How Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers started it all

Support me on Patreon, if ya like:   / mickybeatz   It's my understanding that The Modern Lovers played a fundraiser for Phil Kaufman rather than Gram Parsons' actual wake but nonetheless it's a weird story - also I can't speak to the veracity of the photos of that event. Chapters: 1. Introduction 00:00 2. Jojo 'n' me 07:36 3. About Jonathan Richman 13:41 4. Themes 22:23 5. Roadrunner 30:43 6. Astral Plane 33:45 7. Old World 35:45 8. Pablo Picasso 37:15 9. She Cracked 39:41 10. Hospital 40:45 11. Someone I Care About 42:39 12. Girl Friend 44:20 13. Modern World 45:43 14. I'm Straight/Dignified & Old/Government Center 47:36 15. Final thoughts 49:48 Names dropped/discussed: Jonathan Michael Richman The Stooges MC5 Lou Reed Jimi Hendrix Jim Morrison Janis Joplin Tommy Larkins Velvet Underground and Nico Forrest Gump The Who Andy Warhol John Cale Steve Sesnick Danny Fields Linda McCartney Lillian Roxon Allan Mason Robert Appère Miss Christine GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously) Frank Zappa The Flying Burrito Brothers The New York Dolls Aerosmith Phil Kaufman Gram Parsons Emmylou Harris Ernie Brooks David Robinson Talking Heads The Cars Jerry Harrison Patti Smith Pink Floyd Elton John Matthew King Kaufman Sex Pistols The Beatles Led Zeppelin Black Sabbath The Sonics Joe Meek Ian Mackaye Minor Threat Deep Purple Ricky Nelson George Gershwin The Blues Magoos Vincent Van Gogh Harpo Marx Pablo Picasso David Bowie Walter Johnson Salvador Dali Little Richard Elvis Presley Jonathan Michael Richman (born May 16, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic and electric backing. He is known for his wide-eyed, unaffected, and childlike outlook, and music that, while rooted in rock and roll, is influenced by music from around the world. The Modern Lovers were an American rock band formed in Natick, Massachusetts in 1970 by Jonathan Richman. The original band existed from 1970 to 1974 but their recordings were not released until 1976 or later. It featured Richman and bassist Ernie Brooks with drummer David Robinson (later of the Cars) and keyboardist Jerry Harrison (later of Talking Heads). The sound of the band owed a great deal to the influence of the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, and is now sometimes classified as "proto-punk". It pointed the way towards much of the punk rock, new wave, alternative and indie rock music of later decades. Their debut studio album, the eponymous The Modern Lovers contained idiosyncratic songs about dating awkwardness, growing up in Massachusetts, love of life, and the USA. The band would also release another studio album, The Original Modern Lovers, and three live albums. Later, between 1976 and 1988, Richman used the name "Modern Lovers" for a variety of backing bands, always billed as "Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers". These bands were quieter and featured more low-key, often near-childlike songs as Richman drew on folk-rock and other genres. This incarnation of the band released 7 studio albums and one live album. Of Richman's original bandmates, only Robinson was part of any of the other Modern Lovers incarnations, and he left the band's second incarnation that same year it formed. Notable members of the second incarnation include producer Andy Paley (who worked with acts such as Brian Wilson with The Beach Boys and Jerry Lee Lewis) and filmmaker Beth Harrington. The Modern Lovers is the debut studio album by American rock band the Modern Lovers. It was released on Beserkley Records in 1976, though the original tracks had been recorded in 1971 and 1972. Six of the original tracks were produced by John Cale. The album pointed towards alternative music genres such as punk rock, new wave and indie rock. The album has been featured three times on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and was included in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The Modern Lovers influenced numerous aspiring punk rock musicians on both sides of the Atlantic, including the Sex Pistols, whose early cover of "Roadrunner" was placed on The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. In the UK, the versions of "Roadrunner" produced by Cale and Kaufman were released as two sides of a single, which became a chart hit in 1977.