or rock - knew Buffett and thought he was the shit.
This should be listed on “Stuff White People Like,” alongside the Violent Femmes, Dave Matthews, and the Eagles.
That’s about the context. I know calling him a fucking hack sounds bad, but I say that about a lot of artists, even ones I like, if they’re like that (out there schlepping the same schtick ad infinitum)…
Well, I was a college student in Mobile, AL back in the day when Buffet was just getting started. He was still unknown enough that he played the local bars on a pretty regular basis and I came to enjoy his music. I still enjoy his old songs, mostly in a nostalgic flashback sort of way, but I absolutely refuse to go to one of his concerts these days. If I’m going to pay good money to attend a musical event, I want to hear the performer perform, not some unruly mob of inebriated strangers who insist on singing along with every damn song. And while I’m at it, you kids get off my lawn!
Well for one thing he started back when singers and song writers were en’ vogue.
No one else did calypso type music, cept’ maybe the reggae stuff was close.
A lot of people go to the Beach for Vacation and that’s what is usually playing on a jukebox someplace in a corner.
He never stop touring for 40 years, I guess, I don’t keep track.
Personally I don’t like it. Well, that “Come Monday” song is OK, cause it’s normal music.
I live on the Beach and have to hear it all the time, and anytime I played someplace, they ask for Buffet, I wouldn’t play it. Owners get Mad and don’t hire me again…Oh Well. :rolleyes:
Nothing wrong hearing and old tune on occasion but…
Some people twitch and get mean when they don’t get their Buffet. Especially when it’s half price Margarita Night. :smack:
