On the train ride between Cork and Dublin yesterday, we came up with a list comparing rock bands/artists to writers.
The rationale of these parings could be specific or intuitive. In musical alphabetical order it begins with linking AC/DC to Julia Childs. Rationale: they are both extremely popular, are reliable craftsmen, and exude a charismatic, “come on and get it” quality. A more typical and legible pairing is Kate Bush--James Joyce: in this case, Bush’s lyrics are in the Joyce tradition. Some other more indirect connections include Douglas Adams to Phish (their fans are similar types and both artists are whimsical) and Jimi Hendrix to Kurt Vonnegut (an adolescent’s discovery of each one has a similar thrilling quality).
These comparisons do not reflect qualitative opinions; at times a band we don’t like as much is paired with a writer we love and vice versa. No one is used twice, and some comparisons we stand behind more firmly than others. (The Notorious B.IG/Iceberg Slim riff is pretty cheap, for example.) But assuredly, they all are linked for a reason, and some of them are dead on.
***Until December 1st, send us your own pairings, comments and opinions at badplus61at yahoo dot com. We will post the best stuff.***
****(Update) see next post (Invitational is on) for more about writing in****BAND/ARTIST--AUTHOR
AC/DC--Julia Child
Alice Cooper--Stephen King
Tori Amos--Alice Walker
Björk--Italo Calvino
Kate Bush--James Joyce
The Beatles--Roald Dahl
David Bowie--J.G Ballard
Jeff Buckley--Frank O’ Hara
Captain Beefheart--Allen Ginsburg
Johnny Cash--Carl Sandburg
Nick Cave--William Faulkner
The Clash --Hunter S. Thompson
Leonard Cohen--John Updike
Elvis Costello--William Shakespeare
Cream--Jane Auel
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young--John Steinbeck
The Cure--William Gibson
The Doors--Jack Kerouac
Bob Dylan--Ernest Hemingway
The Eagles--Tom Wolfe
Mark Eitzel--William Carlos Williams
The Flaming Lips--Shel Silverstein
Fleetwood Mac --J.K. Rowling
Peter Gabriel--Ray Bradbury
Marvin Gaye--Maya Angelou
Green Day--Dan Brown
Hall and Oates --Nick Hornby
P.J Harvey--Virginia Woolf
Jimi Hendrix--Kurt Vonnegut
Jewel--Danielle Steele
The Killers--Bret Easton Ellis
Led Zeppelin--Herman Hesse
Madonna--Anne Rice
Stephen Malkmus--Thomas Pynchon
Metallica--Clive Barker
Joni Mitchell--Margaret Atwood
Nirvana--William Burroughs
Notorious B.I.G.--Iceberg Slim
The Pixies--Paul Auster
Phish--Douglas Adams
Pink Floyd--J.D. Salinger
The Police--F. Scott Fitzgerald
Prince--Henry Miller
Public Enemy--Langston Hughes
Queen--Walt Whitman
Radiohead--Franz Kafka
Lou Reed--Truman Capote
Rolling Stones--Charles Dickens
Rush--J.R.R. Tolkien
Shudder To Think--Samuel Beckett
The Smiths--Agatha Christie
Bruce Springsteen--Norman Mailer
Steely Dan--Raymond Chandler
Sting--John Le Carre
Talking Heads--Eugene Ionesco
U2--C.S.Lewis
Van Halen--Cameron Crowe
Tom Waits--Charles Bukowski
Wilco--Mark Twain
The Who--Ian Fleming
Yes--H.P. Lovecraft
