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| C_8881985e0300445eac1e4d13b977ae98_0 | /what was the first album | 1 | /what was The Sweet's first album | The Sweet | The Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide (the U.S. excepted) record contract with RCA Records (in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973; followed by Capitol Records). In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to #33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals. The Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts. Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career. CANNOTANSWER | March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, | The Sweet, sometimes also shortened to just Sweet, are a British glam rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker. The group was originally called The Sweetshop.
The band was formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, "Funny Funny", in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.
The band first achieved success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, like 1974's "Turn It Down". "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. They also achieved success and popularity in the US with the top ten hits "Little Willy", "The Ballroom Blitz", "Fox on the Run", and "Love is Like Oxygen".
The Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have since sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
History
Origins
Sweet's origins can be traced back to British soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen. Mark Lay's history of that band states they formed around 1962 and were initially known as Unit 4. Founding members included Chris Wright (vocals), Jan Frewer (bass), with Jim Searle and Alfred Fripp on guitars. Phil Kenton joined on drums as the band changed its name to Wainwright's Gentlemen (due to there being another band known as Unit 4). Managed by Frewer's father, the band performed in the Hayes, Harrow and Wembley area. By 1964 the group was also playing in London, including at the Saint Germain Club on Poland Street.
In January 1964 the band came fifth in a national beat group contest, with finals held at the Lyceum Strand on 4 May 1964. Highlights of the show were presented on BBC1 by Alan Freeman. Chris Wright left the line-up in late 1964 and was replaced by Ian Gillan. A female vocalist named Ann Cully soon joined the band. Mick Tucker, from Ruislip, joined on drums replacing Phil Kenton. The band recorded a number of tracks including a cover of the Coasters-Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me", which was probably recorded at Jackson Sound Studios in Rickmansworth. The track includes Gillan on vocals, Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965. Gillan quit in May 1965 to join Episode Six, and later, Deep Purple. Cully remained as vocalist before departing some time later. Gillan's and Cully's eventual replacement, in late 1966, was Scots-born vocalist Brian Connolly, who hailed more recently from Harefield. Tony Hall had joined on saxophone and vocals and when Fripp left he was replaced by Gordon Fairminer. Fairminer's position was eventually assumed by Frank Torpey (born Frank Edward Torpey, 30 April 1945, Kilburn, North West London) - a schoolfriend of Tucker's who had just left West London group The Tribe (aka The Dream). Torpey only lasted a few months, and in late 1967 Robin Box (born 19 June 1944) took his place. Searle, regarded by many as the most talented musically, disappeared from the scene. Tucker and Connolly remained with Wainwright's Gentlemen until January 1968. Tucker was replaced by Roger Hills. When the Gentlemen eventually broke up, Hills and Box joined White Plains who eventually scored a big hit with "My Baby Loves Lovin'".
Early years
In January 1968 Connolly and Tucker formed a new band calling themselves The Sweetshop. They recruited bass guitarist and vocalist Steve Priest from a local band called The Army. Priest had previously played with mid-'60s band the Countdowns who had been produced and recorded by Joe Meek. Frank Torpey was again recruited to play guitar. The quartet made its public debut at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead on 9 March 1968 and soon developed a following on the pub circuit, which led to a contract with Fontana Records. At the time, another UK band released a single under the same name Sweetshop, so the band abbreviated their moniker to Sweet. The band was managed by Paul Nicholas, who later went on to star in Hair. Nicholas worked with record producer Phil Wainman at Mellin Music Publishing and recommended the band to him. Their debut single "Slow Motion" (July 1968), produced by Wainman, and released on Fontana, failed to chart and owing to its rarity now sells for several hundred pounds when auctioned. Sweet were released from the recording contract and Frank Torpey left. In his autobiography Are You Ready Steve, Priest said that Gordon Fairminer was approached to play for them when Torpey decided to leave Sweet after a gig at Playhouse Theatre Walton-on-Thames on 5 July 1969 but turned the job down as he wanted to concentrate on other interests.
New line-up and new record deal
Guitarist Mick Stewart joined in 1969. Stewart had some rock pedigree, having previously worked with The (Ealing) Redcaps and Simon Scott & The All-Nite Workers in the mid-1960s. In late 1965, that band became The Phil Wainman Set when the future Sweet producer joined on drums and the group cut some singles with Errol Dixon. In early 1966, Stewart left and later worked with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.
Sweet signed a new record contract with EMI's Parlophone label. Three bubblegum pop singles were released: "Lollipop Man" (September 1969), "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (January 1970), and a cover version of the Archies' "Get on the Line" (June 1970), all of which failed to chart. Stewart then quit, and was not replaced for some time. Connolly and Tucker had a chance meeting with Wainman, who was now producing, and knew of two aspiring songwriters, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who were looking for a group to sing some demos they had written. Connolly, Priest, and Tucker provided the vocals on a track called "Funny Funny" which featured Pip Williams on guitar, John Roberts on bass, and Wainman on drums. The latter began offering the track to various recording companies. The band held auditions for a replacement guitarist and settled on Welsh-born Andy Scott. He had most recently been playing with Mike McCartney (brother of Paul) in the Scaffold. As a member of the Elastic Band, he had played guitar on two singles for Decca, "Think of You Baby" and "Do Unto Others". He also appeared on the band's lone album release, Expansions on Life, and on some recordings by the Scaffold. The band rehearsed for a number of weeks before Scott made his live debut with Sweet on 26 September 1970 at the Windsor Ballroom in Redcar.
Sweet initially attempted to combine diverse musical influences, including the Monkees and 1960s bubblegum pop groups such as the Archies, with more heavy rock-oriented groups such as the Who. Sweet adopted the rich vocal harmony style of the Hollies, with distorted guitars and a heavy rhythm section. This fusion of pop and hard rock would remain a central trademark of Sweet's music and prefigured the glam metal of a few years later.
Sweet's initial album appearance was on the budget label Music for Pleasure as part of a compilation called Gimme Dat Ding, released in December 1970. Sweet had one side of the record; the Pipkins (whose sole hit, "Gimme Dat Ding", gave the LP its name) had the other. Sweet's contribution consisted of the A- and B-sides of the band's three Parlophone singles. Andy Scott appears in the album cover shot, even though he did not play on any of the recordings.
First album
Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide record contract with RCA Records, the U.S. excepted: in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973, followed by Capitol Records.
In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to No. 33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals.
Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts.
Initial success and rise to fame
February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit. Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments. In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.
To promote their singles, Sweet made numerous appearances on U.K. and European TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Supersonic. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops Christmas edition, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared replete in a German military uniform, Hitler moustache and displaying a swastika armband. The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.
Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image. Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe". A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period). The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.
Forming a new image
By 1974, Sweet had grown tired of the management team of Chinn and Chapman, who wrote the group's major hits and cultivated the band's glam rock image. The group and producer Phil Wainman, assisted by engineer Peter Coleman, recorded the album Sweet Fanny Adams, which was released in April 1974. Sweet's technical proficiency was demonstrated for the first time on self-penned hard rock tracks such as "Sweet F.A." and "Set Me Free". Sweet also adopted a more conventional hard rock sound and appearance. Sweet Fanny Adams also featured compressed high-pitched backing vocal harmonies, which was a trend that continued on all of Sweet's albums.
During sessions for the album, Brian Connolly was injured in a fight in Staines High Street. His throat was badly injured and his ability to sing severely limited. Priest and Scott filled in on lead vocals on some tracks ("No You Don't", "Into The Night" and "Restless") and Connolly, under treatment from a Harley Street specialist, managed to complete the album. The band did not publicise the incident and told the press that subsequent cancelled shows were due to Connolly having a throat infection. This incident reportedly permanently compromised Connolly's singing ability, with his range diminished.
No previous singles appeared on the album, and none were released, except in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, where "Peppermint Twist/Rebel Rouser", apparently released by their record company without their knowledge, gained a No. 1 chart position in the latter. Sweet Fanny Adams would be Sweet's only non-compilation release to break the UK Albums Chart Top 40.
Sweet were invited by Pete Townshend to support the Who, who were playing at Charlton Athletic's football ground, The Valley in June 1974. However, Connolly's badly bruised throat kept them from fulfilling the role. Sweet had frequently cited the Who as being one of their main influences and played a medley of their tracks in their live set for many years.
Desolation Boulevard
Their third album, Desolation Boulevard, was released later in 1974, six months after Sweet Fanny Adams. By that stage, producer Phil Wainman had moved on and the album was produced by Mike Chapman. It was recorded in a mere six days and featured a rawer "live" sound. One track, "The Man with the Golden Arm", written by Elmer Bernstein and Sylvia Fine for the 1955 Frank Sinatra movie of the same name, featured drummer Mick Tucker performing an 8 and half minute solo (although this was not included in the U.S. release). This had been a staple of the band's live performance for years. The first single from the LP, the heavy-melodic "The Six Teens" (July 1974), was a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and still part of the amazing unbroken string of No. 1's in Denmark. However, the subsequent single release, "Turn It Down" (November 1974), reached only No. 41 on the U.K. chart and No. 2 in Denmark. "Turn It Down" received minimal airplay on UK radio and was banned by some radio stations because of certain lyrical content - "God-awful sound" and "For God sakes, turn it down" - which were deemed "unsuitable for family listening." The band resumed playing live shows nearly a full six months after Connolly's throat injury, with band and critics noting a rougher edge to his voice and a reduced range. The album also featured a group composition, "Fox On The Run", which was to be re-recorded months later.
The U.S. version of Desolation Boulevard was different from the U.K. version and included several songs from Sweet Fanny Adams in addition to the "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run" singles (both of which peaked at No. 5 in the US). Side One of the album contained all Chapman-Chinn penned songs, while Side Two featured songs written and produced by Sweet.
Writing and producing their own material
In 1975 Sweet went back into the studio to re-arrange and record a more pop-oriented version of the track "Fox on the Run". Sweet's first self-written and produced single, "Fox on the Run" was released worldwide in March 1975 and became their biggest selling hit, reaching number one in Germany, Denmark, and South Africa, number two in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands and number three in Austria and Switzerland. In Australia it not only made it to the top of the charts, it also became the biggest selling single of that year. The song reached number two in Canada and number five in the U.S. The release of this track marked the end of the formal Chinn-Chapman working relationship and the band stressed it was now fully self-sufficient as writers and producers.
The following single release, "Action" (July 1975), peaked at number 15 in the UK. Now confident in their own songwriting and production abilities, Sweet spent the latter half of 1975 in Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, where they recorded the Give Us A Wink album with German sound engineer Reinhold Mack, who later recorded with Electric Light Orchestra and co-produced Queen. The new album release was deferred until 1976 so as not to stifle the chart success Desolation Boulevard was enjoying, peaking at number 25 in the US and number 5 in Canada.
With Give Us a Wink being held over, RCA issued a double album in Europe, Strung Up, in November. It contained one live disc, recorded in London in December 1973, and one disc compiling previously released singles (plus an unused track by Chinn and Chapman – "I Wanna Be Committed"). At the end of the year, Andy Scott released his first solo single, "Lady Starlight" b/w "Where D'Ya Go". Tucker played drums on both tracks.
Decline in popularity
January 1976 saw the release of the single "The Lies In Your Eyes", which made the Top 10 in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia, but only reached No. 35 on the U.K. charts. Sweet's first album to be fully produced and written by themselves, Give Us A Wink, was released in March 1976. A third single from the album, "4th Of July", was issued in Australia.
By this time, Sweet strove to build on their growing popularity in America with a schedule of more than fifty headline concert dates. Even though Give Us A Winks release was imminent, the band's set essentially promoted the US version of Desolation Boulevard plus the new US hit single "Action". During an appearance at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in California on 24 March, Sweet played "All Right Now" with Ritchie Blackmore as a tribute to mark the death of Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, who was to have supported Sweet with his band Back Street Crawler. The US tour was not financially successful, with small audiences at many venues leading to the final half-dozen or so dates to be cancelled. Following the end of the tour, the band went on to Scandinavia and Germany. The band also spent a week at the Who's Ramport Studios in Battersea demoing material for a new album before abandoning that project and playing eight dates in Japan. By the end of the Japanese shows Connolly's extremely hoarse singing voice was manifest evidence of the demands of constant touring and the enduring after-effects of his 1974 assault.
Between October 1976 and January 1977, Sweet wrote and recorded new material at Kingsway Recorders and Audio International London studios for their next album. An advance single from the album, "Lost Angels", was only a hit in Germany, Austria and Sweden. A new album, Off the Record, was released in April. The next single from the album, "Fever of Love", represented the band heading in a somewhat more Europop hard rock direction, once again charting in Germany, Austria and Sweden, while reaching number 10 in South Africa. On this album, Sweet again worked with Give Us A Wink engineer Louis Austin, who would later engineer Def Leppard's On Through The Night 1980 début album. The band cancelled a US tour with emerging US rockers Aerosmith, did not play any live dates in support of the album and, in fact, did not play a single concert for the whole of 1977.
Level Headed and a change in style
Sweet left RCA in 1977 and signed a new deal with Polydor though it would not come into force until later in the year. Sweet's manager David Walker, from Handle Artists, negotiated the move which was reputed to be worth around £750,000. In the United States, Canada, and Japan, Capitol had issued Sweet's albums since 1974 and would continue to do so through to 1980.
The first Polydor album, Level Headed (January 1978), found Sweet experimenting by combining rock and classical sounds "a-la clavesin", an approach similar to Electric Light Orchestra's, and featured the single "Love Is Like Oxygen". Largely recorded during 1977 at Château d'Hérouville near Paris, France after a 30-day writing session at Clearwell Castle in the Forest Of Dean UK, the album represented a new musical direction, largely abandoning hard-rock for a more melodic pop style, interspersed with ballads accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra. The ballad, "Lettres D'Amour", featured a duet between Connolly and Stevie Lange (who would emerge as lead singer with the group Night in 1979).
With the addition of session and touring musicians keyboardist Gary Moberley and guitarist Nico Ramsden, Sweet undertook a short European and Scandinavian tour followed by a single British concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 24 February 1978. However, "Love Is Like Oxygen" (January 1978) was their last U.K., U.S., and German Top 10 hit. Scott was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for co-composing the song. One more single from the album, "California Nights" (May 1978), featuring Steve Priest as the lead vocalist, peaked at number 23 on the German chart.
Departure of Brian Connolly
Between March and May 1978 Sweet extensively toured the US, as a support act for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. The tour included a disastrous date in Birmingham, Alabama on 3 May, during which visiting Capitol Records executives in the audience saw Brian Connolly give a drunken and incoherent performance that terminated early in the set with his collapse on stage, leaving the rest of the group to play on without him. The band returned briefly to Britain before resuming the second leg of their US tour in late May supporting other acts, including Foghat and Alice Cooper. Concluding the US tour in early July 1978, Brian's alcoholism and estrangement from the group was steadily becoming a greater issue.
In late October, having spent further time at Clearwell Castle to write for their next album, Sweet arrived at The Town House studio in Shepherd's Bush, London to complete and record, Cut Above the Rest (April 1979). Due to tensions between various members attributed to Connolly's health and diminishing status with the group, his long-time friend and fellow founding member, Mick Tucker, was tasked to produce Connolly's vocals. It was felt Tucker would extract a better performance than Scott from Connolly. A number of tracks were recorded featuring Connolly. However, these efforts were deemed unsatisfactory and Brian left the band on 2 November 1978.
On 23 February 1979, Brian Connolly's departure from Sweet was formally announced by manager David Walker. Publicly, Connolly was said to be pursuing a solo career with an interest in recording country rock.
Three piece Sweet
Sweet continued as a trio with Priest assuming the lion's share of lead vocals, though Scott and Tucker were also active in that role. The first single release for the trio was "Call Me". Guest keyboard player Gary Moberley continued to augment the group on stage. Guitarist Ray McRiner joined their touring line-up in 1979, with a small tour with Journey in the eastern United States and Cheap Trick in Texas in the spring and summer of '79 to support Cut Above The Rest (which was released in April 1979). McRiner would also contribute the songs "Too Much Talking" and the single "Give The Lady Some Respect" to the next Sweet album, Waters Edge (August 1980), which was recorded in Canada. In the US, Waters Edge was titled Sweet VI. It featured the singles "Sixties Man" and "Give The Lady Some Respect". Tragedy befell Mick Tucker when his wife Pauline drowned in the bath at their home on 26 December 1979. The band withdrew from live work for all of 1980.
One more studio album, Identity Crisis, was recorded during 1980–81 but was only released in West Germany and Mexico. Sweet undertook a short tour of the UK and performed their last live show at Glasgow University on 20 March 1981. Steve Priest then returned to the United States, where he had been living since late 1979. When Polydor released Identity Crisis in October 1982, the original Sweet had been disbanded for almost a year.
Re-formed versions (1984–present)
Andy Scott's Sweet (1985–present)
Andy Scott and Mick Tucker organised their own version of Sweet with Paul Mario Day (ex-Iron Maiden, More, Wildfire) on lead vocals, Phil Lanzon (ex-Grand Prix) on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass. The band performed at the Marquee Club in London in February 1986, with the shows recorded and gaining release a few years later, bolstered by four new studio tracks including a cover of the Motown standard "Reach Out I'll Be There". This line-up also toured Australian and New Zealand pubs and clubs for more than three months in 1985 and for a similar period again in 1986. Singer Paul Day ended up marrying the band's Australian tour guide and relocating downunder. He continued with Sweet commuting back and forth to Europe for the group's tours until this proved to be too cumbersome. He departed in late 1988. As McNulty moved into the front man spot, Jeff Brown came in to take over bass early in 1989. Lanzon too went back and forth between Sweet and Uriah Heep during 1986-1988 before Heep's schedule grew too busy. Malcolm Pearson and then Ian Gibbons (who had played with The Kinks and The Records) both filled in for Lanzon until Steve Mann (Liar, Lionheart, McAuley Schenker Group) arrived in December 1989.
Tucker departed after a show in Lochau, Austria, on 5 May 1991. He later was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. Three drummers, Andy Hoyler, Bobby Andersen and Bruce Bisland (Weapon, Wildfire, Praying Mantis), provided short-term relief before Bodo Schopf (McAuley Schenker Group) took over. They recorded an album during this period, simply titled A. Before the band embarked on the supporting tour for A in 1992, Bodo left and Bisland returned as permanent percussionist. Scott changed the band's name to 'Andy Scott's Sweet' after Tucker's departure but truncated it to simply 'The Sweet' once again after Tucker's death in 2002.
Mal McNulty, now lead vocalist, departed in 1994, though he would return briefly that year to fill in for Jeff Brown on bass (as he would again in 1995 as lead singer for a few dates while Rocky Newton subbed on bass). Sweet's former keyboard men Gary Moberley and Ian Gibbons also did fill-in jaunts with the group that year, as did Chris Goulstone. Chad Brown (ex-Lionheart; no relation to Jeff) was the new front man. Glitz Blitz and Hitz, a new studio album of re-recorded Sweet hits, was released during this period.
In 1996 Mann left to take a job in television and Gibbons came back for a short time before Steve Grant (ex-The Animals) became the permanent keyboardist. When Chad Brown quit in 1998 after developing a throat infection, Jeff Brown assumed lead vocals and bass duties. After this, the band was stable again for the next five years.
The mid-2000s would bring further confusing shake-ups and rotations. Tony O'Hora (ex-Onslaught, Praying Mantis) replaced Brown as lead vocalist in 2003. Ian Gibbons came back for a third stint as fill-in keyboardist in June 2005 for a gig in the Faroe Islands. O'Hora decided to split to take a teaching job in late 2005. Grant then jumped from keyboards to lead vocals and bass as Phil Lanzon returned on keyboards for a tour of Russia and Germany in October/November. New singer Mark Thompson Smith (ex-Praying Mantis) joined in November 2005 for some Swedish gigs, while Jo Burt (ex-Black Sabbath) was temporary bass player. Tony Mills (ex-Shy) was slated to be Sweet's new singer in early 2006 but failed to work out and left after six shows in Denmark. At this point, O'Hora came back as fill in front man and then Grant did another turn himself as the singer/bassist (Steve Mann depped on keyboards) until the group finally landed a new permanent front man when Peter Lincoln (ex-Sailor) arrived in July 2006. The line-up then consisted of Scott, Bisland, Grant and Lincoln.
Scott produced the Suzi Quatro album Back to the Drive, released in February 2006. March 2006 saw the U.S. release of his band's album Sweetlife.
In 2007 the group played in Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy. In May of that year, the band played in Porto Alegre and Curitiba, Brazil, their first and only South American shows. The tour was called the 'Sweet Fanny Adams Tour'.
The band toured again in March 2008 under the name 'Sweet Fanny Adams Revisited Tour'. In May and June, Scott's Sweet were part of the "Glitz Blitz & 70s Hitz" tour of the UK alongside The Rubettes and Showaddywaddy.
In March and April 2010, Scott was absent from a couple of gigs due to ill health and Martin Mickels stood in. Scott revealed later that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was treated at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. After a course of treatment and rest, he was back to full touring fitness. In 2010 the band played at venues in Europe and back at Bilston in October.
In March 2011 there was a short tour of Australia, Regal Theatre - Perth, and Clipsal 500, Adelaide with the Doobie Brothers. Also in 2011, Tony O'Hora came back to the group, this time as keyboardist, after Grant departed.
In March 2012 the band released a new album New York Connection. Recorded in England, it comprised 11 cover versions, including the 2011 single "Join Together" and one revamped original recording; the 1972 B-side "New York Connection". All the covers either featured 'bits and pieces' of Sweet hits or other artist songs, such as a "new version of the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop [which] shared space with samples from ‘Ballroom Blitz,’ and a take on Hello’s New York Groove (made famous in the US by Ace Frehley) featured a sample from Jay-Z’s Empire State Of Mind along with other Sweet references."
On the eve of their March 2012 "Join Together" tour of Australia, the band undertook an acoustic performance of three tracks, "New York Groove-Empire State of Mind", "Blockbuster" and "Peppermint Twist", in front of a live audience at ABC Radio Studios in East Perth. Shows in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Geelong, Melbourne and Sydney featured tracks from the new album for the first time.
Paul Manzi joined Sweet on their 2014 Australian tour, replacing Tony O'Hora who was absent for personal reasons. Manzi played guitar, keyboard and undertook lead vocals on "Set Me Free" and "AC-DC" as the band performed shows in regional centres, including outback Western Australia, Darwin and far-north Queensland, NSW and Victoria during February and March. The band, with O'Hora back in the ranks, returned to Australia in September 2014 as the headlining act for "Rock The Boat 4". This was a cruise aboard the ship Rhapsody of the Seas which departed Sydney and took in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The band played two gigs and various members guested with Australian veteran performers including Brian Cadd and Russell Morris and members of AC/DC, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and Skyhooks.
In June 2015 it was revealed that the band were going on an extensive tour of the UK in late 2015 and that this tour would probably be their last.
For the 2015 summer tour dates, Paul Manzi returned to sub for Peter Lincoln who left this online message to the fans: "There have been a few rumours going around this weekend, so . . . just to say that I am alive and well! The short explanation for my absence is that I need to rest my voice for a few weeks. We are lucky that our good friend Paul Manzi is able to step in, and Tony knows the role of bass player/singer, so the shows can go ahead, and they will be great! I look forward to being back on stage very soon."
Pete Lincoln duly resumed his role in the band and they continued with extensive live dates, known as the "Finale" tour in Germany.
In 2017 after Andy undertook a successful Australian visit with Suzi Quatro and Don Powell in the side outfit known as QSP, Sweet was again booked for an extensive European tour. In the years following both Tony O'Hora and Pete Lincoln departed the band. Paul Manzi returned as permanent lead vocalist, quitting the popular outfit Cats in Space to do so. Lee Small joined as bassist and backing vocalist. Former guitarist and keyboard player Steve Mann joined for a handful of shows as a special guest. During the COVID-19 pandemic the band recorded a new album of old tracks entitled Isolation Boulevard.
New Sweet, Brian Connolly's Sweet (1984–1997)
In 1984 Brian Connolly formed a new version of the Sweet without any of the other original members. Despite recurring ill health, Connolly toured the UK and Europe with his band, "Brian Connolly's Sweet", which was then renamed to "New Sweet". His most successful concerts were in West Germany, before and after reunification.
During 1987, Connolly met up again with Frank Torpey. Torpey later explained in interviews Connolly was trying to get a German recording deal. The two got on very well and Torpey subsequently invited Connolly to go into the recording studio with him, as an informal project. After much trepidation, Connolly turned up and the track "Sharontina" was recorded. This recording would not be released until 1998, appearing on Frank Torpey's album Sweeter.
By July 1990, plans were made for Connolly and his band to tour Australia in November. During the long flight to Australia, Connolly's health had suffered and he was hospitalised in Adelaide Hospital, allegedly for dehydration and related problems. The rest of the band played a show in Adelaide without him. After being released from the hospital, Connolly joined the other band members in Melbourne for a gig at the Pier Hotel, in Frankston. After several other shows, including one at the Dingley Powerhouse, Connolly and his band played a final date at Melbourne's Greek Theatre. It was felt Connolly's health was sufficient reason for the tour not to be extended, and some of the planned dates were abandoned. Connolly went back to England and his band appeared on The Bob Downe Christmas show on 18 December 1990.
During the early 1990s, Connolly played the European "oldies" circuit and occasional outdoor festivals in Europe with his band. On 22 March 1992, a heavy duty tape recorder was stolen from the band's van whilst at a gig in the Bristol Hippodrome with Mud. It contained demos of four new songs, totalling about 20 mixes.
Legal problems were going on in the background over the use of the Sweet name between Connolly and Andy Scott. Both parties agreed to distinguish their group's names to help promoters and fans. The New Sweet went back to being called Brian Connolly's Sweet and Andy Scott's version became Andy Scott's Sweet.
In 1994, Connolly and his band played in Dubai. He appeared at the Galleria Theatre, Hyatt Regency. He also performed in Bahrain.
By this time Connolly had healed the differences with Steve Priest and Mick Tucker, and was invited to the wedding of Priest's eldest daughter, Lisa. At the private function, for which Priest specially flew back to England, Priest and Connolly performed together.
In 1995, Connolly released a new album entitled Let's Go. His partner Jean, whom he had met a few years earlier, gave birth to a son. Connolly also performed in Switzerland that year.
On 2 November 1996 British TV Network Channel 4 aired a programme Don't Leave Me This Way, which examined Connolly's time as a pop star with the Sweet, the subsequent decline in the band's popularity, and its impact on Connolly and the other band members. The show revealed Connolly's ill health but also that he was continuing with his concert dates at Butlins. Connolly and his band had appeared at Butlins a number of times on tour during the early 1990s.
Connolly's final concert was at the Bristol Hippodrome on 5 December 1996, with Slade II and John Rossall's Glitter Band Experience.
Steve Priest's Sweet (2008–Present)
In January 2008, Steve Priest assembled his own version of the Sweet in Los Angeles. He enlisted a guitarist Stuart Smith and L.A. native Richie Onori, Smith's bandmate in Heaven & Earth, was brought in on drums. The keyboard spot was manned by ex-Crow and World Classic Rockers alumni Stevie Stewart. Front-man and vocalist Joe Retta was brought in to round out the line-up.
After an initial appearance on L.A. rock station 95.5 KLOS's popular Mark & Brian radio programme, the "Are You Ready Steve?" tour kicked off at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood on 12 June 2008. The band spent the next several months playing festivals and gigs throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Moondance Jam in Walker, Minnesota; headlining at the Rock N Resort Music Festival in North Lawrence, Ohio (near Canal Fulton); London, Ontario's Rock the Park; another headlining gig at Peterborough's Festival of Lights; the Common Ground Festival in Lansing, Michigan; and a benefit concert for victims of California's wildfires at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
In January 2009, the Sweet presented at the concert industry's Pollstar Awards, and also played a short set at the Nokia Theatre where the event was held, marking the first time in the ceremony's history that a band performed at the show. In addition to local gigs at the House of Blues on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and Universal CityWalk, 2009 saw the band return to Canada for sold-out shows at the Mae Wilson Theater and Casino Regina, as well as the Nakusp Music Fest and Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa in Minnedosa, Manitoba. U.S. festivals have included Minnesota's Halfway Jam, Rockin' the Rivers in Montana (with Pat Travers and Peter Frampton), and two late-summer shows at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The new band recorded a cover version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride", which was included on Cleopatra Records' Abbey Road, a Fab Four tribute CD that was released on 24 March 2009.
A preview of the band's new CD Live in America, which was recorded live at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California on 30 August 2008, was featured on KLOS's "Front Row" programme on 12 April 2009. The CD, which was first sold at shows and via the band's on-line store, was released worldwide in an exclusive deal with Amazon.com on 21 July 2009. The release has garnered favourable reviews from The Rock n Roll Report, Classic Rock Revisited and Hard Rock Haven, among others.
In April 2010, the band released its first single on iTunes: an updated, hard rock version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." Performances on the 2010 summer tour included the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival in Richardson, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada's Fremont Street Experience; Rock N' America in Oklahoma City, OK; Summer Jam in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack FM's Fifth Show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Los Angeles; an appearance at the Hard Rock Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi; and the inaugural edition of the Thunder Mountain Rock Festival in Sawyer, North Dakota.
On 11 November 2010, it was announced that in May 2011 "Steve Priest's Sweet" had been booked to perform at a handful of European dates, but the gigs ultimately had to be cancelled in late January 2011 after it was learned that one of the promoters was a suspected swindler wanted by British law enforcement officials. As of February 2011, fans who purchased pre-sale tickets were still in the process of working through the administrative channels with PayPal and various banks and credit card issuers in order to try to reclaim their funds.
The band toured South America along with Journey during March 2011.
The band and their European fans then also got re-united quicker than thought, when the band got booked by a befriended female Belgian promoter. Two east German gigs, 27 and 28 May 2011, so in Borna and in Schwarzenberg Steve Priest's Sweet hit the European grounds. After more than 30 years, Steve Priest got a warm welcome back in Europe.
As of 12 August 2012, Stuart Smith resigned from the guitar post in order to dedicate more time to his "Heaven & Earth" project.
Beginning with the band's October 2012 appearance at the Festival Internacional Chihuahua in Mexico, Los Angeles-based guitarist Ricky Z. teamed up with Steve Priest and company for their live performances. In February 2013, this lineup returned to Casino Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Tour dates played in summer 2013 included Riverfest in Watertown, Wisconsin, the St. Clair, MI Riverfest, several additional dates in Canada, and a reprise of their appearances at both Moondance Jam in Walker, MN and Rockin' the Rivers in Three Forks, Montana. The band made some rare appearances on the U.S. east coast in July 2013, including a performance with David Johansen of the New York Dolls at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Singer Joe Retta was unavailable for these dates due to a scheduling conflict, so Tribe of Gypsies frontman Chas West, who has played with Jason Bonham's band and has experience subbing in such well-known bands as Foreigner, Lynch Mob and Diamond Head, stepped in to man the microphone for a series of shows in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
On 27 August 2014, Steve Priest announced on the band's Facebook page that guitarist Mitch Perry had been tapped for the guitar slot. Most recently on tour with Lita Ford, Mitch's other credentials included his work with Michael Schenker Group, Asia Featuring John Payne, Edgar Winter, Billy Sheehan and David Lee Roth His first live appearance with Sweet was at the Rock the River festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on 23 August 2014.
22 December 2017 saw the launch of the 50th anniversary tour at the Whisky a Go Go on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and the introduction of new singer Paul Zablidowski AKA "Paulie Z" former lead singer and guitarist of ZO2, children's band "The Z Brothers" and star of IFC show Z-Rock. Recently known as the host for local show "Ultimate Jam Night." Z replaced Joe Retta, who had served as the frontman for the Los Angeles incarnation of Sweet since its formation in 2008. Priest died on 4 June 2020.
Brief reunions and the deaths of Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker and Steve Priest
Steve Priest was asked to join Tucker and Scott for the 1985 Australian tour, but declined at the last moment.
Mike Chapman contacted Connolly, Priest, Scott, and Tucker in 1988, offering to finance a recording session in Los Angeles. As he remembers: "I met them at the airport and Andy and Mick came off the plane. I said, 'Where's Brian?' They said, 'Oh, he's coming.' All the people had come off the plane by now. Then this little old man hobbled towards us. He was shaking, and had a ghostly white face. I thought, 'Oh, Jesus Christ.' It was horrifying." Reworked studio versions of "Action" and "The Ballroom Blitz" were recorded, but it became clear that Connolly's voice and physical health had made Sweet's original member comeback too difficult to promote commercially. Consequently, the reunion attempt was aborted.
In 1990 this line-up was again reunited for the promotion of a music documentary entitled Sweet's Ballroom Blitz. This UK video release, which contained UK television performances from the 1970s and current-day interviews, was released at Tower Records, London. Sweet was interviewed by Power Hour, Super Channel, and spoke of a possible reunion.
Brian Connolly died at the age of 51 on 9 February 1997, from liver failure and repeated heart attacks, attributed to his abuse of alcohol in the 1970s and early 1980s. Mick Tucker died on 14 February 2002 from leukemia, at the age of 54. On 4 June 2020 it was announced that Steve Priest had died. It left Andy Scott as the sole living member of Sweet's 'classic lineup'.
Later years
Two versions of The Sweet were active with original members: "Andy Scott's Sweet", who frequently tour across Europe as Sweet and makes occasional sojourns to other markets including regular visits to Australia, and "Steve Priest's Sweet" who toured the US and Canada.
On 28 April 2009, Shout! Factory released a two-disc, career-spanning greatest hits album called Action: The Sweet Anthology. It received a four-star (out of five) rating in Rolling Stone.
In September 2009 Ace Frehley released his version of "Fox on the Run" on his album Anomaly.
In an October 2012 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses, referenced Sweet as one of his favourite bands growing up along with fellow British band Queen.
In April 2016, the chart topping song (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" was featured in a trailer for Suicide Squad.
In December 2016, their single "Fox on the Run" (1975) was featured in a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
In 2019, the songs "Fox on the Run" and "Set Me Free" were featured in an episode of Jamie Johnson.
Personnel
Original band
Classic lineup
Brian Connolly – lead vocals, percussion, synthesizer, acoustic guitar (1968–1978; died 1997)
Steve Priest – bass, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2020)
Mick Tucker – drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2002)
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1970–1981)
Early members
Frank Torpey – guitars (1968–1969)
Mick Stewart – guitars (1969–1970)
Touring musicians
Gary Moberley – keyboards, synthesizers, piano (1978–1981)
Nico Ramsden – guitar (1978)
Ray McRiner – guitar (1979)
Andy Scott’s Sweet
Current members
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1985–present)
Bruce Bisland – drums, backing vocals (1992–present)
Paul Manzi – lead vocals (2019–present; substitute appearances in 2014 and 2015)
Lee Small – bass, backing vocals (2019–present)
Former members
Mick Tucker – drums, backing vocals (1985–1991; died 2002)
Paul Mario Day – lead vocals (1985–1989)
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1985–1989; 2005—2006)
Mal McNulty – bass, lead and backing vocals (1985–1995)
Jeff Brown – bass, lead and backing vocals (1989–2003)
Steve Mann – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals (1989-1996)
Bodo Schopf – drums, backing vocals (1991–1992)
Chad Brown — lead vocals (1995–1998)
Steve Grant — keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1996–2005, 2006–2011); lead vocals, bass (2005–2006)
Tony O’Hora – lead and backing vocals, bass (2003–2005, 2006, 2011–2019), guitars, keyboards (2011–2019)
Peter Lincoln – bass, lead and backing vocals (2006–2019)
Timeline
Discography
Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be (1971)
Sweet Fanny Adams (1974)
Desolation Boulevard (1974)
Give Us a Wink (1976)
Off the Record (1977)
Level Headed (1978)
Cut Above the Rest (1979)
Waters Edge (titled Sweet VI with a different cover in the U.S.) (1980)
Identity Crisis (1982)
Sweetlife (2002) by Andy Scott's Sweet
Isolation Boulevard (2020) by Andy Scott's Sweet
References
Bibliography
(2008 eBook available at )
External links
Channel 4 documentary on The Sweet from 1996
English hard rock musical groups
English glam rock groups
Musical groups established in 1968
Capitol Records artists
Polydor Records artists
RCA Records artists
1968 establishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups disestablished in 1982
1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups reestablished in 1985
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom | true | [
"Feel What U Feel is a children's album by American musician Lisa Loeb. The album was released on October 7, 2016, and the album's first single was \"Feel What U Feel.\" The album won Best Children's Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.\n\nRelease \nThe album was announced on September 8, 2016 with the release of the lead single \"Feel What U Feel,\" featuring Craig Robinson. The album was then released by Furious Rose Productions on October 7, 2016 as an Amazon Music exclusive.\n\nPromotion \nLisa Loeb Embarked a small tour to promote the Children's album in the Fall of 2016 & Winter of 2017. Despite going on a children's tour, Lisa performed many of her \"Adult\" and \"Older\" songs. Lisa also constantly played her songs on \"Kids Place Live Radio\" for nearly 1 year after release.\n\nSingles \n\"Feel What U Feel\" was released as the album's lead single of September 8, 2016. The second single, \"Moon Star Pie (It's Gunna Be Alright)\" was released on October 7, 2016. The third single, \"Wanna Do Day\" ft. Ed Helms was released on January 12, 2017. The fourth and final single of the album, \"The Sky Is Always Blue\" was released on March 13, 2017.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences \n\n2016 albums\nChildren's music albums\nLisa Loeb albums",
"What to Do with Daylight is the debut album by New Zealand singer/songwriter, Brooke Fraser released in 2004. What to Do with Daylight was the top New Zealand album for 2004 (according to RIANZ), and went seven times Platinum.\n\nThe album title comes from the album's first track \"Arithmetic\", as heard in the line \"Wondering what to do with daylight/Until I can make you mine\". The song was released as the album's fourth single in New Zealand.\n\nAll five singles from the album reached the top 20 NZ singles chart and achieved No. 1 airplay status.\n\nTrack listing\n\nSpecial edition\nWhat To Do With Daylight was also re-released as a two disc CD+DVD \"Special Edition\" in 2004, following the album's success. The first disc was the album with the second disc being a live DVD of four songs from the album. This set also came with a slipcase cover with a different photo of Fraser. The DVD was filmed and recorded live at The Pumphouse, Takapuna, Auckland on 2 April 2004.\n\nLive DVD track list:\n \"Saving the World\"\n \"Lifeline\"\n \"Arithmetic\"\n \"Better\"\n\nCharts and certifications\nWhat To Do With Daylight debuted at number one on the New Zealand RIANZ Album Chart. It was also certified Gold in the first week with sales of over 7,500. Within three weeks the album was certified Platinum with sales of over 15,000.\n\nThe album had a 66-week run on the New Zealand chart dating from 16 November 2003 – 28 February 2005, and would go on to reach number one a further two times and be certified 7x Platinum.\n\nCertifications in weeks:\n\nReferences \n\nBrooke Fraser albums\n2003 debut albums"
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"The Sweet",
"First album",
"/what was the first album",
"March 1971 RCA issued \"Funny Funny\", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit,"
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| C_8881985e0300445eac1e4d13b977ae98_0 | What songs were released on it | 2 | What songs were released on The Sweet's first album "Funny Funny"? | The Sweet | The Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide (the U.S. excepted) record contract with RCA Records (in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973; followed by Capitol Records). In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to #33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals. The Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts. Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career. CANNOTANSWER | Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" ( | The Sweet, sometimes also shortened to just Sweet, are a British glam rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker. The group was originally called The Sweetshop.
The band was formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, "Funny Funny", in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.
The band first achieved success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, like 1974's "Turn It Down". "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. They also achieved success and popularity in the US with the top ten hits "Little Willy", "The Ballroom Blitz", "Fox on the Run", and "Love is Like Oxygen".
The Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have since sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
History
Origins
Sweet's origins can be traced back to British soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen. Mark Lay's history of that band states they formed around 1962 and were initially known as Unit 4. Founding members included Chris Wright (vocals), Jan Frewer (bass), with Jim Searle and Alfred Fripp on guitars. Phil Kenton joined on drums as the band changed its name to Wainwright's Gentlemen (due to there being another band known as Unit 4). Managed by Frewer's father, the band performed in the Hayes, Harrow and Wembley area. By 1964 the group was also playing in London, including at the Saint Germain Club on Poland Street.
In January 1964 the band came fifth in a national beat group contest, with finals held at the Lyceum Strand on 4 May 1964. Highlights of the show were presented on BBC1 by Alan Freeman. Chris Wright left the line-up in late 1964 and was replaced by Ian Gillan. A female vocalist named Ann Cully soon joined the band. Mick Tucker, from Ruislip, joined on drums replacing Phil Kenton. The band recorded a number of tracks including a cover of the Coasters-Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me", which was probably recorded at Jackson Sound Studios in Rickmansworth. The track includes Gillan on vocals, Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965. Gillan quit in May 1965 to join Episode Six, and later, Deep Purple. Cully remained as vocalist before departing some time later. Gillan's and Cully's eventual replacement, in late 1966, was Scots-born vocalist Brian Connolly, who hailed more recently from Harefield. Tony Hall had joined on saxophone and vocals and when Fripp left he was replaced by Gordon Fairminer. Fairminer's position was eventually assumed by Frank Torpey (born Frank Edward Torpey, 30 April 1945, Kilburn, North West London) - a schoolfriend of Tucker's who had just left West London group The Tribe (aka The Dream). Torpey only lasted a few months, and in late 1967 Robin Box (born 19 June 1944) took his place. Searle, regarded by many as the most talented musically, disappeared from the scene. Tucker and Connolly remained with Wainwright's Gentlemen until January 1968. Tucker was replaced by Roger Hills. When the Gentlemen eventually broke up, Hills and Box joined White Plains who eventually scored a big hit with "My Baby Loves Lovin'".
Early years
In January 1968 Connolly and Tucker formed a new band calling themselves The Sweetshop. They recruited bass guitarist and vocalist Steve Priest from a local band called The Army. Priest had previously played with mid-'60s band the Countdowns who had been produced and recorded by Joe Meek. Frank Torpey was again recruited to play guitar. The quartet made its public debut at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead on 9 March 1968 and soon developed a following on the pub circuit, which led to a contract with Fontana Records. At the time, another UK band released a single under the same name Sweetshop, so the band abbreviated their moniker to Sweet. The band was managed by Paul Nicholas, who later went on to star in Hair. Nicholas worked with record producer Phil Wainman at Mellin Music Publishing and recommended the band to him. Their debut single "Slow Motion" (July 1968), produced by Wainman, and released on Fontana, failed to chart and owing to its rarity now sells for several hundred pounds when auctioned. Sweet were released from the recording contract and Frank Torpey left. In his autobiography Are You Ready Steve, Priest said that Gordon Fairminer was approached to play for them when Torpey decided to leave Sweet after a gig at Playhouse Theatre Walton-on-Thames on 5 July 1969 but turned the job down as he wanted to concentrate on other interests.
New line-up and new record deal
Guitarist Mick Stewart joined in 1969. Stewart had some rock pedigree, having previously worked with The (Ealing) Redcaps and Simon Scott & The All-Nite Workers in the mid-1960s. In late 1965, that band became The Phil Wainman Set when the future Sweet producer joined on drums and the group cut some singles with Errol Dixon. In early 1966, Stewart left and later worked with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.
Sweet signed a new record contract with EMI's Parlophone label. Three bubblegum pop singles were released: "Lollipop Man" (September 1969), "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (January 1970), and a cover version of the Archies' "Get on the Line" (June 1970), all of which failed to chart. Stewart then quit, and was not replaced for some time. Connolly and Tucker had a chance meeting with Wainman, who was now producing, and knew of two aspiring songwriters, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who were looking for a group to sing some demos they had written. Connolly, Priest, and Tucker provided the vocals on a track called "Funny Funny" which featured Pip Williams on guitar, John Roberts on bass, and Wainman on drums. The latter began offering the track to various recording companies. The band held auditions for a replacement guitarist and settled on Welsh-born Andy Scott. He had most recently been playing with Mike McCartney (brother of Paul) in the Scaffold. As a member of the Elastic Band, he had played guitar on two singles for Decca, "Think of You Baby" and "Do Unto Others". He also appeared on the band's lone album release, Expansions on Life, and on some recordings by the Scaffold. The band rehearsed for a number of weeks before Scott made his live debut with Sweet on 26 September 1970 at the Windsor Ballroom in Redcar.
Sweet initially attempted to combine diverse musical influences, including the Monkees and 1960s bubblegum pop groups such as the Archies, with more heavy rock-oriented groups such as the Who. Sweet adopted the rich vocal harmony style of the Hollies, with distorted guitars and a heavy rhythm section. This fusion of pop and hard rock would remain a central trademark of Sweet's music and prefigured the glam metal of a few years later.
Sweet's initial album appearance was on the budget label Music for Pleasure as part of a compilation called Gimme Dat Ding, released in December 1970. Sweet had one side of the record; the Pipkins (whose sole hit, "Gimme Dat Ding", gave the LP its name) had the other. Sweet's contribution consisted of the A- and B-sides of the band's three Parlophone singles. Andy Scott appears in the album cover shot, even though he did not play on any of the recordings.
First album
Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide record contract with RCA Records, the U.S. excepted: in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973, followed by Capitol Records.
In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to No. 33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals.
Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts.
Initial success and rise to fame
February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit. Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments. In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.
To promote their singles, Sweet made numerous appearances on U.K. and European TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Supersonic. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops Christmas edition, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared replete in a German military uniform, Hitler moustache and displaying a swastika armband. The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.
Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image. Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe". A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period). The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.
Forming a new image
By 1974, Sweet had grown tired of the management team of Chinn and Chapman, who wrote the group's major hits and cultivated the band's glam rock image. The group and producer Phil Wainman, assisted by engineer Peter Coleman, recorded the album Sweet Fanny Adams, which was released in April 1974. Sweet's technical proficiency was demonstrated for the first time on self-penned hard rock tracks such as "Sweet F.A." and "Set Me Free". Sweet also adopted a more conventional hard rock sound and appearance. Sweet Fanny Adams also featured compressed high-pitched backing vocal harmonies, which was a trend that continued on all of Sweet's albums.
During sessions for the album, Brian Connolly was injured in a fight in Staines High Street. His throat was badly injured and his ability to sing severely limited. Priest and Scott filled in on lead vocals on some tracks ("No You Don't", "Into The Night" and "Restless") and Connolly, under treatment from a Harley Street specialist, managed to complete the album. The band did not publicise the incident and told the press that subsequent cancelled shows were due to Connolly having a throat infection. This incident reportedly permanently compromised Connolly's singing ability, with his range diminished.
No previous singles appeared on the album, and none were released, except in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, where "Peppermint Twist/Rebel Rouser", apparently released by their record company without their knowledge, gained a No. 1 chart position in the latter. Sweet Fanny Adams would be Sweet's only non-compilation release to break the UK Albums Chart Top 40.
Sweet were invited by Pete Townshend to support the Who, who were playing at Charlton Athletic's football ground, The Valley in June 1974. However, Connolly's badly bruised throat kept them from fulfilling the role. Sweet had frequently cited the Who as being one of their main influences and played a medley of their tracks in their live set for many years.
Desolation Boulevard
Their third album, Desolation Boulevard, was released later in 1974, six months after Sweet Fanny Adams. By that stage, producer Phil Wainman had moved on and the album was produced by Mike Chapman. It was recorded in a mere six days and featured a rawer "live" sound. One track, "The Man with the Golden Arm", written by Elmer Bernstein and Sylvia Fine for the 1955 Frank Sinatra movie of the same name, featured drummer Mick Tucker performing an 8 and half minute solo (although this was not included in the U.S. release). This had been a staple of the band's live performance for years. The first single from the LP, the heavy-melodic "The Six Teens" (July 1974), was a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and still part of the amazing unbroken string of No. 1's in Denmark. However, the subsequent single release, "Turn It Down" (November 1974), reached only No. 41 on the U.K. chart and No. 2 in Denmark. "Turn It Down" received minimal airplay on UK radio and was banned by some radio stations because of certain lyrical content - "God-awful sound" and "For God sakes, turn it down" - which were deemed "unsuitable for family listening." The band resumed playing live shows nearly a full six months after Connolly's throat injury, with band and critics noting a rougher edge to his voice and a reduced range. The album also featured a group composition, "Fox On The Run", which was to be re-recorded months later.
The U.S. version of Desolation Boulevard was different from the U.K. version and included several songs from Sweet Fanny Adams in addition to the "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run" singles (both of which peaked at No. 5 in the US). Side One of the album contained all Chapman-Chinn penned songs, while Side Two featured songs written and produced by Sweet.
Writing and producing their own material
In 1975 Sweet went back into the studio to re-arrange and record a more pop-oriented version of the track "Fox on the Run". Sweet's first self-written and produced single, "Fox on the Run" was released worldwide in March 1975 and became their biggest selling hit, reaching number one in Germany, Denmark, and South Africa, number two in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands and number three in Austria and Switzerland. In Australia it not only made it to the top of the charts, it also became the biggest selling single of that year. The song reached number two in Canada and number five in the U.S. The release of this track marked the end of the formal Chinn-Chapman working relationship and the band stressed it was now fully self-sufficient as writers and producers.
The following single release, "Action" (July 1975), peaked at number 15 in the UK. Now confident in their own songwriting and production abilities, Sweet spent the latter half of 1975 in Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, where they recorded the Give Us A Wink album with German sound engineer Reinhold Mack, who later recorded with Electric Light Orchestra and co-produced Queen. The new album release was deferred until 1976 so as not to stifle the chart success Desolation Boulevard was enjoying, peaking at number 25 in the US and number 5 in Canada.
With Give Us a Wink being held over, RCA issued a double album in Europe, Strung Up, in November. It contained one live disc, recorded in London in December 1973, and one disc compiling previously released singles (plus an unused track by Chinn and Chapman – "I Wanna Be Committed"). At the end of the year, Andy Scott released his first solo single, "Lady Starlight" b/w "Where D'Ya Go". Tucker played drums on both tracks.
Decline in popularity
January 1976 saw the release of the single "The Lies In Your Eyes", which made the Top 10 in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia, but only reached No. 35 on the U.K. charts. Sweet's first album to be fully produced and written by themselves, Give Us A Wink, was released in March 1976. A third single from the album, "4th Of July", was issued in Australia.
By this time, Sweet strove to build on their growing popularity in America with a schedule of more than fifty headline concert dates. Even though Give Us A Winks release was imminent, the band's set essentially promoted the US version of Desolation Boulevard plus the new US hit single "Action". During an appearance at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in California on 24 March, Sweet played "All Right Now" with Ritchie Blackmore as a tribute to mark the death of Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, who was to have supported Sweet with his band Back Street Crawler. The US tour was not financially successful, with small audiences at many venues leading to the final half-dozen or so dates to be cancelled. Following the end of the tour, the band went on to Scandinavia and Germany. The band also spent a week at the Who's Ramport Studios in Battersea demoing material for a new album before abandoning that project and playing eight dates in Japan. By the end of the Japanese shows Connolly's extremely hoarse singing voice was manifest evidence of the demands of constant touring and the enduring after-effects of his 1974 assault.
Between October 1976 and January 1977, Sweet wrote and recorded new material at Kingsway Recorders and Audio International London studios for their next album. An advance single from the album, "Lost Angels", was only a hit in Germany, Austria and Sweden. A new album, Off the Record, was released in April. The next single from the album, "Fever of Love", represented the band heading in a somewhat more Europop hard rock direction, once again charting in Germany, Austria and Sweden, while reaching number 10 in South Africa. On this album, Sweet again worked with Give Us A Wink engineer Louis Austin, who would later engineer Def Leppard's On Through The Night 1980 début album. The band cancelled a US tour with emerging US rockers Aerosmith, did not play any live dates in support of the album and, in fact, did not play a single concert for the whole of 1977.
Level Headed and a change in style
Sweet left RCA in 1977 and signed a new deal with Polydor though it would not come into force until later in the year. Sweet's manager David Walker, from Handle Artists, negotiated the move which was reputed to be worth around £750,000. In the United States, Canada, and Japan, Capitol had issued Sweet's albums since 1974 and would continue to do so through to 1980.
The first Polydor album, Level Headed (January 1978), found Sweet experimenting by combining rock and classical sounds "a-la clavesin", an approach similar to Electric Light Orchestra's, and featured the single "Love Is Like Oxygen". Largely recorded during 1977 at Château d'Hérouville near Paris, France after a 30-day writing session at Clearwell Castle in the Forest Of Dean UK, the album represented a new musical direction, largely abandoning hard-rock for a more melodic pop style, interspersed with ballads accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra. The ballad, "Lettres D'Amour", featured a duet between Connolly and Stevie Lange (who would emerge as lead singer with the group Night in 1979).
With the addition of session and touring musicians keyboardist Gary Moberley and guitarist Nico Ramsden, Sweet undertook a short European and Scandinavian tour followed by a single British concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 24 February 1978. However, "Love Is Like Oxygen" (January 1978) was their last U.K., U.S., and German Top 10 hit. Scott was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for co-composing the song. One more single from the album, "California Nights" (May 1978), featuring Steve Priest as the lead vocalist, peaked at number 23 on the German chart.
Departure of Brian Connolly
Between March and May 1978 Sweet extensively toured the US, as a support act for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. The tour included a disastrous date in Birmingham, Alabama on 3 May, during which visiting Capitol Records executives in the audience saw Brian Connolly give a drunken and incoherent performance that terminated early in the set with his collapse on stage, leaving the rest of the group to play on without him. The band returned briefly to Britain before resuming the second leg of their US tour in late May supporting other acts, including Foghat and Alice Cooper. Concluding the US tour in early July 1978, Brian's alcoholism and estrangement from the group was steadily becoming a greater issue.
In late October, having spent further time at Clearwell Castle to write for their next album, Sweet arrived at The Town House studio in Shepherd's Bush, London to complete and record, Cut Above the Rest (April 1979). Due to tensions between various members attributed to Connolly's health and diminishing status with the group, his long-time friend and fellow founding member, Mick Tucker, was tasked to produce Connolly's vocals. It was felt Tucker would extract a better performance than Scott from Connolly. A number of tracks were recorded featuring Connolly. However, these efforts were deemed unsatisfactory and Brian left the band on 2 November 1978.
On 23 February 1979, Brian Connolly's departure from Sweet was formally announced by manager David Walker. Publicly, Connolly was said to be pursuing a solo career with an interest in recording country rock.
Three piece Sweet
Sweet continued as a trio with Priest assuming the lion's share of lead vocals, though Scott and Tucker were also active in that role. The first single release for the trio was "Call Me". Guest keyboard player Gary Moberley continued to augment the group on stage. Guitarist Ray McRiner joined their touring line-up in 1979, with a small tour with Journey in the eastern United States and Cheap Trick in Texas in the spring and summer of '79 to support Cut Above The Rest (which was released in April 1979). McRiner would also contribute the songs "Too Much Talking" and the single "Give The Lady Some Respect" to the next Sweet album, Waters Edge (August 1980), which was recorded in Canada. In the US, Waters Edge was titled Sweet VI. It featured the singles "Sixties Man" and "Give The Lady Some Respect". Tragedy befell Mick Tucker when his wife Pauline drowned in the bath at their home on 26 December 1979. The band withdrew from live work for all of 1980.
One more studio album, Identity Crisis, was recorded during 1980–81 but was only released in West Germany and Mexico. Sweet undertook a short tour of the UK and performed their last live show at Glasgow University on 20 March 1981. Steve Priest then returned to the United States, where he had been living since late 1979. When Polydor released Identity Crisis in October 1982, the original Sweet had been disbanded for almost a year.
Re-formed versions (1984–present)
Andy Scott's Sweet (1985–present)
Andy Scott and Mick Tucker organised their own version of Sweet with Paul Mario Day (ex-Iron Maiden, More, Wildfire) on lead vocals, Phil Lanzon (ex-Grand Prix) on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass. The band performed at the Marquee Club in London in February 1986, with the shows recorded and gaining release a few years later, bolstered by four new studio tracks including a cover of the Motown standard "Reach Out I'll Be There". This line-up also toured Australian and New Zealand pubs and clubs for more than three months in 1985 and for a similar period again in 1986. Singer Paul Day ended up marrying the band's Australian tour guide and relocating downunder. He continued with Sweet commuting back and forth to Europe for the group's tours until this proved to be too cumbersome. He departed in late 1988. As McNulty moved into the front man spot, Jeff Brown came in to take over bass early in 1989. Lanzon too went back and forth between Sweet and Uriah Heep during 1986-1988 before Heep's schedule grew too busy. Malcolm Pearson and then Ian Gibbons (who had played with The Kinks and The Records) both filled in for Lanzon until Steve Mann (Liar, Lionheart, McAuley Schenker Group) arrived in December 1989.
Tucker departed after a show in Lochau, Austria, on 5 May 1991. He later was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. Three drummers, Andy Hoyler, Bobby Andersen and Bruce Bisland (Weapon, Wildfire, Praying Mantis), provided short-term relief before Bodo Schopf (McAuley Schenker Group) took over. They recorded an album during this period, simply titled A. Before the band embarked on the supporting tour for A in 1992, Bodo left and Bisland returned as permanent percussionist. Scott changed the band's name to 'Andy Scott's Sweet' after Tucker's departure but truncated it to simply 'The Sweet' once again after Tucker's death in 2002.
Mal McNulty, now lead vocalist, departed in 1994, though he would return briefly that year to fill in for Jeff Brown on bass (as he would again in 1995 as lead singer for a few dates while Rocky Newton subbed on bass). Sweet's former keyboard men Gary Moberley and Ian Gibbons also did fill-in jaunts with the group that year, as did Chris Goulstone. Chad Brown (ex-Lionheart; no relation to Jeff) was the new front man. Glitz Blitz and Hitz, a new studio album of re-recorded Sweet hits, was released during this period.
In 1996 Mann left to take a job in television and Gibbons came back for a short time before Steve Grant (ex-The Animals) became the permanent keyboardist. When Chad Brown quit in 1998 after developing a throat infection, Jeff Brown assumed lead vocals and bass duties. After this, the band was stable again for the next five years.
The mid-2000s would bring further confusing shake-ups and rotations. Tony O'Hora (ex-Onslaught, Praying Mantis) replaced Brown as lead vocalist in 2003. Ian Gibbons came back for a third stint as fill-in keyboardist in June 2005 for a gig in the Faroe Islands. O'Hora decided to split to take a teaching job in late 2005. Grant then jumped from keyboards to lead vocals and bass as Phil Lanzon returned on keyboards for a tour of Russia and Germany in October/November. New singer Mark Thompson Smith (ex-Praying Mantis) joined in November 2005 for some Swedish gigs, while Jo Burt (ex-Black Sabbath) was temporary bass player. Tony Mills (ex-Shy) was slated to be Sweet's new singer in early 2006 but failed to work out and left after six shows in Denmark. At this point, O'Hora came back as fill in front man and then Grant did another turn himself as the singer/bassist (Steve Mann depped on keyboards) until the group finally landed a new permanent front man when Peter Lincoln (ex-Sailor) arrived in July 2006. The line-up then consisted of Scott, Bisland, Grant and Lincoln.
Scott produced the Suzi Quatro album Back to the Drive, released in February 2006. March 2006 saw the U.S. release of his band's album Sweetlife.
In 2007 the group played in Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy. In May of that year, the band played in Porto Alegre and Curitiba, Brazil, their first and only South American shows. The tour was called the 'Sweet Fanny Adams Tour'.
The band toured again in March 2008 under the name 'Sweet Fanny Adams Revisited Tour'. In May and June, Scott's Sweet were part of the "Glitz Blitz & 70s Hitz" tour of the UK alongside The Rubettes and Showaddywaddy.
In March and April 2010, Scott was absent from a couple of gigs due to ill health and Martin Mickels stood in. Scott revealed later that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was treated at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. After a course of treatment and rest, he was back to full touring fitness. In 2010 the band played at venues in Europe and back at Bilston in October.
In March 2011 there was a short tour of Australia, Regal Theatre - Perth, and Clipsal 500, Adelaide with the Doobie Brothers. Also in 2011, Tony O'Hora came back to the group, this time as keyboardist, after Grant departed.
In March 2012 the band released a new album New York Connection. Recorded in England, it comprised 11 cover versions, including the 2011 single "Join Together" and one revamped original recording; the 1972 B-side "New York Connection". All the covers either featured 'bits and pieces' of Sweet hits or other artist songs, such as a "new version of the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop [which] shared space with samples from ‘Ballroom Blitz,’ and a take on Hello’s New York Groove (made famous in the US by Ace Frehley) featured a sample from Jay-Z’s Empire State Of Mind along with other Sweet references."
On the eve of their March 2012 "Join Together" tour of Australia, the band undertook an acoustic performance of three tracks, "New York Groove-Empire State of Mind", "Blockbuster" and "Peppermint Twist", in front of a live audience at ABC Radio Studios in East Perth. Shows in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Geelong, Melbourne and Sydney featured tracks from the new album for the first time.
Paul Manzi joined Sweet on their 2014 Australian tour, replacing Tony O'Hora who was absent for personal reasons. Manzi played guitar, keyboard and undertook lead vocals on "Set Me Free" and "AC-DC" as the band performed shows in regional centres, including outback Western Australia, Darwin and far-north Queensland, NSW and Victoria during February and March. The band, with O'Hora back in the ranks, returned to Australia in September 2014 as the headlining act for "Rock The Boat 4". This was a cruise aboard the ship Rhapsody of the Seas which departed Sydney and took in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The band played two gigs and various members guested with Australian veteran performers including Brian Cadd and Russell Morris and members of AC/DC, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and Skyhooks.
In June 2015 it was revealed that the band were going on an extensive tour of the UK in late 2015 and that this tour would probably be their last.
For the 2015 summer tour dates, Paul Manzi returned to sub for Peter Lincoln who left this online message to the fans: "There have been a few rumours going around this weekend, so . . . just to say that I am alive and well! The short explanation for my absence is that I need to rest my voice for a few weeks. We are lucky that our good friend Paul Manzi is able to step in, and Tony knows the role of bass player/singer, so the shows can go ahead, and they will be great! I look forward to being back on stage very soon."
Pete Lincoln duly resumed his role in the band and they continued with extensive live dates, known as the "Finale" tour in Germany.
In 2017 after Andy undertook a successful Australian visit with Suzi Quatro and Don Powell in the side outfit known as QSP, Sweet was again booked for an extensive European tour. In the years following both Tony O'Hora and Pete Lincoln departed the band. Paul Manzi returned as permanent lead vocalist, quitting the popular outfit Cats in Space to do so. Lee Small joined as bassist and backing vocalist. Former guitarist and keyboard player Steve Mann joined for a handful of shows as a special guest. During the COVID-19 pandemic the band recorded a new album of old tracks entitled Isolation Boulevard.
New Sweet, Brian Connolly's Sweet (1984–1997)
In 1984 Brian Connolly formed a new version of the Sweet without any of the other original members. Despite recurring ill health, Connolly toured the UK and Europe with his band, "Brian Connolly's Sweet", which was then renamed to "New Sweet". His most successful concerts were in West Germany, before and after reunification.
During 1987, Connolly met up again with Frank Torpey. Torpey later explained in interviews Connolly was trying to get a German recording deal. The two got on very well and Torpey subsequently invited Connolly to go into the recording studio with him, as an informal project. After much trepidation, Connolly turned up and the track "Sharontina" was recorded. This recording would not be released until 1998, appearing on Frank Torpey's album Sweeter.
By July 1990, plans were made for Connolly and his band to tour Australia in November. During the long flight to Australia, Connolly's health had suffered and he was hospitalised in Adelaide Hospital, allegedly for dehydration and related problems. The rest of the band played a show in Adelaide without him. After being released from the hospital, Connolly joined the other band members in Melbourne for a gig at the Pier Hotel, in Frankston. After several other shows, including one at the Dingley Powerhouse, Connolly and his band played a final date at Melbourne's Greek Theatre. It was felt Connolly's health was sufficient reason for the tour not to be extended, and some of the planned dates were abandoned. Connolly went back to England and his band appeared on The Bob Downe Christmas show on 18 December 1990.
During the early 1990s, Connolly played the European "oldies" circuit and occasional outdoor festivals in Europe with his band. On 22 March 1992, a heavy duty tape recorder was stolen from the band's van whilst at a gig in the Bristol Hippodrome with Mud. It contained demos of four new songs, totalling about 20 mixes.
Legal problems were going on in the background over the use of the Sweet name between Connolly and Andy Scott. Both parties agreed to distinguish their group's names to help promoters and fans. The New Sweet went back to being called Brian Connolly's Sweet and Andy Scott's version became Andy Scott's Sweet.
In 1994, Connolly and his band played in Dubai. He appeared at the Galleria Theatre, Hyatt Regency. He also performed in Bahrain.
By this time Connolly had healed the differences with Steve Priest and Mick Tucker, and was invited to the wedding of Priest's eldest daughter, Lisa. At the private function, for which Priest specially flew back to England, Priest and Connolly performed together.
In 1995, Connolly released a new album entitled Let's Go. His partner Jean, whom he had met a few years earlier, gave birth to a son. Connolly also performed in Switzerland that year.
On 2 November 1996 British TV Network Channel 4 aired a programme Don't Leave Me This Way, which examined Connolly's time as a pop star with the Sweet, the subsequent decline in the band's popularity, and its impact on Connolly and the other band members. The show revealed Connolly's ill health but also that he was continuing with his concert dates at Butlins. Connolly and his band had appeared at Butlins a number of times on tour during the early 1990s.
Connolly's final concert was at the Bristol Hippodrome on 5 December 1996, with Slade II and John Rossall's Glitter Band Experience.
Steve Priest's Sweet (2008–Present)
In January 2008, Steve Priest assembled his own version of the Sweet in Los Angeles. He enlisted a guitarist Stuart Smith and L.A. native Richie Onori, Smith's bandmate in Heaven & Earth, was brought in on drums. The keyboard spot was manned by ex-Crow and World Classic Rockers alumni Stevie Stewart. Front-man and vocalist Joe Retta was brought in to round out the line-up.
After an initial appearance on L.A. rock station 95.5 KLOS's popular Mark & Brian radio programme, the "Are You Ready Steve?" tour kicked off at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood on 12 June 2008. The band spent the next several months playing festivals and gigs throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Moondance Jam in Walker, Minnesota; headlining at the Rock N Resort Music Festival in North Lawrence, Ohio (near Canal Fulton); London, Ontario's Rock the Park; another headlining gig at Peterborough's Festival of Lights; the Common Ground Festival in Lansing, Michigan; and a benefit concert for victims of California's wildfires at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
In January 2009, the Sweet presented at the concert industry's Pollstar Awards, and also played a short set at the Nokia Theatre where the event was held, marking the first time in the ceremony's history that a band performed at the show. In addition to local gigs at the House of Blues on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and Universal CityWalk, 2009 saw the band return to Canada for sold-out shows at the Mae Wilson Theater and Casino Regina, as well as the Nakusp Music Fest and Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa in Minnedosa, Manitoba. U.S. festivals have included Minnesota's Halfway Jam, Rockin' the Rivers in Montana (with Pat Travers and Peter Frampton), and two late-summer shows at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The new band recorded a cover version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride", which was included on Cleopatra Records' Abbey Road, a Fab Four tribute CD that was released on 24 March 2009.
A preview of the band's new CD Live in America, which was recorded live at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California on 30 August 2008, was featured on KLOS's "Front Row" programme on 12 April 2009. The CD, which was first sold at shows and via the band's on-line store, was released worldwide in an exclusive deal with Amazon.com on 21 July 2009. The release has garnered favourable reviews from The Rock n Roll Report, Classic Rock Revisited and Hard Rock Haven, among others.
In April 2010, the band released its first single on iTunes: an updated, hard rock version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." Performances on the 2010 summer tour included the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival in Richardson, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada's Fremont Street Experience; Rock N' America in Oklahoma City, OK; Summer Jam in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack FM's Fifth Show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Los Angeles; an appearance at the Hard Rock Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi; and the inaugural edition of the Thunder Mountain Rock Festival in Sawyer, North Dakota.
On 11 November 2010, it was announced that in May 2011 "Steve Priest's Sweet" had been booked to perform at a handful of European dates, but the gigs ultimately had to be cancelled in late January 2011 after it was learned that one of the promoters was a suspected swindler wanted by British law enforcement officials. As of February 2011, fans who purchased pre-sale tickets were still in the process of working through the administrative channels with PayPal and various banks and credit card issuers in order to try to reclaim their funds.
The band toured South America along with Journey during March 2011.
The band and their European fans then also got re-united quicker than thought, when the band got booked by a befriended female Belgian promoter. Two east German gigs, 27 and 28 May 2011, so in Borna and in Schwarzenberg Steve Priest's Sweet hit the European grounds. After more than 30 years, Steve Priest got a warm welcome back in Europe.
As of 12 August 2012, Stuart Smith resigned from the guitar post in order to dedicate more time to his "Heaven & Earth" project.
Beginning with the band's October 2012 appearance at the Festival Internacional Chihuahua in Mexico, Los Angeles-based guitarist Ricky Z. teamed up with Steve Priest and company for their live performances. In February 2013, this lineup returned to Casino Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Tour dates played in summer 2013 included Riverfest in Watertown, Wisconsin, the St. Clair, MI Riverfest, several additional dates in Canada, and a reprise of their appearances at both Moondance Jam in Walker, MN and Rockin' the Rivers in Three Forks, Montana. The band made some rare appearances on the U.S. east coast in July 2013, including a performance with David Johansen of the New York Dolls at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Singer Joe Retta was unavailable for these dates due to a scheduling conflict, so Tribe of Gypsies frontman Chas West, who has played with Jason Bonham's band and has experience subbing in such well-known bands as Foreigner, Lynch Mob and Diamond Head, stepped in to man the microphone for a series of shows in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
On 27 August 2014, Steve Priest announced on the band's Facebook page that guitarist Mitch Perry had been tapped for the guitar slot. Most recently on tour with Lita Ford, Mitch's other credentials included his work with Michael Schenker Group, Asia Featuring John Payne, Edgar Winter, Billy Sheehan and David Lee Roth His first live appearance with Sweet was at the Rock the River festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on 23 August 2014.
22 December 2017 saw the launch of the 50th anniversary tour at the Whisky a Go Go on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and the introduction of new singer Paul Zablidowski AKA "Paulie Z" former lead singer and guitarist of ZO2, children's band "The Z Brothers" and star of IFC show Z-Rock. Recently known as the host for local show "Ultimate Jam Night." Z replaced Joe Retta, who had served as the frontman for the Los Angeles incarnation of Sweet since its formation in 2008. Priest died on 4 June 2020.
Brief reunions and the deaths of Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker and Steve Priest
Steve Priest was asked to join Tucker and Scott for the 1985 Australian tour, but declined at the last moment.
Mike Chapman contacted Connolly, Priest, Scott, and Tucker in 1988, offering to finance a recording session in Los Angeles. As he remembers: "I met them at the airport and Andy and Mick came off the plane. I said, 'Where's Brian?' They said, 'Oh, he's coming.' All the people had come off the plane by now. Then this little old man hobbled towards us. He was shaking, and had a ghostly white face. I thought, 'Oh, Jesus Christ.' It was horrifying." Reworked studio versions of "Action" and "The Ballroom Blitz" were recorded, but it became clear that Connolly's voice and physical health had made Sweet's original member comeback too difficult to promote commercially. Consequently, the reunion attempt was aborted.
In 1990 this line-up was again reunited for the promotion of a music documentary entitled Sweet's Ballroom Blitz. This UK video release, which contained UK television performances from the 1970s and current-day interviews, was released at Tower Records, London. Sweet was interviewed by Power Hour, Super Channel, and spoke of a possible reunion.
Brian Connolly died at the age of 51 on 9 February 1997, from liver failure and repeated heart attacks, attributed to his abuse of alcohol in the 1970s and early 1980s. Mick Tucker died on 14 February 2002 from leukemia, at the age of 54. On 4 June 2020 it was announced that Steve Priest had died. It left Andy Scott as the sole living member of Sweet's 'classic lineup'.
Later years
Two versions of The Sweet were active with original members: "Andy Scott's Sweet", who frequently tour across Europe as Sweet and makes occasional sojourns to other markets including regular visits to Australia, and "Steve Priest's Sweet" who toured the US and Canada.
On 28 April 2009, Shout! Factory released a two-disc, career-spanning greatest hits album called Action: The Sweet Anthology. It received a four-star (out of five) rating in Rolling Stone.
In September 2009 Ace Frehley released his version of "Fox on the Run" on his album Anomaly.
In an October 2012 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses, referenced Sweet as one of his favourite bands growing up along with fellow British band Queen.
In April 2016, the chart topping song (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" was featured in a trailer for Suicide Squad.
In December 2016, their single "Fox on the Run" (1975) was featured in a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
In 2019, the songs "Fox on the Run" and "Set Me Free" were featured in an episode of Jamie Johnson.
Personnel
Original band
Classic lineup
Brian Connolly – lead vocals, percussion, synthesizer, acoustic guitar (1968–1978; died 1997)
Steve Priest – bass, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2020)
Mick Tucker – drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2002)
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1970–1981)
Early members
Frank Torpey – guitars (1968–1969)
Mick Stewart – guitars (1969–1970)
Touring musicians
Gary Moberley – keyboards, synthesizers, piano (1978–1981)
Nico Ramsden – guitar (1978)
Ray McRiner – guitar (1979)
Andy Scott’s Sweet
Current members
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1985–present)
Bruce Bisland – drums, backing vocals (1992–present)
Paul Manzi – lead vocals (2019–present; substitute appearances in 2014 and 2015)
Lee Small – bass, backing vocals (2019–present)
Former members
Mick Tucker – drums, backing vocals (1985–1991; died 2002)
Paul Mario Day – lead vocals (1985–1989)
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1985–1989; 2005—2006)
Mal McNulty – bass, lead and backing vocals (1985–1995)
Jeff Brown – bass, lead and backing vocals (1989–2003)
Steve Mann – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals (1989-1996)
Bodo Schopf – drums, backing vocals (1991–1992)
Chad Brown — lead vocals (1995–1998)
Steve Grant — keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1996–2005, 2006–2011); lead vocals, bass (2005–2006)
Tony O’Hora – lead and backing vocals, bass (2003–2005, 2006, 2011–2019), guitars, keyboards (2011–2019)
Peter Lincoln – bass, lead and backing vocals (2006–2019)
Timeline
Discography
Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be (1971)
Sweet Fanny Adams (1974)
Desolation Boulevard (1974)
Give Us a Wink (1976)
Off the Record (1977)
Level Headed (1978)
Cut Above the Rest (1979)
Waters Edge (titled Sweet VI with a different cover in the U.S.) (1980)
Identity Crisis (1982)
Sweetlife (2002) by Andy Scott's Sweet
Isolation Boulevard (2020) by Andy Scott's Sweet
References
Bibliography
(2008 eBook available at )
External links
Channel 4 documentary on The Sweet from 1996
English hard rock musical groups
English glam rock groups
Musical groups established in 1968
Capitol Records artists
Polydor Records artists
RCA Records artists
1968 establishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups disestablished in 1982
1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups reestablished in 1985
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom | true | [
"\"What a Night\" is a song performed by British band, Loveable Rogues. It was their debut single and was intended to feature on a debut album. The single was released in Ireland and the United Kingdom on 19 April 2013. The band were dropped from Syco in October 2013, but the single was featured on their debut album This and That, released in 2014 on Super Duper Records.\n\nBackground\nLoveable Rogues first announced that they're signed to Syco on June, 2012. In late 2012, the band released a free mixtape through their Soundcloud channel. The collection of songs was released as a free download and was called 'First Things First'. \"What A Night\" was previewed along with new songs such as \"Maybe Baby\", \"Talking Monkeys\" and \"Honest\".\n\nMusic video\n\nTwo teaser videos were released before the music video. The first teaser video was uploaded to their Vevo channel on 11 February 2013. The second teaser released two days after or a week before the music video released; on 19 February 2013, the music video was uploaded to their Vevo channel.\nThe video features the band having a night party with their friends.\n\nChart performance\n\"What a Night\" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 9 on 27 April 2013 after debuting at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart Update.\n\nTrack listing\nDigital download\n What a Night - 2:50\n Nuthouse - 3:58\n What a Night (feat. Lucky Mason) Sonny J Mason Remix] - 3:41\n What a Night (Supasound Radio Remix) - 2:42\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2013 debut singles\n2013 songs\nSyco Music singles\nSong recordings produced by Red Triangle (production team)\nSongs written by Rick Parkhouse\nSongs written by George Tizzard",
"\"What's Right Is Right\" is the first single from Taylor Hicks' second studio album The Distance.\n\nSingle release\nThe single was released to Adult Contemporary radio adds and digital outlets on January 27, 2009. A music video for the song was filmed on January 12, 2009 in Chicago by director Jake Davis. \"What's Right Is Right\" represents the start of a musical comeback for Hicks, who has not released new music since his major label debut album Taylor Hicks in December 2006. It is the first single to be released by Hicks on an independent label; his first three were released and promoted by Arista Records. It has peaked at number 24 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks on billboard.\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\nTaylor Hicks songs\nSongs written by Simon Climie\nSongs written by Dennis Morgan (songwriter)\n2009 singles\n2009 songs"
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"March 1971 RCA issued \"Funny Funny\", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit,",
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"Their next RCA release \"Co-Co\" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, \"Alexander Graham Bell\" ("
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| C_8881985e0300445eac1e4d13b977ae98_0 | What other singles topped the chart? | 3 | In addition to "Alexander Graham Bell", what other singles of the The Sweet's first album "Funny Funny" topped the chart? | The Sweet | The Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide (the U.S. excepted) record contract with RCA Records (in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973; followed by Capitol Records). In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to #33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals. The Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts. Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career. CANNOTANSWER | Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" | The Sweet, sometimes also shortened to just Sweet, are a British glam rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker. The group was originally called The Sweetshop.
The band was formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, "Funny Funny", in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.
The band first achieved success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, like 1974's "Turn It Down". "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. They also achieved success and popularity in the US with the top ten hits "Little Willy", "The Ballroom Blitz", "Fox on the Run", and "Love is Like Oxygen".
The Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have since sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
History
Origins
Sweet's origins can be traced back to British soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen. Mark Lay's history of that band states they formed around 1962 and were initially known as Unit 4. Founding members included Chris Wright (vocals), Jan Frewer (bass), with Jim Searle and Alfred Fripp on guitars. Phil Kenton joined on drums as the band changed its name to Wainwright's Gentlemen (due to there being another band known as Unit 4). Managed by Frewer's father, the band performed in the Hayes, Harrow and Wembley area. By 1964 the group was also playing in London, including at the Saint Germain Club on Poland Street.
In January 1964 the band came fifth in a national beat group contest, with finals held at the Lyceum Strand on 4 May 1964. Highlights of the show were presented on BBC1 by Alan Freeman. Chris Wright left the line-up in late 1964 and was replaced by Ian Gillan. A female vocalist named Ann Cully soon joined the band. Mick Tucker, from Ruislip, joined on drums replacing Phil Kenton. The band recorded a number of tracks including a cover of the Coasters-Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me", which was probably recorded at Jackson Sound Studios in Rickmansworth. The track includes Gillan on vocals, Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965. Gillan quit in May 1965 to join Episode Six, and later, Deep Purple. Cully remained as vocalist before departing some time later. Gillan's and Cully's eventual replacement, in late 1966, was Scots-born vocalist Brian Connolly, who hailed more recently from Harefield. Tony Hall had joined on saxophone and vocals and when Fripp left he was replaced by Gordon Fairminer. Fairminer's position was eventually assumed by Frank Torpey (born Frank Edward Torpey, 30 April 1945, Kilburn, North West London) - a schoolfriend of Tucker's who had just left West London group The Tribe (aka The Dream). Torpey only lasted a few months, and in late 1967 Robin Box (born 19 June 1944) took his place. Searle, regarded by many as the most talented musically, disappeared from the scene. Tucker and Connolly remained with Wainwright's Gentlemen until January 1968. Tucker was replaced by Roger Hills. When the Gentlemen eventually broke up, Hills and Box joined White Plains who eventually scored a big hit with "My Baby Loves Lovin'".
Early years
In January 1968 Connolly and Tucker formed a new band calling themselves The Sweetshop. They recruited bass guitarist and vocalist Steve Priest from a local band called The Army. Priest had previously played with mid-'60s band the Countdowns who had been produced and recorded by Joe Meek. Frank Torpey was again recruited to play guitar. The quartet made its public debut at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead on 9 March 1968 and soon developed a following on the pub circuit, which led to a contract with Fontana Records. At the time, another UK band released a single under the same name Sweetshop, so the band abbreviated their moniker to Sweet. The band was managed by Paul Nicholas, who later went on to star in Hair. Nicholas worked with record producer Phil Wainman at Mellin Music Publishing and recommended the band to him. Their debut single "Slow Motion" (July 1968), produced by Wainman, and released on Fontana, failed to chart and owing to its rarity now sells for several hundred pounds when auctioned. Sweet were released from the recording contract and Frank Torpey left. In his autobiography Are You Ready Steve, Priest said that Gordon Fairminer was approached to play for them when Torpey decided to leave Sweet after a gig at Playhouse Theatre Walton-on-Thames on 5 July 1969 but turned the job down as he wanted to concentrate on other interests.
New line-up and new record deal
Guitarist Mick Stewart joined in 1969. Stewart had some rock pedigree, having previously worked with The (Ealing) Redcaps and Simon Scott & The All-Nite Workers in the mid-1960s. In late 1965, that band became The Phil Wainman Set when the future Sweet producer joined on drums and the group cut some singles with Errol Dixon. In early 1966, Stewart left and later worked with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.
Sweet signed a new record contract with EMI's Parlophone label. Three bubblegum pop singles were released: "Lollipop Man" (September 1969), "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (January 1970), and a cover version of the Archies' "Get on the Line" (June 1970), all of which failed to chart. Stewart then quit, and was not replaced for some time. Connolly and Tucker had a chance meeting with Wainman, who was now producing, and knew of two aspiring songwriters, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who were looking for a group to sing some demos they had written. Connolly, Priest, and Tucker provided the vocals on a track called "Funny Funny" which featured Pip Williams on guitar, John Roberts on bass, and Wainman on drums. The latter began offering the track to various recording companies. The band held auditions for a replacement guitarist and settled on Welsh-born Andy Scott. He had most recently been playing with Mike McCartney (brother of Paul) in the Scaffold. As a member of the Elastic Band, he had played guitar on two singles for Decca, "Think of You Baby" and "Do Unto Others". He also appeared on the band's lone album release, Expansions on Life, and on some recordings by the Scaffold. The band rehearsed for a number of weeks before Scott made his live debut with Sweet on 26 September 1970 at the Windsor Ballroom in Redcar.
Sweet initially attempted to combine diverse musical influences, including the Monkees and 1960s bubblegum pop groups such as the Archies, with more heavy rock-oriented groups such as the Who. Sweet adopted the rich vocal harmony style of the Hollies, with distorted guitars and a heavy rhythm section. This fusion of pop and hard rock would remain a central trademark of Sweet's music and prefigured the glam metal of a few years later.
Sweet's initial album appearance was on the budget label Music for Pleasure as part of a compilation called Gimme Dat Ding, released in December 1970. Sweet had one side of the record; the Pipkins (whose sole hit, "Gimme Dat Ding", gave the LP its name) had the other. Sweet's contribution consisted of the A- and B-sides of the band's three Parlophone singles. Andy Scott appears in the album cover shot, even though he did not play on any of the recordings.
First album
Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide record contract with RCA Records, the U.S. excepted: in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973, followed by Capitol Records.
In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to No. 33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals.
Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts.
Initial success and rise to fame
February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit. Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments. In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.
To promote their singles, Sweet made numerous appearances on U.K. and European TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Supersonic. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops Christmas edition, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared replete in a German military uniform, Hitler moustache and displaying a swastika armband. The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.
Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image. Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe". A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period). The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.
Forming a new image
By 1974, Sweet had grown tired of the management team of Chinn and Chapman, who wrote the group's major hits and cultivated the band's glam rock image. The group and producer Phil Wainman, assisted by engineer Peter Coleman, recorded the album Sweet Fanny Adams, which was released in April 1974. Sweet's technical proficiency was demonstrated for the first time on self-penned hard rock tracks such as "Sweet F.A." and "Set Me Free". Sweet also adopted a more conventional hard rock sound and appearance. Sweet Fanny Adams also featured compressed high-pitched backing vocal harmonies, which was a trend that continued on all of Sweet's albums.
During sessions for the album, Brian Connolly was injured in a fight in Staines High Street. His throat was badly injured and his ability to sing severely limited. Priest and Scott filled in on lead vocals on some tracks ("No You Don't", "Into The Night" and "Restless") and Connolly, under treatment from a Harley Street specialist, managed to complete the album. The band did not publicise the incident and told the press that subsequent cancelled shows were due to Connolly having a throat infection. This incident reportedly permanently compromised Connolly's singing ability, with his range diminished.
No previous singles appeared on the album, and none were released, except in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, where "Peppermint Twist/Rebel Rouser", apparently released by their record company without their knowledge, gained a No. 1 chart position in the latter. Sweet Fanny Adams would be Sweet's only non-compilation release to break the UK Albums Chart Top 40.
Sweet were invited by Pete Townshend to support the Who, who were playing at Charlton Athletic's football ground, The Valley in June 1974. However, Connolly's badly bruised throat kept them from fulfilling the role. Sweet had frequently cited the Who as being one of their main influences and played a medley of their tracks in their live set for many years.
Desolation Boulevard
Their third album, Desolation Boulevard, was released later in 1974, six months after Sweet Fanny Adams. By that stage, producer Phil Wainman had moved on and the album was produced by Mike Chapman. It was recorded in a mere six days and featured a rawer "live" sound. One track, "The Man with the Golden Arm", written by Elmer Bernstein and Sylvia Fine for the 1955 Frank Sinatra movie of the same name, featured drummer Mick Tucker performing an 8 and half minute solo (although this was not included in the U.S. release). This had been a staple of the band's live performance for years. The first single from the LP, the heavy-melodic "The Six Teens" (July 1974), was a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and still part of the amazing unbroken string of No. 1's in Denmark. However, the subsequent single release, "Turn It Down" (November 1974), reached only No. 41 on the U.K. chart and No. 2 in Denmark. "Turn It Down" received minimal airplay on UK radio and was banned by some radio stations because of certain lyrical content - "God-awful sound" and "For God sakes, turn it down" - which were deemed "unsuitable for family listening." The band resumed playing live shows nearly a full six months after Connolly's throat injury, with band and critics noting a rougher edge to his voice and a reduced range. The album also featured a group composition, "Fox On The Run", which was to be re-recorded months later.
The U.S. version of Desolation Boulevard was different from the U.K. version and included several songs from Sweet Fanny Adams in addition to the "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run" singles (both of which peaked at No. 5 in the US). Side One of the album contained all Chapman-Chinn penned songs, while Side Two featured songs written and produced by Sweet.
Writing and producing their own material
In 1975 Sweet went back into the studio to re-arrange and record a more pop-oriented version of the track "Fox on the Run". Sweet's first self-written and produced single, "Fox on the Run" was released worldwide in March 1975 and became their biggest selling hit, reaching number one in Germany, Denmark, and South Africa, number two in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands and number three in Austria and Switzerland. In Australia it not only made it to the top of the charts, it also became the biggest selling single of that year. The song reached number two in Canada and number five in the U.S. The release of this track marked the end of the formal Chinn-Chapman working relationship and the band stressed it was now fully self-sufficient as writers and producers.
The following single release, "Action" (July 1975), peaked at number 15 in the UK. Now confident in their own songwriting and production abilities, Sweet spent the latter half of 1975 in Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, where they recorded the Give Us A Wink album with German sound engineer Reinhold Mack, who later recorded with Electric Light Orchestra and co-produced Queen. The new album release was deferred until 1976 so as not to stifle the chart success Desolation Boulevard was enjoying, peaking at number 25 in the US and number 5 in Canada.
With Give Us a Wink being held over, RCA issued a double album in Europe, Strung Up, in November. It contained one live disc, recorded in London in December 1973, and one disc compiling previously released singles (plus an unused track by Chinn and Chapman – "I Wanna Be Committed"). At the end of the year, Andy Scott released his first solo single, "Lady Starlight" b/w "Where D'Ya Go". Tucker played drums on both tracks.
Decline in popularity
January 1976 saw the release of the single "The Lies In Your Eyes", which made the Top 10 in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia, but only reached No. 35 on the U.K. charts. Sweet's first album to be fully produced and written by themselves, Give Us A Wink, was released in March 1976. A third single from the album, "4th Of July", was issued in Australia.
By this time, Sweet strove to build on their growing popularity in America with a schedule of more than fifty headline concert dates. Even though Give Us A Winks release was imminent, the band's set essentially promoted the US version of Desolation Boulevard plus the new US hit single "Action". During an appearance at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in California on 24 March, Sweet played "All Right Now" with Ritchie Blackmore as a tribute to mark the death of Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, who was to have supported Sweet with his band Back Street Crawler. The US tour was not financially successful, with small audiences at many venues leading to the final half-dozen or so dates to be cancelled. Following the end of the tour, the band went on to Scandinavia and Germany. The band also spent a week at the Who's Ramport Studios in Battersea demoing material for a new album before abandoning that project and playing eight dates in Japan. By the end of the Japanese shows Connolly's extremely hoarse singing voice was manifest evidence of the demands of constant touring and the enduring after-effects of his 1974 assault.
Between October 1976 and January 1977, Sweet wrote and recorded new material at Kingsway Recorders and Audio International London studios for their next album. An advance single from the album, "Lost Angels", was only a hit in Germany, Austria and Sweden. A new album, Off the Record, was released in April. The next single from the album, "Fever of Love", represented the band heading in a somewhat more Europop hard rock direction, once again charting in Germany, Austria and Sweden, while reaching number 10 in South Africa. On this album, Sweet again worked with Give Us A Wink engineer Louis Austin, who would later engineer Def Leppard's On Through The Night 1980 début album. The band cancelled a US tour with emerging US rockers Aerosmith, did not play any live dates in support of the album and, in fact, did not play a single concert for the whole of 1977.
Level Headed and a change in style
Sweet left RCA in 1977 and signed a new deal with Polydor though it would not come into force until later in the year. Sweet's manager David Walker, from Handle Artists, negotiated the move which was reputed to be worth around £750,000. In the United States, Canada, and Japan, Capitol had issued Sweet's albums since 1974 and would continue to do so through to 1980.
The first Polydor album, Level Headed (January 1978), found Sweet experimenting by combining rock and classical sounds "a-la clavesin", an approach similar to Electric Light Orchestra's, and featured the single "Love Is Like Oxygen". Largely recorded during 1977 at Château d'Hérouville near Paris, France after a 30-day writing session at Clearwell Castle in the Forest Of Dean UK, the album represented a new musical direction, largely abandoning hard-rock for a more melodic pop style, interspersed with ballads accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra. The ballad, "Lettres D'Amour", featured a duet between Connolly and Stevie Lange (who would emerge as lead singer with the group Night in 1979).
With the addition of session and touring musicians keyboardist Gary Moberley and guitarist Nico Ramsden, Sweet undertook a short European and Scandinavian tour followed by a single British concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 24 February 1978. However, "Love Is Like Oxygen" (January 1978) was their last U.K., U.S., and German Top 10 hit. Scott was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for co-composing the song. One more single from the album, "California Nights" (May 1978), featuring Steve Priest as the lead vocalist, peaked at number 23 on the German chart.
Departure of Brian Connolly
Between March and May 1978 Sweet extensively toured the US, as a support act for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. The tour included a disastrous date in Birmingham, Alabama on 3 May, during which visiting Capitol Records executives in the audience saw Brian Connolly give a drunken and incoherent performance that terminated early in the set with his collapse on stage, leaving the rest of the group to play on without him. The band returned briefly to Britain before resuming the second leg of their US tour in late May supporting other acts, including Foghat and Alice Cooper. Concluding the US tour in early July 1978, Brian's alcoholism and estrangement from the group was steadily becoming a greater issue.
In late October, having spent further time at Clearwell Castle to write for their next album, Sweet arrived at The Town House studio in Shepherd's Bush, London to complete and record, Cut Above the Rest (April 1979). Due to tensions between various members attributed to Connolly's health and diminishing status with the group, his long-time friend and fellow founding member, Mick Tucker, was tasked to produce Connolly's vocals. It was felt Tucker would extract a better performance than Scott from Connolly. A number of tracks were recorded featuring Connolly. However, these efforts were deemed unsatisfactory and Brian left the band on 2 November 1978.
On 23 February 1979, Brian Connolly's departure from Sweet was formally announced by manager David Walker. Publicly, Connolly was said to be pursuing a solo career with an interest in recording country rock.
Three piece Sweet
Sweet continued as a trio with Priest assuming the lion's share of lead vocals, though Scott and Tucker were also active in that role. The first single release for the trio was "Call Me". Guest keyboard player Gary Moberley continued to augment the group on stage. Guitarist Ray McRiner joined their touring line-up in 1979, with a small tour with Journey in the eastern United States and Cheap Trick in Texas in the spring and summer of '79 to support Cut Above The Rest (which was released in April 1979). McRiner would also contribute the songs "Too Much Talking" and the single "Give The Lady Some Respect" to the next Sweet album, Waters Edge (August 1980), which was recorded in Canada. In the US, Waters Edge was titled Sweet VI. It featured the singles "Sixties Man" and "Give The Lady Some Respect". Tragedy befell Mick Tucker when his wife Pauline drowned in the bath at their home on 26 December 1979. The band withdrew from live work for all of 1980.
One more studio album, Identity Crisis, was recorded during 1980–81 but was only released in West Germany and Mexico. Sweet undertook a short tour of the UK and performed their last live show at Glasgow University on 20 March 1981. Steve Priest then returned to the United States, where he had been living since late 1979. When Polydor released Identity Crisis in October 1982, the original Sweet had been disbanded for almost a year.
Re-formed versions (1984–present)
Andy Scott's Sweet (1985–present)
Andy Scott and Mick Tucker organised their own version of Sweet with Paul Mario Day (ex-Iron Maiden, More, Wildfire) on lead vocals, Phil Lanzon (ex-Grand Prix) on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass. The band performed at the Marquee Club in London in February 1986, with the shows recorded and gaining release a few years later, bolstered by four new studio tracks including a cover of the Motown standard "Reach Out I'll Be There". This line-up also toured Australian and New Zealand pubs and clubs for more than three months in 1985 and for a similar period again in 1986. Singer Paul Day ended up marrying the band's Australian tour guide and relocating downunder. He continued with Sweet commuting back and forth to Europe for the group's tours until this proved to be too cumbersome. He departed in late 1988. As McNulty moved into the front man spot, Jeff Brown came in to take over bass early in 1989. Lanzon too went back and forth between Sweet and Uriah Heep during 1986-1988 before Heep's schedule grew too busy. Malcolm Pearson and then Ian Gibbons (who had played with The Kinks and The Records) both filled in for Lanzon until Steve Mann (Liar, Lionheart, McAuley Schenker Group) arrived in December 1989.
Tucker departed after a show in Lochau, Austria, on 5 May 1991. He later was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. Three drummers, Andy Hoyler, Bobby Andersen and Bruce Bisland (Weapon, Wildfire, Praying Mantis), provided short-term relief before Bodo Schopf (McAuley Schenker Group) took over. They recorded an album during this period, simply titled A. Before the band embarked on the supporting tour for A in 1992, Bodo left and Bisland returned as permanent percussionist. Scott changed the band's name to 'Andy Scott's Sweet' after Tucker's departure but truncated it to simply 'The Sweet' once again after Tucker's death in 2002.
Mal McNulty, now lead vocalist, departed in 1994, though he would return briefly that year to fill in for Jeff Brown on bass (as he would again in 1995 as lead singer for a few dates while Rocky Newton subbed on bass). Sweet's former keyboard men Gary Moberley and Ian Gibbons also did fill-in jaunts with the group that year, as did Chris Goulstone. Chad Brown (ex-Lionheart; no relation to Jeff) was the new front man. Glitz Blitz and Hitz, a new studio album of re-recorded Sweet hits, was released during this period.
In 1996 Mann left to take a job in television and Gibbons came back for a short time before Steve Grant (ex-The Animals) became the permanent keyboardist. When Chad Brown quit in 1998 after developing a throat infection, Jeff Brown assumed lead vocals and bass duties. After this, the band was stable again for the next five years.
The mid-2000s would bring further confusing shake-ups and rotations. Tony O'Hora (ex-Onslaught, Praying Mantis) replaced Brown as lead vocalist in 2003. Ian Gibbons came back for a third stint as fill-in keyboardist in June 2005 for a gig in the Faroe Islands. O'Hora decided to split to take a teaching job in late 2005. Grant then jumped from keyboards to lead vocals and bass as Phil Lanzon returned on keyboards for a tour of Russia and Germany in October/November. New singer Mark Thompson Smith (ex-Praying Mantis) joined in November 2005 for some Swedish gigs, while Jo Burt (ex-Black Sabbath) was temporary bass player. Tony Mills (ex-Shy) was slated to be Sweet's new singer in early 2006 but failed to work out and left after six shows in Denmark. At this point, O'Hora came back as fill in front man and then Grant did another turn himself as the singer/bassist (Steve Mann depped on keyboards) until the group finally landed a new permanent front man when Peter Lincoln (ex-Sailor) arrived in July 2006. The line-up then consisted of Scott, Bisland, Grant and Lincoln.
Scott produced the Suzi Quatro album Back to the Drive, released in February 2006. March 2006 saw the U.S. release of his band's album Sweetlife.
In 2007 the group played in Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy. In May of that year, the band played in Porto Alegre and Curitiba, Brazil, their first and only South American shows. The tour was called the 'Sweet Fanny Adams Tour'.
The band toured again in March 2008 under the name 'Sweet Fanny Adams Revisited Tour'. In May and June, Scott's Sweet were part of the "Glitz Blitz & 70s Hitz" tour of the UK alongside The Rubettes and Showaddywaddy.
In March and April 2010, Scott was absent from a couple of gigs due to ill health and Martin Mickels stood in. Scott revealed later that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was treated at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. After a course of treatment and rest, he was back to full touring fitness. In 2010 the band played at venues in Europe and back at Bilston in October.
In March 2011 there was a short tour of Australia, Regal Theatre - Perth, and Clipsal 500, Adelaide with the Doobie Brothers. Also in 2011, Tony O'Hora came back to the group, this time as keyboardist, after Grant departed.
In March 2012 the band released a new album New York Connection. Recorded in England, it comprised 11 cover versions, including the 2011 single "Join Together" and one revamped original recording; the 1972 B-side "New York Connection". All the covers either featured 'bits and pieces' of Sweet hits or other artist songs, such as a "new version of the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop [which] shared space with samples from ‘Ballroom Blitz,’ and a take on Hello’s New York Groove (made famous in the US by Ace Frehley) featured a sample from Jay-Z’s Empire State Of Mind along with other Sweet references."
On the eve of their March 2012 "Join Together" tour of Australia, the band undertook an acoustic performance of three tracks, "New York Groove-Empire State of Mind", "Blockbuster" and "Peppermint Twist", in front of a live audience at ABC Radio Studios in East Perth. Shows in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Geelong, Melbourne and Sydney featured tracks from the new album for the first time.
Paul Manzi joined Sweet on their 2014 Australian tour, replacing Tony O'Hora who was absent for personal reasons. Manzi played guitar, keyboard and undertook lead vocals on "Set Me Free" and "AC-DC" as the band performed shows in regional centres, including outback Western Australia, Darwin and far-north Queensland, NSW and Victoria during February and March. The band, with O'Hora back in the ranks, returned to Australia in September 2014 as the headlining act for "Rock The Boat 4". This was a cruise aboard the ship Rhapsody of the Seas which departed Sydney and took in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The band played two gigs and various members guested with Australian veteran performers including Brian Cadd and Russell Morris and members of AC/DC, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and Skyhooks.
In June 2015 it was revealed that the band were going on an extensive tour of the UK in late 2015 and that this tour would probably be their last.
For the 2015 summer tour dates, Paul Manzi returned to sub for Peter Lincoln who left this online message to the fans: "There have been a few rumours going around this weekend, so . . . just to say that I am alive and well! The short explanation for my absence is that I need to rest my voice for a few weeks. We are lucky that our good friend Paul Manzi is able to step in, and Tony knows the role of bass player/singer, so the shows can go ahead, and they will be great! I look forward to being back on stage very soon."
Pete Lincoln duly resumed his role in the band and they continued with extensive live dates, known as the "Finale" tour in Germany.
In 2017 after Andy undertook a successful Australian visit with Suzi Quatro and Don Powell in the side outfit known as QSP, Sweet was again booked for an extensive European tour. In the years following both Tony O'Hora and Pete Lincoln departed the band. Paul Manzi returned as permanent lead vocalist, quitting the popular outfit Cats in Space to do so. Lee Small joined as bassist and backing vocalist. Former guitarist and keyboard player Steve Mann joined for a handful of shows as a special guest. During the COVID-19 pandemic the band recorded a new album of old tracks entitled Isolation Boulevard.
New Sweet, Brian Connolly's Sweet (1984–1997)
In 1984 Brian Connolly formed a new version of the Sweet without any of the other original members. Despite recurring ill health, Connolly toured the UK and Europe with his band, "Brian Connolly's Sweet", which was then renamed to "New Sweet". His most successful concerts were in West Germany, before and after reunification.
During 1987, Connolly met up again with Frank Torpey. Torpey later explained in interviews Connolly was trying to get a German recording deal. The two got on very well and Torpey subsequently invited Connolly to go into the recording studio with him, as an informal project. After much trepidation, Connolly turned up and the track "Sharontina" was recorded. This recording would not be released until 1998, appearing on Frank Torpey's album Sweeter.
By July 1990, plans were made for Connolly and his band to tour Australia in November. During the long flight to Australia, Connolly's health had suffered and he was hospitalised in Adelaide Hospital, allegedly for dehydration and related problems. The rest of the band played a show in Adelaide without him. After being released from the hospital, Connolly joined the other band members in Melbourne for a gig at the Pier Hotel, in Frankston. After several other shows, including one at the Dingley Powerhouse, Connolly and his band played a final date at Melbourne's Greek Theatre. It was felt Connolly's health was sufficient reason for the tour not to be extended, and some of the planned dates were abandoned. Connolly went back to England and his band appeared on The Bob Downe Christmas show on 18 December 1990.
During the early 1990s, Connolly played the European "oldies" circuit and occasional outdoor festivals in Europe with his band. On 22 March 1992, a heavy duty tape recorder was stolen from the band's van whilst at a gig in the Bristol Hippodrome with Mud. It contained demos of four new songs, totalling about 20 mixes.
Legal problems were going on in the background over the use of the Sweet name between Connolly and Andy Scott. Both parties agreed to distinguish their group's names to help promoters and fans. The New Sweet went back to being called Brian Connolly's Sweet and Andy Scott's version became Andy Scott's Sweet.
In 1994, Connolly and his band played in Dubai. He appeared at the Galleria Theatre, Hyatt Regency. He also performed in Bahrain.
By this time Connolly had healed the differences with Steve Priest and Mick Tucker, and was invited to the wedding of Priest's eldest daughter, Lisa. At the private function, for which Priest specially flew back to England, Priest and Connolly performed together.
In 1995, Connolly released a new album entitled Let's Go. His partner Jean, whom he had met a few years earlier, gave birth to a son. Connolly also performed in Switzerland that year.
On 2 November 1996 British TV Network Channel 4 aired a programme Don't Leave Me This Way, which examined Connolly's time as a pop star with the Sweet, the subsequent decline in the band's popularity, and its impact on Connolly and the other band members. The show revealed Connolly's ill health but also that he was continuing with his concert dates at Butlins. Connolly and his band had appeared at Butlins a number of times on tour during the early 1990s.
Connolly's final concert was at the Bristol Hippodrome on 5 December 1996, with Slade II and John Rossall's Glitter Band Experience.
Steve Priest's Sweet (2008–Present)
In January 2008, Steve Priest assembled his own version of the Sweet in Los Angeles. He enlisted a guitarist Stuart Smith and L.A. native Richie Onori, Smith's bandmate in Heaven & Earth, was brought in on drums. The keyboard spot was manned by ex-Crow and World Classic Rockers alumni Stevie Stewart. Front-man and vocalist Joe Retta was brought in to round out the line-up.
After an initial appearance on L.A. rock station 95.5 KLOS's popular Mark & Brian radio programme, the "Are You Ready Steve?" tour kicked off at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood on 12 June 2008. The band spent the next several months playing festivals and gigs throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Moondance Jam in Walker, Minnesota; headlining at the Rock N Resort Music Festival in North Lawrence, Ohio (near Canal Fulton); London, Ontario's Rock the Park; another headlining gig at Peterborough's Festival of Lights; the Common Ground Festival in Lansing, Michigan; and a benefit concert for victims of California's wildfires at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
In January 2009, the Sweet presented at the concert industry's Pollstar Awards, and also played a short set at the Nokia Theatre where the event was held, marking the first time in the ceremony's history that a band performed at the show. In addition to local gigs at the House of Blues on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and Universal CityWalk, 2009 saw the band return to Canada for sold-out shows at the Mae Wilson Theater and Casino Regina, as well as the Nakusp Music Fest and Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa in Minnedosa, Manitoba. U.S. festivals have included Minnesota's Halfway Jam, Rockin' the Rivers in Montana (with Pat Travers and Peter Frampton), and two late-summer shows at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The new band recorded a cover version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride", which was included on Cleopatra Records' Abbey Road, a Fab Four tribute CD that was released on 24 March 2009.
A preview of the band's new CD Live in America, which was recorded live at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California on 30 August 2008, was featured on KLOS's "Front Row" programme on 12 April 2009. The CD, which was first sold at shows and via the band's on-line store, was released worldwide in an exclusive deal with Amazon.com on 21 July 2009. The release has garnered favourable reviews from The Rock n Roll Report, Classic Rock Revisited and Hard Rock Haven, among others.
In April 2010, the band released its first single on iTunes: an updated, hard rock version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." Performances on the 2010 summer tour included the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival in Richardson, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada's Fremont Street Experience; Rock N' America in Oklahoma City, OK; Summer Jam in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack FM's Fifth Show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Los Angeles; an appearance at the Hard Rock Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi; and the inaugural edition of the Thunder Mountain Rock Festival in Sawyer, North Dakota.
On 11 November 2010, it was announced that in May 2011 "Steve Priest's Sweet" had been booked to perform at a handful of European dates, but the gigs ultimately had to be cancelled in late January 2011 after it was learned that one of the promoters was a suspected swindler wanted by British law enforcement officials. As of February 2011, fans who purchased pre-sale tickets were still in the process of working through the administrative channels with PayPal and various banks and credit card issuers in order to try to reclaim their funds.
The band toured South America along with Journey during March 2011.
The band and their European fans then also got re-united quicker than thought, when the band got booked by a befriended female Belgian promoter. Two east German gigs, 27 and 28 May 2011, so in Borna and in Schwarzenberg Steve Priest's Sweet hit the European grounds. After more than 30 years, Steve Priest got a warm welcome back in Europe.
As of 12 August 2012, Stuart Smith resigned from the guitar post in order to dedicate more time to his "Heaven & Earth" project.
Beginning with the band's October 2012 appearance at the Festival Internacional Chihuahua in Mexico, Los Angeles-based guitarist Ricky Z. teamed up with Steve Priest and company for their live performances. In February 2013, this lineup returned to Casino Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Tour dates played in summer 2013 included Riverfest in Watertown, Wisconsin, the St. Clair, MI Riverfest, several additional dates in Canada, and a reprise of their appearances at both Moondance Jam in Walker, MN and Rockin' the Rivers in Three Forks, Montana. The band made some rare appearances on the U.S. east coast in July 2013, including a performance with David Johansen of the New York Dolls at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Singer Joe Retta was unavailable for these dates due to a scheduling conflict, so Tribe of Gypsies frontman Chas West, who has played with Jason Bonham's band and has experience subbing in such well-known bands as Foreigner, Lynch Mob and Diamond Head, stepped in to man the microphone for a series of shows in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
On 27 August 2014, Steve Priest announced on the band's Facebook page that guitarist Mitch Perry had been tapped for the guitar slot. Most recently on tour with Lita Ford, Mitch's other credentials included his work with Michael Schenker Group, Asia Featuring John Payne, Edgar Winter, Billy Sheehan and David Lee Roth His first live appearance with Sweet was at the Rock the River festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on 23 August 2014.
22 December 2017 saw the launch of the 50th anniversary tour at the Whisky a Go Go on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and the introduction of new singer Paul Zablidowski AKA "Paulie Z" former lead singer and guitarist of ZO2, children's band "The Z Brothers" and star of IFC show Z-Rock. Recently known as the host for local show "Ultimate Jam Night." Z replaced Joe Retta, who had served as the frontman for the Los Angeles incarnation of Sweet since its formation in 2008. Priest died on 4 June 2020.
Brief reunions and the deaths of Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker and Steve Priest
Steve Priest was asked to join Tucker and Scott for the 1985 Australian tour, but declined at the last moment.
Mike Chapman contacted Connolly, Priest, Scott, and Tucker in 1988, offering to finance a recording session in Los Angeles. As he remembers: "I met them at the airport and Andy and Mick came off the plane. I said, 'Where's Brian?' They said, 'Oh, he's coming.' All the people had come off the plane by now. Then this little old man hobbled towards us. He was shaking, and had a ghostly white face. I thought, 'Oh, Jesus Christ.' It was horrifying." Reworked studio versions of "Action" and "The Ballroom Blitz" were recorded, but it became clear that Connolly's voice and physical health had made Sweet's original member comeback too difficult to promote commercially. Consequently, the reunion attempt was aborted.
In 1990 this line-up was again reunited for the promotion of a music documentary entitled Sweet's Ballroom Blitz. This UK video release, which contained UK television performances from the 1970s and current-day interviews, was released at Tower Records, London. Sweet was interviewed by Power Hour, Super Channel, and spoke of a possible reunion.
Brian Connolly died at the age of 51 on 9 February 1997, from liver failure and repeated heart attacks, attributed to his abuse of alcohol in the 1970s and early 1980s. Mick Tucker died on 14 February 2002 from leukemia, at the age of 54. On 4 June 2020 it was announced that Steve Priest had died. It left Andy Scott as the sole living member of Sweet's 'classic lineup'.
Later years
Two versions of The Sweet were active with original members: "Andy Scott's Sweet", who frequently tour across Europe as Sweet and makes occasional sojourns to other markets including regular visits to Australia, and "Steve Priest's Sweet" who toured the US and Canada.
On 28 April 2009, Shout! Factory released a two-disc, career-spanning greatest hits album called Action: The Sweet Anthology. It received a four-star (out of five) rating in Rolling Stone.
In September 2009 Ace Frehley released his version of "Fox on the Run" on his album Anomaly.
In an October 2012 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses, referenced Sweet as one of his favourite bands growing up along with fellow British band Queen.
In April 2016, the chart topping song (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" was featured in a trailer for Suicide Squad.
In December 2016, their single "Fox on the Run" (1975) was featured in a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
In 2019, the songs "Fox on the Run" and "Set Me Free" were featured in an episode of Jamie Johnson.
Personnel
Original band
Classic lineup
Brian Connolly – lead vocals, percussion, synthesizer, acoustic guitar (1968–1978; died 1997)
Steve Priest – bass, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2020)
Mick Tucker – drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2002)
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1970–1981)
Early members
Frank Torpey – guitars (1968–1969)
Mick Stewart – guitars (1969–1970)
Touring musicians
Gary Moberley – keyboards, synthesizers, piano (1978–1981)
Nico Ramsden – guitar (1978)
Ray McRiner – guitar (1979)
Andy Scott’s Sweet
Current members
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1985–present)
Bruce Bisland – drums, backing vocals (1992–present)
Paul Manzi – lead vocals (2019–present; substitute appearances in 2014 and 2015)
Lee Small – bass, backing vocals (2019–present)
Former members
Mick Tucker – drums, backing vocals (1985–1991; died 2002)
Paul Mario Day – lead vocals (1985–1989)
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1985–1989; 2005—2006)
Mal McNulty – bass, lead and backing vocals (1985–1995)
Jeff Brown – bass, lead and backing vocals (1989–2003)
Steve Mann – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals (1989-1996)
Bodo Schopf – drums, backing vocals (1991–1992)
Chad Brown — lead vocals (1995–1998)
Steve Grant — keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1996–2005, 2006–2011); lead vocals, bass (2005–2006)
Tony O’Hora – lead and backing vocals, bass (2003–2005, 2006, 2011–2019), guitars, keyboards (2011–2019)
Peter Lincoln – bass, lead and backing vocals (2006–2019)
Timeline
Discography
Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be (1971)
Sweet Fanny Adams (1974)
Desolation Boulevard (1974)
Give Us a Wink (1976)
Off the Record (1977)
Level Headed (1978)
Cut Above the Rest (1979)
Waters Edge (titled Sweet VI with a different cover in the U.S.) (1980)
Identity Crisis (1982)
Sweetlife (2002) by Andy Scott's Sweet
Isolation Boulevard (2020) by Andy Scott's Sweet
References
Bibliography
(2008 eBook available at )
External links
Channel 4 documentary on The Sweet from 1996
English hard rock musical groups
English glam rock groups
Musical groups established in 1968
Capitol Records artists
Polydor Records artists
RCA Records artists
1968 establishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups disestablished in 1982
1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups reestablished in 1985
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom | true | [
"The UK Dance Chart is a weekly chart that ranks the biggest-selling dance singles in the United Kingdom, and is compiled by The Official Charts Company. In 2006, the chart was based on sales of CD singles and 12-inch singles, and was published in the UK magazines ChartsPlus and Music Week and on BBC Radio 1's official website. During the year, 31 singles reached number one.\n\nThe biggest-selling dance hit of 2006 was \"Put Your Hands Up for Detroit\" by Fedde le Grand—it sold approximately 184,000 copies in the UK and topped the UK Singles Chart. \"Put Your Hands Up for Detroit\" was also the longest-running number one of year, spending nine weeks at the top over six separate runs. Other high-selling dance singles included \"Somebody's Watching Me\" by Beatfreakz, which sold roughly 137,000 copies, and \"Sorry\" by Madonna, which sold approximately 136,000 singles. \"Sorry\" also topped the UK Singles Chart. Three acts topped the chart with more than one single. They were: Mylo, DJ Fresh and Madonna. The only act to top the chart with more than two singles was Madonna, who reached number one with three different singles during the year.\n\nChart history\n\nSee also\nList of number-one singles of 2006 (UK)\nList of UK Dance Albums Chart number ones of 2006\nList of UK Independent Singles Chart number ones of 2006\nList of UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart number ones of 2006\n\nReferences\nGeneral\n\nSpecific\n\nExternal links\nDance Singles Chart at The Official UK Charts Company\nUK Top 40 Dance Singles at BBC Radio 1\n\n2006\nUK Dance Chart number-one singles\nUnited Kingdom Dance Singles",
"The ARIA Singles Chart ranks the best-performing singles in Australia. Its data, published by the Australian Recording Industry Association, is based collectively on each single's weekly physical and digital sales. In 2008, fifteen singles claimed the top spot, including Timbaland's \"Apologize\", which started its peak position in late 2007. Twelve acts achieved their first number-one single in Australia, either as a lead or featured artist: Leona Lewis, Flo Rida, T-Pain, Colbie Caillat, Gabriella Cilmi, Jordin Sparks, Katy Perry, Kid Rock, Lady Gaga, Colby O'Donis, Kings of Leon and Wes Carr. Five collaborations topped the chart. Lady Gaga earned two number-one singles during the year for \"Just Dance\" and \"Poker Face\".\n\n\"Poker Face\" was the longest running number-one single, having topped the ARIA Singles Chart for six weeks in 2008 and two additional weeks in 2009. Perry's \"I Kissed a Girl\" topped the chart for six consecutive weeks, while Lewis' \"Bleeding Love\" and Cilmi's \"Sweet About Me\" both stayed at number one for five weeks. Rihanna's \"Don't Stop the Music\", Sparks' \"No Air\", Pink's \"So What\", and Kings of Leon's \"Sex on Fire\" each spent four weeks at the number-one spot.\n\nChart history\n\nNumber-one artists\n\nSee also\n2008 in music\nList of number-one albums of 2008 (Australia)\nList of top 25 singles for 2008 in Australia\nList of top 10 singles in 2008 (Australia)\n\nReferences\n\nNumber-one singles\nAustralia Singles\n2008"
]
|
[
"The Sweet",
"First album",
"/what was the first album",
"March 1971 RCA issued \"Funny Funny\", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit,",
"What songs were released on it",
"Their next RCA release \"Co-Co\" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, \"Alexander Graham Bell\" (",
"What other singles topped the chart?",
"Chop Chop\" and \"Tom Tom Turnaround\") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's \"Daydream\""
]
| C_8881985e0300445eac1e4d13b977ae98_0 | Did they go on tour? | 4 | Did The Sweet go on tour? | The Sweet | The Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide (the U.S. excepted) record contract with RCA Records (in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973; followed by Capitol Records). In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to #33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals. The Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts. Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | The Sweet, sometimes also shortened to just Sweet, are a British glam rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker. The group was originally called The Sweetshop.
The band was formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, "Funny Funny", in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.
The band first achieved success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, like 1974's "Turn It Down". "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. They also achieved success and popularity in the US with the top ten hits "Little Willy", "The Ballroom Blitz", "Fox on the Run", and "Love is Like Oxygen".
The Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have since sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
History
Origins
Sweet's origins can be traced back to British soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen. Mark Lay's history of that band states they formed around 1962 and were initially known as Unit 4. Founding members included Chris Wright (vocals), Jan Frewer (bass), with Jim Searle and Alfred Fripp on guitars. Phil Kenton joined on drums as the band changed its name to Wainwright's Gentlemen (due to there being another band known as Unit 4). Managed by Frewer's father, the band performed in the Hayes, Harrow and Wembley area. By 1964 the group was also playing in London, including at the Saint Germain Club on Poland Street.
In January 1964 the band came fifth in a national beat group contest, with finals held at the Lyceum Strand on 4 May 1964. Highlights of the show were presented on BBC1 by Alan Freeman. Chris Wright left the line-up in late 1964 and was replaced by Ian Gillan. A female vocalist named Ann Cully soon joined the band. Mick Tucker, from Ruislip, joined on drums replacing Phil Kenton. The band recorded a number of tracks including a cover of the Coasters-Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me", which was probably recorded at Jackson Sound Studios in Rickmansworth. The track includes Gillan on vocals, Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965. Gillan quit in May 1965 to join Episode Six, and later, Deep Purple. Cully remained as vocalist before departing some time later. Gillan's and Cully's eventual replacement, in late 1966, was Scots-born vocalist Brian Connolly, who hailed more recently from Harefield. Tony Hall had joined on saxophone and vocals and when Fripp left he was replaced by Gordon Fairminer. Fairminer's position was eventually assumed by Frank Torpey (born Frank Edward Torpey, 30 April 1945, Kilburn, North West London) - a schoolfriend of Tucker's who had just left West London group The Tribe (aka The Dream). Torpey only lasted a few months, and in late 1967 Robin Box (born 19 June 1944) took his place. Searle, regarded by many as the most talented musically, disappeared from the scene. Tucker and Connolly remained with Wainwright's Gentlemen until January 1968. Tucker was replaced by Roger Hills. When the Gentlemen eventually broke up, Hills and Box joined White Plains who eventually scored a big hit with "My Baby Loves Lovin'".
Early years
In January 1968 Connolly and Tucker formed a new band calling themselves The Sweetshop. They recruited bass guitarist and vocalist Steve Priest from a local band called The Army. Priest had previously played with mid-'60s band the Countdowns who had been produced and recorded by Joe Meek. Frank Torpey was again recruited to play guitar. The quartet made its public debut at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead on 9 March 1968 and soon developed a following on the pub circuit, which led to a contract with Fontana Records. At the time, another UK band released a single under the same name Sweetshop, so the band abbreviated their moniker to Sweet. The band was managed by Paul Nicholas, who later went on to star in Hair. Nicholas worked with record producer Phil Wainman at Mellin Music Publishing and recommended the band to him. Their debut single "Slow Motion" (July 1968), produced by Wainman, and released on Fontana, failed to chart and owing to its rarity now sells for several hundred pounds when auctioned. Sweet were released from the recording contract and Frank Torpey left. In his autobiography Are You Ready Steve, Priest said that Gordon Fairminer was approached to play for them when Torpey decided to leave Sweet after a gig at Playhouse Theatre Walton-on-Thames on 5 July 1969 but turned the job down as he wanted to concentrate on other interests.
New line-up and new record deal
Guitarist Mick Stewart joined in 1969. Stewart had some rock pedigree, having previously worked with The (Ealing) Redcaps and Simon Scott & The All-Nite Workers in the mid-1960s. In late 1965, that band became The Phil Wainman Set when the future Sweet producer joined on drums and the group cut some singles with Errol Dixon. In early 1966, Stewart left and later worked with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.
Sweet signed a new record contract with EMI's Parlophone label. Three bubblegum pop singles were released: "Lollipop Man" (September 1969), "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (January 1970), and a cover version of the Archies' "Get on the Line" (June 1970), all of which failed to chart. Stewart then quit, and was not replaced for some time. Connolly and Tucker had a chance meeting with Wainman, who was now producing, and knew of two aspiring songwriters, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who were looking for a group to sing some demos they had written. Connolly, Priest, and Tucker provided the vocals on a track called "Funny Funny" which featured Pip Williams on guitar, John Roberts on bass, and Wainman on drums. The latter began offering the track to various recording companies. The band held auditions for a replacement guitarist and settled on Welsh-born Andy Scott. He had most recently been playing with Mike McCartney (brother of Paul) in the Scaffold. As a member of the Elastic Band, he had played guitar on two singles for Decca, "Think of You Baby" and "Do Unto Others". He also appeared on the band's lone album release, Expansions on Life, and on some recordings by the Scaffold. The band rehearsed for a number of weeks before Scott made his live debut with Sweet on 26 September 1970 at the Windsor Ballroom in Redcar.
Sweet initially attempted to combine diverse musical influences, including the Monkees and 1960s bubblegum pop groups such as the Archies, with more heavy rock-oriented groups such as the Who. Sweet adopted the rich vocal harmony style of the Hollies, with distorted guitars and a heavy rhythm section. This fusion of pop and hard rock would remain a central trademark of Sweet's music and prefigured the glam metal of a few years later.
Sweet's initial album appearance was on the budget label Music for Pleasure as part of a compilation called Gimme Dat Ding, released in December 1970. Sweet had one side of the record; the Pipkins (whose sole hit, "Gimme Dat Ding", gave the LP its name) had the other. Sweet's contribution consisted of the A- and B-sides of the band's three Parlophone singles. Andy Scott appears in the album cover shot, even though he did not play on any of the recordings.
First album
Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide record contract with RCA Records, the U.S. excepted: in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973, followed by Capitol Records.
In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to No. 33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals.
Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts.
Initial success and rise to fame
February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit. Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments. In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.
To promote their singles, Sweet made numerous appearances on U.K. and European TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Supersonic. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops Christmas edition, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared replete in a German military uniform, Hitler moustache and displaying a swastika armband. The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.
Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image. Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe". A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period). The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.
Forming a new image
By 1974, Sweet had grown tired of the management team of Chinn and Chapman, who wrote the group's major hits and cultivated the band's glam rock image. The group and producer Phil Wainman, assisted by engineer Peter Coleman, recorded the album Sweet Fanny Adams, which was released in April 1974. Sweet's technical proficiency was demonstrated for the first time on self-penned hard rock tracks such as "Sweet F.A." and "Set Me Free". Sweet also adopted a more conventional hard rock sound and appearance. Sweet Fanny Adams also featured compressed high-pitched backing vocal harmonies, which was a trend that continued on all of Sweet's albums.
During sessions for the album, Brian Connolly was injured in a fight in Staines High Street. His throat was badly injured and his ability to sing severely limited. Priest and Scott filled in on lead vocals on some tracks ("No You Don't", "Into The Night" and "Restless") and Connolly, under treatment from a Harley Street specialist, managed to complete the album. The band did not publicise the incident and told the press that subsequent cancelled shows were due to Connolly having a throat infection. This incident reportedly permanently compromised Connolly's singing ability, with his range diminished.
No previous singles appeared on the album, and none were released, except in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, where "Peppermint Twist/Rebel Rouser", apparently released by their record company without their knowledge, gained a No. 1 chart position in the latter. Sweet Fanny Adams would be Sweet's only non-compilation release to break the UK Albums Chart Top 40.
Sweet were invited by Pete Townshend to support the Who, who were playing at Charlton Athletic's football ground, The Valley in June 1974. However, Connolly's badly bruised throat kept them from fulfilling the role. Sweet had frequently cited the Who as being one of their main influences and played a medley of their tracks in their live set for many years.
Desolation Boulevard
Their third album, Desolation Boulevard, was released later in 1974, six months after Sweet Fanny Adams. By that stage, producer Phil Wainman had moved on and the album was produced by Mike Chapman. It was recorded in a mere six days and featured a rawer "live" sound. One track, "The Man with the Golden Arm", written by Elmer Bernstein and Sylvia Fine for the 1955 Frank Sinatra movie of the same name, featured drummer Mick Tucker performing an 8 and half minute solo (although this was not included in the U.S. release). This had been a staple of the band's live performance for years. The first single from the LP, the heavy-melodic "The Six Teens" (July 1974), was a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and still part of the amazing unbroken string of No. 1's in Denmark. However, the subsequent single release, "Turn It Down" (November 1974), reached only No. 41 on the U.K. chart and No. 2 in Denmark. "Turn It Down" received minimal airplay on UK radio and was banned by some radio stations because of certain lyrical content - "God-awful sound" and "For God sakes, turn it down" - which were deemed "unsuitable for family listening." The band resumed playing live shows nearly a full six months after Connolly's throat injury, with band and critics noting a rougher edge to his voice and a reduced range. The album also featured a group composition, "Fox On The Run", which was to be re-recorded months later.
The U.S. version of Desolation Boulevard was different from the U.K. version and included several songs from Sweet Fanny Adams in addition to the "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run" singles (both of which peaked at No. 5 in the US). Side One of the album contained all Chapman-Chinn penned songs, while Side Two featured songs written and produced by Sweet.
Writing and producing their own material
In 1975 Sweet went back into the studio to re-arrange and record a more pop-oriented version of the track "Fox on the Run". Sweet's first self-written and produced single, "Fox on the Run" was released worldwide in March 1975 and became their biggest selling hit, reaching number one in Germany, Denmark, and South Africa, number two in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands and number three in Austria and Switzerland. In Australia it not only made it to the top of the charts, it also became the biggest selling single of that year. The song reached number two in Canada and number five in the U.S. The release of this track marked the end of the formal Chinn-Chapman working relationship and the band stressed it was now fully self-sufficient as writers and producers.
The following single release, "Action" (July 1975), peaked at number 15 in the UK. Now confident in their own songwriting and production abilities, Sweet spent the latter half of 1975 in Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, where they recorded the Give Us A Wink album with German sound engineer Reinhold Mack, who later recorded with Electric Light Orchestra and co-produced Queen. The new album release was deferred until 1976 so as not to stifle the chart success Desolation Boulevard was enjoying, peaking at number 25 in the US and number 5 in Canada.
With Give Us a Wink being held over, RCA issued a double album in Europe, Strung Up, in November. It contained one live disc, recorded in London in December 1973, and one disc compiling previously released singles (plus an unused track by Chinn and Chapman – "I Wanna Be Committed"). At the end of the year, Andy Scott released his first solo single, "Lady Starlight" b/w "Where D'Ya Go". Tucker played drums on both tracks.
Decline in popularity
January 1976 saw the release of the single "The Lies In Your Eyes", which made the Top 10 in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia, but only reached No. 35 on the U.K. charts. Sweet's first album to be fully produced and written by themselves, Give Us A Wink, was released in March 1976. A third single from the album, "4th Of July", was issued in Australia.
By this time, Sweet strove to build on their growing popularity in America with a schedule of more than fifty headline concert dates. Even though Give Us A Winks release was imminent, the band's set essentially promoted the US version of Desolation Boulevard plus the new US hit single "Action". During an appearance at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in California on 24 March, Sweet played "All Right Now" with Ritchie Blackmore as a tribute to mark the death of Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, who was to have supported Sweet with his band Back Street Crawler. The US tour was not financially successful, with small audiences at many venues leading to the final half-dozen or so dates to be cancelled. Following the end of the tour, the band went on to Scandinavia and Germany. The band also spent a week at the Who's Ramport Studios in Battersea demoing material for a new album before abandoning that project and playing eight dates in Japan. By the end of the Japanese shows Connolly's extremely hoarse singing voice was manifest evidence of the demands of constant touring and the enduring after-effects of his 1974 assault.
Between October 1976 and January 1977, Sweet wrote and recorded new material at Kingsway Recorders and Audio International London studios for their next album. An advance single from the album, "Lost Angels", was only a hit in Germany, Austria and Sweden. A new album, Off the Record, was released in April. The next single from the album, "Fever of Love", represented the band heading in a somewhat more Europop hard rock direction, once again charting in Germany, Austria and Sweden, while reaching number 10 in South Africa. On this album, Sweet again worked with Give Us A Wink engineer Louis Austin, who would later engineer Def Leppard's On Through The Night 1980 début album. The band cancelled a US tour with emerging US rockers Aerosmith, did not play any live dates in support of the album and, in fact, did not play a single concert for the whole of 1977.
Level Headed and a change in style
Sweet left RCA in 1977 and signed a new deal with Polydor though it would not come into force until later in the year. Sweet's manager David Walker, from Handle Artists, negotiated the move which was reputed to be worth around £750,000. In the United States, Canada, and Japan, Capitol had issued Sweet's albums since 1974 and would continue to do so through to 1980.
The first Polydor album, Level Headed (January 1978), found Sweet experimenting by combining rock and classical sounds "a-la clavesin", an approach similar to Electric Light Orchestra's, and featured the single "Love Is Like Oxygen". Largely recorded during 1977 at Château d'Hérouville near Paris, France after a 30-day writing session at Clearwell Castle in the Forest Of Dean UK, the album represented a new musical direction, largely abandoning hard-rock for a more melodic pop style, interspersed with ballads accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra. The ballad, "Lettres D'Amour", featured a duet between Connolly and Stevie Lange (who would emerge as lead singer with the group Night in 1979).
With the addition of session and touring musicians keyboardist Gary Moberley and guitarist Nico Ramsden, Sweet undertook a short European and Scandinavian tour followed by a single British concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 24 February 1978. However, "Love Is Like Oxygen" (January 1978) was their last U.K., U.S., and German Top 10 hit. Scott was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for co-composing the song. One more single from the album, "California Nights" (May 1978), featuring Steve Priest as the lead vocalist, peaked at number 23 on the German chart.
Departure of Brian Connolly
Between March and May 1978 Sweet extensively toured the US, as a support act for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. The tour included a disastrous date in Birmingham, Alabama on 3 May, during which visiting Capitol Records executives in the audience saw Brian Connolly give a drunken and incoherent performance that terminated early in the set with his collapse on stage, leaving the rest of the group to play on without him. The band returned briefly to Britain before resuming the second leg of their US tour in late May supporting other acts, including Foghat and Alice Cooper. Concluding the US tour in early July 1978, Brian's alcoholism and estrangement from the group was steadily becoming a greater issue.
In late October, having spent further time at Clearwell Castle to write for their next album, Sweet arrived at The Town House studio in Shepherd's Bush, London to complete and record, Cut Above the Rest (April 1979). Due to tensions between various members attributed to Connolly's health and diminishing status with the group, his long-time friend and fellow founding member, Mick Tucker, was tasked to produce Connolly's vocals. It was felt Tucker would extract a better performance than Scott from Connolly. A number of tracks were recorded featuring Connolly. However, these efforts were deemed unsatisfactory and Brian left the band on 2 November 1978.
On 23 February 1979, Brian Connolly's departure from Sweet was formally announced by manager David Walker. Publicly, Connolly was said to be pursuing a solo career with an interest in recording country rock.
Three piece Sweet
Sweet continued as a trio with Priest assuming the lion's share of lead vocals, though Scott and Tucker were also active in that role. The first single release for the trio was "Call Me". Guest keyboard player Gary Moberley continued to augment the group on stage. Guitarist Ray McRiner joined their touring line-up in 1979, with a small tour with Journey in the eastern United States and Cheap Trick in Texas in the spring and summer of '79 to support Cut Above The Rest (which was released in April 1979). McRiner would also contribute the songs "Too Much Talking" and the single "Give The Lady Some Respect" to the next Sweet album, Waters Edge (August 1980), which was recorded in Canada. In the US, Waters Edge was titled Sweet VI. It featured the singles "Sixties Man" and "Give The Lady Some Respect". Tragedy befell Mick Tucker when his wife Pauline drowned in the bath at their home on 26 December 1979. The band withdrew from live work for all of 1980.
One more studio album, Identity Crisis, was recorded during 1980–81 but was only released in West Germany and Mexico. Sweet undertook a short tour of the UK and performed their last live show at Glasgow University on 20 March 1981. Steve Priest then returned to the United States, where he had been living since late 1979. When Polydor released Identity Crisis in October 1982, the original Sweet had been disbanded for almost a year.
Re-formed versions (1984–present)
Andy Scott's Sweet (1985–present)
Andy Scott and Mick Tucker organised their own version of Sweet with Paul Mario Day (ex-Iron Maiden, More, Wildfire) on lead vocals, Phil Lanzon (ex-Grand Prix) on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass. The band performed at the Marquee Club in London in February 1986, with the shows recorded and gaining release a few years later, bolstered by four new studio tracks including a cover of the Motown standard "Reach Out I'll Be There". This line-up also toured Australian and New Zealand pubs and clubs for more than three months in 1985 and for a similar period again in 1986. Singer Paul Day ended up marrying the band's Australian tour guide and relocating downunder. He continued with Sweet commuting back and forth to Europe for the group's tours until this proved to be too cumbersome. He departed in late 1988. As McNulty moved into the front man spot, Jeff Brown came in to take over bass early in 1989. Lanzon too went back and forth between Sweet and Uriah Heep during 1986-1988 before Heep's schedule grew too busy. Malcolm Pearson and then Ian Gibbons (who had played with The Kinks and The Records) both filled in for Lanzon until Steve Mann (Liar, Lionheart, McAuley Schenker Group) arrived in December 1989.
Tucker departed after a show in Lochau, Austria, on 5 May 1991. He later was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. Three drummers, Andy Hoyler, Bobby Andersen and Bruce Bisland (Weapon, Wildfire, Praying Mantis), provided short-term relief before Bodo Schopf (McAuley Schenker Group) took over. They recorded an album during this period, simply titled A. Before the band embarked on the supporting tour for A in 1992, Bodo left and Bisland returned as permanent percussionist. Scott changed the band's name to 'Andy Scott's Sweet' after Tucker's departure but truncated it to simply 'The Sweet' once again after Tucker's death in 2002.
Mal McNulty, now lead vocalist, departed in 1994, though he would return briefly that year to fill in for Jeff Brown on bass (as he would again in 1995 as lead singer for a few dates while Rocky Newton subbed on bass). Sweet's former keyboard men Gary Moberley and Ian Gibbons also did fill-in jaunts with the group that year, as did Chris Goulstone. Chad Brown (ex-Lionheart; no relation to Jeff) was the new front man. Glitz Blitz and Hitz, a new studio album of re-recorded Sweet hits, was released during this period.
In 1996 Mann left to take a job in television and Gibbons came back for a short time before Steve Grant (ex-The Animals) became the permanent keyboardist. When Chad Brown quit in 1998 after developing a throat infection, Jeff Brown assumed lead vocals and bass duties. After this, the band was stable again for the next five years.
The mid-2000s would bring further confusing shake-ups and rotations. Tony O'Hora (ex-Onslaught, Praying Mantis) replaced Brown as lead vocalist in 2003. Ian Gibbons came back for a third stint as fill-in keyboardist in June 2005 for a gig in the Faroe Islands. O'Hora decided to split to take a teaching job in late 2005. Grant then jumped from keyboards to lead vocals and bass as Phil Lanzon returned on keyboards for a tour of Russia and Germany in October/November. New singer Mark Thompson Smith (ex-Praying Mantis) joined in November 2005 for some Swedish gigs, while Jo Burt (ex-Black Sabbath) was temporary bass player. Tony Mills (ex-Shy) was slated to be Sweet's new singer in early 2006 but failed to work out and left after six shows in Denmark. At this point, O'Hora came back as fill in front man and then Grant did another turn himself as the singer/bassist (Steve Mann depped on keyboards) until the group finally landed a new permanent front man when Peter Lincoln (ex-Sailor) arrived in July 2006. The line-up then consisted of Scott, Bisland, Grant and Lincoln.
Scott produced the Suzi Quatro album Back to the Drive, released in February 2006. March 2006 saw the U.S. release of his band's album Sweetlife.
In 2007 the group played in Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy. In May of that year, the band played in Porto Alegre and Curitiba, Brazil, their first and only South American shows. The tour was called the 'Sweet Fanny Adams Tour'.
The band toured again in March 2008 under the name 'Sweet Fanny Adams Revisited Tour'. In May and June, Scott's Sweet were part of the "Glitz Blitz & 70s Hitz" tour of the UK alongside The Rubettes and Showaddywaddy.
In March and April 2010, Scott was absent from a couple of gigs due to ill health and Martin Mickels stood in. Scott revealed later that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was treated at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. After a course of treatment and rest, he was back to full touring fitness. In 2010 the band played at venues in Europe and back at Bilston in October.
In March 2011 there was a short tour of Australia, Regal Theatre - Perth, and Clipsal 500, Adelaide with the Doobie Brothers. Also in 2011, Tony O'Hora came back to the group, this time as keyboardist, after Grant departed.
In March 2012 the band released a new album New York Connection. Recorded in England, it comprised 11 cover versions, including the 2011 single "Join Together" and one revamped original recording; the 1972 B-side "New York Connection". All the covers either featured 'bits and pieces' of Sweet hits or other artist songs, such as a "new version of the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop [which] shared space with samples from ‘Ballroom Blitz,’ and a take on Hello’s New York Groove (made famous in the US by Ace Frehley) featured a sample from Jay-Z’s Empire State Of Mind along with other Sweet references."
On the eve of their March 2012 "Join Together" tour of Australia, the band undertook an acoustic performance of three tracks, "New York Groove-Empire State of Mind", "Blockbuster" and "Peppermint Twist", in front of a live audience at ABC Radio Studios in East Perth. Shows in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Geelong, Melbourne and Sydney featured tracks from the new album for the first time.
Paul Manzi joined Sweet on their 2014 Australian tour, replacing Tony O'Hora who was absent for personal reasons. Manzi played guitar, keyboard and undertook lead vocals on "Set Me Free" and "AC-DC" as the band performed shows in regional centres, including outback Western Australia, Darwin and far-north Queensland, NSW and Victoria during February and March. The band, with O'Hora back in the ranks, returned to Australia in September 2014 as the headlining act for "Rock The Boat 4". This was a cruise aboard the ship Rhapsody of the Seas which departed Sydney and took in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The band played two gigs and various members guested with Australian veteran performers including Brian Cadd and Russell Morris and members of AC/DC, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and Skyhooks.
In June 2015 it was revealed that the band were going on an extensive tour of the UK in late 2015 and that this tour would probably be their last.
For the 2015 summer tour dates, Paul Manzi returned to sub for Peter Lincoln who left this online message to the fans: "There have been a few rumours going around this weekend, so . . . just to say that I am alive and well! The short explanation for my absence is that I need to rest my voice for a few weeks. We are lucky that our good friend Paul Manzi is able to step in, and Tony knows the role of bass player/singer, so the shows can go ahead, and they will be great! I look forward to being back on stage very soon."
Pete Lincoln duly resumed his role in the band and they continued with extensive live dates, known as the "Finale" tour in Germany.
In 2017 after Andy undertook a successful Australian visit with Suzi Quatro and Don Powell in the side outfit known as QSP, Sweet was again booked for an extensive European tour. In the years following both Tony O'Hora and Pete Lincoln departed the band. Paul Manzi returned as permanent lead vocalist, quitting the popular outfit Cats in Space to do so. Lee Small joined as bassist and backing vocalist. Former guitarist and keyboard player Steve Mann joined for a handful of shows as a special guest. During the COVID-19 pandemic the band recorded a new album of old tracks entitled Isolation Boulevard.
New Sweet, Brian Connolly's Sweet (1984–1997)
In 1984 Brian Connolly formed a new version of the Sweet without any of the other original members. Despite recurring ill health, Connolly toured the UK and Europe with his band, "Brian Connolly's Sweet", which was then renamed to "New Sweet". His most successful concerts were in West Germany, before and after reunification.
During 1987, Connolly met up again with Frank Torpey. Torpey later explained in interviews Connolly was trying to get a German recording deal. The two got on very well and Torpey subsequently invited Connolly to go into the recording studio with him, as an informal project. After much trepidation, Connolly turned up and the track "Sharontina" was recorded. This recording would not be released until 1998, appearing on Frank Torpey's album Sweeter.
By July 1990, plans were made for Connolly and his band to tour Australia in November. During the long flight to Australia, Connolly's health had suffered and he was hospitalised in Adelaide Hospital, allegedly for dehydration and related problems. The rest of the band played a show in Adelaide without him. After being released from the hospital, Connolly joined the other band members in Melbourne for a gig at the Pier Hotel, in Frankston. After several other shows, including one at the Dingley Powerhouse, Connolly and his band played a final date at Melbourne's Greek Theatre. It was felt Connolly's health was sufficient reason for the tour not to be extended, and some of the planned dates were abandoned. Connolly went back to England and his band appeared on The Bob Downe Christmas show on 18 December 1990.
During the early 1990s, Connolly played the European "oldies" circuit and occasional outdoor festivals in Europe with his band. On 22 March 1992, a heavy duty tape recorder was stolen from the band's van whilst at a gig in the Bristol Hippodrome with Mud. It contained demos of four new songs, totalling about 20 mixes.
Legal problems were going on in the background over the use of the Sweet name between Connolly and Andy Scott. Both parties agreed to distinguish their group's names to help promoters and fans. The New Sweet went back to being called Brian Connolly's Sweet and Andy Scott's version became Andy Scott's Sweet.
In 1994, Connolly and his band played in Dubai. He appeared at the Galleria Theatre, Hyatt Regency. He also performed in Bahrain.
By this time Connolly had healed the differences with Steve Priest and Mick Tucker, and was invited to the wedding of Priest's eldest daughter, Lisa. At the private function, for which Priest specially flew back to England, Priest and Connolly performed together.
In 1995, Connolly released a new album entitled Let's Go. His partner Jean, whom he had met a few years earlier, gave birth to a son. Connolly also performed in Switzerland that year.
On 2 November 1996 British TV Network Channel 4 aired a programme Don't Leave Me This Way, which examined Connolly's time as a pop star with the Sweet, the subsequent decline in the band's popularity, and its impact on Connolly and the other band members. The show revealed Connolly's ill health but also that he was continuing with his concert dates at Butlins. Connolly and his band had appeared at Butlins a number of times on tour during the early 1990s.
Connolly's final concert was at the Bristol Hippodrome on 5 December 1996, with Slade II and John Rossall's Glitter Band Experience.
Steve Priest's Sweet (2008–Present)
In January 2008, Steve Priest assembled his own version of the Sweet in Los Angeles. He enlisted a guitarist Stuart Smith and L.A. native Richie Onori, Smith's bandmate in Heaven & Earth, was brought in on drums. The keyboard spot was manned by ex-Crow and World Classic Rockers alumni Stevie Stewart. Front-man and vocalist Joe Retta was brought in to round out the line-up.
After an initial appearance on L.A. rock station 95.5 KLOS's popular Mark & Brian radio programme, the "Are You Ready Steve?" tour kicked off at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood on 12 June 2008. The band spent the next several months playing festivals and gigs throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Moondance Jam in Walker, Minnesota; headlining at the Rock N Resort Music Festival in North Lawrence, Ohio (near Canal Fulton); London, Ontario's Rock the Park; another headlining gig at Peterborough's Festival of Lights; the Common Ground Festival in Lansing, Michigan; and a benefit concert for victims of California's wildfires at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
In January 2009, the Sweet presented at the concert industry's Pollstar Awards, and also played a short set at the Nokia Theatre where the event was held, marking the first time in the ceremony's history that a band performed at the show. In addition to local gigs at the House of Blues on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and Universal CityWalk, 2009 saw the band return to Canada for sold-out shows at the Mae Wilson Theater and Casino Regina, as well as the Nakusp Music Fest and Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa in Minnedosa, Manitoba. U.S. festivals have included Minnesota's Halfway Jam, Rockin' the Rivers in Montana (with Pat Travers and Peter Frampton), and two late-summer shows at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The new band recorded a cover version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride", which was included on Cleopatra Records' Abbey Road, a Fab Four tribute CD that was released on 24 March 2009.
A preview of the band's new CD Live in America, which was recorded live at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California on 30 August 2008, was featured on KLOS's "Front Row" programme on 12 April 2009. The CD, which was first sold at shows and via the band's on-line store, was released worldwide in an exclusive deal with Amazon.com on 21 July 2009. The release has garnered favourable reviews from The Rock n Roll Report, Classic Rock Revisited and Hard Rock Haven, among others.
In April 2010, the band released its first single on iTunes: an updated, hard rock version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." Performances on the 2010 summer tour included the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival in Richardson, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada's Fremont Street Experience; Rock N' America in Oklahoma City, OK; Summer Jam in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack FM's Fifth Show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Los Angeles; an appearance at the Hard Rock Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi; and the inaugural edition of the Thunder Mountain Rock Festival in Sawyer, North Dakota.
On 11 November 2010, it was announced that in May 2011 "Steve Priest's Sweet" had been booked to perform at a handful of European dates, but the gigs ultimately had to be cancelled in late January 2011 after it was learned that one of the promoters was a suspected swindler wanted by British law enforcement officials. As of February 2011, fans who purchased pre-sale tickets were still in the process of working through the administrative channels with PayPal and various banks and credit card issuers in order to try to reclaim their funds.
The band toured South America along with Journey during March 2011.
The band and their European fans then also got re-united quicker than thought, when the band got booked by a befriended female Belgian promoter. Two east German gigs, 27 and 28 May 2011, so in Borna and in Schwarzenberg Steve Priest's Sweet hit the European grounds. After more than 30 years, Steve Priest got a warm welcome back in Europe.
As of 12 August 2012, Stuart Smith resigned from the guitar post in order to dedicate more time to his "Heaven & Earth" project.
Beginning with the band's October 2012 appearance at the Festival Internacional Chihuahua in Mexico, Los Angeles-based guitarist Ricky Z. teamed up with Steve Priest and company for their live performances. In February 2013, this lineup returned to Casino Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Tour dates played in summer 2013 included Riverfest in Watertown, Wisconsin, the St. Clair, MI Riverfest, several additional dates in Canada, and a reprise of their appearances at both Moondance Jam in Walker, MN and Rockin' the Rivers in Three Forks, Montana. The band made some rare appearances on the U.S. east coast in July 2013, including a performance with David Johansen of the New York Dolls at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Singer Joe Retta was unavailable for these dates due to a scheduling conflict, so Tribe of Gypsies frontman Chas West, who has played with Jason Bonham's band and has experience subbing in such well-known bands as Foreigner, Lynch Mob and Diamond Head, stepped in to man the microphone for a series of shows in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
On 27 August 2014, Steve Priest announced on the band's Facebook page that guitarist Mitch Perry had been tapped for the guitar slot. Most recently on tour with Lita Ford, Mitch's other credentials included his work with Michael Schenker Group, Asia Featuring John Payne, Edgar Winter, Billy Sheehan and David Lee Roth His first live appearance with Sweet was at the Rock the River festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on 23 August 2014.
22 December 2017 saw the launch of the 50th anniversary tour at the Whisky a Go Go on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and the introduction of new singer Paul Zablidowski AKA "Paulie Z" former lead singer and guitarist of ZO2, children's band "The Z Brothers" and star of IFC show Z-Rock. Recently known as the host for local show "Ultimate Jam Night." Z replaced Joe Retta, who had served as the frontman for the Los Angeles incarnation of Sweet since its formation in 2008. Priest died on 4 June 2020.
Brief reunions and the deaths of Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker and Steve Priest
Steve Priest was asked to join Tucker and Scott for the 1985 Australian tour, but declined at the last moment.
Mike Chapman contacted Connolly, Priest, Scott, and Tucker in 1988, offering to finance a recording session in Los Angeles. As he remembers: "I met them at the airport and Andy and Mick came off the plane. I said, 'Where's Brian?' They said, 'Oh, he's coming.' All the people had come off the plane by now. Then this little old man hobbled towards us. He was shaking, and had a ghostly white face. I thought, 'Oh, Jesus Christ.' It was horrifying." Reworked studio versions of "Action" and "The Ballroom Blitz" were recorded, but it became clear that Connolly's voice and physical health had made Sweet's original member comeback too difficult to promote commercially. Consequently, the reunion attempt was aborted.
In 1990 this line-up was again reunited for the promotion of a music documentary entitled Sweet's Ballroom Blitz. This UK video release, which contained UK television performances from the 1970s and current-day interviews, was released at Tower Records, London. Sweet was interviewed by Power Hour, Super Channel, and spoke of a possible reunion.
Brian Connolly died at the age of 51 on 9 February 1997, from liver failure and repeated heart attacks, attributed to his abuse of alcohol in the 1970s and early 1980s. Mick Tucker died on 14 February 2002 from leukemia, at the age of 54. On 4 June 2020 it was announced that Steve Priest had died. It left Andy Scott as the sole living member of Sweet's 'classic lineup'.
Later years
Two versions of The Sweet were active with original members: "Andy Scott's Sweet", who frequently tour across Europe as Sweet and makes occasional sojourns to other markets including regular visits to Australia, and "Steve Priest's Sweet" who toured the US and Canada.
On 28 April 2009, Shout! Factory released a two-disc, career-spanning greatest hits album called Action: The Sweet Anthology. It received a four-star (out of five) rating in Rolling Stone.
In September 2009 Ace Frehley released his version of "Fox on the Run" on his album Anomaly.
In an October 2012 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses, referenced Sweet as one of his favourite bands growing up along with fellow British band Queen.
In April 2016, the chart topping song (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" was featured in a trailer for Suicide Squad.
In December 2016, their single "Fox on the Run" (1975) was featured in a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
In 2019, the songs "Fox on the Run" and "Set Me Free" were featured in an episode of Jamie Johnson.
Personnel
Original band
Classic lineup
Brian Connolly – lead vocals, percussion, synthesizer, acoustic guitar (1968–1978; died 1997)
Steve Priest – bass, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2020)
Mick Tucker – drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2002)
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1970–1981)
Early members
Frank Torpey – guitars (1968–1969)
Mick Stewart – guitars (1969–1970)
Touring musicians
Gary Moberley – keyboards, synthesizers, piano (1978–1981)
Nico Ramsden – guitar (1978)
Ray McRiner – guitar (1979)
Andy Scott’s Sweet
Current members
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1985–present)
Bruce Bisland – drums, backing vocals (1992–present)
Paul Manzi – lead vocals (2019–present; substitute appearances in 2014 and 2015)
Lee Small – bass, backing vocals (2019–present)
Former members
Mick Tucker – drums, backing vocals (1985–1991; died 2002)
Paul Mario Day – lead vocals (1985–1989)
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1985–1989; 2005—2006)
Mal McNulty – bass, lead and backing vocals (1985–1995)
Jeff Brown – bass, lead and backing vocals (1989–2003)
Steve Mann – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals (1989-1996)
Bodo Schopf – drums, backing vocals (1991–1992)
Chad Brown — lead vocals (1995–1998)
Steve Grant — keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1996–2005, 2006–2011); lead vocals, bass (2005–2006)
Tony O’Hora – lead and backing vocals, bass (2003–2005, 2006, 2011–2019), guitars, keyboards (2011–2019)
Peter Lincoln – bass, lead and backing vocals (2006–2019)
Timeline
Discography
Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be (1971)
Sweet Fanny Adams (1974)
Desolation Boulevard (1974)
Give Us a Wink (1976)
Off the Record (1977)
Level Headed (1978)
Cut Above the Rest (1979)
Waters Edge (titled Sweet VI with a different cover in the U.S.) (1980)
Identity Crisis (1982)
Sweetlife (2002) by Andy Scott's Sweet
Isolation Boulevard (2020) by Andy Scott's Sweet
References
Bibliography
(2008 eBook available at )
External links
Channel 4 documentary on The Sweet from 1996
English hard rock musical groups
English glam rock groups
Musical groups established in 1968
Capitol Records artists
Polydor Records artists
RCA Records artists
1968 establishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups disestablished in 1982
1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups reestablished in 1985
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom | false | [
"Andrew Butterfield (born 7 January 1972) is an English professional golfer who plays on the Challenge Tour.\n\nCareer\nButterfield was born in London, England. He turned professional in 1993 and joined the Challenge Tour in 1996. He played on the Challenge Tour until qualifying for the European Tour through Q-School in 1999. Butterfield did not perform well enough on tour in 2000 to retain his card and had to go back to the Challenge Tour in 2001. He got his European Tour card back through Q-School again in 2001 and played on the European Tour in 2002 but did not find any success on tour. He returned to the Challenge Tour and played there until 2005 when he finished 4th on the Challenge Tour's Order of Merit which earned him his European Tour card for 2006. He did not play well enough in 2006 to retain his tour card but was able to get temporary status on tour for 2007 by finishing 129th on the Order of Merit. He played on the European Tour and the Challenge Tour in 2007 and has played only on the Challenge Tour since 2008. He picked up his first win on the Challenge Tour in Sweden at The Princess in June 2009. He also won an event on the PGA EuroPro Tour in 2004.\n\nProfessional wins (2)\n\nChallenge Tour wins (1)\n\nChallenge Tour playoff record (0–1)\n\nPGA EuroPro Tour wins (1)\n2004 Matchroom Golf Management International at Owston Hall\n\nPlayoff record\nEuropean Tour playoff record (0–1)\n\nResults in major championships\n\nNote: Butterfield only played in The Open Championship.\nCUT = missed the half-way cut\n\nSee also\n2005 Challenge Tour graduates\n2009 Challenge Tour graduates\n\nExternal links\n\nEnglish male golfers\nEuropean Tour golfers\nSportspeople from London\nPeople from the London Borough of Bromley\n1972 births\nLiving people",
"The Bob Dylan England Tour 1965 was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan during late April and early May 1965. The tour was widely documented by filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, who used the footage of the tour in his documentary Dont Look Back.\n\nTour dates\n\nSet lists \nAs Dylan was still playing exclusively folk music live, much of the material performed during this tour was written pre-1965. Each show was divided into two halves, with seven songs performed during the first, and eight during the second. The set consisted of two songs from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, three from The Times They Are a-Changin', three from Another Side of Bob Dylan, a comic-relief concert staple; \"If You Gotta Go, Go Now\", issued as a single in Europe, and six songs off his then-recent album, Bringing It All Back Home, including the second side in its entirety.\n\n First half\n\"The Times They Are a-Changin'\"\n\"To Ramona\"\n\"Gates of Eden\"\n\"If You Gotta Go, Go Now (or Else You Got to Stay All Night)\"\n\"It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)\"\n\"Love Minus Zero/No Limit\"\n\"Mr. Tambourine Man\"\n\nSecond Half\n\"Talkin' World War III Blues\"\n\"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right\"\n\"With God on Our Side\"\n\"She Belongs to Me\"\n\"It Ain't Me Babe\"\n\"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll\"\n\"All I Really Want to Do\"\n\"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue\"\n\nSet list per Olof Bjorner.\n\nAftermath \nJoan Baez accompanied him on the tour, but she was never invited to play with him in concert. In fact, they did not tour together again until 1975. After this tour, Dylan was hailed as a hero of folk music, but two months later, at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, he would alienate his fans and go electric. Dylan was the only artist apart from the Beatles to sell out the De Montfort Hall in the 1960s. Even the Rolling Stones did not sell out this venue.\n\nReferences \n\nHoward Sounes: Down the Highway. The Life of Bob Dylan.. 2001.\n\nExternal links \n Bjorner's Still on the Road 1965: Tour dates & set lists\n\nBob Dylan concert tours\n1965 concert tours\nConcert tours of the United Kingdom\n1965 in England"
]
|
[
"The Sweet",
"First album",
"/what was the first album",
"March 1971 RCA issued \"Funny Funny\", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit,",
"What songs were released on it",
"Their next RCA release \"Co-Co\" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, \"Alexander Graham Bell\" (",
"What other singles topped the chart?",
"Chop Chop\" and \"Tom Tom Turnaround\") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's \"Daydream\"",
"Did they go on tour?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_8881985e0300445eac1e4d13b977ae98_0 | did they get any awards | 5 | did The Sweet get any awards | The Sweet | The Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide (the U.S. excepted) record contract with RCA Records (in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973; followed by Capitol Records). In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to #33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals. The Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts. Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career. CANNOTANSWER | Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career. | The Sweet, sometimes also shortened to just Sweet, are a British glam rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker. The group was originally called The Sweetshop.
The band was formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, "Funny Funny", in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.
The band first achieved success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, like 1974's "Turn It Down". "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. They also achieved success and popularity in the US with the top ten hits "Little Willy", "The Ballroom Blitz", "Fox on the Run", and "Love is Like Oxygen".
The Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have since sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
History
Origins
Sweet's origins can be traced back to British soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen. Mark Lay's history of that band states they formed around 1962 and were initially known as Unit 4. Founding members included Chris Wright (vocals), Jan Frewer (bass), with Jim Searle and Alfred Fripp on guitars. Phil Kenton joined on drums as the band changed its name to Wainwright's Gentlemen (due to there being another band known as Unit 4). Managed by Frewer's father, the band performed in the Hayes, Harrow and Wembley area. By 1964 the group was also playing in London, including at the Saint Germain Club on Poland Street.
In January 1964 the band came fifth in a national beat group contest, with finals held at the Lyceum Strand on 4 May 1964. Highlights of the show were presented on BBC1 by Alan Freeman. Chris Wright left the line-up in late 1964 and was replaced by Ian Gillan. A female vocalist named Ann Cully soon joined the band. Mick Tucker, from Ruislip, joined on drums replacing Phil Kenton. The band recorded a number of tracks including a cover of the Coasters-Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me", which was probably recorded at Jackson Sound Studios in Rickmansworth. The track includes Gillan on vocals, Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965. Gillan quit in May 1965 to join Episode Six, and later, Deep Purple. Cully remained as vocalist before departing some time later. Gillan's and Cully's eventual replacement, in late 1966, was Scots-born vocalist Brian Connolly, who hailed more recently from Harefield. Tony Hall had joined on saxophone and vocals and when Fripp left he was replaced by Gordon Fairminer. Fairminer's position was eventually assumed by Frank Torpey (born Frank Edward Torpey, 30 April 1945, Kilburn, North West London) - a schoolfriend of Tucker's who had just left West London group The Tribe (aka The Dream). Torpey only lasted a few months, and in late 1967 Robin Box (born 19 June 1944) took his place. Searle, regarded by many as the most talented musically, disappeared from the scene. Tucker and Connolly remained with Wainwright's Gentlemen until January 1968. Tucker was replaced by Roger Hills. When the Gentlemen eventually broke up, Hills and Box joined White Plains who eventually scored a big hit with "My Baby Loves Lovin'".
Early years
In January 1968 Connolly and Tucker formed a new band calling themselves The Sweetshop. They recruited bass guitarist and vocalist Steve Priest from a local band called The Army. Priest had previously played with mid-'60s band the Countdowns who had been produced and recorded by Joe Meek. Frank Torpey was again recruited to play guitar. The quartet made its public debut at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead on 9 March 1968 and soon developed a following on the pub circuit, which led to a contract with Fontana Records. At the time, another UK band released a single under the same name Sweetshop, so the band abbreviated their moniker to Sweet. The band was managed by Paul Nicholas, who later went on to star in Hair. Nicholas worked with record producer Phil Wainman at Mellin Music Publishing and recommended the band to him. Their debut single "Slow Motion" (July 1968), produced by Wainman, and released on Fontana, failed to chart and owing to its rarity now sells for several hundred pounds when auctioned. Sweet were released from the recording contract and Frank Torpey left. In his autobiography Are You Ready Steve, Priest said that Gordon Fairminer was approached to play for them when Torpey decided to leave Sweet after a gig at Playhouse Theatre Walton-on-Thames on 5 July 1969 but turned the job down as he wanted to concentrate on other interests.
New line-up and new record deal
Guitarist Mick Stewart joined in 1969. Stewart had some rock pedigree, having previously worked with The (Ealing) Redcaps and Simon Scott & The All-Nite Workers in the mid-1960s. In late 1965, that band became The Phil Wainman Set when the future Sweet producer joined on drums and the group cut some singles with Errol Dixon. In early 1966, Stewart left and later worked with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.
Sweet signed a new record contract with EMI's Parlophone label. Three bubblegum pop singles were released: "Lollipop Man" (September 1969), "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (January 1970), and a cover version of the Archies' "Get on the Line" (June 1970), all of which failed to chart. Stewart then quit, and was not replaced for some time. Connolly and Tucker had a chance meeting with Wainman, who was now producing, and knew of two aspiring songwriters, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who were looking for a group to sing some demos they had written. Connolly, Priest, and Tucker provided the vocals on a track called "Funny Funny" which featured Pip Williams on guitar, John Roberts on bass, and Wainman on drums. The latter began offering the track to various recording companies. The band held auditions for a replacement guitarist and settled on Welsh-born Andy Scott. He had most recently been playing with Mike McCartney (brother of Paul) in the Scaffold. As a member of the Elastic Band, he had played guitar on two singles for Decca, "Think of You Baby" and "Do Unto Others". He also appeared on the band's lone album release, Expansions on Life, and on some recordings by the Scaffold. The band rehearsed for a number of weeks before Scott made his live debut with Sweet on 26 September 1970 at the Windsor Ballroom in Redcar.
Sweet initially attempted to combine diverse musical influences, including the Monkees and 1960s bubblegum pop groups such as the Archies, with more heavy rock-oriented groups such as the Who. Sweet adopted the rich vocal harmony style of the Hollies, with distorted guitars and a heavy rhythm section. This fusion of pop and hard rock would remain a central trademark of Sweet's music and prefigured the glam metal of a few years later.
Sweet's initial album appearance was on the budget label Music for Pleasure as part of a compilation called Gimme Dat Ding, released in December 1970. Sweet had one side of the record; the Pipkins (whose sole hit, "Gimme Dat Ding", gave the LP its name) had the other. Sweet's contribution consisted of the A- and B-sides of the band's three Parlophone singles. Andy Scott appears in the album cover shot, even though he did not play on any of the recordings.
First album
Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide record contract with RCA Records, the U.S. excepted: in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973, followed by Capitol Records.
In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to No. 33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals.
Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts.
Initial success and rise to fame
February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit. Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments. In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.
To promote their singles, Sweet made numerous appearances on U.K. and European TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Supersonic. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops Christmas edition, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared replete in a German military uniform, Hitler moustache and displaying a swastika armband. The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.
Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image. Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe". A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period). The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.
Forming a new image
By 1974, Sweet had grown tired of the management team of Chinn and Chapman, who wrote the group's major hits and cultivated the band's glam rock image. The group and producer Phil Wainman, assisted by engineer Peter Coleman, recorded the album Sweet Fanny Adams, which was released in April 1974. Sweet's technical proficiency was demonstrated for the first time on self-penned hard rock tracks such as "Sweet F.A." and "Set Me Free". Sweet also adopted a more conventional hard rock sound and appearance. Sweet Fanny Adams also featured compressed high-pitched backing vocal harmonies, which was a trend that continued on all of Sweet's albums.
During sessions for the album, Brian Connolly was injured in a fight in Staines High Street. His throat was badly injured and his ability to sing severely limited. Priest and Scott filled in on lead vocals on some tracks ("No You Don't", "Into The Night" and "Restless") and Connolly, under treatment from a Harley Street specialist, managed to complete the album. The band did not publicise the incident and told the press that subsequent cancelled shows were due to Connolly having a throat infection. This incident reportedly permanently compromised Connolly's singing ability, with his range diminished.
No previous singles appeared on the album, and none were released, except in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, where "Peppermint Twist/Rebel Rouser", apparently released by their record company without their knowledge, gained a No. 1 chart position in the latter. Sweet Fanny Adams would be Sweet's only non-compilation release to break the UK Albums Chart Top 40.
Sweet were invited by Pete Townshend to support the Who, who were playing at Charlton Athletic's football ground, The Valley in June 1974. However, Connolly's badly bruised throat kept them from fulfilling the role. Sweet had frequently cited the Who as being one of their main influences and played a medley of their tracks in their live set for many years.
Desolation Boulevard
Their third album, Desolation Boulevard, was released later in 1974, six months after Sweet Fanny Adams. By that stage, producer Phil Wainman had moved on and the album was produced by Mike Chapman. It was recorded in a mere six days and featured a rawer "live" sound. One track, "The Man with the Golden Arm", written by Elmer Bernstein and Sylvia Fine for the 1955 Frank Sinatra movie of the same name, featured drummer Mick Tucker performing an 8 and half minute solo (although this was not included in the U.S. release). This had been a staple of the band's live performance for years. The first single from the LP, the heavy-melodic "The Six Teens" (July 1974), was a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and still part of the amazing unbroken string of No. 1's in Denmark. However, the subsequent single release, "Turn It Down" (November 1974), reached only No. 41 on the U.K. chart and No. 2 in Denmark. "Turn It Down" received minimal airplay on UK radio and was banned by some radio stations because of certain lyrical content - "God-awful sound" and "For God sakes, turn it down" - which were deemed "unsuitable for family listening." The band resumed playing live shows nearly a full six months after Connolly's throat injury, with band and critics noting a rougher edge to his voice and a reduced range. The album also featured a group composition, "Fox On The Run", which was to be re-recorded months later.
The U.S. version of Desolation Boulevard was different from the U.K. version and included several songs from Sweet Fanny Adams in addition to the "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run" singles (both of which peaked at No. 5 in the US). Side One of the album contained all Chapman-Chinn penned songs, while Side Two featured songs written and produced by Sweet.
Writing and producing their own material
In 1975 Sweet went back into the studio to re-arrange and record a more pop-oriented version of the track "Fox on the Run". Sweet's first self-written and produced single, "Fox on the Run" was released worldwide in March 1975 and became their biggest selling hit, reaching number one in Germany, Denmark, and South Africa, number two in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands and number three in Austria and Switzerland. In Australia it not only made it to the top of the charts, it also became the biggest selling single of that year. The song reached number two in Canada and number five in the U.S. The release of this track marked the end of the formal Chinn-Chapman working relationship and the band stressed it was now fully self-sufficient as writers and producers.
The following single release, "Action" (July 1975), peaked at number 15 in the UK. Now confident in their own songwriting and production abilities, Sweet spent the latter half of 1975 in Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, where they recorded the Give Us A Wink album with German sound engineer Reinhold Mack, who later recorded with Electric Light Orchestra and co-produced Queen. The new album release was deferred until 1976 so as not to stifle the chart success Desolation Boulevard was enjoying, peaking at number 25 in the US and number 5 in Canada.
With Give Us a Wink being held over, RCA issued a double album in Europe, Strung Up, in November. It contained one live disc, recorded in London in December 1973, and one disc compiling previously released singles (plus an unused track by Chinn and Chapman – "I Wanna Be Committed"). At the end of the year, Andy Scott released his first solo single, "Lady Starlight" b/w "Where D'Ya Go". Tucker played drums on both tracks.
Decline in popularity
January 1976 saw the release of the single "The Lies In Your Eyes", which made the Top 10 in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia, but only reached No. 35 on the U.K. charts. Sweet's first album to be fully produced and written by themselves, Give Us A Wink, was released in March 1976. A third single from the album, "4th Of July", was issued in Australia.
By this time, Sweet strove to build on their growing popularity in America with a schedule of more than fifty headline concert dates. Even though Give Us A Winks release was imminent, the band's set essentially promoted the US version of Desolation Boulevard plus the new US hit single "Action". During an appearance at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in California on 24 March, Sweet played "All Right Now" with Ritchie Blackmore as a tribute to mark the death of Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, who was to have supported Sweet with his band Back Street Crawler. The US tour was not financially successful, with small audiences at many venues leading to the final half-dozen or so dates to be cancelled. Following the end of the tour, the band went on to Scandinavia and Germany. The band also spent a week at the Who's Ramport Studios in Battersea demoing material for a new album before abandoning that project and playing eight dates in Japan. By the end of the Japanese shows Connolly's extremely hoarse singing voice was manifest evidence of the demands of constant touring and the enduring after-effects of his 1974 assault.
Between October 1976 and January 1977, Sweet wrote and recorded new material at Kingsway Recorders and Audio International London studios for their next album. An advance single from the album, "Lost Angels", was only a hit in Germany, Austria and Sweden. A new album, Off the Record, was released in April. The next single from the album, "Fever of Love", represented the band heading in a somewhat more Europop hard rock direction, once again charting in Germany, Austria and Sweden, while reaching number 10 in South Africa. On this album, Sweet again worked with Give Us A Wink engineer Louis Austin, who would later engineer Def Leppard's On Through The Night 1980 début album. The band cancelled a US tour with emerging US rockers Aerosmith, did not play any live dates in support of the album and, in fact, did not play a single concert for the whole of 1977.
Level Headed and a change in style
Sweet left RCA in 1977 and signed a new deal with Polydor though it would not come into force until later in the year. Sweet's manager David Walker, from Handle Artists, negotiated the move which was reputed to be worth around £750,000. In the United States, Canada, and Japan, Capitol had issued Sweet's albums since 1974 and would continue to do so through to 1980.
The first Polydor album, Level Headed (January 1978), found Sweet experimenting by combining rock and classical sounds "a-la clavesin", an approach similar to Electric Light Orchestra's, and featured the single "Love Is Like Oxygen". Largely recorded during 1977 at Château d'Hérouville near Paris, France after a 30-day writing session at Clearwell Castle in the Forest Of Dean UK, the album represented a new musical direction, largely abandoning hard-rock for a more melodic pop style, interspersed with ballads accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra. The ballad, "Lettres D'Amour", featured a duet between Connolly and Stevie Lange (who would emerge as lead singer with the group Night in 1979).
With the addition of session and touring musicians keyboardist Gary Moberley and guitarist Nico Ramsden, Sweet undertook a short European and Scandinavian tour followed by a single British concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 24 February 1978. However, "Love Is Like Oxygen" (January 1978) was their last U.K., U.S., and German Top 10 hit. Scott was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for co-composing the song. One more single from the album, "California Nights" (May 1978), featuring Steve Priest as the lead vocalist, peaked at number 23 on the German chart.
Departure of Brian Connolly
Between March and May 1978 Sweet extensively toured the US, as a support act for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. The tour included a disastrous date in Birmingham, Alabama on 3 May, during which visiting Capitol Records executives in the audience saw Brian Connolly give a drunken and incoherent performance that terminated early in the set with his collapse on stage, leaving the rest of the group to play on without him. The band returned briefly to Britain before resuming the second leg of their US tour in late May supporting other acts, including Foghat and Alice Cooper. Concluding the US tour in early July 1978, Brian's alcoholism and estrangement from the group was steadily becoming a greater issue.
In late October, having spent further time at Clearwell Castle to write for their next album, Sweet arrived at The Town House studio in Shepherd's Bush, London to complete and record, Cut Above the Rest (April 1979). Due to tensions between various members attributed to Connolly's health and diminishing status with the group, his long-time friend and fellow founding member, Mick Tucker, was tasked to produce Connolly's vocals. It was felt Tucker would extract a better performance than Scott from Connolly. A number of tracks were recorded featuring Connolly. However, these efforts were deemed unsatisfactory and Brian left the band on 2 November 1978.
On 23 February 1979, Brian Connolly's departure from Sweet was formally announced by manager David Walker. Publicly, Connolly was said to be pursuing a solo career with an interest in recording country rock.
Three piece Sweet
Sweet continued as a trio with Priest assuming the lion's share of lead vocals, though Scott and Tucker were also active in that role. The first single release for the trio was "Call Me". Guest keyboard player Gary Moberley continued to augment the group on stage. Guitarist Ray McRiner joined their touring line-up in 1979, with a small tour with Journey in the eastern United States and Cheap Trick in Texas in the spring and summer of '79 to support Cut Above The Rest (which was released in April 1979). McRiner would also contribute the songs "Too Much Talking" and the single "Give The Lady Some Respect" to the next Sweet album, Waters Edge (August 1980), which was recorded in Canada. In the US, Waters Edge was titled Sweet VI. It featured the singles "Sixties Man" and "Give The Lady Some Respect". Tragedy befell Mick Tucker when his wife Pauline drowned in the bath at their home on 26 December 1979. The band withdrew from live work for all of 1980.
One more studio album, Identity Crisis, was recorded during 1980–81 but was only released in West Germany and Mexico. Sweet undertook a short tour of the UK and performed their last live show at Glasgow University on 20 March 1981. Steve Priest then returned to the United States, where he had been living since late 1979. When Polydor released Identity Crisis in October 1982, the original Sweet had been disbanded for almost a year.
Re-formed versions (1984–present)
Andy Scott's Sweet (1985–present)
Andy Scott and Mick Tucker organised their own version of Sweet with Paul Mario Day (ex-Iron Maiden, More, Wildfire) on lead vocals, Phil Lanzon (ex-Grand Prix) on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass. The band performed at the Marquee Club in London in February 1986, with the shows recorded and gaining release a few years later, bolstered by four new studio tracks including a cover of the Motown standard "Reach Out I'll Be There". This line-up also toured Australian and New Zealand pubs and clubs for more than three months in 1985 and for a similar period again in 1986. Singer Paul Day ended up marrying the band's Australian tour guide and relocating downunder. He continued with Sweet commuting back and forth to Europe for the group's tours until this proved to be too cumbersome. He departed in late 1988. As McNulty moved into the front man spot, Jeff Brown came in to take over bass early in 1989. Lanzon too went back and forth between Sweet and Uriah Heep during 1986-1988 before Heep's schedule grew too busy. Malcolm Pearson and then Ian Gibbons (who had played with The Kinks and The Records) both filled in for Lanzon until Steve Mann (Liar, Lionheart, McAuley Schenker Group) arrived in December 1989.
Tucker departed after a show in Lochau, Austria, on 5 May 1991. He later was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. Three drummers, Andy Hoyler, Bobby Andersen and Bruce Bisland (Weapon, Wildfire, Praying Mantis), provided short-term relief before Bodo Schopf (McAuley Schenker Group) took over. They recorded an album during this period, simply titled A. Before the band embarked on the supporting tour for A in 1992, Bodo left and Bisland returned as permanent percussionist. Scott changed the band's name to 'Andy Scott's Sweet' after Tucker's departure but truncated it to simply 'The Sweet' once again after Tucker's death in 2002.
Mal McNulty, now lead vocalist, departed in 1994, though he would return briefly that year to fill in for Jeff Brown on bass (as he would again in 1995 as lead singer for a few dates while Rocky Newton subbed on bass). Sweet's former keyboard men Gary Moberley and Ian Gibbons also did fill-in jaunts with the group that year, as did Chris Goulstone. Chad Brown (ex-Lionheart; no relation to Jeff) was the new front man. Glitz Blitz and Hitz, a new studio album of re-recorded Sweet hits, was released during this period.
In 1996 Mann left to take a job in television and Gibbons came back for a short time before Steve Grant (ex-The Animals) became the permanent keyboardist. When Chad Brown quit in 1998 after developing a throat infection, Jeff Brown assumed lead vocals and bass duties. After this, the band was stable again for the next five years.
The mid-2000s would bring further confusing shake-ups and rotations. Tony O'Hora (ex-Onslaught, Praying Mantis) replaced Brown as lead vocalist in 2003. Ian Gibbons came back for a third stint as fill-in keyboardist in June 2005 for a gig in the Faroe Islands. O'Hora decided to split to take a teaching job in late 2005. Grant then jumped from keyboards to lead vocals and bass as Phil Lanzon returned on keyboards for a tour of Russia and Germany in October/November. New singer Mark Thompson Smith (ex-Praying Mantis) joined in November 2005 for some Swedish gigs, while Jo Burt (ex-Black Sabbath) was temporary bass player. Tony Mills (ex-Shy) was slated to be Sweet's new singer in early 2006 but failed to work out and left after six shows in Denmark. At this point, O'Hora came back as fill in front man and then Grant did another turn himself as the singer/bassist (Steve Mann depped on keyboards) until the group finally landed a new permanent front man when Peter Lincoln (ex-Sailor) arrived in July 2006. The line-up then consisted of Scott, Bisland, Grant and Lincoln.
Scott produced the Suzi Quatro album Back to the Drive, released in February 2006. March 2006 saw the U.S. release of his band's album Sweetlife.
In 2007 the group played in Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy. In May of that year, the band played in Porto Alegre and Curitiba, Brazil, their first and only South American shows. The tour was called the 'Sweet Fanny Adams Tour'.
The band toured again in March 2008 under the name 'Sweet Fanny Adams Revisited Tour'. In May and June, Scott's Sweet were part of the "Glitz Blitz & 70s Hitz" tour of the UK alongside The Rubettes and Showaddywaddy.
In March and April 2010, Scott was absent from a couple of gigs due to ill health and Martin Mickels stood in. Scott revealed later that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was treated at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. After a course of treatment and rest, he was back to full touring fitness. In 2010 the band played at venues in Europe and back at Bilston in October.
In March 2011 there was a short tour of Australia, Regal Theatre - Perth, and Clipsal 500, Adelaide with the Doobie Brothers. Also in 2011, Tony O'Hora came back to the group, this time as keyboardist, after Grant departed.
In March 2012 the band released a new album New York Connection. Recorded in England, it comprised 11 cover versions, including the 2011 single "Join Together" and one revamped original recording; the 1972 B-side "New York Connection". All the covers either featured 'bits and pieces' of Sweet hits or other artist songs, such as a "new version of the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop [which] shared space with samples from ‘Ballroom Blitz,’ and a take on Hello’s New York Groove (made famous in the US by Ace Frehley) featured a sample from Jay-Z’s Empire State Of Mind along with other Sweet references."
On the eve of their March 2012 "Join Together" tour of Australia, the band undertook an acoustic performance of three tracks, "New York Groove-Empire State of Mind", "Blockbuster" and "Peppermint Twist", in front of a live audience at ABC Radio Studios in East Perth. Shows in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Geelong, Melbourne and Sydney featured tracks from the new album for the first time.
Paul Manzi joined Sweet on their 2014 Australian tour, replacing Tony O'Hora who was absent for personal reasons. Manzi played guitar, keyboard and undertook lead vocals on "Set Me Free" and "AC-DC" as the band performed shows in regional centres, including outback Western Australia, Darwin and far-north Queensland, NSW and Victoria during February and March. The band, with O'Hora back in the ranks, returned to Australia in September 2014 as the headlining act for "Rock The Boat 4". This was a cruise aboard the ship Rhapsody of the Seas which departed Sydney and took in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The band played two gigs and various members guested with Australian veteran performers including Brian Cadd and Russell Morris and members of AC/DC, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and Skyhooks.
In June 2015 it was revealed that the band were going on an extensive tour of the UK in late 2015 and that this tour would probably be their last.
For the 2015 summer tour dates, Paul Manzi returned to sub for Peter Lincoln who left this online message to the fans: "There have been a few rumours going around this weekend, so . . . just to say that I am alive and well! The short explanation for my absence is that I need to rest my voice for a few weeks. We are lucky that our good friend Paul Manzi is able to step in, and Tony knows the role of bass player/singer, so the shows can go ahead, and they will be great! I look forward to being back on stage very soon."
Pete Lincoln duly resumed his role in the band and they continued with extensive live dates, known as the "Finale" tour in Germany.
In 2017 after Andy undertook a successful Australian visit with Suzi Quatro and Don Powell in the side outfit known as QSP, Sweet was again booked for an extensive European tour. In the years following both Tony O'Hora and Pete Lincoln departed the band. Paul Manzi returned as permanent lead vocalist, quitting the popular outfit Cats in Space to do so. Lee Small joined as bassist and backing vocalist. Former guitarist and keyboard player Steve Mann joined for a handful of shows as a special guest. During the COVID-19 pandemic the band recorded a new album of old tracks entitled Isolation Boulevard.
New Sweet, Brian Connolly's Sweet (1984–1997)
In 1984 Brian Connolly formed a new version of the Sweet without any of the other original members. Despite recurring ill health, Connolly toured the UK and Europe with his band, "Brian Connolly's Sweet", which was then renamed to "New Sweet". His most successful concerts were in West Germany, before and after reunification.
During 1987, Connolly met up again with Frank Torpey. Torpey later explained in interviews Connolly was trying to get a German recording deal. The two got on very well and Torpey subsequently invited Connolly to go into the recording studio with him, as an informal project. After much trepidation, Connolly turned up and the track "Sharontina" was recorded. This recording would not be released until 1998, appearing on Frank Torpey's album Sweeter.
By July 1990, plans were made for Connolly and his band to tour Australia in November. During the long flight to Australia, Connolly's health had suffered and he was hospitalised in Adelaide Hospital, allegedly for dehydration and related problems. The rest of the band played a show in Adelaide without him. After being released from the hospital, Connolly joined the other band members in Melbourne for a gig at the Pier Hotel, in Frankston. After several other shows, including one at the Dingley Powerhouse, Connolly and his band played a final date at Melbourne's Greek Theatre. It was felt Connolly's health was sufficient reason for the tour not to be extended, and some of the planned dates were abandoned. Connolly went back to England and his band appeared on The Bob Downe Christmas show on 18 December 1990.
During the early 1990s, Connolly played the European "oldies" circuit and occasional outdoor festivals in Europe with his band. On 22 March 1992, a heavy duty tape recorder was stolen from the band's van whilst at a gig in the Bristol Hippodrome with Mud. It contained demos of four new songs, totalling about 20 mixes.
Legal problems were going on in the background over the use of the Sweet name between Connolly and Andy Scott. Both parties agreed to distinguish their group's names to help promoters and fans. The New Sweet went back to being called Brian Connolly's Sweet and Andy Scott's version became Andy Scott's Sweet.
In 1994, Connolly and his band played in Dubai. He appeared at the Galleria Theatre, Hyatt Regency. He also performed in Bahrain.
By this time Connolly had healed the differences with Steve Priest and Mick Tucker, and was invited to the wedding of Priest's eldest daughter, Lisa. At the private function, for which Priest specially flew back to England, Priest and Connolly performed together.
In 1995, Connolly released a new album entitled Let's Go. His partner Jean, whom he had met a few years earlier, gave birth to a son. Connolly also performed in Switzerland that year.
On 2 November 1996 British TV Network Channel 4 aired a programme Don't Leave Me This Way, which examined Connolly's time as a pop star with the Sweet, the subsequent decline in the band's popularity, and its impact on Connolly and the other band members. The show revealed Connolly's ill health but also that he was continuing with his concert dates at Butlins. Connolly and his band had appeared at Butlins a number of times on tour during the early 1990s.
Connolly's final concert was at the Bristol Hippodrome on 5 December 1996, with Slade II and John Rossall's Glitter Band Experience.
Steve Priest's Sweet (2008–Present)
In January 2008, Steve Priest assembled his own version of the Sweet in Los Angeles. He enlisted a guitarist Stuart Smith and L.A. native Richie Onori, Smith's bandmate in Heaven & Earth, was brought in on drums. The keyboard spot was manned by ex-Crow and World Classic Rockers alumni Stevie Stewart. Front-man and vocalist Joe Retta was brought in to round out the line-up.
After an initial appearance on L.A. rock station 95.5 KLOS's popular Mark & Brian radio programme, the "Are You Ready Steve?" tour kicked off at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood on 12 June 2008. The band spent the next several months playing festivals and gigs throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Moondance Jam in Walker, Minnesota; headlining at the Rock N Resort Music Festival in North Lawrence, Ohio (near Canal Fulton); London, Ontario's Rock the Park; another headlining gig at Peterborough's Festival of Lights; the Common Ground Festival in Lansing, Michigan; and a benefit concert for victims of California's wildfires at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
In January 2009, the Sweet presented at the concert industry's Pollstar Awards, and also played a short set at the Nokia Theatre where the event was held, marking the first time in the ceremony's history that a band performed at the show. In addition to local gigs at the House of Blues on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and Universal CityWalk, 2009 saw the band return to Canada for sold-out shows at the Mae Wilson Theater and Casino Regina, as well as the Nakusp Music Fest and Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa in Minnedosa, Manitoba. U.S. festivals have included Minnesota's Halfway Jam, Rockin' the Rivers in Montana (with Pat Travers and Peter Frampton), and two late-summer shows at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The new band recorded a cover version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride", which was included on Cleopatra Records' Abbey Road, a Fab Four tribute CD that was released on 24 March 2009.
A preview of the band's new CD Live in America, which was recorded live at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California on 30 August 2008, was featured on KLOS's "Front Row" programme on 12 April 2009. The CD, which was first sold at shows and via the band's on-line store, was released worldwide in an exclusive deal with Amazon.com on 21 July 2009. The release has garnered favourable reviews from The Rock n Roll Report, Classic Rock Revisited and Hard Rock Haven, among others.
In April 2010, the band released its first single on iTunes: an updated, hard rock version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." Performances on the 2010 summer tour included the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival in Richardson, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada's Fremont Street Experience; Rock N' America in Oklahoma City, OK; Summer Jam in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack FM's Fifth Show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Los Angeles; an appearance at the Hard Rock Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi; and the inaugural edition of the Thunder Mountain Rock Festival in Sawyer, North Dakota.
On 11 November 2010, it was announced that in May 2011 "Steve Priest's Sweet" had been booked to perform at a handful of European dates, but the gigs ultimately had to be cancelled in late January 2011 after it was learned that one of the promoters was a suspected swindler wanted by British law enforcement officials. As of February 2011, fans who purchased pre-sale tickets were still in the process of working through the administrative channels with PayPal and various banks and credit card issuers in order to try to reclaim their funds.
The band toured South America along with Journey during March 2011.
The band and their European fans then also got re-united quicker than thought, when the band got booked by a befriended female Belgian promoter. Two east German gigs, 27 and 28 May 2011, so in Borna and in Schwarzenberg Steve Priest's Sweet hit the European grounds. After more than 30 years, Steve Priest got a warm welcome back in Europe.
As of 12 August 2012, Stuart Smith resigned from the guitar post in order to dedicate more time to his "Heaven & Earth" project.
Beginning with the band's October 2012 appearance at the Festival Internacional Chihuahua in Mexico, Los Angeles-based guitarist Ricky Z. teamed up with Steve Priest and company for their live performances. In February 2013, this lineup returned to Casino Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Tour dates played in summer 2013 included Riverfest in Watertown, Wisconsin, the St. Clair, MI Riverfest, several additional dates in Canada, and a reprise of their appearances at both Moondance Jam in Walker, MN and Rockin' the Rivers in Three Forks, Montana. The band made some rare appearances on the U.S. east coast in July 2013, including a performance with David Johansen of the New York Dolls at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Singer Joe Retta was unavailable for these dates due to a scheduling conflict, so Tribe of Gypsies frontman Chas West, who has played with Jason Bonham's band and has experience subbing in such well-known bands as Foreigner, Lynch Mob and Diamond Head, stepped in to man the microphone for a series of shows in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
On 27 August 2014, Steve Priest announced on the band's Facebook page that guitarist Mitch Perry had been tapped for the guitar slot. Most recently on tour with Lita Ford, Mitch's other credentials included his work with Michael Schenker Group, Asia Featuring John Payne, Edgar Winter, Billy Sheehan and David Lee Roth His first live appearance with Sweet was at the Rock the River festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on 23 August 2014.
22 December 2017 saw the launch of the 50th anniversary tour at the Whisky a Go Go on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and the introduction of new singer Paul Zablidowski AKA "Paulie Z" former lead singer and guitarist of ZO2, children's band "The Z Brothers" and star of IFC show Z-Rock. Recently known as the host for local show "Ultimate Jam Night." Z replaced Joe Retta, who had served as the frontman for the Los Angeles incarnation of Sweet since its formation in 2008. Priest died on 4 June 2020.
Brief reunions and the deaths of Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker and Steve Priest
Steve Priest was asked to join Tucker and Scott for the 1985 Australian tour, but declined at the last moment.
Mike Chapman contacted Connolly, Priest, Scott, and Tucker in 1988, offering to finance a recording session in Los Angeles. As he remembers: "I met them at the airport and Andy and Mick came off the plane. I said, 'Where's Brian?' They said, 'Oh, he's coming.' All the people had come off the plane by now. Then this little old man hobbled towards us. He was shaking, and had a ghostly white face. I thought, 'Oh, Jesus Christ.' It was horrifying." Reworked studio versions of "Action" and "The Ballroom Blitz" were recorded, but it became clear that Connolly's voice and physical health had made Sweet's original member comeback too difficult to promote commercially. Consequently, the reunion attempt was aborted.
In 1990 this line-up was again reunited for the promotion of a music documentary entitled Sweet's Ballroom Blitz. This UK video release, which contained UK television performances from the 1970s and current-day interviews, was released at Tower Records, London. Sweet was interviewed by Power Hour, Super Channel, and spoke of a possible reunion.
Brian Connolly died at the age of 51 on 9 February 1997, from liver failure and repeated heart attacks, attributed to his abuse of alcohol in the 1970s and early 1980s. Mick Tucker died on 14 February 2002 from leukemia, at the age of 54. On 4 June 2020 it was announced that Steve Priest had died. It left Andy Scott as the sole living member of Sweet's 'classic lineup'.
Later years
Two versions of The Sweet were active with original members: "Andy Scott's Sweet", who frequently tour across Europe as Sweet and makes occasional sojourns to other markets including regular visits to Australia, and "Steve Priest's Sweet" who toured the US and Canada.
On 28 April 2009, Shout! Factory released a two-disc, career-spanning greatest hits album called Action: The Sweet Anthology. It received a four-star (out of five) rating in Rolling Stone.
In September 2009 Ace Frehley released his version of "Fox on the Run" on his album Anomaly.
In an October 2012 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses, referenced Sweet as one of his favourite bands growing up along with fellow British band Queen.
In April 2016, the chart topping song (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" was featured in a trailer for Suicide Squad.
In December 2016, their single "Fox on the Run" (1975) was featured in a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
In 2019, the songs "Fox on the Run" and "Set Me Free" were featured in an episode of Jamie Johnson.
Personnel
Original band
Classic lineup
Brian Connolly – lead vocals, percussion, synthesizer, acoustic guitar (1968–1978; died 1997)
Steve Priest – bass, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2020)
Mick Tucker – drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2002)
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1970–1981)
Early members
Frank Torpey – guitars (1968–1969)
Mick Stewart – guitars (1969–1970)
Touring musicians
Gary Moberley – keyboards, synthesizers, piano (1978–1981)
Nico Ramsden – guitar (1978)
Ray McRiner – guitar (1979)
Andy Scott’s Sweet
Current members
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1985–present)
Bruce Bisland – drums, backing vocals (1992–present)
Paul Manzi – lead vocals (2019–present; substitute appearances in 2014 and 2015)
Lee Small – bass, backing vocals (2019–present)
Former members
Mick Tucker – drums, backing vocals (1985–1991; died 2002)
Paul Mario Day – lead vocals (1985–1989)
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1985–1989; 2005—2006)
Mal McNulty – bass, lead and backing vocals (1985–1995)
Jeff Brown – bass, lead and backing vocals (1989–2003)
Steve Mann – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals (1989-1996)
Bodo Schopf – drums, backing vocals (1991–1992)
Chad Brown — lead vocals (1995–1998)
Steve Grant — keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1996–2005, 2006–2011); lead vocals, bass (2005–2006)
Tony O’Hora – lead and backing vocals, bass (2003–2005, 2006, 2011–2019), guitars, keyboards (2011–2019)
Peter Lincoln – bass, lead and backing vocals (2006–2019)
Timeline
Discography
Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be (1971)
Sweet Fanny Adams (1974)
Desolation Boulevard (1974)
Give Us a Wink (1976)
Off the Record (1977)
Level Headed (1978)
Cut Above the Rest (1979)
Waters Edge (titled Sweet VI with a different cover in the U.S.) (1980)
Identity Crisis (1982)
Sweetlife (2002) by Andy Scott's Sweet
Isolation Boulevard (2020) by Andy Scott's Sweet
References
Bibliography
(2008 eBook available at )
External links
Channel 4 documentary on The Sweet from 1996
English hard rock musical groups
English glam rock groups
Musical groups established in 1968
Capitol Records artists
Polydor Records artists
RCA Records artists
1968 establishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups disestablished in 1982
1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups reestablished in 1985
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom | false | [
"Active Pensionists (Danish: Aktive Pensionister) was a political party in Denmark.\n\nHistory\nActive Pensionists was established in 1997. The party ran in 2001 in Copenhagen (507 votes), Frederikshavn (212 votes) and Skagen Municipality (19 votes). They did not get any municipal seats.\n\nIn 2005, Active Pensionists ran in Greve Municipality (43 votes), Vejle Municipality (158 votes), Fredericia Municipality (679) and Copenhagen Municipality (232 votes). They did not manage to get any municipal seats.\n\nThe party has not run for municipal elections since 2005, and is assumedly dissolved.\n\nElection results\n\nMunicipal elections\n\nReferences\n\nPolitical parties in Denmark\nPensioners' parties\n1997 establishments in Denmark\nPolitical parties established in 1997\nDefunct political parties in Denmark",
"The Sound Bluntz were a Canadian dance music duo, consisting of producers Cory Bradshaw and Peter Pantzoures. They are most noted as two-time winners of the Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year, winning at the Juno Awards of 2003 for their cover of Michael Jackson's \"Billie Jean\" and at the Juno Awards of 2004 for \"Something About You\".\n\nThey were also nominated, but did not win, at the Juno Awards of 2007 for \"(Maybe You'll Get) Lucky\".\n\nReferences\n\nJuno Award for Dance Recording of the Year winners\nCanadian dance music groups"
]
|
[
"The Sweet",
"First album",
"/what was the first album",
"March 1971 RCA issued \"Funny Funny\", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit,",
"What songs were released on it",
"Their next RCA release \"Co-Co\" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, \"Alexander Graham Bell\" (",
"What other singles topped the chart?",
"Chop Chop\" and \"Tom Tom Turnaround\") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's \"Daydream\"",
"Did they go on tour?",
"I don't know.",
"did they get any awards",
"Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career."
]
| C_8881985e0300445eac1e4d13b977ae98_0 | Are there any interesting aspects about this article | 6 | Are there any interesting aspects about the article on The Sweet, First album? | The Sweet | The Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide (the U.S. excepted) record contract with RCA Records (in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973; followed by Capitol Records). In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to #33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals. The Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts. Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career. CANNOTANSWER | album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender | The Sweet, sometimes also shortened to just Sweet, are a British glam rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker. The group was originally called The Sweetshop.
The band was formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, "Funny Funny", in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.
The band first achieved success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, like 1974's "Turn It Down". "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. They also achieved success and popularity in the US with the top ten hits "Little Willy", "The Ballroom Blitz", "Fox on the Run", and "Love is Like Oxygen".
The Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have since sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
History
Origins
Sweet's origins can be traced back to British soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen. Mark Lay's history of that band states they formed around 1962 and were initially known as Unit 4. Founding members included Chris Wright (vocals), Jan Frewer (bass), with Jim Searle and Alfred Fripp on guitars. Phil Kenton joined on drums as the band changed its name to Wainwright's Gentlemen (due to there being another band known as Unit 4). Managed by Frewer's father, the band performed in the Hayes, Harrow and Wembley area. By 1964 the group was also playing in London, including at the Saint Germain Club on Poland Street.
In January 1964 the band came fifth in a national beat group contest, with finals held at the Lyceum Strand on 4 May 1964. Highlights of the show were presented on BBC1 by Alan Freeman. Chris Wright left the line-up in late 1964 and was replaced by Ian Gillan. A female vocalist named Ann Cully soon joined the band. Mick Tucker, from Ruislip, joined on drums replacing Phil Kenton. The band recorded a number of tracks including a cover of the Coasters-Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me", which was probably recorded at Jackson Sound Studios in Rickmansworth. The track includes Gillan on vocals, Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965. Gillan quit in May 1965 to join Episode Six, and later, Deep Purple. Cully remained as vocalist before departing some time later. Gillan's and Cully's eventual replacement, in late 1966, was Scots-born vocalist Brian Connolly, who hailed more recently from Harefield. Tony Hall had joined on saxophone and vocals and when Fripp left he was replaced by Gordon Fairminer. Fairminer's position was eventually assumed by Frank Torpey (born Frank Edward Torpey, 30 April 1945, Kilburn, North West London) - a schoolfriend of Tucker's who had just left West London group The Tribe (aka The Dream). Torpey only lasted a few months, and in late 1967 Robin Box (born 19 June 1944) took his place. Searle, regarded by many as the most talented musically, disappeared from the scene. Tucker and Connolly remained with Wainwright's Gentlemen until January 1968. Tucker was replaced by Roger Hills. When the Gentlemen eventually broke up, Hills and Box joined White Plains who eventually scored a big hit with "My Baby Loves Lovin'".
Early years
In January 1968 Connolly and Tucker formed a new band calling themselves The Sweetshop. They recruited bass guitarist and vocalist Steve Priest from a local band called The Army. Priest had previously played with mid-'60s band the Countdowns who had been produced and recorded by Joe Meek. Frank Torpey was again recruited to play guitar. The quartet made its public debut at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead on 9 March 1968 and soon developed a following on the pub circuit, which led to a contract with Fontana Records. At the time, another UK band released a single under the same name Sweetshop, so the band abbreviated their moniker to Sweet. The band was managed by Paul Nicholas, who later went on to star in Hair. Nicholas worked with record producer Phil Wainman at Mellin Music Publishing and recommended the band to him. Their debut single "Slow Motion" (July 1968), produced by Wainman, and released on Fontana, failed to chart and owing to its rarity now sells for several hundred pounds when auctioned. Sweet were released from the recording contract and Frank Torpey left. In his autobiography Are You Ready Steve, Priest said that Gordon Fairminer was approached to play for them when Torpey decided to leave Sweet after a gig at Playhouse Theatre Walton-on-Thames on 5 July 1969 but turned the job down as he wanted to concentrate on other interests.
New line-up and new record deal
Guitarist Mick Stewart joined in 1969. Stewart had some rock pedigree, having previously worked with The (Ealing) Redcaps and Simon Scott & The All-Nite Workers in the mid-1960s. In late 1965, that band became The Phil Wainman Set when the future Sweet producer joined on drums and the group cut some singles with Errol Dixon. In early 1966, Stewart left and later worked with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.
Sweet signed a new record contract with EMI's Parlophone label. Three bubblegum pop singles were released: "Lollipop Man" (September 1969), "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (January 1970), and a cover version of the Archies' "Get on the Line" (June 1970), all of which failed to chart. Stewart then quit, and was not replaced for some time. Connolly and Tucker had a chance meeting with Wainman, who was now producing, and knew of two aspiring songwriters, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who were looking for a group to sing some demos they had written. Connolly, Priest, and Tucker provided the vocals on a track called "Funny Funny" which featured Pip Williams on guitar, John Roberts on bass, and Wainman on drums. The latter began offering the track to various recording companies. The band held auditions for a replacement guitarist and settled on Welsh-born Andy Scott. He had most recently been playing with Mike McCartney (brother of Paul) in the Scaffold. As a member of the Elastic Band, he had played guitar on two singles for Decca, "Think of You Baby" and "Do Unto Others". He also appeared on the band's lone album release, Expansions on Life, and on some recordings by the Scaffold. The band rehearsed for a number of weeks before Scott made his live debut with Sweet on 26 September 1970 at the Windsor Ballroom in Redcar.
Sweet initially attempted to combine diverse musical influences, including the Monkees and 1960s bubblegum pop groups such as the Archies, with more heavy rock-oriented groups such as the Who. Sweet adopted the rich vocal harmony style of the Hollies, with distorted guitars and a heavy rhythm section. This fusion of pop and hard rock would remain a central trademark of Sweet's music and prefigured the glam metal of a few years later.
Sweet's initial album appearance was on the budget label Music for Pleasure as part of a compilation called Gimme Dat Ding, released in December 1970. Sweet had one side of the record; the Pipkins (whose sole hit, "Gimme Dat Ding", gave the LP its name) had the other. Sweet's contribution consisted of the A- and B-sides of the band's three Parlophone singles. Andy Scott appears in the album cover shot, even though he did not play on any of the recordings.
First album
Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide record contract with RCA Records, the U.S. excepted: in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973, followed by Capitol Records.
In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to No. 33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals.
Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts.
Initial success and rise to fame
February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit. Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments. In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.
To promote their singles, Sweet made numerous appearances on U.K. and European TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Supersonic. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops Christmas edition, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared replete in a German military uniform, Hitler moustache and displaying a swastika armband. The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.
Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image. Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe". A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period). The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.
Forming a new image
By 1974, Sweet had grown tired of the management team of Chinn and Chapman, who wrote the group's major hits and cultivated the band's glam rock image. The group and producer Phil Wainman, assisted by engineer Peter Coleman, recorded the album Sweet Fanny Adams, which was released in April 1974. Sweet's technical proficiency was demonstrated for the first time on self-penned hard rock tracks such as "Sweet F.A." and "Set Me Free". Sweet also adopted a more conventional hard rock sound and appearance. Sweet Fanny Adams also featured compressed high-pitched backing vocal harmonies, which was a trend that continued on all of Sweet's albums.
During sessions for the album, Brian Connolly was injured in a fight in Staines High Street. His throat was badly injured and his ability to sing severely limited. Priest and Scott filled in on lead vocals on some tracks ("No You Don't", "Into The Night" and "Restless") and Connolly, under treatment from a Harley Street specialist, managed to complete the album. The band did not publicise the incident and told the press that subsequent cancelled shows were due to Connolly having a throat infection. This incident reportedly permanently compromised Connolly's singing ability, with his range diminished.
No previous singles appeared on the album, and none were released, except in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, where "Peppermint Twist/Rebel Rouser", apparently released by their record company without their knowledge, gained a No. 1 chart position in the latter. Sweet Fanny Adams would be Sweet's only non-compilation release to break the UK Albums Chart Top 40.
Sweet were invited by Pete Townshend to support the Who, who were playing at Charlton Athletic's football ground, The Valley in June 1974. However, Connolly's badly bruised throat kept them from fulfilling the role. Sweet had frequently cited the Who as being one of their main influences and played a medley of their tracks in their live set for many years.
Desolation Boulevard
Their third album, Desolation Boulevard, was released later in 1974, six months after Sweet Fanny Adams. By that stage, producer Phil Wainman had moved on and the album was produced by Mike Chapman. It was recorded in a mere six days and featured a rawer "live" sound. One track, "The Man with the Golden Arm", written by Elmer Bernstein and Sylvia Fine for the 1955 Frank Sinatra movie of the same name, featured drummer Mick Tucker performing an 8 and half minute solo (although this was not included in the U.S. release). This had been a staple of the band's live performance for years. The first single from the LP, the heavy-melodic "The Six Teens" (July 1974), was a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and still part of the amazing unbroken string of No. 1's in Denmark. However, the subsequent single release, "Turn It Down" (November 1974), reached only No. 41 on the U.K. chart and No. 2 in Denmark. "Turn It Down" received minimal airplay on UK radio and was banned by some radio stations because of certain lyrical content - "God-awful sound" and "For God sakes, turn it down" - which were deemed "unsuitable for family listening." The band resumed playing live shows nearly a full six months after Connolly's throat injury, with band and critics noting a rougher edge to his voice and a reduced range. The album also featured a group composition, "Fox On The Run", which was to be re-recorded months later.
The U.S. version of Desolation Boulevard was different from the U.K. version and included several songs from Sweet Fanny Adams in addition to the "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run" singles (both of which peaked at No. 5 in the US). Side One of the album contained all Chapman-Chinn penned songs, while Side Two featured songs written and produced by Sweet.
Writing and producing their own material
In 1975 Sweet went back into the studio to re-arrange and record a more pop-oriented version of the track "Fox on the Run". Sweet's first self-written and produced single, "Fox on the Run" was released worldwide in March 1975 and became their biggest selling hit, reaching number one in Germany, Denmark, and South Africa, number two in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands and number three in Austria and Switzerland. In Australia it not only made it to the top of the charts, it also became the biggest selling single of that year. The song reached number two in Canada and number five in the U.S. The release of this track marked the end of the formal Chinn-Chapman working relationship and the band stressed it was now fully self-sufficient as writers and producers.
The following single release, "Action" (July 1975), peaked at number 15 in the UK. Now confident in their own songwriting and production abilities, Sweet spent the latter half of 1975 in Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, where they recorded the Give Us A Wink album with German sound engineer Reinhold Mack, who later recorded with Electric Light Orchestra and co-produced Queen. The new album release was deferred until 1976 so as not to stifle the chart success Desolation Boulevard was enjoying, peaking at number 25 in the US and number 5 in Canada.
With Give Us a Wink being held over, RCA issued a double album in Europe, Strung Up, in November. It contained one live disc, recorded in London in December 1973, and one disc compiling previously released singles (plus an unused track by Chinn and Chapman – "I Wanna Be Committed"). At the end of the year, Andy Scott released his first solo single, "Lady Starlight" b/w "Where D'Ya Go". Tucker played drums on both tracks.
Decline in popularity
January 1976 saw the release of the single "The Lies In Your Eyes", which made the Top 10 in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia, but only reached No. 35 on the U.K. charts. Sweet's first album to be fully produced and written by themselves, Give Us A Wink, was released in March 1976. A third single from the album, "4th Of July", was issued in Australia.
By this time, Sweet strove to build on their growing popularity in America with a schedule of more than fifty headline concert dates. Even though Give Us A Winks release was imminent, the band's set essentially promoted the US version of Desolation Boulevard plus the new US hit single "Action". During an appearance at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in California on 24 March, Sweet played "All Right Now" with Ritchie Blackmore as a tribute to mark the death of Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, who was to have supported Sweet with his band Back Street Crawler. The US tour was not financially successful, with small audiences at many venues leading to the final half-dozen or so dates to be cancelled. Following the end of the tour, the band went on to Scandinavia and Germany. The band also spent a week at the Who's Ramport Studios in Battersea demoing material for a new album before abandoning that project and playing eight dates in Japan. By the end of the Japanese shows Connolly's extremely hoarse singing voice was manifest evidence of the demands of constant touring and the enduring after-effects of his 1974 assault.
Between October 1976 and January 1977, Sweet wrote and recorded new material at Kingsway Recorders and Audio International London studios for their next album. An advance single from the album, "Lost Angels", was only a hit in Germany, Austria and Sweden. A new album, Off the Record, was released in April. The next single from the album, "Fever of Love", represented the band heading in a somewhat more Europop hard rock direction, once again charting in Germany, Austria and Sweden, while reaching number 10 in South Africa. On this album, Sweet again worked with Give Us A Wink engineer Louis Austin, who would later engineer Def Leppard's On Through The Night 1980 début album. The band cancelled a US tour with emerging US rockers Aerosmith, did not play any live dates in support of the album and, in fact, did not play a single concert for the whole of 1977.
Level Headed and a change in style
Sweet left RCA in 1977 and signed a new deal with Polydor though it would not come into force until later in the year. Sweet's manager David Walker, from Handle Artists, negotiated the move which was reputed to be worth around £750,000. In the United States, Canada, and Japan, Capitol had issued Sweet's albums since 1974 and would continue to do so through to 1980.
The first Polydor album, Level Headed (January 1978), found Sweet experimenting by combining rock and classical sounds "a-la clavesin", an approach similar to Electric Light Orchestra's, and featured the single "Love Is Like Oxygen". Largely recorded during 1977 at Château d'Hérouville near Paris, France after a 30-day writing session at Clearwell Castle in the Forest Of Dean UK, the album represented a new musical direction, largely abandoning hard-rock for a more melodic pop style, interspersed with ballads accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra. The ballad, "Lettres D'Amour", featured a duet between Connolly and Stevie Lange (who would emerge as lead singer with the group Night in 1979).
With the addition of session and touring musicians keyboardist Gary Moberley and guitarist Nico Ramsden, Sweet undertook a short European and Scandinavian tour followed by a single British concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 24 February 1978. However, "Love Is Like Oxygen" (January 1978) was their last U.K., U.S., and German Top 10 hit. Scott was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for co-composing the song. One more single from the album, "California Nights" (May 1978), featuring Steve Priest as the lead vocalist, peaked at number 23 on the German chart.
Departure of Brian Connolly
Between March and May 1978 Sweet extensively toured the US, as a support act for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. The tour included a disastrous date in Birmingham, Alabama on 3 May, during which visiting Capitol Records executives in the audience saw Brian Connolly give a drunken and incoherent performance that terminated early in the set with his collapse on stage, leaving the rest of the group to play on without him. The band returned briefly to Britain before resuming the second leg of their US tour in late May supporting other acts, including Foghat and Alice Cooper. Concluding the US tour in early July 1978, Brian's alcoholism and estrangement from the group was steadily becoming a greater issue.
In late October, having spent further time at Clearwell Castle to write for their next album, Sweet arrived at The Town House studio in Shepherd's Bush, London to complete and record, Cut Above the Rest (April 1979). Due to tensions between various members attributed to Connolly's health and diminishing status with the group, his long-time friend and fellow founding member, Mick Tucker, was tasked to produce Connolly's vocals. It was felt Tucker would extract a better performance than Scott from Connolly. A number of tracks were recorded featuring Connolly. However, these efforts were deemed unsatisfactory and Brian left the band on 2 November 1978.
On 23 February 1979, Brian Connolly's departure from Sweet was formally announced by manager David Walker. Publicly, Connolly was said to be pursuing a solo career with an interest in recording country rock.
Three piece Sweet
Sweet continued as a trio with Priest assuming the lion's share of lead vocals, though Scott and Tucker were also active in that role. The first single release for the trio was "Call Me". Guest keyboard player Gary Moberley continued to augment the group on stage. Guitarist Ray McRiner joined their touring line-up in 1979, with a small tour with Journey in the eastern United States and Cheap Trick in Texas in the spring and summer of '79 to support Cut Above The Rest (which was released in April 1979). McRiner would also contribute the songs "Too Much Talking" and the single "Give The Lady Some Respect" to the next Sweet album, Waters Edge (August 1980), which was recorded in Canada. In the US, Waters Edge was titled Sweet VI. It featured the singles "Sixties Man" and "Give The Lady Some Respect". Tragedy befell Mick Tucker when his wife Pauline drowned in the bath at their home on 26 December 1979. The band withdrew from live work for all of 1980.
One more studio album, Identity Crisis, was recorded during 1980–81 but was only released in West Germany and Mexico. Sweet undertook a short tour of the UK and performed their last live show at Glasgow University on 20 March 1981. Steve Priest then returned to the United States, where he had been living since late 1979. When Polydor released Identity Crisis in October 1982, the original Sweet had been disbanded for almost a year.
Re-formed versions (1984–present)
Andy Scott's Sweet (1985–present)
Andy Scott and Mick Tucker organised their own version of Sweet with Paul Mario Day (ex-Iron Maiden, More, Wildfire) on lead vocals, Phil Lanzon (ex-Grand Prix) on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass. The band performed at the Marquee Club in London in February 1986, with the shows recorded and gaining release a few years later, bolstered by four new studio tracks including a cover of the Motown standard "Reach Out I'll Be There". This line-up also toured Australian and New Zealand pubs and clubs for more than three months in 1985 and for a similar period again in 1986. Singer Paul Day ended up marrying the band's Australian tour guide and relocating downunder. He continued with Sweet commuting back and forth to Europe for the group's tours until this proved to be too cumbersome. He departed in late 1988. As McNulty moved into the front man spot, Jeff Brown came in to take over bass early in 1989. Lanzon too went back and forth between Sweet and Uriah Heep during 1986-1988 before Heep's schedule grew too busy. Malcolm Pearson and then Ian Gibbons (who had played with The Kinks and The Records) both filled in for Lanzon until Steve Mann (Liar, Lionheart, McAuley Schenker Group) arrived in December 1989.
Tucker departed after a show in Lochau, Austria, on 5 May 1991. He later was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. Three drummers, Andy Hoyler, Bobby Andersen and Bruce Bisland (Weapon, Wildfire, Praying Mantis), provided short-term relief before Bodo Schopf (McAuley Schenker Group) took over. They recorded an album during this period, simply titled A. Before the band embarked on the supporting tour for A in 1992, Bodo left and Bisland returned as permanent percussionist. Scott changed the band's name to 'Andy Scott's Sweet' after Tucker's departure but truncated it to simply 'The Sweet' once again after Tucker's death in 2002.
Mal McNulty, now lead vocalist, departed in 1994, though he would return briefly that year to fill in for Jeff Brown on bass (as he would again in 1995 as lead singer for a few dates while Rocky Newton subbed on bass). Sweet's former keyboard men Gary Moberley and Ian Gibbons also did fill-in jaunts with the group that year, as did Chris Goulstone. Chad Brown (ex-Lionheart; no relation to Jeff) was the new front man. Glitz Blitz and Hitz, a new studio album of re-recorded Sweet hits, was released during this period.
In 1996 Mann left to take a job in television and Gibbons came back for a short time before Steve Grant (ex-The Animals) became the permanent keyboardist. When Chad Brown quit in 1998 after developing a throat infection, Jeff Brown assumed lead vocals and bass duties. After this, the band was stable again for the next five years.
The mid-2000s would bring further confusing shake-ups and rotations. Tony O'Hora (ex-Onslaught, Praying Mantis) replaced Brown as lead vocalist in 2003. Ian Gibbons came back for a third stint as fill-in keyboardist in June 2005 for a gig in the Faroe Islands. O'Hora decided to split to take a teaching job in late 2005. Grant then jumped from keyboards to lead vocals and bass as Phil Lanzon returned on keyboards for a tour of Russia and Germany in October/November. New singer Mark Thompson Smith (ex-Praying Mantis) joined in November 2005 for some Swedish gigs, while Jo Burt (ex-Black Sabbath) was temporary bass player. Tony Mills (ex-Shy) was slated to be Sweet's new singer in early 2006 but failed to work out and left after six shows in Denmark. At this point, O'Hora came back as fill in front man and then Grant did another turn himself as the singer/bassist (Steve Mann depped on keyboards) until the group finally landed a new permanent front man when Peter Lincoln (ex-Sailor) arrived in July 2006. The line-up then consisted of Scott, Bisland, Grant and Lincoln.
Scott produced the Suzi Quatro album Back to the Drive, released in February 2006. March 2006 saw the U.S. release of his band's album Sweetlife.
In 2007 the group played in Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy. In May of that year, the band played in Porto Alegre and Curitiba, Brazil, their first and only South American shows. The tour was called the 'Sweet Fanny Adams Tour'.
The band toured again in March 2008 under the name 'Sweet Fanny Adams Revisited Tour'. In May and June, Scott's Sweet were part of the "Glitz Blitz & 70s Hitz" tour of the UK alongside The Rubettes and Showaddywaddy.
In March and April 2010, Scott was absent from a couple of gigs due to ill health and Martin Mickels stood in. Scott revealed later that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was treated at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. After a course of treatment and rest, he was back to full touring fitness. In 2010 the band played at venues in Europe and back at Bilston in October.
In March 2011 there was a short tour of Australia, Regal Theatre - Perth, and Clipsal 500, Adelaide with the Doobie Brothers. Also in 2011, Tony O'Hora came back to the group, this time as keyboardist, after Grant departed.
In March 2012 the band released a new album New York Connection. Recorded in England, it comprised 11 cover versions, including the 2011 single "Join Together" and one revamped original recording; the 1972 B-side "New York Connection". All the covers either featured 'bits and pieces' of Sweet hits or other artist songs, such as a "new version of the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop [which] shared space with samples from ‘Ballroom Blitz,’ and a take on Hello’s New York Groove (made famous in the US by Ace Frehley) featured a sample from Jay-Z’s Empire State Of Mind along with other Sweet references."
On the eve of their March 2012 "Join Together" tour of Australia, the band undertook an acoustic performance of three tracks, "New York Groove-Empire State of Mind", "Blockbuster" and "Peppermint Twist", in front of a live audience at ABC Radio Studios in East Perth. Shows in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Geelong, Melbourne and Sydney featured tracks from the new album for the first time.
Paul Manzi joined Sweet on their 2014 Australian tour, replacing Tony O'Hora who was absent for personal reasons. Manzi played guitar, keyboard and undertook lead vocals on "Set Me Free" and "AC-DC" as the band performed shows in regional centres, including outback Western Australia, Darwin and far-north Queensland, NSW and Victoria during February and March. The band, with O'Hora back in the ranks, returned to Australia in September 2014 as the headlining act for "Rock The Boat 4". This was a cruise aboard the ship Rhapsody of the Seas which departed Sydney and took in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The band played two gigs and various members guested with Australian veteran performers including Brian Cadd and Russell Morris and members of AC/DC, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and Skyhooks.
In June 2015 it was revealed that the band were going on an extensive tour of the UK in late 2015 and that this tour would probably be their last.
For the 2015 summer tour dates, Paul Manzi returned to sub for Peter Lincoln who left this online message to the fans: "There have been a few rumours going around this weekend, so . . . just to say that I am alive and well! The short explanation for my absence is that I need to rest my voice for a few weeks. We are lucky that our good friend Paul Manzi is able to step in, and Tony knows the role of bass player/singer, so the shows can go ahead, and they will be great! I look forward to being back on stage very soon."
Pete Lincoln duly resumed his role in the band and they continued with extensive live dates, known as the "Finale" tour in Germany.
In 2017 after Andy undertook a successful Australian visit with Suzi Quatro and Don Powell in the side outfit known as QSP, Sweet was again booked for an extensive European tour. In the years following both Tony O'Hora and Pete Lincoln departed the band. Paul Manzi returned as permanent lead vocalist, quitting the popular outfit Cats in Space to do so. Lee Small joined as bassist and backing vocalist. Former guitarist and keyboard player Steve Mann joined for a handful of shows as a special guest. During the COVID-19 pandemic the band recorded a new album of old tracks entitled Isolation Boulevard.
New Sweet, Brian Connolly's Sweet (1984–1997)
In 1984 Brian Connolly formed a new version of the Sweet without any of the other original members. Despite recurring ill health, Connolly toured the UK and Europe with his band, "Brian Connolly's Sweet", which was then renamed to "New Sweet". His most successful concerts were in West Germany, before and after reunification.
During 1987, Connolly met up again with Frank Torpey. Torpey later explained in interviews Connolly was trying to get a German recording deal. The two got on very well and Torpey subsequently invited Connolly to go into the recording studio with him, as an informal project. After much trepidation, Connolly turned up and the track "Sharontina" was recorded. This recording would not be released until 1998, appearing on Frank Torpey's album Sweeter.
By July 1990, plans were made for Connolly and his band to tour Australia in November. During the long flight to Australia, Connolly's health had suffered and he was hospitalised in Adelaide Hospital, allegedly for dehydration and related problems. The rest of the band played a show in Adelaide without him. After being released from the hospital, Connolly joined the other band members in Melbourne for a gig at the Pier Hotel, in Frankston. After several other shows, including one at the Dingley Powerhouse, Connolly and his band played a final date at Melbourne's Greek Theatre. It was felt Connolly's health was sufficient reason for the tour not to be extended, and some of the planned dates were abandoned. Connolly went back to England and his band appeared on The Bob Downe Christmas show on 18 December 1990.
During the early 1990s, Connolly played the European "oldies" circuit and occasional outdoor festivals in Europe with his band. On 22 March 1992, a heavy duty tape recorder was stolen from the band's van whilst at a gig in the Bristol Hippodrome with Mud. It contained demos of four new songs, totalling about 20 mixes.
Legal problems were going on in the background over the use of the Sweet name between Connolly and Andy Scott. Both parties agreed to distinguish their group's names to help promoters and fans. The New Sweet went back to being called Brian Connolly's Sweet and Andy Scott's version became Andy Scott's Sweet.
In 1994, Connolly and his band played in Dubai. He appeared at the Galleria Theatre, Hyatt Regency. He also performed in Bahrain.
By this time Connolly had healed the differences with Steve Priest and Mick Tucker, and was invited to the wedding of Priest's eldest daughter, Lisa. At the private function, for which Priest specially flew back to England, Priest and Connolly performed together.
In 1995, Connolly released a new album entitled Let's Go. His partner Jean, whom he had met a few years earlier, gave birth to a son. Connolly also performed in Switzerland that year.
On 2 November 1996 British TV Network Channel 4 aired a programme Don't Leave Me This Way, which examined Connolly's time as a pop star with the Sweet, the subsequent decline in the band's popularity, and its impact on Connolly and the other band members. The show revealed Connolly's ill health but also that he was continuing with his concert dates at Butlins. Connolly and his band had appeared at Butlins a number of times on tour during the early 1990s.
Connolly's final concert was at the Bristol Hippodrome on 5 December 1996, with Slade II and John Rossall's Glitter Band Experience.
Steve Priest's Sweet (2008–Present)
In January 2008, Steve Priest assembled his own version of the Sweet in Los Angeles. He enlisted a guitarist Stuart Smith and L.A. native Richie Onori, Smith's bandmate in Heaven & Earth, was brought in on drums. The keyboard spot was manned by ex-Crow and World Classic Rockers alumni Stevie Stewart. Front-man and vocalist Joe Retta was brought in to round out the line-up.
After an initial appearance on L.A. rock station 95.5 KLOS's popular Mark & Brian radio programme, the "Are You Ready Steve?" tour kicked off at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood on 12 June 2008. The band spent the next several months playing festivals and gigs throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Moondance Jam in Walker, Minnesota; headlining at the Rock N Resort Music Festival in North Lawrence, Ohio (near Canal Fulton); London, Ontario's Rock the Park; another headlining gig at Peterborough's Festival of Lights; the Common Ground Festival in Lansing, Michigan; and a benefit concert for victims of California's wildfires at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
In January 2009, the Sweet presented at the concert industry's Pollstar Awards, and also played a short set at the Nokia Theatre where the event was held, marking the first time in the ceremony's history that a band performed at the show. In addition to local gigs at the House of Blues on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and Universal CityWalk, 2009 saw the band return to Canada for sold-out shows at the Mae Wilson Theater and Casino Regina, as well as the Nakusp Music Fest and Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa in Minnedosa, Manitoba. U.S. festivals have included Minnesota's Halfway Jam, Rockin' the Rivers in Montana (with Pat Travers and Peter Frampton), and two late-summer shows at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The new band recorded a cover version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride", which was included on Cleopatra Records' Abbey Road, a Fab Four tribute CD that was released on 24 March 2009.
A preview of the band's new CD Live in America, which was recorded live at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California on 30 August 2008, was featured on KLOS's "Front Row" programme on 12 April 2009. The CD, which was first sold at shows and via the band's on-line store, was released worldwide in an exclusive deal with Amazon.com on 21 July 2009. The release has garnered favourable reviews from The Rock n Roll Report, Classic Rock Revisited and Hard Rock Haven, among others.
In April 2010, the band released its first single on iTunes: an updated, hard rock version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." Performances on the 2010 summer tour included the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival in Richardson, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada's Fremont Street Experience; Rock N' America in Oklahoma City, OK; Summer Jam in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack FM's Fifth Show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Los Angeles; an appearance at the Hard Rock Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi; and the inaugural edition of the Thunder Mountain Rock Festival in Sawyer, North Dakota.
On 11 November 2010, it was announced that in May 2011 "Steve Priest's Sweet" had been booked to perform at a handful of European dates, but the gigs ultimately had to be cancelled in late January 2011 after it was learned that one of the promoters was a suspected swindler wanted by British law enforcement officials. As of February 2011, fans who purchased pre-sale tickets were still in the process of working through the administrative channels with PayPal and various banks and credit card issuers in order to try to reclaim their funds.
The band toured South America along with Journey during March 2011.
The band and their European fans then also got re-united quicker than thought, when the band got booked by a befriended female Belgian promoter. Two east German gigs, 27 and 28 May 2011, so in Borna and in Schwarzenberg Steve Priest's Sweet hit the European grounds. After more than 30 years, Steve Priest got a warm welcome back in Europe.
As of 12 August 2012, Stuart Smith resigned from the guitar post in order to dedicate more time to his "Heaven & Earth" project.
Beginning with the band's October 2012 appearance at the Festival Internacional Chihuahua in Mexico, Los Angeles-based guitarist Ricky Z. teamed up with Steve Priest and company for their live performances. In February 2013, this lineup returned to Casino Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Tour dates played in summer 2013 included Riverfest in Watertown, Wisconsin, the St. Clair, MI Riverfest, several additional dates in Canada, and a reprise of their appearances at both Moondance Jam in Walker, MN and Rockin' the Rivers in Three Forks, Montana. The band made some rare appearances on the U.S. east coast in July 2013, including a performance with David Johansen of the New York Dolls at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Singer Joe Retta was unavailable for these dates due to a scheduling conflict, so Tribe of Gypsies frontman Chas West, who has played with Jason Bonham's band and has experience subbing in such well-known bands as Foreigner, Lynch Mob and Diamond Head, stepped in to man the microphone for a series of shows in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
On 27 August 2014, Steve Priest announced on the band's Facebook page that guitarist Mitch Perry had been tapped for the guitar slot. Most recently on tour with Lita Ford, Mitch's other credentials included his work with Michael Schenker Group, Asia Featuring John Payne, Edgar Winter, Billy Sheehan and David Lee Roth His first live appearance with Sweet was at the Rock the River festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on 23 August 2014.
22 December 2017 saw the launch of the 50th anniversary tour at the Whisky a Go Go on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and the introduction of new singer Paul Zablidowski AKA "Paulie Z" former lead singer and guitarist of ZO2, children's band "The Z Brothers" and star of IFC show Z-Rock. Recently known as the host for local show "Ultimate Jam Night." Z replaced Joe Retta, who had served as the frontman for the Los Angeles incarnation of Sweet since its formation in 2008. Priest died on 4 June 2020.
Brief reunions and the deaths of Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker and Steve Priest
Steve Priest was asked to join Tucker and Scott for the 1985 Australian tour, but declined at the last moment.
Mike Chapman contacted Connolly, Priest, Scott, and Tucker in 1988, offering to finance a recording session in Los Angeles. As he remembers: "I met them at the airport and Andy and Mick came off the plane. I said, 'Where's Brian?' They said, 'Oh, he's coming.' All the people had come off the plane by now. Then this little old man hobbled towards us. He was shaking, and had a ghostly white face. I thought, 'Oh, Jesus Christ.' It was horrifying." Reworked studio versions of "Action" and "The Ballroom Blitz" were recorded, but it became clear that Connolly's voice and physical health had made Sweet's original member comeback too difficult to promote commercially. Consequently, the reunion attempt was aborted.
In 1990 this line-up was again reunited for the promotion of a music documentary entitled Sweet's Ballroom Blitz. This UK video release, which contained UK television performances from the 1970s and current-day interviews, was released at Tower Records, London. Sweet was interviewed by Power Hour, Super Channel, and spoke of a possible reunion.
Brian Connolly died at the age of 51 on 9 February 1997, from liver failure and repeated heart attacks, attributed to his abuse of alcohol in the 1970s and early 1980s. Mick Tucker died on 14 February 2002 from leukemia, at the age of 54. On 4 June 2020 it was announced that Steve Priest had died. It left Andy Scott as the sole living member of Sweet's 'classic lineup'.
Later years
Two versions of The Sweet were active with original members: "Andy Scott's Sweet", who frequently tour across Europe as Sweet and makes occasional sojourns to other markets including regular visits to Australia, and "Steve Priest's Sweet" who toured the US and Canada.
On 28 April 2009, Shout! Factory released a two-disc, career-spanning greatest hits album called Action: The Sweet Anthology. It received a four-star (out of five) rating in Rolling Stone.
In September 2009 Ace Frehley released his version of "Fox on the Run" on his album Anomaly.
In an October 2012 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses, referenced Sweet as one of his favourite bands growing up along with fellow British band Queen.
In April 2016, the chart topping song (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" was featured in a trailer for Suicide Squad.
In December 2016, their single "Fox on the Run" (1975) was featured in a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
In 2019, the songs "Fox on the Run" and "Set Me Free" were featured in an episode of Jamie Johnson.
Personnel
Original band
Classic lineup
Brian Connolly – lead vocals, percussion, synthesizer, acoustic guitar (1968–1978; died 1997)
Steve Priest – bass, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2020)
Mick Tucker – drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2002)
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1970–1981)
Early members
Frank Torpey – guitars (1968–1969)
Mick Stewart – guitars (1969–1970)
Touring musicians
Gary Moberley – keyboards, synthesizers, piano (1978–1981)
Nico Ramsden – guitar (1978)
Ray McRiner – guitar (1979)
Andy Scott’s Sweet
Current members
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1985–present)
Bruce Bisland – drums, backing vocals (1992–present)
Paul Manzi – lead vocals (2019–present; substitute appearances in 2014 and 2015)
Lee Small – bass, backing vocals (2019–present)
Former members
Mick Tucker – drums, backing vocals (1985–1991; died 2002)
Paul Mario Day – lead vocals (1985–1989)
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1985–1989; 2005—2006)
Mal McNulty – bass, lead and backing vocals (1985–1995)
Jeff Brown – bass, lead and backing vocals (1989–2003)
Steve Mann – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals (1989-1996)
Bodo Schopf – drums, backing vocals (1991–1992)
Chad Brown — lead vocals (1995–1998)
Steve Grant — keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1996–2005, 2006–2011); lead vocals, bass (2005–2006)
Tony O’Hora – lead and backing vocals, bass (2003–2005, 2006, 2011–2019), guitars, keyboards (2011–2019)
Peter Lincoln – bass, lead and backing vocals (2006–2019)
Timeline
Discography
Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be (1971)
Sweet Fanny Adams (1974)
Desolation Boulevard (1974)
Give Us a Wink (1976)
Off the Record (1977)
Level Headed (1978)
Cut Above the Rest (1979)
Waters Edge (titled Sweet VI with a different cover in the U.S.) (1980)
Identity Crisis (1982)
Sweetlife (2002) by Andy Scott's Sweet
Isolation Boulevard (2020) by Andy Scott's Sweet
References
Bibliography
(2008 eBook available at )
External links
Channel 4 documentary on The Sweet from 1996
English hard rock musical groups
English glam rock groups
Musical groups established in 1968
Capitol Records artists
Polydor Records artists
RCA Records artists
1968 establishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups disestablished in 1982
1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups reestablished in 1985
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom | true | [
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
]
|
[
"The Sweet",
"First album",
"/what was the first album",
"March 1971 RCA issued \"Funny Funny\", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit,",
"What songs were released on it",
"Their next RCA release \"Co-Co\" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, \"Alexander Graham Bell\" (",
"What other singles topped the chart?",
"Chop Chop\" and \"Tom Tom Turnaround\") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's \"Daydream\"",
"Did they go on tour?",
"I don't know.",
"did they get any awards",
"Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career.",
"Are there any interesting aspects about this article",
"album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender"
]
| C_8881985e0300445eac1e4d13b977ae98_0 | What album? | 7 | What album of The Sweet recorded at Nova Studios in London was not a serious contender? | The Sweet | The Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide (the U.S. excepted) record contract with RCA Records (in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973; followed by Capitol Records). In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to #33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals. The Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts. Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career. CANNOTANSWER | "Co-Co" (June 1971) | The Sweet, sometimes also shortened to just Sweet, are a British glam rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker. The group was originally called The Sweetshop.
The band was formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, "Funny Funny", in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.
The band first achieved success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, like 1974's "Turn It Down". "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. They also achieved success and popularity in the US with the top ten hits "Little Willy", "The Ballroom Blitz", "Fox on the Run", and "Love is Like Oxygen".
The Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have since sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
History
Origins
Sweet's origins can be traced back to British soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen. Mark Lay's history of that band states they formed around 1962 and were initially known as Unit 4. Founding members included Chris Wright (vocals), Jan Frewer (bass), with Jim Searle and Alfred Fripp on guitars. Phil Kenton joined on drums as the band changed its name to Wainwright's Gentlemen (due to there being another band known as Unit 4). Managed by Frewer's father, the band performed in the Hayes, Harrow and Wembley area. By 1964 the group was also playing in London, including at the Saint Germain Club on Poland Street.
In January 1964 the band came fifth in a national beat group contest, with finals held at the Lyceum Strand on 4 May 1964. Highlights of the show were presented on BBC1 by Alan Freeman. Chris Wright left the line-up in late 1964 and was replaced by Ian Gillan. A female vocalist named Ann Cully soon joined the band. Mick Tucker, from Ruislip, joined on drums replacing Phil Kenton. The band recorded a number of tracks including a cover of the Coasters-Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me", which was probably recorded at Jackson Sound Studios in Rickmansworth. The track includes Gillan on vocals, Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965. Gillan quit in May 1965 to join Episode Six, and later, Deep Purple. Cully remained as vocalist before departing some time later. Gillan's and Cully's eventual replacement, in late 1966, was Scots-born vocalist Brian Connolly, who hailed more recently from Harefield. Tony Hall had joined on saxophone and vocals and when Fripp left he was replaced by Gordon Fairminer. Fairminer's position was eventually assumed by Frank Torpey (born Frank Edward Torpey, 30 April 1945, Kilburn, North West London) - a schoolfriend of Tucker's who had just left West London group The Tribe (aka The Dream). Torpey only lasted a few months, and in late 1967 Robin Box (born 19 June 1944) took his place. Searle, regarded by many as the most talented musically, disappeared from the scene. Tucker and Connolly remained with Wainwright's Gentlemen until January 1968. Tucker was replaced by Roger Hills. When the Gentlemen eventually broke up, Hills and Box joined White Plains who eventually scored a big hit with "My Baby Loves Lovin'".
Early years
In January 1968 Connolly and Tucker formed a new band calling themselves The Sweetshop. They recruited bass guitarist and vocalist Steve Priest from a local band called The Army. Priest had previously played with mid-'60s band the Countdowns who had been produced and recorded by Joe Meek. Frank Torpey was again recruited to play guitar. The quartet made its public debut at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead on 9 March 1968 and soon developed a following on the pub circuit, which led to a contract with Fontana Records. At the time, another UK band released a single under the same name Sweetshop, so the band abbreviated their moniker to Sweet. The band was managed by Paul Nicholas, who later went on to star in Hair. Nicholas worked with record producer Phil Wainman at Mellin Music Publishing and recommended the band to him. Their debut single "Slow Motion" (July 1968), produced by Wainman, and released on Fontana, failed to chart and owing to its rarity now sells for several hundred pounds when auctioned. Sweet were released from the recording contract and Frank Torpey left. In his autobiography Are You Ready Steve, Priest said that Gordon Fairminer was approached to play for them when Torpey decided to leave Sweet after a gig at Playhouse Theatre Walton-on-Thames on 5 July 1969 but turned the job down as he wanted to concentrate on other interests.
New line-up and new record deal
Guitarist Mick Stewart joined in 1969. Stewart had some rock pedigree, having previously worked with The (Ealing) Redcaps and Simon Scott & The All-Nite Workers in the mid-1960s. In late 1965, that band became The Phil Wainman Set when the future Sweet producer joined on drums and the group cut some singles with Errol Dixon. In early 1966, Stewart left and later worked with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.
Sweet signed a new record contract with EMI's Parlophone label. Three bubblegum pop singles were released: "Lollipop Man" (September 1969), "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (January 1970), and a cover version of the Archies' "Get on the Line" (June 1970), all of which failed to chart. Stewart then quit, and was not replaced for some time. Connolly and Tucker had a chance meeting with Wainman, who was now producing, and knew of two aspiring songwriters, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who were looking for a group to sing some demos they had written. Connolly, Priest, and Tucker provided the vocals on a track called "Funny Funny" which featured Pip Williams on guitar, John Roberts on bass, and Wainman on drums. The latter began offering the track to various recording companies. The band held auditions for a replacement guitarist and settled on Welsh-born Andy Scott. He had most recently been playing with Mike McCartney (brother of Paul) in the Scaffold. As a member of the Elastic Band, he had played guitar on two singles for Decca, "Think of You Baby" and "Do Unto Others". He also appeared on the band's lone album release, Expansions on Life, and on some recordings by the Scaffold. The band rehearsed for a number of weeks before Scott made his live debut with Sweet on 26 September 1970 at the Windsor Ballroom in Redcar.
Sweet initially attempted to combine diverse musical influences, including the Monkees and 1960s bubblegum pop groups such as the Archies, with more heavy rock-oriented groups such as the Who. Sweet adopted the rich vocal harmony style of the Hollies, with distorted guitars and a heavy rhythm section. This fusion of pop and hard rock would remain a central trademark of Sweet's music and prefigured the glam metal of a few years later.
Sweet's initial album appearance was on the budget label Music for Pleasure as part of a compilation called Gimme Dat Ding, released in December 1970. Sweet had one side of the record; the Pipkins (whose sole hit, "Gimme Dat Ding", gave the LP its name) had the other. Sweet's contribution consisted of the A- and B-sides of the band's three Parlophone singles. Andy Scott appears in the album cover shot, even though he did not play on any of the recordings.
First album
Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide record contract with RCA Records, the U.S. excepted: in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973, followed by Capitol Records.
In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to No. 33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals.
Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts.
Initial success and rise to fame
February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit. Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments. In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.
To promote their singles, Sweet made numerous appearances on U.K. and European TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Supersonic. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops Christmas edition, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared replete in a German military uniform, Hitler moustache and displaying a swastika armband. The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.
Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image. Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe". A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period). The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.
Forming a new image
By 1974, Sweet had grown tired of the management team of Chinn and Chapman, who wrote the group's major hits and cultivated the band's glam rock image. The group and producer Phil Wainman, assisted by engineer Peter Coleman, recorded the album Sweet Fanny Adams, which was released in April 1974. Sweet's technical proficiency was demonstrated for the first time on self-penned hard rock tracks such as "Sweet F.A." and "Set Me Free". Sweet also adopted a more conventional hard rock sound and appearance. Sweet Fanny Adams also featured compressed high-pitched backing vocal harmonies, which was a trend that continued on all of Sweet's albums.
During sessions for the album, Brian Connolly was injured in a fight in Staines High Street. His throat was badly injured and his ability to sing severely limited. Priest and Scott filled in on lead vocals on some tracks ("No You Don't", "Into The Night" and "Restless") and Connolly, under treatment from a Harley Street specialist, managed to complete the album. The band did not publicise the incident and told the press that subsequent cancelled shows were due to Connolly having a throat infection. This incident reportedly permanently compromised Connolly's singing ability, with his range diminished.
No previous singles appeared on the album, and none were released, except in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, where "Peppermint Twist/Rebel Rouser", apparently released by their record company without their knowledge, gained a No. 1 chart position in the latter. Sweet Fanny Adams would be Sweet's only non-compilation release to break the UK Albums Chart Top 40.
Sweet were invited by Pete Townshend to support the Who, who were playing at Charlton Athletic's football ground, The Valley in June 1974. However, Connolly's badly bruised throat kept them from fulfilling the role. Sweet had frequently cited the Who as being one of their main influences and played a medley of their tracks in their live set for many years.
Desolation Boulevard
Their third album, Desolation Boulevard, was released later in 1974, six months after Sweet Fanny Adams. By that stage, producer Phil Wainman had moved on and the album was produced by Mike Chapman. It was recorded in a mere six days and featured a rawer "live" sound. One track, "The Man with the Golden Arm", written by Elmer Bernstein and Sylvia Fine for the 1955 Frank Sinatra movie of the same name, featured drummer Mick Tucker performing an 8 and half minute solo (although this was not included in the U.S. release). This had been a staple of the band's live performance for years. The first single from the LP, the heavy-melodic "The Six Teens" (July 1974), was a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and still part of the amazing unbroken string of No. 1's in Denmark. However, the subsequent single release, "Turn It Down" (November 1974), reached only No. 41 on the U.K. chart and No. 2 in Denmark. "Turn It Down" received minimal airplay on UK radio and was banned by some radio stations because of certain lyrical content - "God-awful sound" and "For God sakes, turn it down" - which were deemed "unsuitable for family listening." The band resumed playing live shows nearly a full six months after Connolly's throat injury, with band and critics noting a rougher edge to his voice and a reduced range. The album also featured a group composition, "Fox On The Run", which was to be re-recorded months later.
The U.S. version of Desolation Boulevard was different from the U.K. version and included several songs from Sweet Fanny Adams in addition to the "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run" singles (both of which peaked at No. 5 in the US). Side One of the album contained all Chapman-Chinn penned songs, while Side Two featured songs written and produced by Sweet.
Writing and producing their own material
In 1975 Sweet went back into the studio to re-arrange and record a more pop-oriented version of the track "Fox on the Run". Sweet's first self-written and produced single, "Fox on the Run" was released worldwide in March 1975 and became their biggest selling hit, reaching number one in Germany, Denmark, and South Africa, number two in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands and number three in Austria and Switzerland. In Australia it not only made it to the top of the charts, it also became the biggest selling single of that year. The song reached number two in Canada and number five in the U.S. The release of this track marked the end of the formal Chinn-Chapman working relationship and the band stressed it was now fully self-sufficient as writers and producers.
The following single release, "Action" (July 1975), peaked at number 15 in the UK. Now confident in their own songwriting and production abilities, Sweet spent the latter half of 1975 in Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, where they recorded the Give Us A Wink album with German sound engineer Reinhold Mack, who later recorded with Electric Light Orchestra and co-produced Queen. The new album release was deferred until 1976 so as not to stifle the chart success Desolation Boulevard was enjoying, peaking at number 25 in the US and number 5 in Canada.
With Give Us a Wink being held over, RCA issued a double album in Europe, Strung Up, in November. It contained one live disc, recorded in London in December 1973, and one disc compiling previously released singles (plus an unused track by Chinn and Chapman – "I Wanna Be Committed"). At the end of the year, Andy Scott released his first solo single, "Lady Starlight" b/w "Where D'Ya Go". Tucker played drums on both tracks.
Decline in popularity
January 1976 saw the release of the single "The Lies In Your Eyes", which made the Top 10 in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia, but only reached No. 35 on the U.K. charts. Sweet's first album to be fully produced and written by themselves, Give Us A Wink, was released in March 1976. A third single from the album, "4th Of July", was issued in Australia.
By this time, Sweet strove to build on their growing popularity in America with a schedule of more than fifty headline concert dates. Even though Give Us A Winks release was imminent, the band's set essentially promoted the US version of Desolation Boulevard plus the new US hit single "Action". During an appearance at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in California on 24 March, Sweet played "All Right Now" with Ritchie Blackmore as a tribute to mark the death of Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, who was to have supported Sweet with his band Back Street Crawler. The US tour was not financially successful, with small audiences at many venues leading to the final half-dozen or so dates to be cancelled. Following the end of the tour, the band went on to Scandinavia and Germany. The band also spent a week at the Who's Ramport Studios in Battersea demoing material for a new album before abandoning that project and playing eight dates in Japan. By the end of the Japanese shows Connolly's extremely hoarse singing voice was manifest evidence of the demands of constant touring and the enduring after-effects of his 1974 assault.
Between October 1976 and January 1977, Sweet wrote and recorded new material at Kingsway Recorders and Audio International London studios for their next album. An advance single from the album, "Lost Angels", was only a hit in Germany, Austria and Sweden. A new album, Off the Record, was released in April. The next single from the album, "Fever of Love", represented the band heading in a somewhat more Europop hard rock direction, once again charting in Germany, Austria and Sweden, while reaching number 10 in South Africa. On this album, Sweet again worked with Give Us A Wink engineer Louis Austin, who would later engineer Def Leppard's On Through The Night 1980 début album. The band cancelled a US tour with emerging US rockers Aerosmith, did not play any live dates in support of the album and, in fact, did not play a single concert for the whole of 1977.
Level Headed and a change in style
Sweet left RCA in 1977 and signed a new deal with Polydor though it would not come into force until later in the year. Sweet's manager David Walker, from Handle Artists, negotiated the move which was reputed to be worth around £750,000. In the United States, Canada, and Japan, Capitol had issued Sweet's albums since 1974 and would continue to do so through to 1980.
The first Polydor album, Level Headed (January 1978), found Sweet experimenting by combining rock and classical sounds "a-la clavesin", an approach similar to Electric Light Orchestra's, and featured the single "Love Is Like Oxygen". Largely recorded during 1977 at Château d'Hérouville near Paris, France after a 30-day writing session at Clearwell Castle in the Forest Of Dean UK, the album represented a new musical direction, largely abandoning hard-rock for a more melodic pop style, interspersed with ballads accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra. The ballad, "Lettres D'Amour", featured a duet between Connolly and Stevie Lange (who would emerge as lead singer with the group Night in 1979).
With the addition of session and touring musicians keyboardist Gary Moberley and guitarist Nico Ramsden, Sweet undertook a short European and Scandinavian tour followed by a single British concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 24 February 1978. However, "Love Is Like Oxygen" (January 1978) was their last U.K., U.S., and German Top 10 hit. Scott was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for co-composing the song. One more single from the album, "California Nights" (May 1978), featuring Steve Priest as the lead vocalist, peaked at number 23 on the German chart.
Departure of Brian Connolly
Between March and May 1978 Sweet extensively toured the US, as a support act for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. The tour included a disastrous date in Birmingham, Alabama on 3 May, during which visiting Capitol Records executives in the audience saw Brian Connolly give a drunken and incoherent performance that terminated early in the set with his collapse on stage, leaving the rest of the group to play on without him. The band returned briefly to Britain before resuming the second leg of their US tour in late May supporting other acts, including Foghat and Alice Cooper. Concluding the US tour in early July 1978, Brian's alcoholism and estrangement from the group was steadily becoming a greater issue.
In late October, having spent further time at Clearwell Castle to write for their next album, Sweet arrived at The Town House studio in Shepherd's Bush, London to complete and record, Cut Above the Rest (April 1979). Due to tensions between various members attributed to Connolly's health and diminishing status with the group, his long-time friend and fellow founding member, Mick Tucker, was tasked to produce Connolly's vocals. It was felt Tucker would extract a better performance than Scott from Connolly. A number of tracks were recorded featuring Connolly. However, these efforts were deemed unsatisfactory and Brian left the band on 2 November 1978.
On 23 February 1979, Brian Connolly's departure from Sweet was formally announced by manager David Walker. Publicly, Connolly was said to be pursuing a solo career with an interest in recording country rock.
Three piece Sweet
Sweet continued as a trio with Priest assuming the lion's share of lead vocals, though Scott and Tucker were also active in that role. The first single release for the trio was "Call Me". Guest keyboard player Gary Moberley continued to augment the group on stage. Guitarist Ray McRiner joined their touring line-up in 1979, with a small tour with Journey in the eastern United States and Cheap Trick in Texas in the spring and summer of '79 to support Cut Above The Rest (which was released in April 1979). McRiner would also contribute the songs "Too Much Talking" and the single "Give The Lady Some Respect" to the next Sweet album, Waters Edge (August 1980), which was recorded in Canada. In the US, Waters Edge was titled Sweet VI. It featured the singles "Sixties Man" and "Give The Lady Some Respect". Tragedy befell Mick Tucker when his wife Pauline drowned in the bath at their home on 26 December 1979. The band withdrew from live work for all of 1980.
One more studio album, Identity Crisis, was recorded during 1980–81 but was only released in West Germany and Mexico. Sweet undertook a short tour of the UK and performed their last live show at Glasgow University on 20 March 1981. Steve Priest then returned to the United States, where he had been living since late 1979. When Polydor released Identity Crisis in October 1982, the original Sweet had been disbanded for almost a year.
Re-formed versions (1984–present)
Andy Scott's Sweet (1985–present)
Andy Scott and Mick Tucker organised their own version of Sweet with Paul Mario Day (ex-Iron Maiden, More, Wildfire) on lead vocals, Phil Lanzon (ex-Grand Prix) on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass. The band performed at the Marquee Club in London in February 1986, with the shows recorded and gaining release a few years later, bolstered by four new studio tracks including a cover of the Motown standard "Reach Out I'll Be There". This line-up also toured Australian and New Zealand pubs and clubs for more than three months in 1985 and for a similar period again in 1986. Singer Paul Day ended up marrying the band's Australian tour guide and relocating downunder. He continued with Sweet commuting back and forth to Europe for the group's tours until this proved to be too cumbersome. He departed in late 1988. As McNulty moved into the front man spot, Jeff Brown came in to take over bass early in 1989. Lanzon too went back and forth between Sweet and Uriah Heep during 1986-1988 before Heep's schedule grew too busy. Malcolm Pearson and then Ian Gibbons (who had played with The Kinks and The Records) both filled in for Lanzon until Steve Mann (Liar, Lionheart, McAuley Schenker Group) arrived in December 1989.
Tucker departed after a show in Lochau, Austria, on 5 May 1991. He later was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. Three drummers, Andy Hoyler, Bobby Andersen and Bruce Bisland (Weapon, Wildfire, Praying Mantis), provided short-term relief before Bodo Schopf (McAuley Schenker Group) took over. They recorded an album during this period, simply titled A. Before the band embarked on the supporting tour for A in 1992, Bodo left and Bisland returned as permanent percussionist. Scott changed the band's name to 'Andy Scott's Sweet' after Tucker's departure but truncated it to simply 'The Sweet' once again after Tucker's death in 2002.
Mal McNulty, now lead vocalist, departed in 1994, though he would return briefly that year to fill in for Jeff Brown on bass (as he would again in 1995 as lead singer for a few dates while Rocky Newton subbed on bass). Sweet's former keyboard men Gary Moberley and Ian Gibbons also did fill-in jaunts with the group that year, as did Chris Goulstone. Chad Brown (ex-Lionheart; no relation to Jeff) was the new front man. Glitz Blitz and Hitz, a new studio album of re-recorded Sweet hits, was released during this period.
In 1996 Mann left to take a job in television and Gibbons came back for a short time before Steve Grant (ex-The Animals) became the permanent keyboardist. When Chad Brown quit in 1998 after developing a throat infection, Jeff Brown assumed lead vocals and bass duties. After this, the band was stable again for the next five years.
The mid-2000s would bring further confusing shake-ups and rotations. Tony O'Hora (ex-Onslaught, Praying Mantis) replaced Brown as lead vocalist in 2003. Ian Gibbons came back for a third stint as fill-in keyboardist in June 2005 for a gig in the Faroe Islands. O'Hora decided to split to take a teaching job in late 2005. Grant then jumped from keyboards to lead vocals and bass as Phil Lanzon returned on keyboards for a tour of Russia and Germany in October/November. New singer Mark Thompson Smith (ex-Praying Mantis) joined in November 2005 for some Swedish gigs, while Jo Burt (ex-Black Sabbath) was temporary bass player. Tony Mills (ex-Shy) was slated to be Sweet's new singer in early 2006 but failed to work out and left after six shows in Denmark. At this point, O'Hora came back as fill in front man and then Grant did another turn himself as the singer/bassist (Steve Mann depped on keyboards) until the group finally landed a new permanent front man when Peter Lincoln (ex-Sailor) arrived in July 2006. The line-up then consisted of Scott, Bisland, Grant and Lincoln.
Scott produced the Suzi Quatro album Back to the Drive, released in February 2006. March 2006 saw the U.S. release of his band's album Sweetlife.
In 2007 the group played in Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy. In May of that year, the band played in Porto Alegre and Curitiba, Brazil, their first and only South American shows. The tour was called the 'Sweet Fanny Adams Tour'.
The band toured again in March 2008 under the name 'Sweet Fanny Adams Revisited Tour'. In May and June, Scott's Sweet were part of the "Glitz Blitz & 70s Hitz" tour of the UK alongside The Rubettes and Showaddywaddy.
In March and April 2010, Scott was absent from a couple of gigs due to ill health and Martin Mickels stood in. Scott revealed later that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was treated at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. After a course of treatment and rest, he was back to full touring fitness. In 2010 the band played at venues in Europe and back at Bilston in October.
In March 2011 there was a short tour of Australia, Regal Theatre - Perth, and Clipsal 500, Adelaide with the Doobie Brothers. Also in 2011, Tony O'Hora came back to the group, this time as keyboardist, after Grant departed.
In March 2012 the band released a new album New York Connection. Recorded in England, it comprised 11 cover versions, including the 2011 single "Join Together" and one revamped original recording; the 1972 B-side "New York Connection". All the covers either featured 'bits and pieces' of Sweet hits or other artist songs, such as a "new version of the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop [which] shared space with samples from ‘Ballroom Blitz,’ and a take on Hello’s New York Groove (made famous in the US by Ace Frehley) featured a sample from Jay-Z’s Empire State Of Mind along with other Sweet references."
On the eve of their March 2012 "Join Together" tour of Australia, the band undertook an acoustic performance of three tracks, "New York Groove-Empire State of Mind", "Blockbuster" and "Peppermint Twist", in front of a live audience at ABC Radio Studios in East Perth. Shows in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Geelong, Melbourne and Sydney featured tracks from the new album for the first time.
Paul Manzi joined Sweet on their 2014 Australian tour, replacing Tony O'Hora who was absent for personal reasons. Manzi played guitar, keyboard and undertook lead vocals on "Set Me Free" and "AC-DC" as the band performed shows in regional centres, including outback Western Australia, Darwin and far-north Queensland, NSW and Victoria during February and March. The band, with O'Hora back in the ranks, returned to Australia in September 2014 as the headlining act for "Rock The Boat 4". This was a cruise aboard the ship Rhapsody of the Seas which departed Sydney and took in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The band played two gigs and various members guested with Australian veteran performers including Brian Cadd and Russell Morris and members of AC/DC, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and Skyhooks.
In June 2015 it was revealed that the band were going on an extensive tour of the UK in late 2015 and that this tour would probably be their last.
For the 2015 summer tour dates, Paul Manzi returned to sub for Peter Lincoln who left this online message to the fans: "There have been a few rumours going around this weekend, so . . . just to say that I am alive and well! The short explanation for my absence is that I need to rest my voice for a few weeks. We are lucky that our good friend Paul Manzi is able to step in, and Tony knows the role of bass player/singer, so the shows can go ahead, and they will be great! I look forward to being back on stage very soon."
Pete Lincoln duly resumed his role in the band and they continued with extensive live dates, known as the "Finale" tour in Germany.
In 2017 after Andy undertook a successful Australian visit with Suzi Quatro and Don Powell in the side outfit known as QSP, Sweet was again booked for an extensive European tour. In the years following both Tony O'Hora and Pete Lincoln departed the band. Paul Manzi returned as permanent lead vocalist, quitting the popular outfit Cats in Space to do so. Lee Small joined as bassist and backing vocalist. Former guitarist and keyboard player Steve Mann joined for a handful of shows as a special guest. During the COVID-19 pandemic the band recorded a new album of old tracks entitled Isolation Boulevard.
New Sweet, Brian Connolly's Sweet (1984–1997)
In 1984 Brian Connolly formed a new version of the Sweet without any of the other original members. Despite recurring ill health, Connolly toured the UK and Europe with his band, "Brian Connolly's Sweet", which was then renamed to "New Sweet". His most successful concerts were in West Germany, before and after reunification.
During 1987, Connolly met up again with Frank Torpey. Torpey later explained in interviews Connolly was trying to get a German recording deal. The two got on very well and Torpey subsequently invited Connolly to go into the recording studio with him, as an informal project. After much trepidation, Connolly turned up and the track "Sharontina" was recorded. This recording would not be released until 1998, appearing on Frank Torpey's album Sweeter.
By July 1990, plans were made for Connolly and his band to tour Australia in November. During the long flight to Australia, Connolly's health had suffered and he was hospitalised in Adelaide Hospital, allegedly for dehydration and related problems. The rest of the band played a show in Adelaide without him. After being released from the hospital, Connolly joined the other band members in Melbourne for a gig at the Pier Hotel, in Frankston. After several other shows, including one at the Dingley Powerhouse, Connolly and his band played a final date at Melbourne's Greek Theatre. It was felt Connolly's health was sufficient reason for the tour not to be extended, and some of the planned dates were abandoned. Connolly went back to England and his band appeared on The Bob Downe Christmas show on 18 December 1990.
During the early 1990s, Connolly played the European "oldies" circuit and occasional outdoor festivals in Europe with his band. On 22 March 1992, a heavy duty tape recorder was stolen from the band's van whilst at a gig in the Bristol Hippodrome with Mud. It contained demos of four new songs, totalling about 20 mixes.
Legal problems were going on in the background over the use of the Sweet name between Connolly and Andy Scott. Both parties agreed to distinguish their group's names to help promoters and fans. The New Sweet went back to being called Brian Connolly's Sweet and Andy Scott's version became Andy Scott's Sweet.
In 1994, Connolly and his band played in Dubai. He appeared at the Galleria Theatre, Hyatt Regency. He also performed in Bahrain.
By this time Connolly had healed the differences with Steve Priest and Mick Tucker, and was invited to the wedding of Priest's eldest daughter, Lisa. At the private function, for which Priest specially flew back to England, Priest and Connolly performed together.
In 1995, Connolly released a new album entitled Let's Go. His partner Jean, whom he had met a few years earlier, gave birth to a son. Connolly also performed in Switzerland that year.
On 2 November 1996 British TV Network Channel 4 aired a programme Don't Leave Me This Way, which examined Connolly's time as a pop star with the Sweet, the subsequent decline in the band's popularity, and its impact on Connolly and the other band members. The show revealed Connolly's ill health but also that he was continuing with his concert dates at Butlins. Connolly and his band had appeared at Butlins a number of times on tour during the early 1990s.
Connolly's final concert was at the Bristol Hippodrome on 5 December 1996, with Slade II and John Rossall's Glitter Band Experience.
Steve Priest's Sweet (2008–Present)
In January 2008, Steve Priest assembled his own version of the Sweet in Los Angeles. He enlisted a guitarist Stuart Smith and L.A. native Richie Onori, Smith's bandmate in Heaven & Earth, was brought in on drums. The keyboard spot was manned by ex-Crow and World Classic Rockers alumni Stevie Stewart. Front-man and vocalist Joe Retta was brought in to round out the line-up.
After an initial appearance on L.A. rock station 95.5 KLOS's popular Mark & Brian radio programme, the "Are You Ready Steve?" tour kicked off at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood on 12 June 2008. The band spent the next several months playing festivals and gigs throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Moondance Jam in Walker, Minnesota; headlining at the Rock N Resort Music Festival in North Lawrence, Ohio (near Canal Fulton); London, Ontario's Rock the Park; another headlining gig at Peterborough's Festival of Lights; the Common Ground Festival in Lansing, Michigan; and a benefit concert for victims of California's wildfires at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
In January 2009, the Sweet presented at the concert industry's Pollstar Awards, and also played a short set at the Nokia Theatre where the event was held, marking the first time in the ceremony's history that a band performed at the show. In addition to local gigs at the House of Blues on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and Universal CityWalk, 2009 saw the band return to Canada for sold-out shows at the Mae Wilson Theater and Casino Regina, as well as the Nakusp Music Fest and Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa in Minnedosa, Manitoba. U.S. festivals have included Minnesota's Halfway Jam, Rockin' the Rivers in Montana (with Pat Travers and Peter Frampton), and two late-summer shows at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The new band recorded a cover version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride", which was included on Cleopatra Records' Abbey Road, a Fab Four tribute CD that was released on 24 March 2009.
A preview of the band's new CD Live in America, which was recorded live at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California on 30 August 2008, was featured on KLOS's "Front Row" programme on 12 April 2009. The CD, which was first sold at shows and via the band's on-line store, was released worldwide in an exclusive deal with Amazon.com on 21 July 2009. The release has garnered favourable reviews from The Rock n Roll Report, Classic Rock Revisited and Hard Rock Haven, among others.
In April 2010, the band released its first single on iTunes: an updated, hard rock version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." Performances on the 2010 summer tour included the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival in Richardson, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada's Fremont Street Experience; Rock N' America in Oklahoma City, OK; Summer Jam in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack FM's Fifth Show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Los Angeles; an appearance at the Hard Rock Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi; and the inaugural edition of the Thunder Mountain Rock Festival in Sawyer, North Dakota.
On 11 November 2010, it was announced that in May 2011 "Steve Priest's Sweet" had been booked to perform at a handful of European dates, but the gigs ultimately had to be cancelled in late January 2011 after it was learned that one of the promoters was a suspected swindler wanted by British law enforcement officials. As of February 2011, fans who purchased pre-sale tickets were still in the process of working through the administrative channels with PayPal and various banks and credit card issuers in order to try to reclaim their funds.
The band toured South America along with Journey during March 2011.
The band and their European fans then also got re-united quicker than thought, when the band got booked by a befriended female Belgian promoter. Two east German gigs, 27 and 28 May 2011, so in Borna and in Schwarzenberg Steve Priest's Sweet hit the European grounds. After more than 30 years, Steve Priest got a warm welcome back in Europe.
As of 12 August 2012, Stuart Smith resigned from the guitar post in order to dedicate more time to his "Heaven & Earth" project.
Beginning with the band's October 2012 appearance at the Festival Internacional Chihuahua in Mexico, Los Angeles-based guitarist Ricky Z. teamed up with Steve Priest and company for their live performances. In February 2013, this lineup returned to Casino Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Tour dates played in summer 2013 included Riverfest in Watertown, Wisconsin, the St. Clair, MI Riverfest, several additional dates in Canada, and a reprise of their appearances at both Moondance Jam in Walker, MN and Rockin' the Rivers in Three Forks, Montana. The band made some rare appearances on the U.S. east coast in July 2013, including a performance with David Johansen of the New York Dolls at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Singer Joe Retta was unavailable for these dates due to a scheduling conflict, so Tribe of Gypsies frontman Chas West, who has played with Jason Bonham's band and has experience subbing in such well-known bands as Foreigner, Lynch Mob and Diamond Head, stepped in to man the microphone for a series of shows in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
On 27 August 2014, Steve Priest announced on the band's Facebook page that guitarist Mitch Perry had been tapped for the guitar slot. Most recently on tour with Lita Ford, Mitch's other credentials included his work with Michael Schenker Group, Asia Featuring John Payne, Edgar Winter, Billy Sheehan and David Lee Roth His first live appearance with Sweet was at the Rock the River festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on 23 August 2014.
22 December 2017 saw the launch of the 50th anniversary tour at the Whisky a Go Go on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and the introduction of new singer Paul Zablidowski AKA "Paulie Z" former lead singer and guitarist of ZO2, children's band "The Z Brothers" and star of IFC show Z-Rock. Recently known as the host for local show "Ultimate Jam Night." Z replaced Joe Retta, who had served as the frontman for the Los Angeles incarnation of Sweet since its formation in 2008. Priest died on 4 June 2020.
Brief reunions and the deaths of Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker and Steve Priest
Steve Priest was asked to join Tucker and Scott for the 1985 Australian tour, but declined at the last moment.
Mike Chapman contacted Connolly, Priest, Scott, and Tucker in 1988, offering to finance a recording session in Los Angeles. As he remembers: "I met them at the airport and Andy and Mick came off the plane. I said, 'Where's Brian?' They said, 'Oh, he's coming.' All the people had come off the plane by now. Then this little old man hobbled towards us. He was shaking, and had a ghostly white face. I thought, 'Oh, Jesus Christ.' It was horrifying." Reworked studio versions of "Action" and "The Ballroom Blitz" were recorded, but it became clear that Connolly's voice and physical health had made Sweet's original member comeback too difficult to promote commercially. Consequently, the reunion attempt was aborted.
In 1990 this line-up was again reunited for the promotion of a music documentary entitled Sweet's Ballroom Blitz. This UK video release, which contained UK television performances from the 1970s and current-day interviews, was released at Tower Records, London. Sweet was interviewed by Power Hour, Super Channel, and spoke of a possible reunion.
Brian Connolly died at the age of 51 on 9 February 1997, from liver failure and repeated heart attacks, attributed to his abuse of alcohol in the 1970s and early 1980s. Mick Tucker died on 14 February 2002 from leukemia, at the age of 54. On 4 June 2020 it was announced that Steve Priest had died. It left Andy Scott as the sole living member of Sweet's 'classic lineup'.
Later years
Two versions of The Sweet were active with original members: "Andy Scott's Sweet", who frequently tour across Europe as Sweet and makes occasional sojourns to other markets including regular visits to Australia, and "Steve Priest's Sweet" who toured the US and Canada.
On 28 April 2009, Shout! Factory released a two-disc, career-spanning greatest hits album called Action: The Sweet Anthology. It received a four-star (out of five) rating in Rolling Stone.
In September 2009 Ace Frehley released his version of "Fox on the Run" on his album Anomaly.
In an October 2012 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses, referenced Sweet as one of his favourite bands growing up along with fellow British band Queen.
In April 2016, the chart topping song (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" was featured in a trailer for Suicide Squad.
In December 2016, their single "Fox on the Run" (1975) was featured in a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
In 2019, the songs "Fox on the Run" and "Set Me Free" were featured in an episode of Jamie Johnson.
Personnel
Original band
Classic lineup
Brian Connolly – lead vocals, percussion, synthesizer, acoustic guitar (1968–1978; died 1997)
Steve Priest – bass, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2020)
Mick Tucker – drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2002)
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1970–1981)
Early members
Frank Torpey – guitars (1968–1969)
Mick Stewart – guitars (1969–1970)
Touring musicians
Gary Moberley – keyboards, synthesizers, piano (1978–1981)
Nico Ramsden – guitar (1978)
Ray McRiner – guitar (1979)
Andy Scott’s Sweet
Current members
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1985–present)
Bruce Bisland – drums, backing vocals (1992–present)
Paul Manzi – lead vocals (2019–present; substitute appearances in 2014 and 2015)
Lee Small – bass, backing vocals (2019–present)
Former members
Mick Tucker – drums, backing vocals (1985–1991; died 2002)
Paul Mario Day – lead vocals (1985–1989)
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1985–1989; 2005—2006)
Mal McNulty – bass, lead and backing vocals (1985–1995)
Jeff Brown – bass, lead and backing vocals (1989–2003)
Steve Mann – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals (1989-1996)
Bodo Schopf – drums, backing vocals (1991–1992)
Chad Brown — lead vocals (1995–1998)
Steve Grant — keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1996–2005, 2006–2011); lead vocals, bass (2005–2006)
Tony O’Hora – lead and backing vocals, bass (2003–2005, 2006, 2011–2019), guitars, keyboards (2011–2019)
Peter Lincoln – bass, lead and backing vocals (2006–2019)
Timeline
Discography
Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be (1971)
Sweet Fanny Adams (1974)
Desolation Boulevard (1974)
Give Us a Wink (1976)
Off the Record (1977)
Level Headed (1978)
Cut Above the Rest (1979)
Waters Edge (titled Sweet VI with a different cover in the U.S.) (1980)
Identity Crisis (1982)
Sweetlife (2002) by Andy Scott's Sweet
Isolation Boulevard (2020) by Andy Scott's Sweet
References
Bibliography
(2008 eBook available at )
External links
Channel 4 documentary on The Sweet from 1996
English hard rock musical groups
English glam rock groups
Musical groups established in 1968
Capitol Records artists
Polydor Records artists
RCA Records artists
1968 establishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups disestablished in 1982
1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups reestablished in 1985
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom | true | [
"What It Is may refer to:\n\nMusic\n\nAlbum\n What It Is (Boogaloo Joe Jones album), 1971\n What It Is, a Cordelia's Dad album\n What It Is (Mal Waldron album), 1981\n What It Is (PSD album), 1999\n What It Is (Jacky Terrasson album), 1999\n What It Is!, a 2013 album by Kahil El'Zabar\n What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves, a box set by various artists that won a Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package\n\nSong\n \"What It Is\" (Busta Rhymes song), from the 2001 album Genesis\n \"What It Is\" (Gorilla Zoe song), 2009\n \"What It Is\" (Jonathan Davis song), a song by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, 2018\n \"What It Is\" (Mark Knopfler song), a 2000 song by Mark Knopfler from Sailing to Philadelphia\n \"What It Is (Strike a Pose)\", a 2008 song by Lil Mama from VYP (Voice of the Young People)\n \"What It Is\", a Black Eyed Peas song from the album Behind the Front, 1998\n \"What It Is\", a Paul McCartney song from the album Run Devil Run, 1999\n\nOther\n What It Is, a comedy stand-up DVD by Dylan Moran\n What It Is, a graphic novel by Lynda Barry",
"What a Life may refer to:\n\nBooks\nWhat a Life! (novel), a 1911 novel by E. V. Lucas and George Morrow\n\nFilm and entertainment\nWhat a Life (short film), a 1930 short film directed by John G. Adolfi\nWhat a Life (play), a 1938 play by Clifford Goldsmith that originally starred Ezra Stone\nWhat a Life (film), a 1939 film based on Goldsmith's play, co-written by Billy Wilder\n\nMusic\n\nAlbums\nWhat a Life! (album), a 1985 album by Divinyls\nWhat a Life, 2013 album by Erin Boheme\nWhat a Life (Gloria Gaynor album), European release of album The Answer, 1997\nWhat a Life (Adam Brand album), a 2006 album by Adam Brand\nWhat a Life (EP), a 2019 EP by Exo-SC\n\nSongs\n\"What a Life\" (Juliana Hatfield song), 1995\n\"What a Life\" (Exo-SC song), 2019\n\nSee also\nOh, What a Life (disambiguation)\n\"AKA... What a Life!\", a 2011 song by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds"
]
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"What other singles topped the chart?",
"Chop Chop\" and \"Tom Tom Turnaround\") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's \"Daydream\"",
"Did they go on tour?",
"I don't know.",
"did they get any awards",
"Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career.",
"Are there any interesting aspects about this article",
"album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender",
"What album?",
"\"Co-Co\" (June 1971)"
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| C_8881985e0300445eac1e4d13b977ae98_0 | What songs were on it? | 8 | What songs were on The Sweet's album "Co-Co"? | The Sweet | The Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide (the U.S. excepted) record contract with RCA Records (in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973; followed by Capitol Records). In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to #33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals. The Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts. Their albums' failure to match the success of their singles was a problem that would plague the band throughout their career. CANNOTANSWER | "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to #33. | The Sweet, sometimes also shortened to just Sweet, are a British glam rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker. The group was originally called The Sweetshop.
The band was formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, "Funny Funny", in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.
The band first achieved success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, like 1974's "Turn It Down". "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. They also achieved success and popularity in the US with the top ten hits "Little Willy", "The Ballroom Blitz", "Fox on the Run", and "Love is Like Oxygen".
The Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have since sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
History
Origins
Sweet's origins can be traced back to British soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen. Mark Lay's history of that band states they formed around 1962 and were initially known as Unit 4. Founding members included Chris Wright (vocals), Jan Frewer (bass), with Jim Searle and Alfred Fripp on guitars. Phil Kenton joined on drums as the band changed its name to Wainwright's Gentlemen (due to there being another band known as Unit 4). Managed by Frewer's father, the band performed in the Hayes, Harrow and Wembley area. By 1964 the group was also playing in London, including at the Saint Germain Club on Poland Street.
In January 1964 the band came fifth in a national beat group contest, with finals held at the Lyceum Strand on 4 May 1964. Highlights of the show were presented on BBC1 by Alan Freeman. Chris Wright left the line-up in late 1964 and was replaced by Ian Gillan. A female vocalist named Ann Cully soon joined the band. Mick Tucker, from Ruislip, joined on drums replacing Phil Kenton. The band recorded a number of tracks including a cover of the Coasters-Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me", which was probably recorded at Jackson Sound Studios in Rickmansworth. The track includes Gillan on vocals, Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965. Gillan quit in May 1965 to join Episode Six, and later, Deep Purple. Cully remained as vocalist before departing some time later. Gillan's and Cully's eventual replacement, in late 1966, was Scots-born vocalist Brian Connolly, who hailed more recently from Harefield. Tony Hall had joined on saxophone and vocals and when Fripp left he was replaced by Gordon Fairminer. Fairminer's position was eventually assumed by Frank Torpey (born Frank Edward Torpey, 30 April 1945, Kilburn, North West London) - a schoolfriend of Tucker's who had just left West London group The Tribe (aka The Dream). Torpey only lasted a few months, and in late 1967 Robin Box (born 19 June 1944) took his place. Searle, regarded by many as the most talented musically, disappeared from the scene. Tucker and Connolly remained with Wainwright's Gentlemen until January 1968. Tucker was replaced by Roger Hills. When the Gentlemen eventually broke up, Hills and Box joined White Plains who eventually scored a big hit with "My Baby Loves Lovin'".
Early years
In January 1968 Connolly and Tucker formed a new band calling themselves The Sweetshop. They recruited bass guitarist and vocalist Steve Priest from a local band called The Army. Priest had previously played with mid-'60s band the Countdowns who had been produced and recorded by Joe Meek. Frank Torpey was again recruited to play guitar. The quartet made its public debut at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead on 9 March 1968 and soon developed a following on the pub circuit, which led to a contract with Fontana Records. At the time, another UK band released a single under the same name Sweetshop, so the band abbreviated their moniker to Sweet. The band was managed by Paul Nicholas, who later went on to star in Hair. Nicholas worked with record producer Phil Wainman at Mellin Music Publishing and recommended the band to him. Their debut single "Slow Motion" (July 1968), produced by Wainman, and released on Fontana, failed to chart and owing to its rarity now sells for several hundred pounds when auctioned. Sweet were released from the recording contract and Frank Torpey left. In his autobiography Are You Ready Steve, Priest said that Gordon Fairminer was approached to play for them when Torpey decided to leave Sweet after a gig at Playhouse Theatre Walton-on-Thames on 5 July 1969 but turned the job down as he wanted to concentrate on other interests.
New line-up and new record deal
Guitarist Mick Stewart joined in 1969. Stewart had some rock pedigree, having previously worked with The (Ealing) Redcaps and Simon Scott & The All-Nite Workers in the mid-1960s. In late 1965, that band became The Phil Wainman Set when the future Sweet producer joined on drums and the group cut some singles with Errol Dixon. In early 1966, Stewart left and later worked with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.
Sweet signed a new record contract with EMI's Parlophone label. Three bubblegum pop singles were released: "Lollipop Man" (September 1969), "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (January 1970), and a cover version of the Archies' "Get on the Line" (June 1970), all of which failed to chart. Stewart then quit, and was not replaced for some time. Connolly and Tucker had a chance meeting with Wainman, who was now producing, and knew of two aspiring songwriters, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who were looking for a group to sing some demos they had written. Connolly, Priest, and Tucker provided the vocals on a track called "Funny Funny" which featured Pip Williams on guitar, John Roberts on bass, and Wainman on drums. The latter began offering the track to various recording companies. The band held auditions for a replacement guitarist and settled on Welsh-born Andy Scott. He had most recently been playing with Mike McCartney (brother of Paul) in the Scaffold. As a member of the Elastic Band, he had played guitar on two singles for Decca, "Think of You Baby" and "Do Unto Others". He also appeared on the band's lone album release, Expansions on Life, and on some recordings by the Scaffold. The band rehearsed for a number of weeks before Scott made his live debut with Sweet on 26 September 1970 at the Windsor Ballroom in Redcar.
Sweet initially attempted to combine diverse musical influences, including the Monkees and 1960s bubblegum pop groups such as the Archies, with more heavy rock-oriented groups such as the Who. Sweet adopted the rich vocal harmony style of the Hollies, with distorted guitars and a heavy rhythm section. This fusion of pop and hard rock would remain a central trademark of Sweet's music and prefigured the glam metal of a few years later.
Sweet's initial album appearance was on the budget label Music for Pleasure as part of a compilation called Gimme Dat Ding, released in December 1970. Sweet had one side of the record; the Pipkins (whose sole hit, "Gimme Dat Ding", gave the LP its name) had the other. Sweet's contribution consisted of the A- and B-sides of the band's three Parlophone singles. Andy Scott appears in the album cover shot, even though he did not play on any of the recordings.
First album
Sweet made their UK television debut in December 1970 on a pop show called Lift Off, performing the song "Funny Funny". A management deal was signed with the aforementioned songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Phil Wainman resumed his collaboration with Sweet, as executive producer. This management deal also included a worldwide record contract with RCA Records, the U.S. excepted: in the United States and Canada Bell Records issued the group's music until late 1973, followed by Capitol Records.
In March 1971 RCA issued "Funny Funny", written by Chinn and Chapman, which became the group's first international hit, climbing to the Top 20 on many of the world's charts. EMI reissued their 1970 single "All You'll Ever Get from Me" (May 1971) and it again failed to chart. Their next RCA release "Co-Co" (June 1971) went to number two in the U.K. and their follow up single, "Alexander Graham Bell" (October 1971), only went to No. 33. These tracks still featured session musicians on the instruments with the quartet providing only the vocals.
Sweet's first full LP album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was released in November 1971. A collection of the band's recent singles supplemented by some new Chinn/Chapman tunes (including "Chop Chop" and "Tom Tom Turnaround") and pop covers (such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and the Supremes' "Reflections"), the album, recorded at Nova Studios in London, was produced by Phil Wainman and engineered by Richard Dodd and Eric Holland. It was not a serious contender on the charts.
Initial success and rise to fame
February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit. Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments. In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.
To promote their singles, Sweet made numerous appearances on U.K. and European TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Supersonic. In one performance of "Block Buster!" on Top of the Pops Christmas edition, Priest aroused complaints after he appeared replete in a German military uniform, Hitler moustache and displaying a swastika armband. The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.
Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image. Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe". A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period). The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.
Forming a new image
By 1974, Sweet had grown tired of the management team of Chinn and Chapman, who wrote the group's major hits and cultivated the band's glam rock image. The group and producer Phil Wainman, assisted by engineer Peter Coleman, recorded the album Sweet Fanny Adams, which was released in April 1974. Sweet's technical proficiency was demonstrated for the first time on self-penned hard rock tracks such as "Sweet F.A." and "Set Me Free". Sweet also adopted a more conventional hard rock sound and appearance. Sweet Fanny Adams also featured compressed high-pitched backing vocal harmonies, which was a trend that continued on all of Sweet's albums.
During sessions for the album, Brian Connolly was injured in a fight in Staines High Street. His throat was badly injured and his ability to sing severely limited. Priest and Scott filled in on lead vocals on some tracks ("No You Don't", "Into The Night" and "Restless") and Connolly, under treatment from a Harley Street specialist, managed to complete the album. The band did not publicise the incident and told the press that subsequent cancelled shows were due to Connolly having a throat infection. This incident reportedly permanently compromised Connolly's singing ability, with his range diminished.
No previous singles appeared on the album, and none were released, except in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, where "Peppermint Twist/Rebel Rouser", apparently released by their record company without their knowledge, gained a No. 1 chart position in the latter. Sweet Fanny Adams would be Sweet's only non-compilation release to break the UK Albums Chart Top 40.
Sweet were invited by Pete Townshend to support the Who, who were playing at Charlton Athletic's football ground, The Valley in June 1974. However, Connolly's badly bruised throat kept them from fulfilling the role. Sweet had frequently cited the Who as being one of their main influences and played a medley of their tracks in their live set for many years.
Desolation Boulevard
Their third album, Desolation Boulevard, was released later in 1974, six months after Sweet Fanny Adams. By that stage, producer Phil Wainman had moved on and the album was produced by Mike Chapman. It was recorded in a mere six days and featured a rawer "live" sound. One track, "The Man with the Golden Arm", written by Elmer Bernstein and Sylvia Fine for the 1955 Frank Sinatra movie of the same name, featured drummer Mick Tucker performing an 8 and half minute solo (although this was not included in the U.S. release). This had been a staple of the band's live performance for years. The first single from the LP, the heavy-melodic "The Six Teens" (July 1974), was a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and still part of the amazing unbroken string of No. 1's in Denmark. However, the subsequent single release, "Turn It Down" (November 1974), reached only No. 41 on the U.K. chart and No. 2 in Denmark. "Turn It Down" received minimal airplay on UK radio and was banned by some radio stations because of certain lyrical content - "God-awful sound" and "For God sakes, turn it down" - which were deemed "unsuitable for family listening." The band resumed playing live shows nearly a full six months after Connolly's throat injury, with band and critics noting a rougher edge to his voice and a reduced range. The album also featured a group composition, "Fox On The Run", which was to be re-recorded months later.
The U.S. version of Desolation Boulevard was different from the U.K. version and included several songs from Sweet Fanny Adams in addition to the "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run" singles (both of which peaked at No. 5 in the US). Side One of the album contained all Chapman-Chinn penned songs, while Side Two featured songs written and produced by Sweet.
Writing and producing their own material
In 1975 Sweet went back into the studio to re-arrange and record a more pop-oriented version of the track "Fox on the Run". Sweet's first self-written and produced single, "Fox on the Run" was released worldwide in March 1975 and became their biggest selling hit, reaching number one in Germany, Denmark, and South Africa, number two in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands and number three in Austria and Switzerland. In Australia it not only made it to the top of the charts, it also became the biggest selling single of that year. The song reached number two in Canada and number five in the U.S. The release of this track marked the end of the formal Chinn-Chapman working relationship and the band stressed it was now fully self-sufficient as writers and producers.
The following single release, "Action" (July 1975), peaked at number 15 in the UK. Now confident in their own songwriting and production abilities, Sweet spent the latter half of 1975 in Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, where they recorded the Give Us A Wink album with German sound engineer Reinhold Mack, who later recorded with Electric Light Orchestra and co-produced Queen. The new album release was deferred until 1976 so as not to stifle the chart success Desolation Boulevard was enjoying, peaking at number 25 in the US and number 5 in Canada.
With Give Us a Wink being held over, RCA issued a double album in Europe, Strung Up, in November. It contained one live disc, recorded in London in December 1973, and one disc compiling previously released singles (plus an unused track by Chinn and Chapman – "I Wanna Be Committed"). At the end of the year, Andy Scott released his first solo single, "Lady Starlight" b/w "Where D'Ya Go". Tucker played drums on both tracks.
Decline in popularity
January 1976 saw the release of the single "The Lies In Your Eyes", which made the Top 10 in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia, but only reached No. 35 on the U.K. charts. Sweet's first album to be fully produced and written by themselves, Give Us A Wink, was released in March 1976. A third single from the album, "4th Of July", was issued in Australia.
By this time, Sweet strove to build on their growing popularity in America with a schedule of more than fifty headline concert dates. Even though Give Us A Winks release was imminent, the band's set essentially promoted the US version of Desolation Boulevard plus the new US hit single "Action". During an appearance at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in California on 24 March, Sweet played "All Right Now" with Ritchie Blackmore as a tribute to mark the death of Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, who was to have supported Sweet with his band Back Street Crawler. The US tour was not financially successful, with small audiences at many venues leading to the final half-dozen or so dates to be cancelled. Following the end of the tour, the band went on to Scandinavia and Germany. The band also spent a week at the Who's Ramport Studios in Battersea demoing material for a new album before abandoning that project and playing eight dates in Japan. By the end of the Japanese shows Connolly's extremely hoarse singing voice was manifest evidence of the demands of constant touring and the enduring after-effects of his 1974 assault.
Between October 1976 and January 1977, Sweet wrote and recorded new material at Kingsway Recorders and Audio International London studios for their next album. An advance single from the album, "Lost Angels", was only a hit in Germany, Austria and Sweden. A new album, Off the Record, was released in April. The next single from the album, "Fever of Love", represented the band heading in a somewhat more Europop hard rock direction, once again charting in Germany, Austria and Sweden, while reaching number 10 in South Africa. On this album, Sweet again worked with Give Us A Wink engineer Louis Austin, who would later engineer Def Leppard's On Through The Night 1980 début album. The band cancelled a US tour with emerging US rockers Aerosmith, did not play any live dates in support of the album and, in fact, did not play a single concert for the whole of 1977.
Level Headed and a change in style
Sweet left RCA in 1977 and signed a new deal with Polydor though it would not come into force until later in the year. Sweet's manager David Walker, from Handle Artists, negotiated the move which was reputed to be worth around £750,000. In the United States, Canada, and Japan, Capitol had issued Sweet's albums since 1974 and would continue to do so through to 1980.
The first Polydor album, Level Headed (January 1978), found Sweet experimenting by combining rock and classical sounds "a-la clavesin", an approach similar to Electric Light Orchestra's, and featured the single "Love Is Like Oxygen". Largely recorded during 1977 at Château d'Hérouville near Paris, France after a 30-day writing session at Clearwell Castle in the Forest Of Dean UK, the album represented a new musical direction, largely abandoning hard-rock for a more melodic pop style, interspersed with ballads accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra. The ballad, "Lettres D'Amour", featured a duet between Connolly and Stevie Lange (who would emerge as lead singer with the group Night in 1979).
With the addition of session and touring musicians keyboardist Gary Moberley and guitarist Nico Ramsden, Sweet undertook a short European and Scandinavian tour followed by a single British concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 24 February 1978. However, "Love Is Like Oxygen" (January 1978) was their last U.K., U.S., and German Top 10 hit. Scott was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for co-composing the song. One more single from the album, "California Nights" (May 1978), featuring Steve Priest as the lead vocalist, peaked at number 23 on the German chart.
Departure of Brian Connolly
Between March and May 1978 Sweet extensively toured the US, as a support act for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. The tour included a disastrous date in Birmingham, Alabama on 3 May, during which visiting Capitol Records executives in the audience saw Brian Connolly give a drunken and incoherent performance that terminated early in the set with his collapse on stage, leaving the rest of the group to play on without him. The band returned briefly to Britain before resuming the second leg of their US tour in late May supporting other acts, including Foghat and Alice Cooper. Concluding the US tour in early July 1978, Brian's alcoholism and estrangement from the group was steadily becoming a greater issue.
In late October, having spent further time at Clearwell Castle to write for their next album, Sweet arrived at The Town House studio in Shepherd's Bush, London to complete and record, Cut Above the Rest (April 1979). Due to tensions between various members attributed to Connolly's health and diminishing status with the group, his long-time friend and fellow founding member, Mick Tucker, was tasked to produce Connolly's vocals. It was felt Tucker would extract a better performance than Scott from Connolly. A number of tracks were recorded featuring Connolly. However, these efforts were deemed unsatisfactory and Brian left the band on 2 November 1978.
On 23 February 1979, Brian Connolly's departure from Sweet was formally announced by manager David Walker. Publicly, Connolly was said to be pursuing a solo career with an interest in recording country rock.
Three piece Sweet
Sweet continued as a trio with Priest assuming the lion's share of lead vocals, though Scott and Tucker were also active in that role. The first single release for the trio was "Call Me". Guest keyboard player Gary Moberley continued to augment the group on stage. Guitarist Ray McRiner joined their touring line-up in 1979, with a small tour with Journey in the eastern United States and Cheap Trick in Texas in the spring and summer of '79 to support Cut Above The Rest (which was released in April 1979). McRiner would also contribute the songs "Too Much Talking" and the single "Give The Lady Some Respect" to the next Sweet album, Waters Edge (August 1980), which was recorded in Canada. In the US, Waters Edge was titled Sweet VI. It featured the singles "Sixties Man" and "Give The Lady Some Respect". Tragedy befell Mick Tucker when his wife Pauline drowned in the bath at their home on 26 December 1979. The band withdrew from live work for all of 1980.
One more studio album, Identity Crisis, was recorded during 1980–81 but was only released in West Germany and Mexico. Sweet undertook a short tour of the UK and performed their last live show at Glasgow University on 20 March 1981. Steve Priest then returned to the United States, where he had been living since late 1979. When Polydor released Identity Crisis in October 1982, the original Sweet had been disbanded for almost a year.
Re-formed versions (1984–present)
Andy Scott's Sweet (1985–present)
Andy Scott and Mick Tucker organised their own version of Sweet with Paul Mario Day (ex-Iron Maiden, More, Wildfire) on lead vocals, Phil Lanzon (ex-Grand Prix) on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass. The band performed at the Marquee Club in London in February 1986, with the shows recorded and gaining release a few years later, bolstered by four new studio tracks including a cover of the Motown standard "Reach Out I'll Be There". This line-up also toured Australian and New Zealand pubs and clubs for more than three months in 1985 and for a similar period again in 1986. Singer Paul Day ended up marrying the band's Australian tour guide and relocating downunder. He continued with Sweet commuting back and forth to Europe for the group's tours until this proved to be too cumbersome. He departed in late 1988. As McNulty moved into the front man spot, Jeff Brown came in to take over bass early in 1989. Lanzon too went back and forth between Sweet and Uriah Heep during 1986-1988 before Heep's schedule grew too busy. Malcolm Pearson and then Ian Gibbons (who had played with The Kinks and The Records) both filled in for Lanzon until Steve Mann (Liar, Lionheart, McAuley Schenker Group) arrived in December 1989.
Tucker departed after a show in Lochau, Austria, on 5 May 1991. He later was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. Three drummers, Andy Hoyler, Bobby Andersen and Bruce Bisland (Weapon, Wildfire, Praying Mantis), provided short-term relief before Bodo Schopf (McAuley Schenker Group) took over. They recorded an album during this period, simply titled A. Before the band embarked on the supporting tour for A in 1992, Bodo left and Bisland returned as permanent percussionist. Scott changed the band's name to 'Andy Scott's Sweet' after Tucker's departure but truncated it to simply 'The Sweet' once again after Tucker's death in 2002.
Mal McNulty, now lead vocalist, departed in 1994, though he would return briefly that year to fill in for Jeff Brown on bass (as he would again in 1995 as lead singer for a few dates while Rocky Newton subbed on bass). Sweet's former keyboard men Gary Moberley and Ian Gibbons also did fill-in jaunts with the group that year, as did Chris Goulstone. Chad Brown (ex-Lionheart; no relation to Jeff) was the new front man. Glitz Blitz and Hitz, a new studio album of re-recorded Sweet hits, was released during this period.
In 1996 Mann left to take a job in television and Gibbons came back for a short time before Steve Grant (ex-The Animals) became the permanent keyboardist. When Chad Brown quit in 1998 after developing a throat infection, Jeff Brown assumed lead vocals and bass duties. After this, the band was stable again for the next five years.
The mid-2000s would bring further confusing shake-ups and rotations. Tony O'Hora (ex-Onslaught, Praying Mantis) replaced Brown as lead vocalist in 2003. Ian Gibbons came back for a third stint as fill-in keyboardist in June 2005 for a gig in the Faroe Islands. O'Hora decided to split to take a teaching job in late 2005. Grant then jumped from keyboards to lead vocals and bass as Phil Lanzon returned on keyboards for a tour of Russia and Germany in October/November. New singer Mark Thompson Smith (ex-Praying Mantis) joined in November 2005 for some Swedish gigs, while Jo Burt (ex-Black Sabbath) was temporary bass player. Tony Mills (ex-Shy) was slated to be Sweet's new singer in early 2006 but failed to work out and left after six shows in Denmark. At this point, O'Hora came back as fill in front man and then Grant did another turn himself as the singer/bassist (Steve Mann depped on keyboards) until the group finally landed a new permanent front man when Peter Lincoln (ex-Sailor) arrived in July 2006. The line-up then consisted of Scott, Bisland, Grant and Lincoln.
Scott produced the Suzi Quatro album Back to the Drive, released in February 2006. March 2006 saw the U.S. release of his band's album Sweetlife.
In 2007 the group played in Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy. In May of that year, the band played in Porto Alegre and Curitiba, Brazil, their first and only South American shows. The tour was called the 'Sweet Fanny Adams Tour'.
The band toured again in March 2008 under the name 'Sweet Fanny Adams Revisited Tour'. In May and June, Scott's Sweet were part of the "Glitz Blitz & 70s Hitz" tour of the UK alongside The Rubettes and Showaddywaddy.
In March and April 2010, Scott was absent from a couple of gigs due to ill health and Martin Mickels stood in. Scott revealed later that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was treated at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. After a course of treatment and rest, he was back to full touring fitness. In 2010 the band played at venues in Europe and back at Bilston in October.
In March 2011 there was a short tour of Australia, Regal Theatre - Perth, and Clipsal 500, Adelaide with the Doobie Brothers. Also in 2011, Tony O'Hora came back to the group, this time as keyboardist, after Grant departed.
In March 2012 the band released a new album New York Connection. Recorded in England, it comprised 11 cover versions, including the 2011 single "Join Together" and one revamped original recording; the 1972 B-side "New York Connection". All the covers either featured 'bits and pieces' of Sweet hits or other artist songs, such as a "new version of the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop [which] shared space with samples from ‘Ballroom Blitz,’ and a take on Hello’s New York Groove (made famous in the US by Ace Frehley) featured a sample from Jay-Z’s Empire State Of Mind along with other Sweet references."
On the eve of their March 2012 "Join Together" tour of Australia, the band undertook an acoustic performance of three tracks, "New York Groove-Empire State of Mind", "Blockbuster" and "Peppermint Twist", in front of a live audience at ABC Radio Studios in East Perth. Shows in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Geelong, Melbourne and Sydney featured tracks from the new album for the first time.
Paul Manzi joined Sweet on their 2014 Australian tour, replacing Tony O'Hora who was absent for personal reasons. Manzi played guitar, keyboard and undertook lead vocals on "Set Me Free" and "AC-DC" as the band performed shows in regional centres, including outback Western Australia, Darwin and far-north Queensland, NSW and Victoria during February and March. The band, with O'Hora back in the ranks, returned to Australia in September 2014 as the headlining act for "Rock The Boat 4". This was a cruise aboard the ship Rhapsody of the Seas which departed Sydney and took in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The band played two gigs and various members guested with Australian veteran performers including Brian Cadd and Russell Morris and members of AC/DC, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and Skyhooks.
In June 2015 it was revealed that the band were going on an extensive tour of the UK in late 2015 and that this tour would probably be their last.
For the 2015 summer tour dates, Paul Manzi returned to sub for Peter Lincoln who left this online message to the fans: "There have been a few rumours going around this weekend, so . . . just to say that I am alive and well! The short explanation for my absence is that I need to rest my voice for a few weeks. We are lucky that our good friend Paul Manzi is able to step in, and Tony knows the role of bass player/singer, so the shows can go ahead, and they will be great! I look forward to being back on stage very soon."
Pete Lincoln duly resumed his role in the band and they continued with extensive live dates, known as the "Finale" tour in Germany.
In 2017 after Andy undertook a successful Australian visit with Suzi Quatro and Don Powell in the side outfit known as QSP, Sweet was again booked for an extensive European tour. In the years following both Tony O'Hora and Pete Lincoln departed the band. Paul Manzi returned as permanent lead vocalist, quitting the popular outfit Cats in Space to do so. Lee Small joined as bassist and backing vocalist. Former guitarist and keyboard player Steve Mann joined for a handful of shows as a special guest. During the COVID-19 pandemic the band recorded a new album of old tracks entitled Isolation Boulevard.
New Sweet, Brian Connolly's Sweet (1984–1997)
In 1984 Brian Connolly formed a new version of the Sweet without any of the other original members. Despite recurring ill health, Connolly toured the UK and Europe with his band, "Brian Connolly's Sweet", which was then renamed to "New Sweet". His most successful concerts were in West Germany, before and after reunification.
During 1987, Connolly met up again with Frank Torpey. Torpey later explained in interviews Connolly was trying to get a German recording deal. The two got on very well and Torpey subsequently invited Connolly to go into the recording studio with him, as an informal project. After much trepidation, Connolly turned up and the track "Sharontina" was recorded. This recording would not be released until 1998, appearing on Frank Torpey's album Sweeter.
By July 1990, plans were made for Connolly and his band to tour Australia in November. During the long flight to Australia, Connolly's health had suffered and he was hospitalised in Adelaide Hospital, allegedly for dehydration and related problems. The rest of the band played a show in Adelaide without him. After being released from the hospital, Connolly joined the other band members in Melbourne for a gig at the Pier Hotel, in Frankston. After several other shows, including one at the Dingley Powerhouse, Connolly and his band played a final date at Melbourne's Greek Theatre. It was felt Connolly's health was sufficient reason for the tour not to be extended, and some of the planned dates were abandoned. Connolly went back to England and his band appeared on The Bob Downe Christmas show on 18 December 1990.
During the early 1990s, Connolly played the European "oldies" circuit and occasional outdoor festivals in Europe with his band. On 22 March 1992, a heavy duty tape recorder was stolen from the band's van whilst at a gig in the Bristol Hippodrome with Mud. It contained demos of four new songs, totalling about 20 mixes.
Legal problems were going on in the background over the use of the Sweet name between Connolly and Andy Scott. Both parties agreed to distinguish their group's names to help promoters and fans. The New Sweet went back to being called Brian Connolly's Sweet and Andy Scott's version became Andy Scott's Sweet.
In 1994, Connolly and his band played in Dubai. He appeared at the Galleria Theatre, Hyatt Regency. He also performed in Bahrain.
By this time Connolly had healed the differences with Steve Priest and Mick Tucker, and was invited to the wedding of Priest's eldest daughter, Lisa. At the private function, for which Priest specially flew back to England, Priest and Connolly performed together.
In 1995, Connolly released a new album entitled Let's Go. His partner Jean, whom he had met a few years earlier, gave birth to a son. Connolly also performed in Switzerland that year.
On 2 November 1996 British TV Network Channel 4 aired a programme Don't Leave Me This Way, which examined Connolly's time as a pop star with the Sweet, the subsequent decline in the band's popularity, and its impact on Connolly and the other band members. The show revealed Connolly's ill health but also that he was continuing with his concert dates at Butlins. Connolly and his band had appeared at Butlins a number of times on tour during the early 1990s.
Connolly's final concert was at the Bristol Hippodrome on 5 December 1996, with Slade II and John Rossall's Glitter Band Experience.
Steve Priest's Sweet (2008–Present)
In January 2008, Steve Priest assembled his own version of the Sweet in Los Angeles. He enlisted a guitarist Stuart Smith and L.A. native Richie Onori, Smith's bandmate in Heaven & Earth, was brought in on drums. The keyboard spot was manned by ex-Crow and World Classic Rockers alumni Stevie Stewart. Front-man and vocalist Joe Retta was brought in to round out the line-up.
After an initial appearance on L.A. rock station 95.5 KLOS's popular Mark & Brian radio programme, the "Are You Ready Steve?" tour kicked off at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood on 12 June 2008. The band spent the next several months playing festivals and gigs throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Moondance Jam in Walker, Minnesota; headlining at the Rock N Resort Music Festival in North Lawrence, Ohio (near Canal Fulton); London, Ontario's Rock the Park; another headlining gig at Peterborough's Festival of Lights; the Common Ground Festival in Lansing, Michigan; and a benefit concert for victims of California's wildfires at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
In January 2009, the Sweet presented at the concert industry's Pollstar Awards, and also played a short set at the Nokia Theatre where the event was held, marking the first time in the ceremony's history that a band performed at the show. In addition to local gigs at the House of Blues on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and Universal CityWalk, 2009 saw the band return to Canada for sold-out shows at the Mae Wilson Theater and Casino Regina, as well as the Nakusp Music Fest and Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa in Minnedosa, Manitoba. U.S. festivals have included Minnesota's Halfway Jam, Rockin' the Rivers in Montana (with Pat Travers and Peter Frampton), and two late-summer shows at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The new band recorded a cover version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride", which was included on Cleopatra Records' Abbey Road, a Fab Four tribute CD that was released on 24 March 2009.
A preview of the band's new CD Live in America, which was recorded live at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California on 30 August 2008, was featured on KLOS's "Front Row" programme on 12 April 2009. The CD, which was first sold at shows and via the band's on-line store, was released worldwide in an exclusive deal with Amazon.com on 21 July 2009. The release has garnered favourable reviews from The Rock n Roll Report, Classic Rock Revisited and Hard Rock Haven, among others.
In April 2010, the band released its first single on iTunes: an updated, hard rock version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." Performances on the 2010 summer tour included the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival in Richardson, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada's Fremont Street Experience; Rock N' America in Oklahoma City, OK; Summer Jam in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack FM's Fifth Show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Los Angeles; an appearance at the Hard Rock Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi; and the inaugural edition of the Thunder Mountain Rock Festival in Sawyer, North Dakota.
On 11 November 2010, it was announced that in May 2011 "Steve Priest's Sweet" had been booked to perform at a handful of European dates, but the gigs ultimately had to be cancelled in late January 2011 after it was learned that one of the promoters was a suspected swindler wanted by British law enforcement officials. As of February 2011, fans who purchased pre-sale tickets were still in the process of working through the administrative channels with PayPal and various banks and credit card issuers in order to try to reclaim their funds.
The band toured South America along with Journey during March 2011.
The band and their European fans then also got re-united quicker than thought, when the band got booked by a befriended female Belgian promoter. Two east German gigs, 27 and 28 May 2011, so in Borna and in Schwarzenberg Steve Priest's Sweet hit the European grounds. After more than 30 years, Steve Priest got a warm welcome back in Europe.
As of 12 August 2012, Stuart Smith resigned from the guitar post in order to dedicate more time to his "Heaven & Earth" project.
Beginning with the band's October 2012 appearance at the Festival Internacional Chihuahua in Mexico, Los Angeles-based guitarist Ricky Z. teamed up with Steve Priest and company for their live performances. In February 2013, this lineup returned to Casino Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Tour dates played in summer 2013 included Riverfest in Watertown, Wisconsin, the St. Clair, MI Riverfest, several additional dates in Canada, and a reprise of their appearances at both Moondance Jam in Walker, MN and Rockin' the Rivers in Three Forks, Montana. The band made some rare appearances on the U.S. east coast in July 2013, including a performance with David Johansen of the New York Dolls at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Singer Joe Retta was unavailable for these dates due to a scheduling conflict, so Tribe of Gypsies frontman Chas West, who has played with Jason Bonham's band and has experience subbing in such well-known bands as Foreigner, Lynch Mob and Diamond Head, stepped in to man the microphone for a series of shows in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
On 27 August 2014, Steve Priest announced on the band's Facebook page that guitarist Mitch Perry had been tapped for the guitar slot. Most recently on tour with Lita Ford, Mitch's other credentials included his work with Michael Schenker Group, Asia Featuring John Payne, Edgar Winter, Billy Sheehan and David Lee Roth His first live appearance with Sweet was at the Rock the River festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on 23 August 2014.
22 December 2017 saw the launch of the 50th anniversary tour at the Whisky a Go Go on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and the introduction of new singer Paul Zablidowski AKA "Paulie Z" former lead singer and guitarist of ZO2, children's band "The Z Brothers" and star of IFC show Z-Rock. Recently known as the host for local show "Ultimate Jam Night." Z replaced Joe Retta, who had served as the frontman for the Los Angeles incarnation of Sweet since its formation in 2008. Priest died on 4 June 2020.
Brief reunions and the deaths of Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker and Steve Priest
Steve Priest was asked to join Tucker and Scott for the 1985 Australian tour, but declined at the last moment.
Mike Chapman contacted Connolly, Priest, Scott, and Tucker in 1988, offering to finance a recording session in Los Angeles. As he remembers: "I met them at the airport and Andy and Mick came off the plane. I said, 'Where's Brian?' They said, 'Oh, he's coming.' All the people had come off the plane by now. Then this little old man hobbled towards us. He was shaking, and had a ghostly white face. I thought, 'Oh, Jesus Christ.' It was horrifying." Reworked studio versions of "Action" and "The Ballroom Blitz" were recorded, but it became clear that Connolly's voice and physical health had made Sweet's original member comeback too difficult to promote commercially. Consequently, the reunion attempt was aborted.
In 1990 this line-up was again reunited for the promotion of a music documentary entitled Sweet's Ballroom Blitz. This UK video release, which contained UK television performances from the 1970s and current-day interviews, was released at Tower Records, London. Sweet was interviewed by Power Hour, Super Channel, and spoke of a possible reunion.
Brian Connolly died at the age of 51 on 9 February 1997, from liver failure and repeated heart attacks, attributed to his abuse of alcohol in the 1970s and early 1980s. Mick Tucker died on 14 February 2002 from leukemia, at the age of 54. On 4 June 2020 it was announced that Steve Priest had died. It left Andy Scott as the sole living member of Sweet's 'classic lineup'.
Later years
Two versions of The Sweet were active with original members: "Andy Scott's Sweet", who frequently tour across Europe as Sweet and makes occasional sojourns to other markets including regular visits to Australia, and "Steve Priest's Sweet" who toured the US and Canada.
On 28 April 2009, Shout! Factory released a two-disc, career-spanning greatest hits album called Action: The Sweet Anthology. It received a four-star (out of five) rating in Rolling Stone.
In September 2009 Ace Frehley released his version of "Fox on the Run" on his album Anomaly.
In an October 2012 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses, referenced Sweet as one of his favourite bands growing up along with fellow British band Queen.
In April 2016, the chart topping song (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" was featured in a trailer for Suicide Squad.
In December 2016, their single "Fox on the Run" (1975) was featured in a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
In 2019, the songs "Fox on the Run" and "Set Me Free" were featured in an episode of Jamie Johnson.
Personnel
Original band
Classic lineup
Brian Connolly – lead vocals, percussion, synthesizer, acoustic guitar (1968–1978; died 1997)
Steve Priest – bass, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2020)
Mick Tucker – drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals (1968–1981; died 2002)
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1970–1981)
Early members
Frank Torpey – guitars (1968–1969)
Mick Stewart – guitars (1969–1970)
Touring musicians
Gary Moberley – keyboards, synthesizers, piano (1978–1981)
Nico Ramsden – guitar (1978)
Ray McRiner – guitar (1979)
Andy Scott’s Sweet
Current members
Andy Scott – guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing and lead vocals (1985–present)
Bruce Bisland – drums, backing vocals (1992–present)
Paul Manzi – lead vocals (2019–present; substitute appearances in 2014 and 2015)
Lee Small – bass, backing vocals (2019–present)
Former members
Mick Tucker – drums, backing vocals (1985–1991; died 2002)
Paul Mario Day – lead vocals (1985–1989)
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1985–1989; 2005—2006)
Mal McNulty – bass, lead and backing vocals (1985–1995)
Jeff Brown – bass, lead and backing vocals (1989–2003)
Steve Mann – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals (1989-1996)
Bodo Schopf – drums, backing vocals (1991–1992)
Chad Brown — lead vocals (1995–1998)
Steve Grant — keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1996–2005, 2006–2011); lead vocals, bass (2005–2006)
Tony O’Hora – lead and backing vocals, bass (2003–2005, 2006, 2011–2019), guitars, keyboards (2011–2019)
Peter Lincoln – bass, lead and backing vocals (2006–2019)
Timeline
Discography
Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be (1971)
Sweet Fanny Adams (1974)
Desolation Boulevard (1974)
Give Us a Wink (1976)
Off the Record (1977)
Level Headed (1978)
Cut Above the Rest (1979)
Waters Edge (titled Sweet VI with a different cover in the U.S.) (1980)
Identity Crisis (1982)
Sweetlife (2002) by Andy Scott's Sweet
Isolation Boulevard (2020) by Andy Scott's Sweet
References
Bibliography
(2008 eBook available at )
External links
Channel 4 documentary on The Sweet from 1996
English hard rock musical groups
English glam rock groups
Musical groups established in 1968
Capitol Records artists
Polydor Records artists
RCA Records artists
1968 establishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups disestablished in 1982
1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Musical groups reestablished in 1985
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom | false | [
"\"What a Night\" is a song performed by British band, Loveable Rogues. It was their debut single and was intended to feature on a debut album. The single was released in Ireland and the United Kingdom on 19 April 2013. The band were dropped from Syco in October 2013, but the single was featured on their debut album This and That, released in 2014 on Super Duper Records.\n\nBackground\nLoveable Rogues first announced that they're signed to Syco on June, 2012. In late 2012, the band released a free mixtape through their Soundcloud channel. The collection of songs was released as a free download and was called 'First Things First'. \"What A Night\" was previewed along with new songs such as \"Maybe Baby\", \"Talking Monkeys\" and \"Honest\".\n\nMusic video\n\nTwo teaser videos were released before the music video. The first teaser video was uploaded to their Vevo channel on 11 February 2013. The second teaser released two days after or a week before the music video released; on 19 February 2013, the music video was uploaded to their Vevo channel.\nThe video features the band having a night party with their friends.\n\nChart performance\n\"What a Night\" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 9 on 27 April 2013 after debuting at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart Update.\n\nTrack listing\nDigital download\n What a Night - 2:50\n Nuthouse - 3:58\n What a Night (feat. Lucky Mason) Sonny J Mason Remix] - 3:41\n What a Night (Supasound Radio Remix) - 2:42\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2013 debut singles\n2013 songs\nSyco Music singles\nSong recordings produced by Red Triangle (production team)\nSongs written by Rick Parkhouse\nSongs written by George Tizzard",
"\"What Christmas Means to Me\" is the name of several different Christmas songs. The most-covered version was written by Allen Story, Anna Gordy Gaye, and George Gordy. It has been recorded by many artists, including:\n\n Stevie Wonder (1967) on Someday at Christmas \n Paul Young (1992) on A Very Special Christmas 2 \n Hanson (1997) on Snowed In \n Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen with Sean Holt (1999) on Cool Yule: A Christmas Party With Friends \n En Vogue (2002) on The Gift of Christmas \n Holiday Express (2002) on Live \n Jessica Simpson (2004) on ReJoyce: The Christmas Album \n Natalie Grant (2005) on Believe \n Charm City Sound (2007) on Christmas Lights \n Darlene Love (2007) on It's Christmas, Of Course \n Mandisa (2007) on Christmas Joy EP - also appeared on It's Christmas in 2008 \n Jason Yeager (2008) on My Christmas Wish \n Overboard (2008) on Tidings \n Sensational Soul Cruisers (2008) on Save Your Soul EP\n Rahsaan Patterson (2008) on The Ultimate Gift \n Michael McDonald (2009) on This Christmas - listed as \"That's What Christmas Means to Me\"\n Karel King (2010) on Lights, Love, and Laughter \n Trijntje Oosterhuis (2010) on This Is The Season \n University of Wisconsin Madhatters (2010) on Cheer On Tap\n Nick Lachey featuring The Sing-Off Contestants (2010) on The Sing Off: Season 2, Episode 5, The Finale\n Coastline (2011) on An Undeniably Merry Coastline Christmas \n J Grace (2011) on Christmas Eve \n Cee Lo Green (2012) on Cee Lo's Magic Moment \n The Empty Pockets (2012) on A Holiday Staycation\n Rhonda Thomas (2012) on Little Drummer Girl \n Klarc Whitson\n Sugarlick\n Sugar Beats on A Sugar Beats Christmas - Cool Christmas Songs for Kids \n Ballroom Orchestra & Singers\n Jennette McCurdy in the 2012 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.\n Two Angels (2013) on \"How Angels celebrate Christmas\"\n Train (2015) on Christmas in Tahoe\n The Mrs (2015) single release\n Straight No Chaser (2016) on I'll Have Another... Christmas Album\n Pentatonix (2018) on Christmas Is Here!\n John Legend (2018) on A Legendary Christmas\n Gaia (2021) single release\n\nSimilar titles\n \"What Christmas Means to Me\" - written by Chiquita Mullins, Claude Hill, Moses Dillard, and Sharon Michalsky\n Al Green (1983) on The Christmas Album - also appeared on White Christmas in 1986\n \"What Christmas Means to Me\" - written by Steve Romanoff \n Schooner Fare (1987) on Home for the Holidays\n \"What Christmas Means to Me\" - written by Joey Miskulin \n Frankie Yankovic (1994) on Christmas Memories\n \"What Christmas Means to Me\" - written by Bob Stewart \n Karen Newman (1994) on What Christmas Means to Me\n \"What Christmas Means to Me\" - written by Amayz\n Amayz (2007) on Everyday Like Christmas\n \"That's What Christmas Means to Me\" - written by Nick Acquaviva and Ted Varnick\n Eddie Fisher (1952) on Christmas with Eddie Fisher\n \"That's What Christmas Means to Me\" - written by Wendell B\n Wendell B (2007) on Save a Little Room for Me\n \"That's What Christmas Means to Me\" - written by Harry Revel\n Featured in the film It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)\n \"That's What Christmas Means to Me\" - written by Jerome Schoolar \n Biscuit Brothers (2007) on Have a Merry Musical Christmas\n\nReferences\n\n1967 songs\nAmerican Christmas songs\nJessica Simpson songs\nStevie Wonder songs\nSongs written by Anna Gordy Gaye\nSongs written by George Gordy"
]
|
[
"Seether",
"Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2010-2013)"
]
| C_f7cdb618f1504e78802bd5a4241c3125_0 | when was this? | 1 | when was Seether's Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray tour? | Seether | The band spent several months recording in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brendan O'Brien, then resumed touring in April 2010 with the intention of returning to the studio "in the first week of June" to complete the new record. Drummer John Humphrey confirmed in August that recording was completed, and the album was in the mixing process. He said that the band believed this album to be their best work, and that the songs are "very strong, melodic, and heavy at times." Morgan confirmed the album's completion in September, and gave the expected release date as early 2011. A new song, "No Resolution", was debuted on 4 September 2010, during a live show at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. McLawhorn and Humphrey, in a radio interview, announced that the new album would be titled Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, and that it would be released in May. The album's first single, "Country Song", was released on 8 March in the US and on 4 April in the United Kingdom, and the new album was released on 17 May 2011. Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding On to Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. It also reached number one on the US Rock Albums, US Alternative Albums and US Hard Rock Album Charts. Their single-week sales of 61,000 records was their best since Karma and Effect sold 82,000 copies in 2005. Billboard named Seether the No. 1 Active and No. 1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011. A remix EP of the Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album, titled Remix EP, was released on 7 February 2012. Troy McLawhorn's departure from the band and return to Evanescence was announced on 8 March. Seether performed live in Cincinnati, Ohio on 10 May, and in South Bend, Indiana on 11 May. Both concerts were recorded, and released as a limited edition CD set for each individual city. Seether played main stage on the Uproar Festival alongside bands Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate, and supported 3 Doors Down on their European tour from November to March. On 3 September 2013, the band announced the name of a compilation album, titled Seether: 2002-2013. The album was released on 29 October 2013 as a 2-disc album, featuring some of Seether's greatest hits, unreleased demos, soundtrack songs, and 3 all-new tracks, including a cover of Veruca Salt's "Seether" (the song that the band is named after). Seether: 2002-2013 also contains two new recorded songs ("Safe To Say I've Had Enough" and "Weak") and was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band released a 15-second demo clip for the song "Safe To Say I've Had Enough" on loudwire.com. The band also carried out a small, semi-acoustic tour of Europe and South Africa. On 30 November 2013 Seether released a 3-track single "Goodbye Tonight" featuring Van Coke Kartel & Jon Savage. The song is also featured on Deluxe edition of "Isolate and Medicate". CANNOTANSWER | album was released on 17 May 2011. | Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng. The band originally performed under the name "Saron Gas" until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion with the deadly chemical known as sarin gas. Lead vocalist and guitarist Shaun Morgan is the band's longest serving member, bassist Dale Stewart joined shortly after formation while drummer John Humphrey joined them for the band's second album. Since 2018, the band has been employing second guitarist Corey Lowery. Several notable guitarists like Corey's brother Clint and Troy McLawhorn have toured or recorded with the band, however, Shaun has recorded most guitar parts for the band's records.
Seether gained mainstream popularity in 2002 with their US Active Rock number one single "Fine Again". Their success was sustained in 2004 with the single "Broken", which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. They have experienced continued success with many number one hits on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, such as "Remedy", "Fake It", "Country Song", "Tonight", "Words as Weapons", "Let You Down" and "Dangerous", "Bruised and Bloodied", and "Wasteland". The band has released eight studio albums; their most recent, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, was released on 28 August 2020.
History
Formation as Saron Gas (1999–2001)
The band formed in South Africa in May 1999 under the name Saron Gas. Consisting of frontman, vocalist, and guitarist Shaun Morgan, bassist Tyronne Morris (who left the band in December 1999 and was replaced by Dale Stewart in January 2000), and drummer Dave Cohoe, the band released their first album, Fragile, in October 2000 under Johannesburg-based independent record label Musketeer Records. Despite the region's focus primarily on pop and indigenous music, the band found success, and eventually caught attention of American record label Wind-up Records, who gave them a record deal to begin releasing music in North America. Upon signing to the label, they were told they needed to change their name due to its similarity to sarin gas, and switched to calling themselves Seether, after the Veruca Salt song.
Disclaimer releases (2002–2004)
In August 2002, Seether launched their first official album, Disclaimer, which earned the band three singles: "Fine Again", "Driven Under", and "Gasoline", in which only the first managed significant success. After the release of Disclaimer, the band toured constantly. Near the end of the Disclaimer Tour, they decided to return to the studio to record their second album, a project that had to be delayed by almost a year, since at that time Seether was on a world tour with Evanescence. "Fine Again" was also included in the video games Madden NFL 2003 in 2002 and 1080° Avalanche in 2003.
Following the release of Disclaimer, the band toured continually in order to increase sales and gain name recognition. A planned second album was delayed for nearly a year when Seether was selected as the support act for an Evanescence worldwide tour. Seether reworked their acoustic ballad "Broken" into an electric ballad with guest vocals by Amy Lee of Evanescence. Favourable audience response led the band to record the revised version, with Lee on vocals. The track, along with a new song entitled "Sold Me", was featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 film The Punisher, and became a major success for the band, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. A romance developed between Lee and Morgan during this time.
Morgan has stated that the reworking of "Broken" was due to the wishes of the record company rather than those of the band. An alternate version of the original album, with many of its songs remixed or re-recorded, was released in June 2004 and entitled Disclaimer II. The alternate version also featured eight extra tracks.
Karma and Effect (2005–2006)
Seether's follow-up album, Karma and Effect, was released in May 2005. Originally titled Catering to Cowards, the name was changed due to the record label's demand. Karma and Effect debuted at number 8 on the US Billboard 200 album charts and was certified gold in the US and Canada. The album spawned three singles, "Remedy", "Truth", and "The Gift". "Remedy" reached number 1 on the US Mainstream Rock Charts, Seether's first number 1 hit.
Seether released an acoustic CD/DVD set titled One Cold Night, recorded at the Grape Street Club in Philadelphia, on 22 February 2006. Morgan had been suffering from a stomach ailment, and decided to do an acoustic performance of their set rather than cancel the show. The exclusion of "Needles" and "Burrito" from the album is due to the label's desire that it contain no obscenities.
Guitarist Patrick Callahan's departure from the band was announced on 15 June 2006. His last performance with them was on 3 June. Pat was later interviewed on a radio show in Philadelphia where he said his departure was not anything musical, but he and the singer Shaun had a "personality" clash and were not seeing eye to eye, and just couldn't work things out, but was still very friendly with the other two members. Pat also did not like certain band decisions. One example was the band being on the Punisher and Daredevil soundtrack in which he did not like the lineup of bands they were associated with. Shaun Morgan himself later commented on Pat's departure:
"Um... relieved a little... actually a lot. He was the guy in the band that was always our naysayer, and he was the negative energy as far as writing. I personally have no love lost, which is weird for some reason 'cause he was my friend for four years. But when he walked out, it kinda walked out with him."
Morgan entered a rehabilitation program for what he felt was "dependence on a combination of substances" in August 2006, which forced the band to cancel a tour with Staind and Three Days Grace.
Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007–2009)
Shaun Morgan, prior to the next album's release, claimed that it would be more diverse than previous efforts. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces was slated for an August 2007 release but was delayed until 23 October 2007 due to the suicide of Morgan's brother, Eugene Welgemoed. The album debuted at number 9 in the Billboard 200 album charts, and sold 57,000 copies in its first week. Its cover artwork featured "Candice the Ghost", and was illustrated by David Ho. The first single, "Fake It", reached the top position of the US Mainstream Rock Charts and Modern Rock Charts, and held that spot for at least 9 weeks on both charts. It became the theme for WWE's No Way Out (2008). "Rise Above This", written for Eugene Welgemoed, was released as a single and reached the No. 1 spot on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and No. 2 on its mainstream counterpart, Mainstream Rock Songs. The final single from the album was "Breakdown", the video for which was released on 12 November 2008 after a delay from its original scheduled release date of 23 October. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces won Seether's first South African Music Award in the category "Best Rock: English", as well as their first MTV Africa Music Award for "Best Alternative Artist".
A tour launched in support of the album in early 2008 lasted much of the year. Troy McLawhorn of Dark New Day, Evanescence, and doubleDrive was hired as a touring guitarist on 15 February 2008. Bands Seether shared the stage with on the tour included Three Days Grace, Finger Eleven, Breaking Benjamin, 3 Doors Down, Skillet, Red, Papa Roach, Flyleaf, Econoline Crush, and Staind. McLawhorn was afterwards made an official member of the band.
"No Shelter" appeared on the NCIS Official TV Soundtrack, released on 10 February 2009, and a version of George Michael's "Careless Whisper" was made available for purchase as a digital or mobile download. The song was reportedly covered as a joke, in which the band turned an "80s pop ballad" into a hard rock/metal song in response to Wind-up's request that they record a Valentine's Day song. The music video for "Careless Whisper" premiered on 15 June 2009, and the song is included as an additional track on the reissue of Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces.
Seether supported Nickelback on their Dark Horse tour in March and April 2009. Shaun and Dale confirmed in an interview on 2 March 2009 that, after the Nickelback tour, Seether would take the rest of year off to write and record the follow-up to Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces. The band nevertheless gave performances through the remainder of the year, which included a date in Okinawa to play for American troops as part of a USO tour on 23 and 24 May at Camp Schwab, and then in MCAS Iwakuni on 26 May for the US Marines. Seether also made appearances at a number of festivals during the summer, including sets at the Chippewa Valley Music Festival and the Quebec City Festival, before the tour's conclusion at The Big E Festival, West Springfield, Massachusetts, on 4 October.
Seether covered the song "I've Got You Under My Skin" on the Frank Sinatra tribute album His Way, Our Way, which came out on 7 July 2009.
Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2010–2013)
The band spent several months recording in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brendan O'Brien, then resumed touring in April 2010 with the intention of returning to the studio "in the first week of June" to complete the new record. Drummer John Humphrey confirmed in August that recording was completed, and the album was in the mixing process. He said that the band believed this album to be their best work, and that the songs are "very strong, melodic, and heavy at times". Morgan confirmed the album's completion in September, and gave the expected release date as early 2011. A new song, "No Resolution", was debuted on 4 September 2010, during a live show at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. McLawhorn and Humphrey, in a radio interview, announced that the new album would be titled Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, and that it would be released in May. The album's first single, "Country Song", was released on 8 March in the US and on 4 April in the United Kingdom, and the new album was released on 17 May 2011. Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. It also reached number one on the US Rock Albums, US Alternative Albums, and US Hard Rock Album Charts. Their single-week sales of 61,000 records was their best since Karma and Effect sold 82,000 copies in 2005. Billboard named Seether the No. 1 Active and No. 1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011. A remix EP of the Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album, titled Remix EP, was released on 7 February 2012.
Troy McLawhorn's departure from the band and return to Evanescence was announced on 8 March. Seether performed live in Cincinnati, Ohio on 10 May, and in South Bend, Indiana on 11 May. Both concerts were recorded, and released as a limited edition CD set for each individual city. The band played main stage at the Uproar Festival alongside Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate, and supported 3 Doors Down on their European tour from November to March.
On 3 September 2013, Seether announced the name of a compilation album, titled Seether: 2002-2013. It was released on 29 October 2013 as a 2-disc album featuring some of the band's greatest hits, unreleased demos, soundtrack songs, and 3 all-new tracks, including a cover of Veruca Salt's "Seether" (the song that the band is named after). Seether: 2002-2013 also contains two new recorded songs ("Safe to Say I've Had Enough" and "Weak") and was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band released a 15-second demo clip for the song "Safe to Say I've Had Enough" on loudwire.com. They also carried out a small, semi-acoustic tour of Europe and South Africa.
On 30 November 2013, Seether released a 3-track single titled "Goodbye Tonight", featuring Van Coke Kartel & Jon Savage. The song is also featured on the deluxe edition of their follow-up album Isolate and Medicate.
Isolate and Medicate (2014–2016)
In a 2013 Twitter interview, bassist Dale Stewart confirmed that the band was writing songs for their next album. During an AmA (askmeanything) interview on Reddit.com, Shaun Morgan stated that the band was "In the studio getting ready for our new album..."
On 24 April 2014, it was revealed that the album Isolate and Medicate would be released on 1 July 2014, with the lead single "Words as Weapons" slated for release on 1 May 2014.
On 29 April 2014, Bryan Wickmann was announced as the new touring guitarist. Wickmann was the band's long-time guitar tech, as well as Isolate and Medicates cover art creator, and a former art director of Schecter Guitar Research.
On 17 May 2014, Seether performed their first single, "Words as Weapons," from the album Isolate and Medicate, live at the Orbit Room in front of 1,700 fans. The band released a music video for the album's second single, "Same Damn Life," on 30 October 2014. The video was directed by Nathan Cox. In late May and early June, Seether announced European tour dates in September, along with several stops in the UK. On 7 July, Seether kicked off their summer tour with 3 Doors Down.
Poison the Parish (2016–2018)
On 13 September 2016, Seether shared pictures of them recording a new album on social media. They announced in November that they were to release their seventh album in May 2017. A countdown timer later started on Seether's website, counting down to 23 February 2017.
Morgan appeared on Octane on 22 February to discuss the new record, entitled Poison the Parish. Jose Mangin stated that the new material is looking to be "harder than anything they've done". The album was released through Morgan's label Canine Riot Records. Three singles, "Let You Down", "Betray and Degrade", and "Against the Wall", were released in support of the album, all charting significantly on the Billboard Mainstream Rock songs chart.
In May, July, and August 2017, the band toured throughout the United States with American hard rock band Letters from the Fire, adding guitarist Clint Lowery (Sevendust, Dark New Day) to the touring lineup. They recorded a cover of "Black Honey" by American post-hardcore band Thrice during a live session for SiriusXM in June 2017. In February 2018, Clint Lowery returned to Sevendust to begin touring and promoting their album All I See Is War. His brother and former Dark New Day's bassist, Corey, took over his duties as Seether's touring guitarist. The band then supported Nickelback on their eight-week Feed the Machine European and UK tour. Before the tour ended, Lowery became a full-time member of the band. On 20 May 2018, Seether played in their hometown of Johannesburg for the first time in six years. On 6 June 2018, they released an acoustic version of "Against the Wall," along with an accompanying music video.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (2019–present)
In June 2019, John Humphrey revealed that recording had commenced for their upcoming eighth studio album. On 24 June 2020, the band announced their eighth studio album, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, set for release on 28 August 2020 through Fantasy Records. They also released the first single of the album, "Dangerous". Translating to "If You Want Peace, Prepare for War", the album features 13 new tracks, and was produced by Morgan himself in Nashville, Tennessee from December 2019 to January 2020. On 17 July, the band released the second single, "Bruised and Bloodied". On 14 August, two weeks before the album release, the band released their third single "Beg".
In July 2021, the band released an EP titled Wasteland – The Purgatory.
Musical style and influences
Seether's musical style has been described as post-grunge, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. The band is heavily influenced by American grunge groups such as Nirvana and Alice in Chains. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote "Seether's lead singer/songwriter, Shaun Morgan, is an unabashed, unapologetic worshiper of Kurt Cobain, using Nirvana's sound as a template for Seether." Seether have also been influenced by Deftones and Nine Inch Nails. Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum in particular takes heavy influence from the bands A Perfect Circle and Deftones.
Band membersCurrent Shaun Morgan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano ; lead guitar
Dale Stewart – bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar
John Humphrey – drums, percussion
Corey Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals Former Johan Greyling – lead guitar
Tyronne Morris – bass
David "Dave" Cohoe – drums, backing vocals
Nick Oshiro – drums
Pat Callahan – lead guitar
Troy McLawhorn – lead guitar, backing vocals Former touring musicians Nic Argyros – drums
John Johnston – drums
Erik Eldenius – drums
Nick Annis – guitar
Kevin Soffera – drums, backing vocals
Brian Tichy – drums
Bryan Wickman – lead guitar, backing vocals
Clint Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals Timeline'''
DiscographyDisclaimer (2002)Disclaimer II (2004)Karma and Effect (2005)Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007)Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2011)Isolate and Medicate (2014)Poison the Parish (2017)Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum'' (2020)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Alternative metal musical groups
Nu metal musical groups
Musical groups established in 1999
Post-grunge groups
South African alternative rock groups
South African hard rock musical groups
Wind-up Records artists
1999 establishments in South Africa
People from Pretoria | true | [
"That Was Then This Is Now may refer to:\n\nThat Was Then, This Is Now, a 1971 novel by S. E. Hinton\nThat Was Then... This Is Now, a 1985 film based on Hinton's novel\nThat Was Then, This Is Now (radio series), a BBC Radio 2 comedy sketch series\n\nMusic \nThat Was Then, This Is Now (Tha Dogg Pound album), 2009\n\"That Was Then, This Is Now\" (The James Cleaver Quintet album), 2011\nThat Was Then This Is Now (Wain McFarlane album), 2001\nThat Was Then, This Is Now, Vol. 1 (1999) and That Was Then, This Is Now, Vol. 2 (2000), studio albums by American rapper Frost\nThat Was Then, This Is Now (Andy Timmons album), an album by Andy Timmons\n\"That Was Then, This Is Now\" (song), a 1986 song by The Mosquitos, also covered by The Monkees\nThat Was Then, This Is Now, an album by Chasen\nThat Was Then, This Is Now (Josh Wilson album), 2015\n\nSee also\n\"That Was Then but This Is Now\", a 1983 song by ABC\nIf Not Now Then When?, an album by Ethan Johns\nIf Not Now Then When, an album by The Motels\nIf Not Now, When? (disambiguation)",
"The 1976 Horsham District Council election took place on 6 May 1976 to elect members of Horsham District Council in England. It was held on the same day as other local elections. The Conservatives won a majority of 9 on the council, gaining from Independent. In a number of seats, candidates who stood as an Independent in 1973, when these seats were last contested, stood again as a Conservative Party candidate. Residents' association won their first seat to the council, winning a seat in Henfield. The Liberal Party lost both of their seats from the previous election three years ago.\n\nCouncil Composition \n\nPrior to the election, the composition of the council was:\n\nAfter the election, the composition of the council was:\n\nResults summary\n\nWard results\n\nAshington & Washington\n\nBillingshurst\n\nGriffin C. stood as a Conservative candidate and Longhurst K. stood as an Independent in 1973, when this seat was last contested.\n\nBramber & Upper Beeding\n\nBroadbridge Heath\n\nCowfold\n\nHenfield\n\nHorsham South\n\nHorsham West\n\nHorsham North\n\nNuthurst\n\nMackenzie J. was elected as an Independent unopposed when this seat was last contested.\n\nPulborough & Coldwatham\n\nRoffey\n\nBosanquet D. was elected as an Independent in 1973, when this seat was last contested.\n\nRudgwick\n\nRusper\n\nPhelps A. Ms. was elected unopposed as an Independent in 1973, when this seat was last contested.\n\nShipley\n\nSlinfold\n\nSouthwater\n\nSteyning\n\nStorrington\n\nSullington\n\nThakeham\n\nWarnham\n\nHodgson A. was elected unopposed as an Independent in 1973, when this seat was last contested.\n\nWest Chiltington\n\nGardner J. was elected unopposed as an Independent in 1973, when this seat was last contested.\n\nWest Grinstead\n\nReferences\n\n1976 English local elections\nMay 1976 events in the United Kingdom\n1976\n1970s in West Sussex"
]
|
[
"Seether",
"Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2010-2013)",
"when was this?",
"album was released on 17 May 2011."
]
| C_f7cdb618f1504e78802bd5a4241c3125_0 | what was the Album's name? | 2 | what was the Seether Album's name that was released in May of 2011? | Seether | The band spent several months recording in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brendan O'Brien, then resumed touring in April 2010 with the intention of returning to the studio "in the first week of June" to complete the new record. Drummer John Humphrey confirmed in August that recording was completed, and the album was in the mixing process. He said that the band believed this album to be their best work, and that the songs are "very strong, melodic, and heavy at times." Morgan confirmed the album's completion in September, and gave the expected release date as early 2011. A new song, "No Resolution", was debuted on 4 September 2010, during a live show at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. McLawhorn and Humphrey, in a radio interview, announced that the new album would be titled Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, and that it would be released in May. The album's first single, "Country Song", was released on 8 March in the US and on 4 April in the United Kingdom, and the new album was released on 17 May 2011. Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding On to Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. It also reached number one on the US Rock Albums, US Alternative Albums and US Hard Rock Album Charts. Their single-week sales of 61,000 records was their best since Karma and Effect sold 82,000 copies in 2005. Billboard named Seether the No. 1 Active and No. 1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011. A remix EP of the Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album, titled Remix EP, was released on 7 February 2012. Troy McLawhorn's departure from the band and return to Evanescence was announced on 8 March. Seether performed live in Cincinnati, Ohio on 10 May, and in South Bend, Indiana on 11 May. Both concerts were recorded, and released as a limited edition CD set for each individual city. Seether played main stage on the Uproar Festival alongside bands Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate, and supported 3 Doors Down on their European tour from November to March. On 3 September 2013, the band announced the name of a compilation album, titled Seether: 2002-2013. The album was released on 29 October 2013 as a 2-disc album, featuring some of Seether's greatest hits, unreleased demos, soundtrack songs, and 3 all-new tracks, including a cover of Veruca Salt's "Seether" (the song that the band is named after). Seether: 2002-2013 also contains two new recorded songs ("Safe To Say I've Had Enough" and "Weak") and was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band released a 15-second demo clip for the song "Safe To Say I've Had Enough" on loudwire.com. The band also carried out a small, semi-acoustic tour of Europe and South Africa. On 30 November 2013 Seether released a 3-track single "Goodbye Tonight" featuring Van Coke Kartel & Jon Savage. The song is also featured on Deluxe edition of "Isolate and Medicate". CANNOTANSWER | Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, | Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng. The band originally performed under the name "Saron Gas" until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion with the deadly chemical known as sarin gas. Lead vocalist and guitarist Shaun Morgan is the band's longest serving member, bassist Dale Stewart joined shortly after formation while drummer John Humphrey joined them for the band's second album. Since 2018, the band has been employing second guitarist Corey Lowery. Several notable guitarists like Corey's brother Clint and Troy McLawhorn have toured or recorded with the band, however, Shaun has recorded most guitar parts for the band's records.
Seether gained mainstream popularity in 2002 with their US Active Rock number one single "Fine Again". Their success was sustained in 2004 with the single "Broken", which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. They have experienced continued success with many number one hits on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, such as "Remedy", "Fake It", "Country Song", "Tonight", "Words as Weapons", "Let You Down" and "Dangerous", "Bruised and Bloodied", and "Wasteland". The band has released eight studio albums; their most recent, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, was released on 28 August 2020.
History
Formation as Saron Gas (1999–2001)
The band formed in South Africa in May 1999 under the name Saron Gas. Consisting of frontman, vocalist, and guitarist Shaun Morgan, bassist Tyronne Morris (who left the band in December 1999 and was replaced by Dale Stewart in January 2000), and drummer Dave Cohoe, the band released their first album, Fragile, in October 2000 under Johannesburg-based independent record label Musketeer Records. Despite the region's focus primarily on pop and indigenous music, the band found success, and eventually caught attention of American record label Wind-up Records, who gave them a record deal to begin releasing music in North America. Upon signing to the label, they were told they needed to change their name due to its similarity to sarin gas, and switched to calling themselves Seether, after the Veruca Salt song.
Disclaimer releases (2002–2004)
In August 2002, Seether launched their first official album, Disclaimer, which earned the band three singles: "Fine Again", "Driven Under", and "Gasoline", in which only the first managed significant success. After the release of Disclaimer, the band toured constantly. Near the end of the Disclaimer Tour, they decided to return to the studio to record their second album, a project that had to be delayed by almost a year, since at that time Seether was on a world tour with Evanescence. "Fine Again" was also included in the video games Madden NFL 2003 in 2002 and 1080° Avalanche in 2003.
Following the release of Disclaimer, the band toured continually in order to increase sales and gain name recognition. A planned second album was delayed for nearly a year when Seether was selected as the support act for an Evanescence worldwide tour. Seether reworked their acoustic ballad "Broken" into an electric ballad with guest vocals by Amy Lee of Evanescence. Favourable audience response led the band to record the revised version, with Lee on vocals. The track, along with a new song entitled "Sold Me", was featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 film The Punisher, and became a major success for the band, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. A romance developed between Lee and Morgan during this time.
Morgan has stated that the reworking of "Broken" was due to the wishes of the record company rather than those of the band. An alternate version of the original album, with many of its songs remixed or re-recorded, was released in June 2004 and entitled Disclaimer II. The alternate version also featured eight extra tracks.
Karma and Effect (2005–2006)
Seether's follow-up album, Karma and Effect, was released in May 2005. Originally titled Catering to Cowards, the name was changed due to the record label's demand. Karma and Effect debuted at number 8 on the US Billboard 200 album charts and was certified gold in the US and Canada. The album spawned three singles, "Remedy", "Truth", and "The Gift". "Remedy" reached number 1 on the US Mainstream Rock Charts, Seether's first number 1 hit.
Seether released an acoustic CD/DVD set titled One Cold Night, recorded at the Grape Street Club in Philadelphia, on 22 February 2006. Morgan had been suffering from a stomach ailment, and decided to do an acoustic performance of their set rather than cancel the show. The exclusion of "Needles" and "Burrito" from the album is due to the label's desire that it contain no obscenities.
Guitarist Patrick Callahan's departure from the band was announced on 15 June 2006. His last performance with them was on 3 June. Pat was later interviewed on a radio show in Philadelphia where he said his departure was not anything musical, but he and the singer Shaun had a "personality" clash and were not seeing eye to eye, and just couldn't work things out, but was still very friendly with the other two members. Pat also did not like certain band decisions. One example was the band being on the Punisher and Daredevil soundtrack in which he did not like the lineup of bands they were associated with. Shaun Morgan himself later commented on Pat's departure:
"Um... relieved a little... actually a lot. He was the guy in the band that was always our naysayer, and he was the negative energy as far as writing. I personally have no love lost, which is weird for some reason 'cause he was my friend for four years. But when he walked out, it kinda walked out with him."
Morgan entered a rehabilitation program for what he felt was "dependence on a combination of substances" in August 2006, which forced the band to cancel a tour with Staind and Three Days Grace.
Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007–2009)
Shaun Morgan, prior to the next album's release, claimed that it would be more diverse than previous efforts. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces was slated for an August 2007 release but was delayed until 23 October 2007 due to the suicide of Morgan's brother, Eugene Welgemoed. The album debuted at number 9 in the Billboard 200 album charts, and sold 57,000 copies in its first week. Its cover artwork featured "Candice the Ghost", and was illustrated by David Ho. The first single, "Fake It", reached the top position of the US Mainstream Rock Charts and Modern Rock Charts, and held that spot for at least 9 weeks on both charts. It became the theme for WWE's No Way Out (2008). "Rise Above This", written for Eugene Welgemoed, was released as a single and reached the No. 1 spot on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and No. 2 on its mainstream counterpart, Mainstream Rock Songs. The final single from the album was "Breakdown", the video for which was released on 12 November 2008 after a delay from its original scheduled release date of 23 October. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces won Seether's first South African Music Award in the category "Best Rock: English", as well as their first MTV Africa Music Award for "Best Alternative Artist".
A tour launched in support of the album in early 2008 lasted much of the year. Troy McLawhorn of Dark New Day, Evanescence, and doubleDrive was hired as a touring guitarist on 15 February 2008. Bands Seether shared the stage with on the tour included Three Days Grace, Finger Eleven, Breaking Benjamin, 3 Doors Down, Skillet, Red, Papa Roach, Flyleaf, Econoline Crush, and Staind. McLawhorn was afterwards made an official member of the band.
"No Shelter" appeared on the NCIS Official TV Soundtrack, released on 10 February 2009, and a version of George Michael's "Careless Whisper" was made available for purchase as a digital or mobile download. The song was reportedly covered as a joke, in which the band turned an "80s pop ballad" into a hard rock/metal song in response to Wind-up's request that they record a Valentine's Day song. The music video for "Careless Whisper" premiered on 15 June 2009, and the song is included as an additional track on the reissue of Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces.
Seether supported Nickelback on their Dark Horse tour in March and April 2009. Shaun and Dale confirmed in an interview on 2 March 2009 that, after the Nickelback tour, Seether would take the rest of year off to write and record the follow-up to Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces. The band nevertheless gave performances through the remainder of the year, which included a date in Okinawa to play for American troops as part of a USO tour on 23 and 24 May at Camp Schwab, and then in MCAS Iwakuni on 26 May for the US Marines. Seether also made appearances at a number of festivals during the summer, including sets at the Chippewa Valley Music Festival and the Quebec City Festival, before the tour's conclusion at The Big E Festival, West Springfield, Massachusetts, on 4 October.
Seether covered the song "I've Got You Under My Skin" on the Frank Sinatra tribute album His Way, Our Way, which came out on 7 July 2009.
Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2010–2013)
The band spent several months recording in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brendan O'Brien, then resumed touring in April 2010 with the intention of returning to the studio "in the first week of June" to complete the new record. Drummer John Humphrey confirmed in August that recording was completed, and the album was in the mixing process. He said that the band believed this album to be their best work, and that the songs are "very strong, melodic, and heavy at times". Morgan confirmed the album's completion in September, and gave the expected release date as early 2011. A new song, "No Resolution", was debuted on 4 September 2010, during a live show at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. McLawhorn and Humphrey, in a radio interview, announced that the new album would be titled Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, and that it would be released in May. The album's first single, "Country Song", was released on 8 March in the US and on 4 April in the United Kingdom, and the new album was released on 17 May 2011. Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. It also reached number one on the US Rock Albums, US Alternative Albums, and US Hard Rock Album Charts. Their single-week sales of 61,000 records was their best since Karma and Effect sold 82,000 copies in 2005. Billboard named Seether the No. 1 Active and No. 1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011. A remix EP of the Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album, titled Remix EP, was released on 7 February 2012.
Troy McLawhorn's departure from the band and return to Evanescence was announced on 8 March. Seether performed live in Cincinnati, Ohio on 10 May, and in South Bend, Indiana on 11 May. Both concerts were recorded, and released as a limited edition CD set for each individual city. The band played main stage at the Uproar Festival alongside Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate, and supported 3 Doors Down on their European tour from November to March.
On 3 September 2013, Seether announced the name of a compilation album, titled Seether: 2002-2013. It was released on 29 October 2013 as a 2-disc album featuring some of the band's greatest hits, unreleased demos, soundtrack songs, and 3 all-new tracks, including a cover of Veruca Salt's "Seether" (the song that the band is named after). Seether: 2002-2013 also contains two new recorded songs ("Safe to Say I've Had Enough" and "Weak") and was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band released a 15-second demo clip for the song "Safe to Say I've Had Enough" on loudwire.com. They also carried out a small, semi-acoustic tour of Europe and South Africa.
On 30 November 2013, Seether released a 3-track single titled "Goodbye Tonight", featuring Van Coke Kartel & Jon Savage. The song is also featured on the deluxe edition of their follow-up album Isolate and Medicate.
Isolate and Medicate (2014–2016)
In a 2013 Twitter interview, bassist Dale Stewart confirmed that the band was writing songs for their next album. During an AmA (askmeanything) interview on Reddit.com, Shaun Morgan stated that the band was "In the studio getting ready for our new album..."
On 24 April 2014, it was revealed that the album Isolate and Medicate would be released on 1 July 2014, with the lead single "Words as Weapons" slated for release on 1 May 2014.
On 29 April 2014, Bryan Wickmann was announced as the new touring guitarist. Wickmann was the band's long-time guitar tech, as well as Isolate and Medicates cover art creator, and a former art director of Schecter Guitar Research.
On 17 May 2014, Seether performed their first single, "Words as Weapons," from the album Isolate and Medicate, live at the Orbit Room in front of 1,700 fans. The band released a music video for the album's second single, "Same Damn Life," on 30 October 2014. The video was directed by Nathan Cox. In late May and early June, Seether announced European tour dates in September, along with several stops in the UK. On 7 July, Seether kicked off their summer tour with 3 Doors Down.
Poison the Parish (2016–2018)
On 13 September 2016, Seether shared pictures of them recording a new album on social media. They announced in November that they were to release their seventh album in May 2017. A countdown timer later started on Seether's website, counting down to 23 February 2017.
Morgan appeared on Octane on 22 February to discuss the new record, entitled Poison the Parish. Jose Mangin stated that the new material is looking to be "harder than anything they've done". The album was released through Morgan's label Canine Riot Records. Three singles, "Let You Down", "Betray and Degrade", and "Against the Wall", were released in support of the album, all charting significantly on the Billboard Mainstream Rock songs chart.
In May, July, and August 2017, the band toured throughout the United States with American hard rock band Letters from the Fire, adding guitarist Clint Lowery (Sevendust, Dark New Day) to the touring lineup. They recorded a cover of "Black Honey" by American post-hardcore band Thrice during a live session for SiriusXM in June 2017. In February 2018, Clint Lowery returned to Sevendust to begin touring and promoting their album All I See Is War. His brother and former Dark New Day's bassist, Corey, took over his duties as Seether's touring guitarist. The band then supported Nickelback on their eight-week Feed the Machine European and UK tour. Before the tour ended, Lowery became a full-time member of the band. On 20 May 2018, Seether played in their hometown of Johannesburg for the first time in six years. On 6 June 2018, they released an acoustic version of "Against the Wall," along with an accompanying music video.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (2019–present)
In June 2019, John Humphrey revealed that recording had commenced for their upcoming eighth studio album. On 24 June 2020, the band announced their eighth studio album, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, set for release on 28 August 2020 through Fantasy Records. They also released the first single of the album, "Dangerous". Translating to "If You Want Peace, Prepare for War", the album features 13 new tracks, and was produced by Morgan himself in Nashville, Tennessee from December 2019 to January 2020. On 17 July, the band released the second single, "Bruised and Bloodied". On 14 August, two weeks before the album release, the band released their third single "Beg".
In July 2021, the band released an EP titled Wasteland – The Purgatory.
Musical style and influences
Seether's musical style has been described as post-grunge, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. The band is heavily influenced by American grunge groups such as Nirvana and Alice in Chains. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote "Seether's lead singer/songwriter, Shaun Morgan, is an unabashed, unapologetic worshiper of Kurt Cobain, using Nirvana's sound as a template for Seether." Seether have also been influenced by Deftones and Nine Inch Nails. Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum in particular takes heavy influence from the bands A Perfect Circle and Deftones.
Band membersCurrent Shaun Morgan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano ; lead guitar
Dale Stewart – bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar
John Humphrey – drums, percussion
Corey Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals Former Johan Greyling – lead guitar
Tyronne Morris – bass
David "Dave" Cohoe – drums, backing vocals
Nick Oshiro – drums
Pat Callahan – lead guitar
Troy McLawhorn – lead guitar, backing vocals Former touring musicians Nic Argyros – drums
John Johnston – drums
Erik Eldenius – drums
Nick Annis – guitar
Kevin Soffera – drums, backing vocals
Brian Tichy – drums
Bryan Wickman – lead guitar, backing vocals
Clint Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals Timeline'''
DiscographyDisclaimer (2002)Disclaimer II (2004)Karma and Effect (2005)Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007)Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2011)Isolate and Medicate (2014)Poison the Parish (2017)Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum'' (2020)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Alternative metal musical groups
Nu metal musical groups
Musical groups established in 1999
Post-grunge groups
South African alternative rock groups
South African hard rock musical groups
Wind-up Records artists
1999 establishments in South Africa
People from Pretoria | true | [
"White Witch is the title of the second studio album by the group Andrea True Connection. It was released in 1977. The album had two singles: and \"N.Y., You Got Me Dancing\" and \"What's Your Name, What's Your Number\". This was the last album released by the group and the vocalist Andrea True would release a new album as a solo release only in 1980.\n\nBackground and production\nAfter the success of her first album and the gold-certified single More, More, More, the band begun to prepeare for their second release. The album production included studio musicians with a new band assembled for the tour, the second line-up, which included future Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick, it was also produce by the disco pioneers Michael Zager and Jerry Love.\n\nSingles\nThe first single of the album was \"N.Y., You Got Me Dancing\", it was released in 1977 and became True's second biggest hit, reaching No. 27 on Billboard's pop chart, and #4 on the U.S. club chart, it also peaked #89 in the Canadian RPM's chart. \"What's Your Name, What's Your Number\" was released as the second and last single of the album (and also of the group) in 1978 and reached #9 on the U.S. club chart, #34 in the UK and #56 on the Billboard Hot 100\n\nCritical reception\n\nThe album received mixed reviews from music critics. Alex Henderson from the Allmusic website gave the album two and a half stars out of five in a mixed review which he wrote that \"while White Witch isn't a bad album, it falls short of the excellence her first album, More, More, More.\" He also stated that there are a few gems in the album \"including the Michael Zager-produced \"What's Your Name, What's Your Number\" and the exuberant, Gregg Diamond-produced \"N.Y., You Got Me Dancing\"\" according to him they're both \"exercises in unapologetically campy fun.\" He concluded that the album \"LP is strictly for diehard disco collectors.\"\n\nTrack listing\nsource:\n\nReferences\n\n1977 albums\nAndrea True albums\nBuddah Records albums",
"Renditions is the debut studio album by Amelia Warner under the name Slow Moving Millie. The album features the songs 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want' which was the song for the John Lewis 2011 Christmas advert, and 'Beasts' which was used in a Virgin Media TV advert. The first eight tracks on the album are covers but 'Beasts' and 'Hart With A Crown & Chain' were written by Amelia Warner and are original tracks for the album. After the first week of release, the album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 89.\n\nSingles\n \"Beasts\" was released as the album's lead single on 14 August 2009. The song was used for a Virgin Media television commercial.\n \"Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want\" was released as the album's second single on 11 November 2011. It peaked at number 31 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was selected as the soundtrack to the John Lewis 2011 Christmas advertisement.\n\nTrack listing\n\nChart performance\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2011 albums\nUniversal Records albums\nIsland Records albums"
]
|
[
"Seether",
"Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2010-2013)",
"when was this?",
"album was released on 17 May 2011.",
"what was the Album's name?",
"Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray,"
]
| C_f7cdb618f1504e78802bd5a4241c3125_0 | when was the album released? | 3 | when was Seether's Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album released? | Seether | The band spent several months recording in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brendan O'Brien, then resumed touring in April 2010 with the intention of returning to the studio "in the first week of June" to complete the new record. Drummer John Humphrey confirmed in August that recording was completed, and the album was in the mixing process. He said that the band believed this album to be their best work, and that the songs are "very strong, melodic, and heavy at times." Morgan confirmed the album's completion in September, and gave the expected release date as early 2011. A new song, "No Resolution", was debuted on 4 September 2010, during a live show at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. McLawhorn and Humphrey, in a radio interview, announced that the new album would be titled Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, and that it would be released in May. The album's first single, "Country Song", was released on 8 March in the US and on 4 April in the United Kingdom, and the new album was released on 17 May 2011. Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding On to Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. It also reached number one on the US Rock Albums, US Alternative Albums and US Hard Rock Album Charts. Their single-week sales of 61,000 records was their best since Karma and Effect sold 82,000 copies in 2005. Billboard named Seether the No. 1 Active and No. 1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011. A remix EP of the Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album, titled Remix EP, was released on 7 February 2012. Troy McLawhorn's departure from the band and return to Evanescence was announced on 8 March. Seether performed live in Cincinnati, Ohio on 10 May, and in South Bend, Indiana on 11 May. Both concerts were recorded, and released as a limited edition CD set for each individual city. Seether played main stage on the Uproar Festival alongside bands Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate, and supported 3 Doors Down on their European tour from November to March. On 3 September 2013, the band announced the name of a compilation album, titled Seether: 2002-2013. The album was released on 29 October 2013 as a 2-disc album, featuring some of Seether's greatest hits, unreleased demos, soundtrack songs, and 3 all-new tracks, including a cover of Veruca Salt's "Seether" (the song that the band is named after). Seether: 2002-2013 also contains two new recorded songs ("Safe To Say I've Had Enough" and "Weak") and was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band released a 15-second demo clip for the song "Safe To Say I've Had Enough" on loudwire.com. The band also carried out a small, semi-acoustic tour of Europe and South Africa. On 30 November 2013 Seether released a 3-track single "Goodbye Tonight" featuring Van Coke Kartel & Jon Savage. The song is also featured on Deluxe edition of "Isolate and Medicate". CANNOTANSWER | 17 May 2011. | Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng. The band originally performed under the name "Saron Gas" until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion with the deadly chemical known as sarin gas. Lead vocalist and guitarist Shaun Morgan is the band's longest serving member, bassist Dale Stewart joined shortly after formation while drummer John Humphrey joined them for the band's second album. Since 2018, the band has been employing second guitarist Corey Lowery. Several notable guitarists like Corey's brother Clint and Troy McLawhorn have toured or recorded with the band, however, Shaun has recorded most guitar parts for the band's records.
Seether gained mainstream popularity in 2002 with their US Active Rock number one single "Fine Again". Their success was sustained in 2004 with the single "Broken", which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. They have experienced continued success with many number one hits on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, such as "Remedy", "Fake It", "Country Song", "Tonight", "Words as Weapons", "Let You Down" and "Dangerous", "Bruised and Bloodied", and "Wasteland". The band has released eight studio albums; their most recent, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, was released on 28 August 2020.
History
Formation as Saron Gas (1999–2001)
The band formed in South Africa in May 1999 under the name Saron Gas. Consisting of frontman, vocalist, and guitarist Shaun Morgan, bassist Tyronne Morris (who left the band in December 1999 and was replaced by Dale Stewart in January 2000), and drummer Dave Cohoe, the band released their first album, Fragile, in October 2000 under Johannesburg-based independent record label Musketeer Records. Despite the region's focus primarily on pop and indigenous music, the band found success, and eventually caught attention of American record label Wind-up Records, who gave them a record deal to begin releasing music in North America. Upon signing to the label, they were told they needed to change their name due to its similarity to sarin gas, and switched to calling themselves Seether, after the Veruca Salt song.
Disclaimer releases (2002–2004)
In August 2002, Seether launched their first official album, Disclaimer, which earned the band three singles: "Fine Again", "Driven Under", and "Gasoline", in which only the first managed significant success. After the release of Disclaimer, the band toured constantly. Near the end of the Disclaimer Tour, they decided to return to the studio to record their second album, a project that had to be delayed by almost a year, since at that time Seether was on a world tour with Evanescence. "Fine Again" was also included in the video games Madden NFL 2003 in 2002 and 1080° Avalanche in 2003.
Following the release of Disclaimer, the band toured continually in order to increase sales and gain name recognition. A planned second album was delayed for nearly a year when Seether was selected as the support act for an Evanescence worldwide tour. Seether reworked their acoustic ballad "Broken" into an electric ballad with guest vocals by Amy Lee of Evanescence. Favourable audience response led the band to record the revised version, with Lee on vocals. The track, along with a new song entitled "Sold Me", was featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 film The Punisher, and became a major success for the band, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. A romance developed between Lee and Morgan during this time.
Morgan has stated that the reworking of "Broken" was due to the wishes of the record company rather than those of the band. An alternate version of the original album, with many of its songs remixed or re-recorded, was released in June 2004 and entitled Disclaimer II. The alternate version also featured eight extra tracks.
Karma and Effect (2005–2006)
Seether's follow-up album, Karma and Effect, was released in May 2005. Originally titled Catering to Cowards, the name was changed due to the record label's demand. Karma and Effect debuted at number 8 on the US Billboard 200 album charts and was certified gold in the US and Canada. The album spawned three singles, "Remedy", "Truth", and "The Gift". "Remedy" reached number 1 on the US Mainstream Rock Charts, Seether's first number 1 hit.
Seether released an acoustic CD/DVD set titled One Cold Night, recorded at the Grape Street Club in Philadelphia, on 22 February 2006. Morgan had been suffering from a stomach ailment, and decided to do an acoustic performance of their set rather than cancel the show. The exclusion of "Needles" and "Burrito" from the album is due to the label's desire that it contain no obscenities.
Guitarist Patrick Callahan's departure from the band was announced on 15 June 2006. His last performance with them was on 3 June. Pat was later interviewed on a radio show in Philadelphia where he said his departure was not anything musical, but he and the singer Shaun had a "personality" clash and were not seeing eye to eye, and just couldn't work things out, but was still very friendly with the other two members. Pat also did not like certain band decisions. One example was the band being on the Punisher and Daredevil soundtrack in which he did not like the lineup of bands they were associated with. Shaun Morgan himself later commented on Pat's departure:
"Um... relieved a little... actually a lot. He was the guy in the band that was always our naysayer, and he was the negative energy as far as writing. I personally have no love lost, which is weird for some reason 'cause he was my friend for four years. But when he walked out, it kinda walked out with him."
Morgan entered a rehabilitation program for what he felt was "dependence on a combination of substances" in August 2006, which forced the band to cancel a tour with Staind and Three Days Grace.
Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007–2009)
Shaun Morgan, prior to the next album's release, claimed that it would be more diverse than previous efforts. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces was slated for an August 2007 release but was delayed until 23 October 2007 due to the suicide of Morgan's brother, Eugene Welgemoed. The album debuted at number 9 in the Billboard 200 album charts, and sold 57,000 copies in its first week. Its cover artwork featured "Candice the Ghost", and was illustrated by David Ho. The first single, "Fake It", reached the top position of the US Mainstream Rock Charts and Modern Rock Charts, and held that spot for at least 9 weeks on both charts. It became the theme for WWE's No Way Out (2008). "Rise Above This", written for Eugene Welgemoed, was released as a single and reached the No. 1 spot on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and No. 2 on its mainstream counterpart, Mainstream Rock Songs. The final single from the album was "Breakdown", the video for which was released on 12 November 2008 after a delay from its original scheduled release date of 23 October. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces won Seether's first South African Music Award in the category "Best Rock: English", as well as their first MTV Africa Music Award for "Best Alternative Artist".
A tour launched in support of the album in early 2008 lasted much of the year. Troy McLawhorn of Dark New Day, Evanescence, and doubleDrive was hired as a touring guitarist on 15 February 2008. Bands Seether shared the stage with on the tour included Three Days Grace, Finger Eleven, Breaking Benjamin, 3 Doors Down, Skillet, Red, Papa Roach, Flyleaf, Econoline Crush, and Staind. McLawhorn was afterwards made an official member of the band.
"No Shelter" appeared on the NCIS Official TV Soundtrack, released on 10 February 2009, and a version of George Michael's "Careless Whisper" was made available for purchase as a digital or mobile download. The song was reportedly covered as a joke, in which the band turned an "80s pop ballad" into a hard rock/metal song in response to Wind-up's request that they record a Valentine's Day song. The music video for "Careless Whisper" premiered on 15 June 2009, and the song is included as an additional track on the reissue of Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces.
Seether supported Nickelback on their Dark Horse tour in March and April 2009. Shaun and Dale confirmed in an interview on 2 March 2009 that, after the Nickelback tour, Seether would take the rest of year off to write and record the follow-up to Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces. The band nevertheless gave performances through the remainder of the year, which included a date in Okinawa to play for American troops as part of a USO tour on 23 and 24 May at Camp Schwab, and then in MCAS Iwakuni on 26 May for the US Marines. Seether also made appearances at a number of festivals during the summer, including sets at the Chippewa Valley Music Festival and the Quebec City Festival, before the tour's conclusion at The Big E Festival, West Springfield, Massachusetts, on 4 October.
Seether covered the song "I've Got You Under My Skin" on the Frank Sinatra tribute album His Way, Our Way, which came out on 7 July 2009.
Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2010–2013)
The band spent several months recording in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brendan O'Brien, then resumed touring in April 2010 with the intention of returning to the studio "in the first week of June" to complete the new record. Drummer John Humphrey confirmed in August that recording was completed, and the album was in the mixing process. He said that the band believed this album to be their best work, and that the songs are "very strong, melodic, and heavy at times". Morgan confirmed the album's completion in September, and gave the expected release date as early 2011. A new song, "No Resolution", was debuted on 4 September 2010, during a live show at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. McLawhorn and Humphrey, in a radio interview, announced that the new album would be titled Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, and that it would be released in May. The album's first single, "Country Song", was released on 8 March in the US and on 4 April in the United Kingdom, and the new album was released on 17 May 2011. Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. It also reached number one on the US Rock Albums, US Alternative Albums, and US Hard Rock Album Charts. Their single-week sales of 61,000 records was their best since Karma and Effect sold 82,000 copies in 2005. Billboard named Seether the No. 1 Active and No. 1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011. A remix EP of the Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album, titled Remix EP, was released on 7 February 2012.
Troy McLawhorn's departure from the band and return to Evanescence was announced on 8 March. Seether performed live in Cincinnati, Ohio on 10 May, and in South Bend, Indiana on 11 May. Both concerts were recorded, and released as a limited edition CD set for each individual city. The band played main stage at the Uproar Festival alongside Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate, and supported 3 Doors Down on their European tour from November to March.
On 3 September 2013, Seether announced the name of a compilation album, titled Seether: 2002-2013. It was released on 29 October 2013 as a 2-disc album featuring some of the band's greatest hits, unreleased demos, soundtrack songs, and 3 all-new tracks, including a cover of Veruca Salt's "Seether" (the song that the band is named after). Seether: 2002-2013 also contains two new recorded songs ("Safe to Say I've Had Enough" and "Weak") and was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band released a 15-second demo clip for the song "Safe to Say I've Had Enough" on loudwire.com. They also carried out a small, semi-acoustic tour of Europe and South Africa.
On 30 November 2013, Seether released a 3-track single titled "Goodbye Tonight", featuring Van Coke Kartel & Jon Savage. The song is also featured on the deluxe edition of their follow-up album Isolate and Medicate.
Isolate and Medicate (2014–2016)
In a 2013 Twitter interview, bassist Dale Stewart confirmed that the band was writing songs for their next album. During an AmA (askmeanything) interview on Reddit.com, Shaun Morgan stated that the band was "In the studio getting ready for our new album..."
On 24 April 2014, it was revealed that the album Isolate and Medicate would be released on 1 July 2014, with the lead single "Words as Weapons" slated for release on 1 May 2014.
On 29 April 2014, Bryan Wickmann was announced as the new touring guitarist. Wickmann was the band's long-time guitar tech, as well as Isolate and Medicates cover art creator, and a former art director of Schecter Guitar Research.
On 17 May 2014, Seether performed their first single, "Words as Weapons," from the album Isolate and Medicate, live at the Orbit Room in front of 1,700 fans. The band released a music video for the album's second single, "Same Damn Life," on 30 October 2014. The video was directed by Nathan Cox. In late May and early June, Seether announced European tour dates in September, along with several stops in the UK. On 7 July, Seether kicked off their summer tour with 3 Doors Down.
Poison the Parish (2016–2018)
On 13 September 2016, Seether shared pictures of them recording a new album on social media. They announced in November that they were to release their seventh album in May 2017. A countdown timer later started on Seether's website, counting down to 23 February 2017.
Morgan appeared on Octane on 22 February to discuss the new record, entitled Poison the Parish. Jose Mangin stated that the new material is looking to be "harder than anything they've done". The album was released through Morgan's label Canine Riot Records. Three singles, "Let You Down", "Betray and Degrade", and "Against the Wall", were released in support of the album, all charting significantly on the Billboard Mainstream Rock songs chart.
In May, July, and August 2017, the band toured throughout the United States with American hard rock band Letters from the Fire, adding guitarist Clint Lowery (Sevendust, Dark New Day) to the touring lineup. They recorded a cover of "Black Honey" by American post-hardcore band Thrice during a live session for SiriusXM in June 2017. In February 2018, Clint Lowery returned to Sevendust to begin touring and promoting their album All I See Is War. His brother and former Dark New Day's bassist, Corey, took over his duties as Seether's touring guitarist. The band then supported Nickelback on their eight-week Feed the Machine European and UK tour. Before the tour ended, Lowery became a full-time member of the band. On 20 May 2018, Seether played in their hometown of Johannesburg for the first time in six years. On 6 June 2018, they released an acoustic version of "Against the Wall," along with an accompanying music video.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (2019–present)
In June 2019, John Humphrey revealed that recording had commenced for their upcoming eighth studio album. On 24 June 2020, the band announced their eighth studio album, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, set for release on 28 August 2020 through Fantasy Records. They also released the first single of the album, "Dangerous". Translating to "If You Want Peace, Prepare for War", the album features 13 new tracks, and was produced by Morgan himself in Nashville, Tennessee from December 2019 to January 2020. On 17 July, the band released the second single, "Bruised and Bloodied". On 14 August, two weeks before the album release, the band released their third single "Beg".
In July 2021, the band released an EP titled Wasteland – The Purgatory.
Musical style and influences
Seether's musical style has been described as post-grunge, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. The band is heavily influenced by American grunge groups such as Nirvana and Alice in Chains. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote "Seether's lead singer/songwriter, Shaun Morgan, is an unabashed, unapologetic worshiper of Kurt Cobain, using Nirvana's sound as a template for Seether." Seether have also been influenced by Deftones and Nine Inch Nails. Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum in particular takes heavy influence from the bands A Perfect Circle and Deftones.
Band membersCurrent Shaun Morgan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano ; lead guitar
Dale Stewart – bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar
John Humphrey – drums, percussion
Corey Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals Former Johan Greyling – lead guitar
Tyronne Morris – bass
David "Dave" Cohoe – drums, backing vocals
Nick Oshiro – drums
Pat Callahan – lead guitar
Troy McLawhorn – lead guitar, backing vocals Former touring musicians Nic Argyros – drums
John Johnston – drums
Erik Eldenius – drums
Nick Annis – guitar
Kevin Soffera – drums, backing vocals
Brian Tichy – drums
Bryan Wickman – lead guitar, backing vocals
Clint Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals Timeline'''
DiscographyDisclaimer (2002)Disclaimer II (2004)Karma and Effect (2005)Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007)Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2011)Isolate and Medicate (2014)Poison the Parish (2017)Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum'' (2020)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Alternative metal musical groups
Nu metal musical groups
Musical groups established in 1999
Post-grunge groups
South African alternative rock groups
South African hard rock musical groups
Wind-up Records artists
1999 establishments in South Africa
People from Pretoria | true | [
"When the Bough Breaks is the second solo album from Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward. It was originally released on April 27, 1997, on Cleopatra Records.\n\nTrack listing\n\"Hate\" – 5:00\n\"Children Killing Children\" – 3:51\n\"Growth\" – 5:45\n\"When I was a Child\" – 4:54\n\"Please Help Mommy (She's a Junkie)\" – 6:40\n\"Shine\" – 5:06\n\"Step Lightly (On the Grass)\" – 5:59\n\"Love & Innocence\" – 1:00\n\"Animals\" – 6:32\n\"Nighthawks Stars & Pines\" – 6:45\n\"Try Life\" – 5:35\n\"When the Bough Breaks\" – 9:45\n\nCD Cleopatra CL9981 (US 1997)\n\nMusicians\n\nBill Ward - vocals, lyrics, musical arrangements\nKeith Lynch - guitars\nPaul Ill - bass, double bass, synthesizer, tape loops\nRonnie Ciago - drums\n\nCover art and reprint issues\n\nAs originally released, this album featured cover art that had two roses on it. After it was released, Bill Ward (as with Ward One, his first solo album) stated on his website that the released cover art was not the correct one that was intended to be released. Additionally, the liner notes for the original printing had lyrics that were so small, most people needed a magnifying glass to read them. This was eventually corrected in 2000 when the version of the album with Bill on the cover from the 70's was released. The album was later on released in a special digipak style of case, but this was later said to be released prematurely, and was withdrawn.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nWhen the Bough Breaks at Bill Ward's site\nWhen the Bough Breaks at Black Sabbath Online\n\nBill Ward (musician) albums\nBlack Sabbath\n1997 albums\nCleopatra Records albums",
"Push Rewind is the debut solo album by American pop singer Chris Wallace. It was released digitally on September 4, 2012.\n\nThe album was taken off of iTunes in late 2013 and was re-released on March 4, 2014.\n\nBackground\nAfter Chris' previous band, The White Tie Affair broke up, Chris began working on a solo album.\n\nOn August 23, 2012, Chris tweeted that his first solo album, Push Rewind, would be available on iTunes on September 4. On September 4, 2012, his debut solo album was released via ThinkSay Records.\n\nRelease and promotion\n\nSingles\n\"Remember When (Push Rewind)\" was released as the lead single off of the album on June 12, 2012. The song was available for free for the week of September 4, 2012 as iTunes' Single of the Week to help promote the album. The song has so far reached number 2 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100.\n\n\"Keep Me Crazy\" was announced as the second single from the album. It was originally released to mainstream pop radio on April 22, 2013 but it was re-released on July 30, 2013.\n\nTrack listing\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2012 debut albums"
]
|
[
"Seether",
"Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2010-2013)",
"when was this?",
"album was released on 17 May 2011.",
"what was the Album's name?",
"Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray,",
"when was the album released?",
"17 May 2011."
]
| C_f7cdb618f1504e78802bd5a4241c3125_0 | how did the songs do on the charts? | 4 | how did the songs from Seether's Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album do on the charts? | Seether | The band spent several months recording in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brendan O'Brien, then resumed touring in April 2010 with the intention of returning to the studio "in the first week of June" to complete the new record. Drummer John Humphrey confirmed in August that recording was completed, and the album was in the mixing process. He said that the band believed this album to be their best work, and that the songs are "very strong, melodic, and heavy at times." Morgan confirmed the album's completion in September, and gave the expected release date as early 2011. A new song, "No Resolution", was debuted on 4 September 2010, during a live show at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. McLawhorn and Humphrey, in a radio interview, announced that the new album would be titled Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, and that it would be released in May. The album's first single, "Country Song", was released on 8 March in the US and on 4 April in the United Kingdom, and the new album was released on 17 May 2011. Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding On to Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. It also reached number one on the US Rock Albums, US Alternative Albums and US Hard Rock Album Charts. Their single-week sales of 61,000 records was their best since Karma and Effect sold 82,000 copies in 2005. Billboard named Seether the No. 1 Active and No. 1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011. A remix EP of the Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album, titled Remix EP, was released on 7 February 2012. Troy McLawhorn's departure from the band and return to Evanescence was announced on 8 March. Seether performed live in Cincinnati, Ohio on 10 May, and in South Bend, Indiana on 11 May. Both concerts were recorded, and released as a limited edition CD set for each individual city. Seether played main stage on the Uproar Festival alongside bands Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate, and supported 3 Doors Down on their European tour from November to March. On 3 September 2013, the band announced the name of a compilation album, titled Seether: 2002-2013. The album was released on 29 October 2013 as a 2-disc album, featuring some of Seether's greatest hits, unreleased demos, soundtrack songs, and 3 all-new tracks, including a cover of Veruca Salt's "Seether" (the song that the band is named after). Seether: 2002-2013 also contains two new recorded songs ("Safe To Say I've Had Enough" and "Weak") and was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band released a 15-second demo clip for the song "Safe To Say I've Had Enough" on loudwire.com. The band also carried out a small, semi-acoustic tour of Europe and South Africa. On 30 November 2013 Seether released a 3-track single "Goodbye Tonight" featuring Van Coke Kartel & Jon Savage. The song is also featured on Deluxe edition of "Isolate and Medicate". CANNOTANSWER | Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding On to Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. | Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng. The band originally performed under the name "Saron Gas" until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion with the deadly chemical known as sarin gas. Lead vocalist and guitarist Shaun Morgan is the band's longest serving member, bassist Dale Stewart joined shortly after formation while drummer John Humphrey joined them for the band's second album. Since 2018, the band has been employing second guitarist Corey Lowery. Several notable guitarists like Corey's brother Clint and Troy McLawhorn have toured or recorded with the band, however, Shaun has recorded most guitar parts for the band's records.
Seether gained mainstream popularity in 2002 with their US Active Rock number one single "Fine Again". Their success was sustained in 2004 with the single "Broken", which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. They have experienced continued success with many number one hits on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, such as "Remedy", "Fake It", "Country Song", "Tonight", "Words as Weapons", "Let You Down" and "Dangerous", "Bruised and Bloodied", and "Wasteland". The band has released eight studio albums; their most recent, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, was released on 28 August 2020.
History
Formation as Saron Gas (1999–2001)
The band formed in South Africa in May 1999 under the name Saron Gas. Consisting of frontman, vocalist, and guitarist Shaun Morgan, bassist Tyronne Morris (who left the band in December 1999 and was replaced by Dale Stewart in January 2000), and drummer Dave Cohoe, the band released their first album, Fragile, in October 2000 under Johannesburg-based independent record label Musketeer Records. Despite the region's focus primarily on pop and indigenous music, the band found success, and eventually caught attention of American record label Wind-up Records, who gave them a record deal to begin releasing music in North America. Upon signing to the label, they were told they needed to change their name due to its similarity to sarin gas, and switched to calling themselves Seether, after the Veruca Salt song.
Disclaimer releases (2002–2004)
In August 2002, Seether launched their first official album, Disclaimer, which earned the band three singles: "Fine Again", "Driven Under", and "Gasoline", in which only the first managed significant success. After the release of Disclaimer, the band toured constantly. Near the end of the Disclaimer Tour, they decided to return to the studio to record their second album, a project that had to be delayed by almost a year, since at that time Seether was on a world tour with Evanescence. "Fine Again" was also included in the video games Madden NFL 2003 in 2002 and 1080° Avalanche in 2003.
Following the release of Disclaimer, the band toured continually in order to increase sales and gain name recognition. A planned second album was delayed for nearly a year when Seether was selected as the support act for an Evanescence worldwide tour. Seether reworked their acoustic ballad "Broken" into an electric ballad with guest vocals by Amy Lee of Evanescence. Favourable audience response led the band to record the revised version, with Lee on vocals. The track, along with a new song entitled "Sold Me", was featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 film The Punisher, and became a major success for the band, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. A romance developed between Lee and Morgan during this time.
Morgan has stated that the reworking of "Broken" was due to the wishes of the record company rather than those of the band. An alternate version of the original album, with many of its songs remixed or re-recorded, was released in June 2004 and entitled Disclaimer II. The alternate version also featured eight extra tracks.
Karma and Effect (2005–2006)
Seether's follow-up album, Karma and Effect, was released in May 2005. Originally titled Catering to Cowards, the name was changed due to the record label's demand. Karma and Effect debuted at number 8 on the US Billboard 200 album charts and was certified gold in the US and Canada. The album spawned three singles, "Remedy", "Truth", and "The Gift". "Remedy" reached number 1 on the US Mainstream Rock Charts, Seether's first number 1 hit.
Seether released an acoustic CD/DVD set titled One Cold Night, recorded at the Grape Street Club in Philadelphia, on 22 February 2006. Morgan had been suffering from a stomach ailment, and decided to do an acoustic performance of their set rather than cancel the show. The exclusion of "Needles" and "Burrito" from the album is due to the label's desire that it contain no obscenities.
Guitarist Patrick Callahan's departure from the band was announced on 15 June 2006. His last performance with them was on 3 June. Pat was later interviewed on a radio show in Philadelphia where he said his departure was not anything musical, but he and the singer Shaun had a "personality" clash and were not seeing eye to eye, and just couldn't work things out, but was still very friendly with the other two members. Pat also did not like certain band decisions. One example was the band being on the Punisher and Daredevil soundtrack in which he did not like the lineup of bands they were associated with. Shaun Morgan himself later commented on Pat's departure:
"Um... relieved a little... actually a lot. He was the guy in the band that was always our naysayer, and he was the negative energy as far as writing. I personally have no love lost, which is weird for some reason 'cause he was my friend for four years. But when he walked out, it kinda walked out with him."
Morgan entered a rehabilitation program for what he felt was "dependence on a combination of substances" in August 2006, which forced the band to cancel a tour with Staind and Three Days Grace.
Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007–2009)
Shaun Morgan, prior to the next album's release, claimed that it would be more diverse than previous efforts. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces was slated for an August 2007 release but was delayed until 23 October 2007 due to the suicide of Morgan's brother, Eugene Welgemoed. The album debuted at number 9 in the Billboard 200 album charts, and sold 57,000 copies in its first week. Its cover artwork featured "Candice the Ghost", and was illustrated by David Ho. The first single, "Fake It", reached the top position of the US Mainstream Rock Charts and Modern Rock Charts, and held that spot for at least 9 weeks on both charts. It became the theme for WWE's No Way Out (2008). "Rise Above This", written for Eugene Welgemoed, was released as a single and reached the No. 1 spot on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and No. 2 on its mainstream counterpart, Mainstream Rock Songs. The final single from the album was "Breakdown", the video for which was released on 12 November 2008 after a delay from its original scheduled release date of 23 October. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces won Seether's first South African Music Award in the category "Best Rock: English", as well as their first MTV Africa Music Award for "Best Alternative Artist".
A tour launched in support of the album in early 2008 lasted much of the year. Troy McLawhorn of Dark New Day, Evanescence, and doubleDrive was hired as a touring guitarist on 15 February 2008. Bands Seether shared the stage with on the tour included Three Days Grace, Finger Eleven, Breaking Benjamin, 3 Doors Down, Skillet, Red, Papa Roach, Flyleaf, Econoline Crush, and Staind. McLawhorn was afterwards made an official member of the band.
"No Shelter" appeared on the NCIS Official TV Soundtrack, released on 10 February 2009, and a version of George Michael's "Careless Whisper" was made available for purchase as a digital or mobile download. The song was reportedly covered as a joke, in which the band turned an "80s pop ballad" into a hard rock/metal song in response to Wind-up's request that they record a Valentine's Day song. The music video for "Careless Whisper" premiered on 15 June 2009, and the song is included as an additional track on the reissue of Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces.
Seether supported Nickelback on their Dark Horse tour in March and April 2009. Shaun and Dale confirmed in an interview on 2 March 2009 that, after the Nickelback tour, Seether would take the rest of year off to write and record the follow-up to Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces. The band nevertheless gave performances through the remainder of the year, which included a date in Okinawa to play for American troops as part of a USO tour on 23 and 24 May at Camp Schwab, and then in MCAS Iwakuni on 26 May for the US Marines. Seether also made appearances at a number of festivals during the summer, including sets at the Chippewa Valley Music Festival and the Quebec City Festival, before the tour's conclusion at The Big E Festival, West Springfield, Massachusetts, on 4 October.
Seether covered the song "I've Got You Under My Skin" on the Frank Sinatra tribute album His Way, Our Way, which came out on 7 July 2009.
Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2010–2013)
The band spent several months recording in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brendan O'Brien, then resumed touring in April 2010 with the intention of returning to the studio "in the first week of June" to complete the new record. Drummer John Humphrey confirmed in August that recording was completed, and the album was in the mixing process. He said that the band believed this album to be their best work, and that the songs are "very strong, melodic, and heavy at times". Morgan confirmed the album's completion in September, and gave the expected release date as early 2011. A new song, "No Resolution", was debuted on 4 September 2010, during a live show at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. McLawhorn and Humphrey, in a radio interview, announced that the new album would be titled Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, and that it would be released in May. The album's first single, "Country Song", was released on 8 March in the US and on 4 April in the United Kingdom, and the new album was released on 17 May 2011. Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. It also reached number one on the US Rock Albums, US Alternative Albums, and US Hard Rock Album Charts. Their single-week sales of 61,000 records was their best since Karma and Effect sold 82,000 copies in 2005. Billboard named Seether the No. 1 Active and No. 1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011. A remix EP of the Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album, titled Remix EP, was released on 7 February 2012.
Troy McLawhorn's departure from the band and return to Evanescence was announced on 8 March. Seether performed live in Cincinnati, Ohio on 10 May, and in South Bend, Indiana on 11 May. Both concerts were recorded, and released as a limited edition CD set for each individual city. The band played main stage at the Uproar Festival alongside Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate, and supported 3 Doors Down on their European tour from November to March.
On 3 September 2013, Seether announced the name of a compilation album, titled Seether: 2002-2013. It was released on 29 October 2013 as a 2-disc album featuring some of the band's greatest hits, unreleased demos, soundtrack songs, and 3 all-new tracks, including a cover of Veruca Salt's "Seether" (the song that the band is named after). Seether: 2002-2013 also contains two new recorded songs ("Safe to Say I've Had Enough" and "Weak") and was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band released a 15-second demo clip for the song "Safe to Say I've Had Enough" on loudwire.com. They also carried out a small, semi-acoustic tour of Europe and South Africa.
On 30 November 2013, Seether released a 3-track single titled "Goodbye Tonight", featuring Van Coke Kartel & Jon Savage. The song is also featured on the deluxe edition of their follow-up album Isolate and Medicate.
Isolate and Medicate (2014–2016)
In a 2013 Twitter interview, bassist Dale Stewart confirmed that the band was writing songs for their next album. During an AmA (askmeanything) interview on Reddit.com, Shaun Morgan stated that the band was "In the studio getting ready for our new album..."
On 24 April 2014, it was revealed that the album Isolate and Medicate would be released on 1 July 2014, with the lead single "Words as Weapons" slated for release on 1 May 2014.
On 29 April 2014, Bryan Wickmann was announced as the new touring guitarist. Wickmann was the band's long-time guitar tech, as well as Isolate and Medicates cover art creator, and a former art director of Schecter Guitar Research.
On 17 May 2014, Seether performed their first single, "Words as Weapons," from the album Isolate and Medicate, live at the Orbit Room in front of 1,700 fans. The band released a music video for the album's second single, "Same Damn Life," on 30 October 2014. The video was directed by Nathan Cox. In late May and early June, Seether announced European tour dates in September, along with several stops in the UK. On 7 July, Seether kicked off their summer tour with 3 Doors Down.
Poison the Parish (2016–2018)
On 13 September 2016, Seether shared pictures of them recording a new album on social media. They announced in November that they were to release their seventh album in May 2017. A countdown timer later started on Seether's website, counting down to 23 February 2017.
Morgan appeared on Octane on 22 February to discuss the new record, entitled Poison the Parish. Jose Mangin stated that the new material is looking to be "harder than anything they've done". The album was released through Morgan's label Canine Riot Records. Three singles, "Let You Down", "Betray and Degrade", and "Against the Wall", were released in support of the album, all charting significantly on the Billboard Mainstream Rock songs chart.
In May, July, and August 2017, the band toured throughout the United States with American hard rock band Letters from the Fire, adding guitarist Clint Lowery (Sevendust, Dark New Day) to the touring lineup. They recorded a cover of "Black Honey" by American post-hardcore band Thrice during a live session for SiriusXM in June 2017. In February 2018, Clint Lowery returned to Sevendust to begin touring and promoting their album All I See Is War. His brother and former Dark New Day's bassist, Corey, took over his duties as Seether's touring guitarist. The band then supported Nickelback on their eight-week Feed the Machine European and UK tour. Before the tour ended, Lowery became a full-time member of the band. On 20 May 2018, Seether played in their hometown of Johannesburg for the first time in six years. On 6 June 2018, they released an acoustic version of "Against the Wall," along with an accompanying music video.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (2019–present)
In June 2019, John Humphrey revealed that recording had commenced for their upcoming eighth studio album. On 24 June 2020, the band announced their eighth studio album, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, set for release on 28 August 2020 through Fantasy Records. They also released the first single of the album, "Dangerous". Translating to "If You Want Peace, Prepare for War", the album features 13 new tracks, and was produced by Morgan himself in Nashville, Tennessee from December 2019 to January 2020. On 17 July, the band released the second single, "Bruised and Bloodied". On 14 August, two weeks before the album release, the band released their third single "Beg".
In July 2021, the band released an EP titled Wasteland – The Purgatory.
Musical style and influences
Seether's musical style has been described as post-grunge, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. The band is heavily influenced by American grunge groups such as Nirvana and Alice in Chains. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote "Seether's lead singer/songwriter, Shaun Morgan, is an unabashed, unapologetic worshiper of Kurt Cobain, using Nirvana's sound as a template for Seether." Seether have also been influenced by Deftones and Nine Inch Nails. Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum in particular takes heavy influence from the bands A Perfect Circle and Deftones.
Band membersCurrent Shaun Morgan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano ; lead guitar
Dale Stewart – bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar
John Humphrey – drums, percussion
Corey Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals Former Johan Greyling – lead guitar
Tyronne Morris – bass
David "Dave" Cohoe – drums, backing vocals
Nick Oshiro – drums
Pat Callahan – lead guitar
Troy McLawhorn – lead guitar, backing vocals Former touring musicians Nic Argyros – drums
John Johnston – drums
Erik Eldenius – drums
Nick Annis – guitar
Kevin Soffera – drums, backing vocals
Brian Tichy – drums
Bryan Wickman – lead guitar, backing vocals
Clint Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals Timeline'''
DiscographyDisclaimer (2002)Disclaimer II (2004)Karma and Effect (2005)Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007)Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2011)Isolate and Medicate (2014)Poison the Parish (2017)Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum'' (2020)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Alternative metal musical groups
Nu metal musical groups
Musical groups established in 1999
Post-grunge groups
South African alternative rock groups
South African hard rock musical groups
Wind-up Records artists
1999 establishments in South Africa
People from Pretoria | false | [
"\"How Do I Deal\" is a song by American actress Jennifer Love Hewitt from the soundtrack to the film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. The song was released as a single on November 17, 1998, with an accompanying music video. The single became Hewitt's one and only appearance on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, peaking at number 59 in a seven-week run. Although not a big success in America, the single reached number five in New Zealand and peaked at number eight in Australia, where it is certified gold.\n\nTrack listings\nUS CD, 7-inch, and cassette single\n \"How Do I Deal\" (single version) – 3:23\n \"Try to Say Goodbye\" (performed by Jory Eve) – 3:36\n\nEuropean CD single\n \"How Do I Deal\" – 3:24\n \"Sugar Is Sweeter\" (performed by CJ Bolland) – 5:34\n\nAustralian CD single\n \"How Do I Deal\" – 3:23\n \"Sugar Is Sweeter\" (Danny Saber Remix featuring Justin Warfield, performed by CJ Bolland) – 4:57\n \"Try to Say Goodbye\" (performed by Jory Eve) – 3:35\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n143 Records singles\n1998 songs\n1999 singles\nJennifer Love Hewitt songs\nI Know What You Did Last Summer (franchise)\nMusic videos directed by Joseph Kahn\nSong recordings produced by Bruce Fairbairn\nSong recordings produced by David Foster\nSongs written for films\nWarner Records singles",
"\"How We Do\" is a song by American rapper and West Coast hip hop artist the Game, featuring rapper 50 Cent from his debut album, The Documentary. Produced by Dr. Dre, Mike Elizondo, it was released as the album's second official single in late 2004.\n\n\"How We Do\" achieved commercial success worldwide. The track peaked within the top 10 in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and New Zealand. The single was commercially successful in the United States, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remaining on the chart for 28 consecutive weeks. \"How We Do\" marked Game's first top-ten single on the chart as a lead artist and also marked 50 Cent's fifth overall top-ten single.\n\nCommercial success\nThe song was a hit at Urban and Rhythmic radio stations in America, and was a success on American mainstream pop music radio stations. In the U.S., the song debuted at number 65 and peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 2005, making it the Game's first top-five hit. The song was also certified Gold by the RIAA.\n\nThe song fell down the charts relatively quickly for a top-ten hit. This was likely due to an overabundance of Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit-related singles all competing for airtime during this time period, as Eminem and G-Unit members 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, and Game all had songs on the chart during the months of late 2004 and early 2005. However, despite its fast fall out of the top twenty, the song managed to hang on in the lower rungs of the top 40 for months, in spite of, or possibly because of, the Game's follow up, \"Hate It or Love It\" becoming even bigger on pop radio only a few weeks after \"How We Do\" had peaked. Dr. Dre had produced \"How We Do\" during his time in N.W.A.\n\nMusic video\nThe music video was directed by Hype Williams; it features cameos by Dr. Dre and Olivia as well as DJ Quik. It showcases night shots of Los Angeles; as well as a Dodge Magnum, driven by the Game, and a Cadillac Escalade, driven by 50 Cent; as it finally cuts to a nightclub. Carmelo Anthony can be briefly seen towards the end, raising a glass of champagne.\n\nSingle track listing\n\nA-side\n\"How We Do (edited)\" (4:03)\n\nB-side\n\"How We Do (edited)\" (4:03) \n\"How We Do (explicit)\" (4:20) \n\"How We Do (instrumental)\" (4:04) \n\"How We Do (a cappella)\" (3:01)\n\nCharts and certifications\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n2004 singles\nThe Game (rapper) songs\n50 Cent songs\nSong recordings produced by Dr. Dre\nSongs written by 50 Cent\nMusic videos directed by Hype Williams\nSongs written by Dr. Dre\nAftermath Entertainment singles\nGangsta rap songs\nSongs written by Mike Elizondo\nSong recordings produced by Mike Elizondo\n2004 songs\nSongs written by The Game (rapper)"
]
|
[
"Seether",
"Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2010-2013)",
"when was this?",
"album was released on 17 May 2011.",
"what was the Album's name?",
"Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray,",
"when was the album released?",
"17 May 2011.",
"how did the songs do on the charts?",
"Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding On to Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position."
]
| C_f7cdb618f1504e78802bd5a4241c3125_0 | what did the critics say? | 5 | what did the critics say about Seether's Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album? | Seether | The band spent several months recording in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brendan O'Brien, then resumed touring in April 2010 with the intention of returning to the studio "in the first week of June" to complete the new record. Drummer John Humphrey confirmed in August that recording was completed, and the album was in the mixing process. He said that the band believed this album to be their best work, and that the songs are "very strong, melodic, and heavy at times." Morgan confirmed the album's completion in September, and gave the expected release date as early 2011. A new song, "No Resolution", was debuted on 4 September 2010, during a live show at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. McLawhorn and Humphrey, in a radio interview, announced that the new album would be titled Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, and that it would be released in May. The album's first single, "Country Song", was released on 8 March in the US and on 4 April in the United Kingdom, and the new album was released on 17 May 2011. Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding On to Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. It also reached number one on the US Rock Albums, US Alternative Albums and US Hard Rock Album Charts. Their single-week sales of 61,000 records was their best since Karma and Effect sold 82,000 copies in 2005. Billboard named Seether the No. 1 Active and No. 1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011. A remix EP of the Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album, titled Remix EP, was released on 7 February 2012. Troy McLawhorn's departure from the band and return to Evanescence was announced on 8 March. Seether performed live in Cincinnati, Ohio on 10 May, and in South Bend, Indiana on 11 May. Both concerts were recorded, and released as a limited edition CD set for each individual city. Seether played main stage on the Uproar Festival alongside bands Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate, and supported 3 Doors Down on their European tour from November to March. On 3 September 2013, the band announced the name of a compilation album, titled Seether: 2002-2013. The album was released on 29 October 2013 as a 2-disc album, featuring some of Seether's greatest hits, unreleased demos, soundtrack songs, and 3 all-new tracks, including a cover of Veruca Salt's "Seether" (the song that the band is named after). Seether: 2002-2013 also contains two new recorded songs ("Safe To Say I've Had Enough" and "Weak") and was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band released a 15-second demo clip for the song "Safe To Say I've Had Enough" on loudwire.com. The band also carried out a small, semi-acoustic tour of Europe and South Africa. On 30 November 2013 Seether released a 3-track single "Goodbye Tonight" featuring Van Coke Kartel & Jon Savage. The song is also featured on Deluxe edition of "Isolate and Medicate". CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng. The band originally performed under the name "Saron Gas" until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion with the deadly chemical known as sarin gas. Lead vocalist and guitarist Shaun Morgan is the band's longest serving member, bassist Dale Stewart joined shortly after formation while drummer John Humphrey joined them for the band's second album. Since 2018, the band has been employing second guitarist Corey Lowery. Several notable guitarists like Corey's brother Clint and Troy McLawhorn have toured or recorded with the band, however, Shaun has recorded most guitar parts for the band's records.
Seether gained mainstream popularity in 2002 with their US Active Rock number one single "Fine Again". Their success was sustained in 2004 with the single "Broken", which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. They have experienced continued success with many number one hits on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, such as "Remedy", "Fake It", "Country Song", "Tonight", "Words as Weapons", "Let You Down" and "Dangerous", "Bruised and Bloodied", and "Wasteland". The band has released eight studio albums; their most recent, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, was released on 28 August 2020.
History
Formation as Saron Gas (1999–2001)
The band formed in South Africa in May 1999 under the name Saron Gas. Consisting of frontman, vocalist, and guitarist Shaun Morgan, bassist Tyronne Morris (who left the band in December 1999 and was replaced by Dale Stewart in January 2000), and drummer Dave Cohoe, the band released their first album, Fragile, in October 2000 under Johannesburg-based independent record label Musketeer Records. Despite the region's focus primarily on pop and indigenous music, the band found success, and eventually caught attention of American record label Wind-up Records, who gave them a record deal to begin releasing music in North America. Upon signing to the label, they were told they needed to change their name due to its similarity to sarin gas, and switched to calling themselves Seether, after the Veruca Salt song.
Disclaimer releases (2002–2004)
In August 2002, Seether launched their first official album, Disclaimer, which earned the band three singles: "Fine Again", "Driven Under", and "Gasoline", in which only the first managed significant success. After the release of Disclaimer, the band toured constantly. Near the end of the Disclaimer Tour, they decided to return to the studio to record their second album, a project that had to be delayed by almost a year, since at that time Seether was on a world tour with Evanescence. "Fine Again" was also included in the video games Madden NFL 2003 in 2002 and 1080° Avalanche in 2003.
Following the release of Disclaimer, the band toured continually in order to increase sales and gain name recognition. A planned second album was delayed for nearly a year when Seether was selected as the support act for an Evanescence worldwide tour. Seether reworked their acoustic ballad "Broken" into an electric ballad with guest vocals by Amy Lee of Evanescence. Favourable audience response led the band to record the revised version, with Lee on vocals. The track, along with a new song entitled "Sold Me", was featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 film The Punisher, and became a major success for the band, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. A romance developed between Lee and Morgan during this time.
Morgan has stated that the reworking of "Broken" was due to the wishes of the record company rather than those of the band. An alternate version of the original album, with many of its songs remixed or re-recorded, was released in June 2004 and entitled Disclaimer II. The alternate version also featured eight extra tracks.
Karma and Effect (2005–2006)
Seether's follow-up album, Karma and Effect, was released in May 2005. Originally titled Catering to Cowards, the name was changed due to the record label's demand. Karma and Effect debuted at number 8 on the US Billboard 200 album charts and was certified gold in the US and Canada. The album spawned three singles, "Remedy", "Truth", and "The Gift". "Remedy" reached number 1 on the US Mainstream Rock Charts, Seether's first number 1 hit.
Seether released an acoustic CD/DVD set titled One Cold Night, recorded at the Grape Street Club in Philadelphia, on 22 February 2006. Morgan had been suffering from a stomach ailment, and decided to do an acoustic performance of their set rather than cancel the show. The exclusion of "Needles" and "Burrito" from the album is due to the label's desire that it contain no obscenities.
Guitarist Patrick Callahan's departure from the band was announced on 15 June 2006. His last performance with them was on 3 June. Pat was later interviewed on a radio show in Philadelphia where he said his departure was not anything musical, but he and the singer Shaun had a "personality" clash and were not seeing eye to eye, and just couldn't work things out, but was still very friendly with the other two members. Pat also did not like certain band decisions. One example was the band being on the Punisher and Daredevil soundtrack in which he did not like the lineup of bands they were associated with. Shaun Morgan himself later commented on Pat's departure:
"Um... relieved a little... actually a lot. He was the guy in the band that was always our naysayer, and he was the negative energy as far as writing. I personally have no love lost, which is weird for some reason 'cause he was my friend for four years. But when he walked out, it kinda walked out with him."
Morgan entered a rehabilitation program for what he felt was "dependence on a combination of substances" in August 2006, which forced the band to cancel a tour with Staind and Three Days Grace.
Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007–2009)
Shaun Morgan, prior to the next album's release, claimed that it would be more diverse than previous efforts. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces was slated for an August 2007 release but was delayed until 23 October 2007 due to the suicide of Morgan's brother, Eugene Welgemoed. The album debuted at number 9 in the Billboard 200 album charts, and sold 57,000 copies in its first week. Its cover artwork featured "Candice the Ghost", and was illustrated by David Ho. The first single, "Fake It", reached the top position of the US Mainstream Rock Charts and Modern Rock Charts, and held that spot for at least 9 weeks on both charts. It became the theme for WWE's No Way Out (2008). "Rise Above This", written for Eugene Welgemoed, was released as a single and reached the No. 1 spot on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and No. 2 on its mainstream counterpart, Mainstream Rock Songs. The final single from the album was "Breakdown", the video for which was released on 12 November 2008 after a delay from its original scheduled release date of 23 October. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces won Seether's first South African Music Award in the category "Best Rock: English", as well as their first MTV Africa Music Award for "Best Alternative Artist".
A tour launched in support of the album in early 2008 lasted much of the year. Troy McLawhorn of Dark New Day, Evanescence, and doubleDrive was hired as a touring guitarist on 15 February 2008. Bands Seether shared the stage with on the tour included Three Days Grace, Finger Eleven, Breaking Benjamin, 3 Doors Down, Skillet, Red, Papa Roach, Flyleaf, Econoline Crush, and Staind. McLawhorn was afterwards made an official member of the band.
"No Shelter" appeared on the NCIS Official TV Soundtrack, released on 10 February 2009, and a version of George Michael's "Careless Whisper" was made available for purchase as a digital or mobile download. The song was reportedly covered as a joke, in which the band turned an "80s pop ballad" into a hard rock/metal song in response to Wind-up's request that they record a Valentine's Day song. The music video for "Careless Whisper" premiered on 15 June 2009, and the song is included as an additional track on the reissue of Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces.
Seether supported Nickelback on their Dark Horse tour in March and April 2009. Shaun and Dale confirmed in an interview on 2 March 2009 that, after the Nickelback tour, Seether would take the rest of year off to write and record the follow-up to Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces. The band nevertheless gave performances through the remainder of the year, which included a date in Okinawa to play for American troops as part of a USO tour on 23 and 24 May at Camp Schwab, and then in MCAS Iwakuni on 26 May for the US Marines. Seether also made appearances at a number of festivals during the summer, including sets at the Chippewa Valley Music Festival and the Quebec City Festival, before the tour's conclusion at The Big E Festival, West Springfield, Massachusetts, on 4 October.
Seether covered the song "I've Got You Under My Skin" on the Frank Sinatra tribute album His Way, Our Way, which came out on 7 July 2009.
Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2010–2013)
The band spent several months recording in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brendan O'Brien, then resumed touring in April 2010 with the intention of returning to the studio "in the first week of June" to complete the new record. Drummer John Humphrey confirmed in August that recording was completed, and the album was in the mixing process. He said that the band believed this album to be their best work, and that the songs are "very strong, melodic, and heavy at times". Morgan confirmed the album's completion in September, and gave the expected release date as early 2011. A new song, "No Resolution", was debuted on 4 September 2010, during a live show at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. McLawhorn and Humphrey, in a radio interview, announced that the new album would be titled Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, and that it would be released in May. The album's first single, "Country Song", was released on 8 March in the US and on 4 April in the United Kingdom, and the new album was released on 17 May 2011. Seether reached their highest position on the US Billboard 200 Charts when Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray rose to the Number 2 position. It also reached number one on the US Rock Albums, US Alternative Albums, and US Hard Rock Album Charts. Their single-week sales of 61,000 records was their best since Karma and Effect sold 82,000 copies in 2005. Billboard named Seether the No. 1 Active and No. 1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011. A remix EP of the Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray album, titled Remix EP, was released on 7 February 2012.
Troy McLawhorn's departure from the band and return to Evanescence was announced on 8 March. Seether performed live in Cincinnati, Ohio on 10 May, and in South Bend, Indiana on 11 May. Both concerts were recorded, and released as a limited edition CD set for each individual city. The band played main stage at the Uproar Festival alongside Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate, and supported 3 Doors Down on their European tour from November to March.
On 3 September 2013, Seether announced the name of a compilation album, titled Seether: 2002-2013. It was released on 29 October 2013 as a 2-disc album featuring some of the band's greatest hits, unreleased demos, soundtrack songs, and 3 all-new tracks, including a cover of Veruca Salt's "Seether" (the song that the band is named after). Seether: 2002-2013 also contains two new recorded songs ("Safe to Say I've Had Enough" and "Weak") and was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band released a 15-second demo clip for the song "Safe to Say I've Had Enough" on loudwire.com. They also carried out a small, semi-acoustic tour of Europe and South Africa.
On 30 November 2013, Seether released a 3-track single titled "Goodbye Tonight", featuring Van Coke Kartel & Jon Savage. The song is also featured on the deluxe edition of their follow-up album Isolate and Medicate.
Isolate and Medicate (2014–2016)
In a 2013 Twitter interview, bassist Dale Stewart confirmed that the band was writing songs for their next album. During an AmA (askmeanything) interview on Reddit.com, Shaun Morgan stated that the band was "In the studio getting ready for our new album..."
On 24 April 2014, it was revealed that the album Isolate and Medicate would be released on 1 July 2014, with the lead single "Words as Weapons" slated for release on 1 May 2014.
On 29 April 2014, Bryan Wickmann was announced as the new touring guitarist. Wickmann was the band's long-time guitar tech, as well as Isolate and Medicates cover art creator, and a former art director of Schecter Guitar Research.
On 17 May 2014, Seether performed their first single, "Words as Weapons," from the album Isolate and Medicate, live at the Orbit Room in front of 1,700 fans. The band released a music video for the album's second single, "Same Damn Life," on 30 October 2014. The video was directed by Nathan Cox. In late May and early June, Seether announced European tour dates in September, along with several stops in the UK. On 7 July, Seether kicked off their summer tour with 3 Doors Down.
Poison the Parish (2016–2018)
On 13 September 2016, Seether shared pictures of them recording a new album on social media. They announced in November that they were to release their seventh album in May 2017. A countdown timer later started on Seether's website, counting down to 23 February 2017.
Morgan appeared on Octane on 22 February to discuss the new record, entitled Poison the Parish. Jose Mangin stated that the new material is looking to be "harder than anything they've done". The album was released through Morgan's label Canine Riot Records. Three singles, "Let You Down", "Betray and Degrade", and "Against the Wall", were released in support of the album, all charting significantly on the Billboard Mainstream Rock songs chart.
In May, July, and August 2017, the band toured throughout the United States with American hard rock band Letters from the Fire, adding guitarist Clint Lowery (Sevendust, Dark New Day) to the touring lineup. They recorded a cover of "Black Honey" by American post-hardcore band Thrice during a live session for SiriusXM in June 2017. In February 2018, Clint Lowery returned to Sevendust to begin touring and promoting their album All I See Is War. His brother and former Dark New Day's bassist, Corey, took over his duties as Seether's touring guitarist. The band then supported Nickelback on their eight-week Feed the Machine European and UK tour. Before the tour ended, Lowery became a full-time member of the band. On 20 May 2018, Seether played in their hometown of Johannesburg for the first time in six years. On 6 June 2018, they released an acoustic version of "Against the Wall," along with an accompanying music video.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (2019–present)
In June 2019, John Humphrey revealed that recording had commenced for their upcoming eighth studio album. On 24 June 2020, the band announced their eighth studio album, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, set for release on 28 August 2020 through Fantasy Records. They also released the first single of the album, "Dangerous". Translating to "If You Want Peace, Prepare for War", the album features 13 new tracks, and was produced by Morgan himself in Nashville, Tennessee from December 2019 to January 2020. On 17 July, the band released the second single, "Bruised and Bloodied". On 14 August, two weeks before the album release, the band released their third single "Beg".
In July 2021, the band released an EP titled Wasteland – The Purgatory.
Musical style and influences
Seether's musical style has been described as post-grunge, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. The band is heavily influenced by American grunge groups such as Nirvana and Alice in Chains. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote "Seether's lead singer/songwriter, Shaun Morgan, is an unabashed, unapologetic worshiper of Kurt Cobain, using Nirvana's sound as a template for Seether." Seether have also been influenced by Deftones and Nine Inch Nails. Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum in particular takes heavy influence from the bands A Perfect Circle and Deftones.
Band membersCurrent Shaun Morgan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano ; lead guitar
Dale Stewart – bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar
John Humphrey – drums, percussion
Corey Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals Former Johan Greyling – lead guitar
Tyronne Morris – bass
David "Dave" Cohoe – drums, backing vocals
Nick Oshiro – drums
Pat Callahan – lead guitar
Troy McLawhorn – lead guitar, backing vocals Former touring musicians Nic Argyros – drums
John Johnston – drums
Erik Eldenius – drums
Nick Annis – guitar
Kevin Soffera – drums, backing vocals
Brian Tichy – drums
Bryan Wickman – lead guitar, backing vocals
Clint Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals Timeline'''
DiscographyDisclaimer (2002)Disclaimer II (2004)Karma and Effect (2005)Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007)Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2011)Isolate and Medicate (2014)Poison the Parish (2017)Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum'' (2020)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Alternative metal musical groups
Nu metal musical groups
Musical groups established in 1999
Post-grunge groups
South African alternative rock groups
South African hard rock musical groups
Wind-up Records artists
1999 establishments in South Africa
People from Pretoria | false | [
"\"Boys! (What Did the Detective Say?)\" is the debut single by Australian rock band the Sports. The song was written by band members Stephen Cummings and Ed Bates and produced by Joe Camilleri. Released in March 1978 as the lead single from the band's debut studio album Reckless (1978), the song peaked at number 55 on the Australian Kent Music Report.\n\nJohn Magowan of Woroni described the song as \"adolescent bravado\".\n\nTrack listing\n Australian 7\" single (K 7089)\nSide A \"Boys! (What Did the Detective Say?)\" - 2:25\nSide B \"Modern Don Juan\"\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n1978 songs\n1978 debut singles\nThe Sports songs\nSong recordings produced by Joe Camilleri\nMushroom Records singles\nSongs written by Stephen Cummings",
"Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies is a book by music journalist Brian Coleman that covers the making of 36 classic hip hop albums, based on interviews with the artists who created them, also providing a track-by-track breakdown for each album entirely in the words of the artists. It was published by Villard/Random House in 2007.\n\nIt is an expanded and updated version of the book Rakim Told Me, also by Brian Coleman, and it features a foreword by Questlove of the Roots.\n\nReception\nThe book received positive reviews from numerous press outlets, such as Entertainment Weekly, AllHipHop, ALARM Magazine, and The Onion/The A.V. Club.\n\nSome criticisms of the book are that it is missing certain classic albums, is missing some tracks from some albums, that it has very few female artists covered, and \"little attention is given to the outlining societal conditions.\"\n\nBrian Coleman explained in interviews that he didn't intentionally leave any album out of the book, but there were difficulties in arranging interviews with certain artists. He also commented he wanted to focus on hip hop artists and what they had to say, rather than on academic subjects surrounding hip hop: \"I don't really wanna read what critics have to say about the stuff. I wanna read what the artist has to say.” He added,\n\nThis approach has been praised by critics—URB commented on his \"mercifully non-academic approach”, and ALARM Magazine said,\n\nSequel\nCheck the Technique Vol. 2: More Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies was published in 2014.\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\nColeman, Brian (2007). Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies. New York: Villard/Random House, .\n\nExternal links\nOfficial website\nCheck the Technique on Myspace\n\nHip hop books\n2007 non-fiction books\nVillard (imprint) books"
]
|
[
"Horace Plunkett",
"Pioneering co-operation"
]
| C_409551a5c41447aa84d3ff561fbb9702_1 | What is the pioneering co-op | 1 | What is the pioneering co-op? | Horace Plunkett | At first, Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns. He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick. In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy). CANNOTANSWER | He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, | Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author.
Plunkett, a younger brother of John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany, was a member of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland for over 27 years, founder of the Recess Committee and the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), Vice-President (operational head) of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland (predecessor to the Department of Agriculture) from October 1899 to May 1907, Unionist MP for South Dublin in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1892 to 1900, and Chairman of the Irish Convention of 1917–18. An adherent of Home Rule, in 1919 he founded the Irish Dominion League, still aiming to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the first formation of Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber in the Parliament of the new Irish Free State. He has been described as a Christian socialist.
Family and background
Plunkett was the third son of Admiral Edward Plunkett, the 16th Baron of Dunsany, of Dunsany Castle, Dunsany, near Dunshaughlin, County Meath, and the Honourable Anne Constance Dutton (d. 1858) (daughter of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne). He was Anglo-Irish, being of Anglican Irish unionist background, educated at Eton College and University College, Oxford, of which he became an honorary fellow in 1909. His older brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his distant cousin was George Noble Plunkett, a Papal Count and father of Joseph Plunkett, one of the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and a leader of the Easter Rising of 1916.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, Horace Plunkett sought health in ranching for ten years (1879–89) in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development. On visits back to Ireland, and for much of time when he returned, he devoted himself to these topics.
Never marrying, he poured his tremendous energy into agricultural and rural development, politics and diplomacy, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left as his main legacies the Irish cooperative movement, which grew to encompass vast creamery and food ingredient businesses such as Avonmore and Kerry Group, and what is now the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Pioneering co-operation
Although a Unionist, Plunkett resolved to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. The Congested Districts Board were a major plank of the Conservative policy of Constructive Unionism or 'killing Home Rule with kindness'.
Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns.
Before going to America he had become an enthusiast for the Rochdale principles of Consumer cooperatives and in 1878 had set a store up on the family estate.
He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation in Ireland, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick, now the site of the National Dairy Cooperative Museum.
In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.
Work with Roosevelt
Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt's head of the Bureau of Forestry introduced Plunkett to Roosevelt in 1906. Roosevelt had recently set up the National Conservation Commission and was also interested in Irish cooperatives. Arguing that it was not enough to conserve natural resources without tackling the problems of rural life, Plunkett and Pinchot helped draft Roosevelt's letter recommending the Commission on Country Life's report to congress. The Dictionary of Irish Biography credits Plunket with persuading Roosevelt to establish the Commission as a complement to the conservation work.
Success and opposition
Public opinion, initially lukewarm, grew hostile in some sectors as the cooperative movement developed, and shopkeepers, butter-buyers and sections of the press led a campaign of virulent opposition. Cooperatives and Plunkett were denounced for supposedly ruining the dairy industry but the movement caught hold, with the mass of farmers benefitting. Plunkett and his colleagues including the poet and painter George William Russell ("Æ") made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development, and on the role of labour.
As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a size too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), with Lord Monteagle, Thomas A. Finlay and others. Robert A. Anderson acted as secretary, with Æ and PJ Hannon his assistants. IAOS soon became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy cooperative societies and cooperative banks, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management. The following year he and Russell began publishing its journal The Irish Homestead to spread information on farming. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling (over 300 million sterling in today's money, and the turnover of the resulting companies is in excess of a billion euro).
Plunkett's task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that, even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule was implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
Unionism
Before entering Parliament Plunkett had been involved in the Unionist reaction to the Liberal leader William Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule, predicting in a speech to an 1886 Unionist demonstration that Home rule would lead to "'squalid poverty and violent social disorder, which before long is almost certain to end in civil war".
At the general election in July 1892 he was elected as the Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) for South County Dublin, gaining it from the Anti-Parnellite incumbent Sir Thomas Esmonde against a split nationalist vote. He successfully held the seat against a sole nationalist (Parnellite Nationalist) challenger Edmund Haviland-Burke in 1895.
Early in his career Plunkett opposed home rule because of the danger of partition. In 1893 he asserted that one of the leading objections to any measure of home rule was that if it were possible to enforce it on Ulster . . . "it would intensify and perpetuate a state of things in which the Boyne seemed to be broader, deeper and stormier than the Irish Sea".
He lost his seat in 1900 to John Mooney of the Irish Parliamentary Party, after his conciliatory approach to nationalists led to hardline unionists standing Francis Elrington Ball as an independent unionist candidate, splitting the unionist vote.
Expanding co-operation
Continuing his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in a letter to the Irish press in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions, both nationalist and unionist, should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation for pursuing national development, and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897.
The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee, with Plunkett as chairman and members of divergent views, such as the Earl of Mayo, John Redmond, The O'Conor Don, Thomas Sinclair, Thomas Spring Rice, Rev Dr Kane (Grand Master of the Belfast Orangemen), Father Thomas A. Finlay, Mr John Ross, MP, Timothy Harrington MP, Sir John Arnott, Sir William Ewart, Sir Daniel Dixon (after Lord Mayor of Belfast), Sir James Musgrave (Chairman of the Belfast Harbour Board), Thomas Andrews (Chairman of the Belfast and County Down Railway). T. P. Gill acted as Honorary Secretary to the Committee.
In July 1896 the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing in 1899 of an Act establishing the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the Chief Secretary for Ireland was to be President ex officio. Plunkett was appointed Vice-President, a position of de facto leadership. He guided the policy and administration of the DATI in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked:
to improve the quality of crops and livestock
to deal with animal and plant disease
to encourage fishing and planting of forests
to collect statistics on many aspects of Irish life.
By 1914 the DATI had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers about new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry-keeping. The start of the 20th century saw the high water mark in Plunket's achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 cooperative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of the IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members. However, most unionists considered Plunkett too conciliatory and their hostility cost him his seat at the general election in October 1900, when they put up a candidate to split the unionist vote.
It had been intended that the Vice-President should be responsible for the DATI in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that Plunkett might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the DATI without a seat in Parliament. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903 at Cobh, on the personal initiative of the King.
On the accession of the Liberal Party to power in 1906 James Bryce, the new Chief Secretary, asked Plunkett to remain at the head of the department he had created.
Efforts obstructed
Having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, attitudes among the nationalist party were exacerbated by the opinions in his book, Ireland in the New Century (1904). Here he described the economic condition and needs of the country, and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had promoted. Plunkett put forth the view that economics were more important than politics for the future of Ireland, classed the huge sums invested in the building of Catholic churches as "uneconomic" and remarked negatively on the power of the Catholic hierarchy.
John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, turned against Plunkett for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland's problems, and other mainstream nationalists, led by John Dillon, rejected economic development, whether through Plunkett's agricultural cooperatives, William O'Brien's tenant land purchase or D. D. Sheehan's housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett's hopes, and the Irish Parliamentary Party made a determined effort to drive him from office, moving a resolution to that effect in the House of Commons in 1907. The government gave way, and although Plunkett was re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, he retired from office in the DATI. From the year 1900 the DATI had made an annual grant of about £4,000 to the IAOS, but in 1907 the new vice-president of the DATI, TW Russell, who had previously been a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew it. Nonetheless, many continued to be inspired by Plunkett's vision and to establish creamery cooperatives around the country.
Political reorientation
In 1908 public appreciation of Plunkett's service was marked by the purchase and gift to him of 84 Merrion Square, Dublin, which became the headquarters of the IAOS, under the name The Plunkett House.
The Irish Homestead had frequently drawn attention to the status of women in rural Ireland (its assistant editor was Susan L. Mitchell), and in 1910 Plunkett helped to found the United Irishwomen to improve their domestic economy, welfare and education, with Ellice Pilkington and Anita Lett. This would develop in the 1930s into the powerful Irish Countrywomen's Association.
Having previously focused his attention pragmatically on economic factors, Plunkett now began to reorient to political and social issues. The failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1907 made him realise the critical importance of self-government and by 1912 he was a convinced Home Ruler. He spent the first half of 1914 in negotiations intended to prevent partition and the exclusion of Ulster, to no avail.
During the First World War the cooperatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, where food shortages led to a boom period for Irish agriculture.
Much of Plunkett's time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States. After the Easter Rising of 1916, when he heard of executions, he sought clemency for its remaining leaders, including Constance Markievicz, except for anyone involved in regular crime.
From July 1917 to May 1918 Plunkett chaired the Irish Convention, which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost what would have been an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to the issue of land purchase.
Until 1922 Plunkett worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal, the Irish Statesman, to advance that aim, for which he was rejected by those working for an Irish Republic.
Marginalisation and departure from Ireland
In the troubled years between 1918 and 1922 the cooperative movement was targeted by the Black and Tans and other British government forces, as the creameries were alleged to be centres of sedition. Factories were wrecked and burned, stock was destroyed, and trade was interrupted. Plunkett's protests were unheeded and demands for compensation were rejected.
In 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was implemented, Plunkett was nominated to the first Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the parliament of the new Irish state. In recognition of his contributions and ideas, he was one of those appointed for a term of 12-years. As a senator he met Michael Collins, whom he described as "simple yet cunning".
His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War in 1923 his grand house, Kilteragh in Foxrock, County Dublin, was one of at least 285 country houses targeted by the IRA and burned down, the fire taking with it many of the records of the Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject. Plunkett wrote that "the healthiest house in the world, and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland" had been destroyed. He resigned from the Seanad in November 1923.
Plunkett moved to Weybridge in England, where on 21 December 1918 he set up the Plunkett Foundation, launched in 1919 with £5,000 to support work with the co-operative movement. The foundation continues its work today.
Plunkett continued to promote and spread his ideas for agricultural cooperatives. In 1924 he presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, in 1925 he visited South Africa to help the movement there, while as late in 1930, he was consulting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain on agricultural policy.
During Plunkett's last years, Gerald Heard was his personal secretary. Naomi Mitchison, who admired Plunkett and was a friend of Heard, wrote: "H.P., as we all called him, was getting past his prime and often ill but struggling to go on with the work to which he was devoted. Gerald [Heard] who was shepherding him about fairly continually, apologized once for leaving a dinner party abruptly when H.P. was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion".
Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932 and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in nearby Byfleet where his gravestone survives today.
Personal life
Horace was close to his nephews, Edward and Reginald Dunsany, helping manage their, and their father's, affairs. He also worked to reconcile the 17th Lord Dunsany and his wife over several years. He was very involved in the affairs of the 18th Lord Dunsany until some failures of investments in the 1920s, after which their contact was more occasional but continued to near the end. His dealings with Reginald were more limited in earlier years but he continued to visit him at Charborough and elsewhere, right up to the month of his death.
He was also close friends with Elizabeth "Daisy" Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall, the wife of his remote cousin.
Horace became interested in aviation late in life and was still flying – presumably from Brooklands – at least as late as 1930.
References
Writings
Ireland in the New Century (1904), Sir Horace Plunkett
Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), Sir Horace Plunkett
The Rural Life Problem of the United States, (1910), Sir Horace Plunkett
as well as numerous pamphlets
Related bibliography
Seventy Years Young, Memoires of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall, by Elizabeth Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall. First published by Collins of London in 1937; 1991 edition published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, Ireland . This Elizabeth, was a Burke from Moycullen in County Galway, who married the 11th Earl of Fingall, and should not be confused with Elizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of Fingall.
Notes
The Plunkett Foundation
External links
Diaries of Sir Horace Plunkett, 1881–1932 at the National Library of Ireland; includes digitized manuscripts, annotated transcriptions, and index
Irish Co-operative Organisation Society
1854 births
1932 deaths
Irish Anglicans
Irish knights
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
20th-century Anglo-Irish people
Protestant Irish nationalists
Irish Dominion League
Irish Unionist Party MPs
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
Cooperative organizers
Horace Plunkett
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish male non-fiction writers
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Members of the 1922 Seanad
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922)
People educated at Eton College
Politicians from County Meath
Younger sons of barons
Fellows of the Royal Society
Independent members of Seanad Éireann
People from Foxrock | false | [
"York Center is an unincorporated community in York Township, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. York Center is located by Meyers Road and 16th Street, near the southern border of Lombard, and the western border of Oakbrook Terrace. York Center has an elementary school, established in 1958, and a fire protection district, which covers unincorporated areas of Lombard, Villa Park, Oak Brook, and Oakbrook Terrace.\n\nThe York Center Cooperative (Co-op) community was founded immediately after World War II as a co-op on the principles of shared ownership \"to promote and develop good will, high moral values, wholesome cooperative activities and healthy civic spirit.\" Louis Shirky, who also established a Church of the Brethren in York Center, purchased the Goltermann farm for the housing cooperative. At its founding, the co-op was an experiment in what was then considered radical living. Chicagoans who wanted to escape the prejudice and confinement of the city to build affordable homes in the suburbs flocked to what was then a bucolic farm, which the people of the co-op purchased and subdivided. Members learned to tout the 100 acres of communally-owned property as an economically mixed community that was tolerant of all races, religions and ethnicities. Many, but not all, of early residents, including Louis Shirky, were members of the York Center Church of the Brethren. The purpose was to establish a new kind of community, a housing cooperative based on open membership \"to all persons of good will.\"\n\nArchivist Dennis Bilger of the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., has stated, \"It is probably true that the York Center Cooperative was, if not the first, one of the very earliest integrated housing developments in the United States.\" In 1949, President Harry Truman issued an executive order declaring racial discrimination illegal in the granting of Federal Housing Administration loans. The watershed edict came after York Center Co-op members teamed up with the NAACP in a test case.\n\nGirl Scouting was an important aspect of life in York Center. The Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana now serves the area which was led by R. Hopley \"Hop\" Roberts in the days when it was part of the DuPage County Council.\n\nThe York Center Cooperative was legally dissolved in 2010.\n\nIn 2021, the Lombard Historical Society produced the documentary, Common Good ~ The York Center Co-op Story, which is characterized as \"An epic tale of a pioneering, faith-based effort that provided fair housing, community and opportunity in an era of white flight, redlining and restrictive covenants that effectively prevented non-white Americans from fully participating in the American dream.\"\n\nReferences\n\n1940s establishments in Illinois\nChurch of the Brethren\nHistory of racial segregation in the United States\nUnincorporated communities in DuPage County, Illinois\nUnincorporated communities in Illinois",
"The Ypsilanti Food Co-op is a food cooperative located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Located in historic Depot Town, it is Michigan's only solar-powered grocery store. Also owned by the co-op is the River Street Bakery, which features the only wood-fired brick oven in commercial use in Washtenaw County. The Ypsilanti Food Co-op, in turn, is owned by its membership and governed by its board of directors. The shared building also is home to two beehives that are part of the Local Honey Project, managed by members, and they live in the adjacent called \"Honeybee Alley\".\n\nThe co-op is a member of the National Cooperative Grocers Association. It is Ypsilanti's primary host of events concerning sustainability, ecology, and food-related issues; in addition, it is a sponsor of and promotes external activities such as Ypsilanti's farmers' markets and other local-food initiatives. The co-op provides card-reader services for both Ypsilanti farmers' markets, allowing all vendors to accept payment by credit card, as well as EBT/Snap cards.\n\nHistory\nThe Ypsilanti Food Co-op was founded in 1975 on Sheridan St between Elm and Oakwood and is now located at 312 N. River Street in Ypsilanti's Depot Town neighborhood. The Mill Works Building, in which the co-op resides, was originally a foundry that made wheels for grinding flour.\n The food coop became Michigan's only solar-powered grocery store when a volunteer group, called Solar Ypsi, installed solar panels in 2005.\n\nStructure and governance\n\nFood cooperative\nAs a cooperative, the Ypsilanti Food Co-op follows the 7 Cooperative Principles and offers natural foods, with an emphasis on organic and locally-grown and -made produce and groceries. Unlike a common corporation, decisions about how to run the Ypsilanti Food Co-op are not made by outside shareholders, and it is therefore able to manifest a higher degree of social responsibility than its corporate analogues. Much of the revenue made by the Co-op is returned to its local economy.\n\nOwnership\nThe co-op is owned by its members, of which there are approximately 1000; it is directed by its general manager, who is in turn overseen by the co-op's board of directors. Co-op members receive a discount on retail items purchased in the store; an additional discount may be earned by members who choose to volunteer labor in or on behalf of the store.\n\nBoard of directors\nThe board of directors has seven members, elected to two-year terms by co-op members. The Ypsilanti Food Co-op's board meets at least monthly, and is charged with the oversight of co-op policy, governance, and overall vision.\n\nStaff\nA paid staff of approximately forty is employed by the co-op, with assistance from numerous member-volunteers.\n\nSee also\n List of food cooperatives\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Ypsilanti Food Co-op website\n National Cooperative Grocers Association website\n Solar Ypsi project\n\n1975 establishments in Michigan\nOrganic farming organizations\nFood cooperatives in the United States\nFood and drink companies established in 1975\nYpsilanti, Michigan"
]
|
[
"Horace Plunkett",
"Pioneering co-operation",
"What is the pioneering co-op",
"He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation,"
]
| C_409551a5c41447aa84d3ff561fbb9702_1 | what did he do | 2 | what did Horace Plunkett do? | Horace Plunkett | At first, Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns. He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick. In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy). CANNOTANSWER | which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. | Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author.
Plunkett, a younger brother of John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany, was a member of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland for over 27 years, founder of the Recess Committee and the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), Vice-President (operational head) of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland (predecessor to the Department of Agriculture) from October 1899 to May 1907, Unionist MP for South Dublin in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1892 to 1900, and Chairman of the Irish Convention of 1917–18. An adherent of Home Rule, in 1919 he founded the Irish Dominion League, still aiming to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the first formation of Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber in the Parliament of the new Irish Free State. He has been described as a Christian socialist.
Family and background
Plunkett was the third son of Admiral Edward Plunkett, the 16th Baron of Dunsany, of Dunsany Castle, Dunsany, near Dunshaughlin, County Meath, and the Honourable Anne Constance Dutton (d. 1858) (daughter of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne). He was Anglo-Irish, being of Anglican Irish unionist background, educated at Eton College and University College, Oxford, of which he became an honorary fellow in 1909. His older brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his distant cousin was George Noble Plunkett, a Papal Count and father of Joseph Plunkett, one of the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and a leader of the Easter Rising of 1916.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, Horace Plunkett sought health in ranching for ten years (1879–89) in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development. On visits back to Ireland, and for much of time when he returned, he devoted himself to these topics.
Never marrying, he poured his tremendous energy into agricultural and rural development, politics and diplomacy, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left as his main legacies the Irish cooperative movement, which grew to encompass vast creamery and food ingredient businesses such as Avonmore and Kerry Group, and what is now the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Pioneering co-operation
Although a Unionist, Plunkett resolved to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. The Congested Districts Board were a major plank of the Conservative policy of Constructive Unionism or 'killing Home Rule with kindness'.
Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns.
Before going to America he had become an enthusiast for the Rochdale principles of Consumer cooperatives and in 1878 had set a store up on the family estate.
He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation in Ireland, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick, now the site of the National Dairy Cooperative Museum.
In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.
Work with Roosevelt
Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt's head of the Bureau of Forestry introduced Plunkett to Roosevelt in 1906. Roosevelt had recently set up the National Conservation Commission and was also interested in Irish cooperatives. Arguing that it was not enough to conserve natural resources without tackling the problems of rural life, Plunkett and Pinchot helped draft Roosevelt's letter recommending the Commission on Country Life's report to congress. The Dictionary of Irish Biography credits Plunket with persuading Roosevelt to establish the Commission as a complement to the conservation work.
Success and opposition
Public opinion, initially lukewarm, grew hostile in some sectors as the cooperative movement developed, and shopkeepers, butter-buyers and sections of the press led a campaign of virulent opposition. Cooperatives and Plunkett were denounced for supposedly ruining the dairy industry but the movement caught hold, with the mass of farmers benefitting. Plunkett and his colleagues including the poet and painter George William Russell ("Æ") made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development, and on the role of labour.
As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a size too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), with Lord Monteagle, Thomas A. Finlay and others. Robert A. Anderson acted as secretary, with Æ and PJ Hannon his assistants. IAOS soon became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy cooperative societies and cooperative banks, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management. The following year he and Russell began publishing its journal The Irish Homestead to spread information on farming. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling (over 300 million sterling in today's money, and the turnover of the resulting companies is in excess of a billion euro).
Plunkett's task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that, even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule was implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
Unionism
Before entering Parliament Plunkett had been involved in the Unionist reaction to the Liberal leader William Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule, predicting in a speech to an 1886 Unionist demonstration that Home rule would lead to "'squalid poverty and violent social disorder, which before long is almost certain to end in civil war".
At the general election in July 1892 he was elected as the Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) for South County Dublin, gaining it from the Anti-Parnellite incumbent Sir Thomas Esmonde against a split nationalist vote. He successfully held the seat against a sole nationalist (Parnellite Nationalist) challenger Edmund Haviland-Burke in 1895.
Early in his career Plunkett opposed home rule because of the danger of partition. In 1893 he asserted that one of the leading objections to any measure of home rule was that if it were possible to enforce it on Ulster . . . "it would intensify and perpetuate a state of things in which the Boyne seemed to be broader, deeper and stormier than the Irish Sea".
He lost his seat in 1900 to John Mooney of the Irish Parliamentary Party, after his conciliatory approach to nationalists led to hardline unionists standing Francis Elrington Ball as an independent unionist candidate, splitting the unionist vote.
Expanding co-operation
Continuing his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in a letter to the Irish press in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions, both nationalist and unionist, should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation for pursuing national development, and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897.
The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee, with Plunkett as chairman and members of divergent views, such as the Earl of Mayo, John Redmond, The O'Conor Don, Thomas Sinclair, Thomas Spring Rice, Rev Dr Kane (Grand Master of the Belfast Orangemen), Father Thomas A. Finlay, Mr John Ross, MP, Timothy Harrington MP, Sir John Arnott, Sir William Ewart, Sir Daniel Dixon (after Lord Mayor of Belfast), Sir James Musgrave (Chairman of the Belfast Harbour Board), Thomas Andrews (Chairman of the Belfast and County Down Railway). T. P. Gill acted as Honorary Secretary to the Committee.
In July 1896 the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing in 1899 of an Act establishing the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the Chief Secretary for Ireland was to be President ex officio. Plunkett was appointed Vice-President, a position of de facto leadership. He guided the policy and administration of the DATI in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked:
to improve the quality of crops and livestock
to deal with animal and plant disease
to encourage fishing and planting of forests
to collect statistics on many aspects of Irish life.
By 1914 the DATI had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers about new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry-keeping. The start of the 20th century saw the high water mark in Plunket's achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 cooperative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of the IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members. However, most unionists considered Plunkett too conciliatory and their hostility cost him his seat at the general election in October 1900, when they put up a candidate to split the unionist vote.
It had been intended that the Vice-President should be responsible for the DATI in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that Plunkett might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the DATI without a seat in Parliament. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903 at Cobh, on the personal initiative of the King.
On the accession of the Liberal Party to power in 1906 James Bryce, the new Chief Secretary, asked Plunkett to remain at the head of the department he had created.
Efforts obstructed
Having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, attitudes among the nationalist party were exacerbated by the opinions in his book, Ireland in the New Century (1904). Here he described the economic condition and needs of the country, and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had promoted. Plunkett put forth the view that economics were more important than politics for the future of Ireland, classed the huge sums invested in the building of Catholic churches as "uneconomic" and remarked negatively on the power of the Catholic hierarchy.
John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, turned against Plunkett for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland's problems, and other mainstream nationalists, led by John Dillon, rejected economic development, whether through Plunkett's agricultural cooperatives, William O'Brien's tenant land purchase or D. D. Sheehan's housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett's hopes, and the Irish Parliamentary Party made a determined effort to drive him from office, moving a resolution to that effect in the House of Commons in 1907. The government gave way, and although Plunkett was re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, he retired from office in the DATI. From the year 1900 the DATI had made an annual grant of about £4,000 to the IAOS, but in 1907 the new vice-president of the DATI, TW Russell, who had previously been a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew it. Nonetheless, many continued to be inspired by Plunkett's vision and to establish creamery cooperatives around the country.
Political reorientation
In 1908 public appreciation of Plunkett's service was marked by the purchase and gift to him of 84 Merrion Square, Dublin, which became the headquarters of the IAOS, under the name The Plunkett House.
The Irish Homestead had frequently drawn attention to the status of women in rural Ireland (its assistant editor was Susan L. Mitchell), and in 1910 Plunkett helped to found the United Irishwomen to improve their domestic economy, welfare and education, with Ellice Pilkington and Anita Lett. This would develop in the 1930s into the powerful Irish Countrywomen's Association.
Having previously focused his attention pragmatically on economic factors, Plunkett now began to reorient to political and social issues. The failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1907 made him realise the critical importance of self-government and by 1912 he was a convinced Home Ruler. He spent the first half of 1914 in negotiations intended to prevent partition and the exclusion of Ulster, to no avail.
During the First World War the cooperatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, where food shortages led to a boom period for Irish agriculture.
Much of Plunkett's time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States. After the Easter Rising of 1916, when he heard of executions, he sought clemency for its remaining leaders, including Constance Markievicz, except for anyone involved in regular crime.
From July 1917 to May 1918 Plunkett chaired the Irish Convention, which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost what would have been an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to the issue of land purchase.
Until 1922 Plunkett worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal, the Irish Statesman, to advance that aim, for which he was rejected by those working for an Irish Republic.
Marginalisation and departure from Ireland
In the troubled years between 1918 and 1922 the cooperative movement was targeted by the Black and Tans and other British government forces, as the creameries were alleged to be centres of sedition. Factories were wrecked and burned, stock was destroyed, and trade was interrupted. Plunkett's protests were unheeded and demands for compensation were rejected.
In 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was implemented, Plunkett was nominated to the first Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the parliament of the new Irish state. In recognition of his contributions and ideas, he was one of those appointed for a term of 12-years. As a senator he met Michael Collins, whom he described as "simple yet cunning".
His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War in 1923 his grand house, Kilteragh in Foxrock, County Dublin, was one of at least 285 country houses targeted by the IRA and burned down, the fire taking with it many of the records of the Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject. Plunkett wrote that "the healthiest house in the world, and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland" had been destroyed. He resigned from the Seanad in November 1923.
Plunkett moved to Weybridge in England, where on 21 December 1918 he set up the Plunkett Foundation, launched in 1919 with £5,000 to support work with the co-operative movement. The foundation continues its work today.
Plunkett continued to promote and spread his ideas for agricultural cooperatives. In 1924 he presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, in 1925 he visited South Africa to help the movement there, while as late in 1930, he was consulting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain on agricultural policy.
During Plunkett's last years, Gerald Heard was his personal secretary. Naomi Mitchison, who admired Plunkett and was a friend of Heard, wrote: "H.P., as we all called him, was getting past his prime and often ill but struggling to go on with the work to which he was devoted. Gerald [Heard] who was shepherding him about fairly continually, apologized once for leaving a dinner party abruptly when H.P. was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion".
Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932 and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in nearby Byfleet where his gravestone survives today.
Personal life
Horace was close to his nephews, Edward and Reginald Dunsany, helping manage their, and their father's, affairs. He also worked to reconcile the 17th Lord Dunsany and his wife over several years. He was very involved in the affairs of the 18th Lord Dunsany until some failures of investments in the 1920s, after which their contact was more occasional but continued to near the end. His dealings with Reginald were more limited in earlier years but he continued to visit him at Charborough and elsewhere, right up to the month of his death.
He was also close friends with Elizabeth "Daisy" Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall, the wife of his remote cousin.
Horace became interested in aviation late in life and was still flying – presumably from Brooklands – at least as late as 1930.
References
Writings
Ireland in the New Century (1904), Sir Horace Plunkett
Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), Sir Horace Plunkett
The Rural Life Problem of the United States, (1910), Sir Horace Plunkett
as well as numerous pamphlets
Related bibliography
Seventy Years Young, Memoires of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall, by Elizabeth Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall. First published by Collins of London in 1937; 1991 edition published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, Ireland . This Elizabeth, was a Burke from Moycullen in County Galway, who married the 11th Earl of Fingall, and should not be confused with Elizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of Fingall.
Notes
The Plunkett Foundation
External links
Diaries of Sir Horace Plunkett, 1881–1932 at the National Library of Ireland; includes digitized manuscripts, annotated transcriptions, and index
Irish Co-operative Organisation Society
1854 births
1932 deaths
Irish Anglicans
Irish knights
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
20th-century Anglo-Irish people
Protestant Irish nationalists
Irish Dominion League
Irish Unionist Party MPs
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
Cooperative organizers
Horace Plunkett
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish male non-fiction writers
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Members of the 1922 Seanad
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922)
People educated at Eton College
Politicians from County Meath
Younger sons of barons
Fellows of the Royal Society
Independent members of Seanad Éireann
People from Foxrock | true | [
"\"What Did I Do to You?\" is a song recorded by British singer Lisa Stansfield for her 1989 album, Affection. It was written by Stansfield, Ian Devaney and Andy Morris, and produced by Devaney and Morris. The song was released as the fourth European single on 30 April 1990. It included three previously unreleased songs written by Stansfield, Devaney and Morris: \"My Apple Heart,\" \"Lay Me Down\" and \"Something's Happenin'.\" \"What Did I Do to You?\" was remixed by Mark Saunders and by the Grammy Award-winning American house music DJ and producer, David Morales. The single became a top forty hit in the European countries reaching number eighteen in Finland, number twenty in Ireland and number twenty-five in the United Kingdom. \"What Did I Do to You?\" was also released in Japan.\n\nIn 2014, the remixes of \"What Did I Do to You?\" were included on the deluxe 2CD + DVD re-release of Affection and on People Hold On ... The Remix Anthology. They were also featured on The Collection 1989–2003 box set (2014), including previously unreleased Red Zone Mix by David Morales.\n\nCritical reception\nThe song received positive reviews from music critics. Matthew Hocter from Albumism viewed it as a \"upbeat offering\". David Giles from Music Week said it is \"beautifully performed\" by Stansfield. A reviewer from Reading Eagle wrote that \"What Did I Do to You?\" \"would be right at home on the \"Saturday Night Fever\" soundtrack.\"\n\nMusic video\nA music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Philip Richardson, who had previously directed the videos for \"All Around the World\" and \"Live Together\". It features Stansfield with her kiss curls, dressed in a white outfit and performing with her band on a stage in front of a jumping audience. The video was later published on Stansfield's official YouTube channel in November 2009. It has amassed more than 1,6 million views as of October 2021.\n\nTrack listings\n\n European/UK 7\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix Edit) – 4:20\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n European/UK/Japanese CD single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix Edit) – 4:20\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 5:19\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 4:17\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n UK 10\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix) – 5:52\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 5:19\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 4:17\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n European/UK 12\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Morales Mix) – 7:59\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 4:22\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 3:19\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:15\n\n UK 12\" promotional single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Morales Mix) – 7:59\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Anti Poll Tax Dub) – 6:31\n\n Other remixes\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Red Zone Mix) – 7:45\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nLisa Stansfield songs\n1990 singles\nSongs written by Lisa Stansfield\n1989 songs\nArista Records singles\nSongs written by Ian Devaney\nSongs written by Andy Morris (musician)",
"\"What Would Steve Do?\" is the second single released by Mumm-Ra on Columbia Records, which was released on February 19, 2007. It is a re-recorded version of the self-release they did in April 2006. It reached #40 in the UK Singles Chart, making it their highest charting single.\n\nTrack listings\nAll songs written by Mumm-Ra.\n\nCD\n\"What Would Steve Do?\"\n\"Cute As\"\n\"Without You\"\n\n7\"\n\"What Would Steve Do?\"\n\"What Would Steve Do? (Floorboard Mix)\"\n\nGatefold 7\"\n\"What Would Steve Do?\"\n\"Cute As\"\n\nReferences\n\n2007 singles\nMumm-Ra (band) songs\n2006 songs\nColumbia Records singles"
]
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"Horace Plunkett",
"Pioneering co-operation",
"What is the pioneering co-op",
"He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation,",
"what did he do",
"which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator."
]
| C_409551a5c41447aa84d3ff561fbb9702_1 | What were the scandinavian models | 3 | What were the scandinavian models invented by Horace Plunkett? | Horace Plunkett | At first, Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns. He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick. In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy). CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author.
Plunkett, a younger brother of John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany, was a member of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland for over 27 years, founder of the Recess Committee and the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), Vice-President (operational head) of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland (predecessor to the Department of Agriculture) from October 1899 to May 1907, Unionist MP for South Dublin in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1892 to 1900, and Chairman of the Irish Convention of 1917–18. An adherent of Home Rule, in 1919 he founded the Irish Dominion League, still aiming to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the first formation of Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber in the Parliament of the new Irish Free State. He has been described as a Christian socialist.
Family and background
Plunkett was the third son of Admiral Edward Plunkett, the 16th Baron of Dunsany, of Dunsany Castle, Dunsany, near Dunshaughlin, County Meath, and the Honourable Anne Constance Dutton (d. 1858) (daughter of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne). He was Anglo-Irish, being of Anglican Irish unionist background, educated at Eton College and University College, Oxford, of which he became an honorary fellow in 1909. His older brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his distant cousin was George Noble Plunkett, a Papal Count and father of Joseph Plunkett, one of the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and a leader of the Easter Rising of 1916.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, Horace Plunkett sought health in ranching for ten years (1879–89) in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development. On visits back to Ireland, and for much of time when he returned, he devoted himself to these topics.
Never marrying, he poured his tremendous energy into agricultural and rural development, politics and diplomacy, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left as his main legacies the Irish cooperative movement, which grew to encompass vast creamery and food ingredient businesses such as Avonmore and Kerry Group, and what is now the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Pioneering co-operation
Although a Unionist, Plunkett resolved to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. The Congested Districts Board were a major plank of the Conservative policy of Constructive Unionism or 'killing Home Rule with kindness'.
Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns.
Before going to America he had become an enthusiast for the Rochdale principles of Consumer cooperatives and in 1878 had set a store up on the family estate.
He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation in Ireland, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick, now the site of the National Dairy Cooperative Museum.
In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.
Work with Roosevelt
Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt's head of the Bureau of Forestry introduced Plunkett to Roosevelt in 1906. Roosevelt had recently set up the National Conservation Commission and was also interested in Irish cooperatives. Arguing that it was not enough to conserve natural resources without tackling the problems of rural life, Plunkett and Pinchot helped draft Roosevelt's letter recommending the Commission on Country Life's report to congress. The Dictionary of Irish Biography credits Plunket with persuading Roosevelt to establish the Commission as a complement to the conservation work.
Success and opposition
Public opinion, initially lukewarm, grew hostile in some sectors as the cooperative movement developed, and shopkeepers, butter-buyers and sections of the press led a campaign of virulent opposition. Cooperatives and Plunkett were denounced for supposedly ruining the dairy industry but the movement caught hold, with the mass of farmers benefitting. Plunkett and his colleagues including the poet and painter George William Russell ("Æ") made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development, and on the role of labour.
As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a size too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), with Lord Monteagle, Thomas A. Finlay and others. Robert A. Anderson acted as secretary, with Æ and PJ Hannon his assistants. IAOS soon became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy cooperative societies and cooperative banks, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management. The following year he and Russell began publishing its journal The Irish Homestead to spread information on farming. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling (over 300 million sterling in today's money, and the turnover of the resulting companies is in excess of a billion euro).
Plunkett's task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that, even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule was implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
Unionism
Before entering Parliament Plunkett had been involved in the Unionist reaction to the Liberal leader William Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule, predicting in a speech to an 1886 Unionist demonstration that Home rule would lead to "'squalid poverty and violent social disorder, which before long is almost certain to end in civil war".
At the general election in July 1892 he was elected as the Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) for South County Dublin, gaining it from the Anti-Parnellite incumbent Sir Thomas Esmonde against a split nationalist vote. He successfully held the seat against a sole nationalist (Parnellite Nationalist) challenger Edmund Haviland-Burke in 1895.
Early in his career Plunkett opposed home rule because of the danger of partition. In 1893 he asserted that one of the leading objections to any measure of home rule was that if it were possible to enforce it on Ulster . . . "it would intensify and perpetuate a state of things in which the Boyne seemed to be broader, deeper and stormier than the Irish Sea".
He lost his seat in 1900 to John Mooney of the Irish Parliamentary Party, after his conciliatory approach to nationalists led to hardline unionists standing Francis Elrington Ball as an independent unionist candidate, splitting the unionist vote.
Expanding co-operation
Continuing his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in a letter to the Irish press in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions, both nationalist and unionist, should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation for pursuing national development, and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897.
The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee, with Plunkett as chairman and members of divergent views, such as the Earl of Mayo, John Redmond, The O'Conor Don, Thomas Sinclair, Thomas Spring Rice, Rev Dr Kane (Grand Master of the Belfast Orangemen), Father Thomas A. Finlay, Mr John Ross, MP, Timothy Harrington MP, Sir John Arnott, Sir William Ewart, Sir Daniel Dixon (after Lord Mayor of Belfast), Sir James Musgrave (Chairman of the Belfast Harbour Board), Thomas Andrews (Chairman of the Belfast and County Down Railway). T. P. Gill acted as Honorary Secretary to the Committee.
In July 1896 the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing in 1899 of an Act establishing the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the Chief Secretary for Ireland was to be President ex officio. Plunkett was appointed Vice-President, a position of de facto leadership. He guided the policy and administration of the DATI in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked:
to improve the quality of crops and livestock
to deal with animal and plant disease
to encourage fishing and planting of forests
to collect statistics on many aspects of Irish life.
By 1914 the DATI had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers about new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry-keeping. The start of the 20th century saw the high water mark in Plunket's achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 cooperative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of the IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members. However, most unionists considered Plunkett too conciliatory and their hostility cost him his seat at the general election in October 1900, when they put up a candidate to split the unionist vote.
It had been intended that the Vice-President should be responsible for the DATI in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that Plunkett might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the DATI without a seat in Parliament. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903 at Cobh, on the personal initiative of the King.
On the accession of the Liberal Party to power in 1906 James Bryce, the new Chief Secretary, asked Plunkett to remain at the head of the department he had created.
Efforts obstructed
Having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, attitudes among the nationalist party were exacerbated by the opinions in his book, Ireland in the New Century (1904). Here he described the economic condition and needs of the country, and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had promoted. Plunkett put forth the view that economics were more important than politics for the future of Ireland, classed the huge sums invested in the building of Catholic churches as "uneconomic" and remarked negatively on the power of the Catholic hierarchy.
John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, turned against Plunkett for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland's problems, and other mainstream nationalists, led by John Dillon, rejected economic development, whether through Plunkett's agricultural cooperatives, William O'Brien's tenant land purchase or D. D. Sheehan's housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett's hopes, and the Irish Parliamentary Party made a determined effort to drive him from office, moving a resolution to that effect in the House of Commons in 1907. The government gave way, and although Plunkett was re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, he retired from office in the DATI. From the year 1900 the DATI had made an annual grant of about £4,000 to the IAOS, but in 1907 the new vice-president of the DATI, TW Russell, who had previously been a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew it. Nonetheless, many continued to be inspired by Plunkett's vision and to establish creamery cooperatives around the country.
Political reorientation
In 1908 public appreciation of Plunkett's service was marked by the purchase and gift to him of 84 Merrion Square, Dublin, which became the headquarters of the IAOS, under the name The Plunkett House.
The Irish Homestead had frequently drawn attention to the status of women in rural Ireland (its assistant editor was Susan L. Mitchell), and in 1910 Plunkett helped to found the United Irishwomen to improve their domestic economy, welfare and education, with Ellice Pilkington and Anita Lett. This would develop in the 1930s into the powerful Irish Countrywomen's Association.
Having previously focused his attention pragmatically on economic factors, Plunkett now began to reorient to political and social issues. The failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1907 made him realise the critical importance of self-government and by 1912 he was a convinced Home Ruler. He spent the first half of 1914 in negotiations intended to prevent partition and the exclusion of Ulster, to no avail.
During the First World War the cooperatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, where food shortages led to a boom period for Irish agriculture.
Much of Plunkett's time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States. After the Easter Rising of 1916, when he heard of executions, he sought clemency for its remaining leaders, including Constance Markievicz, except for anyone involved in regular crime.
From July 1917 to May 1918 Plunkett chaired the Irish Convention, which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost what would have been an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to the issue of land purchase.
Until 1922 Plunkett worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal, the Irish Statesman, to advance that aim, for which he was rejected by those working for an Irish Republic.
Marginalisation and departure from Ireland
In the troubled years between 1918 and 1922 the cooperative movement was targeted by the Black and Tans and other British government forces, as the creameries were alleged to be centres of sedition. Factories were wrecked and burned, stock was destroyed, and trade was interrupted. Plunkett's protests were unheeded and demands for compensation were rejected.
In 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was implemented, Plunkett was nominated to the first Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the parliament of the new Irish state. In recognition of his contributions and ideas, he was one of those appointed for a term of 12-years. As a senator he met Michael Collins, whom he described as "simple yet cunning".
His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War in 1923 his grand house, Kilteragh in Foxrock, County Dublin, was one of at least 285 country houses targeted by the IRA and burned down, the fire taking with it many of the records of the Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject. Plunkett wrote that "the healthiest house in the world, and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland" had been destroyed. He resigned from the Seanad in November 1923.
Plunkett moved to Weybridge in England, where on 21 December 1918 he set up the Plunkett Foundation, launched in 1919 with £5,000 to support work with the co-operative movement. The foundation continues its work today.
Plunkett continued to promote and spread his ideas for agricultural cooperatives. In 1924 he presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, in 1925 he visited South Africa to help the movement there, while as late in 1930, he was consulting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain on agricultural policy.
During Plunkett's last years, Gerald Heard was his personal secretary. Naomi Mitchison, who admired Plunkett and was a friend of Heard, wrote: "H.P., as we all called him, was getting past his prime and often ill but struggling to go on with the work to which he was devoted. Gerald [Heard] who was shepherding him about fairly continually, apologized once for leaving a dinner party abruptly when H.P. was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion".
Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932 and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in nearby Byfleet where his gravestone survives today.
Personal life
Horace was close to his nephews, Edward and Reginald Dunsany, helping manage their, and their father's, affairs. He also worked to reconcile the 17th Lord Dunsany and his wife over several years. He was very involved in the affairs of the 18th Lord Dunsany until some failures of investments in the 1920s, after which their contact was more occasional but continued to near the end. His dealings with Reginald were more limited in earlier years but he continued to visit him at Charborough and elsewhere, right up to the month of his death.
He was also close friends with Elizabeth "Daisy" Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall, the wife of his remote cousin.
Horace became interested in aviation late in life and was still flying – presumably from Brooklands – at least as late as 1930.
References
Writings
Ireland in the New Century (1904), Sir Horace Plunkett
Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), Sir Horace Plunkett
The Rural Life Problem of the United States, (1910), Sir Horace Plunkett
as well as numerous pamphlets
Related bibliography
Seventy Years Young, Memoires of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall, by Elizabeth Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall. First published by Collins of London in 1937; 1991 edition published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, Ireland . This Elizabeth, was a Burke from Moycullen in County Galway, who married the 11th Earl of Fingall, and should not be confused with Elizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of Fingall.
Notes
The Plunkett Foundation
External links
Diaries of Sir Horace Plunkett, 1881–1932 at the National Library of Ireland; includes digitized manuscripts, annotated transcriptions, and index
Irish Co-operative Organisation Society
1854 births
1932 deaths
Irish Anglicans
Irish knights
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
20th-century Anglo-Irish people
Protestant Irish nationalists
Irish Dominion League
Irish Unionist Party MPs
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
Cooperative organizers
Horace Plunkett
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish male non-fiction writers
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Members of the 1922 Seanad
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922)
People educated at Eton College
Politicians from County Meath
Younger sons of barons
Fellows of the Royal Society
Independent members of Seanad Éireann
People from Foxrock | false | [
"Higher education policy refers to education policy for higher education institutions such as universities, specifically how they are organised, funded, and operated in a society. According to Ansell (2006) there are \"three different institutional forms of higher education provision: the Anglo-Saxon, Continental and the Scandinavian education system.\"\n\nAnglo-Saxon education system\n\nAccording to Ansell (2006), \"[t]he Anglo-Saxon education system leads to a mass, partially private and publicly inexpensive system\". The Anglo-Saxon system is sometimes described as an Anglo-American education system.\n\nContinental education system \n\nAccording to Ansell (2006), \"[t]he Continental educational system leads to an elite, fully public and inexpensive system\".\n\nScandinavian education system \n\nAccording to Ansell (2006), \"[t]he Scandinavian education system leads to a mass, fully public, but highly expensive system\".\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Structure and Content of the American and European Models for Business Education\n Wars, Geopolitics, and University Governance in the Arab States\n\nHigher education\nEducation policy",
"The Scandinavian diaspora may refer to\n\nOld diaspora\n\nViking and Old Norse\nScandinavian explorations, conquests, emigrations, and pioneering settlements during the Viking expansion Scrutinising the Viking Age through the lens of settlement offers a distinct perspective, highlighting their cultural profile distinct from their predatory reputation.\n\nModern diaspora\nThe term \"Scandinavian diaspora\" is also used to describe more recent emigrations and emigrants originating in one or more of the countries of Scandinavia.\n\nSwedish diaspora\n\nSwedish diaspora communities include:\n Swedish Americans\n Swedish Argentines\n Swedish Australians\n Swedish Canadians\n Swedish Costa Ricans\n Ural Swedes (Russia)\n Gammalsvenskby (Ukraine)\n\nFinnish diaspora\n\nPeople emigrated to the United States, Canada, Ghana, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Italy, Ireland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Brazil and Argentina. They have also started Utopian communities in places including Australia, Brazil, Paraguay, France, Cuba, and Sierra Leone.\n\nFinnish diaspora communities include:\n Finnish Americans\n Finnish Argentine\n Finnish Australians\n Finnish Canadians\n Forest Finns (Norway & Sweden)\n Kven people (Norway)\n Ingrian Finns (Russia)\n Sweden Finns\n Tornedalians (Sweden)\n Finns in Switzerland\n\nDanish diaspora\n\nDanish diaspora communities include:\n Danish Americans \nGreenlandic Americans\nFaroese Americans\n Danish Argentine\n Danish Australians\n Danish Canadians\n Danish minority of Southern Schleswig (Germany)\n Danish people in Greenland\n Danish New Zealanders\n\nIcelandic diaspora\n\nIcelandic diaspora communities include:\n Icelandic Americans\n Icelandic Australians\n Icelandic Canadians\n\nNorwegian diaspora\n\nNorwegian diaspora communities include:\n Norwegian Americans\n Norwegian Australians\n Norwegian Canadians\n Norwegians in Finland\n Norwegian New Zealanders \n Kola Norwegians (Russia)\n Norwegian South Africans\n Norwegian diaspora in Sweden\n\nThe first modern Norwegian settlement in the United States was Norwegian Ridge, in what is now Spring Grove, Minnesota.\n\nSee also\n Scandinavian Americans\n Scandinavian Australians\n Scandinavian migration to Britain\n Scandinavian Brazilians\n Scandinavian Canadians\n Early Scandinavian Dublin\n Scandinavian Mexicans\n Scandinavian New Zealanders\n Scandinavian Venezuelan\n\nReferences\n\nEuropean diasporas"
]
|
[
"Horace Plunkett",
"Pioneering co-operation",
"What is the pioneering co-op",
"He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation,",
"what did he do",
"which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator.",
"What were the scandinavian models",
"I don't know."
]
| C_409551a5c41447aa84d3ff561fbb9702_1 | how did he use all that information | 4 | how did Horace Plunkett use all the information from the Scandinavian models of co-operation? | Horace Plunkett | At first, Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns. He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick. In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy). CANNOTANSWER | This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. | Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author.
Plunkett, a younger brother of John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany, was a member of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland for over 27 years, founder of the Recess Committee and the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), Vice-President (operational head) of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland (predecessor to the Department of Agriculture) from October 1899 to May 1907, Unionist MP for South Dublin in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1892 to 1900, and Chairman of the Irish Convention of 1917–18. An adherent of Home Rule, in 1919 he founded the Irish Dominion League, still aiming to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the first formation of Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber in the Parliament of the new Irish Free State. He has been described as a Christian socialist.
Family and background
Plunkett was the third son of Admiral Edward Plunkett, the 16th Baron of Dunsany, of Dunsany Castle, Dunsany, near Dunshaughlin, County Meath, and the Honourable Anne Constance Dutton (d. 1858) (daughter of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne). He was Anglo-Irish, being of Anglican Irish unionist background, educated at Eton College and University College, Oxford, of which he became an honorary fellow in 1909. His older brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his distant cousin was George Noble Plunkett, a Papal Count and father of Joseph Plunkett, one of the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and a leader of the Easter Rising of 1916.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, Horace Plunkett sought health in ranching for ten years (1879–89) in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development. On visits back to Ireland, and for much of time when he returned, he devoted himself to these topics.
Never marrying, he poured his tremendous energy into agricultural and rural development, politics and diplomacy, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left as his main legacies the Irish cooperative movement, which grew to encompass vast creamery and food ingredient businesses such as Avonmore and Kerry Group, and what is now the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Pioneering co-operation
Although a Unionist, Plunkett resolved to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. The Congested Districts Board were a major plank of the Conservative policy of Constructive Unionism or 'killing Home Rule with kindness'.
Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns.
Before going to America he had become an enthusiast for the Rochdale principles of Consumer cooperatives and in 1878 had set a store up on the family estate.
He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation in Ireland, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick, now the site of the National Dairy Cooperative Museum.
In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.
Work with Roosevelt
Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt's head of the Bureau of Forestry introduced Plunkett to Roosevelt in 1906. Roosevelt had recently set up the National Conservation Commission and was also interested in Irish cooperatives. Arguing that it was not enough to conserve natural resources without tackling the problems of rural life, Plunkett and Pinchot helped draft Roosevelt's letter recommending the Commission on Country Life's report to congress. The Dictionary of Irish Biography credits Plunket with persuading Roosevelt to establish the Commission as a complement to the conservation work.
Success and opposition
Public opinion, initially lukewarm, grew hostile in some sectors as the cooperative movement developed, and shopkeepers, butter-buyers and sections of the press led a campaign of virulent opposition. Cooperatives and Plunkett were denounced for supposedly ruining the dairy industry but the movement caught hold, with the mass of farmers benefitting. Plunkett and his colleagues including the poet and painter George William Russell ("Æ") made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development, and on the role of labour.
As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a size too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), with Lord Monteagle, Thomas A. Finlay and others. Robert A. Anderson acted as secretary, with Æ and PJ Hannon his assistants. IAOS soon became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy cooperative societies and cooperative banks, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management. The following year he and Russell began publishing its journal The Irish Homestead to spread information on farming. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling (over 300 million sterling in today's money, and the turnover of the resulting companies is in excess of a billion euro).
Plunkett's task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that, even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule was implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
Unionism
Before entering Parliament Plunkett had been involved in the Unionist reaction to the Liberal leader William Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule, predicting in a speech to an 1886 Unionist demonstration that Home rule would lead to "'squalid poverty and violent social disorder, which before long is almost certain to end in civil war".
At the general election in July 1892 he was elected as the Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) for South County Dublin, gaining it from the Anti-Parnellite incumbent Sir Thomas Esmonde against a split nationalist vote. He successfully held the seat against a sole nationalist (Parnellite Nationalist) challenger Edmund Haviland-Burke in 1895.
Early in his career Plunkett opposed home rule because of the danger of partition. In 1893 he asserted that one of the leading objections to any measure of home rule was that if it were possible to enforce it on Ulster . . . "it would intensify and perpetuate a state of things in which the Boyne seemed to be broader, deeper and stormier than the Irish Sea".
He lost his seat in 1900 to John Mooney of the Irish Parliamentary Party, after his conciliatory approach to nationalists led to hardline unionists standing Francis Elrington Ball as an independent unionist candidate, splitting the unionist vote.
Expanding co-operation
Continuing his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in a letter to the Irish press in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions, both nationalist and unionist, should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation for pursuing national development, and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897.
The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee, with Plunkett as chairman and members of divergent views, such as the Earl of Mayo, John Redmond, The O'Conor Don, Thomas Sinclair, Thomas Spring Rice, Rev Dr Kane (Grand Master of the Belfast Orangemen), Father Thomas A. Finlay, Mr John Ross, MP, Timothy Harrington MP, Sir John Arnott, Sir William Ewart, Sir Daniel Dixon (after Lord Mayor of Belfast), Sir James Musgrave (Chairman of the Belfast Harbour Board), Thomas Andrews (Chairman of the Belfast and County Down Railway). T. P. Gill acted as Honorary Secretary to the Committee.
In July 1896 the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing in 1899 of an Act establishing the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the Chief Secretary for Ireland was to be President ex officio. Plunkett was appointed Vice-President, a position of de facto leadership. He guided the policy and administration of the DATI in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked:
to improve the quality of crops and livestock
to deal with animal and plant disease
to encourage fishing and planting of forests
to collect statistics on many aspects of Irish life.
By 1914 the DATI had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers about new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry-keeping. The start of the 20th century saw the high water mark in Plunket's achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 cooperative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of the IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members. However, most unionists considered Plunkett too conciliatory and their hostility cost him his seat at the general election in October 1900, when they put up a candidate to split the unionist vote.
It had been intended that the Vice-President should be responsible for the DATI in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that Plunkett might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the DATI without a seat in Parliament. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903 at Cobh, on the personal initiative of the King.
On the accession of the Liberal Party to power in 1906 James Bryce, the new Chief Secretary, asked Plunkett to remain at the head of the department he had created.
Efforts obstructed
Having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, attitudes among the nationalist party were exacerbated by the opinions in his book, Ireland in the New Century (1904). Here he described the economic condition and needs of the country, and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had promoted. Plunkett put forth the view that economics were more important than politics for the future of Ireland, classed the huge sums invested in the building of Catholic churches as "uneconomic" and remarked negatively on the power of the Catholic hierarchy.
John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, turned against Plunkett for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland's problems, and other mainstream nationalists, led by John Dillon, rejected economic development, whether through Plunkett's agricultural cooperatives, William O'Brien's tenant land purchase or D. D. Sheehan's housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett's hopes, and the Irish Parliamentary Party made a determined effort to drive him from office, moving a resolution to that effect in the House of Commons in 1907. The government gave way, and although Plunkett was re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, he retired from office in the DATI. From the year 1900 the DATI had made an annual grant of about £4,000 to the IAOS, but in 1907 the new vice-president of the DATI, TW Russell, who had previously been a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew it. Nonetheless, many continued to be inspired by Plunkett's vision and to establish creamery cooperatives around the country.
Political reorientation
In 1908 public appreciation of Plunkett's service was marked by the purchase and gift to him of 84 Merrion Square, Dublin, which became the headquarters of the IAOS, under the name The Plunkett House.
The Irish Homestead had frequently drawn attention to the status of women in rural Ireland (its assistant editor was Susan L. Mitchell), and in 1910 Plunkett helped to found the United Irishwomen to improve their domestic economy, welfare and education, with Ellice Pilkington and Anita Lett. This would develop in the 1930s into the powerful Irish Countrywomen's Association.
Having previously focused his attention pragmatically on economic factors, Plunkett now began to reorient to political and social issues. The failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1907 made him realise the critical importance of self-government and by 1912 he was a convinced Home Ruler. He spent the first half of 1914 in negotiations intended to prevent partition and the exclusion of Ulster, to no avail.
During the First World War the cooperatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, where food shortages led to a boom period for Irish agriculture.
Much of Plunkett's time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States. After the Easter Rising of 1916, when he heard of executions, he sought clemency for its remaining leaders, including Constance Markievicz, except for anyone involved in regular crime.
From July 1917 to May 1918 Plunkett chaired the Irish Convention, which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost what would have been an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to the issue of land purchase.
Until 1922 Plunkett worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal, the Irish Statesman, to advance that aim, for which he was rejected by those working for an Irish Republic.
Marginalisation and departure from Ireland
In the troubled years between 1918 and 1922 the cooperative movement was targeted by the Black and Tans and other British government forces, as the creameries were alleged to be centres of sedition. Factories were wrecked and burned, stock was destroyed, and trade was interrupted. Plunkett's protests were unheeded and demands for compensation were rejected.
In 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was implemented, Plunkett was nominated to the first Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the parliament of the new Irish state. In recognition of his contributions and ideas, he was one of those appointed for a term of 12-years. As a senator he met Michael Collins, whom he described as "simple yet cunning".
His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War in 1923 his grand house, Kilteragh in Foxrock, County Dublin, was one of at least 285 country houses targeted by the IRA and burned down, the fire taking with it many of the records of the Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject. Plunkett wrote that "the healthiest house in the world, and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland" had been destroyed. He resigned from the Seanad in November 1923.
Plunkett moved to Weybridge in England, where on 21 December 1918 he set up the Plunkett Foundation, launched in 1919 with £5,000 to support work with the co-operative movement. The foundation continues its work today.
Plunkett continued to promote and spread his ideas for agricultural cooperatives. In 1924 he presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, in 1925 he visited South Africa to help the movement there, while as late in 1930, he was consulting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain on agricultural policy.
During Plunkett's last years, Gerald Heard was his personal secretary. Naomi Mitchison, who admired Plunkett and was a friend of Heard, wrote: "H.P., as we all called him, was getting past his prime and often ill but struggling to go on with the work to which he was devoted. Gerald [Heard] who was shepherding him about fairly continually, apologized once for leaving a dinner party abruptly when H.P. was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion".
Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932 and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in nearby Byfleet where his gravestone survives today.
Personal life
Horace was close to his nephews, Edward and Reginald Dunsany, helping manage their, and their father's, affairs. He also worked to reconcile the 17th Lord Dunsany and his wife over several years. He was very involved in the affairs of the 18th Lord Dunsany until some failures of investments in the 1920s, after which their contact was more occasional but continued to near the end. His dealings with Reginald were more limited in earlier years but he continued to visit him at Charborough and elsewhere, right up to the month of his death.
He was also close friends with Elizabeth "Daisy" Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall, the wife of his remote cousin.
Horace became interested in aviation late in life and was still flying – presumably from Brooklands – at least as late as 1930.
References
Writings
Ireland in the New Century (1904), Sir Horace Plunkett
Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), Sir Horace Plunkett
The Rural Life Problem of the United States, (1910), Sir Horace Plunkett
as well as numerous pamphlets
Related bibliography
Seventy Years Young, Memoires of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall, by Elizabeth Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall. First published by Collins of London in 1937; 1991 edition published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, Ireland . This Elizabeth, was a Burke from Moycullen in County Galway, who married the 11th Earl of Fingall, and should not be confused with Elizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of Fingall.
Notes
The Plunkett Foundation
External links
Diaries of Sir Horace Plunkett, 1881–1932 at the National Library of Ireland; includes digitized manuscripts, annotated transcriptions, and index
Irish Co-operative Organisation Society
1854 births
1932 deaths
Irish Anglicans
Irish knights
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
20th-century Anglo-Irish people
Protestant Irish nationalists
Irish Dominion League
Irish Unionist Party MPs
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
Cooperative organizers
Horace Plunkett
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish male non-fiction writers
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Members of the 1922 Seanad
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922)
People educated at Eton College
Politicians from County Meath
Younger sons of barons
Fellows of the Royal Society
Independent members of Seanad Éireann
People from Foxrock | true | [
"The DYMO routing protocol is successor to the popular Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) Routing protocol and shares many of its benefits. It is, however, slightly easier to implement and designed with future enhancements in mind.\n\nDYMO can work as both a pro-active and as a reactive routing protocol, i.e. routes can be discovered just when they are needed. In any way, to discover new routes the following two steps take place:\n\n A special \"Route Request\" (RREQ) messages is broadcast through the MANET. Each RREQ keeps an ordered list of all nodes it passed through, so every host receiving an RREQ message can immediately record a route back to the origin of this message.\n When an RREQ message arrives at its destination, a \"Routing Reply\" (RREP) message will immediately be passed back to the origin, indicating that a route to the destination was found. On its way back to the source, an RREP message can simply backtrace the way the RREQ message took and simultaneously allow all hosts it passes to record a complementary route back to where it came from.\n\nSo as soon as the RREP message reaches its destination, a two-way route was successfully recorded by all intermediate hosts, and exchange of data packets can commence.\n\nExample\n +-----------+ +-----------+\n | Carol |-------| Dave |\n +-----------+ +-----------+\n | |\n | |\n | |\n +-----------+ +-----------+\n | Alice | | Bob |\n +-----------+ +-----------+\n\n Step 1\n Alice wants to exchange data with Bob\n Alice does not know a route to Bob yet, so it broadcasts a new RREQ for a route to Bob containing only information about itself\n Step 2\n Carol receives Alice's RREQ, remembers the contained information about how to reach Alice (directly), then appends information about itself and re-broadcasts the packet.\n Step 3\n Dave receives Carol's RREQ, remembers the contained information about how to reach Carol (directly) and Alice (via Carol), then appends information about itself and re-broadcasts the packet.\n At the same time, Alice also receives Carol's RREQ. Closer examination of the contained information reveals that even the very first information block - how to reach itself, Alice - is of no use. It thus discards the RREQ and does not re-broadcast it as Dave did\n Step 4\n Bob receives Dave's RREQ and remembers the contained information about how to reach Dave (directly), Carol (via Dave) and Alice (also via Dave). Realizing that he is the target of the RREQ he creates an RREP containing information about itself. He marks the RREP bound for Alice and - knowing that Dave can somehow reach Alice - sends it to Dave.\n Again, at the same time, Carol also receives Dave's RREQ, but - following the same logic as Alice before - ignores it.\n Step 5\n Dave receives the RREP to Alice sent by Bob, remembers the information on how to reach Bob (directly), appends information about itself and - knowing that Alice can be reached via Carol, sends it to Carol.\n Step 6\n Carol receives the RREP to Alice sent by Dave, remembers the contained information on how to reach Dave (directly) and Bob (via Dave), then appends information about itself and - knowing that Alice can be reached directly, sends it to Alice.\n Step 7\nAlice receives the RREP sent to her by Carol and remembers all information on how to reach Carol (directly), Dave (via Carol) and - most importantly - Bob (also via Carol). Now knowing how to reach Bob she can finally send her data packet for him to Carol.\n Step 8\n Carol receives the data packet for Bob from Alice. Because she knows Dave can reach Bob she forwards the packet to him.\n Step 9\n Dave receives the data packet for Bob. Because he knows Bob can be directly reached by him, he forwards the packet to him.\n\nExternal links\n Draft IETF v26\n \n\nAd hoc routing protocols",
"PC Ace was a partwork magazine published by Eaglemoss Publications, between 1999 and 2001. It was aimed at those aged between 10 and 14, providing information on how to operate a personal computer. Readers of the magazine were assisted in part by a cartoon mouse named Ace, who featured throughout the magazine's pages.\n\nThe series consisted of 100 parts, and was previously available for sale in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, among others.\n\nStructure\nPC Ace was released on a weekly basis, with a CD-ROM accompanying the magazine every second issue (with the exception of part 1, which included two CD-ROM discs). These CD-ROM discs contained programs such as computer games and edutainment titles.\n\nIssues that included a CD-ROM did not include the Wordpower section.\n\nSections\nPC Ace was divided into 9 sections, detailed below.\n\n PC Power - Essential Skills - This section consisted of information on using core computer functions, such as using fonts and operating the Microsoft Windows operating system. It was discontinued after part 12.\n PC Power - Operating Skills - This section consisted of information that discussed use of the Microsoft Windows operating system in a more in-depth manner, such as running games under MS-DOS and changing shortcut icons.\n PC Power - Program Skills - This section focused on the use of software that ran within the Microsoft Windows operating system, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.\n Technozone - This section contained a collection of technology related articles that was built up as the series progressed. Topics included Gamepads and Animation.\n Online - This section consisted of information about how to use the internet and tools that were available online. Topics included creating a website and sending email.\n On CD-ROM - This section was only included with issues that were accompanied by a CD-ROM. It had information on the background of the included program, as well as brief details of how to use it.\n Wordpower - This section was an A - Z index of computing terms which built up as the series progressed, in alphabetical order, with their definitions included.\n Timeout - This section provided details on how to create items such as party invitations and graphics, as well as how to play games that are included in the Microsoft Windows operating system.\n Cyberchat - This section contained technology related news items, as well as letters sent in by readers of the magazine (under the title of 'Ace's Noticeboard').\n\nReferences\n\nDefunct computer magazines published in the United Kingdom\nHome computer magazines\nMagazines established in 1999\nMagazines disestablished in 2000\nPartworks\nWeekly magazines published in the United Kingdom\n1999 establishments in the United Kingdom"
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"This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits."
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| C_409551a5c41447aa84d3ff561fbb9702_1 | Did this increase profits | 5 | Did using information from the Scandinavian models increase profits for Horace Plunkett? | Horace Plunkett | At first, Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns. He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick. In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy). CANNOTANSWER | which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. | Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author.
Plunkett, a younger brother of John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany, was a member of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland for over 27 years, founder of the Recess Committee and the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), Vice-President (operational head) of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland (predecessor to the Department of Agriculture) from October 1899 to May 1907, Unionist MP for South Dublin in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1892 to 1900, and Chairman of the Irish Convention of 1917–18. An adherent of Home Rule, in 1919 he founded the Irish Dominion League, still aiming to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the first formation of Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber in the Parliament of the new Irish Free State. He has been described as a Christian socialist.
Family and background
Plunkett was the third son of Admiral Edward Plunkett, the 16th Baron of Dunsany, of Dunsany Castle, Dunsany, near Dunshaughlin, County Meath, and the Honourable Anne Constance Dutton (d. 1858) (daughter of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne). He was Anglo-Irish, being of Anglican Irish unionist background, educated at Eton College and University College, Oxford, of which he became an honorary fellow in 1909. His older brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his distant cousin was George Noble Plunkett, a Papal Count and father of Joseph Plunkett, one of the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and a leader of the Easter Rising of 1916.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, Horace Plunkett sought health in ranching for ten years (1879–89) in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development. On visits back to Ireland, and for much of time when he returned, he devoted himself to these topics.
Never marrying, he poured his tremendous energy into agricultural and rural development, politics and diplomacy, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left as his main legacies the Irish cooperative movement, which grew to encompass vast creamery and food ingredient businesses such as Avonmore and Kerry Group, and what is now the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Pioneering co-operation
Although a Unionist, Plunkett resolved to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. The Congested Districts Board were a major plank of the Conservative policy of Constructive Unionism or 'killing Home Rule with kindness'.
Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns.
Before going to America he had become an enthusiast for the Rochdale principles of Consumer cooperatives and in 1878 had set a store up on the family estate.
He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation in Ireland, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick, now the site of the National Dairy Cooperative Museum.
In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.
Work with Roosevelt
Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt's head of the Bureau of Forestry introduced Plunkett to Roosevelt in 1906. Roosevelt had recently set up the National Conservation Commission and was also interested in Irish cooperatives. Arguing that it was not enough to conserve natural resources without tackling the problems of rural life, Plunkett and Pinchot helped draft Roosevelt's letter recommending the Commission on Country Life's report to congress. The Dictionary of Irish Biography credits Plunket with persuading Roosevelt to establish the Commission as a complement to the conservation work.
Success and opposition
Public opinion, initially lukewarm, grew hostile in some sectors as the cooperative movement developed, and shopkeepers, butter-buyers and sections of the press led a campaign of virulent opposition. Cooperatives and Plunkett were denounced for supposedly ruining the dairy industry but the movement caught hold, with the mass of farmers benefitting. Plunkett and his colleagues including the poet and painter George William Russell ("Æ") made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development, and on the role of labour.
As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a size too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), with Lord Monteagle, Thomas A. Finlay and others. Robert A. Anderson acted as secretary, with Æ and PJ Hannon his assistants. IAOS soon became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy cooperative societies and cooperative banks, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management. The following year he and Russell began publishing its journal The Irish Homestead to spread information on farming. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling (over 300 million sterling in today's money, and the turnover of the resulting companies is in excess of a billion euro).
Plunkett's task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that, even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule was implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
Unionism
Before entering Parliament Plunkett had been involved in the Unionist reaction to the Liberal leader William Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule, predicting in a speech to an 1886 Unionist demonstration that Home rule would lead to "'squalid poverty and violent social disorder, which before long is almost certain to end in civil war".
At the general election in July 1892 he was elected as the Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) for South County Dublin, gaining it from the Anti-Parnellite incumbent Sir Thomas Esmonde against a split nationalist vote. He successfully held the seat against a sole nationalist (Parnellite Nationalist) challenger Edmund Haviland-Burke in 1895.
Early in his career Plunkett opposed home rule because of the danger of partition. In 1893 he asserted that one of the leading objections to any measure of home rule was that if it were possible to enforce it on Ulster . . . "it would intensify and perpetuate a state of things in which the Boyne seemed to be broader, deeper and stormier than the Irish Sea".
He lost his seat in 1900 to John Mooney of the Irish Parliamentary Party, after his conciliatory approach to nationalists led to hardline unionists standing Francis Elrington Ball as an independent unionist candidate, splitting the unionist vote.
Expanding co-operation
Continuing his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in a letter to the Irish press in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions, both nationalist and unionist, should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation for pursuing national development, and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897.
The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee, with Plunkett as chairman and members of divergent views, such as the Earl of Mayo, John Redmond, The O'Conor Don, Thomas Sinclair, Thomas Spring Rice, Rev Dr Kane (Grand Master of the Belfast Orangemen), Father Thomas A. Finlay, Mr John Ross, MP, Timothy Harrington MP, Sir John Arnott, Sir William Ewart, Sir Daniel Dixon (after Lord Mayor of Belfast), Sir James Musgrave (Chairman of the Belfast Harbour Board), Thomas Andrews (Chairman of the Belfast and County Down Railway). T. P. Gill acted as Honorary Secretary to the Committee.
In July 1896 the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing in 1899 of an Act establishing the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the Chief Secretary for Ireland was to be President ex officio. Plunkett was appointed Vice-President, a position of de facto leadership. He guided the policy and administration of the DATI in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked:
to improve the quality of crops and livestock
to deal with animal and plant disease
to encourage fishing and planting of forests
to collect statistics on many aspects of Irish life.
By 1914 the DATI had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers about new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry-keeping. The start of the 20th century saw the high water mark in Plunket's achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 cooperative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of the IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members. However, most unionists considered Plunkett too conciliatory and their hostility cost him his seat at the general election in October 1900, when they put up a candidate to split the unionist vote.
It had been intended that the Vice-President should be responsible for the DATI in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that Plunkett might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the DATI without a seat in Parliament. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903 at Cobh, on the personal initiative of the King.
On the accession of the Liberal Party to power in 1906 James Bryce, the new Chief Secretary, asked Plunkett to remain at the head of the department he had created.
Efforts obstructed
Having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, attitudes among the nationalist party were exacerbated by the opinions in his book, Ireland in the New Century (1904). Here he described the economic condition and needs of the country, and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had promoted. Plunkett put forth the view that economics were more important than politics for the future of Ireland, classed the huge sums invested in the building of Catholic churches as "uneconomic" and remarked negatively on the power of the Catholic hierarchy.
John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, turned against Plunkett for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland's problems, and other mainstream nationalists, led by John Dillon, rejected economic development, whether through Plunkett's agricultural cooperatives, William O'Brien's tenant land purchase or D. D. Sheehan's housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett's hopes, and the Irish Parliamentary Party made a determined effort to drive him from office, moving a resolution to that effect in the House of Commons in 1907. The government gave way, and although Plunkett was re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, he retired from office in the DATI. From the year 1900 the DATI had made an annual grant of about £4,000 to the IAOS, but in 1907 the new vice-president of the DATI, TW Russell, who had previously been a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew it. Nonetheless, many continued to be inspired by Plunkett's vision and to establish creamery cooperatives around the country.
Political reorientation
In 1908 public appreciation of Plunkett's service was marked by the purchase and gift to him of 84 Merrion Square, Dublin, which became the headquarters of the IAOS, under the name The Plunkett House.
The Irish Homestead had frequently drawn attention to the status of women in rural Ireland (its assistant editor was Susan L. Mitchell), and in 1910 Plunkett helped to found the United Irishwomen to improve their domestic economy, welfare and education, with Ellice Pilkington and Anita Lett. This would develop in the 1930s into the powerful Irish Countrywomen's Association.
Having previously focused his attention pragmatically on economic factors, Plunkett now began to reorient to political and social issues. The failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1907 made him realise the critical importance of self-government and by 1912 he was a convinced Home Ruler. He spent the first half of 1914 in negotiations intended to prevent partition and the exclusion of Ulster, to no avail.
During the First World War the cooperatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, where food shortages led to a boom period for Irish agriculture.
Much of Plunkett's time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States. After the Easter Rising of 1916, when he heard of executions, he sought clemency for its remaining leaders, including Constance Markievicz, except for anyone involved in regular crime.
From July 1917 to May 1918 Plunkett chaired the Irish Convention, which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost what would have been an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to the issue of land purchase.
Until 1922 Plunkett worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal, the Irish Statesman, to advance that aim, for which he was rejected by those working for an Irish Republic.
Marginalisation and departure from Ireland
In the troubled years between 1918 and 1922 the cooperative movement was targeted by the Black and Tans and other British government forces, as the creameries were alleged to be centres of sedition. Factories were wrecked and burned, stock was destroyed, and trade was interrupted. Plunkett's protests were unheeded and demands for compensation were rejected.
In 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was implemented, Plunkett was nominated to the first Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the parliament of the new Irish state. In recognition of his contributions and ideas, he was one of those appointed for a term of 12-years. As a senator he met Michael Collins, whom he described as "simple yet cunning".
His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War in 1923 his grand house, Kilteragh in Foxrock, County Dublin, was one of at least 285 country houses targeted by the IRA and burned down, the fire taking with it many of the records of the Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject. Plunkett wrote that "the healthiest house in the world, and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland" had been destroyed. He resigned from the Seanad in November 1923.
Plunkett moved to Weybridge in England, where on 21 December 1918 he set up the Plunkett Foundation, launched in 1919 with £5,000 to support work with the co-operative movement. The foundation continues its work today.
Plunkett continued to promote and spread his ideas for agricultural cooperatives. In 1924 he presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, in 1925 he visited South Africa to help the movement there, while as late in 1930, he was consulting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain on agricultural policy.
During Plunkett's last years, Gerald Heard was his personal secretary. Naomi Mitchison, who admired Plunkett and was a friend of Heard, wrote: "H.P., as we all called him, was getting past his prime and often ill but struggling to go on with the work to which he was devoted. Gerald [Heard] who was shepherding him about fairly continually, apologized once for leaving a dinner party abruptly when H.P. was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion".
Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932 and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in nearby Byfleet where his gravestone survives today.
Personal life
Horace was close to his nephews, Edward and Reginald Dunsany, helping manage their, and their father's, affairs. He also worked to reconcile the 17th Lord Dunsany and his wife over several years. He was very involved in the affairs of the 18th Lord Dunsany until some failures of investments in the 1920s, after which their contact was more occasional but continued to near the end. His dealings with Reginald were more limited in earlier years but he continued to visit him at Charborough and elsewhere, right up to the month of his death.
He was also close friends with Elizabeth "Daisy" Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall, the wife of his remote cousin.
Horace became interested in aviation late in life and was still flying – presumably from Brooklands – at least as late as 1930.
References
Writings
Ireland in the New Century (1904), Sir Horace Plunkett
Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), Sir Horace Plunkett
The Rural Life Problem of the United States, (1910), Sir Horace Plunkett
as well as numerous pamphlets
Related bibliography
Seventy Years Young, Memoires of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall, by Elizabeth Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall. First published by Collins of London in 1937; 1991 edition published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, Ireland . This Elizabeth, was a Burke from Moycullen in County Galway, who married the 11th Earl of Fingall, and should not be confused with Elizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of Fingall.
Notes
The Plunkett Foundation
External links
Diaries of Sir Horace Plunkett, 1881–1932 at the National Library of Ireland; includes digitized manuscripts, annotated transcriptions, and index
Irish Co-operative Organisation Society
1854 births
1932 deaths
Irish Anglicans
Irish knights
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
20th-century Anglo-Irish people
Protestant Irish nationalists
Irish Dominion League
Irish Unionist Party MPs
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
Cooperative organizers
Horace Plunkett
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish male non-fiction writers
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Members of the 1922 Seanad
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922)
People educated at Eton College
Politicians from County Meath
Younger sons of barons
Fellows of the Royal Society
Independent members of Seanad Éireann
People from Foxrock | true | [
"In economic competition theory, the zero-profit condition is the condition that occurs when an industry or type of business has an extremely low (near-zero) cost of entry to or exit from the industry. In this situation, some firms not already in the industry tend to join the industry if they calculate that they will make a positive economic profit (profit in excess of the cost of acquiring investible funds). More and more firms will enter until the economic profit per firm has been driven down to zero by competition. Conversely, if firms are making negative economic profit, enough firms will exit the industry until economic profit per firm has risen to zero.\n\nThis description represents a situation of almost perfect competition. The situation with zero economic profit is referred to as the industry’s long run.\n\nAccording to the theory of contestable markets, if few enough firms are in the industry so that one would expect positive economic profits, the prospect of other firms entering the market may cause firms in the industry to set prices as if those other firms were already in the market; thus actual entry by those firms is not necessary for the market to appear perfectly competitive.\n\nAlgebraic proof \nThe relevant variables are p, w, x, and f(x). p is the price of the output, w is the price of the input, f(x) is the amount of output, and x is the amount of input. Thus, the profit-function can be written as the following:\n\n(p, w) = maximize((p • f(x)) - (w • x))\n\nLet us consider a case where profits are strictly positive and as we increase inputs by a factor of a constant, y, we get increasing profits. y is greater than 1. This can be modeled using our profit function from before below where k is our initial profit:\n\nInitially: (p • f(x)) - (w • x) = k and k>0\n\nWhen we increase inputs by a factor of y: (p • f(y • x)) - (w • (y • x)) = (y • k) > k\n\nWe can see that when we increase inputs by a factor of y, we obtain increased profits. Thus, as we consistently increase the firm's inputs, the firm's profits also consistently go up and there is no limit at which the firm's profits start decreasing.\n\nIn a perfectly competitive market, there are minimal to no barriers to entry. Thus, prospective firms, seeing that there is a profit to be made, will start entering the market, which would then decrease the current profit per firm decreases because there is only a limit to demand. Consequently, this keeps happening until there is zero profit per firm in the market. When this happens, firms will not have incentive to enter the market making zero profit the equilibrium point in this market.\n\nThis can also be illustrated in the opposite way. Let us consider a case where there are too many firms in the market, causing a negative profit. A negative profit would mean that firms would start to leave the market. As firms leave, there is more profit per firm. This gradually increases to an amount of 0 profit per firm, where firms do not have incentive to leave the market or join the market.\n\nExamples\n\nHistorically, this condition was present in most gold rushes, as diggings required nothing but manpower and few skills or machinery. It has been noted in such circumstances, that the ancillary services supplying the activity become very successful. For example, few gold prospectors became wealthy, but many formed successful businesses selling shovels.\n\nFor another example, despite the real estate boom of the mid-2000s, the incomes of real estate agents did not rise significantly. It is easy to become an agent, so when profits start to rise, more people do become agents, and the existing agents start to sell fewer houses.\n\nSee also\n Barriers to entry\n Competition\n\nReferences\n\nProfit",
"Equity capital is raised in many ways; the major types of equity capital are unlisted equity, listed equity and hybrids. Equity capital market practices traditionally advise on a full range of equity, debt equity-linked, hybrid, asset-backed, credit-linked and derivative products that are offered in capital markets.\n\nAn Equity Capital Market (ECM) is a market between \"companies and financial institutions\" that is aimed at earning money for the company. Examples of financial institutions involved include Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. The company gives information about their finances to the institution, and the institution helps the company increase their profits through \"market transactions.\" Institutions providing ECM services may be involved in initial public offerings (IPO),convertible bonds, and other services involving equity. They may also raise money for a company merge or acquisition of another company. There was a peak in the amount of profits generated through ECM in 2006-2007, but profits took a dive following those years. It has been reported that ECM profits are beginning to normalize.\n\nReferences\n\nFinancial markets"
]
|
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"Horace Plunkett",
"Pioneering co-operation",
"What is the pioneering co-op",
"He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation,",
"what did he do",
"which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator.",
"What were the scandinavian models",
"I don't know.",
"how did he use all that information",
"This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.",
"Did this increase profits",
"which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits."
]
| C_409551a5c41447aa84d3ff561fbb9702_1 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 6 | Other than the Scandinavian models, is there anything else Horace Plunkett invented or pioneered? | Horace Plunkett | At first, Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns. He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick. In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy). CANNOTANSWER | Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, | Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author.
Plunkett, a younger brother of John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany, was a member of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland for over 27 years, founder of the Recess Committee and the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), Vice-President (operational head) of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland (predecessor to the Department of Agriculture) from October 1899 to May 1907, Unionist MP for South Dublin in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1892 to 1900, and Chairman of the Irish Convention of 1917–18. An adherent of Home Rule, in 1919 he founded the Irish Dominion League, still aiming to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the first formation of Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber in the Parliament of the new Irish Free State. He has been described as a Christian socialist.
Family and background
Plunkett was the third son of Admiral Edward Plunkett, the 16th Baron of Dunsany, of Dunsany Castle, Dunsany, near Dunshaughlin, County Meath, and the Honourable Anne Constance Dutton (d. 1858) (daughter of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne). He was Anglo-Irish, being of Anglican Irish unionist background, educated at Eton College and University College, Oxford, of which he became an honorary fellow in 1909. His older brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his distant cousin was George Noble Plunkett, a Papal Count and father of Joseph Plunkett, one of the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and a leader of the Easter Rising of 1916.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, Horace Plunkett sought health in ranching for ten years (1879–89) in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development. On visits back to Ireland, and for much of time when he returned, he devoted himself to these topics.
Never marrying, he poured his tremendous energy into agricultural and rural development, politics and diplomacy, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left as his main legacies the Irish cooperative movement, which grew to encompass vast creamery and food ingredient businesses such as Avonmore and Kerry Group, and what is now the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Pioneering co-operation
Although a Unionist, Plunkett resolved to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. The Congested Districts Board were a major plank of the Conservative policy of Constructive Unionism or 'killing Home Rule with kindness'.
Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns.
Before going to America he had become an enthusiast for the Rochdale principles of Consumer cooperatives and in 1878 had set a store up on the family estate.
He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation in Ireland, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick, now the site of the National Dairy Cooperative Museum.
In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.
Work with Roosevelt
Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt's head of the Bureau of Forestry introduced Plunkett to Roosevelt in 1906. Roosevelt had recently set up the National Conservation Commission and was also interested in Irish cooperatives. Arguing that it was not enough to conserve natural resources without tackling the problems of rural life, Plunkett and Pinchot helped draft Roosevelt's letter recommending the Commission on Country Life's report to congress. The Dictionary of Irish Biography credits Plunket with persuading Roosevelt to establish the Commission as a complement to the conservation work.
Success and opposition
Public opinion, initially lukewarm, grew hostile in some sectors as the cooperative movement developed, and shopkeepers, butter-buyers and sections of the press led a campaign of virulent opposition. Cooperatives and Plunkett were denounced for supposedly ruining the dairy industry but the movement caught hold, with the mass of farmers benefitting. Plunkett and his colleagues including the poet and painter George William Russell ("Æ") made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development, and on the role of labour.
As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a size too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), with Lord Monteagle, Thomas A. Finlay and others. Robert A. Anderson acted as secretary, with Æ and PJ Hannon his assistants. IAOS soon became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy cooperative societies and cooperative banks, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management. The following year he and Russell began publishing its journal The Irish Homestead to spread information on farming. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling (over 300 million sterling in today's money, and the turnover of the resulting companies is in excess of a billion euro).
Plunkett's task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that, even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule was implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
Unionism
Before entering Parliament Plunkett had been involved in the Unionist reaction to the Liberal leader William Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule, predicting in a speech to an 1886 Unionist demonstration that Home rule would lead to "'squalid poverty and violent social disorder, which before long is almost certain to end in civil war".
At the general election in July 1892 he was elected as the Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) for South County Dublin, gaining it from the Anti-Parnellite incumbent Sir Thomas Esmonde against a split nationalist vote. He successfully held the seat against a sole nationalist (Parnellite Nationalist) challenger Edmund Haviland-Burke in 1895.
Early in his career Plunkett opposed home rule because of the danger of partition. In 1893 he asserted that one of the leading objections to any measure of home rule was that if it were possible to enforce it on Ulster . . . "it would intensify and perpetuate a state of things in which the Boyne seemed to be broader, deeper and stormier than the Irish Sea".
He lost his seat in 1900 to John Mooney of the Irish Parliamentary Party, after his conciliatory approach to nationalists led to hardline unionists standing Francis Elrington Ball as an independent unionist candidate, splitting the unionist vote.
Expanding co-operation
Continuing his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in a letter to the Irish press in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions, both nationalist and unionist, should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation for pursuing national development, and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897.
The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee, with Plunkett as chairman and members of divergent views, such as the Earl of Mayo, John Redmond, The O'Conor Don, Thomas Sinclair, Thomas Spring Rice, Rev Dr Kane (Grand Master of the Belfast Orangemen), Father Thomas A. Finlay, Mr John Ross, MP, Timothy Harrington MP, Sir John Arnott, Sir William Ewart, Sir Daniel Dixon (after Lord Mayor of Belfast), Sir James Musgrave (Chairman of the Belfast Harbour Board), Thomas Andrews (Chairman of the Belfast and County Down Railway). T. P. Gill acted as Honorary Secretary to the Committee.
In July 1896 the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing in 1899 of an Act establishing the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the Chief Secretary for Ireland was to be President ex officio. Plunkett was appointed Vice-President, a position of de facto leadership. He guided the policy and administration of the DATI in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked:
to improve the quality of crops and livestock
to deal with animal and plant disease
to encourage fishing and planting of forests
to collect statistics on many aspects of Irish life.
By 1914 the DATI had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers about new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry-keeping. The start of the 20th century saw the high water mark in Plunket's achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 cooperative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of the IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members. However, most unionists considered Plunkett too conciliatory and their hostility cost him his seat at the general election in October 1900, when they put up a candidate to split the unionist vote.
It had been intended that the Vice-President should be responsible for the DATI in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that Plunkett might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the DATI without a seat in Parliament. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903 at Cobh, on the personal initiative of the King.
On the accession of the Liberal Party to power in 1906 James Bryce, the new Chief Secretary, asked Plunkett to remain at the head of the department he had created.
Efforts obstructed
Having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, attitudes among the nationalist party were exacerbated by the opinions in his book, Ireland in the New Century (1904). Here he described the economic condition and needs of the country, and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had promoted. Plunkett put forth the view that economics were more important than politics for the future of Ireland, classed the huge sums invested in the building of Catholic churches as "uneconomic" and remarked negatively on the power of the Catholic hierarchy.
John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, turned against Plunkett for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland's problems, and other mainstream nationalists, led by John Dillon, rejected economic development, whether through Plunkett's agricultural cooperatives, William O'Brien's tenant land purchase or D. D. Sheehan's housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett's hopes, and the Irish Parliamentary Party made a determined effort to drive him from office, moving a resolution to that effect in the House of Commons in 1907. The government gave way, and although Plunkett was re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, he retired from office in the DATI. From the year 1900 the DATI had made an annual grant of about £4,000 to the IAOS, but in 1907 the new vice-president of the DATI, TW Russell, who had previously been a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew it. Nonetheless, many continued to be inspired by Plunkett's vision and to establish creamery cooperatives around the country.
Political reorientation
In 1908 public appreciation of Plunkett's service was marked by the purchase and gift to him of 84 Merrion Square, Dublin, which became the headquarters of the IAOS, under the name The Plunkett House.
The Irish Homestead had frequently drawn attention to the status of women in rural Ireland (its assistant editor was Susan L. Mitchell), and in 1910 Plunkett helped to found the United Irishwomen to improve their domestic economy, welfare and education, with Ellice Pilkington and Anita Lett. This would develop in the 1930s into the powerful Irish Countrywomen's Association.
Having previously focused his attention pragmatically on economic factors, Plunkett now began to reorient to political and social issues. The failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1907 made him realise the critical importance of self-government and by 1912 he was a convinced Home Ruler. He spent the first half of 1914 in negotiations intended to prevent partition and the exclusion of Ulster, to no avail.
During the First World War the cooperatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, where food shortages led to a boom period for Irish agriculture.
Much of Plunkett's time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States. After the Easter Rising of 1916, when he heard of executions, he sought clemency for its remaining leaders, including Constance Markievicz, except for anyone involved in regular crime.
From July 1917 to May 1918 Plunkett chaired the Irish Convention, which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost what would have been an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to the issue of land purchase.
Until 1922 Plunkett worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal, the Irish Statesman, to advance that aim, for which he was rejected by those working for an Irish Republic.
Marginalisation and departure from Ireland
In the troubled years between 1918 and 1922 the cooperative movement was targeted by the Black and Tans and other British government forces, as the creameries were alleged to be centres of sedition. Factories were wrecked and burned, stock was destroyed, and trade was interrupted. Plunkett's protests were unheeded and demands for compensation were rejected.
In 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was implemented, Plunkett was nominated to the first Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the parliament of the new Irish state. In recognition of his contributions and ideas, he was one of those appointed for a term of 12-years. As a senator he met Michael Collins, whom he described as "simple yet cunning".
His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War in 1923 his grand house, Kilteragh in Foxrock, County Dublin, was one of at least 285 country houses targeted by the IRA and burned down, the fire taking with it many of the records of the Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject. Plunkett wrote that "the healthiest house in the world, and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland" had been destroyed. He resigned from the Seanad in November 1923.
Plunkett moved to Weybridge in England, where on 21 December 1918 he set up the Plunkett Foundation, launched in 1919 with £5,000 to support work with the co-operative movement. The foundation continues its work today.
Plunkett continued to promote and spread his ideas for agricultural cooperatives. In 1924 he presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, in 1925 he visited South Africa to help the movement there, while as late in 1930, he was consulting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain on agricultural policy.
During Plunkett's last years, Gerald Heard was his personal secretary. Naomi Mitchison, who admired Plunkett and was a friend of Heard, wrote: "H.P., as we all called him, was getting past his prime and often ill but struggling to go on with the work to which he was devoted. Gerald [Heard] who was shepherding him about fairly continually, apologized once for leaving a dinner party abruptly when H.P. was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion".
Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932 and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in nearby Byfleet where his gravestone survives today.
Personal life
Horace was close to his nephews, Edward and Reginald Dunsany, helping manage their, and their father's, affairs. He also worked to reconcile the 17th Lord Dunsany and his wife over several years. He was very involved in the affairs of the 18th Lord Dunsany until some failures of investments in the 1920s, after which their contact was more occasional but continued to near the end. His dealings with Reginald were more limited in earlier years but he continued to visit him at Charborough and elsewhere, right up to the month of his death.
He was also close friends with Elizabeth "Daisy" Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall, the wife of his remote cousin.
Horace became interested in aviation late in life and was still flying – presumably from Brooklands – at least as late as 1930.
References
Writings
Ireland in the New Century (1904), Sir Horace Plunkett
Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), Sir Horace Plunkett
The Rural Life Problem of the United States, (1910), Sir Horace Plunkett
as well as numerous pamphlets
Related bibliography
Seventy Years Young, Memoires of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall, by Elizabeth Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall. First published by Collins of London in 1937; 1991 edition published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, Ireland . This Elizabeth, was a Burke from Moycullen in County Galway, who married the 11th Earl of Fingall, and should not be confused with Elizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of Fingall.
Notes
The Plunkett Foundation
External links
Diaries of Sir Horace Plunkett, 1881–1932 at the National Library of Ireland; includes digitized manuscripts, annotated transcriptions, and index
Irish Co-operative Organisation Society
1854 births
1932 deaths
Irish Anglicans
Irish knights
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
20th-century Anglo-Irish people
Protestant Irish nationalists
Irish Dominion League
Irish Unionist Party MPs
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
Cooperative organizers
Horace Plunkett
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish male non-fiction writers
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Members of the 1922 Seanad
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922)
People educated at Eton College
Politicians from County Meath
Younger sons of barons
Fellows of the Royal Society
Independent members of Seanad Éireann
People from Foxrock | false | [
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
]
|
[
"Horace Plunkett",
"Pioneering co-operation",
"What is the pioneering co-op",
"He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation,",
"what did he do",
"which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator.",
"What were the scandinavian models",
"I don't know.",
"how did he use all that information",
"This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.",
"Did this increase profits",
"which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics,"
]
| C_409551a5c41447aa84d3ff561fbb9702_1 | why did he decide to stay away from that | 7 | why did Horace Plunkett resolve himself to stay away from party politics? | Horace Plunkett | At first, Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns. He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick. In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy). CANNOTANSWER | he set himself to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. | Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author.
Plunkett, a younger brother of John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany, was a member of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland for over 27 years, founder of the Recess Committee and the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), Vice-President (operational head) of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland (predecessor to the Department of Agriculture) from October 1899 to May 1907, Unionist MP for South Dublin in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1892 to 1900, and Chairman of the Irish Convention of 1917–18. An adherent of Home Rule, in 1919 he founded the Irish Dominion League, still aiming to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the first formation of Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber in the Parliament of the new Irish Free State. He has been described as a Christian socialist.
Family and background
Plunkett was the third son of Admiral Edward Plunkett, the 16th Baron of Dunsany, of Dunsany Castle, Dunsany, near Dunshaughlin, County Meath, and the Honourable Anne Constance Dutton (d. 1858) (daughter of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne). He was Anglo-Irish, being of Anglican Irish unionist background, educated at Eton College and University College, Oxford, of which he became an honorary fellow in 1909. His older brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his distant cousin was George Noble Plunkett, a Papal Count and father of Joseph Plunkett, one of the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and a leader of the Easter Rising of 1916.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, Horace Plunkett sought health in ranching for ten years (1879–89) in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development. On visits back to Ireland, and for much of time when he returned, he devoted himself to these topics.
Never marrying, he poured his tremendous energy into agricultural and rural development, politics and diplomacy, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left as his main legacies the Irish cooperative movement, which grew to encompass vast creamery and food ingredient businesses such as Avonmore and Kerry Group, and what is now the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Pioneering co-operation
Although a Unionist, Plunkett resolved to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. The Congested Districts Board were a major plank of the Conservative policy of Constructive Unionism or 'killing Home Rule with kindness'.
Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns.
Before going to America he had become an enthusiast for the Rochdale principles of Consumer cooperatives and in 1878 had set a store up on the family estate.
He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation in Ireland, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick, now the site of the National Dairy Cooperative Museum.
In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.
Work with Roosevelt
Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt's head of the Bureau of Forestry introduced Plunkett to Roosevelt in 1906. Roosevelt had recently set up the National Conservation Commission and was also interested in Irish cooperatives. Arguing that it was not enough to conserve natural resources without tackling the problems of rural life, Plunkett and Pinchot helped draft Roosevelt's letter recommending the Commission on Country Life's report to congress. The Dictionary of Irish Biography credits Plunket with persuading Roosevelt to establish the Commission as a complement to the conservation work.
Success and opposition
Public opinion, initially lukewarm, grew hostile in some sectors as the cooperative movement developed, and shopkeepers, butter-buyers and sections of the press led a campaign of virulent opposition. Cooperatives and Plunkett were denounced for supposedly ruining the dairy industry but the movement caught hold, with the mass of farmers benefitting. Plunkett and his colleagues including the poet and painter George William Russell ("Æ") made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development, and on the role of labour.
As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a size too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), with Lord Monteagle, Thomas A. Finlay and others. Robert A. Anderson acted as secretary, with Æ and PJ Hannon his assistants. IAOS soon became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy cooperative societies and cooperative banks, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management. The following year he and Russell began publishing its journal The Irish Homestead to spread information on farming. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling (over 300 million sterling in today's money, and the turnover of the resulting companies is in excess of a billion euro).
Plunkett's task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that, even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule was implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
Unionism
Before entering Parliament Plunkett had been involved in the Unionist reaction to the Liberal leader William Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule, predicting in a speech to an 1886 Unionist demonstration that Home rule would lead to "'squalid poverty and violent social disorder, which before long is almost certain to end in civil war".
At the general election in July 1892 he was elected as the Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) for South County Dublin, gaining it from the Anti-Parnellite incumbent Sir Thomas Esmonde against a split nationalist vote. He successfully held the seat against a sole nationalist (Parnellite Nationalist) challenger Edmund Haviland-Burke in 1895.
Early in his career Plunkett opposed home rule because of the danger of partition. In 1893 he asserted that one of the leading objections to any measure of home rule was that if it were possible to enforce it on Ulster . . . "it would intensify and perpetuate a state of things in which the Boyne seemed to be broader, deeper and stormier than the Irish Sea".
He lost his seat in 1900 to John Mooney of the Irish Parliamentary Party, after his conciliatory approach to nationalists led to hardline unionists standing Francis Elrington Ball as an independent unionist candidate, splitting the unionist vote.
Expanding co-operation
Continuing his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in a letter to the Irish press in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions, both nationalist and unionist, should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation for pursuing national development, and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897.
The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee, with Plunkett as chairman and members of divergent views, such as the Earl of Mayo, John Redmond, The O'Conor Don, Thomas Sinclair, Thomas Spring Rice, Rev Dr Kane (Grand Master of the Belfast Orangemen), Father Thomas A. Finlay, Mr John Ross, MP, Timothy Harrington MP, Sir John Arnott, Sir William Ewart, Sir Daniel Dixon (after Lord Mayor of Belfast), Sir James Musgrave (Chairman of the Belfast Harbour Board), Thomas Andrews (Chairman of the Belfast and County Down Railway). T. P. Gill acted as Honorary Secretary to the Committee.
In July 1896 the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing in 1899 of an Act establishing the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the Chief Secretary for Ireland was to be President ex officio. Plunkett was appointed Vice-President, a position of de facto leadership. He guided the policy and administration of the DATI in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked:
to improve the quality of crops and livestock
to deal with animal and plant disease
to encourage fishing and planting of forests
to collect statistics on many aspects of Irish life.
By 1914 the DATI had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers about new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry-keeping. The start of the 20th century saw the high water mark in Plunket's achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 cooperative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of the IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members. However, most unionists considered Plunkett too conciliatory and their hostility cost him his seat at the general election in October 1900, when they put up a candidate to split the unionist vote.
It had been intended that the Vice-President should be responsible for the DATI in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that Plunkett might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the DATI without a seat in Parliament. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903 at Cobh, on the personal initiative of the King.
On the accession of the Liberal Party to power in 1906 James Bryce, the new Chief Secretary, asked Plunkett to remain at the head of the department he had created.
Efforts obstructed
Having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, attitudes among the nationalist party were exacerbated by the opinions in his book, Ireland in the New Century (1904). Here he described the economic condition and needs of the country, and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had promoted. Plunkett put forth the view that economics were more important than politics for the future of Ireland, classed the huge sums invested in the building of Catholic churches as "uneconomic" and remarked negatively on the power of the Catholic hierarchy.
John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, turned against Plunkett for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland's problems, and other mainstream nationalists, led by John Dillon, rejected economic development, whether through Plunkett's agricultural cooperatives, William O'Brien's tenant land purchase or D. D. Sheehan's housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett's hopes, and the Irish Parliamentary Party made a determined effort to drive him from office, moving a resolution to that effect in the House of Commons in 1907. The government gave way, and although Plunkett was re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, he retired from office in the DATI. From the year 1900 the DATI had made an annual grant of about £4,000 to the IAOS, but in 1907 the new vice-president of the DATI, TW Russell, who had previously been a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew it. Nonetheless, many continued to be inspired by Plunkett's vision and to establish creamery cooperatives around the country.
Political reorientation
In 1908 public appreciation of Plunkett's service was marked by the purchase and gift to him of 84 Merrion Square, Dublin, which became the headquarters of the IAOS, under the name The Plunkett House.
The Irish Homestead had frequently drawn attention to the status of women in rural Ireland (its assistant editor was Susan L. Mitchell), and in 1910 Plunkett helped to found the United Irishwomen to improve their domestic economy, welfare and education, with Ellice Pilkington and Anita Lett. This would develop in the 1930s into the powerful Irish Countrywomen's Association.
Having previously focused his attention pragmatically on economic factors, Plunkett now began to reorient to political and social issues. The failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1907 made him realise the critical importance of self-government and by 1912 he was a convinced Home Ruler. He spent the first half of 1914 in negotiations intended to prevent partition and the exclusion of Ulster, to no avail.
During the First World War the cooperatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, where food shortages led to a boom period for Irish agriculture.
Much of Plunkett's time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States. After the Easter Rising of 1916, when he heard of executions, he sought clemency for its remaining leaders, including Constance Markievicz, except for anyone involved in regular crime.
From July 1917 to May 1918 Plunkett chaired the Irish Convention, which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost what would have been an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to the issue of land purchase.
Until 1922 Plunkett worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal, the Irish Statesman, to advance that aim, for which he was rejected by those working for an Irish Republic.
Marginalisation and departure from Ireland
In the troubled years between 1918 and 1922 the cooperative movement was targeted by the Black and Tans and other British government forces, as the creameries were alleged to be centres of sedition. Factories were wrecked and burned, stock was destroyed, and trade was interrupted. Plunkett's protests were unheeded and demands for compensation were rejected.
In 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was implemented, Plunkett was nominated to the first Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the parliament of the new Irish state. In recognition of his contributions and ideas, he was one of those appointed for a term of 12-years. As a senator he met Michael Collins, whom he described as "simple yet cunning".
His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War in 1923 his grand house, Kilteragh in Foxrock, County Dublin, was one of at least 285 country houses targeted by the IRA and burned down, the fire taking with it many of the records of the Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject. Plunkett wrote that "the healthiest house in the world, and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland" had been destroyed. He resigned from the Seanad in November 1923.
Plunkett moved to Weybridge in England, where on 21 December 1918 he set up the Plunkett Foundation, launched in 1919 with £5,000 to support work with the co-operative movement. The foundation continues its work today.
Plunkett continued to promote and spread his ideas for agricultural cooperatives. In 1924 he presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, in 1925 he visited South Africa to help the movement there, while as late in 1930, he was consulting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain on agricultural policy.
During Plunkett's last years, Gerald Heard was his personal secretary. Naomi Mitchison, who admired Plunkett and was a friend of Heard, wrote: "H.P., as we all called him, was getting past his prime and often ill but struggling to go on with the work to which he was devoted. Gerald [Heard] who was shepherding him about fairly continually, apologized once for leaving a dinner party abruptly when H.P. was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion".
Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932 and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in nearby Byfleet where his gravestone survives today.
Personal life
Horace was close to his nephews, Edward and Reginald Dunsany, helping manage their, and their father's, affairs. He also worked to reconcile the 17th Lord Dunsany and his wife over several years. He was very involved in the affairs of the 18th Lord Dunsany until some failures of investments in the 1920s, after which their contact was more occasional but continued to near the end. His dealings with Reginald were more limited in earlier years but he continued to visit him at Charborough and elsewhere, right up to the month of his death.
He was also close friends with Elizabeth "Daisy" Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall, the wife of his remote cousin.
Horace became interested in aviation late in life and was still flying – presumably from Brooklands – at least as late as 1930.
References
Writings
Ireland in the New Century (1904), Sir Horace Plunkett
Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), Sir Horace Plunkett
The Rural Life Problem of the United States, (1910), Sir Horace Plunkett
as well as numerous pamphlets
Related bibliography
Seventy Years Young, Memoires of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall, by Elizabeth Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall. First published by Collins of London in 1937; 1991 edition published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, Ireland . This Elizabeth, was a Burke from Moycullen in County Galway, who married the 11th Earl of Fingall, and should not be confused with Elizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of Fingall.
Notes
The Plunkett Foundation
External links
Diaries of Sir Horace Plunkett, 1881–1932 at the National Library of Ireland; includes digitized manuscripts, annotated transcriptions, and index
Irish Co-operative Organisation Society
1854 births
1932 deaths
Irish Anglicans
Irish knights
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
20th-century Anglo-Irish people
Protestant Irish nationalists
Irish Dominion League
Irish Unionist Party MPs
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
Cooperative organizers
Horace Plunkett
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish male non-fiction writers
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Members of the 1922 Seanad
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922)
People educated at Eton College
Politicians from County Meath
Younger sons of barons
Fellows of the Royal Society
Independent members of Seanad Éireann
People from Foxrock | false | [
"\"Llangollen Market\" is a song from early 19th century Wales. It is known to have been performed at an eisteddfod at Llangollen in 1858.\n\nThe text of the song survives in a manuscript held by the National Museum of Wales, which came into the possession of singer Mary Davies, a co-founder of the Welsh Folk-Song Society.\n\nThe song tells the tale of a young man from the Llangollen area going off to war and leaving behind his broken-hearted girlfriend. Originally written in English, the song has been translated into Welsh and recorded by several artists such as Siân James, Siobhan Owen, Calennig and Siwsann George.\n\nLyrics\nIt’s far beyond the mountains that look so distant here,\nTo fight his country’s battles, last Mayday went my dear;\nAh, well shall I remember with bitter sighs the day,\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nAh, cruel was my father that did my flight restrain,\nAnd I was cruel-hearted that did at home remain,\nWith you, my love, contented, I’d journey far away;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nWhile thinking of my Owen, my eyes with tears do fill,\nAnd then my mother chides me because my wheel stands still,\nBut how can I think of spinning when my Owen’s far away;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nTo market at Llangollen each morning do I go,\nBut how to strike a bargain no longer do I know;\nMy father chides at evening, my mother all the day;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me, at home why did I stay?\n\nOh, would it please kind heaven to shield my love from harm,\nTo clasp him to my bosom would every care disarm,\nBut alas, I fear, 'tis distant - that happy, happy day;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me, at home why did stay?\n\nReferences\n\nWelsh folk songs",
"\"Stay Away\" may refer to:\n\n \"Stay Away\" (Elvis Presley song), a song by Elvis Presley from the 1968 film Stay Away, Joe\n \"Stay Away\" (L'Arc-en-Ciel song), a 2000 song by L'Arc-en-Ciel\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Barbra Streisand from the 1978 album Songbird\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Kim Carnes from the 1979 album St. Vincent's Court\n \"Stay Away\", a song by The Angels from the 1983 album Watch the Red\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Toto from the 1988 album The Seventh One\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Nirvana from the 1991 album Nevermind\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Rooney from the 2003 album Rooney\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Pain from the 2005 album Dancing with the Dead\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Dave Barnes from the 2006 album Chasing Mississippi\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Chris Thile from the 2006 album How to Grow a Woman from the Ground\n \"Stay Away\", a song by The Honorary Title from the 2007 album Scream & Light Up the Sky\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Secondhand Serenade from the 2010 album Hear Me Now\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Elliott Yamin from the 2011 album Gather 'Round\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Charli XCX from the 2013 album True Romance\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Erik Hassle from the 2013 EP Mariefred Sessions\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Lee DeWyze from the 2013 album Frames\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Falling in Reverse from the 2015 album Just Like You\n \"Stay Away\", a song by E-40 from the 2016 album The D-Boy Diary: Book 1\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Styles P from the 2018 EP Nickel Bag\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Koryn Hawthorne from the 2018 album Unstoppable\n \"Stay Away\", a song by L.A. Guns from the 2019 album The Devil You Know\n \"Stay Away (It's Like That)\", a song by TV Girl from the 2020 album The Night in Question: French Exit Outtakes\n \"Stay Away\", a song by Carly Rae Jepsen from the 2020 album Dedicated Side B\n \"Stay Away\", a 2014 single by G Hannelius\n \"Stay Away\", a 2020 single by Randy Newman\n \"Stay Away\", a 2020 single by Mod Sun"
]
|
[
"Horace Plunkett",
"Pioneering co-operation",
"What is the pioneering co-op",
"He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation,",
"what did he do",
"which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator.",
"What were the scandinavian models",
"I don't know.",
"how did he use all that information",
"This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.",
"Did this increase profits",
"which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics,",
"why did he decide to stay away from that",
"he set himself to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people."
]
| C_409551a5c41447aa84d3ff561fbb9702_1 | What did the people or farmers think of him | 8 | What did the people or farmers think of Horace Plunkett? | Horace Plunkett | At first, Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns. He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick. In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy). CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author.
Plunkett, a younger brother of John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany, was a member of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland for over 27 years, founder of the Recess Committee and the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), Vice-President (operational head) of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland (predecessor to the Department of Agriculture) from October 1899 to May 1907, Unionist MP for South Dublin in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1892 to 1900, and Chairman of the Irish Convention of 1917–18. An adherent of Home Rule, in 1919 he founded the Irish Dominion League, still aiming to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the first formation of Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber in the Parliament of the new Irish Free State. He has been described as a Christian socialist.
Family and background
Plunkett was the third son of Admiral Edward Plunkett, the 16th Baron of Dunsany, of Dunsany Castle, Dunsany, near Dunshaughlin, County Meath, and the Honourable Anne Constance Dutton (d. 1858) (daughter of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne). He was Anglo-Irish, being of Anglican Irish unionist background, educated at Eton College and University College, Oxford, of which he became an honorary fellow in 1909. His older brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his distant cousin was George Noble Plunkett, a Papal Count and father of Joseph Plunkett, one of the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and a leader of the Easter Rising of 1916.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, Horace Plunkett sought health in ranching for ten years (1879–89) in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development. On visits back to Ireland, and for much of time when he returned, he devoted himself to these topics.
Never marrying, he poured his tremendous energy into agricultural and rural development, politics and diplomacy, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left as his main legacies the Irish cooperative movement, which grew to encompass vast creamery and food ingredient businesses such as Avonmore and Kerry Group, and what is now the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Pioneering co-operation
Although a Unionist, Plunkett resolved to bring together people of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the newly established Congested Districts Board and learned at first hand about the wretched conditions of the rural population, especially west of the River Shannon. The experience hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ills was cooperative self-help. The Congested Districts Board were a major plank of the Conservative policy of Constructive Unionism or 'killing Home Rule with kindness'.
Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns.
Before going to America he had become an enthusiast for the Rochdale principles of Consumer cooperatives and in 1878 had set a store up on the family estate.
He took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation in Ireland, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, taking account of Scandinavian models of co-operation and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating self-reliance, he set his ideas into practice first among dairy farmers in the south of Ireland, who established Ireland's first cooperative at Doneraile, County Cork. He also opened the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick, now the site of the National Dairy Cooperative Museum.
In the setting up of creameries the cooperative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together to establish units to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the profitable British market, rather than producing unhygienic, poor-quality output in their homes for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, which guaranteed fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits.
Work with Roosevelt
Plunkett believed that the Industrial Revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation, and proclaimed his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (US president Theodore Roosevelt adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt's head of the Bureau of Forestry introduced Plunkett to Roosevelt in 1906. Roosevelt had recently set up the National Conservation Commission and was also interested in Irish cooperatives. Arguing that it was not enough to conserve natural resources without tackling the problems of rural life, Plunkett and Pinchot helped draft Roosevelt's letter recommending the Commission on Country Life's report to congress. The Dictionary of Irish Biography credits Plunket with persuading Roosevelt to establish the Commission as a complement to the conservation work.
Success and opposition
Public opinion, initially lukewarm, grew hostile in some sectors as the cooperative movement developed, and shopkeepers, butter-buyers and sections of the press led a campaign of virulent opposition. Cooperatives and Plunkett were denounced for supposedly ruining the dairy industry but the movement caught hold, with the mass of farmers benefitting. Plunkett and his colleagues including the poet and painter George William Russell ("Æ") made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development, and on the role of labour.
As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a size too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), with Lord Monteagle, Thomas A. Finlay and others. Robert A. Anderson acted as secretary, with Æ and PJ Hannon his assistants. IAOS soon became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy cooperative societies and cooperative banks, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management. The following year he and Russell began publishing its journal The Irish Homestead to spread information on farming. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling (over 300 million sterling in today's money, and the turnover of the resulting companies is in excess of a billion euro).
Plunkett's task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that, even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule was implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
Unionism
Before entering Parliament Plunkett had been involved in the Unionist reaction to the Liberal leader William Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule, predicting in a speech to an 1886 Unionist demonstration that Home rule would lead to "'squalid poverty and violent social disorder, which before long is almost certain to end in civil war".
At the general election in July 1892 he was elected as the Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) for South County Dublin, gaining it from the Anti-Parnellite incumbent Sir Thomas Esmonde against a split nationalist vote. He successfully held the seat against a sole nationalist (Parnellite Nationalist) challenger Edmund Haviland-Burke in 1895.
Early in his career Plunkett opposed home rule because of the danger of partition. In 1893 he asserted that one of the leading objections to any measure of home rule was that if it were possible to enforce it on Ulster . . . "it would intensify and perpetuate a state of things in which the Boyne seemed to be broader, deeper and stormier than the Irish Sea".
He lost his seat in 1900 to John Mooney of the Irish Parliamentary Party, after his conciliatory approach to nationalists led to hardline unionists standing Francis Elrington Ball as an independent unionist candidate, splitting the unionist vote.
Expanding co-operation
Continuing his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in a letter to the Irish press in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions, both nationalist and unionist, should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation for pursuing national development, and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897.
The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee, with Plunkett as chairman and members of divergent views, such as the Earl of Mayo, John Redmond, The O'Conor Don, Thomas Sinclair, Thomas Spring Rice, Rev Dr Kane (Grand Master of the Belfast Orangemen), Father Thomas A. Finlay, Mr John Ross, MP, Timothy Harrington MP, Sir John Arnott, Sir William Ewart, Sir Daniel Dixon (after Lord Mayor of Belfast), Sir James Musgrave (Chairman of the Belfast Harbour Board), Thomas Andrews (Chairman of the Belfast and County Down Railway). T. P. Gill acted as Honorary Secretary to the Committee.
In July 1896 the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing in 1899 of an Act establishing the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the Chief Secretary for Ireland was to be President ex officio. Plunkett was appointed Vice-President, a position of de facto leadership. He guided the policy and administration of the DATI in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked:
to improve the quality of crops and livestock
to deal with animal and plant disease
to encourage fishing and planting of forests
to collect statistics on many aspects of Irish life.
By 1914 the DATI had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers about new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry-keeping. The start of the 20th century saw the high water mark in Plunket's achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 cooperative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of the IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members. However, most unionists considered Plunkett too conciliatory and their hostility cost him his seat at the general election in October 1900, when they put up a candidate to split the unionist vote.
It had been intended that the Vice-President should be responsible for the DATI in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that Plunkett might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the DATI without a seat in Parliament. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903 at Cobh, on the personal initiative of the King.
On the accession of the Liberal Party to power in 1906 James Bryce, the new Chief Secretary, asked Plunkett to remain at the head of the department he had created.
Efforts obstructed
Having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, attitudes among the nationalist party were exacerbated by the opinions in his book, Ireland in the New Century (1904). Here he described the economic condition and needs of the country, and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had promoted. Plunkett put forth the view that economics were more important than politics for the future of Ireland, classed the huge sums invested in the building of Catholic churches as "uneconomic" and remarked negatively on the power of the Catholic hierarchy.
John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, turned against Plunkett for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland's problems, and other mainstream nationalists, led by John Dillon, rejected economic development, whether through Plunkett's agricultural cooperatives, William O'Brien's tenant land purchase or D. D. Sheehan's housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett's hopes, and the Irish Parliamentary Party made a determined effort to drive him from office, moving a resolution to that effect in the House of Commons in 1907. The government gave way, and although Plunkett was re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, he retired from office in the DATI. From the year 1900 the DATI had made an annual grant of about £4,000 to the IAOS, but in 1907 the new vice-president of the DATI, TW Russell, who had previously been a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew it. Nonetheless, many continued to be inspired by Plunkett's vision and to establish creamery cooperatives around the country.
Political reorientation
In 1908 public appreciation of Plunkett's service was marked by the purchase and gift to him of 84 Merrion Square, Dublin, which became the headquarters of the IAOS, under the name The Plunkett House.
The Irish Homestead had frequently drawn attention to the status of women in rural Ireland (its assistant editor was Susan L. Mitchell), and in 1910 Plunkett helped to found the United Irishwomen to improve their domestic economy, welfare and education, with Ellice Pilkington and Anita Lett. This would develop in the 1930s into the powerful Irish Countrywomen's Association.
Having previously focused his attention pragmatically on economic factors, Plunkett now began to reorient to political and social issues. The failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1907 made him realise the critical importance of self-government and by 1912 he was a convinced Home Ruler. He spent the first half of 1914 in negotiations intended to prevent partition and the exclusion of Ulster, to no avail.
During the First World War the cooperatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, where food shortages led to a boom period for Irish agriculture.
Much of Plunkett's time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States. After the Easter Rising of 1916, when he heard of executions, he sought clemency for its remaining leaders, including Constance Markievicz, except for anyone involved in regular crime.
From July 1917 to May 1918 Plunkett chaired the Irish Convention, which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost what would have been an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to the issue of land purchase.
Until 1922 Plunkett worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal, the Irish Statesman, to advance that aim, for which he was rejected by those working for an Irish Republic.
Marginalisation and departure from Ireland
In the troubled years between 1918 and 1922 the cooperative movement was targeted by the Black and Tans and other British government forces, as the creameries were alleged to be centres of sedition. Factories were wrecked and burned, stock was destroyed, and trade was interrupted. Plunkett's protests were unheeded and demands for compensation were rejected.
In 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was implemented, Plunkett was nominated to the first Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the parliament of the new Irish state. In recognition of his contributions and ideas, he was one of those appointed for a term of 12-years. As a senator he met Michael Collins, whom he described as "simple yet cunning".
His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War in 1923 his grand house, Kilteragh in Foxrock, County Dublin, was one of at least 285 country houses targeted by the IRA and burned down, the fire taking with it many of the records of the Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject. Plunkett wrote that "the healthiest house in the world, and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland" had been destroyed. He resigned from the Seanad in November 1923.
Plunkett moved to Weybridge in England, where on 21 December 1918 he set up the Plunkett Foundation, launched in 1919 with £5,000 to support work with the co-operative movement. The foundation continues its work today.
Plunkett continued to promote and spread his ideas for agricultural cooperatives. In 1924 he presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, in 1925 he visited South Africa to help the movement there, while as late in 1930, he was consulting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain on agricultural policy.
During Plunkett's last years, Gerald Heard was his personal secretary. Naomi Mitchison, who admired Plunkett and was a friend of Heard, wrote: "H.P., as we all called him, was getting past his prime and often ill but struggling to go on with the work to which he was devoted. Gerald [Heard] who was shepherding him about fairly continually, apologized once for leaving a dinner party abruptly when H.P. was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion".
Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932 and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in nearby Byfleet where his gravestone survives today.
Personal life
Horace was close to his nephews, Edward and Reginald Dunsany, helping manage their, and their father's, affairs. He also worked to reconcile the 17th Lord Dunsany and his wife over several years. He was very involved in the affairs of the 18th Lord Dunsany until some failures of investments in the 1920s, after which their contact was more occasional but continued to near the end. His dealings with Reginald were more limited in earlier years but he continued to visit him at Charborough and elsewhere, right up to the month of his death.
He was also close friends with Elizabeth "Daisy" Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall, the wife of his remote cousin.
Horace became interested in aviation late in life and was still flying – presumably from Brooklands – at least as late as 1930.
References
Writings
Ireland in the New Century (1904), Sir Horace Plunkett
Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), Sir Horace Plunkett
The Rural Life Problem of the United States, (1910), Sir Horace Plunkett
as well as numerous pamphlets
Related bibliography
Seventy Years Young, Memoires of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall, by Elizabeth Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall. First published by Collins of London in 1937; 1991 edition published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, Ireland . This Elizabeth, was a Burke from Moycullen in County Galway, who married the 11th Earl of Fingall, and should not be confused with Elizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of Fingall.
Notes
The Plunkett Foundation
External links
Diaries of Sir Horace Plunkett, 1881–1932 at the National Library of Ireland; includes digitized manuscripts, annotated transcriptions, and index
Irish Co-operative Organisation Society
1854 births
1932 deaths
Irish Anglicans
Irish knights
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
20th-century Anglo-Irish people
Protestant Irish nationalists
Irish Dominion League
Irish Unionist Party MPs
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
Cooperative organizers
Horace Plunkett
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish male non-fiction writers
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Members of the 1922 Seanad
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922)
People educated at Eton College
Politicians from County Meath
Younger sons of barons
Fellows of the Royal Society
Independent members of Seanad Éireann
People from Foxrock | false | [
"C. G. Jung, in his book \"Memories, Dreams, Reflections\", recalls a conversation he had with a Native American man, one Ochwiay Biano an elder of the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. [Mr. Biano is also known by the English name \"Chief Mountain Lake.\"] Ochwiay Biano said,\n\n“How cruel the whites are: their lips are thin, their noses sharp, their faces furrowed and distorted by holes. Their eyes have a staring expression. They are always seeking something. What are they seeking? The whites always want something, they are always uneasy and restless. We do not know what they want, we do not understand them, we think that they are mad.” I asked him why he thought the whites were all mad. “They say they think with their heads,” he replied.\n\n“Why, of course. What do you think with?” I asked him in surprise.\n\n“We think here,” he said, indicating his heart.^ \n\nLater in the 1925 visit, he learned from the Chief that his people, like the Elongyi tribe of Kenya, rose in the morning and spit in their palms, thereby presenting their soul-stuff to the sun to welcome it in an expression of sympathetic magic. Jung marveled that the people of the pueblo knew why they were there.\n\nNotes\n\nPueblo people",
"The American Agriculture Movement is an organization consisting primarily of small American farmers, and was formed in 1977 in Campo, Colorado by a group of farmers. The farmers attempted to organize a strike in which farmers would no longer buy or sell anything.\n\nGoals\nThe organization demanded that the federal government establish higher prices of various crops, claiming that they needed \"parity\" between what they had to spend to grow crops versus revenues received from their crops. One of the slogans of the group was \"Parity not Charity\", as the farmers demanded that the government ensure that farmers were paid more for their crops. The farmers demanded to make as much profit per acre, adjusted for inflation, as farmers did at the turn of the 20th century.\n\nProtest\n\nOn December 10, 1977, approximately 5,000 farmers held a rally in Lincoln, Nebraska, and were joined by Nebraska governor J. James Exon. The farmers all rode their tractors, and soon other farm states had tractor rallies. Gloria Carter Spann, sister of President Jimmy Carter even participated in one rally.\n\nWhile the farmers appeared to have widespread sympathy, relatively few farmers actually went on strike and refused to grow crops. The organization therefore decided to have a tractor rally in Washington, DC. The Carter administration agreed that the Farmers Home Administration would stop all foreclosures, but soon after the rally was over resumed foreclosures of farms with past due loans.\n\nIn 1979, the farmers again drove their tractors to Washington, and drove on the mall, and blocked traffic, creating significant tie-ups.\n\nOne of the tractors driven to Washington can be seen in the Smithsonian museum in Washington.\n\nLegacy\nThe American Agriculture Movement continues to lobby for changes in US farm policy. Its stated goals are as follows:\n\n1. 100% Parity for all domestic and foreign used and/or consumer agriculture products. \n\n2. All agricultural products produced for national or international food reserve shall be contracted at 100% parity. \n\n3. Creation of an entity or structure composed of agriculture producers to advise and approve policies that affect agriculture. \n\n4. Imports of agriculture products which are domestically produced must be stopped until 100% parity is reached. Thereafter, imports must be limited to the amount that the American producers cannot supply. \n\n5. All announcements pertaining to any agricultural producing cycle shall be made far enough in advance that the producer will have adequate time to make needed adjustments in his operation\n\nThe current sitting President (2015) is Larry Matlack of Rural Burrton, KS.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Homepage\nFarming Crisis of the 1970′s and 1980′s in the Plains States\nAgricultural organizations based in the United States"
]
|
[
"Doug Flutie",
"USFL career"
]
| C_c31b8c5608da4baa9a5a38b8071a7756_0 | what team did he play for in the usfl? | 1 | What team did Doug Flutie play for in the USFL? | Doug Flutie | Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future." Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with Trump and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams. Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards. Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL. CANNOTANSWER | He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft, | Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one season in the United States Football League (USFL). Flutie played college football at Boston College, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 amid a season that saw him throw the iconic game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds against Miami. He chose to begin his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals; his unavailability to NFL teams resulted in him selected 285th overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1985 NFL Draft, the lowest drafting of a Heisman winner. After the USFL folded, Flutie played his first four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.
Flutie left the NFL in 1990 for the CFL, where he became regarded as one of the league's greatest players. As a member of the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, and Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times and won three Grey Cups. In all three of his championship victories — two with the Argonauts and one with the Stampeders — he received the Grey Cup MVP award.
Following his CFL success, Flutie returned to the NFL in 1998 with the Buffalo Bills, earning Pro Bowl and NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors for leading Buffalo to the playoffs. He again helped the Bills obtain a playoff berth the following season, but was controversially benched in their subsequent Wild Card defeat; Flutie would be the last quarterback to bring the Bills to the postseason over the next 17 years. Flutie held his last starting role with the San Diego Chargers in 2001 and spent his final professional season as a backup on the Patriots. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Flutie was also inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
Early years
Flutie was born in Manchester, Maryland to Dick and Joan Flutie. His paternal great-grandparents were Lebanese immigrants. His family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida, when he was six, where his father worked as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry. While there, Flutie led Hoover Junior High School's football team to two Brevard County Championships. After the dramatic slow-down of the space program in the mid-1970s, the Flutie family again moved in 1976 to Natick, Massachusetts. Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.
College years
Flutie played football for Boston College, the only Division I-A school to recruit him, from 1981 to 1984, and won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award in his senior year (1984). Flutie became the first quarterback to win the Heisman since Pat Sullivan in 1971. Flutie left school as the NCAA's all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club. The quarterback coach for Boston College from 1981 – 1983 was Tom Coughlin.
Flutie gained national attention in 1984 when he led the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving and thus had a huge audience. Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45–41, in the closing minute of the game. Boston College then took possession at its own 22-yard line with 28 seconds to go. After two passes moved the ball another 30 yards, only 6 seconds remained. On the last play of the game, Flutie scrambled away from the defense and threw a "Hail Mary pass" that was caught in the end zone by Gerard Phelan, giving BC a 47–45 win. Flutie won the Heisman trophy a week later, but the voting had finished before the game; Flutie said, however, that "without the Hail Mary pass I think I could have been very easily forgotten".
The subsequent rise in applications for admission to Boston College after Flutie's "Hail Mary" gave rise to the admissions phenomenon known as the "Flutie Effect". This idea essentially states that a winning sports team can increase the recognition value of a school enough to make it more attractive to potential applicants.
In addition to his collegiate athletic achievement, Flutie maintained a distinguished academic record at Boston College. He was a candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship, for which he was named a finalist in 1984. Upon graduating, Flutie won a National Football Foundation post-graduate scholarship.
In November 2008, Flutie was honored by Boston College with a statue of him throwing his famous "Hail Mary" pass outside of Alumni Stadium. His number, 22, has been retired by the Boston College football program.
College statistics
Professional career
USFL career
Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future."
Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with the Generals and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams.
Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right, despite the plentitude of great NFL quarterbacks with awful initial professional seasons. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.
Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11–7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL.
National Football League debut
On October 14, 1986, the Los Angeles Rams traded their rights to Doug Flutie to the Chicago Bears in exchange for multiple draft picks. Flutie appeared in 4 games for the 1986 Chicago Bears.
Chicago then traded Flutie to the New England Patriots at the start of the 1987 NFL season, a season which saw the NFL Players Association go on strike, and NFL games subsequently being played by replacement players. Flutie crossed the picket lines in order to play for the Patriots, one of many NFL players to rejoin their respective teams, and the strike quickly collapsed.
On October 2nd, 1988, after the Patriots started the season a miserable 1-3, Flutie came off the bench to lead a thrilling comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough, scoring the winning touchdown on a 13-yard bootleg at the end of the fourth quarter. He then led the team to a 6-3 record, including wins at home over the eventual division winning Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears. But even after taking the Patriots to the brink of the playoffs, and in a precursor to what would happen to him eleven years later with Buffalo, Flutie was benched by head coach Raymond Berry on December 11, replacing him with Tony Eason, who had not played football in over a year. New England lost the last game of the year in Denver and were eliminated from the postseason in a tiebreaker.
Flutie would remain with the Patriots through 1989. They then released him after the season, and embarked on the worst three year stretch in team history, winning nine games, with no effectiveness or leadership from the quarterback position.
After six months with no interest from or initiative taken by any NFL team, Flutie left to play in the Canadian Football League.
Canadian Football League career
Flutie played in the Canadian Football League for eight years. He is considered one of the greatest players in Canadian football history. In 1990, he signed with the BC Lions for a two-year contract reportedly worth $350,000 a season. At the time he was the highest paid player in the CFL. Flutie struggled in his first season, which would be his only losing season in the CFL. In his second season, he threw for a record 6,619 yards on 466 completions. Flutie was rewarded with a reported million-dollar salary with the Calgary Stampeders.
Flutie won his first Grey Cup in 1992 with the Stampeders. He was named the Grey Cup MVP.
During his last years in Calgary, Flutie's backup was Jeff Garcia, who later went on to start for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Flutie won two more Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts, in 1996 (The Snow Bowl, held in Hamilton, Ontario) and 1997 (held in Edmonton, Alberta), before signing with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 1998. Prior to his final two Grey Cup victories with the Argonauts, Flutie was hampered by the opinion, supported by the media, that he was a quarterback who could not win in cold weather. In both 1993 and 1994, the Stampeders had the best record in the league, but lost the Western Final each year at home in freezing conditions. After first refusing to wear gloves in freezing temperatures, in later years Flutie adapted to throwing with gloves in cold weather.
His career CFL statistics include 41,355 passing yards and 270 touchdowns. He holds the professional football record of 6,619 yards passing in a single season. He led the league in passing five times in only eight seasons. He once held four of the CFL's top five highest single-season completion marks, including a record 466 in 1991 which was surpassed by Ricky Ray in 2005. His 48 touchdown passes in 1994 remains a CFL record. He earned three Grey Cup MVP awards, and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times (1991–1994, and 1996–1997). He passed 5,000+ yards six times in his career and remains the only player in pro football history to pass 6,000+ yards in a season twice in his career.
On November 17, 2006, Flutie was named the greatest Canadian Football League player of all time from a top 50 list of CFL players conducted by TSN. In 2007, he was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the first non-Canadian to be inducted.
Return to the NFL
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills' then-pro personnel director A.J. Smith convinced the organization that Flutie would be a great asset to the team, and the Bills signed him in the 1998 offseason. The Bills' attempt at making Todd Collins their starting quarterback was a failure, and Flutie was one of two quarterbacks, the other being Rob Johnson (the presumptive starter), to join the Bills in the 1998 offseason. In his first action with the Bills, Flutie entered for an injured Johnson and passed for two TDs while leading a fourth-quarter comeback against the Indianapolis Colts on October 11, 1998. The following week, Doug Flutie made his first NFL start since October 15, 1989, against the unbeaten Jacksonville Jaguars. The nine-year gap between starts for a quarterback in the NFL is the third-longest in duration behind Tommy Maddox (December 12, 1992 to October 6, 2002) and the man Flutie replaced, Todd Collins (December 14, 1997 to December 16, 2007). Flutie was the hero of the Bills' victory as he scored the winning touchdown against the Jaguars by rolling out on a bootleg and into the end zone on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds. The Bills' success continued with Flutie at the helm; his record as a starter that season was 8 wins and 3 losses. He then threw for 360 yards in a wild card playoff loss at Miami. Flutie was selected to play in the 1998 Pro Bowl and is currently the shortest quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since 1970.
Flutie led the Bills to a 10–5 record in 1999 but, in a controversial decision, was replaced by Johnson for the playoffs by coach Wade Phillips, who later said he was ordered by Bills owner Ralph Wilson to do so. Rob Johnson completed only ten passes, none for touchdowns, and was sacked six times, as the Bills lost 22–16 to the eventual AFC Champion Tennessee Titans. The game has become known as the Music City Miracle, as the Titans scored on the penultimate play of the game– a kickoff return following the Bills' apparent game-clinching field goal.
The following season, Flutie was named the Bills' backup and only played late in games or when Johnson was injured, which was often. In fact, during the season, Flutie had a 4–1 record as a starter, in comparison to Johnson's 4–7. In a December 24, 2000 game against the Seattle Seahawks, Flutie achieved a perfect passer rating, completing 20 of 25 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Following the 2000 season, Bills President Tom Donahoe and head coach Gregg Williams decided to keep Johnson as the starter and cut Flutie.
San Diego Chargers
In 2001, Flutie signed with the San Diego Chargers, who had gone 1–15 in 2000. After opening 3–0, the Chargers slumped and were 4–2 going into Week 7, when Flutie's Chargers met Rob Johnson's Bills. Flutie prevailed as the new ex-Bill broke a sack attempt and ran 13 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It would be the last win for the Chargers in 2001, as they dropped their last nine games to finish 5–11 and cost head coach Mike Riley his job. (Buffalo finished 3–13 with Johnson and, later, Alex Van Pelt as starters.) Flutie was Drew Brees' backup in 2002. Brees idolized Flutie growing up, and credits Flutie with mentoring him during their time together with San Diego.
In 2003, Flutie replaced a struggling Brees when the Chargers were 1–7. The 41-year-old Flutie became the oldest player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game, the first player over 40 to accomplish that feat. He also became the oldest AFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the award for the fourth time. On January 2, 2005, the season finale of the 2004 season, Flutie broke Jerry Rice's record set two weeks prior, to become the oldest player ever to score a touchdown, at the age 42 years and 71 days. Rice was 42 years and 67 days when he made his touchdown. Flutie's record as a starter that year was 2–3. He was released from the Chargers on March 13, 2005.
Return to the Patriots
Flutie surprised many when he signed with the New England Patriots instead of the New York Giants. He became the backup behind Tom Brady and played several times at the end of games to take a few snaps. Flutie has a 37–28 record as an NFL starter, including a 22–9 record in home games.
Referring to his time in the Canadian Football League (and, presumably, to the quarterback's relatively diminutive stature), television football commentator John Madden once said, "Inch for inch, Flutie in his prime was the best QB of his generation."
In a December 26, 2005 game against the New York Jets, Flutie was sent in late in the game. The Jets also sent in their back-up quarterback, Vinny Testaverde. This was the first time in NFL history that two quarterbacks over the age of 40 competed against each other (Testaverde was 42, Flutie was 43).
In the Patriots' regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on January 1, 2006, Flutie successfully drop kicked a football for an extra point, something that was not done in a regular-season NFL game since 1941. It was Flutie's first kick attempt in the NFL, and earned him that week's title of AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge of the history of the game, made comments that suggested that the play was a retirement present of sorts for his veteran quarterback, although Flutie had made no comment on whether 2005 would be his last season. There is video of Flutie describing the event in his own words.
During the 2006 off-season, Flutie's agent Kristen Kuliga stated he was interested in returning to the Patriots for another season; as a result, he was widely expected to return, despite his age. However, on May 15, 2006, Flutie announced his decision to "hang up his helmet" at the age of 43 and retire. Flutie was the second-to-last former USFL player to retire, behind Sean Landeta.
Flutie has the most rushing yards (212) for any player after turning 40 years old.
Near-return to the CFL
Because of injuries with the Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was contemplating a temporary comeback with the team as of July 25, 2006. Flutie did not plan to play long-term, for he had planned on doing college football commentary on ESPN in the coming season. On August 18, 2006, a story was published on CFL.ca examining this topic in-depth. Flutie was pondering a return to the CFL because of his relationship with Argonauts head coach and former running back Pinball Clemons, and the desire to "say goodbye to the CFL". According to the report, Flutie was poised to return to Toronto on July 22, after their victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the injury to backup quarterback Spergon Wynn. Nevertheless, Flutie chose to remain in retirement.
Career statistics
* Flutie only saw game action in 10 of the 11 games he dressed for during the 1995 season.
Broadcasting career
After retirement from the NFL, Flutie took a commentating job calling college football with ESPN and ABC from 2006 until 2008.
Drawing on his USFL experience, Flutie served as an analyst for United Football League games for Versus in 2010.
Flutie served as a studio and pre-game analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC from 2011 through 2013, then served as the lead analyst from 2014 through 2019.
Dancing with the Stars
On March 8, 2016, Flutie was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff. On April 25, 2016, Flutie and Smirnoff were eliminated, finishing in ninth place.
Doug Flutie's Maximum Football Video Game
On November 20, 2018, a partnership deal was announced between Doug Flutie and the Maximum-Football video game (Canuck Play/Spear Interactive). Future iterations of the game will be rebranded as Doug Flutie's Maximum Football and feature Flutie's likeness. The game released on the PS4 and Xbox One in the Fall of 2019. On February 4, 2020, the game was available to purchase as a physical copy.
Personal life
Flutie is the older brother of the CFL's fourth all-time receptions leader, Darren Flutie. Flutie also has an older brother, Bill, and an older sister, Denise. His nephew Billy Flutie (son of Bill) was a wide receiver/punter at Boston College from 2007 to 2010. Another of Flutie's nephews, Troy (son of Darren), played quarterback and wide receiver for Boston College from 2015 to 2017. Flutie is the second son of Richard and Joan Flutie. Flutie is married to his high school sweetheart, Laurie (née Fortier). They have a daughter, Alexa, formerly a New England Patriots Cheerleader and San Diego Chargers Cheerleader, and a son, Doug Jr, who has autism. The Fluties established The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc. in honor of him. Flutie also created a cereal, Flutie Flakes, with the benefits going toward this organization. In his free time, he attends college football and basketball games at his alma mater Boston College and was a season ticket-holder. He has spent his summers in Bethany Beach, Delaware, frequenting basketball courts. He also has worked with the local Massachusetts Eastern Bank and is a spokesman for Natick/Framingham's Metrowest Medical Center. He is a member of the Longfellow Sports Clubs at their Wayland and Natick locations. Flutie relocated from Natick to Florida, but was honored by Natick in November 2007 by being inducted into the Natick High School Wall of Achievement. A short stretch of road connecting the Natick Mall and the Shoppers' World Mall in Natick / Framingham, MA is named "Flutie Pass" in honor of his historic 1984 play against Miami.
Flutie frequents Melbourne Beach, Florida in winter, and a sports field complex there is named after him.
For a time, he was part-owner of a restaurant in New York's South Street Seaport named "Flutie's."
In February 2021, Flutie won the WWE 24/7 Championship during a celebrity flag football tournament.
With his brother Darren on guitar, Doug plays drums in the Flutie Brothers Band, and once played for Boston at a tribute honoring Doug. November 13, 2006 was Doug Flutie Day in Boston. Flutie endorsed Scott Brown for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts for 2010, and the Flutie Brothers Band played at Brown's victory celebration.
In 2014, Flutie, who has a charity team that was running, decided to run the Boston Marathon two days before the race, and finished in 5:23:54.
On November 18, 2015, Flutie's parents Dick and Joan Flutie died of heart attacks one hour apart. Dick Flutie had been ill and hospitalized.
Halls of Fame
In 2007, Flutie was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
On May 8, 2007, Flutie was elected to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
On May 9, 2007, Flutie was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
On April 2, 2008, Flutie was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
In 2009, Flutie was elected to the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
See also
NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of gridiron football quarterbacks passing statistics
List of NCAA Division I FBS quarterbacks with at least 10,000 career passing yards
List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders
References
Further reading
External links
1962 births
Living people
Activists from Maryland
All-American college football players
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American expatriates in Canada
American football drop kickers
American football quarterbacks
American people of Lebanese descent
American philanthropists
American players of Canadian football
Autism activists
BC Lions players
Boston College Eagles football players
Buffalo Bills players
Calgary Stampeders players
Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners
Canadian football quarterbacks
Celebrities who have won professional wrestling championships
Chicago Bears players
College football announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Heisman Trophy winners
Maxwell Award winners
Natick High School alumni
National Football League replacement players
New England Patriots players
New Jersey Generals players
People from Manchester, Maryland
People from Melbourne Beach, Florida
People from Natick, Massachusetts
Players of American football from Florida
Players of American football from Maryland
Players of American football from Massachusetts
Players of Canadian football from Florida
San Diego Chargers players
Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Sportspeople from the Baltimore metropolitan area
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
Toronto Argonauts players
United Football League broadcasters
WWE 24/7 Champions | false | [
"James Arthur Smith (born July 20, 1955) is a former American football player. He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1974 to 1976. He also played wide receiver for six seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1977 to 1982 before starring on the Birmingham Stallions of the rival United States Football League (USFL). After the USFL's demise, Smith played a final season for the Los Angeles Raiders in 1985.\n\nEarly years\nSmith grew up in Robbins, Illinois, and attended Dwight D. Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, Illinois, where he earned All-Conference and All-State honors. In his senior year, he led the Eisenhower Cardinals to the South Suburban Conference title.\n\nUniversity of Michigan\nSmith was a flanker and wingback for the University of Michigan from 1974 to 1976. In three years at Michigan, he caught 73 passes for 1,687 yards (23.1 yards per reception) and 14 touchdowns. He also returned 51 punts for 525 yards, an average of 10.3 yards per return. He also ran with the ball 56 times for 394 yards, an average of 7.0 yards per carry. On November 8, 1975, in a victory over Purdue, Smith had a career-high 184 receiving yards on five catches, including an 83-yard touchdown that set a record as the longest pass completion in Michigan history. He was selected as a consensus first-team wide receiver on the 1976 College Football All-America Team.\n\nProfessional football\nSmith was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round (75th overall pick) of the 1977 NFL Draft. He played for the Steelers from 1977 to 1982, backing up Hall of Famers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth and earning two Super Bowl rings in the process. Smith's best season with the Steelers was 1980 when he caught 37 passes for 711 yards and nine touchdowns. He had another strong year in 1981 with 29 passes for 571 yards and seven touchdowns. In 1982, Smith led the NFL with an average of 22.8 yards per reception. In six years with the Steelers, Smith caught 113 passes for 2,103 yards and 25 touchdowns.\n\nIn April 1983, Smith signed a three-year contract to play for the Birmingham Stallions in the newly formed USFL. In order to persuade him to jump to the USFL, Smith was offered a sum greater than any NFL receiver was then making. He led the Stallions in receiving each year from 1983 to 1985. In 1983, he caught 51 passes for 756 yards and three touchdowns. In 1984, he caught 89 passes and led the USFL with 1,481 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. In the USFL's final season, 1985, Smith had his best year as a professional, finishing third in the USFL with 87 catches for 1,322 yards. He also led the USFL's receivers with 20 touchdown receptions. He made both the 1985 USFL all-league team and The Sporting News's 1985 USFL All-Star Team.\n\nSee also\nLists of Michigan Wolverines football receiving leaders\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1955 births\nLiving people\nAmerican football wide receivers\nBirmingham Stallions players\nLos Angeles Raiders players\nMichigan Wolverines football players\nPittsburgh Steelers players\nPeople from Blue Island, Illinois\nPeople from Harvey, Illinois\nPeople from Robbins, Illinois\nPlayers of American football from Illinois\nAfrican-American players of American football\n21st-century African-American people\n20th-century African-American sportspeople",
"Curtis D. Mohl (born October 12, 1959) is a former American football offensive tackle who played in the United States Football League (USFL). He played college football for UCLA, and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the ninth round of the 1981 NFL Draft. He played for the Boston Breakers of the USFL in 1981.\n\nProfessional career\nMohl was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the ninth round (248th overall) of the 1981 NFL Draft. He was waived before the start of the regular season on August 13, 1981.\n\nMohl signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League on February 16, 1982, but did not play for the team. He signed with the Baltimore Colts during training camp, but was released for being late to a practice on July 30, 1982.\n\nMohl signed with the Arizona Wranglers of the USFL on October 28, 1982. He was waived by the team on February 27, 1983. He signed with the Boston Breakers in April 1983.\n\nMohl signed with the Philadelphia Stars on November 7, 1983. He was waived/injured by the team with a knee injury on February 7, 1984.\n\nPersonal\nMohl is married to Valerie Red-Horse.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nProFootballArchives bio\n\n1959 births\nLiving people\nAmerican football offensive tackles\nUCLA Bruins football players\nOakland Raiders players\nWinnipeg Blue Bombers players\nBaltimore Colts players\nArizona Wranglers players\nBoston/New Orleans/Portland Breakers players\nPhiladelphia/Baltimore Stars players"
]
|
[
"Doug Flutie",
"USFL career",
"what team did he play for in the usfl?",
"He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft,"
]
| C_c31b8c5608da4baa9a5a38b8071a7756_0 | in what year did he play in the usfl? | 2 | In what year did Doug Flutie play in the USFL? | Doug Flutie | Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future." Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with Trump and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams. Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards. Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL. CANNOTANSWER | In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. | Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one season in the United States Football League (USFL). Flutie played college football at Boston College, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 amid a season that saw him throw the iconic game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds against Miami. He chose to begin his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals; his unavailability to NFL teams resulted in him selected 285th overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1985 NFL Draft, the lowest drafting of a Heisman winner. After the USFL folded, Flutie played his first four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.
Flutie left the NFL in 1990 for the CFL, where he became regarded as one of the league's greatest players. As a member of the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, and Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times and won three Grey Cups. In all three of his championship victories — two with the Argonauts and one with the Stampeders — he received the Grey Cup MVP award.
Following his CFL success, Flutie returned to the NFL in 1998 with the Buffalo Bills, earning Pro Bowl and NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors for leading Buffalo to the playoffs. He again helped the Bills obtain a playoff berth the following season, but was controversially benched in their subsequent Wild Card defeat; Flutie would be the last quarterback to bring the Bills to the postseason over the next 17 years. Flutie held his last starting role with the San Diego Chargers in 2001 and spent his final professional season as a backup on the Patriots. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Flutie was also inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
Early years
Flutie was born in Manchester, Maryland to Dick and Joan Flutie. His paternal great-grandparents were Lebanese immigrants. His family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida, when he was six, where his father worked as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry. While there, Flutie led Hoover Junior High School's football team to two Brevard County Championships. After the dramatic slow-down of the space program in the mid-1970s, the Flutie family again moved in 1976 to Natick, Massachusetts. Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.
College years
Flutie played football for Boston College, the only Division I-A school to recruit him, from 1981 to 1984, and won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award in his senior year (1984). Flutie became the first quarterback to win the Heisman since Pat Sullivan in 1971. Flutie left school as the NCAA's all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club. The quarterback coach for Boston College from 1981 – 1983 was Tom Coughlin.
Flutie gained national attention in 1984 when he led the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving and thus had a huge audience. Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45–41, in the closing minute of the game. Boston College then took possession at its own 22-yard line with 28 seconds to go. After two passes moved the ball another 30 yards, only 6 seconds remained. On the last play of the game, Flutie scrambled away from the defense and threw a "Hail Mary pass" that was caught in the end zone by Gerard Phelan, giving BC a 47–45 win. Flutie won the Heisman trophy a week later, but the voting had finished before the game; Flutie said, however, that "without the Hail Mary pass I think I could have been very easily forgotten".
The subsequent rise in applications for admission to Boston College after Flutie's "Hail Mary" gave rise to the admissions phenomenon known as the "Flutie Effect". This idea essentially states that a winning sports team can increase the recognition value of a school enough to make it more attractive to potential applicants.
In addition to his collegiate athletic achievement, Flutie maintained a distinguished academic record at Boston College. He was a candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship, for which he was named a finalist in 1984. Upon graduating, Flutie won a National Football Foundation post-graduate scholarship.
In November 2008, Flutie was honored by Boston College with a statue of him throwing his famous "Hail Mary" pass outside of Alumni Stadium. His number, 22, has been retired by the Boston College football program.
College statistics
Professional career
USFL career
Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future."
Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with the Generals and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams.
Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right, despite the plentitude of great NFL quarterbacks with awful initial professional seasons. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.
Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11–7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL.
National Football League debut
On October 14, 1986, the Los Angeles Rams traded their rights to Doug Flutie to the Chicago Bears in exchange for multiple draft picks. Flutie appeared in 4 games for the 1986 Chicago Bears.
Chicago then traded Flutie to the New England Patriots at the start of the 1987 NFL season, a season which saw the NFL Players Association go on strike, and NFL games subsequently being played by replacement players. Flutie crossed the picket lines in order to play for the Patriots, one of many NFL players to rejoin their respective teams, and the strike quickly collapsed.
On October 2nd, 1988, after the Patriots started the season a miserable 1-3, Flutie came off the bench to lead a thrilling comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough, scoring the winning touchdown on a 13-yard bootleg at the end of the fourth quarter. He then led the team to a 6-3 record, including wins at home over the eventual division winning Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears. But even after taking the Patriots to the brink of the playoffs, and in a precursor to what would happen to him eleven years later with Buffalo, Flutie was benched by head coach Raymond Berry on December 11, replacing him with Tony Eason, who had not played football in over a year. New England lost the last game of the year in Denver and were eliminated from the postseason in a tiebreaker.
Flutie would remain with the Patriots through 1989. They then released him after the season, and embarked on the worst three year stretch in team history, winning nine games, with no effectiveness or leadership from the quarterback position.
After six months with no interest from or initiative taken by any NFL team, Flutie left to play in the Canadian Football League.
Canadian Football League career
Flutie played in the Canadian Football League for eight years. He is considered one of the greatest players in Canadian football history. In 1990, he signed with the BC Lions for a two-year contract reportedly worth $350,000 a season. At the time he was the highest paid player in the CFL. Flutie struggled in his first season, which would be his only losing season in the CFL. In his second season, he threw for a record 6,619 yards on 466 completions. Flutie was rewarded with a reported million-dollar salary with the Calgary Stampeders.
Flutie won his first Grey Cup in 1992 with the Stampeders. He was named the Grey Cup MVP.
During his last years in Calgary, Flutie's backup was Jeff Garcia, who later went on to start for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Flutie won two more Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts, in 1996 (The Snow Bowl, held in Hamilton, Ontario) and 1997 (held in Edmonton, Alberta), before signing with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 1998. Prior to his final two Grey Cup victories with the Argonauts, Flutie was hampered by the opinion, supported by the media, that he was a quarterback who could not win in cold weather. In both 1993 and 1994, the Stampeders had the best record in the league, but lost the Western Final each year at home in freezing conditions. After first refusing to wear gloves in freezing temperatures, in later years Flutie adapted to throwing with gloves in cold weather.
His career CFL statistics include 41,355 passing yards and 270 touchdowns. He holds the professional football record of 6,619 yards passing in a single season. He led the league in passing five times in only eight seasons. He once held four of the CFL's top five highest single-season completion marks, including a record 466 in 1991 which was surpassed by Ricky Ray in 2005. His 48 touchdown passes in 1994 remains a CFL record. He earned three Grey Cup MVP awards, and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times (1991–1994, and 1996–1997). He passed 5,000+ yards six times in his career and remains the only player in pro football history to pass 6,000+ yards in a season twice in his career.
On November 17, 2006, Flutie was named the greatest Canadian Football League player of all time from a top 50 list of CFL players conducted by TSN. In 2007, he was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the first non-Canadian to be inducted.
Return to the NFL
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills' then-pro personnel director A.J. Smith convinced the organization that Flutie would be a great asset to the team, and the Bills signed him in the 1998 offseason. The Bills' attempt at making Todd Collins their starting quarterback was a failure, and Flutie was one of two quarterbacks, the other being Rob Johnson (the presumptive starter), to join the Bills in the 1998 offseason. In his first action with the Bills, Flutie entered for an injured Johnson and passed for two TDs while leading a fourth-quarter comeback against the Indianapolis Colts on October 11, 1998. The following week, Doug Flutie made his first NFL start since October 15, 1989, against the unbeaten Jacksonville Jaguars. The nine-year gap between starts for a quarterback in the NFL is the third-longest in duration behind Tommy Maddox (December 12, 1992 to October 6, 2002) and the man Flutie replaced, Todd Collins (December 14, 1997 to December 16, 2007). Flutie was the hero of the Bills' victory as he scored the winning touchdown against the Jaguars by rolling out on a bootleg and into the end zone on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds. The Bills' success continued with Flutie at the helm; his record as a starter that season was 8 wins and 3 losses. He then threw for 360 yards in a wild card playoff loss at Miami. Flutie was selected to play in the 1998 Pro Bowl and is currently the shortest quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since 1970.
Flutie led the Bills to a 10–5 record in 1999 but, in a controversial decision, was replaced by Johnson for the playoffs by coach Wade Phillips, who later said he was ordered by Bills owner Ralph Wilson to do so. Rob Johnson completed only ten passes, none for touchdowns, and was sacked six times, as the Bills lost 22–16 to the eventual AFC Champion Tennessee Titans. The game has become known as the Music City Miracle, as the Titans scored on the penultimate play of the game– a kickoff return following the Bills' apparent game-clinching field goal.
The following season, Flutie was named the Bills' backup and only played late in games or when Johnson was injured, which was often. In fact, during the season, Flutie had a 4–1 record as a starter, in comparison to Johnson's 4–7. In a December 24, 2000 game against the Seattle Seahawks, Flutie achieved a perfect passer rating, completing 20 of 25 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Following the 2000 season, Bills President Tom Donahoe and head coach Gregg Williams decided to keep Johnson as the starter and cut Flutie.
San Diego Chargers
In 2001, Flutie signed with the San Diego Chargers, who had gone 1–15 in 2000. After opening 3–0, the Chargers slumped and were 4–2 going into Week 7, when Flutie's Chargers met Rob Johnson's Bills. Flutie prevailed as the new ex-Bill broke a sack attempt and ran 13 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It would be the last win for the Chargers in 2001, as they dropped their last nine games to finish 5–11 and cost head coach Mike Riley his job. (Buffalo finished 3–13 with Johnson and, later, Alex Van Pelt as starters.) Flutie was Drew Brees' backup in 2002. Brees idolized Flutie growing up, and credits Flutie with mentoring him during their time together with San Diego.
In 2003, Flutie replaced a struggling Brees when the Chargers were 1–7. The 41-year-old Flutie became the oldest player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game, the first player over 40 to accomplish that feat. He also became the oldest AFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the award for the fourth time. On January 2, 2005, the season finale of the 2004 season, Flutie broke Jerry Rice's record set two weeks prior, to become the oldest player ever to score a touchdown, at the age 42 years and 71 days. Rice was 42 years and 67 days when he made his touchdown. Flutie's record as a starter that year was 2–3. He was released from the Chargers on March 13, 2005.
Return to the Patriots
Flutie surprised many when he signed with the New England Patriots instead of the New York Giants. He became the backup behind Tom Brady and played several times at the end of games to take a few snaps. Flutie has a 37–28 record as an NFL starter, including a 22–9 record in home games.
Referring to his time in the Canadian Football League (and, presumably, to the quarterback's relatively diminutive stature), television football commentator John Madden once said, "Inch for inch, Flutie in his prime was the best QB of his generation."
In a December 26, 2005 game against the New York Jets, Flutie was sent in late in the game. The Jets also sent in their back-up quarterback, Vinny Testaverde. This was the first time in NFL history that two quarterbacks over the age of 40 competed against each other (Testaverde was 42, Flutie was 43).
In the Patriots' regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on January 1, 2006, Flutie successfully drop kicked a football for an extra point, something that was not done in a regular-season NFL game since 1941. It was Flutie's first kick attempt in the NFL, and earned him that week's title of AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge of the history of the game, made comments that suggested that the play was a retirement present of sorts for his veteran quarterback, although Flutie had made no comment on whether 2005 would be his last season. There is video of Flutie describing the event in his own words.
During the 2006 off-season, Flutie's agent Kristen Kuliga stated he was interested in returning to the Patriots for another season; as a result, he was widely expected to return, despite his age. However, on May 15, 2006, Flutie announced his decision to "hang up his helmet" at the age of 43 and retire. Flutie was the second-to-last former USFL player to retire, behind Sean Landeta.
Flutie has the most rushing yards (212) for any player after turning 40 years old.
Near-return to the CFL
Because of injuries with the Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was contemplating a temporary comeback with the team as of July 25, 2006. Flutie did not plan to play long-term, for he had planned on doing college football commentary on ESPN in the coming season. On August 18, 2006, a story was published on CFL.ca examining this topic in-depth. Flutie was pondering a return to the CFL because of his relationship with Argonauts head coach and former running back Pinball Clemons, and the desire to "say goodbye to the CFL". According to the report, Flutie was poised to return to Toronto on July 22, after their victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the injury to backup quarterback Spergon Wynn. Nevertheless, Flutie chose to remain in retirement.
Career statistics
* Flutie only saw game action in 10 of the 11 games he dressed for during the 1995 season.
Broadcasting career
After retirement from the NFL, Flutie took a commentating job calling college football with ESPN and ABC from 2006 until 2008.
Drawing on his USFL experience, Flutie served as an analyst for United Football League games for Versus in 2010.
Flutie served as a studio and pre-game analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC from 2011 through 2013, then served as the lead analyst from 2014 through 2019.
Dancing with the Stars
On March 8, 2016, Flutie was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff. On April 25, 2016, Flutie and Smirnoff were eliminated, finishing in ninth place.
Doug Flutie's Maximum Football Video Game
On November 20, 2018, a partnership deal was announced between Doug Flutie and the Maximum-Football video game (Canuck Play/Spear Interactive). Future iterations of the game will be rebranded as Doug Flutie's Maximum Football and feature Flutie's likeness. The game released on the PS4 and Xbox One in the Fall of 2019. On February 4, 2020, the game was available to purchase as a physical copy.
Personal life
Flutie is the older brother of the CFL's fourth all-time receptions leader, Darren Flutie. Flutie also has an older brother, Bill, and an older sister, Denise. His nephew Billy Flutie (son of Bill) was a wide receiver/punter at Boston College from 2007 to 2010. Another of Flutie's nephews, Troy (son of Darren), played quarterback and wide receiver for Boston College from 2015 to 2017. Flutie is the second son of Richard and Joan Flutie. Flutie is married to his high school sweetheart, Laurie (née Fortier). They have a daughter, Alexa, formerly a New England Patriots Cheerleader and San Diego Chargers Cheerleader, and a son, Doug Jr, who has autism. The Fluties established The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc. in honor of him. Flutie also created a cereal, Flutie Flakes, with the benefits going toward this organization. In his free time, he attends college football and basketball games at his alma mater Boston College and was a season ticket-holder. He has spent his summers in Bethany Beach, Delaware, frequenting basketball courts. He also has worked with the local Massachusetts Eastern Bank and is a spokesman for Natick/Framingham's Metrowest Medical Center. He is a member of the Longfellow Sports Clubs at their Wayland and Natick locations. Flutie relocated from Natick to Florida, but was honored by Natick in November 2007 by being inducted into the Natick High School Wall of Achievement. A short stretch of road connecting the Natick Mall and the Shoppers' World Mall in Natick / Framingham, MA is named "Flutie Pass" in honor of his historic 1984 play against Miami.
Flutie frequents Melbourne Beach, Florida in winter, and a sports field complex there is named after him.
For a time, he was part-owner of a restaurant in New York's South Street Seaport named "Flutie's."
In February 2021, Flutie won the WWE 24/7 Championship during a celebrity flag football tournament.
With his brother Darren on guitar, Doug plays drums in the Flutie Brothers Band, and once played for Boston at a tribute honoring Doug. November 13, 2006 was Doug Flutie Day in Boston. Flutie endorsed Scott Brown for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts for 2010, and the Flutie Brothers Band played at Brown's victory celebration.
In 2014, Flutie, who has a charity team that was running, decided to run the Boston Marathon two days before the race, and finished in 5:23:54.
On November 18, 2015, Flutie's parents Dick and Joan Flutie died of heart attacks one hour apart. Dick Flutie had been ill and hospitalized.
Halls of Fame
In 2007, Flutie was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
On May 8, 2007, Flutie was elected to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
On May 9, 2007, Flutie was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
On April 2, 2008, Flutie was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
In 2009, Flutie was elected to the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
See also
NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of gridiron football quarterbacks passing statistics
List of NCAA Division I FBS quarterbacks with at least 10,000 career passing yards
List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders
References
Further reading
External links
1962 births
Living people
Activists from Maryland
All-American college football players
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American expatriates in Canada
American football drop kickers
American football quarterbacks
American people of Lebanese descent
American philanthropists
American players of Canadian football
Autism activists
BC Lions players
Boston College Eagles football players
Buffalo Bills players
Calgary Stampeders players
Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners
Canadian football quarterbacks
Celebrities who have won professional wrestling championships
Chicago Bears players
College football announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Heisman Trophy winners
Maxwell Award winners
Natick High School alumni
National Football League replacement players
New England Patriots players
New Jersey Generals players
People from Manchester, Maryland
People from Melbourne Beach, Florida
People from Natick, Massachusetts
Players of American football from Florida
Players of American football from Maryland
Players of American football from Massachusetts
Players of Canadian football from Florida
San Diego Chargers players
Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Sportspeople from the Baltimore metropolitan area
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
Toronto Argonauts players
United Football League broadcasters
WWE 24/7 Champions | true | [
"James Arthur Smith (born July 20, 1955) is a former American football player. He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1974 to 1976. He also played wide receiver for six seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1977 to 1982 before starring on the Birmingham Stallions of the rival United States Football League (USFL). After the USFL's demise, Smith played a final season for the Los Angeles Raiders in 1985.\n\nEarly years\nSmith grew up in Robbins, Illinois, and attended Dwight D. Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, Illinois, where he earned All-Conference and All-State honors. In his senior year, he led the Eisenhower Cardinals to the South Suburban Conference title.\n\nUniversity of Michigan\nSmith was a flanker and wingback for the University of Michigan from 1974 to 1976. In three years at Michigan, he caught 73 passes for 1,687 yards (23.1 yards per reception) and 14 touchdowns. He also returned 51 punts for 525 yards, an average of 10.3 yards per return. He also ran with the ball 56 times for 394 yards, an average of 7.0 yards per carry. On November 8, 1975, in a victory over Purdue, Smith had a career-high 184 receiving yards on five catches, including an 83-yard touchdown that set a record as the longest pass completion in Michigan history. He was selected as a consensus first-team wide receiver on the 1976 College Football All-America Team.\n\nProfessional football\nSmith was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round (75th overall pick) of the 1977 NFL Draft. He played for the Steelers from 1977 to 1982, backing up Hall of Famers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth and earning two Super Bowl rings in the process. Smith's best season with the Steelers was 1980 when he caught 37 passes for 711 yards and nine touchdowns. He had another strong year in 1981 with 29 passes for 571 yards and seven touchdowns. In 1982, Smith led the NFL with an average of 22.8 yards per reception. In six years with the Steelers, Smith caught 113 passes for 2,103 yards and 25 touchdowns.\n\nIn April 1983, Smith signed a three-year contract to play for the Birmingham Stallions in the newly formed USFL. In order to persuade him to jump to the USFL, Smith was offered a sum greater than any NFL receiver was then making. He led the Stallions in receiving each year from 1983 to 1985. In 1983, he caught 51 passes for 756 yards and three touchdowns. In 1984, he caught 89 passes and led the USFL with 1,481 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. In the USFL's final season, 1985, Smith had his best year as a professional, finishing third in the USFL with 87 catches for 1,322 yards. He also led the USFL's receivers with 20 touchdown receptions. He made both the 1985 USFL all-league team and The Sporting News's 1985 USFL All-Star Team.\n\nSee also\nLists of Michigan Wolverines football receiving leaders\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1955 births\nLiving people\nAmerican football wide receivers\nBirmingham Stallions players\nLos Angeles Raiders players\nMichigan Wolverines football players\nPittsburgh Steelers players\nPeople from Blue Island, Illinois\nPeople from Harvey, Illinois\nPeople from Robbins, Illinois\nPlayers of American football from Illinois\nAfrican-American players of American football\n21st-century African-American people\n20th-century African-American sportspeople",
"On May 24, 1982, the United States Football League (USFL) reached an agreement with ABC and ESPN on television rights. The money for inaugural 1983 season would be a total of $13 million: $9 million from ABC and $4 million from ESPN (roughly $1.1 million per team).\n\nCoverage overview\nABC televised a Sunday afternoon game-of-the-week, one prime time evening game, plus coverage of the USFL divisional playoffs and championship game. The contract required the USFL to schedule a minimum of three games on Sunday, with ABC guaranteed to broadcast one game nationally (the aforementioned, Sunday afternoon game-of-the-week) or two or more regionally. The contract included no clauses regarding \"blackouts\" or \"cross-feeding\". In all, the total package with ABC called for 21 telecasts of USFL action. Meanwhile, ESPN generally televised two prime time games (on Saturdays and Mondays respectively) each week of the USFL season.\n\nThe first USFL games on ABC and ESPN\nOn Sunday, March 6, 1983 ABC televised three games. The Los Angeles Express and New Jersey Generals played in the primary regional televised USFL game, with the Express winning, 20–15. ABC also televised the Chicago Blitz at Washington Federals and the Philadelphia Stars at Denver Gold.\n\nOn Monday, March 7, 1983 the Michigan Panthers opened their 1983 schedule with a 9–7 win at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama against the Stallons. The game marked the first professional football game ever to be broadcast on ESPN. Novo Bojovic of Serbia hit the winning field goal from 48 yards out in the waning moments to preserve the Panthers' road win.\n\nSponsors\nABC claimed to have made a profit from its coverage of USFL during the 1983 season. Regular season 30-second spots were priced at $30,000; playoff spots at $35,000. Thirty-second spots for the championship game between the Michigan Panthers and the Philadelphia Stars played on July 17 sold for $60,000. Major sponsors throughout the season included Gallo, Anheuser Busch, Buick, Chevrolet, Dodge, Honda and Miller.\n\nMajor USFL sponsors for ESPN in 1984 included Ford, Anheuser Busch, American Motors, DuPont, GMC, Mattel, Michelin, Nissan, Noxema, Timex and A.C. Delco.\n\nRatings\nAccording to an ABC spokesman, the network averaged a 6.0 rating for their first USFL season. This was slightly better than the network's coverage of the first American Football League football season back in 1960. In its second year, AFL games on ABC averaged a 6.1 rating, and in 1962, the third year, a 6.5. The coverage was nonetheless quite low for a Big Three television network, with a June 17 prime-time regular season game between Chicago and Birmingham finishing as the lowest-rated prime time broadcast of the week, with a 4.8 rating.\n\nOverall, ESPN averaged a 3.3 rating for its USFL coverage, a 3.0 for Saturday games and a 3.5 for the Monday night coverage. \"We are pretty pleased with the results\", said an ESPN spokesman, who noted that the network's overall USFL rating average was almost 50% higher than its prime time average for their entire fourth quarter of 1982.\n\nThe end of the USFL itself\nABC offered the USFL a 4-year, $175 million TV deal to play in the spring in 1986. ESPN offered $70M over 3 years, regardless of the time of year. By this point, the league had driven out most of the owners who would have been willing to accept those terms. The owners in the league walked away from what averaged out to $67 million per year starting in 1986 to pursue their big picture—merger with the NFL.\n\nIn 1984, the league began discussing the possibility of competing head-to-head with the NFL by playing its games in the fall beginning in 1986. The idea was to force a merger in which the NFL would be forced to admit some USFL teams. Despite the protests of many of the league's \"old guard,\" who wanted to stay with the original plan of playing football in the spring months, the voices of incoming Chicago owner Eddie Einhorn (who would never field his team in the league and did not even plan on doing so in 1986) and Generals owner Donald Trump and others would eventually prevail. Trump sold a majority of the other owners on the gamble that if a merger did occur, their teams would instantly be worth the $70 million or so NFL franchises were worth at that time --- tripling, quadrupling, or more their cash investment.\n\nOn August 22, 1984, the league's owners voted to go along with Einhorn and Trump's idea and begin playing a fall season in 1986. The fourteen remaining owners reiterated this intention in a second vote on April 30, 1985. The spring advocates had lost and the fall advocates would accept nothing less than victory vs. the NFL, either by forcing a merger or winning a sizeable settlement and securing a TV network for fall broadcasts. Spring football had been replaced with an incredibly risky gamble for a huge return. The spring football advocates promptly threatened to leave the league (among them the Pittsburgh Maulers, who immediately folded, the Tampa Bay Bandits, who intended to continue in the spring without the USFL, and the Denver Gold, who were considering joining the Bandits but had not yet made a firm commitment). The illness and death of the Bandits' owner derailed the efforts to maintain a presence of professional football in the spring. Others that were sharing markets with the NFL (such as the New Orleans Breakers and Philadelphia Stars) were forced to relocate, which combined with the smaller markets that had received USFL teams in 1984 but had no other major league franchises at the time (Jacksonville, Birmingham, Memphis and Oklahoma) undermined the league's contention that it was a major league and discouraged the major networks from carrying their games.\n\nThe other major factor in the networks' lack of interest in the USFL was the College Football Association. The CFA had successfully sued the NCAA in the lawsuit NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, gaining control of its member colleges' television rights. Whereas the NCAA handed its exclusive rights to one network (CBS in 1983), the CFA offered packages to both CBS and ABC, and ABC also acquired rights to the Pacific-10 and Big Ten Conferences. With ABC now once again having college football to air on Saturdays, and the network reluctant to give up weeknight prime time, they no longer needed the USFL.\n\nIn another effort to keep themselves afloat while at the same time attacking the more established National Football League, the USFL filed an antitrust lawsuit against the older league, claiming it had established a monopoly with respect to television broadcasting rights, and in some cases, to access of stadium venues.\n\nThe USFL claimed that the NFL had bullied ABC, CBS and NBC into not televising USFL games in the fall. It also claimed that the NFL had a specific plan to eliminate the USFL, the \"Porter Presentation.\" In particular, the USFL claimed the NFL conspired to ruin the Invaders and Generals. The USFL sought damages of $567 million, which would have been tripled to $1.7 billion under antitrust law. It hoped to void the NFL's contracts with the three major networks. The USFL proposed two remedies: either force the NFL to negotiate new television contracts with only two networks, or force the NFL to split into two competing 14-team leagues, each limited to a contract with one major network.\n\nLack of an over-the-air broadcast partner aside, ESPN still offered to carry 22 USFL games on its channel for the fall 1986 season: a game of the week on Sunday nights, three playoff games and the championship. In 1987, ESPN gave this time slot to the NFL, establishing that league's first cable presence.\n\nFranchises most affected by the television coverage\nABC's contract with the league required that, at the very least, there had to be franchises in the Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York markets. Not coincidentally, these markets were home to ABC's best-performing owned-and-operated stations--WLS-TV in Chicago, WABC-TV in New York and KABC-TV in Los Angeles.\n\nChicago Blitz\n\nBefore the end of the 1984 season, it was announced that the Blitz would be shut down. Chicago White Sox part-owner Eddie Einhorn was awarded a new Chicago franchise. While it was stressed that this new franchise was not the Blitz, Einhorn retained all player contracts. A strong proponent of the USFL's planned move to the fall in 1986, he opted not to field a team in 1985. ABC had no objections to this move, probably due to the USFL's anemic ratings in Chicago.\n\nDenver Gold\n\nJust after Mouse Davis took over as head coach, the USFL announced that it would switch to a fall schedule for the 1986 season. Local support for the Gold practically vanished. While the Gold had been one of the USFL's attendance leaders, fans in the Denver area were not about to abandon the Broncos (especially with quarterback John Elway in the midst of his Hall of Fame career) in favor of the Gold. Despite finally getting into the playoffs with an 11–7 record, the Gold's attendance crashed to 14,400 fans per game. As a result, despite finishing second in the Western Conference, they were forced to play on the road against the lower-seeded Memphis Showboats under pressure from ABC. The network, who had considerable influence over the USFL due to the structuring of the league's television contract, did not want the embarrassment of having a game played in a near-empty Mile High Stadium.\n\nLos Angeles Express\n\nThe Express never drew well at the cavernous Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, even in their breakthrough 1984 season. The low attendance figures began to prove very embarrassing and frustrating both to the league and ABC, which had hoped for a more credible product to emanate from the nation's second-largest media market. The team had to play its last home game at John Shepard Stadium on the campus of Pierce College, a small junior college in the San Fernando Valley. \n\nThe Arizona Wranglers, despite having the worse record of the two participating teams, got to host the 1984 Western Conference championship game because the Coliseum was being prepared for the 1984 Summer Olympics. To accommodate Arizona's oppressive summer heat, as well as the ABC Sports television schedule, the game kicked off at 8:30 p.m. local time, 11:30 p.m. Eastern time.\n\nThe league took over the team for the 1985 season, which was an unmitigated disaster. The team had to continue operating due to the contract's stipulation that there had to be a team in Los Angeles. In one of ABC's biggest blunders, the network declined to air a matchup between the Express and the Houston Gamblers, a game that featured two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks against each other with Gamblers' Jim Kelly rallying to win 34–33 against Steve Young's Express. ABC instead aired Doug Flutie's debut for the New Jersey Generals, resulting in the Gamblers-Express game being nicknamed \"The Greatest Game No One Saw.\" Young and Kelly would eventually face each other in 1992 in the No Punt Game—which, coincidentally, would follow a similar pattern with Kelly's Buffalo Bills rallying to beat Young's San Francisco 49ers 34–31 but, because the 49ers and Bills were both Super Bowl contenders, received extensive national television carriage. \n\nUnable to find a new owner, the USFL announced that the Express would suspend operations for the first fall season in 1986, a factor in the league not securing a broadcast contract for that season.\n\nAnnouncers\n\nABC\n Keith Jackson/Lynn Swann\n Jim Lampley/Lee Corso (Lee Corso was also an analyst for ESPN's USFL coverage)\n Tim Brant/Lee Grosscup\n Bill Flemming/Ron Mix\n Corey McPherrin/Kevin Kiley\nABC used Frank Gifford as the studio anchor and Mike Adamle as a sideline reporter. Another play-by-play man that ABC used was Curt Gowdy.\n\nChampionship game announcers\n\nESPN\n Jim Simpson/Paul Maguire (Mondays)\n Tom Kelly/Don Heinrich (Saturdays)\n\nESPN used Tom Mees as a studio anchor.\n\nLocal coverage\n\nSee also\n United States Football League#USFL v. NFL lawsuit\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n United States Football League Broadcasters (1983-1985)\n\nExternal links\n https://web.archive.org/web/20070928000729/http://www.usfl.info/\n The USFL Uniform Database\n1984\n1985\n\n1983 American television series debuts\n1985 American television series endings\nTelevision\nABC Sports\nESPN original programming\nMonday Night Football\nAmerican Broadcasting Company original programming\nHistory of sports broadcasting\nAmerican football on television"
]
|
[
"Doug Flutie",
"USFL career",
"what team did he play for in the usfl?",
"He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft,",
"in what year did he play in the usfl?",
"In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades."
]
| C_c31b8c5608da4baa9a5a38b8071a7756_0 | what were his stats? | 3 | What were Doug Flutie's stats? | Doug Flutie | Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future." Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with Trump and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams. Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards. Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL. CANNOTANSWER | By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards. | Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one season in the United States Football League (USFL). Flutie played college football at Boston College, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 amid a season that saw him throw the iconic game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds against Miami. He chose to begin his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals; his unavailability to NFL teams resulted in him selected 285th overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1985 NFL Draft, the lowest drafting of a Heisman winner. After the USFL folded, Flutie played his first four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.
Flutie left the NFL in 1990 for the CFL, where he became regarded as one of the league's greatest players. As a member of the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, and Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times and won three Grey Cups. In all three of his championship victories — two with the Argonauts and one with the Stampeders — he received the Grey Cup MVP award.
Following his CFL success, Flutie returned to the NFL in 1998 with the Buffalo Bills, earning Pro Bowl and NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors for leading Buffalo to the playoffs. He again helped the Bills obtain a playoff berth the following season, but was controversially benched in their subsequent Wild Card defeat; Flutie would be the last quarterback to bring the Bills to the postseason over the next 17 years. Flutie held his last starting role with the San Diego Chargers in 2001 and spent his final professional season as a backup on the Patriots. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Flutie was also inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
Early years
Flutie was born in Manchester, Maryland to Dick and Joan Flutie. His paternal great-grandparents were Lebanese immigrants. His family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida, when he was six, where his father worked as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry. While there, Flutie led Hoover Junior High School's football team to two Brevard County Championships. After the dramatic slow-down of the space program in the mid-1970s, the Flutie family again moved in 1976 to Natick, Massachusetts. Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.
College years
Flutie played football for Boston College, the only Division I-A school to recruit him, from 1981 to 1984, and won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award in his senior year (1984). Flutie became the first quarterback to win the Heisman since Pat Sullivan in 1971. Flutie left school as the NCAA's all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club. The quarterback coach for Boston College from 1981 – 1983 was Tom Coughlin.
Flutie gained national attention in 1984 when he led the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving and thus had a huge audience. Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45–41, in the closing minute of the game. Boston College then took possession at its own 22-yard line with 28 seconds to go. After two passes moved the ball another 30 yards, only 6 seconds remained. On the last play of the game, Flutie scrambled away from the defense and threw a "Hail Mary pass" that was caught in the end zone by Gerard Phelan, giving BC a 47–45 win. Flutie won the Heisman trophy a week later, but the voting had finished before the game; Flutie said, however, that "without the Hail Mary pass I think I could have been very easily forgotten".
The subsequent rise in applications for admission to Boston College after Flutie's "Hail Mary" gave rise to the admissions phenomenon known as the "Flutie Effect". This idea essentially states that a winning sports team can increase the recognition value of a school enough to make it more attractive to potential applicants.
In addition to his collegiate athletic achievement, Flutie maintained a distinguished academic record at Boston College. He was a candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship, for which he was named a finalist in 1984. Upon graduating, Flutie won a National Football Foundation post-graduate scholarship.
In November 2008, Flutie was honored by Boston College with a statue of him throwing his famous "Hail Mary" pass outside of Alumni Stadium. His number, 22, has been retired by the Boston College football program.
College statistics
Professional career
USFL career
Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future."
Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with the Generals and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams.
Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right, despite the plentitude of great NFL quarterbacks with awful initial professional seasons. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.
Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11–7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL.
National Football League debut
On October 14, 1986, the Los Angeles Rams traded their rights to Doug Flutie to the Chicago Bears in exchange for multiple draft picks. Flutie appeared in 4 games for the 1986 Chicago Bears.
Chicago then traded Flutie to the New England Patriots at the start of the 1987 NFL season, a season which saw the NFL Players Association go on strike, and NFL games subsequently being played by replacement players. Flutie crossed the picket lines in order to play for the Patriots, one of many NFL players to rejoin their respective teams, and the strike quickly collapsed.
On October 2nd, 1988, after the Patriots started the season a miserable 1-3, Flutie came off the bench to lead a thrilling comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough, scoring the winning touchdown on a 13-yard bootleg at the end of the fourth quarter. He then led the team to a 6-3 record, including wins at home over the eventual division winning Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears. But even after taking the Patriots to the brink of the playoffs, and in a precursor to what would happen to him eleven years later with Buffalo, Flutie was benched by head coach Raymond Berry on December 11, replacing him with Tony Eason, who had not played football in over a year. New England lost the last game of the year in Denver and were eliminated from the postseason in a tiebreaker.
Flutie would remain with the Patriots through 1989. They then released him after the season, and embarked on the worst three year stretch in team history, winning nine games, with no effectiveness or leadership from the quarterback position.
After six months with no interest from or initiative taken by any NFL team, Flutie left to play in the Canadian Football League.
Canadian Football League career
Flutie played in the Canadian Football League for eight years. He is considered one of the greatest players in Canadian football history. In 1990, he signed with the BC Lions for a two-year contract reportedly worth $350,000 a season. At the time he was the highest paid player in the CFL. Flutie struggled in his first season, which would be his only losing season in the CFL. In his second season, he threw for a record 6,619 yards on 466 completions. Flutie was rewarded with a reported million-dollar salary with the Calgary Stampeders.
Flutie won his first Grey Cup in 1992 with the Stampeders. He was named the Grey Cup MVP.
During his last years in Calgary, Flutie's backup was Jeff Garcia, who later went on to start for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Flutie won two more Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts, in 1996 (The Snow Bowl, held in Hamilton, Ontario) and 1997 (held in Edmonton, Alberta), before signing with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 1998. Prior to his final two Grey Cup victories with the Argonauts, Flutie was hampered by the opinion, supported by the media, that he was a quarterback who could not win in cold weather. In both 1993 and 1994, the Stampeders had the best record in the league, but lost the Western Final each year at home in freezing conditions. After first refusing to wear gloves in freezing temperatures, in later years Flutie adapted to throwing with gloves in cold weather.
His career CFL statistics include 41,355 passing yards and 270 touchdowns. He holds the professional football record of 6,619 yards passing in a single season. He led the league in passing five times in only eight seasons. He once held four of the CFL's top five highest single-season completion marks, including a record 466 in 1991 which was surpassed by Ricky Ray in 2005. His 48 touchdown passes in 1994 remains a CFL record. He earned three Grey Cup MVP awards, and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times (1991–1994, and 1996–1997). He passed 5,000+ yards six times in his career and remains the only player in pro football history to pass 6,000+ yards in a season twice in his career.
On November 17, 2006, Flutie was named the greatest Canadian Football League player of all time from a top 50 list of CFL players conducted by TSN. In 2007, he was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the first non-Canadian to be inducted.
Return to the NFL
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills' then-pro personnel director A.J. Smith convinced the organization that Flutie would be a great asset to the team, and the Bills signed him in the 1998 offseason. The Bills' attempt at making Todd Collins their starting quarterback was a failure, and Flutie was one of two quarterbacks, the other being Rob Johnson (the presumptive starter), to join the Bills in the 1998 offseason. In his first action with the Bills, Flutie entered for an injured Johnson and passed for two TDs while leading a fourth-quarter comeback against the Indianapolis Colts on October 11, 1998. The following week, Doug Flutie made his first NFL start since October 15, 1989, against the unbeaten Jacksonville Jaguars. The nine-year gap between starts for a quarterback in the NFL is the third-longest in duration behind Tommy Maddox (December 12, 1992 to October 6, 2002) and the man Flutie replaced, Todd Collins (December 14, 1997 to December 16, 2007). Flutie was the hero of the Bills' victory as he scored the winning touchdown against the Jaguars by rolling out on a bootleg and into the end zone on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds. The Bills' success continued with Flutie at the helm; his record as a starter that season was 8 wins and 3 losses. He then threw for 360 yards in a wild card playoff loss at Miami. Flutie was selected to play in the 1998 Pro Bowl and is currently the shortest quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since 1970.
Flutie led the Bills to a 10–5 record in 1999 but, in a controversial decision, was replaced by Johnson for the playoffs by coach Wade Phillips, who later said he was ordered by Bills owner Ralph Wilson to do so. Rob Johnson completed only ten passes, none for touchdowns, and was sacked six times, as the Bills lost 22–16 to the eventual AFC Champion Tennessee Titans. The game has become known as the Music City Miracle, as the Titans scored on the penultimate play of the game– a kickoff return following the Bills' apparent game-clinching field goal.
The following season, Flutie was named the Bills' backup and only played late in games or when Johnson was injured, which was often. In fact, during the season, Flutie had a 4–1 record as a starter, in comparison to Johnson's 4–7. In a December 24, 2000 game against the Seattle Seahawks, Flutie achieved a perfect passer rating, completing 20 of 25 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Following the 2000 season, Bills President Tom Donahoe and head coach Gregg Williams decided to keep Johnson as the starter and cut Flutie.
San Diego Chargers
In 2001, Flutie signed with the San Diego Chargers, who had gone 1–15 in 2000. After opening 3–0, the Chargers slumped and were 4–2 going into Week 7, when Flutie's Chargers met Rob Johnson's Bills. Flutie prevailed as the new ex-Bill broke a sack attempt and ran 13 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It would be the last win for the Chargers in 2001, as they dropped their last nine games to finish 5–11 and cost head coach Mike Riley his job. (Buffalo finished 3–13 with Johnson and, later, Alex Van Pelt as starters.) Flutie was Drew Brees' backup in 2002. Brees idolized Flutie growing up, and credits Flutie with mentoring him during their time together with San Diego.
In 2003, Flutie replaced a struggling Brees when the Chargers were 1–7. The 41-year-old Flutie became the oldest player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game, the first player over 40 to accomplish that feat. He also became the oldest AFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the award for the fourth time. On January 2, 2005, the season finale of the 2004 season, Flutie broke Jerry Rice's record set two weeks prior, to become the oldest player ever to score a touchdown, at the age 42 years and 71 days. Rice was 42 years and 67 days when he made his touchdown. Flutie's record as a starter that year was 2–3. He was released from the Chargers on March 13, 2005.
Return to the Patriots
Flutie surprised many when he signed with the New England Patriots instead of the New York Giants. He became the backup behind Tom Brady and played several times at the end of games to take a few snaps. Flutie has a 37–28 record as an NFL starter, including a 22–9 record in home games.
Referring to his time in the Canadian Football League (and, presumably, to the quarterback's relatively diminutive stature), television football commentator John Madden once said, "Inch for inch, Flutie in his prime was the best QB of his generation."
In a December 26, 2005 game against the New York Jets, Flutie was sent in late in the game. The Jets also sent in their back-up quarterback, Vinny Testaverde. This was the first time in NFL history that two quarterbacks over the age of 40 competed against each other (Testaverde was 42, Flutie was 43).
In the Patriots' regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on January 1, 2006, Flutie successfully drop kicked a football for an extra point, something that was not done in a regular-season NFL game since 1941. It was Flutie's first kick attempt in the NFL, and earned him that week's title of AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge of the history of the game, made comments that suggested that the play was a retirement present of sorts for his veteran quarterback, although Flutie had made no comment on whether 2005 would be his last season. There is video of Flutie describing the event in his own words.
During the 2006 off-season, Flutie's agent Kristen Kuliga stated he was interested in returning to the Patriots for another season; as a result, he was widely expected to return, despite his age. However, on May 15, 2006, Flutie announced his decision to "hang up his helmet" at the age of 43 and retire. Flutie was the second-to-last former USFL player to retire, behind Sean Landeta.
Flutie has the most rushing yards (212) for any player after turning 40 years old.
Near-return to the CFL
Because of injuries with the Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was contemplating a temporary comeback with the team as of July 25, 2006. Flutie did not plan to play long-term, for he had planned on doing college football commentary on ESPN in the coming season. On August 18, 2006, a story was published on CFL.ca examining this topic in-depth. Flutie was pondering a return to the CFL because of his relationship with Argonauts head coach and former running back Pinball Clemons, and the desire to "say goodbye to the CFL". According to the report, Flutie was poised to return to Toronto on July 22, after their victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the injury to backup quarterback Spergon Wynn. Nevertheless, Flutie chose to remain in retirement.
Career statistics
* Flutie only saw game action in 10 of the 11 games he dressed for during the 1995 season.
Broadcasting career
After retirement from the NFL, Flutie took a commentating job calling college football with ESPN and ABC from 2006 until 2008.
Drawing on his USFL experience, Flutie served as an analyst for United Football League games for Versus in 2010.
Flutie served as a studio and pre-game analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC from 2011 through 2013, then served as the lead analyst from 2014 through 2019.
Dancing with the Stars
On March 8, 2016, Flutie was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff. On April 25, 2016, Flutie and Smirnoff were eliminated, finishing in ninth place.
Doug Flutie's Maximum Football Video Game
On November 20, 2018, a partnership deal was announced between Doug Flutie and the Maximum-Football video game (Canuck Play/Spear Interactive). Future iterations of the game will be rebranded as Doug Flutie's Maximum Football and feature Flutie's likeness. The game released on the PS4 and Xbox One in the Fall of 2019. On February 4, 2020, the game was available to purchase as a physical copy.
Personal life
Flutie is the older brother of the CFL's fourth all-time receptions leader, Darren Flutie. Flutie also has an older brother, Bill, and an older sister, Denise. His nephew Billy Flutie (son of Bill) was a wide receiver/punter at Boston College from 2007 to 2010. Another of Flutie's nephews, Troy (son of Darren), played quarterback and wide receiver for Boston College from 2015 to 2017. Flutie is the second son of Richard and Joan Flutie. Flutie is married to his high school sweetheart, Laurie (née Fortier). They have a daughter, Alexa, formerly a New England Patriots Cheerleader and San Diego Chargers Cheerleader, and a son, Doug Jr, who has autism. The Fluties established The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc. in honor of him. Flutie also created a cereal, Flutie Flakes, with the benefits going toward this organization. In his free time, he attends college football and basketball games at his alma mater Boston College and was a season ticket-holder. He has spent his summers in Bethany Beach, Delaware, frequenting basketball courts. He also has worked with the local Massachusetts Eastern Bank and is a spokesman for Natick/Framingham's Metrowest Medical Center. He is a member of the Longfellow Sports Clubs at their Wayland and Natick locations. Flutie relocated from Natick to Florida, but was honored by Natick in November 2007 by being inducted into the Natick High School Wall of Achievement. A short stretch of road connecting the Natick Mall and the Shoppers' World Mall in Natick / Framingham, MA is named "Flutie Pass" in honor of his historic 1984 play against Miami.
Flutie frequents Melbourne Beach, Florida in winter, and a sports field complex there is named after him.
For a time, he was part-owner of a restaurant in New York's South Street Seaport named "Flutie's."
In February 2021, Flutie won the WWE 24/7 Championship during a celebrity flag football tournament.
With his brother Darren on guitar, Doug plays drums in the Flutie Brothers Band, and once played for Boston at a tribute honoring Doug. November 13, 2006 was Doug Flutie Day in Boston. Flutie endorsed Scott Brown for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts for 2010, and the Flutie Brothers Band played at Brown's victory celebration.
In 2014, Flutie, who has a charity team that was running, decided to run the Boston Marathon two days before the race, and finished in 5:23:54.
On November 18, 2015, Flutie's parents Dick and Joan Flutie died of heart attacks one hour apart. Dick Flutie had been ill and hospitalized.
Halls of Fame
In 2007, Flutie was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
On May 8, 2007, Flutie was elected to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
On May 9, 2007, Flutie was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
On April 2, 2008, Flutie was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
In 2009, Flutie was elected to the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
See also
NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of gridiron football quarterbacks passing statistics
List of NCAA Division I FBS quarterbacks with at least 10,000 career passing yards
List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders
References
Further reading
External links
1962 births
Living people
Activists from Maryland
All-American college football players
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American expatriates in Canada
American football drop kickers
American football quarterbacks
American people of Lebanese descent
American philanthropists
American players of Canadian football
Autism activists
BC Lions players
Boston College Eagles football players
Buffalo Bills players
Calgary Stampeders players
Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners
Canadian football quarterbacks
Celebrities who have won professional wrestling championships
Chicago Bears players
College football announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Heisman Trophy winners
Maxwell Award winners
Natick High School alumni
National Football League replacement players
New England Patriots players
New Jersey Generals players
People from Manchester, Maryland
People from Melbourne Beach, Florida
People from Natick, Massachusetts
Players of American football from Florida
Players of American football from Maryland
Players of American football from Massachusetts
Players of Canadian football from Florida
San Diego Chargers players
Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Sportspeople from the Baltimore metropolitan area
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
Toronto Argonauts players
United Football League broadcasters
WWE 24/7 Champions | true | [
"The Louisiana Swashbucklers were a professional indoor football team based in Lake Charles, Louisiana. They were formed in 2005 as an expansion member of the National Indoor Football League (NIFL) and were originally known as the Southwest Louisiana Swashbucklers. They replaced another NIFL franchise, the Lake Charles Land Sharks. In 2006, they moved to the Intense Football League (IFL) and shortened their name to Louisiana Swashbucklers. They were originally set to play in the Indoor Football League due to the IFL's merger with United Indoor Football, but later had to bow out over financial concerns. For their next three seasons, they were a member of the new Southern Indoor Football League. Later a member of the Professional Indoor Football League, they played their home games at Sudduth Coliseum in Lake Charles, Louisiana. On May 24, 2013, the team announced that they would be ceasing operations due to low turnout and cancelled the team's final home game.\n\nFinal roster\n\nFinal roster\n\nThe last reported roster was on July 16, 2013.\n\nAll-league players\nFB Kendrick Perry (2)\nWR Jordan Rideaux (2)\nOL Roman Pritt\nDL John Paul Jones\nDB Damian Huren (2)\n\nSeason-by-season results\n\nExternal links\n Official website\n Southwest Louisiana Swashbucklers' 2005 stats\n Louisiana Swashbucklers' 2006 stats\n Louisiana Swashbucklers' 2007 stats\n Louisiana Swashbucklers' 2008 stats\n Louisiana Swashbucklers' 2009 stats\n Louisiana Swashbucklers' 2010 stats\n Louisiana Swashbucklers' 2011 stats\n\n \nAmerican football teams in Louisiana\n2005 establishments in Louisiana\n2013 disestablishments in Louisiana",
"The Lake Charles Land Sharks were an indoor football team. They were a charter member of the National Indoor Football League (NIFL). They played their home games at the Sudduth Coliseum in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Despite having pretty good success throughout their existence, the team folded after the 2004 season and were replaced by the Louisiana Swashbucklers.\n\nSeason-by-Season \n\n|-\n|2001 || 7 || 3 || 0 || 2nd South || Lost Round 1 (Ohio Valley) \n|-\n|2002 || 13 || 2 || 0 || 1st Atlantic South || Lost Round 1 (T. ThunderCats)\n|-\n|2003 || 13 || 3 || 0 || 1st Atlantic South || Won Round 1 (Houma Bayou Bucks)Lost AC Championship (Ohio Valley)\n|-\n|2004 || 7 || 7 || 0 || 4th Atlantic South || --\n|-\n!Totals || 41 || 18 || 0\n|colspan=\"2\"| (including playoffs)\n\nExternal links\n L.C. Land Sharks' 2001 Stats\n L.C. Land Sharks' 2002 Stats\n L.C. Land Sharks' 2003 Stats\n L.C. Land Sharks' 2004 Stats\n\nAmerican football teams in Louisiana\nNational Indoor Football League teams\nLand Sharks\nAmerican football teams established in 2000\nAmerican football teams disestablished in 2004\n2000 establishments in Louisiana\n2004 disestablishments in Louisiana"
]
|
[
"Doug Flutie",
"USFL career",
"what team did he play for in the usfl?",
"He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft,",
"in what year did he play in the usfl?",
"In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades.",
"what were his stats?",
"By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards."
]
| C_c31b8c5608da4baa9a5a38b8071a7756_0 | did he win any trophies? | 4 | Did Doug Flutie win any trophies? | Doug Flutie | Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future." Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with Trump and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams. Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards. Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL. CANNOTANSWER | He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. | Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one season in the United States Football League (USFL). Flutie played college football at Boston College, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 amid a season that saw him throw the iconic game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds against Miami. He chose to begin his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals; his unavailability to NFL teams resulted in him selected 285th overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1985 NFL Draft, the lowest drafting of a Heisman winner. After the USFL folded, Flutie played his first four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.
Flutie left the NFL in 1990 for the CFL, where he became regarded as one of the league's greatest players. As a member of the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, and Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times and won three Grey Cups. In all three of his championship victories — two with the Argonauts and one with the Stampeders — he received the Grey Cup MVP award.
Following his CFL success, Flutie returned to the NFL in 1998 with the Buffalo Bills, earning Pro Bowl and NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors for leading Buffalo to the playoffs. He again helped the Bills obtain a playoff berth the following season, but was controversially benched in their subsequent Wild Card defeat; Flutie would be the last quarterback to bring the Bills to the postseason over the next 17 years. Flutie held his last starting role with the San Diego Chargers in 2001 and spent his final professional season as a backup on the Patriots. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Flutie was also inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
Early years
Flutie was born in Manchester, Maryland to Dick and Joan Flutie. His paternal great-grandparents were Lebanese immigrants. His family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida, when he was six, where his father worked as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry. While there, Flutie led Hoover Junior High School's football team to two Brevard County Championships. After the dramatic slow-down of the space program in the mid-1970s, the Flutie family again moved in 1976 to Natick, Massachusetts. Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.
College years
Flutie played football for Boston College, the only Division I-A school to recruit him, from 1981 to 1984, and won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award in his senior year (1984). Flutie became the first quarterback to win the Heisman since Pat Sullivan in 1971. Flutie left school as the NCAA's all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club. The quarterback coach for Boston College from 1981 – 1983 was Tom Coughlin.
Flutie gained national attention in 1984 when he led the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving and thus had a huge audience. Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45–41, in the closing minute of the game. Boston College then took possession at its own 22-yard line with 28 seconds to go. After two passes moved the ball another 30 yards, only 6 seconds remained. On the last play of the game, Flutie scrambled away from the defense and threw a "Hail Mary pass" that was caught in the end zone by Gerard Phelan, giving BC a 47–45 win. Flutie won the Heisman trophy a week later, but the voting had finished before the game; Flutie said, however, that "without the Hail Mary pass I think I could have been very easily forgotten".
The subsequent rise in applications for admission to Boston College after Flutie's "Hail Mary" gave rise to the admissions phenomenon known as the "Flutie Effect". This idea essentially states that a winning sports team can increase the recognition value of a school enough to make it more attractive to potential applicants.
In addition to his collegiate athletic achievement, Flutie maintained a distinguished academic record at Boston College. He was a candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship, for which he was named a finalist in 1984. Upon graduating, Flutie won a National Football Foundation post-graduate scholarship.
In November 2008, Flutie was honored by Boston College with a statue of him throwing his famous "Hail Mary" pass outside of Alumni Stadium. His number, 22, has been retired by the Boston College football program.
College statistics
Professional career
USFL career
Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future."
Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with the Generals and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams.
Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right, despite the plentitude of great NFL quarterbacks with awful initial professional seasons. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.
Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11–7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL.
National Football League debut
On October 14, 1986, the Los Angeles Rams traded their rights to Doug Flutie to the Chicago Bears in exchange for multiple draft picks. Flutie appeared in 4 games for the 1986 Chicago Bears.
Chicago then traded Flutie to the New England Patriots at the start of the 1987 NFL season, a season which saw the NFL Players Association go on strike, and NFL games subsequently being played by replacement players. Flutie crossed the picket lines in order to play for the Patriots, one of many NFL players to rejoin their respective teams, and the strike quickly collapsed.
On October 2nd, 1988, after the Patriots started the season a miserable 1-3, Flutie came off the bench to lead a thrilling comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough, scoring the winning touchdown on a 13-yard bootleg at the end of the fourth quarter. He then led the team to a 6-3 record, including wins at home over the eventual division winning Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears. But even after taking the Patriots to the brink of the playoffs, and in a precursor to what would happen to him eleven years later with Buffalo, Flutie was benched by head coach Raymond Berry on December 11, replacing him with Tony Eason, who had not played football in over a year. New England lost the last game of the year in Denver and were eliminated from the postseason in a tiebreaker.
Flutie would remain with the Patriots through 1989. They then released him after the season, and embarked on the worst three year stretch in team history, winning nine games, with no effectiveness or leadership from the quarterback position.
After six months with no interest from or initiative taken by any NFL team, Flutie left to play in the Canadian Football League.
Canadian Football League career
Flutie played in the Canadian Football League for eight years. He is considered one of the greatest players in Canadian football history. In 1990, he signed with the BC Lions for a two-year contract reportedly worth $350,000 a season. At the time he was the highest paid player in the CFL. Flutie struggled in his first season, which would be his only losing season in the CFL. In his second season, he threw for a record 6,619 yards on 466 completions. Flutie was rewarded with a reported million-dollar salary with the Calgary Stampeders.
Flutie won his first Grey Cup in 1992 with the Stampeders. He was named the Grey Cup MVP.
During his last years in Calgary, Flutie's backup was Jeff Garcia, who later went on to start for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Flutie won two more Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts, in 1996 (The Snow Bowl, held in Hamilton, Ontario) and 1997 (held in Edmonton, Alberta), before signing with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 1998. Prior to his final two Grey Cup victories with the Argonauts, Flutie was hampered by the opinion, supported by the media, that he was a quarterback who could not win in cold weather. In both 1993 and 1994, the Stampeders had the best record in the league, but lost the Western Final each year at home in freezing conditions. After first refusing to wear gloves in freezing temperatures, in later years Flutie adapted to throwing with gloves in cold weather.
His career CFL statistics include 41,355 passing yards and 270 touchdowns. He holds the professional football record of 6,619 yards passing in a single season. He led the league in passing five times in only eight seasons. He once held four of the CFL's top five highest single-season completion marks, including a record 466 in 1991 which was surpassed by Ricky Ray in 2005. His 48 touchdown passes in 1994 remains a CFL record. He earned three Grey Cup MVP awards, and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times (1991–1994, and 1996–1997). He passed 5,000+ yards six times in his career and remains the only player in pro football history to pass 6,000+ yards in a season twice in his career.
On November 17, 2006, Flutie was named the greatest Canadian Football League player of all time from a top 50 list of CFL players conducted by TSN. In 2007, he was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the first non-Canadian to be inducted.
Return to the NFL
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills' then-pro personnel director A.J. Smith convinced the organization that Flutie would be a great asset to the team, and the Bills signed him in the 1998 offseason. The Bills' attempt at making Todd Collins their starting quarterback was a failure, and Flutie was one of two quarterbacks, the other being Rob Johnson (the presumptive starter), to join the Bills in the 1998 offseason. In his first action with the Bills, Flutie entered for an injured Johnson and passed for two TDs while leading a fourth-quarter comeback against the Indianapolis Colts on October 11, 1998. The following week, Doug Flutie made his first NFL start since October 15, 1989, against the unbeaten Jacksonville Jaguars. The nine-year gap between starts for a quarterback in the NFL is the third-longest in duration behind Tommy Maddox (December 12, 1992 to October 6, 2002) and the man Flutie replaced, Todd Collins (December 14, 1997 to December 16, 2007). Flutie was the hero of the Bills' victory as he scored the winning touchdown against the Jaguars by rolling out on a bootleg and into the end zone on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds. The Bills' success continued with Flutie at the helm; his record as a starter that season was 8 wins and 3 losses. He then threw for 360 yards in a wild card playoff loss at Miami. Flutie was selected to play in the 1998 Pro Bowl and is currently the shortest quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since 1970.
Flutie led the Bills to a 10–5 record in 1999 but, in a controversial decision, was replaced by Johnson for the playoffs by coach Wade Phillips, who later said he was ordered by Bills owner Ralph Wilson to do so. Rob Johnson completed only ten passes, none for touchdowns, and was sacked six times, as the Bills lost 22–16 to the eventual AFC Champion Tennessee Titans. The game has become known as the Music City Miracle, as the Titans scored on the penultimate play of the game– a kickoff return following the Bills' apparent game-clinching field goal.
The following season, Flutie was named the Bills' backup and only played late in games or when Johnson was injured, which was often. In fact, during the season, Flutie had a 4–1 record as a starter, in comparison to Johnson's 4–7. In a December 24, 2000 game against the Seattle Seahawks, Flutie achieved a perfect passer rating, completing 20 of 25 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Following the 2000 season, Bills President Tom Donahoe and head coach Gregg Williams decided to keep Johnson as the starter and cut Flutie.
San Diego Chargers
In 2001, Flutie signed with the San Diego Chargers, who had gone 1–15 in 2000. After opening 3–0, the Chargers slumped and were 4–2 going into Week 7, when Flutie's Chargers met Rob Johnson's Bills. Flutie prevailed as the new ex-Bill broke a sack attempt and ran 13 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It would be the last win for the Chargers in 2001, as they dropped their last nine games to finish 5–11 and cost head coach Mike Riley his job. (Buffalo finished 3–13 with Johnson and, later, Alex Van Pelt as starters.) Flutie was Drew Brees' backup in 2002. Brees idolized Flutie growing up, and credits Flutie with mentoring him during their time together with San Diego.
In 2003, Flutie replaced a struggling Brees when the Chargers were 1–7. The 41-year-old Flutie became the oldest player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game, the first player over 40 to accomplish that feat. He also became the oldest AFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the award for the fourth time. On January 2, 2005, the season finale of the 2004 season, Flutie broke Jerry Rice's record set two weeks prior, to become the oldest player ever to score a touchdown, at the age 42 years and 71 days. Rice was 42 years and 67 days when he made his touchdown. Flutie's record as a starter that year was 2–3. He was released from the Chargers on March 13, 2005.
Return to the Patriots
Flutie surprised many when he signed with the New England Patriots instead of the New York Giants. He became the backup behind Tom Brady and played several times at the end of games to take a few snaps. Flutie has a 37–28 record as an NFL starter, including a 22–9 record in home games.
Referring to his time in the Canadian Football League (and, presumably, to the quarterback's relatively diminutive stature), television football commentator John Madden once said, "Inch for inch, Flutie in his prime was the best QB of his generation."
In a December 26, 2005 game against the New York Jets, Flutie was sent in late in the game. The Jets also sent in their back-up quarterback, Vinny Testaverde. This was the first time in NFL history that two quarterbacks over the age of 40 competed against each other (Testaverde was 42, Flutie was 43).
In the Patriots' regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on January 1, 2006, Flutie successfully drop kicked a football for an extra point, something that was not done in a regular-season NFL game since 1941. It was Flutie's first kick attempt in the NFL, and earned him that week's title of AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge of the history of the game, made comments that suggested that the play was a retirement present of sorts for his veteran quarterback, although Flutie had made no comment on whether 2005 would be his last season. There is video of Flutie describing the event in his own words.
During the 2006 off-season, Flutie's agent Kristen Kuliga stated he was interested in returning to the Patriots for another season; as a result, he was widely expected to return, despite his age. However, on May 15, 2006, Flutie announced his decision to "hang up his helmet" at the age of 43 and retire. Flutie was the second-to-last former USFL player to retire, behind Sean Landeta.
Flutie has the most rushing yards (212) for any player after turning 40 years old.
Near-return to the CFL
Because of injuries with the Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was contemplating a temporary comeback with the team as of July 25, 2006. Flutie did not plan to play long-term, for he had planned on doing college football commentary on ESPN in the coming season. On August 18, 2006, a story was published on CFL.ca examining this topic in-depth. Flutie was pondering a return to the CFL because of his relationship with Argonauts head coach and former running back Pinball Clemons, and the desire to "say goodbye to the CFL". According to the report, Flutie was poised to return to Toronto on July 22, after their victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the injury to backup quarterback Spergon Wynn. Nevertheless, Flutie chose to remain in retirement.
Career statistics
* Flutie only saw game action in 10 of the 11 games he dressed for during the 1995 season.
Broadcasting career
After retirement from the NFL, Flutie took a commentating job calling college football with ESPN and ABC from 2006 until 2008.
Drawing on his USFL experience, Flutie served as an analyst for United Football League games for Versus in 2010.
Flutie served as a studio and pre-game analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC from 2011 through 2013, then served as the lead analyst from 2014 through 2019.
Dancing with the Stars
On March 8, 2016, Flutie was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff. On April 25, 2016, Flutie and Smirnoff were eliminated, finishing in ninth place.
Doug Flutie's Maximum Football Video Game
On November 20, 2018, a partnership deal was announced between Doug Flutie and the Maximum-Football video game (Canuck Play/Spear Interactive). Future iterations of the game will be rebranded as Doug Flutie's Maximum Football and feature Flutie's likeness. The game released on the PS4 and Xbox One in the Fall of 2019. On February 4, 2020, the game was available to purchase as a physical copy.
Personal life
Flutie is the older brother of the CFL's fourth all-time receptions leader, Darren Flutie. Flutie also has an older brother, Bill, and an older sister, Denise. His nephew Billy Flutie (son of Bill) was a wide receiver/punter at Boston College from 2007 to 2010. Another of Flutie's nephews, Troy (son of Darren), played quarterback and wide receiver for Boston College from 2015 to 2017. Flutie is the second son of Richard and Joan Flutie. Flutie is married to his high school sweetheart, Laurie (née Fortier). They have a daughter, Alexa, formerly a New England Patriots Cheerleader and San Diego Chargers Cheerleader, and a son, Doug Jr, who has autism. The Fluties established The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc. in honor of him. Flutie also created a cereal, Flutie Flakes, with the benefits going toward this organization. In his free time, he attends college football and basketball games at his alma mater Boston College and was a season ticket-holder. He has spent his summers in Bethany Beach, Delaware, frequenting basketball courts. He also has worked with the local Massachusetts Eastern Bank and is a spokesman for Natick/Framingham's Metrowest Medical Center. He is a member of the Longfellow Sports Clubs at their Wayland and Natick locations. Flutie relocated from Natick to Florida, but was honored by Natick in November 2007 by being inducted into the Natick High School Wall of Achievement. A short stretch of road connecting the Natick Mall and the Shoppers' World Mall in Natick / Framingham, MA is named "Flutie Pass" in honor of his historic 1984 play against Miami.
Flutie frequents Melbourne Beach, Florida in winter, and a sports field complex there is named after him.
For a time, he was part-owner of a restaurant in New York's South Street Seaport named "Flutie's."
In February 2021, Flutie won the WWE 24/7 Championship during a celebrity flag football tournament.
With his brother Darren on guitar, Doug plays drums in the Flutie Brothers Band, and once played for Boston at a tribute honoring Doug. November 13, 2006 was Doug Flutie Day in Boston. Flutie endorsed Scott Brown for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts for 2010, and the Flutie Brothers Band played at Brown's victory celebration.
In 2014, Flutie, who has a charity team that was running, decided to run the Boston Marathon two days before the race, and finished in 5:23:54.
On November 18, 2015, Flutie's parents Dick and Joan Flutie died of heart attacks one hour apart. Dick Flutie had been ill and hospitalized.
Halls of Fame
In 2007, Flutie was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
On May 8, 2007, Flutie was elected to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
On May 9, 2007, Flutie was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
On April 2, 2008, Flutie was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
In 2009, Flutie was elected to the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
See also
NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of gridiron football quarterbacks passing statistics
List of NCAA Division I FBS quarterbacks with at least 10,000 career passing yards
List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders
References
Further reading
External links
1962 births
Living people
Activists from Maryland
All-American college football players
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American expatriates in Canada
American football drop kickers
American football quarterbacks
American people of Lebanese descent
American philanthropists
American players of Canadian football
Autism activists
BC Lions players
Boston College Eagles football players
Buffalo Bills players
Calgary Stampeders players
Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners
Canadian football quarterbacks
Celebrities who have won professional wrestling championships
Chicago Bears players
College football announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Heisman Trophy winners
Maxwell Award winners
Natick High School alumni
National Football League replacement players
New England Patriots players
New Jersey Generals players
People from Manchester, Maryland
People from Melbourne Beach, Florida
People from Natick, Massachusetts
Players of American football from Florida
Players of American football from Maryland
Players of American football from Massachusetts
Players of Canadian football from Florida
San Diego Chargers players
Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Sportspeople from the Baltimore metropolitan area
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
Toronto Argonauts players
United Football League broadcasters
WWE 24/7 Champions | true | [
"Juan de Cárcer y Disdier was a Spanish football manager. He coached Real Madrid for seven years from 1920-1927. He did not win any trophies.\n\nReal Madrid CF managers\nSpanish football managers\nYear of birth missing\nYear of death missing",
"Alexander Gair Stott (1925 – 19 December 1998) was a Scottish footballer who played as a centre forward for clubs including Dundee and Partick Thistle.\n\nWith Dundee, he finished as the top goalscorer in Scottish Football League Division One in the 1948–49 season, but achieved notoriety in the last match of that season when he had penalty kick saved in a match against Falkirk which Dundee went on to lose, having been in the position where they would win the title with a victory. At Partick, he was the focal point of an attack-focused team which impressed spectators but did not win any trophies.\n\nReferences\n\n1925 births\n1998 deaths\nScottish footballers\nPeople from Monifieth\nSportspeople from Angus\nDundee F.C. players\nHamilton Academical F.C. players\nPartick Thistle F.C. players\nPortsmouth F.C. players\nScottish Football League players\nDate of birth missing\nScottish league football top scorers\nAssociation football forwards"
]
|
[
"Doug Flutie",
"USFL career",
"what team did he play for in the usfl?",
"He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft,",
"in what year did he play in the usfl?",
"In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades.",
"what were his stats?",
"By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.",
"did he win any trophies?",
"He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves."
]
| C_c31b8c5608da4baa9a5a38b8071a7756_0 | did he have any other stats of interest? | 5 | Did Doug Flutie have any other stats of interest in addition to his total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards?? | Doug Flutie | Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future." Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with Trump and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams. Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards. Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL. CANNOTANSWER | Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. | Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one season in the United States Football League (USFL). Flutie played college football at Boston College, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 amid a season that saw him throw the iconic game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds against Miami. He chose to begin his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals; his unavailability to NFL teams resulted in him selected 285th overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1985 NFL Draft, the lowest drafting of a Heisman winner. After the USFL folded, Flutie played his first four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.
Flutie left the NFL in 1990 for the CFL, where he became regarded as one of the league's greatest players. As a member of the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, and Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times and won three Grey Cups. In all three of his championship victories — two with the Argonauts and one with the Stampeders — he received the Grey Cup MVP award.
Following his CFL success, Flutie returned to the NFL in 1998 with the Buffalo Bills, earning Pro Bowl and NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors for leading Buffalo to the playoffs. He again helped the Bills obtain a playoff berth the following season, but was controversially benched in their subsequent Wild Card defeat; Flutie would be the last quarterback to bring the Bills to the postseason over the next 17 years. Flutie held his last starting role with the San Diego Chargers in 2001 and spent his final professional season as a backup on the Patriots. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Flutie was also inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
Early years
Flutie was born in Manchester, Maryland to Dick and Joan Flutie. His paternal great-grandparents were Lebanese immigrants. His family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida, when he was six, where his father worked as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry. While there, Flutie led Hoover Junior High School's football team to two Brevard County Championships. After the dramatic slow-down of the space program in the mid-1970s, the Flutie family again moved in 1976 to Natick, Massachusetts. Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.
College years
Flutie played football for Boston College, the only Division I-A school to recruit him, from 1981 to 1984, and won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award in his senior year (1984). Flutie became the first quarterback to win the Heisman since Pat Sullivan in 1971. Flutie left school as the NCAA's all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club. The quarterback coach for Boston College from 1981 – 1983 was Tom Coughlin.
Flutie gained national attention in 1984 when he led the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving and thus had a huge audience. Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45–41, in the closing minute of the game. Boston College then took possession at its own 22-yard line with 28 seconds to go. After two passes moved the ball another 30 yards, only 6 seconds remained. On the last play of the game, Flutie scrambled away from the defense and threw a "Hail Mary pass" that was caught in the end zone by Gerard Phelan, giving BC a 47–45 win. Flutie won the Heisman trophy a week later, but the voting had finished before the game; Flutie said, however, that "without the Hail Mary pass I think I could have been very easily forgotten".
The subsequent rise in applications for admission to Boston College after Flutie's "Hail Mary" gave rise to the admissions phenomenon known as the "Flutie Effect". This idea essentially states that a winning sports team can increase the recognition value of a school enough to make it more attractive to potential applicants.
In addition to his collegiate athletic achievement, Flutie maintained a distinguished academic record at Boston College. He was a candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship, for which he was named a finalist in 1984. Upon graduating, Flutie won a National Football Foundation post-graduate scholarship.
In November 2008, Flutie was honored by Boston College with a statue of him throwing his famous "Hail Mary" pass outside of Alumni Stadium. His number, 22, has been retired by the Boston College football program.
College statistics
Professional career
USFL career
Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future."
Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with the Generals and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams.
Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right, despite the plentitude of great NFL quarterbacks with awful initial professional seasons. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.
Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11–7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL.
National Football League debut
On October 14, 1986, the Los Angeles Rams traded their rights to Doug Flutie to the Chicago Bears in exchange for multiple draft picks. Flutie appeared in 4 games for the 1986 Chicago Bears.
Chicago then traded Flutie to the New England Patriots at the start of the 1987 NFL season, a season which saw the NFL Players Association go on strike, and NFL games subsequently being played by replacement players. Flutie crossed the picket lines in order to play for the Patriots, one of many NFL players to rejoin their respective teams, and the strike quickly collapsed.
On October 2nd, 1988, after the Patriots started the season a miserable 1-3, Flutie came off the bench to lead a thrilling comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough, scoring the winning touchdown on a 13-yard bootleg at the end of the fourth quarter. He then led the team to a 6-3 record, including wins at home over the eventual division winning Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears. But even after taking the Patriots to the brink of the playoffs, and in a precursor to what would happen to him eleven years later with Buffalo, Flutie was benched by head coach Raymond Berry on December 11, replacing him with Tony Eason, who had not played football in over a year. New England lost the last game of the year in Denver and were eliminated from the postseason in a tiebreaker.
Flutie would remain with the Patriots through 1989. They then released him after the season, and embarked on the worst three year stretch in team history, winning nine games, with no effectiveness or leadership from the quarterback position.
After six months with no interest from or initiative taken by any NFL team, Flutie left to play in the Canadian Football League.
Canadian Football League career
Flutie played in the Canadian Football League for eight years. He is considered one of the greatest players in Canadian football history. In 1990, he signed with the BC Lions for a two-year contract reportedly worth $350,000 a season. At the time he was the highest paid player in the CFL. Flutie struggled in his first season, which would be his only losing season in the CFL. In his second season, he threw for a record 6,619 yards on 466 completions. Flutie was rewarded with a reported million-dollar salary with the Calgary Stampeders.
Flutie won his first Grey Cup in 1992 with the Stampeders. He was named the Grey Cup MVP.
During his last years in Calgary, Flutie's backup was Jeff Garcia, who later went on to start for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Flutie won two more Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts, in 1996 (The Snow Bowl, held in Hamilton, Ontario) and 1997 (held in Edmonton, Alberta), before signing with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 1998. Prior to his final two Grey Cup victories with the Argonauts, Flutie was hampered by the opinion, supported by the media, that he was a quarterback who could not win in cold weather. In both 1993 and 1994, the Stampeders had the best record in the league, but lost the Western Final each year at home in freezing conditions. After first refusing to wear gloves in freezing temperatures, in later years Flutie adapted to throwing with gloves in cold weather.
His career CFL statistics include 41,355 passing yards and 270 touchdowns. He holds the professional football record of 6,619 yards passing in a single season. He led the league in passing five times in only eight seasons. He once held four of the CFL's top five highest single-season completion marks, including a record 466 in 1991 which was surpassed by Ricky Ray in 2005. His 48 touchdown passes in 1994 remains a CFL record. He earned three Grey Cup MVP awards, and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times (1991–1994, and 1996–1997). He passed 5,000+ yards six times in his career and remains the only player in pro football history to pass 6,000+ yards in a season twice in his career.
On November 17, 2006, Flutie was named the greatest Canadian Football League player of all time from a top 50 list of CFL players conducted by TSN. In 2007, he was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the first non-Canadian to be inducted.
Return to the NFL
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills' then-pro personnel director A.J. Smith convinced the organization that Flutie would be a great asset to the team, and the Bills signed him in the 1998 offseason. The Bills' attempt at making Todd Collins their starting quarterback was a failure, and Flutie was one of two quarterbacks, the other being Rob Johnson (the presumptive starter), to join the Bills in the 1998 offseason. In his first action with the Bills, Flutie entered for an injured Johnson and passed for two TDs while leading a fourth-quarter comeback against the Indianapolis Colts on October 11, 1998. The following week, Doug Flutie made his first NFL start since October 15, 1989, against the unbeaten Jacksonville Jaguars. The nine-year gap between starts for a quarterback in the NFL is the third-longest in duration behind Tommy Maddox (December 12, 1992 to October 6, 2002) and the man Flutie replaced, Todd Collins (December 14, 1997 to December 16, 2007). Flutie was the hero of the Bills' victory as he scored the winning touchdown against the Jaguars by rolling out on a bootleg and into the end zone on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds. The Bills' success continued with Flutie at the helm; his record as a starter that season was 8 wins and 3 losses. He then threw for 360 yards in a wild card playoff loss at Miami. Flutie was selected to play in the 1998 Pro Bowl and is currently the shortest quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since 1970.
Flutie led the Bills to a 10–5 record in 1999 but, in a controversial decision, was replaced by Johnson for the playoffs by coach Wade Phillips, who later said he was ordered by Bills owner Ralph Wilson to do so. Rob Johnson completed only ten passes, none for touchdowns, and was sacked six times, as the Bills lost 22–16 to the eventual AFC Champion Tennessee Titans. The game has become known as the Music City Miracle, as the Titans scored on the penultimate play of the game– a kickoff return following the Bills' apparent game-clinching field goal.
The following season, Flutie was named the Bills' backup and only played late in games or when Johnson was injured, which was often. In fact, during the season, Flutie had a 4–1 record as a starter, in comparison to Johnson's 4–7. In a December 24, 2000 game against the Seattle Seahawks, Flutie achieved a perfect passer rating, completing 20 of 25 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Following the 2000 season, Bills President Tom Donahoe and head coach Gregg Williams decided to keep Johnson as the starter and cut Flutie.
San Diego Chargers
In 2001, Flutie signed with the San Diego Chargers, who had gone 1–15 in 2000. After opening 3–0, the Chargers slumped and were 4–2 going into Week 7, when Flutie's Chargers met Rob Johnson's Bills. Flutie prevailed as the new ex-Bill broke a sack attempt and ran 13 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It would be the last win for the Chargers in 2001, as they dropped their last nine games to finish 5–11 and cost head coach Mike Riley his job. (Buffalo finished 3–13 with Johnson and, later, Alex Van Pelt as starters.) Flutie was Drew Brees' backup in 2002. Brees idolized Flutie growing up, and credits Flutie with mentoring him during their time together with San Diego.
In 2003, Flutie replaced a struggling Brees when the Chargers were 1–7. The 41-year-old Flutie became the oldest player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game, the first player over 40 to accomplish that feat. He also became the oldest AFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the award for the fourth time. On January 2, 2005, the season finale of the 2004 season, Flutie broke Jerry Rice's record set two weeks prior, to become the oldest player ever to score a touchdown, at the age 42 years and 71 days. Rice was 42 years and 67 days when he made his touchdown. Flutie's record as a starter that year was 2–3. He was released from the Chargers on March 13, 2005.
Return to the Patriots
Flutie surprised many when he signed with the New England Patriots instead of the New York Giants. He became the backup behind Tom Brady and played several times at the end of games to take a few snaps. Flutie has a 37–28 record as an NFL starter, including a 22–9 record in home games.
Referring to his time in the Canadian Football League (and, presumably, to the quarterback's relatively diminutive stature), television football commentator John Madden once said, "Inch for inch, Flutie in his prime was the best QB of his generation."
In a December 26, 2005 game against the New York Jets, Flutie was sent in late in the game. The Jets also sent in their back-up quarterback, Vinny Testaverde. This was the first time in NFL history that two quarterbacks over the age of 40 competed against each other (Testaverde was 42, Flutie was 43).
In the Patriots' regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on January 1, 2006, Flutie successfully drop kicked a football for an extra point, something that was not done in a regular-season NFL game since 1941. It was Flutie's first kick attempt in the NFL, and earned him that week's title of AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge of the history of the game, made comments that suggested that the play was a retirement present of sorts for his veteran quarterback, although Flutie had made no comment on whether 2005 would be his last season. There is video of Flutie describing the event in his own words.
During the 2006 off-season, Flutie's agent Kristen Kuliga stated he was interested in returning to the Patriots for another season; as a result, he was widely expected to return, despite his age. However, on May 15, 2006, Flutie announced his decision to "hang up his helmet" at the age of 43 and retire. Flutie was the second-to-last former USFL player to retire, behind Sean Landeta.
Flutie has the most rushing yards (212) for any player after turning 40 years old.
Near-return to the CFL
Because of injuries with the Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was contemplating a temporary comeback with the team as of July 25, 2006. Flutie did not plan to play long-term, for he had planned on doing college football commentary on ESPN in the coming season. On August 18, 2006, a story was published on CFL.ca examining this topic in-depth. Flutie was pondering a return to the CFL because of his relationship with Argonauts head coach and former running back Pinball Clemons, and the desire to "say goodbye to the CFL". According to the report, Flutie was poised to return to Toronto on July 22, after their victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the injury to backup quarterback Spergon Wynn. Nevertheless, Flutie chose to remain in retirement.
Career statistics
* Flutie only saw game action in 10 of the 11 games he dressed for during the 1995 season.
Broadcasting career
After retirement from the NFL, Flutie took a commentating job calling college football with ESPN and ABC from 2006 until 2008.
Drawing on his USFL experience, Flutie served as an analyst for United Football League games for Versus in 2010.
Flutie served as a studio and pre-game analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC from 2011 through 2013, then served as the lead analyst from 2014 through 2019.
Dancing with the Stars
On March 8, 2016, Flutie was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff. On April 25, 2016, Flutie and Smirnoff were eliminated, finishing in ninth place.
Doug Flutie's Maximum Football Video Game
On November 20, 2018, a partnership deal was announced between Doug Flutie and the Maximum-Football video game (Canuck Play/Spear Interactive). Future iterations of the game will be rebranded as Doug Flutie's Maximum Football and feature Flutie's likeness. The game released on the PS4 and Xbox One in the Fall of 2019. On February 4, 2020, the game was available to purchase as a physical copy.
Personal life
Flutie is the older brother of the CFL's fourth all-time receptions leader, Darren Flutie. Flutie also has an older brother, Bill, and an older sister, Denise. His nephew Billy Flutie (son of Bill) was a wide receiver/punter at Boston College from 2007 to 2010. Another of Flutie's nephews, Troy (son of Darren), played quarterback and wide receiver for Boston College from 2015 to 2017. Flutie is the second son of Richard and Joan Flutie. Flutie is married to his high school sweetheart, Laurie (née Fortier). They have a daughter, Alexa, formerly a New England Patriots Cheerleader and San Diego Chargers Cheerleader, and a son, Doug Jr, who has autism. The Fluties established The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc. in honor of him. Flutie also created a cereal, Flutie Flakes, with the benefits going toward this organization. In his free time, he attends college football and basketball games at his alma mater Boston College and was a season ticket-holder. He has spent his summers in Bethany Beach, Delaware, frequenting basketball courts. He also has worked with the local Massachusetts Eastern Bank and is a spokesman for Natick/Framingham's Metrowest Medical Center. He is a member of the Longfellow Sports Clubs at their Wayland and Natick locations. Flutie relocated from Natick to Florida, but was honored by Natick in November 2007 by being inducted into the Natick High School Wall of Achievement. A short stretch of road connecting the Natick Mall and the Shoppers' World Mall in Natick / Framingham, MA is named "Flutie Pass" in honor of his historic 1984 play against Miami.
Flutie frequents Melbourne Beach, Florida in winter, and a sports field complex there is named after him.
For a time, he was part-owner of a restaurant in New York's South Street Seaport named "Flutie's."
In February 2021, Flutie won the WWE 24/7 Championship during a celebrity flag football tournament.
With his brother Darren on guitar, Doug plays drums in the Flutie Brothers Band, and once played for Boston at a tribute honoring Doug. November 13, 2006 was Doug Flutie Day in Boston. Flutie endorsed Scott Brown for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts for 2010, and the Flutie Brothers Band played at Brown's victory celebration.
In 2014, Flutie, who has a charity team that was running, decided to run the Boston Marathon two days before the race, and finished in 5:23:54.
On November 18, 2015, Flutie's parents Dick and Joan Flutie died of heart attacks one hour apart. Dick Flutie had been ill and hospitalized.
Halls of Fame
In 2007, Flutie was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
On May 8, 2007, Flutie was elected to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
On May 9, 2007, Flutie was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
On April 2, 2008, Flutie was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
In 2009, Flutie was elected to the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
See also
NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of gridiron football quarterbacks passing statistics
List of NCAA Division I FBS quarterbacks with at least 10,000 career passing yards
List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders
References
Further reading
External links
1962 births
Living people
Activists from Maryland
All-American college football players
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American expatriates in Canada
American football drop kickers
American football quarterbacks
American people of Lebanese descent
American philanthropists
American players of Canadian football
Autism activists
BC Lions players
Boston College Eagles football players
Buffalo Bills players
Calgary Stampeders players
Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners
Canadian football quarterbacks
Celebrities who have won professional wrestling championships
Chicago Bears players
College football announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Heisman Trophy winners
Maxwell Award winners
Natick High School alumni
National Football League replacement players
New England Patriots players
New Jersey Generals players
People from Manchester, Maryland
People from Melbourne Beach, Florida
People from Natick, Massachusetts
Players of American football from Florida
Players of American football from Maryland
Players of American football from Massachusetts
Players of Canadian football from Florida
San Diego Chargers players
Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Sportspeople from the Baltimore metropolitan area
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
Toronto Argonauts players
United Football League broadcasters
WWE 24/7 Champions | true | [
"Francisco José de Serra e Moura (born 3 June 1898, date of death unknown) was a Portuguese footballer who played as a midfielder. He was part of Portugal's squad for the 1928 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Stats at Eu-Football\n \n\nPortuguese footballers\nAssociation football midfielders\nSporting CP footballers\nPortugal international footballers\n1898 births\nFootballers from Lisbon",
"The Life Assurance Act 1774 (14 Geo. 3 c.48, also known as the Gambling Act 1774) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Great Britain, which received the Royal Assent on 20 April 1774. The Act prevented the abuse of the life insurance system to evade gambling laws. It was extended to Ireland by the Life Insurance (Ireland) Act 1866, and is still in force. Prior to the Act, it was legally possible for any person to take out life insurance on any other person, regardless of whether or not the beneficiary of the policy had any legitimate interest in the person whose life was insured. As such, the system of life insurance provided a legal loophole for a form of gambling: an insurance policy could be taken out on an unrelated third party, stipulating whether or not they would die before a set date, and relying on chance to determine if the \"insurer\" or \"policy-holder\" would profit by this event.\n\nProvisions\nThe Act has only four sections:\n\nSection 1 seeks to deal with these abuses by stipulating that henceforth no assurance is to be made on the life of any person or persons, or on any other event, where the person for whose use the policy was made had \"no interest\" in the matter, or if it were clearly done for the intent of \"gaming or wagering\", and that any assurance made contrary to this requirement was deemed null and void. \nTo aid in preventing this, section 2 required that any such policy include the names of the persons who stood to benefit by it.\nSection 3 stipulated that, in all cases where the insured party had a legitimate interest in the life or event, they did not recover more than the value of their interest from the policy, guarding against the related abuse of deliberate overinsuring. \nFor the avoidance of doubt, section 4 stated that the Act did not extend to legitimate insurances of ships, goods or merchandise. Gaming or wagering in relation to British ships and merchandise was already prohibited by the Marine Insurance Act 1745.\n\nSections 2 and 3 were amended by the Statute Law Revision Act 1888, and the requirement in section 2 to name the beneficiaries of a life insurance policy was relaxed by section 50 of the National Insurance (Amendment) Act 1972, to allow insurance for a defined class or description of person.\n\nThe defendant company in the important contract law case of Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company (1898) had attempted unsuccessfully to rely the sections to avoid paying the claimant the fixed sum (£100), to any customer, for suffering from influenza despite using the ball. Such defence would have required the law viewing the reward as more of an assurance policy than a term suitable for a goods contract.\n\nEffects\nThe Act did not define what an \"insurable interest\" was, and it has since been held as the definite expectation of suffering a financial loss directly due to someone's death. It is generally accepted that a person has an insurable interest in the life of someone financially supporting them - for example, in the life of their parent whilst they are still a juvenile - but that this interest can cease if the situation changes. In a 1904 case, it was held that a man insuring the life of his elderly mother to pay funeral expenses, where he was not at all dependent upon her, was void. However, note that as long as an insurable interest existed at the time the policy was created, it remains valid even if the interest later ceases.\n\nA person is considered to have an unlimited interest in their own life or in that of their spouse, a case the law considers broadly equivalent; even if not financially dependent on the other, it is legitimate to insure against their death. This does not reliably extend to cohabiting couples, however: whilst many insurers will accept such policies, as they have not been tested in court some could be invalid. Since the 2000s strong moves have intensified to pass clear statutory provisions in this regard, which have not yet borne fruit. The applicability to spouses was extended to civil partners under section 253 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004.\n\nThe Act co-governs (with other law) policies of life insurance, including investments that are packaged under the umbrella of life assurance, such as endowment policies used to pay off mortgages.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nGreat Britain Acts of Parliament 1774\nInsurance legislation"
]
|
[
"Doug Flutie",
"USFL career",
"what team did he play for in the usfl?",
"He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft,",
"in what year did he play in the usfl?",
"In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades.",
"what were his stats?",
"By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.",
"did he win any trophies?",
"He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves.",
"did he have any other stats of interest?",
"Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games."
]
| C_c31b8c5608da4baa9a5a38b8071a7756_0 | who were some of his opponents? | 6 | Who were some of Doug Flutie's opponents? | Doug Flutie | Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future." Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with Trump and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams. Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards. Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL. CANNOTANSWER | The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. | Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one season in the United States Football League (USFL). Flutie played college football at Boston College, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 amid a season that saw him throw the iconic game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds against Miami. He chose to begin his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals; his unavailability to NFL teams resulted in him selected 285th overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1985 NFL Draft, the lowest drafting of a Heisman winner. After the USFL folded, Flutie played his first four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.
Flutie left the NFL in 1990 for the CFL, where he became regarded as one of the league's greatest players. As a member of the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, and Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times and won three Grey Cups. In all three of his championship victories — two with the Argonauts and one with the Stampeders — he received the Grey Cup MVP award.
Following his CFL success, Flutie returned to the NFL in 1998 with the Buffalo Bills, earning Pro Bowl and NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors for leading Buffalo to the playoffs. He again helped the Bills obtain a playoff berth the following season, but was controversially benched in their subsequent Wild Card defeat; Flutie would be the last quarterback to bring the Bills to the postseason over the next 17 years. Flutie held his last starting role with the San Diego Chargers in 2001 and spent his final professional season as a backup on the Patriots. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Flutie was also inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
Early years
Flutie was born in Manchester, Maryland to Dick and Joan Flutie. His paternal great-grandparents were Lebanese immigrants. His family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida, when he was six, where his father worked as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry. While there, Flutie led Hoover Junior High School's football team to two Brevard County Championships. After the dramatic slow-down of the space program in the mid-1970s, the Flutie family again moved in 1976 to Natick, Massachusetts. Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.
College years
Flutie played football for Boston College, the only Division I-A school to recruit him, from 1981 to 1984, and won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award in his senior year (1984). Flutie became the first quarterback to win the Heisman since Pat Sullivan in 1971. Flutie left school as the NCAA's all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club. The quarterback coach for Boston College from 1981 – 1983 was Tom Coughlin.
Flutie gained national attention in 1984 when he led the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving and thus had a huge audience. Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45–41, in the closing minute of the game. Boston College then took possession at its own 22-yard line with 28 seconds to go. After two passes moved the ball another 30 yards, only 6 seconds remained. On the last play of the game, Flutie scrambled away from the defense and threw a "Hail Mary pass" that was caught in the end zone by Gerard Phelan, giving BC a 47–45 win. Flutie won the Heisman trophy a week later, but the voting had finished before the game; Flutie said, however, that "without the Hail Mary pass I think I could have been very easily forgotten".
The subsequent rise in applications for admission to Boston College after Flutie's "Hail Mary" gave rise to the admissions phenomenon known as the "Flutie Effect". This idea essentially states that a winning sports team can increase the recognition value of a school enough to make it more attractive to potential applicants.
In addition to his collegiate athletic achievement, Flutie maintained a distinguished academic record at Boston College. He was a candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship, for which he was named a finalist in 1984. Upon graduating, Flutie won a National Football Foundation post-graduate scholarship.
In November 2008, Flutie was honored by Boston College with a statue of him throwing his famous "Hail Mary" pass outside of Alumni Stadium. His number, 22, has been retired by the Boston College football program.
College statistics
Professional career
USFL career
Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future."
Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with the Generals and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams.
Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right, despite the plentitude of great NFL quarterbacks with awful initial professional seasons. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.
Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11–7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL.
National Football League debut
On October 14, 1986, the Los Angeles Rams traded their rights to Doug Flutie to the Chicago Bears in exchange for multiple draft picks. Flutie appeared in 4 games for the 1986 Chicago Bears.
Chicago then traded Flutie to the New England Patriots at the start of the 1987 NFL season, a season which saw the NFL Players Association go on strike, and NFL games subsequently being played by replacement players. Flutie crossed the picket lines in order to play for the Patriots, one of many NFL players to rejoin their respective teams, and the strike quickly collapsed.
On October 2nd, 1988, after the Patriots started the season a miserable 1-3, Flutie came off the bench to lead a thrilling comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough, scoring the winning touchdown on a 13-yard bootleg at the end of the fourth quarter. He then led the team to a 6-3 record, including wins at home over the eventual division winning Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears. But even after taking the Patriots to the brink of the playoffs, and in a precursor to what would happen to him eleven years later with Buffalo, Flutie was benched by head coach Raymond Berry on December 11, replacing him with Tony Eason, who had not played football in over a year. New England lost the last game of the year in Denver and were eliminated from the postseason in a tiebreaker.
Flutie would remain with the Patriots through 1989. They then released him after the season, and embarked on the worst three year stretch in team history, winning nine games, with no effectiveness or leadership from the quarterback position.
After six months with no interest from or initiative taken by any NFL team, Flutie left to play in the Canadian Football League.
Canadian Football League career
Flutie played in the Canadian Football League for eight years. He is considered one of the greatest players in Canadian football history. In 1990, he signed with the BC Lions for a two-year contract reportedly worth $350,000 a season. At the time he was the highest paid player in the CFL. Flutie struggled in his first season, which would be his only losing season in the CFL. In his second season, he threw for a record 6,619 yards on 466 completions. Flutie was rewarded with a reported million-dollar salary with the Calgary Stampeders.
Flutie won his first Grey Cup in 1992 with the Stampeders. He was named the Grey Cup MVP.
During his last years in Calgary, Flutie's backup was Jeff Garcia, who later went on to start for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Flutie won two more Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts, in 1996 (The Snow Bowl, held in Hamilton, Ontario) and 1997 (held in Edmonton, Alberta), before signing with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 1998. Prior to his final two Grey Cup victories with the Argonauts, Flutie was hampered by the opinion, supported by the media, that he was a quarterback who could not win in cold weather. In both 1993 and 1994, the Stampeders had the best record in the league, but lost the Western Final each year at home in freezing conditions. After first refusing to wear gloves in freezing temperatures, in later years Flutie adapted to throwing with gloves in cold weather.
His career CFL statistics include 41,355 passing yards and 270 touchdowns. He holds the professional football record of 6,619 yards passing in a single season. He led the league in passing five times in only eight seasons. He once held four of the CFL's top five highest single-season completion marks, including a record 466 in 1991 which was surpassed by Ricky Ray in 2005. His 48 touchdown passes in 1994 remains a CFL record. He earned three Grey Cup MVP awards, and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times (1991–1994, and 1996–1997). He passed 5,000+ yards six times in his career and remains the only player in pro football history to pass 6,000+ yards in a season twice in his career.
On November 17, 2006, Flutie was named the greatest Canadian Football League player of all time from a top 50 list of CFL players conducted by TSN. In 2007, he was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the first non-Canadian to be inducted.
Return to the NFL
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills' then-pro personnel director A.J. Smith convinced the organization that Flutie would be a great asset to the team, and the Bills signed him in the 1998 offseason. The Bills' attempt at making Todd Collins their starting quarterback was a failure, and Flutie was one of two quarterbacks, the other being Rob Johnson (the presumptive starter), to join the Bills in the 1998 offseason. In his first action with the Bills, Flutie entered for an injured Johnson and passed for two TDs while leading a fourth-quarter comeback against the Indianapolis Colts on October 11, 1998. The following week, Doug Flutie made his first NFL start since October 15, 1989, against the unbeaten Jacksonville Jaguars. The nine-year gap between starts for a quarterback in the NFL is the third-longest in duration behind Tommy Maddox (December 12, 1992 to October 6, 2002) and the man Flutie replaced, Todd Collins (December 14, 1997 to December 16, 2007). Flutie was the hero of the Bills' victory as he scored the winning touchdown against the Jaguars by rolling out on a bootleg and into the end zone on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds. The Bills' success continued with Flutie at the helm; his record as a starter that season was 8 wins and 3 losses. He then threw for 360 yards in a wild card playoff loss at Miami. Flutie was selected to play in the 1998 Pro Bowl and is currently the shortest quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since 1970.
Flutie led the Bills to a 10–5 record in 1999 but, in a controversial decision, was replaced by Johnson for the playoffs by coach Wade Phillips, who later said he was ordered by Bills owner Ralph Wilson to do so. Rob Johnson completed only ten passes, none for touchdowns, and was sacked six times, as the Bills lost 22–16 to the eventual AFC Champion Tennessee Titans. The game has become known as the Music City Miracle, as the Titans scored on the penultimate play of the game– a kickoff return following the Bills' apparent game-clinching field goal.
The following season, Flutie was named the Bills' backup and only played late in games or when Johnson was injured, which was often. In fact, during the season, Flutie had a 4–1 record as a starter, in comparison to Johnson's 4–7. In a December 24, 2000 game against the Seattle Seahawks, Flutie achieved a perfect passer rating, completing 20 of 25 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Following the 2000 season, Bills President Tom Donahoe and head coach Gregg Williams decided to keep Johnson as the starter and cut Flutie.
San Diego Chargers
In 2001, Flutie signed with the San Diego Chargers, who had gone 1–15 in 2000. After opening 3–0, the Chargers slumped and were 4–2 going into Week 7, when Flutie's Chargers met Rob Johnson's Bills. Flutie prevailed as the new ex-Bill broke a sack attempt and ran 13 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It would be the last win for the Chargers in 2001, as they dropped their last nine games to finish 5–11 and cost head coach Mike Riley his job. (Buffalo finished 3–13 with Johnson and, later, Alex Van Pelt as starters.) Flutie was Drew Brees' backup in 2002. Brees idolized Flutie growing up, and credits Flutie with mentoring him during their time together with San Diego.
In 2003, Flutie replaced a struggling Brees when the Chargers were 1–7. The 41-year-old Flutie became the oldest player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game, the first player over 40 to accomplish that feat. He also became the oldest AFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the award for the fourth time. On January 2, 2005, the season finale of the 2004 season, Flutie broke Jerry Rice's record set two weeks prior, to become the oldest player ever to score a touchdown, at the age 42 years and 71 days. Rice was 42 years and 67 days when he made his touchdown. Flutie's record as a starter that year was 2–3. He was released from the Chargers on March 13, 2005.
Return to the Patriots
Flutie surprised many when he signed with the New England Patriots instead of the New York Giants. He became the backup behind Tom Brady and played several times at the end of games to take a few snaps. Flutie has a 37–28 record as an NFL starter, including a 22–9 record in home games.
Referring to his time in the Canadian Football League (and, presumably, to the quarterback's relatively diminutive stature), television football commentator John Madden once said, "Inch for inch, Flutie in his prime was the best QB of his generation."
In a December 26, 2005 game against the New York Jets, Flutie was sent in late in the game. The Jets also sent in their back-up quarterback, Vinny Testaverde. This was the first time in NFL history that two quarterbacks over the age of 40 competed against each other (Testaverde was 42, Flutie was 43).
In the Patriots' regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on January 1, 2006, Flutie successfully drop kicked a football for an extra point, something that was not done in a regular-season NFL game since 1941. It was Flutie's first kick attempt in the NFL, and earned him that week's title of AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge of the history of the game, made comments that suggested that the play was a retirement present of sorts for his veteran quarterback, although Flutie had made no comment on whether 2005 would be his last season. There is video of Flutie describing the event in his own words.
During the 2006 off-season, Flutie's agent Kristen Kuliga stated he was interested in returning to the Patriots for another season; as a result, he was widely expected to return, despite his age. However, on May 15, 2006, Flutie announced his decision to "hang up his helmet" at the age of 43 and retire. Flutie was the second-to-last former USFL player to retire, behind Sean Landeta.
Flutie has the most rushing yards (212) for any player after turning 40 years old.
Near-return to the CFL
Because of injuries with the Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was contemplating a temporary comeback with the team as of July 25, 2006. Flutie did not plan to play long-term, for he had planned on doing college football commentary on ESPN in the coming season. On August 18, 2006, a story was published on CFL.ca examining this topic in-depth. Flutie was pondering a return to the CFL because of his relationship with Argonauts head coach and former running back Pinball Clemons, and the desire to "say goodbye to the CFL". According to the report, Flutie was poised to return to Toronto on July 22, after their victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the injury to backup quarterback Spergon Wynn. Nevertheless, Flutie chose to remain in retirement.
Career statistics
* Flutie only saw game action in 10 of the 11 games he dressed for during the 1995 season.
Broadcasting career
After retirement from the NFL, Flutie took a commentating job calling college football with ESPN and ABC from 2006 until 2008.
Drawing on his USFL experience, Flutie served as an analyst for United Football League games for Versus in 2010.
Flutie served as a studio and pre-game analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC from 2011 through 2013, then served as the lead analyst from 2014 through 2019.
Dancing with the Stars
On March 8, 2016, Flutie was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff. On April 25, 2016, Flutie and Smirnoff were eliminated, finishing in ninth place.
Doug Flutie's Maximum Football Video Game
On November 20, 2018, a partnership deal was announced between Doug Flutie and the Maximum-Football video game (Canuck Play/Spear Interactive). Future iterations of the game will be rebranded as Doug Flutie's Maximum Football and feature Flutie's likeness. The game released on the PS4 and Xbox One in the Fall of 2019. On February 4, 2020, the game was available to purchase as a physical copy.
Personal life
Flutie is the older brother of the CFL's fourth all-time receptions leader, Darren Flutie. Flutie also has an older brother, Bill, and an older sister, Denise. His nephew Billy Flutie (son of Bill) was a wide receiver/punter at Boston College from 2007 to 2010. Another of Flutie's nephews, Troy (son of Darren), played quarterback and wide receiver for Boston College from 2015 to 2017. Flutie is the second son of Richard and Joan Flutie. Flutie is married to his high school sweetheart, Laurie (née Fortier). They have a daughter, Alexa, formerly a New England Patriots Cheerleader and San Diego Chargers Cheerleader, and a son, Doug Jr, who has autism. The Fluties established The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc. in honor of him. Flutie also created a cereal, Flutie Flakes, with the benefits going toward this organization. In his free time, he attends college football and basketball games at his alma mater Boston College and was a season ticket-holder. He has spent his summers in Bethany Beach, Delaware, frequenting basketball courts. He also has worked with the local Massachusetts Eastern Bank and is a spokesman for Natick/Framingham's Metrowest Medical Center. He is a member of the Longfellow Sports Clubs at their Wayland and Natick locations. Flutie relocated from Natick to Florida, but was honored by Natick in November 2007 by being inducted into the Natick High School Wall of Achievement. A short stretch of road connecting the Natick Mall and the Shoppers' World Mall in Natick / Framingham, MA is named "Flutie Pass" in honor of his historic 1984 play against Miami.
Flutie frequents Melbourne Beach, Florida in winter, and a sports field complex there is named after him.
For a time, he was part-owner of a restaurant in New York's South Street Seaport named "Flutie's."
In February 2021, Flutie won the WWE 24/7 Championship during a celebrity flag football tournament.
With his brother Darren on guitar, Doug plays drums in the Flutie Brothers Band, and once played for Boston at a tribute honoring Doug. November 13, 2006 was Doug Flutie Day in Boston. Flutie endorsed Scott Brown for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts for 2010, and the Flutie Brothers Band played at Brown's victory celebration.
In 2014, Flutie, who has a charity team that was running, decided to run the Boston Marathon two days before the race, and finished in 5:23:54.
On November 18, 2015, Flutie's parents Dick and Joan Flutie died of heart attacks one hour apart. Dick Flutie had been ill and hospitalized.
Halls of Fame
In 2007, Flutie was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
On May 8, 2007, Flutie was elected to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
On May 9, 2007, Flutie was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
On April 2, 2008, Flutie was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
In 2009, Flutie was elected to the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
See also
NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of gridiron football quarterbacks passing statistics
List of NCAA Division I FBS quarterbacks with at least 10,000 career passing yards
List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders
References
Further reading
External links
1962 births
Living people
Activists from Maryland
All-American college football players
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American expatriates in Canada
American football drop kickers
American football quarterbacks
American people of Lebanese descent
American philanthropists
American players of Canadian football
Autism activists
BC Lions players
Boston College Eagles football players
Buffalo Bills players
Calgary Stampeders players
Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners
Canadian football quarterbacks
Celebrities who have won professional wrestling championships
Chicago Bears players
College football announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Heisman Trophy winners
Maxwell Award winners
Natick High School alumni
National Football League replacement players
New England Patriots players
New Jersey Generals players
People from Manchester, Maryland
People from Melbourne Beach, Florida
People from Natick, Massachusetts
Players of American football from Florida
Players of American football from Maryland
Players of American football from Massachusetts
Players of Canadian football from Florida
San Diego Chargers players
Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Sportspeople from the Baltimore metropolitan area
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
Toronto Argonauts players
United Football League broadcasters
WWE 24/7 Champions | false | [
"Protection in poker is a bet made with a strong but vulnerable hand, such as top pair when straight or flush draws are possible. The bet forces opponents with draws to either call with insufficient pot odds, or to fold, both of which are profitable for the betting player. By contrast, if he failed to protect his hand, another player could draw out on him at no cost, meaning he gets no value from his made hand.\n\nA protection play differs from a bluff in that the bluff can win only when the opponent folds, while protection bet is made with a hand that is likely to win a showdown, but isn't strong enough for slow playing.\n\nThe importance of protection increases when there are multiple opponents. For example, if a hand is currently the best, but each of four opponents has a 1-in-6 chance of drawing an out, the four opponents combined become the favorite to win, even though each one is individually an underdog. With a protection bet, some or all of them may fold, leaving fewer opponents and a better chance of winning.\n\nThe term protection is also often heard in the context of an all-in player (see poker table stakes rules). A bet by an opponent serves to protect the all-in player by reducing the number of opponents the all-in player must beat. To deliberately make such a bet solely to protect another player's hand constitutes collusion.\n\nA player may also be said to \"protect\" his or her cards by placing an object like a specialty chip or miniature figure upon them. This prevents the player from having his cards accidentally collected by the dealer or being fouled by other players' discards.\n\nSee also\nPoker jargon\nGlossary of poker terms\n\nPoker gameplay and terminology\nPoker strategy",
"\n\nIn basketball, points are the sum of the score accumulated through free throw or field goal. The National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I is the highest level of amateur basketball in the United States. The NCAA did not split into its current divisions format until August 1973. From 1906 to 1955, there were no classifications to the NCAA nor its predecessor, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS). Then, from 1956 to 1973, colleges were classified as either \"NCAA University Division (Major College)\" or \"NCAA College Division (Small College)\". This is a comprehensive list (through the 2011–12 season) of all occurrences of an NCAA Division I men's basketball player scoring 60 or more points in a single game. For legitimization purposes, the official NCAA men's basketball media guide has two lists: one containing all 60+ point games against Division I opponents, and one against non-Division I opponents.\n\nThe all-time record against a Division I opponent is 72 points. It was set by U.S. International's Kevin Bradshaw, a guard, on January 5, 1991, against Loyola Marymount in the highest-scoring game in Division I history. Loyola Marymount defeated U.S. International 186–140. Bradshaw shot 23 for 59 in field goal attempts overall (7 of 22 from three-point range) and made 19 of 23 free throws in his record-setting performance. After the game, Bradshaw reflected on the achievement, \"I'm still completely stunned. I wasn't gunning for the record until the last 10 minutes. That's when the bench became aware of the mark and the coaches allowed me to go for it. I won't be celebrating because we lost the game.\" He also remarked on how he was even able to put himself in the position to break Pete Maravich's record of 69 points: \"Our style of play allows for the freelancing that we do. I have to put up the ball a lot because we don't have a lot of shooters on the team.\"\n\nAmong the players who have scored 60+ points against Division I opponents, only LSU's Maravich, Oral Roberts' Anthony Roberts and Ole Miss' Johnny Neumann appear on the list more than once. Maravich's four career 60+ point games is the most in NCAA Division I history. Five players who achieved the feat against a Division I opponent—Maravich, Calvin Murphy, Oscar Robertson, Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Elgin Baylor—are all inductees in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Meanwhile, three players who achieved the feat against non-Division I opponents are also Hall of Fame inductees: Paul Arizin, Elvin Hayes, and Bob Pettit.\n\nThe highest scoring performance in NCAA Division I basketball history, regardless of the opponent's classification, is 100 points, scored by Frank Selvy of Furman against Newberry College on February 13, 1954. He made a still-standing NCAA record 41 field goals on 66 attempts. He made his final shot of the game—scoring his 99th and 100th points—with only two seconds remaining on a 40-foot attempt. Selvy later said, \"I'll say that I made at least eight or nine baskets that would have been three-pointers today. Plus they didn't have the one-and-one in those days.\" The performance occurred during Selvy's senior season in which he led the nation in scoring at 41.7 points per game. He also led the nation in scoring the previous year at 29.5 points per game. Coincidentally, a teammate of Selvy's for one season, Darrell Floyd, is the only player who has scored 60 or more points against both a Division I and a non-Division I opponent. Floyd scored 62 points against The Citadel (Division I) and 67 against (then) non-Division I Morehead State.\n\nKey\n\nAgainst Division I opponents\n\nAgainst non-Division I opponents\n\nNote: Some of the opponents on this list that are currently Division I universities were not classified as Division I schools at the time the 60-point game occurred. Five of the opposing schools in this list—Morehead State, Saint Peter's, Mercer, Marshall, and Valparaiso—are present-day Division I schools.\n\nSee also\nList of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game\nList of basketball players who have scored 100 points in a single game\n\nReferences\nGeneral\n\nSpecific\n\nNCAA Division I men's basketball statistical leaders"
]
|
[
"Doug Flutie",
"USFL career",
"what team did he play for in the usfl?",
"He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft,",
"in what year did he play in the usfl?",
"In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades.",
"what were his stats?",
"By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.",
"did he win any trophies?",
"He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves.",
"did he have any other stats of interest?",
"Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games.",
"who were some of his opponents?",
"The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference."
]
| C_c31b8c5608da4baa9a5a38b8071a7756_0 | why did he leave the usfl? | 7 | Why did Doug Flutie leave the USFL? | Doug Flutie | Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future." Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with Trump and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams. Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards. Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL. CANNOTANSWER | The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL. | Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one season in the United States Football League (USFL). Flutie played college football at Boston College, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 amid a season that saw him throw the iconic game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds against Miami. He chose to begin his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals; his unavailability to NFL teams resulted in him selected 285th overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1985 NFL Draft, the lowest drafting of a Heisman winner. After the USFL folded, Flutie played his first four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.
Flutie left the NFL in 1990 for the CFL, where he became regarded as one of the league's greatest players. As a member of the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, and Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times and won three Grey Cups. In all three of his championship victories — two with the Argonauts and one with the Stampeders — he received the Grey Cup MVP award.
Following his CFL success, Flutie returned to the NFL in 1998 with the Buffalo Bills, earning Pro Bowl and NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors for leading Buffalo to the playoffs. He again helped the Bills obtain a playoff berth the following season, but was controversially benched in their subsequent Wild Card defeat; Flutie would be the last quarterback to bring the Bills to the postseason over the next 17 years. Flutie held his last starting role with the San Diego Chargers in 2001 and spent his final professional season as a backup on the Patriots. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Flutie was also inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
Early years
Flutie was born in Manchester, Maryland to Dick and Joan Flutie. His paternal great-grandparents were Lebanese immigrants. His family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida, when he was six, where his father worked as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry. While there, Flutie led Hoover Junior High School's football team to two Brevard County Championships. After the dramatic slow-down of the space program in the mid-1970s, the Flutie family again moved in 1976 to Natick, Massachusetts. Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.
College years
Flutie played football for Boston College, the only Division I-A school to recruit him, from 1981 to 1984, and won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award in his senior year (1984). Flutie became the first quarterback to win the Heisman since Pat Sullivan in 1971. Flutie left school as the NCAA's all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club. The quarterback coach for Boston College from 1981 – 1983 was Tom Coughlin.
Flutie gained national attention in 1984 when he led the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving and thus had a huge audience. Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45–41, in the closing minute of the game. Boston College then took possession at its own 22-yard line with 28 seconds to go. After two passes moved the ball another 30 yards, only 6 seconds remained. On the last play of the game, Flutie scrambled away from the defense and threw a "Hail Mary pass" that was caught in the end zone by Gerard Phelan, giving BC a 47–45 win. Flutie won the Heisman trophy a week later, but the voting had finished before the game; Flutie said, however, that "without the Hail Mary pass I think I could have been very easily forgotten".
The subsequent rise in applications for admission to Boston College after Flutie's "Hail Mary" gave rise to the admissions phenomenon known as the "Flutie Effect". This idea essentially states that a winning sports team can increase the recognition value of a school enough to make it more attractive to potential applicants.
In addition to his collegiate athletic achievement, Flutie maintained a distinguished academic record at Boston College. He was a candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship, for which he was named a finalist in 1984. Upon graduating, Flutie won a National Football Foundation post-graduate scholarship.
In November 2008, Flutie was honored by Boston College with a statue of him throwing his famous "Hail Mary" pass outside of Alumni Stadium. His number, 22, has been retired by the Boston College football program.
College statistics
Professional career
USFL career
Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future."
Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with the Generals and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams.
Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right, despite the plentitude of great NFL quarterbacks with awful initial professional seasons. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.
Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11–7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL.
National Football League debut
On October 14, 1986, the Los Angeles Rams traded their rights to Doug Flutie to the Chicago Bears in exchange for multiple draft picks. Flutie appeared in 4 games for the 1986 Chicago Bears.
Chicago then traded Flutie to the New England Patriots at the start of the 1987 NFL season, a season which saw the NFL Players Association go on strike, and NFL games subsequently being played by replacement players. Flutie crossed the picket lines in order to play for the Patriots, one of many NFL players to rejoin their respective teams, and the strike quickly collapsed.
On October 2nd, 1988, after the Patriots started the season a miserable 1-3, Flutie came off the bench to lead a thrilling comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough, scoring the winning touchdown on a 13-yard bootleg at the end of the fourth quarter. He then led the team to a 6-3 record, including wins at home over the eventual division winning Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears. But even after taking the Patriots to the brink of the playoffs, and in a precursor to what would happen to him eleven years later with Buffalo, Flutie was benched by head coach Raymond Berry on December 11, replacing him with Tony Eason, who had not played football in over a year. New England lost the last game of the year in Denver and were eliminated from the postseason in a tiebreaker.
Flutie would remain with the Patriots through 1989. They then released him after the season, and embarked on the worst three year stretch in team history, winning nine games, with no effectiveness or leadership from the quarterback position.
After six months with no interest from or initiative taken by any NFL team, Flutie left to play in the Canadian Football League.
Canadian Football League career
Flutie played in the Canadian Football League for eight years. He is considered one of the greatest players in Canadian football history. In 1990, he signed with the BC Lions for a two-year contract reportedly worth $350,000 a season. At the time he was the highest paid player in the CFL. Flutie struggled in his first season, which would be his only losing season in the CFL. In his second season, he threw for a record 6,619 yards on 466 completions. Flutie was rewarded with a reported million-dollar salary with the Calgary Stampeders.
Flutie won his first Grey Cup in 1992 with the Stampeders. He was named the Grey Cup MVP.
During his last years in Calgary, Flutie's backup was Jeff Garcia, who later went on to start for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Flutie won two more Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts, in 1996 (The Snow Bowl, held in Hamilton, Ontario) and 1997 (held in Edmonton, Alberta), before signing with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 1998. Prior to his final two Grey Cup victories with the Argonauts, Flutie was hampered by the opinion, supported by the media, that he was a quarterback who could not win in cold weather. In both 1993 and 1994, the Stampeders had the best record in the league, but lost the Western Final each year at home in freezing conditions. After first refusing to wear gloves in freezing temperatures, in later years Flutie adapted to throwing with gloves in cold weather.
His career CFL statistics include 41,355 passing yards and 270 touchdowns. He holds the professional football record of 6,619 yards passing in a single season. He led the league in passing five times in only eight seasons. He once held four of the CFL's top five highest single-season completion marks, including a record 466 in 1991 which was surpassed by Ricky Ray in 2005. His 48 touchdown passes in 1994 remains a CFL record. He earned three Grey Cup MVP awards, and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times (1991–1994, and 1996–1997). He passed 5,000+ yards six times in his career and remains the only player in pro football history to pass 6,000+ yards in a season twice in his career.
On November 17, 2006, Flutie was named the greatest Canadian Football League player of all time from a top 50 list of CFL players conducted by TSN. In 2007, he was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the first non-Canadian to be inducted.
Return to the NFL
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills' then-pro personnel director A.J. Smith convinced the organization that Flutie would be a great asset to the team, and the Bills signed him in the 1998 offseason. The Bills' attempt at making Todd Collins their starting quarterback was a failure, and Flutie was one of two quarterbacks, the other being Rob Johnson (the presumptive starter), to join the Bills in the 1998 offseason. In his first action with the Bills, Flutie entered for an injured Johnson and passed for two TDs while leading a fourth-quarter comeback against the Indianapolis Colts on October 11, 1998. The following week, Doug Flutie made his first NFL start since October 15, 1989, against the unbeaten Jacksonville Jaguars. The nine-year gap between starts for a quarterback in the NFL is the third-longest in duration behind Tommy Maddox (December 12, 1992 to October 6, 2002) and the man Flutie replaced, Todd Collins (December 14, 1997 to December 16, 2007). Flutie was the hero of the Bills' victory as he scored the winning touchdown against the Jaguars by rolling out on a bootleg and into the end zone on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds. The Bills' success continued with Flutie at the helm; his record as a starter that season was 8 wins and 3 losses. He then threw for 360 yards in a wild card playoff loss at Miami. Flutie was selected to play in the 1998 Pro Bowl and is currently the shortest quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since 1970.
Flutie led the Bills to a 10–5 record in 1999 but, in a controversial decision, was replaced by Johnson for the playoffs by coach Wade Phillips, who later said he was ordered by Bills owner Ralph Wilson to do so. Rob Johnson completed only ten passes, none for touchdowns, and was sacked six times, as the Bills lost 22–16 to the eventual AFC Champion Tennessee Titans. The game has become known as the Music City Miracle, as the Titans scored on the penultimate play of the game– a kickoff return following the Bills' apparent game-clinching field goal.
The following season, Flutie was named the Bills' backup and only played late in games or when Johnson was injured, which was often. In fact, during the season, Flutie had a 4–1 record as a starter, in comparison to Johnson's 4–7. In a December 24, 2000 game against the Seattle Seahawks, Flutie achieved a perfect passer rating, completing 20 of 25 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Following the 2000 season, Bills President Tom Donahoe and head coach Gregg Williams decided to keep Johnson as the starter and cut Flutie.
San Diego Chargers
In 2001, Flutie signed with the San Diego Chargers, who had gone 1–15 in 2000. After opening 3–0, the Chargers slumped and were 4–2 going into Week 7, when Flutie's Chargers met Rob Johnson's Bills. Flutie prevailed as the new ex-Bill broke a sack attempt and ran 13 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It would be the last win for the Chargers in 2001, as they dropped their last nine games to finish 5–11 and cost head coach Mike Riley his job. (Buffalo finished 3–13 with Johnson and, later, Alex Van Pelt as starters.) Flutie was Drew Brees' backup in 2002. Brees idolized Flutie growing up, and credits Flutie with mentoring him during their time together with San Diego.
In 2003, Flutie replaced a struggling Brees when the Chargers were 1–7. The 41-year-old Flutie became the oldest player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game, the first player over 40 to accomplish that feat. He also became the oldest AFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the award for the fourth time. On January 2, 2005, the season finale of the 2004 season, Flutie broke Jerry Rice's record set two weeks prior, to become the oldest player ever to score a touchdown, at the age 42 years and 71 days. Rice was 42 years and 67 days when he made his touchdown. Flutie's record as a starter that year was 2–3. He was released from the Chargers on March 13, 2005.
Return to the Patriots
Flutie surprised many when he signed with the New England Patriots instead of the New York Giants. He became the backup behind Tom Brady and played several times at the end of games to take a few snaps. Flutie has a 37–28 record as an NFL starter, including a 22–9 record in home games.
Referring to his time in the Canadian Football League (and, presumably, to the quarterback's relatively diminutive stature), television football commentator John Madden once said, "Inch for inch, Flutie in his prime was the best QB of his generation."
In a December 26, 2005 game against the New York Jets, Flutie was sent in late in the game. The Jets also sent in their back-up quarterback, Vinny Testaverde. This was the first time in NFL history that two quarterbacks over the age of 40 competed against each other (Testaverde was 42, Flutie was 43).
In the Patriots' regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on January 1, 2006, Flutie successfully drop kicked a football for an extra point, something that was not done in a regular-season NFL game since 1941. It was Flutie's first kick attempt in the NFL, and earned him that week's title of AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge of the history of the game, made comments that suggested that the play was a retirement present of sorts for his veteran quarterback, although Flutie had made no comment on whether 2005 would be his last season. There is video of Flutie describing the event in his own words.
During the 2006 off-season, Flutie's agent Kristen Kuliga stated he was interested in returning to the Patriots for another season; as a result, he was widely expected to return, despite his age. However, on May 15, 2006, Flutie announced his decision to "hang up his helmet" at the age of 43 and retire. Flutie was the second-to-last former USFL player to retire, behind Sean Landeta.
Flutie has the most rushing yards (212) for any player after turning 40 years old.
Near-return to the CFL
Because of injuries with the Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was contemplating a temporary comeback with the team as of July 25, 2006. Flutie did not plan to play long-term, for he had planned on doing college football commentary on ESPN in the coming season. On August 18, 2006, a story was published on CFL.ca examining this topic in-depth. Flutie was pondering a return to the CFL because of his relationship with Argonauts head coach and former running back Pinball Clemons, and the desire to "say goodbye to the CFL". According to the report, Flutie was poised to return to Toronto on July 22, after their victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the injury to backup quarterback Spergon Wynn. Nevertheless, Flutie chose to remain in retirement.
Career statistics
* Flutie only saw game action in 10 of the 11 games he dressed for during the 1995 season.
Broadcasting career
After retirement from the NFL, Flutie took a commentating job calling college football with ESPN and ABC from 2006 until 2008.
Drawing on his USFL experience, Flutie served as an analyst for United Football League games for Versus in 2010.
Flutie served as a studio and pre-game analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC from 2011 through 2013, then served as the lead analyst from 2014 through 2019.
Dancing with the Stars
On March 8, 2016, Flutie was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff. On April 25, 2016, Flutie and Smirnoff were eliminated, finishing in ninth place.
Doug Flutie's Maximum Football Video Game
On November 20, 2018, a partnership deal was announced between Doug Flutie and the Maximum-Football video game (Canuck Play/Spear Interactive). Future iterations of the game will be rebranded as Doug Flutie's Maximum Football and feature Flutie's likeness. The game released on the PS4 and Xbox One in the Fall of 2019. On February 4, 2020, the game was available to purchase as a physical copy.
Personal life
Flutie is the older brother of the CFL's fourth all-time receptions leader, Darren Flutie. Flutie also has an older brother, Bill, and an older sister, Denise. His nephew Billy Flutie (son of Bill) was a wide receiver/punter at Boston College from 2007 to 2010. Another of Flutie's nephews, Troy (son of Darren), played quarterback and wide receiver for Boston College from 2015 to 2017. Flutie is the second son of Richard and Joan Flutie. Flutie is married to his high school sweetheart, Laurie (née Fortier). They have a daughter, Alexa, formerly a New England Patriots Cheerleader and San Diego Chargers Cheerleader, and a son, Doug Jr, who has autism. The Fluties established The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc. in honor of him. Flutie also created a cereal, Flutie Flakes, with the benefits going toward this organization. In his free time, he attends college football and basketball games at his alma mater Boston College and was a season ticket-holder. He has spent his summers in Bethany Beach, Delaware, frequenting basketball courts. He also has worked with the local Massachusetts Eastern Bank and is a spokesman for Natick/Framingham's Metrowest Medical Center. He is a member of the Longfellow Sports Clubs at their Wayland and Natick locations. Flutie relocated from Natick to Florida, but was honored by Natick in November 2007 by being inducted into the Natick High School Wall of Achievement. A short stretch of road connecting the Natick Mall and the Shoppers' World Mall in Natick / Framingham, MA is named "Flutie Pass" in honor of his historic 1984 play against Miami.
Flutie frequents Melbourne Beach, Florida in winter, and a sports field complex there is named after him.
For a time, he was part-owner of a restaurant in New York's South Street Seaport named "Flutie's."
In February 2021, Flutie won the WWE 24/7 Championship during a celebrity flag football tournament.
With his brother Darren on guitar, Doug plays drums in the Flutie Brothers Band, and once played for Boston at a tribute honoring Doug. November 13, 2006 was Doug Flutie Day in Boston. Flutie endorsed Scott Brown for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts for 2010, and the Flutie Brothers Band played at Brown's victory celebration.
In 2014, Flutie, who has a charity team that was running, decided to run the Boston Marathon two days before the race, and finished in 5:23:54.
On November 18, 2015, Flutie's parents Dick and Joan Flutie died of heart attacks one hour apart. Dick Flutie had been ill and hospitalized.
Halls of Fame
In 2007, Flutie was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
On May 8, 2007, Flutie was elected to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
On May 9, 2007, Flutie was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
On April 2, 2008, Flutie was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
In 2009, Flutie was elected to the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
See also
NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of gridiron football quarterbacks passing statistics
List of NCAA Division I FBS quarterbacks with at least 10,000 career passing yards
List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders
References
Further reading
External links
1962 births
Living people
Activists from Maryland
All-American college football players
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American expatriates in Canada
American football drop kickers
American football quarterbacks
American people of Lebanese descent
American philanthropists
American players of Canadian football
Autism activists
BC Lions players
Boston College Eagles football players
Buffalo Bills players
Calgary Stampeders players
Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners
Canadian football quarterbacks
Celebrities who have won professional wrestling championships
Chicago Bears players
College football announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Heisman Trophy winners
Maxwell Award winners
Natick High School alumni
National Football League replacement players
New England Patriots players
New Jersey Generals players
People from Manchester, Maryland
People from Melbourne Beach, Florida
People from Natick, Massachusetts
Players of American football from Florida
Players of American football from Maryland
Players of American football from Massachusetts
Players of Canadian football from Florida
San Diego Chargers players
Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Sportspeople from the Baltimore metropolitan area
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
Toronto Argonauts players
United Football League broadcasters
WWE 24/7 Champions | true | [
"\"Llangollen Market\" is a song from early 19th century Wales. It is known to have been performed at an eisteddfod at Llangollen in 1858.\n\nThe text of the song survives in a manuscript held by the National Museum of Wales, which came into the possession of singer Mary Davies, a co-founder of the Welsh Folk-Song Society.\n\nThe song tells the tale of a young man from the Llangollen area going off to war and leaving behind his broken-hearted girlfriend. Originally written in English, the song has been translated into Welsh and recorded by several artists such as Siân James, Siobhan Owen, Calennig and Siwsann George.\n\nLyrics\nIt’s far beyond the mountains that look so distant here,\nTo fight his country’s battles, last Mayday went my dear;\nAh, well shall I remember with bitter sighs the day,\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nAh, cruel was my father that did my flight restrain,\nAnd I was cruel-hearted that did at home remain,\nWith you, my love, contented, I’d journey far away;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nWhile thinking of my Owen, my eyes with tears do fill,\nAnd then my mother chides me because my wheel stands still,\nBut how can I think of spinning when my Owen’s far away;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nTo market at Llangollen each morning do I go,\nBut how to strike a bargain no longer do I know;\nMy father chides at evening, my mother all the day;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me, at home why did I stay?\n\nOh, would it please kind heaven to shield my love from harm,\nTo clasp him to my bosom would every care disarm,\nBut alas, I fear, 'tis distant - that happy, happy day;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me, at home why did stay?\n\nReferences\n\nWelsh folk songs",
"The 1983 USFL Draft was the first Collegiate Draft of the United States Football League (USFL). It took place on January 4, 1983, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York.\n\nPlayer selections\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n 1983 USFL Draft Pick Transactions\n 1983 USFL Draft\n\nUnited States Football League drafts\nUSFL Draft"
]
|
[
"Doug Flutie",
"USFL career",
"what team did he play for in the usfl?",
"He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft,",
"in what year did he play in the usfl?",
"In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades.",
"what were his stats?",
"By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.",
"did he win any trophies?",
"He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves.",
"did he have any other stats of interest?",
"Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games.",
"who were some of his opponents?",
"The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference.",
"why did he leave the usfl?",
"The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL."
]
| C_c31b8c5608da4baa9a5a38b8071a7756_0 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 8 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article aside from Flutie's success with the Generals and the USFL folding? | Doug Flutie | Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future." Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals (owned by Donald Trump) in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with Trump and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams. Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards. Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11-7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL. CANNOTANSWER | Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. | Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one season in the United States Football League (USFL). Flutie played college football at Boston College, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 amid a season that saw him throw the iconic game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds against Miami. He chose to begin his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals; his unavailability to NFL teams resulted in him selected 285th overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1985 NFL Draft, the lowest drafting of a Heisman winner. After the USFL folded, Flutie played his first four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.
Flutie left the NFL in 1990 for the CFL, where he became regarded as one of the league's greatest players. As a member of the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, and Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times and won three Grey Cups. In all three of his championship victories — two with the Argonauts and one with the Stampeders — he received the Grey Cup MVP award.
Following his CFL success, Flutie returned to the NFL in 1998 with the Buffalo Bills, earning Pro Bowl and NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors for leading Buffalo to the playoffs. He again helped the Bills obtain a playoff berth the following season, but was controversially benched in their subsequent Wild Card defeat; Flutie would be the last quarterback to bring the Bills to the postseason over the next 17 years. Flutie held his last starting role with the San Diego Chargers in 2001 and spent his final professional season as a backup on the Patriots. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Flutie was also inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
Early years
Flutie was born in Manchester, Maryland to Dick and Joan Flutie. His paternal great-grandparents were Lebanese immigrants. His family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida, when he was six, where his father worked as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry. While there, Flutie led Hoover Junior High School's football team to two Brevard County Championships. After the dramatic slow-down of the space program in the mid-1970s, the Flutie family again moved in 1976 to Natick, Massachusetts. Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.
College years
Flutie played football for Boston College, the only Division I-A school to recruit him, from 1981 to 1984, and won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award in his senior year (1984). Flutie became the first quarterback to win the Heisman since Pat Sullivan in 1971. Flutie left school as the NCAA's all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club. The quarterback coach for Boston College from 1981 – 1983 was Tom Coughlin.
Flutie gained national attention in 1984 when he led the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving and thus had a huge audience. Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45–41, in the closing minute of the game. Boston College then took possession at its own 22-yard line with 28 seconds to go. After two passes moved the ball another 30 yards, only 6 seconds remained. On the last play of the game, Flutie scrambled away from the defense and threw a "Hail Mary pass" that was caught in the end zone by Gerard Phelan, giving BC a 47–45 win. Flutie won the Heisman trophy a week later, but the voting had finished before the game; Flutie said, however, that "without the Hail Mary pass I think I could have been very easily forgotten".
The subsequent rise in applications for admission to Boston College after Flutie's "Hail Mary" gave rise to the admissions phenomenon known as the "Flutie Effect". This idea essentially states that a winning sports team can increase the recognition value of a school enough to make it more attractive to potential applicants.
In addition to his collegiate athletic achievement, Flutie maintained a distinguished academic record at Boston College. He was a candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship, for which he was named a finalist in 1984. Upon graduating, Flutie won a National Football Foundation post-graduate scholarship.
In November 2008, Flutie was honored by Boston College with a statue of him throwing his famous "Hail Mary" pass outside of Alumni Stadium. His number, 22, has been retired by the Boston College football program.
College statistics
Professional career
USFL career
Despite his successful college achievements, whether Flutie was too small to play professional football was uncertain. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future."
Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, still had the rights to Jim Kelly (who had earlier spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with the Generals and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over 5 years; Flutie was officially signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL Draft until the 11th round, and the 285th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams.
Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. However, many began to wonder if the scouts who said Flutie could not compete on the pro level were right, despite the plentitude of great NFL quarterbacks with awful initial professional seasons. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades line backer Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed only 7 of 18 passes, for a total of 174 yards, while running for 51 yards.
Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to sport an 11–7 record and a 2nd-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL.
National Football League debut
On October 14, 1986, the Los Angeles Rams traded their rights to Doug Flutie to the Chicago Bears in exchange for multiple draft picks. Flutie appeared in 4 games for the 1986 Chicago Bears.
Chicago then traded Flutie to the New England Patriots at the start of the 1987 NFL season, a season which saw the NFL Players Association go on strike, and NFL games subsequently being played by replacement players. Flutie crossed the picket lines in order to play for the Patriots, one of many NFL players to rejoin their respective teams, and the strike quickly collapsed.
On October 2nd, 1988, after the Patriots started the season a miserable 1-3, Flutie came off the bench to lead a thrilling comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough, scoring the winning touchdown on a 13-yard bootleg at the end of the fourth quarter. He then led the team to a 6-3 record, including wins at home over the eventual division winning Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears. But even after taking the Patriots to the brink of the playoffs, and in a precursor to what would happen to him eleven years later with Buffalo, Flutie was benched by head coach Raymond Berry on December 11, replacing him with Tony Eason, who had not played football in over a year. New England lost the last game of the year in Denver and were eliminated from the postseason in a tiebreaker.
Flutie would remain with the Patriots through 1989. They then released him after the season, and embarked on the worst three year stretch in team history, winning nine games, with no effectiveness or leadership from the quarterback position.
After six months with no interest from or initiative taken by any NFL team, Flutie left to play in the Canadian Football League.
Canadian Football League career
Flutie played in the Canadian Football League for eight years. He is considered one of the greatest players in Canadian football history. In 1990, he signed with the BC Lions for a two-year contract reportedly worth $350,000 a season. At the time he was the highest paid player in the CFL. Flutie struggled in his first season, which would be his only losing season in the CFL. In his second season, he threw for a record 6,619 yards on 466 completions. Flutie was rewarded with a reported million-dollar salary with the Calgary Stampeders.
Flutie won his first Grey Cup in 1992 with the Stampeders. He was named the Grey Cup MVP.
During his last years in Calgary, Flutie's backup was Jeff Garcia, who later went on to start for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Flutie won two more Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts, in 1996 (The Snow Bowl, held in Hamilton, Ontario) and 1997 (held in Edmonton, Alberta), before signing with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 1998. Prior to his final two Grey Cup victories with the Argonauts, Flutie was hampered by the opinion, supported by the media, that he was a quarterback who could not win in cold weather. In both 1993 and 1994, the Stampeders had the best record in the league, but lost the Western Final each year at home in freezing conditions. After first refusing to wear gloves in freezing temperatures, in later years Flutie adapted to throwing with gloves in cold weather.
His career CFL statistics include 41,355 passing yards and 270 touchdowns. He holds the professional football record of 6,619 yards passing in a single season. He led the league in passing five times in only eight seasons. He once held four of the CFL's top five highest single-season completion marks, including a record 466 in 1991 which was surpassed by Ricky Ray in 2005. His 48 touchdown passes in 1994 remains a CFL record. He earned three Grey Cup MVP awards, and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times (1991–1994, and 1996–1997). He passed 5,000+ yards six times in his career and remains the only player in pro football history to pass 6,000+ yards in a season twice in his career.
On November 17, 2006, Flutie was named the greatest Canadian Football League player of all time from a top 50 list of CFL players conducted by TSN. In 2007, he was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the first non-Canadian to be inducted.
Return to the NFL
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills' then-pro personnel director A.J. Smith convinced the organization that Flutie would be a great asset to the team, and the Bills signed him in the 1998 offseason. The Bills' attempt at making Todd Collins their starting quarterback was a failure, and Flutie was one of two quarterbacks, the other being Rob Johnson (the presumptive starter), to join the Bills in the 1998 offseason. In his first action with the Bills, Flutie entered for an injured Johnson and passed for two TDs while leading a fourth-quarter comeback against the Indianapolis Colts on October 11, 1998. The following week, Doug Flutie made his first NFL start since October 15, 1989, against the unbeaten Jacksonville Jaguars. The nine-year gap between starts for a quarterback in the NFL is the third-longest in duration behind Tommy Maddox (December 12, 1992 to October 6, 2002) and the man Flutie replaced, Todd Collins (December 14, 1997 to December 16, 2007). Flutie was the hero of the Bills' victory as he scored the winning touchdown against the Jaguars by rolling out on a bootleg and into the end zone on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds. The Bills' success continued with Flutie at the helm; his record as a starter that season was 8 wins and 3 losses. He then threw for 360 yards in a wild card playoff loss at Miami. Flutie was selected to play in the 1998 Pro Bowl and is currently the shortest quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since 1970.
Flutie led the Bills to a 10–5 record in 1999 but, in a controversial decision, was replaced by Johnson for the playoffs by coach Wade Phillips, who later said he was ordered by Bills owner Ralph Wilson to do so. Rob Johnson completed only ten passes, none for touchdowns, and was sacked six times, as the Bills lost 22–16 to the eventual AFC Champion Tennessee Titans. The game has become known as the Music City Miracle, as the Titans scored on the penultimate play of the game– a kickoff return following the Bills' apparent game-clinching field goal.
The following season, Flutie was named the Bills' backup and only played late in games or when Johnson was injured, which was often. In fact, during the season, Flutie had a 4–1 record as a starter, in comparison to Johnson's 4–7. In a December 24, 2000 game against the Seattle Seahawks, Flutie achieved a perfect passer rating, completing 20 of 25 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Following the 2000 season, Bills President Tom Donahoe and head coach Gregg Williams decided to keep Johnson as the starter and cut Flutie.
San Diego Chargers
In 2001, Flutie signed with the San Diego Chargers, who had gone 1–15 in 2000. After opening 3–0, the Chargers slumped and were 4–2 going into Week 7, when Flutie's Chargers met Rob Johnson's Bills. Flutie prevailed as the new ex-Bill broke a sack attempt and ran 13 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It would be the last win for the Chargers in 2001, as they dropped their last nine games to finish 5–11 and cost head coach Mike Riley his job. (Buffalo finished 3–13 with Johnson and, later, Alex Van Pelt as starters.) Flutie was Drew Brees' backup in 2002. Brees idolized Flutie growing up, and credits Flutie with mentoring him during their time together with San Diego.
In 2003, Flutie replaced a struggling Brees when the Chargers were 1–7. The 41-year-old Flutie became the oldest player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game, the first player over 40 to accomplish that feat. He also became the oldest AFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the award for the fourth time. On January 2, 2005, the season finale of the 2004 season, Flutie broke Jerry Rice's record set two weeks prior, to become the oldest player ever to score a touchdown, at the age 42 years and 71 days. Rice was 42 years and 67 days when he made his touchdown. Flutie's record as a starter that year was 2–3. He was released from the Chargers on March 13, 2005.
Return to the Patriots
Flutie surprised many when he signed with the New England Patriots instead of the New York Giants. He became the backup behind Tom Brady and played several times at the end of games to take a few snaps. Flutie has a 37–28 record as an NFL starter, including a 22–9 record in home games.
Referring to his time in the Canadian Football League (and, presumably, to the quarterback's relatively diminutive stature), television football commentator John Madden once said, "Inch for inch, Flutie in his prime was the best QB of his generation."
In a December 26, 2005 game against the New York Jets, Flutie was sent in late in the game. The Jets also sent in their back-up quarterback, Vinny Testaverde. This was the first time in NFL history that two quarterbacks over the age of 40 competed against each other (Testaverde was 42, Flutie was 43).
In the Patriots' regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on January 1, 2006, Flutie successfully drop kicked a football for an extra point, something that was not done in a regular-season NFL game since 1941. It was Flutie's first kick attempt in the NFL, and earned him that week's title of AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge of the history of the game, made comments that suggested that the play was a retirement present of sorts for his veteran quarterback, although Flutie had made no comment on whether 2005 would be his last season. There is video of Flutie describing the event in his own words.
During the 2006 off-season, Flutie's agent Kristen Kuliga stated he was interested in returning to the Patriots for another season; as a result, he was widely expected to return, despite his age. However, on May 15, 2006, Flutie announced his decision to "hang up his helmet" at the age of 43 and retire. Flutie was the second-to-last former USFL player to retire, behind Sean Landeta.
Flutie has the most rushing yards (212) for any player after turning 40 years old.
Near-return to the CFL
Because of injuries with the Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was contemplating a temporary comeback with the team as of July 25, 2006. Flutie did not plan to play long-term, for he had planned on doing college football commentary on ESPN in the coming season. On August 18, 2006, a story was published on CFL.ca examining this topic in-depth. Flutie was pondering a return to the CFL because of his relationship with Argonauts head coach and former running back Pinball Clemons, and the desire to "say goodbye to the CFL". According to the report, Flutie was poised to return to Toronto on July 22, after their victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the injury to backup quarterback Spergon Wynn. Nevertheless, Flutie chose to remain in retirement.
Career statistics
* Flutie only saw game action in 10 of the 11 games he dressed for during the 1995 season.
Broadcasting career
After retirement from the NFL, Flutie took a commentating job calling college football with ESPN and ABC from 2006 until 2008.
Drawing on his USFL experience, Flutie served as an analyst for United Football League games for Versus in 2010.
Flutie served as a studio and pre-game analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC from 2011 through 2013, then served as the lead analyst from 2014 through 2019.
Dancing with the Stars
On March 8, 2016, Flutie was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff. On April 25, 2016, Flutie and Smirnoff were eliminated, finishing in ninth place.
Doug Flutie's Maximum Football Video Game
On November 20, 2018, a partnership deal was announced between Doug Flutie and the Maximum-Football video game (Canuck Play/Spear Interactive). Future iterations of the game will be rebranded as Doug Flutie's Maximum Football and feature Flutie's likeness. The game released on the PS4 and Xbox One in the Fall of 2019. On February 4, 2020, the game was available to purchase as a physical copy.
Personal life
Flutie is the older brother of the CFL's fourth all-time receptions leader, Darren Flutie. Flutie also has an older brother, Bill, and an older sister, Denise. His nephew Billy Flutie (son of Bill) was a wide receiver/punter at Boston College from 2007 to 2010. Another of Flutie's nephews, Troy (son of Darren), played quarterback and wide receiver for Boston College from 2015 to 2017. Flutie is the second son of Richard and Joan Flutie. Flutie is married to his high school sweetheart, Laurie (née Fortier). They have a daughter, Alexa, formerly a New England Patriots Cheerleader and San Diego Chargers Cheerleader, and a son, Doug Jr, who has autism. The Fluties established The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc. in honor of him. Flutie also created a cereal, Flutie Flakes, with the benefits going toward this organization. In his free time, he attends college football and basketball games at his alma mater Boston College and was a season ticket-holder. He has spent his summers in Bethany Beach, Delaware, frequenting basketball courts. He also has worked with the local Massachusetts Eastern Bank and is a spokesman for Natick/Framingham's Metrowest Medical Center. He is a member of the Longfellow Sports Clubs at their Wayland and Natick locations. Flutie relocated from Natick to Florida, but was honored by Natick in November 2007 by being inducted into the Natick High School Wall of Achievement. A short stretch of road connecting the Natick Mall and the Shoppers' World Mall in Natick / Framingham, MA is named "Flutie Pass" in honor of his historic 1984 play against Miami.
Flutie frequents Melbourne Beach, Florida in winter, and a sports field complex there is named after him.
For a time, he was part-owner of a restaurant in New York's South Street Seaport named "Flutie's."
In February 2021, Flutie won the WWE 24/7 Championship during a celebrity flag football tournament.
With his brother Darren on guitar, Doug plays drums in the Flutie Brothers Band, and once played for Boston at a tribute honoring Doug. November 13, 2006 was Doug Flutie Day in Boston. Flutie endorsed Scott Brown for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts for 2010, and the Flutie Brothers Band played at Brown's victory celebration.
In 2014, Flutie, who has a charity team that was running, decided to run the Boston Marathon two days before the race, and finished in 5:23:54.
On November 18, 2015, Flutie's parents Dick and Joan Flutie died of heart attacks one hour apart. Dick Flutie had been ill and hospitalized.
Halls of Fame
In 2007, Flutie was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
On May 8, 2007, Flutie was elected to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.
On May 9, 2007, Flutie was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
On April 2, 2008, Flutie was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
In 2009, Flutie was elected to the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
See also
NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of gridiron football quarterbacks passing statistics
List of NCAA Division I FBS quarterbacks with at least 10,000 career passing yards
List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders
References
Further reading
External links
1962 births
Living people
Activists from Maryland
All-American college football players
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American expatriates in Canada
American football drop kickers
American football quarterbacks
American people of Lebanese descent
American philanthropists
American players of Canadian football
Autism activists
BC Lions players
Boston College Eagles football players
Buffalo Bills players
Calgary Stampeders players
Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners
Canadian football quarterbacks
Celebrities who have won professional wrestling championships
Chicago Bears players
College football announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Heisman Trophy winners
Maxwell Award winners
Natick High School alumni
National Football League replacement players
New England Patriots players
New Jersey Generals players
People from Manchester, Maryland
People from Melbourne Beach, Florida
People from Natick, Massachusetts
Players of American football from Florida
Players of American football from Maryland
Players of American football from Massachusetts
Players of Canadian football from Florida
San Diego Chargers players
Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Sportspeople from the Baltimore metropolitan area
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
Toronto Argonauts players
United Football League broadcasters
WWE 24/7 Champions | true | [
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
]
|
[
"Lou Holtz",
"South Carolina"
]
| C_2ecb72d2c387413fb33a1bd61304f930_0 | When did he start coaching South Carolina? | 1 | When did Lou Holtz start coaching South Carolina? | Lou Holtz | After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1-10, and the team subsequently went 0-11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8-4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9-3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17-7 overall and 10-6 in SEC play. After consecutive 5-7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6-5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2-4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004. In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal." CANNOTANSWER | Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, | Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is a former American football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York Jets (1976), the University of Arkansas (1977–1983), the University of Minnesota (1984–1985), the University of Notre Dame (1986–1996), and the University of South Carolina (1999–2004), compiling a career record of 249–132–7. Holtz's 1988 Notre Dame team went 12–0 with a victory in the Fiesta Bowl and was the consensus national champion. Holtz is the only college football coach to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 20 rankings.
In 2005, Holtz joined ESPN as a college football analyst. On May 1, 2008, Holtz was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Early life and coaching career
Holtz was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, the son of Anne Marie (Tychonievich) and Andrew Holtz, a bus driver. His father was of German and Irish descent, while his maternal grandparents were emigrants from Chernobyl, Ukraine. He grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio, where he was raised as a Roman Catholic. He graduated from East Liverpool High School. After high school, Holtz attended Kent State University. He was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and graduated in 1959 with a degree in history. Holtz also trained under Kent State's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps and earned a commission as a Field Artillery Officer in the United States Army Reserve at the time of his graduation from college. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1960, at Iowa, where he received his master's degree. From there, he made stops as an assistant at William & Mary (1961–1963), Connecticut (1964–1965), South Carolina (1966–1967) and Ohio State (1968). The 1968 Ohio State Buckeyes football team won a national championship with Holtz as an assistant.
William & Mary
Holtz's first job as head coach came in 1969, at the College of William & Mary, who played in the Southern Conference at that time. In 1970, he led the William & Mary Indians (now Tribe) to the Southern Conference title and a berth in the Tangerine Bowl.
North Carolina State
In 1972, Holtz moved to North Carolina State University and had a 33–12–3 record in four seasons. His first three teams achieved final Top 20 rankings, including a final Top 10 finish in the 1974 Coaches Poll. His 1973 team won the ACC Championship. His Wolfpack teams played in four bowl games, going 2–1–1. Holtz received offers to become the Tulane head coach. He at first accepted the offer from David Dixon, the New Orleans Saints founder, then Holtz called Dixon saying he wouldn't come to Tulane. Following the 1975 season, Holtz accepted an offer to leave college football and become the head coach of the NFL's New York Jets.
New York Jets
Holtz's lone foray into the professional ranks began when he was appointed as head coach of the New York Jets on February 10, 1976. He was selected over Johnny Majors, Darryl Rogers, and Marv Levy. Holtz resigned ten months later on December 9 with the Jets at 3–10 and one game remaining in the 1976 season. Upon his departure, he lamented, "God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros." Holtz's jump to the NFL as head coach for only thirteen games with a 3–10 record before returning to the college game with Arkansas would be duplicated eerily similarly by Bobby Petrino 31 years later in 2007; another 14 years after, his run would be matched in terms of length and broken in terms of record by Urban Meyer, fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars with a 2–11 record in 2021.
Arkansas
Holtz went to the University of Arkansas in 1977. In his seven years there, the Razorbacks compiled a 60–21–2 record and reached six bowl games. In his first season at Arkansas, he led them to a berth in the 1978 Orange Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners, then coached by University of Arkansas alumnus Barry Switzer. The Sooners were in position to win their third national championship in four seasons after top-ranked Texas lost earlier in the day to fifth-ranked Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Arkansas' chances looked slim after the team lost several key personnel just before the game. In one of his last practices, All-American guard, Leotis Harris suffered a season-ending injury, and only a couple of days later Holtz suspended both starting running backs, Ben Cowins and Michael Forrest, and top receiver, Donny Bobo, for disciplinary reasons. However, behind an Orange Bowl record of 205 yards rushing from reserve running back Roland Sales the Hogs defeated the Sooners, 31–6. That team was recognized by the Rothman (FACT) poll as co-national champions, along with Texas and Notre Dame for 1977. Holtz was widely considered to be the leading candidate to replace Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1979, but Holtz did not pursue the job because he did not want to follow Hayes.
Holtz led Arkansas to a 10–2 record in 1979 and a share of the SWC championship, and a 9-2-1 record in 1982 with a Bluebonnet Bowl victory over Florida. Holtz was then dismissed following a 6–5 campaign in 1983. At the time, athletic director Frank Broyles stated that Holtz had resigned because he was "tired and burned out", and was not fired. Broyles testified 20 years later that he had fired Holtz because he was losing the fan base with things he said and did. Holtz confirmed that he had been fired, but that Broyles never gave him a reason, although reports cited his political involvement as a major reason: controversy arose over his having taped two television advertisements from his coach's office endorsing the re-election of Jesse Helms as Senator from North Carolina at a time when Helms was leading the effort to block Martin Luther King Day from becoming a national holiday.
Minnesota
Holtz accepted the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota before the 1984 season. The Golden Gophers had only won one game vs. Rice in 1983, but under Holtz won 4 games, including 3 in the Big Ten. In 1985 the team was 7-5 and were invited to the Independence Bowl, where they defeated Clemson, 20–13. Holtz did not coach the Gophers in that bowl game, as he had already accepted the head coaching position at Notre Dame. His contract purportedly included a "Notre Dame clause" that allowed him to leave if that coaching job were to become available.
This later proved to be false, as most standard contracts do not include a "Notre Dame" clause.
Holtz's tenure at Minnesota was not without controversy. Just prior to the 1991 Orange Bowl, the NCAA implicated the Holtz-era Golden Gophers for recruiting violations. Sanctions handed down in March 1991 included a bowl ban in 1992 for the Golden Gophers and "two more years ... [of] continued probation".
Notre Dame
In 1986, Holtz left Minnesota to take over the then-struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program. A taskmaster and strict disciplinarian, Holtz had the names removed from the backs of the players' jerseys when he took over at Notre Dame, wanting to emphasize team effort. With the exception of select bowl games, names have not been included on Notre Dame's jerseys since. Although his 1986 squad posted an identical 5–6 mark that the 1985 edition had, five of their six losses were by a combined total of 14 points. In the season finale against the archrival USC Trojans, Notre Dame overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit and pulled out a 38–37 win.
In his second season, Holtz led the Fighting Irish to an appearance in the 1988 Cotton Bowl Classic, where the Irish lost to the Texas A&M Aggies, 35–10. The following year, Notre Dame won all eleven of their regular season games and defeated the third-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers, 34–21, in the Fiesta Bowl, claiming the national championship. The 1989 squad also won their first eleven games (and in the process set a school record with a 23-game winning streak) and remained in the No. 1 spot all season until losing to Miami in the season finale. A 21–6 win over Colorado in the Orange Bowl gave the Irish a second-place ranking in the final standings, as well as back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time in school history.
Holtz's 1993 Irish team ended the season with an 11–1 record and ranked second in the final AP poll. Although the Florida State Seminoles were defeated by the Irish in a battle of unbeatens during the regular season and both teams had only 1 loss at season's end (Notre Dame lost to seventeenth-ranked Boston College), FSU was then voted national champion in the final 1993 AP and Coaches Poll. Between 1988 and 1993, Holtz's teams posted an overall 64–9–1 record. He also took the Irish to bowl games for nine consecutive seasons, still a Notre Dame record.
Following an investigation in 1999, the NCAA placed Notre Dame on two years probation for extra benefits provided to football players between 1993 and 1999 by Kim Dunbar, a South Bend bookkeeper involved in a $1.4 million embezzlement scheme at her employer, as well as one instance of academic fraud that occurred under Holtz's successor, Bob Davie. The NCAA found that Holtz and members of his staff learned of the violations but failed to make appropriate inquiry or to take prompt action, finding Holtz's efforts "inadequate."
On September 13, 2008, Lou Holtz was invited back to the campus where a statue of the former coach was unveiled. The ceremony took place during the weekend of the Notre Dame/Michigan game, almost twenty-two years to the day after Holtz coached his first Notre Dame team against the Wolverines.
Occasionally, despite his lack of success with the New York Jets, he was rumored to be leaving Notre Dame for the NFL. Following a 6–10 season in 1990 and an 8-8 showing in 1991, the Minnesota Vikings were rumored to replace Jerry Burns with Holtz. However, Holtz denied these rumors each of those two seasons. Holtz remained at Notre Dame; the Vikings, meanwhile, hired Dennis Green to replace the retired Jerry Burns. Ironically, as shown below, Holtz nearly replaced Green five years later.
First retirement
Lou Holtz left Notre Dame after the 1996 season and walked away from a lifetime contract for undisclosed reasons. In 1996, two members of the Minnesota Vikings's ownership board, Wheelock Whitney and Jaye Dyer, reportedly contacted Holtz. They wanted to bring him in to replace Dennis Green. Of the rumors surrounding the reasons for Holtz's retirement, one of them was the possible Vikings head coaching position.
South Carolina
After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1–10, and the team subsequently went 0–11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8–4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9–3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17–7 overall and 10–6 in SEC play.
After consecutive 5–7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6–5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2–4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004.
In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal.".
Second retirement
On November 18, 2004, Holtz announced that he would retire at the end of the season. On November 20, 2004, the Clemson – South Carolina brawl took place during Holtz's last regular season game. Instead of ending his career at a post-season bowl game, which was expected, the two universities announced that each would penalize their respective football programs for their unsportsmanlike conduct by declining any bowl game invitations. At his last press conference as South Carolina's coach, Holtz said it was ironic that he and former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes both would be remembered for "getting into a fight at the Clemson game". Holtz also alluded to his assistance in recruiting his successor, Steve Spurrier.
Books
Holtz has written or contributed to 10 books:
Holtz, Lou (2019). Three Rules for Living a Good Life: A Game Plan for After Graduation. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press. .
Broadcasting career
Holtz has worked for CBS Sports as a college football analyst and in the same capacity for the cable network ESPN. He worked on the secondary studio team, located in Bristol as opposed to the game site. He typically appeared on pregame, halftime, and postgame shows of college football games. In addition, he appeared on College Football Scoreboard, College Football Final, College Football Live, SportsCenter, and the occasional game. He is known for his distinctive voice, where he hisses and gurgles his words through loose dentures. He typically partnered with Rece Davis and Mark May. Holtz came under scrutiny after referencing Adolf Hitler in an on-air comment while appearing on College Football Live in 2008. In his analysis of Michigan Wolverines head coach Rich Rodriguez, Holtz stated sarcastically, "Ya know, Hitler was a great leader, too." The next day, Holtz apologized for the comment during halftime of a game between Clemson and Georgia Tech. On April 12, 2015, it was reported by SB Nation that Holtz was leaving ESPN.
Personal life
Holtz was married to Beth Barcus from July 22, 1961, until her death from cancer on June 30, 2020. Holtz currently resides in Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida. He and Beth had four children, three of whom are Notre Dame graduates. His cousins Ashton and Kerosene Holtz both played football in Fort Scott, Kansas, as a linebacker and defensive end. Holtz is on the Catholic Advisory Board of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds, and gives motivational speeches. Coach Holtz is a member at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. On June 23, 2015, Holtz's Lake Nona home was damaged by a house fire that was most likely triggered by a lightning strike.
Political views
Holtz has long been active in Republican Party politics, including his support for Helms, hosting former Vice President Dan Quayle in a 1999 fundraising tour, speaking at a 2007 House Republicans strategy meeting and considering entering the Republican primary for a Congressional seat in Florida in 2009. However, he also made a contribution of $2,300 to the campaign of Democratic Party Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008. He often appears on Hannity on the Fox News Channel. In 2016, Holtz endorsed Donald Trump for president.
On August 26, 2020, Holtz spoke at the Republican National Convention endorsing Donald Trump for re-election.
During his address at the 2020 Republican National Convention, Holtz said that Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden was "a Catholic in name only." The University of Notre Dame also released a statement the following day to distance itself from Holtz's comment regarding Biden.
Holtz has been vocal about his disapproval of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee before NFL games and NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell allowing players to do so. Holtz told Scoop B Radio's Brandon Scoop B Robinson that players should go to inner city neighborhoods and be influential in their community, rather than kneeling.
Popular culture
Holtz appeared as himself in a Discover Card commercial in November 2011.
Honors
In 1990, Holtz received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Notre Dame on May 22, 2011. On April 19, 2012, Holtz was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. Holtz was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Education from the University of South Carolina on December 17, 2012. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor in Public Service from Trine University and elected to the board of trustees in 2011. Trine also honored Holtz in 2013 by naming a program the Lou Holtz Master of Science in Leadership Program. He was also awarded an honorary Doctorate in Communications from Franciscan University of Steubenville on May 9, 2015, and delivered a popular commencement address. Holtz was elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, and the Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame in 1998. On December 3, 2020, Holtz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.
Head coaching record
College
Source:
NFL
Coaching tree
Assistant coaches under Holtz who became college or professional head coaches:
Mike Holovak: New York Jets (1976)
Bo Rein: NC State (1976–1979)
Walt Michaels: New York Jets (1977–1982), New Jersey Generals (1984–1985)
Monte Kiffin: NC State (1980–1982)
Harold Horton: Central Arkansas (1982–1989)
Bob Cope: Pacific (CA) (1983–1988)
John Gutekunst: Minnesota (1985–1991)
Jim Strong: UNLV Rebels (1990–1993)
Barry Alvarez: Wisconsin (1990–2005)
Houston Nutt: Murray State (1993–1996), Boise State (1997), Arkansas (1998–2007), Ole Miss (2008–2011)
Jeff Horton: Nevada (1993), UNLV (1994–1998), Minnesota (2010)
Pete Carroll: New York Jets (1994), New England Patriots (1997–1999), USC (2000–2009), Seattle Seahawks (2010–present)
Rick Minter: Cincinnati (1994–2003)
Skip Holtz: Connecticut (1994–1998), East Carolina (2005–2009), South Florida (2010–2012), Louisiana Tech (2013–2021)
Fred von Appen: Hawaii (1996–1998)
Bob Davie: Notre Dame (1997–2001), New Mexico (2012–2019)
Jerry Partridge: Missouri Western (1997–2016)
Dave Roberts: Baylor (1997–1998)
Dean Pees: Kent State (1998–2003)
Urban Meyer: Bowling Green (2001–2002), Utah (2003–2004), Florida (2005–2010), Ohio State (2012–2018), Jacksonville Jaguars (2021)
Oliver Pough: South Carolina State (2002–present)
John Thompson: East Carolina (2003–2004)
Rick Stockstill: Middle Tennessee (2006–present)
Joker Phillips: Kentucky (2010–2012)
Charlie Strong: Louisville (2010–2013), Texas (2014–2016), South Florida (2017–2019)
See also
List of college football coaches with 200 wins
List of National Football League head coaches
Notes
References
External links
The Lou Holtz/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame
1937 births
Living people
American football linebackers
Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches
Iowa Hawkeyes football coaches
Kent State Golden Flashes football players
Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches
NC State Wolfpack football coaches
New York Jets head coaches
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches
Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches
South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches
UConn Huskies football coaches
William & Mary Tribe football coaches
College football announcers
National Football League announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Florida Republicans
United States Army officers
People from East Liverpool, Ohio
People from Follansbee, West Virginia
Coaches of American football from Ohio
Players of American football from Ohio
Catholics from Ohio | true | [
"Shawn Elliott (born June 26, 1973) is an American football coach and former player, currently the head football coach at Georgia State University. He served as the interim head football coach at the University of South Carolina, a position he assumed on October 13, 2015. Elliott joined the South Carolina Gamecocks football coaching staff in 2010 as the team's running game coordinator under Steve Spurrier. He was later named the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. A day after South Carolina head coach Spurrier's resignation, Elliott was elevated to the position of head coach on an interim basis.\n\nCoaching career\nAfter graduating from Appalachian State University in 1996, Elliott joined the team's coaching staff under Jerry Moore. He was part of a staff that led the Mountaineers to three straight NCAA Division I Football Championships, from 2005 to 2007. He remained with the team until after the 2009 season, when he joined the staff of South Carolina.\n\nOn December 8, 2016, it was announced that Elliott accepted the head coaching position at Georgia State.\n\nPersonal life\nA native of Camden, South Carolina, Elliott is married to his wife, Summer. They have two children.\n\nHead coaching record\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Georgia State profile\n\n1973 births\nLiving people\nAmerican football defensive ends\nAppalachian State Mountaineers football coaches\nAppalachian State Mountaineers football players\nGeorgia State Panthers football coaches\nSouth Carolina Gamecocks football coaches\nPeople from Camden, South Carolina",
"Robert McIntire Richey Jr. (born March 22, 1983) is an American college basketball coach and current head coach at Furman.\n\nCoaching career\nRichey's coaching career began at Charleston Southern in 2006, where he served on Barclay Radebaugh's staff until 2011. He joined the Furman staff under Jeff Jackson in 2011, and was retained as an assistant coach under Niko Medved. He served in the role until 2017, when he was elevated to interim head coach after Medved accepted the head coaching position at Drake. Richey coached the Paladins in its 2017 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament semifinal matchup, where it fell to St. Peters. \n\nOn April 7, 2017 the interim tag was lifted, and Richey became the 22nd head coach in Furman history.\n\n2018–19 season\nAfter defeating two teams that had reached the final four of the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament (Loyola and defending national champion Villanova), \nRichey led the Paladins to their first ever 6-0 start. After a 10-0 record, the 2018–19 Furman team, became ranked in the AP Poll for the first time in school history, they went on to be ranked for 3 consecutive weeks. Richey went on to lead the Paladins to their best start in school history with a 12-0 start and as high as 23rd in the AP poll. The Paladins also became ranked for the first time in the Coaches poll at 25.\n\nHead coaching record\n\n‡ Niko Medved accepted Drake position; Richey coached CIT semifinal game.\n\nReferences\n\n1983 births\nLiving people\nAmerican men's basketball coaches\nBasketball coaches from South Carolina\nCharleston Southern Buccaneers men's basketball coaches\nCollege men's basketball head coaches in the United States\nFurman Paladins men's basketball coaches\nNorth Greenville University alumni\nPeople from Florence, South Carolina"
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|
[
"Lou Holtz",
"South Carolina",
"When did he start coaching South Carolina?",
"Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina,"
]
| C_2ecb72d2c387413fb33a1bd61304f930_0 | What did he do for the program? | 2 | What did Lou Holtz do for the University of South Carolina program? | Lou Holtz | After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1-10, and the team subsequently went 0-11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8-4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9-3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17-7 overall and 10-6 in SEC play. After consecutive 5-7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6-5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2-4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004. In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal." CANNOTANSWER | The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 | Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is a former American football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York Jets (1976), the University of Arkansas (1977–1983), the University of Minnesota (1984–1985), the University of Notre Dame (1986–1996), and the University of South Carolina (1999–2004), compiling a career record of 249–132–7. Holtz's 1988 Notre Dame team went 12–0 with a victory in the Fiesta Bowl and was the consensus national champion. Holtz is the only college football coach to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 20 rankings.
In 2005, Holtz joined ESPN as a college football analyst. On May 1, 2008, Holtz was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Early life and coaching career
Holtz was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, the son of Anne Marie (Tychonievich) and Andrew Holtz, a bus driver. His father was of German and Irish descent, while his maternal grandparents were emigrants from Chernobyl, Ukraine. He grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio, where he was raised as a Roman Catholic. He graduated from East Liverpool High School. After high school, Holtz attended Kent State University. He was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and graduated in 1959 with a degree in history. Holtz also trained under Kent State's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps and earned a commission as a Field Artillery Officer in the United States Army Reserve at the time of his graduation from college. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1960, at Iowa, where he received his master's degree. From there, he made stops as an assistant at William & Mary (1961–1963), Connecticut (1964–1965), South Carolina (1966–1967) and Ohio State (1968). The 1968 Ohio State Buckeyes football team won a national championship with Holtz as an assistant.
William & Mary
Holtz's first job as head coach came in 1969, at the College of William & Mary, who played in the Southern Conference at that time. In 1970, he led the William & Mary Indians (now Tribe) to the Southern Conference title and a berth in the Tangerine Bowl.
North Carolina State
In 1972, Holtz moved to North Carolina State University and had a 33–12–3 record in four seasons. His first three teams achieved final Top 20 rankings, including a final Top 10 finish in the 1974 Coaches Poll. His 1973 team won the ACC Championship. His Wolfpack teams played in four bowl games, going 2–1–1. Holtz received offers to become the Tulane head coach. He at first accepted the offer from David Dixon, the New Orleans Saints founder, then Holtz called Dixon saying he wouldn't come to Tulane. Following the 1975 season, Holtz accepted an offer to leave college football and become the head coach of the NFL's New York Jets.
New York Jets
Holtz's lone foray into the professional ranks began when he was appointed as head coach of the New York Jets on February 10, 1976. He was selected over Johnny Majors, Darryl Rogers, and Marv Levy. Holtz resigned ten months later on December 9 with the Jets at 3–10 and one game remaining in the 1976 season. Upon his departure, he lamented, "God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros." Holtz's jump to the NFL as head coach for only thirteen games with a 3–10 record before returning to the college game with Arkansas would be duplicated eerily similarly by Bobby Petrino 31 years later in 2007; another 14 years after, his run would be matched in terms of length and broken in terms of record by Urban Meyer, fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars with a 2–11 record in 2021.
Arkansas
Holtz went to the University of Arkansas in 1977. In his seven years there, the Razorbacks compiled a 60–21–2 record and reached six bowl games. In his first season at Arkansas, he led them to a berth in the 1978 Orange Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners, then coached by University of Arkansas alumnus Barry Switzer. The Sooners were in position to win their third national championship in four seasons after top-ranked Texas lost earlier in the day to fifth-ranked Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Arkansas' chances looked slim after the team lost several key personnel just before the game. In one of his last practices, All-American guard, Leotis Harris suffered a season-ending injury, and only a couple of days later Holtz suspended both starting running backs, Ben Cowins and Michael Forrest, and top receiver, Donny Bobo, for disciplinary reasons. However, behind an Orange Bowl record of 205 yards rushing from reserve running back Roland Sales the Hogs defeated the Sooners, 31–6. That team was recognized by the Rothman (FACT) poll as co-national champions, along with Texas and Notre Dame for 1977. Holtz was widely considered to be the leading candidate to replace Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1979, but Holtz did not pursue the job because he did not want to follow Hayes.
Holtz led Arkansas to a 10–2 record in 1979 and a share of the SWC championship, and a 9-2-1 record in 1982 with a Bluebonnet Bowl victory over Florida. Holtz was then dismissed following a 6–5 campaign in 1983. At the time, athletic director Frank Broyles stated that Holtz had resigned because he was "tired and burned out", and was not fired. Broyles testified 20 years later that he had fired Holtz because he was losing the fan base with things he said and did. Holtz confirmed that he had been fired, but that Broyles never gave him a reason, although reports cited his political involvement as a major reason: controversy arose over his having taped two television advertisements from his coach's office endorsing the re-election of Jesse Helms as Senator from North Carolina at a time when Helms was leading the effort to block Martin Luther King Day from becoming a national holiday.
Minnesota
Holtz accepted the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota before the 1984 season. The Golden Gophers had only won one game vs. Rice in 1983, but under Holtz won 4 games, including 3 in the Big Ten. In 1985 the team was 7-5 and were invited to the Independence Bowl, where they defeated Clemson, 20–13. Holtz did not coach the Gophers in that bowl game, as he had already accepted the head coaching position at Notre Dame. His contract purportedly included a "Notre Dame clause" that allowed him to leave if that coaching job were to become available.
This later proved to be false, as most standard contracts do not include a "Notre Dame" clause.
Holtz's tenure at Minnesota was not without controversy. Just prior to the 1991 Orange Bowl, the NCAA implicated the Holtz-era Golden Gophers for recruiting violations. Sanctions handed down in March 1991 included a bowl ban in 1992 for the Golden Gophers and "two more years ... [of] continued probation".
Notre Dame
In 1986, Holtz left Minnesota to take over the then-struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program. A taskmaster and strict disciplinarian, Holtz had the names removed from the backs of the players' jerseys when he took over at Notre Dame, wanting to emphasize team effort. With the exception of select bowl games, names have not been included on Notre Dame's jerseys since. Although his 1986 squad posted an identical 5–6 mark that the 1985 edition had, five of their six losses were by a combined total of 14 points. In the season finale against the archrival USC Trojans, Notre Dame overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit and pulled out a 38–37 win.
In his second season, Holtz led the Fighting Irish to an appearance in the 1988 Cotton Bowl Classic, where the Irish lost to the Texas A&M Aggies, 35–10. The following year, Notre Dame won all eleven of their regular season games and defeated the third-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers, 34–21, in the Fiesta Bowl, claiming the national championship. The 1989 squad also won their first eleven games (and in the process set a school record with a 23-game winning streak) and remained in the No. 1 spot all season until losing to Miami in the season finale. A 21–6 win over Colorado in the Orange Bowl gave the Irish a second-place ranking in the final standings, as well as back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time in school history.
Holtz's 1993 Irish team ended the season with an 11–1 record and ranked second in the final AP poll. Although the Florida State Seminoles were defeated by the Irish in a battle of unbeatens during the regular season and both teams had only 1 loss at season's end (Notre Dame lost to seventeenth-ranked Boston College), FSU was then voted national champion in the final 1993 AP and Coaches Poll. Between 1988 and 1993, Holtz's teams posted an overall 64–9–1 record. He also took the Irish to bowl games for nine consecutive seasons, still a Notre Dame record.
Following an investigation in 1999, the NCAA placed Notre Dame on two years probation for extra benefits provided to football players between 1993 and 1999 by Kim Dunbar, a South Bend bookkeeper involved in a $1.4 million embezzlement scheme at her employer, as well as one instance of academic fraud that occurred under Holtz's successor, Bob Davie. The NCAA found that Holtz and members of his staff learned of the violations but failed to make appropriate inquiry or to take prompt action, finding Holtz's efforts "inadequate."
On September 13, 2008, Lou Holtz was invited back to the campus where a statue of the former coach was unveiled. The ceremony took place during the weekend of the Notre Dame/Michigan game, almost twenty-two years to the day after Holtz coached his first Notre Dame team against the Wolverines.
Occasionally, despite his lack of success with the New York Jets, he was rumored to be leaving Notre Dame for the NFL. Following a 6–10 season in 1990 and an 8-8 showing in 1991, the Minnesota Vikings were rumored to replace Jerry Burns with Holtz. However, Holtz denied these rumors each of those two seasons. Holtz remained at Notre Dame; the Vikings, meanwhile, hired Dennis Green to replace the retired Jerry Burns. Ironically, as shown below, Holtz nearly replaced Green five years later.
First retirement
Lou Holtz left Notre Dame after the 1996 season and walked away from a lifetime contract for undisclosed reasons. In 1996, two members of the Minnesota Vikings's ownership board, Wheelock Whitney and Jaye Dyer, reportedly contacted Holtz. They wanted to bring him in to replace Dennis Green. Of the rumors surrounding the reasons for Holtz's retirement, one of them was the possible Vikings head coaching position.
South Carolina
After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1–10, and the team subsequently went 0–11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8–4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9–3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17–7 overall and 10–6 in SEC play.
After consecutive 5–7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6–5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2–4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004.
In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal.".
Second retirement
On November 18, 2004, Holtz announced that he would retire at the end of the season. On November 20, 2004, the Clemson – South Carolina brawl took place during Holtz's last regular season game. Instead of ending his career at a post-season bowl game, which was expected, the two universities announced that each would penalize their respective football programs for their unsportsmanlike conduct by declining any bowl game invitations. At his last press conference as South Carolina's coach, Holtz said it was ironic that he and former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes both would be remembered for "getting into a fight at the Clemson game". Holtz also alluded to his assistance in recruiting his successor, Steve Spurrier.
Books
Holtz has written or contributed to 10 books:
Holtz, Lou (2019). Three Rules for Living a Good Life: A Game Plan for After Graduation. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press. .
Broadcasting career
Holtz has worked for CBS Sports as a college football analyst and in the same capacity for the cable network ESPN. He worked on the secondary studio team, located in Bristol as opposed to the game site. He typically appeared on pregame, halftime, and postgame shows of college football games. In addition, he appeared on College Football Scoreboard, College Football Final, College Football Live, SportsCenter, and the occasional game. He is known for his distinctive voice, where he hisses and gurgles his words through loose dentures. He typically partnered with Rece Davis and Mark May. Holtz came under scrutiny after referencing Adolf Hitler in an on-air comment while appearing on College Football Live in 2008. In his analysis of Michigan Wolverines head coach Rich Rodriguez, Holtz stated sarcastically, "Ya know, Hitler was a great leader, too." The next day, Holtz apologized for the comment during halftime of a game between Clemson and Georgia Tech. On April 12, 2015, it was reported by SB Nation that Holtz was leaving ESPN.
Personal life
Holtz was married to Beth Barcus from July 22, 1961, until her death from cancer on June 30, 2020. Holtz currently resides in Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida. He and Beth had four children, three of whom are Notre Dame graduates. His cousins Ashton and Kerosene Holtz both played football in Fort Scott, Kansas, as a linebacker and defensive end. Holtz is on the Catholic Advisory Board of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds, and gives motivational speeches. Coach Holtz is a member at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. On June 23, 2015, Holtz's Lake Nona home was damaged by a house fire that was most likely triggered by a lightning strike.
Political views
Holtz has long been active in Republican Party politics, including his support for Helms, hosting former Vice President Dan Quayle in a 1999 fundraising tour, speaking at a 2007 House Republicans strategy meeting and considering entering the Republican primary for a Congressional seat in Florida in 2009. However, he also made a contribution of $2,300 to the campaign of Democratic Party Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008. He often appears on Hannity on the Fox News Channel. In 2016, Holtz endorsed Donald Trump for president.
On August 26, 2020, Holtz spoke at the Republican National Convention endorsing Donald Trump for re-election.
During his address at the 2020 Republican National Convention, Holtz said that Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden was "a Catholic in name only." The University of Notre Dame also released a statement the following day to distance itself from Holtz's comment regarding Biden.
Holtz has been vocal about his disapproval of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee before NFL games and NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell allowing players to do so. Holtz told Scoop B Radio's Brandon Scoop B Robinson that players should go to inner city neighborhoods and be influential in their community, rather than kneeling.
Popular culture
Holtz appeared as himself in a Discover Card commercial in November 2011.
Honors
In 1990, Holtz received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Notre Dame on May 22, 2011. On April 19, 2012, Holtz was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. Holtz was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Education from the University of South Carolina on December 17, 2012. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor in Public Service from Trine University and elected to the board of trustees in 2011. Trine also honored Holtz in 2013 by naming a program the Lou Holtz Master of Science in Leadership Program. He was also awarded an honorary Doctorate in Communications from Franciscan University of Steubenville on May 9, 2015, and delivered a popular commencement address. Holtz was elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, and the Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame in 1998. On December 3, 2020, Holtz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.
Head coaching record
College
Source:
NFL
Coaching tree
Assistant coaches under Holtz who became college or professional head coaches:
Mike Holovak: New York Jets (1976)
Bo Rein: NC State (1976–1979)
Walt Michaels: New York Jets (1977–1982), New Jersey Generals (1984–1985)
Monte Kiffin: NC State (1980–1982)
Harold Horton: Central Arkansas (1982–1989)
Bob Cope: Pacific (CA) (1983–1988)
John Gutekunst: Minnesota (1985–1991)
Jim Strong: UNLV Rebels (1990–1993)
Barry Alvarez: Wisconsin (1990–2005)
Houston Nutt: Murray State (1993–1996), Boise State (1997), Arkansas (1998–2007), Ole Miss (2008–2011)
Jeff Horton: Nevada (1993), UNLV (1994–1998), Minnesota (2010)
Pete Carroll: New York Jets (1994), New England Patriots (1997–1999), USC (2000–2009), Seattle Seahawks (2010–present)
Rick Minter: Cincinnati (1994–2003)
Skip Holtz: Connecticut (1994–1998), East Carolina (2005–2009), South Florida (2010–2012), Louisiana Tech (2013–2021)
Fred von Appen: Hawaii (1996–1998)
Bob Davie: Notre Dame (1997–2001), New Mexico (2012–2019)
Jerry Partridge: Missouri Western (1997–2016)
Dave Roberts: Baylor (1997–1998)
Dean Pees: Kent State (1998–2003)
Urban Meyer: Bowling Green (2001–2002), Utah (2003–2004), Florida (2005–2010), Ohio State (2012–2018), Jacksonville Jaguars (2021)
Oliver Pough: South Carolina State (2002–present)
John Thompson: East Carolina (2003–2004)
Rick Stockstill: Middle Tennessee (2006–present)
Joker Phillips: Kentucky (2010–2012)
Charlie Strong: Louisville (2010–2013), Texas (2014–2016), South Florida (2017–2019)
See also
List of college football coaches with 200 wins
List of National Football League head coaches
Notes
References
External links
The Lou Holtz/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame
1937 births
Living people
American football linebackers
Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches
Iowa Hawkeyes football coaches
Kent State Golden Flashes football players
Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches
NC State Wolfpack football coaches
New York Jets head coaches
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches
Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches
South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches
UConn Huskies football coaches
William & Mary Tribe football coaches
College football announcers
National Football League announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Florida Republicans
United States Army officers
People from East Liverpool, Ohio
People from Follansbee, West Virginia
Coaches of American football from Ohio
Players of American football from Ohio
Catholics from Ohio | true | [
"\"Do What's Good for Me\" is a song recorded by Dutch Eurodance band 2 Unlimited, released in October 1995 as the first single from their greatest hits compilation album, Hits Unlimited. Co-written by Anita Dels and Ray Slijngaard, it was a notable hit in Europe, reaching the Top 10 in Finland and Spain.\n\nCritical reception\nLarry Flick from Billboard wrote, \"The ongoing wave of pop-NRG dance acts enjoying radio prominence owes a massive debt to this ever-hot European duo for getting the party started. Sadly, the act has yet to achieve U.S. success à la such offspring as Real McCoy, but this jumpy li'l jam could easily change that. The bassline throbs infectiously, while the interplay of male rapping and female singing pops with palpable chemistry.\" Ross Jones from The Guardian deemed it \"a powerhouse anthem of self-discovery, robo-bass, and skipping beats\". A reviewer from Music Week rated the song three out of five, adding that \"Anita and Ray go for a harder-edged techno sound, resulting in a less radio-friendly track than many of their recent releases.\" James Hamilton from the magazine's RM Dance Update called it a \"synth stabbed squawker\".\n\nChart performance\n\"Do What's God for Me\" scored chart success in many European countries, peaking at number 3 in both Finland and Spain. It managed a respectable 17th place on the Canadian RPM singles chart, while also charting in the Top 20 in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK. In the latter, it peaked at number 16 in its first week at the UK Singles Chart, on October 15, 1995. Additionally, the single was a Top 30 hit in Austria and Scotland, and a Top 40 hit in Sweden. In Australia, it only reached number 87.\n\nMusic video\nThe music video for \"Do What's Good For Me\" was directed by director Nigel Simpkiss and released in the UK in October 1995. It features Anita and Ray performing the song in a computer, on a website. Simpkiss also directed the music videos for \"Let the Beat Control Your Body\", \"The Real Thing\", \"Here I Go\" and \"Nothing Like the Rain\". \"Do What's Good For Me\" was uploaded to YouTube in July 2014, and as of September 2020, the video has got more than 140,000 views.\n\nTrack listing\n\n Canadian CD maxi\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Edit) (3:55)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Extended) (6:05)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Alex Party Remix) (5:08)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (X-Out Remix) (5:25)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Aural Pleasure Mix) (9:00)\n \"Club Megamix\" (9:34)\n\n European and Japanese CD maxi\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Edit) (3:49)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Extended) (6:03)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Alex Party Remix) (5:06)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (X-Out Remix) (5:22)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Aural Pleasure Mix) (8:58)\n \"Club Megamix\" (9:34)\n\n UK CD single no.1\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Radio Edit) (3:11)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Extended) (6:03)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (X-Out Remix) (5:22)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Alex Party Remix) (5:06)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Aural Pleasure Mix) (8:58)\n\n UK CD single no.2\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Radio Edit) (3:11)\n \"2U Megamix\" (6:04)\n \"Club Megamix\" (9:34)\n\n US CD maxi\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Edit) (3:49)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Extended) (6:03)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Alex Party Remix) (5:06)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (X-Out Remix) (5:22)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Aural Pleasure Mix) (8:58)\n\n 7\" single\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Edit) (3:49)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Alex Party Remix) (3:50)\n\n Belgian 12\" maxi\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Alex Party Remix) (5:06)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (X-Out Remix) (5:22)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Aural Pleasure Mix) (8:58)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Extended) (6:03)\n\n Italian 12\" maxi\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Extended) (6:03)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Edit) (3:49)\n \"Club Megamix\" (9:34)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Alex Party Remix) (5:06)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (X-Out Remix) (5:22)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Aural Pleasure Mix) (8:58)\n\n US 12\" maxi\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Extended) (6:03)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Alex Party Remix) (5:06)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (X-Out Remix) (5:22)\n \"Do What's Good For Me\" (Aural Pleasure Mix) (8:58)\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nKids Like You and Me\n\nIn the Netherlands, a re-recorded version of this track entitled \"Kids Like You And Me\" was released in order to promote awareness of homeless youth. The music remained the same while new lyrics were composed incorporating the messages of homeless youth. It was not released in the United Kingdom.\n\nTrack listing\n CD single \n \"Kids Like You And Me\" (Radio Edit) (3:49)\n \"Kids Like You And Me\" (Instrumental) (3:49)\n\nReferences\n\n1995 singles\n2 Unlimited songs\n1995 songs\nSongs written by Jean-Paul De Coster\nSongs written by Phil Wilde\nSongs written by Ray Slijngaard\nSongs written by Anita Doth\nByte Records singles\nPete Waterman Entertainment singles\nMusic videos directed by Nigel Simpkiss",
"Slattery's People is a 1964–65 American television series about local politics starring Richard Crenna as title character James Slattery, a state legislator, co-starring Ed Asner and Tol Avery, and featuring Carroll O'Connor and Warren Oates in a couple of episodes each. James E. Moser was executive producer. The program, telecast on CBS, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.\n\nSlattery's People is mainly notable for having been one of the few American television series spotlighting the travails of local politicians, a topic that other programs of the period mainly avoided. Episodes opened with the following admonition: \"Democracy is a very bad form of government. But I ask you never to forget: All the others are so much worse.\"\n\nMany television critics highly praised the series. Many politicians also approved of the program. U.S. Representative James C. Corman said in a Congressional Record statement on September 30, 1964, “I am pleased that they have taken the high road to show a legislator’s life, and have not pandered to sensationalism or unreality to stimulate an audience following.” This series was a major career change for Crenna. Following more than a decade as a lead actor in two popular network comedies, Our Miss Brooks and The Real McCoys, his role as Jim Slattery opened doors for later guest appearances in several dramatic programs and feature films.\n\nMoser's script for the pilot (\"Question: What is truth?\") was printed as an appendix in Teleplay; an introduction to television writing by Coles Trapnell.\n\nTelevision composer Nathan Scott wrote the theme music for Slattery's People.\n\nGuest stars\n\nPhilip Abbott in \"Question: What is Honor? What is Death?\"\nJoan Blackman as Pat Allison in \"Question: Remember the Dark Sins of Youth?\"\nRuss Conway in \"Question: Bill Bailey, Why Did You Come Home?\"\nDon Keefer as George Farnum in \"Question: What Did You Do All Day, Mr. Slattery?\"\nJoyce Meadows as Gert in the episode \"Question: Is Laura the Name of the Game?\"\nJohn M. Pickard as Vance Durant in \"Question: How Long Is the Shadow of a Man?\"\nJudson Pratt as Harry Daniels in \"Question: How Impregnable Is a Magic Tower?\"\nRobert F. Simon in \"Question: What Did You Do All Day, Mr. Slattery?\"\nJoan Tompkins as Dorothy Ralston in \"Question: What Time Is the Next Bandwagon?\"\nArthur Hill as Dr. George Allison and Michael Constantine as Paul Hungerford in \"Question: Remember the Dark Sins of Youth?\"\nEd Wynn as Ezra Tallicott on \"What Ever Happened to Ezra?\"\nTommy Sands in \"Question: Why the Lonely, Why the Misbegotten?\"\nRicardo Montalban as Rodriguez in \"Question: What Became of the White Tortilla?\"\nClaude Akins as Dr. Roy Kirk and Barbara Eden as Lucrezia Kirk in \"Question: When Do We Hang the Good Samaritan?\"\nForrest Tucker as Bill Bailey in \"Question: Bill Bailey, Why Did You Come Home?\"\n\nEpisode list\n\nSeason 1 (1964–65)\n\nSeason 2 (1965)\n\nSee also\nQuentin Durgens, M.P., a similar Canadian TV series that aired around the same time.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n Slattery's People | Television Obscurities\n\n1964 American television series debuts\n1965 American television series endings\nCBS original programming\nTelevision series by CBS Studios\nBlack-and-white American television shows\nEnglish-language television shows\nAmerican political drama television series"
]
|
[
"Lou Holtz",
"South Carolina",
"When did he start coaching South Carolina?",
"Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina,",
"What did he do for the program?",
"The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000"
]
| C_2ecb72d2c387413fb33a1bd61304f930_0 | How long did he remain their coach? | 3 | How long did Lou Holtz remain South Carolina's coach? | Lou Holtz | After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1-10, and the team subsequently went 0-11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8-4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9-3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17-7 overall and 10-6 in SEC play. After consecutive 5-7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6-5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2-4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004. In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal." CANNOTANSWER | Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2-4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, | Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is a former American football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York Jets (1976), the University of Arkansas (1977–1983), the University of Minnesota (1984–1985), the University of Notre Dame (1986–1996), and the University of South Carolina (1999–2004), compiling a career record of 249–132–7. Holtz's 1988 Notre Dame team went 12–0 with a victory in the Fiesta Bowl and was the consensus national champion. Holtz is the only college football coach to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 20 rankings.
In 2005, Holtz joined ESPN as a college football analyst. On May 1, 2008, Holtz was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Early life and coaching career
Holtz was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, the son of Anne Marie (Tychonievich) and Andrew Holtz, a bus driver. His father was of German and Irish descent, while his maternal grandparents were emigrants from Chernobyl, Ukraine. He grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio, where he was raised as a Roman Catholic. He graduated from East Liverpool High School. After high school, Holtz attended Kent State University. He was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and graduated in 1959 with a degree in history. Holtz also trained under Kent State's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps and earned a commission as a Field Artillery Officer in the United States Army Reserve at the time of his graduation from college. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1960, at Iowa, where he received his master's degree. From there, he made stops as an assistant at William & Mary (1961–1963), Connecticut (1964–1965), South Carolina (1966–1967) and Ohio State (1968). The 1968 Ohio State Buckeyes football team won a national championship with Holtz as an assistant.
William & Mary
Holtz's first job as head coach came in 1969, at the College of William & Mary, who played in the Southern Conference at that time. In 1970, he led the William & Mary Indians (now Tribe) to the Southern Conference title and a berth in the Tangerine Bowl.
North Carolina State
In 1972, Holtz moved to North Carolina State University and had a 33–12–3 record in four seasons. His first three teams achieved final Top 20 rankings, including a final Top 10 finish in the 1974 Coaches Poll. His 1973 team won the ACC Championship. His Wolfpack teams played in four bowl games, going 2–1–1. Holtz received offers to become the Tulane head coach. He at first accepted the offer from David Dixon, the New Orleans Saints founder, then Holtz called Dixon saying he wouldn't come to Tulane. Following the 1975 season, Holtz accepted an offer to leave college football and become the head coach of the NFL's New York Jets.
New York Jets
Holtz's lone foray into the professional ranks began when he was appointed as head coach of the New York Jets on February 10, 1976. He was selected over Johnny Majors, Darryl Rogers, and Marv Levy. Holtz resigned ten months later on December 9 with the Jets at 3–10 and one game remaining in the 1976 season. Upon his departure, he lamented, "God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros." Holtz's jump to the NFL as head coach for only thirteen games with a 3–10 record before returning to the college game with Arkansas would be duplicated eerily similarly by Bobby Petrino 31 years later in 2007; another 14 years after, his run would be matched in terms of length and broken in terms of record by Urban Meyer, fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars with a 2–11 record in 2021.
Arkansas
Holtz went to the University of Arkansas in 1977. In his seven years there, the Razorbacks compiled a 60–21–2 record and reached six bowl games. In his first season at Arkansas, he led them to a berth in the 1978 Orange Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners, then coached by University of Arkansas alumnus Barry Switzer. The Sooners were in position to win their third national championship in four seasons after top-ranked Texas lost earlier in the day to fifth-ranked Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Arkansas' chances looked slim after the team lost several key personnel just before the game. In one of his last practices, All-American guard, Leotis Harris suffered a season-ending injury, and only a couple of days later Holtz suspended both starting running backs, Ben Cowins and Michael Forrest, and top receiver, Donny Bobo, for disciplinary reasons. However, behind an Orange Bowl record of 205 yards rushing from reserve running back Roland Sales the Hogs defeated the Sooners, 31–6. That team was recognized by the Rothman (FACT) poll as co-national champions, along with Texas and Notre Dame for 1977. Holtz was widely considered to be the leading candidate to replace Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1979, but Holtz did not pursue the job because he did not want to follow Hayes.
Holtz led Arkansas to a 10–2 record in 1979 and a share of the SWC championship, and a 9-2-1 record in 1982 with a Bluebonnet Bowl victory over Florida. Holtz was then dismissed following a 6–5 campaign in 1983. At the time, athletic director Frank Broyles stated that Holtz had resigned because he was "tired and burned out", and was not fired. Broyles testified 20 years later that he had fired Holtz because he was losing the fan base with things he said and did. Holtz confirmed that he had been fired, but that Broyles never gave him a reason, although reports cited his political involvement as a major reason: controversy arose over his having taped two television advertisements from his coach's office endorsing the re-election of Jesse Helms as Senator from North Carolina at a time when Helms was leading the effort to block Martin Luther King Day from becoming a national holiday.
Minnesota
Holtz accepted the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota before the 1984 season. The Golden Gophers had only won one game vs. Rice in 1983, but under Holtz won 4 games, including 3 in the Big Ten. In 1985 the team was 7-5 and were invited to the Independence Bowl, where they defeated Clemson, 20–13. Holtz did not coach the Gophers in that bowl game, as he had already accepted the head coaching position at Notre Dame. His contract purportedly included a "Notre Dame clause" that allowed him to leave if that coaching job were to become available.
This later proved to be false, as most standard contracts do not include a "Notre Dame" clause.
Holtz's tenure at Minnesota was not without controversy. Just prior to the 1991 Orange Bowl, the NCAA implicated the Holtz-era Golden Gophers for recruiting violations. Sanctions handed down in March 1991 included a bowl ban in 1992 for the Golden Gophers and "two more years ... [of] continued probation".
Notre Dame
In 1986, Holtz left Minnesota to take over the then-struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program. A taskmaster and strict disciplinarian, Holtz had the names removed from the backs of the players' jerseys when he took over at Notre Dame, wanting to emphasize team effort. With the exception of select bowl games, names have not been included on Notre Dame's jerseys since. Although his 1986 squad posted an identical 5–6 mark that the 1985 edition had, five of their six losses were by a combined total of 14 points. In the season finale against the archrival USC Trojans, Notre Dame overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit and pulled out a 38–37 win.
In his second season, Holtz led the Fighting Irish to an appearance in the 1988 Cotton Bowl Classic, where the Irish lost to the Texas A&M Aggies, 35–10. The following year, Notre Dame won all eleven of their regular season games and defeated the third-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers, 34–21, in the Fiesta Bowl, claiming the national championship. The 1989 squad also won their first eleven games (and in the process set a school record with a 23-game winning streak) and remained in the No. 1 spot all season until losing to Miami in the season finale. A 21–6 win over Colorado in the Orange Bowl gave the Irish a second-place ranking in the final standings, as well as back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time in school history.
Holtz's 1993 Irish team ended the season with an 11–1 record and ranked second in the final AP poll. Although the Florida State Seminoles were defeated by the Irish in a battle of unbeatens during the regular season and both teams had only 1 loss at season's end (Notre Dame lost to seventeenth-ranked Boston College), FSU was then voted national champion in the final 1993 AP and Coaches Poll. Between 1988 and 1993, Holtz's teams posted an overall 64–9–1 record. He also took the Irish to bowl games for nine consecutive seasons, still a Notre Dame record.
Following an investigation in 1999, the NCAA placed Notre Dame on two years probation for extra benefits provided to football players between 1993 and 1999 by Kim Dunbar, a South Bend bookkeeper involved in a $1.4 million embezzlement scheme at her employer, as well as one instance of academic fraud that occurred under Holtz's successor, Bob Davie. The NCAA found that Holtz and members of his staff learned of the violations but failed to make appropriate inquiry or to take prompt action, finding Holtz's efforts "inadequate."
On September 13, 2008, Lou Holtz was invited back to the campus where a statue of the former coach was unveiled. The ceremony took place during the weekend of the Notre Dame/Michigan game, almost twenty-two years to the day after Holtz coached his first Notre Dame team against the Wolverines.
Occasionally, despite his lack of success with the New York Jets, he was rumored to be leaving Notre Dame for the NFL. Following a 6–10 season in 1990 and an 8-8 showing in 1991, the Minnesota Vikings were rumored to replace Jerry Burns with Holtz. However, Holtz denied these rumors each of those two seasons. Holtz remained at Notre Dame; the Vikings, meanwhile, hired Dennis Green to replace the retired Jerry Burns. Ironically, as shown below, Holtz nearly replaced Green five years later.
First retirement
Lou Holtz left Notre Dame after the 1996 season and walked away from a lifetime contract for undisclosed reasons. In 1996, two members of the Minnesota Vikings's ownership board, Wheelock Whitney and Jaye Dyer, reportedly contacted Holtz. They wanted to bring him in to replace Dennis Green. Of the rumors surrounding the reasons for Holtz's retirement, one of them was the possible Vikings head coaching position.
South Carolina
After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1–10, and the team subsequently went 0–11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8–4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9–3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17–7 overall and 10–6 in SEC play.
After consecutive 5–7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6–5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2–4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004.
In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal.".
Second retirement
On November 18, 2004, Holtz announced that he would retire at the end of the season. On November 20, 2004, the Clemson – South Carolina brawl took place during Holtz's last regular season game. Instead of ending his career at a post-season bowl game, which was expected, the two universities announced that each would penalize their respective football programs for their unsportsmanlike conduct by declining any bowl game invitations. At his last press conference as South Carolina's coach, Holtz said it was ironic that he and former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes both would be remembered for "getting into a fight at the Clemson game". Holtz also alluded to his assistance in recruiting his successor, Steve Spurrier.
Books
Holtz has written or contributed to 10 books:
Holtz, Lou (2019). Three Rules for Living a Good Life: A Game Plan for After Graduation. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press. .
Broadcasting career
Holtz has worked for CBS Sports as a college football analyst and in the same capacity for the cable network ESPN. He worked on the secondary studio team, located in Bristol as opposed to the game site. He typically appeared on pregame, halftime, and postgame shows of college football games. In addition, he appeared on College Football Scoreboard, College Football Final, College Football Live, SportsCenter, and the occasional game. He is known for his distinctive voice, where he hisses and gurgles his words through loose dentures. He typically partnered with Rece Davis and Mark May. Holtz came under scrutiny after referencing Adolf Hitler in an on-air comment while appearing on College Football Live in 2008. In his analysis of Michigan Wolverines head coach Rich Rodriguez, Holtz stated sarcastically, "Ya know, Hitler was a great leader, too." The next day, Holtz apologized for the comment during halftime of a game between Clemson and Georgia Tech. On April 12, 2015, it was reported by SB Nation that Holtz was leaving ESPN.
Personal life
Holtz was married to Beth Barcus from July 22, 1961, until her death from cancer on June 30, 2020. Holtz currently resides in Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida. He and Beth had four children, three of whom are Notre Dame graduates. His cousins Ashton and Kerosene Holtz both played football in Fort Scott, Kansas, as a linebacker and defensive end. Holtz is on the Catholic Advisory Board of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds, and gives motivational speeches. Coach Holtz is a member at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. On June 23, 2015, Holtz's Lake Nona home was damaged by a house fire that was most likely triggered by a lightning strike.
Political views
Holtz has long been active in Republican Party politics, including his support for Helms, hosting former Vice President Dan Quayle in a 1999 fundraising tour, speaking at a 2007 House Republicans strategy meeting and considering entering the Republican primary for a Congressional seat in Florida in 2009. However, he also made a contribution of $2,300 to the campaign of Democratic Party Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008. He often appears on Hannity on the Fox News Channel. In 2016, Holtz endorsed Donald Trump for president.
On August 26, 2020, Holtz spoke at the Republican National Convention endorsing Donald Trump for re-election.
During his address at the 2020 Republican National Convention, Holtz said that Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden was "a Catholic in name only." The University of Notre Dame also released a statement the following day to distance itself from Holtz's comment regarding Biden.
Holtz has been vocal about his disapproval of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee before NFL games and NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell allowing players to do so. Holtz told Scoop B Radio's Brandon Scoop B Robinson that players should go to inner city neighborhoods and be influential in their community, rather than kneeling.
Popular culture
Holtz appeared as himself in a Discover Card commercial in November 2011.
Honors
In 1990, Holtz received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Notre Dame on May 22, 2011. On April 19, 2012, Holtz was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. Holtz was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Education from the University of South Carolina on December 17, 2012. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor in Public Service from Trine University and elected to the board of trustees in 2011. Trine also honored Holtz in 2013 by naming a program the Lou Holtz Master of Science in Leadership Program. He was also awarded an honorary Doctorate in Communications from Franciscan University of Steubenville on May 9, 2015, and delivered a popular commencement address. Holtz was elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, and the Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame in 1998. On December 3, 2020, Holtz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.
Head coaching record
College
Source:
NFL
Coaching tree
Assistant coaches under Holtz who became college or professional head coaches:
Mike Holovak: New York Jets (1976)
Bo Rein: NC State (1976–1979)
Walt Michaels: New York Jets (1977–1982), New Jersey Generals (1984–1985)
Monte Kiffin: NC State (1980–1982)
Harold Horton: Central Arkansas (1982–1989)
Bob Cope: Pacific (CA) (1983–1988)
John Gutekunst: Minnesota (1985–1991)
Jim Strong: UNLV Rebels (1990–1993)
Barry Alvarez: Wisconsin (1990–2005)
Houston Nutt: Murray State (1993–1996), Boise State (1997), Arkansas (1998–2007), Ole Miss (2008–2011)
Jeff Horton: Nevada (1993), UNLV (1994–1998), Minnesota (2010)
Pete Carroll: New York Jets (1994), New England Patriots (1997–1999), USC (2000–2009), Seattle Seahawks (2010–present)
Rick Minter: Cincinnati (1994–2003)
Skip Holtz: Connecticut (1994–1998), East Carolina (2005–2009), South Florida (2010–2012), Louisiana Tech (2013–2021)
Fred von Appen: Hawaii (1996–1998)
Bob Davie: Notre Dame (1997–2001), New Mexico (2012–2019)
Jerry Partridge: Missouri Western (1997–2016)
Dave Roberts: Baylor (1997–1998)
Dean Pees: Kent State (1998–2003)
Urban Meyer: Bowling Green (2001–2002), Utah (2003–2004), Florida (2005–2010), Ohio State (2012–2018), Jacksonville Jaguars (2021)
Oliver Pough: South Carolina State (2002–present)
John Thompson: East Carolina (2003–2004)
Rick Stockstill: Middle Tennessee (2006–present)
Joker Phillips: Kentucky (2010–2012)
Charlie Strong: Louisville (2010–2013), Texas (2014–2016), South Florida (2017–2019)
See also
List of college football coaches with 200 wins
List of National Football League head coaches
Notes
References
External links
The Lou Holtz/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame
1937 births
Living people
American football linebackers
Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches
Iowa Hawkeyes football coaches
Kent State Golden Flashes football players
Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches
NC State Wolfpack football coaches
New York Jets head coaches
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches
Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches
South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches
UConn Huskies football coaches
William & Mary Tribe football coaches
College football announcers
National Football League announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Florida Republicans
United States Army officers
People from East Liverpool, Ohio
People from Follansbee, West Virginia
Coaches of American football from Ohio
Players of American football from Ohio
Catholics from Ohio | false | [
"Csaba Konkoly (; born 6 September 1970) is a Hungarian handball coach and the current head coach of handball club Gyöngyösi KK.\n\nKonkoly took his first head coach position in 2007, when he replaced Kálmán Róth on the bench of Győri ETO KC. Konkoly remained in Győr until 2011, during which period the team won 4 Hungarian championship and 4 Hungarian cup titles, and reached the final of the EHF Champions League (2009).\n\nHe was fired in November 2011 but did not remain without work for long, being approached by the Hungarian women's handball team Fehérvár KC in January 2012 and eventually signed to the club a month later, replacing Attila Mihály on the bench. At the end of the season he returned to Győr, this time as youth coach.\n\nHe left Győr in 2013 and since then has been the coach of Váci NKSE and TuS Metzingen. He took over the head coach position of Gyöngyösi KK in 2017.\n\nHonors\nNemzeti Bajnokság I:\nWinner: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011\nMagyar Kupa:\nWinner: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011\nWomen's EHF Champions League:\nFinalist: 2009\nSemifinalist: 2008, 2010, 2011 \n I. BUNDESLIGA WOMEN 2.PLACE TUS METZINGEN 2015\n I. BUNDESLIGA WOMEN 3.PLACE TUS METZINGEN 2016\n EHF CUP WOMEN'S : FINALIST 2015\n EHF CUP WOMEN'S : SEMIFINAL 2016\n\nReferences\n\n1970 births\nLiving people\nHungarian handball coaches",
"Dawid Husselman, better known as Hakkies Husselman (born 3 November 1972), is a Namibian rugby union former international player and a current coach. He played as a scrum-half.\n\nCareer\n\nPlayer\nHe played for Western Province in South Africa. His first match for Namibia was at 3 July 1993, with AGRU, in a 64-20 win.\n\nHusselman was present at the 2003 Rugby World Cup finals, playing three games. He had 10 caps for his country, with 4 tries scored, 20 points in aggregate.\n\nCoach\nHe latter became a coach, and was nominated coach of Namibia at 27 June 2007, for the 2007 Rugby World Cup finals. Namibia lost all four games, but did a convincing performance at the 17-32 loss to Ireland. He applied to remain in office after the World Cup but was dismissed.\n\nNotes\n\n1972 births\nLiving people\nWhite Namibian people\nNamibian rugby union players\nNamibian rugby union coaches\nRugby union scrum-halves\nNamibian expatriate rugby union players\nExpatriate rugby union players in South Africa\nNamibian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa\nNamibia international rugby union players"
]
|
[
"Lou Holtz",
"South Carolina",
"When did he start coaching South Carolina?",
"Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina,",
"What did he do for the program?",
"The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000",
"How long did he remain their coach?",
"Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2-4 record versus his former team, Arkansas,"
]
| C_2ecb72d2c387413fb33a1bd61304f930_0 | Where did he go after South Carolina? | 4 | Where did Lou Holtz go after South Carolina? | Lou Holtz | After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1-10, and the team subsequently went 0-11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8-4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9-3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17-7 overall and 10-6 in SEC play. After consecutive 5-7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6-5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2-4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004. In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal." CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is a former American football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York Jets (1976), the University of Arkansas (1977–1983), the University of Minnesota (1984–1985), the University of Notre Dame (1986–1996), and the University of South Carolina (1999–2004), compiling a career record of 249–132–7. Holtz's 1988 Notre Dame team went 12–0 with a victory in the Fiesta Bowl and was the consensus national champion. Holtz is the only college football coach to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 20 rankings.
In 2005, Holtz joined ESPN as a college football analyst. On May 1, 2008, Holtz was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Early life and coaching career
Holtz was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, the son of Anne Marie (Tychonievich) and Andrew Holtz, a bus driver. His father was of German and Irish descent, while his maternal grandparents were emigrants from Chernobyl, Ukraine. He grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio, where he was raised as a Roman Catholic. He graduated from East Liverpool High School. After high school, Holtz attended Kent State University. He was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and graduated in 1959 with a degree in history. Holtz also trained under Kent State's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps and earned a commission as a Field Artillery Officer in the United States Army Reserve at the time of his graduation from college. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1960, at Iowa, where he received his master's degree. From there, he made stops as an assistant at William & Mary (1961–1963), Connecticut (1964–1965), South Carolina (1966–1967) and Ohio State (1968). The 1968 Ohio State Buckeyes football team won a national championship with Holtz as an assistant.
William & Mary
Holtz's first job as head coach came in 1969, at the College of William & Mary, who played in the Southern Conference at that time. In 1970, he led the William & Mary Indians (now Tribe) to the Southern Conference title and a berth in the Tangerine Bowl.
North Carolina State
In 1972, Holtz moved to North Carolina State University and had a 33–12–3 record in four seasons. His first three teams achieved final Top 20 rankings, including a final Top 10 finish in the 1974 Coaches Poll. His 1973 team won the ACC Championship. His Wolfpack teams played in four bowl games, going 2–1–1. Holtz received offers to become the Tulane head coach. He at first accepted the offer from David Dixon, the New Orleans Saints founder, then Holtz called Dixon saying he wouldn't come to Tulane. Following the 1975 season, Holtz accepted an offer to leave college football and become the head coach of the NFL's New York Jets.
New York Jets
Holtz's lone foray into the professional ranks began when he was appointed as head coach of the New York Jets on February 10, 1976. He was selected over Johnny Majors, Darryl Rogers, and Marv Levy. Holtz resigned ten months later on December 9 with the Jets at 3–10 and one game remaining in the 1976 season. Upon his departure, he lamented, "God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros." Holtz's jump to the NFL as head coach for only thirteen games with a 3–10 record before returning to the college game with Arkansas would be duplicated eerily similarly by Bobby Petrino 31 years later in 2007; another 14 years after, his run would be matched in terms of length and broken in terms of record by Urban Meyer, fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars with a 2–11 record in 2021.
Arkansas
Holtz went to the University of Arkansas in 1977. In his seven years there, the Razorbacks compiled a 60–21–2 record and reached six bowl games. In his first season at Arkansas, he led them to a berth in the 1978 Orange Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners, then coached by University of Arkansas alumnus Barry Switzer. The Sooners were in position to win their third national championship in four seasons after top-ranked Texas lost earlier in the day to fifth-ranked Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Arkansas' chances looked slim after the team lost several key personnel just before the game. In one of his last practices, All-American guard, Leotis Harris suffered a season-ending injury, and only a couple of days later Holtz suspended both starting running backs, Ben Cowins and Michael Forrest, and top receiver, Donny Bobo, for disciplinary reasons. However, behind an Orange Bowl record of 205 yards rushing from reserve running back Roland Sales the Hogs defeated the Sooners, 31–6. That team was recognized by the Rothman (FACT) poll as co-national champions, along with Texas and Notre Dame for 1977. Holtz was widely considered to be the leading candidate to replace Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1979, but Holtz did not pursue the job because he did not want to follow Hayes.
Holtz led Arkansas to a 10–2 record in 1979 and a share of the SWC championship, and a 9-2-1 record in 1982 with a Bluebonnet Bowl victory over Florida. Holtz was then dismissed following a 6–5 campaign in 1983. At the time, athletic director Frank Broyles stated that Holtz had resigned because he was "tired and burned out", and was not fired. Broyles testified 20 years later that he had fired Holtz because he was losing the fan base with things he said and did. Holtz confirmed that he had been fired, but that Broyles never gave him a reason, although reports cited his political involvement as a major reason: controversy arose over his having taped two television advertisements from his coach's office endorsing the re-election of Jesse Helms as Senator from North Carolina at a time when Helms was leading the effort to block Martin Luther King Day from becoming a national holiday.
Minnesota
Holtz accepted the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota before the 1984 season. The Golden Gophers had only won one game vs. Rice in 1983, but under Holtz won 4 games, including 3 in the Big Ten. In 1985 the team was 7-5 and were invited to the Independence Bowl, where they defeated Clemson, 20–13. Holtz did not coach the Gophers in that bowl game, as he had already accepted the head coaching position at Notre Dame. His contract purportedly included a "Notre Dame clause" that allowed him to leave if that coaching job were to become available.
This later proved to be false, as most standard contracts do not include a "Notre Dame" clause.
Holtz's tenure at Minnesota was not without controversy. Just prior to the 1991 Orange Bowl, the NCAA implicated the Holtz-era Golden Gophers for recruiting violations. Sanctions handed down in March 1991 included a bowl ban in 1992 for the Golden Gophers and "two more years ... [of] continued probation".
Notre Dame
In 1986, Holtz left Minnesota to take over the then-struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program. A taskmaster and strict disciplinarian, Holtz had the names removed from the backs of the players' jerseys when he took over at Notre Dame, wanting to emphasize team effort. With the exception of select bowl games, names have not been included on Notre Dame's jerseys since. Although his 1986 squad posted an identical 5–6 mark that the 1985 edition had, five of their six losses were by a combined total of 14 points. In the season finale against the archrival USC Trojans, Notre Dame overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit and pulled out a 38–37 win.
In his second season, Holtz led the Fighting Irish to an appearance in the 1988 Cotton Bowl Classic, where the Irish lost to the Texas A&M Aggies, 35–10. The following year, Notre Dame won all eleven of their regular season games and defeated the third-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers, 34–21, in the Fiesta Bowl, claiming the national championship. The 1989 squad also won their first eleven games (and in the process set a school record with a 23-game winning streak) and remained in the No. 1 spot all season until losing to Miami in the season finale. A 21–6 win over Colorado in the Orange Bowl gave the Irish a second-place ranking in the final standings, as well as back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time in school history.
Holtz's 1993 Irish team ended the season with an 11–1 record and ranked second in the final AP poll. Although the Florida State Seminoles were defeated by the Irish in a battle of unbeatens during the regular season and both teams had only 1 loss at season's end (Notre Dame lost to seventeenth-ranked Boston College), FSU was then voted national champion in the final 1993 AP and Coaches Poll. Between 1988 and 1993, Holtz's teams posted an overall 64–9–1 record. He also took the Irish to bowl games for nine consecutive seasons, still a Notre Dame record.
Following an investigation in 1999, the NCAA placed Notre Dame on two years probation for extra benefits provided to football players between 1993 and 1999 by Kim Dunbar, a South Bend bookkeeper involved in a $1.4 million embezzlement scheme at her employer, as well as one instance of academic fraud that occurred under Holtz's successor, Bob Davie. The NCAA found that Holtz and members of his staff learned of the violations but failed to make appropriate inquiry or to take prompt action, finding Holtz's efforts "inadequate."
On September 13, 2008, Lou Holtz was invited back to the campus where a statue of the former coach was unveiled. The ceremony took place during the weekend of the Notre Dame/Michigan game, almost twenty-two years to the day after Holtz coached his first Notre Dame team against the Wolverines.
Occasionally, despite his lack of success with the New York Jets, he was rumored to be leaving Notre Dame for the NFL. Following a 6–10 season in 1990 and an 8-8 showing in 1991, the Minnesota Vikings were rumored to replace Jerry Burns with Holtz. However, Holtz denied these rumors each of those two seasons. Holtz remained at Notre Dame; the Vikings, meanwhile, hired Dennis Green to replace the retired Jerry Burns. Ironically, as shown below, Holtz nearly replaced Green five years later.
First retirement
Lou Holtz left Notre Dame after the 1996 season and walked away from a lifetime contract for undisclosed reasons. In 1996, two members of the Minnesota Vikings's ownership board, Wheelock Whitney and Jaye Dyer, reportedly contacted Holtz. They wanted to bring him in to replace Dennis Green. Of the rumors surrounding the reasons for Holtz's retirement, one of them was the possible Vikings head coaching position.
South Carolina
After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1–10, and the team subsequently went 0–11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8–4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9–3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17–7 overall and 10–6 in SEC play.
After consecutive 5–7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6–5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2–4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004.
In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal.".
Second retirement
On November 18, 2004, Holtz announced that he would retire at the end of the season. On November 20, 2004, the Clemson – South Carolina brawl took place during Holtz's last regular season game. Instead of ending his career at a post-season bowl game, which was expected, the two universities announced that each would penalize their respective football programs for their unsportsmanlike conduct by declining any bowl game invitations. At his last press conference as South Carolina's coach, Holtz said it was ironic that he and former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes both would be remembered for "getting into a fight at the Clemson game". Holtz also alluded to his assistance in recruiting his successor, Steve Spurrier.
Books
Holtz has written or contributed to 10 books:
Holtz, Lou (2019). Three Rules for Living a Good Life: A Game Plan for After Graduation. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press. .
Broadcasting career
Holtz has worked for CBS Sports as a college football analyst and in the same capacity for the cable network ESPN. He worked on the secondary studio team, located in Bristol as opposed to the game site. He typically appeared on pregame, halftime, and postgame shows of college football games. In addition, he appeared on College Football Scoreboard, College Football Final, College Football Live, SportsCenter, and the occasional game. He is known for his distinctive voice, where he hisses and gurgles his words through loose dentures. He typically partnered with Rece Davis and Mark May. Holtz came under scrutiny after referencing Adolf Hitler in an on-air comment while appearing on College Football Live in 2008. In his analysis of Michigan Wolverines head coach Rich Rodriguez, Holtz stated sarcastically, "Ya know, Hitler was a great leader, too." The next day, Holtz apologized for the comment during halftime of a game between Clemson and Georgia Tech. On April 12, 2015, it was reported by SB Nation that Holtz was leaving ESPN.
Personal life
Holtz was married to Beth Barcus from July 22, 1961, until her death from cancer on June 30, 2020. Holtz currently resides in Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida. He and Beth had four children, three of whom are Notre Dame graduates. His cousins Ashton and Kerosene Holtz both played football in Fort Scott, Kansas, as a linebacker and defensive end. Holtz is on the Catholic Advisory Board of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds, and gives motivational speeches. Coach Holtz is a member at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. On June 23, 2015, Holtz's Lake Nona home was damaged by a house fire that was most likely triggered by a lightning strike.
Political views
Holtz has long been active in Republican Party politics, including his support for Helms, hosting former Vice President Dan Quayle in a 1999 fundraising tour, speaking at a 2007 House Republicans strategy meeting and considering entering the Republican primary for a Congressional seat in Florida in 2009. However, he also made a contribution of $2,300 to the campaign of Democratic Party Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008. He often appears on Hannity on the Fox News Channel. In 2016, Holtz endorsed Donald Trump for president.
On August 26, 2020, Holtz spoke at the Republican National Convention endorsing Donald Trump for re-election.
During his address at the 2020 Republican National Convention, Holtz said that Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden was "a Catholic in name only." The University of Notre Dame also released a statement the following day to distance itself from Holtz's comment regarding Biden.
Holtz has been vocal about his disapproval of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee before NFL games and NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell allowing players to do so. Holtz told Scoop B Radio's Brandon Scoop B Robinson that players should go to inner city neighborhoods and be influential in their community, rather than kneeling.
Popular culture
Holtz appeared as himself in a Discover Card commercial in November 2011.
Honors
In 1990, Holtz received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Notre Dame on May 22, 2011. On April 19, 2012, Holtz was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. Holtz was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Education from the University of South Carolina on December 17, 2012. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor in Public Service from Trine University and elected to the board of trustees in 2011. Trine also honored Holtz in 2013 by naming a program the Lou Holtz Master of Science in Leadership Program. He was also awarded an honorary Doctorate in Communications from Franciscan University of Steubenville on May 9, 2015, and delivered a popular commencement address. Holtz was elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, and the Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame in 1998. On December 3, 2020, Holtz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.
Head coaching record
College
Source:
NFL
Coaching tree
Assistant coaches under Holtz who became college or professional head coaches:
Mike Holovak: New York Jets (1976)
Bo Rein: NC State (1976–1979)
Walt Michaels: New York Jets (1977–1982), New Jersey Generals (1984–1985)
Monte Kiffin: NC State (1980–1982)
Harold Horton: Central Arkansas (1982–1989)
Bob Cope: Pacific (CA) (1983–1988)
John Gutekunst: Minnesota (1985–1991)
Jim Strong: UNLV Rebels (1990–1993)
Barry Alvarez: Wisconsin (1990–2005)
Houston Nutt: Murray State (1993–1996), Boise State (1997), Arkansas (1998–2007), Ole Miss (2008–2011)
Jeff Horton: Nevada (1993), UNLV (1994–1998), Minnesota (2010)
Pete Carroll: New York Jets (1994), New England Patriots (1997–1999), USC (2000–2009), Seattle Seahawks (2010–present)
Rick Minter: Cincinnati (1994–2003)
Skip Holtz: Connecticut (1994–1998), East Carolina (2005–2009), South Florida (2010–2012), Louisiana Tech (2013–2021)
Fred von Appen: Hawaii (1996–1998)
Bob Davie: Notre Dame (1997–2001), New Mexico (2012–2019)
Jerry Partridge: Missouri Western (1997–2016)
Dave Roberts: Baylor (1997–1998)
Dean Pees: Kent State (1998–2003)
Urban Meyer: Bowling Green (2001–2002), Utah (2003–2004), Florida (2005–2010), Ohio State (2012–2018), Jacksonville Jaguars (2021)
Oliver Pough: South Carolina State (2002–present)
John Thompson: East Carolina (2003–2004)
Rick Stockstill: Middle Tennessee (2006–present)
Joker Phillips: Kentucky (2010–2012)
Charlie Strong: Louisville (2010–2013), Texas (2014–2016), South Florida (2017–2019)
See also
List of college football coaches with 200 wins
List of National Football League head coaches
Notes
References
External links
The Lou Holtz/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame
1937 births
Living people
American football linebackers
Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches
Iowa Hawkeyes football coaches
Kent State Golden Flashes football players
Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches
NC State Wolfpack football coaches
New York Jets head coaches
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches
Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches
South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches
UConn Huskies football coaches
William & Mary Tribe football coaches
College football announcers
National Football League announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Florida Republicans
United States Army officers
People from East Liverpool, Ohio
People from Follansbee, West Virginia
Coaches of American football from Ohio
Players of American football from Ohio
Catholics from Ohio | false | [
"Milledge Lipscomb Bonham was a chief justice on the South Carolina Supreme Court. On October 16, 1854, he was born to Milledge Luke Bonham and Ann Patience Griffin. From 1863 to 1864, Bonham was educated at Sachlaben's Academy, Edgefield Academy between 1866 and 1872, and Carolina Military Institute (Charlotte) from 1875 to 1876. He was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1877 following his tutoring of the law under Colonel Robert Aldrich. He married Daisy Aldrich on October 24, 1878, with whom he had three children. After Daisy died, Bonham remarried to Dr. Lillian L. Carter on March 2, 1925.\n\nBonham commenced his career editing newspapers. He aided in the establishment of the Ninety Six Guardian and subsequently relocated to Newberry, South Carolina, where he became the Newberry News' editor. Only afterwards did he relocate to Abbeville, South Carolina, where he began practicing law.\n\nOn February 1, 1924, Bonham was made a state trial court judge; an associate justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court on February 17, 1931; and chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court on January 10, 1940.\n\nHe was a hereditary member of the Aztec Club of 1847.\n\nChief Justice Bonham died on June 23, 1943, in Anderson, South Carolina, and is buried at the Silver Brook Cemetery there.\n\nReferences\n\nJustices of the South Carolina Supreme Court\nChief Justices of the South Carolina Supreme Court\n1854 births\n1943 deaths\nPeople from Edgefield, South Carolina\nPeople from Newberry, South Carolina\nPeople from Abbeville, South Carolina",
"Austin Steed, Jr. is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball at the University of South Carolina up until his junior year, when he transferred to East Carolina University following the 2010 fall semester.\n\nHigh school career \nAfter playing for the South Carolina Amateur Athletic Union team in Columbia, South Carolina, Steed attended George P. Butler Comprehensive High School, where he averaged 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists per game in his sophomore season. His exceptional play continued on to his junior year at Butler High School, averaging 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists per game by the end of the season. After already being named the team MVP as a sophomore, Steed was considered one of the best high school athletes in Georgia. He was named all-conference, all-regional, and eventually all-state, ultimately winning the award for Georgia Athletic Coaches Association (GACA) Player of the Year. This was his reward for averaging a stunning nineteen points, seven rebounds, and five assists during his final season.\n\nBefore going to college, Steed represented Fork Union Military Academy, where he played basketball under head coach Fletcher Arritt. There, he finished the season averaging 12.0 points and 7.5 rebounds.\n\nAustin Steed chose to play for the South Carolina Gamecocks over other possibilities such as Georgia and Tennessee Volunteers.\n\nCollege career\n\nSouth Carolina \nIn his freshman season with the South Carolina Gamecocks, Austin Steed did not find that he fitted in a team that was based, statistically, on Cincinnati Bearcats transfer Devan Downey. As the Gamecocks finished the season with a disappointing 14-18 record, 10th place in the Southeastern Conference, Steed averaged just 2.0 points and 2.0 rebounds, in only six games played.\n\nAlthough Devan Downey continued to lead the team in scoring for Austin Steed's sophomore season, the Gamecocks finished the regular season with a winning record of 21-10. Steed played his first full regular season of 31 games, averaging 3.9 points and 3.6 rebounds.\n\nBy the end of Austin Steed's junior season, four players were averaging double digits, which gave him less opportunities to familiarize his name. Downey, who was in his final season at college was averaging over 20 points, also leading the team in minutes, steals, and assists. Steed, on the other hand, was averaging below 3.0 points even though he had the opportunity to play thirty games. However, against #1 Kentucky, Austin Steed made a game-saving block with only a few minutes left to go in the second half, helping the Gamecocks win the game Even after this, South Carolina finished the season with a 15-16 record.\n\nSoon after the season came to a close, Austin Steed made the decision to transfer from the University of South Carolina to East Carolina University. He earned an undergraduate degree in retail after three and a half years in South Carolina. According to De Pierce, who ran the South Carolina Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team Steed played for, \"Austin loves being a Gamecock and wants a degree from the University of South Carolina.\" Austin Steed did not play basketball in the 2010-11 season due to ineligibility issues.\n\nEast Carolina \nWith East Carolina, Steed did not see major changes in play time himself. His team finished the season with a 15-16 record in a less competitive Conference USA. He was the 8th leading scorer by the end of his senior year, finishing with a career-high scoring, rebounding, and assisting average.\n\nProfessional career \nAustin Steed went undrafted in the 2012 NBA Draft, making him an unrestricted free agent. He soon signed with the German basketball club, Citybasket Recklinghausen of the ProB, making his career debut against the BSW Sixers, where he scored 12 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.\n\nAfter signing with Bærum Basket of the Norwegian BLNO for the 2013–14 season, Steed made his debut against Froya Basket, where he scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. He scored a career-high 25 points and 17 rebounds against Asker Aliens, a game in which Bærum emerged victorious with a score of 75-67.\n\nOn January 12, 2016, Steed signed with Artland Dragons of the German ProB.\n\nReferences \n\n1988 births\nLiving people\nAmerican expatriate basketball people in Austria\nAmerican expatriate basketball people in Georgia (country)\nAmerican expatriate basketball people in Germany\nAmerican expatriate basketball people in Norway\nAmerican men's basketball players\nArtland Dragons players\nBasketball players from Georgia (U.S. state)\nCenters (basketball)\nEast Carolina Pirates men's basketball players\nPeople from Hephzibah, Georgia\nPower forwards (basketball)\nSouth Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball players\nSwans Gmunden players\nBærum Basket players"
]
|
[
"Lou Holtz",
"South Carolina",
"When did he start coaching South Carolina?",
"Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina,",
"What did he do for the program?",
"The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000",
"How long did he remain their coach?",
"Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2-4 record versus his former team, Arkansas,",
"Where did he go after South Carolina?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_2ecb72d2c387413fb33a1bd61304f930_0 | Why did he leave South Carolina? | 5 | Why did Lou Holtz leave South Carolina? | Lou Holtz | After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1-10, and the team subsequently went 0-11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8-4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9-3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17-7 overall and 10-6 in SEC play. After consecutive 5-7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6-5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2-4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004. In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal." CANNOTANSWER | In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, | Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is a former American football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York Jets (1976), the University of Arkansas (1977–1983), the University of Minnesota (1984–1985), the University of Notre Dame (1986–1996), and the University of South Carolina (1999–2004), compiling a career record of 249–132–7. Holtz's 1988 Notre Dame team went 12–0 with a victory in the Fiesta Bowl and was the consensus national champion. Holtz is the only college football coach to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 20 rankings.
In 2005, Holtz joined ESPN as a college football analyst. On May 1, 2008, Holtz was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Early life and coaching career
Holtz was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, the son of Anne Marie (Tychonievich) and Andrew Holtz, a bus driver. His father was of German and Irish descent, while his maternal grandparents were emigrants from Chernobyl, Ukraine. He grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio, where he was raised as a Roman Catholic. He graduated from East Liverpool High School. After high school, Holtz attended Kent State University. He was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and graduated in 1959 with a degree in history. Holtz also trained under Kent State's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps and earned a commission as a Field Artillery Officer in the United States Army Reserve at the time of his graduation from college. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1960, at Iowa, where he received his master's degree. From there, he made stops as an assistant at William & Mary (1961–1963), Connecticut (1964–1965), South Carolina (1966–1967) and Ohio State (1968). The 1968 Ohio State Buckeyes football team won a national championship with Holtz as an assistant.
William & Mary
Holtz's first job as head coach came in 1969, at the College of William & Mary, who played in the Southern Conference at that time. In 1970, he led the William & Mary Indians (now Tribe) to the Southern Conference title and a berth in the Tangerine Bowl.
North Carolina State
In 1972, Holtz moved to North Carolina State University and had a 33–12–3 record in four seasons. His first three teams achieved final Top 20 rankings, including a final Top 10 finish in the 1974 Coaches Poll. His 1973 team won the ACC Championship. His Wolfpack teams played in four bowl games, going 2–1–1. Holtz received offers to become the Tulane head coach. He at first accepted the offer from David Dixon, the New Orleans Saints founder, then Holtz called Dixon saying he wouldn't come to Tulane. Following the 1975 season, Holtz accepted an offer to leave college football and become the head coach of the NFL's New York Jets.
New York Jets
Holtz's lone foray into the professional ranks began when he was appointed as head coach of the New York Jets on February 10, 1976. He was selected over Johnny Majors, Darryl Rogers, and Marv Levy. Holtz resigned ten months later on December 9 with the Jets at 3–10 and one game remaining in the 1976 season. Upon his departure, he lamented, "God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros." Holtz's jump to the NFL as head coach for only thirteen games with a 3–10 record before returning to the college game with Arkansas would be duplicated eerily similarly by Bobby Petrino 31 years later in 2007; another 14 years after, his run would be matched in terms of length and broken in terms of record by Urban Meyer, fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars with a 2–11 record in 2021.
Arkansas
Holtz went to the University of Arkansas in 1977. In his seven years there, the Razorbacks compiled a 60–21–2 record and reached six bowl games. In his first season at Arkansas, he led them to a berth in the 1978 Orange Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners, then coached by University of Arkansas alumnus Barry Switzer. The Sooners were in position to win their third national championship in four seasons after top-ranked Texas lost earlier in the day to fifth-ranked Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Arkansas' chances looked slim after the team lost several key personnel just before the game. In one of his last practices, All-American guard, Leotis Harris suffered a season-ending injury, and only a couple of days later Holtz suspended both starting running backs, Ben Cowins and Michael Forrest, and top receiver, Donny Bobo, for disciplinary reasons. However, behind an Orange Bowl record of 205 yards rushing from reserve running back Roland Sales the Hogs defeated the Sooners, 31–6. That team was recognized by the Rothman (FACT) poll as co-national champions, along with Texas and Notre Dame for 1977. Holtz was widely considered to be the leading candidate to replace Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1979, but Holtz did not pursue the job because he did not want to follow Hayes.
Holtz led Arkansas to a 10–2 record in 1979 and a share of the SWC championship, and a 9-2-1 record in 1982 with a Bluebonnet Bowl victory over Florida. Holtz was then dismissed following a 6–5 campaign in 1983. At the time, athletic director Frank Broyles stated that Holtz had resigned because he was "tired and burned out", and was not fired. Broyles testified 20 years later that he had fired Holtz because he was losing the fan base with things he said and did. Holtz confirmed that he had been fired, but that Broyles never gave him a reason, although reports cited his political involvement as a major reason: controversy arose over his having taped two television advertisements from his coach's office endorsing the re-election of Jesse Helms as Senator from North Carolina at a time when Helms was leading the effort to block Martin Luther King Day from becoming a national holiday.
Minnesota
Holtz accepted the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota before the 1984 season. The Golden Gophers had only won one game vs. Rice in 1983, but under Holtz won 4 games, including 3 in the Big Ten. In 1985 the team was 7-5 and were invited to the Independence Bowl, where they defeated Clemson, 20–13. Holtz did not coach the Gophers in that bowl game, as he had already accepted the head coaching position at Notre Dame. His contract purportedly included a "Notre Dame clause" that allowed him to leave if that coaching job were to become available.
This later proved to be false, as most standard contracts do not include a "Notre Dame" clause.
Holtz's tenure at Minnesota was not without controversy. Just prior to the 1991 Orange Bowl, the NCAA implicated the Holtz-era Golden Gophers for recruiting violations. Sanctions handed down in March 1991 included a bowl ban in 1992 for the Golden Gophers and "two more years ... [of] continued probation".
Notre Dame
In 1986, Holtz left Minnesota to take over the then-struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program. A taskmaster and strict disciplinarian, Holtz had the names removed from the backs of the players' jerseys when he took over at Notre Dame, wanting to emphasize team effort. With the exception of select bowl games, names have not been included on Notre Dame's jerseys since. Although his 1986 squad posted an identical 5–6 mark that the 1985 edition had, five of their six losses were by a combined total of 14 points. In the season finale against the archrival USC Trojans, Notre Dame overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit and pulled out a 38–37 win.
In his second season, Holtz led the Fighting Irish to an appearance in the 1988 Cotton Bowl Classic, where the Irish lost to the Texas A&M Aggies, 35–10. The following year, Notre Dame won all eleven of their regular season games and defeated the third-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers, 34–21, in the Fiesta Bowl, claiming the national championship. The 1989 squad also won their first eleven games (and in the process set a school record with a 23-game winning streak) and remained in the No. 1 spot all season until losing to Miami in the season finale. A 21–6 win over Colorado in the Orange Bowl gave the Irish a second-place ranking in the final standings, as well as back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time in school history.
Holtz's 1993 Irish team ended the season with an 11–1 record and ranked second in the final AP poll. Although the Florida State Seminoles were defeated by the Irish in a battle of unbeatens during the regular season and both teams had only 1 loss at season's end (Notre Dame lost to seventeenth-ranked Boston College), FSU was then voted national champion in the final 1993 AP and Coaches Poll. Between 1988 and 1993, Holtz's teams posted an overall 64–9–1 record. He also took the Irish to bowl games for nine consecutive seasons, still a Notre Dame record.
Following an investigation in 1999, the NCAA placed Notre Dame on two years probation for extra benefits provided to football players between 1993 and 1999 by Kim Dunbar, a South Bend bookkeeper involved in a $1.4 million embezzlement scheme at her employer, as well as one instance of academic fraud that occurred under Holtz's successor, Bob Davie. The NCAA found that Holtz and members of his staff learned of the violations but failed to make appropriate inquiry or to take prompt action, finding Holtz's efforts "inadequate."
On September 13, 2008, Lou Holtz was invited back to the campus where a statue of the former coach was unveiled. The ceremony took place during the weekend of the Notre Dame/Michigan game, almost twenty-two years to the day after Holtz coached his first Notre Dame team against the Wolverines.
Occasionally, despite his lack of success with the New York Jets, he was rumored to be leaving Notre Dame for the NFL. Following a 6–10 season in 1990 and an 8-8 showing in 1991, the Minnesota Vikings were rumored to replace Jerry Burns with Holtz. However, Holtz denied these rumors each of those two seasons. Holtz remained at Notre Dame; the Vikings, meanwhile, hired Dennis Green to replace the retired Jerry Burns. Ironically, as shown below, Holtz nearly replaced Green five years later.
First retirement
Lou Holtz left Notre Dame after the 1996 season and walked away from a lifetime contract for undisclosed reasons. In 1996, two members of the Minnesota Vikings's ownership board, Wheelock Whitney and Jaye Dyer, reportedly contacted Holtz. They wanted to bring him in to replace Dennis Green. Of the rumors surrounding the reasons for Holtz's retirement, one of them was the possible Vikings head coaching position.
South Carolina
After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1–10, and the team subsequently went 0–11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8–4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9–3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17–7 overall and 10–6 in SEC play.
After consecutive 5–7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6–5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2–4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004.
In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal.".
Second retirement
On November 18, 2004, Holtz announced that he would retire at the end of the season. On November 20, 2004, the Clemson – South Carolina brawl took place during Holtz's last regular season game. Instead of ending his career at a post-season bowl game, which was expected, the two universities announced that each would penalize their respective football programs for their unsportsmanlike conduct by declining any bowl game invitations. At his last press conference as South Carolina's coach, Holtz said it was ironic that he and former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes both would be remembered for "getting into a fight at the Clemson game". Holtz also alluded to his assistance in recruiting his successor, Steve Spurrier.
Books
Holtz has written or contributed to 10 books:
Holtz, Lou (2019). Three Rules for Living a Good Life: A Game Plan for After Graduation. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press. .
Broadcasting career
Holtz has worked for CBS Sports as a college football analyst and in the same capacity for the cable network ESPN. He worked on the secondary studio team, located in Bristol as opposed to the game site. He typically appeared on pregame, halftime, and postgame shows of college football games. In addition, he appeared on College Football Scoreboard, College Football Final, College Football Live, SportsCenter, and the occasional game. He is known for his distinctive voice, where he hisses and gurgles his words through loose dentures. He typically partnered with Rece Davis and Mark May. Holtz came under scrutiny after referencing Adolf Hitler in an on-air comment while appearing on College Football Live in 2008. In his analysis of Michigan Wolverines head coach Rich Rodriguez, Holtz stated sarcastically, "Ya know, Hitler was a great leader, too." The next day, Holtz apologized for the comment during halftime of a game between Clemson and Georgia Tech. On April 12, 2015, it was reported by SB Nation that Holtz was leaving ESPN.
Personal life
Holtz was married to Beth Barcus from July 22, 1961, until her death from cancer on June 30, 2020. Holtz currently resides in Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida. He and Beth had four children, three of whom are Notre Dame graduates. His cousins Ashton and Kerosene Holtz both played football in Fort Scott, Kansas, as a linebacker and defensive end. Holtz is on the Catholic Advisory Board of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds, and gives motivational speeches. Coach Holtz is a member at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. On June 23, 2015, Holtz's Lake Nona home was damaged by a house fire that was most likely triggered by a lightning strike.
Political views
Holtz has long been active in Republican Party politics, including his support for Helms, hosting former Vice President Dan Quayle in a 1999 fundraising tour, speaking at a 2007 House Republicans strategy meeting and considering entering the Republican primary for a Congressional seat in Florida in 2009. However, he also made a contribution of $2,300 to the campaign of Democratic Party Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008. He often appears on Hannity on the Fox News Channel. In 2016, Holtz endorsed Donald Trump for president.
On August 26, 2020, Holtz spoke at the Republican National Convention endorsing Donald Trump for re-election.
During his address at the 2020 Republican National Convention, Holtz said that Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden was "a Catholic in name only." The University of Notre Dame also released a statement the following day to distance itself from Holtz's comment regarding Biden.
Holtz has been vocal about his disapproval of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee before NFL games and NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell allowing players to do so. Holtz told Scoop B Radio's Brandon Scoop B Robinson that players should go to inner city neighborhoods and be influential in their community, rather than kneeling.
Popular culture
Holtz appeared as himself in a Discover Card commercial in November 2011.
Honors
In 1990, Holtz received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Notre Dame on May 22, 2011. On April 19, 2012, Holtz was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. Holtz was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Education from the University of South Carolina on December 17, 2012. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor in Public Service from Trine University and elected to the board of trustees in 2011. Trine also honored Holtz in 2013 by naming a program the Lou Holtz Master of Science in Leadership Program. He was also awarded an honorary Doctorate in Communications from Franciscan University of Steubenville on May 9, 2015, and delivered a popular commencement address. Holtz was elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, and the Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame in 1998. On December 3, 2020, Holtz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.
Head coaching record
College
Source:
NFL
Coaching tree
Assistant coaches under Holtz who became college or professional head coaches:
Mike Holovak: New York Jets (1976)
Bo Rein: NC State (1976–1979)
Walt Michaels: New York Jets (1977–1982), New Jersey Generals (1984–1985)
Monte Kiffin: NC State (1980–1982)
Harold Horton: Central Arkansas (1982–1989)
Bob Cope: Pacific (CA) (1983–1988)
John Gutekunst: Minnesota (1985–1991)
Jim Strong: UNLV Rebels (1990–1993)
Barry Alvarez: Wisconsin (1990–2005)
Houston Nutt: Murray State (1993–1996), Boise State (1997), Arkansas (1998–2007), Ole Miss (2008–2011)
Jeff Horton: Nevada (1993), UNLV (1994–1998), Minnesota (2010)
Pete Carroll: New York Jets (1994), New England Patriots (1997–1999), USC (2000–2009), Seattle Seahawks (2010–present)
Rick Minter: Cincinnati (1994–2003)
Skip Holtz: Connecticut (1994–1998), East Carolina (2005–2009), South Florida (2010–2012), Louisiana Tech (2013–2021)
Fred von Appen: Hawaii (1996–1998)
Bob Davie: Notre Dame (1997–2001), New Mexico (2012–2019)
Jerry Partridge: Missouri Western (1997–2016)
Dave Roberts: Baylor (1997–1998)
Dean Pees: Kent State (1998–2003)
Urban Meyer: Bowling Green (2001–2002), Utah (2003–2004), Florida (2005–2010), Ohio State (2012–2018), Jacksonville Jaguars (2021)
Oliver Pough: South Carolina State (2002–present)
John Thompson: East Carolina (2003–2004)
Rick Stockstill: Middle Tennessee (2006–present)
Joker Phillips: Kentucky (2010–2012)
Charlie Strong: Louisville (2010–2013), Texas (2014–2016), South Florida (2017–2019)
See also
List of college football coaches with 200 wins
List of National Football League head coaches
Notes
References
External links
The Lou Holtz/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame
1937 births
Living people
American football linebackers
Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches
Iowa Hawkeyes football coaches
Kent State Golden Flashes football players
Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches
NC State Wolfpack football coaches
New York Jets head coaches
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches
Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches
South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches
UConn Huskies football coaches
William & Mary Tribe football coaches
College football announcers
National Football League announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Florida Republicans
United States Army officers
People from East Liverpool, Ohio
People from Follansbee, West Virginia
Coaches of American football from Ohio
Players of American football from Ohio
Catholics from Ohio | true | [
"\"Llangollen Market\" is a song from early 19th century Wales. It is known to have been performed at an eisteddfod at Llangollen in 1858.\n\nThe text of the song survives in a manuscript held by the National Museum of Wales, which came into the possession of singer Mary Davies, a co-founder of the Welsh Folk-Song Society.\n\nThe song tells the tale of a young man from the Llangollen area going off to war and leaving behind his broken-hearted girlfriend. Originally written in English, the song has been translated into Welsh and recorded by several artists such as Siân James, Siobhan Owen, Calennig and Siwsann George.\n\nLyrics\nIt’s far beyond the mountains that look so distant here,\nTo fight his country’s battles, last Mayday went my dear;\nAh, well shall I remember with bitter sighs the day,\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nAh, cruel was my father that did my flight restrain,\nAnd I was cruel-hearted that did at home remain,\nWith you, my love, contented, I’d journey far away;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nWhile thinking of my Owen, my eyes with tears do fill,\nAnd then my mother chides me because my wheel stands still,\nBut how can I think of spinning when my Owen’s far away;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nTo market at Llangollen each morning do I go,\nBut how to strike a bargain no longer do I know;\nMy father chides at evening, my mother all the day;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me, at home why did I stay?\n\nOh, would it please kind heaven to shield my love from harm,\nTo clasp him to my bosom would every care disarm,\nBut alas, I fear, 'tis distant - that happy, happy day;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me, at home why did stay?\n\nReferences\n\nWelsh folk songs",
"John Frederick Ficken Jr. (1843-1925) was the forty-eighth mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, completing one term from 1891 to 1895. Ficken was born on June 16, 1843, in Charleston to Prussian immigrants John Frederick Ficken Sr., and Rebecca (Beversen) Ficken. He enrolled in the College of Charleston, but he joined the Confederate military at the outbreak of the Civil War. Ficken was given leave from active duty to complete his college education; he received an A.B. degree in 1864 and rejoined active duty. After the war ended, he began practicing law in Charleston and travelled to Germany for a year in 1869 to study civil law at the University of Berlin. From 1877 to December 1891, when he assumed the mayorship of Charleston, Ficken served in the South Carolina statehouse as a representative. He did not stand for re-election in 1891. During his tenure as mayor, Ficken lived at 74 Rutledge Ave. In 1902, he became president of the South Carolina Loan & Trust Co.\n\nAmong the civic offices which Ficken held were the following: president of the board of trustees for the College of Charleston, president of the Charleston Library Society, and vice president of the Medical College of South Carolina.\n\nFicken died on April 16, 1925, and is buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina.\n\nReferences\n\nAmerican people of Prussian descent\nMayors of Charleston, South Carolina\n1843 births\n1925 deaths\nSouth Carolina Democrats]"
]
|
[
"Lou Holtz",
"South Carolina",
"When did he start coaching South Carolina?",
"Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina,",
"What did he do for the program?",
"The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000",
"How long did he remain their coach?",
"Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2-4 record versus his former team, Arkansas,",
"Where did he go after South Carolina?",
"I don't know.",
"Why did he leave South Carolina?",
"In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz,"
]
| C_2ecb72d2c387413fb33a1bd61304f930_0 | What were the violations for? | 6 | What were the violations on Lou Holtz by the NCAA for? | Lou Holtz | After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1-10, and the team subsequently went 0-11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8-4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9-3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17-7 overall and 10-6 in SEC play. After consecutive 5-7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6-5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2-4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004. In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal." CANNOTANSWER | The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. | Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is a former American football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York Jets (1976), the University of Arkansas (1977–1983), the University of Minnesota (1984–1985), the University of Notre Dame (1986–1996), and the University of South Carolina (1999–2004), compiling a career record of 249–132–7. Holtz's 1988 Notre Dame team went 12–0 with a victory in the Fiesta Bowl and was the consensus national champion. Holtz is the only college football coach to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 20 rankings.
In 2005, Holtz joined ESPN as a college football analyst. On May 1, 2008, Holtz was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Early life and coaching career
Holtz was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, the son of Anne Marie (Tychonievich) and Andrew Holtz, a bus driver. His father was of German and Irish descent, while his maternal grandparents were emigrants from Chernobyl, Ukraine. He grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio, where he was raised as a Roman Catholic. He graduated from East Liverpool High School. After high school, Holtz attended Kent State University. He was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and graduated in 1959 with a degree in history. Holtz also trained under Kent State's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps and earned a commission as a Field Artillery Officer in the United States Army Reserve at the time of his graduation from college. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1960, at Iowa, where he received his master's degree. From there, he made stops as an assistant at William & Mary (1961–1963), Connecticut (1964–1965), South Carolina (1966–1967) and Ohio State (1968). The 1968 Ohio State Buckeyes football team won a national championship with Holtz as an assistant.
William & Mary
Holtz's first job as head coach came in 1969, at the College of William & Mary, who played in the Southern Conference at that time. In 1970, he led the William & Mary Indians (now Tribe) to the Southern Conference title and a berth in the Tangerine Bowl.
North Carolina State
In 1972, Holtz moved to North Carolina State University and had a 33–12–3 record in four seasons. His first three teams achieved final Top 20 rankings, including a final Top 10 finish in the 1974 Coaches Poll. His 1973 team won the ACC Championship. His Wolfpack teams played in four bowl games, going 2–1–1. Holtz received offers to become the Tulane head coach. He at first accepted the offer from David Dixon, the New Orleans Saints founder, then Holtz called Dixon saying he wouldn't come to Tulane. Following the 1975 season, Holtz accepted an offer to leave college football and become the head coach of the NFL's New York Jets.
New York Jets
Holtz's lone foray into the professional ranks began when he was appointed as head coach of the New York Jets on February 10, 1976. He was selected over Johnny Majors, Darryl Rogers, and Marv Levy. Holtz resigned ten months later on December 9 with the Jets at 3–10 and one game remaining in the 1976 season. Upon his departure, he lamented, "God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros." Holtz's jump to the NFL as head coach for only thirteen games with a 3–10 record before returning to the college game with Arkansas would be duplicated eerily similarly by Bobby Petrino 31 years later in 2007; another 14 years after, his run would be matched in terms of length and broken in terms of record by Urban Meyer, fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars with a 2–11 record in 2021.
Arkansas
Holtz went to the University of Arkansas in 1977. In his seven years there, the Razorbacks compiled a 60–21–2 record and reached six bowl games. In his first season at Arkansas, he led them to a berth in the 1978 Orange Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners, then coached by University of Arkansas alumnus Barry Switzer. The Sooners were in position to win their third national championship in four seasons after top-ranked Texas lost earlier in the day to fifth-ranked Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Arkansas' chances looked slim after the team lost several key personnel just before the game. In one of his last practices, All-American guard, Leotis Harris suffered a season-ending injury, and only a couple of days later Holtz suspended both starting running backs, Ben Cowins and Michael Forrest, and top receiver, Donny Bobo, for disciplinary reasons. However, behind an Orange Bowl record of 205 yards rushing from reserve running back Roland Sales the Hogs defeated the Sooners, 31–6. That team was recognized by the Rothman (FACT) poll as co-national champions, along with Texas and Notre Dame for 1977. Holtz was widely considered to be the leading candidate to replace Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1979, but Holtz did not pursue the job because he did not want to follow Hayes.
Holtz led Arkansas to a 10–2 record in 1979 and a share of the SWC championship, and a 9-2-1 record in 1982 with a Bluebonnet Bowl victory over Florida. Holtz was then dismissed following a 6–5 campaign in 1983. At the time, athletic director Frank Broyles stated that Holtz had resigned because he was "tired and burned out", and was not fired. Broyles testified 20 years later that he had fired Holtz because he was losing the fan base with things he said and did. Holtz confirmed that he had been fired, but that Broyles never gave him a reason, although reports cited his political involvement as a major reason: controversy arose over his having taped two television advertisements from his coach's office endorsing the re-election of Jesse Helms as Senator from North Carolina at a time when Helms was leading the effort to block Martin Luther King Day from becoming a national holiday.
Minnesota
Holtz accepted the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota before the 1984 season. The Golden Gophers had only won one game vs. Rice in 1983, but under Holtz won 4 games, including 3 in the Big Ten. In 1985 the team was 7-5 and were invited to the Independence Bowl, where they defeated Clemson, 20–13. Holtz did not coach the Gophers in that bowl game, as he had already accepted the head coaching position at Notre Dame. His contract purportedly included a "Notre Dame clause" that allowed him to leave if that coaching job were to become available.
This later proved to be false, as most standard contracts do not include a "Notre Dame" clause.
Holtz's tenure at Minnesota was not without controversy. Just prior to the 1991 Orange Bowl, the NCAA implicated the Holtz-era Golden Gophers for recruiting violations. Sanctions handed down in March 1991 included a bowl ban in 1992 for the Golden Gophers and "two more years ... [of] continued probation".
Notre Dame
In 1986, Holtz left Minnesota to take over the then-struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program. A taskmaster and strict disciplinarian, Holtz had the names removed from the backs of the players' jerseys when he took over at Notre Dame, wanting to emphasize team effort. With the exception of select bowl games, names have not been included on Notre Dame's jerseys since. Although his 1986 squad posted an identical 5–6 mark that the 1985 edition had, five of their six losses were by a combined total of 14 points. In the season finale against the archrival USC Trojans, Notre Dame overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit and pulled out a 38–37 win.
In his second season, Holtz led the Fighting Irish to an appearance in the 1988 Cotton Bowl Classic, where the Irish lost to the Texas A&M Aggies, 35–10. The following year, Notre Dame won all eleven of their regular season games and defeated the third-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers, 34–21, in the Fiesta Bowl, claiming the national championship. The 1989 squad also won their first eleven games (and in the process set a school record with a 23-game winning streak) and remained in the No. 1 spot all season until losing to Miami in the season finale. A 21–6 win over Colorado in the Orange Bowl gave the Irish a second-place ranking in the final standings, as well as back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time in school history.
Holtz's 1993 Irish team ended the season with an 11–1 record and ranked second in the final AP poll. Although the Florida State Seminoles were defeated by the Irish in a battle of unbeatens during the regular season and both teams had only 1 loss at season's end (Notre Dame lost to seventeenth-ranked Boston College), FSU was then voted national champion in the final 1993 AP and Coaches Poll. Between 1988 and 1993, Holtz's teams posted an overall 64–9–1 record. He also took the Irish to bowl games for nine consecutive seasons, still a Notre Dame record.
Following an investigation in 1999, the NCAA placed Notre Dame on two years probation for extra benefits provided to football players between 1993 and 1999 by Kim Dunbar, a South Bend bookkeeper involved in a $1.4 million embezzlement scheme at her employer, as well as one instance of academic fraud that occurred under Holtz's successor, Bob Davie. The NCAA found that Holtz and members of his staff learned of the violations but failed to make appropriate inquiry or to take prompt action, finding Holtz's efforts "inadequate."
On September 13, 2008, Lou Holtz was invited back to the campus where a statue of the former coach was unveiled. The ceremony took place during the weekend of the Notre Dame/Michigan game, almost twenty-two years to the day after Holtz coached his first Notre Dame team against the Wolverines.
Occasionally, despite his lack of success with the New York Jets, he was rumored to be leaving Notre Dame for the NFL. Following a 6–10 season in 1990 and an 8-8 showing in 1991, the Minnesota Vikings were rumored to replace Jerry Burns with Holtz. However, Holtz denied these rumors each of those two seasons. Holtz remained at Notre Dame; the Vikings, meanwhile, hired Dennis Green to replace the retired Jerry Burns. Ironically, as shown below, Holtz nearly replaced Green five years later.
First retirement
Lou Holtz left Notre Dame after the 1996 season and walked away from a lifetime contract for undisclosed reasons. In 1996, two members of the Minnesota Vikings's ownership board, Wheelock Whitney and Jaye Dyer, reportedly contacted Holtz. They wanted to bring him in to replace Dennis Green. Of the rumors surrounding the reasons for Holtz's retirement, one of them was the possible Vikings head coaching position.
South Carolina
After two seasons as a commentator for CBS Sports, Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1–10, and the team subsequently went 0–11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8–4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9–3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17–7 overall and 10–6 in SEC play.
After consecutive 5–7 campaigns in 2002 and 2003, Holtz finished his South Carolina tenure on a winning note with a 6–5 record in 2004. Holtz's time in Columbia saw the resurrection of Gamecock Football, as the program had only one bowl win and no Top 25 finishes in the ten years before his hire. Upon his exit, USC had posted AP Top 25 finishes in 2000 and 2001 (#19 and No. 13 respectively) and had made consecutive New Year's Day bowls for the first time in its history. Holtz finished his six-year tenure at South Carolina with a 2–4 record versus his former team, Arkansas, beating the Razorbacks in Columbia, SC in 2000 and 2004.
In 2005, the NCAA imposed three years probation and reductions in two scholarships on the program for ten admitted violations under Holtz, five of which were found to be major. The violations involved improper tutoring and off-season workouts, as well as a lack of institutional control. No games were forfeited, and no television or postseason ban was imposed. Holtz issued a statement after the sanctions were announced stating, "There was no money involved. No athletes were paid. There were no recruiting inducements. No cars. No jobs offered. No ticket scandal.".
Second retirement
On November 18, 2004, Holtz announced that he would retire at the end of the season. On November 20, 2004, the Clemson – South Carolina brawl took place during Holtz's last regular season game. Instead of ending his career at a post-season bowl game, which was expected, the two universities announced that each would penalize their respective football programs for their unsportsmanlike conduct by declining any bowl game invitations. At his last press conference as South Carolina's coach, Holtz said it was ironic that he and former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes both would be remembered for "getting into a fight at the Clemson game". Holtz also alluded to his assistance in recruiting his successor, Steve Spurrier.
Books
Holtz has written or contributed to 10 books:
Holtz, Lou (2019). Three Rules for Living a Good Life: A Game Plan for After Graduation. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press. .
Broadcasting career
Holtz has worked for CBS Sports as a college football analyst and in the same capacity for the cable network ESPN. He worked on the secondary studio team, located in Bristol as opposed to the game site. He typically appeared on pregame, halftime, and postgame shows of college football games. In addition, he appeared on College Football Scoreboard, College Football Final, College Football Live, SportsCenter, and the occasional game. He is known for his distinctive voice, where he hisses and gurgles his words through loose dentures. He typically partnered with Rece Davis and Mark May. Holtz came under scrutiny after referencing Adolf Hitler in an on-air comment while appearing on College Football Live in 2008. In his analysis of Michigan Wolverines head coach Rich Rodriguez, Holtz stated sarcastically, "Ya know, Hitler was a great leader, too." The next day, Holtz apologized for the comment during halftime of a game between Clemson and Georgia Tech. On April 12, 2015, it was reported by SB Nation that Holtz was leaving ESPN.
Personal life
Holtz was married to Beth Barcus from July 22, 1961, until her death from cancer on June 30, 2020. Holtz currently resides in Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida. He and Beth had four children, three of whom are Notre Dame graduates. His cousins Ashton and Kerosene Holtz both played football in Fort Scott, Kansas, as a linebacker and defensive end. Holtz is on the Catholic Advisory Board of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds, and gives motivational speeches. Coach Holtz is a member at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. On June 23, 2015, Holtz's Lake Nona home was damaged by a house fire that was most likely triggered by a lightning strike.
Political views
Holtz has long been active in Republican Party politics, including his support for Helms, hosting former Vice President Dan Quayle in a 1999 fundraising tour, speaking at a 2007 House Republicans strategy meeting and considering entering the Republican primary for a Congressional seat in Florida in 2009. However, he also made a contribution of $2,300 to the campaign of Democratic Party Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008. He often appears on Hannity on the Fox News Channel. In 2016, Holtz endorsed Donald Trump for president.
On August 26, 2020, Holtz spoke at the Republican National Convention endorsing Donald Trump for re-election.
During his address at the 2020 Republican National Convention, Holtz said that Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden was "a Catholic in name only." The University of Notre Dame also released a statement the following day to distance itself from Holtz's comment regarding Biden.
Holtz has been vocal about his disapproval of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee before NFL games and NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell allowing players to do so. Holtz told Scoop B Radio's Brandon Scoop B Robinson that players should go to inner city neighborhoods and be influential in their community, rather than kneeling.
Popular culture
Holtz appeared as himself in a Discover Card commercial in November 2011.
Honors
In 1990, Holtz received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Notre Dame on May 22, 2011. On April 19, 2012, Holtz was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. Holtz was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Education from the University of South Carolina on December 17, 2012. Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor in Public Service from Trine University and elected to the board of trustees in 2011. Trine also honored Holtz in 2013 by naming a program the Lou Holtz Master of Science in Leadership Program. He was also awarded an honorary Doctorate in Communications from Franciscan University of Steubenville on May 9, 2015, and delivered a popular commencement address. Holtz was elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, and the Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame in 1998. On December 3, 2020, Holtz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.
Head coaching record
College
Source:
NFL
Coaching tree
Assistant coaches under Holtz who became college or professional head coaches:
Mike Holovak: New York Jets (1976)
Bo Rein: NC State (1976–1979)
Walt Michaels: New York Jets (1977–1982), New Jersey Generals (1984–1985)
Monte Kiffin: NC State (1980–1982)
Harold Horton: Central Arkansas (1982–1989)
Bob Cope: Pacific (CA) (1983–1988)
John Gutekunst: Minnesota (1985–1991)
Jim Strong: UNLV Rebels (1990–1993)
Barry Alvarez: Wisconsin (1990–2005)
Houston Nutt: Murray State (1993–1996), Boise State (1997), Arkansas (1998–2007), Ole Miss (2008–2011)
Jeff Horton: Nevada (1993), UNLV (1994–1998), Minnesota (2010)
Pete Carroll: New York Jets (1994), New England Patriots (1997–1999), USC (2000–2009), Seattle Seahawks (2010–present)
Rick Minter: Cincinnati (1994–2003)
Skip Holtz: Connecticut (1994–1998), East Carolina (2005–2009), South Florida (2010–2012), Louisiana Tech (2013–2021)
Fred von Appen: Hawaii (1996–1998)
Bob Davie: Notre Dame (1997–2001), New Mexico (2012–2019)
Jerry Partridge: Missouri Western (1997–2016)
Dave Roberts: Baylor (1997–1998)
Dean Pees: Kent State (1998–2003)
Urban Meyer: Bowling Green (2001–2002), Utah (2003–2004), Florida (2005–2010), Ohio State (2012–2018), Jacksonville Jaguars (2021)
Oliver Pough: South Carolina State (2002–present)
John Thompson: East Carolina (2003–2004)
Rick Stockstill: Middle Tennessee (2006–present)
Joker Phillips: Kentucky (2010–2012)
Charlie Strong: Louisville (2010–2013), Texas (2014–2016), South Florida (2017–2019)
See also
List of college football coaches with 200 wins
List of National Football League head coaches
Notes
References
External links
The Lou Holtz/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame
1937 births
Living people
American football linebackers
Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches
Iowa Hawkeyes football coaches
Kent State Golden Flashes football players
Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches
NC State Wolfpack football coaches
New York Jets head coaches
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches
Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches
South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches
UConn Huskies football coaches
William & Mary Tribe football coaches
College football announcers
National Football League announcers
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Florida Republicans
United States Army officers
People from East Liverpool, Ohio
People from Follansbee, West Virginia
Coaches of American football from Ohio
Players of American football from Ohio
Catholics from Ohio | true | [
"The Central Violations Bureau (CVB) is a national center in the United States responsible for processing violation notices (tickets) issued and payments received for petty offenses charged on a federal violation notice. This includes violations that occur on federal property such as federal buildings, national parks, military installations, post offices, Veteran Affairs medical centers, national wildlife refuges, and national forests. The Central Violations Bureau processes violation notices for violations of federal law that occur outside federal property as well. For example, migratory bird offenses that occur on private property.\n\nFederal tickets are issued by law enforcement personnel from agencies such as the U.S. Park Police, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, Department of Defense Police, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Provost Marshal, Airforce, Marines & Navy Security Forces, U.S. Postal Police, USACE, U.S. Customs, U.S. Border Patrol, and V.A. Police.\n\nThe CVB is a division of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n U.S. Central Violations Bureau\n\nFederal judiciary of the United States",
"A moving violation is any violation of the law committed by the driver of a vehicle while it is in motion. The term \"motion\" distinguishes it from other motor vehicle violations, such as paperwork violations (which include violations involving automobile insurance, registration and inspection), parking violations, or equipment violations. Moving violations often increase insurance premiums.\n\nTypes \nWhile some violations, like parking violations, are civil matters involving a vehicle's owner, moving violations are charged against the actual driver.\n\nMoving violations are usually classified as infractions or misdemeanors, but serious violations such as hit and run, driving under the influence, and road rage can be considered felonies.\n\nCosts \nMoving violation convictions typically result in fines and demerit points assessed to the license of the driver. As a driver accumulates points, he or she may be required to attend defensive driving lessons, re-take his or her driving test, pay additional taxes, or even surrender his or her license. Additionally, drivers with more points on their driving record often must pay more for car insurance than drivers with fewer.\n\nSometimes tickets are used in a speed trap as a form of fundraising. For example, a local government that is suffering a budget shortfall may ticket more aggressively within its jurisdiction to increase revenue.\n\nIn the United States, citation fines can vary widely between jurisdictions for the same behaviour, usually between $25 and $1000. In countries such as Finland, however, they are specific proportions of the violator's income, and fines in excess of $100,000 can be assessed to wealthy individuals. In Canada, each province is individual in how they treat similar behaviour and each violation usually includes a set fine and demerit points against the driver's license. For example, a speeding ticket in Ontario of 50+ km over is 6 demerit points against the driver's licence with the approximate fine calculated as (km over x 9.75) x 1.25, as well it carries a one-week automatic licence suspension and car impoundment. In Manitoba speeding in excess of 49 km is 10 demerit points and a fine of 672 dollars and a Serious Offence Licence Suspension.\n\nExamples of moving violations\nspeeding, which can be exceeding a limit or (in some jurisdictions) simply driving at an unsafe speed\ntailgating or failing to maintain an assured clear distance ahead (ACDA)\nrunning a stop sign or red traffic light\nfailure to yield to another vehicle with the right-of-way\nfailure to signal for turns or lane changes\nimproper lane usage, such as failing to drive within a single lane\ncrossing over a center divider, median or gore\ndriving on the shoulder where it is considered illegal under certain conditions\nfailure to use a seat belt\nillegal use of window tints and obstructions\nfailure to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk\nfailure to stop for a school bus when children are boarding or exiting (in certain jurisdictions)\nfailure to secure a load to a truck or lorry\ndriving in a car pool lane illegally\noperating a telecommunications device while driving (in jurisdictions that prohibit this)\ndriving a vehicle outside the conditions of one's license\ndriving without a license or with a suspended license or with a license from another country\ndriving a vehicle in a bus lane or on train tracks\nfailure to stop after a traffic collision or make a report\ndriving on the wrong side of the road, unless there is an obstruction\n\nMore serious moving violations include:\ndriving under the influence\nreckless driving\nstreet racing\nvehicular homicide\n\nMoving violations and driving records \nExactly how long moving violations stay on your record depends on the law in your particular state. In New York, for example, minor moving violations can stay on your driving record abstract for a maximum of four years. Whereas minor moving violations tend to stay on your abstract for only a few years, some serious moving violations are classified as criminal offenses that result in a criminal record that may be maintained for life.\n\nSee also \nTraffic ticket\nTraffic court\nTraffic school\n\nReferences \n\nCrimes\nTraffic law"
]
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[
"Kid Cudi",
"Musical style"
]
| C_7ff647487dc94486a521118eabc4cdef_1 | What kind of music is Kid Cudi known for? | 1 | What kind of music is Kid Cudi known for? | Kid Cudi | Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide." In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." Kid Cudi's music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2011's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop and grunge, in his music. CANNOTANSWER | Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". | Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), better known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ; often stylized as KiD CuDi), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has widely been recognized as an influence on several contemporary hip hop and alternative acts. His lyrics are often autobiographical and describe his childhood hardships of depression, loneliness and alienation, his struggle with alcohol and drugs into adulthood, as well as themes of heartbreak, dissipation and celebration. Cudi began to gain major recognition following the release of his first official full-length project, a mixtape titled A Kid Named Cudi (2008), which caught the attention of American musician Kanye West, who subsequently signed Cudi to his GOOD Music label imprint by late 2008.
In early 2008, Cudi had risen to prominence with his debut single "Day 'n' Nite", having initially been self-published on his Myspace page to becoming a worldwide hit. The song was later featured on Cudi's seminal debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009), which was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2017. The album also included the singles "Make Her Say" and "Pursuit of Happiness", both of which achieved significant chart success. In 2010, Cudi released his second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, which also attained platinum status and features the singles "Erase Me" and "Mr. Rager". Later that year he formed WZRD, a rock band, with his long-time collaborator Dot da Genius. Their eponymous debut album (2012) debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
Cudi has since released the solo albums Indicud (2013), Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014), Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015), and Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016). Cudi's joint album with Kanye West, under the eponymous name Kids See Ghosts (2018), was met with widespread critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2018. In 2020, Cudi earned his first number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with "The Scotts", a collaboration with Houston rapper Travis Scott. Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, issued in 2020, became his most commercially successful album to date, with the RIAA certifying it gold status later that year.
Cudi has sold 22 million certified records in the United States and has won two Grammy Awards from five nominations. He has worked with numerous prominent artists spanning several different genres in the music industry, such as Jay-Z, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, MGMT, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Ariana Grande and Michael Bolton, among others. After signing to GOOD Music, Cudi has since gone on to launch his own vanity labels, the now-dissolved Dream On and current label imprint Wicked Awesome Records. Cudi also ventured into acting when he was cast in the HBO series How to Make It in America. He has since appeared in several feature films, including Goodbye World (2013), Need for Speed (2014), Entourage (2015), Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020), Don't Look Up (2021) and more. In addition, he has made appearances on television shows such as One Tree Hill, The Cleveland Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Westworld. In 2015, he was the bandleader on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang! and in 2020 was added as a cast member for the HBO mini-series We Are Who We Are.
Early life
Kid Cudi was born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 30, 1984. He grew up in Shaker Heights and Solon. He has two older brothers, Domingo and Dean, and an older sister, Maisha. His mother, Elsie Harriet (née Banks), is an African-American school choir teacher at Roxboro Middle School in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. His father, Lindberg Styles Mescudi, was a house painter, substitute teacher, and World War II Air Force veteran of African-American and Mexican descent.
When Cudi was 11 years old, his father died of cancer; his passing had a significant effect on Cudi's personality and music. Cudi attended Shaker Heights High School for two years before transferring to Solon High School. He was expelled from the school for threatening to punch the principal, and would later earn his GED. He studied film at the University of Toledo, but dropped out after a year. His subsequent plan to join the Navy did not pan out because of his juvenile police record.
Musical career
2003–2008: Beginnings in New York City
Cudi first began rapping in 2003, towards the end of his time in high school, and was inspired by alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. He later moved to New York City to pursue a music career. After leaving Cleveland in 2005 with $500 and a demo tape, he moved in with his uncle, accomplished jazz drummer Kalil Madi, in the South Bronx. He worked at a couple of Manhattan clothing stores, before eventually sharing an apartment with friend and collaborator Dot da Genius in Brooklyn.
In 2006, Cudi would run into his future mentor, rapper and producer Kanye West, in a Virgin Megastore. He recounted in a 2009 SPIN interview, "I was looking at CDs, saw the gleam of a Jesus piece in the right side of my eye, looked up, and it was Kanye West." He introduced himself and offered West some of his music. Cudi would later run into West again while working at the BAPE store in New York, and recalled: "I remember Kanye coming in one time and I was helping him get a couple things. I forgot to take a sensor off of one of the jackets he bought and I had to run out the store to catch him before he left. Pretty funny me chasing after him in SoHo."
In 2007, Kid Cudi's song "Day 'n' Nite", began being featured on several music blogs, after having uploaded the song to his MySpace page. Cudi's early work would go on to catch the attention of Kanye West, whose then-manager Plain Pat, had introduced Cudi's music to him, subsequently leading West to sign Cudi to his GOOD Music imprint later that year. In July 2008, Kid Cudi released his first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi (executive produced by Plain Pat and Emile Haynie), in collaboration with New York street-wear brand 10.Deep as a free download.
Kanye West first called upon Cudi to reference hooks for American rapper and mogul Jay-Z, and while in the studio Cudi and West went from working on The Blueprint 3 (2009) to West's R&B-esque 808s & Heartbreak (2008). Cudi's assistance on the latter includes co-writing credits and/or vocals on "Heartless," "Welcome to Heartbreak," "Paranoid" and "RoboCop." Kid Cudi was a prominent songwriter and featured artist on 808s & Heartbreak, with "Paranoid" and "Heartless" being released as singles, while "Welcome to Heartbreak" charted as an album cut and peaked at number 87 on the Pop 100.
Kid Cudi's first television appearance was at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside Travis Barker and DJ AM. Cudi was promoted as an artist to watch for in media such as Rolling Stone, Vibe, The Source, XXL and BBC News's 2009 Sound of poll. MTV News reported on Cudi on a series of reports titled "MCs To Watch In 2009".
2009–2010: Man on the Moon album series
In late 2008, Cudi was revealed to be included in XXLs 2009 annual Freshman Class. He was featured on the cover alongside fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth, Wale, B.o.B, Charles Hamilton, Cory Gunz, Blu, Mickey Factz, Ace Hood and Curren$y. On February 17, 2009, he appeared on Snoop Dogg's MTV talk show Dogg After Dark, performing "Day 'n' Nite" at the end of the show. Two days later on February 19, 2009, Cudi appeared on BET's 106 & Park, alongside Kanye West to debut the music video of "Day 'n' Nite". On February 25, 2009, Cudi self-leaked a teaser trailer for the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen film, using his song "Sky Might Fall" in the background; later he posted that he made the trailer himself and was in talks to possibly making it official.
In February 2009, Kid Cudi also made a cameo appearance next to Solange in the video for her song "T.O.N.Y.". On March 16, 2009, Kid Cudi performed on mtvU's Spring Break special, and the following day he performed three songs on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly. Cudi teamed up with partner and record producer Emile Haynie, to produce an exclusive single titled "Switchin Lanes", for the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles, part of its "South Central Premium Upgrade" downloadable content (DLC), which came out March 19, 2009, for the PlayStation 3 and March 27, 2009, for the Xbox 360. He has also appeared as a musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live! In June 2009, he made a cameo in The Black Eyed Peas' video for "I Gotta Feeling", alongside David Guetta, where the two met for the first time and subsequently recorded their international hit "Memories". In 2009, he had also been on two magazine covers, Complex (August/September 2009) and URB (August 2009).
He revealed information about his future plans via his blog, saying that a possible collaborative album with Chip tha Ripper could be followed with a collaborative project with electronic rock duo Ratatat. On May 5, 2009 Iranian-American progressive house DJ Sharam, released "She Came Along", the lead single from his debut studio album, Get Wild (2009). The song, featuring Cudi, charted for 15 weeks on the Bulgarian Singles Top 40. It entered the chart on position 40 on week 30/2009, and its last appearance was on week 44/2009. It peaked at number 11, where it stayed for one week.
During the summer of 2009, Cudi joined fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth and B.o.B, for 'The Great Hangover' concert tour.
In late 2009, Kid Cudi was featured on the highly anticipated Jay-Z album The Blueprint 3, on the song "Already Home". On September 14, 2009, BET premiered their Rising Icons profile of Kid Cudi. During the 30 minute show Cudi performed "CuDi Zone", "Mr. Solo Dolo", "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say". Cudi also discussed his childhood, his move to New York to begin his career as an artist and more.
Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, was released on Universal Motown Records on September 15, 2009 and sold 104,419 copies in the first week and charted at #4. The album's lead single "Day 'n' Nite", Kid Cudi's greatest commercial success thus far, charted well in both the U.S. and in Europe. The second single released was "Make Her Say" (originally titled "I Poke Her Face"), which features a sample from Lady Gaga's hit single "Poker Face" and performances by Kanye West and Common. Common was also featured throughout the album, as the narrator.
In September 2009, Cudi co-headlined 50 Cent's "50 Fest" concert, along with fellow American rapper Wale. In a late 2009 interview, Cudi announced that the follow-up to his debut album would be a compilation album entitled Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, which would have many collaborations. He stated he had already recorded songs with Snoop Dogg, Travis Barker, Clipse, Cage and Pharrell, and would also like to work with Drake, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Robin Thicke, The Killers and The Postal Service on the album. It was also rumored that Man on the Moon: The End of Day would be followed up by a sequel titled Man on the Moon: The Ghost in the Machine and that the Man on the Moon series would be a trilogy. Kid Cudi was nominated for three 2010 Grammy Awards, for his singles "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say".
In January 2010, Cudi released Man on the Moon: The End of Days third and final single "Pursuit of Happiness", which was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2010, Kid Cudi was featured on Snoop Dogg's re-release of Malice n Wonderland, titled More Malice, on the lead single "That Tree". Cudi also teamed up with independent artist Johnny Polygon, to remix Polygon's "The Riot Song", which appears on his mixtape Rebel Without Applause (2010). On April 20, 2010, Kid Cudi announced that the name of his second album would not be Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, but Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager.
On June 11, 2010, Kid Cudi was arrested in the Chelsea neighborhood of the Manhattan borough in New York City and charged with felony criminal mischief and possession of a controlled substance. Despite his arrest, he was released and made it to Manchester, Tennessee in time to play at Bonnaroo.
In May 2010, American shoe company Converse, launched “You're It”, a campaign which highlighted 23 artists from around the world in a series of web shorts. The campaign featured artists from 13 different countries including Kid Cudi. In this short, Converse takes a trip back to Cudi's roots as an artist in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. The campaign's goal was to tap into the grassroots of Converse's global market and introduce the artists of tomorrow.
In June 2010, Converse was promoting being a catalyst for creativity by bringing together three musicians from different genres to form a unique collaboration known as "Three Artists. One Song." Converse teamed up Cudi, alongside Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, to produce the song titled "All Summer". In addition to collaborating on the track, each of the artists also participated in the creation of the music video, which was released later that summer.
The lead single from Cudi's second studio album, titled "Erase Me", features Kanye West and was produced by Jim Jonsin. The song debuted on a Cleveland radio station June 30, 2010, and was officially released to Rhythm/Crossover radio on August 17, 2010. The title-track "Mr. Rager", was released as the album's second single, shortly before the album's release. The album, released November 9, 2010, debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 169,000 copies. In its second week it crossed the 200,000 sales mark.
In 2010, Kid Cudi appeared on several songs for his mentor Kanye West's weekly free music giveaway GOOD Fridays; namely "Good Friday", "Christian Dior Denim Flow" and "The Joy", the latter of which later became a bonus track on the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaborative album Watch the Throne (2011).
2011–2012: New direction with WZRD and Wicked Awesome
In October 2010, Cudi had announced that he would be forming a rock band with frequent collaborator Dot da Genius, tentatively called Wizard. In early 2011, he announced that he would be releasing a mixtape titled A Man Named Scott, reminiscent of his A Kid Named Cudi title, prior to the rock album. On February 26, 2011, Cudi took to his Twitter account to announce that Dream On, the record label he launched back in 2009 with partners Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds and producer Emile Haynie, has been dissolved. However, in an interview with Complex Magazine Cudi explained they were all still on good terms: "I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to take control of things myself. Those are still my guys, Pat and Emile, and I'm still going to work with them in the future. When we start working on Man on the Moon III I'll be calling them up to see if they want to be a part of it. I know Emile is definitely down. We had an issue, but we're men and we were able to figure it out and move forward. There's no hard feelings."
In March 2011, Cudi announced that a music video for "Marijuana" would be released in the spring, followed by a music video for "Mr. Rager" in the summer, then he would release a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, inspired by his song "Maniac", with Cage, in October 2011. In April 2011, while performing at New York City's Roseland Ballroom Kid Cudi announced he was launching his own record label. The new label, which he will be releasing his third studio album on is called Wicked Awesome Records. He also renamed his band on the same occasion to 2 Be Continuum, renaming it from the original Wizard. Kid Cudi explained his reasoning saying: "I needed something more original, something different, but it's still wizardry at its finest." In 2011, Cudi landed a songwriting placement on English singer Natalia Kills' debut album Perfectionist, for the song "Free".
On August 12, 2011, Kid Cudi released the music video for "No One Believes Me", directed by Fright Night director Craig Gillespie. The song, produced by Dot da Genius, features Cudi singing and contains elements of rock music. On August 21, Cudi announced that he would no longer be releasing the A Man Named Scott mixtape, so that he can focus on his rock project and his third solo album Man on the Moon III. Kid Cudi released the music video for his second album's title-track "Mr. Rager", on September 8, 2011. The video received all-positive reviews from critics and fans alike.
Despite saying he will not do many more features for other artists in Complex magazine's October/November 2011 cover story, Cudi appeared on Bryan Greenberg's second album We Don't Have Forever (2011), Travis Barker's solo debut Give the Drummer Some (2011), The Knux's Eraser (2011), and Wale's Ambition (2011), respectively. On October 30, 2011, Cudi released Maniac, a short horror film co-starring fellow American rapper Cage and directed by American actor Shia LaBeouf, through his blog. On November 13, 2011, a previously unreleased demo tape Cudi had recorded from 2002 to 2003, under the pseudonym Kid Mesc, titled Rap Hard, leaked online. On Twitter, Cudi wrote “I actually never wanted anyone to hear those songs ever, but its cool. Ha”
On November 18, 2011 Cudi renamed his band for the second time to WZRD (pronounced W-Z-R-D). He also announced that the upcoming rock project would be released on his 28th birthday, January 30, 2012. In late 2011, Cudi was mentioned in a viral video by vlogger Ben Breedlove, about his near death experiences. After Breedlove's death on December 26, 2011, Cudi commented on his thoughts about inspiring the young kid. "I am so sad about Ben Breedlove," Kid Cudi wrote on his Tumblr blog. "I watched the video he left for the world to see, and him seeing me in detail, in his vision really warmed my heart. I broke down, I am to tears because I hate how life is so unfair. This has really touched my heart in a way I cant describe, this is why I do what I do. Why I write my life, and why I love you all so much. Life is really f---- up sometimes, but I know Ben is at Peace, and I hope he gets a chance to sit and talk with my Dad. We love you Ben. Forever. Thank you for loving me. To Ben's family, you raised a real hero, he's definitely mine. You have my love."
In January 2012, Cudi appeared on two songs from Chip tha Ripper's mixtape Tell Ya Friends, "Ride 4 You" which also featured Far East Movement and "GloryUs", which credited the duo as they are collectively known, The Almighty GloryUs. This led to speculation that a long-awaited project from the two was underway. On January 31, Cudi announced through his Twitter feed that he had completed WZRD and that his next album was the collaborative effort with Chip tha Ripper. In 2012, Cudi was featured on the soundtrack to the film The Hunger Games, crafting an original song for the film titled "The Ruler and the Killer". Referring to "The Ruler and the Killer", Cudi wrote on his Twitter feed: "I could not have done it without my producing partners on the project for the film, The legendary and Godly T Bone Burnett and Greg Wells!"
While working on the band's self-titled debut, Cudi claimed he had writer's block for almost five months because of his new sobriety; something that had never happened to him for such an extended period of time. According to Cudi, bands that inspired the album include Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and Pink Floyd. The album includes a song titled "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", a cover of the same titled song by Nirvana, who in turn were inspired by blues guitar legend Lead Belly's rendition of the traditional folk song. Following WZRDs release on February 28, 2012, the album debuted at #3 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 66,000 physical and digital copies in the United States. The album also debuted on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums at number one, and at #9 on the Canadian Albums Chart respectively.
2012–2013: Indicud and departure from GOOD Music
In April 2012, in Geneseo, New York, Cudi performed before a sold-out crowd and premiered a hip hop song, his first since 2010. During his set, he performed a new record, tentatively titled "The Leader of the Delinquents", which he did a cappella. On April 25, 2012 Cudi was officially back to rapping with the release of "Dennis, Hook Me Up with Some More of That Whiskey!". The song, the first ever solely produced by Cudi himself, samples his 2010 song "Ghost!". In June 2012, Cudi was seen in the music video for "Mercy," the lead single from GOOD Music's compilation album Cruel Summer, in which he, along with other GOOD Music recording artists were featured on. Cudi was ultimately featured on two songs from the compilation, "The Morning" and a solo track originally meant for Man on the Moon II (2010), titled "Creepers", produced by Dan Black.
In the summer of 2012, Cudi announced the title of his third studio album to be, Indicud when he tweeted: "My new album is entitled indicud, it will be my version of The Chronic 2001, some songs i'll produce, others i'll feat &/or play songwriter". On June 8, 2012, Cudi announced Indicud, will be a double-disc album. On August 12, Kid Cudi released the lead single from Indicud, a song titled "Just What I Am", featuring his friend and longtime collaborator King Chip (formerly Chip tha Ripper). The album was announced to be released in early 2013 with Cudi focusing on scoring movies, followed by the third installment of the Man on the Moon series.
Cudi then added that Indicud "will feature more uptempos and that it will consist of at most 17 new songs." The music video for "Just What I Am", which marked Cudi's directorial debut, premiered November 6, 2012 on VEVO and was shot in Los Angeles with fans invited to participate in the video's shoot. On November 7, he revealed the album's second official single's title to be "Immortal", and that it again was produced by himself like the two previous releases, "Just What I Am" and "King Wizard". He claimed the song "will make you feel amazing in the heart and soul." The song was officially released via iTunes on March 14, 2013.
On March 14, 2013 Kid Cudi performed at MySpace's South by Southwest (SXSW) secret show in Austin, Texas and after performing his many hits, he previewed a new verse from Indicud. He also revealed that the album would feature 18 tracks, while officially confirming ASAP Rocky and Michael Bolton as featured guests. On March 16, Cudi announced that he would release the album's tracklist and cover art on April 2. Three days later, Kid Cudi announced via Twitter that the album had officially been completed and turned in to his label, Universal Republic. On March 26, the album's cover art and tracklist was unveiled by Walmart and later Complex. Later that day, Cudi appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed the album's lead singles; "Just What I Am" and "Immortal", as well as premiering "Mad Solar", which he performed a cappella.
On April 2, 2013, Kid Cudi announced on Power 106, that he was no longer under Kanye West's GOOD Music imprint. Cudi revealed he left the label on good terms, with him saying West respected his decision and will always be "big brother". Cudi's decision to move forward without West, was his desire to focus on his own imprint, Wicked Awesome Records and his friend, fellow rapper King Chip. After Indicud leaked online in its entirety on April 9, 2013, Kid Cudi decided to push the album's release date up to April 16. The album went on to debut at #2 on the charts by moving 140,000 copies. In late 2013, Kid Cudi went on tour in support of Indicud on The Cud Life Tour 2013. The tour was announced on July 15 with tickets going on sale the following day. Supporting acts on the tour included fellow American rappers Big Sean, Tyler, The Creator and Logic.
2013–2014: Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon
While on tour, on October 16, 2013 Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing an extended play (EP), sometime in the next three months. Cudi also revealed he would be producing it alongside Dot da Genius and that frequent collaborator King Chip, would appear on the EP. He then called the EP a prelude to his fourth album Man on the Moon III, which he announced would be released in 2015. On October 19, 2013, Cudi revealed "Going to the Ceremony", a song he had released via online audio distribution platform SoundCloud, earlier in July, would be included in the EP. Cudi would also go on to reveal a remix of his hit single "Day 'n' Nite, which was briefly previewed on the intro of his 2008 breakout mixtape A Kid Named Cudi, would also appear on the EP.
On November 25, 2013, via his Twitter, Cudi revealed the title of the EP to be Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon. On December 16, 2013, Kid Cudi once again utilized SoundCloud to release "Satellite Flight", the EP's title-track. On January 27, 2014, Kid Cudi revealed on Twitter that Satellite Flight: Journey to Mother Moon would no longer be an EP, but a full-length album instead. In a February 2014 interview with MTV News, Cudi discussed the EP's transition to a full-fledged album and called the project his best work yet: "I'm really excited because it's my best work, and it's a surprise. People weren't really expecting it. I've never done two albums within a year of each other."
On February 25, 2014, with only few hours' notice from Cudi, Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon was released exclusively to digital retailers. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 87,000 digital copies in the United States. On March 4, 2014 Cudi appeared on Chelsea Lately, where he was interviewed by Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, to promote Satellite Flight and the 2014 film Need for Speed. On March 12, 2014, Cudi released a song titled "Hero", a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, recorded for the soundtrack to Need for Speed. On March 15, 2014, Cudi appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he promoted the album, discussed the state of hip-hop, suicidal thoughts, Need for Speed, and performed the song "Internal Bleeding", from the album.
In April 2014, Cudi appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of Fat Man magazine. On April 24, 2014, while being honored as a mental health advocate by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, Cudi offered a special performance during their annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards. On May 2, 2014, it was announced Cudi would headline Chicago's North Coast Music Festival, along with West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg. On May 11, 2014 Cudi revealed he would be writing and directing a short film for the Satellite Flight album cut "Balmain Jeans": "Developing a short film for "Balmain Jeans", a story about a spontaneous electric connection between two strangers."
2015–2016: Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven
In a January 2015 interview, at the Sundance Film Festival, Kid Cudi expressed the possibility of releasing another album before the release of Man on the Moon III: "I'm always making music. The beauty in that is that I have a lot of material. And I'm actually thinking that it would be good to release something in the meantime, before Man on the Moon III comes out. Another Kid Cudi album, it's just kind of along the lines of what I did with Indicud or Satellite Flight, which is just its own standalone thing but still a Kid Cudi album. The Man on the Moon III album is something that's gonna take some time but I know the fans are gonna be patient and I really appreciate that guys, thank you for your patience. But Man on the Moon III is coming, there may be an album before that just to tide you over."
On March 3, 2015, Cudi officially released his first song since his album Satellite Flight, was put on the market. The song, which is titled "Love," was originally recorded for Satellite Flight, and samples Ratatat's "Sunblocks" and has been received with positive reviews. On April 4, 2015, Cudi announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new album titled Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven. On October 27, 2015, Cudi announced the new album will be released on December 4, 2015. He also leaked two songs off the project, "Wedding Tux" and "Judgemental Cunt". In November 2015 Cudi announced an Especial Tour, that will bring the rapper to various theaters all across the United States. On December 1, 2015, Cudi announced the cancellation of his Especial Tour, due to various reasons, such as production and personal issues. To make up for postponing the concert tour, Cudi released the album's title-track as the second single.
2016–2018: Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin and Kids See Ghosts
In March 2016, Kid Cudi performed at McDowell Mountain Music Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. In an early April 2016 interview with Billboard, when asked about Man on the Moon III, Cudi responded with: "I came up with Man on the Moon when I was a young man. People change their vibe! We can follow the same template and do the five-act split. Sonically, I'm still going to be where I'm at. Honestly, I was ready to live up to the obligation and do Man on the Moon III. I haven't been dicking around. I was planning on doing it after Speedin' Bullet. But the Speedin' Bullet response tore me up. It made me realize what's most important. I'm getting back on the bike again and doing what I do best: me." On April 22, 2016, Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing a new studio album, slated for a summer unveiling.
On May 11, 2016, amidst rumors that he was set to release Man on the Moon III, Cudi revealed the title of his sixth solo album would be Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin', through online mobile video-sharing and social networking service Instagram. On June 1, 2016, Cudi announced that he had two upcoming albums. One set to be released in the summer, while the other would be released in the fall. He added that one of them was complete. On September 26, 2016, Kid Cudi unveiled the track-list for Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin via Twitter, which revealed guest spots from Travis Scott, André 3000, Pharrell Williams and Willow Smith.
Although there was a discrepancy between him and Kanye West, West later made an offer of peace and a song featuring him and Cudi subsequently surfaced online. Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin was announced to be issued first via digital distribution on December 16, 2016, with the physical release on December 23. Cudi has also shared the song "Baptized in Fire," which features Travis Scott (with whom Cudi collaborated extensively with on 2016's Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight). On March 1, 2017, Kid Cudi performed the song "Kitchen", with a string orchestra, live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On August 15, 2017, Cudi announced a national concert tour by the name of Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour; with the first date on September 30 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 2018 Cudi and Kanye West formed a duo known as Kids See Ghosts, and produced an album with the same name, Kids See Ghosts, which was released on June 8, 2018. On October 23, 2018, in response to a fan on Twitter, Cudi revealed he had begun working on his seventh solo album. Although he said he would be taking his time to create his forthcoming LP, Cudi projected a 2019 release.
2019–present: Man on the Moon III: The Chosen and Entergalactic
In July 2019, Kid Cudi announced his next album would be titled Entergalactic, which he revealed would soundtrack an upcoming Netflix "adult-focused animated music series" co-created by himself and Kenya Barris.
On April 24, 2020, Cudi collaborated with Travis Scott under the collective name The Scotts, to release a song under the same name, "The Scotts". It was hinted that the duo would be releasing more music in the future. The song debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Cudi's first number-one hit single.
Later on April 24, Cudi also revealed that he was still working on new music for a future WZRD release, joking that "we take a decade off between albums." On July 9, 2020, Cudi's daughter Vada, announced via social media that he would be releasing a song with multiple Grammy Award-winning artist Eminem, called "The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady" the coming Friday. The song was released on July 10, 2020 and also saw success as a hit, as it debuted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
On October 26, Cudi released a teaser video on his official Twitter account for Man on the Moon III, the final installment in his Man on the Moon series, after a decade between releases. The album title and release date were not shared with the video, however on December 7, Cudi announced the album would be titled Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, with a release date of December 11, 2020. The concept album's theme follows Cudi overcoming his darkness, but fighting to win his soul back from his alter-ego "Mr. Rager".
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised Cudi's songwriting and generally favored the latter two acts, though some found it derivative of Cudi's earlier albums. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, earning 144,000 album-equivalent units of which 15,000 were pure sales, marking Cudi's fifth top 10 album in the US.
Although Entergalactic was originally set for a 2020 release, it was pushed back due to Cudi releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album instead. In January 2021, when asked by a fan on Twitter why Entergalatics new release date says 2022 on Netflix, Cudi responded, "[Because] that's when it drops. I just gave y'all an album y'all gotta chill and be patient fr man I'm not doin an album every year."
Cudi was the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live in April 2021, having previously featured alongside Kanye West and 070 Shake in "Ghost Town" in 2018. He played "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People" with both performances in tribute to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. "Sad People" showcased Cudi in a floral dress designed by Virgil Abloh in a nod to Cobain.
In June 2021, Amazon enlisted Kid Cudi for Prime Day Show; a three-part musical event also featuring Billie Eilish and H.E.R. Cudi's performance included a mission to establish a new community on the moon, while performing with the International Space Orchestra, a new group composed of space scientists from NASA Ames Research Center, the SETI Institute and the International Space University.
A Man Named Scott, a documentary film directed by Robert Alexander, was announced in October 2021 via Prime Video. The film was produced by Mad Solar, Complex Networks and Film 45, set for release in November 2021, and billed as a look at Cudi's journey "over a decade of creative choices, struggles, and breakthroughs."
During his headlining performance at the Rolling Loud music festival, Cudi revealed intentions on releasing two full-length projects in 2022, with plans of releasing an album prior to Entergalactic “I have Entergalactic coming in the summer, and I wanna drop another album before that. I got some tasty surprises and I’m really excited about all this new shit, this new music, to give to you guys,” he said before playing a recording of a song that has since been dubbed “Freshie.” “That’s why I’m teasing this shit now because it’s coming out soon.”
On December 3, 2021, a collaboration between Cudi and American pop singer Ariana Grande, titled "Just Look Up" was released in promotion for the black comedy film Don't Look Up, in which they both star in. In December 2021, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen broke the record for biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album in Nielsen history.
Artistry
Musical style
Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide."In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." His music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2012's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop, punk and grunge, in his music.
Cudi was gifted a guitar by his manager in 2011, encouraging Cudi to learn. Cudi taught himself how to play the guitar and went on to utilize the instrument in his rock music throughout his career. Cudi is also a self-taught music producer. In 2021, Cudi appeared on American TV talk show The Shop, where he spoke on his writing and recording process. Cudi mentioned for his early albums he would sit down and write entire verses. However, while working on Kids See Ghosts and Man on the Moon III, he adopted Kanye West's writing process. Instead of writing to a beat, he records a reference track for himself, where he freestyles and hums his way through the beat to get a melody, and fills in the lyrics as they come to him. In 2021, during Songwriter's Roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, Cudi called his music "space punk rock".
Influences
Cudi's earliest influences include alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Cudi also cites rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Kid 'n Play, N.W.A., Naughty By Nature, Onyx and Public Enemy, as his hip hop influences while growing up. Cudi has also credited fellow Ohio native Camu Tao, as an influence. He has also been inspired by the sounds of The O'Jays, Ratatat, MGMT and The Postal Service. In 2010, he began experimenting with rock music; rock acts that inspired Cudi include the Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, the Pixies and Pink Floyd. Kid Cudi also credits English singer-songwriter David Bowie as a "huge inspiration." Production wise, Cudi has named Dr. Dre, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Kanye West, as his top four favorite producers; also naming Emile Haynie and Plain Pat, calling them “geniuses” for seeing his potential before he was even completely aware of it.
Other ventures
Acting
In 2010, Kid Cudi made a guest appearance on American television drama One Tree Hill, starring as himself and performing his Man on the Moon II single "Erase Me", during the episode. In 2010, Kid Cudi also began starring in the HBO comedy series How to Make It in America, as part of the main cast, being credited by his birth name Scott Mescudi, until its cancellation after two seasons. On October 31, 2010, Kid Cudi released a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, in which he and fellow American rapper Cage, star as French-speaking serial killers. The short film, titled Maniac, was inspired by Cudi's song of the same name, from his 2010 album Man on the Moon II and is an homage to the 1992 Belgian black comedy crime mockumentary, Man Bites Dog. In May 2012, Kanye West premiered a short film he directed, titled Cruel Summer, at the Cannes Film Festival. According to MTV, Kid Cudi is the lead character, playing a "car thief who falls for a blind Arabian princess." The film was shown on seven different screens that turned on and off, giving various angles of each shot.
In October 2012, it was announced Cudi would star in an indie romantic comedy titled Two Night Stand, alongside Analeigh Tipton and Miles Teller. Also in 2012, it was revealed Cudi would star in an indie thriller film titled Tacoma, alongside Patricia Clarkson. In 2013, Cudi guest starred in the animated TV series The Cleveland Show, voicing a character named Devon, in the Season 4 episode "Brownsized". In 2013, he also guest starred on the FOX comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, where he played a criminal named Dustin Whitman. In 2013, it was revealed Cudi would then star in Goodbye World, alongside Adrian Grenier.
In January 2013, Cudi was cast in the film adaptation of Need for Speed. Need for Speed, which is Cudi's feature film debut, was released by Touchstone Pictures on March 14, 2014. In June 2013, it was revealed Cudi would appear in Mark Webber's film The Ever After, alongside Teresa Palmer and Melissa Leo. On November 10, 2014, Cudi guest starred on the CBS American television series Scorpion, as Peyton Temple, a musical prodigy who created a controversial algorithm that generates the perfect hit pop song, who later helps Scorpion investigate the murder of his friend who was a music industry blogger. In February 2014, it was announced Cudi would appear in Entourage (2015), the film adaptation of the popular HBO TV series of the same name.
On April 11, 2014, it was announced Cudi would star in a film titled James White, alongside Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon. In addition to starring in the film, it was revealed Cudi would also be curating the film's score as well. In January 2015, Cudi revealed he played a homosexual character in James White: "This was way different than anything else I've ever done. It was dope to do that. I felt like I had a responsibility to present a different walk in life from that world." Although his character's sexuality is not outwardly discussed during the film, the original script included a coming-out scene and a kiss between Cudi and a male friend, played by David Call: "I didn't flinch. I'm secure with mine," Cudi told an audience after the film's premiere. "I'm an artist—it's all about playing characters that are intriguing and stimulating."
Also in January 2015, Cudi revealed he had just finished filming a movie titled Vincent-N-Roxxy, alongside Zoe Kravitz and Emile Hirsch. When speaking on Vincent-N-Roxxy, Cudi said: "this movie that I have coming out soon that's my first villain role. It's very violent and very disturbing [...] I play kind of like a drug lord." Cudi took over the mic duties for Reggie Watts, on IFC's television series, Comedy Bang! Bang! on July 10, 2015. As the in-house disc jockey, Cudi crafted original music for the show and appeared in several skits throughout season four. The December 10 Christmas edition of Comedy Bang! Bang!, marked the season finale and Cudi's final episode as bandleader.
In July 2016, it was announced Cudi would join the cast of FOX's Empire, debuting in the third season of the series as "an independent musician who is a rival to Hakeem (Bryshere "Yazz" Gray) both in the studio and in life." Cudi later left the project due to creative differences. In 2017, Cudi appeared in the comedy film Killing Hasselhoff.
In 2019, Cudi had small roles in Drunk Parents, directed by Fred Wolf, and Jexi directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the latter of which he played himself. In 2020, he co-starred in Bill & Ted Face the Music, directed by Dean Parisot, opposite Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. In 2020, Cudi also starred in We Are Who We Are, an eight-episode miniseries for HBO directed by Luca Guadagnino.
In early 2021, Kid Cudi appeared in Crisis, directed by Nicholas Jarecki. In January 2021, Cudi revealed he would potentially be partnering with TV producer and fellow American rapper 50 Cent, for an upcoming series. In late 2021, Cudi appeared in the ensemble cast of Don't Look Up, where he also performed an original song for the film alongside fellow American singer Ariana Grande. Cudi is also set to star in X and Disney's upcoming sci-fi film Crater, the latter of which would be released exclusively on the streaming service, Disney+.
Fashion
In September 2009, Kid Cudi teamed up with Japanese clothing company BAPE (which happens to be the last company Cudi was employed with before his music career took off), for a collaboration that saw Cudi's likeness featured on graphic T-shirts, with the Japanese label's mascot, Baby Milo. As of 2014, he has had five t-shirt collaborations with BAPE. In 2021, Cudi once again collaborated with BAPE, for a vibrant capsule displaying colorful prints and logos. Spanning a total of 20 pieces, this project is BAPE's largest-ever artist collaboration — the result of a long relationship that goes all the way back to when Cudi was still working at the BAPE store in New York.
In February 2011, Kid Cudi announced a collaboration with Parisian brand Surface to Air. In the fall of 2011, he released a leather jacket collection in collaboration with the fashion label. Taking cues from the modern biker jacket, the "Thriller-inspired" lineup offered two men's styles. He can be seen wearing the jackets in music videos such as "All of the Lights" and "Mr. Rager".
In August 2014, Giuseppe Zanotti designed an exclusive sneaker inspired by Kid Cudi's style.
In February 2019, Kid Cudi partnered with French fashion brand A.P.C. on their first “INTERACTION #1” range. Jean Touitou, the founder of A.P.C. reached out to Kid Cudi following an introduction by Kanye West. The capsule collection included denim such as the Petit New Standard and Petit Standard Jeans, both of which included “Dream On” embroidery in red under the left front pocket. It also included the Dream On Cardigan in a multi-colored cotton knit, two iterations of the Tennis Minimal Sneaker, South Salopette overalls with paint splatter details, and three t-shirts that include the Bold Tee, Splash Tee, and Dream On Tee.
Kid Cudi announced a partnership with Adidas in March 2019. On December 10, 2020, Cudi unveiled his Adidas sneakers. They are the self-named VADAWAM 326's which would be released on December 17, 2020.
On May 20, 2020, Kid Cudi announced he was partnering with American designer Virgil Abloh, to release an exclusive “Leader of the Delinquents” t-shirt. The design on the black and white “PULLING STRINGS” t-shirt features Kid Cudi puppeteering a smaller version of himself, hence the name of the t-shirt release. The art is meant to reference Cudi's infamous TMZ moment from 2012, in which he posed like the puppet on the shirt. “Leader of the Delinquents” is written across the back of the t-shirt in text reminiscent of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s handwriting.
Just hours before releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album, Cudi rolled out a small batch of merchandise in support of the album. The range was made in collaboration with Cactus Plant Flea Market, and consists of short- and long-sleeve T-shirts, pullover hoodies, and sweatpants—all of which feature graphics that reference MOTM3 tracks.
In April 2021, Kid Cudi performed on Saturday Night Live wearing a floral-print sundress, created by Virgil Abloh. On April 11, Cudi confirmed that he would have an upcoming collection with Italian luxury fashion label Off-White, with the floral dress serving as one of the pieces.
In late April 2021, it was revealed Kid Cudi had teamed up with the NFL to release a limited-edition Starter jacket commemorating the 2021 NFL Draft, which took place in Cudi's hometown of Cleveland.
Members of the RAGE
On January 26, 2021, Kid Cudi announced on Twitter that he would be starting his own clothing line and the first pieces would be available sometime in 2021. In February 2022, Cudi launched his very own clothing line titled called Members of the RAGE. The clothing line is described as a fusion of “90s grunge with the soul of hip hop and
elements from a distant future.” Its UFO logo was co-designed by Cudi and Nigo, while the retro-inspired website was designed by Cudi himself. The first piece that was issued was a t-shirt created in collaboration with Nigo’s Human Made. Created for NBA All-Star Weekend, the shirt comes in white and features the Members of the RAGE logo in Cleveland Cavaliers colors and the Earth replaced with a basketball.
Modeling
In 2010, Cudi modeled for a campaign run by American fashion house Calvin Klein. In January 2015, Coach, Inc. announced Kid Cudi as the new face of their brand, along with actress Chloë Grace Moretz, to front its Spring campaign. In January 2022, Cudi modeled for the Levi Strauss & Co. campaign titled "The Number That Changed Everything."
Poetry
Kid Cudi has also been known for sharing his poetry.
Record labels
Dream on
Dream On was an American record label founded in 2009, by Cudi alongside his managers at the time, Patrick Reynolds and Emile Haynie. In February 2011, Cudi announced the label had been dissolved. The label went on to release the first two installments of Cudi's Man on the Moon series.
Wicked Awesome Records
Wicked Awesome Records is an American record label founded by Cudi in 2011. It is distributed by Republic Records. In a 2013 interview Cudi said "Wicked Awesome was there officially when I did WZRD. That was the first project that I did on Wicked Awesome and it was an outlet for me to just branch out on my own, and creatively and business-wise take things to a different space for me. Wicked Awesome..where do I see it going? Right now it's just the music but who knows? Wicked Awesome is maybe gunna be beyond music it could be movies, it could be a lot of things, producing T.V. shows. Just the name I think is really dope it has a ring to it." Cudi continued, explaining the motivation behind his label. "The whole motivation is just bringing authenticity back to the forefront. Bringing real content, bringing real emotion [...] Wicked Awesome is about being a real human being, making real music, talking about real things that people deal with on a day-to-day basis." In January 2021, Cudi tweeted that he is prepared to sign artists and producers.
Mad Solar
On November 17, 2020, it was revealed Cudi teamed with Dennis Cummings and Karina Manashil to found production and music management company Mad Solar, with the backing of Bron Studios, which provides corporate back office and production support, including financing, marketing, and sales. In a statement Cudi said, "Beyond excited to be launching my production company Mad Solar and partnering with Bron, whose creative vision and storytelling has transformed the industry." When speaking on the collaboration, Bron chairman Aaron L. Gilbert said "Scott Mescudi's growth as a creative and an entrepreneur has been impressive. For Bron, the strategic relationship with Mad Solar is key in our efforts to support the entertainment industry's top creatives, as well as expand Bron's access to the best in class music and sports talent through Mad Solar's management division."
On December 9, it was announced Cudi's Mad Solar banner are developing a film adaptation of the coming-of-age campus novel Real Life, with Cudi set to star. Bron Studios acquired the rights to the 2020 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel with Mad Solar. Real Life is the semi-autobiographical novel debut for writer Brandon Taylor. It follows an introverted, queer, Black scientist in a predominantly white, Midwestern PhD program as he navigates complex friendships, romantic relationships, betrayals and mercies, all over the course of one weekend. Mad Solar is also producing the upcoming Netflix animated series Entergalactic, which Cudi co-created alongside Kenya Barris. Based on original music by Cudi, the series, which Cudi writes, executive produces and stars in, follows a young man on his journey to discover love. Additionally, Mad Solar has teamed with A24 and Bron Studios on the horror film X. Written and directed by Ti West, X stars Mia Goth, Cudi and Jenna Ortega. Cudi is an executive producer on the film, which will begin production early 2021.
Encore Studio
In October 2020, it was announced Cudi teamed with screenwriter Ian Edelman and startup veteran Jonathan Gray to launch Encore Studio, a mobile-based platform to help artists monetize their connections with fans. “The current streaming model puts artists in competition with one another and only rewards the top 1% of artists who collect 90% of the money,” a press release announcing the app explains. “Encore offers an all-new format that encourages collaboration amongst artists and makes it easy for up-and-coming and established artists to manage and grow a direct relationship with their fans. Artists can drop new music, chat with fans and host live shows from anywhere in the world.” Encore enables live music experiences through smart phones, fan interaction, community centered content and merchandise offerings to give fans new ways to reward the artists they love. “The energy from a concert is undeniable, both for the fans and artists. I am excited to launch Encore to help bring the live music experience back to our fans. Encore is committed to empowering both established and new artists and delivering the best mobile music experience out there,” Cudi says. Earlier in 2020, Encore closed a $2 million seed round led by global investment firm Battery Ventures.
In 2022, it was revealed Encore Studio was backed by $9 million funding led by Battery Ventures along with investments from 468 Capital, Parade Ventures, Nomad Ventures, Moving Capital, Kayak Ventures, and Gaingels, with Cudi issuing a statement “My number one priority has always been inspiring others and providing them the space to tell their own stories in an authentic and meaningful way,” Cudi said in a press release. “We created Encore as a space for artists to share their art, build community, while also being able to pay their rent.”
Image and stage presence
Kid Cudi has been described by the media as a fashion icon.
In his early career, Kid Cudi received criticism in the hip hop community for wearing skinny jeans, before they became trendy after being worn by mainstream rappers, such as Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Cudi made headlines when he wore a kilt to a 2010 New Year's Eve party in Miami. In April 2012, he made headlines again in a now-infamous moment when he gave TMZ paparazzi the finger, claiming they have never "posted anything to make him look good".
During his 2013 Cud Life concert tour, Cudi donned a custom made astronaut-esque suit that was designed by noted Hollywood costume designer Jose Hernandez. Officially dubbed the "Satellite Academy Space Suit", Joe La Puma of Complex explained, "It's more than just an interesting clothing choice; the suit represents a transition in his mind-state back to the highly anticipated Man on the Moon III."
In 2014, Cudi made headlines when he performed in a crop top at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In April 2021, he appeared as the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live, where he performed "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People". Both performances were in tribute to Nirvana's late frontman Kurt Cobain, however it was his performance of "Sad People" that made headlines because Cudi wore a woman's dress as a statement against social norms much like his idol Cobain had done.
In September 2021, Cudi made headlines twice; first arriving at New York Fashion Week with electric blue hair, a Nirvana long-sleeve tee and a floor-length black skirt. A few days later, Cudi showed up to the Met Gala wearing fluorescent green hair and dark eye makeup. At the Gala, Cudi was in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton, with a blue sweater, another floor-length skirt and blue-and-green LV sneakers.
On November 10, 2021, Kid Cudi posed for photos at the CFDA Fashion Awards in a custom bridal gown, standing hand-in-hand with its designer, ERL’s Eli Russell Linnetz, lace-gloved fingers interlocked, both wearing American Gothic expressions. On the red carpet, Linnetz lifted Cudi’s veil. “Be yourself, be free, baby, yeah,” Cudi said into a microphone, with a grin; he’d paired the dress with a white tux jacket, crystal-covered sneakers, grungy eyeliner, an icy Black Jesus pendant, and Manic Panic-pink hair. The dress was another homage to Kurt Cobain.
Personal life
Drug use
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi revealed that he had stopped smoking marijuana in 2011, both for the sake of his child and due to frustration with constantly being associated with the drug and stoner culture.
In a March 2013 interview, Cudi talked about how his initial sudden and unexpected fame drove him to alcohol and drugs:
Mental health
In a 2013 interview, Cudi revealed he had suffered an addiction to anti-depressant medication, which had been prescribed to help him deal with an "emotional breakdown" after a failed relationship. Cudi has been open about his addiction to pharmaceuticals in his music, namely the songs "Dr. Pill" and "The Nothing". In a 2014 interview, Cudi spoke on his struggles with depression and suicidal ideation: "I've dealt with suicide for the past five years. There wasn't a week or a day that didn't go by where I was just like, 'You know, I wanna check out.' I know what that feels like, I know it comes from loneliness, I know it comes from not having self-worth, not loving yourself."
In a July 2016 interview, Kid Cudi revealed he suffered from survivor guilt: "I didn't like that I had money and success and I had made it. Everybody I had ever met in my life, good people, weren't able to experience the same, and I wasn't able to truly enjoy my success. Even though I worked hard for it, it bothered me that I had just had so much and my friends didn't." In October 2016, Cudi revealed on his Facebook page that he had checked himself into rehabilitation for depression and suicidal urges.
Family
On March 26, 2010, Cudi's daughter, Vada Wamwene Mescudi, was born. Throughout 2012, Cudi was in a custody battle over his daughter. Reports surfaced that Cudi gave up custody after his child's mother accused him of being an absentee father, as well as having violent tendencies and a "long history of consistent drug and alcohol abuse." These claims were disputed by Cudi and his attorney in a statement, which noted: "Cudi did not give up custody but reached an amicable agreement with the mother; that 'both parents are fit and proper persons to have custody of their child,' as stated in the final custody judgment; results came back negative for drugs in a drug test voluntarily taken by Cudi; and that the court acknowledged Cudi attempted to establish a relationship and visit his child since her birth and "voluntarily provided financial support, including child support, rent and other monthly payments, for his daughter since her birth until the time that a child support order was entered as part of the normal course of the case." Details of the official custody agreement remain private. Cudi has since purchased a property in Chicago to be close to his daughter.
Relationships
In 2009, Cudi began dating entertainment attorney Jamie Baratta. They were in an on-again, off-again relationship, and were a prominent couple in the music industry. They ultimately broke up in 2012, but not before Cudi dedicated a song to her titled "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie", which he recorded as a member of the alternative rock duo, WZRD. In 2020, Cudi wrote "Sept. 16", a song titled after the birthdate of his girlfriend at the time, costume designer and actress Raquel Deriane, to whom the song is dedicated.
Faith
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi said that he believes in God, although considers himself spiritual but not religious.
Philanthropy
On April 8, 2014, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services announced that it would recognize mental health advocates Kid Cudi, Ronda Rousey and Natasha Tracy, during its annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards on April 24, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Committed to helping depressed and suicidal youth through the power of music, Cudi joined Didi Hirsch's Erasing the Stigma Efforts as a Mental Health Ambassador.
On February 7, 2015, Kid Cudi partnered with TED to give a TED Talk at his former school, Shaker Heights High School, to help inspire the students with his story, for the school's independently organized "TEDxSHHS" conference.
Kid Cudi has also been a volunteer for Musicians on Call (MOC), a charity with the mission of bringing live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. In December 2015, Cudi arranged a dance party for the teenage participants of the Children's Hospital At Montefiore's (CHAM) B-N-Fit program, in the Bronx. Kid Cudi also hosted a group of young patients and their families from CHAM, at his sold-out Roseland Ballroom shows in April 2016.
In June 2016, 49 celebrities, including Kid Cudi, honored the 49 victims killed in the Orlando nightclub shooting in a video tribute.
In 2019, Kid Cudi teamed up with delivery service Postmates to deliver $10,000 worth of Popeyes takeout to the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. Hundreds in need at the Indio shelter were presented with Popeyes' chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, and fries the evening before Cudi's second set at Coachella.
Impact and legacy
A number of publications have noted Kid Cudi's impact on contemporary hip hop music since his mainstream debut in 2009. IBTimes writer Alex Garofaro states "Since the beginning of Cudi's career, his music has been extremely influential. His unique blend of dark, introspective lyrics, melancholy melody, psychedelic instrumentation and stoner cool made him a crossover sensation with rap, R&B and indie music fans alike." Luke Hinz of HotNewHipHop said "Cudi has inspired a generation of young artists to be unafraid to explore a wide array of emotions, and many have sought to adapt elements of Cudi's music into their own. Never caring to fit into the conventional boundaries of music, Cudi became a voice for those who felt unrepresented and alone."
In a 2015 article titled "KiD CuDi – A Forgotten Influence on Psychedelic Introspection in Hip-Hop", the author wrote "Cudi helped bring about a new era of electronic, psychedelic driven production. And his dark, drug-riddled approach to introspection has already taken hold in the up-and-comers in the hip-hop world." Revolt writer Preezy Brown noted "His knack for displaying vulnerability and addressing bouts with mental health has made him an inspiration for a long list of artists including Juice WRLD, Logic, Lil Yachty, and other leaders of the new school."
Eric Diep of Complex said "Cudi is an omnipresent figure in pop culture who has inspired many. He's a voice for young creatives who don't fit in. He's a therapeutic light for people who need a helping hand. He's a fashion icon. He's more than a cool cameo in television and movies, but a full-fledged actor." Uproxx stated "Compared to modern icons like Drake, West, and Wayne, Cudi doesn't have a boatload of sales, or a room full of accolades, but his weighty impact is reflected in adulation from the people, which is the intangible, everlasting achievement that most artists live for. He's one of the first artists to be unabashed about his depressive ruminations and did so in a melodically intriguing manner that progressed alternative rock aesthetics into the hip-hop world one cadence at a time."
Several artists have gone on to credit Kid Cudi as influence or inspiration, such as rappers Kanye West, Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Chance the Rapper, Childish Gambino, Logic, ASAP Rocky, ASAP Nast, Allan Kingdom, Kyle, Isaiah Rashad, Raury, Key!, Denzel Curry, Kevin Abstract, Saba and Jaden Smith, as well as singers Willow Smith, Jhene Aiko, Lissie and Tinashe, among others.
In 2009, Canadian recording artist Drake shared his admiration for Cudi on Twitter with a picture of him holding both his and Cudi's respective projects, stating "We are rarely proud when we are alone. But to have another artist who pushes me and inspires me is a blessing."
In a 2010 interview with Billboard, Kanye West called Cudi his "personal favorite artist in the world right now. His whole take on the game is just unfiltered, uncensored artistry." In 2016, Kanye West went on to call Cudi "the most influential artist of the past 10 years".
West Coast hip hop duo Audio Push have also praised Cudi, in 2016, saying "The thing I love about Cudi is he's unapologetically real. He birthed so much of, not even the new generation of artists, but a lot of [your] favorite artists wouldn't be [your] favorite artists if it wasn't for Cudi." In November 2016, Atlanta-based rapper OG Maco, who has cited Cudi as a major influence on several occasions, released an EP titled For Scott, as a tribute to Kid Cudi.
In October 2018, American musician and high-profile producer Pharrell Williams, spoke on his collaborations with Cudi in an interview with Complex, saying: "He's so inspiring, and I'm only as good as my collaborations anyway. I love the stuff that we did. Love, love [...] So to me, Cudi is a GOAT. His melodies and his concepts—he's a timeless alien." In another interview with Complex, Williams also stated "When they say Cudi is the [greatest of all time], they're talking about the consistency of his convictions and how that's played out into the choices that he makes, the taste that he has, and the tone that he takes with everything that he does. That's my idea of Cudi."
American comedian and actor Pete Davidson, who has shared his own struggles with his mental health in the past, has said Kid Cudi's music has saved his life. In a 2019 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Davidson called Cudi "the best musician that's ever lived." Travis Scott, whose stage name is derived from Cudi's first name, has also said Kid Cudi's music saved his life and has a tattoo of the word "rager" in honor of Cudi. Brockhampton's Kevin Abstract has said "I love how he incorporated melody into his raps," Kevin explained. "A kid like me would say, like, Kid Cudi saved my life."
American rapper Logic, who has interpolated Kid Cudi's records in his own songs, has also spoke about how Cudi's music inspired him to open up about mental health in his own music. "He was the dude that was like, 'It's okay to be sad. It's okay to talk about these things, and go through these things.'" In a 2019 interview, then-up-and-coming rapper Baby Keem, cited Cudi as a major influence: "I was inspired by Cudi's cadences and shit like that. Kid Cudi's one of my favorite artists."
In an interview with New York City radio station Hot 97, Jaden Smith spoke on Cudi's influence on him: "Cudi would always say things that just would, like, change my life [...] I thought it was just me and my brother for a while. Then I got older and started going to festivals and then I realized, oh man, everybody has felt that from Cudi. Everybody says that Cudi saved their life. ... Everybody had that same experience listening to Cudi. If someone listened to Cudi, you knew something about them. You could tell certain things about them."
Discography
Studio albums
Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009)
Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010)
Indicud (2013)
Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014)
Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016)
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (2020)
Entergalactic (2022)
Collaborative albums
WZRD (2012)
Kids See Ghosts (2018)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Concert tours
Headlining
The Great Hangover Tour (2009)
The Cud Life Tour (2011-2013)
The Especial Tour (2016)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour (2017)
Supporting
Glow in the Dark Tour (2008)
The Monster Ball Tour (2009)
See also
Kids See Ghosts
WZRD
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of American Grammy Award winners and nominees
List of neo-psychedelia artists
List of alternative hip hop artists
Midwest hip hop
References
External links
1984 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Actors from Shaker Heights, Ohio
African-American male rappers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
Alternative hip hop musicians
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American male film actors
American male television actors
American music industry executives
American music video directors
American rappers of Mexican descent
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Living people
Male actors from Cleveland
Midwest hip hop musicians
Motown artists
Musicians from Cleveland
Musicians from Shaker Heights, Ohio
People from Solon, Ohio
People with mood disorders
Rappers from Cleveland
Record producers from Ohio
Republic Records artists
Songwriters from Ohio
Universal Motown Records artists
University of Toledo alumni
Poets from Ohio
21st-century American poets
American fashion businesspeople
21st-century African-American writers
Alternative rock musicians
20th-century African-American people
American male songwriters
Mental health activists
American male actors of Mexican descent | false | [
"\"No One Believes Me\" is a song by American recording artist Kid Cudi, co-produced with his fellow WZRD bandmate Dot da Genius, for the 2011 horror film Fright Night. The song was released on August 23, 2011 for digital download. Kid Cudi and Dot da Genius wrote the track staying true to the original Fright Night (1985) but also to \"stand on its own, separate from the soundtrack\".\n\nBackground\nThe song features Kid Cudi on guitar, as well as him accompanying Dot da Genius on drums, while Dot da Genius solely handled bass and piano. The duo wrote the track after being contacted to provide a song to the 2011 remake of Fright Night. \"I kind of wrote it to the original Fright Night and I wanted to stay true to the plot and story,\" said Cudi. \"We were inspired to create the song for the movie, which is something I've never done before. It was a challenge. I didn't want it to be a cheesy, cliché type of record. I wanted it to be something people could play and absorb and enjoy without thinking this is for the Fright Night movie.\" The explicit version contains two uses of the word fuck.\n\nMusic video\nCraig Gillespie, the director of Fright Night remake, also directed the music video for the song. In the video, Kid Cudi plays a vampire who walks through the streets of a suburban neighborhood as he experiences terrible events take place for the residents. He slowly becomes guilt ridden especially after entering a home with a family that has already been bitten in their sleep, presumably by him. The video ends with daybreak coming and Kid Cudi exiting the house and allowing himself to immediately get incinerated by the sunlight. In an interview with MTV, Kid Cudi explained that his character in the video is tired of being a vampire, and is not really affected by the tragic events that occur in the video. The music video, which features dialog from the film Fright Night, was released August 12, 2011.\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2011 singles\n2011 songs\nKid Cudi songs\nGOOD Music singles\nUniversal Republic Records singles\nAmerican rock songs\nSongs written by Kid Cudi\nSongs about loneliness\nSongs written by Dot da Genius\nSong recordings produced by Kid Cudi\nSongs written for films\nAlternative rock songs",
"\"Frequency\" (previously titled \"The Frequency\") is a song recorded by American rapper Kid Cudi. It was released on September 30, 2016, as the first single from his sixth studio album, Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016). The song was written and produced by Mike Dean, Plain Pat and Kid Cudi.\n\nRelease and composition\n\"Frequency\" originally premiered on Cudi's SoundCloud account on March 25, 2016, but was released for digital download on September 30, 2016. It is the first offering from his sixth studio album, Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin', which was released on December 16, 2016. \"Frequency\" runs for a duration of four minutes and fifty-eight seconds. It was described as \"a low-key hip-hop ballad\" by Rolling Stone reviewer Elias Leight.\n\nCritical reception\nRyan Middleton of Music Times gave the song a positive review, saying \"it has the spacey, stoner sound that fans loved from the Cudi on his first couple of albums\". Fuse's Tyler Lauletta wrote that \"the song is a return to form for Cudi, with shout-outs to women and psychedelic drugs in his signature sultry tone\". Chico from Respect. wrote that Cudi \"hums, sings and even lyrically dances all over this one, like we always knew he could\". C. Vernon Coleman II of XXL wrote; \"The dreamy production is highlighted by odd sound effects and spaced out chords\".\n\nMusic video\nThe music video for the song, directed by Cudi himself, premiered on October 12, 2016, via his Vevo channel. The five-minute video features Cudi performing the song shirtless in a dark jungle. It also shows him having a threesome in a mushroom cave. Peter A. Berry of XXL wrote that the video is \"simultaneously dark and colorful, much like the music Cudi’s provided for fans over the last eight years\". The Boombox's Jacinta Howard called the video \"dark and artistic\", while Rap-Up called it \"dark and smoky\". Elisabeth Brier from Uproxx wrote; \"It’s a sort of R-rated Wonderland. That’s perhaps the best way to describe the world depicted in Kid Cudi‘s new music video for \"Frequency\".\" Pigeons & Planes named it as one of the best music videos released in October 2016.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n2016 songs\nKid Cudi songs\nSongs written by Kid Cudi\nSongs written by Mike Dean (record producer)\nSongs written by Plain Pat\nRepublic Records singles\n2010s ballads\nSong recordings produced by Kid Cudi\nSongs about drugs"
]
|
[
"Kid Cudi",
"Musical style",
"What kind of music is Kid Cudi known for?",
"Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as \"an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing\"."
]
| C_7ff647487dc94486a521118eabc4cdef_1 | What are some of his famous songs? | 2 | What are some of Kid Cudi's famous songs? | Kid Cudi | Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide." In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." Kid Cudi's music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2011's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop and grunge, in his music. CANNOTANSWER | Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, | Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), better known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ; often stylized as KiD CuDi), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has widely been recognized as an influence on several contemporary hip hop and alternative acts. His lyrics are often autobiographical and describe his childhood hardships of depression, loneliness and alienation, his struggle with alcohol and drugs into adulthood, as well as themes of heartbreak, dissipation and celebration. Cudi began to gain major recognition following the release of his first official full-length project, a mixtape titled A Kid Named Cudi (2008), which caught the attention of American musician Kanye West, who subsequently signed Cudi to his GOOD Music label imprint by late 2008.
In early 2008, Cudi had risen to prominence with his debut single "Day 'n' Nite", having initially been self-published on his Myspace page to becoming a worldwide hit. The song was later featured on Cudi's seminal debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009), which was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2017. The album also included the singles "Make Her Say" and "Pursuit of Happiness", both of which achieved significant chart success. In 2010, Cudi released his second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, which also attained platinum status and features the singles "Erase Me" and "Mr. Rager". Later that year he formed WZRD, a rock band, with his long-time collaborator Dot da Genius. Their eponymous debut album (2012) debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
Cudi has since released the solo albums Indicud (2013), Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014), Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015), and Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016). Cudi's joint album with Kanye West, under the eponymous name Kids See Ghosts (2018), was met with widespread critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2018. In 2020, Cudi earned his first number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with "The Scotts", a collaboration with Houston rapper Travis Scott. Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, issued in 2020, became his most commercially successful album to date, with the RIAA certifying it gold status later that year.
Cudi has sold 22 million certified records in the United States and has won two Grammy Awards from five nominations. He has worked with numerous prominent artists spanning several different genres in the music industry, such as Jay-Z, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, MGMT, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Ariana Grande and Michael Bolton, among others. After signing to GOOD Music, Cudi has since gone on to launch his own vanity labels, the now-dissolved Dream On and current label imprint Wicked Awesome Records. Cudi also ventured into acting when he was cast in the HBO series How to Make It in America. He has since appeared in several feature films, including Goodbye World (2013), Need for Speed (2014), Entourage (2015), Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020), Don't Look Up (2021) and more. In addition, he has made appearances on television shows such as One Tree Hill, The Cleveland Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Westworld. In 2015, he was the bandleader on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang! and in 2020 was added as a cast member for the HBO mini-series We Are Who We Are.
Early life
Kid Cudi was born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 30, 1984. He grew up in Shaker Heights and Solon. He has two older brothers, Domingo and Dean, and an older sister, Maisha. His mother, Elsie Harriet (née Banks), is an African-American school choir teacher at Roxboro Middle School in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. His father, Lindberg Styles Mescudi, was a house painter, substitute teacher, and World War II Air Force veteran of African-American and Mexican descent.
When Cudi was 11 years old, his father died of cancer; his passing had a significant effect on Cudi's personality and music. Cudi attended Shaker Heights High School for two years before transferring to Solon High School. He was expelled from the school for threatening to punch the principal, and would later earn his GED. He studied film at the University of Toledo, but dropped out after a year. His subsequent plan to join the Navy did not pan out because of his juvenile police record.
Musical career
2003–2008: Beginnings in New York City
Cudi first began rapping in 2003, towards the end of his time in high school, and was inspired by alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. He later moved to New York City to pursue a music career. After leaving Cleveland in 2005 with $500 and a demo tape, he moved in with his uncle, accomplished jazz drummer Kalil Madi, in the South Bronx. He worked at a couple of Manhattan clothing stores, before eventually sharing an apartment with friend and collaborator Dot da Genius in Brooklyn.
In 2006, Cudi would run into his future mentor, rapper and producer Kanye West, in a Virgin Megastore. He recounted in a 2009 SPIN interview, "I was looking at CDs, saw the gleam of a Jesus piece in the right side of my eye, looked up, and it was Kanye West." He introduced himself and offered West some of his music. Cudi would later run into West again while working at the BAPE store in New York, and recalled: "I remember Kanye coming in one time and I was helping him get a couple things. I forgot to take a sensor off of one of the jackets he bought and I had to run out the store to catch him before he left. Pretty funny me chasing after him in SoHo."
In 2007, Kid Cudi's song "Day 'n' Nite", began being featured on several music blogs, after having uploaded the song to his MySpace page. Cudi's early work would go on to catch the attention of Kanye West, whose then-manager Plain Pat, had introduced Cudi's music to him, subsequently leading West to sign Cudi to his GOOD Music imprint later that year. In July 2008, Kid Cudi released his first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi (executive produced by Plain Pat and Emile Haynie), in collaboration with New York street-wear brand 10.Deep as a free download.
Kanye West first called upon Cudi to reference hooks for American rapper and mogul Jay-Z, and while in the studio Cudi and West went from working on The Blueprint 3 (2009) to West's R&B-esque 808s & Heartbreak (2008). Cudi's assistance on the latter includes co-writing credits and/or vocals on "Heartless," "Welcome to Heartbreak," "Paranoid" and "RoboCop." Kid Cudi was a prominent songwriter and featured artist on 808s & Heartbreak, with "Paranoid" and "Heartless" being released as singles, while "Welcome to Heartbreak" charted as an album cut and peaked at number 87 on the Pop 100.
Kid Cudi's first television appearance was at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside Travis Barker and DJ AM. Cudi was promoted as an artist to watch for in media such as Rolling Stone, Vibe, The Source, XXL and BBC News's 2009 Sound of poll. MTV News reported on Cudi on a series of reports titled "MCs To Watch In 2009".
2009–2010: Man on the Moon album series
In late 2008, Cudi was revealed to be included in XXLs 2009 annual Freshman Class. He was featured on the cover alongside fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth, Wale, B.o.B, Charles Hamilton, Cory Gunz, Blu, Mickey Factz, Ace Hood and Curren$y. On February 17, 2009, he appeared on Snoop Dogg's MTV talk show Dogg After Dark, performing "Day 'n' Nite" at the end of the show. Two days later on February 19, 2009, Cudi appeared on BET's 106 & Park, alongside Kanye West to debut the music video of "Day 'n' Nite". On February 25, 2009, Cudi self-leaked a teaser trailer for the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen film, using his song "Sky Might Fall" in the background; later he posted that he made the trailer himself and was in talks to possibly making it official.
In February 2009, Kid Cudi also made a cameo appearance next to Solange in the video for her song "T.O.N.Y.". On March 16, 2009, Kid Cudi performed on mtvU's Spring Break special, and the following day he performed three songs on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly. Cudi teamed up with partner and record producer Emile Haynie, to produce an exclusive single titled "Switchin Lanes", for the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles, part of its "South Central Premium Upgrade" downloadable content (DLC), which came out March 19, 2009, for the PlayStation 3 and March 27, 2009, for the Xbox 360. He has also appeared as a musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live! In June 2009, he made a cameo in The Black Eyed Peas' video for "I Gotta Feeling", alongside David Guetta, where the two met for the first time and subsequently recorded their international hit "Memories". In 2009, he had also been on two magazine covers, Complex (August/September 2009) and URB (August 2009).
He revealed information about his future plans via his blog, saying that a possible collaborative album with Chip tha Ripper could be followed with a collaborative project with electronic rock duo Ratatat. On May 5, 2009 Iranian-American progressive house DJ Sharam, released "She Came Along", the lead single from his debut studio album, Get Wild (2009). The song, featuring Cudi, charted for 15 weeks on the Bulgarian Singles Top 40. It entered the chart on position 40 on week 30/2009, and its last appearance was on week 44/2009. It peaked at number 11, where it stayed for one week.
During the summer of 2009, Cudi joined fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth and B.o.B, for 'The Great Hangover' concert tour.
In late 2009, Kid Cudi was featured on the highly anticipated Jay-Z album The Blueprint 3, on the song "Already Home". On September 14, 2009, BET premiered their Rising Icons profile of Kid Cudi. During the 30 minute show Cudi performed "CuDi Zone", "Mr. Solo Dolo", "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say". Cudi also discussed his childhood, his move to New York to begin his career as an artist and more.
Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, was released on Universal Motown Records on September 15, 2009 and sold 104,419 copies in the first week and charted at #4. The album's lead single "Day 'n' Nite", Kid Cudi's greatest commercial success thus far, charted well in both the U.S. and in Europe. The second single released was "Make Her Say" (originally titled "I Poke Her Face"), which features a sample from Lady Gaga's hit single "Poker Face" and performances by Kanye West and Common. Common was also featured throughout the album, as the narrator.
In September 2009, Cudi co-headlined 50 Cent's "50 Fest" concert, along with fellow American rapper Wale. In a late 2009 interview, Cudi announced that the follow-up to his debut album would be a compilation album entitled Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, which would have many collaborations. He stated he had already recorded songs with Snoop Dogg, Travis Barker, Clipse, Cage and Pharrell, and would also like to work with Drake, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Robin Thicke, The Killers and The Postal Service on the album. It was also rumored that Man on the Moon: The End of Day would be followed up by a sequel titled Man on the Moon: The Ghost in the Machine and that the Man on the Moon series would be a trilogy. Kid Cudi was nominated for three 2010 Grammy Awards, for his singles "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say".
In January 2010, Cudi released Man on the Moon: The End of Days third and final single "Pursuit of Happiness", which was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2010, Kid Cudi was featured on Snoop Dogg's re-release of Malice n Wonderland, titled More Malice, on the lead single "That Tree". Cudi also teamed up with independent artist Johnny Polygon, to remix Polygon's "The Riot Song", which appears on his mixtape Rebel Without Applause (2010). On April 20, 2010, Kid Cudi announced that the name of his second album would not be Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, but Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager.
On June 11, 2010, Kid Cudi was arrested in the Chelsea neighborhood of the Manhattan borough in New York City and charged with felony criminal mischief and possession of a controlled substance. Despite his arrest, he was released and made it to Manchester, Tennessee in time to play at Bonnaroo.
In May 2010, American shoe company Converse, launched “You're It”, a campaign which highlighted 23 artists from around the world in a series of web shorts. The campaign featured artists from 13 different countries including Kid Cudi. In this short, Converse takes a trip back to Cudi's roots as an artist in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. The campaign's goal was to tap into the grassroots of Converse's global market and introduce the artists of tomorrow.
In June 2010, Converse was promoting being a catalyst for creativity by bringing together three musicians from different genres to form a unique collaboration known as "Three Artists. One Song." Converse teamed up Cudi, alongside Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, to produce the song titled "All Summer". In addition to collaborating on the track, each of the artists also participated in the creation of the music video, which was released later that summer.
The lead single from Cudi's second studio album, titled "Erase Me", features Kanye West and was produced by Jim Jonsin. The song debuted on a Cleveland radio station June 30, 2010, and was officially released to Rhythm/Crossover radio on August 17, 2010. The title-track "Mr. Rager", was released as the album's second single, shortly before the album's release. The album, released November 9, 2010, debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 169,000 copies. In its second week it crossed the 200,000 sales mark.
In 2010, Kid Cudi appeared on several songs for his mentor Kanye West's weekly free music giveaway GOOD Fridays; namely "Good Friday", "Christian Dior Denim Flow" and "The Joy", the latter of which later became a bonus track on the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaborative album Watch the Throne (2011).
2011–2012: New direction with WZRD and Wicked Awesome
In October 2010, Cudi had announced that he would be forming a rock band with frequent collaborator Dot da Genius, tentatively called Wizard. In early 2011, he announced that he would be releasing a mixtape titled A Man Named Scott, reminiscent of his A Kid Named Cudi title, prior to the rock album. On February 26, 2011, Cudi took to his Twitter account to announce that Dream On, the record label he launched back in 2009 with partners Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds and producer Emile Haynie, has been dissolved. However, in an interview with Complex Magazine Cudi explained they were all still on good terms: "I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to take control of things myself. Those are still my guys, Pat and Emile, and I'm still going to work with them in the future. When we start working on Man on the Moon III I'll be calling them up to see if they want to be a part of it. I know Emile is definitely down. We had an issue, but we're men and we were able to figure it out and move forward. There's no hard feelings."
In March 2011, Cudi announced that a music video for "Marijuana" would be released in the spring, followed by a music video for "Mr. Rager" in the summer, then he would release a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, inspired by his song "Maniac", with Cage, in October 2011. In April 2011, while performing at New York City's Roseland Ballroom Kid Cudi announced he was launching his own record label. The new label, which he will be releasing his third studio album on is called Wicked Awesome Records. He also renamed his band on the same occasion to 2 Be Continuum, renaming it from the original Wizard. Kid Cudi explained his reasoning saying: "I needed something more original, something different, but it's still wizardry at its finest." In 2011, Cudi landed a songwriting placement on English singer Natalia Kills' debut album Perfectionist, for the song "Free".
On August 12, 2011, Kid Cudi released the music video for "No One Believes Me", directed by Fright Night director Craig Gillespie. The song, produced by Dot da Genius, features Cudi singing and contains elements of rock music. On August 21, Cudi announced that he would no longer be releasing the A Man Named Scott mixtape, so that he can focus on his rock project and his third solo album Man on the Moon III. Kid Cudi released the music video for his second album's title-track "Mr. Rager", on September 8, 2011. The video received all-positive reviews from critics and fans alike.
Despite saying he will not do many more features for other artists in Complex magazine's October/November 2011 cover story, Cudi appeared on Bryan Greenberg's second album We Don't Have Forever (2011), Travis Barker's solo debut Give the Drummer Some (2011), The Knux's Eraser (2011), and Wale's Ambition (2011), respectively. On October 30, 2011, Cudi released Maniac, a short horror film co-starring fellow American rapper Cage and directed by American actor Shia LaBeouf, through his blog. On November 13, 2011, a previously unreleased demo tape Cudi had recorded from 2002 to 2003, under the pseudonym Kid Mesc, titled Rap Hard, leaked online. On Twitter, Cudi wrote “I actually never wanted anyone to hear those songs ever, but its cool. Ha”
On November 18, 2011 Cudi renamed his band for the second time to WZRD (pronounced W-Z-R-D). He also announced that the upcoming rock project would be released on his 28th birthday, January 30, 2012. In late 2011, Cudi was mentioned in a viral video by vlogger Ben Breedlove, about his near death experiences. After Breedlove's death on December 26, 2011, Cudi commented on his thoughts about inspiring the young kid. "I am so sad about Ben Breedlove," Kid Cudi wrote on his Tumblr blog. "I watched the video he left for the world to see, and him seeing me in detail, in his vision really warmed my heart. I broke down, I am to tears because I hate how life is so unfair. This has really touched my heart in a way I cant describe, this is why I do what I do. Why I write my life, and why I love you all so much. Life is really f---- up sometimes, but I know Ben is at Peace, and I hope he gets a chance to sit and talk with my Dad. We love you Ben. Forever. Thank you for loving me. To Ben's family, you raised a real hero, he's definitely mine. You have my love."
In January 2012, Cudi appeared on two songs from Chip tha Ripper's mixtape Tell Ya Friends, "Ride 4 You" which also featured Far East Movement and "GloryUs", which credited the duo as they are collectively known, The Almighty GloryUs. This led to speculation that a long-awaited project from the two was underway. On January 31, Cudi announced through his Twitter feed that he had completed WZRD and that his next album was the collaborative effort with Chip tha Ripper. In 2012, Cudi was featured on the soundtrack to the film The Hunger Games, crafting an original song for the film titled "The Ruler and the Killer". Referring to "The Ruler and the Killer", Cudi wrote on his Twitter feed: "I could not have done it without my producing partners on the project for the film, The legendary and Godly T Bone Burnett and Greg Wells!"
While working on the band's self-titled debut, Cudi claimed he had writer's block for almost five months because of his new sobriety; something that had never happened to him for such an extended period of time. According to Cudi, bands that inspired the album include Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and Pink Floyd. The album includes a song titled "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", a cover of the same titled song by Nirvana, who in turn were inspired by blues guitar legend Lead Belly's rendition of the traditional folk song. Following WZRDs release on February 28, 2012, the album debuted at #3 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 66,000 physical and digital copies in the United States. The album also debuted on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums at number one, and at #9 on the Canadian Albums Chart respectively.
2012–2013: Indicud and departure from GOOD Music
In April 2012, in Geneseo, New York, Cudi performed before a sold-out crowd and premiered a hip hop song, his first since 2010. During his set, he performed a new record, tentatively titled "The Leader of the Delinquents", which he did a cappella. On April 25, 2012 Cudi was officially back to rapping with the release of "Dennis, Hook Me Up with Some More of That Whiskey!". The song, the first ever solely produced by Cudi himself, samples his 2010 song "Ghost!". In June 2012, Cudi was seen in the music video for "Mercy," the lead single from GOOD Music's compilation album Cruel Summer, in which he, along with other GOOD Music recording artists were featured on. Cudi was ultimately featured on two songs from the compilation, "The Morning" and a solo track originally meant for Man on the Moon II (2010), titled "Creepers", produced by Dan Black.
In the summer of 2012, Cudi announced the title of his third studio album to be, Indicud when he tweeted: "My new album is entitled indicud, it will be my version of The Chronic 2001, some songs i'll produce, others i'll feat &/or play songwriter". On June 8, 2012, Cudi announced Indicud, will be a double-disc album. On August 12, Kid Cudi released the lead single from Indicud, a song titled "Just What I Am", featuring his friend and longtime collaborator King Chip (formerly Chip tha Ripper). The album was announced to be released in early 2013 with Cudi focusing on scoring movies, followed by the third installment of the Man on the Moon series.
Cudi then added that Indicud "will feature more uptempos and that it will consist of at most 17 new songs." The music video for "Just What I Am", which marked Cudi's directorial debut, premiered November 6, 2012 on VEVO and was shot in Los Angeles with fans invited to participate in the video's shoot. On November 7, he revealed the album's second official single's title to be "Immortal", and that it again was produced by himself like the two previous releases, "Just What I Am" and "King Wizard". He claimed the song "will make you feel amazing in the heart and soul." The song was officially released via iTunes on March 14, 2013.
On March 14, 2013 Kid Cudi performed at MySpace's South by Southwest (SXSW) secret show in Austin, Texas and after performing his many hits, he previewed a new verse from Indicud. He also revealed that the album would feature 18 tracks, while officially confirming ASAP Rocky and Michael Bolton as featured guests. On March 16, Cudi announced that he would release the album's tracklist and cover art on April 2. Three days later, Kid Cudi announced via Twitter that the album had officially been completed and turned in to his label, Universal Republic. On March 26, the album's cover art and tracklist was unveiled by Walmart and later Complex. Later that day, Cudi appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed the album's lead singles; "Just What I Am" and "Immortal", as well as premiering "Mad Solar", which he performed a cappella.
On April 2, 2013, Kid Cudi announced on Power 106, that he was no longer under Kanye West's GOOD Music imprint. Cudi revealed he left the label on good terms, with him saying West respected his decision and will always be "big brother". Cudi's decision to move forward without West, was his desire to focus on his own imprint, Wicked Awesome Records and his friend, fellow rapper King Chip. After Indicud leaked online in its entirety on April 9, 2013, Kid Cudi decided to push the album's release date up to April 16. The album went on to debut at #2 on the charts by moving 140,000 copies. In late 2013, Kid Cudi went on tour in support of Indicud on The Cud Life Tour 2013. The tour was announced on July 15 with tickets going on sale the following day. Supporting acts on the tour included fellow American rappers Big Sean, Tyler, The Creator and Logic.
2013–2014: Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon
While on tour, on October 16, 2013 Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing an extended play (EP), sometime in the next three months. Cudi also revealed he would be producing it alongside Dot da Genius and that frequent collaborator King Chip, would appear on the EP. He then called the EP a prelude to his fourth album Man on the Moon III, which he announced would be released in 2015. On October 19, 2013, Cudi revealed "Going to the Ceremony", a song he had released via online audio distribution platform SoundCloud, earlier in July, would be included in the EP. Cudi would also go on to reveal a remix of his hit single "Day 'n' Nite, which was briefly previewed on the intro of his 2008 breakout mixtape A Kid Named Cudi, would also appear on the EP.
On November 25, 2013, via his Twitter, Cudi revealed the title of the EP to be Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon. On December 16, 2013, Kid Cudi once again utilized SoundCloud to release "Satellite Flight", the EP's title-track. On January 27, 2014, Kid Cudi revealed on Twitter that Satellite Flight: Journey to Mother Moon would no longer be an EP, but a full-length album instead. In a February 2014 interview with MTV News, Cudi discussed the EP's transition to a full-fledged album and called the project his best work yet: "I'm really excited because it's my best work, and it's a surprise. People weren't really expecting it. I've never done two albums within a year of each other."
On February 25, 2014, with only few hours' notice from Cudi, Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon was released exclusively to digital retailers. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 87,000 digital copies in the United States. On March 4, 2014 Cudi appeared on Chelsea Lately, where he was interviewed by Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, to promote Satellite Flight and the 2014 film Need for Speed. On March 12, 2014, Cudi released a song titled "Hero", a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, recorded for the soundtrack to Need for Speed. On March 15, 2014, Cudi appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he promoted the album, discussed the state of hip-hop, suicidal thoughts, Need for Speed, and performed the song "Internal Bleeding", from the album.
In April 2014, Cudi appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of Fat Man magazine. On April 24, 2014, while being honored as a mental health advocate by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, Cudi offered a special performance during their annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards. On May 2, 2014, it was announced Cudi would headline Chicago's North Coast Music Festival, along with West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg. On May 11, 2014 Cudi revealed he would be writing and directing a short film for the Satellite Flight album cut "Balmain Jeans": "Developing a short film for "Balmain Jeans", a story about a spontaneous electric connection between two strangers."
2015–2016: Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven
In a January 2015 interview, at the Sundance Film Festival, Kid Cudi expressed the possibility of releasing another album before the release of Man on the Moon III: "I'm always making music. The beauty in that is that I have a lot of material. And I'm actually thinking that it would be good to release something in the meantime, before Man on the Moon III comes out. Another Kid Cudi album, it's just kind of along the lines of what I did with Indicud or Satellite Flight, which is just its own standalone thing but still a Kid Cudi album. The Man on the Moon III album is something that's gonna take some time but I know the fans are gonna be patient and I really appreciate that guys, thank you for your patience. But Man on the Moon III is coming, there may be an album before that just to tide you over."
On March 3, 2015, Cudi officially released his first song since his album Satellite Flight, was put on the market. The song, which is titled "Love," was originally recorded for Satellite Flight, and samples Ratatat's "Sunblocks" and has been received with positive reviews. On April 4, 2015, Cudi announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new album titled Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven. On October 27, 2015, Cudi announced the new album will be released on December 4, 2015. He also leaked two songs off the project, "Wedding Tux" and "Judgemental Cunt". In November 2015 Cudi announced an Especial Tour, that will bring the rapper to various theaters all across the United States. On December 1, 2015, Cudi announced the cancellation of his Especial Tour, due to various reasons, such as production and personal issues. To make up for postponing the concert tour, Cudi released the album's title-track as the second single.
2016–2018: Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin and Kids See Ghosts
In March 2016, Kid Cudi performed at McDowell Mountain Music Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. In an early April 2016 interview with Billboard, when asked about Man on the Moon III, Cudi responded with: "I came up with Man on the Moon when I was a young man. People change their vibe! We can follow the same template and do the five-act split. Sonically, I'm still going to be where I'm at. Honestly, I was ready to live up to the obligation and do Man on the Moon III. I haven't been dicking around. I was planning on doing it after Speedin' Bullet. But the Speedin' Bullet response tore me up. It made me realize what's most important. I'm getting back on the bike again and doing what I do best: me." On April 22, 2016, Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing a new studio album, slated for a summer unveiling.
On May 11, 2016, amidst rumors that he was set to release Man on the Moon III, Cudi revealed the title of his sixth solo album would be Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin', through online mobile video-sharing and social networking service Instagram. On June 1, 2016, Cudi announced that he had two upcoming albums. One set to be released in the summer, while the other would be released in the fall. He added that one of them was complete. On September 26, 2016, Kid Cudi unveiled the track-list for Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin via Twitter, which revealed guest spots from Travis Scott, André 3000, Pharrell Williams and Willow Smith.
Although there was a discrepancy between him and Kanye West, West later made an offer of peace and a song featuring him and Cudi subsequently surfaced online. Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin was announced to be issued first via digital distribution on December 16, 2016, with the physical release on December 23. Cudi has also shared the song "Baptized in Fire," which features Travis Scott (with whom Cudi collaborated extensively with on 2016's Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight). On March 1, 2017, Kid Cudi performed the song "Kitchen", with a string orchestra, live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On August 15, 2017, Cudi announced a national concert tour by the name of Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour; with the first date on September 30 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 2018 Cudi and Kanye West formed a duo known as Kids See Ghosts, and produced an album with the same name, Kids See Ghosts, which was released on June 8, 2018. On October 23, 2018, in response to a fan on Twitter, Cudi revealed he had begun working on his seventh solo album. Although he said he would be taking his time to create his forthcoming LP, Cudi projected a 2019 release.
2019–present: Man on the Moon III: The Chosen and Entergalactic
In July 2019, Kid Cudi announced his next album would be titled Entergalactic, which he revealed would soundtrack an upcoming Netflix "adult-focused animated music series" co-created by himself and Kenya Barris.
On April 24, 2020, Cudi collaborated with Travis Scott under the collective name The Scotts, to release a song under the same name, "The Scotts". It was hinted that the duo would be releasing more music in the future. The song debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Cudi's first number-one hit single.
Later on April 24, Cudi also revealed that he was still working on new music for a future WZRD release, joking that "we take a decade off between albums." On July 9, 2020, Cudi's daughter Vada, announced via social media that he would be releasing a song with multiple Grammy Award-winning artist Eminem, called "The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady" the coming Friday. The song was released on July 10, 2020 and also saw success as a hit, as it debuted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
On October 26, Cudi released a teaser video on his official Twitter account for Man on the Moon III, the final installment in his Man on the Moon series, after a decade between releases. The album title and release date were not shared with the video, however on December 7, Cudi announced the album would be titled Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, with a release date of December 11, 2020. The concept album's theme follows Cudi overcoming his darkness, but fighting to win his soul back from his alter-ego "Mr. Rager".
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised Cudi's songwriting and generally favored the latter two acts, though some found it derivative of Cudi's earlier albums. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, earning 144,000 album-equivalent units of which 15,000 were pure sales, marking Cudi's fifth top 10 album in the US.
Although Entergalactic was originally set for a 2020 release, it was pushed back due to Cudi releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album instead. In January 2021, when asked by a fan on Twitter why Entergalatics new release date says 2022 on Netflix, Cudi responded, "[Because] that's when it drops. I just gave y'all an album y'all gotta chill and be patient fr man I'm not doin an album every year."
Cudi was the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live in April 2021, having previously featured alongside Kanye West and 070 Shake in "Ghost Town" in 2018. He played "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People" with both performances in tribute to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. "Sad People" showcased Cudi in a floral dress designed by Virgil Abloh in a nod to Cobain.
In June 2021, Amazon enlisted Kid Cudi for Prime Day Show; a three-part musical event also featuring Billie Eilish and H.E.R. Cudi's performance included a mission to establish a new community on the moon, while performing with the International Space Orchestra, a new group composed of space scientists from NASA Ames Research Center, the SETI Institute and the International Space University.
A Man Named Scott, a documentary film directed by Robert Alexander, was announced in October 2021 via Prime Video. The film was produced by Mad Solar, Complex Networks and Film 45, set for release in November 2021, and billed as a look at Cudi's journey "over a decade of creative choices, struggles, and breakthroughs."
During his headlining performance at the Rolling Loud music festival, Cudi revealed intentions on releasing two full-length projects in 2022, with plans of releasing an album prior to Entergalactic “I have Entergalactic coming in the summer, and I wanna drop another album before that. I got some tasty surprises and I’m really excited about all this new shit, this new music, to give to you guys,” he said before playing a recording of a song that has since been dubbed “Freshie.” “That’s why I’m teasing this shit now because it’s coming out soon.”
On December 3, 2021, a collaboration between Cudi and American pop singer Ariana Grande, titled "Just Look Up" was released in promotion for the black comedy film Don't Look Up, in which they both star in. In December 2021, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen broke the record for biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album in Nielsen history.
Artistry
Musical style
Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide."In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." His music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2012's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop, punk and grunge, in his music.
Cudi was gifted a guitar by his manager in 2011, encouraging Cudi to learn. Cudi taught himself how to play the guitar and went on to utilize the instrument in his rock music throughout his career. Cudi is also a self-taught music producer. In 2021, Cudi appeared on American TV talk show The Shop, where he spoke on his writing and recording process. Cudi mentioned for his early albums he would sit down and write entire verses. However, while working on Kids See Ghosts and Man on the Moon III, he adopted Kanye West's writing process. Instead of writing to a beat, he records a reference track for himself, where he freestyles and hums his way through the beat to get a melody, and fills in the lyrics as they come to him. In 2021, during Songwriter's Roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, Cudi called his music "space punk rock".
Influences
Cudi's earliest influences include alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Cudi also cites rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Kid 'n Play, N.W.A., Naughty By Nature, Onyx and Public Enemy, as his hip hop influences while growing up. Cudi has also credited fellow Ohio native Camu Tao, as an influence. He has also been inspired by the sounds of The O'Jays, Ratatat, MGMT and The Postal Service. In 2010, he began experimenting with rock music; rock acts that inspired Cudi include the Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, the Pixies and Pink Floyd. Kid Cudi also credits English singer-songwriter David Bowie as a "huge inspiration." Production wise, Cudi has named Dr. Dre, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Kanye West, as his top four favorite producers; also naming Emile Haynie and Plain Pat, calling them “geniuses” for seeing his potential before he was even completely aware of it.
Other ventures
Acting
In 2010, Kid Cudi made a guest appearance on American television drama One Tree Hill, starring as himself and performing his Man on the Moon II single "Erase Me", during the episode. In 2010, Kid Cudi also began starring in the HBO comedy series How to Make It in America, as part of the main cast, being credited by his birth name Scott Mescudi, until its cancellation after two seasons. On October 31, 2010, Kid Cudi released a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, in which he and fellow American rapper Cage, star as French-speaking serial killers. The short film, titled Maniac, was inspired by Cudi's song of the same name, from his 2010 album Man on the Moon II and is an homage to the 1992 Belgian black comedy crime mockumentary, Man Bites Dog. In May 2012, Kanye West premiered a short film he directed, titled Cruel Summer, at the Cannes Film Festival. According to MTV, Kid Cudi is the lead character, playing a "car thief who falls for a blind Arabian princess." The film was shown on seven different screens that turned on and off, giving various angles of each shot.
In October 2012, it was announced Cudi would star in an indie romantic comedy titled Two Night Stand, alongside Analeigh Tipton and Miles Teller. Also in 2012, it was revealed Cudi would star in an indie thriller film titled Tacoma, alongside Patricia Clarkson. In 2013, Cudi guest starred in the animated TV series The Cleveland Show, voicing a character named Devon, in the Season 4 episode "Brownsized". In 2013, he also guest starred on the FOX comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, where he played a criminal named Dustin Whitman. In 2013, it was revealed Cudi would then star in Goodbye World, alongside Adrian Grenier.
In January 2013, Cudi was cast in the film adaptation of Need for Speed. Need for Speed, which is Cudi's feature film debut, was released by Touchstone Pictures on March 14, 2014. In June 2013, it was revealed Cudi would appear in Mark Webber's film The Ever After, alongside Teresa Palmer and Melissa Leo. On November 10, 2014, Cudi guest starred on the CBS American television series Scorpion, as Peyton Temple, a musical prodigy who created a controversial algorithm that generates the perfect hit pop song, who later helps Scorpion investigate the murder of his friend who was a music industry blogger. In February 2014, it was announced Cudi would appear in Entourage (2015), the film adaptation of the popular HBO TV series of the same name.
On April 11, 2014, it was announced Cudi would star in a film titled James White, alongside Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon. In addition to starring in the film, it was revealed Cudi would also be curating the film's score as well. In January 2015, Cudi revealed he played a homosexual character in James White: "This was way different than anything else I've ever done. It was dope to do that. I felt like I had a responsibility to present a different walk in life from that world." Although his character's sexuality is not outwardly discussed during the film, the original script included a coming-out scene and a kiss between Cudi and a male friend, played by David Call: "I didn't flinch. I'm secure with mine," Cudi told an audience after the film's premiere. "I'm an artist—it's all about playing characters that are intriguing and stimulating."
Also in January 2015, Cudi revealed he had just finished filming a movie titled Vincent-N-Roxxy, alongside Zoe Kravitz and Emile Hirsch. When speaking on Vincent-N-Roxxy, Cudi said: "this movie that I have coming out soon that's my first villain role. It's very violent and very disturbing [...] I play kind of like a drug lord." Cudi took over the mic duties for Reggie Watts, on IFC's television series, Comedy Bang! Bang! on July 10, 2015. As the in-house disc jockey, Cudi crafted original music for the show and appeared in several skits throughout season four. The December 10 Christmas edition of Comedy Bang! Bang!, marked the season finale and Cudi's final episode as bandleader.
In July 2016, it was announced Cudi would join the cast of FOX's Empire, debuting in the third season of the series as "an independent musician who is a rival to Hakeem (Bryshere "Yazz" Gray) both in the studio and in life." Cudi later left the project due to creative differences. In 2017, Cudi appeared in the comedy film Killing Hasselhoff.
In 2019, Cudi had small roles in Drunk Parents, directed by Fred Wolf, and Jexi directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the latter of which he played himself. In 2020, he co-starred in Bill & Ted Face the Music, directed by Dean Parisot, opposite Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. In 2020, Cudi also starred in We Are Who We Are, an eight-episode miniseries for HBO directed by Luca Guadagnino.
In early 2021, Kid Cudi appeared in Crisis, directed by Nicholas Jarecki. In January 2021, Cudi revealed he would potentially be partnering with TV producer and fellow American rapper 50 Cent, for an upcoming series. In late 2021, Cudi appeared in the ensemble cast of Don't Look Up, where he also performed an original song for the film alongside fellow American singer Ariana Grande. Cudi is also set to star in X and Disney's upcoming sci-fi film Crater, the latter of which would be released exclusively on the streaming service, Disney+.
Fashion
In September 2009, Kid Cudi teamed up with Japanese clothing company BAPE (which happens to be the last company Cudi was employed with before his music career took off), for a collaboration that saw Cudi's likeness featured on graphic T-shirts, with the Japanese label's mascot, Baby Milo. As of 2014, he has had five t-shirt collaborations with BAPE. In 2021, Cudi once again collaborated with BAPE, for a vibrant capsule displaying colorful prints and logos. Spanning a total of 20 pieces, this project is BAPE's largest-ever artist collaboration — the result of a long relationship that goes all the way back to when Cudi was still working at the BAPE store in New York.
In February 2011, Kid Cudi announced a collaboration with Parisian brand Surface to Air. In the fall of 2011, he released a leather jacket collection in collaboration with the fashion label. Taking cues from the modern biker jacket, the "Thriller-inspired" lineup offered two men's styles. He can be seen wearing the jackets in music videos such as "All of the Lights" and "Mr. Rager".
In August 2014, Giuseppe Zanotti designed an exclusive sneaker inspired by Kid Cudi's style.
In February 2019, Kid Cudi partnered with French fashion brand A.P.C. on their first “INTERACTION #1” range. Jean Touitou, the founder of A.P.C. reached out to Kid Cudi following an introduction by Kanye West. The capsule collection included denim such as the Petit New Standard and Petit Standard Jeans, both of which included “Dream On” embroidery in red under the left front pocket. It also included the Dream On Cardigan in a multi-colored cotton knit, two iterations of the Tennis Minimal Sneaker, South Salopette overalls with paint splatter details, and three t-shirts that include the Bold Tee, Splash Tee, and Dream On Tee.
Kid Cudi announced a partnership with Adidas in March 2019. On December 10, 2020, Cudi unveiled his Adidas sneakers. They are the self-named VADAWAM 326's which would be released on December 17, 2020.
On May 20, 2020, Kid Cudi announced he was partnering with American designer Virgil Abloh, to release an exclusive “Leader of the Delinquents” t-shirt. The design on the black and white “PULLING STRINGS” t-shirt features Kid Cudi puppeteering a smaller version of himself, hence the name of the t-shirt release. The art is meant to reference Cudi's infamous TMZ moment from 2012, in which he posed like the puppet on the shirt. “Leader of the Delinquents” is written across the back of the t-shirt in text reminiscent of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s handwriting.
Just hours before releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album, Cudi rolled out a small batch of merchandise in support of the album. The range was made in collaboration with Cactus Plant Flea Market, and consists of short- and long-sleeve T-shirts, pullover hoodies, and sweatpants—all of which feature graphics that reference MOTM3 tracks.
In April 2021, Kid Cudi performed on Saturday Night Live wearing a floral-print sundress, created by Virgil Abloh. On April 11, Cudi confirmed that he would have an upcoming collection with Italian luxury fashion label Off-White, with the floral dress serving as one of the pieces.
In late April 2021, it was revealed Kid Cudi had teamed up with the NFL to release a limited-edition Starter jacket commemorating the 2021 NFL Draft, which took place in Cudi's hometown of Cleveland.
Members of the RAGE
On January 26, 2021, Kid Cudi announced on Twitter that he would be starting his own clothing line and the first pieces would be available sometime in 2021. In February 2022, Cudi launched his very own clothing line titled called Members of the RAGE. The clothing line is described as a fusion of “90s grunge with the soul of hip hop and
elements from a distant future.” Its UFO logo was co-designed by Cudi and Nigo, while the retro-inspired website was designed by Cudi himself. The first piece that was issued was a t-shirt created in collaboration with Nigo’s Human Made. Created for NBA All-Star Weekend, the shirt comes in white and features the Members of the RAGE logo in Cleveland Cavaliers colors and the Earth replaced with a basketball.
Modeling
In 2010, Cudi modeled for a campaign run by American fashion house Calvin Klein. In January 2015, Coach, Inc. announced Kid Cudi as the new face of their brand, along with actress Chloë Grace Moretz, to front its Spring campaign. In January 2022, Cudi modeled for the Levi Strauss & Co. campaign titled "The Number That Changed Everything."
Poetry
Kid Cudi has also been known for sharing his poetry.
Record labels
Dream on
Dream On was an American record label founded in 2009, by Cudi alongside his managers at the time, Patrick Reynolds and Emile Haynie. In February 2011, Cudi announced the label had been dissolved. The label went on to release the first two installments of Cudi's Man on the Moon series.
Wicked Awesome Records
Wicked Awesome Records is an American record label founded by Cudi in 2011. It is distributed by Republic Records. In a 2013 interview Cudi said "Wicked Awesome was there officially when I did WZRD. That was the first project that I did on Wicked Awesome and it was an outlet for me to just branch out on my own, and creatively and business-wise take things to a different space for me. Wicked Awesome..where do I see it going? Right now it's just the music but who knows? Wicked Awesome is maybe gunna be beyond music it could be movies, it could be a lot of things, producing T.V. shows. Just the name I think is really dope it has a ring to it." Cudi continued, explaining the motivation behind his label. "The whole motivation is just bringing authenticity back to the forefront. Bringing real content, bringing real emotion [...] Wicked Awesome is about being a real human being, making real music, talking about real things that people deal with on a day-to-day basis." In January 2021, Cudi tweeted that he is prepared to sign artists and producers.
Mad Solar
On November 17, 2020, it was revealed Cudi teamed with Dennis Cummings and Karina Manashil to found production and music management company Mad Solar, with the backing of Bron Studios, which provides corporate back office and production support, including financing, marketing, and sales. In a statement Cudi said, "Beyond excited to be launching my production company Mad Solar and partnering with Bron, whose creative vision and storytelling has transformed the industry." When speaking on the collaboration, Bron chairman Aaron L. Gilbert said "Scott Mescudi's growth as a creative and an entrepreneur has been impressive. For Bron, the strategic relationship with Mad Solar is key in our efforts to support the entertainment industry's top creatives, as well as expand Bron's access to the best in class music and sports talent through Mad Solar's management division."
On December 9, it was announced Cudi's Mad Solar banner are developing a film adaptation of the coming-of-age campus novel Real Life, with Cudi set to star. Bron Studios acquired the rights to the 2020 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel with Mad Solar. Real Life is the semi-autobiographical novel debut for writer Brandon Taylor. It follows an introverted, queer, Black scientist in a predominantly white, Midwestern PhD program as he navigates complex friendships, romantic relationships, betrayals and mercies, all over the course of one weekend. Mad Solar is also producing the upcoming Netflix animated series Entergalactic, which Cudi co-created alongside Kenya Barris. Based on original music by Cudi, the series, which Cudi writes, executive produces and stars in, follows a young man on his journey to discover love. Additionally, Mad Solar has teamed with A24 and Bron Studios on the horror film X. Written and directed by Ti West, X stars Mia Goth, Cudi and Jenna Ortega. Cudi is an executive producer on the film, which will begin production early 2021.
Encore Studio
In October 2020, it was announced Cudi teamed with screenwriter Ian Edelman and startup veteran Jonathan Gray to launch Encore Studio, a mobile-based platform to help artists monetize their connections with fans. “The current streaming model puts artists in competition with one another and only rewards the top 1% of artists who collect 90% of the money,” a press release announcing the app explains. “Encore offers an all-new format that encourages collaboration amongst artists and makes it easy for up-and-coming and established artists to manage and grow a direct relationship with their fans. Artists can drop new music, chat with fans and host live shows from anywhere in the world.” Encore enables live music experiences through smart phones, fan interaction, community centered content and merchandise offerings to give fans new ways to reward the artists they love. “The energy from a concert is undeniable, both for the fans and artists. I am excited to launch Encore to help bring the live music experience back to our fans. Encore is committed to empowering both established and new artists and delivering the best mobile music experience out there,” Cudi says. Earlier in 2020, Encore closed a $2 million seed round led by global investment firm Battery Ventures.
In 2022, it was revealed Encore Studio was backed by $9 million funding led by Battery Ventures along with investments from 468 Capital, Parade Ventures, Nomad Ventures, Moving Capital, Kayak Ventures, and Gaingels, with Cudi issuing a statement “My number one priority has always been inspiring others and providing them the space to tell their own stories in an authentic and meaningful way,” Cudi said in a press release. “We created Encore as a space for artists to share their art, build community, while also being able to pay their rent.”
Image and stage presence
Kid Cudi has been described by the media as a fashion icon.
In his early career, Kid Cudi received criticism in the hip hop community for wearing skinny jeans, before they became trendy after being worn by mainstream rappers, such as Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Cudi made headlines when he wore a kilt to a 2010 New Year's Eve party in Miami. In April 2012, he made headlines again in a now-infamous moment when he gave TMZ paparazzi the finger, claiming they have never "posted anything to make him look good".
During his 2013 Cud Life concert tour, Cudi donned a custom made astronaut-esque suit that was designed by noted Hollywood costume designer Jose Hernandez. Officially dubbed the "Satellite Academy Space Suit", Joe La Puma of Complex explained, "It's more than just an interesting clothing choice; the suit represents a transition in his mind-state back to the highly anticipated Man on the Moon III."
In 2014, Cudi made headlines when he performed in a crop top at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In April 2021, he appeared as the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live, where he performed "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People". Both performances were in tribute to Nirvana's late frontman Kurt Cobain, however it was his performance of "Sad People" that made headlines because Cudi wore a woman's dress as a statement against social norms much like his idol Cobain had done.
In September 2021, Cudi made headlines twice; first arriving at New York Fashion Week with electric blue hair, a Nirvana long-sleeve tee and a floor-length black skirt. A few days later, Cudi showed up to the Met Gala wearing fluorescent green hair and dark eye makeup. At the Gala, Cudi was in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton, with a blue sweater, another floor-length skirt and blue-and-green LV sneakers.
On November 10, 2021, Kid Cudi posed for photos at the CFDA Fashion Awards in a custom bridal gown, standing hand-in-hand with its designer, ERL’s Eli Russell Linnetz, lace-gloved fingers interlocked, both wearing American Gothic expressions. On the red carpet, Linnetz lifted Cudi’s veil. “Be yourself, be free, baby, yeah,” Cudi said into a microphone, with a grin; he’d paired the dress with a white tux jacket, crystal-covered sneakers, grungy eyeliner, an icy Black Jesus pendant, and Manic Panic-pink hair. The dress was another homage to Kurt Cobain.
Personal life
Drug use
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi revealed that he had stopped smoking marijuana in 2011, both for the sake of his child and due to frustration with constantly being associated with the drug and stoner culture.
In a March 2013 interview, Cudi talked about how his initial sudden and unexpected fame drove him to alcohol and drugs:
Mental health
In a 2013 interview, Cudi revealed he had suffered an addiction to anti-depressant medication, which had been prescribed to help him deal with an "emotional breakdown" after a failed relationship. Cudi has been open about his addiction to pharmaceuticals in his music, namely the songs "Dr. Pill" and "The Nothing". In a 2014 interview, Cudi spoke on his struggles with depression and suicidal ideation: "I've dealt with suicide for the past five years. There wasn't a week or a day that didn't go by where I was just like, 'You know, I wanna check out.' I know what that feels like, I know it comes from loneliness, I know it comes from not having self-worth, not loving yourself."
In a July 2016 interview, Kid Cudi revealed he suffered from survivor guilt: "I didn't like that I had money and success and I had made it. Everybody I had ever met in my life, good people, weren't able to experience the same, and I wasn't able to truly enjoy my success. Even though I worked hard for it, it bothered me that I had just had so much and my friends didn't." In October 2016, Cudi revealed on his Facebook page that he had checked himself into rehabilitation for depression and suicidal urges.
Family
On March 26, 2010, Cudi's daughter, Vada Wamwene Mescudi, was born. Throughout 2012, Cudi was in a custody battle over his daughter. Reports surfaced that Cudi gave up custody after his child's mother accused him of being an absentee father, as well as having violent tendencies and a "long history of consistent drug and alcohol abuse." These claims were disputed by Cudi and his attorney in a statement, which noted: "Cudi did not give up custody but reached an amicable agreement with the mother; that 'both parents are fit and proper persons to have custody of their child,' as stated in the final custody judgment; results came back negative for drugs in a drug test voluntarily taken by Cudi; and that the court acknowledged Cudi attempted to establish a relationship and visit his child since her birth and "voluntarily provided financial support, including child support, rent and other monthly payments, for his daughter since her birth until the time that a child support order was entered as part of the normal course of the case." Details of the official custody agreement remain private. Cudi has since purchased a property in Chicago to be close to his daughter.
Relationships
In 2009, Cudi began dating entertainment attorney Jamie Baratta. They were in an on-again, off-again relationship, and were a prominent couple in the music industry. They ultimately broke up in 2012, but not before Cudi dedicated a song to her titled "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie", which he recorded as a member of the alternative rock duo, WZRD. In 2020, Cudi wrote "Sept. 16", a song titled after the birthdate of his girlfriend at the time, costume designer and actress Raquel Deriane, to whom the song is dedicated.
Faith
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi said that he believes in God, although considers himself spiritual but not religious.
Philanthropy
On April 8, 2014, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services announced that it would recognize mental health advocates Kid Cudi, Ronda Rousey and Natasha Tracy, during its annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards on April 24, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Committed to helping depressed and suicidal youth through the power of music, Cudi joined Didi Hirsch's Erasing the Stigma Efforts as a Mental Health Ambassador.
On February 7, 2015, Kid Cudi partnered with TED to give a TED Talk at his former school, Shaker Heights High School, to help inspire the students with his story, for the school's independently organized "TEDxSHHS" conference.
Kid Cudi has also been a volunteer for Musicians on Call (MOC), a charity with the mission of bringing live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. In December 2015, Cudi arranged a dance party for the teenage participants of the Children's Hospital At Montefiore's (CHAM) B-N-Fit program, in the Bronx. Kid Cudi also hosted a group of young patients and their families from CHAM, at his sold-out Roseland Ballroom shows in April 2016.
In June 2016, 49 celebrities, including Kid Cudi, honored the 49 victims killed in the Orlando nightclub shooting in a video tribute.
In 2019, Kid Cudi teamed up with delivery service Postmates to deliver $10,000 worth of Popeyes takeout to the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. Hundreds in need at the Indio shelter were presented with Popeyes' chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, and fries the evening before Cudi's second set at Coachella.
Impact and legacy
A number of publications have noted Kid Cudi's impact on contemporary hip hop music since his mainstream debut in 2009. IBTimes writer Alex Garofaro states "Since the beginning of Cudi's career, his music has been extremely influential. His unique blend of dark, introspective lyrics, melancholy melody, psychedelic instrumentation and stoner cool made him a crossover sensation with rap, R&B and indie music fans alike." Luke Hinz of HotNewHipHop said "Cudi has inspired a generation of young artists to be unafraid to explore a wide array of emotions, and many have sought to adapt elements of Cudi's music into their own. Never caring to fit into the conventional boundaries of music, Cudi became a voice for those who felt unrepresented and alone."
In a 2015 article titled "KiD CuDi – A Forgotten Influence on Psychedelic Introspection in Hip-Hop", the author wrote "Cudi helped bring about a new era of electronic, psychedelic driven production. And his dark, drug-riddled approach to introspection has already taken hold in the up-and-comers in the hip-hop world." Revolt writer Preezy Brown noted "His knack for displaying vulnerability and addressing bouts with mental health has made him an inspiration for a long list of artists including Juice WRLD, Logic, Lil Yachty, and other leaders of the new school."
Eric Diep of Complex said "Cudi is an omnipresent figure in pop culture who has inspired many. He's a voice for young creatives who don't fit in. He's a therapeutic light for people who need a helping hand. He's a fashion icon. He's more than a cool cameo in television and movies, but a full-fledged actor." Uproxx stated "Compared to modern icons like Drake, West, and Wayne, Cudi doesn't have a boatload of sales, or a room full of accolades, but his weighty impact is reflected in adulation from the people, which is the intangible, everlasting achievement that most artists live for. He's one of the first artists to be unabashed about his depressive ruminations and did so in a melodically intriguing manner that progressed alternative rock aesthetics into the hip-hop world one cadence at a time."
Several artists have gone on to credit Kid Cudi as influence or inspiration, such as rappers Kanye West, Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Chance the Rapper, Childish Gambino, Logic, ASAP Rocky, ASAP Nast, Allan Kingdom, Kyle, Isaiah Rashad, Raury, Key!, Denzel Curry, Kevin Abstract, Saba and Jaden Smith, as well as singers Willow Smith, Jhene Aiko, Lissie and Tinashe, among others.
In 2009, Canadian recording artist Drake shared his admiration for Cudi on Twitter with a picture of him holding both his and Cudi's respective projects, stating "We are rarely proud when we are alone. But to have another artist who pushes me and inspires me is a blessing."
In a 2010 interview with Billboard, Kanye West called Cudi his "personal favorite artist in the world right now. His whole take on the game is just unfiltered, uncensored artistry." In 2016, Kanye West went on to call Cudi "the most influential artist of the past 10 years".
West Coast hip hop duo Audio Push have also praised Cudi, in 2016, saying "The thing I love about Cudi is he's unapologetically real. He birthed so much of, not even the new generation of artists, but a lot of [your] favorite artists wouldn't be [your] favorite artists if it wasn't for Cudi." In November 2016, Atlanta-based rapper OG Maco, who has cited Cudi as a major influence on several occasions, released an EP titled For Scott, as a tribute to Kid Cudi.
In October 2018, American musician and high-profile producer Pharrell Williams, spoke on his collaborations with Cudi in an interview with Complex, saying: "He's so inspiring, and I'm only as good as my collaborations anyway. I love the stuff that we did. Love, love [...] So to me, Cudi is a GOAT. His melodies and his concepts—he's a timeless alien." In another interview with Complex, Williams also stated "When they say Cudi is the [greatest of all time], they're talking about the consistency of his convictions and how that's played out into the choices that he makes, the taste that he has, and the tone that he takes with everything that he does. That's my idea of Cudi."
American comedian and actor Pete Davidson, who has shared his own struggles with his mental health in the past, has said Kid Cudi's music has saved his life. In a 2019 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Davidson called Cudi "the best musician that's ever lived." Travis Scott, whose stage name is derived from Cudi's first name, has also said Kid Cudi's music saved his life and has a tattoo of the word "rager" in honor of Cudi. Brockhampton's Kevin Abstract has said "I love how he incorporated melody into his raps," Kevin explained. "A kid like me would say, like, Kid Cudi saved my life."
American rapper Logic, who has interpolated Kid Cudi's records in his own songs, has also spoke about how Cudi's music inspired him to open up about mental health in his own music. "He was the dude that was like, 'It's okay to be sad. It's okay to talk about these things, and go through these things.'" In a 2019 interview, then-up-and-coming rapper Baby Keem, cited Cudi as a major influence: "I was inspired by Cudi's cadences and shit like that. Kid Cudi's one of my favorite artists."
In an interview with New York City radio station Hot 97, Jaden Smith spoke on Cudi's influence on him: "Cudi would always say things that just would, like, change my life [...] I thought it was just me and my brother for a while. Then I got older and started going to festivals and then I realized, oh man, everybody has felt that from Cudi. Everybody says that Cudi saved their life. ... Everybody had that same experience listening to Cudi. If someone listened to Cudi, you knew something about them. You could tell certain things about them."
Discography
Studio albums
Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009)
Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010)
Indicud (2013)
Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014)
Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016)
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (2020)
Entergalactic (2022)
Collaborative albums
WZRD (2012)
Kids See Ghosts (2018)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Concert tours
Headlining
The Great Hangover Tour (2009)
The Cud Life Tour (2011-2013)
The Especial Tour (2016)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour (2017)
Supporting
Glow in the Dark Tour (2008)
The Monster Ball Tour (2009)
See also
Kids See Ghosts
WZRD
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of American Grammy Award winners and nominees
List of neo-psychedelia artists
List of alternative hip hop artists
Midwest hip hop
References
External links
1984 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Actors from Shaker Heights, Ohio
African-American male rappers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
Alternative hip hop musicians
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American male film actors
American male television actors
American music industry executives
American music video directors
American rappers of Mexican descent
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Living people
Male actors from Cleveland
Midwest hip hop musicians
Motown artists
Musicians from Cleveland
Musicians from Shaker Heights, Ohio
People from Solon, Ohio
People with mood disorders
Rappers from Cleveland
Record producers from Ohio
Republic Records artists
Songwriters from Ohio
Universal Motown Records artists
University of Toledo alumni
Poets from Ohio
21st-century American poets
American fashion businesspeople
21st-century African-American writers
Alternative rock musicians
20th-century African-American people
American male songwriters
Mental health activists
American male actors of Mexican descent | true | [
"Al-Atlal (Arabic: الأطلال),(The Ruins) is a poem written by the Egyptian poet Ibrahim Nagi, which later became a very famous song sung by famous Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum in 1966.The songs text was adapted by Umm Kulthum and its melody composed by the famous Egyptian composer Riad Al Sunbati two years after her first song composed by Mohamed Abdel Wahab, “Inta Omri” إنت عمري (You are My Life), and both of them were a huge success.\n\nThe poem\nThe song mixes between two poems from the same poet Ibrahim Nagi, meaning that the lyrics of Al-Atlal song are not exactly the words of Al-Atlal poem, the second poem is named Al-Wadaa الوداع, and beside that, the song was recorded after 13 years after the poet's death.also the song Robaeeyat El Khayam was recorded hundreds of years after El khayam death.\n\nReception\nA lot of critics considered the song as the Crown of Arab Song and the best 20th century Arabic song. It is considered by many the best of what Umm Kulthum sang and the best of what Sunbati composed.\n\nReferences\n\nSee also\nUmm Kulthum\nRiad Al Sunbati\nIbrahim Nagi\n\nArabic poems\nEgyptian songs\nUmm Kulthum songs",
"Dadaria (Chhattisgarhi: ददरिया) is one of various types of folk-songs or field-songs of the state of Chhattisgarh in India. These songs were very popular and part of folklore before the 1970s and were sung by village men or women while harvesting in paddy fields or during leisure. In the late 1980s, the singing of these songs by any man before a woman or women in private were considered to be socially unacceptable due to intimate language of these songs which had developed mostly as 'question and response' between a male-female duet. The dadaria songs are now available on recorded tapes and compact discs on audio and video. The famous professional dadaria singers include Sheikh Hussain and Mamta Chandrakar.\n\nA famous song Sasural Genda Phool from the movie Delhi-6 has been adapted from a dadaria.\n\nNotable Dadaria Songs\nSome of the famous dadaria songs are\n Chana Ke Daar Raja Chana Ke Daar Rani\n Pata De Ja Re, Pata Le Ja Re Gadiwala\n Ek Paisa Ke Bhaji La Du Paisa Ma Dehe O\n Ka Tai Mola Mohni Daar Dehe Gonda Phool\n Kaata Khoonti Ke Rengoeaa Kamra Khumri Ke Odhoeyya Daya Maya Le Ja Re\n Adbad Gothiathas Tain Mann Ke Bharam La O\n Lage Raithe Diwana Tor Bar Mor Maya Lage Raithe\n\nReferences\n\nIndian folklore\nCulture of Chhattisgarh\nFestivals in Chhattisgarh"
]
|
[
"Kid Cudi",
"Musical style",
"What kind of music is Kid Cudi known for?",
"Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as \"an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing\".",
"What are some of his famous songs?",
"Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven,"
]
| C_7ff647487dc94486a521118eabc4cdef_1 | What awards has he won? | 3 | What awards has Kid Cudi won for his music ? | Kid Cudi | Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide." In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." Kid Cudi's music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2011's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop and grunge, in his music. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), better known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ; often stylized as KiD CuDi), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has widely been recognized as an influence on several contemporary hip hop and alternative acts. His lyrics are often autobiographical and describe his childhood hardships of depression, loneliness and alienation, his struggle with alcohol and drugs into adulthood, as well as themes of heartbreak, dissipation and celebration. Cudi began to gain major recognition following the release of his first official full-length project, a mixtape titled A Kid Named Cudi (2008), which caught the attention of American musician Kanye West, who subsequently signed Cudi to his GOOD Music label imprint by late 2008.
In early 2008, Cudi had risen to prominence with his debut single "Day 'n' Nite", having initially been self-published on his Myspace page to becoming a worldwide hit. The song was later featured on Cudi's seminal debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009), which was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2017. The album also included the singles "Make Her Say" and "Pursuit of Happiness", both of which achieved significant chart success. In 2010, Cudi released his second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, which also attained platinum status and features the singles "Erase Me" and "Mr. Rager". Later that year he formed WZRD, a rock band, with his long-time collaborator Dot da Genius. Their eponymous debut album (2012) debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
Cudi has since released the solo albums Indicud (2013), Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014), Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015), and Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016). Cudi's joint album with Kanye West, under the eponymous name Kids See Ghosts (2018), was met with widespread critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2018. In 2020, Cudi earned his first number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with "The Scotts", a collaboration with Houston rapper Travis Scott. Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, issued in 2020, became his most commercially successful album to date, with the RIAA certifying it gold status later that year.
Cudi has sold 22 million certified records in the United States and has won two Grammy Awards from five nominations. He has worked with numerous prominent artists spanning several different genres in the music industry, such as Jay-Z, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, MGMT, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Ariana Grande and Michael Bolton, among others. After signing to GOOD Music, Cudi has since gone on to launch his own vanity labels, the now-dissolved Dream On and current label imprint Wicked Awesome Records. Cudi also ventured into acting when he was cast in the HBO series How to Make It in America. He has since appeared in several feature films, including Goodbye World (2013), Need for Speed (2014), Entourage (2015), Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020), Don't Look Up (2021) and more. In addition, he has made appearances on television shows such as One Tree Hill, The Cleveland Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Westworld. In 2015, he was the bandleader on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang! and in 2020 was added as a cast member for the HBO mini-series We Are Who We Are.
Early life
Kid Cudi was born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 30, 1984. He grew up in Shaker Heights and Solon. He has two older brothers, Domingo and Dean, and an older sister, Maisha. His mother, Elsie Harriet (née Banks), is an African-American school choir teacher at Roxboro Middle School in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. His father, Lindberg Styles Mescudi, was a house painter, substitute teacher, and World War II Air Force veteran of African-American and Mexican descent.
When Cudi was 11 years old, his father died of cancer; his passing had a significant effect on Cudi's personality and music. Cudi attended Shaker Heights High School for two years before transferring to Solon High School. He was expelled from the school for threatening to punch the principal, and would later earn his GED. He studied film at the University of Toledo, but dropped out after a year. His subsequent plan to join the Navy did not pan out because of his juvenile police record.
Musical career
2003–2008: Beginnings in New York City
Cudi first began rapping in 2003, towards the end of his time in high school, and was inspired by alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. He later moved to New York City to pursue a music career. After leaving Cleveland in 2005 with $500 and a demo tape, he moved in with his uncle, accomplished jazz drummer Kalil Madi, in the South Bronx. He worked at a couple of Manhattan clothing stores, before eventually sharing an apartment with friend and collaborator Dot da Genius in Brooklyn.
In 2006, Cudi would run into his future mentor, rapper and producer Kanye West, in a Virgin Megastore. He recounted in a 2009 SPIN interview, "I was looking at CDs, saw the gleam of a Jesus piece in the right side of my eye, looked up, and it was Kanye West." He introduced himself and offered West some of his music. Cudi would later run into West again while working at the BAPE store in New York, and recalled: "I remember Kanye coming in one time and I was helping him get a couple things. I forgot to take a sensor off of one of the jackets he bought and I had to run out the store to catch him before he left. Pretty funny me chasing after him in SoHo."
In 2007, Kid Cudi's song "Day 'n' Nite", began being featured on several music blogs, after having uploaded the song to his MySpace page. Cudi's early work would go on to catch the attention of Kanye West, whose then-manager Plain Pat, had introduced Cudi's music to him, subsequently leading West to sign Cudi to his GOOD Music imprint later that year. In July 2008, Kid Cudi released his first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi (executive produced by Plain Pat and Emile Haynie), in collaboration with New York street-wear brand 10.Deep as a free download.
Kanye West first called upon Cudi to reference hooks for American rapper and mogul Jay-Z, and while in the studio Cudi and West went from working on The Blueprint 3 (2009) to West's R&B-esque 808s & Heartbreak (2008). Cudi's assistance on the latter includes co-writing credits and/or vocals on "Heartless," "Welcome to Heartbreak," "Paranoid" and "RoboCop." Kid Cudi was a prominent songwriter and featured artist on 808s & Heartbreak, with "Paranoid" and "Heartless" being released as singles, while "Welcome to Heartbreak" charted as an album cut and peaked at number 87 on the Pop 100.
Kid Cudi's first television appearance was at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside Travis Barker and DJ AM. Cudi was promoted as an artist to watch for in media such as Rolling Stone, Vibe, The Source, XXL and BBC News's 2009 Sound of poll. MTV News reported on Cudi on a series of reports titled "MCs To Watch In 2009".
2009–2010: Man on the Moon album series
In late 2008, Cudi was revealed to be included in XXLs 2009 annual Freshman Class. He was featured on the cover alongside fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth, Wale, B.o.B, Charles Hamilton, Cory Gunz, Blu, Mickey Factz, Ace Hood and Curren$y. On February 17, 2009, he appeared on Snoop Dogg's MTV talk show Dogg After Dark, performing "Day 'n' Nite" at the end of the show. Two days later on February 19, 2009, Cudi appeared on BET's 106 & Park, alongside Kanye West to debut the music video of "Day 'n' Nite". On February 25, 2009, Cudi self-leaked a teaser trailer for the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen film, using his song "Sky Might Fall" in the background; later he posted that he made the trailer himself and was in talks to possibly making it official.
In February 2009, Kid Cudi also made a cameo appearance next to Solange in the video for her song "T.O.N.Y.". On March 16, 2009, Kid Cudi performed on mtvU's Spring Break special, and the following day he performed three songs on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly. Cudi teamed up with partner and record producer Emile Haynie, to produce an exclusive single titled "Switchin Lanes", for the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles, part of its "South Central Premium Upgrade" downloadable content (DLC), which came out March 19, 2009, for the PlayStation 3 and March 27, 2009, for the Xbox 360. He has also appeared as a musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live! In June 2009, he made a cameo in The Black Eyed Peas' video for "I Gotta Feeling", alongside David Guetta, where the two met for the first time and subsequently recorded their international hit "Memories". In 2009, he had also been on two magazine covers, Complex (August/September 2009) and URB (August 2009).
He revealed information about his future plans via his blog, saying that a possible collaborative album with Chip tha Ripper could be followed with a collaborative project with electronic rock duo Ratatat. On May 5, 2009 Iranian-American progressive house DJ Sharam, released "She Came Along", the lead single from his debut studio album, Get Wild (2009). The song, featuring Cudi, charted for 15 weeks on the Bulgarian Singles Top 40. It entered the chart on position 40 on week 30/2009, and its last appearance was on week 44/2009. It peaked at number 11, where it stayed for one week.
During the summer of 2009, Cudi joined fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth and B.o.B, for 'The Great Hangover' concert tour.
In late 2009, Kid Cudi was featured on the highly anticipated Jay-Z album The Blueprint 3, on the song "Already Home". On September 14, 2009, BET premiered their Rising Icons profile of Kid Cudi. During the 30 minute show Cudi performed "CuDi Zone", "Mr. Solo Dolo", "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say". Cudi also discussed his childhood, his move to New York to begin his career as an artist and more.
Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, was released on Universal Motown Records on September 15, 2009 and sold 104,419 copies in the first week and charted at #4. The album's lead single "Day 'n' Nite", Kid Cudi's greatest commercial success thus far, charted well in both the U.S. and in Europe. The second single released was "Make Her Say" (originally titled "I Poke Her Face"), which features a sample from Lady Gaga's hit single "Poker Face" and performances by Kanye West and Common. Common was also featured throughout the album, as the narrator.
In September 2009, Cudi co-headlined 50 Cent's "50 Fest" concert, along with fellow American rapper Wale. In a late 2009 interview, Cudi announced that the follow-up to his debut album would be a compilation album entitled Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, which would have many collaborations. He stated he had already recorded songs with Snoop Dogg, Travis Barker, Clipse, Cage and Pharrell, and would also like to work with Drake, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Robin Thicke, The Killers and The Postal Service on the album. It was also rumored that Man on the Moon: The End of Day would be followed up by a sequel titled Man on the Moon: The Ghost in the Machine and that the Man on the Moon series would be a trilogy. Kid Cudi was nominated for three 2010 Grammy Awards, for his singles "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say".
In January 2010, Cudi released Man on the Moon: The End of Days third and final single "Pursuit of Happiness", which was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2010, Kid Cudi was featured on Snoop Dogg's re-release of Malice n Wonderland, titled More Malice, on the lead single "That Tree". Cudi also teamed up with independent artist Johnny Polygon, to remix Polygon's "The Riot Song", which appears on his mixtape Rebel Without Applause (2010). On April 20, 2010, Kid Cudi announced that the name of his second album would not be Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, but Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager.
On June 11, 2010, Kid Cudi was arrested in the Chelsea neighborhood of the Manhattan borough in New York City and charged with felony criminal mischief and possession of a controlled substance. Despite his arrest, he was released and made it to Manchester, Tennessee in time to play at Bonnaroo.
In May 2010, American shoe company Converse, launched “You're It”, a campaign which highlighted 23 artists from around the world in a series of web shorts. The campaign featured artists from 13 different countries including Kid Cudi. In this short, Converse takes a trip back to Cudi's roots as an artist in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. The campaign's goal was to tap into the grassroots of Converse's global market and introduce the artists of tomorrow.
In June 2010, Converse was promoting being a catalyst for creativity by bringing together three musicians from different genres to form a unique collaboration known as "Three Artists. One Song." Converse teamed up Cudi, alongside Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, to produce the song titled "All Summer". In addition to collaborating on the track, each of the artists also participated in the creation of the music video, which was released later that summer.
The lead single from Cudi's second studio album, titled "Erase Me", features Kanye West and was produced by Jim Jonsin. The song debuted on a Cleveland radio station June 30, 2010, and was officially released to Rhythm/Crossover radio on August 17, 2010. The title-track "Mr. Rager", was released as the album's second single, shortly before the album's release. The album, released November 9, 2010, debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 169,000 copies. In its second week it crossed the 200,000 sales mark.
In 2010, Kid Cudi appeared on several songs for his mentor Kanye West's weekly free music giveaway GOOD Fridays; namely "Good Friday", "Christian Dior Denim Flow" and "The Joy", the latter of which later became a bonus track on the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaborative album Watch the Throne (2011).
2011–2012: New direction with WZRD and Wicked Awesome
In October 2010, Cudi had announced that he would be forming a rock band with frequent collaborator Dot da Genius, tentatively called Wizard. In early 2011, he announced that he would be releasing a mixtape titled A Man Named Scott, reminiscent of his A Kid Named Cudi title, prior to the rock album. On February 26, 2011, Cudi took to his Twitter account to announce that Dream On, the record label he launched back in 2009 with partners Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds and producer Emile Haynie, has been dissolved. However, in an interview with Complex Magazine Cudi explained they were all still on good terms: "I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to take control of things myself. Those are still my guys, Pat and Emile, and I'm still going to work with them in the future. When we start working on Man on the Moon III I'll be calling them up to see if they want to be a part of it. I know Emile is definitely down. We had an issue, but we're men and we were able to figure it out and move forward. There's no hard feelings."
In March 2011, Cudi announced that a music video for "Marijuana" would be released in the spring, followed by a music video for "Mr. Rager" in the summer, then he would release a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, inspired by his song "Maniac", with Cage, in October 2011. In April 2011, while performing at New York City's Roseland Ballroom Kid Cudi announced he was launching his own record label. The new label, which he will be releasing his third studio album on is called Wicked Awesome Records. He also renamed his band on the same occasion to 2 Be Continuum, renaming it from the original Wizard. Kid Cudi explained his reasoning saying: "I needed something more original, something different, but it's still wizardry at its finest." In 2011, Cudi landed a songwriting placement on English singer Natalia Kills' debut album Perfectionist, for the song "Free".
On August 12, 2011, Kid Cudi released the music video for "No One Believes Me", directed by Fright Night director Craig Gillespie. The song, produced by Dot da Genius, features Cudi singing and contains elements of rock music. On August 21, Cudi announced that he would no longer be releasing the A Man Named Scott mixtape, so that he can focus on his rock project and his third solo album Man on the Moon III. Kid Cudi released the music video for his second album's title-track "Mr. Rager", on September 8, 2011. The video received all-positive reviews from critics and fans alike.
Despite saying he will not do many more features for other artists in Complex magazine's October/November 2011 cover story, Cudi appeared on Bryan Greenberg's second album We Don't Have Forever (2011), Travis Barker's solo debut Give the Drummer Some (2011), The Knux's Eraser (2011), and Wale's Ambition (2011), respectively. On October 30, 2011, Cudi released Maniac, a short horror film co-starring fellow American rapper Cage and directed by American actor Shia LaBeouf, through his blog. On November 13, 2011, a previously unreleased demo tape Cudi had recorded from 2002 to 2003, under the pseudonym Kid Mesc, titled Rap Hard, leaked online. On Twitter, Cudi wrote “I actually never wanted anyone to hear those songs ever, but its cool. Ha”
On November 18, 2011 Cudi renamed his band for the second time to WZRD (pronounced W-Z-R-D). He also announced that the upcoming rock project would be released on his 28th birthday, January 30, 2012. In late 2011, Cudi was mentioned in a viral video by vlogger Ben Breedlove, about his near death experiences. After Breedlove's death on December 26, 2011, Cudi commented on his thoughts about inspiring the young kid. "I am so sad about Ben Breedlove," Kid Cudi wrote on his Tumblr blog. "I watched the video he left for the world to see, and him seeing me in detail, in his vision really warmed my heart. I broke down, I am to tears because I hate how life is so unfair. This has really touched my heart in a way I cant describe, this is why I do what I do. Why I write my life, and why I love you all so much. Life is really f---- up sometimes, but I know Ben is at Peace, and I hope he gets a chance to sit and talk with my Dad. We love you Ben. Forever. Thank you for loving me. To Ben's family, you raised a real hero, he's definitely mine. You have my love."
In January 2012, Cudi appeared on two songs from Chip tha Ripper's mixtape Tell Ya Friends, "Ride 4 You" which also featured Far East Movement and "GloryUs", which credited the duo as they are collectively known, The Almighty GloryUs. This led to speculation that a long-awaited project from the two was underway. On January 31, Cudi announced through his Twitter feed that he had completed WZRD and that his next album was the collaborative effort with Chip tha Ripper. In 2012, Cudi was featured on the soundtrack to the film The Hunger Games, crafting an original song for the film titled "The Ruler and the Killer". Referring to "The Ruler and the Killer", Cudi wrote on his Twitter feed: "I could not have done it without my producing partners on the project for the film, The legendary and Godly T Bone Burnett and Greg Wells!"
While working on the band's self-titled debut, Cudi claimed he had writer's block for almost five months because of his new sobriety; something that had never happened to him for such an extended period of time. According to Cudi, bands that inspired the album include Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and Pink Floyd. The album includes a song titled "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", a cover of the same titled song by Nirvana, who in turn were inspired by blues guitar legend Lead Belly's rendition of the traditional folk song. Following WZRDs release on February 28, 2012, the album debuted at #3 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 66,000 physical and digital copies in the United States. The album also debuted on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums at number one, and at #9 on the Canadian Albums Chart respectively.
2012–2013: Indicud and departure from GOOD Music
In April 2012, in Geneseo, New York, Cudi performed before a sold-out crowd and premiered a hip hop song, his first since 2010. During his set, he performed a new record, tentatively titled "The Leader of the Delinquents", which he did a cappella. On April 25, 2012 Cudi was officially back to rapping with the release of "Dennis, Hook Me Up with Some More of That Whiskey!". The song, the first ever solely produced by Cudi himself, samples his 2010 song "Ghost!". In June 2012, Cudi was seen in the music video for "Mercy," the lead single from GOOD Music's compilation album Cruel Summer, in which he, along with other GOOD Music recording artists were featured on. Cudi was ultimately featured on two songs from the compilation, "The Morning" and a solo track originally meant for Man on the Moon II (2010), titled "Creepers", produced by Dan Black.
In the summer of 2012, Cudi announced the title of his third studio album to be, Indicud when he tweeted: "My new album is entitled indicud, it will be my version of The Chronic 2001, some songs i'll produce, others i'll feat &/or play songwriter". On June 8, 2012, Cudi announced Indicud, will be a double-disc album. On August 12, Kid Cudi released the lead single from Indicud, a song titled "Just What I Am", featuring his friend and longtime collaborator King Chip (formerly Chip tha Ripper). The album was announced to be released in early 2013 with Cudi focusing on scoring movies, followed by the third installment of the Man on the Moon series.
Cudi then added that Indicud "will feature more uptempos and that it will consist of at most 17 new songs." The music video for "Just What I Am", which marked Cudi's directorial debut, premiered November 6, 2012 on VEVO and was shot in Los Angeles with fans invited to participate in the video's shoot. On November 7, he revealed the album's second official single's title to be "Immortal", and that it again was produced by himself like the two previous releases, "Just What I Am" and "King Wizard". He claimed the song "will make you feel amazing in the heart and soul." The song was officially released via iTunes on March 14, 2013.
On March 14, 2013 Kid Cudi performed at MySpace's South by Southwest (SXSW) secret show in Austin, Texas and after performing his many hits, he previewed a new verse from Indicud. He also revealed that the album would feature 18 tracks, while officially confirming ASAP Rocky and Michael Bolton as featured guests. On March 16, Cudi announced that he would release the album's tracklist and cover art on April 2. Three days later, Kid Cudi announced via Twitter that the album had officially been completed and turned in to his label, Universal Republic. On March 26, the album's cover art and tracklist was unveiled by Walmart and later Complex. Later that day, Cudi appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed the album's lead singles; "Just What I Am" and "Immortal", as well as premiering "Mad Solar", which he performed a cappella.
On April 2, 2013, Kid Cudi announced on Power 106, that he was no longer under Kanye West's GOOD Music imprint. Cudi revealed he left the label on good terms, with him saying West respected his decision and will always be "big brother". Cudi's decision to move forward without West, was his desire to focus on his own imprint, Wicked Awesome Records and his friend, fellow rapper King Chip. After Indicud leaked online in its entirety on April 9, 2013, Kid Cudi decided to push the album's release date up to April 16. The album went on to debut at #2 on the charts by moving 140,000 copies. In late 2013, Kid Cudi went on tour in support of Indicud on The Cud Life Tour 2013. The tour was announced on July 15 with tickets going on sale the following day. Supporting acts on the tour included fellow American rappers Big Sean, Tyler, The Creator and Logic.
2013–2014: Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon
While on tour, on October 16, 2013 Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing an extended play (EP), sometime in the next three months. Cudi also revealed he would be producing it alongside Dot da Genius and that frequent collaborator King Chip, would appear on the EP. He then called the EP a prelude to his fourth album Man on the Moon III, which he announced would be released in 2015. On October 19, 2013, Cudi revealed "Going to the Ceremony", a song he had released via online audio distribution platform SoundCloud, earlier in July, would be included in the EP. Cudi would also go on to reveal a remix of his hit single "Day 'n' Nite, which was briefly previewed on the intro of his 2008 breakout mixtape A Kid Named Cudi, would also appear on the EP.
On November 25, 2013, via his Twitter, Cudi revealed the title of the EP to be Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon. On December 16, 2013, Kid Cudi once again utilized SoundCloud to release "Satellite Flight", the EP's title-track. On January 27, 2014, Kid Cudi revealed on Twitter that Satellite Flight: Journey to Mother Moon would no longer be an EP, but a full-length album instead. In a February 2014 interview with MTV News, Cudi discussed the EP's transition to a full-fledged album and called the project his best work yet: "I'm really excited because it's my best work, and it's a surprise. People weren't really expecting it. I've never done two albums within a year of each other."
On February 25, 2014, with only few hours' notice from Cudi, Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon was released exclusively to digital retailers. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 87,000 digital copies in the United States. On March 4, 2014 Cudi appeared on Chelsea Lately, where he was interviewed by Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, to promote Satellite Flight and the 2014 film Need for Speed. On March 12, 2014, Cudi released a song titled "Hero", a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, recorded for the soundtrack to Need for Speed. On March 15, 2014, Cudi appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he promoted the album, discussed the state of hip-hop, suicidal thoughts, Need for Speed, and performed the song "Internal Bleeding", from the album.
In April 2014, Cudi appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of Fat Man magazine. On April 24, 2014, while being honored as a mental health advocate by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, Cudi offered a special performance during their annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards. On May 2, 2014, it was announced Cudi would headline Chicago's North Coast Music Festival, along with West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg. On May 11, 2014 Cudi revealed he would be writing and directing a short film for the Satellite Flight album cut "Balmain Jeans": "Developing a short film for "Balmain Jeans", a story about a spontaneous electric connection between two strangers."
2015–2016: Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven
In a January 2015 interview, at the Sundance Film Festival, Kid Cudi expressed the possibility of releasing another album before the release of Man on the Moon III: "I'm always making music. The beauty in that is that I have a lot of material. And I'm actually thinking that it would be good to release something in the meantime, before Man on the Moon III comes out. Another Kid Cudi album, it's just kind of along the lines of what I did with Indicud or Satellite Flight, which is just its own standalone thing but still a Kid Cudi album. The Man on the Moon III album is something that's gonna take some time but I know the fans are gonna be patient and I really appreciate that guys, thank you for your patience. But Man on the Moon III is coming, there may be an album before that just to tide you over."
On March 3, 2015, Cudi officially released his first song since his album Satellite Flight, was put on the market. The song, which is titled "Love," was originally recorded for Satellite Flight, and samples Ratatat's "Sunblocks" and has been received with positive reviews. On April 4, 2015, Cudi announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new album titled Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven. On October 27, 2015, Cudi announced the new album will be released on December 4, 2015. He also leaked two songs off the project, "Wedding Tux" and "Judgemental Cunt". In November 2015 Cudi announced an Especial Tour, that will bring the rapper to various theaters all across the United States. On December 1, 2015, Cudi announced the cancellation of his Especial Tour, due to various reasons, such as production and personal issues. To make up for postponing the concert tour, Cudi released the album's title-track as the second single.
2016–2018: Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin and Kids See Ghosts
In March 2016, Kid Cudi performed at McDowell Mountain Music Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. In an early April 2016 interview with Billboard, when asked about Man on the Moon III, Cudi responded with: "I came up with Man on the Moon when I was a young man. People change their vibe! We can follow the same template and do the five-act split. Sonically, I'm still going to be where I'm at. Honestly, I was ready to live up to the obligation and do Man on the Moon III. I haven't been dicking around. I was planning on doing it after Speedin' Bullet. But the Speedin' Bullet response tore me up. It made me realize what's most important. I'm getting back on the bike again and doing what I do best: me." On April 22, 2016, Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing a new studio album, slated for a summer unveiling.
On May 11, 2016, amidst rumors that he was set to release Man on the Moon III, Cudi revealed the title of his sixth solo album would be Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin', through online mobile video-sharing and social networking service Instagram. On June 1, 2016, Cudi announced that he had two upcoming albums. One set to be released in the summer, while the other would be released in the fall. He added that one of them was complete. On September 26, 2016, Kid Cudi unveiled the track-list for Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin via Twitter, which revealed guest spots from Travis Scott, André 3000, Pharrell Williams and Willow Smith.
Although there was a discrepancy between him and Kanye West, West later made an offer of peace and a song featuring him and Cudi subsequently surfaced online. Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin was announced to be issued first via digital distribution on December 16, 2016, with the physical release on December 23. Cudi has also shared the song "Baptized in Fire," which features Travis Scott (with whom Cudi collaborated extensively with on 2016's Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight). On March 1, 2017, Kid Cudi performed the song "Kitchen", with a string orchestra, live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On August 15, 2017, Cudi announced a national concert tour by the name of Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour; with the first date on September 30 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 2018 Cudi and Kanye West formed a duo known as Kids See Ghosts, and produced an album with the same name, Kids See Ghosts, which was released on June 8, 2018. On October 23, 2018, in response to a fan on Twitter, Cudi revealed he had begun working on his seventh solo album. Although he said he would be taking his time to create his forthcoming LP, Cudi projected a 2019 release.
2019–present: Man on the Moon III: The Chosen and Entergalactic
In July 2019, Kid Cudi announced his next album would be titled Entergalactic, which he revealed would soundtrack an upcoming Netflix "adult-focused animated music series" co-created by himself and Kenya Barris.
On April 24, 2020, Cudi collaborated with Travis Scott under the collective name The Scotts, to release a song under the same name, "The Scotts". It was hinted that the duo would be releasing more music in the future. The song debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Cudi's first number-one hit single.
Later on April 24, Cudi also revealed that he was still working on new music for a future WZRD release, joking that "we take a decade off between albums." On July 9, 2020, Cudi's daughter Vada, announced via social media that he would be releasing a song with multiple Grammy Award-winning artist Eminem, called "The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady" the coming Friday. The song was released on July 10, 2020 and also saw success as a hit, as it debuted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
On October 26, Cudi released a teaser video on his official Twitter account for Man on the Moon III, the final installment in his Man on the Moon series, after a decade between releases. The album title and release date were not shared with the video, however on December 7, Cudi announced the album would be titled Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, with a release date of December 11, 2020. The concept album's theme follows Cudi overcoming his darkness, but fighting to win his soul back from his alter-ego "Mr. Rager".
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised Cudi's songwriting and generally favored the latter two acts, though some found it derivative of Cudi's earlier albums. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, earning 144,000 album-equivalent units of which 15,000 were pure sales, marking Cudi's fifth top 10 album in the US.
Although Entergalactic was originally set for a 2020 release, it was pushed back due to Cudi releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album instead. In January 2021, when asked by a fan on Twitter why Entergalatics new release date says 2022 on Netflix, Cudi responded, "[Because] that's when it drops. I just gave y'all an album y'all gotta chill and be patient fr man I'm not doin an album every year."
Cudi was the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live in April 2021, having previously featured alongside Kanye West and 070 Shake in "Ghost Town" in 2018. He played "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People" with both performances in tribute to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. "Sad People" showcased Cudi in a floral dress designed by Virgil Abloh in a nod to Cobain.
In June 2021, Amazon enlisted Kid Cudi for Prime Day Show; a three-part musical event also featuring Billie Eilish and H.E.R. Cudi's performance included a mission to establish a new community on the moon, while performing with the International Space Orchestra, a new group composed of space scientists from NASA Ames Research Center, the SETI Institute and the International Space University.
A Man Named Scott, a documentary film directed by Robert Alexander, was announced in October 2021 via Prime Video. The film was produced by Mad Solar, Complex Networks and Film 45, set for release in November 2021, and billed as a look at Cudi's journey "over a decade of creative choices, struggles, and breakthroughs."
During his headlining performance at the Rolling Loud music festival, Cudi revealed intentions on releasing two full-length projects in 2022, with plans of releasing an album prior to Entergalactic “I have Entergalactic coming in the summer, and I wanna drop another album before that. I got some tasty surprises and I’m really excited about all this new shit, this new music, to give to you guys,” he said before playing a recording of a song that has since been dubbed “Freshie.” “That’s why I’m teasing this shit now because it’s coming out soon.”
On December 3, 2021, a collaboration between Cudi and American pop singer Ariana Grande, titled "Just Look Up" was released in promotion for the black comedy film Don't Look Up, in which they both star in. In December 2021, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen broke the record for biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album in Nielsen history.
Artistry
Musical style
Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide."In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." His music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2012's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop, punk and grunge, in his music.
Cudi was gifted a guitar by his manager in 2011, encouraging Cudi to learn. Cudi taught himself how to play the guitar and went on to utilize the instrument in his rock music throughout his career. Cudi is also a self-taught music producer. In 2021, Cudi appeared on American TV talk show The Shop, where he spoke on his writing and recording process. Cudi mentioned for his early albums he would sit down and write entire verses. However, while working on Kids See Ghosts and Man on the Moon III, he adopted Kanye West's writing process. Instead of writing to a beat, he records a reference track for himself, where he freestyles and hums his way through the beat to get a melody, and fills in the lyrics as they come to him. In 2021, during Songwriter's Roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, Cudi called his music "space punk rock".
Influences
Cudi's earliest influences include alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Cudi also cites rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Kid 'n Play, N.W.A., Naughty By Nature, Onyx and Public Enemy, as his hip hop influences while growing up. Cudi has also credited fellow Ohio native Camu Tao, as an influence. He has also been inspired by the sounds of The O'Jays, Ratatat, MGMT and The Postal Service. In 2010, he began experimenting with rock music; rock acts that inspired Cudi include the Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, the Pixies and Pink Floyd. Kid Cudi also credits English singer-songwriter David Bowie as a "huge inspiration." Production wise, Cudi has named Dr. Dre, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Kanye West, as his top four favorite producers; also naming Emile Haynie and Plain Pat, calling them “geniuses” for seeing his potential before he was even completely aware of it.
Other ventures
Acting
In 2010, Kid Cudi made a guest appearance on American television drama One Tree Hill, starring as himself and performing his Man on the Moon II single "Erase Me", during the episode. In 2010, Kid Cudi also began starring in the HBO comedy series How to Make It in America, as part of the main cast, being credited by his birth name Scott Mescudi, until its cancellation after two seasons. On October 31, 2010, Kid Cudi released a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, in which he and fellow American rapper Cage, star as French-speaking serial killers. The short film, titled Maniac, was inspired by Cudi's song of the same name, from his 2010 album Man on the Moon II and is an homage to the 1992 Belgian black comedy crime mockumentary, Man Bites Dog. In May 2012, Kanye West premiered a short film he directed, titled Cruel Summer, at the Cannes Film Festival. According to MTV, Kid Cudi is the lead character, playing a "car thief who falls for a blind Arabian princess." The film was shown on seven different screens that turned on and off, giving various angles of each shot.
In October 2012, it was announced Cudi would star in an indie romantic comedy titled Two Night Stand, alongside Analeigh Tipton and Miles Teller. Also in 2012, it was revealed Cudi would star in an indie thriller film titled Tacoma, alongside Patricia Clarkson. In 2013, Cudi guest starred in the animated TV series The Cleveland Show, voicing a character named Devon, in the Season 4 episode "Brownsized". In 2013, he also guest starred on the FOX comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, where he played a criminal named Dustin Whitman. In 2013, it was revealed Cudi would then star in Goodbye World, alongside Adrian Grenier.
In January 2013, Cudi was cast in the film adaptation of Need for Speed. Need for Speed, which is Cudi's feature film debut, was released by Touchstone Pictures on March 14, 2014. In June 2013, it was revealed Cudi would appear in Mark Webber's film The Ever After, alongside Teresa Palmer and Melissa Leo. On November 10, 2014, Cudi guest starred on the CBS American television series Scorpion, as Peyton Temple, a musical prodigy who created a controversial algorithm that generates the perfect hit pop song, who later helps Scorpion investigate the murder of his friend who was a music industry blogger. In February 2014, it was announced Cudi would appear in Entourage (2015), the film adaptation of the popular HBO TV series of the same name.
On April 11, 2014, it was announced Cudi would star in a film titled James White, alongside Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon. In addition to starring in the film, it was revealed Cudi would also be curating the film's score as well. In January 2015, Cudi revealed he played a homosexual character in James White: "This was way different than anything else I've ever done. It was dope to do that. I felt like I had a responsibility to present a different walk in life from that world." Although his character's sexuality is not outwardly discussed during the film, the original script included a coming-out scene and a kiss between Cudi and a male friend, played by David Call: "I didn't flinch. I'm secure with mine," Cudi told an audience after the film's premiere. "I'm an artist—it's all about playing characters that are intriguing and stimulating."
Also in January 2015, Cudi revealed he had just finished filming a movie titled Vincent-N-Roxxy, alongside Zoe Kravitz and Emile Hirsch. When speaking on Vincent-N-Roxxy, Cudi said: "this movie that I have coming out soon that's my first villain role. It's very violent and very disturbing [...] I play kind of like a drug lord." Cudi took over the mic duties for Reggie Watts, on IFC's television series, Comedy Bang! Bang! on July 10, 2015. As the in-house disc jockey, Cudi crafted original music for the show and appeared in several skits throughout season four. The December 10 Christmas edition of Comedy Bang! Bang!, marked the season finale and Cudi's final episode as bandleader.
In July 2016, it was announced Cudi would join the cast of FOX's Empire, debuting in the third season of the series as "an independent musician who is a rival to Hakeem (Bryshere "Yazz" Gray) both in the studio and in life." Cudi later left the project due to creative differences. In 2017, Cudi appeared in the comedy film Killing Hasselhoff.
In 2019, Cudi had small roles in Drunk Parents, directed by Fred Wolf, and Jexi directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the latter of which he played himself. In 2020, he co-starred in Bill & Ted Face the Music, directed by Dean Parisot, opposite Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. In 2020, Cudi also starred in We Are Who We Are, an eight-episode miniseries for HBO directed by Luca Guadagnino.
In early 2021, Kid Cudi appeared in Crisis, directed by Nicholas Jarecki. In January 2021, Cudi revealed he would potentially be partnering with TV producer and fellow American rapper 50 Cent, for an upcoming series. In late 2021, Cudi appeared in the ensemble cast of Don't Look Up, where he also performed an original song for the film alongside fellow American singer Ariana Grande. Cudi is also set to star in X and Disney's upcoming sci-fi film Crater, the latter of which would be released exclusively on the streaming service, Disney+.
Fashion
In September 2009, Kid Cudi teamed up with Japanese clothing company BAPE (which happens to be the last company Cudi was employed with before his music career took off), for a collaboration that saw Cudi's likeness featured on graphic T-shirts, with the Japanese label's mascot, Baby Milo. As of 2014, he has had five t-shirt collaborations with BAPE. In 2021, Cudi once again collaborated with BAPE, for a vibrant capsule displaying colorful prints and logos. Spanning a total of 20 pieces, this project is BAPE's largest-ever artist collaboration — the result of a long relationship that goes all the way back to when Cudi was still working at the BAPE store in New York.
In February 2011, Kid Cudi announced a collaboration with Parisian brand Surface to Air. In the fall of 2011, he released a leather jacket collection in collaboration with the fashion label. Taking cues from the modern biker jacket, the "Thriller-inspired" lineup offered two men's styles. He can be seen wearing the jackets in music videos such as "All of the Lights" and "Mr. Rager".
In August 2014, Giuseppe Zanotti designed an exclusive sneaker inspired by Kid Cudi's style.
In February 2019, Kid Cudi partnered with French fashion brand A.P.C. on their first “INTERACTION #1” range. Jean Touitou, the founder of A.P.C. reached out to Kid Cudi following an introduction by Kanye West. The capsule collection included denim such as the Petit New Standard and Petit Standard Jeans, both of which included “Dream On” embroidery in red under the left front pocket. It also included the Dream On Cardigan in a multi-colored cotton knit, two iterations of the Tennis Minimal Sneaker, South Salopette overalls with paint splatter details, and three t-shirts that include the Bold Tee, Splash Tee, and Dream On Tee.
Kid Cudi announced a partnership with Adidas in March 2019. On December 10, 2020, Cudi unveiled his Adidas sneakers. They are the self-named VADAWAM 326's which would be released on December 17, 2020.
On May 20, 2020, Kid Cudi announced he was partnering with American designer Virgil Abloh, to release an exclusive “Leader of the Delinquents” t-shirt. The design on the black and white “PULLING STRINGS” t-shirt features Kid Cudi puppeteering a smaller version of himself, hence the name of the t-shirt release. The art is meant to reference Cudi's infamous TMZ moment from 2012, in which he posed like the puppet on the shirt. “Leader of the Delinquents” is written across the back of the t-shirt in text reminiscent of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s handwriting.
Just hours before releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album, Cudi rolled out a small batch of merchandise in support of the album. The range was made in collaboration with Cactus Plant Flea Market, and consists of short- and long-sleeve T-shirts, pullover hoodies, and sweatpants—all of which feature graphics that reference MOTM3 tracks.
In April 2021, Kid Cudi performed on Saturday Night Live wearing a floral-print sundress, created by Virgil Abloh. On April 11, Cudi confirmed that he would have an upcoming collection with Italian luxury fashion label Off-White, with the floral dress serving as one of the pieces.
In late April 2021, it was revealed Kid Cudi had teamed up with the NFL to release a limited-edition Starter jacket commemorating the 2021 NFL Draft, which took place in Cudi's hometown of Cleveland.
Members of the RAGE
On January 26, 2021, Kid Cudi announced on Twitter that he would be starting his own clothing line and the first pieces would be available sometime in 2021. In February 2022, Cudi launched his very own clothing line titled called Members of the RAGE. The clothing line is described as a fusion of “90s grunge with the soul of hip hop and
elements from a distant future.” Its UFO logo was co-designed by Cudi and Nigo, while the retro-inspired website was designed by Cudi himself. The first piece that was issued was a t-shirt created in collaboration with Nigo’s Human Made. Created for NBA All-Star Weekend, the shirt comes in white and features the Members of the RAGE logo in Cleveland Cavaliers colors and the Earth replaced with a basketball.
Modeling
In 2010, Cudi modeled for a campaign run by American fashion house Calvin Klein. In January 2015, Coach, Inc. announced Kid Cudi as the new face of their brand, along with actress Chloë Grace Moretz, to front its Spring campaign. In January 2022, Cudi modeled for the Levi Strauss & Co. campaign titled "The Number That Changed Everything."
Poetry
Kid Cudi has also been known for sharing his poetry.
Record labels
Dream on
Dream On was an American record label founded in 2009, by Cudi alongside his managers at the time, Patrick Reynolds and Emile Haynie. In February 2011, Cudi announced the label had been dissolved. The label went on to release the first two installments of Cudi's Man on the Moon series.
Wicked Awesome Records
Wicked Awesome Records is an American record label founded by Cudi in 2011. It is distributed by Republic Records. In a 2013 interview Cudi said "Wicked Awesome was there officially when I did WZRD. That was the first project that I did on Wicked Awesome and it was an outlet for me to just branch out on my own, and creatively and business-wise take things to a different space for me. Wicked Awesome..where do I see it going? Right now it's just the music but who knows? Wicked Awesome is maybe gunna be beyond music it could be movies, it could be a lot of things, producing T.V. shows. Just the name I think is really dope it has a ring to it." Cudi continued, explaining the motivation behind his label. "The whole motivation is just bringing authenticity back to the forefront. Bringing real content, bringing real emotion [...] Wicked Awesome is about being a real human being, making real music, talking about real things that people deal with on a day-to-day basis." In January 2021, Cudi tweeted that he is prepared to sign artists and producers.
Mad Solar
On November 17, 2020, it was revealed Cudi teamed with Dennis Cummings and Karina Manashil to found production and music management company Mad Solar, with the backing of Bron Studios, which provides corporate back office and production support, including financing, marketing, and sales. In a statement Cudi said, "Beyond excited to be launching my production company Mad Solar and partnering with Bron, whose creative vision and storytelling has transformed the industry." When speaking on the collaboration, Bron chairman Aaron L. Gilbert said "Scott Mescudi's growth as a creative and an entrepreneur has been impressive. For Bron, the strategic relationship with Mad Solar is key in our efforts to support the entertainment industry's top creatives, as well as expand Bron's access to the best in class music and sports talent through Mad Solar's management division."
On December 9, it was announced Cudi's Mad Solar banner are developing a film adaptation of the coming-of-age campus novel Real Life, with Cudi set to star. Bron Studios acquired the rights to the 2020 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel with Mad Solar. Real Life is the semi-autobiographical novel debut for writer Brandon Taylor. It follows an introverted, queer, Black scientist in a predominantly white, Midwestern PhD program as he navigates complex friendships, romantic relationships, betrayals and mercies, all over the course of one weekend. Mad Solar is also producing the upcoming Netflix animated series Entergalactic, which Cudi co-created alongside Kenya Barris. Based on original music by Cudi, the series, which Cudi writes, executive produces and stars in, follows a young man on his journey to discover love. Additionally, Mad Solar has teamed with A24 and Bron Studios on the horror film X. Written and directed by Ti West, X stars Mia Goth, Cudi and Jenna Ortega. Cudi is an executive producer on the film, which will begin production early 2021.
Encore Studio
In October 2020, it was announced Cudi teamed with screenwriter Ian Edelman and startup veteran Jonathan Gray to launch Encore Studio, a mobile-based platform to help artists monetize their connections with fans. “The current streaming model puts artists in competition with one another and only rewards the top 1% of artists who collect 90% of the money,” a press release announcing the app explains. “Encore offers an all-new format that encourages collaboration amongst artists and makes it easy for up-and-coming and established artists to manage and grow a direct relationship with their fans. Artists can drop new music, chat with fans and host live shows from anywhere in the world.” Encore enables live music experiences through smart phones, fan interaction, community centered content and merchandise offerings to give fans new ways to reward the artists they love. “The energy from a concert is undeniable, both for the fans and artists. I am excited to launch Encore to help bring the live music experience back to our fans. Encore is committed to empowering both established and new artists and delivering the best mobile music experience out there,” Cudi says. Earlier in 2020, Encore closed a $2 million seed round led by global investment firm Battery Ventures.
In 2022, it was revealed Encore Studio was backed by $9 million funding led by Battery Ventures along with investments from 468 Capital, Parade Ventures, Nomad Ventures, Moving Capital, Kayak Ventures, and Gaingels, with Cudi issuing a statement “My number one priority has always been inspiring others and providing them the space to tell their own stories in an authentic and meaningful way,” Cudi said in a press release. “We created Encore as a space for artists to share their art, build community, while also being able to pay their rent.”
Image and stage presence
Kid Cudi has been described by the media as a fashion icon.
In his early career, Kid Cudi received criticism in the hip hop community for wearing skinny jeans, before they became trendy after being worn by mainstream rappers, such as Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Cudi made headlines when he wore a kilt to a 2010 New Year's Eve party in Miami. In April 2012, he made headlines again in a now-infamous moment when he gave TMZ paparazzi the finger, claiming they have never "posted anything to make him look good".
During his 2013 Cud Life concert tour, Cudi donned a custom made astronaut-esque suit that was designed by noted Hollywood costume designer Jose Hernandez. Officially dubbed the "Satellite Academy Space Suit", Joe La Puma of Complex explained, "It's more than just an interesting clothing choice; the suit represents a transition in his mind-state back to the highly anticipated Man on the Moon III."
In 2014, Cudi made headlines when he performed in a crop top at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In April 2021, he appeared as the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live, where he performed "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People". Both performances were in tribute to Nirvana's late frontman Kurt Cobain, however it was his performance of "Sad People" that made headlines because Cudi wore a woman's dress as a statement against social norms much like his idol Cobain had done.
In September 2021, Cudi made headlines twice; first arriving at New York Fashion Week with electric blue hair, a Nirvana long-sleeve tee and a floor-length black skirt. A few days later, Cudi showed up to the Met Gala wearing fluorescent green hair and dark eye makeup. At the Gala, Cudi was in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton, with a blue sweater, another floor-length skirt and blue-and-green LV sneakers.
On November 10, 2021, Kid Cudi posed for photos at the CFDA Fashion Awards in a custom bridal gown, standing hand-in-hand with its designer, ERL’s Eli Russell Linnetz, lace-gloved fingers interlocked, both wearing American Gothic expressions. On the red carpet, Linnetz lifted Cudi’s veil. “Be yourself, be free, baby, yeah,” Cudi said into a microphone, with a grin; he’d paired the dress with a white tux jacket, crystal-covered sneakers, grungy eyeliner, an icy Black Jesus pendant, and Manic Panic-pink hair. The dress was another homage to Kurt Cobain.
Personal life
Drug use
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi revealed that he had stopped smoking marijuana in 2011, both for the sake of his child and due to frustration with constantly being associated with the drug and stoner culture.
In a March 2013 interview, Cudi talked about how his initial sudden and unexpected fame drove him to alcohol and drugs:
Mental health
In a 2013 interview, Cudi revealed he had suffered an addiction to anti-depressant medication, which had been prescribed to help him deal with an "emotional breakdown" after a failed relationship. Cudi has been open about his addiction to pharmaceuticals in his music, namely the songs "Dr. Pill" and "The Nothing". In a 2014 interview, Cudi spoke on his struggles with depression and suicidal ideation: "I've dealt with suicide for the past five years. There wasn't a week or a day that didn't go by where I was just like, 'You know, I wanna check out.' I know what that feels like, I know it comes from loneliness, I know it comes from not having self-worth, not loving yourself."
In a July 2016 interview, Kid Cudi revealed he suffered from survivor guilt: "I didn't like that I had money and success and I had made it. Everybody I had ever met in my life, good people, weren't able to experience the same, and I wasn't able to truly enjoy my success. Even though I worked hard for it, it bothered me that I had just had so much and my friends didn't." In October 2016, Cudi revealed on his Facebook page that he had checked himself into rehabilitation for depression and suicidal urges.
Family
On March 26, 2010, Cudi's daughter, Vada Wamwene Mescudi, was born. Throughout 2012, Cudi was in a custody battle over his daughter. Reports surfaced that Cudi gave up custody after his child's mother accused him of being an absentee father, as well as having violent tendencies and a "long history of consistent drug and alcohol abuse." These claims were disputed by Cudi and his attorney in a statement, which noted: "Cudi did not give up custody but reached an amicable agreement with the mother; that 'both parents are fit and proper persons to have custody of their child,' as stated in the final custody judgment; results came back negative for drugs in a drug test voluntarily taken by Cudi; and that the court acknowledged Cudi attempted to establish a relationship and visit his child since her birth and "voluntarily provided financial support, including child support, rent and other monthly payments, for his daughter since her birth until the time that a child support order was entered as part of the normal course of the case." Details of the official custody agreement remain private. Cudi has since purchased a property in Chicago to be close to his daughter.
Relationships
In 2009, Cudi began dating entertainment attorney Jamie Baratta. They were in an on-again, off-again relationship, and were a prominent couple in the music industry. They ultimately broke up in 2012, but not before Cudi dedicated a song to her titled "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie", which he recorded as a member of the alternative rock duo, WZRD. In 2020, Cudi wrote "Sept. 16", a song titled after the birthdate of his girlfriend at the time, costume designer and actress Raquel Deriane, to whom the song is dedicated.
Faith
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi said that he believes in God, although considers himself spiritual but not religious.
Philanthropy
On April 8, 2014, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services announced that it would recognize mental health advocates Kid Cudi, Ronda Rousey and Natasha Tracy, during its annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards on April 24, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Committed to helping depressed and suicidal youth through the power of music, Cudi joined Didi Hirsch's Erasing the Stigma Efforts as a Mental Health Ambassador.
On February 7, 2015, Kid Cudi partnered with TED to give a TED Talk at his former school, Shaker Heights High School, to help inspire the students with his story, for the school's independently organized "TEDxSHHS" conference.
Kid Cudi has also been a volunteer for Musicians on Call (MOC), a charity with the mission of bringing live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. In December 2015, Cudi arranged a dance party for the teenage participants of the Children's Hospital At Montefiore's (CHAM) B-N-Fit program, in the Bronx. Kid Cudi also hosted a group of young patients and their families from CHAM, at his sold-out Roseland Ballroom shows in April 2016.
In June 2016, 49 celebrities, including Kid Cudi, honored the 49 victims killed in the Orlando nightclub shooting in a video tribute.
In 2019, Kid Cudi teamed up with delivery service Postmates to deliver $10,000 worth of Popeyes takeout to the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. Hundreds in need at the Indio shelter were presented with Popeyes' chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, and fries the evening before Cudi's second set at Coachella.
Impact and legacy
A number of publications have noted Kid Cudi's impact on contemporary hip hop music since his mainstream debut in 2009. IBTimes writer Alex Garofaro states "Since the beginning of Cudi's career, his music has been extremely influential. His unique blend of dark, introspective lyrics, melancholy melody, psychedelic instrumentation and stoner cool made him a crossover sensation with rap, R&B and indie music fans alike." Luke Hinz of HotNewHipHop said "Cudi has inspired a generation of young artists to be unafraid to explore a wide array of emotions, and many have sought to adapt elements of Cudi's music into their own. Never caring to fit into the conventional boundaries of music, Cudi became a voice for those who felt unrepresented and alone."
In a 2015 article titled "KiD CuDi – A Forgotten Influence on Psychedelic Introspection in Hip-Hop", the author wrote "Cudi helped bring about a new era of electronic, psychedelic driven production. And his dark, drug-riddled approach to introspection has already taken hold in the up-and-comers in the hip-hop world." Revolt writer Preezy Brown noted "His knack for displaying vulnerability and addressing bouts with mental health has made him an inspiration for a long list of artists including Juice WRLD, Logic, Lil Yachty, and other leaders of the new school."
Eric Diep of Complex said "Cudi is an omnipresent figure in pop culture who has inspired many. He's a voice for young creatives who don't fit in. He's a therapeutic light for people who need a helping hand. He's a fashion icon. He's more than a cool cameo in television and movies, but a full-fledged actor." Uproxx stated "Compared to modern icons like Drake, West, and Wayne, Cudi doesn't have a boatload of sales, or a room full of accolades, but his weighty impact is reflected in adulation from the people, which is the intangible, everlasting achievement that most artists live for. He's one of the first artists to be unabashed about his depressive ruminations and did so in a melodically intriguing manner that progressed alternative rock aesthetics into the hip-hop world one cadence at a time."
Several artists have gone on to credit Kid Cudi as influence or inspiration, such as rappers Kanye West, Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Chance the Rapper, Childish Gambino, Logic, ASAP Rocky, ASAP Nast, Allan Kingdom, Kyle, Isaiah Rashad, Raury, Key!, Denzel Curry, Kevin Abstract, Saba and Jaden Smith, as well as singers Willow Smith, Jhene Aiko, Lissie and Tinashe, among others.
In 2009, Canadian recording artist Drake shared his admiration for Cudi on Twitter with a picture of him holding both his and Cudi's respective projects, stating "We are rarely proud when we are alone. But to have another artist who pushes me and inspires me is a blessing."
In a 2010 interview with Billboard, Kanye West called Cudi his "personal favorite artist in the world right now. His whole take on the game is just unfiltered, uncensored artistry." In 2016, Kanye West went on to call Cudi "the most influential artist of the past 10 years".
West Coast hip hop duo Audio Push have also praised Cudi, in 2016, saying "The thing I love about Cudi is he's unapologetically real. He birthed so much of, not even the new generation of artists, but a lot of [your] favorite artists wouldn't be [your] favorite artists if it wasn't for Cudi." In November 2016, Atlanta-based rapper OG Maco, who has cited Cudi as a major influence on several occasions, released an EP titled For Scott, as a tribute to Kid Cudi.
In October 2018, American musician and high-profile producer Pharrell Williams, spoke on his collaborations with Cudi in an interview with Complex, saying: "He's so inspiring, and I'm only as good as my collaborations anyway. I love the stuff that we did. Love, love [...] So to me, Cudi is a GOAT. His melodies and his concepts—he's a timeless alien." In another interview with Complex, Williams also stated "When they say Cudi is the [greatest of all time], they're talking about the consistency of his convictions and how that's played out into the choices that he makes, the taste that he has, and the tone that he takes with everything that he does. That's my idea of Cudi."
American comedian and actor Pete Davidson, who has shared his own struggles with his mental health in the past, has said Kid Cudi's music has saved his life. In a 2019 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Davidson called Cudi "the best musician that's ever lived." Travis Scott, whose stage name is derived from Cudi's first name, has also said Kid Cudi's music saved his life and has a tattoo of the word "rager" in honor of Cudi. Brockhampton's Kevin Abstract has said "I love how he incorporated melody into his raps," Kevin explained. "A kid like me would say, like, Kid Cudi saved my life."
American rapper Logic, who has interpolated Kid Cudi's records in his own songs, has also spoke about how Cudi's music inspired him to open up about mental health in his own music. "He was the dude that was like, 'It's okay to be sad. It's okay to talk about these things, and go through these things.'" In a 2019 interview, then-up-and-coming rapper Baby Keem, cited Cudi as a major influence: "I was inspired by Cudi's cadences and shit like that. Kid Cudi's one of my favorite artists."
In an interview with New York City radio station Hot 97, Jaden Smith spoke on Cudi's influence on him: "Cudi would always say things that just would, like, change my life [...] I thought it was just me and my brother for a while. Then I got older and started going to festivals and then I realized, oh man, everybody has felt that from Cudi. Everybody says that Cudi saved their life. ... Everybody had that same experience listening to Cudi. If someone listened to Cudi, you knew something about them. You could tell certain things about them."
Discography
Studio albums
Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009)
Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010)
Indicud (2013)
Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014)
Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016)
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (2020)
Entergalactic (2022)
Collaborative albums
WZRD (2012)
Kids See Ghosts (2018)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Concert tours
Headlining
The Great Hangover Tour (2009)
The Cud Life Tour (2011-2013)
The Especial Tour (2016)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour (2017)
Supporting
Glow in the Dark Tour (2008)
The Monster Ball Tour (2009)
See also
Kids See Ghosts
WZRD
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of American Grammy Award winners and nominees
List of neo-psychedelia artists
List of alternative hip hop artists
Midwest hip hop
References
External links
1984 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Actors from Shaker Heights, Ohio
African-American male rappers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
Alternative hip hop musicians
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American male film actors
American male television actors
American music industry executives
American music video directors
American rappers of Mexican descent
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Living people
Male actors from Cleveland
Midwest hip hop musicians
Motown artists
Musicians from Cleveland
Musicians from Shaker Heights, Ohio
People from Solon, Ohio
People with mood disorders
Rappers from Cleveland
Record producers from Ohio
Republic Records artists
Songwriters from Ohio
Universal Motown Records artists
University of Toledo alumni
Poets from Ohio
21st-century American poets
American fashion businesspeople
21st-century African-American writers
Alternative rock musicians
20th-century African-American people
American male songwriters
Mental health activists
American male actors of Mexican descent | false | [
"Italian singer, songwriter, DJ and record producer Giorgio Moroder is one of the originators of Italo disco and electronic dance music, and his work with synthesizers heavily influenced several music genres such as house, techno and trance music. He has also been dubbed the \"Father of Disco\".\n\nIn the course of his career, Moroder has won three Academy Awards: Best Original Score for Midnight Express (1978), and two Best Original Song awards for \"Flashdance...What a Feeling\", from the film Flashdance (1983), and for \"Take My Breath Away\", from Top Gun (1986). Moroder also won two of his four Grammy Awards for Flashdance: Best Album or Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special, and Best Instrumental Composition for the track \"Love Theme from Flashdance\". His other two awards were for Donna Summer's single \"Carry On\" and for Daft Punk's album Random Access Memories, which won Album of the Year. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards that resulted in four wins: Best Original Score for Midnight Express and Flashdance, and Best Original Song for \"Flashdance... What a Feeling\" and \"Take My Breath Away\".\n\nOn 20 September 2004 Moroder was honored at the Dance Music Hall of Fame ceremony, held in New York, when he was inducted for his achievements and contributions as a producer. In 2005, Moroder was named a Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, and in 2010, the Italian city of Bolzano awarded him the Grande Ordine al Merito della Provincia autonoma di Bolzano. In 2011, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the World Soundtrack Academy.\n\nAwards and nominations\n\nHonors\n\nState and local honors\n\nOther accolades\n\nFootnotes\n\nReferences \n\nMoroder, Giorgio",
"Ben Fielding is an Australian contemporary Christian music and worship songwriter, and one of several worship leaders in Hillsong Worship group. He has written many songs for the group, winning three Dove Awards and one Grammy Award.\n\nFielding and Reuben Morgan wrote the song \"Mighty to Save\". It won the Worship Song of the Year at the 40th GMA Dove Awards (it was also nominated in the Song of the Year category).\n\n\"What a Beautiful Name\", a song he co-wrote with Brooke Ligertwood, won the 2018 Grammy award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song, and won the Song of the Year award at the 2017 Dove Awards.\n\n\"Who You Say I Am\", written with Morgan, won the 2019 Dove Award for Worship Song of the Year.\n\nReferences \n\nLiving people\nHillsong musicians\nGrammy Award winners\nYear of birth missing (living people)"
]
|
[
"Kid Cudi",
"Musical style",
"What kind of music is Kid Cudi known for?",
"Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as \"an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing\".",
"What are some of his famous songs?",
"Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven,",
"What awards has he won?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_7ff647487dc94486a521118eabc4cdef_1 | What musicians have influenced Kid Cudi? | 4 | What musicians have influenced Kid Cudi? | Kid Cudi | Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide." In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." Kid Cudi's music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2011's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop and grunge, in his music. CANNOTANSWER | West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." | Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), better known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ; often stylized as KiD CuDi), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has widely been recognized as an influence on several contemporary hip hop and alternative acts. His lyrics are often autobiographical and describe his childhood hardships of depression, loneliness and alienation, his struggle with alcohol and drugs into adulthood, as well as themes of heartbreak, dissipation and celebration. Cudi began to gain major recognition following the release of his first official full-length project, a mixtape titled A Kid Named Cudi (2008), which caught the attention of American musician Kanye West, who subsequently signed Cudi to his GOOD Music label imprint by late 2008.
In early 2008, Cudi had risen to prominence with his debut single "Day 'n' Nite", having initially been self-published on his Myspace page to becoming a worldwide hit. The song was later featured on Cudi's seminal debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009), which was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2017. The album also included the singles "Make Her Say" and "Pursuit of Happiness", both of which achieved significant chart success. In 2010, Cudi released his second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, which also attained platinum status and features the singles "Erase Me" and "Mr. Rager". Later that year he formed WZRD, a rock band, with his long-time collaborator Dot da Genius. Their eponymous debut album (2012) debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
Cudi has since released the solo albums Indicud (2013), Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014), Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015), and Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016). Cudi's joint album with Kanye West, under the eponymous name Kids See Ghosts (2018), was met with widespread critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2018. In 2020, Cudi earned his first number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with "The Scotts", a collaboration with Houston rapper Travis Scott. Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, issued in 2020, became his most commercially successful album to date, with the RIAA certifying it gold status later that year.
Cudi has sold 22 million certified records in the United States and has won two Grammy Awards from five nominations. He has worked with numerous prominent artists spanning several different genres in the music industry, such as Jay-Z, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, MGMT, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Ariana Grande and Michael Bolton, among others. After signing to GOOD Music, Cudi has since gone on to launch his own vanity labels, the now-dissolved Dream On and current label imprint Wicked Awesome Records. Cudi also ventured into acting when he was cast in the HBO series How to Make It in America. He has since appeared in several feature films, including Goodbye World (2013), Need for Speed (2014), Entourage (2015), Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020), Don't Look Up (2021) and more. In addition, he has made appearances on television shows such as One Tree Hill, The Cleveland Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Westworld. In 2015, he was the bandleader on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang! and in 2020 was added as a cast member for the HBO mini-series We Are Who We Are.
Early life
Kid Cudi was born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 30, 1984. He grew up in Shaker Heights and Solon. He has two older brothers, Domingo and Dean, and an older sister, Maisha. His mother, Elsie Harriet (née Banks), is an African-American school choir teacher at Roxboro Middle School in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. His father, Lindberg Styles Mescudi, was a house painter, substitute teacher, and World War II Air Force veteran of African-American and Mexican descent.
When Cudi was 11 years old, his father died of cancer; his passing had a significant effect on Cudi's personality and music. Cudi attended Shaker Heights High School for two years before transferring to Solon High School. He was expelled from the school for threatening to punch the principal, and would later earn his GED. He studied film at the University of Toledo, but dropped out after a year. His subsequent plan to join the Navy did not pan out because of his juvenile police record.
Musical career
2003–2008: Beginnings in New York City
Cudi first began rapping in 2003, towards the end of his time in high school, and was inspired by alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. He later moved to New York City to pursue a music career. After leaving Cleveland in 2005 with $500 and a demo tape, he moved in with his uncle, accomplished jazz drummer Kalil Madi, in the South Bronx. He worked at a couple of Manhattan clothing stores, before eventually sharing an apartment with friend and collaborator Dot da Genius in Brooklyn.
In 2006, Cudi would run into his future mentor, rapper and producer Kanye West, in a Virgin Megastore. He recounted in a 2009 SPIN interview, "I was looking at CDs, saw the gleam of a Jesus piece in the right side of my eye, looked up, and it was Kanye West." He introduced himself and offered West some of his music. Cudi would later run into West again while working at the BAPE store in New York, and recalled: "I remember Kanye coming in one time and I was helping him get a couple things. I forgot to take a sensor off of one of the jackets he bought and I had to run out the store to catch him before he left. Pretty funny me chasing after him in SoHo."
In 2007, Kid Cudi's song "Day 'n' Nite", began being featured on several music blogs, after having uploaded the song to his MySpace page. Cudi's early work would go on to catch the attention of Kanye West, whose then-manager Plain Pat, had introduced Cudi's music to him, subsequently leading West to sign Cudi to his GOOD Music imprint later that year. In July 2008, Kid Cudi released his first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi (executive produced by Plain Pat and Emile Haynie), in collaboration with New York street-wear brand 10.Deep as a free download.
Kanye West first called upon Cudi to reference hooks for American rapper and mogul Jay-Z, and while in the studio Cudi and West went from working on The Blueprint 3 (2009) to West's R&B-esque 808s & Heartbreak (2008). Cudi's assistance on the latter includes co-writing credits and/or vocals on "Heartless," "Welcome to Heartbreak," "Paranoid" and "RoboCop." Kid Cudi was a prominent songwriter and featured artist on 808s & Heartbreak, with "Paranoid" and "Heartless" being released as singles, while "Welcome to Heartbreak" charted as an album cut and peaked at number 87 on the Pop 100.
Kid Cudi's first television appearance was at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside Travis Barker and DJ AM. Cudi was promoted as an artist to watch for in media such as Rolling Stone, Vibe, The Source, XXL and BBC News's 2009 Sound of poll. MTV News reported on Cudi on a series of reports titled "MCs To Watch In 2009".
2009–2010: Man on the Moon album series
In late 2008, Cudi was revealed to be included in XXLs 2009 annual Freshman Class. He was featured on the cover alongside fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth, Wale, B.o.B, Charles Hamilton, Cory Gunz, Blu, Mickey Factz, Ace Hood and Curren$y. On February 17, 2009, he appeared on Snoop Dogg's MTV talk show Dogg After Dark, performing "Day 'n' Nite" at the end of the show. Two days later on February 19, 2009, Cudi appeared on BET's 106 & Park, alongside Kanye West to debut the music video of "Day 'n' Nite". On February 25, 2009, Cudi self-leaked a teaser trailer for the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen film, using his song "Sky Might Fall" in the background; later he posted that he made the trailer himself and was in talks to possibly making it official.
In February 2009, Kid Cudi also made a cameo appearance next to Solange in the video for her song "T.O.N.Y.". On March 16, 2009, Kid Cudi performed on mtvU's Spring Break special, and the following day he performed three songs on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly. Cudi teamed up with partner and record producer Emile Haynie, to produce an exclusive single titled "Switchin Lanes", for the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles, part of its "South Central Premium Upgrade" downloadable content (DLC), which came out March 19, 2009, for the PlayStation 3 and March 27, 2009, for the Xbox 360. He has also appeared as a musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live! In June 2009, he made a cameo in The Black Eyed Peas' video for "I Gotta Feeling", alongside David Guetta, where the two met for the first time and subsequently recorded their international hit "Memories". In 2009, he had also been on two magazine covers, Complex (August/September 2009) and URB (August 2009).
He revealed information about his future plans via his blog, saying that a possible collaborative album with Chip tha Ripper could be followed with a collaborative project with electronic rock duo Ratatat. On May 5, 2009 Iranian-American progressive house DJ Sharam, released "She Came Along", the lead single from his debut studio album, Get Wild (2009). The song, featuring Cudi, charted for 15 weeks on the Bulgarian Singles Top 40. It entered the chart on position 40 on week 30/2009, and its last appearance was on week 44/2009. It peaked at number 11, where it stayed for one week.
During the summer of 2009, Cudi joined fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth and B.o.B, for 'The Great Hangover' concert tour.
In late 2009, Kid Cudi was featured on the highly anticipated Jay-Z album The Blueprint 3, on the song "Already Home". On September 14, 2009, BET premiered their Rising Icons profile of Kid Cudi. During the 30 minute show Cudi performed "CuDi Zone", "Mr. Solo Dolo", "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say". Cudi also discussed his childhood, his move to New York to begin his career as an artist and more.
Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, was released on Universal Motown Records on September 15, 2009 and sold 104,419 copies in the first week and charted at #4. The album's lead single "Day 'n' Nite", Kid Cudi's greatest commercial success thus far, charted well in both the U.S. and in Europe. The second single released was "Make Her Say" (originally titled "I Poke Her Face"), which features a sample from Lady Gaga's hit single "Poker Face" and performances by Kanye West and Common. Common was also featured throughout the album, as the narrator.
In September 2009, Cudi co-headlined 50 Cent's "50 Fest" concert, along with fellow American rapper Wale. In a late 2009 interview, Cudi announced that the follow-up to his debut album would be a compilation album entitled Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, which would have many collaborations. He stated he had already recorded songs with Snoop Dogg, Travis Barker, Clipse, Cage and Pharrell, and would also like to work with Drake, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Robin Thicke, The Killers and The Postal Service on the album. It was also rumored that Man on the Moon: The End of Day would be followed up by a sequel titled Man on the Moon: The Ghost in the Machine and that the Man on the Moon series would be a trilogy. Kid Cudi was nominated for three 2010 Grammy Awards, for his singles "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say".
In January 2010, Cudi released Man on the Moon: The End of Days third and final single "Pursuit of Happiness", which was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2010, Kid Cudi was featured on Snoop Dogg's re-release of Malice n Wonderland, titled More Malice, on the lead single "That Tree". Cudi also teamed up with independent artist Johnny Polygon, to remix Polygon's "The Riot Song", which appears on his mixtape Rebel Without Applause (2010). On April 20, 2010, Kid Cudi announced that the name of his second album would not be Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, but Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager.
On June 11, 2010, Kid Cudi was arrested in the Chelsea neighborhood of the Manhattan borough in New York City and charged with felony criminal mischief and possession of a controlled substance. Despite his arrest, he was released and made it to Manchester, Tennessee in time to play at Bonnaroo.
In May 2010, American shoe company Converse, launched “You're It”, a campaign which highlighted 23 artists from around the world in a series of web shorts. The campaign featured artists from 13 different countries including Kid Cudi. In this short, Converse takes a trip back to Cudi's roots as an artist in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. The campaign's goal was to tap into the grassroots of Converse's global market and introduce the artists of tomorrow.
In June 2010, Converse was promoting being a catalyst for creativity by bringing together three musicians from different genres to form a unique collaboration known as "Three Artists. One Song." Converse teamed up Cudi, alongside Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, to produce the song titled "All Summer". In addition to collaborating on the track, each of the artists also participated in the creation of the music video, which was released later that summer.
The lead single from Cudi's second studio album, titled "Erase Me", features Kanye West and was produced by Jim Jonsin. The song debuted on a Cleveland radio station June 30, 2010, and was officially released to Rhythm/Crossover radio on August 17, 2010. The title-track "Mr. Rager", was released as the album's second single, shortly before the album's release. The album, released November 9, 2010, debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 169,000 copies. In its second week it crossed the 200,000 sales mark.
In 2010, Kid Cudi appeared on several songs for his mentor Kanye West's weekly free music giveaway GOOD Fridays; namely "Good Friday", "Christian Dior Denim Flow" and "The Joy", the latter of which later became a bonus track on the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaborative album Watch the Throne (2011).
2011–2012: New direction with WZRD and Wicked Awesome
In October 2010, Cudi had announced that he would be forming a rock band with frequent collaborator Dot da Genius, tentatively called Wizard. In early 2011, he announced that he would be releasing a mixtape titled A Man Named Scott, reminiscent of his A Kid Named Cudi title, prior to the rock album. On February 26, 2011, Cudi took to his Twitter account to announce that Dream On, the record label he launched back in 2009 with partners Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds and producer Emile Haynie, has been dissolved. However, in an interview with Complex Magazine Cudi explained they were all still on good terms: "I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to take control of things myself. Those are still my guys, Pat and Emile, and I'm still going to work with them in the future. When we start working on Man on the Moon III I'll be calling them up to see if they want to be a part of it. I know Emile is definitely down. We had an issue, but we're men and we were able to figure it out and move forward. There's no hard feelings."
In March 2011, Cudi announced that a music video for "Marijuana" would be released in the spring, followed by a music video for "Mr. Rager" in the summer, then he would release a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, inspired by his song "Maniac", with Cage, in October 2011. In April 2011, while performing at New York City's Roseland Ballroom Kid Cudi announced he was launching his own record label. The new label, which he will be releasing his third studio album on is called Wicked Awesome Records. He also renamed his band on the same occasion to 2 Be Continuum, renaming it from the original Wizard. Kid Cudi explained his reasoning saying: "I needed something more original, something different, but it's still wizardry at its finest." In 2011, Cudi landed a songwriting placement on English singer Natalia Kills' debut album Perfectionist, for the song "Free".
On August 12, 2011, Kid Cudi released the music video for "No One Believes Me", directed by Fright Night director Craig Gillespie. The song, produced by Dot da Genius, features Cudi singing and contains elements of rock music. On August 21, Cudi announced that he would no longer be releasing the A Man Named Scott mixtape, so that he can focus on his rock project and his third solo album Man on the Moon III. Kid Cudi released the music video for his second album's title-track "Mr. Rager", on September 8, 2011. The video received all-positive reviews from critics and fans alike.
Despite saying he will not do many more features for other artists in Complex magazine's October/November 2011 cover story, Cudi appeared on Bryan Greenberg's second album We Don't Have Forever (2011), Travis Barker's solo debut Give the Drummer Some (2011), The Knux's Eraser (2011), and Wale's Ambition (2011), respectively. On October 30, 2011, Cudi released Maniac, a short horror film co-starring fellow American rapper Cage and directed by American actor Shia LaBeouf, through his blog. On November 13, 2011, a previously unreleased demo tape Cudi had recorded from 2002 to 2003, under the pseudonym Kid Mesc, titled Rap Hard, leaked online. On Twitter, Cudi wrote “I actually never wanted anyone to hear those songs ever, but its cool. Ha”
On November 18, 2011 Cudi renamed his band for the second time to WZRD (pronounced W-Z-R-D). He also announced that the upcoming rock project would be released on his 28th birthday, January 30, 2012. In late 2011, Cudi was mentioned in a viral video by vlogger Ben Breedlove, about his near death experiences. After Breedlove's death on December 26, 2011, Cudi commented on his thoughts about inspiring the young kid. "I am so sad about Ben Breedlove," Kid Cudi wrote on his Tumblr blog. "I watched the video he left for the world to see, and him seeing me in detail, in his vision really warmed my heart. I broke down, I am to tears because I hate how life is so unfair. This has really touched my heart in a way I cant describe, this is why I do what I do. Why I write my life, and why I love you all so much. Life is really f---- up sometimes, but I know Ben is at Peace, and I hope he gets a chance to sit and talk with my Dad. We love you Ben. Forever. Thank you for loving me. To Ben's family, you raised a real hero, he's definitely mine. You have my love."
In January 2012, Cudi appeared on two songs from Chip tha Ripper's mixtape Tell Ya Friends, "Ride 4 You" which also featured Far East Movement and "GloryUs", which credited the duo as they are collectively known, The Almighty GloryUs. This led to speculation that a long-awaited project from the two was underway. On January 31, Cudi announced through his Twitter feed that he had completed WZRD and that his next album was the collaborative effort with Chip tha Ripper. In 2012, Cudi was featured on the soundtrack to the film The Hunger Games, crafting an original song for the film titled "The Ruler and the Killer". Referring to "The Ruler and the Killer", Cudi wrote on his Twitter feed: "I could not have done it without my producing partners on the project for the film, The legendary and Godly T Bone Burnett and Greg Wells!"
While working on the band's self-titled debut, Cudi claimed he had writer's block for almost five months because of his new sobriety; something that had never happened to him for such an extended period of time. According to Cudi, bands that inspired the album include Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and Pink Floyd. The album includes a song titled "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", a cover of the same titled song by Nirvana, who in turn were inspired by blues guitar legend Lead Belly's rendition of the traditional folk song. Following WZRDs release on February 28, 2012, the album debuted at #3 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 66,000 physical and digital copies in the United States. The album also debuted on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums at number one, and at #9 on the Canadian Albums Chart respectively.
2012–2013: Indicud and departure from GOOD Music
In April 2012, in Geneseo, New York, Cudi performed before a sold-out crowd and premiered a hip hop song, his first since 2010. During his set, he performed a new record, tentatively titled "The Leader of the Delinquents", which he did a cappella. On April 25, 2012 Cudi was officially back to rapping with the release of "Dennis, Hook Me Up with Some More of That Whiskey!". The song, the first ever solely produced by Cudi himself, samples his 2010 song "Ghost!". In June 2012, Cudi was seen in the music video for "Mercy," the lead single from GOOD Music's compilation album Cruel Summer, in which he, along with other GOOD Music recording artists were featured on. Cudi was ultimately featured on two songs from the compilation, "The Morning" and a solo track originally meant for Man on the Moon II (2010), titled "Creepers", produced by Dan Black.
In the summer of 2012, Cudi announced the title of his third studio album to be, Indicud when he tweeted: "My new album is entitled indicud, it will be my version of The Chronic 2001, some songs i'll produce, others i'll feat &/or play songwriter". On June 8, 2012, Cudi announced Indicud, will be a double-disc album. On August 12, Kid Cudi released the lead single from Indicud, a song titled "Just What I Am", featuring his friend and longtime collaborator King Chip (formerly Chip tha Ripper). The album was announced to be released in early 2013 with Cudi focusing on scoring movies, followed by the third installment of the Man on the Moon series.
Cudi then added that Indicud "will feature more uptempos and that it will consist of at most 17 new songs." The music video for "Just What I Am", which marked Cudi's directorial debut, premiered November 6, 2012 on VEVO and was shot in Los Angeles with fans invited to participate in the video's shoot. On November 7, he revealed the album's second official single's title to be "Immortal", and that it again was produced by himself like the two previous releases, "Just What I Am" and "King Wizard". He claimed the song "will make you feel amazing in the heart and soul." The song was officially released via iTunes on March 14, 2013.
On March 14, 2013 Kid Cudi performed at MySpace's South by Southwest (SXSW) secret show in Austin, Texas and after performing his many hits, he previewed a new verse from Indicud. He also revealed that the album would feature 18 tracks, while officially confirming ASAP Rocky and Michael Bolton as featured guests. On March 16, Cudi announced that he would release the album's tracklist and cover art on April 2. Three days later, Kid Cudi announced via Twitter that the album had officially been completed and turned in to his label, Universal Republic. On March 26, the album's cover art and tracklist was unveiled by Walmart and later Complex. Later that day, Cudi appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed the album's lead singles; "Just What I Am" and "Immortal", as well as premiering "Mad Solar", which he performed a cappella.
On April 2, 2013, Kid Cudi announced on Power 106, that he was no longer under Kanye West's GOOD Music imprint. Cudi revealed he left the label on good terms, with him saying West respected his decision and will always be "big brother". Cudi's decision to move forward without West, was his desire to focus on his own imprint, Wicked Awesome Records and his friend, fellow rapper King Chip. After Indicud leaked online in its entirety on April 9, 2013, Kid Cudi decided to push the album's release date up to April 16. The album went on to debut at #2 on the charts by moving 140,000 copies. In late 2013, Kid Cudi went on tour in support of Indicud on The Cud Life Tour 2013. The tour was announced on July 15 with tickets going on sale the following day. Supporting acts on the tour included fellow American rappers Big Sean, Tyler, The Creator and Logic.
2013–2014: Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon
While on tour, on October 16, 2013 Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing an extended play (EP), sometime in the next three months. Cudi also revealed he would be producing it alongside Dot da Genius and that frequent collaborator King Chip, would appear on the EP. He then called the EP a prelude to his fourth album Man on the Moon III, which he announced would be released in 2015. On October 19, 2013, Cudi revealed "Going to the Ceremony", a song he had released via online audio distribution platform SoundCloud, earlier in July, would be included in the EP. Cudi would also go on to reveal a remix of his hit single "Day 'n' Nite, which was briefly previewed on the intro of his 2008 breakout mixtape A Kid Named Cudi, would also appear on the EP.
On November 25, 2013, via his Twitter, Cudi revealed the title of the EP to be Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon. On December 16, 2013, Kid Cudi once again utilized SoundCloud to release "Satellite Flight", the EP's title-track. On January 27, 2014, Kid Cudi revealed on Twitter that Satellite Flight: Journey to Mother Moon would no longer be an EP, but a full-length album instead. In a February 2014 interview with MTV News, Cudi discussed the EP's transition to a full-fledged album and called the project his best work yet: "I'm really excited because it's my best work, and it's a surprise. People weren't really expecting it. I've never done two albums within a year of each other."
On February 25, 2014, with only few hours' notice from Cudi, Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon was released exclusively to digital retailers. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 87,000 digital copies in the United States. On March 4, 2014 Cudi appeared on Chelsea Lately, where he was interviewed by Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, to promote Satellite Flight and the 2014 film Need for Speed. On March 12, 2014, Cudi released a song titled "Hero", a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, recorded for the soundtrack to Need for Speed. On March 15, 2014, Cudi appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he promoted the album, discussed the state of hip-hop, suicidal thoughts, Need for Speed, and performed the song "Internal Bleeding", from the album.
In April 2014, Cudi appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of Fat Man magazine. On April 24, 2014, while being honored as a mental health advocate by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, Cudi offered a special performance during their annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards. On May 2, 2014, it was announced Cudi would headline Chicago's North Coast Music Festival, along with West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg. On May 11, 2014 Cudi revealed he would be writing and directing a short film for the Satellite Flight album cut "Balmain Jeans": "Developing a short film for "Balmain Jeans", a story about a spontaneous electric connection between two strangers."
2015–2016: Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven
In a January 2015 interview, at the Sundance Film Festival, Kid Cudi expressed the possibility of releasing another album before the release of Man on the Moon III: "I'm always making music. The beauty in that is that I have a lot of material. And I'm actually thinking that it would be good to release something in the meantime, before Man on the Moon III comes out. Another Kid Cudi album, it's just kind of along the lines of what I did with Indicud or Satellite Flight, which is just its own standalone thing but still a Kid Cudi album. The Man on the Moon III album is something that's gonna take some time but I know the fans are gonna be patient and I really appreciate that guys, thank you for your patience. But Man on the Moon III is coming, there may be an album before that just to tide you over."
On March 3, 2015, Cudi officially released his first song since his album Satellite Flight, was put on the market. The song, which is titled "Love," was originally recorded for Satellite Flight, and samples Ratatat's "Sunblocks" and has been received with positive reviews. On April 4, 2015, Cudi announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new album titled Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven. On October 27, 2015, Cudi announced the new album will be released on December 4, 2015. He also leaked two songs off the project, "Wedding Tux" and "Judgemental Cunt". In November 2015 Cudi announced an Especial Tour, that will bring the rapper to various theaters all across the United States. On December 1, 2015, Cudi announced the cancellation of his Especial Tour, due to various reasons, such as production and personal issues. To make up for postponing the concert tour, Cudi released the album's title-track as the second single.
2016–2018: Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin and Kids See Ghosts
In March 2016, Kid Cudi performed at McDowell Mountain Music Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. In an early April 2016 interview with Billboard, when asked about Man on the Moon III, Cudi responded with: "I came up with Man on the Moon when I was a young man. People change their vibe! We can follow the same template and do the five-act split. Sonically, I'm still going to be where I'm at. Honestly, I was ready to live up to the obligation and do Man on the Moon III. I haven't been dicking around. I was planning on doing it after Speedin' Bullet. But the Speedin' Bullet response tore me up. It made me realize what's most important. I'm getting back on the bike again and doing what I do best: me." On April 22, 2016, Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing a new studio album, slated for a summer unveiling.
On May 11, 2016, amidst rumors that he was set to release Man on the Moon III, Cudi revealed the title of his sixth solo album would be Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin', through online mobile video-sharing and social networking service Instagram. On June 1, 2016, Cudi announced that he had two upcoming albums. One set to be released in the summer, while the other would be released in the fall. He added that one of them was complete. On September 26, 2016, Kid Cudi unveiled the track-list for Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin via Twitter, which revealed guest spots from Travis Scott, André 3000, Pharrell Williams and Willow Smith.
Although there was a discrepancy between him and Kanye West, West later made an offer of peace and a song featuring him and Cudi subsequently surfaced online. Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin was announced to be issued first via digital distribution on December 16, 2016, with the physical release on December 23. Cudi has also shared the song "Baptized in Fire," which features Travis Scott (with whom Cudi collaborated extensively with on 2016's Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight). On March 1, 2017, Kid Cudi performed the song "Kitchen", with a string orchestra, live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On August 15, 2017, Cudi announced a national concert tour by the name of Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour; with the first date on September 30 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 2018 Cudi and Kanye West formed a duo known as Kids See Ghosts, and produced an album with the same name, Kids See Ghosts, which was released on June 8, 2018. On October 23, 2018, in response to a fan on Twitter, Cudi revealed he had begun working on his seventh solo album. Although he said he would be taking his time to create his forthcoming LP, Cudi projected a 2019 release.
2019–present: Man on the Moon III: The Chosen and Entergalactic
In July 2019, Kid Cudi announced his next album would be titled Entergalactic, which he revealed would soundtrack an upcoming Netflix "adult-focused animated music series" co-created by himself and Kenya Barris.
On April 24, 2020, Cudi collaborated with Travis Scott under the collective name The Scotts, to release a song under the same name, "The Scotts". It was hinted that the duo would be releasing more music in the future. The song debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Cudi's first number-one hit single.
Later on April 24, Cudi also revealed that he was still working on new music for a future WZRD release, joking that "we take a decade off between albums." On July 9, 2020, Cudi's daughter Vada, announced via social media that he would be releasing a song with multiple Grammy Award-winning artist Eminem, called "The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady" the coming Friday. The song was released on July 10, 2020 and also saw success as a hit, as it debuted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
On October 26, Cudi released a teaser video on his official Twitter account for Man on the Moon III, the final installment in his Man on the Moon series, after a decade between releases. The album title and release date were not shared with the video, however on December 7, Cudi announced the album would be titled Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, with a release date of December 11, 2020. The concept album's theme follows Cudi overcoming his darkness, but fighting to win his soul back from his alter-ego "Mr. Rager".
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised Cudi's songwriting and generally favored the latter two acts, though some found it derivative of Cudi's earlier albums. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, earning 144,000 album-equivalent units of which 15,000 were pure sales, marking Cudi's fifth top 10 album in the US.
Although Entergalactic was originally set for a 2020 release, it was pushed back due to Cudi releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album instead. In January 2021, when asked by a fan on Twitter why Entergalatics new release date says 2022 on Netflix, Cudi responded, "[Because] that's when it drops. I just gave y'all an album y'all gotta chill and be patient fr man I'm not doin an album every year."
Cudi was the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live in April 2021, having previously featured alongside Kanye West and 070 Shake in "Ghost Town" in 2018. He played "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People" with both performances in tribute to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. "Sad People" showcased Cudi in a floral dress designed by Virgil Abloh in a nod to Cobain.
In June 2021, Amazon enlisted Kid Cudi for Prime Day Show; a three-part musical event also featuring Billie Eilish and H.E.R. Cudi's performance included a mission to establish a new community on the moon, while performing with the International Space Orchestra, a new group composed of space scientists from NASA Ames Research Center, the SETI Institute and the International Space University.
A Man Named Scott, a documentary film directed by Robert Alexander, was announced in October 2021 via Prime Video. The film was produced by Mad Solar, Complex Networks and Film 45, set for release in November 2021, and billed as a look at Cudi's journey "over a decade of creative choices, struggles, and breakthroughs."
During his headlining performance at the Rolling Loud music festival, Cudi revealed intentions on releasing two full-length projects in 2022, with plans of releasing an album prior to Entergalactic “I have Entergalactic coming in the summer, and I wanna drop another album before that. I got some tasty surprises and I’m really excited about all this new shit, this new music, to give to you guys,” he said before playing a recording of a song that has since been dubbed “Freshie.” “That’s why I’m teasing this shit now because it’s coming out soon.”
On December 3, 2021, a collaboration between Cudi and American pop singer Ariana Grande, titled "Just Look Up" was released in promotion for the black comedy film Don't Look Up, in which they both star in. In December 2021, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen broke the record for biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album in Nielsen history.
Artistry
Musical style
Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide."In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." His music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2012's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop, punk and grunge, in his music.
Cudi was gifted a guitar by his manager in 2011, encouraging Cudi to learn. Cudi taught himself how to play the guitar and went on to utilize the instrument in his rock music throughout his career. Cudi is also a self-taught music producer. In 2021, Cudi appeared on American TV talk show The Shop, where he spoke on his writing and recording process. Cudi mentioned for his early albums he would sit down and write entire verses. However, while working on Kids See Ghosts and Man on the Moon III, he adopted Kanye West's writing process. Instead of writing to a beat, he records a reference track for himself, where he freestyles and hums his way through the beat to get a melody, and fills in the lyrics as they come to him. In 2021, during Songwriter's Roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, Cudi called his music "space punk rock".
Influences
Cudi's earliest influences include alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Cudi also cites rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Kid 'n Play, N.W.A., Naughty By Nature, Onyx and Public Enemy, as his hip hop influences while growing up. Cudi has also credited fellow Ohio native Camu Tao, as an influence. He has also been inspired by the sounds of The O'Jays, Ratatat, MGMT and The Postal Service. In 2010, he began experimenting with rock music; rock acts that inspired Cudi include the Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, the Pixies and Pink Floyd. Kid Cudi also credits English singer-songwriter David Bowie as a "huge inspiration." Production wise, Cudi has named Dr. Dre, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Kanye West, as his top four favorite producers; also naming Emile Haynie and Plain Pat, calling them “geniuses” for seeing his potential before he was even completely aware of it.
Other ventures
Acting
In 2010, Kid Cudi made a guest appearance on American television drama One Tree Hill, starring as himself and performing his Man on the Moon II single "Erase Me", during the episode. In 2010, Kid Cudi also began starring in the HBO comedy series How to Make It in America, as part of the main cast, being credited by his birth name Scott Mescudi, until its cancellation after two seasons. On October 31, 2010, Kid Cudi released a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, in which he and fellow American rapper Cage, star as French-speaking serial killers. The short film, titled Maniac, was inspired by Cudi's song of the same name, from his 2010 album Man on the Moon II and is an homage to the 1992 Belgian black comedy crime mockumentary, Man Bites Dog. In May 2012, Kanye West premiered a short film he directed, titled Cruel Summer, at the Cannes Film Festival. According to MTV, Kid Cudi is the lead character, playing a "car thief who falls for a blind Arabian princess." The film was shown on seven different screens that turned on and off, giving various angles of each shot.
In October 2012, it was announced Cudi would star in an indie romantic comedy titled Two Night Stand, alongside Analeigh Tipton and Miles Teller. Also in 2012, it was revealed Cudi would star in an indie thriller film titled Tacoma, alongside Patricia Clarkson. In 2013, Cudi guest starred in the animated TV series The Cleveland Show, voicing a character named Devon, in the Season 4 episode "Brownsized". In 2013, he also guest starred on the FOX comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, where he played a criminal named Dustin Whitman. In 2013, it was revealed Cudi would then star in Goodbye World, alongside Adrian Grenier.
In January 2013, Cudi was cast in the film adaptation of Need for Speed. Need for Speed, which is Cudi's feature film debut, was released by Touchstone Pictures on March 14, 2014. In June 2013, it was revealed Cudi would appear in Mark Webber's film The Ever After, alongside Teresa Palmer and Melissa Leo. On November 10, 2014, Cudi guest starred on the CBS American television series Scorpion, as Peyton Temple, a musical prodigy who created a controversial algorithm that generates the perfect hit pop song, who later helps Scorpion investigate the murder of his friend who was a music industry blogger. In February 2014, it was announced Cudi would appear in Entourage (2015), the film adaptation of the popular HBO TV series of the same name.
On April 11, 2014, it was announced Cudi would star in a film titled James White, alongside Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon. In addition to starring in the film, it was revealed Cudi would also be curating the film's score as well. In January 2015, Cudi revealed he played a homosexual character in James White: "This was way different than anything else I've ever done. It was dope to do that. I felt like I had a responsibility to present a different walk in life from that world." Although his character's sexuality is not outwardly discussed during the film, the original script included a coming-out scene and a kiss between Cudi and a male friend, played by David Call: "I didn't flinch. I'm secure with mine," Cudi told an audience after the film's premiere. "I'm an artist—it's all about playing characters that are intriguing and stimulating."
Also in January 2015, Cudi revealed he had just finished filming a movie titled Vincent-N-Roxxy, alongside Zoe Kravitz and Emile Hirsch. When speaking on Vincent-N-Roxxy, Cudi said: "this movie that I have coming out soon that's my first villain role. It's very violent and very disturbing [...] I play kind of like a drug lord." Cudi took over the mic duties for Reggie Watts, on IFC's television series, Comedy Bang! Bang! on July 10, 2015. As the in-house disc jockey, Cudi crafted original music for the show and appeared in several skits throughout season four. The December 10 Christmas edition of Comedy Bang! Bang!, marked the season finale and Cudi's final episode as bandleader.
In July 2016, it was announced Cudi would join the cast of FOX's Empire, debuting in the third season of the series as "an independent musician who is a rival to Hakeem (Bryshere "Yazz" Gray) both in the studio and in life." Cudi later left the project due to creative differences. In 2017, Cudi appeared in the comedy film Killing Hasselhoff.
In 2019, Cudi had small roles in Drunk Parents, directed by Fred Wolf, and Jexi directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the latter of which he played himself. In 2020, he co-starred in Bill & Ted Face the Music, directed by Dean Parisot, opposite Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. In 2020, Cudi also starred in We Are Who We Are, an eight-episode miniseries for HBO directed by Luca Guadagnino.
In early 2021, Kid Cudi appeared in Crisis, directed by Nicholas Jarecki. In January 2021, Cudi revealed he would potentially be partnering with TV producer and fellow American rapper 50 Cent, for an upcoming series. In late 2021, Cudi appeared in the ensemble cast of Don't Look Up, where he also performed an original song for the film alongside fellow American singer Ariana Grande. Cudi is also set to star in X and Disney's upcoming sci-fi film Crater, the latter of which would be released exclusively on the streaming service, Disney+.
Fashion
In September 2009, Kid Cudi teamed up with Japanese clothing company BAPE (which happens to be the last company Cudi was employed with before his music career took off), for a collaboration that saw Cudi's likeness featured on graphic T-shirts, with the Japanese label's mascot, Baby Milo. As of 2014, he has had five t-shirt collaborations with BAPE. In 2021, Cudi once again collaborated with BAPE, for a vibrant capsule displaying colorful prints and logos. Spanning a total of 20 pieces, this project is BAPE's largest-ever artist collaboration — the result of a long relationship that goes all the way back to when Cudi was still working at the BAPE store in New York.
In February 2011, Kid Cudi announced a collaboration with Parisian brand Surface to Air. In the fall of 2011, he released a leather jacket collection in collaboration with the fashion label. Taking cues from the modern biker jacket, the "Thriller-inspired" lineup offered two men's styles. He can be seen wearing the jackets in music videos such as "All of the Lights" and "Mr. Rager".
In August 2014, Giuseppe Zanotti designed an exclusive sneaker inspired by Kid Cudi's style.
In February 2019, Kid Cudi partnered with French fashion brand A.P.C. on their first “INTERACTION #1” range. Jean Touitou, the founder of A.P.C. reached out to Kid Cudi following an introduction by Kanye West. The capsule collection included denim such as the Petit New Standard and Petit Standard Jeans, both of which included “Dream On” embroidery in red under the left front pocket. It also included the Dream On Cardigan in a multi-colored cotton knit, two iterations of the Tennis Minimal Sneaker, South Salopette overalls with paint splatter details, and three t-shirts that include the Bold Tee, Splash Tee, and Dream On Tee.
Kid Cudi announced a partnership with Adidas in March 2019. On December 10, 2020, Cudi unveiled his Adidas sneakers. They are the self-named VADAWAM 326's which would be released on December 17, 2020.
On May 20, 2020, Kid Cudi announced he was partnering with American designer Virgil Abloh, to release an exclusive “Leader of the Delinquents” t-shirt. The design on the black and white “PULLING STRINGS” t-shirt features Kid Cudi puppeteering a smaller version of himself, hence the name of the t-shirt release. The art is meant to reference Cudi's infamous TMZ moment from 2012, in which he posed like the puppet on the shirt. “Leader of the Delinquents” is written across the back of the t-shirt in text reminiscent of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s handwriting.
Just hours before releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album, Cudi rolled out a small batch of merchandise in support of the album. The range was made in collaboration with Cactus Plant Flea Market, and consists of short- and long-sleeve T-shirts, pullover hoodies, and sweatpants—all of which feature graphics that reference MOTM3 tracks.
In April 2021, Kid Cudi performed on Saturday Night Live wearing a floral-print sundress, created by Virgil Abloh. On April 11, Cudi confirmed that he would have an upcoming collection with Italian luxury fashion label Off-White, with the floral dress serving as one of the pieces.
In late April 2021, it was revealed Kid Cudi had teamed up with the NFL to release a limited-edition Starter jacket commemorating the 2021 NFL Draft, which took place in Cudi's hometown of Cleveland.
Members of the RAGE
On January 26, 2021, Kid Cudi announced on Twitter that he would be starting his own clothing line and the first pieces would be available sometime in 2021. In February 2022, Cudi launched his very own clothing line titled called Members of the RAGE. The clothing line is described as a fusion of “90s grunge with the soul of hip hop and
elements from a distant future.” Its UFO logo was co-designed by Cudi and Nigo, while the retro-inspired website was designed by Cudi himself. The first piece that was issued was a t-shirt created in collaboration with Nigo’s Human Made. Created for NBA All-Star Weekend, the shirt comes in white and features the Members of the RAGE logo in Cleveland Cavaliers colors and the Earth replaced with a basketball.
Modeling
In 2010, Cudi modeled for a campaign run by American fashion house Calvin Klein. In January 2015, Coach, Inc. announced Kid Cudi as the new face of their brand, along with actress Chloë Grace Moretz, to front its Spring campaign. In January 2022, Cudi modeled for the Levi Strauss & Co. campaign titled "The Number That Changed Everything."
Poetry
Kid Cudi has also been known for sharing his poetry.
Record labels
Dream on
Dream On was an American record label founded in 2009, by Cudi alongside his managers at the time, Patrick Reynolds and Emile Haynie. In February 2011, Cudi announced the label had been dissolved. The label went on to release the first two installments of Cudi's Man on the Moon series.
Wicked Awesome Records
Wicked Awesome Records is an American record label founded by Cudi in 2011. It is distributed by Republic Records. In a 2013 interview Cudi said "Wicked Awesome was there officially when I did WZRD. That was the first project that I did on Wicked Awesome and it was an outlet for me to just branch out on my own, and creatively and business-wise take things to a different space for me. Wicked Awesome..where do I see it going? Right now it's just the music but who knows? Wicked Awesome is maybe gunna be beyond music it could be movies, it could be a lot of things, producing T.V. shows. Just the name I think is really dope it has a ring to it." Cudi continued, explaining the motivation behind his label. "The whole motivation is just bringing authenticity back to the forefront. Bringing real content, bringing real emotion [...] Wicked Awesome is about being a real human being, making real music, talking about real things that people deal with on a day-to-day basis." In January 2021, Cudi tweeted that he is prepared to sign artists and producers.
Mad Solar
On November 17, 2020, it was revealed Cudi teamed with Dennis Cummings and Karina Manashil to found production and music management company Mad Solar, with the backing of Bron Studios, which provides corporate back office and production support, including financing, marketing, and sales. In a statement Cudi said, "Beyond excited to be launching my production company Mad Solar and partnering with Bron, whose creative vision and storytelling has transformed the industry." When speaking on the collaboration, Bron chairman Aaron L. Gilbert said "Scott Mescudi's growth as a creative and an entrepreneur has been impressive. For Bron, the strategic relationship with Mad Solar is key in our efforts to support the entertainment industry's top creatives, as well as expand Bron's access to the best in class music and sports talent through Mad Solar's management division."
On December 9, it was announced Cudi's Mad Solar banner are developing a film adaptation of the coming-of-age campus novel Real Life, with Cudi set to star. Bron Studios acquired the rights to the 2020 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel with Mad Solar. Real Life is the semi-autobiographical novel debut for writer Brandon Taylor. It follows an introverted, queer, Black scientist in a predominantly white, Midwestern PhD program as he navigates complex friendships, romantic relationships, betrayals and mercies, all over the course of one weekend. Mad Solar is also producing the upcoming Netflix animated series Entergalactic, which Cudi co-created alongside Kenya Barris. Based on original music by Cudi, the series, which Cudi writes, executive produces and stars in, follows a young man on his journey to discover love. Additionally, Mad Solar has teamed with A24 and Bron Studios on the horror film X. Written and directed by Ti West, X stars Mia Goth, Cudi and Jenna Ortega. Cudi is an executive producer on the film, which will begin production early 2021.
Encore Studio
In October 2020, it was announced Cudi teamed with screenwriter Ian Edelman and startup veteran Jonathan Gray to launch Encore Studio, a mobile-based platform to help artists monetize their connections with fans. “The current streaming model puts artists in competition with one another and only rewards the top 1% of artists who collect 90% of the money,” a press release announcing the app explains. “Encore offers an all-new format that encourages collaboration amongst artists and makes it easy for up-and-coming and established artists to manage and grow a direct relationship with their fans. Artists can drop new music, chat with fans and host live shows from anywhere in the world.” Encore enables live music experiences through smart phones, fan interaction, community centered content and merchandise offerings to give fans new ways to reward the artists they love. “The energy from a concert is undeniable, both for the fans and artists. I am excited to launch Encore to help bring the live music experience back to our fans. Encore is committed to empowering both established and new artists and delivering the best mobile music experience out there,” Cudi says. Earlier in 2020, Encore closed a $2 million seed round led by global investment firm Battery Ventures.
In 2022, it was revealed Encore Studio was backed by $9 million funding led by Battery Ventures along with investments from 468 Capital, Parade Ventures, Nomad Ventures, Moving Capital, Kayak Ventures, and Gaingels, with Cudi issuing a statement “My number one priority has always been inspiring others and providing them the space to tell their own stories in an authentic and meaningful way,” Cudi said in a press release. “We created Encore as a space for artists to share their art, build community, while also being able to pay their rent.”
Image and stage presence
Kid Cudi has been described by the media as a fashion icon.
In his early career, Kid Cudi received criticism in the hip hop community for wearing skinny jeans, before they became trendy after being worn by mainstream rappers, such as Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Cudi made headlines when he wore a kilt to a 2010 New Year's Eve party in Miami. In April 2012, he made headlines again in a now-infamous moment when he gave TMZ paparazzi the finger, claiming they have never "posted anything to make him look good".
During his 2013 Cud Life concert tour, Cudi donned a custom made astronaut-esque suit that was designed by noted Hollywood costume designer Jose Hernandez. Officially dubbed the "Satellite Academy Space Suit", Joe La Puma of Complex explained, "It's more than just an interesting clothing choice; the suit represents a transition in his mind-state back to the highly anticipated Man on the Moon III."
In 2014, Cudi made headlines when he performed in a crop top at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In April 2021, he appeared as the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live, where he performed "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People". Both performances were in tribute to Nirvana's late frontman Kurt Cobain, however it was his performance of "Sad People" that made headlines because Cudi wore a woman's dress as a statement against social norms much like his idol Cobain had done.
In September 2021, Cudi made headlines twice; first arriving at New York Fashion Week with electric blue hair, a Nirvana long-sleeve tee and a floor-length black skirt. A few days later, Cudi showed up to the Met Gala wearing fluorescent green hair and dark eye makeup. At the Gala, Cudi was in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton, with a blue sweater, another floor-length skirt and blue-and-green LV sneakers.
On November 10, 2021, Kid Cudi posed for photos at the CFDA Fashion Awards in a custom bridal gown, standing hand-in-hand with its designer, ERL’s Eli Russell Linnetz, lace-gloved fingers interlocked, both wearing American Gothic expressions. On the red carpet, Linnetz lifted Cudi’s veil. “Be yourself, be free, baby, yeah,” Cudi said into a microphone, with a grin; he’d paired the dress with a white tux jacket, crystal-covered sneakers, grungy eyeliner, an icy Black Jesus pendant, and Manic Panic-pink hair. The dress was another homage to Kurt Cobain.
Personal life
Drug use
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi revealed that he had stopped smoking marijuana in 2011, both for the sake of his child and due to frustration with constantly being associated with the drug and stoner culture.
In a March 2013 interview, Cudi talked about how his initial sudden and unexpected fame drove him to alcohol and drugs:
Mental health
In a 2013 interview, Cudi revealed he had suffered an addiction to anti-depressant medication, which had been prescribed to help him deal with an "emotional breakdown" after a failed relationship. Cudi has been open about his addiction to pharmaceuticals in his music, namely the songs "Dr. Pill" and "The Nothing". In a 2014 interview, Cudi spoke on his struggles with depression and suicidal ideation: "I've dealt with suicide for the past five years. There wasn't a week or a day that didn't go by where I was just like, 'You know, I wanna check out.' I know what that feels like, I know it comes from loneliness, I know it comes from not having self-worth, not loving yourself."
In a July 2016 interview, Kid Cudi revealed he suffered from survivor guilt: "I didn't like that I had money and success and I had made it. Everybody I had ever met in my life, good people, weren't able to experience the same, and I wasn't able to truly enjoy my success. Even though I worked hard for it, it bothered me that I had just had so much and my friends didn't." In October 2016, Cudi revealed on his Facebook page that he had checked himself into rehabilitation for depression and suicidal urges.
Family
On March 26, 2010, Cudi's daughter, Vada Wamwene Mescudi, was born. Throughout 2012, Cudi was in a custody battle over his daughter. Reports surfaced that Cudi gave up custody after his child's mother accused him of being an absentee father, as well as having violent tendencies and a "long history of consistent drug and alcohol abuse." These claims were disputed by Cudi and his attorney in a statement, which noted: "Cudi did not give up custody but reached an amicable agreement with the mother; that 'both parents are fit and proper persons to have custody of their child,' as stated in the final custody judgment; results came back negative for drugs in a drug test voluntarily taken by Cudi; and that the court acknowledged Cudi attempted to establish a relationship and visit his child since her birth and "voluntarily provided financial support, including child support, rent and other monthly payments, for his daughter since her birth until the time that a child support order was entered as part of the normal course of the case." Details of the official custody agreement remain private. Cudi has since purchased a property in Chicago to be close to his daughter.
Relationships
In 2009, Cudi began dating entertainment attorney Jamie Baratta. They were in an on-again, off-again relationship, and were a prominent couple in the music industry. They ultimately broke up in 2012, but not before Cudi dedicated a song to her titled "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie", which he recorded as a member of the alternative rock duo, WZRD. In 2020, Cudi wrote "Sept. 16", a song titled after the birthdate of his girlfriend at the time, costume designer and actress Raquel Deriane, to whom the song is dedicated.
Faith
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi said that he believes in God, although considers himself spiritual but not religious.
Philanthropy
On April 8, 2014, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services announced that it would recognize mental health advocates Kid Cudi, Ronda Rousey and Natasha Tracy, during its annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards on April 24, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Committed to helping depressed and suicidal youth through the power of music, Cudi joined Didi Hirsch's Erasing the Stigma Efforts as a Mental Health Ambassador.
On February 7, 2015, Kid Cudi partnered with TED to give a TED Talk at his former school, Shaker Heights High School, to help inspire the students with his story, for the school's independently organized "TEDxSHHS" conference.
Kid Cudi has also been a volunteer for Musicians on Call (MOC), a charity with the mission of bringing live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. In December 2015, Cudi arranged a dance party for the teenage participants of the Children's Hospital At Montefiore's (CHAM) B-N-Fit program, in the Bronx. Kid Cudi also hosted a group of young patients and their families from CHAM, at his sold-out Roseland Ballroom shows in April 2016.
In June 2016, 49 celebrities, including Kid Cudi, honored the 49 victims killed in the Orlando nightclub shooting in a video tribute.
In 2019, Kid Cudi teamed up with delivery service Postmates to deliver $10,000 worth of Popeyes takeout to the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. Hundreds in need at the Indio shelter were presented with Popeyes' chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, and fries the evening before Cudi's second set at Coachella.
Impact and legacy
A number of publications have noted Kid Cudi's impact on contemporary hip hop music since his mainstream debut in 2009. IBTimes writer Alex Garofaro states "Since the beginning of Cudi's career, his music has been extremely influential. His unique blend of dark, introspective lyrics, melancholy melody, psychedelic instrumentation and stoner cool made him a crossover sensation with rap, R&B and indie music fans alike." Luke Hinz of HotNewHipHop said "Cudi has inspired a generation of young artists to be unafraid to explore a wide array of emotions, and many have sought to adapt elements of Cudi's music into their own. Never caring to fit into the conventional boundaries of music, Cudi became a voice for those who felt unrepresented and alone."
In a 2015 article titled "KiD CuDi – A Forgotten Influence on Psychedelic Introspection in Hip-Hop", the author wrote "Cudi helped bring about a new era of electronic, psychedelic driven production. And his dark, drug-riddled approach to introspection has already taken hold in the up-and-comers in the hip-hop world." Revolt writer Preezy Brown noted "His knack for displaying vulnerability and addressing bouts with mental health has made him an inspiration for a long list of artists including Juice WRLD, Logic, Lil Yachty, and other leaders of the new school."
Eric Diep of Complex said "Cudi is an omnipresent figure in pop culture who has inspired many. He's a voice for young creatives who don't fit in. He's a therapeutic light for people who need a helping hand. He's a fashion icon. He's more than a cool cameo in television and movies, but a full-fledged actor." Uproxx stated "Compared to modern icons like Drake, West, and Wayne, Cudi doesn't have a boatload of sales, or a room full of accolades, but his weighty impact is reflected in adulation from the people, which is the intangible, everlasting achievement that most artists live for. He's one of the first artists to be unabashed about his depressive ruminations and did so in a melodically intriguing manner that progressed alternative rock aesthetics into the hip-hop world one cadence at a time."
Several artists have gone on to credit Kid Cudi as influence or inspiration, such as rappers Kanye West, Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Chance the Rapper, Childish Gambino, Logic, ASAP Rocky, ASAP Nast, Allan Kingdom, Kyle, Isaiah Rashad, Raury, Key!, Denzel Curry, Kevin Abstract, Saba and Jaden Smith, as well as singers Willow Smith, Jhene Aiko, Lissie and Tinashe, among others.
In 2009, Canadian recording artist Drake shared his admiration for Cudi on Twitter with a picture of him holding both his and Cudi's respective projects, stating "We are rarely proud when we are alone. But to have another artist who pushes me and inspires me is a blessing."
In a 2010 interview with Billboard, Kanye West called Cudi his "personal favorite artist in the world right now. His whole take on the game is just unfiltered, uncensored artistry." In 2016, Kanye West went on to call Cudi "the most influential artist of the past 10 years".
West Coast hip hop duo Audio Push have also praised Cudi, in 2016, saying "The thing I love about Cudi is he's unapologetically real. He birthed so much of, not even the new generation of artists, but a lot of [your] favorite artists wouldn't be [your] favorite artists if it wasn't for Cudi." In November 2016, Atlanta-based rapper OG Maco, who has cited Cudi as a major influence on several occasions, released an EP titled For Scott, as a tribute to Kid Cudi.
In October 2018, American musician and high-profile producer Pharrell Williams, spoke on his collaborations with Cudi in an interview with Complex, saying: "He's so inspiring, and I'm only as good as my collaborations anyway. I love the stuff that we did. Love, love [...] So to me, Cudi is a GOAT. His melodies and his concepts—he's a timeless alien." In another interview with Complex, Williams also stated "When they say Cudi is the [greatest of all time], they're talking about the consistency of his convictions and how that's played out into the choices that he makes, the taste that he has, and the tone that he takes with everything that he does. That's my idea of Cudi."
American comedian and actor Pete Davidson, who has shared his own struggles with his mental health in the past, has said Kid Cudi's music has saved his life. In a 2019 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Davidson called Cudi "the best musician that's ever lived." Travis Scott, whose stage name is derived from Cudi's first name, has also said Kid Cudi's music saved his life and has a tattoo of the word "rager" in honor of Cudi. Brockhampton's Kevin Abstract has said "I love how he incorporated melody into his raps," Kevin explained. "A kid like me would say, like, Kid Cudi saved my life."
American rapper Logic, who has interpolated Kid Cudi's records in his own songs, has also spoke about how Cudi's music inspired him to open up about mental health in his own music. "He was the dude that was like, 'It's okay to be sad. It's okay to talk about these things, and go through these things.'" In a 2019 interview, then-up-and-coming rapper Baby Keem, cited Cudi as a major influence: "I was inspired by Cudi's cadences and shit like that. Kid Cudi's one of my favorite artists."
In an interview with New York City radio station Hot 97, Jaden Smith spoke on Cudi's influence on him: "Cudi would always say things that just would, like, change my life [...] I thought it was just me and my brother for a while. Then I got older and started going to festivals and then I realized, oh man, everybody has felt that from Cudi. Everybody says that Cudi saved their life. ... Everybody had that same experience listening to Cudi. If someone listened to Cudi, you knew something about them. You could tell certain things about them."
Discography
Studio albums
Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009)
Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010)
Indicud (2013)
Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014)
Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016)
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (2020)
Entergalactic (2022)
Collaborative albums
WZRD (2012)
Kids See Ghosts (2018)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Concert tours
Headlining
The Great Hangover Tour (2009)
The Cud Life Tour (2011-2013)
The Especial Tour (2016)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour (2017)
Supporting
Glow in the Dark Tour (2008)
The Monster Ball Tour (2009)
See also
Kids See Ghosts
WZRD
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of American Grammy Award winners and nominees
List of neo-psychedelia artists
List of alternative hip hop artists
Midwest hip hop
References
External links
1984 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Actors from Shaker Heights, Ohio
African-American male rappers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
Alternative hip hop musicians
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American male film actors
American male television actors
American music industry executives
American music video directors
American rappers of Mexican descent
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Living people
Male actors from Cleveland
Midwest hip hop musicians
Motown artists
Musicians from Cleveland
Musicians from Shaker Heights, Ohio
People from Solon, Ohio
People with mood disorders
Rappers from Cleveland
Record producers from Ohio
Republic Records artists
Songwriters from Ohio
Universal Motown Records artists
University of Toledo alumni
Poets from Ohio
21st-century American poets
American fashion businesspeople
21st-century African-American writers
Alternative rock musicians
20th-century African-American people
American male songwriters
Mental health activists
American male actors of Mexican descent | true | [
"A Man Named Scott is a 2021 documentary film centered on American musician and actor Kid Cudi, directed by Robert Alexander. It was released on Amazon Prime Video on November 5, 2021. The title of the film is reminiscent of Cudi's 2008 breakout mixtape A Kid Named Cudi.\n\nSummary\nThe film follows the career of Kid Cudi (born Scott Mescudi), beginning with the release of his influential 2009 debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, which featured songs that dealt with depression, anxiety and loneliness. The film explores his creative process over the past decade, as well as his struggles and breakthroughs.\n\nCast\n Scott Mescudi\n Kanye West\n Timothée Chalamet\n Shia LaBeouf\n Willow Smith\n Jaden Smith\n Lil Yachty\n Pharrell Williams\n ASAP Rocky\n Schoolboy Q\n\nRelease\nThe promotional trailer for the film was released on October 26, 2021. The film was released on Prime Video on November 5, 2021.\n\nReception\nChris Azzopardi of The New York Times wrote, \"This film about Kid Cudi is that rare musician-focused documentary, one as sensitive, fully formed and noble in its intentions as the artist himself.\" Jude Dry of IndieWire wrote that the film \"rightfully highlights Cudi's contribution to culture as an emotional truth teller,\" but added that it \"lacks the artistic vision of Cudi's musical talents, despite its best efforts.\" Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter commented on how the film's ending would “start to feel like forced attempts at profundity, as if Cudi's testimony alone hasn't always been enough.”\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nFurther reading\n 16 Things We Learned From the New Kid Cudi Documentary ‘A Man Named Scott’. Complex. Retrieved November 30, 2021\n\n2021 films\nEnglish-language films\n2021 documentary films\nAmerican documentary films\nAmerican films\nAmazon Studios films\nDocumentary films about hip hop music and musicians\nAmazon Prime Video original films\nMad Solar productions\nKid Cudi",
"\"The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady\" is a song by American rappers Kid Cudi and Eminem. It was released as a single on July 10, 2020. The song was produced by frequent Kid Cudi collaborator Dot da Genius, along with J Gramm and co-production by Eminem. The song's title refers to Cudi's moniker, the \"Moon Man\" and Eminem's alter-ego, Slim Shady.\n\nBackground \nOn May 7, 2020, Kid Cudi tweeted \"rap god. Help!\", sparking speculation about what it might mean. Rapper Lil Wayne had Eminem on his Apple Music show \"Young Money Radio\" on May 8 and informed Eminem about Cudi's tweet, of which Eminem said he had been unaware. Then, on July 3, Kid Cudi tweeted again, this time writing \"7/10/2020\", which some publications speculated might be referring to new music. The song was announced on July 8, when Kid Cudi posted a video of his daughter teasing the song. Eminem confirmed his involvement the following day and Kid Cudi released the cover art.\n\nKid Cudi reacted to Eminem's verse, saying \"Yo bro, you fucking destroyed this shit\". NME then ran an article, in which they quote Cudi as implying that he was unhappy with Eminem's verse. Cudi later responded to the publication, saying he never meant anything negative: \"Never said this and im not sure how yall came up w it. I was clearly excited about my feature. Never once said I was unhappy about it nor did my energy suggest that. So to NME, get ur shit together and stop spreading LIES\".\n\nComposition and lyrics\n\"The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady\" is backed by ambient synth sounds, a hip hop drum beat, a low bass line and orchestral-style strings.\n\nVultures Chris Murphy said \"Although the title suggests equal billing between the two rappers, technically it's a Kid Cudi song featuring Eminem, and it sounds like it. Cudi takes the first half of the song, before Eminem takes the back half. In Kid Cudi's verse, he raps about his jaunts and his \"stint in rehab\". In Eminem's verse, he references the COVID-19 pandemic, the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, while criticizing anti-maskers, police brutality, and Drew Brees. Eminem also raps about his sobriety, name-dropping known cannabis-smokers Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg. At the end of the track, Kid Cudi delivers a line in reference to a future continuation of the Man On the Moon series to complete the album trilogy, which he has previously announced over the years. The referenced album, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, was released by Cudi on December 11, 2020.\n\nCritical reception\nConsequence of Sounds Matt Melis named it the song of the week, calling it an \"adventure that feels too hot to have been given much time to cool off\". Melis commended the artists for bringing their individual talents to the song, noting Cudi's established \"authenticity\" and producer Dot da Genius' production that \"allows Cudi to pause in reflection but never come to a full stop, creating a momentum where principle and purpose feel more important than perfection\". Billboards Mitchell Peters called the track \"fiery\". Josh Stewart of Dancing Astronaut praised the song, stating it \"does what many collaborations or features cannot, pulling off a true artistic amalgamation of the two styles while concocting something fresh along the way\". Robin Murray of Clash magazine said the \"rap heavyweights\" deliver \"a huge piece of stadium level hip-hop\". Conversely, Jonathan Robles of Variance called the song \"somewhat of a dud\", although stating that Eminem \"naturally\" grabs the spotlight over multiple lines.\n\nMusic video\nAn animated lyric video was released along with the song, in which Kid Cudi and Eminem appear as crime-fighting comic superheroes, Moon Man and Slim Shady.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2020 singles\n2020 songs\nEminem songs\nSongs written by Eminem\nKid Cudi songs\nSongs written by Kid Cudi\nSongs written by Dot da Genius\nRepublic Records singles\nSongs written by Luis Resto (musician)\nSongs about fictional male characters"
]
|
[
"Kid Cudi",
"Musical style",
"What kind of music is Kid Cudi known for?",
"Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as \"an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing\".",
"What are some of his famous songs?",
"Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven,",
"What awards has he won?",
"I don't know.",
"What musicians have influenced Kid Cudi?",
"West later stating that he and Cudi were \"the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M.\""
]
| C_7ff647487dc94486a521118eabc4cdef_1 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 5 | Besides Kid Cudi's influences, Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | Kid Cudi | Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide." In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." Kid Cudi's music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2011's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop and grunge, in his music. CANNOTANSWER | mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide." | Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), better known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ; often stylized as KiD CuDi), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has widely been recognized as an influence on several contemporary hip hop and alternative acts. His lyrics are often autobiographical and describe his childhood hardships of depression, loneliness and alienation, his struggle with alcohol and drugs into adulthood, as well as themes of heartbreak, dissipation and celebration. Cudi began to gain major recognition following the release of his first official full-length project, a mixtape titled A Kid Named Cudi (2008), which caught the attention of American musician Kanye West, who subsequently signed Cudi to his GOOD Music label imprint by late 2008.
In early 2008, Cudi had risen to prominence with his debut single "Day 'n' Nite", having initially been self-published on his Myspace page to becoming a worldwide hit. The song was later featured on Cudi's seminal debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009), which was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2017. The album also included the singles "Make Her Say" and "Pursuit of Happiness", both of which achieved significant chart success. In 2010, Cudi released his second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, which also attained platinum status and features the singles "Erase Me" and "Mr. Rager". Later that year he formed WZRD, a rock band, with his long-time collaborator Dot da Genius. Their eponymous debut album (2012) debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
Cudi has since released the solo albums Indicud (2013), Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014), Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015), and Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016). Cudi's joint album with Kanye West, under the eponymous name Kids See Ghosts (2018), was met with widespread critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2018. In 2020, Cudi earned his first number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with "The Scotts", a collaboration with Houston rapper Travis Scott. Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, issued in 2020, became his most commercially successful album to date, with the RIAA certifying it gold status later that year.
Cudi has sold 22 million certified records in the United States and has won two Grammy Awards from five nominations. He has worked with numerous prominent artists spanning several different genres in the music industry, such as Jay-Z, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, MGMT, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Ariana Grande and Michael Bolton, among others. After signing to GOOD Music, Cudi has since gone on to launch his own vanity labels, the now-dissolved Dream On and current label imprint Wicked Awesome Records. Cudi also ventured into acting when he was cast in the HBO series How to Make It in America. He has since appeared in several feature films, including Goodbye World (2013), Need for Speed (2014), Entourage (2015), Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020), Don't Look Up (2021) and more. In addition, he has made appearances on television shows such as One Tree Hill, The Cleveland Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Westworld. In 2015, he was the bandleader on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang! and in 2020 was added as a cast member for the HBO mini-series We Are Who We Are.
Early life
Kid Cudi was born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 30, 1984. He grew up in Shaker Heights and Solon. He has two older brothers, Domingo and Dean, and an older sister, Maisha. His mother, Elsie Harriet (née Banks), is an African-American school choir teacher at Roxboro Middle School in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. His father, Lindberg Styles Mescudi, was a house painter, substitute teacher, and World War II Air Force veteran of African-American and Mexican descent.
When Cudi was 11 years old, his father died of cancer; his passing had a significant effect on Cudi's personality and music. Cudi attended Shaker Heights High School for two years before transferring to Solon High School. He was expelled from the school for threatening to punch the principal, and would later earn his GED. He studied film at the University of Toledo, but dropped out after a year. His subsequent plan to join the Navy did not pan out because of his juvenile police record.
Musical career
2003–2008: Beginnings in New York City
Cudi first began rapping in 2003, towards the end of his time in high school, and was inspired by alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. He later moved to New York City to pursue a music career. After leaving Cleveland in 2005 with $500 and a demo tape, he moved in with his uncle, accomplished jazz drummer Kalil Madi, in the South Bronx. He worked at a couple of Manhattan clothing stores, before eventually sharing an apartment with friend and collaborator Dot da Genius in Brooklyn.
In 2006, Cudi would run into his future mentor, rapper and producer Kanye West, in a Virgin Megastore. He recounted in a 2009 SPIN interview, "I was looking at CDs, saw the gleam of a Jesus piece in the right side of my eye, looked up, and it was Kanye West." He introduced himself and offered West some of his music. Cudi would later run into West again while working at the BAPE store in New York, and recalled: "I remember Kanye coming in one time and I was helping him get a couple things. I forgot to take a sensor off of one of the jackets he bought and I had to run out the store to catch him before he left. Pretty funny me chasing after him in SoHo."
In 2007, Kid Cudi's song "Day 'n' Nite", began being featured on several music blogs, after having uploaded the song to his MySpace page. Cudi's early work would go on to catch the attention of Kanye West, whose then-manager Plain Pat, had introduced Cudi's music to him, subsequently leading West to sign Cudi to his GOOD Music imprint later that year. In July 2008, Kid Cudi released his first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi (executive produced by Plain Pat and Emile Haynie), in collaboration with New York street-wear brand 10.Deep as a free download.
Kanye West first called upon Cudi to reference hooks for American rapper and mogul Jay-Z, and while in the studio Cudi and West went from working on The Blueprint 3 (2009) to West's R&B-esque 808s & Heartbreak (2008). Cudi's assistance on the latter includes co-writing credits and/or vocals on "Heartless," "Welcome to Heartbreak," "Paranoid" and "RoboCop." Kid Cudi was a prominent songwriter and featured artist on 808s & Heartbreak, with "Paranoid" and "Heartless" being released as singles, while "Welcome to Heartbreak" charted as an album cut and peaked at number 87 on the Pop 100.
Kid Cudi's first television appearance was at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside Travis Barker and DJ AM. Cudi was promoted as an artist to watch for in media such as Rolling Stone, Vibe, The Source, XXL and BBC News's 2009 Sound of poll. MTV News reported on Cudi on a series of reports titled "MCs To Watch In 2009".
2009–2010: Man on the Moon album series
In late 2008, Cudi was revealed to be included in XXLs 2009 annual Freshman Class. He was featured on the cover alongside fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth, Wale, B.o.B, Charles Hamilton, Cory Gunz, Blu, Mickey Factz, Ace Hood and Curren$y. On February 17, 2009, he appeared on Snoop Dogg's MTV talk show Dogg After Dark, performing "Day 'n' Nite" at the end of the show. Two days later on February 19, 2009, Cudi appeared on BET's 106 & Park, alongside Kanye West to debut the music video of "Day 'n' Nite". On February 25, 2009, Cudi self-leaked a teaser trailer for the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen film, using his song "Sky Might Fall" in the background; later he posted that he made the trailer himself and was in talks to possibly making it official.
In February 2009, Kid Cudi also made a cameo appearance next to Solange in the video for her song "T.O.N.Y.". On March 16, 2009, Kid Cudi performed on mtvU's Spring Break special, and the following day he performed three songs on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly. Cudi teamed up with partner and record producer Emile Haynie, to produce an exclusive single titled "Switchin Lanes", for the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles, part of its "South Central Premium Upgrade" downloadable content (DLC), which came out March 19, 2009, for the PlayStation 3 and March 27, 2009, for the Xbox 360. He has also appeared as a musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live! In June 2009, he made a cameo in The Black Eyed Peas' video for "I Gotta Feeling", alongside David Guetta, where the two met for the first time and subsequently recorded their international hit "Memories". In 2009, he had also been on two magazine covers, Complex (August/September 2009) and URB (August 2009).
He revealed information about his future plans via his blog, saying that a possible collaborative album with Chip tha Ripper could be followed with a collaborative project with electronic rock duo Ratatat. On May 5, 2009 Iranian-American progressive house DJ Sharam, released "She Came Along", the lead single from his debut studio album, Get Wild (2009). The song, featuring Cudi, charted for 15 weeks on the Bulgarian Singles Top 40. It entered the chart on position 40 on week 30/2009, and its last appearance was on week 44/2009. It peaked at number 11, where it stayed for one week.
During the summer of 2009, Cudi joined fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth and B.o.B, for 'The Great Hangover' concert tour.
In late 2009, Kid Cudi was featured on the highly anticipated Jay-Z album The Blueprint 3, on the song "Already Home". On September 14, 2009, BET premiered their Rising Icons profile of Kid Cudi. During the 30 minute show Cudi performed "CuDi Zone", "Mr. Solo Dolo", "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say". Cudi also discussed his childhood, his move to New York to begin his career as an artist and more.
Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, was released on Universal Motown Records on September 15, 2009 and sold 104,419 copies in the first week and charted at #4. The album's lead single "Day 'n' Nite", Kid Cudi's greatest commercial success thus far, charted well in both the U.S. and in Europe. The second single released was "Make Her Say" (originally titled "I Poke Her Face"), which features a sample from Lady Gaga's hit single "Poker Face" and performances by Kanye West and Common. Common was also featured throughout the album, as the narrator.
In September 2009, Cudi co-headlined 50 Cent's "50 Fest" concert, along with fellow American rapper Wale. In a late 2009 interview, Cudi announced that the follow-up to his debut album would be a compilation album entitled Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, which would have many collaborations. He stated he had already recorded songs with Snoop Dogg, Travis Barker, Clipse, Cage and Pharrell, and would also like to work with Drake, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Robin Thicke, The Killers and The Postal Service on the album. It was also rumored that Man on the Moon: The End of Day would be followed up by a sequel titled Man on the Moon: The Ghost in the Machine and that the Man on the Moon series would be a trilogy. Kid Cudi was nominated for three 2010 Grammy Awards, for his singles "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say".
In January 2010, Cudi released Man on the Moon: The End of Days third and final single "Pursuit of Happiness", which was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2010, Kid Cudi was featured on Snoop Dogg's re-release of Malice n Wonderland, titled More Malice, on the lead single "That Tree". Cudi also teamed up with independent artist Johnny Polygon, to remix Polygon's "The Riot Song", which appears on his mixtape Rebel Without Applause (2010). On April 20, 2010, Kid Cudi announced that the name of his second album would not be Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, but Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager.
On June 11, 2010, Kid Cudi was arrested in the Chelsea neighborhood of the Manhattan borough in New York City and charged with felony criminal mischief and possession of a controlled substance. Despite his arrest, he was released and made it to Manchester, Tennessee in time to play at Bonnaroo.
In May 2010, American shoe company Converse, launched “You're It”, a campaign which highlighted 23 artists from around the world in a series of web shorts. The campaign featured artists from 13 different countries including Kid Cudi. In this short, Converse takes a trip back to Cudi's roots as an artist in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. The campaign's goal was to tap into the grassroots of Converse's global market and introduce the artists of tomorrow.
In June 2010, Converse was promoting being a catalyst for creativity by bringing together three musicians from different genres to form a unique collaboration known as "Three Artists. One Song." Converse teamed up Cudi, alongside Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, to produce the song titled "All Summer". In addition to collaborating on the track, each of the artists also participated in the creation of the music video, which was released later that summer.
The lead single from Cudi's second studio album, titled "Erase Me", features Kanye West and was produced by Jim Jonsin. The song debuted on a Cleveland radio station June 30, 2010, and was officially released to Rhythm/Crossover radio on August 17, 2010. The title-track "Mr. Rager", was released as the album's second single, shortly before the album's release. The album, released November 9, 2010, debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 169,000 copies. In its second week it crossed the 200,000 sales mark.
In 2010, Kid Cudi appeared on several songs for his mentor Kanye West's weekly free music giveaway GOOD Fridays; namely "Good Friday", "Christian Dior Denim Flow" and "The Joy", the latter of which later became a bonus track on the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaborative album Watch the Throne (2011).
2011–2012: New direction with WZRD and Wicked Awesome
In October 2010, Cudi had announced that he would be forming a rock band with frequent collaborator Dot da Genius, tentatively called Wizard. In early 2011, he announced that he would be releasing a mixtape titled A Man Named Scott, reminiscent of his A Kid Named Cudi title, prior to the rock album. On February 26, 2011, Cudi took to his Twitter account to announce that Dream On, the record label he launched back in 2009 with partners Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds and producer Emile Haynie, has been dissolved. However, in an interview with Complex Magazine Cudi explained they were all still on good terms: "I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to take control of things myself. Those are still my guys, Pat and Emile, and I'm still going to work with them in the future. When we start working on Man on the Moon III I'll be calling them up to see if they want to be a part of it. I know Emile is definitely down. We had an issue, but we're men and we were able to figure it out and move forward. There's no hard feelings."
In March 2011, Cudi announced that a music video for "Marijuana" would be released in the spring, followed by a music video for "Mr. Rager" in the summer, then he would release a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, inspired by his song "Maniac", with Cage, in October 2011. In April 2011, while performing at New York City's Roseland Ballroom Kid Cudi announced he was launching his own record label. The new label, which he will be releasing his third studio album on is called Wicked Awesome Records. He also renamed his band on the same occasion to 2 Be Continuum, renaming it from the original Wizard. Kid Cudi explained his reasoning saying: "I needed something more original, something different, but it's still wizardry at its finest." In 2011, Cudi landed a songwriting placement on English singer Natalia Kills' debut album Perfectionist, for the song "Free".
On August 12, 2011, Kid Cudi released the music video for "No One Believes Me", directed by Fright Night director Craig Gillespie. The song, produced by Dot da Genius, features Cudi singing and contains elements of rock music. On August 21, Cudi announced that he would no longer be releasing the A Man Named Scott mixtape, so that he can focus on his rock project and his third solo album Man on the Moon III. Kid Cudi released the music video for his second album's title-track "Mr. Rager", on September 8, 2011. The video received all-positive reviews from critics and fans alike.
Despite saying he will not do many more features for other artists in Complex magazine's October/November 2011 cover story, Cudi appeared on Bryan Greenberg's second album We Don't Have Forever (2011), Travis Barker's solo debut Give the Drummer Some (2011), The Knux's Eraser (2011), and Wale's Ambition (2011), respectively. On October 30, 2011, Cudi released Maniac, a short horror film co-starring fellow American rapper Cage and directed by American actor Shia LaBeouf, through his blog. On November 13, 2011, a previously unreleased demo tape Cudi had recorded from 2002 to 2003, under the pseudonym Kid Mesc, titled Rap Hard, leaked online. On Twitter, Cudi wrote “I actually never wanted anyone to hear those songs ever, but its cool. Ha”
On November 18, 2011 Cudi renamed his band for the second time to WZRD (pronounced W-Z-R-D). He also announced that the upcoming rock project would be released on his 28th birthday, January 30, 2012. In late 2011, Cudi was mentioned in a viral video by vlogger Ben Breedlove, about his near death experiences. After Breedlove's death on December 26, 2011, Cudi commented on his thoughts about inspiring the young kid. "I am so sad about Ben Breedlove," Kid Cudi wrote on his Tumblr blog. "I watched the video he left for the world to see, and him seeing me in detail, in his vision really warmed my heart. I broke down, I am to tears because I hate how life is so unfair. This has really touched my heart in a way I cant describe, this is why I do what I do. Why I write my life, and why I love you all so much. Life is really f---- up sometimes, but I know Ben is at Peace, and I hope he gets a chance to sit and talk with my Dad. We love you Ben. Forever. Thank you for loving me. To Ben's family, you raised a real hero, he's definitely mine. You have my love."
In January 2012, Cudi appeared on two songs from Chip tha Ripper's mixtape Tell Ya Friends, "Ride 4 You" which also featured Far East Movement and "GloryUs", which credited the duo as they are collectively known, The Almighty GloryUs. This led to speculation that a long-awaited project from the two was underway. On January 31, Cudi announced through his Twitter feed that he had completed WZRD and that his next album was the collaborative effort with Chip tha Ripper. In 2012, Cudi was featured on the soundtrack to the film The Hunger Games, crafting an original song for the film titled "The Ruler and the Killer". Referring to "The Ruler and the Killer", Cudi wrote on his Twitter feed: "I could not have done it without my producing partners on the project for the film, The legendary and Godly T Bone Burnett and Greg Wells!"
While working on the band's self-titled debut, Cudi claimed he had writer's block for almost five months because of his new sobriety; something that had never happened to him for such an extended period of time. According to Cudi, bands that inspired the album include Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and Pink Floyd. The album includes a song titled "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", a cover of the same titled song by Nirvana, who in turn were inspired by blues guitar legend Lead Belly's rendition of the traditional folk song. Following WZRDs release on February 28, 2012, the album debuted at #3 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 66,000 physical and digital copies in the United States. The album also debuted on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums at number one, and at #9 on the Canadian Albums Chart respectively.
2012–2013: Indicud and departure from GOOD Music
In April 2012, in Geneseo, New York, Cudi performed before a sold-out crowd and premiered a hip hop song, his first since 2010. During his set, he performed a new record, tentatively titled "The Leader of the Delinquents", which he did a cappella. On April 25, 2012 Cudi was officially back to rapping with the release of "Dennis, Hook Me Up with Some More of That Whiskey!". The song, the first ever solely produced by Cudi himself, samples his 2010 song "Ghost!". In June 2012, Cudi was seen in the music video for "Mercy," the lead single from GOOD Music's compilation album Cruel Summer, in which he, along with other GOOD Music recording artists were featured on. Cudi was ultimately featured on two songs from the compilation, "The Morning" and a solo track originally meant for Man on the Moon II (2010), titled "Creepers", produced by Dan Black.
In the summer of 2012, Cudi announced the title of his third studio album to be, Indicud when he tweeted: "My new album is entitled indicud, it will be my version of The Chronic 2001, some songs i'll produce, others i'll feat &/or play songwriter". On June 8, 2012, Cudi announced Indicud, will be a double-disc album. On August 12, Kid Cudi released the lead single from Indicud, a song titled "Just What I Am", featuring his friend and longtime collaborator King Chip (formerly Chip tha Ripper). The album was announced to be released in early 2013 with Cudi focusing on scoring movies, followed by the third installment of the Man on the Moon series.
Cudi then added that Indicud "will feature more uptempos and that it will consist of at most 17 new songs." The music video for "Just What I Am", which marked Cudi's directorial debut, premiered November 6, 2012 on VEVO and was shot in Los Angeles with fans invited to participate in the video's shoot. On November 7, he revealed the album's second official single's title to be "Immortal", and that it again was produced by himself like the two previous releases, "Just What I Am" and "King Wizard". He claimed the song "will make you feel amazing in the heart and soul." The song was officially released via iTunes on March 14, 2013.
On March 14, 2013 Kid Cudi performed at MySpace's South by Southwest (SXSW) secret show in Austin, Texas and after performing his many hits, he previewed a new verse from Indicud. He also revealed that the album would feature 18 tracks, while officially confirming ASAP Rocky and Michael Bolton as featured guests. On March 16, Cudi announced that he would release the album's tracklist and cover art on April 2. Three days later, Kid Cudi announced via Twitter that the album had officially been completed and turned in to his label, Universal Republic. On March 26, the album's cover art and tracklist was unveiled by Walmart and later Complex. Later that day, Cudi appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed the album's lead singles; "Just What I Am" and "Immortal", as well as premiering "Mad Solar", which he performed a cappella.
On April 2, 2013, Kid Cudi announced on Power 106, that he was no longer under Kanye West's GOOD Music imprint. Cudi revealed he left the label on good terms, with him saying West respected his decision and will always be "big brother". Cudi's decision to move forward without West, was his desire to focus on his own imprint, Wicked Awesome Records and his friend, fellow rapper King Chip. After Indicud leaked online in its entirety on April 9, 2013, Kid Cudi decided to push the album's release date up to April 16. The album went on to debut at #2 on the charts by moving 140,000 copies. In late 2013, Kid Cudi went on tour in support of Indicud on The Cud Life Tour 2013. The tour was announced on July 15 with tickets going on sale the following day. Supporting acts on the tour included fellow American rappers Big Sean, Tyler, The Creator and Logic.
2013–2014: Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon
While on tour, on October 16, 2013 Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing an extended play (EP), sometime in the next three months. Cudi also revealed he would be producing it alongside Dot da Genius and that frequent collaborator King Chip, would appear on the EP. He then called the EP a prelude to his fourth album Man on the Moon III, which he announced would be released in 2015. On October 19, 2013, Cudi revealed "Going to the Ceremony", a song he had released via online audio distribution platform SoundCloud, earlier in July, would be included in the EP. Cudi would also go on to reveal a remix of his hit single "Day 'n' Nite, which was briefly previewed on the intro of his 2008 breakout mixtape A Kid Named Cudi, would also appear on the EP.
On November 25, 2013, via his Twitter, Cudi revealed the title of the EP to be Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon. On December 16, 2013, Kid Cudi once again utilized SoundCloud to release "Satellite Flight", the EP's title-track. On January 27, 2014, Kid Cudi revealed on Twitter that Satellite Flight: Journey to Mother Moon would no longer be an EP, but a full-length album instead. In a February 2014 interview with MTV News, Cudi discussed the EP's transition to a full-fledged album and called the project his best work yet: "I'm really excited because it's my best work, and it's a surprise. People weren't really expecting it. I've never done two albums within a year of each other."
On February 25, 2014, with only few hours' notice from Cudi, Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon was released exclusively to digital retailers. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 87,000 digital copies in the United States. On March 4, 2014 Cudi appeared on Chelsea Lately, where he was interviewed by Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, to promote Satellite Flight and the 2014 film Need for Speed. On March 12, 2014, Cudi released a song titled "Hero", a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, recorded for the soundtrack to Need for Speed. On March 15, 2014, Cudi appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he promoted the album, discussed the state of hip-hop, suicidal thoughts, Need for Speed, and performed the song "Internal Bleeding", from the album.
In April 2014, Cudi appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of Fat Man magazine. On April 24, 2014, while being honored as a mental health advocate by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, Cudi offered a special performance during their annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards. On May 2, 2014, it was announced Cudi would headline Chicago's North Coast Music Festival, along with West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg. On May 11, 2014 Cudi revealed he would be writing and directing a short film for the Satellite Flight album cut "Balmain Jeans": "Developing a short film for "Balmain Jeans", a story about a spontaneous electric connection between two strangers."
2015–2016: Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven
In a January 2015 interview, at the Sundance Film Festival, Kid Cudi expressed the possibility of releasing another album before the release of Man on the Moon III: "I'm always making music. The beauty in that is that I have a lot of material. And I'm actually thinking that it would be good to release something in the meantime, before Man on the Moon III comes out. Another Kid Cudi album, it's just kind of along the lines of what I did with Indicud or Satellite Flight, which is just its own standalone thing but still a Kid Cudi album. The Man on the Moon III album is something that's gonna take some time but I know the fans are gonna be patient and I really appreciate that guys, thank you for your patience. But Man on the Moon III is coming, there may be an album before that just to tide you over."
On March 3, 2015, Cudi officially released his first song since his album Satellite Flight, was put on the market. The song, which is titled "Love," was originally recorded for Satellite Flight, and samples Ratatat's "Sunblocks" and has been received with positive reviews. On April 4, 2015, Cudi announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new album titled Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven. On October 27, 2015, Cudi announced the new album will be released on December 4, 2015. He also leaked two songs off the project, "Wedding Tux" and "Judgemental Cunt". In November 2015 Cudi announced an Especial Tour, that will bring the rapper to various theaters all across the United States. On December 1, 2015, Cudi announced the cancellation of his Especial Tour, due to various reasons, such as production and personal issues. To make up for postponing the concert tour, Cudi released the album's title-track as the second single.
2016–2018: Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin and Kids See Ghosts
In March 2016, Kid Cudi performed at McDowell Mountain Music Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. In an early April 2016 interview with Billboard, when asked about Man on the Moon III, Cudi responded with: "I came up with Man on the Moon when I was a young man. People change their vibe! We can follow the same template and do the five-act split. Sonically, I'm still going to be where I'm at. Honestly, I was ready to live up to the obligation and do Man on the Moon III. I haven't been dicking around. I was planning on doing it after Speedin' Bullet. But the Speedin' Bullet response tore me up. It made me realize what's most important. I'm getting back on the bike again and doing what I do best: me." On April 22, 2016, Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing a new studio album, slated for a summer unveiling.
On May 11, 2016, amidst rumors that he was set to release Man on the Moon III, Cudi revealed the title of his sixth solo album would be Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin', through online mobile video-sharing and social networking service Instagram. On June 1, 2016, Cudi announced that he had two upcoming albums. One set to be released in the summer, while the other would be released in the fall. He added that one of them was complete. On September 26, 2016, Kid Cudi unveiled the track-list for Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin via Twitter, which revealed guest spots from Travis Scott, André 3000, Pharrell Williams and Willow Smith.
Although there was a discrepancy between him and Kanye West, West later made an offer of peace and a song featuring him and Cudi subsequently surfaced online. Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin was announced to be issued first via digital distribution on December 16, 2016, with the physical release on December 23. Cudi has also shared the song "Baptized in Fire," which features Travis Scott (with whom Cudi collaborated extensively with on 2016's Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight). On March 1, 2017, Kid Cudi performed the song "Kitchen", with a string orchestra, live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On August 15, 2017, Cudi announced a national concert tour by the name of Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour; with the first date on September 30 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 2018 Cudi and Kanye West formed a duo known as Kids See Ghosts, and produced an album with the same name, Kids See Ghosts, which was released on June 8, 2018. On October 23, 2018, in response to a fan on Twitter, Cudi revealed he had begun working on his seventh solo album. Although he said he would be taking his time to create his forthcoming LP, Cudi projected a 2019 release.
2019–present: Man on the Moon III: The Chosen and Entergalactic
In July 2019, Kid Cudi announced his next album would be titled Entergalactic, which he revealed would soundtrack an upcoming Netflix "adult-focused animated music series" co-created by himself and Kenya Barris.
On April 24, 2020, Cudi collaborated with Travis Scott under the collective name The Scotts, to release a song under the same name, "The Scotts". It was hinted that the duo would be releasing more music in the future. The song debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Cudi's first number-one hit single.
Later on April 24, Cudi also revealed that he was still working on new music for a future WZRD release, joking that "we take a decade off between albums." On July 9, 2020, Cudi's daughter Vada, announced via social media that he would be releasing a song with multiple Grammy Award-winning artist Eminem, called "The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady" the coming Friday. The song was released on July 10, 2020 and also saw success as a hit, as it debuted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
On October 26, Cudi released a teaser video on his official Twitter account for Man on the Moon III, the final installment in his Man on the Moon series, after a decade between releases. The album title and release date were not shared with the video, however on December 7, Cudi announced the album would be titled Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, with a release date of December 11, 2020. The concept album's theme follows Cudi overcoming his darkness, but fighting to win his soul back from his alter-ego "Mr. Rager".
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised Cudi's songwriting and generally favored the latter two acts, though some found it derivative of Cudi's earlier albums. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, earning 144,000 album-equivalent units of which 15,000 were pure sales, marking Cudi's fifth top 10 album in the US.
Although Entergalactic was originally set for a 2020 release, it was pushed back due to Cudi releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album instead. In January 2021, when asked by a fan on Twitter why Entergalatics new release date says 2022 on Netflix, Cudi responded, "[Because] that's when it drops. I just gave y'all an album y'all gotta chill and be patient fr man I'm not doin an album every year."
Cudi was the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live in April 2021, having previously featured alongside Kanye West and 070 Shake in "Ghost Town" in 2018. He played "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People" with both performances in tribute to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. "Sad People" showcased Cudi in a floral dress designed by Virgil Abloh in a nod to Cobain.
In June 2021, Amazon enlisted Kid Cudi for Prime Day Show; a three-part musical event also featuring Billie Eilish and H.E.R. Cudi's performance included a mission to establish a new community on the moon, while performing with the International Space Orchestra, a new group composed of space scientists from NASA Ames Research Center, the SETI Institute and the International Space University.
A Man Named Scott, a documentary film directed by Robert Alexander, was announced in October 2021 via Prime Video. The film was produced by Mad Solar, Complex Networks and Film 45, set for release in November 2021, and billed as a look at Cudi's journey "over a decade of creative choices, struggles, and breakthroughs."
During his headlining performance at the Rolling Loud music festival, Cudi revealed intentions on releasing two full-length projects in 2022, with plans of releasing an album prior to Entergalactic “I have Entergalactic coming in the summer, and I wanna drop another album before that. I got some tasty surprises and I’m really excited about all this new shit, this new music, to give to you guys,” he said before playing a recording of a song that has since been dubbed “Freshie.” “That’s why I’m teasing this shit now because it’s coming out soon.”
On December 3, 2021, a collaboration between Cudi and American pop singer Ariana Grande, titled "Just Look Up" was released in promotion for the black comedy film Don't Look Up, in which they both star in. In December 2021, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen broke the record for biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album in Nielsen history.
Artistry
Musical style
Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide."In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." His music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2012's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop, punk and grunge, in his music.
Cudi was gifted a guitar by his manager in 2011, encouraging Cudi to learn. Cudi taught himself how to play the guitar and went on to utilize the instrument in his rock music throughout his career. Cudi is also a self-taught music producer. In 2021, Cudi appeared on American TV talk show The Shop, where he spoke on his writing and recording process. Cudi mentioned for his early albums he would sit down and write entire verses. However, while working on Kids See Ghosts and Man on the Moon III, he adopted Kanye West's writing process. Instead of writing to a beat, he records a reference track for himself, where he freestyles and hums his way through the beat to get a melody, and fills in the lyrics as they come to him. In 2021, during Songwriter's Roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, Cudi called his music "space punk rock".
Influences
Cudi's earliest influences include alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Cudi also cites rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Kid 'n Play, N.W.A., Naughty By Nature, Onyx and Public Enemy, as his hip hop influences while growing up. Cudi has also credited fellow Ohio native Camu Tao, as an influence. He has also been inspired by the sounds of The O'Jays, Ratatat, MGMT and The Postal Service. In 2010, he began experimenting with rock music; rock acts that inspired Cudi include the Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, the Pixies and Pink Floyd. Kid Cudi also credits English singer-songwriter David Bowie as a "huge inspiration." Production wise, Cudi has named Dr. Dre, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Kanye West, as his top four favorite producers; also naming Emile Haynie and Plain Pat, calling them “geniuses” for seeing his potential before he was even completely aware of it.
Other ventures
Acting
In 2010, Kid Cudi made a guest appearance on American television drama One Tree Hill, starring as himself and performing his Man on the Moon II single "Erase Me", during the episode. In 2010, Kid Cudi also began starring in the HBO comedy series How to Make It in America, as part of the main cast, being credited by his birth name Scott Mescudi, until its cancellation after two seasons. On October 31, 2010, Kid Cudi released a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, in which he and fellow American rapper Cage, star as French-speaking serial killers. The short film, titled Maniac, was inspired by Cudi's song of the same name, from his 2010 album Man on the Moon II and is an homage to the 1992 Belgian black comedy crime mockumentary, Man Bites Dog. In May 2012, Kanye West premiered a short film he directed, titled Cruel Summer, at the Cannes Film Festival. According to MTV, Kid Cudi is the lead character, playing a "car thief who falls for a blind Arabian princess." The film was shown on seven different screens that turned on and off, giving various angles of each shot.
In October 2012, it was announced Cudi would star in an indie romantic comedy titled Two Night Stand, alongside Analeigh Tipton and Miles Teller. Also in 2012, it was revealed Cudi would star in an indie thriller film titled Tacoma, alongside Patricia Clarkson. In 2013, Cudi guest starred in the animated TV series The Cleveland Show, voicing a character named Devon, in the Season 4 episode "Brownsized". In 2013, he also guest starred on the FOX comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, where he played a criminal named Dustin Whitman. In 2013, it was revealed Cudi would then star in Goodbye World, alongside Adrian Grenier.
In January 2013, Cudi was cast in the film adaptation of Need for Speed. Need for Speed, which is Cudi's feature film debut, was released by Touchstone Pictures on March 14, 2014. In June 2013, it was revealed Cudi would appear in Mark Webber's film The Ever After, alongside Teresa Palmer and Melissa Leo. On November 10, 2014, Cudi guest starred on the CBS American television series Scorpion, as Peyton Temple, a musical prodigy who created a controversial algorithm that generates the perfect hit pop song, who later helps Scorpion investigate the murder of his friend who was a music industry blogger. In February 2014, it was announced Cudi would appear in Entourage (2015), the film adaptation of the popular HBO TV series of the same name.
On April 11, 2014, it was announced Cudi would star in a film titled James White, alongside Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon. In addition to starring in the film, it was revealed Cudi would also be curating the film's score as well. In January 2015, Cudi revealed he played a homosexual character in James White: "This was way different than anything else I've ever done. It was dope to do that. I felt like I had a responsibility to present a different walk in life from that world." Although his character's sexuality is not outwardly discussed during the film, the original script included a coming-out scene and a kiss between Cudi and a male friend, played by David Call: "I didn't flinch. I'm secure with mine," Cudi told an audience after the film's premiere. "I'm an artist—it's all about playing characters that are intriguing and stimulating."
Also in January 2015, Cudi revealed he had just finished filming a movie titled Vincent-N-Roxxy, alongside Zoe Kravitz and Emile Hirsch. When speaking on Vincent-N-Roxxy, Cudi said: "this movie that I have coming out soon that's my first villain role. It's very violent and very disturbing [...] I play kind of like a drug lord." Cudi took over the mic duties for Reggie Watts, on IFC's television series, Comedy Bang! Bang! on July 10, 2015. As the in-house disc jockey, Cudi crafted original music for the show and appeared in several skits throughout season four. The December 10 Christmas edition of Comedy Bang! Bang!, marked the season finale and Cudi's final episode as bandleader.
In July 2016, it was announced Cudi would join the cast of FOX's Empire, debuting in the third season of the series as "an independent musician who is a rival to Hakeem (Bryshere "Yazz" Gray) both in the studio and in life." Cudi later left the project due to creative differences. In 2017, Cudi appeared in the comedy film Killing Hasselhoff.
In 2019, Cudi had small roles in Drunk Parents, directed by Fred Wolf, and Jexi directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the latter of which he played himself. In 2020, he co-starred in Bill & Ted Face the Music, directed by Dean Parisot, opposite Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. In 2020, Cudi also starred in We Are Who We Are, an eight-episode miniseries for HBO directed by Luca Guadagnino.
In early 2021, Kid Cudi appeared in Crisis, directed by Nicholas Jarecki. In January 2021, Cudi revealed he would potentially be partnering with TV producer and fellow American rapper 50 Cent, for an upcoming series. In late 2021, Cudi appeared in the ensemble cast of Don't Look Up, where he also performed an original song for the film alongside fellow American singer Ariana Grande. Cudi is also set to star in X and Disney's upcoming sci-fi film Crater, the latter of which would be released exclusively on the streaming service, Disney+.
Fashion
In September 2009, Kid Cudi teamed up with Japanese clothing company BAPE (which happens to be the last company Cudi was employed with before his music career took off), for a collaboration that saw Cudi's likeness featured on graphic T-shirts, with the Japanese label's mascot, Baby Milo. As of 2014, he has had five t-shirt collaborations with BAPE. In 2021, Cudi once again collaborated with BAPE, for a vibrant capsule displaying colorful prints and logos. Spanning a total of 20 pieces, this project is BAPE's largest-ever artist collaboration — the result of a long relationship that goes all the way back to when Cudi was still working at the BAPE store in New York.
In February 2011, Kid Cudi announced a collaboration with Parisian brand Surface to Air. In the fall of 2011, he released a leather jacket collection in collaboration with the fashion label. Taking cues from the modern biker jacket, the "Thriller-inspired" lineup offered two men's styles. He can be seen wearing the jackets in music videos such as "All of the Lights" and "Mr. Rager".
In August 2014, Giuseppe Zanotti designed an exclusive sneaker inspired by Kid Cudi's style.
In February 2019, Kid Cudi partnered with French fashion brand A.P.C. on their first “INTERACTION #1” range. Jean Touitou, the founder of A.P.C. reached out to Kid Cudi following an introduction by Kanye West. The capsule collection included denim such as the Petit New Standard and Petit Standard Jeans, both of which included “Dream On” embroidery in red under the left front pocket. It also included the Dream On Cardigan in a multi-colored cotton knit, two iterations of the Tennis Minimal Sneaker, South Salopette overalls with paint splatter details, and three t-shirts that include the Bold Tee, Splash Tee, and Dream On Tee.
Kid Cudi announced a partnership with Adidas in March 2019. On December 10, 2020, Cudi unveiled his Adidas sneakers. They are the self-named VADAWAM 326's which would be released on December 17, 2020.
On May 20, 2020, Kid Cudi announced he was partnering with American designer Virgil Abloh, to release an exclusive “Leader of the Delinquents” t-shirt. The design on the black and white “PULLING STRINGS” t-shirt features Kid Cudi puppeteering a smaller version of himself, hence the name of the t-shirt release. The art is meant to reference Cudi's infamous TMZ moment from 2012, in which he posed like the puppet on the shirt. “Leader of the Delinquents” is written across the back of the t-shirt in text reminiscent of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s handwriting.
Just hours before releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album, Cudi rolled out a small batch of merchandise in support of the album. The range was made in collaboration with Cactus Plant Flea Market, and consists of short- and long-sleeve T-shirts, pullover hoodies, and sweatpants—all of which feature graphics that reference MOTM3 tracks.
In April 2021, Kid Cudi performed on Saturday Night Live wearing a floral-print sundress, created by Virgil Abloh. On April 11, Cudi confirmed that he would have an upcoming collection with Italian luxury fashion label Off-White, with the floral dress serving as one of the pieces.
In late April 2021, it was revealed Kid Cudi had teamed up with the NFL to release a limited-edition Starter jacket commemorating the 2021 NFL Draft, which took place in Cudi's hometown of Cleveland.
Members of the RAGE
On January 26, 2021, Kid Cudi announced on Twitter that he would be starting his own clothing line and the first pieces would be available sometime in 2021. In February 2022, Cudi launched his very own clothing line titled called Members of the RAGE. The clothing line is described as a fusion of “90s grunge with the soul of hip hop and
elements from a distant future.” Its UFO logo was co-designed by Cudi and Nigo, while the retro-inspired website was designed by Cudi himself. The first piece that was issued was a t-shirt created in collaboration with Nigo’s Human Made. Created for NBA All-Star Weekend, the shirt comes in white and features the Members of the RAGE logo in Cleveland Cavaliers colors and the Earth replaced with a basketball.
Modeling
In 2010, Cudi modeled for a campaign run by American fashion house Calvin Klein. In January 2015, Coach, Inc. announced Kid Cudi as the new face of their brand, along with actress Chloë Grace Moretz, to front its Spring campaign. In January 2022, Cudi modeled for the Levi Strauss & Co. campaign titled "The Number That Changed Everything."
Poetry
Kid Cudi has also been known for sharing his poetry.
Record labels
Dream on
Dream On was an American record label founded in 2009, by Cudi alongside his managers at the time, Patrick Reynolds and Emile Haynie. In February 2011, Cudi announced the label had been dissolved. The label went on to release the first two installments of Cudi's Man on the Moon series.
Wicked Awesome Records
Wicked Awesome Records is an American record label founded by Cudi in 2011. It is distributed by Republic Records. In a 2013 interview Cudi said "Wicked Awesome was there officially when I did WZRD. That was the first project that I did on Wicked Awesome and it was an outlet for me to just branch out on my own, and creatively and business-wise take things to a different space for me. Wicked Awesome..where do I see it going? Right now it's just the music but who knows? Wicked Awesome is maybe gunna be beyond music it could be movies, it could be a lot of things, producing T.V. shows. Just the name I think is really dope it has a ring to it." Cudi continued, explaining the motivation behind his label. "The whole motivation is just bringing authenticity back to the forefront. Bringing real content, bringing real emotion [...] Wicked Awesome is about being a real human being, making real music, talking about real things that people deal with on a day-to-day basis." In January 2021, Cudi tweeted that he is prepared to sign artists and producers.
Mad Solar
On November 17, 2020, it was revealed Cudi teamed with Dennis Cummings and Karina Manashil to found production and music management company Mad Solar, with the backing of Bron Studios, which provides corporate back office and production support, including financing, marketing, and sales. In a statement Cudi said, "Beyond excited to be launching my production company Mad Solar and partnering with Bron, whose creative vision and storytelling has transformed the industry." When speaking on the collaboration, Bron chairman Aaron L. Gilbert said "Scott Mescudi's growth as a creative and an entrepreneur has been impressive. For Bron, the strategic relationship with Mad Solar is key in our efforts to support the entertainment industry's top creatives, as well as expand Bron's access to the best in class music and sports talent through Mad Solar's management division."
On December 9, it was announced Cudi's Mad Solar banner are developing a film adaptation of the coming-of-age campus novel Real Life, with Cudi set to star. Bron Studios acquired the rights to the 2020 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel with Mad Solar. Real Life is the semi-autobiographical novel debut for writer Brandon Taylor. It follows an introverted, queer, Black scientist in a predominantly white, Midwestern PhD program as he navigates complex friendships, romantic relationships, betrayals and mercies, all over the course of one weekend. Mad Solar is also producing the upcoming Netflix animated series Entergalactic, which Cudi co-created alongside Kenya Barris. Based on original music by Cudi, the series, which Cudi writes, executive produces and stars in, follows a young man on his journey to discover love. Additionally, Mad Solar has teamed with A24 and Bron Studios on the horror film X. Written and directed by Ti West, X stars Mia Goth, Cudi and Jenna Ortega. Cudi is an executive producer on the film, which will begin production early 2021.
Encore Studio
In October 2020, it was announced Cudi teamed with screenwriter Ian Edelman and startup veteran Jonathan Gray to launch Encore Studio, a mobile-based platform to help artists monetize their connections with fans. “The current streaming model puts artists in competition with one another and only rewards the top 1% of artists who collect 90% of the money,” a press release announcing the app explains. “Encore offers an all-new format that encourages collaboration amongst artists and makes it easy for up-and-coming and established artists to manage and grow a direct relationship with their fans. Artists can drop new music, chat with fans and host live shows from anywhere in the world.” Encore enables live music experiences through smart phones, fan interaction, community centered content and merchandise offerings to give fans new ways to reward the artists they love. “The energy from a concert is undeniable, both for the fans and artists. I am excited to launch Encore to help bring the live music experience back to our fans. Encore is committed to empowering both established and new artists and delivering the best mobile music experience out there,” Cudi says. Earlier in 2020, Encore closed a $2 million seed round led by global investment firm Battery Ventures.
In 2022, it was revealed Encore Studio was backed by $9 million funding led by Battery Ventures along with investments from 468 Capital, Parade Ventures, Nomad Ventures, Moving Capital, Kayak Ventures, and Gaingels, with Cudi issuing a statement “My number one priority has always been inspiring others and providing them the space to tell their own stories in an authentic and meaningful way,” Cudi said in a press release. “We created Encore as a space for artists to share their art, build community, while also being able to pay their rent.”
Image and stage presence
Kid Cudi has been described by the media as a fashion icon.
In his early career, Kid Cudi received criticism in the hip hop community for wearing skinny jeans, before they became trendy after being worn by mainstream rappers, such as Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Cudi made headlines when he wore a kilt to a 2010 New Year's Eve party in Miami. In April 2012, he made headlines again in a now-infamous moment when he gave TMZ paparazzi the finger, claiming they have never "posted anything to make him look good".
During his 2013 Cud Life concert tour, Cudi donned a custom made astronaut-esque suit that was designed by noted Hollywood costume designer Jose Hernandez. Officially dubbed the "Satellite Academy Space Suit", Joe La Puma of Complex explained, "It's more than just an interesting clothing choice; the suit represents a transition in his mind-state back to the highly anticipated Man on the Moon III."
In 2014, Cudi made headlines when he performed in a crop top at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In April 2021, he appeared as the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live, where he performed "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People". Both performances were in tribute to Nirvana's late frontman Kurt Cobain, however it was his performance of "Sad People" that made headlines because Cudi wore a woman's dress as a statement against social norms much like his idol Cobain had done.
In September 2021, Cudi made headlines twice; first arriving at New York Fashion Week with electric blue hair, a Nirvana long-sleeve tee and a floor-length black skirt. A few days later, Cudi showed up to the Met Gala wearing fluorescent green hair and dark eye makeup. At the Gala, Cudi was in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton, with a blue sweater, another floor-length skirt and blue-and-green LV sneakers.
On November 10, 2021, Kid Cudi posed for photos at the CFDA Fashion Awards in a custom bridal gown, standing hand-in-hand with its designer, ERL’s Eli Russell Linnetz, lace-gloved fingers interlocked, both wearing American Gothic expressions. On the red carpet, Linnetz lifted Cudi’s veil. “Be yourself, be free, baby, yeah,” Cudi said into a microphone, with a grin; he’d paired the dress with a white tux jacket, crystal-covered sneakers, grungy eyeliner, an icy Black Jesus pendant, and Manic Panic-pink hair. The dress was another homage to Kurt Cobain.
Personal life
Drug use
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi revealed that he had stopped smoking marijuana in 2011, both for the sake of his child and due to frustration with constantly being associated with the drug and stoner culture.
In a March 2013 interview, Cudi talked about how his initial sudden and unexpected fame drove him to alcohol and drugs:
Mental health
In a 2013 interview, Cudi revealed he had suffered an addiction to anti-depressant medication, which had been prescribed to help him deal with an "emotional breakdown" after a failed relationship. Cudi has been open about his addiction to pharmaceuticals in his music, namely the songs "Dr. Pill" and "The Nothing". In a 2014 interview, Cudi spoke on his struggles with depression and suicidal ideation: "I've dealt with suicide for the past five years. There wasn't a week or a day that didn't go by where I was just like, 'You know, I wanna check out.' I know what that feels like, I know it comes from loneliness, I know it comes from not having self-worth, not loving yourself."
In a July 2016 interview, Kid Cudi revealed he suffered from survivor guilt: "I didn't like that I had money and success and I had made it. Everybody I had ever met in my life, good people, weren't able to experience the same, and I wasn't able to truly enjoy my success. Even though I worked hard for it, it bothered me that I had just had so much and my friends didn't." In October 2016, Cudi revealed on his Facebook page that he had checked himself into rehabilitation for depression and suicidal urges.
Family
On March 26, 2010, Cudi's daughter, Vada Wamwene Mescudi, was born. Throughout 2012, Cudi was in a custody battle over his daughter. Reports surfaced that Cudi gave up custody after his child's mother accused him of being an absentee father, as well as having violent tendencies and a "long history of consistent drug and alcohol abuse." These claims were disputed by Cudi and his attorney in a statement, which noted: "Cudi did not give up custody but reached an amicable agreement with the mother; that 'both parents are fit and proper persons to have custody of their child,' as stated in the final custody judgment; results came back negative for drugs in a drug test voluntarily taken by Cudi; and that the court acknowledged Cudi attempted to establish a relationship and visit his child since her birth and "voluntarily provided financial support, including child support, rent and other monthly payments, for his daughter since her birth until the time that a child support order was entered as part of the normal course of the case." Details of the official custody agreement remain private. Cudi has since purchased a property in Chicago to be close to his daughter.
Relationships
In 2009, Cudi began dating entertainment attorney Jamie Baratta. They were in an on-again, off-again relationship, and were a prominent couple in the music industry. They ultimately broke up in 2012, but not before Cudi dedicated a song to her titled "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie", which he recorded as a member of the alternative rock duo, WZRD. In 2020, Cudi wrote "Sept. 16", a song titled after the birthdate of his girlfriend at the time, costume designer and actress Raquel Deriane, to whom the song is dedicated.
Faith
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi said that he believes in God, although considers himself spiritual but not religious.
Philanthropy
On April 8, 2014, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services announced that it would recognize mental health advocates Kid Cudi, Ronda Rousey and Natasha Tracy, during its annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards on April 24, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Committed to helping depressed and suicidal youth through the power of music, Cudi joined Didi Hirsch's Erasing the Stigma Efforts as a Mental Health Ambassador.
On February 7, 2015, Kid Cudi partnered with TED to give a TED Talk at his former school, Shaker Heights High School, to help inspire the students with his story, for the school's independently organized "TEDxSHHS" conference.
Kid Cudi has also been a volunteer for Musicians on Call (MOC), a charity with the mission of bringing live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. In December 2015, Cudi arranged a dance party for the teenage participants of the Children's Hospital At Montefiore's (CHAM) B-N-Fit program, in the Bronx. Kid Cudi also hosted a group of young patients and their families from CHAM, at his sold-out Roseland Ballroom shows in April 2016.
In June 2016, 49 celebrities, including Kid Cudi, honored the 49 victims killed in the Orlando nightclub shooting in a video tribute.
In 2019, Kid Cudi teamed up with delivery service Postmates to deliver $10,000 worth of Popeyes takeout to the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. Hundreds in need at the Indio shelter were presented with Popeyes' chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, and fries the evening before Cudi's second set at Coachella.
Impact and legacy
A number of publications have noted Kid Cudi's impact on contemporary hip hop music since his mainstream debut in 2009. IBTimes writer Alex Garofaro states "Since the beginning of Cudi's career, his music has been extremely influential. His unique blend of dark, introspective lyrics, melancholy melody, psychedelic instrumentation and stoner cool made him a crossover sensation with rap, R&B and indie music fans alike." Luke Hinz of HotNewHipHop said "Cudi has inspired a generation of young artists to be unafraid to explore a wide array of emotions, and many have sought to adapt elements of Cudi's music into their own. Never caring to fit into the conventional boundaries of music, Cudi became a voice for those who felt unrepresented and alone."
In a 2015 article titled "KiD CuDi – A Forgotten Influence on Psychedelic Introspection in Hip-Hop", the author wrote "Cudi helped bring about a new era of electronic, psychedelic driven production. And his dark, drug-riddled approach to introspection has already taken hold in the up-and-comers in the hip-hop world." Revolt writer Preezy Brown noted "His knack for displaying vulnerability and addressing bouts with mental health has made him an inspiration for a long list of artists including Juice WRLD, Logic, Lil Yachty, and other leaders of the new school."
Eric Diep of Complex said "Cudi is an omnipresent figure in pop culture who has inspired many. He's a voice for young creatives who don't fit in. He's a therapeutic light for people who need a helping hand. He's a fashion icon. He's more than a cool cameo in television and movies, but a full-fledged actor." Uproxx stated "Compared to modern icons like Drake, West, and Wayne, Cudi doesn't have a boatload of sales, or a room full of accolades, but his weighty impact is reflected in adulation from the people, which is the intangible, everlasting achievement that most artists live for. He's one of the first artists to be unabashed about his depressive ruminations and did so in a melodically intriguing manner that progressed alternative rock aesthetics into the hip-hop world one cadence at a time."
Several artists have gone on to credit Kid Cudi as influence or inspiration, such as rappers Kanye West, Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Chance the Rapper, Childish Gambino, Logic, ASAP Rocky, ASAP Nast, Allan Kingdom, Kyle, Isaiah Rashad, Raury, Key!, Denzel Curry, Kevin Abstract, Saba and Jaden Smith, as well as singers Willow Smith, Jhene Aiko, Lissie and Tinashe, among others.
In 2009, Canadian recording artist Drake shared his admiration for Cudi on Twitter with a picture of him holding both his and Cudi's respective projects, stating "We are rarely proud when we are alone. But to have another artist who pushes me and inspires me is a blessing."
In a 2010 interview with Billboard, Kanye West called Cudi his "personal favorite artist in the world right now. His whole take on the game is just unfiltered, uncensored artistry." In 2016, Kanye West went on to call Cudi "the most influential artist of the past 10 years".
West Coast hip hop duo Audio Push have also praised Cudi, in 2016, saying "The thing I love about Cudi is he's unapologetically real. He birthed so much of, not even the new generation of artists, but a lot of [your] favorite artists wouldn't be [your] favorite artists if it wasn't for Cudi." In November 2016, Atlanta-based rapper OG Maco, who has cited Cudi as a major influence on several occasions, released an EP titled For Scott, as a tribute to Kid Cudi.
In October 2018, American musician and high-profile producer Pharrell Williams, spoke on his collaborations with Cudi in an interview with Complex, saying: "He's so inspiring, and I'm only as good as my collaborations anyway. I love the stuff that we did. Love, love [...] So to me, Cudi is a GOAT. His melodies and his concepts—he's a timeless alien." In another interview with Complex, Williams also stated "When they say Cudi is the [greatest of all time], they're talking about the consistency of his convictions and how that's played out into the choices that he makes, the taste that he has, and the tone that he takes with everything that he does. That's my idea of Cudi."
American comedian and actor Pete Davidson, who has shared his own struggles with his mental health in the past, has said Kid Cudi's music has saved his life. In a 2019 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Davidson called Cudi "the best musician that's ever lived." Travis Scott, whose stage name is derived from Cudi's first name, has also said Kid Cudi's music saved his life and has a tattoo of the word "rager" in honor of Cudi. Brockhampton's Kevin Abstract has said "I love how he incorporated melody into his raps," Kevin explained. "A kid like me would say, like, Kid Cudi saved my life."
American rapper Logic, who has interpolated Kid Cudi's records in his own songs, has also spoke about how Cudi's music inspired him to open up about mental health in his own music. "He was the dude that was like, 'It's okay to be sad. It's okay to talk about these things, and go through these things.'" In a 2019 interview, then-up-and-coming rapper Baby Keem, cited Cudi as a major influence: "I was inspired by Cudi's cadences and shit like that. Kid Cudi's one of my favorite artists."
In an interview with New York City radio station Hot 97, Jaden Smith spoke on Cudi's influence on him: "Cudi would always say things that just would, like, change my life [...] I thought it was just me and my brother for a while. Then I got older and started going to festivals and then I realized, oh man, everybody has felt that from Cudi. Everybody says that Cudi saved their life. ... Everybody had that same experience listening to Cudi. If someone listened to Cudi, you knew something about them. You could tell certain things about them."
Discography
Studio albums
Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009)
Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010)
Indicud (2013)
Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014)
Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016)
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (2020)
Entergalactic (2022)
Collaborative albums
WZRD (2012)
Kids See Ghosts (2018)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Concert tours
Headlining
The Great Hangover Tour (2009)
The Cud Life Tour (2011-2013)
The Especial Tour (2016)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour (2017)
Supporting
Glow in the Dark Tour (2008)
The Monster Ball Tour (2009)
See also
Kids See Ghosts
WZRD
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of American Grammy Award winners and nominees
List of neo-psychedelia artists
List of alternative hip hop artists
Midwest hip hop
References
External links
1984 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Actors from Shaker Heights, Ohio
African-American male rappers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
Alternative hip hop musicians
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American male film actors
American male television actors
American music industry executives
American music video directors
American rappers of Mexican descent
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Living people
Male actors from Cleveland
Midwest hip hop musicians
Motown artists
Musicians from Cleveland
Musicians from Shaker Heights, Ohio
People from Solon, Ohio
People with mood disorders
Rappers from Cleveland
Record producers from Ohio
Republic Records artists
Songwriters from Ohio
Universal Motown Records artists
University of Toledo alumni
Poets from Ohio
21st-century American poets
American fashion businesspeople
21st-century African-American writers
Alternative rock musicians
20th-century African-American people
American male songwriters
Mental health activists
American male actors of Mexican descent | true | [
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
]
|
[
"Kid Cudi",
"Musical style",
"What kind of music is Kid Cudi known for?",
"Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as \"an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing\".",
"What are some of his famous songs?",
"Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven,",
"What awards has he won?",
"I don't know.",
"What musicians have influenced Kid Cudi?",
"West later stating that he and Cudi were \"the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M.\"",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide.\""
]
| C_7ff647487dc94486a521118eabc4cdef_1 | What organization was the mission statement for? | 6 | What organization did Kid Cudi issue a mission statement for? | Kid Cudi | Kid Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide." In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." Kid Cudi's music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2011's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop and grunge, in his music. CANNOTANSWER | In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: | Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), better known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ; often stylized as KiD CuDi), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has widely been recognized as an influence on several contemporary hip hop and alternative acts. His lyrics are often autobiographical and describe his childhood hardships of depression, loneliness and alienation, his struggle with alcohol and drugs into adulthood, as well as themes of heartbreak, dissipation and celebration. Cudi began to gain major recognition following the release of his first official full-length project, a mixtape titled A Kid Named Cudi (2008), which caught the attention of American musician Kanye West, who subsequently signed Cudi to his GOOD Music label imprint by late 2008.
In early 2008, Cudi had risen to prominence with his debut single "Day 'n' Nite", having initially been self-published on his Myspace page to becoming a worldwide hit. The song was later featured on Cudi's seminal debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009), which was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2017. The album also included the singles "Make Her Say" and "Pursuit of Happiness", both of which achieved significant chart success. In 2010, Cudi released his second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, which also attained platinum status and features the singles "Erase Me" and "Mr. Rager". Later that year he formed WZRD, a rock band, with his long-time collaborator Dot da Genius. Their eponymous debut album (2012) debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
Cudi has since released the solo albums Indicud (2013), Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014), Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015), and Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016). Cudi's joint album with Kanye West, under the eponymous name Kids See Ghosts (2018), was met with widespread critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2018. In 2020, Cudi earned his first number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with "The Scotts", a collaboration with Houston rapper Travis Scott. Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, issued in 2020, became his most commercially successful album to date, with the RIAA certifying it gold status later that year.
Cudi has sold 22 million certified records in the United States and has won two Grammy Awards from five nominations. He has worked with numerous prominent artists spanning several different genres in the music industry, such as Jay-Z, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, MGMT, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Ariana Grande and Michael Bolton, among others. After signing to GOOD Music, Cudi has since gone on to launch his own vanity labels, the now-dissolved Dream On and current label imprint Wicked Awesome Records. Cudi also ventured into acting when he was cast in the HBO series How to Make It in America. He has since appeared in several feature films, including Goodbye World (2013), Need for Speed (2014), Entourage (2015), Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020), Don't Look Up (2021) and more. In addition, he has made appearances on television shows such as One Tree Hill, The Cleveland Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Westworld. In 2015, he was the bandleader on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang! and in 2020 was added as a cast member for the HBO mini-series We Are Who We Are.
Early life
Kid Cudi was born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 30, 1984. He grew up in Shaker Heights and Solon. He has two older brothers, Domingo and Dean, and an older sister, Maisha. His mother, Elsie Harriet (née Banks), is an African-American school choir teacher at Roxboro Middle School in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. His father, Lindberg Styles Mescudi, was a house painter, substitute teacher, and World War II Air Force veteran of African-American and Mexican descent.
When Cudi was 11 years old, his father died of cancer; his passing had a significant effect on Cudi's personality and music. Cudi attended Shaker Heights High School for two years before transferring to Solon High School. He was expelled from the school for threatening to punch the principal, and would later earn his GED. He studied film at the University of Toledo, but dropped out after a year. His subsequent plan to join the Navy did not pan out because of his juvenile police record.
Musical career
2003–2008: Beginnings in New York City
Cudi first began rapping in 2003, towards the end of his time in high school, and was inspired by alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. He later moved to New York City to pursue a music career. After leaving Cleveland in 2005 with $500 and a demo tape, he moved in with his uncle, accomplished jazz drummer Kalil Madi, in the South Bronx. He worked at a couple of Manhattan clothing stores, before eventually sharing an apartment with friend and collaborator Dot da Genius in Brooklyn.
In 2006, Cudi would run into his future mentor, rapper and producer Kanye West, in a Virgin Megastore. He recounted in a 2009 SPIN interview, "I was looking at CDs, saw the gleam of a Jesus piece in the right side of my eye, looked up, and it was Kanye West." He introduced himself and offered West some of his music. Cudi would later run into West again while working at the BAPE store in New York, and recalled: "I remember Kanye coming in one time and I was helping him get a couple things. I forgot to take a sensor off of one of the jackets he bought and I had to run out the store to catch him before he left. Pretty funny me chasing after him in SoHo."
In 2007, Kid Cudi's song "Day 'n' Nite", began being featured on several music blogs, after having uploaded the song to his MySpace page. Cudi's early work would go on to catch the attention of Kanye West, whose then-manager Plain Pat, had introduced Cudi's music to him, subsequently leading West to sign Cudi to his GOOD Music imprint later that year. In July 2008, Kid Cudi released his first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi (executive produced by Plain Pat and Emile Haynie), in collaboration with New York street-wear brand 10.Deep as a free download.
Kanye West first called upon Cudi to reference hooks for American rapper and mogul Jay-Z, and while in the studio Cudi and West went from working on The Blueprint 3 (2009) to West's R&B-esque 808s & Heartbreak (2008). Cudi's assistance on the latter includes co-writing credits and/or vocals on "Heartless," "Welcome to Heartbreak," "Paranoid" and "RoboCop." Kid Cudi was a prominent songwriter and featured artist on 808s & Heartbreak, with "Paranoid" and "Heartless" being released as singles, while "Welcome to Heartbreak" charted as an album cut and peaked at number 87 on the Pop 100.
Kid Cudi's first television appearance was at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside Travis Barker and DJ AM. Cudi was promoted as an artist to watch for in media such as Rolling Stone, Vibe, The Source, XXL and BBC News's 2009 Sound of poll. MTV News reported on Cudi on a series of reports titled "MCs To Watch In 2009".
2009–2010: Man on the Moon album series
In late 2008, Cudi was revealed to be included in XXLs 2009 annual Freshman Class. He was featured on the cover alongside fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth, Wale, B.o.B, Charles Hamilton, Cory Gunz, Blu, Mickey Factz, Ace Hood and Curren$y. On February 17, 2009, he appeared on Snoop Dogg's MTV talk show Dogg After Dark, performing "Day 'n' Nite" at the end of the show. Two days later on February 19, 2009, Cudi appeared on BET's 106 & Park, alongside Kanye West to debut the music video of "Day 'n' Nite". On February 25, 2009, Cudi self-leaked a teaser trailer for the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen film, using his song "Sky Might Fall" in the background; later he posted that he made the trailer himself and was in talks to possibly making it official.
In February 2009, Kid Cudi also made a cameo appearance next to Solange in the video for her song "T.O.N.Y.". On March 16, 2009, Kid Cudi performed on mtvU's Spring Break special, and the following day he performed three songs on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly. Cudi teamed up with partner and record producer Emile Haynie, to produce an exclusive single titled "Switchin Lanes", for the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles, part of its "South Central Premium Upgrade" downloadable content (DLC), which came out March 19, 2009, for the PlayStation 3 and March 27, 2009, for the Xbox 360. He has also appeared as a musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live! In June 2009, he made a cameo in The Black Eyed Peas' video for "I Gotta Feeling", alongside David Guetta, where the two met for the first time and subsequently recorded their international hit "Memories". In 2009, he had also been on two magazine covers, Complex (August/September 2009) and URB (August 2009).
He revealed information about his future plans via his blog, saying that a possible collaborative album with Chip tha Ripper could be followed with a collaborative project with electronic rock duo Ratatat. On May 5, 2009 Iranian-American progressive house DJ Sharam, released "She Came Along", the lead single from his debut studio album, Get Wild (2009). The song, featuring Cudi, charted for 15 weeks on the Bulgarian Singles Top 40. It entered the chart on position 40 on week 30/2009, and its last appearance was on week 44/2009. It peaked at number 11, where it stayed for one week.
During the summer of 2009, Cudi joined fellow up-and-coming rappers Asher Roth and B.o.B, for 'The Great Hangover' concert tour.
In late 2009, Kid Cudi was featured on the highly anticipated Jay-Z album The Blueprint 3, on the song "Already Home". On September 14, 2009, BET premiered their Rising Icons profile of Kid Cudi. During the 30 minute show Cudi performed "CuDi Zone", "Mr. Solo Dolo", "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say". Cudi also discussed his childhood, his move to New York to begin his career as an artist and more.
Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, was released on Universal Motown Records on September 15, 2009 and sold 104,419 copies in the first week and charted at #4. The album's lead single "Day 'n' Nite", Kid Cudi's greatest commercial success thus far, charted well in both the U.S. and in Europe. The second single released was "Make Her Say" (originally titled "I Poke Her Face"), which features a sample from Lady Gaga's hit single "Poker Face" and performances by Kanye West and Common. Common was also featured throughout the album, as the narrator.
In September 2009, Cudi co-headlined 50 Cent's "50 Fest" concert, along with fellow American rapper Wale. In a late 2009 interview, Cudi announced that the follow-up to his debut album would be a compilation album entitled Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, which would have many collaborations. He stated he had already recorded songs with Snoop Dogg, Travis Barker, Clipse, Cage and Pharrell, and would also like to work with Drake, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Robin Thicke, The Killers and The Postal Service on the album. It was also rumored that Man on the Moon: The End of Day would be followed up by a sequel titled Man on the Moon: The Ghost in the Machine and that the Man on the Moon series would be a trilogy. Kid Cudi was nominated for three 2010 Grammy Awards, for his singles "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say".
In January 2010, Cudi released Man on the Moon: The End of Days third and final single "Pursuit of Happiness", which was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2010, Kid Cudi was featured on Snoop Dogg's re-release of Malice n Wonderland, titled More Malice, on the lead single "That Tree". Cudi also teamed up with independent artist Johnny Polygon, to remix Polygon's "The Riot Song", which appears on his mixtape Rebel Without Applause (2010). On April 20, 2010, Kid Cudi announced that the name of his second album would not be Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution, but Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager.
On June 11, 2010, Kid Cudi was arrested in the Chelsea neighborhood of the Manhattan borough in New York City and charged with felony criminal mischief and possession of a controlled substance. Despite his arrest, he was released and made it to Manchester, Tennessee in time to play at Bonnaroo.
In May 2010, American shoe company Converse, launched “You're It”, a campaign which highlighted 23 artists from around the world in a series of web shorts. The campaign featured artists from 13 different countries including Kid Cudi. In this short, Converse takes a trip back to Cudi's roots as an artist in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. The campaign's goal was to tap into the grassroots of Converse's global market and introduce the artists of tomorrow.
In June 2010, Converse was promoting being a catalyst for creativity by bringing together three musicians from different genres to form a unique collaboration known as "Three Artists. One Song." Converse teamed up Cudi, alongside Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, to produce the song titled "All Summer". In addition to collaborating on the track, each of the artists also participated in the creation of the music video, which was released later that summer.
The lead single from Cudi's second studio album, titled "Erase Me", features Kanye West and was produced by Jim Jonsin. The song debuted on a Cleveland radio station June 30, 2010, and was officially released to Rhythm/Crossover radio on August 17, 2010. The title-track "Mr. Rager", was released as the album's second single, shortly before the album's release. The album, released November 9, 2010, debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 169,000 copies. In its second week it crossed the 200,000 sales mark.
In 2010, Kid Cudi appeared on several songs for his mentor Kanye West's weekly free music giveaway GOOD Fridays; namely "Good Friday", "Christian Dior Denim Flow" and "The Joy", the latter of which later became a bonus track on the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaborative album Watch the Throne (2011).
2011–2012: New direction with WZRD and Wicked Awesome
In October 2010, Cudi had announced that he would be forming a rock band with frequent collaborator Dot da Genius, tentatively called Wizard. In early 2011, he announced that he would be releasing a mixtape titled A Man Named Scott, reminiscent of his A Kid Named Cudi title, prior to the rock album. On February 26, 2011, Cudi took to his Twitter account to announce that Dream On, the record label he launched back in 2009 with partners Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds and producer Emile Haynie, has been dissolved. However, in an interview with Complex Magazine Cudi explained they were all still on good terms: "I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to take control of things myself. Those are still my guys, Pat and Emile, and I'm still going to work with them in the future. When we start working on Man on the Moon III I'll be calling them up to see if they want to be a part of it. I know Emile is definitely down. We had an issue, but we're men and we were able to figure it out and move forward. There's no hard feelings."
In March 2011, Cudi announced that a music video for "Marijuana" would be released in the spring, followed by a music video for "Mr. Rager" in the summer, then he would release a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, inspired by his song "Maniac", with Cage, in October 2011. In April 2011, while performing at New York City's Roseland Ballroom Kid Cudi announced he was launching his own record label. The new label, which he will be releasing his third studio album on is called Wicked Awesome Records. He also renamed his band on the same occasion to 2 Be Continuum, renaming it from the original Wizard. Kid Cudi explained his reasoning saying: "I needed something more original, something different, but it's still wizardry at its finest." In 2011, Cudi landed a songwriting placement on English singer Natalia Kills' debut album Perfectionist, for the song "Free".
On August 12, 2011, Kid Cudi released the music video for "No One Believes Me", directed by Fright Night director Craig Gillespie. The song, produced by Dot da Genius, features Cudi singing and contains elements of rock music. On August 21, Cudi announced that he would no longer be releasing the A Man Named Scott mixtape, so that he can focus on his rock project and his third solo album Man on the Moon III. Kid Cudi released the music video for his second album's title-track "Mr. Rager", on September 8, 2011. The video received all-positive reviews from critics and fans alike.
Despite saying he will not do many more features for other artists in Complex magazine's October/November 2011 cover story, Cudi appeared on Bryan Greenberg's second album We Don't Have Forever (2011), Travis Barker's solo debut Give the Drummer Some (2011), The Knux's Eraser (2011), and Wale's Ambition (2011), respectively. On October 30, 2011, Cudi released Maniac, a short horror film co-starring fellow American rapper Cage and directed by American actor Shia LaBeouf, through his blog. On November 13, 2011, a previously unreleased demo tape Cudi had recorded from 2002 to 2003, under the pseudonym Kid Mesc, titled Rap Hard, leaked online. On Twitter, Cudi wrote “I actually never wanted anyone to hear those songs ever, but its cool. Ha”
On November 18, 2011 Cudi renamed his band for the second time to WZRD (pronounced W-Z-R-D). He also announced that the upcoming rock project would be released on his 28th birthday, January 30, 2012. In late 2011, Cudi was mentioned in a viral video by vlogger Ben Breedlove, about his near death experiences. After Breedlove's death on December 26, 2011, Cudi commented on his thoughts about inspiring the young kid. "I am so sad about Ben Breedlove," Kid Cudi wrote on his Tumblr blog. "I watched the video he left for the world to see, and him seeing me in detail, in his vision really warmed my heart. I broke down, I am to tears because I hate how life is so unfair. This has really touched my heart in a way I cant describe, this is why I do what I do. Why I write my life, and why I love you all so much. Life is really f---- up sometimes, but I know Ben is at Peace, and I hope he gets a chance to sit and talk with my Dad. We love you Ben. Forever. Thank you for loving me. To Ben's family, you raised a real hero, he's definitely mine. You have my love."
In January 2012, Cudi appeared on two songs from Chip tha Ripper's mixtape Tell Ya Friends, "Ride 4 You" which also featured Far East Movement and "GloryUs", which credited the duo as they are collectively known, The Almighty GloryUs. This led to speculation that a long-awaited project from the two was underway. On January 31, Cudi announced through his Twitter feed that he had completed WZRD and that his next album was the collaborative effort with Chip tha Ripper. In 2012, Cudi was featured on the soundtrack to the film The Hunger Games, crafting an original song for the film titled "The Ruler and the Killer". Referring to "The Ruler and the Killer", Cudi wrote on his Twitter feed: "I could not have done it without my producing partners on the project for the film, The legendary and Godly T Bone Burnett and Greg Wells!"
While working on the band's self-titled debut, Cudi claimed he had writer's block for almost five months because of his new sobriety; something that had never happened to him for such an extended period of time. According to Cudi, bands that inspired the album include Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and Pink Floyd. The album includes a song titled "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", a cover of the same titled song by Nirvana, who in turn were inspired by blues guitar legend Lead Belly's rendition of the traditional folk song. Following WZRDs release on February 28, 2012, the album debuted at #3 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 66,000 physical and digital copies in the United States. The album also debuted on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums at number one, and at #9 on the Canadian Albums Chart respectively.
2012–2013: Indicud and departure from GOOD Music
In April 2012, in Geneseo, New York, Cudi performed before a sold-out crowd and premiered a hip hop song, his first since 2010. During his set, he performed a new record, tentatively titled "The Leader of the Delinquents", which he did a cappella. On April 25, 2012 Cudi was officially back to rapping with the release of "Dennis, Hook Me Up with Some More of That Whiskey!". The song, the first ever solely produced by Cudi himself, samples his 2010 song "Ghost!". In June 2012, Cudi was seen in the music video for "Mercy," the lead single from GOOD Music's compilation album Cruel Summer, in which he, along with other GOOD Music recording artists were featured on. Cudi was ultimately featured on two songs from the compilation, "The Morning" and a solo track originally meant for Man on the Moon II (2010), titled "Creepers", produced by Dan Black.
In the summer of 2012, Cudi announced the title of his third studio album to be, Indicud when he tweeted: "My new album is entitled indicud, it will be my version of The Chronic 2001, some songs i'll produce, others i'll feat &/or play songwriter". On June 8, 2012, Cudi announced Indicud, will be a double-disc album. On August 12, Kid Cudi released the lead single from Indicud, a song titled "Just What I Am", featuring his friend and longtime collaborator King Chip (formerly Chip tha Ripper). The album was announced to be released in early 2013 with Cudi focusing on scoring movies, followed by the third installment of the Man on the Moon series.
Cudi then added that Indicud "will feature more uptempos and that it will consist of at most 17 new songs." The music video for "Just What I Am", which marked Cudi's directorial debut, premiered November 6, 2012 on VEVO and was shot in Los Angeles with fans invited to participate in the video's shoot. On November 7, he revealed the album's second official single's title to be "Immortal", and that it again was produced by himself like the two previous releases, "Just What I Am" and "King Wizard". He claimed the song "will make you feel amazing in the heart and soul." The song was officially released via iTunes on March 14, 2013.
On March 14, 2013 Kid Cudi performed at MySpace's South by Southwest (SXSW) secret show in Austin, Texas and after performing his many hits, he previewed a new verse from Indicud. He also revealed that the album would feature 18 tracks, while officially confirming ASAP Rocky and Michael Bolton as featured guests. On March 16, Cudi announced that he would release the album's tracklist and cover art on April 2. Three days later, Kid Cudi announced via Twitter that the album had officially been completed and turned in to his label, Universal Republic. On March 26, the album's cover art and tracklist was unveiled by Walmart and later Complex. Later that day, Cudi appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed the album's lead singles; "Just What I Am" and "Immortal", as well as premiering "Mad Solar", which he performed a cappella.
On April 2, 2013, Kid Cudi announced on Power 106, that he was no longer under Kanye West's GOOD Music imprint. Cudi revealed he left the label on good terms, with him saying West respected his decision and will always be "big brother". Cudi's decision to move forward without West, was his desire to focus on his own imprint, Wicked Awesome Records and his friend, fellow rapper King Chip. After Indicud leaked online in its entirety on April 9, 2013, Kid Cudi decided to push the album's release date up to April 16. The album went on to debut at #2 on the charts by moving 140,000 copies. In late 2013, Kid Cudi went on tour in support of Indicud on The Cud Life Tour 2013. The tour was announced on July 15 with tickets going on sale the following day. Supporting acts on the tour included fellow American rappers Big Sean, Tyler, The Creator and Logic.
2013–2014: Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon
While on tour, on October 16, 2013 Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing an extended play (EP), sometime in the next three months. Cudi also revealed he would be producing it alongside Dot da Genius and that frequent collaborator King Chip, would appear on the EP. He then called the EP a prelude to his fourth album Man on the Moon III, which he announced would be released in 2015. On October 19, 2013, Cudi revealed "Going to the Ceremony", a song he had released via online audio distribution platform SoundCloud, earlier in July, would be included in the EP. Cudi would also go on to reveal a remix of his hit single "Day 'n' Nite, which was briefly previewed on the intro of his 2008 breakout mixtape A Kid Named Cudi, would also appear on the EP.
On November 25, 2013, via his Twitter, Cudi revealed the title of the EP to be Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon. On December 16, 2013, Kid Cudi once again utilized SoundCloud to release "Satellite Flight", the EP's title-track. On January 27, 2014, Kid Cudi revealed on Twitter that Satellite Flight: Journey to Mother Moon would no longer be an EP, but a full-length album instead. In a February 2014 interview with MTV News, Cudi discussed the EP's transition to a full-fledged album and called the project his best work yet: "I'm really excited because it's my best work, and it's a surprise. People weren't really expecting it. I've never done two albums within a year of each other."
On February 25, 2014, with only few hours' notice from Cudi, Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon was released exclusively to digital retailers. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 87,000 digital copies in the United States. On March 4, 2014 Cudi appeared on Chelsea Lately, where he was interviewed by Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, to promote Satellite Flight and the 2014 film Need for Speed. On March 12, 2014, Cudi released a song titled "Hero", a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, recorded for the soundtrack to Need for Speed. On March 15, 2014, Cudi appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he promoted the album, discussed the state of hip-hop, suicidal thoughts, Need for Speed, and performed the song "Internal Bleeding", from the album.
In April 2014, Cudi appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of Fat Man magazine. On April 24, 2014, while being honored as a mental health advocate by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, Cudi offered a special performance during their annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards. On May 2, 2014, it was announced Cudi would headline Chicago's North Coast Music Festival, along with West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg. On May 11, 2014 Cudi revealed he would be writing and directing a short film for the Satellite Flight album cut "Balmain Jeans": "Developing a short film for "Balmain Jeans", a story about a spontaneous electric connection between two strangers."
2015–2016: Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven
In a January 2015 interview, at the Sundance Film Festival, Kid Cudi expressed the possibility of releasing another album before the release of Man on the Moon III: "I'm always making music. The beauty in that is that I have a lot of material. And I'm actually thinking that it would be good to release something in the meantime, before Man on the Moon III comes out. Another Kid Cudi album, it's just kind of along the lines of what I did with Indicud or Satellite Flight, which is just its own standalone thing but still a Kid Cudi album. The Man on the Moon III album is something that's gonna take some time but I know the fans are gonna be patient and I really appreciate that guys, thank you for your patience. But Man on the Moon III is coming, there may be an album before that just to tide you over."
On March 3, 2015, Cudi officially released his first song since his album Satellite Flight, was put on the market. The song, which is titled "Love," was originally recorded for Satellite Flight, and samples Ratatat's "Sunblocks" and has been received with positive reviews. On April 4, 2015, Cudi announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new album titled Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven. On October 27, 2015, Cudi announced the new album will be released on December 4, 2015. He also leaked two songs off the project, "Wedding Tux" and "Judgemental Cunt". In November 2015 Cudi announced an Especial Tour, that will bring the rapper to various theaters all across the United States. On December 1, 2015, Cudi announced the cancellation of his Especial Tour, due to various reasons, such as production and personal issues. To make up for postponing the concert tour, Cudi released the album's title-track as the second single.
2016–2018: Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin and Kids See Ghosts
In March 2016, Kid Cudi performed at McDowell Mountain Music Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. In an early April 2016 interview with Billboard, when asked about Man on the Moon III, Cudi responded with: "I came up with Man on the Moon when I was a young man. People change their vibe! We can follow the same template and do the five-act split. Sonically, I'm still going to be where I'm at. Honestly, I was ready to live up to the obligation and do Man on the Moon III. I haven't been dicking around. I was planning on doing it after Speedin' Bullet. But the Speedin' Bullet response tore me up. It made me realize what's most important. I'm getting back on the bike again and doing what I do best: me." On April 22, 2016, Kid Cudi announced he would be releasing a new studio album, slated for a summer unveiling.
On May 11, 2016, amidst rumors that he was set to release Man on the Moon III, Cudi revealed the title of his sixth solo album would be Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin', through online mobile video-sharing and social networking service Instagram. On June 1, 2016, Cudi announced that he had two upcoming albums. One set to be released in the summer, while the other would be released in the fall. He added that one of them was complete. On September 26, 2016, Kid Cudi unveiled the track-list for Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin via Twitter, which revealed guest spots from Travis Scott, André 3000, Pharrell Williams and Willow Smith.
Although there was a discrepancy between him and Kanye West, West later made an offer of peace and a song featuring him and Cudi subsequently surfaced online. Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin was announced to be issued first via digital distribution on December 16, 2016, with the physical release on December 23. Cudi has also shared the song "Baptized in Fire," which features Travis Scott (with whom Cudi collaborated extensively with on 2016's Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight). On March 1, 2017, Kid Cudi performed the song "Kitchen", with a string orchestra, live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On August 15, 2017, Cudi announced a national concert tour by the name of Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour; with the first date on September 30 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 2018 Cudi and Kanye West formed a duo known as Kids See Ghosts, and produced an album with the same name, Kids See Ghosts, which was released on June 8, 2018. On October 23, 2018, in response to a fan on Twitter, Cudi revealed he had begun working on his seventh solo album. Although he said he would be taking his time to create his forthcoming LP, Cudi projected a 2019 release.
2019–present: Man on the Moon III: The Chosen and Entergalactic
In July 2019, Kid Cudi announced his next album would be titled Entergalactic, which he revealed would soundtrack an upcoming Netflix "adult-focused animated music series" co-created by himself and Kenya Barris.
On April 24, 2020, Cudi collaborated with Travis Scott under the collective name The Scotts, to release a song under the same name, "The Scotts". It was hinted that the duo would be releasing more music in the future. The song debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Cudi's first number-one hit single.
Later on April 24, Cudi also revealed that he was still working on new music for a future WZRD release, joking that "we take a decade off between albums." On July 9, 2020, Cudi's daughter Vada, announced via social media that he would be releasing a song with multiple Grammy Award-winning artist Eminem, called "The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady" the coming Friday. The song was released on July 10, 2020 and also saw success as a hit, as it debuted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
On October 26, Cudi released a teaser video on his official Twitter account for Man on the Moon III, the final installment in his Man on the Moon series, after a decade between releases. The album title and release date were not shared with the video, however on December 7, Cudi announced the album would be titled Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, with a release date of December 11, 2020. The concept album's theme follows Cudi overcoming his darkness, but fighting to win his soul back from his alter-ego "Mr. Rager".
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised Cudi's songwriting and generally favored the latter two acts, though some found it derivative of Cudi's earlier albums. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, earning 144,000 album-equivalent units of which 15,000 were pure sales, marking Cudi's fifth top 10 album in the US.
Although Entergalactic was originally set for a 2020 release, it was pushed back due to Cudi releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album instead. In January 2021, when asked by a fan on Twitter why Entergalatics new release date says 2022 on Netflix, Cudi responded, "[Because] that's when it drops. I just gave y'all an album y'all gotta chill and be patient fr man I'm not doin an album every year."
Cudi was the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live in April 2021, having previously featured alongside Kanye West and 070 Shake in "Ghost Town" in 2018. He played "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People" with both performances in tribute to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. "Sad People" showcased Cudi in a floral dress designed by Virgil Abloh in a nod to Cobain.
In June 2021, Amazon enlisted Kid Cudi for Prime Day Show; a three-part musical event also featuring Billie Eilish and H.E.R. Cudi's performance included a mission to establish a new community on the moon, while performing with the International Space Orchestra, a new group composed of space scientists from NASA Ames Research Center, the SETI Institute and the International Space University.
A Man Named Scott, a documentary film directed by Robert Alexander, was announced in October 2021 via Prime Video. The film was produced by Mad Solar, Complex Networks and Film 45, set for release in November 2021, and billed as a look at Cudi's journey "over a decade of creative choices, struggles, and breakthroughs."
During his headlining performance at the Rolling Loud music festival, Cudi revealed intentions on releasing two full-length projects in 2022, with plans of releasing an album prior to Entergalactic “I have Entergalactic coming in the summer, and I wanna drop another album before that. I got some tasty surprises and I’m really excited about all this new shit, this new music, to give to you guys,” he said before playing a recording of a song that has since been dubbed “Freshie.” “That’s why I’m teasing this shit now because it’s coming out soon.”
On December 3, 2021, a collaboration between Cudi and American pop singer Ariana Grande, titled "Just Look Up" was released in promotion for the black comedy film Don't Look Up, in which they both star in. In December 2021, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen broke the record for biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album in Nielsen history.
Artistry
Musical style
Cudi's musical style has been described as "an atmospheric take on melodic rap, with a dollop of charming, off-key singing". He has also been called "introspective, with the ability to lay his insecurities on record and expose his fallibility." In 2015, Kris Ex of Billboard, wrote "he's always been an emotional artist, dealing with expansive and nebulous feelings in acute and often destructive ways." Kid Cudi's sound is what inspired and led Kanye West to create his cathartic 808s & Heartbreak (2008), with West later stating that he and Cudi were "the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is to fashion.... Everything else is just Zara and H&M." West also complimented Cudi by saying, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important." In March 2014, Cudi talked about wanting to provide guidance for young listeners with his music: "my mission statement since day one [...] all I wanted to do was help kids not feel alone, and stop committing suicide."In a 2013 article for The BoomBox, the author wrote: "On [A Kid Named Cudi], Cudi raps and croons over samples and interpolations of Gnarls Barkley, Paul Simon, Band of Horses, J Dilla, Nosaj Thing, N.E.R.D. and Outkast. He melded indie rock, electronica and dubstep seamlessly with hip-hop without pandering or reaching. Before Drake broke through with 2009's So Far Gone, rapping and singing over Swedish indie poppers Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John, Cudi tweaked with multi-genre covers and seamless transitions between singing and rapping." In a 2009 interview with HipHopDX, when speaking on his debut album Cudi stated: "Well one thing I wanted to do was combine sounds that really bring out intense moods." His music has also been described as trip hop. Furthermore, he is known for harmonizing and humming in his music, which helps formulate his signature sound. On 2012's WZRD and 2015's Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, Cudi incorporated the use of screamed vocals, and can be heard yodeling on his 2016 album Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Throughout the years he has also incorporated elements of psychedelia, R&B, electronica, synthpop, punk and grunge, in his music.
Cudi was gifted a guitar by his manager in 2011, encouraging Cudi to learn. Cudi taught himself how to play the guitar and went on to utilize the instrument in his rock music throughout his career. Cudi is also a self-taught music producer. In 2021, Cudi appeared on American TV talk show The Shop, where he spoke on his writing and recording process. Cudi mentioned for his early albums he would sit down and write entire verses. However, while working on Kids See Ghosts and Man on the Moon III, he adopted Kanye West's writing process. Instead of writing to a beat, he records a reference track for himself, where he freestyles and hums his way through the beat to get a melody, and fills in the lyrics as they come to him. In 2021, during Songwriter's Roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, Cudi called his music "space punk rock".
Influences
Cudi's earliest influences include alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Cudi also cites rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Kid 'n Play, N.W.A., Naughty By Nature, Onyx and Public Enemy, as his hip hop influences while growing up. Cudi has also credited fellow Ohio native Camu Tao, as an influence. He has also been inspired by the sounds of The O'Jays, Ratatat, MGMT and The Postal Service. In 2010, he began experimenting with rock music; rock acts that inspired Cudi include the Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, the Pixies and Pink Floyd. Kid Cudi also credits English singer-songwriter David Bowie as a "huge inspiration." Production wise, Cudi has named Dr. Dre, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Kanye West, as his top four favorite producers; also naming Emile Haynie and Plain Pat, calling them “geniuses” for seeing his potential before he was even completely aware of it.
Other ventures
Acting
In 2010, Kid Cudi made a guest appearance on American television drama One Tree Hill, starring as himself and performing his Man on the Moon II single "Erase Me", during the episode. In 2010, Kid Cudi also began starring in the HBO comedy series How to Make It in America, as part of the main cast, being credited by his birth name Scott Mescudi, until its cancellation after two seasons. On October 31, 2010, Kid Cudi released a short film, directed by Shia LaBeouf, in which he and fellow American rapper Cage, star as French-speaking serial killers. The short film, titled Maniac, was inspired by Cudi's song of the same name, from his 2010 album Man on the Moon II and is an homage to the 1992 Belgian black comedy crime mockumentary, Man Bites Dog. In May 2012, Kanye West premiered a short film he directed, titled Cruel Summer, at the Cannes Film Festival. According to MTV, Kid Cudi is the lead character, playing a "car thief who falls for a blind Arabian princess." The film was shown on seven different screens that turned on and off, giving various angles of each shot.
In October 2012, it was announced Cudi would star in an indie romantic comedy titled Two Night Stand, alongside Analeigh Tipton and Miles Teller. Also in 2012, it was revealed Cudi would star in an indie thriller film titled Tacoma, alongside Patricia Clarkson. In 2013, Cudi guest starred in the animated TV series The Cleveland Show, voicing a character named Devon, in the Season 4 episode "Brownsized". In 2013, he also guest starred on the FOX comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, where he played a criminal named Dustin Whitman. In 2013, it was revealed Cudi would then star in Goodbye World, alongside Adrian Grenier.
In January 2013, Cudi was cast in the film adaptation of Need for Speed. Need for Speed, which is Cudi's feature film debut, was released by Touchstone Pictures on March 14, 2014. In June 2013, it was revealed Cudi would appear in Mark Webber's film The Ever After, alongside Teresa Palmer and Melissa Leo. On November 10, 2014, Cudi guest starred on the CBS American television series Scorpion, as Peyton Temple, a musical prodigy who created a controversial algorithm that generates the perfect hit pop song, who later helps Scorpion investigate the murder of his friend who was a music industry blogger. In February 2014, it was announced Cudi would appear in Entourage (2015), the film adaptation of the popular HBO TV series of the same name.
On April 11, 2014, it was announced Cudi would star in a film titled James White, alongside Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon. In addition to starring in the film, it was revealed Cudi would also be curating the film's score as well. In January 2015, Cudi revealed he played a homosexual character in James White: "This was way different than anything else I've ever done. It was dope to do that. I felt like I had a responsibility to present a different walk in life from that world." Although his character's sexuality is not outwardly discussed during the film, the original script included a coming-out scene and a kiss between Cudi and a male friend, played by David Call: "I didn't flinch. I'm secure with mine," Cudi told an audience after the film's premiere. "I'm an artist—it's all about playing characters that are intriguing and stimulating."
Also in January 2015, Cudi revealed he had just finished filming a movie titled Vincent-N-Roxxy, alongside Zoe Kravitz and Emile Hirsch. When speaking on Vincent-N-Roxxy, Cudi said: "this movie that I have coming out soon that's my first villain role. It's very violent and very disturbing [...] I play kind of like a drug lord." Cudi took over the mic duties for Reggie Watts, on IFC's television series, Comedy Bang! Bang! on July 10, 2015. As the in-house disc jockey, Cudi crafted original music for the show and appeared in several skits throughout season four. The December 10 Christmas edition of Comedy Bang! Bang!, marked the season finale and Cudi's final episode as bandleader.
In July 2016, it was announced Cudi would join the cast of FOX's Empire, debuting in the third season of the series as "an independent musician who is a rival to Hakeem (Bryshere "Yazz" Gray) both in the studio and in life." Cudi later left the project due to creative differences. In 2017, Cudi appeared in the comedy film Killing Hasselhoff.
In 2019, Cudi had small roles in Drunk Parents, directed by Fred Wolf, and Jexi directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the latter of which he played himself. In 2020, he co-starred in Bill & Ted Face the Music, directed by Dean Parisot, opposite Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. In 2020, Cudi also starred in We Are Who We Are, an eight-episode miniseries for HBO directed by Luca Guadagnino.
In early 2021, Kid Cudi appeared in Crisis, directed by Nicholas Jarecki. In January 2021, Cudi revealed he would potentially be partnering with TV producer and fellow American rapper 50 Cent, for an upcoming series. In late 2021, Cudi appeared in the ensemble cast of Don't Look Up, where he also performed an original song for the film alongside fellow American singer Ariana Grande. Cudi is also set to star in X and Disney's upcoming sci-fi film Crater, the latter of which would be released exclusively on the streaming service, Disney+.
Fashion
In September 2009, Kid Cudi teamed up with Japanese clothing company BAPE (which happens to be the last company Cudi was employed with before his music career took off), for a collaboration that saw Cudi's likeness featured on graphic T-shirts, with the Japanese label's mascot, Baby Milo. As of 2014, he has had five t-shirt collaborations with BAPE. In 2021, Cudi once again collaborated with BAPE, for a vibrant capsule displaying colorful prints and logos. Spanning a total of 20 pieces, this project is BAPE's largest-ever artist collaboration — the result of a long relationship that goes all the way back to when Cudi was still working at the BAPE store in New York.
In February 2011, Kid Cudi announced a collaboration with Parisian brand Surface to Air. In the fall of 2011, he released a leather jacket collection in collaboration with the fashion label. Taking cues from the modern biker jacket, the "Thriller-inspired" lineup offered two men's styles. He can be seen wearing the jackets in music videos such as "All of the Lights" and "Mr. Rager".
In August 2014, Giuseppe Zanotti designed an exclusive sneaker inspired by Kid Cudi's style.
In February 2019, Kid Cudi partnered with French fashion brand A.P.C. on their first “INTERACTION #1” range. Jean Touitou, the founder of A.P.C. reached out to Kid Cudi following an introduction by Kanye West. The capsule collection included denim such as the Petit New Standard and Petit Standard Jeans, both of which included “Dream On” embroidery in red under the left front pocket. It also included the Dream On Cardigan in a multi-colored cotton knit, two iterations of the Tennis Minimal Sneaker, South Salopette overalls with paint splatter details, and three t-shirts that include the Bold Tee, Splash Tee, and Dream On Tee.
Kid Cudi announced a partnership with Adidas in March 2019. On December 10, 2020, Cudi unveiled his Adidas sneakers. They are the self-named VADAWAM 326's which would be released on December 17, 2020.
On May 20, 2020, Kid Cudi announced he was partnering with American designer Virgil Abloh, to release an exclusive “Leader of the Delinquents” t-shirt. The design on the black and white “PULLING STRINGS” t-shirt features Kid Cudi puppeteering a smaller version of himself, hence the name of the t-shirt release. The art is meant to reference Cudi's infamous TMZ moment from 2012, in which he posed like the puppet on the shirt. “Leader of the Delinquents” is written across the back of the t-shirt in text reminiscent of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s handwriting.
Just hours before releasing his long-awaited Man on the Moon III album, Cudi rolled out a small batch of merchandise in support of the album. The range was made in collaboration with Cactus Plant Flea Market, and consists of short- and long-sleeve T-shirts, pullover hoodies, and sweatpants—all of which feature graphics that reference MOTM3 tracks.
In April 2021, Kid Cudi performed on Saturday Night Live wearing a floral-print sundress, created by Virgil Abloh. On April 11, Cudi confirmed that he would have an upcoming collection with Italian luxury fashion label Off-White, with the floral dress serving as one of the pieces.
In late April 2021, it was revealed Kid Cudi had teamed up with the NFL to release a limited-edition Starter jacket commemorating the 2021 NFL Draft, which took place in Cudi's hometown of Cleveland.
Members of the RAGE
On January 26, 2021, Kid Cudi announced on Twitter that he would be starting his own clothing line and the first pieces would be available sometime in 2021. In February 2022, Cudi launched his very own clothing line titled called Members of the RAGE. The clothing line is described as a fusion of “90s grunge with the soul of hip hop and
elements from a distant future.” Its UFO logo was co-designed by Cudi and Nigo, while the retro-inspired website was designed by Cudi himself. The first piece that was issued was a t-shirt created in collaboration with Nigo’s Human Made. Created for NBA All-Star Weekend, the shirt comes in white and features the Members of the RAGE logo in Cleveland Cavaliers colors and the Earth replaced with a basketball.
Modeling
In 2010, Cudi modeled for a campaign run by American fashion house Calvin Klein. In January 2015, Coach, Inc. announced Kid Cudi as the new face of their brand, along with actress Chloë Grace Moretz, to front its Spring campaign. In January 2022, Cudi modeled for the Levi Strauss & Co. campaign titled "The Number That Changed Everything."
Poetry
Kid Cudi has also been known for sharing his poetry.
Record labels
Dream on
Dream On was an American record label founded in 2009, by Cudi alongside his managers at the time, Patrick Reynolds and Emile Haynie. In February 2011, Cudi announced the label had been dissolved. The label went on to release the first two installments of Cudi's Man on the Moon series.
Wicked Awesome Records
Wicked Awesome Records is an American record label founded by Cudi in 2011. It is distributed by Republic Records. In a 2013 interview Cudi said "Wicked Awesome was there officially when I did WZRD. That was the first project that I did on Wicked Awesome and it was an outlet for me to just branch out on my own, and creatively and business-wise take things to a different space for me. Wicked Awesome..where do I see it going? Right now it's just the music but who knows? Wicked Awesome is maybe gunna be beyond music it could be movies, it could be a lot of things, producing T.V. shows. Just the name I think is really dope it has a ring to it." Cudi continued, explaining the motivation behind his label. "The whole motivation is just bringing authenticity back to the forefront. Bringing real content, bringing real emotion [...] Wicked Awesome is about being a real human being, making real music, talking about real things that people deal with on a day-to-day basis." In January 2021, Cudi tweeted that he is prepared to sign artists and producers.
Mad Solar
On November 17, 2020, it was revealed Cudi teamed with Dennis Cummings and Karina Manashil to found production and music management company Mad Solar, with the backing of Bron Studios, which provides corporate back office and production support, including financing, marketing, and sales. In a statement Cudi said, "Beyond excited to be launching my production company Mad Solar and partnering with Bron, whose creative vision and storytelling has transformed the industry." When speaking on the collaboration, Bron chairman Aaron L. Gilbert said "Scott Mescudi's growth as a creative and an entrepreneur has been impressive. For Bron, the strategic relationship with Mad Solar is key in our efforts to support the entertainment industry's top creatives, as well as expand Bron's access to the best in class music and sports talent through Mad Solar's management division."
On December 9, it was announced Cudi's Mad Solar banner are developing a film adaptation of the coming-of-age campus novel Real Life, with Cudi set to star. Bron Studios acquired the rights to the 2020 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel with Mad Solar. Real Life is the semi-autobiographical novel debut for writer Brandon Taylor. It follows an introverted, queer, Black scientist in a predominantly white, Midwestern PhD program as he navigates complex friendships, romantic relationships, betrayals and mercies, all over the course of one weekend. Mad Solar is also producing the upcoming Netflix animated series Entergalactic, which Cudi co-created alongside Kenya Barris. Based on original music by Cudi, the series, which Cudi writes, executive produces and stars in, follows a young man on his journey to discover love. Additionally, Mad Solar has teamed with A24 and Bron Studios on the horror film X. Written and directed by Ti West, X stars Mia Goth, Cudi and Jenna Ortega. Cudi is an executive producer on the film, which will begin production early 2021.
Encore Studio
In October 2020, it was announced Cudi teamed with screenwriter Ian Edelman and startup veteran Jonathan Gray to launch Encore Studio, a mobile-based platform to help artists monetize their connections with fans. “The current streaming model puts artists in competition with one another and only rewards the top 1% of artists who collect 90% of the money,” a press release announcing the app explains. “Encore offers an all-new format that encourages collaboration amongst artists and makes it easy for up-and-coming and established artists to manage and grow a direct relationship with their fans. Artists can drop new music, chat with fans and host live shows from anywhere in the world.” Encore enables live music experiences through smart phones, fan interaction, community centered content and merchandise offerings to give fans new ways to reward the artists they love. “The energy from a concert is undeniable, both for the fans and artists. I am excited to launch Encore to help bring the live music experience back to our fans. Encore is committed to empowering both established and new artists and delivering the best mobile music experience out there,” Cudi says. Earlier in 2020, Encore closed a $2 million seed round led by global investment firm Battery Ventures.
In 2022, it was revealed Encore Studio was backed by $9 million funding led by Battery Ventures along with investments from 468 Capital, Parade Ventures, Nomad Ventures, Moving Capital, Kayak Ventures, and Gaingels, with Cudi issuing a statement “My number one priority has always been inspiring others and providing them the space to tell their own stories in an authentic and meaningful way,” Cudi said in a press release. “We created Encore as a space for artists to share their art, build community, while also being able to pay their rent.”
Image and stage presence
Kid Cudi has been described by the media as a fashion icon.
In his early career, Kid Cudi received criticism in the hip hop community for wearing skinny jeans, before they became trendy after being worn by mainstream rappers, such as Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Cudi made headlines when he wore a kilt to a 2010 New Year's Eve party in Miami. In April 2012, he made headlines again in a now-infamous moment when he gave TMZ paparazzi the finger, claiming they have never "posted anything to make him look good".
During his 2013 Cud Life concert tour, Cudi donned a custom made astronaut-esque suit that was designed by noted Hollywood costume designer Jose Hernandez. Officially dubbed the "Satellite Academy Space Suit", Joe La Puma of Complex explained, "It's more than just an interesting clothing choice; the suit represents a transition in his mind-state back to the highly anticipated Man on the Moon III."
In 2014, Cudi made headlines when he performed in a crop top at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In April 2021, he appeared as the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live, where he performed "Tequila Shots" and "Sad People". Both performances were in tribute to Nirvana's late frontman Kurt Cobain, however it was his performance of "Sad People" that made headlines because Cudi wore a woman's dress as a statement against social norms much like his idol Cobain had done.
In September 2021, Cudi made headlines twice; first arriving at New York Fashion Week with electric blue hair, a Nirvana long-sleeve tee and a floor-length black skirt. A few days later, Cudi showed up to the Met Gala wearing fluorescent green hair and dark eye makeup. At the Gala, Cudi was in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton, with a blue sweater, another floor-length skirt and blue-and-green LV sneakers.
On November 10, 2021, Kid Cudi posed for photos at the CFDA Fashion Awards in a custom bridal gown, standing hand-in-hand with its designer, ERL’s Eli Russell Linnetz, lace-gloved fingers interlocked, both wearing American Gothic expressions. On the red carpet, Linnetz lifted Cudi’s veil. “Be yourself, be free, baby, yeah,” Cudi said into a microphone, with a grin; he’d paired the dress with a white tux jacket, crystal-covered sneakers, grungy eyeliner, an icy Black Jesus pendant, and Manic Panic-pink hair. The dress was another homage to Kurt Cobain.
Personal life
Drug use
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi revealed that he had stopped smoking marijuana in 2011, both for the sake of his child and due to frustration with constantly being associated with the drug and stoner culture.
In a March 2013 interview, Cudi talked about how his initial sudden and unexpected fame drove him to alcohol and drugs:
Mental health
In a 2013 interview, Cudi revealed he had suffered an addiction to anti-depressant medication, which had been prescribed to help him deal with an "emotional breakdown" after a failed relationship. Cudi has been open about his addiction to pharmaceuticals in his music, namely the songs "Dr. Pill" and "The Nothing". In a 2014 interview, Cudi spoke on his struggles with depression and suicidal ideation: "I've dealt with suicide for the past five years. There wasn't a week or a day that didn't go by where I was just like, 'You know, I wanna check out.' I know what that feels like, I know it comes from loneliness, I know it comes from not having self-worth, not loving yourself."
In a July 2016 interview, Kid Cudi revealed he suffered from survivor guilt: "I didn't like that I had money and success and I had made it. Everybody I had ever met in my life, good people, weren't able to experience the same, and I wasn't able to truly enjoy my success. Even though I worked hard for it, it bothered me that I had just had so much and my friends didn't." In October 2016, Cudi revealed on his Facebook page that he had checked himself into rehabilitation for depression and suicidal urges.
Family
On March 26, 2010, Cudi's daughter, Vada Wamwene Mescudi, was born. Throughout 2012, Cudi was in a custody battle over his daughter. Reports surfaced that Cudi gave up custody after his child's mother accused him of being an absentee father, as well as having violent tendencies and a "long history of consistent drug and alcohol abuse." These claims were disputed by Cudi and his attorney in a statement, which noted: "Cudi did not give up custody but reached an amicable agreement with the mother; that 'both parents are fit and proper persons to have custody of their child,' as stated in the final custody judgment; results came back negative for drugs in a drug test voluntarily taken by Cudi; and that the court acknowledged Cudi attempted to establish a relationship and visit his child since her birth and "voluntarily provided financial support, including child support, rent and other monthly payments, for his daughter since her birth until the time that a child support order was entered as part of the normal course of the case." Details of the official custody agreement remain private. Cudi has since purchased a property in Chicago to be close to his daughter.
Relationships
In 2009, Cudi began dating entertainment attorney Jamie Baratta. They were in an on-again, off-again relationship, and were a prominent couple in the music industry. They ultimately broke up in 2012, but not before Cudi dedicated a song to her titled "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie", which he recorded as a member of the alternative rock duo, WZRD. In 2020, Cudi wrote "Sept. 16", a song titled after the birthdate of his girlfriend at the time, costume designer and actress Raquel Deriane, to whom the song is dedicated.
Faith
In a January 2013 interview, Cudi said that he believes in God, although considers himself spiritual but not religious.
Philanthropy
On April 8, 2014, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services announced that it would recognize mental health advocates Kid Cudi, Ronda Rousey and Natasha Tracy, during its annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards on April 24, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Committed to helping depressed and suicidal youth through the power of music, Cudi joined Didi Hirsch's Erasing the Stigma Efforts as a Mental Health Ambassador.
On February 7, 2015, Kid Cudi partnered with TED to give a TED Talk at his former school, Shaker Heights High School, to help inspire the students with his story, for the school's independently organized "TEDxSHHS" conference.
Kid Cudi has also been a volunteer for Musicians on Call (MOC), a charity with the mission of bringing live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. In December 2015, Cudi arranged a dance party for the teenage participants of the Children's Hospital At Montefiore's (CHAM) B-N-Fit program, in the Bronx. Kid Cudi also hosted a group of young patients and their families from CHAM, at his sold-out Roseland Ballroom shows in April 2016.
In June 2016, 49 celebrities, including Kid Cudi, honored the 49 victims killed in the Orlando nightclub shooting in a video tribute.
In 2019, Kid Cudi teamed up with delivery service Postmates to deliver $10,000 worth of Popeyes takeout to the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. Hundreds in need at the Indio shelter were presented with Popeyes' chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, and fries the evening before Cudi's second set at Coachella.
Impact and legacy
A number of publications have noted Kid Cudi's impact on contemporary hip hop music since his mainstream debut in 2009. IBTimes writer Alex Garofaro states "Since the beginning of Cudi's career, his music has been extremely influential. His unique blend of dark, introspective lyrics, melancholy melody, psychedelic instrumentation and stoner cool made him a crossover sensation with rap, R&B and indie music fans alike." Luke Hinz of HotNewHipHop said "Cudi has inspired a generation of young artists to be unafraid to explore a wide array of emotions, and many have sought to adapt elements of Cudi's music into their own. Never caring to fit into the conventional boundaries of music, Cudi became a voice for those who felt unrepresented and alone."
In a 2015 article titled "KiD CuDi – A Forgotten Influence on Psychedelic Introspection in Hip-Hop", the author wrote "Cudi helped bring about a new era of electronic, psychedelic driven production. And his dark, drug-riddled approach to introspection has already taken hold in the up-and-comers in the hip-hop world." Revolt writer Preezy Brown noted "His knack for displaying vulnerability and addressing bouts with mental health has made him an inspiration for a long list of artists including Juice WRLD, Logic, Lil Yachty, and other leaders of the new school."
Eric Diep of Complex said "Cudi is an omnipresent figure in pop culture who has inspired many. He's a voice for young creatives who don't fit in. He's a therapeutic light for people who need a helping hand. He's a fashion icon. He's more than a cool cameo in television and movies, but a full-fledged actor." Uproxx stated "Compared to modern icons like Drake, West, and Wayne, Cudi doesn't have a boatload of sales, or a room full of accolades, but his weighty impact is reflected in adulation from the people, which is the intangible, everlasting achievement that most artists live for. He's one of the first artists to be unabashed about his depressive ruminations and did so in a melodically intriguing manner that progressed alternative rock aesthetics into the hip-hop world one cadence at a time."
Several artists have gone on to credit Kid Cudi as influence or inspiration, such as rappers Kanye West, Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Chance the Rapper, Childish Gambino, Logic, ASAP Rocky, ASAP Nast, Allan Kingdom, Kyle, Isaiah Rashad, Raury, Key!, Denzel Curry, Kevin Abstract, Saba and Jaden Smith, as well as singers Willow Smith, Jhene Aiko, Lissie and Tinashe, among others.
In 2009, Canadian recording artist Drake shared his admiration for Cudi on Twitter with a picture of him holding both his and Cudi's respective projects, stating "We are rarely proud when we are alone. But to have another artist who pushes me and inspires me is a blessing."
In a 2010 interview with Billboard, Kanye West called Cudi his "personal favorite artist in the world right now. His whole take on the game is just unfiltered, uncensored artistry." In 2016, Kanye West went on to call Cudi "the most influential artist of the past 10 years".
West Coast hip hop duo Audio Push have also praised Cudi, in 2016, saying "The thing I love about Cudi is he's unapologetically real. He birthed so much of, not even the new generation of artists, but a lot of [your] favorite artists wouldn't be [your] favorite artists if it wasn't for Cudi." In November 2016, Atlanta-based rapper OG Maco, who has cited Cudi as a major influence on several occasions, released an EP titled For Scott, as a tribute to Kid Cudi.
In October 2018, American musician and high-profile producer Pharrell Williams, spoke on his collaborations with Cudi in an interview with Complex, saying: "He's so inspiring, and I'm only as good as my collaborations anyway. I love the stuff that we did. Love, love [...] So to me, Cudi is a GOAT. His melodies and his concepts—he's a timeless alien." In another interview with Complex, Williams also stated "When they say Cudi is the [greatest of all time], they're talking about the consistency of his convictions and how that's played out into the choices that he makes, the taste that he has, and the tone that he takes with everything that he does. That's my idea of Cudi."
American comedian and actor Pete Davidson, who has shared his own struggles with his mental health in the past, has said Kid Cudi's music has saved his life. In a 2019 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Davidson called Cudi "the best musician that's ever lived." Travis Scott, whose stage name is derived from Cudi's first name, has also said Kid Cudi's music saved his life and has a tattoo of the word "rager" in honor of Cudi. Brockhampton's Kevin Abstract has said "I love how he incorporated melody into his raps," Kevin explained. "A kid like me would say, like, Kid Cudi saved my life."
American rapper Logic, who has interpolated Kid Cudi's records in his own songs, has also spoke about how Cudi's music inspired him to open up about mental health in his own music. "He was the dude that was like, 'It's okay to be sad. It's okay to talk about these things, and go through these things.'" In a 2019 interview, then-up-and-coming rapper Baby Keem, cited Cudi as a major influence: "I was inspired by Cudi's cadences and shit like that. Kid Cudi's one of my favorite artists."
In an interview with New York City radio station Hot 97, Jaden Smith spoke on Cudi's influence on him: "Cudi would always say things that just would, like, change my life [...] I thought it was just me and my brother for a while. Then I got older and started going to festivals and then I realized, oh man, everybody has felt that from Cudi. Everybody says that Cudi saved their life. ... Everybody had that same experience listening to Cudi. If someone listened to Cudi, you knew something about them. You could tell certain things about them."
Discography
Studio albums
Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009)
Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010)
Indicud (2013)
Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014)
Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016)
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (2020)
Entergalactic (2022)
Collaborative albums
WZRD (2012)
Kids See Ghosts (2018)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Concert tours
Headlining
The Great Hangover Tour (2009)
The Cud Life Tour (2011-2013)
The Especial Tour (2016)
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour (2017)
Supporting
Glow in the Dark Tour (2008)
The Monster Ball Tour (2009)
See also
Kids See Ghosts
WZRD
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of American Grammy Award winners and nominees
List of neo-psychedelia artists
List of alternative hip hop artists
Midwest hip hop
References
External links
1984 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Actors from Shaker Heights, Ohio
African-American male rappers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
Alternative hip hop musicians
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American male film actors
American male television actors
American music industry executives
American music video directors
American rappers of Mexican descent
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Living people
Male actors from Cleveland
Midwest hip hop musicians
Motown artists
Musicians from Cleveland
Musicians from Shaker Heights, Ohio
People from Solon, Ohio
People with mood disorders
Rappers from Cleveland
Record producers from Ohio
Republic Records artists
Songwriters from Ohio
Universal Motown Records artists
University of Toledo alumni
Poets from Ohio
21st-century American poets
American fashion businesspeople
21st-century African-American writers
Alternative rock musicians
20th-century African-American people
American male songwriters
Mental health activists
American male actors of Mexican descent | true | [
"A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, identifying the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation. It may include a short statement of such fundamental matters as the organization's values or philosophies, a business's main competitive advantages, or a desired future state—the \"vision\". Historically it is associated with Christian religious groups; indeed, for many years, a missionary was assumed to be a person on a specifically religious mission. The word \"mission\" dates from 1598, originally of Jesuits sending (\"missio\", Latin for \"act of sending\") members abroad.\n\nA mission is not simply a description of an organization by an external party, but an expression, made by its leaders, of their desires and intent for the organization. The purpose of a mission statement is to communicate the organisation's purpose and direction to its employees, customers, vendors, and other stakeholders. A mission statement also creates a sense of identity for its employees. Organizations normally do not change their mission statements over time, since they define their continuous, ongoing purpose and focus.\n\nAccording to Chris Bart, professor of strategy and governance at McMaster University, a commercial mission statement consists of three essential components:\n\n Key market: the target audience\n Contribution: the product or service\n Distinction: what makes the product unique or why the audience should buy it over another\n\nBart estimates that in practice, only about ten percent of mission statements say something meaningful. For this reason, they are widely regarded with contempt.\n\nPurpose \n\nAlthough the notion of business purpose may transcend that of a mission statement, the sole purpose of a commercial mission statement is to summarize a company's main goal/agenda, it outlines in brief terms what the goal of a company is. Some generic examples of mission statements would be, \"To provide the best service possible within the banking sector for our customers.\" or \"To provide the best experience for all of our customers.\" The reason why businesses make use of mission statements is to make it clear what they look to achieve as an organization, not only to themselves and their employees but to the customers and other people who are a part of the business, such as shareholders. As a company evolves, so will their mission statement. This is to make sure that the company remains on track and to ensure that the mission statement does not lose its touch and become boring or stale.\n\nIt is important that a mission statement is not confused with a vision statement. As discussed earlier, the main purpose of a mission statement is to get across the ambitions of an organisation in a short and simple fashion; it is not necessary to go into detail for the mission statement which is evident in examples given. The reason why it is important that a mission statement and vision statement are not confused is because they both serve different purposes. Vision statements tend to be more related to strategic planning and lean more towards discussing where a company aims to be in the future.\n\nReligious mission statements are less explicit about key market, contribution and distinction, but clearly describe the organization's purpose. For example: \"Peoples Church is called to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and the beliefs of the evangelical Christian faith, to maintain the worship of God, and to inspire in all persons a love for Christ, a passion for righteousness, and a consciousness of their duties to God and their fellow human beings. We pledge our lives to Christ and covenant with each other to demonstrate His Spirit through worship, witnessing, and ministry to the needs of the people of this church and the community.\"\n\nAdvantages \nProvides direction: Mission statements are a way to direct a business into the right path. They play a part in helping the business make better decisions which can be beneficial to them. Without the mission statement providing direction, businesses may struggle when it comes to making decisions and planning for the future. This is why providing direction could be considered one of the most advantageous points of a mission statement.\n\nClear purpose: Having a clear purpose can remove any potential ambiguities that may surround the existence of a business. People who are interested in the progression of the business, such as stakeholders, will want to know that the business is making the right choices and progressing more towards achieving their goals, which will help to remove any doubt the stakeholders may have in the business.\n\nA mission statement can act as a motivational tool within an organisation, and it can allow employees to all work towards one common goal that benefits both the organisation and themselves. This can help with factors such as employee satisfaction and productivity. It is important that employees feel a sense of purpose. Giving them this sense of purpose will allow them to focus more on their daily tasks and help them realise the goals of the organisation and their role.\n\nDisadvantages \n\nAlthough it is mostly beneficial for a business to craft a good mission statement, there are some situations where a mission statement can be considered pointless or not useful to a business.\n\nUnrealistic: In most cases, mission statements turn out to be unrealistic and far too optimistic. An unrealistic mission statement can also affect the performance and morale of the employees within the workplace. This is because an unrealistic mission statement would reduce the likelihood of employees being able to meet this standard which could demotivate employees in the long term. Unrealistic mission statements also serve no purpose and can be considered a waste of management's time. Another issue which could arise from an unrealistic mission statement is that poor decisions could be made in an attempt to achieve this goal which has the potential to harm the business and be seen as a waste of both time and resources.\n\nWaste of time and resources: Mission statements require planning. This takes time and effort for those who are responsible for creating the mission statement. If the mission statement is not achieved, then the process of creating the mission statement could be seen as a waste of time for all of the people involved. A lot of thought and time can be spent in designing a good mission statement, and to have all of that time wasted is not what businesses can afford. The wasted time could have been spent on much more important tasks within the organisation such as decision-making for the business.\n\nDesign \nAccording to an independent contributor to Forbes, the following questions must be answered in the mission statement:\n “What do we do?” — The mission statement should clearly outline the main purpose of the organisation, and what they do.\n “How do we do it?” — It should also mention how one plans on achieving the mission statement.\n “Whom do we do it for?” — The audience of the mission statement should be clearly stated within the mission statement.\n “What value are we bringing?” — The benefits and values of the mission statement should be clearly outlined.\n\nWhen designing a mission statement, it should be very clear to the audience what the purpose of it is. It is ideal for a business to be able to communicate their mission, goals and objectives to the reader without including any unnecessary information through the mission statement. \n\nRichard Branson has commented on ways of crafting a good mission statement; he explains the importance of having a mission statement that is clear and straight to the point and does not contain unnecessary baffling. He went on to analyse a mission statement, using Yahoo's mission statement at the time (2013) as an example. In his evaluation of the mission statement, he seemed to suggest that while the statement sounded interesting, most people would not be able to understand the message it is putting across. In other words, the message of the mission statement potentially meant nothing to the audience.\n\nSee also \n Strategic planning\n Strategy Markup Language\n Vision statement\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\nStatements\nBusiness terms\nStrategic management",
"The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) was a non-profit organization founded in 1963 by Alan Frank Guttmacher. It was a membership association of nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, pharmacists, physician assistants, physicians, researchers, educators, and other professionals. The organization closed in 2019.\n\nAccording to their mission statement, the organization aimed to \"...provide reproductive health services or education, conduct reproductive health research, or influence reproductive health policy. ARHP educated healthcare professionals, policy makers and the public. The organization fostered research and advocacy to improve reproductive health.\"\n\nThe organization was accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.\n\nContraception is the Association's official journal.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n ARHP web site\n\nMedical and health organizations based in Washington, D.C.\nMedical and health organizations based in California\n1963 establishments in California\nOrganizations established in 1963"
]
|
[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games"
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | What were Thompson's thoughts about video games? | 1 | What were Jack Thompson's thoughts about video games? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | true | [
"I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator is a 2006 freeware video game developed by Derek Yu, Chris Hanson, Philippe Jones, Alec Holowka and Christopher Howard Wolf. It was created as a satirical response to a challenge by anti-video game-violence activist and disbarred attorney Jack Thompson.\n\nBackground\nThis game was created and released in response to \"A Modest Video Game Proposal\" issued in late 2005 by activist attorney Jack Thompson, known for his opposition to sex and violence in entertainment, including computer and video games. This challenge dared computer game producers to release a game following a \"script\" he outlined, in which the grieving father of a child killed by a computer gamer takes vengeance by murdering many people connected with the gaming industry in a brutal manner. Thompson promised to contribute a $10,000 donation to the charity of choice of Paul Eibeler (then-chairman of Take-Two Interactive, one of the game companies most heavily criticized by Thompson) if such a game were released. However, he has since claimed that the proposal was only a joke, and currently, no charity has been designated by Eibeler. The makers of the gaming-related webcomic Penny Arcade have, however, made a $10,000 donation in Thompson's name to the Entertainment Software Association Foundation, a philanthropic, grant-giving body run by the Entertainment Software Association.\n\nThe \"O.K\" in the title refers to the initials of the protagonist, Osaki Kim, but together with the first part of the game's name is also a play on the accusation that video game violence is being considered normal by manufacturers and gamers. The reference to a \"Murder Simulator\" refers to what Thompson regularly proclaims all violent computer games to be.\n\nI'm O.K is a side-scrolling video game with 16-bit era low-resolution graphics that shares (to a degree) the basic gameplay (and somewhat lowbrow humor) of the Metal Slug series.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n Download I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator at Derek Yu's website\n\n2006 video games\nBlack comedy video games\nClickteam Fusion games\nFreeware games\nIndie video games\nParody video games\nRetro-style video games\nRun and gun games\nSatirical video games\nSide-scrolling beat 'em ups\nSingle-player video games\nVideo games developed in the United States\nVideo games set in Los Angeles\nVideo games set in New York (state)\nVideo games set in Philadelphia\nWindows games\nWindows-only games",
"Buzz!: The Schools Quiz is an educational game based on the popular Buzz! series of games. The game was developed by Relentless Software in association with the UK Government's Department for Education and Skills (DfES), and it was released for the PlayStation 2 exclusively in the United Kingdom. The game's 5,000 questions are based on the Key Stage 2 Curriculum that covers children between the ages of 7 and 11 years.Although the game is published by Sony the development cost were covered by Relentless themselves and a Government grant from DfES to fund the initial prototype.\n\nRounds\nFastest Finger - A traditional round of Buzz! games. Players press their coloured buttons as fast as they can and see if they can get the questions right.\nPie Fight - A round which first appeared in Buzz! The Mega Quiz, when a player gets a question correct they choose who they want to throw a pie at but they have to be careful, they could throw it at themselves!\nFact or Fiction - Another round that was also in Buzz! The Mega Quiz. The questions take the form of Buzz making a statement and players use the blue and orange buttons to say if the statement is fact or fiction.\nGeneral Knowledge - New to Buzz! You select your subject and everyone answers a question on it.\nTop Rank - Players put the answers in the correct order as fast as they can!\nThe Final Countdown - Players' points are turned into time and however long they take to answer a question, their chances of winning goes down. Last one standing wins the game.\n\nVoices\n Buzz - Jason Donovan\n Rose - Nicky Birch\n Questions - Sally Beaumont\n\nReception\nProbably because Buzz!: The Schools Quiz was seen more as an educational aid rather than a game per se, the game wasn't reviewed in any of the regular games magazines and websites although the newspaper reviews that it did receive were positive. The Sunday Times gave it top marks of 5 stars and said \"The Schools Quiz is certainly no substitute for homework or proper revision, but it is a good way to reinforce what children have already learnt in class\" The Guardian gave the game 4/5 and said \"This game is a great way for both teachers and parents to make learning fun\"\n\nDespite the game being for use in UK schools only, it was criticised by US attorney Jack Thompson who was quoted in UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph as saying \"Video games have hurt far more people than they have helped,\", \"I don't see how they can be of any more benefit than normal teaching.\".\n\nAlthough in an email to UK video game website Eurogamer, Thompson stated that the quotes were \"a total fabrication\". Thompson continued \"I was never interviewed about Buzz. I had never heard about it until I was quoted having allegedly said this about it,\".\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nRelentless Software\n\n2008 video games\nBuzz!\nEurope-exclusive video games\nParty video games\nPlayStation 2 games\nPlayStation 2-only games\nSony Interactive Entertainment games\nVideo games developed in the United Kingdom\nMultiplayer and single-player video games"
]
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[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors."
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | What did he criticize about them? | 2 | What did Jack Thompson criticize about video games? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | true | [
"\"Criticize\" is a song by American recording artist Alexander O'Neal, written by O'Neal and Jellybean Johnson. It was the second single from O'Neal's second solo album, Hearsay (1987). The song's distinctive backing vocals were performed by Lisa Keith. Following the successful chart performances of the Hearsay single \"Fake\", \"Criticize\" was released as the album's second single.\n\nMeaning\nThe song's lyrics are a personal commentary, critical of a nagging ex-lover, who criticizes his \"friends\", \"ideals\", \"lifestyle\", and \"feeling[s]\".\n\nRelease\nThe song peaked at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming his biggest hit there, and in 2020 became O'Neal's first single to be certified Silver in the UK. In O'Neal's native United States, it peaked at No. 4 on the R&B chart, and No. 70 on the main Billboard Hot 100. It was also one of his only two hits to chart in the Republic of Ireland (reaching No. 14).\n\nIn popular culture\nThe song is featured in the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV on the in-game radio station \"The Vibe 98.8\".\n\nTrack listing\n 12\" Maxi (Tabu TBU 651158 6)\n \"Criticize (Remix)\" - 7:00\n \"Criticize (Edit)\" - 3:55\n \"Criticize (A Cappella)\" - 2:40\n \"Criticize (Critical Mix)\" - 5:30\n \"Criticize (Critical Edit)\" - 3:45\n \"Criticize (Critical Dub)\" - 4:30\n \"Criticize (Nag Mix)\" - 1:35\n\n 12\" Single\n \"Criticize (Remix)\" - 7:00\n \"Criticize (Critical Mix)\" - 5:30\n \"Fake (Extended Version)\" - 5:20\n\n 7\" Single (Tabu 651158 7)\n \"Criticize\" - 4:00\n \"A Broken Heart Can Mend\" - 3:40\n\nPersonnel\nCredits are adapted from the album's liner notes.\n Alexander O'Neal - lead vocals and backing vocals\n Jellybean Johnson - synthesizers, electric guitar and drum machine\n Jimmy Jam - synthesizers\n Lisa Keith - backing vocals\n Brie Howard-Darling - drums, matraca and timbals\n\nSales chart performance\n\nPeak positions\n\nCertifications\n\nRe-recording\nAlexander O’Neal re-recorded “Criticize” in 1998 with producers Errol Jones and John Girvan. The song was released as a commercial single, peaking at number 51 on the UK Singles Chart.\n\nTrack listing\n UK CD Single (OWECD3)\n \"Criticize (‘98 Critical Yojo Working Radio Mix)\" – 3:59\n \"Criticize (‘98 Chill Out Positivity Krew Radio Mix)\" – 4:38\n \"Criticize (‘98 Critical Yojo Working Club Mix)\" – 6:56\n \"Criticize (‘98 House Positivity Mix)\" – 4:20\n\n UK 12” Single (OWET3)\n \"Criticize (‘98 Critical Yojo Working Club Mix)\" – 6:56\n \"Criticize (‘98 Critical Yojo Working Radio Mix)\" – 3:59\n \"Criticize (‘98 Dub Mix)\" – 4:38\n\n Germany 12” Single (0066260CLU)\n \"Criticize 1999 (Bini & Martini Club Vocal Mix)\" – 7:22\n \"Criticize 1999 (Bini & Martini Ocean Dub)\" – 6:05\n \"Criticize 1999 (Bini & Martini Subsonic Vocal Mix)\" – 8:30\n \"Criticize 1999 (Bini & Martini Subsonic Dub)\" – 7:52\n\n Germany 12” Single (0066540CLU)\n \"Criticize (Stonebridge Club Mix)\" – 9:52\n \"Criticize (Critical Yojo Working Club Mix)\" – 6:56\n \"Criticize (Jamie Lewis Phat Club Mix)\" – 7:49\n\n Italy 12” Single (BLUE012)\n \"Criticize '99 (Jamie Lewis Phat Club Mix)\" – 7:49\n \"Criticize '99 (Harley & Muscle Deep House Mix)\" – 7:54\n\n Italy 12” Single (BLUE013)\n \"Criticize 1999 (Bini & Martini Club Vocal Mix)\" – 7:22\n \"Criticize 1999 (Bini & Martini Ocean Dub)\" – 6:05\n \"Criticize 1999 (Bini & Martini Sub Sonic Vocal Dub)\" – 8:30\n\nReferences\n\n1987 singles\nAlexander O'Neal songs\n1987 songs\nSong recordings produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis\nSongs written by Jellybean Johnson\nSongs written by Alexander O'Neal",
"Mahmoud Vahidnia () (born 1989 in Tehran) is an Iranian philosopher and PhD candidate of philosophy at Shahid Beheshti University.\n\nLife\nVahidnia received his BSc in mathematics from Sharif University of Technology and his MA in philosophy from Shahid Beheshti University. \nHe won a gold medal at the Iranian Mathematical Olympiad in 2007. He is also a winner of the silver medal in national computer Olympiad in Iran. Although some media reported he was the \"international mathematics Olympiad winner\", he didn't compete at any international mathematics Olympiads.\n\nCriticism of Iranian Supreme Leader\nVahidnia got significant media attention when he was a student in the Department of Mathematics at Sharif University of Technology for his face-to-face criticism of Iran's supreme leader on October 28, 2009, during a meeting between Ali Khamenei and students. During this meeting, Khamenei was challenged by Vahidnia in what was called \"an unusual encounter\". The event was being broadcast by Iranian state-run TV. That made the authorities stop airing the programme.\n\nCitations\nOn October 28, 2009, during the annual meeting of Tehran intellectual elites with the Supreme Leader, in Tehran University, Vahidinia spoke for 20 minutes without interruptions, critiquing the status of ignorant idol in a golden cage of the Supreme ayatollah Khamenei. Some time before, Khamenei had announced that \"Contestation of the 12 June vote is the worst crime possible\". The Iranian state-run TV stopped the broadcasting, but the audience's cellphones managed to record the full speech. Mahmoud asked: \"I want to ask you something: why does nobody in this country dare to criticize you? Do you think that you never make mistakes? Isn't this ignorance? You have been changed into a kind of inaccessible idol that nobody can criticize. I don't understand why everybody is forbidden to criticize your choices.\".\n\nStructure of the speech\nVahidnia classified his criticism in four parts: \n State-run TV: IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) for trying to show a reverse image of what is happening in Iran after June 12, 2009, election and destroying the figures that people trust. He brought up that since the head of IRIB is selected by the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, Khamenei is either unaware of what is happening in an organization under his control or he has direct control and is responsible for their programs.\n Freedom of speech: intelligence-based atmosphere ruling the media and press and brought up the issues that critical newspapers have been facing. He asked for an end to closure of press offices and demanded freedom of the press even when they criticize the supreme leader.\n Supreme leader is criticize-able: Lack of openness in society so that people and intellectuals could freely criticize the supreme leader since the supreme leader, like anyone else, is prone to making mistakes. In his speech, Vahidnia mentioned that the ones around the supreme leader are making an idol.\n Organization of power: Cycle of power in the Islamic Republic and the structure of Guardian Council and Assembly of Experts.\n\nSee also\n Ahmad Zeidabadi\n2009 Iranian election protests\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n fa: BBC Mahmod Vahid nia- official TV report.\n\nLiving people\n21st-century Iranian philosophers\nSharif University of Technology alumni\nShahid Beheshti University alumni\n1989 births"
]
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[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors.",
"What did he criticize about them?",
"His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as \"murder simulators\" to rehearse violent plans."
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | How well did his campaign against video games do? | 3 | How well did Jack Thompson's campaign against video games do? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | true | [
"Power Politics (game) is a Government simulation game published by Mindscape who obtained it from Will Vinton's Cineplay Interactive. Vinton was famous for Claymation featuring the California Raisins.\n\nVersion I featured the 1992 United States Presidential election.\n\nVersion II was re-branded as The Doonesbury Election Campaign, essentially the same game, but starring the characters from the Doonesbury comic strip.\n\nPower Politics III (2004) featuring then current candidates, stronger graphics and online competitions.\n\nThe game simulated the real world so well that the Associated Press printed its \"simulated\" results predicting a victory by Bill Clinton in the 1992 elections. George Magazine ran a feature article on it in their premier edition.\n\nWhile it is a worthwhile and challenging simulation for gamers, Power Politics also found its way into classrooms in over 400 colleges and universities, including George Washington University of Washington DC as a tool for teaching the realities and complexities of political campaign management. The game won numerous awards for content, quality and creativity.\n\nA player can campaign for one of thirty previous presidential candidates in an attempt to create an alternate history.\n\nA player can create a political candidate with specified strengths and weaknesses, defining how liberal or conservative the candidate will be; select positions on the important issues; set the schedule; determine what type of advertising campaign will be run and how much to spend on it. Selecting a running mate is part of the game simulation.\n\nPlayers can also do “what-if” scenarios just to test how candidates would have done against different opponents from different eras and political climates, rather than the one in which the candidate really lived. The historical cut-off is the 1960 campaign, the first in which television was an important factor. FDR vs JFK” or “Adlai Stevenson vs H. Ross Perot” would not work because FDR and Stevenson were candidates before 1960. Similarly pitting JFK against Lyndon Johnson would not work because they were from the same party. However a JFK vs Bob Dole or Jimmy Carter vs George HW Bush would work because they were real candidates, from 1960 and after.\n\nDevelopment, Current Status \nThe game was developed by Randy Chase, who obtained all rights to the earlier versions and was planning to bring the game forward to apply to the 2008 presidential election, but died of heart failure and complications of diabetes at age 53.\n\nReception\nIn a 1994 survey of wargames Computer Gaming World gave Power Politics two-plus stars out of five, criticizing the requirement that all historical candidates run in 1992 (\"Quemoy and Matsu do not translate well into contemporary economic issues\").\n\nReferences \n\n Simulation & Gaming Journal\n\nExternal links \n\nIGN Review\n\n1992 video games\nGovernment simulation video games\nMindscape games\nVideo games developed in the United States\nWindows games\nWindows-only games",
"Did You Know may refer to:\n\nDid You Know...?, an advertising campaign for GEICO\n\"Did You Know\", 2016 single by Pauly D\n\nSee also\n Do You Know (disambiguation)\n DYK (disambiguation)\n \"How Did You Know\", a single by electronic dance music producer and remixer Kurtis Mantronik\n \"Mary, Did You Know?\", a Christmas song with lyrics written by Mark Lowry and music written by Buddy Greene\n Did You Know Gaming?, a video game–focused blog about video game related trivia and facts\n Did You Know People Can Fly?, the debut album by Kaddisfly"
]
|
[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors.",
"What did he criticize about them?",
"His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as \"murder simulators\" to rehearse violent plans.",
"How well did his campaign against video games do?",
"Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004."
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | What was the 2004 case about? | 4 | What was the 2004 case that Jack Thompson got involved with an adult about? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | false | [
"The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley is a series of musical mystery videos starring twin actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. The series was also written as children's books. A set of books was written as a companion piece to the show, showing the twins on the cover.\nThe video series was distributed by BMG Kidz and KidVision.\n\nFormat\nEach video begins with the girls singing the theme song. Following the theme song, the girls receive a phone call, informing them of some urgent mystery that needs to be solved. Their motto is \"We’ll solve any crime by dinnertime.\" Each video features the girls singing multiple songs about the mystery they are working on. They never fail to solve the mystery with their sidekick, Clue (a Basset Hound), and, indeed, the solution is usually something either very obvious or very trivial, to give the video a humorous ending.\n\nPlot outlines\nEach episode is named \"The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley\" followed by the name of the mystery.\n\n1. The Case of Thorn Mansion (1994)\nA ghost is supposedly haunting a mansion in Transylvania, and the girls must figure out who or what is actually behind it. The \"ghost\" ends up being the caretaker of the mansion who is also a beekeeper. (The trip to Transylvania was about 9,000 miles from their attic)\n\n2. The Case of the Logical I Ranch (1994)\nPungent smells and weird noises plague the \"Logical I Ranch\". Some employees of the ranch think it is being caused by a dragon running loose. (The trip to Dead Gulch USA was about 1,372 miles from their attic)\n\n3. The Case of the SeaWorld Adventure (1995)\nThe girls' parents work at SeaWorld as over-worked dolphin trainers. One day, the girls run into a dead body in the woods that eventually leads them and their parents to a cruise ship while trying to solve the rigged mystery. The boss of the girls' parents had planted evidence to get them all on the cruise, so they could take a much-needed family vacation.\n\n4. The Case of the Mystery Cruise (1995)\nThe sequel to The Case of the SeaWorld Adventure. Mary-Kate and Ashley's father has a laptop containing vital information. It gets stolen while on a cruise ship and must be retrieved. The twins believe a friend of their father's was responsible, but it later turned out to be a staged occurrence.\n\n5. The Case of the Fun House Mystery (1995)\nSomething is making scary noises inside the fun house at an amusement park, and the girls must figure out who or what it is. Using the clue of \"Monster Mush\" and \"bananas\", they find out the monster lurking inside the fun house is really an orangutan. (The trip to Tons-Of-Fun was about 1,379 miles from their attic)\n\n6. The Case of the Christmas Caper (1995)\nHackers break into Santa's computer to steal the \"Spirit of Christmas\", the plane Santa uses to fly to deliver all the presents to the children of the world on Christmas Eve. It is up to girls to show what the holiday is all about. (The trip to North Pole Drive was about 1,000 miles from their attic)\n\n7. The Case of the U.S. Space Camp Mission (1996)\nA space shuttle has been grounded, due to a mysterious tapping sound coming from its outer surface. Unless the girls can figure out what is going on, the space shuttle will be not be able to lift-off. To figure out the mystery, they get help learning about space travel through the U.S. Space Camp program. (The trip to Huntsville was about 1,643 miles from their attic)\n\n8. The Case of the Shark Encounter (1996)\nThree pirates claim that the sharks at a SeaWorld exhibit are singing, and the girls must figure out where the strange sounds are coming from. (The trip to Orlando was about 2,500 miles from their attic)\n\n9. The Case of the Hotel Who-Done-It (1996)\nThe girls travel to Hawaii, where they meet a hotel manager who has been dealing with a string of recent disappearances around the hotel. (The trip to Hawaii was about 2,556 miles from their attic)\n\n10. The Case of the Volcano Mystery (1997)\nThe girls receive a call from some miners of marshmallows that a snowball-throwing monster has been \"terrorizing\" them. The girls eventually find out that the \"snow\" is really ash, and the \"monster\" is actually a geologist warning them that an active volcano is not a safe place to work. (The trip to Jelly Island was about 1,759 miles from their attic)\n\n11. The Case of the United States Navy Adventure (1997)\nUnidentified flying objects have been seen flying overhead. In this case, the girls get help from the United States Navy to solve the mystery. The \"UFOs\" ended up being a satellite that was flying too low in orbit. (The trip to The Edge of the World was about 3,528 miles from their attic)\n\nCompilation releases\n\nOther than the eleven episodes, there were two compilation videos made.\n\nThe Amazing Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley\n\nIncludes The Case of the SeaWorld Adventure, The Case of the U.S. Space Camp Mission, and The Case of the Hotel Who-Done-It.\n\nThe Favorite Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley\n\nIncludes The Case of the Volcano Mystery, The Case of the Fun House Mystery, and The Case of the Logical I Ranch.\n\nReferences \n\nDirect-to-video film series\nAmerican children's films\nAmerican films\n1990s mystery films\n1990s musical films\nMary-Kate and Ashley Olsen\nFilms about children\nFilms about twin sisters\n1990s children's films\nTwins in fiction",
"\"A Case for Shame\" is a song by American electronica musician Moby. It was released as the first official single from his eleventh studio album Innocents on July 1, 2013. The track is a collaboration with Canadian singer-songwriter Cold Specks.\n\nBackground \nMoby first came into contact with Cold Specks due to their mutual connection as Mute Records label mates, and after listening to her 2012 album I Predict a Graceful Expulsion, he invited her to collaborate. The two recorded the songs \"A Case for Shame\" and \"Tell Me\", the former in November 2012 while Cold Specks was on tour in the United Kingdom. Cold Specks described the recording process as \"a very free, collaborative, creative environment... He was really open to what I was doing and luckily he liked what I was doing and it worked really well.\"\n\nMusic video \nThe music video for \"A Case of Shame\" was directed by Moby and released on July 17, 2013. Filmed in a pool in his Los Angeles home, the clip's premise was described by Moby as being about \"an after-life inhabited by people who are concealing themselves because of shame.\"\n\nTrack listing\n Digital download\n\"A Case for Shame\" – 5:48\n\"A Case for Shame\" – 5:58\n\"A Case for Shame\" – 6:19\n Digital download – remixes \n\"A Case for Shame\" – 8:42\n\"A Case for Shame\" – 8:38\n\"A Case for Shame\" – 6:33\n\"A Case for Shame\" – 6:34\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n2013 singles\n2013 songs\nMoby songs\nSongs written by Moby\nSong recordings produced by Spike Stent"
]
|
[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors.",
"What did he criticize about them?",
"His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as \"murder simulators\" to rehearse violent plans.",
"How well did his campaign against video games do?",
"Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004.",
"What was the 2004 case about?",
"This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year"
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | How did the case end? | 5 | How did the murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy that Jack Thompson got involved with end? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | true | [
"In Kidwell v The Master, an important case in the South African law of succession, the testator had signed right at the bottom of the will; there was about between the end of the will (which included the witnesses’ signatures) and the testator's signature. The question before the court was where the end of the will was. The court held that the will was invalid as it did not comply with section 2(1)(a)(i) of the Wills Act. The decision has been criticised as overly formalistic by some commentators, who believe the overriding criteria for the courts should be to give effect to the wishes of the testator, and this case did not do this over something seemingly insignificant.\n\nSee also \n South African law of succession\n\nNotes \n Kidwell v The Master 1983 (1) SA 509 (E).\n\nReferences \n\nInheritance\nSouth African case law\n1983 in case law\n1983 in South African law",
"This is a list of the 47 cases reported in volume 53 (12 How.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States from December 1851 to March 1852.\n\nNominative reports \nIn 1874, the U.S. government created the United States Reports, and retroactively numbered older privately-published case reports as part of the new series. As a result, cases appearing in volumes 1–90 of U.S. Reports have dual citation forms; one for the volume number of U.S. Reports, and one for the volume number of the reports named for the relevant reporter of decisions (these are called \"nominative reports\").\n\nBenjamin Chew Howard \nStarting with the 42nd volume of U.S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was Benjamin Chew Howard. Howard was Reporter of Decisions from 1843 to 1860, covering volumes 42 through 65 of United States Reports which correspond to volumes 1 through 24 of his Howard's Reports. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, Bein v. Heath is 53 U.S. (12 How.) 168 (1852).\n\nJustices of the Supreme Court at the time of 53 U.S. (12 How.) \n\nThe Supreme Court is established by Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States, which says: \"The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court . . .\". The size of the Court is not specified; the Constitution leaves it to Congress to set the number of justices. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 Congress originally fixed the number of justices at six (one chief justice and five associate justices). Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven, nine, ten, and back to nine justices (always including one chief justice).\n\nWhen the cases in 53 U.S. (12 How.) were decided the Court comprised these nine members:\n\nNotable case in 53 U.S. (12 How.)\n\nCooley v. Board of Wardens\nIn Cooley v. Board of Wardens, 53 U.S. (12 How.) 299 (1852), the Supreme Court held that a Pennsylvania law requiring all ships entering or leaving the Port of Philadelphia to hire a local river pilot did not violate the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The Court decided that the constitutional grant to Congress of power to regulate interstate commerce did not deprive the states of power to regulate maritime pilots; although Congress had legislated on the subject, its legislation showed an intention not to preempt the entire topic. The ruling, however, \"empowered the slave states to interfere with interstate commerce to protect slavery.\"\n\nCitation style \n\nUnder the Judiciary Act of 1789 the federal court structure at the time comprised District Courts, which had general trial jurisdiction; Circuit Courts, which had mixed trial and appellate (from the US District Courts) jurisdiction; and the United States Supreme Court, which had appellate jurisdiction over the federal District and Circuit courts—and for certain issues over state courts. The Supreme Court also had limited original jurisdiction (i.e., in which cases could be filed directly with the Supreme Court without first having been heard by a lower federal or state court). There were one or more federal District Courts and/or Circuit Courts in each state, territory, or other geographical region.\n\nBluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions. \n \"C.C.D.\" = United States Circuit Court for the District of . . .\n e.g.,\"C.C.D.N.J.\" = United States Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey\n \"D.\" = United States District Court for the District of . . .\n e.g.,\"D. Mass.\" = United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts \n \"E.\" = Eastern; \"M.\" = Middle; \"N.\" = Northern; \"S.\" = Southern; \"W.\" = Western\n e.g.,\"C.C.S.D.N.Y.\" = United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York\n e.g.,\"M.D. Ala.\" = United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama\n \"Adm.\" = Admiralty Court (a federal court)\n \"Ct. Cl.\" = United States Court of Claims\n \"Ct. Com. Pl.\" = Court of Common Pleas (a state court)\n The abbreviation of a state's name alone indicates the highest appellate court in that state's judiciary at the time. \n e.g.,\"Pa.\" = Supreme Court of Pennsylvania\n e.g.,\"Me.\" = Supreme Judicial Court of Maine\n\nList of cases in 53 U.S. (12 How.)\n\nNotes and references\n\nSee also\n certificate of division\n\nExternal links\n Case reports in volume 53 (12 How.) from Library of Congress\n Case reports in volume 53 (12 How.) from Court Listener\n Case reports in volume 53 (12 How.) from the Caselaw Access Project of Harvard Law School\n Case reports in volume 53 (12 How.) from Google Scholar\n Case reports in volume 53 (12 How.) from Justia\n Case reports in volume 53 (12 How.) from Open Jurist\n Website of the United States Supreme Court\n United States Courts website about the Supreme Court\n National Archives, Records of the Supreme Court of the United States\n American Bar Association, How Does the Supreme Court Work?\n The Supreme Court Historical Society\n\n \n \n \nSupreme| \n 1851 in United States case law\n 1852 in United States case law"
]
|
[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors.",
"What did he criticize about them?",
"His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as \"murder simulators\" to rehearse violent plans.",
"How well did his campaign against video games do?",
"Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004.",
"What was the 2004 case about?",
"This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year",
"How did the case end?",
"Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant"
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | What was in the search warrant? | 6 | What was in the search warrant that Jack Thompson got the court to unseal? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | search warrant for McCoy's residence. | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | true | [
"In Beheermaatschappij Helling I NV v Magistrate, Cape Town (2007), the applicants, who were, variously, Dutch and South African nationals, sought orders declaring:\n\n three search warrants, issued for purposes of assisting in obtaining evidence for use against the applicants in the Netherlands, to be unconstitutional and invalid;\n the execution of the searches by members of the SAPS to be unconstitutional and invalid;\n the actions of the police in allowing the Dutch authorities access to and copies of the material seized to be unconstitutional and invalid; and\n an order directing the return to the applicants of the original and/or copies of the material seized which were still in the possession or under the control of the respondents.\n\nThe court made note of the following applicable legal principles:\n\n The terms of a search warrant had to be construed with reasonable strictness and, ordinarily, literally.\n A warrant had to convey, intelligibly, the ambit of the search it authorized.\n If the warrant was too general, or if its terms went beyond those permitted by the authorizing statute, it was liable to be found to be invalid and to be set aside.\n It had to specify its object intelligibly and within the bounds of the empowering statute.\n\nThe court found that\n\n the warrants placed no limit on the number or nature of the documents liable to be seized;\n they gave no indication as to how far back in time the searches could extend;\n the descriptions of certain of the documents liable to be seized were vague and extremely wide; and,\n as revealed by the off-site searches, most of the material seized in execution of the first warrant was not authorized by the warrants; most of it was confidential.\n\nIn respect of the search of the applicants' offices, the search warrant authorized only a search for and seizure of \"documentation.\" Construing the warrant with reasonable strictness, and in accordance with its express wording, it did not authorize the seizure of the CPUs and other equipment for storing electronic information from the premises. Nor did it authorize an off-site search.\n\nFurthermore, the-off site search had not been necessary, as the electronic data found by the police could have been copied at the premises without the necessity of removing it off-site and thus disrupting the applicants' business for several days. It was trite that search and seizure had to be carried out in the least intrusive and disruptive manner. The police had no power to disrupt the applicants' business more than was necessary. In the circumstances, the removal by the police of the bulk of the electronic material from the applicants' offices was unlawful, in that it was not authorized by the warrant.\n\nThe court also held that all three search warrants were fatally flawed by being both too vague and too broad.\n\nIt followed that the issuing of the warrants, as well as the searches themselves, were unlawful. In addition, the material seized at the applicants' offices was not authorized by the warrant. The warrants, therefore, were declared invalid, and the respondents were directed to return the material seized.\n\nNotes \nBeheermaatschappij Helling I NV v Magistrate, Cape Town 2007 (1) SACR 99 (C)\nAnnual Survey of South African Law 2007, p 351\n\"Again search warrants\" (2007) 100 Servamus 71\n\nSouth African case law\n2007 in case law\n2007 in South African law",
"In Toich v Magistrate, Riversdale (2007), an important case in South African criminal procedure, Toich's home was searched on two occasions by the police, who were purportedly acting in terms of valid search warrants. Various items and sums of cash were seized.\n\nToich sought an order for the return of the property seized under both warrants, and for the setting aside of the second warrant.\n\nThe court held that the first warrant authorized a search of a certain farm, and not of the applicant's house, which was on an entirely different property. Accordingly, the search of her house had been unauthorized and unlawful, as had been the seizure of her property. Moreover, hardly any of the property seized had been specified in the warrant. In consequence, the applicant was entitled to the return of all the seized items.\n\nRegarding the second warrant, the court found that the police officer had applied to the magistrate for a warrant on the grounds:\n\n that the Asset Forfeiture Unit had ordered the seizure of certain cash known or suspected to be in the applicant's possession;\n that the possibility existed that cash had been generated from the commission of crimes; and\n that, despite an undertaking to do so, the applicant had failed to account to the police for the source of the money.\n\nThe court held that it was clear that the only document relied upon by the police officer in her application for the warrant was her own undated and unattested \"affidavit.\" Given that there had been no viva voce evidence, and given that the \"affidavit\" had not been attested, there had been no information of any kind placed before the magistrate on oath; he had had no power, therefore, under section 21(1)(a) of the CPA, to authorize the issue of the second warrant; it was accordingly invalid.\n\nFurthermore, the court found that the authorities were clear that the validity of a search warrant was to be examined with a jealous regard for the subject's rights to privacy and property.\n\nIn addition, the magistrate or justice of the peace, in authorizing the warrant, must be satisfied by information on oath only that the article to be searched for and seized was under the control or in the possession of a specified person, or was at a specified premises within his or her jurisdiction.\n\nThe terms of the warrant were to be construed with reasonable strictness. It should ordinarily be read in the terms in which it was expressed.\n\nThere must be reasonable grounds, therefore, for believing that the article sought might afford evidence of an offense, but in the instant case the court held that no such grounds had been advanced to the magistrate. He could consequently not have harbored such a belief.\n\nIt followed that he had not properly applied his mind when issuing the warrant, and that it was invalid.\n\nNotes \n\nWestern Cape Division cases\n2007 in case law\n2007 in South African law"
]
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[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors.",
"What did he criticize about them?",
"His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as \"murder simulators\" to rehearse violent plans.",
"How well did his campaign against video games do?",
"Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004.",
"What was the 2004 case about?",
"This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year",
"How did the case end?",
"Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant",
"What was in the search warrant?",
"search warrant for McCoy's residence."
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | Why did Thompson want it unsealed? | 7 | Why did Thompson want the search warrant for McCoy's residence unsealed? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | true | [
"Frijid Pink is the debut album by American rock band Frijid Pink. It was originally released early 1970 by London Records' now-defunct Parrot subsidiary label (cat. no. PAS 71033). \"Tell Me Why\" reached #70 in Canada in May 1969.\n\nTrack listing errors\nThe album was released on German CD (1991, Repertoire Records) including two bonus tracks (\"Heartbreak Hotel\" and \"Music For The People\") that were originally released as singles in 1970 and 1971, respectively. One of the CD later re-releases, being the most widely distributed copies, were missing tracks 5 and 6 of the nine tracks on the original LP.\n\nTrack listing\n\"God Gave Me You\" (Gary Ray Thompson, Tom Beaudry) - 3:35\n\"Crying Shame\" (Michael Valvano) - 3:11\n\"I'm On My Way\" (Thompson, Beaudry) - 4:34\n\"Drivin' Blues\" (Thompson, Beaudry) - 3:14\n\"Tell Me Why\" (Thompson, Beaudry) - 2:50\n\"End Of The Line\" (Thompson, Beaudry) - 4:07\n\"House of the Rising Sun\" (Traditional, arr. Frijid Pink) - 4:44\n\"I Want To Be Your Lover\" (Thompson, Beaudry, Valvano) - 7:30\n\"Boozin' Blues\" (Thompson, Beaudry) - 6:01\n\"Heartbreak Hotel\" (Mae Boren Axton, Thomas Durden, Elvis Presley) (bonus track) - 2:49\n\"Music For The People\" (Thompson, Beaudry) (bonus track) - 2:54\n\nCharts\n\nPersonnel\n\nKelly Green - lead vocals\nGary Ray Thompson - guitar\nTom Harris - bass\nRichard Stevers - drums\n\nAdditional:\nLarry Zelanka - keyboards\n\nReferences\n\n1970 debut albums\nFrijid Pink albums\nParrot Records albums",
"Unsealed World News is an American Evangelical Christian news organization and website that features world and Christian news. Unsealed was founded in 2010. All articles and stories are published in English and available freely (without subscription). It is headquartered in the United States and has a team of five journalists.\n\nThe primary website covers world news stories geared towards an Evangelical Christian audience of conservative persuasion and regularly publishes articles related to United States and international politics, Middle East issues, Christianity, the Bible, and Bible prophecy. Occasionally other topics including science and culture are covered. Like Drudge Report, Unsealed is a news aggregation website, but like traditional news organizations features significant original content and editorial pieces.\n\nIts service provides freely accessible news, features, commentary and video updates to a global readership. Articles are often disseminated via user-submitted news aggregation sites such as Reddit, Digg, and Del.icio.us.\n\nNotoriety\nUnsealed accused third-party U.S. presidential candidate Zoltan Istvan of being an \"Antichrist Candidate,\" a claim to which Istvan responded.\n\nIn September 2016 a number of major publications including the Los Angeles Times, and AOL News reported that Unsealed was predicting that the end of the world would occur in August 2017 due to a solar eclipse, and the Revelation 12 sign prophecy. Unsealed responded to the accusations saying that they \"actually believe the world will never end.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nAlternative journalism organizations\nAmerican news websites\nChristian eschatology\nChristian websites\nInternet properties established in 2010\nNews agencies based in the United States"
]
|
[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors.",
"What did he criticize about them?",
"His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as \"murder simulators\" to rehearse violent plans.",
"How well did his campaign against video games do?",
"Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004.",
"What was the 2004 case about?",
"This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year",
"How did the case end?",
"Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant",
"What was in the search warrant?",
"search warrant for McCoy's residence.",
"Why did Thompson want it unsealed?",
"This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights."
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | Was Thompson able to show the games influenced the defendant? | 8 | Was Jack Thompson able to show the games discovered at McCoy's residence influenced the defendant? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | true | [
"Howard M. Thompson is an American wargame designer and founder of Metagaming Concepts. His first game was Stellar Conquest, a popular and well-designed simulation of interstellar warfare.\n\nThompson is most famous for his idea to publish small, low-cost games in what came to be known as the MicroGame format. For a while, Metagaming dominated this niche wargaming market.\n\nCareer\nHoward Thompson founded Metagaming Concepts in 1975 to publish his game Stellar Conquest when no one was interested in publishing the game. Thompson, as the first editor of The Space Gamer magazine, stated \"The magazine had been planned for after our third or fourth game but circumstances demand we do it now.\" In 1976, Thompson published Godsfire, designed by Lynn Willis and developed by Steve Jackson. In 1977, Thompson came up with the concept of the MicroGame, the first of which was Ogre.\n\nIn the early 1980s, some speculate that the company started to run into financial trouble, partially because of the generally poor economic situation at that time, and because of the split with one of his main game designers, Steve Jackson. Thompson was not satisfied with the work done on The Fantasy Trip by Jackson, stating that it was too complex and had taken too long. Thompson decided that packaging the game in a box would be too expensive, so he split the product into four books, publishing them individually in 1980 as Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard, In the Labyrinth, and Tollenkar's Lair; while the game was being prepared, Thompson also changed his production methods and thus Jackson was no longer able to check the final proofs of the game as he had on earlier releases. As a result of these actions, Jackson left Metagaming and founded Steve Jackson Games later that year. Jackson bought The Space Gamer from Metagaming, and sold the rights to The Fantasy Trip to Metagaming. However, Thompson sought legal action against SJG for the rights to a short wargame called One-Page Bulge, and the lawsuit was settled with an agreement that was reached on November 26, 1981 which gave Jackson full rights to One-Page Bulge, and to Ogre and G.E.V. (whose ownership was questioned during the legal proceedings). In the first SJG issue of The Space Gamer, Thompson wrote a report on Metagaming and stated \"Metagaming's staff won't miss the effort. After the change in ownership Metagaming feels comfortable with the decision; it was the right thing to do.\"\n\nThompson wrote MicroQuest #3 Treasure of the Silver Dragon (1980) and MicroQuest #6 Treasure of Unicorn Gold (1981) for The Fantasy Trip and marketed each of them linked to a real treasure hunt where readers could find out the clues in the books and receive $10,000 from Metagaming. Looking to produce more group-oriented products for The Fantasy Trip, Thompson signed an agreement in 1982 with RPG publisher Gamelords to create a campaign world for the game, but only two campaign books were published.\n\nOn 1 January 1982, Thompson created Games Research Group, Inc., which was initially part of Metagaming. On April 16, 1982, Thompson let his two wargame designers go, allowing them to work as freelancers for Games Research Group instead of working as employees. In April 1983, Metagaming ceased operations and Thompson left the industry; Steve Jackson tried to purchase The Fantasy Trip from Thompson, but Jackson declined the offered price of $250,000. Thompson promised to return to the field to produce computer games, but by 1984 he stopped returning phone calls and has subsequently disappeared entirely from the gaming community.\n\nGames designed\n Stellar Conquest (1974)\n Chitin: I (1977)\n WarpWar (1977)\n Treasure of the Silver Dragon (1980) (module for The Fantasy Trip role-playing game)\n Treasure of the Unicorn Gold (1981) (module for The Fantasy Trip)\n Starleader: Assault! (1982)\n\nIllustrations\nThompson also provided illustrations for two of his company's games, Helltank and Monsters! Monsters!\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nBoard game designers\nPlace of birth missing\nPossibly living people\nYear of birth missing",
"The Thompson King Miners were a junior ice hockey team from Thompson, Manitoba, Canada. The King Miners were members of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and the NorMan Junior Hockey League.\n\nHistory\nThe Thompson King Miners joined the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in 1975. After three rough seasons, the King Miners folded in 1978. One of the big problems for the team was that they were fairly remote compared to the rest of the teams in the MJHL due to their distance from Winnipeg, the central-point of the MJHL.\n\nIn the summer of 1978, the people of Thompson did not want to lose their Junior team, so along with the people of Flin Flon (who just dropped out of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League) formed a Junior B league (NorMan Junior Hockey League) with The Pas Huskies and the Snow Lake Spartans. Flin Flon would be the first league champion and eventually win the Manitoba Provincial Junior B Hockey Championship in 1979. In the summer of 1979, based on the strength of the Flin Flon and Thompson clubs, the league was promoted to Junior \"A\" to compete for the Centennial Cup. That first season of the NorMan League, the team would be known as the \"Nickel Knights\", but the name was soon dropped.\n\n1979–80\nThe King Miners would win the first ever NorMan Junior \"A\" title by defeating the Flin Flon Bombers 3-games-to-none. They then faced the MJHL Champion for the Turnbull Cup, the Manitoba Junior Championship. The MJHL Champion Selkirk Steelers defeated them 3-games-to-none (6-2, 13-2, and 7-4) to move on to the Anavet Cup against the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League champion.\n\n1980–81\nThe King Miners take their second straight NJHL crown by defeating the Flin Flon Bombers 4-games-to-2, despite finishing second to them in the league standings. In the Turnbull Cup, the MJHL's St. Boniface Saints defeated them 3-games-to-none (6-4, 11-4, and 9-2) to move on to the Anavet Cup.\n\n1984–85\nAfter not winning the league for three straight seasons, the King Miners won what would be the last NJHL championship in 1985. At the Turnbull Cup, the Selkirk Steelers of the MJHL defeated them (8-3, 5-0, and 6-3) to move on to the Anavet Cup.\n\nThe End\nWith Flin Flon moving to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in 1984, the NorMan League with Thompson, The Pas, and Snow Lake folded unceremoniously at the end of the 1984-85 season. Although there were attempts to expand the league into Saskatchewan, the league was never able to come back from the lack of teams and never played another season. This would be the end of Junior hockey in Thompson.\n\nSeason-by-season standings\n\nNote a: Withdrew from League Jan 9, 1978. 19 games were counted as default losses.\n\nPlayoffs\nMJHL Years\n1976 DNQ\n1977 Lost Quarter-final\nDauphin Kings defeated Thompson King Miners 4-games-to-none\n1978 Did Not Complete Season\nNJHL Years\n1979 Lost Final\nThompson King Miners defeated Snow Lake Spartans 13-goals-to-2 in 2 games\nFlin Flon Bombers defeated Thompson King Miners\n1980 Won League, Lost Turnbull Cup\nThompson King Miners defeated Snow Lake Spartans 3-games-to-2\nThompson King Miners defeated Flin Flon Bombers 3-games-to-none NJHL CHAMPIONS\nSelkirk Steelers (MJHL) defeated Thompson King Miners 3-games-to-none\n1981 Won League, Lost Turnbull Cup\nThompson King Miners defeated Snow Lake Spartans 4-games-to-none\nThompson King Miners defeated Flin Flon Bombers 4-games-to-2 NJHL CHAMPIONS\nSt. Boniface Saints (MJHL) defeated Thompson King Miners 3-games-to-none\n1982 Lost Final\nThompson King Miners defeated Snow Lake Spartans\nFlin Flon Bombers defeated Thompson King Miners 4-games-to-none\n1983 Possibly DNQ\n1984 Lost Final\nFlin Flon Bombers defeated Thompson King Miners 4-games-to-3\n1985 Won League, Lost Turnbull Cup\nThompson King Miners defeated Snow Lake Spartans 4-games-to-1 NJHL CHAMPIONS\nSelkirk Steelers (MJHL) defeated Thompson King Miners 3-games-to-none\n\nExternal links\nThompson Minor Hockey\nHockey Manitoba\nManitoba Junior Hockey League\n\nDefunct Manitoba Junior Hockey League teams\nThompson, Manitoba"
]
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[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors.",
"What did he criticize about them?",
"His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as \"murder simulators\" to rehearse violent plans.",
"How well did his campaign against video games do?",
"Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004.",
"What was the 2004 case about?",
"This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year",
"How did the case end?",
"Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant",
"What was in the search warrant?",
"search warrant for McCoy's residence.",
"Why did Thompson want it unsealed?",
"This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights.",
"Was Thompson able to show the games influenced the defendant?",
"he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia."
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | Did the insanity defense work? | 9 | Did the insanity defense by McCoy's defense team work? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | true | [
"Settled insanity is defined as a permanent or \"settled\" condition caused by long-term substance abuse and differs from the temporary state of intoxication. In some United States jurisdictions \"settled insanity\" can be used as a basis for an insanity defense, even though voluntary intoxication cannot, if the \"settled insanity\" negates one of the required elements of the crime such as malice aforethought. However, U.S. federal and state courts have differed in their interpretations of when the use of \"settled insanity\" is acceptable as an insanity defense and also over what is included in the concept of \"settled insanity\".\n\nHistory\nEarly English common law recognized \"settled insanity\" as a complete defense for a person who is a habitual drunk but is not intoxicated at the time of the offense. A complete defense exonerates the accused and is a verdict of not guilty. Thus a person meeting the criteria of \"settled insanity\" is not considered responsible for his actions. Under the M'Naghten Rules, the first attempt in criminal law to address the issue of a mentally ill defendant, mental illness (or insanity) can be used as a defense if the defendant was unable to understand the criminal nature of his act or was unable to distinguish right from wrong at that time of the offense. The standard for an insanity defense developed by the American Law Institute requires a showing that the defendant's mental illness prevented him from abiding by the law. Traditionally, under English common law intoxication, no matter to what degree, was not considered grounds for excusing the defendant's criminal behavior. However, over the last half century, there has been a movement toward allowing intoxication as evidence admissible in court to help the jury understand the criminal act and perhaps use it as an excuse or a mitigating factor.\n\nAlthough voluntary intoxication is not considered an excuse for a criminal act, if it can be shown that the defendant was too intoxicated to deliberate or premeditate the wrongful act, (lacking malice aforethought), a defense of diminished capacity, while not excusing the defendant from responsibility for the act, can serve to reduce the charges. Similarly, the plea of temporary insanity (applicable only to charges of murder) can serve to reduce the charges from first degree murder to assault or lessen the sentence if it can be shown that the defendant, due to intoxication, acted without deliberation or reflection (lacking malice aforethought), thus negating specific intent. However, ten states have rejected that specific intent can be negated by voluntary intoxication. Some jurisdictions allow voluntary intoxication in the context of a preexisting mental disorder to qualify for an insanity defense.\n\nSettled insanity\nOver time, as United States court ruling have been refining the insanity defense, the concept of \"settled insanity\" has been evolving. Originally, any form of insanity caused by the voluntary use of drugs was not an eligible defense for a criminal offense. The rationale was that any act that results from voluntary behavior, including the voluntary intake of drugs, is choosing to increase the risk of breaking the law. Most United States jurisdictions now recognize that the long-term voluntary use of an intoxicating substance can cause a stable or \"settled insanity\" that can serve as a defense to a criminal act, especially if the long-term use exacerbated a preexisting mental condition. For example, the concept of \"settled insanity\" includes the delirium tremens experienced by alcoholic during alcohol withdrawal, but it excludes temporary insanity of intoxication.\n\nCalifornia law recognizes \"settled insanity\" in the case of long-term use, but it does not recognize the temporary mental state caused by the recent consumption of an intoxicant as a sufficient defense. Moreover, recent rulings have upheld that the insanity need not be permanent to qualify as a defense of \"settled insanity\". For instance, in a case where a woman with a substance-induced psychosis murdered her mother expert witnesses testified that the defendant had \"personality defects\" that predisposed her to psychosis, and that the psychosis was triggered by chronic substance abuse and the resulting nine months of hospitalization. The defendant was found guilty because the court ruled that her insanity was temporary; however, the Supreme Court of California overturned the lower court's guilty finding, ruling not guilty by reason of insanity, and stating that temporary psychosis not caused by an episode of intoxication constitutes settled insanity and qualifies as a complete defense.\n\nIn People v. Skinner (1985), the California Supreme Court further specified the criteria for \"settled insanity\". The person must have a mental illness that is relatively stable over time, not caused solely by the length of time the substance was abused, and it must also meet the legal definition of insanity in that jurisdiction. Therefore, it appears that the court is stating that a threshold condition for the insanity defense exists when there is a permanent impairment caused by chronic substance abuse in a person with a preexisting mental illness unrelated to substance abuse, but aggravated or set off by voluntary intoxication.\n\nHowever, a 2007 decision by the Colorado Court of Appeals in People v. Grant upheld a lower court ruling that did not allow expert testimony on the defendant's state of mind due to voluntary intoxication, thus ruling out any possibility that the issue of \"settled insanity\" might be raised.\n\nCase example\nIn Jervon Lamont Herbin v. Commonwealth of Virginia (1998), Herbin appealed his convictions of malicious wounding, two counts of forcible sodomy, abduction, and attempted rape. At the time of the offenses, Herbin was a long-term guest of the victim's parents and was on crutches due to a gunshot wound received when he tried to enter his mother's house while on crack cocaine a week before. After the victim's parents had left the home, Herbin asked the victim to help him put on his socks. Then he threatened her with a knife and ordered her to take off her clothes. He slashed each of her breasts and stabbed her in the abdomen. Then he committed the sex offenses. The defendant asked the victim about whether the cars had manual or automatic transmission. When the victim told him that the car had a manual transmission, the victim was able to convince Herbin to call paramedics. Herbin pretended to call for assistance and eventually did call paramedics. He first told authorities that she was injured in the kitchen, and then he told the authorities that he was trying to commit suicide and she was injured trying to save him.\n\nAt trial, Herbin testified that he felt disturbed that day and had no memory of what happened except seeing the victim sitting in a pool of blood. He also testified to numerous stressors, including the gunshot wound, breaking up with his girlfriend, and recent attempts at suicide. He introduced extensive evidence of a history of\nphysical and sexual abuse, drug abuse, and suicide attempts as well as a lengthy hospitalization. Further, he had attended a sex offender treatment program. On the other hand, Herbin called paramedics and properly recited the address, which had many numbers, and his voice on the 911 tape was controlled and calm. He gave paramedics a version of the events that was inconsistent with the facts and which exculpated him.\n\nVirginia does allow for a drug induced \"settled insanity\" as a defense to\ncrime. However, Virginia draws a distinction between intoxication and organic brain damage resulting from long term-substance abuse. In order to qualify for this defense, Herbin was required to provide substantial evidence of the presence of a mental disorder and the connection between it and the substance abuse. The term settled insanity refers to a degree of organic brain damage that would cause permanent, or settled, impairment. Herbin provided evidence of recent drug abuse and the victim's mother testified that, the day before, she had provided him with prescription drug, Halcion. No lay witnesses testified that Herbin appeared to be under the influence of any substance that day.\n\nTo meet the standard for any kind of insanity, the degree of impairment must be severe:\n\nThe first portion of M'Naghten relates to an accused who is psychotic to an extreme degree. It assumes an accused who, because of mental disease, did not know the nature and quality of his act; he simply did not know what he was doing. For example, in crushing the skull of a human being with an iron bar, he believed that he was smashing a glass jar. The latter portion of M'Naghten relates to an accused who knew the nature and quality of his act. He knew what he was doing; he knew that he was crushing the skull of a human being with an iron bar. However, because of mental disease, he did not know that what he was doing was wrong. He believed, for example, that he was carrying out a command from God. White v. Com., 636 S.E.2d 353, 356–7, 272 Va. 619, __ (2006).\n\nThe appeals court held that a \"settled insanity\" defense requires substantial evidence of not only long-term and heavy substance abuse, but convincing evidence of a mental disorder that is caused by long-term substance abuse. In Herbin, the court found that\n\nThe weight of authority in this country recognizes an insanity defense that is based on a mental disease or defect produced by long-term substance abuse.\" Commonwealth v. Herd, 413 Mass. 834, 604 N.E.2d 1294, 1299 (1992). At the same time, \"evidence of mere narcotics addiction, standing alone and without other physiological or psychological involvement, raises no issue of such a mental defect or disease as can serve as a basis for the insanity defense.\" United States v. Lyons, 731 F.2d 243, 245 (5th Cir.1984) (citing cases). Although appellant produced evidence of long-term and severe drug abuse, he did not present any evidence that he was suffering from any mental disease as a result of this drug abuse. See Hooks v. State, 534 So.2d 329, 353 (Ala.Crim.App.1987), aff'd sub nom. Ex parte Hooks, 534 So.2d 371 (Ala.1988). - See more at: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/va-court-of-appeals/1349937.html#sthash.YduwJJE7.dpuf\n\nAlthough Herbin did provide evidence of substantial drug abuse in the past, he was unable to provide expert witness testimony of any mental disorder. The court held that the substance abuse did not serve as evidence for a \"settled insanity\" defense alone without the link to a mental disorder. No lay witnesses testified as to any behavior consistent with insanity, even if lay testimony were admissible to establish the insanity defense in Virginia. Also, although Herbin did provide an extensive history of drug and sexual abuse, the court said no evidence showed either of these issues were causes or results of a mental disorder. Therefore, the appeals court upheld his conviction.\n\nConclusion\nIn those states allowing a \"settled insanity\" defense, the expert witness must first determine whether any symptoms of a mental disorder were present at the time of the offense, and if there were, determine if those symptoms were the result of a lasting impairment rather than caused by intoxication no matter how acute. If it can be shown that any existing the mental disorder is lasting or relatively enduring, then the expert must be able to show how the mental illness interfered with the defendant's ability to know the nature and consequences of his/her behavior and know that his/her behavior was wrong, or if it impaired his/her ability to control his/her behavior.\n\nAggressiveness, memory lapses and other common symptoms resulting from acute intoxication are not sufficient in themselves to excuse criminal acts. Further, not all psychotic reactions caused by substance abuse result in behavior that can be related to the criminal act in a way that can support an insanity defense. The presence of psychosis does not mean that the criminal act was caused by the psychosis. A relationship must be shown to exist between the psychosis and the behavior of the defendant.\n\nFootnotes\n\nExternal links\nDrugs, Alcohol and the Insanity Defense: Debate over \"Settled\" Insanity\nExcuse: Intoxication - Involuntary Intoxication\n\nMental health law in the United States\nForensic psychology\nCriminal defenses\nInsanity in law",
"Frendak v. United States, 408 A.2d 364 (D.C. 1979) is a landmark case in which District of Columbia Court of Appeals decided that a judge could not impose an insanity defense over the defendant's objections.\n\nCircumstances\nPaula Frendak shot a coworker. After four competency hearings, the defendant was adjudicated competent, although in the opinion of several experts she was likely insane when she committed the crime. However, Frendak refused to use the insanity defense as she felt a hospital was worse than any prison. She attempted suicide, went on hunger strikes and refused medication to underscore her protests. However, she was forced by the court to plead insanity. Thus, in this case a competent defendant was not allowed to reject the use of the insanity defense.\n\nDecision\nOn appeal the decision was reversed. The judge may not impose the insanity defense upon an unwilling defendant if an intelligent defendant voluntarily wishes to forgo the defense. The court said that a defendant may feel hospital is worse than prison, that the term of incarceration may be longer, that the stigma and legal consequences of a criminal or an insanity defenses are different.\n\nUsing the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in North Carolina v. Alford and Faretta v. California, the court concluded that\n\nThe court listed several disadvantages to choosing the insanity defense, including:\nan insanity acquittal may increase the period of confinement over a prison sentence\nbetter treatment may be received in a prison than a mental hospital\nthe defendant may want to avoid the stigma associated with a mental disorder\ncommitment may result in loss of other rights, such as a driver's license\nthe defendant may regard the crime as a political or religious act\n\nThe court therefore limited any further competence inquiry to an evaluation of the defendant's specific competency to waive the insanity defense.\n\nSignificance\nThis decision examines the quality of the defendant's decision. If the defendant appears to be intelligently and voluntarily waiving the insanity defense, the trial court should not deny this. However, the trial court should look into whether the defendant has been properly informed of the effects of their decision as well as the alternatives available to them. Thus the nature of such an evaluation would be similar to a competency to stand trial evaluation.\n\nThe Frendak rationale, that a judge may not impose a sanity defense over the objections of the defendant, has been used mostly in federal cases. Some states have endorsed less elaborate procedures. For example, if a judge rules that the waiver of the insanity defense is not voluntary and informed, yet nonetheless the defense is imposed over the defendant's objections, then a separate counsel must be appointed to argue issues pertaining to insanity issues, while the defendant's counsel presents the arguments the defendant desires.\n\nHowever, as of 2002, seventeen jurisdictions permitted an insanity defense to be entered over the objections of the defendant. Thus these jurisdictions are, in effect, saying that a defendant who has been found competent to stand trial is not competent to rationally select his trial plea. Therefore a separate competency to refuse the insanity defense would have to be held that is similar to an evaluation of the defendant's mental state at the time of the offense.\n\nRealistically, because of the Supreme Court's holding in Godinez v. Moran, it is most likely that the court would hold that if a defendant is competent to stand trial, then he is also competent to waive the insanity defense, as the two competencies are equivalent.\n\nGodinez v. Moran was modified and refined by the Supreme Court decision in Indiana v. Edwards in 2008.\n\nSee also\nList of criminal competencies\n\nFootnotes\n\nMental health law in the United States\n1979 in United States case law\nSelf-representation case law\nInsanity-related case law\nUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit cases"
]
|
[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors.",
"What did he criticize about them?",
"His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as \"murder simulators\" to rehearse violent plans.",
"How well did his campaign against video games do?",
"Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004.",
"What was the 2004 case about?",
"This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year",
"How did the case end?",
"Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant",
"What was in the search warrant?",
"search warrant for McCoy's residence.",
"Why did Thompson want it unsealed?",
"This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights.",
"Was Thompson able to show the games influenced the defendant?",
"he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia.",
"Did the insanity defense work?",
"In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the \"functional equivalent of a 15-year-old,\" and \"the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense\"."
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | What was the result of this case? | 10 | What was the result of the case presented by Jack Thomson? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | false | [
"R. v B. [1997] 2 Cr. App. R. 88, CA was a case in which the undisclosed party (B) was charged with an indecent assault on two of his grandsons.\n\nThe evidence introduced in this case was pornographic magazines that belonged to the accused B. The House of Lords held this evidence to be inadmissible in suggesting that B had committed the assault. The magazines along with other evidence were not enough to convict B as they did not meet the proper criteria for the admissibility of what is known as similar fact evidence.\n\nAs a result, in this case it is shown that evidence which only highlights the accused in question to be of a \"bad disposition\" will be deemed inadmissible. This is because, for evidence to be admissible, it must do more than just merely suggest that the person has the propensity to commit the charged crime.\n\nReferences\n\nHouse of Lords cases\n1997 in case law\n1997 in British law",
"People v. Anderson, 70 Cal.2d 15, 447 P.2d 942 (1968), is a California criminal case involving evidentiary criteria for the element of premeditation in a first degree murder prosecution, to be sufficient to go to the jury. The case sets forth three categories of evidentiary factors necessary for evidence to be sufficient to support a jury verdict of first degree murder.\n\nThe underlying case involved a man drinking, stripping the clothes off of the 10-year-old daughter of his live-in girlfriend, then stabbing the child 60 times, including after she was already dead. A question on appeal was as to whether there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find the element of premeditation.\n\nThe court wrote:\nThe type of evidence which this court has found sufficient to sustain a finding of premeditation and deliberation falls into three categories: (1) facts about how and what defendant did prior to the actual killing which show that the defendant was engaged in activity directed toward, and explicable as intended to result in, the killing - what may be considered as 'planning' activity; (2) facts about the defendant's prior relationship and/or conduct with the victim from which the jury could reasonably infer a 'motive' to kill the victim, which inference of motive, together with facts of type (1) or (3), would in turn support an inference that the killing was the result of a 'pre-existing reflection' and 'careful thought and weighing of considerations' rather than 'mere unconsidered rash impulse hastily executed' (People v. Thomas, 25 Cal. 2d 880), (3) facts about the nature of killing from which the jury could infer that the manner of killing was so particular and exacting that the defendant must have intentionally killed according to a 'preconceived design' to take his victim's life in a particular way for a 'reason' which the jury can reasonably infer from facts of type (1) or (2). \nAnalysis of the cases will show that this court sustains verdicts of first degree murder typically when there is evidence of all three types and otherwise requires at least extremely strong evidence of (1) or evidence of (2) in conjunction with either (1) or (3). [70 Cal. 3d at 27].\"\n\nReferences\n\n1968 in California\n1968 in United States case law\nCalifornia state case law"
]
|
[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors.",
"What did he criticize about them?",
"His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as \"murder simulators\" to rehearse violent plans.",
"How well did his campaign against video games do?",
"Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004.",
"What was the 2004 case about?",
"This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year",
"How did the case end?",
"Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant",
"What was in the search warrant?",
"search warrant for McCoy's residence.",
"Why did Thompson want it unsealed?",
"This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights.",
"Was Thompson able to show the games influenced the defendant?",
"he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia.",
"Did the insanity defense work?",
"In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the \"functional equivalent of a 15-year-old,\" and \"the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense\".",
"What was the result of this case?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 11 | Besides the case that Jack Thomson got invloved with, are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | true | [
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
]
|
[
"Jack Thompson (activist)",
"Video games",
"What were Thompson's thoughts about video games?",
"Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors.",
"What did he criticize about them?",
"His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as \"murder simulators\" to rehearse violent plans.",
"How well did his campaign against video games do?",
"Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004.",
"What was the 2004 case about?",
"This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year",
"How did the case end?",
"Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant",
"What was in the search warrant?",
"search warrant for McCoy's residence.",
"Why did Thompson want it unsealed?",
"This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights.",
"Was Thompson able to show the games influenced the defendant?",
"he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia.",
"Did the insanity defense work?",
"In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the \"functional equivalent of a 15-year-old,\" and \"the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense\".",
"What was the result of this case?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying,"
]
| C_1fa68bc9fe464c3a93402b7f33a99db0_1 | Why did he say this? | 12 | Why did Jack Thomson say that such video games are not protected by freedom of expression? | Jack Thompson (activist) | Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked." Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory." Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy, Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense". CANNOTANSWER | saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. | John Bruce Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.
He is also known for his unusual filings to The Florida Bar, including challenging the constitutionality of The Florida Bar itself in 1993. Later the Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insulting to the integrity of the court". On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. In July 2008, Thompson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida for inappropriate conduct, including making false statements to tribunals and disparaging and humiliating litigants.
Background
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended Cuyahoga Falls H.S. and attended Denison University. He received media attention when he hosted his own political talk show on the college radio station. He then attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he met his wife, Patricia. In 1976, they moved to Florida, where Thompson, working as a lawyer and then a fund-raiser for a Christian ministry, began attending the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and became a born-again Christian. Thompson admits to having a "colorful disciplinary history" as an attorney.
The Neil Rogers Show
In 1988, Thompson became involved in a feud with WIOD Radio host Neil Rogers, after Thompson was instrumental in persuading the FCC to fine WIOD $10,000 for airing such parody songs as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" on Rogers' show. Thompson also sued the station for violating a December 1987 agreement to end on-air harassment against him. For the next eight months, Thompson recorded all of Rogers' broadcasts and documented 40,000 mentionings of his name. Thompson claimed that one of the terms of his agreement with the station was that the station would pay him $5,000 each time his name was mentioned, totaling $200 million in the suit.
Janet Reno
Thompson first met Janet Reno in November 1975, when he applied for a job as an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, but was not hired. In 1988, he ran for prosecutor against then-incumbent Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, after she had declined his request to prosecute Neil Rogers. Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you." He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy". Reno was ultimately re-elected with 69% of the vote. Thompson repeated allegations that Reno was a lesbian when she was nominated as U.S. Attorney General, leading one of her supporters, lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay, to dismiss him as a "kook".
In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Supreme Court of Florida to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed. Thompson has since stated that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida".
Rap music
Thompson came to national prominence in the controversy over 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be album. (Luke Skyywalker Records, the company of 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, had previously released a record supporting Reno in her race against Thompson.) On January 1, 1990, he wrote to Martinez and Reno asking them to investigate whether the album violated Florida obscenity laws. Although the state prosecutor declined to proceed with an investigation, Thompson pushed local officials in various parts of the state to block sales of the album, along with N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. In sending documents to opponents, Thompson would frequently attach a photocopy of his driver's license, with a photo of Batman pasted over his own. Thompson said, "I have sent my opponents pictures of Batman to remind them I'm playing the role of Batman. Just like Bruce Wayne helped the police in the movie, I have had to assist the sheriff of Broward County." He also wore a Batman wristwatch. Thompson compared Campbell to the Joker. Thompson also said, "I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused."
Thompson also took issue with another 2 Live Crew song, "Banned in the U.S.A.". He sent a letter to Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, whose song "Born in the U.S.A." was to be sampled by the group. Thompson suggested that Landau "protect 'Born in the U.S.A.' from its apparent theft by a bunch of clowns who traffic toxic waste to kids," or else Thompson would "be telling the nation about Mr. Springsteen's tacit approval" of the song, which, according to Campbell, "expresses anger about the failure of the First Amendment to protect 2 Live Crew from prosecution". Thompson also said, "the 'social commentary' on this album is akin to a sociopath's discharging his AK-47 into a crowded schoolyard, with the machine gun bursts interrupted by Pee-wee Herman's views on politics".
The members of 2 Live Crew responded to these efforts by suing the Broward County sheriff in federal district court. The sheriff had previously told local retailers that selling the album could result in a prosecution for obscenity violations. While they were granted an injunction because law enforcement actions were an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, the court ruled that the album was in fact obscene. However, an appellate court reversed the obscenity ruling, because simply playing the tape was insufficient evidence of the constitutional requirement that it had no artistic value.
As the debate continued, Thompson wrote, "An industry that says a line cannot be drawn will be drawn and quartered." He said of his campaign, "I won't stop till I get the head of a record company or record chain in jail. Only then will they stop trafficking in obscenity". Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin magazine, responded by calling Thompson "a sort of latter-day Don Quixote, as equally at odds with his times as that mythical character was," and argued that his campaign was achieving "two things...: pissing everybody off and compounding his own celebrity". Thompson responded by noting, "Law enforcement and I put 2 Live Crew's career back into the toilet where it began."
Thompson wrote another letter in 1991, this time to the Minnesota attorney general Skip Humphrey, complaining about the N.W.A album Niggaz4Life. Humphrey warned locally-based Musicland that sales of the album might violate state law against distribution of sexually explicit material harmful to minors. Humphrey also referred the matter to the Minneapolis city attorney, who concluded that some of the songs might fit the legal definition if issued as singles, but that sales of the album as a whole were not prosecutable. Thompson also initiated a similar campaign in Boston. Later, Thompson would criticize the Republican Party for inviting N.W.A member and party donor Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to an exclusive function.
In 1992, Thompson was hired by the Freedom Alliance, a self-described patriot group founded by Oliver North, described as "far-right" by The Washington Post. By this time, Thompson was looking to have Time Warner, then being criticized for promoting the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", prosecuted for federal and state crimes such as sedition, incitement to riot, and "advocating overthrow of government" by distributing material that, in Thompson's view, advocated the killing of police officers. Time Warner eventually released Ice-T and his band from their contract, and voluntarily suspended distribution of the album on which "Cop Killer" was featured.
Thompson's push to label various musical performances obscene was not entirely limited to rap. In addition to taking on 2 Live Crew, Thompson campaigned against sales of the racy music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love". Then in 1996, he took on MTV broadcasts for "objectification of women" by writing to the station's corporate parent, Viacom, demanding a stop to what he called "corporate pollution". He also went after MTV's advertisers and urged the United States Army to pull recruiting commercials, citing the Army's recruitment of women and problems with sexual harassment scandals.
Video games
Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2". According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."
Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end". Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."
Although his efforts dealing with video games have generally focused on juveniles, Thompson got involved in a case involving an adult on one occasion in 2004. This was an aggravated murder case against 29-year-old Charles McCoy Jr., the defendant in a series of highway shootings the previous year around Columbus, Ohio. When McCoy was captured, a game console and a copy of The Getaway were in his motel room. Although not representing McCoy and over the objections of McCoy's lawyers, Thompson succeeded in getting the court to unseal a search warrant for McCoy's residence. This showed, among other things, the discovery of additional games State of Emergency, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. However, he was not allowed to present the evidence to McCoy, whose defense team was relying on an insanity defense based on paranoid schizophrenia. In Thompson's estimation, McCoy was the "functional equivalent of a 15-year-old," and "the only thing insane about this case is the (insanity) defense".
Early litigation
Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997. Investigations showed that the perpetrator, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had regularly played various computer games (including Doom, Quake, Castle Wolfenstein, Redneck Rampage, Nightmare Creatures, MechWarrior, and Resident Evil) and accessed some pornographic websites. Carneal had also owned a videotape of The Basketball Diaries, which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates. The suit sought $33 million in damages, alleging that the producers of the games, the movie, and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence. Additional claims included product liability for making "defective" products (the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings) and violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for distributing this material to minors. Said Thompson, "We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We intend to hurt the sex porn sites."
The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim. The court concluded that Carneal's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that, in any case, his actions superseded those of the defendants, so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm. In addition, the judge determined that "thoughts, ideas and images" in the defendants' materials did not constitute "products" that could be considered defective. The ruling was upheld on appeal.
Grand Theft Auto
Actions in law
Ohio
In February 2003, Thompson asked permission to file an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in the Ohio case of Dustin Lynch, 16, who was charged with aggravated murder in the death of JoLynn Mishne; Lynch was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. When Judge John Lohn ruled that Lynch would be tried as an adult, Thompson passed a message from Mishne's father to the judge, asserting that "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will."
In a motion sent to the prosecutor, the boy's court-appointed lawyer, and reporters, Thompson asked to be recognized as the boy's lawyer in the case. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, however, said Thompson would be faced with deeply conflicting interests if he were to represent Dustin Lynch because he also advised Mishne's parents. Claiming that delays had weakened his case, Thompson asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier to disqualify himself from presiding over the case because the judge had not ruled on Thompson's request for two months. The boy himself eventually rejected Thompson's offer, withdrawing his insanity plea. Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, who had demanded that Collier appoint Thompson to defend her son, said she changed her mind after visiting with her son in jail, saying that the charge against him "has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
Tennessee
Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. Since the boys told investigators they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart. The suit charged that the defendants knew or should have known that the game would cause copycat violence. On October 22, 2003, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the case was closed.
Alabama
Thompson was involved in a similar suit in Alabama in 2005 on behalf of the families of police personnel killed by Devin Moore, a teenager who was reportedly a compulsive Grand Theft Auto player. The lawyer's participation in the case, however, ran into a dispute over his pro hac vice, or temporary, admission to practice in that state. The opposing attorneys sought removal of the privilege by arguing that Thompson's conduct was unethical and claiming that he had threatened and harassed them in letters and emails. The judge added that Thompson had violated his gag order during Moore's criminal trial. Thompson tried to withdraw from the case, but his request was denied by the judge, who went ahead and revoked Thompson's temporary admission to the state bar.
For his part, Thompson said he thought the judge was trying to protect Moore's criminal conviction at any cost. He also complained about the judge's ethics, saying a local attorney who claimed to have influence on the judge had assured him the case would be dismissed unless the attorney was on Thompson's team, and also claimed that Rockstar Entertainment and Take Two Interactive posted slanderous comments about him on their website.
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Thompson lobbied Alabama attorney general Troy King to file a civil suit and call on retailers not to sell "cop-killing games". After the slaying of another police officer in Gassville, Arkansas by Jacob D. Robida, an 18-year-old fugitive, Thompson again raised the possibility of a connection to Grand Theft Auto, but investigators found no evidence that video games were involved.
Florida
Thompson once reported that he had videotaped a Miami Best Buy employee selling a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to his son who was 10 at the time. In a letter to Best Buy, he wrote, "Prosecutions and public relations consequences should fall on your Minneapolis headquarters like snowflakes." He eventually sued the company in Florida, arguing that it had violated a law against sale of sexual materials deemed harmful to minors.
In January 2005, Best Buy agreed that it would enforce an existing policy to check the identification of anyone who appeared to be 17 or under and tried to purchase games rated "M" (for mature audiences). No law in effect at the time prohibited selling "M" rated video games to juveniles.
New Mexico
In September 2006, Thompson and attorney Steven Sanders filed a suit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, against Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar Games, and teenage killer Cody Posey, for the wrongful death of three members of Posey's family. The suit, on behalf of surviving family members, claimed that "obsessively" playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made violence "pleasurable and attractive," disconnected violence from consequences, and caused Posey to "act out, copycat, replicate and emulate the violence" when in July 2004 he shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister and then buried them under a manure pile. According to Thompson, "Posey essentially practiced how to kill on this game. If it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto, three people might not now be dead."
The suit claimed that Thompson had been told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch. The suit also claimed that the game taught Posey "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity." The game in question does not actually teach the player anything about handling a firearm. Gary Mitchell, Posey's attorney, said Thompson contacted him "numerous times" before the trial, urging him to highlight the game in Posey's defense, but Mitchell said he "just didn't find it had any merit whatsoever."
Take-Two reaction
On March 14, 2007, Take-Two filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin Thompson from filing any public nuisance action against the company that would block the sales to minors of the unreleased video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2. The suit alleged that Thompson's lawsuits violated the company's First Amendment rights.
Responding, Thompson said: "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two." On April 19, 2007, Thompson and Take-Two settled the suit, with Thompson agreeing not to seek any legal restriction on sales of Take-Two's games, threaten to sue the company, or accuse Take-Two of any wrongdoing based on the sale of any of its games.
One analyst said that the settlement was likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company. However, upon the game's 2008 release, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto IV "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio," and asked Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to "pursue and file criminal charges against [Minnesota-based retailers] Target and Best Buy". He also sent a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's attorney, addressed to Zelnick's mother, in which Thompson accused her son of "doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA: IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be a 'a Boy Scout'. ... More like the Hitler Youth, I would say." On May 1, 2008 Thompson appeared on the CNN Headline News program Glenn Beck, asserting that the game's sexual content made its sale to minors illegal, and that he was working with law enforcement to have criminal prosecutions brought. Thompson also filed a complaint with the Chicago Transit Authority about poster ads for the game at Chicago, Illinois bus stops.
GameZone emails
In September 2013, Thompson expressed his hatred of Grand Theft Auto V during a series of e-mails exchange with GameZone writer Lance Liebl during its launch week. The game happened to launch the day after the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Traditional media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC sought out to find proof that violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, had a role in the brutal killings. GameZone responded by writing an article that disagrees with this. These caught Thompson's attention, who then sent an e-mail to the site. "Look, Lance," he wrote in an email, "The American Psychological Association has established a causal link between these games and increased aggression. The Dept. of Defense uses them for that purpose." Liebl responded by offering Thompson a chance to come on the site and explain his stance, which he refused, describing gamers as "too brain-impaired to get it."
Bully
Beginning in 2005, Thompson supported a campaign to discourage Take-Two's subsidiary, Rockstar Games, from releasing a game called Bully, in which, according to Thompson, "what you are in effect doing is rehearsing your physical revenge and violence against those whom you have been victimized by. And then you, like Klebold and Harris in Columbine, become the ultimate bully." According to Thompson, the game "shows you how to—by bullying—take over your school. You punch people; you hit them with sling shots; you dunk their heads in dirty toilets. There's white-on-black crime in the game. You bludgeon teachers and classmates with bats. It's absolutely nuts." Thompson sued Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us, seeking an order to bar the game's release. He also participated in a protest at Rockstar's office that also included students from Peaceaholics, a Washington, D.C. mentoring organization. Thompson said he hoped that the pressure would get retailers to refuse to carry the game. In March 2006, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the game and urging retailers not to sell the game to minors.
Thompson also criticized Bill Gates and Microsoft for contracting with Rockstar Games to release the game on the Xbox. The Xbox version has since been cancelled for undisclosed reasons, but a version was released years later on the Xbox 360. In August 2006, Thompson requested a congressional subpoena for an early copy, threatening to file suit in Miami if he did not gain help from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns. Once the game is out, according to Thompson, "the horse will be out of the barn and it will be too late to do anything about it". Thompson argued that it violated Florida's public nuisance laws, which prohibit activities that can injure the health of the community.
Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan responded, saying "I would prefer it if we could simply make great games and not have to deal with misunderstanding and misperception of what we do." After receiving no response from Rockstar regarding an advance copy, Thompson filed the public nuisance complaint against Wal-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and GameStop, demanding that he be allowed to preview the game before its October 17 release date. Take-Two offered to bring in a copy and let both Judge Ronald Friedman and Thompson view the game in the judge's chambers on October 12, 2006. The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint the next day.
Thompson was critical of the judge's decision, telling the judge "You did not see the game... You don't even know what it was you saw," as well as accusing the Take-Two employee who demonstrated the game of avoiding the most violent parts. Blank Rome subsequently filed a motion to have Thompson's behavior declared "contempt for the court". Judge Friedman then recused himself from ruling, and instead filed a complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar, calling Thompson's behavior "inappropriate by a member of the bar, unprofessional and contemptible".
Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year-old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB responded by saying they were already aware that the content was in the game when they rated it.
Manhunt
During the aftermath of the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, by his friend Warren Leblanc in Leicestershire, England, the game Manhunt was linked after the media wrongfully claimed police found a copy in Leblanc's room. The police officially denied any link, citing drug-related robbery as the motive and revealing that the game had been found in Pakeerah's bedroom, not Leblanc's. Thompson, who had heard of the murder, claimed that he had written to Rockstar after the game was released, warning them that the nature of the game could inspire copycat killings: "I wrote warning them that somebody was going to copycat the Manhunt game and kill somebody. We have had dozens of killings in the U.S. by children who had played these types of games. This is not an isolated incident. These types of games are basically murder simulators. There are people being killed over here almost on a daily basis." Soon thereafter, the Pakeerah family hired Thompson with the aim of suing Sony and Rockstar for £50 million in a wrongful death claim.
Jack Thompson would later vow to permanently ban the game during the release of the sequel Manhunt 2. Thompson said he planned to sue Take-Two/Rockstar in an effort to have both Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV banned as "public nuisances", saying "killings have been specifically linked to Take-Two's Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games. [I have] asked Take-Two and retailers to stop selling Take-Two's 'Mature' murder simulation games to kids. They all refuse. They are about to be told by a court of law that they must adhere to the logic of their own 'Mature' labels."
The suits were eradicated when Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block the impending lawsuit, on the grounds that video games purchased for private entertainment could not be considered public nuisances. The following day, Thompson wrote on his website "I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back."
Mortal Kombat
In October 2006, Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling the latest game in the Mortal Kombat series, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the character creation option to make a character who looked like Thompson. Midway did not respond to his letter.
Activism and lobbying
In addition to filing lawsuits, Thompson has pushed for measures against similar games in a variety of public settings. He wrote a joint article in the Christian Science Monitor with Eugene F. Provenzo, a University of Miami professor who studies the effects of video games on children. Originally brought together to provide opposing viewpoints on 60 Minutes in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, they said they had become friends and were collaborating on a book. They described themselves as having "a shared belief that first-person shooter video games are bad for our children, teaching them to act aggressively and providing them with efficient killing skills and romanticized and trivialized scenarios for killing in the real world".
Thompson has supported legislation in a number of states that would ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In response to First Amendment concerns, he argued that the games were a "public safety hazard." However, he rejected as "completely unconstitutional" Hillary Clinton's proposed legislation to ban sales to minors of games rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thompson contended that the government could not enforce a private-sector standard but had to depend on a Miller obscenity test. He charged that Clinton was simply positioning herself politically, with the support of the gaming industry, by proposing a bill which he felt she knew would be unconstitutional.
In July 2005, Thompson sent a letter to several politicians urging them to investigate The Sims 2, alleging that the game contained nudity accessible by entering special codes. Thompson called the nudity inappropriate for a game rated "T" for Teen, a rating which indicates suitability for anyone 13 and older. Manufacturer Electronic Arts dismissed the allegations, with vice president Jeff Brown explaining that game characters have "no anatomical detail" under their clothes, effectively resembling Barbie dolls. Although the game does display blurred-out patches over body regions when characters are naked, such as when taking a shower, Brown said that was for "humorous effect" and denied there was anything improper about the game. Nevertheless, a command that could be entered into the in-game console in order to disable the blur effect was removed from the game in an expansion. No official reason was given for the change.
In Louisiana, Thompson helped draft a 2006 bill sponsored by state representative Roy Burrell to ban the sale of violent video games to buyers under 18 (HB1381). In an effort to avoid constitutional problems, it avoided trying to define "violent" and instead adopted a variation of the Miller obscenity test: sales to minors would be illegal based on community standards if the game appealed to "the minor's morbid interest in violence", was patently offensive based on adult standards of suitability for minors, and lacked serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. The bill was passed unanimously by the state House and approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee, despite industry opposition and predictions that it too would be unconstitutional. The Shreveport Times editorialized that Thompson's support of the bill "should immediately set off alarms" and described Thompson as someone who "thrives on chasing cultural ambulances". In defense of the bill, Thompson said that it was needed for public safety, and that it was a "miracle" that a Columbine-type event hadn't happened yet in Louisiana. However, the ESA filed suit under Entertainment Software Association v. Foti, and U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until full judicial review can be done. The law was permanently enjoined in late November 2006, and the state was ordered to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady was "dumbfounded" that state legislators and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco wasted taxpayer money by trying to enact the law.
At one point, Thompson was asked by the National Institute on Media and the Family to stop invoking the organization's name in his campaigns. NIMF president David Walsh felt Thompson cast the organization in a bad light whenever he brought up their name. "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect," Walsh said in an open letter to Thompson.
Thompson has additionally worked to influence police investigations concerning violent acts which he views as being connected to violence in video games media. On June 2, 2006, Thompson suggested that West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana police detectives, investigating the murder of 55-year-old Michael Gore by 17-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, should look into the video games played by Neher. According to Sheriff J. Austin Daniel, an autopsy showed Gore was beaten to death as well as shot in the face. Concerning this, Thompson stated that "nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."
Other public commentary
Thompson predicted that the perpetrator of the Beltway sniper attacks would be "a teenaged boy, who plays video games" and speculated incorrectly that he "may indeed ride a bicycle to and from his shooting locations, his gun broken down and placed in a backpack while he pedals." Saying that the shooter, Lee Boyd Malvo, had "trained" on Halo, Thompson later claimed credit for this on The Today Show: "I predicted that the beltway sniper would be a teen-aged boy that trained on a game switched to sniper mode. And three months later, NBC reported that that's exactly what Malvo did. And Muhammad had him train on the game to suppress his inhibition to kill." John Muhammad was a Gulf War veteran and earned an expert marksmanship badge in the U.S. Army.
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values. He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game." Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive." The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way. Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."
In April 2007, only hours after the Virginia Tech shooting (and before Seung-Hui Cho was actually identified), Thompson predicted that the shooter had trained on the game Counter-Strike. According to Thompson, the game "drills you and gives you scenarios on how to kill them [and] gets you to kill them with your heart rate lower." He says that Seung-Hui "was in a hyper-reality situation in virtual reality." Though Seung-Hui had last been known to have played Counter-Strike in high school, four years prior to the shooting, Thompson asserts that "you don't drop it when you go to college, typically." Thompson disputed Seung-Hui's roommate's claim that Seung-Hui only used his computer to write fiction, on the grounds that "Cho was able to go room to room calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people." Prior to being identified, Thompson attributed the "flat effect on [Seung-Hui's] face" and the efficiency of his attack to video game rehearsals of the shooting. However, a search warrant released, listing the items found in Cho's dorm room, did not contain any video games, and a Washington Post story cited by Thompson later removed a paragraph stating that Seung-Hui enjoyed violent video games in high school. Despite all evidence indicating that Seung-Hui had not played Counter-Strike in years, Thompson continued to insist that "this is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer." Thompson also sent a letter to Bill Gates, saying, "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill." However, Microsoft did not create Counter-Strike – they only published the Xbox version of the game. The official Virginia state panel commissioned to investigate the shooting determined that Seung-Hui "played video games like Sonic the Hedgehog," and that "none of the video games [he had played] were war games or had violent themes."
In December 2007, Thompson filed suit against Omaha, Nebraska Police Chief Thomas Warren, asking him to produce information on all "violent entertainment material" belonging to Robert Hawkins, who killed nine people, including himself, in a shooting at the Westroads Mall earlier that month. According to Omaha police, such information is not a matter of public record, as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
On February 15, 2008, Jack Thompson claimed that the actions of Steven Kazmierczak, who the previous day killed five people at Northern Illinois University before committing suicide, were influenced by the game Counter-Strike. In a subsequent news release, Thompson claimed that "We have a nation of Manchurian Candidate video gamers out there who are ready, willing, and able to massacre, and some of them will." Thompson also threatened the university with a lawsuit if the school did not provide copies of "all documents that reveal [Kazmierczak's] play of violent videogames."
Relationship with the gaming industry and gamers
Thompson's "high-profile crusades" have made him an enemy of video game aficionados. On occasion, Thompson has sparred directly with the gaming industry and its fans. In 2005, he wrote an open letter to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, making what he described as "a modest video game proposal" (an allusion to the title of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay, A Modest Proposal) to the video game industry: Thompson said he would donate $10,000 to a charity designated by Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if any video game company would create a game including the scenario he described in the letter. The scenario called for the main character, whose son was killed by a boy who played violent video games, to murder a number of industry executives (including one modeled on Eibeler) and go on a killing spree at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game fans promptly began working to take Thompson up on his offer, resulting in the game I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, among others. Afterwards, he claimed that his proposal was satire, and refused to make the promised donation.
In response, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and of the children's charity Child's Play, stepped in to make the $10,000 donation instead, writing in the memo field of their cheque, "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't." Afterwards, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Seattle police and the FBI to investigate Holkins and Krahulik for orchestrating "criminal harassment" of him through articles on their site. Other webcomics have regularly incorporated references to Thompson, alluding to this incident as well as others.
In 2006, two Michigan gamers began a project dubbed "Flowers for Jack", soliciting donations to deliver a massive floral arrangement to Thompson's office. The flowers were delivered in February along with a letter aimed at opening a dialogue between Thompson and the video gaming community. Thompson rejected this overture and forwarded the flowers to some of his industry foes, with such comments as "Discard them along with the decency you discarded long ago. I really don't care. Grind them up and smoke them if you like."
Gamers have responded to Thompson's attempt to link the Virginia Tech massacre to the game Counter-Strike. Video game Web sites and young gamers on Internet message boards "teemed with anger" at what San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub called "his serial misstatements," in some cases linking to YouTube videos of Thompson and dissecting his claims point by point. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said, "It's so sad. These massacre chasers—they're worse than ambulance chasers—they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox." In response, Thompson referred to Della Rocca as an "idiot" and a "jackass [...] paid not to connect the dots [connecting shootings to video games]," and compared himself to people who warned that the government should be more concerned about terrorism before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Della Rocca, Thompson then challenged him to a series of gaming debates, claiming that they could each make more than $3,000 per event. When Della Rocca suggested that neither he nor Thompson accept any money for the events, Thompson refused.
In July 2009, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin posted a copy of an email exchange between himself and Thompson, stating, "I get messages (IMs, emails, FB notes, etc.) from members all the time, asking what the (almost daily) notes are from JT. Since this one's fairly harmless and I've redacted anything personal (not that I don't love getting his threatening cease and desist letters), I thought I'd share it as a pretty typical exchange." Halpin and Thompson have been vocal opponents since 1998, when Halpin ran the game retail trade association IEMA. The exchange was sparked by a guest editorial that Halpin entitled, "Perception is Everything" for IndustryGamers.com where he called for consumers and the industry to speak out against negative stereotyping of gamers.
In March 2011, in response to the creation of a school shooter mod entitled School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, developed by Checkerboarded Studios on Valve's Source engine, Thompson emailed Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, demanding that the mod be removed, as he speculated that Valve played a part in the mod's development. In the letter, Thompson stated that Half-Life was directly responsible for the Erfurt school massacre, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre and that Valve had until 5:00p.m. on March18 to remove the mod.
The Howard Stern Show
In 2004, Thompson helped get Howard Stern's show taken off a radio station in Orlando, Florida by filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Thompson objected to Stern's use of perceived obscenities on the air. He argued that "Either broadcasters will accept the light harness of decency that has been the law for decades and start cleaning up their acts, or the public's deepening outrage will foster a more fearsome governmental response." Thompson claimed to have received death threats from listeners of Stern's show, noting that "you'd expect that considering the IQ of people who listen to Howard Stern. Apparently they fail to realize that I might have caller ID."
During his opposition to Howard Stern, Thompson was asked in an interview with a reporter if, by his standards, he would blame Christianity for the murders committed by Michael Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who murdered one of his classmates in 2004, because Hernandez wrote a diary in which he constantly spoke about praying to God. Thompson replied, "The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people, Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does." Thompson then expanded his comments in the same interview by saying, "Islam promotes the killing of innocent people. The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels—not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition."
He later spoke in defense of Stern during the latter's legal dispute with CBS over promoting Sirius on-air before his switch to satellite radio. Thompson contended that the technology added by CBS to edit out profanity also could have worked to edit out Stern's references to Sirius. According to Thompson, "The reason why CBS chose not to edit Stern is that Stern's Arbitron ratings remained high and were arguably even enhanced by people tuning in to hear daily about Stern's running feud with CBS and his move to Sirius. In other words, CBS actually used Stern's discussion of his move to Sirius to make more money for CBS."
CBS President Leslie Moonves responded, saying "You know what? You can't let people like that tell you what to put on the air or what not to put on the air. That would only open the door when suddenly next week, he says, 'Take David Letterman off the air or take C.S.I. off the air.' Or you know what? Everybody Loves Raymond was about, you know, sex last week or about a 70-year-old man—you know, we dealt with Peter Boyle having sex with Doris Roberts. 'Take that off the air.' That's something we can't let happen."
The Florida Bar
Actions against the bar
In 1993, Thompson asked a Florida judge to declare The Florida Bar unconstitutional. He said that the Bar was engaged in a vendetta against him because of his religious beliefs, which he said conflicted with what he called the Bar's pro-gay, humanist, liberal agenda. He also said that the "wedding of all three functions of government into The Florida Bar, the 'official arm' of the Florida Supreme Court, is violative of the bedrock constitutional requirement of the separation powers and the 'checks and balances' which the separation guarantees." Thompson accepted a $20,000 out-of-court settlement.
On January 7, 2002, Thompson sent the Supreme Court of Florida a letter regarding The Florida Bar's actions. The letter was filed with the court on January 10, 2002 and was treated as a petition for a writ of mandamus against The Florida Bar. Before any action was taken on the petition, Thompson sent the court another letter on January 28, 2002 voluntarily dismissing the case. The letter was filed with the court on January 30, 2002, and the Florida Supreme Court issued an order of dismissal on February 28, 2002.
In January 2006, Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate The Florida Bar's actions. "The Florida Bar and its agents have engaged in a documented pattern of this illegal activity, which may sink to the level of criminal racketeering activity, in a knowing and illegal effort to chill my federal First Amendment rights," Thompson wrote in a letter to Alex Acosta, interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In April 2006, Thompson filed another suit against The Florida Bar, this time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the Bar harassed him by investigating what he called baseless complaints made by disgruntled opponents in previous disputes. His five-count complaint asked for more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Bar was pursuing baseless ethics complaints brought against Thompson by Tew Cardenas attorneys Lawrence Kellogg and Alberto Cardenas of Miami, and by two lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, in violation of Thompson's constitutional rights. According to the lawsuit, the Bar looked at Thompson for violations of a bar rule that prohibits attorneys from making disparaging remarks about judges, other attorneys, or court personnel. Thompson also filed a motion with the court to order the mediation of his dispute with the Bar. Thompson commented, "I enjoy doing what I do and I think I've got a First Amendment right to annoy people and participate in the public square in the cultural war." Thompson also said he is optimistic his federal lawsuit will be successful. "I'm 100 percent certain that it will effect change, otherwise I would not have filed it."
On April 25, 2006, The Florida Bar filed a motion to dismiss Thompson's complaint. The Bar argued that Thompson's complaint should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including the fact that the complaint failed to state a claim on which he could be granted relief. The Bar also argued that it was absolutely immune from liability for actions arising out of its disciplinary functions, that the Eleventh Amendment barred Thompson's recovery of damages, and that the court should dismiss the case pursuant to the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. On May 4, 2006, Thompson filed a motion asking Judge Federico Moreno to recuse himself from the case, as Judge Moreno was a member of The Florida Bar. Citing an "abundance of caution," Judge Moreno recused himself on May 9, 2006 and referred the case to Chief Judge William Zloch for further action. Thompson did not, however, respond to the Bar's motion to dismiss the case. Finally, on May 17, 2006, Thompson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with the court, and the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Filings
In October 2007, then-Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sealed court documents submitted by Thompson in the Bar case that depicted "gay sex acts." Thompson's submission prompted U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to order Thompson to show cause why his actions should not be filed as a grievance with the court's Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review and Attorney Grievance, but the order was dismissed after Thompson promised not to file any more pornography. Thompson then sent letters to acting U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler and U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter demanding that Jordan be removed from his position for failing to prosecute Florida attorney Norm Kent, who Thompson claimed had "collaborated" with the Bar for 20 years to discipline him.
In February 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Thompson to show cause as to why it should not reject future court filings from him unless they are signed by another The Florida Bar member. The Florida Supreme Court described his filings as "repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court," particularly one in which Thompson, claiming concern about "the court's inability to comprehend his arguments," filed a motion which he called "A picture book for adults", including images of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." (see ) Thompson claimed that the order "wildly infringes" on his constitutional rights and was "a brazen attempt" to repeal the First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances. In response, he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, referring to the show-cause order as a criminal act done in retaliation for his seeking relief with the court.
On March 20, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court imposed sanctions on Thompson, requiring that any of his future filings in the court be signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than himself. The court noted that Thompson had responded to the show cause order with multiple "rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous" responses that characterized the show cause order as "bizarre" and "idiotic."
Disbarment
In February 2007, The Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused Alberto Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children", claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him", and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
In May 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis, after reviewing 2,400 pages of transcripts and 1,700 pages of exhibits, recommended that Thompson be found guilty of 27 of the 31 violations of which he had been accused, including making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of Florida. Thompson filed a motion with the Florida Supreme Court the day after the report was issued to strike Tunis' recommendations as vague for lack of detail. Previously, Thompson had attempted to have Tunis thrown off his case, and filed a complaint against her with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is responsible for investigating judges.
On June 4, 2008, prosecutor Sheila Tuma recommended 'enhanced disbarment' for Thompson, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment lengthens the period before an attorney may reapply for admission to the bar from five years to ten. After being prevented from making a speech to begin the disciplinary hearing, Thompson distributed his written objections to lawyers, a court reporter, and a newspaper reporter, departed the courtroom, and called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court".
On July 8, 2008, Judge Tunis recommended permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine for Thompson to the Florida Supreme Court, citing "cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand... Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes... He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him." The court approved the recommendation and fine on September 25, 2008, and ordered that Thompson be permanently disbarred effective 30 days from the date of the order so Thompson could close out his practice. He later filed for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's order with the U.S. District Court, which was ultimately denied. In an e-mail to media outlets, Thompson responded to the court's decision by stating, "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: this past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." He closed the email—in which he included the court ruling—with, "...this should be fun, starting now".
On September 19, 2009, Thompson announced that he intended to resume practicing law as of October 1, 2009, claiming that he was "never disbarred" because all of the orders resulting in his disbarment were legal nullities. He dared The Florida Bar to get a court order to stop him.
Other activities
In 1992, a complaint from Thompson led Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith to withhold a $25,000 grant to the Miami Film Festival; Thompson claimed that the festival was using state money to show pornographic films. In response, Thompson was named an "Art Censor of the Year" by the ACLU. The next month, Thompson faced disbarment over allegations that he lied while making accusations against prominent Dade County lawyer Stuart Z Grossman. Thompson ultimately admitted violating bar rules of professional conduct, including charges that he contacted people represented by an attorney without first contacting their attorneys, and agreed to pay $3,000 in fines and receive a public reprimand.
In 1999, Thompson represented the parents of Bryce Kilduff, an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging himself. Police believed that the death was an accident, and that Kilduff was imitating Kenny, a character from the Comedy Central series South Park, which Bryce, according to his parents, had never watched. Thompson called for Comedy Central to stop marketing the show and toys based on the series to children. "You see, the whole show—thrust of the show is it's—it's cool for kids to act like the characters in South Park."
Prior to Thompson's disbarment, attorney Norm Kent filed a personal lawsuit against him, which eventually resulted in Thompson paying Kent $50,000 for defamation. Thompson reacted to the suit by threatening employees at one of Kent's clients, Beasley Broadcast Group, with lawsuits and depositions unless they got Kent to drop his case.
In January 2005, Beasley hired attorney Lawrence A. Kellogg of law firm Tew Cardenas, LLP, to manage Thompson's threats. Because Kellogg delayed arranging a meeting with him, Thompson on March 17 began a campaign targeting the firm's name partner Al Cardenas, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, accusing him of personally being involved in "a statewide racketeering activity" in a letter sent to the media, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Kellogg then filed a complaint to The Florida Bar that figured largely in Thompson's disbarment.
On April 30, Thompson extended his campaign against Cardenas to an attempt at embarrassing him as a trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black university. In an email sent to FAMU interim president Castell V. Bryant, the media, the FCC, and Governor Bush, he cites racist remarks made by a caller to The Howard Stern Show to suggest that Cardenas put "profit ahead of race relations", even though Beasley, which owned a station broadcasting Stern's show, was not among Al Cardenas's clients.
On February 21, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission against Judge Larry Seidlin, accusing Seidlin of "violating nearly every judicial canon" in conducting a hearing on the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith. On June 28, 2007, Thompson filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office, asking for an investigation and possible prosecution regarding accusations that Seidlin inappropriately accepted expensive gifts.
In March 2008, Thompson called for the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to immediately suspend the law license of former state governor Eliot Spitzer, who had resigned from the position amidst reports he was a client of a prostitution ring. Thompson said that the Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division's First Department should stop Spitzer from practicing law until the matter was resolved, noting that Spitzer did not claim innocence in his initial public apology.
In an April 2016 interview with Inverse, Thompson stated that he was teaching civics classes to inmates in the Florida prison system, including an American history and constitutional law class at the Everglades Correctional Institution.
Facebook lawsuit
Thompson filed a lawsuit for $40 million against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009. Thompson claimed that the social networking site had caused him "great harm and distress" by not removing angry postings made by users in several Facebook groups. Thompson withdrew his case less than two months later. According to Parry Aftab, a cyber-law attorney, Thompson would likely not have had any success because the U.S. Communications Decency Act provides that companies such as Facebook have no liability for what users do with their services in most cases.
Bibliography
Out of Harm's Way. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. .
See also
James v. Meow Media – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Strickland v. Sony – Thompson represented the plaintiffs.
Jacob Robida – Thompson commented to the media about the case.
GamePolitics.com – Frequently covered Thompson.
Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
Playing Columbine – Thompson is interviewed in the documentary.
References
External links
The Florida Bar's Member page of John Bruce Thompson
Jack Thompson versus Adam Sessler on G4's Attack of the Show!
Jack Thompson vs Paul Levinson on CNBC
Thompson interviewed on Free Talk Live
1951 births
Denison University alumni
Living people
American activists
American Christians
Video game censorship
Florida lawyers
Lawyers from Cleveland
Disbarred American lawyers
Vanderbilt University alumni
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Activists from Ohio | true | [
"Buğra Mert Alkayalar (5 June 1998, Yozgat), is a Turkish director and screenwriter.\n\nHe completed his elementary education in Tekirdağ, Türkiye and started studying Film and Television at University of Anatolia in 2016. Meanwhile, he completed his voice acting training in 2018 with the leadership of Kadir Özübek. He won an Audience Special Award for his experimental short film \"Disintegration\" at 6th International Antakya Film Festival. He also won a Best Thriller award for his short thriller Why Not? (2019) from IMDb's official Top Shorts Film Festival, and a Best Student Film award from Direct Monthly Online Film Festival.\n\nFilmography \n Be Careful What You Say (short film, 2020)\n Why Not? (short film, 2019)\n Fairy (short film, 2019)\n In The Pink (short film, 2019)\n Visitors at The Door (documentary short, 2018)\n Disintegration (short film, 2018)\n Session (short, 2018/II)\n Separated (short, 2018)\n\nNominations \nFestival Nominations\n 2020: Be Careful What You Say (nominee, best short)\n 2019: Fairy (nominee, best short film)\n 2019: Why Not? (nominee, best short film)\n 2019: Why Not? (nominee, best thriller)\n 2019: Why Not? (nominee, best student short)\n 2019: Why Not? (nominee, film of the month)\n 2019: Why Not? (nominee, best screenplay)\n 2018: Disintegration (nominee, best short experimental film)\n\nAwards \nFestival Awards\n 2019: Why Not? (WON Best Student Short Film of the Month)\n 2019: Why Not (WON Best Thriller)\n\nReferences \n\nLiving people\n1998 births\nPeople from Yozgat\nTurkish directors\nTurkish male screenwriters",
"Go and Ask Peggy for the Principal Thing is the fourth album by German rock band Fool's Garden, released in 1997. It contains a cover of the Beatles' song \"Martha My Dear\".\n\nTrack listing\n \"The Principal Thing\"\n \"Emily\"\n \"Why Did She Go?\"\n \"Why Am I Sad Today\"\n \"Martha My Dear\" (Lennon–McCartney)\n \"And You Say\"\n \"Probably\"\n \"Nothing\"\n \"When The Moon Kisses Town\"\n \"Rainy Day\"\n \"Northern Town\"\n \"Good Night\"\n \"Probably\" (reprise) - hidden track\n\nMusicians\nPeter Freudenthaler - vocals\nVolker Hinkel - guitars, mandolin, blues harp, keyboards and backing vocals\nRoland Röhl - keyboards, accordion and backing vocals\nThomas Mangold - bass, double bass and backing vocals\nRalf Wochele - drums and backing vocals\nOliver Frager - trumpet and French horn\nBob Perry - trombone and tuba\nGitte Haus - backing vocals\nJette Schniering - cello\nOliver Maguire - weatherforecast on \"Rainy Day\"\n\nSingles\n\"Why Did She Go?\"\n\"Probably\"\n\"Rainy Day\"\n\n1997 albums\nFools Garden albums\nIntercord albums"
]
|
[
"Sylar",
"Haunting Matt Parkman"
]
| C_c8edc7ae36c4408382b9e8fe46a52356_0 | What is Haunting Matt Parkman? | 1 | What is Haunting Matt Parkman? | Sylar | Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body. Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop. The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he is is shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more. CANNOTANSWER | Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, | Sylar (Gabriel Gray) is a fictional character and a primary antagonist of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers. He served as the primary villain of the first season and then as a recurring antagonist. Over the course of seasons two, three and four, the writers depicted Sylar attempting at various times and under different circumstances to become a hero or curb his desire to kill, undergoing relapses at various stages. In the series' penultimate episode he experienced over three years of penitence in a mental prison, and later identifies himself as a hero in what became the show's series finale due to cancellation.
TV Guide included him in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".
Concept and creation
Sylar was originally created as a cannibal who ate his victims' brains and "digested their power"; however, in order to avoid the potential silliness and zombie associations, the producers deliberately made this fact vague in the series. In an interview with series creator Tim Kring, it is asked if Sylar eats brains, and he merely states "That's the popular speculation. There's a connection between the powers and the brain, and Sylar has found it." The question is addressed in the season three premiere, when he is depicted in the act of acquiring Claire Bennet's regenerative powers through examination of her brain with his hands. When Claire asks him the same question, he sounds surprised and replies "Eat your brain? Claire, that's disgusting." The writers never bridged the gap between the early insinuations regarding what Sylar does with the brains and the final incarnation they reveal in his encounter with Claire.
Prior to Quinto's first appearance in the episode "Seven Minutes to Midnight", the role of Sylar was played by stunt doubles in "One Giant Leap", with the character's face being obscured by shadows. Quinto himself played the role with his face hidden in the same way until "Six Months Ago". In the second episode of the first season, "Don't Look Back", his voice is heard in a recorded phone conversation on Chandra Suresh's answering machine, spoken by voice actor Maurice LaMarche. Part of this conversation is heard again in "Six Months Ago", this time spoken by Quinto.
Personality
Sylar was raised as the son of a watchmaker, but was indoctrinated by his mother's repeated assertions to believe that he was special and deserved more in life. This and the "evolutionary imperative" to acquire new abilities are what drive him to kill the victims with powers. Taking the name "Sylar" from a watch brand, he has shed all connections to his former life as Gabriel Gray to the point where he angrily lashes out at anyone who calls him Gabriel.
In addition to the above, Sylar shows a marked lack of empathy. As seen in the episode .07%, when shortly before killing Isaac Mendez, he casually comments on Mendez's lack of fear, with the sort of mild surprise that someone might express if he noticed that a train was running late.
Although he at times tries to impersonate other people in order to obtain a longer-term goal, Sylar is also unable to completely control his "hunger," or obsessive tendencies, to the extent that he still intimidates people when he is trying to gain their trust or co-operation. This was seen with Mohinder Suresh, when Sylar tried to impersonate Zane Taylor, and also with Claire Bennet's mother when Sylar was looking for Claire, as well.
Sylar's dominant trait was his innate desire to be recognized as special and admired. This was fueled by his mother's vocal disappointment in him for perceived failure and his own feelings that he did not get a chance to choose his destiny, being forced into the role of a watchmaker. He spent his life hoping to learn something extraordinary about himself.
Sylar is repeatedly shown as desperately looking for a family and parental figures due to his own unhappy home life, desperately wanting to be loved. The flip side of this is that he can react with extreme violence when his emotional needs are exploited by others.
Sylar is also known for his voracious appetite and he can constantly be seen snacking or looking for food. He has even taken time during his murders to eat, such as when he reacted with joy at a birthday cake of the woman he just killed.
Quinto has said of his character,
The sad part is, he's initially well-intentioned. He wants to improve his life. He wants to make a difference. He wants to matter. Through the process of realizing how to do that, he gets blinded and loses himself in the pursuit of it and goes a little crazy—'a little' being an understatement.
Quinto also observed,
He's definitely somebody that has been overcome by a hunger and overcome by a pursuit for power and for importance that did start a little more innocuously than it evolved into.
When asked if he thought Sylar was irredeemable or not, Quinto responded,
I think there's a certain point at which you cross a line and it's sort of irrevocable.... I don't know what the writers have in mind, but it would probably be kind of a challenge at this point, you know?
Quinto has also responded to the question of whether Sylar could ever be good, commenting that
I don't really look at him as, you know, absolutely good or bad. I think that he is constantly walking a line of ambiguity within himself and uncertainty within himself that defines the way he acts.
Sylar, however, is also shown as very caring and thoughtful, like when he takes care of Angela Petrelli, when Arthur and Angela Petrelli claimed that they are Sylar's parents, which Peter wants to go to Pinehearst, Sylar didn't allow him to go alone because it is dangerous, and right after he murdered Brian Davis, he tries to commit suicide, feeling his guilt for murdering a person.
Character history
Genesis
The episode "Six Months Ago" reveals that Sylar's real name is Gabriel Gray, a highly talented watchmaker who follows his adoptive father's footsteps. He encounters Chandra Suresh, who tells Gabriel that he may be an evolved human with superhuman powers. Gabriel eagerly submits to testing. After being rejected by Suresh because the test results are indeterminate, Gabriel contacts another person on Suresh's list, Brian Davis. Gabriel discovers that he himself has the power of intuitive aptitude, and murders Davis for his telekinetic powers. After returning to Suresh, he becomes "Patient Zero", and continues to work with Suresh until Suresh realizes that Sylar is murdering the people that they meet and ultimately, Suresh is killed by Gabriel in his own cab precisely at 11:53 p.m.
Sylar is first referenced in the first episode when Mohinder Suresh (Chandra Suresh's son) finds a cassette tape labeled "SYLAR" on both sides in his dead father's New York apartment. His character is next mentioned in the series as a mysterious serial killer sought out by the FBI, whose existence is completely speculative. Appearing as a shadowy figure, he attempts to obtain Molly Walker's power after failing the first time.
In "Once Upon a Time in Texas", Sylar bumps into a future Hiro in front of the Burnt Toast Diner, and sidesteps him before entering. Here, he converses with Charlie, and discovers her power of enhanced memory. Sylar prepares to kill Charlie, but Hiro stops time and locks Sylar in a bus storage container. Later, when seeking Sylar to fix Charlie's aneurysm, Sylar angrily attacks Hiro, demanding to know what Hiro did to him. He attempts to kill Hiro, but Hiro prevents this with his time control. Finally, Hiro makes a deal: to tell Sylar about his future if he saves Charlie. Sylar proceeds to do so, and is miffed that he is told that - although he will become the most powerful person - he will die alone and unloved.
Sylar proceeds to attempt to obtain Claire Bennet's regenerative abilities, but is stopped by Peter Petrelli. He is greatly injured and is captured by Eden McCain and the Haitian to be experimented on. After various experiments, Sylar manages to escape, but he is again repelled from an attempt to obtain Claire's power.
Remembering Suresh's list, Sylar makes his way to Zane Taylor, and by posing as the person Zane was expecting, Mohinder Suresh, he kills him and obtains his power. After Mohinder arrives, Sylar poses as Zane, and convinces Mohinder to take him to help convince other people with special abilities that Mohinder's research is real. After Sylar acquires enhanced hearing from a woman named Dale, Mohinder discovers Sylar's identity and manages to incapacitate him with drugs. After experimenting on Sylar to create a new list of people with special powers and attempting to kill him, Mohinder is captured. After Peter shows up and is temporarily killed by Sylar, Mohinder knocks him out, but ends up leaving Isaac Mendez's address on the ground.
After meeting Isaac, and being told that his fate is to die at the hands of the other heroes, he takes Isaac's power to paint the future. He soon finishes a painting depicting himself about to kill and acquire the power of the radioactive Ted Sprague, and believes himself to be the "exploding man". Believing that only those who "don't deserve" their powers are the ones that need to die, he doesn't want to kill innocent people. After attempting to confide in Mohinder, he returns home to his alleged mother, Virginia Gray, in the hope that she will tell him that it is fine not to be special and live as a normal watchmaker. She tells him that he can be anything, including the president, causing him to demonstrate his powers and accidentally injure her. This causes her to panic, which eventually leads to her death, and Sylar deciding that his path is correct.
After acquiring the radioactive powers of Ted, Sylar paints a picture of himself facing off against Peter Petrelli at Kirby Plaza. Realizing Peter is part of his final destiny, Sylar prepares to hunt him down. Before he can leave, Ando Masahashi arrives to kill him, though Ando is easily thwarted. After Sylar discovers the comic depicting his death at the hands of Hiro Nakamura, Hiro appears and rescues Ando. Sylar sets off for Kirby Plaza to wait for Peter. After a struggle involving Sylar, Peter, Matt Parkman, and Niki Sanders, Peter begins the process of exploding, showing Sylar that he is not the exploding man. Soon after, Hiro arrives and impales Sylar through the stomach as the comic predicts, terribly wounding him. His last act is to telekinetically throw Hiro towards a building, forcing him to teleport and rendering him incapable of stopping Peter, as he collapses with a triumphant grin on his face while events that transpired throughout the season that end with his injury by Hiro play in his eyes. However, near the end of the episode, a trail of blood leading from where Sylar collapsed and ending at an open manhole is seen, indicating that Sylar is still alive.
Generations
Sylar is rescued by Candice Wilmer, who uses her powers of illusion to make Sylar disappear. After undergoing eight surgeries, he eventually awakes and realizes that he cannot use his powers. Though Candice promises that they will come back eventually, he kills her and attempts to acquire her power in order to start over. After realizing that it also doesn't work, he attempts to leave, though he realizes that he is in the middle of a dense jungle in Mexico. After wandering for three days, he is rescued from the brink of death by the passing-by Maya and Alejandro Herrera. He introduces himself using his real name, and eventually finds out that they are in search of Chandra Suresh to help control Maya's power. He tells them that he knows Suresh, and that he will take them to him.
He continues to travel with them, and while Alejandro becomes more distrustful of Sylar, Maya becomes more trusting of him. After teaching Maya to control her powers, he convinces her that her brother hates her and that in her heart she wanted to see his wife dead. Convincing her to send Alejandro away, Sylar is eventually confronted by Alejandro. He kills him, but states that he would have let Alejandro go had he not come back. Soon after, Maya confesses her love for Gabriel, and they reach Mohinder's apartment. Sylar attempts to obtain a cure for his condition, later revealed to be the same strain of the Shanti Virus which Niki was infected with. Upon finding that Sylar cannot use any of his obtained abilities, Mohinder attempts to kill Sylar, who then threatens him with a gun. This causes Maya to finally see Sylar's true intentions, so Sylar takes Maya, Mohinder and Molly hostage. Sylar agrees to go to Isaac's loft after Mohinder tells him tests need to be run. At the loft, Molly reveals to Maya that Alejandro is dead, who then goes to confront Sylar. He rolls his eyes as Maya screams at him, casually turns around and shoots her in the chest, and then tells Mohinder to cure Maya first. Elle enters the building and starts shooting at Sylar, but by then he has seen that the cure works, and he steals it and escapes.
Villains
In "Villains", Hiro sees Sylar's life shortly after the murder of Brian Davis. Intensely remorseful over the act, Gabriel attempts to hang himself. Elle Bishop walks in and saves him by using her electric abilities to cut the rope, convincing him that he's a good person. However, she is actually working with Noah Bennet to get Sylar to reveal the method behind transferring powers from one person to another. Elle befriends Gabriel and the two begin to share feelings for each other. Against her wishes, Elle helps Noah manipulate him to kill again by introducing Gabriel to Trevor Zeitlan, a young man who can kinetically shatter objects by "shooting" at them with his thumb and forefinger. She purposefully enrages Gabriel by having Trevor repeatedly demonstrate his ability by shattering glasses while calling him "special." Gabriel turns on Elle, who tries to stop him from killing Trevor. When Gabriel realizes Elle also has an ability, he is furious and pushes her against the wall with his mind, commanding her to leave before turning on Trevor and taking his power. Bennet and Elle watch from the car as Gabriel attacks Trevor.
In the third season, Sylar injects himself with the cure, healing his wounds and regaining use of his intuitive aptitude and telekinesis (though none of his other acquired powers). Sylar makes his way to California and finally takes Claire's power, though he does not kill her, claiming that she is special and that he couldn't do so even if he wanted to because he felt something special about her. He also takes several of the Company files on superhumans she had collected.
Sylar breaks into Company headquarters, killing Bob Bishop and acquiring his power. He is captured after attempting to take Elle's power, which results in her involuntarily releasing an electric burst which knocks him unconscious. The discharge also disables the Level 5 security system, allowing a dozen dangerous inmates to escape the complex. Before Sylar can regain consciousness, he is locked up. During his imprisonment, Angela Petrelli claims that she is his mother and attempts to rehabilitate him. She allows him to kill Bridget Bailey, a woman who can see the history of an object by touching it, in order to feed his hunger for power. When Noah Bennet returns to the Company to hunt down the escaped villains, Angela assigns Sylar as his partner, sending the two out to confront the villains and save the trapped Peter Petrelli.
Wanting to prove he is not just a killer, to both himself and Bennet, Sylar saves Bennet from Jesse and Knox, two of the escaped villains. However, his "hunger" reasserts itself and he kills Jesse, allowing Knox to escape in the confusion. Sylar is placed in his cell once more, where he is visited by Peter, who angrily snaps his neck after Sylar reveals that they are brothers. Peter, having absorbed Sylar's power and thereby his hunger, nearly kills Angela before Sylar knocks him unconscious. As Angela deals with her youngest son, Bennet arrives to take Sylar along to capture another Level 5 inmate. Sylar is surprised that Bennet would want to take him, but Bennet rebuffs him and tells him not to "make it harder than it already is." During the road trip, Noah chastises him about the murder of Jesse at the bank and his terrorizing Claire, and Sylar states that "rehabilitation doesn't happen overnight. I am trying."
They track the escapee, Stephen Canfield, to an empty house, unaware that Claire is already there dealing with Canfield herself. The man creates a powerful vortex in the room which nearly sucks in Claire, but Sylar saves her at the last minute. The power gained from Bridget enables him to experience the horror she went through, so he attempts to sincerely apologize to her, but she regards him with anger and disgust, and Bennet emphatically tells him to never to speak to his daughter again. The three find Stephen at an amusement park, where Bennet tries to force him into killing Sylar in exchange for freedom; though Sylar is clearly aware of what Noah is trying to do, he doesn't do anything to stop him. Rather than become a killer, Stephen kills himself with his power instead. Sylar later calmly remarks to Claire that her father doesn't see people with abilities as human, and never will.
Sylar is returned to his cell once more, where he is approached by Daphne Millbrook with an offer to join Pinehearst Industries, who will accept him for what he is. Sylar refuses, wanting to change. After they leave, Sylar revives Peter so he can help Angela Petrelli. Peter is initially skeptical, but Sylar's willingness to change combined with experience with the future Sylar convinces him; Peter's description of the future Gabriel Gray also gives Sylar hope that he can be redeemed. When Peter discovers the Pinehearst logo in her mind and attempts to go there, Sylar tries to stop him from doing so, but Peter easily defeats him due to his wider variety of powers and places him in an artificially-induced coma just as he had been. Angela is able to use her powers to wake him so he can rescue Peter, who has been stripped of his powers by Arthur Petrelli. Sylar does as asked, but is convinced by Arthur to turn on Angela. Arthur has Sylar throw a powerless Peter out a seventh-story window, but Peter miraculously survives. In "It's Coming", Arthur reveals that he knows Sylar slowed Peter's fall. Arthur is not angry; instead, he uses this event as evidence that Sylar can use his emotions like Peter could, to obtain someone's power without killing them.
To test this theory, Arthur places Sylar in a dark room with Elle, who is restrained to the floor and still suffers from her uncontrolled ability. She is furious at Sylar for her father's murder and repeatedly electrocutes him to no avail. Sylar confronts Elle with his sorrow for what he's done as well as her sorrow for what she's done. She rages at him and continues to attack, finally collapsing and begging him to kill her so that her pain will go away. He forgives her for turning him into a monster and convinces her to forgive herself for her crimes, wanting to take away her pain without killing her. At that moment, Elle's pain disappears and she regains control of her ability. Likewise, Sylar is able to absorb her power. Sylar is overwhelmed by this development, as he no longer has to kill to satisfy his hunger. The two appear to rekindle their old feelings for each other as Elle teaches Sylar how to use her ability. In "The Eclipse", Sylar is relieved when he loses his abilities, and wishes to start a new life with Elle. However, after Noah Bennet claims that Angela and Arthur Petrelli are not his real parents and are just manipulating him, Sylar feels betrayed and reverts to his murderous tendencies. Having regained his abilities after the eclipse ended, Sylar expresses seeming remorse and then attacks Elle, using his telekinesis to scalp her.
The next morning Sylar proceeds to cremate her body, receiving a call from Arthur about his absence. Sylar curtly tells Arthur he is not returning and reveals he has a new list in the form of Elle's cell phone contact list. To ascertain the truth for himself, he kills Sue Landers, a human lie detector. He then heads to Pinehearst to confront Arthur, stopping Peter and the Haitian from killing Arthur by freezing the bullet fired at Arthur's head. With both the Haitian and Arthur apparently weakened in attempting to overwhelm one another, Sylar asks Arthur if he is truly his father. Arthur says yes; Sylar detects the lie with Sue Landers' power and proceeds to drive the bullet into Arthur's head, killing him. He then leaves Peter and the Haitian, claiming they do not have anything he desires.
Sylar travels to Primatech, and sets up a mind game for Angela, Claire, Meredith, and Noah Bennet. After locking everyone inside and killing the Primatech staff, he tells them over the PA system that he will turn them all into monsters as they try to hunt him. Noah releases several Level 5 inmates as bait, including Echo Demille, Eric Doyle, and Daniel Pine, but Sylar easily disposes of them. He then injects Meredith with adrenaline, causing her to lose control of her fire ability. She and Noah are then locked in a cell with a single bullet, so Noah will either burn to death or kill Meredith to survive. Claire wants to help, as Sylar expects, forcing her to choose between her grandmother and her father; Claire chooses her father, leaving Angela at Sylar's mercy. He confronts Angela, and finds out that she was only using him for his monstrous qualities. However, she also reveals that she knows who his real parents are, and that they are not the Grays. As Sylar demands to be told the truth, Claire stabs him in the back of the head with a piece of glass, which will prevent him from reviving as long as it remains in place. In the prison cell, Meredith finally loses full control of her power and releases a massive explosion. Primatech goes up in flames with Sylar still inside.
Fugitives
Following the destruction of Primatech, Sylar is shown to be alive and well (it's later revealed that the fire melted the glass, allowing him to regenerate), and begins to search for his true biological parents. He starts by tracking down his adoptive father, Martin Gray, in Baltimore, making a stop in Pittsburgh to kill an insurance broker who could replicate his signature, and possibly learn the whereabouts of Martin. Sylar learns that Martin had paid to take him off the hands of his supposed father, Samson Gray, in order to escape his marriage with Virginia, Sylar's adoptive mother. After interrogating Martin, Sylar raises his hand, and is about to kill Martin, but holds back and walks away. After taking the address from Martin, Sylar finds Samson's home, only for it to be empty and Nathan Petrelli's agents waiting to ambush him. Although shot at, stunned and restrained, Sylar easily recovers and kills the agents, save one Agent Simmons, whom he tortures for information on Samson's disappearance.
In order to extract more information from Simmons, Sylar invades the house of Luke and Mary Campbell. Waiting for the two to return, Sylar telekinetically pins them, and states he intends to torture them to get Simmons to talk. He then proceeds to torture Mary. In a rage, Luke manages to free himself and boils Sylar's coffee with his own ability: microwave emission. Intrigued, Sylar begins to talk to Luke, telling him exactly why Luke has been in so much trouble, and that he understands Luke's frustration. During this, Simmons frees himself from his bindings and tries to grab his gun to shoot Sylar, but Luke notices this and kills Simmons. Sylar proceeds to leave the house, taking Luke with him only after Luke states he knows where Samson is.
As Sylar and Luke proceed to find Samson, Luke wishes to stop at some local diner to eat, as well as lying to Sylar about Samson's location when prodded. This irritates Sylar to the point where he threatens to simply take Luke's emission ability. Luke simply states that Sylar would never find his father then. Choosing to stop at a diner, Luke reveals that he and Samson went birding, awakening a memory from Sylar's childhood. As they eat, Sylar teaches Luke some lessons about using his power and having objectives, as well as revealing the change in his 'hunger' (emphasizing finding Samson over acquiring powers). This results in Luke giving Sylar Samson's location, even under the threat of being killed for his power. They are soon interrupted by Nathan's agents. Luke distracts the agents enough for Sylar to telekinetically toss a few around and punch a hole through a window. However, as he gets into the car, Sylar locks Luke out and drives off, leaving Luke to the agents. However, a short time later, Sylar disguises as an agent and gets into their van, killing the agents and saving Luke, as well as taking a laptop. When confronted about this by Luke, Sylar states that Luke was simply conveniently nearby and that his goal was to get the laptop to understand how Nathan's agents worked, though Luke seems skeptical about that reasoning.
Continuing to elude Nathan's agents, Sylar and Luke finally lose them. Irritated with Luke's wish to fry some agents and subtle attempts to stop the search for Samson, Sylar pins Luke to the side of the truck, essentially telling Luke to shut up. Sylar then seems to remember the area in which the two are in, and they reach an abandoned diner. Sylar makes an entrance by pulling off some of the board (throwing them in Luke's direction) and they enter. Here, Sylar recounts being brought to the diner as a child, and dropping a toy car in a wooden post. To prove this memory true, he rips open the post telekinetically and finds the car. He then remembers exactly what happened at that place: His father took money from Virginia and Martin, then left to his car. Sylar followed, only to see his biological parents arguing, and Samson telekinetically splitting his mother's skull open, killing her. In a rage exacerbated by Luke's revelation that Sylar's father was indeed a bad individual, Sylar pins him to the diner wall, but drops him and tells Luke to go home. Sylar leaves, intent on not only finding, but killing his father.
Arriving at a run-down trailer in the woods, Sylar finds his father old and dying of cancer. Samson is not frightened by Sylar's threat to kill and instead prepares a rabbit for taxidermy. Demonstrating several abilities, he and Sylar realize that they have the same ability - the ability to steal powers. Samson reveals that it did not matter how many people he killed or how many powers he stole; in the end, he did not lead a fulfilling life and is now miserable. He claims to not even remember selling Sylar and killing his mother, as these things did not matter to him. He goes on to say how he would have lived life differently, if given a second chance - how he would risk everything to attain true power and ultimately change the world. He touches on Sylar's original guilt for murdering to steal abilities by mocking Sylar, telling him how both their victims were weak and helpless and that they had no chance against seasoned killers. However, when Sylar cuts himself and heals while stuffing the rabbit, Samson transforms, reviving his hunger for abilities, desperate to gain immortality and escape from death. Temporarily incapacitating Sylar, he is stunned when Sylar first resists and then retaliates, strangling Samson with his own oxygen tube. Samson does not understand, since both he and Sylar know that Sylar would not die from Samson's "examination". Sylar states that he is finishing what he came to do, taking the stuffed rabbit. Samson begs Sylar to kill him quickly, but Sylar refuses, relishing the fact that his father, who is ultimately just like him, will "die alone with his disease". Later, when Danko returns home to his apartment after discovering Nathan's ability, he finds the stuffed rabbit on his desk, unaware that Sylar is lurking in the shadows nearby. Instead of a confrontation, however, Sylar chooses to leave, but not before stringing up an unconscious Eric Doyle in Danko's apartment as a 'gift'.
This 'gift' is explained further when Sylar surprises Danko in his car: He wishes to work with Danko in rounding up all superpowered humans, and quickly leaves before Danko can pull out his gun. To further win Danko's trust, Sylar decides to help Danko track a shapeshifter, James Martin, who managed to kill 4 of Danko's agents (3 via gunshot, and one murdered for his form). At Martin's apartment, Danko surprises Sylar, and the two exchange taunts and information, resulting in Sylar and Danko teaming up for the time being. Through their cooperation, the two find out that Martin takes forms of power and authority, in order to woo women at a local nightclub. At the club, Sylar and Danko are spotted by Martin (in the form of Danko), and they lose track of him. A short time later, Danko and Sylar decide to leave the club; however, the 'Sylar' is actually Martin in disguise with the intention of killing Danko. However, Danko shoots Martin, but doesn't kill him. Instead, he allows the real Sylar to take Martin's ability (without removing the skullcap) in order to not only make hunting superpowered humans easier for them, but to fake Sylar's death and keep people such as Noah Bennett from trying to track Sylar down.
Sylar, disguised as Danko, later meets Noah at Building 26 as Noah, unknowingly, examines Martin's body. Noah, knowing how hard it is to kill Sylar, doubts Danko could do it single-handedly. When Sandra arrives to question Noah about Claire, Sylar shakes her hand in introduction, gaining access to her form. Wanting to destroy Noah, he later visits Noah at Noah's apartment, in disguise as Sandra. He delivers divorce papers, stating that he (Sandra) cannot trust Noah anymore and that their marriage is over. Noah is distraught but, upon examining the signature on the forms, discovers that it is not Sandra's. Rushing to the crematorium, Noah stops the cremation of Martin's body. He removes the metal shard in the back of the corpse's head, telling the surrounding soldiers that when Sylar was stabbed with a glass shard before, it melted in the Primatech fire allowing him to regenerate. When the corpse does not regenerate, Noah returns to Danko and confronts him with the knowledge that Sylar is still alive. Danko confesses and tells Noah that Sylar is in disguise and out on a mission with other soldiers. Noah forces Danko to take him to Sylar and, when they arrive, shoots the soldier Danko identifies as Sylar in the back of the head. When the corpse continues to bleed out and does not heal, Danko orders his men to capture Noah, who Danko claims has gone insane. However, when the soldiers leave in pursuit, the corpse gets up and shifts back into Sylar. When Danko asks him how he survived while bleeding so much, Sylar says it was all to make his death look realistic.
As Sylar continues to shapeshift, he finds it is harder and harder to regain his form without side effects, including left over body parts like teeth. He also retains personality traits and memories of those he changes into, causing him to go through a literal "identity crisis". When Danko tells him that he needs to leave his "Sylar" identity behind to retain his free pass, Sylar kills the next target on Danko's list, Tom Miller, and takes his power. Further examining the shapeshifting ability, Sylar realizes he is actually absorbing different DNA sequences into his body, causing him to permanently change a little each time he shifts. When Sylar starts to shapeshift in his sleep, Danko tells him he has to find an anchor that will remind him of who he is. To that effect, Sylar, as one of Danko's agents, retrieves the evidence from the homicide of his mother, Virginia Gray. While examining her collection of snow globes, Sylar unknowingly shapeshifts into his mother and begins to have a conversation with himself, showing acute symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. He at first does not realize what is happening and talks to his mother about his encounter with Samson, why his mother lied to Sylar about his lineage, and how he is starting to lose himself. He, as his mother, tries to convince himself that he did not mean to kill her and that he is still special. Danko interrupts when his agents track down Rebel. Sylar gets to Rebel (Micah Sanders) before Danko's agents do and prepares to kill him and take his power. Micah, however, reveals that he understands what Sylar is going through because his mother, Niki Sanders, endured the same thing when her power manifested. Convinced that Sylar is special and the only one capable of saving those with powers, Micah convinces Sylar to join his cause. Sylar, disguised as Micah, tricks Danko and his agents into chasing the wrong person, allowing Micah to escape. Sylar, again talking with "his mother", reveals that her murder was no accident but "Virginia" forgives Sylar anyway, convinced that he can still be whomever he wants to be, including the President. Realizing his opportunity, Sylar breaks into Nathan Petrelli's office and finds a brush containing some of Nathan's DNA. He later appears, as Nathan, at a press conference concerning new plans for change he has for the country and how he soon plans to meet with the President and "shake his hand". Realizing what Sylar is trying to do, Nathan returns to DC from Coyote Sands and confronts Sylar, who reveals he has examined Nathan's life in depth using clairsentience. Expressing pity and determined to become better than Nathan, Sylar prepares to take Nathan's ability when Danko appears and stuns Nathan. Attempting to salvage his operation, Danko orders Sylar to shift back into one of his agents so they can continue hunting specials. When Sylar refuses, Danko stabs him in the back of the head with a knife. However, Sylar recovers, having used his shapeshifting ability to relocate his weak spot.
After framing Danko for the murder of an agent, he takes on Nathan's form and goes to meet the President with Claire in tow. When she discovers the truth, he controls her using the power which he had empathically absorbed from Eric Doyle and talks about how similar they are, both being adopted and both having the ability to live forever, proposing that, given enough time, Claire might come to forgive him and even love him. However, Peter and Nathan then confront him, and in the battle Sylar and Nathan fly out of a window and into another room. Sylar subsequently kills Nathan (after empathically absorbing his power during the fight) and takes on the form of the President's Chief of Staff. However, the President injects him with an elephant tranquilizer, and reveals himself to be Peter, having absorbed Sylar's ability during the fight. In an effort to shut down the program, Angela convinces Matt Parkman to use his telepathy to convince Sylar that he is Nathan, Matt using Angela's memories of Nathan's life to essentially 'plant' Nathan in Sylar's head, his shape-shifting power allowing him to assume Nathan's form while his clairsentience will allow him to subconsciously use objects around him to 'fill in the blanks'. Sylar, as Nathan, talks to the President and convinces him to shut down Building 26 and divert the funds to the new Company that will now be built. Later, Sylar, as Nathan, watches "Sylar's" (in reality James Martin's) body burn at Coyote Sands alongside Noah, Claire, Matt, Angela, Peter, Mohinder, Hiro and Ando.
Redemption
Memory loss
Six weeks later, this Nathan starts to rediscover the other powers he had gained in his old life. Later, following Nathan's confession of being involved in the accidental death of his girlfriend Kelly Houston, her mother, Millie Houston, has him shot and buried in a shallow grave. When healed, Sylar emerges from the ground in his own body, suffering from amnesia. Picked up by the police, he is recognized and accidentally uses his powers to escape. He then encounters the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival" and Samuel, who take him in as one of their own. The carnival is hidden from Sylar's pursuers, and Samuel assures him he is safe in his new "home".
Once Sylar has rested, Samuel proceeds to show him around the circus, showing that everyone at the carnival has an ability. Sylar also meets Lydia, who he immediately hits it off with. Edgar, however, jealously attempts to outshow Sylar with his power, but is easily beaten. Samuel also notices that Sylar's memories are not his (in fact, Nathan Petrelli's). In an effort to awaken Sylar's true personality, Sylar is taken by Damien to the hall of mirrors, where he is forced to look at his past murders, starting with his mother. Repulsed, Sylar is unable to believe himself a monster. Samuel uses this to try and convince Sylar that he is a protector of the circus, and must remove threats such as the officer who attempted to capture him the night before. Sylar is told the officer is at the house of mirrors, and goes there to tell the man to leave. However, the officer shoots at Sylar, forcing an uncontrolled electric blast. Here, Sylar's killer instinct begins to take hold, but Sylar stops himself just in time for Edgar to cut the man into pieces. Later, Samuel formally makes Sylar a part of the circus family, baptizing him and letting him mingle with the others. Sylar and Lydia leave arm in arm for the night, much to Edgar's dismay.
In "Shadowboxing", the persona of Nathan returns, causing him to shapeshift back into Nathan's form while sleeping. Panicking upon finding himself at the carnival, he flies away, and is later shown arriving at Peter's door, asking for help. Arriving for work at his office, Peter and Nathan discover that no one has been looking for Nathan, as he had been on 'vacation' according to Angela Petrelli. The brothers are further surprised when the Haitian appears, and tells Peter to go see a storage facility for the truth of the situation. Here, Nathan and Peter discover the real Nathan's preserved body, which 'Nathan' touches and sees Sylar and Matt Parkman. They head to Texas to see Matt, who is at the hospital, in a coma.
Haunting Matt Parkman
Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body.
Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop.
The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more.
Whole again
Staying over at Peter Petrelli's apartment, the brothers are surprised by Angela, who springs a Thanksgiving dinner on them. Nathan wakes up in time to hear Peter and Angela discussing the discovery of Nathan's body. Although they press her for information, Angela threatens to simply leave if they do not sit down and eat. During the dinner, Angela finally confesses that she had Matt Parkman place Nathan's mind into Sylar's body. During dessert, however, Nathan begins to act oddly, and transforms back into Sylar, happy to be controlling his body once more. He telekinetically traps Peter and Angela, relishing his ability to control himself. After taunting Peter, he begins to scalp Angela, only to have the 'Nathan' persona fight back. Losing control, Sylar transforms back into Nathan, who flees the building to protect his family. Peter devises a plan to eliminate the 'Sylar' persona leaving just Nathan using the ability of The Haitian to erase Sylar's memories. On a rooftop however, "Nathan" confesses to Peter he is not himself and cannot keep fighting off the 'Sylar' persona. Nathan jumps off the building and lands onto a parked car. Peter then sees Sylar heal, get up and wave as he walks away.
Sylar returns to the carnival to face Samuel, but Sylar finds that while he wants to kill, he is unable to make himself do so. His identity in crisis, he makes a deal with Samuel. After absorbing Lydia's power, he tells Samuel to give him a tattoo, and that he would do whatever it said. When he sees the tattoo, he decides that he does not belong at the carnival. The next scene shows him floating outside of Claire Bennet's dorm room window, and his tattoo is a picture of her.
In the episode "Pass/Fail", Sylar kidnaps Claire Bennet's friend, Gretchen Berg so Claire will talk to him in exchange for her friend. Sylar feels like they are very similar: they've never felt in place, they both lost their parents, and they are both immortal. Claire doesn't want to talk to him, and makes him tell her where Gretchen is. Claire finds Gretchen tied up, and they hide in a closet and have a talk. Claire tells Gretchen that Sylar thinks they are alike, and she fears that they might be. She is confused at Sylar's attitude, but resents him for who he is. Gretchen comes to the conclusion that Sylar's powers have isolated him from ever having any relationships. Giving them up might be the only way he could have any connections. Gretchen then shape-shifts back into Sylar. He then goes to Matt Parkman and asks him to take away all his powers away. Matt attempts but fails. Sylar threatens Matt's family and forces him to keep trying. Instead, Matt traps Sylar and his powers deep within the confines of his mind, "somewhere you'll never find them," and he is left alone to live out his worst nightmare: Being all alone. Matt then attempts to seal up Sylar within the walls of his basement. However, Peter Petrelli arrives after having a vision that Sylar will save Emma. Using Matt's power, Peter attempts to bring Sylar out of his nightmare, but ends up trapped in Sylar's mind along with him (The Art of Deception).
In "The Wall", Sylar is repairing endless watches in the empty city when he hears banging. Searching for the source of it, he finds Peter using a pole to get his attention by banging it on the concrete. Sylar is shocked to discover that Peter is real and says there's no way out - he's been searching for three years. Peter reveals that it's actually been three hours and that Sylar is trapped in a nightmare, which he is skeptical to accept, and runs back to his shop. Peter tries to convince him of the truth and tells him he must save Emma. He tries to pull them out of the nightmare but is unsuccessful. Peter avoids Sylar for a month while trapped, and Sylar tries being friendly by giving him a 9th Wonders! comic book. Peter, determined to find a way out, does not understand why Sylar is so resistant to find a way out, and realizes that Sylar really doesn't want to be free. They come across a massive brick wall, the same one Sylar's body is actually trapped behind (in Matt's basement). Peter realizes that the two need to break the wall in order to escape. At first Peter tries to break it alone, but fails. Sylar compares his determination to a memory of Nathan's he possesses which angers Peter. Sylar apologizes for Nathan's murder, but Peter refuses to forgive him and Sylar finally joins Peter in attempting to break down the wall. After years of attempting and failing to damage the wall in the slightest, Sylar is surprised when Peter gives him a copy of The Pillars of the Earth as a gift as a to thank him for keeping him sane all the years of their imprisonment. Sylar admits he always worries Peter will attack him with the sledge-hammer which Peter admits he has contemplated. Sylar realizes that Peter won't let go of his anger out of fear of losing the last remnant of Nathan, and points out to Peter that he has truly changed. Peter finally accepts this fact and afterwards the two are easily able to break a hole in the wall, which frees them from their mental prison. Once freed, Sylar uses telekinesis to free him from his physical one and he and Peter learn that they've only been trapped for half a day in reality. The experience seems to have changed both Sylar and Peter and the two head off to save Emma, but are stopped by Eli and his clones who want to prevent their plans.
In "Brave New World," he and Peter easily defeat Eli and save Matt's life as knocking out the Prime Eli gets rid of his clones who were about to kill Matt. Sylar tries to convince a furious Matt that he's changed, but fails and begins to leave with Peter (who read Eli's mind and learned Samuel's plans). Matt tries to telepathically prevent Sylar from leaving, so Sylar asks Matt to read his mind to show him he has changed. Matt is unable to, although he does let them leave. Peter and Sylar fly to New York where Samuel plans to kill thousands of people. Peter is reluctant, but Sylar convinces Peter to trust him and reminds him that the dream says that Sylar saves Emma. Sylar heads off to the tent to save Emma while Peter goes to defeat Samuel. He finds Emma playing the cello with bloody fingers, and tries to save her by taking the cello, but is taken control of by Eric Doyle, the Puppet Master. Doyle, desperate to be better than Sylar, begins to taunt him. However, controlling and mocking Sylar distracts him from his primary focus on controlling Emma. Once Emma realizes he has loosened his control over her, Emma blasts Doyle with a soundwave through the cello, breaking Doyle's control over Sylar, and giving Sylar the chance to telekinetically grab onto Doyle. Doyle begs him to stop, and asks, "What do you care about this girl, anyway?" Sylar tells him that he's going to save her. Confused, Doyle cries out, "That's not you! You're like me!" Sylar looks at him and calmly says, "No. I'm a hero." After Peter reunites with Emma, she tells him that his friend is taking care of Doyle. Fearing the worst, Peter heads into the tent to find Sylar admiring his new "masterpiece": a dazed Doyle trussed up like a puppet, clad in giant light-bulbs. Sylar plugs the lights in, deviously grins, and says, "I like it!"
Brave New World
Sylar walks with Peter and discusses his rescue of Emma. Sylar explains that he could have easily killed Doyle but didn't and that not killing him and saving Emma felt good to him, showing that Sylar is truly changing and is enjoying being a hero rather than a villain. Peter and Sylar witness Claire climbing the Ferris Wheel to reveal her powers to the world and Sylar comments that it's now a "brave new world."
Alternate timelines
In the first alternate future depicted, set five years ahead in the episode "Five Years Gone", Sylar has gained countless new abilities, including those of Candice Wilmer and D. L. Hawkins. Nathan Petrelli, now the President, concocted a story for the explanation of New York's destruction, which blamed Sylar for the explosion, and he is assumed to be deceased. Sylar is able to use Candice's ability to murder Nathan and assume his identity. As President, he begins a campaign to hunt and exterminate all people with abilities, originally claiming that it will unite the world in grief. However, he really just doesn't want the competition. When Claire Bennet is captured, he has her brought to him, pretending to be her father. However, he simply desires one final ability, hers, which he takes. Later, while giving a speech in the ruins of New York, he is informed by Matt Parkman that Peter, the future Hiro, and Ando are staging an attack to free the present-day Hiro. Upon hearing this, Sylar, still disguised as Nathan, flies away from the crowd. He confronts Peter, revealing himself, and they prepare for battle, the outcome of which is left ambiguous.
In a timeline set four years in the future, as seen in the season three episode "I Am Become Death", Sylar has reassumed his identity of Gabriel Gray and is working to suppress his homicidal hunger for the sake of his son, Noah, who lives with him and Mr. Muggles in Claire's former home in Costa Verde. He is visited by the Peter Petrelli of the present, who is intent on learning how to activate the intuitive ability he has absorbed from him so that he can understand the complexities of changing the timeline. Gabriel is initially reluctant, resisting telepathic compulsion to teach Peter, but ultimately relents and tutors him after painting a precognitive picture of the Earth exploding, despite warning Peter that with the intuitive ability comes the same homicidal hunger he has been trying to resist. Shortly afterwards, a team led by Claire Bennet storms the house intent on killing Peter, and in the ensuing fight, Noah is killed. Enraged and grief-stricken, Gabriel loses control of his radiation ability and releases a nuclear detonation, destroying Costa Verde and killing over 200,000 people. It remains unknown whether or not he survived the explosion.
In the original timeline, Sylar kills Charlie Andrews and takes her power of eidetic memory (Seven Minutes to Midnight). In season four, Hiro goes back in time and prevents this, actually enlisting Sylar's help to save her from a blood clot (Once Upon a Time in Texas).
Powers and abilities
Sylar's base power, as described by Chandra Suresh, is "intuitive aptitude", the ability to innately understand and manipulate patterns within complex systems, which initially manifests as a talent for repairing timepieces. As revealed in "One of Us, One of Them", this power comes with a nearly insatiable hunger for "understanding", which, in Sylar's case, specifically refers to craving the powers of others, driving him to kill other superpowered humans to understand their powers and make them his own. Despite the strength of this hunger, two episodes have shown that it can be resisted or satiated: in the alternate future of "Five Years Gone", Sylar has taken on so many abilities that he simply desires to get rid of all of his potential "competition" (other superhumans, to be exact); in the future of "I Am Become Death", he has resumed his identity as Gabriel Gray and denies his hunger for the sake of his son. In "Once Upon a Time in Texas" it is revealed that Sylar can also identify deformities in people such as Charlie's blood clot and Hiro's brain tumor.
Sylar's intuitive aptitude allows him to deduce the workings of the powers of others; by examining the brain of his victim, he is able to find the brain's connection to the ability, and once he finds said connection, he can immediately replicate the power himself. The exact mechanics behind this are unknown, though it is theorized numerous times by many characters that DNA alteration/infusions is what allows him to obtain abilities. Yet, when the process is shown, Sylar only seems to touch the part of the brain that is the source of the ability and immediately replicates it. Sylar cannot acquire an ability from a person who has been dead awhile, even if their brains are intact though the process he uses to acquire abilities kills his victims before he actually gains the ability. In "Fallout", Noah Bennet theorizes that Sylar's additional powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own which, as a side effect, has driven him insane.
Of all the powers Sylar has acquired, the most prominently used is telekinesis, which is the first power he took. In contrast to the limited abilities Brian Davis displayed, Sylar's skills are far more advanced; he exhibits both fine control (precisely cutting open the skulls of his victims) and sheer force (flipping a police van), can enhance his own strength and durability to superhuman levels, and can control a person's motor skills in a manner similar to Eric Doyle's puppet mastery. Tests done on Sylar by Bennet's associate Hank show no overt signs of powers other than telekinesis; while their tests show that he possesses other powers, they are unable to identify what they are. In "The Hard Part", Sylar demonstrates he can use at least two of his acquired abilities at the same time.
During his first killing spree, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
After being injected with the Shanti virus by the Company, Sylar loses all of his abilities. After he is cured at the end of the second season, he only regains his abilities of intuitive aptitude and telekinesis. Sylar's empathic mimicry, which Arthur says he has had all along, is also present. In the third and fourth seasons, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
In "It's Coming", Sylar learns how to gain abilities without removing a person's brain, obtaining Elle Bishop's power of electric manipulation by empathizing with her and convincing her to let go of her anger. This empathy allowed him to retain the use of Brian Davis' telekinesis after being cured of the virus, due to the guilt he felt over his death. Arthur explains that Sylar possessed this ability all along. Despite possessing this ability, he has returned to killing to obtain new powers, though he later uses this method to obtain James Martin's shapeshifting ability, Nathan Petrelli's ability to fly, and also Lydia's empathy.
As a side effect of the use of the shapeshifting ability when used in combination with his acquired psychometry, his mind has begun to fracture into the different personas of those whom he has shapeshifted into, and residual physical characteristics have started to appear, such as his adopted mother when he came into contact with the dried blood on the scissors he killed her with. As stated in "I Am Sylar", his "Achilles' heel" in the back of his head has been relocated due to his continued shapeshifting, making him harder to stop. Aside from superhuman abilities, Sylar is very intelligent and manipulative and possesses decent hand-to-hand combat skills, as seen when he fights Peter Petrelli.
Reception
Sylar was named one of the best new villains by Entertainment Weekly. Sylar was also named the best villain of 2007 by IGN. UGO also ranked Sylar 6th on their list of top 50 TV characters.
In other media
Zachary Quinto provides the voice of a Robot Chicken-parodied Sylar in the episode "Bionic Cow". In it, he kills a man named "Uncle Glen", who is apparently able to remove his fingers, failing to realize that this is a simple sleight of hand trick to impress young children. He instead inherits Glen's power of "explosive diarrhea," remarking that "every once in a while, this power backfires".
Notes
References
External links
Sylar on the Heroes Wiki
adoptee characters in television
fictional attempted suicides
fictional characters from New York City
fictional presidents of the United States
fictional serial killers
fictional shapeshifters
fictional telekinetics
fictional United States senators
Heroes (American TV series) characters
American male characters in television
television characters introduced in 2006
television supervillains
fi:Luettelo televisiosarjan Heroes hahmoista#Sylar / Gabriel Gray | true | [
"Parkman may refer to:\n\n People\n Francis Parkman (1823–1893)\n His uncle George Parkman (1790–1849), the victim in the Parkman-Webster murder case\n\n Places in the United States\n Parkman, Maine\n Parkman, Ohio\n Parkman, Wyoming\n\n Fictional characters and locations\n Matt Parkman, portrayed by Greg Grunberg on the NBC television series Heroes \n Maury Parkman, Matt's father, portrayed by Alan Blumenfeld\n Parkman, Indiana, town in the novel Some Came Running",
"Anastasiia Nikolaevna Metelkina (; ; born 10 March 2005) is a Russian-born pair skater who competes for Georgia. With her skating partner, Daniil Parkman, she is the 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb silver medalist.\n\nMetelkina/Parkman are the first Georgian pairs team to compete at a World Championships, doing so in 2021.\n\nPrograms\n\nWith Parkman\n\nCompetitive highlights \n With Parkman\n\nDetailed results \nISU Personal Best highlighted in bold.\n\nWith Parkman\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n\n2005 births\nLiving people\nRussian female pair skaters\nFemale pair skaters from Georgia (country)\nPeople from Vladimir, Russia"
]
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[
"Sylar",
"Haunting Matt Parkman",
"What is Haunting Matt Parkman?",
"Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar,"
]
| C_c8edc7ae36c4408382b9e8fe46a52356_0 | What does Sylar do to Matt Parkman? | 2 | What does Sylar do to Matt Parkman? | Sylar | Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body. Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop. The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he is is shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more. CANNOTANSWER | Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. | Sylar (Gabriel Gray) is a fictional character and a primary antagonist of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers. He served as the primary villain of the first season and then as a recurring antagonist. Over the course of seasons two, three and four, the writers depicted Sylar attempting at various times and under different circumstances to become a hero or curb his desire to kill, undergoing relapses at various stages. In the series' penultimate episode he experienced over three years of penitence in a mental prison, and later identifies himself as a hero in what became the show's series finale due to cancellation.
TV Guide included him in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".
Concept and creation
Sylar was originally created as a cannibal who ate his victims' brains and "digested their power"; however, in order to avoid the potential silliness and zombie associations, the producers deliberately made this fact vague in the series. In an interview with series creator Tim Kring, it is asked if Sylar eats brains, and he merely states "That's the popular speculation. There's a connection between the powers and the brain, and Sylar has found it." The question is addressed in the season three premiere, when he is depicted in the act of acquiring Claire Bennet's regenerative powers through examination of her brain with his hands. When Claire asks him the same question, he sounds surprised and replies "Eat your brain? Claire, that's disgusting." The writers never bridged the gap between the early insinuations regarding what Sylar does with the brains and the final incarnation they reveal in his encounter with Claire.
Prior to Quinto's first appearance in the episode "Seven Minutes to Midnight", the role of Sylar was played by stunt doubles in "One Giant Leap", with the character's face being obscured by shadows. Quinto himself played the role with his face hidden in the same way until "Six Months Ago". In the second episode of the first season, "Don't Look Back", his voice is heard in a recorded phone conversation on Chandra Suresh's answering machine, spoken by voice actor Maurice LaMarche. Part of this conversation is heard again in "Six Months Ago", this time spoken by Quinto.
Personality
Sylar was raised as the son of a watchmaker, but was indoctrinated by his mother's repeated assertions to believe that he was special and deserved more in life. This and the "evolutionary imperative" to acquire new abilities are what drive him to kill the victims with powers. Taking the name "Sylar" from a watch brand, he has shed all connections to his former life as Gabriel Gray to the point where he angrily lashes out at anyone who calls him Gabriel.
In addition to the above, Sylar shows a marked lack of empathy. As seen in the episode .07%, when shortly before killing Isaac Mendez, he casually comments on Mendez's lack of fear, with the sort of mild surprise that someone might express if he noticed that a train was running late.
Although he at times tries to impersonate other people in order to obtain a longer-term goal, Sylar is also unable to completely control his "hunger," or obsessive tendencies, to the extent that he still intimidates people when he is trying to gain their trust or co-operation. This was seen with Mohinder Suresh, when Sylar tried to impersonate Zane Taylor, and also with Claire Bennet's mother when Sylar was looking for Claire, as well.
Sylar's dominant trait was his innate desire to be recognized as special and admired. This was fueled by his mother's vocal disappointment in him for perceived failure and his own feelings that he did not get a chance to choose his destiny, being forced into the role of a watchmaker. He spent his life hoping to learn something extraordinary about himself.
Sylar is repeatedly shown as desperately looking for a family and parental figures due to his own unhappy home life, desperately wanting to be loved. The flip side of this is that he can react with extreme violence when his emotional needs are exploited by others.
Sylar is also known for his voracious appetite and he can constantly be seen snacking or looking for food. He has even taken time during his murders to eat, such as when he reacted with joy at a birthday cake of the woman he just killed.
Quinto has said of his character,
The sad part is, he's initially well-intentioned. He wants to improve his life. He wants to make a difference. He wants to matter. Through the process of realizing how to do that, he gets blinded and loses himself in the pursuit of it and goes a little crazy—'a little' being an understatement.
Quinto also observed,
He's definitely somebody that has been overcome by a hunger and overcome by a pursuit for power and for importance that did start a little more innocuously than it evolved into.
When asked if he thought Sylar was irredeemable or not, Quinto responded,
I think there's a certain point at which you cross a line and it's sort of irrevocable.... I don't know what the writers have in mind, but it would probably be kind of a challenge at this point, you know?
Quinto has also responded to the question of whether Sylar could ever be good, commenting that
I don't really look at him as, you know, absolutely good or bad. I think that he is constantly walking a line of ambiguity within himself and uncertainty within himself that defines the way he acts.
Sylar, however, is also shown as very caring and thoughtful, like when he takes care of Angela Petrelli, when Arthur and Angela Petrelli claimed that they are Sylar's parents, which Peter wants to go to Pinehearst, Sylar didn't allow him to go alone because it is dangerous, and right after he murdered Brian Davis, he tries to commit suicide, feeling his guilt for murdering a person.
Character history
Genesis
The episode "Six Months Ago" reveals that Sylar's real name is Gabriel Gray, a highly talented watchmaker who follows his adoptive father's footsteps. He encounters Chandra Suresh, who tells Gabriel that he may be an evolved human with superhuman powers. Gabriel eagerly submits to testing. After being rejected by Suresh because the test results are indeterminate, Gabriel contacts another person on Suresh's list, Brian Davis. Gabriel discovers that he himself has the power of intuitive aptitude, and murders Davis for his telekinetic powers. After returning to Suresh, he becomes "Patient Zero", and continues to work with Suresh until Suresh realizes that Sylar is murdering the people that they meet and ultimately, Suresh is killed by Gabriel in his own cab precisely at 11:53 p.m.
Sylar is first referenced in the first episode when Mohinder Suresh (Chandra Suresh's son) finds a cassette tape labeled "SYLAR" on both sides in his dead father's New York apartment. His character is next mentioned in the series as a mysterious serial killer sought out by the FBI, whose existence is completely speculative. Appearing as a shadowy figure, he attempts to obtain Molly Walker's power after failing the first time.
In "Once Upon a Time in Texas", Sylar bumps into a future Hiro in front of the Burnt Toast Diner, and sidesteps him before entering. Here, he converses with Charlie, and discovers her power of enhanced memory. Sylar prepares to kill Charlie, but Hiro stops time and locks Sylar in a bus storage container. Later, when seeking Sylar to fix Charlie's aneurysm, Sylar angrily attacks Hiro, demanding to know what Hiro did to him. He attempts to kill Hiro, but Hiro prevents this with his time control. Finally, Hiro makes a deal: to tell Sylar about his future if he saves Charlie. Sylar proceeds to do so, and is miffed that he is told that - although he will become the most powerful person - he will die alone and unloved.
Sylar proceeds to attempt to obtain Claire Bennet's regenerative abilities, but is stopped by Peter Petrelli. He is greatly injured and is captured by Eden McCain and the Haitian to be experimented on. After various experiments, Sylar manages to escape, but he is again repelled from an attempt to obtain Claire's power.
Remembering Suresh's list, Sylar makes his way to Zane Taylor, and by posing as the person Zane was expecting, Mohinder Suresh, he kills him and obtains his power. After Mohinder arrives, Sylar poses as Zane, and convinces Mohinder to take him to help convince other people with special abilities that Mohinder's research is real. After Sylar acquires enhanced hearing from a woman named Dale, Mohinder discovers Sylar's identity and manages to incapacitate him with drugs. After experimenting on Sylar to create a new list of people with special powers and attempting to kill him, Mohinder is captured. After Peter shows up and is temporarily killed by Sylar, Mohinder knocks him out, but ends up leaving Isaac Mendez's address on the ground.
After meeting Isaac, and being told that his fate is to die at the hands of the other heroes, he takes Isaac's power to paint the future. He soon finishes a painting depicting himself about to kill and acquire the power of the radioactive Ted Sprague, and believes himself to be the "exploding man". Believing that only those who "don't deserve" their powers are the ones that need to die, he doesn't want to kill innocent people. After attempting to confide in Mohinder, he returns home to his alleged mother, Virginia Gray, in the hope that she will tell him that it is fine not to be special and live as a normal watchmaker. She tells him that he can be anything, including the president, causing him to demonstrate his powers and accidentally injure her. This causes her to panic, which eventually leads to her death, and Sylar deciding that his path is correct.
After acquiring the radioactive powers of Ted, Sylar paints a picture of himself facing off against Peter Petrelli at Kirby Plaza. Realizing Peter is part of his final destiny, Sylar prepares to hunt him down. Before he can leave, Ando Masahashi arrives to kill him, though Ando is easily thwarted. After Sylar discovers the comic depicting his death at the hands of Hiro Nakamura, Hiro appears and rescues Ando. Sylar sets off for Kirby Plaza to wait for Peter. After a struggle involving Sylar, Peter, Matt Parkman, and Niki Sanders, Peter begins the process of exploding, showing Sylar that he is not the exploding man. Soon after, Hiro arrives and impales Sylar through the stomach as the comic predicts, terribly wounding him. His last act is to telekinetically throw Hiro towards a building, forcing him to teleport and rendering him incapable of stopping Peter, as he collapses with a triumphant grin on his face while events that transpired throughout the season that end with his injury by Hiro play in his eyes. However, near the end of the episode, a trail of blood leading from where Sylar collapsed and ending at an open manhole is seen, indicating that Sylar is still alive.
Generations
Sylar is rescued by Candice Wilmer, who uses her powers of illusion to make Sylar disappear. After undergoing eight surgeries, he eventually awakes and realizes that he cannot use his powers. Though Candice promises that they will come back eventually, he kills her and attempts to acquire her power in order to start over. After realizing that it also doesn't work, he attempts to leave, though he realizes that he is in the middle of a dense jungle in Mexico. After wandering for three days, he is rescued from the brink of death by the passing-by Maya and Alejandro Herrera. He introduces himself using his real name, and eventually finds out that they are in search of Chandra Suresh to help control Maya's power. He tells them that he knows Suresh, and that he will take them to him.
He continues to travel with them, and while Alejandro becomes more distrustful of Sylar, Maya becomes more trusting of him. After teaching Maya to control her powers, he convinces her that her brother hates her and that in her heart she wanted to see his wife dead. Convincing her to send Alejandro away, Sylar is eventually confronted by Alejandro. He kills him, but states that he would have let Alejandro go had he not come back. Soon after, Maya confesses her love for Gabriel, and they reach Mohinder's apartment. Sylar attempts to obtain a cure for his condition, later revealed to be the same strain of the Shanti Virus which Niki was infected with. Upon finding that Sylar cannot use any of his obtained abilities, Mohinder attempts to kill Sylar, who then threatens him with a gun. This causes Maya to finally see Sylar's true intentions, so Sylar takes Maya, Mohinder and Molly hostage. Sylar agrees to go to Isaac's loft after Mohinder tells him tests need to be run. At the loft, Molly reveals to Maya that Alejandro is dead, who then goes to confront Sylar. He rolls his eyes as Maya screams at him, casually turns around and shoots her in the chest, and then tells Mohinder to cure Maya first. Elle enters the building and starts shooting at Sylar, but by then he has seen that the cure works, and he steals it and escapes.
Villains
In "Villains", Hiro sees Sylar's life shortly after the murder of Brian Davis. Intensely remorseful over the act, Gabriel attempts to hang himself. Elle Bishop walks in and saves him by using her electric abilities to cut the rope, convincing him that he's a good person. However, she is actually working with Noah Bennet to get Sylar to reveal the method behind transferring powers from one person to another. Elle befriends Gabriel and the two begin to share feelings for each other. Against her wishes, Elle helps Noah manipulate him to kill again by introducing Gabriel to Trevor Zeitlan, a young man who can kinetically shatter objects by "shooting" at them with his thumb and forefinger. She purposefully enrages Gabriel by having Trevor repeatedly demonstrate his ability by shattering glasses while calling him "special." Gabriel turns on Elle, who tries to stop him from killing Trevor. When Gabriel realizes Elle also has an ability, he is furious and pushes her against the wall with his mind, commanding her to leave before turning on Trevor and taking his power. Bennet and Elle watch from the car as Gabriel attacks Trevor.
In the third season, Sylar injects himself with the cure, healing his wounds and regaining use of his intuitive aptitude and telekinesis (though none of his other acquired powers). Sylar makes his way to California and finally takes Claire's power, though he does not kill her, claiming that she is special and that he couldn't do so even if he wanted to because he felt something special about her. He also takes several of the Company files on superhumans she had collected.
Sylar breaks into Company headquarters, killing Bob Bishop and acquiring his power. He is captured after attempting to take Elle's power, which results in her involuntarily releasing an electric burst which knocks him unconscious. The discharge also disables the Level 5 security system, allowing a dozen dangerous inmates to escape the complex. Before Sylar can regain consciousness, he is locked up. During his imprisonment, Angela Petrelli claims that she is his mother and attempts to rehabilitate him. She allows him to kill Bridget Bailey, a woman who can see the history of an object by touching it, in order to feed his hunger for power. When Noah Bennet returns to the Company to hunt down the escaped villains, Angela assigns Sylar as his partner, sending the two out to confront the villains and save the trapped Peter Petrelli.
Wanting to prove he is not just a killer, to both himself and Bennet, Sylar saves Bennet from Jesse and Knox, two of the escaped villains. However, his "hunger" reasserts itself and he kills Jesse, allowing Knox to escape in the confusion. Sylar is placed in his cell once more, where he is visited by Peter, who angrily snaps his neck after Sylar reveals that they are brothers. Peter, having absorbed Sylar's power and thereby his hunger, nearly kills Angela before Sylar knocks him unconscious. As Angela deals with her youngest son, Bennet arrives to take Sylar along to capture another Level 5 inmate. Sylar is surprised that Bennet would want to take him, but Bennet rebuffs him and tells him not to "make it harder than it already is." During the road trip, Noah chastises him about the murder of Jesse at the bank and his terrorizing Claire, and Sylar states that "rehabilitation doesn't happen overnight. I am trying."
They track the escapee, Stephen Canfield, to an empty house, unaware that Claire is already there dealing with Canfield herself. The man creates a powerful vortex in the room which nearly sucks in Claire, but Sylar saves her at the last minute. The power gained from Bridget enables him to experience the horror she went through, so he attempts to sincerely apologize to her, but she regards him with anger and disgust, and Bennet emphatically tells him to never to speak to his daughter again. The three find Stephen at an amusement park, where Bennet tries to force him into killing Sylar in exchange for freedom; though Sylar is clearly aware of what Noah is trying to do, he doesn't do anything to stop him. Rather than become a killer, Stephen kills himself with his power instead. Sylar later calmly remarks to Claire that her father doesn't see people with abilities as human, and never will.
Sylar is returned to his cell once more, where he is approached by Daphne Millbrook with an offer to join Pinehearst Industries, who will accept him for what he is. Sylar refuses, wanting to change. After they leave, Sylar revives Peter so he can help Angela Petrelli. Peter is initially skeptical, but Sylar's willingness to change combined with experience with the future Sylar convinces him; Peter's description of the future Gabriel Gray also gives Sylar hope that he can be redeemed. When Peter discovers the Pinehearst logo in her mind and attempts to go there, Sylar tries to stop him from doing so, but Peter easily defeats him due to his wider variety of powers and places him in an artificially-induced coma just as he had been. Angela is able to use her powers to wake him so he can rescue Peter, who has been stripped of his powers by Arthur Petrelli. Sylar does as asked, but is convinced by Arthur to turn on Angela. Arthur has Sylar throw a powerless Peter out a seventh-story window, but Peter miraculously survives. In "It's Coming", Arthur reveals that he knows Sylar slowed Peter's fall. Arthur is not angry; instead, he uses this event as evidence that Sylar can use his emotions like Peter could, to obtain someone's power without killing them.
To test this theory, Arthur places Sylar in a dark room with Elle, who is restrained to the floor and still suffers from her uncontrolled ability. She is furious at Sylar for her father's murder and repeatedly electrocutes him to no avail. Sylar confronts Elle with his sorrow for what he's done as well as her sorrow for what she's done. She rages at him and continues to attack, finally collapsing and begging him to kill her so that her pain will go away. He forgives her for turning him into a monster and convinces her to forgive herself for her crimes, wanting to take away her pain without killing her. At that moment, Elle's pain disappears and she regains control of her ability. Likewise, Sylar is able to absorb her power. Sylar is overwhelmed by this development, as he no longer has to kill to satisfy his hunger. The two appear to rekindle their old feelings for each other as Elle teaches Sylar how to use her ability. In "The Eclipse", Sylar is relieved when he loses his abilities, and wishes to start a new life with Elle. However, after Noah Bennet claims that Angela and Arthur Petrelli are not his real parents and are just manipulating him, Sylar feels betrayed and reverts to his murderous tendencies. Having regained his abilities after the eclipse ended, Sylar expresses seeming remorse and then attacks Elle, using his telekinesis to scalp her.
The next morning Sylar proceeds to cremate her body, receiving a call from Arthur about his absence. Sylar curtly tells Arthur he is not returning and reveals he has a new list in the form of Elle's cell phone contact list. To ascertain the truth for himself, he kills Sue Landers, a human lie detector. He then heads to Pinehearst to confront Arthur, stopping Peter and the Haitian from killing Arthur by freezing the bullet fired at Arthur's head. With both the Haitian and Arthur apparently weakened in attempting to overwhelm one another, Sylar asks Arthur if he is truly his father. Arthur says yes; Sylar detects the lie with Sue Landers' power and proceeds to drive the bullet into Arthur's head, killing him. He then leaves Peter and the Haitian, claiming they do not have anything he desires.
Sylar travels to Primatech, and sets up a mind game for Angela, Claire, Meredith, and Noah Bennet. After locking everyone inside and killing the Primatech staff, he tells them over the PA system that he will turn them all into monsters as they try to hunt him. Noah releases several Level 5 inmates as bait, including Echo Demille, Eric Doyle, and Daniel Pine, but Sylar easily disposes of them. He then injects Meredith with adrenaline, causing her to lose control of her fire ability. She and Noah are then locked in a cell with a single bullet, so Noah will either burn to death or kill Meredith to survive. Claire wants to help, as Sylar expects, forcing her to choose between her grandmother and her father; Claire chooses her father, leaving Angela at Sylar's mercy. He confronts Angela, and finds out that she was only using him for his monstrous qualities. However, she also reveals that she knows who his real parents are, and that they are not the Grays. As Sylar demands to be told the truth, Claire stabs him in the back of the head with a piece of glass, which will prevent him from reviving as long as it remains in place. In the prison cell, Meredith finally loses full control of her power and releases a massive explosion. Primatech goes up in flames with Sylar still inside.
Fugitives
Following the destruction of Primatech, Sylar is shown to be alive and well (it's later revealed that the fire melted the glass, allowing him to regenerate), and begins to search for his true biological parents. He starts by tracking down his adoptive father, Martin Gray, in Baltimore, making a stop in Pittsburgh to kill an insurance broker who could replicate his signature, and possibly learn the whereabouts of Martin. Sylar learns that Martin had paid to take him off the hands of his supposed father, Samson Gray, in order to escape his marriage with Virginia, Sylar's adoptive mother. After interrogating Martin, Sylar raises his hand, and is about to kill Martin, but holds back and walks away. After taking the address from Martin, Sylar finds Samson's home, only for it to be empty and Nathan Petrelli's agents waiting to ambush him. Although shot at, stunned and restrained, Sylar easily recovers and kills the agents, save one Agent Simmons, whom he tortures for information on Samson's disappearance.
In order to extract more information from Simmons, Sylar invades the house of Luke and Mary Campbell. Waiting for the two to return, Sylar telekinetically pins them, and states he intends to torture them to get Simmons to talk. He then proceeds to torture Mary. In a rage, Luke manages to free himself and boils Sylar's coffee with his own ability: microwave emission. Intrigued, Sylar begins to talk to Luke, telling him exactly why Luke has been in so much trouble, and that he understands Luke's frustration. During this, Simmons frees himself from his bindings and tries to grab his gun to shoot Sylar, but Luke notices this and kills Simmons. Sylar proceeds to leave the house, taking Luke with him only after Luke states he knows where Samson is.
As Sylar and Luke proceed to find Samson, Luke wishes to stop at some local diner to eat, as well as lying to Sylar about Samson's location when prodded. This irritates Sylar to the point where he threatens to simply take Luke's emission ability. Luke simply states that Sylar would never find his father then. Choosing to stop at a diner, Luke reveals that he and Samson went birding, awakening a memory from Sylar's childhood. As they eat, Sylar teaches Luke some lessons about using his power and having objectives, as well as revealing the change in his 'hunger' (emphasizing finding Samson over acquiring powers). This results in Luke giving Sylar Samson's location, even under the threat of being killed for his power. They are soon interrupted by Nathan's agents. Luke distracts the agents enough for Sylar to telekinetically toss a few around and punch a hole through a window. However, as he gets into the car, Sylar locks Luke out and drives off, leaving Luke to the agents. However, a short time later, Sylar disguises as an agent and gets into their van, killing the agents and saving Luke, as well as taking a laptop. When confronted about this by Luke, Sylar states that Luke was simply conveniently nearby and that his goal was to get the laptop to understand how Nathan's agents worked, though Luke seems skeptical about that reasoning.
Continuing to elude Nathan's agents, Sylar and Luke finally lose them. Irritated with Luke's wish to fry some agents and subtle attempts to stop the search for Samson, Sylar pins Luke to the side of the truck, essentially telling Luke to shut up. Sylar then seems to remember the area in which the two are in, and they reach an abandoned diner. Sylar makes an entrance by pulling off some of the board (throwing them in Luke's direction) and they enter. Here, Sylar recounts being brought to the diner as a child, and dropping a toy car in a wooden post. To prove this memory true, he rips open the post telekinetically and finds the car. He then remembers exactly what happened at that place: His father took money from Virginia and Martin, then left to his car. Sylar followed, only to see his biological parents arguing, and Samson telekinetically splitting his mother's skull open, killing her. In a rage exacerbated by Luke's revelation that Sylar's father was indeed a bad individual, Sylar pins him to the diner wall, but drops him and tells Luke to go home. Sylar leaves, intent on not only finding, but killing his father.
Arriving at a run-down trailer in the woods, Sylar finds his father old and dying of cancer. Samson is not frightened by Sylar's threat to kill and instead prepares a rabbit for taxidermy. Demonstrating several abilities, he and Sylar realize that they have the same ability - the ability to steal powers. Samson reveals that it did not matter how many people he killed or how many powers he stole; in the end, he did not lead a fulfilling life and is now miserable. He claims to not even remember selling Sylar and killing his mother, as these things did not matter to him. He goes on to say how he would have lived life differently, if given a second chance - how he would risk everything to attain true power and ultimately change the world. He touches on Sylar's original guilt for murdering to steal abilities by mocking Sylar, telling him how both their victims were weak and helpless and that they had no chance against seasoned killers. However, when Sylar cuts himself and heals while stuffing the rabbit, Samson transforms, reviving his hunger for abilities, desperate to gain immortality and escape from death. Temporarily incapacitating Sylar, he is stunned when Sylar first resists and then retaliates, strangling Samson with his own oxygen tube. Samson does not understand, since both he and Sylar know that Sylar would not die from Samson's "examination". Sylar states that he is finishing what he came to do, taking the stuffed rabbit. Samson begs Sylar to kill him quickly, but Sylar refuses, relishing the fact that his father, who is ultimately just like him, will "die alone with his disease". Later, when Danko returns home to his apartment after discovering Nathan's ability, he finds the stuffed rabbit on his desk, unaware that Sylar is lurking in the shadows nearby. Instead of a confrontation, however, Sylar chooses to leave, but not before stringing up an unconscious Eric Doyle in Danko's apartment as a 'gift'.
This 'gift' is explained further when Sylar surprises Danko in his car: He wishes to work with Danko in rounding up all superpowered humans, and quickly leaves before Danko can pull out his gun. To further win Danko's trust, Sylar decides to help Danko track a shapeshifter, James Martin, who managed to kill 4 of Danko's agents (3 via gunshot, and one murdered for his form). At Martin's apartment, Danko surprises Sylar, and the two exchange taunts and information, resulting in Sylar and Danko teaming up for the time being. Through their cooperation, the two find out that Martin takes forms of power and authority, in order to woo women at a local nightclub. At the club, Sylar and Danko are spotted by Martin (in the form of Danko), and they lose track of him. A short time later, Danko and Sylar decide to leave the club; however, the 'Sylar' is actually Martin in disguise with the intention of killing Danko. However, Danko shoots Martin, but doesn't kill him. Instead, he allows the real Sylar to take Martin's ability (without removing the skullcap) in order to not only make hunting superpowered humans easier for them, but to fake Sylar's death and keep people such as Noah Bennett from trying to track Sylar down.
Sylar, disguised as Danko, later meets Noah at Building 26 as Noah, unknowingly, examines Martin's body. Noah, knowing how hard it is to kill Sylar, doubts Danko could do it single-handedly. When Sandra arrives to question Noah about Claire, Sylar shakes her hand in introduction, gaining access to her form. Wanting to destroy Noah, he later visits Noah at Noah's apartment, in disguise as Sandra. He delivers divorce papers, stating that he (Sandra) cannot trust Noah anymore and that their marriage is over. Noah is distraught but, upon examining the signature on the forms, discovers that it is not Sandra's. Rushing to the crematorium, Noah stops the cremation of Martin's body. He removes the metal shard in the back of the corpse's head, telling the surrounding soldiers that when Sylar was stabbed with a glass shard before, it melted in the Primatech fire allowing him to regenerate. When the corpse does not regenerate, Noah returns to Danko and confronts him with the knowledge that Sylar is still alive. Danko confesses and tells Noah that Sylar is in disguise and out on a mission with other soldiers. Noah forces Danko to take him to Sylar and, when they arrive, shoots the soldier Danko identifies as Sylar in the back of the head. When the corpse continues to bleed out and does not heal, Danko orders his men to capture Noah, who Danko claims has gone insane. However, when the soldiers leave in pursuit, the corpse gets up and shifts back into Sylar. When Danko asks him how he survived while bleeding so much, Sylar says it was all to make his death look realistic.
As Sylar continues to shapeshift, he finds it is harder and harder to regain his form without side effects, including left over body parts like teeth. He also retains personality traits and memories of those he changes into, causing him to go through a literal "identity crisis". When Danko tells him that he needs to leave his "Sylar" identity behind to retain his free pass, Sylar kills the next target on Danko's list, Tom Miller, and takes his power. Further examining the shapeshifting ability, Sylar realizes he is actually absorbing different DNA sequences into his body, causing him to permanently change a little each time he shifts. When Sylar starts to shapeshift in his sleep, Danko tells him he has to find an anchor that will remind him of who he is. To that effect, Sylar, as one of Danko's agents, retrieves the evidence from the homicide of his mother, Virginia Gray. While examining her collection of snow globes, Sylar unknowingly shapeshifts into his mother and begins to have a conversation with himself, showing acute symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. He at first does not realize what is happening and talks to his mother about his encounter with Samson, why his mother lied to Sylar about his lineage, and how he is starting to lose himself. He, as his mother, tries to convince himself that he did not mean to kill her and that he is still special. Danko interrupts when his agents track down Rebel. Sylar gets to Rebel (Micah Sanders) before Danko's agents do and prepares to kill him and take his power. Micah, however, reveals that he understands what Sylar is going through because his mother, Niki Sanders, endured the same thing when her power manifested. Convinced that Sylar is special and the only one capable of saving those with powers, Micah convinces Sylar to join his cause. Sylar, disguised as Micah, tricks Danko and his agents into chasing the wrong person, allowing Micah to escape. Sylar, again talking with "his mother", reveals that her murder was no accident but "Virginia" forgives Sylar anyway, convinced that he can still be whomever he wants to be, including the President. Realizing his opportunity, Sylar breaks into Nathan Petrelli's office and finds a brush containing some of Nathan's DNA. He later appears, as Nathan, at a press conference concerning new plans for change he has for the country and how he soon plans to meet with the President and "shake his hand". Realizing what Sylar is trying to do, Nathan returns to DC from Coyote Sands and confronts Sylar, who reveals he has examined Nathan's life in depth using clairsentience. Expressing pity and determined to become better than Nathan, Sylar prepares to take Nathan's ability when Danko appears and stuns Nathan. Attempting to salvage his operation, Danko orders Sylar to shift back into one of his agents so they can continue hunting specials. When Sylar refuses, Danko stabs him in the back of the head with a knife. However, Sylar recovers, having used his shapeshifting ability to relocate his weak spot.
After framing Danko for the murder of an agent, he takes on Nathan's form and goes to meet the President with Claire in tow. When she discovers the truth, he controls her using the power which he had empathically absorbed from Eric Doyle and talks about how similar they are, both being adopted and both having the ability to live forever, proposing that, given enough time, Claire might come to forgive him and even love him. However, Peter and Nathan then confront him, and in the battle Sylar and Nathan fly out of a window and into another room. Sylar subsequently kills Nathan (after empathically absorbing his power during the fight) and takes on the form of the President's Chief of Staff. However, the President injects him with an elephant tranquilizer, and reveals himself to be Peter, having absorbed Sylar's ability during the fight. In an effort to shut down the program, Angela convinces Matt Parkman to use his telepathy to convince Sylar that he is Nathan, Matt using Angela's memories of Nathan's life to essentially 'plant' Nathan in Sylar's head, his shape-shifting power allowing him to assume Nathan's form while his clairsentience will allow him to subconsciously use objects around him to 'fill in the blanks'. Sylar, as Nathan, talks to the President and convinces him to shut down Building 26 and divert the funds to the new Company that will now be built. Later, Sylar, as Nathan, watches "Sylar's" (in reality James Martin's) body burn at Coyote Sands alongside Noah, Claire, Matt, Angela, Peter, Mohinder, Hiro and Ando.
Redemption
Memory loss
Six weeks later, this Nathan starts to rediscover the other powers he had gained in his old life. Later, following Nathan's confession of being involved in the accidental death of his girlfriend Kelly Houston, her mother, Millie Houston, has him shot and buried in a shallow grave. When healed, Sylar emerges from the ground in his own body, suffering from amnesia. Picked up by the police, he is recognized and accidentally uses his powers to escape. He then encounters the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival" and Samuel, who take him in as one of their own. The carnival is hidden from Sylar's pursuers, and Samuel assures him he is safe in his new "home".
Once Sylar has rested, Samuel proceeds to show him around the circus, showing that everyone at the carnival has an ability. Sylar also meets Lydia, who he immediately hits it off with. Edgar, however, jealously attempts to outshow Sylar with his power, but is easily beaten. Samuel also notices that Sylar's memories are not his (in fact, Nathan Petrelli's). In an effort to awaken Sylar's true personality, Sylar is taken by Damien to the hall of mirrors, where he is forced to look at his past murders, starting with his mother. Repulsed, Sylar is unable to believe himself a monster. Samuel uses this to try and convince Sylar that he is a protector of the circus, and must remove threats such as the officer who attempted to capture him the night before. Sylar is told the officer is at the house of mirrors, and goes there to tell the man to leave. However, the officer shoots at Sylar, forcing an uncontrolled electric blast. Here, Sylar's killer instinct begins to take hold, but Sylar stops himself just in time for Edgar to cut the man into pieces. Later, Samuel formally makes Sylar a part of the circus family, baptizing him and letting him mingle with the others. Sylar and Lydia leave arm in arm for the night, much to Edgar's dismay.
In "Shadowboxing", the persona of Nathan returns, causing him to shapeshift back into Nathan's form while sleeping. Panicking upon finding himself at the carnival, he flies away, and is later shown arriving at Peter's door, asking for help. Arriving for work at his office, Peter and Nathan discover that no one has been looking for Nathan, as he had been on 'vacation' according to Angela Petrelli. The brothers are further surprised when the Haitian appears, and tells Peter to go see a storage facility for the truth of the situation. Here, Nathan and Peter discover the real Nathan's preserved body, which 'Nathan' touches and sees Sylar and Matt Parkman. They head to Texas to see Matt, who is at the hospital, in a coma.
Haunting Matt Parkman
Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body.
Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop.
The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more.
Whole again
Staying over at Peter Petrelli's apartment, the brothers are surprised by Angela, who springs a Thanksgiving dinner on them. Nathan wakes up in time to hear Peter and Angela discussing the discovery of Nathan's body. Although they press her for information, Angela threatens to simply leave if they do not sit down and eat. During the dinner, Angela finally confesses that she had Matt Parkman place Nathan's mind into Sylar's body. During dessert, however, Nathan begins to act oddly, and transforms back into Sylar, happy to be controlling his body once more. He telekinetically traps Peter and Angela, relishing his ability to control himself. After taunting Peter, he begins to scalp Angela, only to have the 'Nathan' persona fight back. Losing control, Sylar transforms back into Nathan, who flees the building to protect his family. Peter devises a plan to eliminate the 'Sylar' persona leaving just Nathan using the ability of The Haitian to erase Sylar's memories. On a rooftop however, "Nathan" confesses to Peter he is not himself and cannot keep fighting off the 'Sylar' persona. Nathan jumps off the building and lands onto a parked car. Peter then sees Sylar heal, get up and wave as he walks away.
Sylar returns to the carnival to face Samuel, but Sylar finds that while he wants to kill, he is unable to make himself do so. His identity in crisis, he makes a deal with Samuel. After absorbing Lydia's power, he tells Samuel to give him a tattoo, and that he would do whatever it said. When he sees the tattoo, he decides that he does not belong at the carnival. The next scene shows him floating outside of Claire Bennet's dorm room window, and his tattoo is a picture of her.
In the episode "Pass/Fail", Sylar kidnaps Claire Bennet's friend, Gretchen Berg so Claire will talk to him in exchange for her friend. Sylar feels like they are very similar: they've never felt in place, they both lost their parents, and they are both immortal. Claire doesn't want to talk to him, and makes him tell her where Gretchen is. Claire finds Gretchen tied up, and they hide in a closet and have a talk. Claire tells Gretchen that Sylar thinks they are alike, and she fears that they might be. She is confused at Sylar's attitude, but resents him for who he is. Gretchen comes to the conclusion that Sylar's powers have isolated him from ever having any relationships. Giving them up might be the only way he could have any connections. Gretchen then shape-shifts back into Sylar. He then goes to Matt Parkman and asks him to take away all his powers away. Matt attempts but fails. Sylar threatens Matt's family and forces him to keep trying. Instead, Matt traps Sylar and his powers deep within the confines of his mind, "somewhere you'll never find them," and he is left alone to live out his worst nightmare: Being all alone. Matt then attempts to seal up Sylar within the walls of his basement. However, Peter Petrelli arrives after having a vision that Sylar will save Emma. Using Matt's power, Peter attempts to bring Sylar out of his nightmare, but ends up trapped in Sylar's mind along with him (The Art of Deception).
In "The Wall", Sylar is repairing endless watches in the empty city when he hears banging. Searching for the source of it, he finds Peter using a pole to get his attention by banging it on the concrete. Sylar is shocked to discover that Peter is real and says there's no way out - he's been searching for three years. Peter reveals that it's actually been three hours and that Sylar is trapped in a nightmare, which he is skeptical to accept, and runs back to his shop. Peter tries to convince him of the truth and tells him he must save Emma. He tries to pull them out of the nightmare but is unsuccessful. Peter avoids Sylar for a month while trapped, and Sylar tries being friendly by giving him a 9th Wonders! comic book. Peter, determined to find a way out, does not understand why Sylar is so resistant to find a way out, and realizes that Sylar really doesn't want to be free. They come across a massive brick wall, the same one Sylar's body is actually trapped behind (in Matt's basement). Peter realizes that the two need to break the wall in order to escape. At first Peter tries to break it alone, but fails. Sylar compares his determination to a memory of Nathan's he possesses which angers Peter. Sylar apologizes for Nathan's murder, but Peter refuses to forgive him and Sylar finally joins Peter in attempting to break down the wall. After years of attempting and failing to damage the wall in the slightest, Sylar is surprised when Peter gives him a copy of The Pillars of the Earth as a gift as a to thank him for keeping him sane all the years of their imprisonment. Sylar admits he always worries Peter will attack him with the sledge-hammer which Peter admits he has contemplated. Sylar realizes that Peter won't let go of his anger out of fear of losing the last remnant of Nathan, and points out to Peter that he has truly changed. Peter finally accepts this fact and afterwards the two are easily able to break a hole in the wall, which frees them from their mental prison. Once freed, Sylar uses telekinesis to free him from his physical one and he and Peter learn that they've only been trapped for half a day in reality. The experience seems to have changed both Sylar and Peter and the two head off to save Emma, but are stopped by Eli and his clones who want to prevent their plans.
In "Brave New World," he and Peter easily defeat Eli and save Matt's life as knocking out the Prime Eli gets rid of his clones who were about to kill Matt. Sylar tries to convince a furious Matt that he's changed, but fails and begins to leave with Peter (who read Eli's mind and learned Samuel's plans). Matt tries to telepathically prevent Sylar from leaving, so Sylar asks Matt to read his mind to show him he has changed. Matt is unable to, although he does let them leave. Peter and Sylar fly to New York where Samuel plans to kill thousands of people. Peter is reluctant, but Sylar convinces Peter to trust him and reminds him that the dream says that Sylar saves Emma. Sylar heads off to the tent to save Emma while Peter goes to defeat Samuel. He finds Emma playing the cello with bloody fingers, and tries to save her by taking the cello, but is taken control of by Eric Doyle, the Puppet Master. Doyle, desperate to be better than Sylar, begins to taunt him. However, controlling and mocking Sylar distracts him from his primary focus on controlling Emma. Once Emma realizes he has loosened his control over her, Emma blasts Doyle with a soundwave through the cello, breaking Doyle's control over Sylar, and giving Sylar the chance to telekinetically grab onto Doyle. Doyle begs him to stop, and asks, "What do you care about this girl, anyway?" Sylar tells him that he's going to save her. Confused, Doyle cries out, "That's not you! You're like me!" Sylar looks at him and calmly says, "No. I'm a hero." After Peter reunites with Emma, she tells him that his friend is taking care of Doyle. Fearing the worst, Peter heads into the tent to find Sylar admiring his new "masterpiece": a dazed Doyle trussed up like a puppet, clad in giant light-bulbs. Sylar plugs the lights in, deviously grins, and says, "I like it!"
Brave New World
Sylar walks with Peter and discusses his rescue of Emma. Sylar explains that he could have easily killed Doyle but didn't and that not killing him and saving Emma felt good to him, showing that Sylar is truly changing and is enjoying being a hero rather than a villain. Peter and Sylar witness Claire climbing the Ferris Wheel to reveal her powers to the world and Sylar comments that it's now a "brave new world."
Alternate timelines
In the first alternate future depicted, set five years ahead in the episode "Five Years Gone", Sylar has gained countless new abilities, including those of Candice Wilmer and D. L. Hawkins. Nathan Petrelli, now the President, concocted a story for the explanation of New York's destruction, which blamed Sylar for the explosion, and he is assumed to be deceased. Sylar is able to use Candice's ability to murder Nathan and assume his identity. As President, he begins a campaign to hunt and exterminate all people with abilities, originally claiming that it will unite the world in grief. However, he really just doesn't want the competition. When Claire Bennet is captured, he has her brought to him, pretending to be her father. However, he simply desires one final ability, hers, which he takes. Later, while giving a speech in the ruins of New York, he is informed by Matt Parkman that Peter, the future Hiro, and Ando are staging an attack to free the present-day Hiro. Upon hearing this, Sylar, still disguised as Nathan, flies away from the crowd. He confronts Peter, revealing himself, and they prepare for battle, the outcome of which is left ambiguous.
In a timeline set four years in the future, as seen in the season three episode "I Am Become Death", Sylar has reassumed his identity of Gabriel Gray and is working to suppress his homicidal hunger for the sake of his son, Noah, who lives with him and Mr. Muggles in Claire's former home in Costa Verde. He is visited by the Peter Petrelli of the present, who is intent on learning how to activate the intuitive ability he has absorbed from him so that he can understand the complexities of changing the timeline. Gabriel is initially reluctant, resisting telepathic compulsion to teach Peter, but ultimately relents and tutors him after painting a precognitive picture of the Earth exploding, despite warning Peter that with the intuitive ability comes the same homicidal hunger he has been trying to resist. Shortly afterwards, a team led by Claire Bennet storms the house intent on killing Peter, and in the ensuing fight, Noah is killed. Enraged and grief-stricken, Gabriel loses control of his radiation ability and releases a nuclear detonation, destroying Costa Verde and killing over 200,000 people. It remains unknown whether or not he survived the explosion.
In the original timeline, Sylar kills Charlie Andrews and takes her power of eidetic memory (Seven Minutes to Midnight). In season four, Hiro goes back in time and prevents this, actually enlisting Sylar's help to save her from a blood clot (Once Upon a Time in Texas).
Powers and abilities
Sylar's base power, as described by Chandra Suresh, is "intuitive aptitude", the ability to innately understand and manipulate patterns within complex systems, which initially manifests as a talent for repairing timepieces. As revealed in "One of Us, One of Them", this power comes with a nearly insatiable hunger for "understanding", which, in Sylar's case, specifically refers to craving the powers of others, driving him to kill other superpowered humans to understand their powers and make them his own. Despite the strength of this hunger, two episodes have shown that it can be resisted or satiated: in the alternate future of "Five Years Gone", Sylar has taken on so many abilities that he simply desires to get rid of all of his potential "competition" (other superhumans, to be exact); in the future of "I Am Become Death", he has resumed his identity as Gabriel Gray and denies his hunger for the sake of his son. In "Once Upon a Time in Texas" it is revealed that Sylar can also identify deformities in people such as Charlie's blood clot and Hiro's brain tumor.
Sylar's intuitive aptitude allows him to deduce the workings of the powers of others; by examining the brain of his victim, he is able to find the brain's connection to the ability, and once he finds said connection, he can immediately replicate the power himself. The exact mechanics behind this are unknown, though it is theorized numerous times by many characters that DNA alteration/infusions is what allows him to obtain abilities. Yet, when the process is shown, Sylar only seems to touch the part of the brain that is the source of the ability and immediately replicates it. Sylar cannot acquire an ability from a person who has been dead awhile, even if their brains are intact though the process he uses to acquire abilities kills his victims before he actually gains the ability. In "Fallout", Noah Bennet theorizes that Sylar's additional powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own which, as a side effect, has driven him insane.
Of all the powers Sylar has acquired, the most prominently used is telekinesis, which is the first power he took. In contrast to the limited abilities Brian Davis displayed, Sylar's skills are far more advanced; he exhibits both fine control (precisely cutting open the skulls of his victims) and sheer force (flipping a police van), can enhance his own strength and durability to superhuman levels, and can control a person's motor skills in a manner similar to Eric Doyle's puppet mastery. Tests done on Sylar by Bennet's associate Hank show no overt signs of powers other than telekinesis; while their tests show that he possesses other powers, they are unable to identify what they are. In "The Hard Part", Sylar demonstrates he can use at least two of his acquired abilities at the same time.
During his first killing spree, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
After being injected with the Shanti virus by the Company, Sylar loses all of his abilities. After he is cured at the end of the second season, he only regains his abilities of intuitive aptitude and telekinesis. Sylar's empathic mimicry, which Arthur says he has had all along, is also present. In the third and fourth seasons, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
In "It's Coming", Sylar learns how to gain abilities without removing a person's brain, obtaining Elle Bishop's power of electric manipulation by empathizing with her and convincing her to let go of her anger. This empathy allowed him to retain the use of Brian Davis' telekinesis after being cured of the virus, due to the guilt he felt over his death. Arthur explains that Sylar possessed this ability all along. Despite possessing this ability, he has returned to killing to obtain new powers, though he later uses this method to obtain James Martin's shapeshifting ability, Nathan Petrelli's ability to fly, and also Lydia's empathy.
As a side effect of the use of the shapeshifting ability when used in combination with his acquired psychometry, his mind has begun to fracture into the different personas of those whom he has shapeshifted into, and residual physical characteristics have started to appear, such as his adopted mother when he came into contact with the dried blood on the scissors he killed her with. As stated in "I Am Sylar", his "Achilles' heel" in the back of his head has been relocated due to his continued shapeshifting, making him harder to stop. Aside from superhuman abilities, Sylar is very intelligent and manipulative and possesses decent hand-to-hand combat skills, as seen when he fights Peter Petrelli.
Reception
Sylar was named one of the best new villains by Entertainment Weekly. Sylar was also named the best villain of 2007 by IGN. UGO also ranked Sylar 6th on their list of top 50 TV characters.
In other media
Zachary Quinto provides the voice of a Robot Chicken-parodied Sylar in the episode "Bionic Cow". In it, he kills a man named "Uncle Glen", who is apparently able to remove his fingers, failing to realize that this is a simple sleight of hand trick to impress young children. He instead inherits Glen's power of "explosive diarrhea," remarking that "every once in a while, this power backfires".
Notes
References
External links
Sylar on the Heroes Wiki
adoptee characters in television
fictional attempted suicides
fictional characters from New York City
fictional presidents of the United States
fictional serial killers
fictional shapeshifters
fictional telekinetics
fictional United States senators
Heroes (American TV series) characters
American male characters in television
television characters introduced in 2006
television supervillains
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"\"Shades of Gray\" is the nineteenth episode of the third season of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes and fifty-third episode overall. The episode aired on March 9, 2009.\n\nPlot\n\nNathan Petrelli discovers Danko's plan to set up Matt Parkman as a terrorist to blow up in Washington D.C. While Matt is surrounded by police forces, Nathan flies over to talk to him. Danko sees Nathan with Matt on news channels, but decides to detonate the bomb anyway. However, \"Rebel\" intervenes by hacking into the network. Nathan urges Matt to use his powers to see if he can find out how to disarm the bomb by reading the minds of the police around him. Danko gains control of the bomb again, but Matt manages to disarm it in time. Nathan then punches Matt, who is then taken into custody. Later, Nathan tells Danko he will attempt to have him removed from the agency, though Danko responds by saying he heard Tracy Strauss mention Nathan was \"one of us.\" Nathan meets with Tracy, urging her to not to divulge anything. When Danko enters her cell to ask her about Nathan possibly having powers, she replies she has no idea. Later, Danko talks with Noah Bennet about asking Angela Petrelli about Nathan. Noah warns Angela that Danko has set his sights on her, though she replies she'll be ready for him. Danko meets with Angela in New York, and attempts to discover if Nathan has an ability, pointing out that Nathan's brother, daughter and parents all had abilities. Angela denies it, and then brings up a certain incident in Danko's past that had involved the deaths of many people. At this, Danko is visibly stirred and leaves. Afterwards, Nathan notifies Danko that he's been fired after consulting with the President, and decides to appoint Noah in his place. Danko later confronts Nathan with a gun, but instead of killing him, he shoots at the window behind Nathan and pushes him through it. Nathan activates his ability to stop his fall, but in clear view of Danko; Nathan then flies away, leaving a bewildered Danko to ask Noah if he had any idea of it.\n\nSylar finally arrives at his father Samson's house, an old run-down place that is falling apart. Samson seems indifferent when he meets Sylar, and when Sylar announces his intentions to kill him, he reveals he is already dying from cancer. Samson also reveals he has a power similar to Sylar's, including an acquired ability that paralyzes a person as if they were drugged. He also shares knowledge of Sylar's methodology, picking easy, helpless targets rather than going after \"big game.\" He also suggests Sylar take the fight to Nathan's agency rather than always running from their agents. When Samson witnesses Sylar heal instantly after accidentally cutting himself, he tries to take the ability from Sylar by paralyzing him. Sylar, however, manages to override it. Samson points out that taking his ability will not harm him as he can heal, but Sylar says he doesn't wish for his father to have such a power, and decides to leave. Samson begs Sylar to kill him, but Sylar says his cancer will eventually do so anyway, and leaves. Later, Danko returns to his apartment and discovers Samson's stuffed rabbit on his desk, and Sylar is shown ready to confront him.\n\nClaire Bennet is shocked to find Eric Doyle at her house, who says \"Rebel\" had told him to ask her for help. Claire refuses to do so, after what Doyle had done to her and her mother. Doyle at first wonders why Claire hadn't been hunted after, and after Claire reveals she had been given a free pass, he accuses her of abandoning her kind for not helping. Doyle insists he's changed, and that she doesn't know what it's like to be hunted. Doyle then leaves after explaining he doesn't want to force her to help. Claire later gets a job at the comic book store, filling Alex Woolsley's position, and after being asked during the interview about what type of hero she would want to be, she wonders if she should have helped Doyle. She then gets a message from \"Rebel\" warning her that agents have found Doyle. Doyle manages to use his ability to subdue one of the agents, but Claire arrives and knocks out the other. Later, she hands him a folder containing everything he needs to start a life under a new identity. Doyle thanks her, and Claire mentions that she is doing so because it is \"who [she] needs to be right now.\" When Claire asks Doyle if he really has changed, Doyle just smiles and walks away. Later, \"Rebel\" sends a message to Claire warning that her free pass has expired and that agents are coming to apprehend her. The agents find no trace of Claire in the bedroom; Claire is shown in Nathan's arms, floating outside her window as they look on.\n\nHiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi arrive at an address in Los Angeles, under directions from \"Rebel\" to save Matt Parkman. However, they find out the message had possibly been referring to another person, as they find Matt Parkman to be a baby. The baby's annoyed teenage babysitter is eager to pawn the baby off to them, who believes Hiro and Ando to be her replacement, and then leaves. A confused Hiro is left holding the baby Matt Parkman.\n\nCritical reception\nJosh Modell of The A.V. Club rated this episode a C.\n\nRobert Canning of IGN gave the episode 6.4 out of 10.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nBeaming Beeman - Season 3, Episode 19 - Director's blog on the filming of this episode\n\nHeroes (season 3) episodes\n2009 American television episodes",
"\"Turn and Face the Strange\" is the twenty-second episode of the third season of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes and fifty-sixth episode overall. The episode aired on April 6, 2009.\n\nSynopsis\n\nNoah Bennet examines Sylar's corpse from the previous episode, who is in fact James Martin having shape-shifted to look like Sylar before dying. Noah becomes suspicious when Emile Danko doesn't give a clear explanation on how he managed to kill Sylar, but he is then surprised by a visit from his wife Sandra Bennet. Sandra is worried about the whereabouts of their daughter Claire Bennet, but Noah assures her she is safe. Danko and Sandra meet briefly, before Sandra leaves and tells Noah she will be staying in Washington, D.C. until she knows for sure where Claire is. Afterwards, the Danko that had spoken to Noah and Sandra before is revealed to be Sylar, who announces his intentions to the real Danko to utterly ruin Noah's life.\n\nNoah checks on \"Sylar's\" body, removing the spike in his head. Seeing that he isn't healing, Noah orders a DNA analysis from the body. Afterwards, Sandra meets Noah in his apartment. Noah is shocked, however, when Sandra asks Noah to sign divorce papers, claiming she doesn't love him anymore before leaving. Noah later looks over the paperwork and notices her signature doesn't match that from previous documents. He also receives the DNA test results, and seeing that it matches that of Martin, realizes Sylar has shape-shifting abilities and that Sylar, not Sandra, had given him the divorce papers. Noah angrily confronts Sandra at her hotel with a gun, believing her to be Sylar, though he soon finds out she is the real Sandra. Noah explains what Sylar did, but Sandra furiously tells Noah to leave. Afterwards, back at Building 26, Noah pretends to be Sylar having morphed into him, and baits Danko with some files he claimed to have found. When Danko responds positively to this, Noah reveals himself and, holding Danko at gunpoint, demands to know where Sylar is. Danko reveals Sylar morphed to appear as an agent so he could track people with abilities along with his people. Noah confronts the man and ends up shooting him. However, the man fails to come back to life, and Danko says he has just killed an innocent man. Noah is forced to flee from the area, though the man is in fact revealed to be Sylar, having simply pretended to have died.\n\nHiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi continue their journey with Matt Parkman's baby to save Matt Parkman. They run into a little trouble when they discover the baby causes their car to fail when he is upset; Ando is able to make the baby happy to keep their car running. Meanwhile, Matt decides to go after Danko to avenge Daphne Millbrook. Matt uses his telepathy on Danko to discover he is romantically involved with a woman named Alena. Matt confronts Alena alone, where he discovers Danko has been keeping what he does a secret from her. Matt takes Alena to Danko's apartment, where he forces Danko to reveal the truth about himself to Alena. Matt then intends to kill Alena so Danko can feel what he lost, but he is unable to and surrenders. Danko draws his gun, and Matt asks him to finish it, deciding he has nothing to live for. However, Hiro arrives and is able to stop time just before the bullet reaches Matt; Hiro then safely extracts Matt from the apartment before reverting time again. Alena then leaves Danko, disgusted at what he truly is. Hiro and Ando then show Matt his son, explaining he does have something to live for.\n\nAngela Petrelli contacts Noah, saying she has had a dream and telling him to meet her at a place called Coyote Sands so she can explain something. She also contacts Nathan Petrelli and Claire, telling them to meet her there as well. After failing to convince Matt from taking his vengeful path, Mohinder Suresh heads back to his old apartment in New York, where he discovers some old files of his late father. The files refer to a 1960s government program known as \"Project Icarus,\" where the location of Coyote Sands is also mentioned; he then finds evidence that his father had been there. Peter Petrelli and Angela drive to the site, where they meet Nathan and Claire, having flown there. Angela explains that they will have to dig for their answers, and they soon discover human skeletal remains. Angela says she not only knows who it was, but that she knows who \"all of them\" were. Claire then sees Noah drive up to their location, as Nathan and Peter continue to unearth other skeletons.\n\nCritical reception\nSteve Heisler of The A.V. Club rated this episode an F.\n\nRobert Canning of IGN gave the episode 7.3 out of 10.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nBeaming Beeman - Season 3, Episode 22 - Director's blog on the filming of this episode\n\nHeroes (season 3) episodes\n2009 American television episodes"
]
|
[
"Sylar",
"Haunting Matt Parkman",
"What is Haunting Matt Parkman?",
"Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar,",
"What does Sylar do to Matt Parkman?",
"Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself."
]
| C_c8edc7ae36c4408382b9e8fe46a52356_0 | How does Parkman react to the haunting? | 3 | How does Parkman react to the haunting? | Sylar | Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body. Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop. The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he is is shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more. CANNOTANSWER | Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, | Sylar (Gabriel Gray) is a fictional character and a primary antagonist of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers. He served as the primary villain of the first season and then as a recurring antagonist. Over the course of seasons two, three and four, the writers depicted Sylar attempting at various times and under different circumstances to become a hero or curb his desire to kill, undergoing relapses at various stages. In the series' penultimate episode he experienced over three years of penitence in a mental prison, and later identifies himself as a hero in what became the show's series finale due to cancellation.
TV Guide included him in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".
Concept and creation
Sylar was originally created as a cannibal who ate his victims' brains and "digested their power"; however, in order to avoid the potential silliness and zombie associations, the producers deliberately made this fact vague in the series. In an interview with series creator Tim Kring, it is asked if Sylar eats brains, and he merely states "That's the popular speculation. There's a connection between the powers and the brain, and Sylar has found it." The question is addressed in the season three premiere, when he is depicted in the act of acquiring Claire Bennet's regenerative powers through examination of her brain with his hands. When Claire asks him the same question, he sounds surprised and replies "Eat your brain? Claire, that's disgusting." The writers never bridged the gap between the early insinuations regarding what Sylar does with the brains and the final incarnation they reveal in his encounter with Claire.
Prior to Quinto's first appearance in the episode "Seven Minutes to Midnight", the role of Sylar was played by stunt doubles in "One Giant Leap", with the character's face being obscured by shadows. Quinto himself played the role with his face hidden in the same way until "Six Months Ago". In the second episode of the first season, "Don't Look Back", his voice is heard in a recorded phone conversation on Chandra Suresh's answering machine, spoken by voice actor Maurice LaMarche. Part of this conversation is heard again in "Six Months Ago", this time spoken by Quinto.
Personality
Sylar was raised as the son of a watchmaker, but was indoctrinated by his mother's repeated assertions to believe that he was special and deserved more in life. This and the "evolutionary imperative" to acquire new abilities are what drive him to kill the victims with powers. Taking the name "Sylar" from a watch brand, he has shed all connections to his former life as Gabriel Gray to the point where he angrily lashes out at anyone who calls him Gabriel.
In addition to the above, Sylar shows a marked lack of empathy. As seen in the episode .07%, when shortly before killing Isaac Mendez, he casually comments on Mendez's lack of fear, with the sort of mild surprise that someone might express if he noticed that a train was running late.
Although he at times tries to impersonate other people in order to obtain a longer-term goal, Sylar is also unable to completely control his "hunger," or obsessive tendencies, to the extent that he still intimidates people when he is trying to gain their trust or co-operation. This was seen with Mohinder Suresh, when Sylar tried to impersonate Zane Taylor, and also with Claire Bennet's mother when Sylar was looking for Claire, as well.
Sylar's dominant trait was his innate desire to be recognized as special and admired. This was fueled by his mother's vocal disappointment in him for perceived failure and his own feelings that he did not get a chance to choose his destiny, being forced into the role of a watchmaker. He spent his life hoping to learn something extraordinary about himself.
Sylar is repeatedly shown as desperately looking for a family and parental figures due to his own unhappy home life, desperately wanting to be loved. The flip side of this is that he can react with extreme violence when his emotional needs are exploited by others.
Sylar is also known for his voracious appetite and he can constantly be seen snacking or looking for food. He has even taken time during his murders to eat, such as when he reacted with joy at a birthday cake of the woman he just killed.
Quinto has said of his character,
The sad part is, he's initially well-intentioned. He wants to improve his life. He wants to make a difference. He wants to matter. Through the process of realizing how to do that, he gets blinded and loses himself in the pursuit of it and goes a little crazy—'a little' being an understatement.
Quinto also observed,
He's definitely somebody that has been overcome by a hunger and overcome by a pursuit for power and for importance that did start a little more innocuously than it evolved into.
When asked if he thought Sylar was irredeemable or not, Quinto responded,
I think there's a certain point at which you cross a line and it's sort of irrevocable.... I don't know what the writers have in mind, but it would probably be kind of a challenge at this point, you know?
Quinto has also responded to the question of whether Sylar could ever be good, commenting that
I don't really look at him as, you know, absolutely good or bad. I think that he is constantly walking a line of ambiguity within himself and uncertainty within himself that defines the way he acts.
Sylar, however, is also shown as very caring and thoughtful, like when he takes care of Angela Petrelli, when Arthur and Angela Petrelli claimed that they are Sylar's parents, which Peter wants to go to Pinehearst, Sylar didn't allow him to go alone because it is dangerous, and right after he murdered Brian Davis, he tries to commit suicide, feeling his guilt for murdering a person.
Character history
Genesis
The episode "Six Months Ago" reveals that Sylar's real name is Gabriel Gray, a highly talented watchmaker who follows his adoptive father's footsteps. He encounters Chandra Suresh, who tells Gabriel that he may be an evolved human with superhuman powers. Gabriel eagerly submits to testing. After being rejected by Suresh because the test results are indeterminate, Gabriel contacts another person on Suresh's list, Brian Davis. Gabriel discovers that he himself has the power of intuitive aptitude, and murders Davis for his telekinetic powers. After returning to Suresh, he becomes "Patient Zero", and continues to work with Suresh until Suresh realizes that Sylar is murdering the people that they meet and ultimately, Suresh is killed by Gabriel in his own cab precisely at 11:53 p.m.
Sylar is first referenced in the first episode when Mohinder Suresh (Chandra Suresh's son) finds a cassette tape labeled "SYLAR" on both sides in his dead father's New York apartment. His character is next mentioned in the series as a mysterious serial killer sought out by the FBI, whose existence is completely speculative. Appearing as a shadowy figure, he attempts to obtain Molly Walker's power after failing the first time.
In "Once Upon a Time in Texas", Sylar bumps into a future Hiro in front of the Burnt Toast Diner, and sidesteps him before entering. Here, he converses with Charlie, and discovers her power of enhanced memory. Sylar prepares to kill Charlie, but Hiro stops time and locks Sylar in a bus storage container. Later, when seeking Sylar to fix Charlie's aneurysm, Sylar angrily attacks Hiro, demanding to know what Hiro did to him. He attempts to kill Hiro, but Hiro prevents this with his time control. Finally, Hiro makes a deal: to tell Sylar about his future if he saves Charlie. Sylar proceeds to do so, and is miffed that he is told that - although he will become the most powerful person - he will die alone and unloved.
Sylar proceeds to attempt to obtain Claire Bennet's regenerative abilities, but is stopped by Peter Petrelli. He is greatly injured and is captured by Eden McCain and the Haitian to be experimented on. After various experiments, Sylar manages to escape, but he is again repelled from an attempt to obtain Claire's power.
Remembering Suresh's list, Sylar makes his way to Zane Taylor, and by posing as the person Zane was expecting, Mohinder Suresh, he kills him and obtains his power. After Mohinder arrives, Sylar poses as Zane, and convinces Mohinder to take him to help convince other people with special abilities that Mohinder's research is real. After Sylar acquires enhanced hearing from a woman named Dale, Mohinder discovers Sylar's identity and manages to incapacitate him with drugs. After experimenting on Sylar to create a new list of people with special powers and attempting to kill him, Mohinder is captured. After Peter shows up and is temporarily killed by Sylar, Mohinder knocks him out, but ends up leaving Isaac Mendez's address on the ground.
After meeting Isaac, and being told that his fate is to die at the hands of the other heroes, he takes Isaac's power to paint the future. He soon finishes a painting depicting himself about to kill and acquire the power of the radioactive Ted Sprague, and believes himself to be the "exploding man". Believing that only those who "don't deserve" their powers are the ones that need to die, he doesn't want to kill innocent people. After attempting to confide in Mohinder, he returns home to his alleged mother, Virginia Gray, in the hope that she will tell him that it is fine not to be special and live as a normal watchmaker. She tells him that he can be anything, including the president, causing him to demonstrate his powers and accidentally injure her. This causes her to panic, which eventually leads to her death, and Sylar deciding that his path is correct.
After acquiring the radioactive powers of Ted, Sylar paints a picture of himself facing off against Peter Petrelli at Kirby Plaza. Realizing Peter is part of his final destiny, Sylar prepares to hunt him down. Before he can leave, Ando Masahashi arrives to kill him, though Ando is easily thwarted. After Sylar discovers the comic depicting his death at the hands of Hiro Nakamura, Hiro appears and rescues Ando. Sylar sets off for Kirby Plaza to wait for Peter. After a struggle involving Sylar, Peter, Matt Parkman, and Niki Sanders, Peter begins the process of exploding, showing Sylar that he is not the exploding man. Soon after, Hiro arrives and impales Sylar through the stomach as the comic predicts, terribly wounding him. His last act is to telekinetically throw Hiro towards a building, forcing him to teleport and rendering him incapable of stopping Peter, as he collapses with a triumphant grin on his face while events that transpired throughout the season that end with his injury by Hiro play in his eyes. However, near the end of the episode, a trail of blood leading from where Sylar collapsed and ending at an open manhole is seen, indicating that Sylar is still alive.
Generations
Sylar is rescued by Candice Wilmer, who uses her powers of illusion to make Sylar disappear. After undergoing eight surgeries, he eventually awakes and realizes that he cannot use his powers. Though Candice promises that they will come back eventually, he kills her and attempts to acquire her power in order to start over. After realizing that it also doesn't work, he attempts to leave, though he realizes that he is in the middle of a dense jungle in Mexico. After wandering for three days, he is rescued from the brink of death by the passing-by Maya and Alejandro Herrera. He introduces himself using his real name, and eventually finds out that they are in search of Chandra Suresh to help control Maya's power. He tells them that he knows Suresh, and that he will take them to him.
He continues to travel with them, and while Alejandro becomes more distrustful of Sylar, Maya becomes more trusting of him. After teaching Maya to control her powers, he convinces her that her brother hates her and that in her heart she wanted to see his wife dead. Convincing her to send Alejandro away, Sylar is eventually confronted by Alejandro. He kills him, but states that he would have let Alejandro go had he not come back. Soon after, Maya confesses her love for Gabriel, and they reach Mohinder's apartment. Sylar attempts to obtain a cure for his condition, later revealed to be the same strain of the Shanti Virus which Niki was infected with. Upon finding that Sylar cannot use any of his obtained abilities, Mohinder attempts to kill Sylar, who then threatens him with a gun. This causes Maya to finally see Sylar's true intentions, so Sylar takes Maya, Mohinder and Molly hostage. Sylar agrees to go to Isaac's loft after Mohinder tells him tests need to be run. At the loft, Molly reveals to Maya that Alejandro is dead, who then goes to confront Sylar. He rolls his eyes as Maya screams at him, casually turns around and shoots her in the chest, and then tells Mohinder to cure Maya first. Elle enters the building and starts shooting at Sylar, but by then he has seen that the cure works, and he steals it and escapes.
Villains
In "Villains", Hiro sees Sylar's life shortly after the murder of Brian Davis. Intensely remorseful over the act, Gabriel attempts to hang himself. Elle Bishop walks in and saves him by using her electric abilities to cut the rope, convincing him that he's a good person. However, she is actually working with Noah Bennet to get Sylar to reveal the method behind transferring powers from one person to another. Elle befriends Gabriel and the two begin to share feelings for each other. Against her wishes, Elle helps Noah manipulate him to kill again by introducing Gabriel to Trevor Zeitlan, a young man who can kinetically shatter objects by "shooting" at them with his thumb and forefinger. She purposefully enrages Gabriel by having Trevor repeatedly demonstrate his ability by shattering glasses while calling him "special." Gabriel turns on Elle, who tries to stop him from killing Trevor. When Gabriel realizes Elle also has an ability, he is furious and pushes her against the wall with his mind, commanding her to leave before turning on Trevor and taking his power. Bennet and Elle watch from the car as Gabriel attacks Trevor.
In the third season, Sylar injects himself with the cure, healing his wounds and regaining use of his intuitive aptitude and telekinesis (though none of his other acquired powers). Sylar makes his way to California and finally takes Claire's power, though he does not kill her, claiming that she is special and that he couldn't do so even if he wanted to because he felt something special about her. He also takes several of the Company files on superhumans she had collected.
Sylar breaks into Company headquarters, killing Bob Bishop and acquiring his power. He is captured after attempting to take Elle's power, which results in her involuntarily releasing an electric burst which knocks him unconscious. The discharge also disables the Level 5 security system, allowing a dozen dangerous inmates to escape the complex. Before Sylar can regain consciousness, he is locked up. During his imprisonment, Angela Petrelli claims that she is his mother and attempts to rehabilitate him. She allows him to kill Bridget Bailey, a woman who can see the history of an object by touching it, in order to feed his hunger for power. When Noah Bennet returns to the Company to hunt down the escaped villains, Angela assigns Sylar as his partner, sending the two out to confront the villains and save the trapped Peter Petrelli.
Wanting to prove he is not just a killer, to both himself and Bennet, Sylar saves Bennet from Jesse and Knox, two of the escaped villains. However, his "hunger" reasserts itself and he kills Jesse, allowing Knox to escape in the confusion. Sylar is placed in his cell once more, where he is visited by Peter, who angrily snaps his neck after Sylar reveals that they are brothers. Peter, having absorbed Sylar's power and thereby his hunger, nearly kills Angela before Sylar knocks him unconscious. As Angela deals with her youngest son, Bennet arrives to take Sylar along to capture another Level 5 inmate. Sylar is surprised that Bennet would want to take him, but Bennet rebuffs him and tells him not to "make it harder than it already is." During the road trip, Noah chastises him about the murder of Jesse at the bank and his terrorizing Claire, and Sylar states that "rehabilitation doesn't happen overnight. I am trying."
They track the escapee, Stephen Canfield, to an empty house, unaware that Claire is already there dealing with Canfield herself. The man creates a powerful vortex in the room which nearly sucks in Claire, but Sylar saves her at the last minute. The power gained from Bridget enables him to experience the horror she went through, so he attempts to sincerely apologize to her, but she regards him with anger and disgust, and Bennet emphatically tells him to never to speak to his daughter again. The three find Stephen at an amusement park, where Bennet tries to force him into killing Sylar in exchange for freedom; though Sylar is clearly aware of what Noah is trying to do, he doesn't do anything to stop him. Rather than become a killer, Stephen kills himself with his power instead. Sylar later calmly remarks to Claire that her father doesn't see people with abilities as human, and never will.
Sylar is returned to his cell once more, where he is approached by Daphne Millbrook with an offer to join Pinehearst Industries, who will accept him for what he is. Sylar refuses, wanting to change. After they leave, Sylar revives Peter so he can help Angela Petrelli. Peter is initially skeptical, but Sylar's willingness to change combined with experience with the future Sylar convinces him; Peter's description of the future Gabriel Gray also gives Sylar hope that he can be redeemed. When Peter discovers the Pinehearst logo in her mind and attempts to go there, Sylar tries to stop him from doing so, but Peter easily defeats him due to his wider variety of powers and places him in an artificially-induced coma just as he had been. Angela is able to use her powers to wake him so he can rescue Peter, who has been stripped of his powers by Arthur Petrelli. Sylar does as asked, but is convinced by Arthur to turn on Angela. Arthur has Sylar throw a powerless Peter out a seventh-story window, but Peter miraculously survives. In "It's Coming", Arthur reveals that he knows Sylar slowed Peter's fall. Arthur is not angry; instead, he uses this event as evidence that Sylar can use his emotions like Peter could, to obtain someone's power without killing them.
To test this theory, Arthur places Sylar in a dark room with Elle, who is restrained to the floor and still suffers from her uncontrolled ability. She is furious at Sylar for her father's murder and repeatedly electrocutes him to no avail. Sylar confronts Elle with his sorrow for what he's done as well as her sorrow for what she's done. She rages at him and continues to attack, finally collapsing and begging him to kill her so that her pain will go away. He forgives her for turning him into a monster and convinces her to forgive herself for her crimes, wanting to take away her pain without killing her. At that moment, Elle's pain disappears and she regains control of her ability. Likewise, Sylar is able to absorb her power. Sylar is overwhelmed by this development, as he no longer has to kill to satisfy his hunger. The two appear to rekindle their old feelings for each other as Elle teaches Sylar how to use her ability. In "The Eclipse", Sylar is relieved when he loses his abilities, and wishes to start a new life with Elle. However, after Noah Bennet claims that Angela and Arthur Petrelli are not his real parents and are just manipulating him, Sylar feels betrayed and reverts to his murderous tendencies. Having regained his abilities after the eclipse ended, Sylar expresses seeming remorse and then attacks Elle, using his telekinesis to scalp her.
The next morning Sylar proceeds to cremate her body, receiving a call from Arthur about his absence. Sylar curtly tells Arthur he is not returning and reveals he has a new list in the form of Elle's cell phone contact list. To ascertain the truth for himself, he kills Sue Landers, a human lie detector. He then heads to Pinehearst to confront Arthur, stopping Peter and the Haitian from killing Arthur by freezing the bullet fired at Arthur's head. With both the Haitian and Arthur apparently weakened in attempting to overwhelm one another, Sylar asks Arthur if he is truly his father. Arthur says yes; Sylar detects the lie with Sue Landers' power and proceeds to drive the bullet into Arthur's head, killing him. He then leaves Peter and the Haitian, claiming they do not have anything he desires.
Sylar travels to Primatech, and sets up a mind game for Angela, Claire, Meredith, and Noah Bennet. After locking everyone inside and killing the Primatech staff, he tells them over the PA system that he will turn them all into monsters as they try to hunt him. Noah releases several Level 5 inmates as bait, including Echo Demille, Eric Doyle, and Daniel Pine, but Sylar easily disposes of them. He then injects Meredith with adrenaline, causing her to lose control of her fire ability. She and Noah are then locked in a cell with a single bullet, so Noah will either burn to death or kill Meredith to survive. Claire wants to help, as Sylar expects, forcing her to choose between her grandmother and her father; Claire chooses her father, leaving Angela at Sylar's mercy. He confronts Angela, and finds out that she was only using him for his monstrous qualities. However, she also reveals that she knows who his real parents are, and that they are not the Grays. As Sylar demands to be told the truth, Claire stabs him in the back of the head with a piece of glass, which will prevent him from reviving as long as it remains in place. In the prison cell, Meredith finally loses full control of her power and releases a massive explosion. Primatech goes up in flames with Sylar still inside.
Fugitives
Following the destruction of Primatech, Sylar is shown to be alive and well (it's later revealed that the fire melted the glass, allowing him to regenerate), and begins to search for his true biological parents. He starts by tracking down his adoptive father, Martin Gray, in Baltimore, making a stop in Pittsburgh to kill an insurance broker who could replicate his signature, and possibly learn the whereabouts of Martin. Sylar learns that Martin had paid to take him off the hands of his supposed father, Samson Gray, in order to escape his marriage with Virginia, Sylar's adoptive mother. After interrogating Martin, Sylar raises his hand, and is about to kill Martin, but holds back and walks away. After taking the address from Martin, Sylar finds Samson's home, only for it to be empty and Nathan Petrelli's agents waiting to ambush him. Although shot at, stunned and restrained, Sylar easily recovers and kills the agents, save one Agent Simmons, whom he tortures for information on Samson's disappearance.
In order to extract more information from Simmons, Sylar invades the house of Luke and Mary Campbell. Waiting for the two to return, Sylar telekinetically pins them, and states he intends to torture them to get Simmons to talk. He then proceeds to torture Mary. In a rage, Luke manages to free himself and boils Sylar's coffee with his own ability: microwave emission. Intrigued, Sylar begins to talk to Luke, telling him exactly why Luke has been in so much trouble, and that he understands Luke's frustration. During this, Simmons frees himself from his bindings and tries to grab his gun to shoot Sylar, but Luke notices this and kills Simmons. Sylar proceeds to leave the house, taking Luke with him only after Luke states he knows where Samson is.
As Sylar and Luke proceed to find Samson, Luke wishes to stop at some local diner to eat, as well as lying to Sylar about Samson's location when prodded. This irritates Sylar to the point where he threatens to simply take Luke's emission ability. Luke simply states that Sylar would never find his father then. Choosing to stop at a diner, Luke reveals that he and Samson went birding, awakening a memory from Sylar's childhood. As they eat, Sylar teaches Luke some lessons about using his power and having objectives, as well as revealing the change in his 'hunger' (emphasizing finding Samson over acquiring powers). This results in Luke giving Sylar Samson's location, even under the threat of being killed for his power. They are soon interrupted by Nathan's agents. Luke distracts the agents enough for Sylar to telekinetically toss a few around and punch a hole through a window. However, as he gets into the car, Sylar locks Luke out and drives off, leaving Luke to the agents. However, a short time later, Sylar disguises as an agent and gets into their van, killing the agents and saving Luke, as well as taking a laptop. When confronted about this by Luke, Sylar states that Luke was simply conveniently nearby and that his goal was to get the laptop to understand how Nathan's agents worked, though Luke seems skeptical about that reasoning.
Continuing to elude Nathan's agents, Sylar and Luke finally lose them. Irritated with Luke's wish to fry some agents and subtle attempts to stop the search for Samson, Sylar pins Luke to the side of the truck, essentially telling Luke to shut up. Sylar then seems to remember the area in which the two are in, and they reach an abandoned diner. Sylar makes an entrance by pulling off some of the board (throwing them in Luke's direction) and they enter. Here, Sylar recounts being brought to the diner as a child, and dropping a toy car in a wooden post. To prove this memory true, he rips open the post telekinetically and finds the car. He then remembers exactly what happened at that place: His father took money from Virginia and Martin, then left to his car. Sylar followed, only to see his biological parents arguing, and Samson telekinetically splitting his mother's skull open, killing her. In a rage exacerbated by Luke's revelation that Sylar's father was indeed a bad individual, Sylar pins him to the diner wall, but drops him and tells Luke to go home. Sylar leaves, intent on not only finding, but killing his father.
Arriving at a run-down trailer in the woods, Sylar finds his father old and dying of cancer. Samson is not frightened by Sylar's threat to kill and instead prepares a rabbit for taxidermy. Demonstrating several abilities, he and Sylar realize that they have the same ability - the ability to steal powers. Samson reveals that it did not matter how many people he killed or how many powers he stole; in the end, he did not lead a fulfilling life and is now miserable. He claims to not even remember selling Sylar and killing his mother, as these things did not matter to him. He goes on to say how he would have lived life differently, if given a second chance - how he would risk everything to attain true power and ultimately change the world. He touches on Sylar's original guilt for murdering to steal abilities by mocking Sylar, telling him how both their victims were weak and helpless and that they had no chance against seasoned killers. However, when Sylar cuts himself and heals while stuffing the rabbit, Samson transforms, reviving his hunger for abilities, desperate to gain immortality and escape from death. Temporarily incapacitating Sylar, he is stunned when Sylar first resists and then retaliates, strangling Samson with his own oxygen tube. Samson does not understand, since both he and Sylar know that Sylar would not die from Samson's "examination". Sylar states that he is finishing what he came to do, taking the stuffed rabbit. Samson begs Sylar to kill him quickly, but Sylar refuses, relishing the fact that his father, who is ultimately just like him, will "die alone with his disease". Later, when Danko returns home to his apartment after discovering Nathan's ability, he finds the stuffed rabbit on his desk, unaware that Sylar is lurking in the shadows nearby. Instead of a confrontation, however, Sylar chooses to leave, but not before stringing up an unconscious Eric Doyle in Danko's apartment as a 'gift'.
This 'gift' is explained further when Sylar surprises Danko in his car: He wishes to work with Danko in rounding up all superpowered humans, and quickly leaves before Danko can pull out his gun. To further win Danko's trust, Sylar decides to help Danko track a shapeshifter, James Martin, who managed to kill 4 of Danko's agents (3 via gunshot, and one murdered for his form). At Martin's apartment, Danko surprises Sylar, and the two exchange taunts and information, resulting in Sylar and Danko teaming up for the time being. Through their cooperation, the two find out that Martin takes forms of power and authority, in order to woo women at a local nightclub. At the club, Sylar and Danko are spotted by Martin (in the form of Danko), and they lose track of him. A short time later, Danko and Sylar decide to leave the club; however, the 'Sylar' is actually Martin in disguise with the intention of killing Danko. However, Danko shoots Martin, but doesn't kill him. Instead, he allows the real Sylar to take Martin's ability (without removing the skullcap) in order to not only make hunting superpowered humans easier for them, but to fake Sylar's death and keep people such as Noah Bennett from trying to track Sylar down.
Sylar, disguised as Danko, later meets Noah at Building 26 as Noah, unknowingly, examines Martin's body. Noah, knowing how hard it is to kill Sylar, doubts Danko could do it single-handedly. When Sandra arrives to question Noah about Claire, Sylar shakes her hand in introduction, gaining access to her form. Wanting to destroy Noah, he later visits Noah at Noah's apartment, in disguise as Sandra. He delivers divorce papers, stating that he (Sandra) cannot trust Noah anymore and that their marriage is over. Noah is distraught but, upon examining the signature on the forms, discovers that it is not Sandra's. Rushing to the crematorium, Noah stops the cremation of Martin's body. He removes the metal shard in the back of the corpse's head, telling the surrounding soldiers that when Sylar was stabbed with a glass shard before, it melted in the Primatech fire allowing him to regenerate. When the corpse does not regenerate, Noah returns to Danko and confronts him with the knowledge that Sylar is still alive. Danko confesses and tells Noah that Sylar is in disguise and out on a mission with other soldiers. Noah forces Danko to take him to Sylar and, when they arrive, shoots the soldier Danko identifies as Sylar in the back of the head. When the corpse continues to bleed out and does not heal, Danko orders his men to capture Noah, who Danko claims has gone insane. However, when the soldiers leave in pursuit, the corpse gets up and shifts back into Sylar. When Danko asks him how he survived while bleeding so much, Sylar says it was all to make his death look realistic.
As Sylar continues to shapeshift, he finds it is harder and harder to regain his form without side effects, including left over body parts like teeth. He also retains personality traits and memories of those he changes into, causing him to go through a literal "identity crisis". When Danko tells him that he needs to leave his "Sylar" identity behind to retain his free pass, Sylar kills the next target on Danko's list, Tom Miller, and takes his power. Further examining the shapeshifting ability, Sylar realizes he is actually absorbing different DNA sequences into his body, causing him to permanently change a little each time he shifts. When Sylar starts to shapeshift in his sleep, Danko tells him he has to find an anchor that will remind him of who he is. To that effect, Sylar, as one of Danko's agents, retrieves the evidence from the homicide of his mother, Virginia Gray. While examining her collection of snow globes, Sylar unknowingly shapeshifts into his mother and begins to have a conversation with himself, showing acute symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. He at first does not realize what is happening and talks to his mother about his encounter with Samson, why his mother lied to Sylar about his lineage, and how he is starting to lose himself. He, as his mother, tries to convince himself that he did not mean to kill her and that he is still special. Danko interrupts when his agents track down Rebel. Sylar gets to Rebel (Micah Sanders) before Danko's agents do and prepares to kill him and take his power. Micah, however, reveals that he understands what Sylar is going through because his mother, Niki Sanders, endured the same thing when her power manifested. Convinced that Sylar is special and the only one capable of saving those with powers, Micah convinces Sylar to join his cause. Sylar, disguised as Micah, tricks Danko and his agents into chasing the wrong person, allowing Micah to escape. Sylar, again talking with "his mother", reveals that her murder was no accident but "Virginia" forgives Sylar anyway, convinced that he can still be whomever he wants to be, including the President. Realizing his opportunity, Sylar breaks into Nathan Petrelli's office and finds a brush containing some of Nathan's DNA. He later appears, as Nathan, at a press conference concerning new plans for change he has for the country and how he soon plans to meet with the President and "shake his hand". Realizing what Sylar is trying to do, Nathan returns to DC from Coyote Sands and confronts Sylar, who reveals he has examined Nathan's life in depth using clairsentience. Expressing pity and determined to become better than Nathan, Sylar prepares to take Nathan's ability when Danko appears and stuns Nathan. Attempting to salvage his operation, Danko orders Sylar to shift back into one of his agents so they can continue hunting specials. When Sylar refuses, Danko stabs him in the back of the head with a knife. However, Sylar recovers, having used his shapeshifting ability to relocate his weak spot.
After framing Danko for the murder of an agent, he takes on Nathan's form and goes to meet the President with Claire in tow. When she discovers the truth, he controls her using the power which he had empathically absorbed from Eric Doyle and talks about how similar they are, both being adopted and both having the ability to live forever, proposing that, given enough time, Claire might come to forgive him and even love him. However, Peter and Nathan then confront him, and in the battle Sylar and Nathan fly out of a window and into another room. Sylar subsequently kills Nathan (after empathically absorbing his power during the fight) and takes on the form of the President's Chief of Staff. However, the President injects him with an elephant tranquilizer, and reveals himself to be Peter, having absorbed Sylar's ability during the fight. In an effort to shut down the program, Angela convinces Matt Parkman to use his telepathy to convince Sylar that he is Nathan, Matt using Angela's memories of Nathan's life to essentially 'plant' Nathan in Sylar's head, his shape-shifting power allowing him to assume Nathan's form while his clairsentience will allow him to subconsciously use objects around him to 'fill in the blanks'. Sylar, as Nathan, talks to the President and convinces him to shut down Building 26 and divert the funds to the new Company that will now be built. Later, Sylar, as Nathan, watches "Sylar's" (in reality James Martin's) body burn at Coyote Sands alongside Noah, Claire, Matt, Angela, Peter, Mohinder, Hiro and Ando.
Redemption
Memory loss
Six weeks later, this Nathan starts to rediscover the other powers he had gained in his old life. Later, following Nathan's confession of being involved in the accidental death of his girlfriend Kelly Houston, her mother, Millie Houston, has him shot and buried in a shallow grave. When healed, Sylar emerges from the ground in his own body, suffering from amnesia. Picked up by the police, he is recognized and accidentally uses his powers to escape. He then encounters the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival" and Samuel, who take him in as one of their own. The carnival is hidden from Sylar's pursuers, and Samuel assures him he is safe in his new "home".
Once Sylar has rested, Samuel proceeds to show him around the circus, showing that everyone at the carnival has an ability. Sylar also meets Lydia, who he immediately hits it off with. Edgar, however, jealously attempts to outshow Sylar with his power, but is easily beaten. Samuel also notices that Sylar's memories are not his (in fact, Nathan Petrelli's). In an effort to awaken Sylar's true personality, Sylar is taken by Damien to the hall of mirrors, where he is forced to look at his past murders, starting with his mother. Repulsed, Sylar is unable to believe himself a monster. Samuel uses this to try and convince Sylar that he is a protector of the circus, and must remove threats such as the officer who attempted to capture him the night before. Sylar is told the officer is at the house of mirrors, and goes there to tell the man to leave. However, the officer shoots at Sylar, forcing an uncontrolled electric blast. Here, Sylar's killer instinct begins to take hold, but Sylar stops himself just in time for Edgar to cut the man into pieces. Later, Samuel formally makes Sylar a part of the circus family, baptizing him and letting him mingle with the others. Sylar and Lydia leave arm in arm for the night, much to Edgar's dismay.
In "Shadowboxing", the persona of Nathan returns, causing him to shapeshift back into Nathan's form while sleeping. Panicking upon finding himself at the carnival, he flies away, and is later shown arriving at Peter's door, asking for help. Arriving for work at his office, Peter and Nathan discover that no one has been looking for Nathan, as he had been on 'vacation' according to Angela Petrelli. The brothers are further surprised when the Haitian appears, and tells Peter to go see a storage facility for the truth of the situation. Here, Nathan and Peter discover the real Nathan's preserved body, which 'Nathan' touches and sees Sylar and Matt Parkman. They head to Texas to see Matt, who is at the hospital, in a coma.
Haunting Matt Parkman
Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body.
Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop.
The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more.
Whole again
Staying over at Peter Petrelli's apartment, the brothers are surprised by Angela, who springs a Thanksgiving dinner on them. Nathan wakes up in time to hear Peter and Angela discussing the discovery of Nathan's body. Although they press her for information, Angela threatens to simply leave if they do not sit down and eat. During the dinner, Angela finally confesses that she had Matt Parkman place Nathan's mind into Sylar's body. During dessert, however, Nathan begins to act oddly, and transforms back into Sylar, happy to be controlling his body once more. He telekinetically traps Peter and Angela, relishing his ability to control himself. After taunting Peter, he begins to scalp Angela, only to have the 'Nathan' persona fight back. Losing control, Sylar transforms back into Nathan, who flees the building to protect his family. Peter devises a plan to eliminate the 'Sylar' persona leaving just Nathan using the ability of The Haitian to erase Sylar's memories. On a rooftop however, "Nathan" confesses to Peter he is not himself and cannot keep fighting off the 'Sylar' persona. Nathan jumps off the building and lands onto a parked car. Peter then sees Sylar heal, get up and wave as he walks away.
Sylar returns to the carnival to face Samuel, but Sylar finds that while he wants to kill, he is unable to make himself do so. His identity in crisis, he makes a deal with Samuel. After absorbing Lydia's power, he tells Samuel to give him a tattoo, and that he would do whatever it said. When he sees the tattoo, he decides that he does not belong at the carnival. The next scene shows him floating outside of Claire Bennet's dorm room window, and his tattoo is a picture of her.
In the episode "Pass/Fail", Sylar kidnaps Claire Bennet's friend, Gretchen Berg so Claire will talk to him in exchange for her friend. Sylar feels like they are very similar: they've never felt in place, they both lost their parents, and they are both immortal. Claire doesn't want to talk to him, and makes him tell her where Gretchen is. Claire finds Gretchen tied up, and they hide in a closet and have a talk. Claire tells Gretchen that Sylar thinks they are alike, and she fears that they might be. She is confused at Sylar's attitude, but resents him for who he is. Gretchen comes to the conclusion that Sylar's powers have isolated him from ever having any relationships. Giving them up might be the only way he could have any connections. Gretchen then shape-shifts back into Sylar. He then goes to Matt Parkman and asks him to take away all his powers away. Matt attempts but fails. Sylar threatens Matt's family and forces him to keep trying. Instead, Matt traps Sylar and his powers deep within the confines of his mind, "somewhere you'll never find them," and he is left alone to live out his worst nightmare: Being all alone. Matt then attempts to seal up Sylar within the walls of his basement. However, Peter Petrelli arrives after having a vision that Sylar will save Emma. Using Matt's power, Peter attempts to bring Sylar out of his nightmare, but ends up trapped in Sylar's mind along with him (The Art of Deception).
In "The Wall", Sylar is repairing endless watches in the empty city when he hears banging. Searching for the source of it, he finds Peter using a pole to get his attention by banging it on the concrete. Sylar is shocked to discover that Peter is real and says there's no way out - he's been searching for three years. Peter reveals that it's actually been three hours and that Sylar is trapped in a nightmare, which he is skeptical to accept, and runs back to his shop. Peter tries to convince him of the truth and tells him he must save Emma. He tries to pull them out of the nightmare but is unsuccessful. Peter avoids Sylar for a month while trapped, and Sylar tries being friendly by giving him a 9th Wonders! comic book. Peter, determined to find a way out, does not understand why Sylar is so resistant to find a way out, and realizes that Sylar really doesn't want to be free. They come across a massive brick wall, the same one Sylar's body is actually trapped behind (in Matt's basement). Peter realizes that the two need to break the wall in order to escape. At first Peter tries to break it alone, but fails. Sylar compares his determination to a memory of Nathan's he possesses which angers Peter. Sylar apologizes for Nathan's murder, but Peter refuses to forgive him and Sylar finally joins Peter in attempting to break down the wall. After years of attempting and failing to damage the wall in the slightest, Sylar is surprised when Peter gives him a copy of The Pillars of the Earth as a gift as a to thank him for keeping him sane all the years of their imprisonment. Sylar admits he always worries Peter will attack him with the sledge-hammer which Peter admits he has contemplated. Sylar realizes that Peter won't let go of his anger out of fear of losing the last remnant of Nathan, and points out to Peter that he has truly changed. Peter finally accepts this fact and afterwards the two are easily able to break a hole in the wall, which frees them from their mental prison. Once freed, Sylar uses telekinesis to free him from his physical one and he and Peter learn that they've only been trapped for half a day in reality. The experience seems to have changed both Sylar and Peter and the two head off to save Emma, but are stopped by Eli and his clones who want to prevent their plans.
In "Brave New World," he and Peter easily defeat Eli and save Matt's life as knocking out the Prime Eli gets rid of his clones who were about to kill Matt. Sylar tries to convince a furious Matt that he's changed, but fails and begins to leave with Peter (who read Eli's mind and learned Samuel's plans). Matt tries to telepathically prevent Sylar from leaving, so Sylar asks Matt to read his mind to show him he has changed. Matt is unable to, although he does let them leave. Peter and Sylar fly to New York where Samuel plans to kill thousands of people. Peter is reluctant, but Sylar convinces Peter to trust him and reminds him that the dream says that Sylar saves Emma. Sylar heads off to the tent to save Emma while Peter goes to defeat Samuel. He finds Emma playing the cello with bloody fingers, and tries to save her by taking the cello, but is taken control of by Eric Doyle, the Puppet Master. Doyle, desperate to be better than Sylar, begins to taunt him. However, controlling and mocking Sylar distracts him from his primary focus on controlling Emma. Once Emma realizes he has loosened his control over her, Emma blasts Doyle with a soundwave through the cello, breaking Doyle's control over Sylar, and giving Sylar the chance to telekinetically grab onto Doyle. Doyle begs him to stop, and asks, "What do you care about this girl, anyway?" Sylar tells him that he's going to save her. Confused, Doyle cries out, "That's not you! You're like me!" Sylar looks at him and calmly says, "No. I'm a hero." After Peter reunites with Emma, she tells him that his friend is taking care of Doyle. Fearing the worst, Peter heads into the tent to find Sylar admiring his new "masterpiece": a dazed Doyle trussed up like a puppet, clad in giant light-bulbs. Sylar plugs the lights in, deviously grins, and says, "I like it!"
Brave New World
Sylar walks with Peter and discusses his rescue of Emma. Sylar explains that he could have easily killed Doyle but didn't and that not killing him and saving Emma felt good to him, showing that Sylar is truly changing and is enjoying being a hero rather than a villain. Peter and Sylar witness Claire climbing the Ferris Wheel to reveal her powers to the world and Sylar comments that it's now a "brave new world."
Alternate timelines
In the first alternate future depicted, set five years ahead in the episode "Five Years Gone", Sylar has gained countless new abilities, including those of Candice Wilmer and D. L. Hawkins. Nathan Petrelli, now the President, concocted a story for the explanation of New York's destruction, which blamed Sylar for the explosion, and he is assumed to be deceased. Sylar is able to use Candice's ability to murder Nathan and assume his identity. As President, he begins a campaign to hunt and exterminate all people with abilities, originally claiming that it will unite the world in grief. However, he really just doesn't want the competition. When Claire Bennet is captured, he has her brought to him, pretending to be her father. However, he simply desires one final ability, hers, which he takes. Later, while giving a speech in the ruins of New York, he is informed by Matt Parkman that Peter, the future Hiro, and Ando are staging an attack to free the present-day Hiro. Upon hearing this, Sylar, still disguised as Nathan, flies away from the crowd. He confronts Peter, revealing himself, and they prepare for battle, the outcome of which is left ambiguous.
In a timeline set four years in the future, as seen in the season three episode "I Am Become Death", Sylar has reassumed his identity of Gabriel Gray and is working to suppress his homicidal hunger for the sake of his son, Noah, who lives with him and Mr. Muggles in Claire's former home in Costa Verde. He is visited by the Peter Petrelli of the present, who is intent on learning how to activate the intuitive ability he has absorbed from him so that he can understand the complexities of changing the timeline. Gabriel is initially reluctant, resisting telepathic compulsion to teach Peter, but ultimately relents and tutors him after painting a precognitive picture of the Earth exploding, despite warning Peter that with the intuitive ability comes the same homicidal hunger he has been trying to resist. Shortly afterwards, a team led by Claire Bennet storms the house intent on killing Peter, and in the ensuing fight, Noah is killed. Enraged and grief-stricken, Gabriel loses control of his radiation ability and releases a nuclear detonation, destroying Costa Verde and killing over 200,000 people. It remains unknown whether or not he survived the explosion.
In the original timeline, Sylar kills Charlie Andrews and takes her power of eidetic memory (Seven Minutes to Midnight). In season four, Hiro goes back in time and prevents this, actually enlisting Sylar's help to save her from a blood clot (Once Upon a Time in Texas).
Powers and abilities
Sylar's base power, as described by Chandra Suresh, is "intuitive aptitude", the ability to innately understand and manipulate patterns within complex systems, which initially manifests as a talent for repairing timepieces. As revealed in "One of Us, One of Them", this power comes with a nearly insatiable hunger for "understanding", which, in Sylar's case, specifically refers to craving the powers of others, driving him to kill other superpowered humans to understand their powers and make them his own. Despite the strength of this hunger, two episodes have shown that it can be resisted or satiated: in the alternate future of "Five Years Gone", Sylar has taken on so many abilities that he simply desires to get rid of all of his potential "competition" (other superhumans, to be exact); in the future of "I Am Become Death", he has resumed his identity as Gabriel Gray and denies his hunger for the sake of his son. In "Once Upon a Time in Texas" it is revealed that Sylar can also identify deformities in people such as Charlie's blood clot and Hiro's brain tumor.
Sylar's intuitive aptitude allows him to deduce the workings of the powers of others; by examining the brain of his victim, he is able to find the brain's connection to the ability, and once he finds said connection, he can immediately replicate the power himself. The exact mechanics behind this are unknown, though it is theorized numerous times by many characters that DNA alteration/infusions is what allows him to obtain abilities. Yet, when the process is shown, Sylar only seems to touch the part of the brain that is the source of the ability and immediately replicates it. Sylar cannot acquire an ability from a person who has been dead awhile, even if their brains are intact though the process he uses to acquire abilities kills his victims before he actually gains the ability. In "Fallout", Noah Bennet theorizes that Sylar's additional powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own which, as a side effect, has driven him insane.
Of all the powers Sylar has acquired, the most prominently used is telekinesis, which is the first power he took. In contrast to the limited abilities Brian Davis displayed, Sylar's skills are far more advanced; he exhibits both fine control (precisely cutting open the skulls of his victims) and sheer force (flipping a police van), can enhance his own strength and durability to superhuman levels, and can control a person's motor skills in a manner similar to Eric Doyle's puppet mastery. Tests done on Sylar by Bennet's associate Hank show no overt signs of powers other than telekinesis; while their tests show that he possesses other powers, they are unable to identify what they are. In "The Hard Part", Sylar demonstrates he can use at least two of his acquired abilities at the same time.
During his first killing spree, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
After being injected with the Shanti virus by the Company, Sylar loses all of his abilities. After he is cured at the end of the second season, he only regains his abilities of intuitive aptitude and telekinesis. Sylar's empathic mimicry, which Arthur says he has had all along, is also present. In the third and fourth seasons, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
In "It's Coming", Sylar learns how to gain abilities without removing a person's brain, obtaining Elle Bishop's power of electric manipulation by empathizing with her and convincing her to let go of her anger. This empathy allowed him to retain the use of Brian Davis' telekinesis after being cured of the virus, due to the guilt he felt over his death. Arthur explains that Sylar possessed this ability all along. Despite possessing this ability, he has returned to killing to obtain new powers, though he later uses this method to obtain James Martin's shapeshifting ability, Nathan Petrelli's ability to fly, and also Lydia's empathy.
As a side effect of the use of the shapeshifting ability when used in combination with his acquired psychometry, his mind has begun to fracture into the different personas of those whom he has shapeshifted into, and residual physical characteristics have started to appear, such as his adopted mother when he came into contact with the dried blood on the scissors he killed her with. As stated in "I Am Sylar", his "Achilles' heel" in the back of his head has been relocated due to his continued shapeshifting, making him harder to stop. Aside from superhuman abilities, Sylar is very intelligent and manipulative and possesses decent hand-to-hand combat skills, as seen when he fights Peter Petrelli.
Reception
Sylar was named one of the best new villains by Entertainment Weekly. Sylar was also named the best villain of 2007 by IGN. UGO also ranked Sylar 6th on their list of top 50 TV characters.
In other media
Zachary Quinto provides the voice of a Robot Chicken-parodied Sylar in the episode "Bionic Cow". In it, he kills a man named "Uncle Glen", who is apparently able to remove his fingers, failing to realize that this is a simple sleight of hand trick to impress young children. He instead inherits Glen's power of "explosive diarrhea," remarking that "every once in a while, this power backfires".
Notes
References
External links
Sylar on the Heroes Wiki
adoptee characters in television
fictional attempted suicides
fictional characters from New York City
fictional presidents of the United States
fictional serial killers
fictional shapeshifters
fictional telekinetics
fictional United States senators
Heroes (American TV series) characters
American male characters in television
television characters introduced in 2006
television supervillains
fi:Luettelo televisiosarjan Heroes hahmoista#Sylar / Gabriel Gray | true | [
"Francis Parkman Jr. (September 16, 1823 – November 8, 1893) was an American historian, best known as author of The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life and his monumental seven-volume France and England in North America. These works are still valued as historical sources and as literature. He was also a leading horticulturist, briefly a professor of horticulture at Harvard University and author of several books on the topic. Parkman wrote essays opposed to legal voting for women that continued to circulate long after his death. Parkman was a trustee of the Boston Athenæum from 1858 until his death in 1893.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly life\nParkman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to the Reverend Francis Parkman Sr. (1788–1853), a member of a distinguished Boston family, and Caroline (Hall) Parkman. The senior Parkman was minister of the Unitarian New North Church in Boston from 1813 to 1849. \n\nAs a young boy, \"Frank\" Parkman was found to be of poor health, and was sent to live with his maternal grandfather, who owned a 3,000-acre (12 km²) tract of wilderness in nearby Medford, Massachusetts, in the hopes that a more rustic lifestyle would make him more sturdy. In the four years he stayed there, Parkman developed his love of the forests, which would animate his historical research. Indeed, he would later summarize his books as \"the history of the American forest.\" He learned how to sleep and hunt, and could survive in the wilderness like a true pioneer. He later even learned to ride bareback, a skill that would come in handy when he found himself living with the Sioux.\n\nEducation and career\n\nParkman enrolled at Harvard College at age 16. In his second year he conceived the plan that would become his life's work. In 1843, at the age of 20, he traveled to Europe for eight months in the fashion of the Grand Tour. Parkman made expeditions through the Alps and the Apennine mountains, climbed Vesuvius, and lived for a time in Rome, where he befriended Passionist monks who tried, unsuccessfully, to convert him to Catholicism.\n\nUpon graduation in 1844, he was persuaded to get a law degree, his father hoping such study would rid Parkman of his desire to write his history of the forests. It did no such thing, and after finishing law school Parkman proceeded to fulfill his great plan. His family was somewhat appalled at Parkman's choice of life work, since at the time writing histories of the American wilderness was considered ungentlemanly. Serious historians would study ancient history, or after the fashion of the time, the Spanish Empire. Parkman's works became so well-received that by the end of his lifetime histories of early America had become the fashion. Theodore Roosevelt dedicated his four-volume history of the frontier, The Winning of the West (1889–1896), to Parkman.\n\nIn 1846, Parkman travelled west on a hunting expedition, where he spent a number of weeks living with the Sioux tribe, at a time when they were struggling with some of the effects of contact with Europeans, such as epidemic disease and alcoholism. This experience led Parkman to write about American Indians with a much different tone from earlier, more sympathetic portrayals represented by the \"noble savage\" stereotype. Writing in the era of manifest destiny, Parkman believed that the conquest and displacement of American Indians represented progress, a triumph of \"civilization\" over \"savagery\", a common view at the time. He wrote The Oregon Trail during his 1846–1848 convalescence from illness in Staten Island, New York and Brattleboro, Vermont. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1855, and in 1865 was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society.\n\nWith the Civil War concluding, Parkman, along with Boston Athenæum librarian William F. Poole and fellow trustees Donald McKay Frost and Raymond Sanger Wilkins, saw the importance of securing, for the benefit of future historians, newspapers, broadsides, books, and pamphlets printed in the Confederate States of America. Thanks to Parkman's foresight, the Boston Athenæum is home to one of the most extensive collections of Confederate imprints in the world.\n\nParkman wrote a widely-circulated 1879 propaganda essay against women's suffrage in which he expressed the view that women are \"the impulsive and excitable half of humanity\" who could not be trusted in government.\n\nPersonal life\nA scion of a wealthy Boston family, Parkman had enough money to pursue his research without having to worry too much about finances. His financial stability was enhanced by his modest lifestyle, and later, by the royalties from his book sales. He was thus able to commit much of his time to research, as well as to travel. He travelled across North America, visiting most of the historical locations he wrote about, and made frequent trips to Europe seeking original documents with which to further his research.\n\nParkman's accomplishments are all the more impressive in light of the fact that he suffered from a debilitating neurological illness, which plagued him his entire life, and which was never properly diagnosed. He was often unable to walk, and for long periods he was effectively blind, being unable to see but the slightest amount of light. Much of his research involved having people read documents to him, and much of his writing was written in the dark, or dictated to others.\n\nParkman married Catherine Scollay Bigelow on May 13, 1850; they had three children. A son died in childhood, and shortly afterwards, his wife died. He successfully raised two daughters, introducing them into Boston society and seeing them both wed, with families of their own. Parkman died at age 70 in Jamaica Plain. He is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Parkman also is known for being one of the founders, in 1879, and first president of Boston's St. Botolph Club, a social club which focuses on arts and literature.\n\nLegacy\nParkman is one of the most notable nationalist historians. In recognition of his talent and accomplishments, the Society for American Historians annually awards the Francis Parkman Prize for the best book on American history.\nHis work has been praised by historians who have published essays in new editions of his work, such as Pulitzer Prize winners C. Vann Woodward, Allan Nevins, and Samuel Eliot Morison, as well as by other notable historians including Wilbur R. Jacobs, John Keegan, William Taylor, Mark Van Doren, and David Levin. Famous artists such as Thomas Hart Benton and Frederic Remington have illustrated Parkman's books. Numerous translations have been published worldwide.\n\nIn 1865 Parkman built a house at 50 Chestnut Street on Beacon Hill in Boston, which has since become a National Historic Landmark. The Francis Parkman School in Forest Hills bears his name, as does Parkman Drive and the granite Francis Parkman Memorial at the site of his last home in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts (now a neighborhood of Boston). On September 16, 1967, the United States Postal Service honored Parkman with a Prominent Americans series 3¢ postage stamp with the wording, \"FRANCIS PARKMAN AMERICAN HISTORIAN U.S. POSTAGE\".\n\nParkman's essay Some of the Reasons Against Woman Suffrage was a best-seller for decades. The Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women continued to use Parkman's writing and prestigious name long after his death.\n\nCriticism\n\nParkman's work regarding nationality, race, and especially Native Americans has generated criticism. C. Vann Woodward wrote that Parkman permitted his bias to control his judgment, employed the trope of \"national character\" to colour sketches of French and English, and drew a distinction between Indian \"savagery\" and settler \"civilization\", for Parkman found the Indian practice of scalping appalling, and made sure to underscore his aversion. The French-trained historian W. J. Eccles harshly criticized what he perceived as Parkman's bias against France and Catholic policies, as well as what he considered Parkman's misuse of French language sources. Elsewhere Eccles wrote, \"Francis Parkman's epic work La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (Boston, 1869) is doubtless a great literary work, but, as history, it is, to say the least, of dubious merit.\"\n\nParkman's view on women brought much criticism to what he had written. Parkman called the women of the more aggressive west to be \"scraggy necked\" also claiming that he disliked the company of the westerners. His preference in company was for that of more \"gentlemen\" societies or of those he viewed as below him who were willing to do as he said. As for the women in these \"gentlemanly\" societies, he still made himself view them as frail and dependent on men even though he had physical dependencies on him.\n\nOther modern historians have praised elements of Parkman's work, even while recognizing his limitations. The historian Robert S. Allen has said that Parkman's history of France and England in North America \"remains a rich mixture of history and literature which few contemporary scholars can hope to emulate\". The historian Michael N. McConnell, while acknowledging the historical errors and racial prejudice in Parkman's book The Conspiracy of Pontiac, has said:\n\nThe American literary critic Edmund Wilson, in his book O Canada, described Parkman's France and England in North America in these terms: \"The clarity, the momentum and the color of the first volumes of Parkman's narrative are among the most brilliant achievements of the writing of history as an art.\"\n\nGallery\n\nSelected works\n The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life (1847)\n The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War After the Conquest of Canada (2 vols.) (1851)\n Vassall Morton (1856), a novel\n The Book of Roses (1866). Horticulture of roses.\n France and England in North America (1865–1892):\n The Pioneers of France in the New World (1865)\n The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century (1867)\n La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (1869; expanded edition, 1879)\n The Old Régime in Canada (1874)\n Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV (1877)\n Montcalm and Wolfe (1884)\n A Half Century of Conflict (1892)\n Historic Handbook of the Northern Tour (1885)\n The Journals of Francis Parkman. 2 vols. Edited by Mason Wade. New York: Harper, 1947.\n The Letters of Francis Parkman. 2 vols. Edited by Wilbur R. Jacobs. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1960.\n The Battle for North America. A 1-vol. abridgement of France and England in North America, edited by John Tebbel. Doubleday 1948.\n\nArticles\n \n .\n \n .\n \n \n \n\nSee also\n The Knickerbocker George Parkman — uncle.\n Henri-Raymond Casgrain\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\n Doughty, Howard (1962). Francis Parkman. New York: The Macmillan Company.\n Levin, David, ed. Parkman: France and England in North America, vol. 1 (Library of America, 1983) \n Levin, David, ed. Parkman: France and England in North America, vol. 2 (Library of America, 1983) \n Farnham, Charles Haight (1900). A Life of Francis Parkman. Boston: Little, Brown & Company.\n Farnham, Charles Haight (1901). \"Parkman at Lake George,\" Scribner's 30 (1), pp. 22–30.\n Gale, Robert L. (1973). Francis Parkman. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc.\n Pease, Otis. Parkman's History: The Historian as Literary Artist (1953). \n Wade, Mason. Francis Parkman, Heroic Historian (1942)\n Wish, Harvey (1960). \"Francis Parkman and the Pageant of Wilderness.\" In: The American Historian: A Social-intellectual History of the Writing of the American Past. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 88–108.\n Additional Online Books Regarding Parkman\n\nFurther reading\n Beaver, Harold. \"Parkman's Crack-Up: A Bostonian on the Oregon Trail.\" New England Quarterly (1975) 48#1: 84-103. online\n Egan Jr, Ken. \"Poetic Travelers: Figuring the Wild in Parkman, Fuller, and Kirkland.\" Western American Literature 44.1 (2009): 49-62. online\n Jacobs, Wilbur R. Francis Parkman, Historian as Hero (1991)\n Jacobs, Wilbur R. ed. Letters of Francis Parkman (U Oklahoma Press, 1960). \n Lawrence, Nicholas. \"Francis Parkman's The Oregon Trail and the US-Mexican War: Appropriations of Counter-Imperial Dissent.\" Western American Literature 43.4 (2009): 373-391. online\n Peterson, Mark. \"How (and Why) to Read Francis Parkman\" Common-Place: The Journal of Early American Life (2002) online\n Schama, Simon. Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations (1991)\n Stewart, George (1899). \"Francis Parkman and his Works,\" The Canadian Magazine 13, pp. 362–368.\n Tonsor, Stephen (1983). \"The Conservative as Historian: Francis Parkman,\" Modern Age, 25, pp. 246–255.\n Townsend, Kim. \"Francis Parkman and the Male Tradition.\" American Quarterly'' 38.1 (1986): 97-113. online\n\nExternal links\n\n The Oregon Trail hypertext with illustrations by Frederick Remington, N.C.Wyeth, and Thomas Hart Benton from American Studies at the University of Virginia\n \n Francis Parkman Memorial – Jamaica Plain Historical Society\n Francis Parkman's Spurs (MHS)\n Tilton's Journal of Horticulture and Florist's Companion\n\nElectronic editions\n \n \n \n \n\n1823 births\n1893 deaths\n19th-century American historians\n19th-century American male writers\nHistorians of the American West\nHistorians of Colonial North America\nHistorians of the United States\nAmerican horticulturists\nAmerican non-fiction writers\nArnold Arboretum\nHarvard University faculty\nWriters from Boston\nPeople from Medford, Massachusetts\nPeople from Staten Island\nHarvard Law School alumni\nFellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences\nBurials at Mount Auburn Cemetery\nHall of Fame for Great Americans inductees\nMembers of the American Antiquarian Society\nHistorians from Massachusetts\nHistorians from New York (state)\nHarvard College alumni\nPeople from Beacon Hill, Boston\nAmerican male non-fiction writers",
"Henry Parkman Jr. (April 26, 1894 – May 27, 1958) was an American politician who served in various offices in Massachusetts and the United States federal government.\n\nEarly life\nParkman was born on April 26, 1894. His father, Henry Parkman Sr., was treasurer of the Providence Institute for Savings and served as a member of the Boston Common Council, Massachusetts House of Representatives, Massachusetts Senate, state prison commission, and a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1917. Parkman graduated from Harvard College in 1915 and attended Harvard Law School for two years before leaving to serve in the United States Army. During World War I, Parkman was a captain in the 76th and 80th Infantry Divisions. After the war, Parkman went in the transportation business, delivering goods from New England manufacturers to the Pacific Coast via the Panama Canal. He later finished his legal studies at Northeastern University Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1924. He joined the firm of Putnam, Bell, Dutch & Santry.\n\nPolitical career\nOn July 1, 1925, Parkman became the first person to announce his candidacy for the new 22-ward City Council. He was elected to represent Ward 5. In 1927, Parkman, a Republican, cast the deciding vote for John Heffernan, a Democrat, for council president. Heffernan's law office was in the same building as Parkman.\n\nIn 1928 he challenged long-time party leader Charles Hiller Innes in a high-profile contest to be the 11th Congressional District delegate to the Republican National Convention. Parkman ran a campaign against bossism and stated that \"Mr. Innes does not represent the party, but only a small number who have made a business out of politics\". It was the first time in 26 years that Innes face a serious challenger. Parkman topped the ticket with 8,055 votes and his running mate, G. Gordon Watt received 7,082 to votes to Innes 6,017 his running mate, Walter R. Meins', 5,989 votes in a contest where the top two were elected.\n\nFrom 1929 to 1937, Parkman represented the 3rd Suffolk District in the Massachusetts Senate.\n\nIn 1933, Parkman for Mayor of Boston as a reform candidate. Parkman was expected to receive the endorsement of the Good Government Association, however the group backed Frederick Mansfield instead. Parkman also lost the endorsement of the Republican city committee to Malcolm E. Nichols. Parkman received 12% of the vote, which placed him behind Mansfield (28%), Nichols (27%), and William J. Foley (25%) and ahead of Joseph F. O'Connell (4%) and Michael H. Sullivan (4%).\n\nIn 1937, Parkman endorsed Democrat Maurice J. Tobin over fellow Republican Malcolm E. Nichols for Mayor of Boston. Tobin won the election appointed Parkman to the position of corporation counsel. He resigned the position on April 7, 1940 to run for the United States Senate seat held by David I. Walsh. Walsh defeated Parkman 56% to 42%. Following his defeat, Parkman was offered a position on the legal staff of United States Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson. Parkman withdrew his name from consideration due to opposition from Walsh and Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman William H. Burke Jr.\n\nWorld War II\nDuring World War II, Parkman was a member of the state rationing board. In 1942 he was appointed state Office of Price Administration director. He resigned from the OPA in January 1943 to become a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army. He was assigned to the office of the Under Secretary of War. In August 1944, Parkman was made head of civil affairs in the South of France. His final post was a four-month stint in charge of the military government in Heidelberg under General Jacob L. Devers. He left the Army in the fall of 1945 with the rank of brigadier general. He was awarded the Legion of Merit, Legion of Honour, Croix de Guerre with palm, Distinguished Service Medal, and four campaign stars.\n\nIn April 1946, Parkman returned to Germany at the request of Lt. Gen. Lucius D. Clay to serve a one-year as chief of the Civil Administration Branch in the American zone. Parkman was persuaded to stay on and on February 21, 1947 it was announced that he would serve as Clay's governmental affairs adviser. He returned to the United States on September 23, 1947.\n\nLater career\nUpon his return from Germany, Parkman joined the law firm of Hemenway and Barnes. In June 1947 he was nominated to serve on the board of trustees of the newly created Metropolitan Transit Authority. Later that year he was appointed by the Civil Service Commission to serve on a panel for federal workers whose loyalty to the United States was questioned.\n\nIn 1949, Parkman served as the American representative to the International Authority for the Ruhr. In 1950, Parkman became Chief of the Marshall Plan in France, with the diplomatic rank of Minister. In 1953, he was nominated for the position of Massachusetts Director of Civil Defense, however he withdrew in order to become assistant to United States High Commissioner for Germany James Bryant Conant.\n\nPersonal\nParkman had 4 siblings: Edith (Homans), Mary (Peabody), Penelope (Griswold), and Francis. He married Margaret Randolph Anderson Rotch in 1919; divorced in 1932. He married Doris Montague Leamy in 1936, and had three children: Penelope Frances (1937), Deborah (1938) and James Montague (1939). He also adopted his wife's daughter, Antonia Leamy, in 1937.\n\nDeath\nParkman died on May 27, 1958 at Massachusetts General Hospital of coronary thrombosis.\n\nSee also\n Massachusetts legislature: 1929–1930, 1931–1932, 1933–1934, 1935–1936\n\nReferences\n\n1894 births\n1958 deaths\nUnited States Army personnel of World War I\nUnited States Army personnel of World War II\nCorporation counsels of Boston\nHarvard University alumni\nNortheastern University School of Law alumni\nMassachusetts state senators\nMassachusetts Republicans\nBoston City Council members\n20th-century American politicians\nCommanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany\n20th-century American lawyers"
]
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[
"Sylar",
"Haunting Matt Parkman",
"What is Haunting Matt Parkman?",
"Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar,",
"What does Sylar do to Matt Parkman?",
"Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself.",
"How does Parkman react to the haunting?",
"Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances,"
]
| C_c8edc7ae36c4408382b9e8fe46a52356_0 | What kind of consequences begin when Sylar takes control of Matt? | 4 | What kind of consequences begin when Sylar takes control of Matt? | Sylar | Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body. Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop. The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he is is shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more. CANNOTANSWER | Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. | Sylar (Gabriel Gray) is a fictional character and a primary antagonist of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers. He served as the primary villain of the first season and then as a recurring antagonist. Over the course of seasons two, three and four, the writers depicted Sylar attempting at various times and under different circumstances to become a hero or curb his desire to kill, undergoing relapses at various stages. In the series' penultimate episode he experienced over three years of penitence in a mental prison, and later identifies himself as a hero in what became the show's series finale due to cancellation.
TV Guide included him in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".
Concept and creation
Sylar was originally created as a cannibal who ate his victims' brains and "digested their power"; however, in order to avoid the potential silliness and zombie associations, the producers deliberately made this fact vague in the series. In an interview with series creator Tim Kring, it is asked if Sylar eats brains, and he merely states "That's the popular speculation. There's a connection between the powers and the brain, and Sylar has found it." The question is addressed in the season three premiere, when he is depicted in the act of acquiring Claire Bennet's regenerative powers through examination of her brain with his hands. When Claire asks him the same question, he sounds surprised and replies "Eat your brain? Claire, that's disgusting." The writers never bridged the gap between the early insinuations regarding what Sylar does with the brains and the final incarnation they reveal in his encounter with Claire.
Prior to Quinto's first appearance in the episode "Seven Minutes to Midnight", the role of Sylar was played by stunt doubles in "One Giant Leap", with the character's face being obscured by shadows. Quinto himself played the role with his face hidden in the same way until "Six Months Ago". In the second episode of the first season, "Don't Look Back", his voice is heard in a recorded phone conversation on Chandra Suresh's answering machine, spoken by voice actor Maurice LaMarche. Part of this conversation is heard again in "Six Months Ago", this time spoken by Quinto.
Personality
Sylar was raised as the son of a watchmaker, but was indoctrinated by his mother's repeated assertions to believe that he was special and deserved more in life. This and the "evolutionary imperative" to acquire new abilities are what drive him to kill the victims with powers. Taking the name "Sylar" from a watch brand, he has shed all connections to his former life as Gabriel Gray to the point where he angrily lashes out at anyone who calls him Gabriel.
In addition to the above, Sylar shows a marked lack of empathy. As seen in the episode .07%, when shortly before killing Isaac Mendez, he casually comments on Mendez's lack of fear, with the sort of mild surprise that someone might express if he noticed that a train was running late.
Although he at times tries to impersonate other people in order to obtain a longer-term goal, Sylar is also unable to completely control his "hunger," or obsessive tendencies, to the extent that he still intimidates people when he is trying to gain their trust or co-operation. This was seen with Mohinder Suresh, when Sylar tried to impersonate Zane Taylor, and also with Claire Bennet's mother when Sylar was looking for Claire, as well.
Sylar's dominant trait was his innate desire to be recognized as special and admired. This was fueled by his mother's vocal disappointment in him for perceived failure and his own feelings that he did not get a chance to choose his destiny, being forced into the role of a watchmaker. He spent his life hoping to learn something extraordinary about himself.
Sylar is repeatedly shown as desperately looking for a family and parental figures due to his own unhappy home life, desperately wanting to be loved. The flip side of this is that he can react with extreme violence when his emotional needs are exploited by others.
Sylar is also known for his voracious appetite and he can constantly be seen snacking or looking for food. He has even taken time during his murders to eat, such as when he reacted with joy at a birthday cake of the woman he just killed.
Quinto has said of his character,
The sad part is, he's initially well-intentioned. He wants to improve his life. He wants to make a difference. He wants to matter. Through the process of realizing how to do that, he gets blinded and loses himself in the pursuit of it and goes a little crazy—'a little' being an understatement.
Quinto also observed,
He's definitely somebody that has been overcome by a hunger and overcome by a pursuit for power and for importance that did start a little more innocuously than it evolved into.
When asked if he thought Sylar was irredeemable or not, Quinto responded,
I think there's a certain point at which you cross a line and it's sort of irrevocable.... I don't know what the writers have in mind, but it would probably be kind of a challenge at this point, you know?
Quinto has also responded to the question of whether Sylar could ever be good, commenting that
I don't really look at him as, you know, absolutely good or bad. I think that he is constantly walking a line of ambiguity within himself and uncertainty within himself that defines the way he acts.
Sylar, however, is also shown as very caring and thoughtful, like when he takes care of Angela Petrelli, when Arthur and Angela Petrelli claimed that they are Sylar's parents, which Peter wants to go to Pinehearst, Sylar didn't allow him to go alone because it is dangerous, and right after he murdered Brian Davis, he tries to commit suicide, feeling his guilt for murdering a person.
Character history
Genesis
The episode "Six Months Ago" reveals that Sylar's real name is Gabriel Gray, a highly talented watchmaker who follows his adoptive father's footsteps. He encounters Chandra Suresh, who tells Gabriel that he may be an evolved human with superhuman powers. Gabriel eagerly submits to testing. After being rejected by Suresh because the test results are indeterminate, Gabriel contacts another person on Suresh's list, Brian Davis. Gabriel discovers that he himself has the power of intuitive aptitude, and murders Davis for his telekinetic powers. After returning to Suresh, he becomes "Patient Zero", and continues to work with Suresh until Suresh realizes that Sylar is murdering the people that they meet and ultimately, Suresh is killed by Gabriel in his own cab precisely at 11:53 p.m.
Sylar is first referenced in the first episode when Mohinder Suresh (Chandra Suresh's son) finds a cassette tape labeled "SYLAR" on both sides in his dead father's New York apartment. His character is next mentioned in the series as a mysterious serial killer sought out by the FBI, whose existence is completely speculative. Appearing as a shadowy figure, he attempts to obtain Molly Walker's power after failing the first time.
In "Once Upon a Time in Texas", Sylar bumps into a future Hiro in front of the Burnt Toast Diner, and sidesteps him before entering. Here, he converses with Charlie, and discovers her power of enhanced memory. Sylar prepares to kill Charlie, but Hiro stops time and locks Sylar in a bus storage container. Later, when seeking Sylar to fix Charlie's aneurysm, Sylar angrily attacks Hiro, demanding to know what Hiro did to him. He attempts to kill Hiro, but Hiro prevents this with his time control. Finally, Hiro makes a deal: to tell Sylar about his future if he saves Charlie. Sylar proceeds to do so, and is miffed that he is told that - although he will become the most powerful person - he will die alone and unloved.
Sylar proceeds to attempt to obtain Claire Bennet's regenerative abilities, but is stopped by Peter Petrelli. He is greatly injured and is captured by Eden McCain and the Haitian to be experimented on. After various experiments, Sylar manages to escape, but he is again repelled from an attempt to obtain Claire's power.
Remembering Suresh's list, Sylar makes his way to Zane Taylor, and by posing as the person Zane was expecting, Mohinder Suresh, he kills him and obtains his power. After Mohinder arrives, Sylar poses as Zane, and convinces Mohinder to take him to help convince other people with special abilities that Mohinder's research is real. After Sylar acquires enhanced hearing from a woman named Dale, Mohinder discovers Sylar's identity and manages to incapacitate him with drugs. After experimenting on Sylar to create a new list of people with special powers and attempting to kill him, Mohinder is captured. After Peter shows up and is temporarily killed by Sylar, Mohinder knocks him out, but ends up leaving Isaac Mendez's address on the ground.
After meeting Isaac, and being told that his fate is to die at the hands of the other heroes, he takes Isaac's power to paint the future. He soon finishes a painting depicting himself about to kill and acquire the power of the radioactive Ted Sprague, and believes himself to be the "exploding man". Believing that only those who "don't deserve" their powers are the ones that need to die, he doesn't want to kill innocent people. After attempting to confide in Mohinder, he returns home to his alleged mother, Virginia Gray, in the hope that she will tell him that it is fine not to be special and live as a normal watchmaker. She tells him that he can be anything, including the president, causing him to demonstrate his powers and accidentally injure her. This causes her to panic, which eventually leads to her death, and Sylar deciding that his path is correct.
After acquiring the radioactive powers of Ted, Sylar paints a picture of himself facing off against Peter Petrelli at Kirby Plaza. Realizing Peter is part of his final destiny, Sylar prepares to hunt him down. Before he can leave, Ando Masahashi arrives to kill him, though Ando is easily thwarted. After Sylar discovers the comic depicting his death at the hands of Hiro Nakamura, Hiro appears and rescues Ando. Sylar sets off for Kirby Plaza to wait for Peter. After a struggle involving Sylar, Peter, Matt Parkman, and Niki Sanders, Peter begins the process of exploding, showing Sylar that he is not the exploding man. Soon after, Hiro arrives and impales Sylar through the stomach as the comic predicts, terribly wounding him. His last act is to telekinetically throw Hiro towards a building, forcing him to teleport and rendering him incapable of stopping Peter, as he collapses with a triumphant grin on his face while events that transpired throughout the season that end with his injury by Hiro play in his eyes. However, near the end of the episode, a trail of blood leading from where Sylar collapsed and ending at an open manhole is seen, indicating that Sylar is still alive.
Generations
Sylar is rescued by Candice Wilmer, who uses her powers of illusion to make Sylar disappear. After undergoing eight surgeries, he eventually awakes and realizes that he cannot use his powers. Though Candice promises that they will come back eventually, he kills her and attempts to acquire her power in order to start over. After realizing that it also doesn't work, he attempts to leave, though he realizes that he is in the middle of a dense jungle in Mexico. After wandering for three days, he is rescued from the brink of death by the passing-by Maya and Alejandro Herrera. He introduces himself using his real name, and eventually finds out that they are in search of Chandra Suresh to help control Maya's power. He tells them that he knows Suresh, and that he will take them to him.
He continues to travel with them, and while Alejandro becomes more distrustful of Sylar, Maya becomes more trusting of him. After teaching Maya to control her powers, he convinces her that her brother hates her and that in her heart she wanted to see his wife dead. Convincing her to send Alejandro away, Sylar is eventually confronted by Alejandro. He kills him, but states that he would have let Alejandro go had he not come back. Soon after, Maya confesses her love for Gabriel, and they reach Mohinder's apartment. Sylar attempts to obtain a cure for his condition, later revealed to be the same strain of the Shanti Virus which Niki was infected with. Upon finding that Sylar cannot use any of his obtained abilities, Mohinder attempts to kill Sylar, who then threatens him with a gun. This causes Maya to finally see Sylar's true intentions, so Sylar takes Maya, Mohinder and Molly hostage. Sylar agrees to go to Isaac's loft after Mohinder tells him tests need to be run. At the loft, Molly reveals to Maya that Alejandro is dead, who then goes to confront Sylar. He rolls his eyes as Maya screams at him, casually turns around and shoots her in the chest, and then tells Mohinder to cure Maya first. Elle enters the building and starts shooting at Sylar, but by then he has seen that the cure works, and he steals it and escapes.
Villains
In "Villains", Hiro sees Sylar's life shortly after the murder of Brian Davis. Intensely remorseful over the act, Gabriel attempts to hang himself. Elle Bishop walks in and saves him by using her electric abilities to cut the rope, convincing him that he's a good person. However, she is actually working with Noah Bennet to get Sylar to reveal the method behind transferring powers from one person to another. Elle befriends Gabriel and the two begin to share feelings for each other. Against her wishes, Elle helps Noah manipulate him to kill again by introducing Gabriel to Trevor Zeitlan, a young man who can kinetically shatter objects by "shooting" at them with his thumb and forefinger. She purposefully enrages Gabriel by having Trevor repeatedly demonstrate his ability by shattering glasses while calling him "special." Gabriel turns on Elle, who tries to stop him from killing Trevor. When Gabriel realizes Elle also has an ability, he is furious and pushes her against the wall with his mind, commanding her to leave before turning on Trevor and taking his power. Bennet and Elle watch from the car as Gabriel attacks Trevor.
In the third season, Sylar injects himself with the cure, healing his wounds and regaining use of his intuitive aptitude and telekinesis (though none of his other acquired powers). Sylar makes his way to California and finally takes Claire's power, though he does not kill her, claiming that she is special and that he couldn't do so even if he wanted to because he felt something special about her. He also takes several of the Company files on superhumans she had collected.
Sylar breaks into Company headquarters, killing Bob Bishop and acquiring his power. He is captured after attempting to take Elle's power, which results in her involuntarily releasing an electric burst which knocks him unconscious. The discharge also disables the Level 5 security system, allowing a dozen dangerous inmates to escape the complex. Before Sylar can regain consciousness, he is locked up. During his imprisonment, Angela Petrelli claims that she is his mother and attempts to rehabilitate him. She allows him to kill Bridget Bailey, a woman who can see the history of an object by touching it, in order to feed his hunger for power. When Noah Bennet returns to the Company to hunt down the escaped villains, Angela assigns Sylar as his partner, sending the two out to confront the villains and save the trapped Peter Petrelli.
Wanting to prove he is not just a killer, to both himself and Bennet, Sylar saves Bennet from Jesse and Knox, two of the escaped villains. However, his "hunger" reasserts itself and he kills Jesse, allowing Knox to escape in the confusion. Sylar is placed in his cell once more, where he is visited by Peter, who angrily snaps his neck after Sylar reveals that they are brothers. Peter, having absorbed Sylar's power and thereby his hunger, nearly kills Angela before Sylar knocks him unconscious. As Angela deals with her youngest son, Bennet arrives to take Sylar along to capture another Level 5 inmate. Sylar is surprised that Bennet would want to take him, but Bennet rebuffs him and tells him not to "make it harder than it already is." During the road trip, Noah chastises him about the murder of Jesse at the bank and his terrorizing Claire, and Sylar states that "rehabilitation doesn't happen overnight. I am trying."
They track the escapee, Stephen Canfield, to an empty house, unaware that Claire is already there dealing with Canfield herself. The man creates a powerful vortex in the room which nearly sucks in Claire, but Sylar saves her at the last minute. The power gained from Bridget enables him to experience the horror she went through, so he attempts to sincerely apologize to her, but she regards him with anger and disgust, and Bennet emphatically tells him to never to speak to his daughter again. The three find Stephen at an amusement park, where Bennet tries to force him into killing Sylar in exchange for freedom; though Sylar is clearly aware of what Noah is trying to do, he doesn't do anything to stop him. Rather than become a killer, Stephen kills himself with his power instead. Sylar later calmly remarks to Claire that her father doesn't see people with abilities as human, and never will.
Sylar is returned to his cell once more, where he is approached by Daphne Millbrook with an offer to join Pinehearst Industries, who will accept him for what he is. Sylar refuses, wanting to change. After they leave, Sylar revives Peter so he can help Angela Petrelli. Peter is initially skeptical, but Sylar's willingness to change combined with experience with the future Sylar convinces him; Peter's description of the future Gabriel Gray also gives Sylar hope that he can be redeemed. When Peter discovers the Pinehearst logo in her mind and attempts to go there, Sylar tries to stop him from doing so, but Peter easily defeats him due to his wider variety of powers and places him in an artificially-induced coma just as he had been. Angela is able to use her powers to wake him so he can rescue Peter, who has been stripped of his powers by Arthur Petrelli. Sylar does as asked, but is convinced by Arthur to turn on Angela. Arthur has Sylar throw a powerless Peter out a seventh-story window, but Peter miraculously survives. In "It's Coming", Arthur reveals that he knows Sylar slowed Peter's fall. Arthur is not angry; instead, he uses this event as evidence that Sylar can use his emotions like Peter could, to obtain someone's power without killing them.
To test this theory, Arthur places Sylar in a dark room with Elle, who is restrained to the floor and still suffers from her uncontrolled ability. She is furious at Sylar for her father's murder and repeatedly electrocutes him to no avail. Sylar confronts Elle with his sorrow for what he's done as well as her sorrow for what she's done. She rages at him and continues to attack, finally collapsing and begging him to kill her so that her pain will go away. He forgives her for turning him into a monster and convinces her to forgive herself for her crimes, wanting to take away her pain without killing her. At that moment, Elle's pain disappears and she regains control of her ability. Likewise, Sylar is able to absorb her power. Sylar is overwhelmed by this development, as he no longer has to kill to satisfy his hunger. The two appear to rekindle their old feelings for each other as Elle teaches Sylar how to use her ability. In "The Eclipse", Sylar is relieved when he loses his abilities, and wishes to start a new life with Elle. However, after Noah Bennet claims that Angela and Arthur Petrelli are not his real parents and are just manipulating him, Sylar feels betrayed and reverts to his murderous tendencies. Having regained his abilities after the eclipse ended, Sylar expresses seeming remorse and then attacks Elle, using his telekinesis to scalp her.
The next morning Sylar proceeds to cremate her body, receiving a call from Arthur about his absence. Sylar curtly tells Arthur he is not returning and reveals he has a new list in the form of Elle's cell phone contact list. To ascertain the truth for himself, he kills Sue Landers, a human lie detector. He then heads to Pinehearst to confront Arthur, stopping Peter and the Haitian from killing Arthur by freezing the bullet fired at Arthur's head. With both the Haitian and Arthur apparently weakened in attempting to overwhelm one another, Sylar asks Arthur if he is truly his father. Arthur says yes; Sylar detects the lie with Sue Landers' power and proceeds to drive the bullet into Arthur's head, killing him. He then leaves Peter and the Haitian, claiming they do not have anything he desires.
Sylar travels to Primatech, and sets up a mind game for Angela, Claire, Meredith, and Noah Bennet. After locking everyone inside and killing the Primatech staff, he tells them over the PA system that he will turn them all into monsters as they try to hunt him. Noah releases several Level 5 inmates as bait, including Echo Demille, Eric Doyle, and Daniel Pine, but Sylar easily disposes of them. He then injects Meredith with adrenaline, causing her to lose control of her fire ability. She and Noah are then locked in a cell with a single bullet, so Noah will either burn to death or kill Meredith to survive. Claire wants to help, as Sylar expects, forcing her to choose between her grandmother and her father; Claire chooses her father, leaving Angela at Sylar's mercy. He confronts Angela, and finds out that she was only using him for his monstrous qualities. However, she also reveals that she knows who his real parents are, and that they are not the Grays. As Sylar demands to be told the truth, Claire stabs him in the back of the head with a piece of glass, which will prevent him from reviving as long as it remains in place. In the prison cell, Meredith finally loses full control of her power and releases a massive explosion. Primatech goes up in flames with Sylar still inside.
Fugitives
Following the destruction of Primatech, Sylar is shown to be alive and well (it's later revealed that the fire melted the glass, allowing him to regenerate), and begins to search for his true biological parents. He starts by tracking down his adoptive father, Martin Gray, in Baltimore, making a stop in Pittsburgh to kill an insurance broker who could replicate his signature, and possibly learn the whereabouts of Martin. Sylar learns that Martin had paid to take him off the hands of his supposed father, Samson Gray, in order to escape his marriage with Virginia, Sylar's adoptive mother. After interrogating Martin, Sylar raises his hand, and is about to kill Martin, but holds back and walks away. After taking the address from Martin, Sylar finds Samson's home, only for it to be empty and Nathan Petrelli's agents waiting to ambush him. Although shot at, stunned and restrained, Sylar easily recovers and kills the agents, save one Agent Simmons, whom he tortures for information on Samson's disappearance.
In order to extract more information from Simmons, Sylar invades the house of Luke and Mary Campbell. Waiting for the two to return, Sylar telekinetically pins them, and states he intends to torture them to get Simmons to talk. He then proceeds to torture Mary. In a rage, Luke manages to free himself and boils Sylar's coffee with his own ability: microwave emission. Intrigued, Sylar begins to talk to Luke, telling him exactly why Luke has been in so much trouble, and that he understands Luke's frustration. During this, Simmons frees himself from his bindings and tries to grab his gun to shoot Sylar, but Luke notices this and kills Simmons. Sylar proceeds to leave the house, taking Luke with him only after Luke states he knows where Samson is.
As Sylar and Luke proceed to find Samson, Luke wishes to stop at some local diner to eat, as well as lying to Sylar about Samson's location when prodded. This irritates Sylar to the point where he threatens to simply take Luke's emission ability. Luke simply states that Sylar would never find his father then. Choosing to stop at a diner, Luke reveals that he and Samson went birding, awakening a memory from Sylar's childhood. As they eat, Sylar teaches Luke some lessons about using his power and having objectives, as well as revealing the change in his 'hunger' (emphasizing finding Samson over acquiring powers). This results in Luke giving Sylar Samson's location, even under the threat of being killed for his power. They are soon interrupted by Nathan's agents. Luke distracts the agents enough for Sylar to telekinetically toss a few around and punch a hole through a window. However, as he gets into the car, Sylar locks Luke out and drives off, leaving Luke to the agents. However, a short time later, Sylar disguises as an agent and gets into their van, killing the agents and saving Luke, as well as taking a laptop. When confronted about this by Luke, Sylar states that Luke was simply conveniently nearby and that his goal was to get the laptop to understand how Nathan's agents worked, though Luke seems skeptical about that reasoning.
Continuing to elude Nathan's agents, Sylar and Luke finally lose them. Irritated with Luke's wish to fry some agents and subtle attempts to stop the search for Samson, Sylar pins Luke to the side of the truck, essentially telling Luke to shut up. Sylar then seems to remember the area in which the two are in, and they reach an abandoned diner. Sylar makes an entrance by pulling off some of the board (throwing them in Luke's direction) and they enter. Here, Sylar recounts being brought to the diner as a child, and dropping a toy car in a wooden post. To prove this memory true, he rips open the post telekinetically and finds the car. He then remembers exactly what happened at that place: His father took money from Virginia and Martin, then left to his car. Sylar followed, only to see his biological parents arguing, and Samson telekinetically splitting his mother's skull open, killing her. In a rage exacerbated by Luke's revelation that Sylar's father was indeed a bad individual, Sylar pins him to the diner wall, but drops him and tells Luke to go home. Sylar leaves, intent on not only finding, but killing his father.
Arriving at a run-down trailer in the woods, Sylar finds his father old and dying of cancer. Samson is not frightened by Sylar's threat to kill and instead prepares a rabbit for taxidermy. Demonstrating several abilities, he and Sylar realize that they have the same ability - the ability to steal powers. Samson reveals that it did not matter how many people he killed or how many powers he stole; in the end, he did not lead a fulfilling life and is now miserable. He claims to not even remember selling Sylar and killing his mother, as these things did not matter to him. He goes on to say how he would have lived life differently, if given a second chance - how he would risk everything to attain true power and ultimately change the world. He touches on Sylar's original guilt for murdering to steal abilities by mocking Sylar, telling him how both their victims were weak and helpless and that they had no chance against seasoned killers. However, when Sylar cuts himself and heals while stuffing the rabbit, Samson transforms, reviving his hunger for abilities, desperate to gain immortality and escape from death. Temporarily incapacitating Sylar, he is stunned when Sylar first resists and then retaliates, strangling Samson with his own oxygen tube. Samson does not understand, since both he and Sylar know that Sylar would not die from Samson's "examination". Sylar states that he is finishing what he came to do, taking the stuffed rabbit. Samson begs Sylar to kill him quickly, but Sylar refuses, relishing the fact that his father, who is ultimately just like him, will "die alone with his disease". Later, when Danko returns home to his apartment after discovering Nathan's ability, he finds the stuffed rabbit on his desk, unaware that Sylar is lurking in the shadows nearby. Instead of a confrontation, however, Sylar chooses to leave, but not before stringing up an unconscious Eric Doyle in Danko's apartment as a 'gift'.
This 'gift' is explained further when Sylar surprises Danko in his car: He wishes to work with Danko in rounding up all superpowered humans, and quickly leaves before Danko can pull out his gun. To further win Danko's trust, Sylar decides to help Danko track a shapeshifter, James Martin, who managed to kill 4 of Danko's agents (3 via gunshot, and one murdered for his form). At Martin's apartment, Danko surprises Sylar, and the two exchange taunts and information, resulting in Sylar and Danko teaming up for the time being. Through their cooperation, the two find out that Martin takes forms of power and authority, in order to woo women at a local nightclub. At the club, Sylar and Danko are spotted by Martin (in the form of Danko), and they lose track of him. A short time later, Danko and Sylar decide to leave the club; however, the 'Sylar' is actually Martin in disguise with the intention of killing Danko. However, Danko shoots Martin, but doesn't kill him. Instead, he allows the real Sylar to take Martin's ability (without removing the skullcap) in order to not only make hunting superpowered humans easier for them, but to fake Sylar's death and keep people such as Noah Bennett from trying to track Sylar down.
Sylar, disguised as Danko, later meets Noah at Building 26 as Noah, unknowingly, examines Martin's body. Noah, knowing how hard it is to kill Sylar, doubts Danko could do it single-handedly. When Sandra arrives to question Noah about Claire, Sylar shakes her hand in introduction, gaining access to her form. Wanting to destroy Noah, he later visits Noah at Noah's apartment, in disguise as Sandra. He delivers divorce papers, stating that he (Sandra) cannot trust Noah anymore and that their marriage is over. Noah is distraught but, upon examining the signature on the forms, discovers that it is not Sandra's. Rushing to the crematorium, Noah stops the cremation of Martin's body. He removes the metal shard in the back of the corpse's head, telling the surrounding soldiers that when Sylar was stabbed with a glass shard before, it melted in the Primatech fire allowing him to regenerate. When the corpse does not regenerate, Noah returns to Danko and confronts him with the knowledge that Sylar is still alive. Danko confesses and tells Noah that Sylar is in disguise and out on a mission with other soldiers. Noah forces Danko to take him to Sylar and, when they arrive, shoots the soldier Danko identifies as Sylar in the back of the head. When the corpse continues to bleed out and does not heal, Danko orders his men to capture Noah, who Danko claims has gone insane. However, when the soldiers leave in pursuit, the corpse gets up and shifts back into Sylar. When Danko asks him how he survived while bleeding so much, Sylar says it was all to make his death look realistic.
As Sylar continues to shapeshift, he finds it is harder and harder to regain his form without side effects, including left over body parts like teeth. He also retains personality traits and memories of those he changes into, causing him to go through a literal "identity crisis". When Danko tells him that he needs to leave his "Sylar" identity behind to retain his free pass, Sylar kills the next target on Danko's list, Tom Miller, and takes his power. Further examining the shapeshifting ability, Sylar realizes he is actually absorbing different DNA sequences into his body, causing him to permanently change a little each time he shifts. When Sylar starts to shapeshift in his sleep, Danko tells him he has to find an anchor that will remind him of who he is. To that effect, Sylar, as one of Danko's agents, retrieves the evidence from the homicide of his mother, Virginia Gray. While examining her collection of snow globes, Sylar unknowingly shapeshifts into his mother and begins to have a conversation with himself, showing acute symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. He at first does not realize what is happening and talks to his mother about his encounter with Samson, why his mother lied to Sylar about his lineage, and how he is starting to lose himself. He, as his mother, tries to convince himself that he did not mean to kill her and that he is still special. Danko interrupts when his agents track down Rebel. Sylar gets to Rebel (Micah Sanders) before Danko's agents do and prepares to kill him and take his power. Micah, however, reveals that he understands what Sylar is going through because his mother, Niki Sanders, endured the same thing when her power manifested. Convinced that Sylar is special and the only one capable of saving those with powers, Micah convinces Sylar to join his cause. Sylar, disguised as Micah, tricks Danko and his agents into chasing the wrong person, allowing Micah to escape. Sylar, again talking with "his mother", reveals that her murder was no accident but "Virginia" forgives Sylar anyway, convinced that he can still be whomever he wants to be, including the President. Realizing his opportunity, Sylar breaks into Nathan Petrelli's office and finds a brush containing some of Nathan's DNA. He later appears, as Nathan, at a press conference concerning new plans for change he has for the country and how he soon plans to meet with the President and "shake his hand". Realizing what Sylar is trying to do, Nathan returns to DC from Coyote Sands and confronts Sylar, who reveals he has examined Nathan's life in depth using clairsentience. Expressing pity and determined to become better than Nathan, Sylar prepares to take Nathan's ability when Danko appears and stuns Nathan. Attempting to salvage his operation, Danko orders Sylar to shift back into one of his agents so they can continue hunting specials. When Sylar refuses, Danko stabs him in the back of the head with a knife. However, Sylar recovers, having used his shapeshifting ability to relocate his weak spot.
After framing Danko for the murder of an agent, he takes on Nathan's form and goes to meet the President with Claire in tow. When she discovers the truth, he controls her using the power which he had empathically absorbed from Eric Doyle and talks about how similar they are, both being adopted and both having the ability to live forever, proposing that, given enough time, Claire might come to forgive him and even love him. However, Peter and Nathan then confront him, and in the battle Sylar and Nathan fly out of a window and into another room. Sylar subsequently kills Nathan (after empathically absorbing his power during the fight) and takes on the form of the President's Chief of Staff. However, the President injects him with an elephant tranquilizer, and reveals himself to be Peter, having absorbed Sylar's ability during the fight. In an effort to shut down the program, Angela convinces Matt Parkman to use his telepathy to convince Sylar that he is Nathan, Matt using Angela's memories of Nathan's life to essentially 'plant' Nathan in Sylar's head, his shape-shifting power allowing him to assume Nathan's form while his clairsentience will allow him to subconsciously use objects around him to 'fill in the blanks'. Sylar, as Nathan, talks to the President and convinces him to shut down Building 26 and divert the funds to the new Company that will now be built. Later, Sylar, as Nathan, watches "Sylar's" (in reality James Martin's) body burn at Coyote Sands alongside Noah, Claire, Matt, Angela, Peter, Mohinder, Hiro and Ando.
Redemption
Memory loss
Six weeks later, this Nathan starts to rediscover the other powers he had gained in his old life. Later, following Nathan's confession of being involved in the accidental death of his girlfriend Kelly Houston, her mother, Millie Houston, has him shot and buried in a shallow grave. When healed, Sylar emerges from the ground in his own body, suffering from amnesia. Picked up by the police, he is recognized and accidentally uses his powers to escape. He then encounters the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival" and Samuel, who take him in as one of their own. The carnival is hidden from Sylar's pursuers, and Samuel assures him he is safe in his new "home".
Once Sylar has rested, Samuel proceeds to show him around the circus, showing that everyone at the carnival has an ability. Sylar also meets Lydia, who he immediately hits it off with. Edgar, however, jealously attempts to outshow Sylar with his power, but is easily beaten. Samuel also notices that Sylar's memories are not his (in fact, Nathan Petrelli's). In an effort to awaken Sylar's true personality, Sylar is taken by Damien to the hall of mirrors, where he is forced to look at his past murders, starting with his mother. Repulsed, Sylar is unable to believe himself a monster. Samuel uses this to try and convince Sylar that he is a protector of the circus, and must remove threats such as the officer who attempted to capture him the night before. Sylar is told the officer is at the house of mirrors, and goes there to tell the man to leave. However, the officer shoots at Sylar, forcing an uncontrolled electric blast. Here, Sylar's killer instinct begins to take hold, but Sylar stops himself just in time for Edgar to cut the man into pieces. Later, Samuel formally makes Sylar a part of the circus family, baptizing him and letting him mingle with the others. Sylar and Lydia leave arm in arm for the night, much to Edgar's dismay.
In "Shadowboxing", the persona of Nathan returns, causing him to shapeshift back into Nathan's form while sleeping. Panicking upon finding himself at the carnival, he flies away, and is later shown arriving at Peter's door, asking for help. Arriving for work at his office, Peter and Nathan discover that no one has been looking for Nathan, as he had been on 'vacation' according to Angela Petrelli. The brothers are further surprised when the Haitian appears, and tells Peter to go see a storage facility for the truth of the situation. Here, Nathan and Peter discover the real Nathan's preserved body, which 'Nathan' touches and sees Sylar and Matt Parkman. They head to Texas to see Matt, who is at the hospital, in a coma.
Haunting Matt Parkman
Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body.
Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop.
The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more.
Whole again
Staying over at Peter Petrelli's apartment, the brothers are surprised by Angela, who springs a Thanksgiving dinner on them. Nathan wakes up in time to hear Peter and Angela discussing the discovery of Nathan's body. Although they press her for information, Angela threatens to simply leave if they do not sit down and eat. During the dinner, Angela finally confesses that she had Matt Parkman place Nathan's mind into Sylar's body. During dessert, however, Nathan begins to act oddly, and transforms back into Sylar, happy to be controlling his body once more. He telekinetically traps Peter and Angela, relishing his ability to control himself. After taunting Peter, he begins to scalp Angela, only to have the 'Nathan' persona fight back. Losing control, Sylar transforms back into Nathan, who flees the building to protect his family. Peter devises a plan to eliminate the 'Sylar' persona leaving just Nathan using the ability of The Haitian to erase Sylar's memories. On a rooftop however, "Nathan" confesses to Peter he is not himself and cannot keep fighting off the 'Sylar' persona. Nathan jumps off the building and lands onto a parked car. Peter then sees Sylar heal, get up and wave as he walks away.
Sylar returns to the carnival to face Samuel, but Sylar finds that while he wants to kill, he is unable to make himself do so. His identity in crisis, he makes a deal with Samuel. After absorbing Lydia's power, he tells Samuel to give him a tattoo, and that he would do whatever it said. When he sees the tattoo, he decides that he does not belong at the carnival. The next scene shows him floating outside of Claire Bennet's dorm room window, and his tattoo is a picture of her.
In the episode "Pass/Fail", Sylar kidnaps Claire Bennet's friend, Gretchen Berg so Claire will talk to him in exchange for her friend. Sylar feels like they are very similar: they've never felt in place, they both lost their parents, and they are both immortal. Claire doesn't want to talk to him, and makes him tell her where Gretchen is. Claire finds Gretchen tied up, and they hide in a closet and have a talk. Claire tells Gretchen that Sylar thinks they are alike, and she fears that they might be. She is confused at Sylar's attitude, but resents him for who he is. Gretchen comes to the conclusion that Sylar's powers have isolated him from ever having any relationships. Giving them up might be the only way he could have any connections. Gretchen then shape-shifts back into Sylar. He then goes to Matt Parkman and asks him to take away all his powers away. Matt attempts but fails. Sylar threatens Matt's family and forces him to keep trying. Instead, Matt traps Sylar and his powers deep within the confines of his mind, "somewhere you'll never find them," and he is left alone to live out his worst nightmare: Being all alone. Matt then attempts to seal up Sylar within the walls of his basement. However, Peter Petrelli arrives after having a vision that Sylar will save Emma. Using Matt's power, Peter attempts to bring Sylar out of his nightmare, but ends up trapped in Sylar's mind along with him (The Art of Deception).
In "The Wall", Sylar is repairing endless watches in the empty city when he hears banging. Searching for the source of it, he finds Peter using a pole to get his attention by banging it on the concrete. Sylar is shocked to discover that Peter is real and says there's no way out - he's been searching for three years. Peter reveals that it's actually been three hours and that Sylar is trapped in a nightmare, which he is skeptical to accept, and runs back to his shop. Peter tries to convince him of the truth and tells him he must save Emma. He tries to pull them out of the nightmare but is unsuccessful. Peter avoids Sylar for a month while trapped, and Sylar tries being friendly by giving him a 9th Wonders! comic book. Peter, determined to find a way out, does not understand why Sylar is so resistant to find a way out, and realizes that Sylar really doesn't want to be free. They come across a massive brick wall, the same one Sylar's body is actually trapped behind (in Matt's basement). Peter realizes that the two need to break the wall in order to escape. At first Peter tries to break it alone, but fails. Sylar compares his determination to a memory of Nathan's he possesses which angers Peter. Sylar apologizes for Nathan's murder, but Peter refuses to forgive him and Sylar finally joins Peter in attempting to break down the wall. After years of attempting and failing to damage the wall in the slightest, Sylar is surprised when Peter gives him a copy of The Pillars of the Earth as a gift as a to thank him for keeping him sane all the years of their imprisonment. Sylar admits he always worries Peter will attack him with the sledge-hammer which Peter admits he has contemplated. Sylar realizes that Peter won't let go of his anger out of fear of losing the last remnant of Nathan, and points out to Peter that he has truly changed. Peter finally accepts this fact and afterwards the two are easily able to break a hole in the wall, which frees them from their mental prison. Once freed, Sylar uses telekinesis to free him from his physical one and he and Peter learn that they've only been trapped for half a day in reality. The experience seems to have changed both Sylar and Peter and the two head off to save Emma, but are stopped by Eli and his clones who want to prevent their plans.
In "Brave New World," he and Peter easily defeat Eli and save Matt's life as knocking out the Prime Eli gets rid of his clones who were about to kill Matt. Sylar tries to convince a furious Matt that he's changed, but fails and begins to leave with Peter (who read Eli's mind and learned Samuel's plans). Matt tries to telepathically prevent Sylar from leaving, so Sylar asks Matt to read his mind to show him he has changed. Matt is unable to, although he does let them leave. Peter and Sylar fly to New York where Samuel plans to kill thousands of people. Peter is reluctant, but Sylar convinces Peter to trust him and reminds him that the dream says that Sylar saves Emma. Sylar heads off to the tent to save Emma while Peter goes to defeat Samuel. He finds Emma playing the cello with bloody fingers, and tries to save her by taking the cello, but is taken control of by Eric Doyle, the Puppet Master. Doyle, desperate to be better than Sylar, begins to taunt him. However, controlling and mocking Sylar distracts him from his primary focus on controlling Emma. Once Emma realizes he has loosened his control over her, Emma blasts Doyle with a soundwave through the cello, breaking Doyle's control over Sylar, and giving Sylar the chance to telekinetically grab onto Doyle. Doyle begs him to stop, and asks, "What do you care about this girl, anyway?" Sylar tells him that he's going to save her. Confused, Doyle cries out, "That's not you! You're like me!" Sylar looks at him and calmly says, "No. I'm a hero." After Peter reunites with Emma, she tells him that his friend is taking care of Doyle. Fearing the worst, Peter heads into the tent to find Sylar admiring his new "masterpiece": a dazed Doyle trussed up like a puppet, clad in giant light-bulbs. Sylar plugs the lights in, deviously grins, and says, "I like it!"
Brave New World
Sylar walks with Peter and discusses his rescue of Emma. Sylar explains that he could have easily killed Doyle but didn't and that not killing him and saving Emma felt good to him, showing that Sylar is truly changing and is enjoying being a hero rather than a villain. Peter and Sylar witness Claire climbing the Ferris Wheel to reveal her powers to the world and Sylar comments that it's now a "brave new world."
Alternate timelines
In the first alternate future depicted, set five years ahead in the episode "Five Years Gone", Sylar has gained countless new abilities, including those of Candice Wilmer and D. L. Hawkins. Nathan Petrelli, now the President, concocted a story for the explanation of New York's destruction, which blamed Sylar for the explosion, and he is assumed to be deceased. Sylar is able to use Candice's ability to murder Nathan and assume his identity. As President, he begins a campaign to hunt and exterminate all people with abilities, originally claiming that it will unite the world in grief. However, he really just doesn't want the competition. When Claire Bennet is captured, he has her brought to him, pretending to be her father. However, he simply desires one final ability, hers, which he takes. Later, while giving a speech in the ruins of New York, he is informed by Matt Parkman that Peter, the future Hiro, and Ando are staging an attack to free the present-day Hiro. Upon hearing this, Sylar, still disguised as Nathan, flies away from the crowd. He confronts Peter, revealing himself, and they prepare for battle, the outcome of which is left ambiguous.
In a timeline set four years in the future, as seen in the season three episode "I Am Become Death", Sylar has reassumed his identity of Gabriel Gray and is working to suppress his homicidal hunger for the sake of his son, Noah, who lives with him and Mr. Muggles in Claire's former home in Costa Verde. He is visited by the Peter Petrelli of the present, who is intent on learning how to activate the intuitive ability he has absorbed from him so that he can understand the complexities of changing the timeline. Gabriel is initially reluctant, resisting telepathic compulsion to teach Peter, but ultimately relents and tutors him after painting a precognitive picture of the Earth exploding, despite warning Peter that with the intuitive ability comes the same homicidal hunger he has been trying to resist. Shortly afterwards, a team led by Claire Bennet storms the house intent on killing Peter, and in the ensuing fight, Noah is killed. Enraged and grief-stricken, Gabriel loses control of his radiation ability and releases a nuclear detonation, destroying Costa Verde and killing over 200,000 people. It remains unknown whether or not he survived the explosion.
In the original timeline, Sylar kills Charlie Andrews and takes her power of eidetic memory (Seven Minutes to Midnight). In season four, Hiro goes back in time and prevents this, actually enlisting Sylar's help to save her from a blood clot (Once Upon a Time in Texas).
Powers and abilities
Sylar's base power, as described by Chandra Suresh, is "intuitive aptitude", the ability to innately understand and manipulate patterns within complex systems, which initially manifests as a talent for repairing timepieces. As revealed in "One of Us, One of Them", this power comes with a nearly insatiable hunger for "understanding", which, in Sylar's case, specifically refers to craving the powers of others, driving him to kill other superpowered humans to understand their powers and make them his own. Despite the strength of this hunger, two episodes have shown that it can be resisted or satiated: in the alternate future of "Five Years Gone", Sylar has taken on so many abilities that he simply desires to get rid of all of his potential "competition" (other superhumans, to be exact); in the future of "I Am Become Death", he has resumed his identity as Gabriel Gray and denies his hunger for the sake of his son. In "Once Upon a Time in Texas" it is revealed that Sylar can also identify deformities in people such as Charlie's blood clot and Hiro's brain tumor.
Sylar's intuitive aptitude allows him to deduce the workings of the powers of others; by examining the brain of his victim, he is able to find the brain's connection to the ability, and once he finds said connection, he can immediately replicate the power himself. The exact mechanics behind this are unknown, though it is theorized numerous times by many characters that DNA alteration/infusions is what allows him to obtain abilities. Yet, when the process is shown, Sylar only seems to touch the part of the brain that is the source of the ability and immediately replicates it. Sylar cannot acquire an ability from a person who has been dead awhile, even if their brains are intact though the process he uses to acquire abilities kills his victims before he actually gains the ability. In "Fallout", Noah Bennet theorizes that Sylar's additional powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own which, as a side effect, has driven him insane.
Of all the powers Sylar has acquired, the most prominently used is telekinesis, which is the first power he took. In contrast to the limited abilities Brian Davis displayed, Sylar's skills are far more advanced; he exhibits both fine control (precisely cutting open the skulls of his victims) and sheer force (flipping a police van), can enhance his own strength and durability to superhuman levels, and can control a person's motor skills in a manner similar to Eric Doyle's puppet mastery. Tests done on Sylar by Bennet's associate Hank show no overt signs of powers other than telekinesis; while their tests show that he possesses other powers, they are unable to identify what they are. In "The Hard Part", Sylar demonstrates he can use at least two of his acquired abilities at the same time.
During his first killing spree, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
After being injected with the Shanti virus by the Company, Sylar loses all of his abilities. After he is cured at the end of the second season, he only regains his abilities of intuitive aptitude and telekinesis. Sylar's empathic mimicry, which Arthur says he has had all along, is also present. In the third and fourth seasons, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
In "It's Coming", Sylar learns how to gain abilities without removing a person's brain, obtaining Elle Bishop's power of electric manipulation by empathizing with her and convincing her to let go of her anger. This empathy allowed him to retain the use of Brian Davis' telekinesis after being cured of the virus, due to the guilt he felt over his death. Arthur explains that Sylar possessed this ability all along. Despite possessing this ability, he has returned to killing to obtain new powers, though he later uses this method to obtain James Martin's shapeshifting ability, Nathan Petrelli's ability to fly, and also Lydia's empathy.
As a side effect of the use of the shapeshifting ability when used in combination with his acquired psychometry, his mind has begun to fracture into the different personas of those whom he has shapeshifted into, and residual physical characteristics have started to appear, such as his adopted mother when he came into contact with the dried blood on the scissors he killed her with. As stated in "I Am Sylar", his "Achilles' heel" in the back of his head has been relocated due to his continued shapeshifting, making him harder to stop. Aside from superhuman abilities, Sylar is very intelligent and manipulative and possesses decent hand-to-hand combat skills, as seen when he fights Peter Petrelli.
Reception
Sylar was named one of the best new villains by Entertainment Weekly. Sylar was also named the best villain of 2007 by IGN. UGO also ranked Sylar 6th on their list of top 50 TV characters.
In other media
Zachary Quinto provides the voice of a Robot Chicken-parodied Sylar in the episode "Bionic Cow". In it, he kills a man named "Uncle Glen", who is apparently able to remove his fingers, failing to realize that this is a simple sleight of hand trick to impress young children. He instead inherits Glen's power of "explosive diarrhea," remarking that "every once in a while, this power backfires".
Notes
References
External links
Sylar on the Heroes Wiki
adoptee characters in television
fictional attempted suicides
fictional characters from New York City
fictional presidents of the United States
fictional serial killers
fictional shapeshifters
fictional telekinetics
fictional United States senators
Heroes (American TV series) characters
American male characters in television
television characters introduced in 2006
television supervillains
fi:Luettelo televisiosarjan Heroes hahmoista#Sylar / Gabriel Gray | true | [
"\"Eris Quod Sum\" is the seventh episode of the third season of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes and forty-first episode overall. The episode aired on October 27, 2008. \"Eram quod es, eris quod sum\" is a Latin phrase that is often found on gravestones and translates as \"I was what you are, you will be what I am\".\n\nPlot\nMohinder Suresh leaves Isaac Mendez's loft and takes Maya to Pinehearst Laboratories where he meets Arthur Petrelli. Arthur agrees to fix Maya, and so takes her ability for his own, \"curing\" her. After Maya leaves, clearly mistrustful after what Mohinder has put her through, Suresh is offered a place at Pinehearst's research lab. Arthur tells him that he can help with the side effects of Mohinder's injection (both halves of the formula can be seen in the lab) if Mohinder is willing to work for him.\n\nBack at the loft, Nathan Petrelli and Tracy Strauss call Noah Bennet in order to decide what to do with Mohinder's victims. Bennet arrives with Nathan's ex-flame Meredith Gordon, and amidst the awkwardness, Tracy laughs at the twisted familial ties that the three share with each other and Claire.\n\nSandra and Claire Bennet return home and have a heart-to-heart about their current situation. When they get out of the car, the electricity goes haywire in their home, and before Sandra can check the circuit breakers, Claire finds Lyle on the floor barely conscious. He informs them that \"the bitch is back\" and Claire finds Elle Bishop in Noah's home office, struggling to control her electrical powers. Claire and Elle get into a fight, which ends when Lyle throws water over Elle, shocking her into submission. Elle apologizes and confesses that she came to the Bennet house looking for Noah, so that he could help her control her ability. Claire and Elle decide to travel to Pinehearst together, and learn why their abilities are changing. In the airplane, Elle's powers begin to surge again causing the plane to dive. Claire, however, grabs her and absorbs the current, allowing the plane to revert to normal.\n\nIn a dream, Angela tells Sylar to save Peter from Pinehearst. Angela tells him to show her why he is her favorite son. Sylar awakens from the coma and kisses his sleeping mother on the forehead, agreeing to rescue Peter. Sylar arrives just in time to stop Mohinder from using Peter as his first test subject. He kills the Pinehearst assistant and fights Mohinder, giving Peter a chance to escape. Mohinder knocks Sylar unconscious and expresses his desire to kill him, but Arthur tells him to stop, Sylar is his son and that Arthur has been waiting for him for a very long time.\n\nArthur orders Daphne to kill Matt for not joining the villains. Matt's father, Maury, protests vehemently, reminding Arthur that he agreed to help him in return for Matt's safety. During this protest Arthur uses his powers to snap Maury's neck. Daphne shows up at Matt's apartment and holds him at gunpoint. Upon reminding her of the future that he has seen, in which they marry and have a child, Daphne tearfully drops the gun. She tells him that Pinehearst will just send someone else, but Matt refuses to run away. Knox arrives shortly afterwards. He overhears them talking about how fearful they are, and smiles. He breaks through the door and kills Matt and Daphne. After he leaves, the scene dissolves and the real Matt and Daphne appear. Parkman had used his ability to manipulate Knox's mind. Afterwards, Daphne calls Arthur and tells him that Matt believes that she is on his side. Arthur warns Daphne not to blow her cover.\n\nArthur convinces Sylar that Angela is manipulating him. He tells him that Angela tried to drown him as a baby after dreaming Sylar's future. Peter returns to help Sylar escape, but Arthur arrives. The three argue, culminating with Sylar throwing Peter out of the seventh floor window. Elle and Claire arrive just as Peter hits the ground, and Claire rushes to help him. Peter tells them that Pinehearst took his abilities and that they must run, but Elle decides to enter the building, hoping to have her ability removed. Arthur and Sylar both imply that someone slowed Peter's fall, saving his life - Peter separately comes to the conclusion that it was Sylar. Claire calls Nathan, who is told of his father's return. Peter implores Nathan not to go to Arthur, saying that he is too dangerous and intends to kill them all, and Nathan agrees. Afterwards, Tracy remarks that Nathan has no intention of listening to Peter, and Nathan admits that he is going to look for his father, but it will not be a social call.\n\nHiro doubted Usutu's advice on how to handle his opponents and didn't want to go back in time to deal with them. Instead Usutu made an edible paste (which Matt Parkman had previously eaten). Hiro ate some and his eyes turned white (the usual sign of precognition), before passing out. Ando blamed Usutu for trickery but Usutu said that Hiro \"did not choose a path, so one was chosen for him\", as he had warned would happen.\n\nCritical reception\nSteve Heisler of The A.V. Club rated this episode a D-.\n\nRobert Canning of IGN gave the episode 6.8 out of 10.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nBeaming Beeman - Season 3, Episode 7 - Director's blog on the filming of this episode\n\nHeroes (season 3) episodes\n2008 American television episodes",
"Matthew \"Matt\" Parkman, Sr., is a fictional character of the NBC superhero serial drama Heroes, played by Greg Grunberg. Matt is a police officer, who works for the LAPD and NYPD in Seasons One and Two respectively. He is a telepath; his ability allows him to read minds, and eventually extends into aspects of mind control, as stated by Bob Bishop.\n\nPlot\n\nGenesis\nMatt Parkman is a police officer with the LAPD. He tried to become a detective, but had flunked the exam three times due to dyslexia. Parkman is a mind-reader; he can hear the thoughts of people around him. He first realizes this after hearing the thoughts of Molly Walker, a girl who was hiding from a serial killer named Sylar.\n\nHe is nearly arrested by his FBI partner, but then is able to later prove his ability to read thoughts. He is then offered a position in the investigation. Things turn dangerous when a man who appears to be Sylar shows up. Stopping the man from harming Molly, Matt tries to comfort her while Audrey, the FBI agent, gives chase. Ultimately, the man escapes, but not before displaying apparent telekinesis and standing after being shot. Later, Matt comes home to his wife, Janice.\n\nMatt escapes to a bar after a heated argument with his wife and hears the thoughts of the various patrons. However, when he encounters a patron, a tall silent black man, whose mind he cannot read, the other voices fade out. The man sits and stares at Matt until Matt falls unconscious.\n\nMatt wakes up strapped to a table with Mr. Bennet standing over him. Bennet explains that they had to drug him, and that he works for a secret company. Matt tries to read Bennet's mind, but is unable due to The Haitian, who was the man at the bar. Matt is still able to discern the name of Bennet's daughter, Claire, impressing Bennet with his developing power. The Haitian then wipes Matt's memories of being drugged and abducted by Bennet.\n\nMatt wakes up a day later, suffering from what he thinks is a hangover. His wife Janice tells him he has been missing and was worried. He uses his ability to listen to her thoughts and give her everything she wants, healing the rift between the two of them.\n\nThe following day at work, Matt and his partner at the FBI run down a possible lead on Sylar after discovering a charred corpse with a fingerprint. Instead of Sylar, they find a man with radioactive powers. In a stand off, Matt defuses the situation by allowing the man to speak with his comatose wife. At the end of the day, Matt is informed by his old partner that he was being given another chance to apply for a detective position. Matt happens to read the man's mind, discovering that he is sleeping with Janice. Matt punches his former partner and is consequently suspended.\n\nUnaware of this, Audrey asks Matt for assistance in interviewing Ted Sprague, the man who radiates nuclear power. Matt talks with him and discovers that, like himself, Ted was abducted from a bar after seeing the Haitian and woke up later with amnesia. He further discovers similar marks on their necks. Then, Homeland Security takes Ted into custody before Matt can learn more, but Ted tells Matt to \"find the Haitian.\" Audrey later notifies Matt that Ted has escaped. Matt and Audrey then investigate a crime scene at Union Wells High in Odessa, Texas, where they suspect Sylar was intercepted by two people nearby. They don't consider Peter Petrelli a suspect in Jackie's death, but interrogate him and learn that Sylar's target was the cheerleader Claire Bennet.\n\nMatt later attempts to read Claire's mind when she is being interviewed. However, he is unable to hear anything except static, which also happened to him before he was abducted. Suspicious, he and Audrey stake out Primatech Paper and Matt recognizes The Haitian. He attempts to overhear Mr. Bennet or the Haitian's thoughts and is able to pick up just one word: \"Sylar.\"\n\nFor the next two weeks, Matt keeps a close watch on Primatech Paper, but he is seen on cameras. Finally, in \"Godsend,\" Matt and Audrey organize a raid of Primatech. When they find nothing, their boss is very upset and threatens to fire Audrey. Fearful of losing her job, she tells Matt their partnership is over. Matt confronts Bennet, telling him he knows he was kidnapped and will make Bennet pay.\n\nMatt faces a review board that questions his details of the past few weeks. They find his references to a \"super-powered serial killer\" almost insane. Matt recants his statement after hearing it will save his job. However, Matt is suspended for six months. At home, Matt takes a job as a bodyguard for money. His assignment is Aron Malsky, a man who stole $2 million from Linderman as restitution. Upon learning the jeweler is on Linderman's payroll, they try to run, but Jessica comes to kill Aron for Linderman. After a fight, Jessica throws Matt out of a window and onto a sign girder before proceeding to tear Aron in half. Malsky had hidden diamonds in the ceiling shortly before he died. Matt finds them and keeps them.\n\nIn \"Unexpected\", Matt receives a call from Ted, who wants to meet Matt along with Hana Gitelman. Hana informs Matt of Primatech and the connection to their abductions and the markings on their necks. Ted wants to confront Mr. Bennet, but needs Matt's help. Matt agrees. Matt and Ted confront Mr. Bennet and his family at gunpoint as the family was coming home. However, things turn sour and Matt is soon captured again.\n\nIn \"Parasite\", it is revealed that Matt is a prisoner of Thompson and his associates. Then in \".07%\", Bennet helps Matt and Ted escape. Over breakfast, they solidify their plans to travel to New York City to knock out a tracking system. In \"The Hard Part\", Matt, Bennet and Ted continue their mission. They later are shown walking at Kirby Plaza in New York City, where Bennet and Claire are reunited. The group then splits in two, with Peter, Claire and Ted going to a remote town in Nebraska, and Matt and Bennet continuing with their mission to destroy the tracking system. Matt gets them where they need to go.\n\nWhile waiting for the elevator, they bump into Jessica and her husband, D.L. Bennet and Matt then go to where the tracking system is, only to find Thompson waiting. Matt saves Bennet from death, and Bennet kills Thompson. The two then find the tracking system, surprised to find Molly Walker. Matt protests killing her, but Bennet says it must be done. They argue with Bennet until Matt is knocked out by Mohinder from behind.\n\nIn the finale, \"How to Stop an Exploding Man\", Matt finds Sylar and shoots him. However, Sylar reverses the bullets and gravely wounds Matt.\n\nGenerations\nIn \"Four Months Later...,\" it is revealed Matt divorced Janice and that he is now a detective for the NYPD, and is taking care of Molly Walker in Mohinder's apartment. He learns Molly is having nightmares of a dangerous man who can see her when she thinks of him. In \"Lizards\", Matt is investigating the murder of Kaito Nakamura. He interrogates Angela Petrelli and learns that someone may have murdered Kaito for revenge; but Angela refuses to be interrogated further. Matt later saves Angela from a mysterious attacker. In \"The Kindness of Strangers, Matt finds out that his father is part of The Company and that he is the dangerous man frightening Molly. Molly tries to find him for Matt, but she ends up in a coma.\n\nIn \"Fight or Flight\" Matt and Nathan track down Matt's father. When they find him, he reveals he is also a telepath, and is also about to be murdered. At first he seems sorry for having left Matt as a child but ends up tricking Matt and Nathan in separate illusions. Matt is trapped in jail, confronted by his ex-wife and the baby she gave birth to after the divorce. It is indicated that while she said that the baby she was having wasn't Matt's, he knew that this wasn't true. Matt is able to telepathically talk to Nathan and escape the illusion, finding that Bob is set to be killed.\n\nIn \"Out of Time\", Matt discovers he is able to manipulate people and uses it to find the last unknown survivor of the photograph by \"interrogating\" Angela Petrelli. He also finally defeats his father because he learns that like his father he is able to control all aspects of the brain. He manages to tap into this and enter the nightmare Molly's trapped in and summon his father into it. He realizes it's his father's own nightmare and after a battle of wills leaves it with Molly and uses his powers to trap his father in his own nightmare. In \"Powerless\", he goes with Nathan to intercept Peter and Adam Monroe, in hopes of stopping them from releasing a deadly virus that would kill 93% of the world's population. Before leaving to confront them, Angela warns Matt that if they cannot stop Peter, that he'll have to kill him. Upon meeting Peter at Primatech, Matt attempts to compel Peter to stop Adam. Though this proves unsuccessful, Nathan is later able to convince Peter that Adam has tricked him. Together, they manage to stop the virus, and resolve to reveal their secret, and the Company, to the world. Nathan enlists Matt's help to use his powers in convincing the media to hear him out. At the conference, Matt is present when Nathan is gunned down before he can reveal their secrets, but is unable to locate the assailant immediately after the attack.\n\nVillains\nIn \"The Second Coming\", after Nathan is shot, Matt and Peter chase the assailant, a future version of Peter, finding nothing. Matt later confronts the future Peter, who is disguised as his present self, when he becomes suspicious of his actions. Future Peter then removes his disguise, confesses that he is from the future and shot Nathan, and teleports Matt to an unknown location in Africa, because he knows too much. In \"The Butterfly Effect\", he is rescued by Usutu, who paints the future, particularly Parkman's life. He learns Parkman's name by reading it off his badge.\n\nIn \"I Am Become Death\", Matt sees the future through a dream caused by Usutu. In the dream, he finds himself still living with Molly in the same apartment as he did in the second season, only this time accompanied with another daughter, called Daniella, and the baby's mother, Daphne. Matt expresses his concern of Daphne still working for Pinehearst when she comes by to ask Molly where the present Peter fled to. Matt is next seen in awed silence watching a news report on the nuclear explosion in Costa Verde (caused by Sylar), with Molly, worried that Daphne was caught in the blast. Daphne arrives home seconds later with a smile, but gasps that she wasn't fast enough before collapsing in Matt's arms. Matt then wakes up to realize that he never left Usutu or the desert, and realizes that he must find Daphne to keep her from suffering the same fate she did in his dream. Usutu tells him that only Matt can find his way, and that he must follow his spirit guide. Matt is confused, but then notices the tortoise he saw right before meeting Usutu, and realizes it is his spirit guide. He is then seen following the tortoise as it moves slowly through the desert.\n\nIn \"Dying of the Light\", Matt has arrived at an airport with the tortoise. He is greeted by Daphne, who is shocked that he knows her name. He tells her that they are soulmates, which she doesn't believe, instead offering him a job at Pinehearst. She tells him to wait for her. After a while he decides to go ahead and leave. Daphne returns in time to stop him. She says he's a good guy and the people at Pinehearst aren't. She advises him to stay away. He tells her she should keep away from them as well. She tells him that she can't and leaves.\n\nIn \"Eris Quod Sum\", Daphne is directed by Arthur Petrelli to kill Matt after he does not come to Pinehearst. She has the gun pointed at Matt, but drops it. Knox, however, has followed her, and after knocking Daphne unconscious rips his hand through Matt, apparently killing him. After he leaves, this proves to be a dream sequence manifested by Matt. However, soon after this Daphne receives a call from Arthur revealing that she is fooling Matt into trusting her for an unknown purpose.\n\nIn \"It's Coming\", he and Daphne go to Primatech for help and find Angela in a coma. Matt decides to use his powers to try to wake her up. After Daphne supposedly goes to find a nurse but in reality alerts Arthur to his plans, Matt enters Angela's mind like he entered Molly's to save her from Maury. In Angela's mind, he finds her handcuffed to a chair and she tells him to leave as Arthur is too powerful. As he tries to free her, Arthur shows up disguised as Daphne and stabs him. When this wound manifests physically, the real Daphne grabs on to him and manages to get him to pull her into Angela's mind. Once there, Arthur reveals that Daphne had betrayed him, but while Daphne admits this, she repents, saying she loves Matt and the two embrace. Angela manages to convince Arthur to let her go and Matt pulls himself, Daphne and Angela back to the real world, finally waking her up. His psychic wound heals at this point. He then encounters Peter and attacks him for sending Matt to Africa, but Peter is able to convince him, after Matt verifies telepathically, that it wasn't him. Matt is present when Angela reveals that there's a catalyst needed for the formula and Claire realizes that it could be her.\n\nIn \"The Eclipse\", Matt (like everyone else) loses his powers thanks to the eclipse, and Daphne goes home. When he goes to visit her, he discovers that Daphne had trouble walking before she gained her powers. He is later approached by Ando and Hiro, who want him to restore Hiro's memory after it was erased by Arthur, but he is unable to do so due to Hiro's inability to speak English, and aids them in finding a way to restore his memories by looking through 9th Wonders comic books. When the eclipse is over, he helps Daphne reconcile with her father.\n\nIn \"Dual\", Matt, Daphne, and Ando discover that Hiro is trapped in the past, and Daphne steals a vial of Mohinder's superpower-granting formula so Ando can give himself powers and save him. Instead of gaining Hiro's power of space-time manipulation, however, Ando gains the ability to enhance the powers of other evolved humans, which enhances Matt's telepathy to the point where he can hear every thought in the city, and enhances Daphne's speed to the point where she can travel through time, which they use to rescue Hiro. Later, they successfully steal the formula and destroy it.\n\nFugitives\nMatt is seen trying to live a normal life with Daphne, as a bodyguard. He begins seeing Usutu in his apartment, who tells him that he is becoming a prophet, like himself. Although Usutu is clearly dead, and he himself states he is an illusion, it is unclear how he is interacting with Matt. Matt then begins drawing the future like Usutu and Isaac Mendez. He is captured when Claire comes to warn him of Nathan rounding up the rest of the superhumans, and is seen on the plane with the rest when it goes down. Matt survives the crash and escapes together with Mohinder and Hiro Nakamura. He gets a vision from Usutu and leads his friends to a nearby trailer. There, he starts to draw under the spiritual guidance of Usutu. One of the pictures reveals Daphne getting shot in her shoulder near the plane crash, even though she wasn't on the plane. Daphne herself has run together with Ando Masahasi to the crash site to find him. After they find each other, Matt and Daphne embrace but she ends up shot by Danko's soldiers, just as depicted in Matt's paintings. Matt mind controls one of the soldiers, forcing him to shoot his comrades. The distraction allows Matt to escape with Hiro, Ando and Mohinder, leaving a presumably dead Daphne behind. Matt and Mohinder reunite with Peter Petrelli, Ando and Hiro and make plans what to do next.\n\nAt the end of \"Building 26\" and continued in \"Cold Wars\", Matt is seen kidnapping a drugged Noah Bennet at a bar along with Peter and Mohinder. The trio then take Noah to a Motel and Matt attempts to access Noah's memories about the Government's initiative and his meetings with Nathan Petrelli and The Hunter. He discovers that Bennet has warned Mohinder about the attacks, which leads to a fight between them with Mohinder, but then Bennet reveals that Daphne is alive and under custody.\n\nMatt is subsequently captured by the government while trying to rescue Daphne. With Peter having sent a tape to the national news of the government illegally loading up American civilians, The Hunter states that he needs something to blame posthumans for. He drugs Matt and straps explosives to him, pushing him out of a van and behind the Capitol Building. The explosives are disarmed when Nathan intervenes, however, and the government apprehends Matt once again.\n\nIn \"Cold Snap\", Matt, Mohinder, Tracy, and Daphne escape from the facility with help from Rebel. Matt takes Daphne with him to a hospital where she is treated for her gunshot wound. He enters Daphne's mind in her last moment of life, creating a fictional storybook ending for her in Paris to make her happy. However, she tells him to let go.\n\nIn \"Turn and Face the Strange\", Matt attempts to fulfill his lust for revenge against Danko by revealing the truth to Danko's girlfriend, who is unaware of what he really does for a living. Matt then prepares to kill her but cannot bring himself to do it. With nothing to live for, he allows Danko to fire at him. However, Hiro freezes time and rescues Matt. Matt meets his son and is last seen with Matt Parkman Jr. in the back of a car as Hiro and Ando enter.\n\nIn \"I Am Sylar\", Hiro and Ando try to convince Matt to join them bringing down Building 26, but he refuses as he wants to be there for his kid and feels he must retrieve Matt Jr. to Janice back in LA. Once there, he is ought to help Janice and Jr. escape HLS agents and eventually have a life together as a family, but then he realizes than he must help Hiro and Ando so they all will be safe from Building 26. As the agents get inside the house, Matt makes them believe nobody is there.\n\nIn \"An Invisible Thread\", Matt is seen heading to Washington D.C. to join Hiro and Ando; once in the bus stop, he meets Angela who finally convinces him about the importance of Nathan, and that he will save him. They both enter the battle room to find Nathan's dead body. Later, when Sylar is drugged and Peter and Claire are sent away, Angela and Noah convince Matt to brainwash Sylar making him believe he is the real Nathan, due to the fact that he got his appearance and memories, because they all need him to stop the hunt of posthumans. Along with Angela and Noah, they are the only ones that knows the truth about Nathan being dead and Sylar alive impersonating him. He is among the people who witness \"Sylar\" (James Martin) being cremated at Coyote Sands.\n\nRedemption\nIn \"Orientation\", Matt is living a comfortable life with his wife and son. Ever since he forced Sylar to turn into Nathan, Matt has sworn off using his power. When Angela calls asking for help with Sylar, Matt refuses. Later, Matt begins experiencing a hallucination of Sylar, who tells him that when Matt forced his way into Sylar's mind, a part of the serial killer latched on to Matt's own brain. Sylar wants his body back, which Matt says he won't let happen. Sylar begins to harass Matt to force him to lose control and use his power. Matt has an outburst at his addiction meeting (where he refers to his power in vague terms as his \"addiction\") and later on when Matt is interrogating a suspect. Finally, Sylar goads Matt into using his power to drive away the handsome water delivery boy, because Matt was jealous of the delivery boy's relationship with his wife and son.\n\nIn \"Ink\", Matt thinks his one use of his power was a slip up, and turns in his 30-day sobriety chip. Sylar continues to taunt Matt, who says that he will ignore him since Sylar has no real power locked up in Matt's head. While investigating the house of a suspected drug dealer, Sylar points out to Matt that his suspect is hiding in a closet with a gun. Matt is stunned when Sylar turns out to be correct. After the suspect is tied up, Matt's partner checks upstairs, and Sylar points out a pink stuffed bunny in the next room, hinting that a little girl has been kidnapped. Matt finds a ransom note, confirming this fear. Matt reads the suspect's mind and finds the girl's body. He goes berserk and starts pounding the suspect. His partner re-enters the room and demands to know what Matt is doing. Matt tries to explain, but suddenly the bunny, ransom note, and body are gone. Sylar taunts that he used Matt's own power against him, and made him see things that weren't there, and Matt realizes that Sylar does have power over him. Matt's partner is planning to call him in, but Matt, not wanting his life to be ruined, uses his power to convince his partner that the beating of the suspect was justified, and causes him to call it in as such. Sylar gives Matt an ultimatum: either give his body back, or Sylar will continually ruin Matt's life.\n\nMatt still refuses to return Sylar to his body, and in \"Strange Attractors\", Sylar takes control of Matt's body while he's making love to Janice. Matt, fearing that this new development will put his family in danger, reveals what is happening to him to Janice and she offers to take their son and leave to let Matt deal with it. Matt discovers that drinking alcohol appears to injure Sylar, and quickly downs several glasses. Sylar finally appears to disappear, and Matt blacks out right as Janice returns with Matt's partner from the force. Matt awakens hours later, and talks with his wife and partner, vowing to never let this happen to him again. However, it is revealed that Sylar took control of Matt's body while he was blacked out, and now is controlling him completely.\n\nIn \"Shadowboxing\", Matt attempts suicide by cop to prevent Sylar from taking revenge on the people who separated his mind from his body; he is last shown in an ambulance as they try to revive him. In \"Brother's Keeper\", he is healed by Peter and explains the situation, but Nathan brushes up against Matt's hand during a struggle with a guard, allowing Sylar to transfer back in. Simultaneously horrified at Nathan's plight and relieved at his own, Matt uses his telepathy to sneak out of the hospital.\n\nIn \"The Art of Deception\", Matt is confronted by Sylar upon coming home from the store and is shocked, believing Sylar is somehow in his head again. However, it is Sylar in his own body again and Sylar, wanting to become human again, demands that Matt put a block on his powers. Matt is unable to do anything due to feedback, but is able to read Sylar's mind enough to tell that he's actually serious. Sylar ends up threatening Janice (who finally realizes who he is), but Matt talks him down and gets him to allow Janice to leave. At Janice's suggestion, Matt decides to get rid of Sylar for good and pretends to block his powers while in reality he traps Sylar in his own worst nightmare: a world where he is completely alone with no powers and an hour in the real world equals a year there. After erasing Sylar's memory of what he did, Matt starts to brick Sylar in behind his wall when Peter arrives looking for Sylar. Peter copies Matt's powers again and, reading his mind, learns what he did. Needing Sylar's help, Peter enters Sylar's mind to free him against Matt's warnings that he might get trapped. Later, Matt fully bricks up Sylar, but leaves Peter's unconscious body lying against the wall.\n\nIn \"Brave New World,\" Matt is in his kitchen looking through the refrigerator when there's what sounds like an explosion, unknown to him the awakened Sylar breaking free of his prison. Matt is confronted by several Eli clones and tries to use his powers to stop them, but is unable to as only the real Eli has a mind that can be manipulated. Outnumbered and pretty much powerless, Matt is overpowered and his knee dislocated before the Elis' prepare to kill him with kitchen knives. At the last second, the clones disappear as Peter and Sylar defeat the real Eli and the other clones and knock out the Prime Eli which gets rid of the clones. Matt is angered that Peter freed Sylar and refuses to help Peter by reading Eli's mind, so Peter does it himself and learns Samuel's terrible plans. Peter tries to take off with Sylar, but Matt mentally commands Sylar to stay and he and Peter try to convince Matt that Sylar has changed, going so far as to have Matt read his mind. Matt says that while Sylar's mind wants to change, he can't tell what his heart wants, but gives him a chance and orders him and Peter out. Alone with the unconscious Eli, Matt brainwashes him into turning against Samuel which ultimately helps defeat him as Eli's support helps cause the carnies to turn on Samuel and strip him of his powers.\n\nHeroes Reborn\nIn \"June 13 - Part 2\", Matt is brought in by Harris to find out where Claire is. To Noah's shock, Matt now works for Erica and is selling his power to the highest bidder. While Erica won't save everyone, she will save some and that's all Matt cares about now. He reads Noah's mind and learns of Claire's death in childbirth but Caspar Abraham erases Noah's memories before Matt can get any more. Caspar knocks out Harris and while Matt has the two at his mercy, he can't bring himself to harm them and lets them both go.\n\nAlternate futures\n In the alternate future of \"Five Years Gone\", in which New York City is destroyed by a nuclear explosion, Matt is seen working as Director of the Department of Homeland Security and is in direct contact with the now President Nathan Petrelli (who is actually Sylar in disguise). In this future Matt is seen as being a much darker and cynical man who hunts down those with abilities and arrests them in exchange for the protection of his son. He kills Hana Gitelman, Mr. Bennet and Future Hiro. At the end of the episode, he is shocked to find that Sylar had been using his powers to disguise himself as Nathan. He still cares about his family however and has a much greater deal of control over his powers, being able to \"rip out\" memories instead of passively overhearing thoughts.\n In the alternate future of \"I Am Become Death\", in which abilities are publicly available, Matt is living with his adoptive daughter Molly, his wife Daphne, and his own infant daughter. He attempts to talk his wife out of tracking down Peter. He watches Daphne die in his arms when she returns after trying to escape the nuclear explosion in Costa Verde.\n\nPowers and abilities\nMatt is a telepath, able to read and manipulate the thoughts of others. In the episode \"Out of Time\", Bob states that Matt, like his father, should be able to control all aspects of the mind, including thoughts and senses, with practice. Matt originally could not activate his at will, causing him to pick up the thoughts of all those in close proximity to him. He gradually learns to elicit specific thoughts from people, and eventually learns to compel individuals to do as he wishes.\n\nThough Matt's power enables him to read the minds of most people, it can be defeated through various methods. The Haitian's power is able to nullify Matt's, protecting himself and those in his vicinity. Other telepaths, such as Peter Petrelli and Maury Parkman, are also able to shield their minds. Finally, since Matt only speaks English, he cannot understand thoughts in other languages; Noah Bennet is able to defeat Matt's power by thinking in Japanese, which also happens with the child-minded Hiro who didn't know English. Although in \"Cold Wars\" Matt was able to overcome this while displaying a new ability with his telepathy where he was able to make his victims relive past events by going through their memory, while doing this to his victims such as Noah Bennet, it causes them pain. However, this is merely due to them resisting his efforts and it is shown that if the person who he's doing it to allows him to do it of their own free will, there's no pain.\n\nAn interesting aspect of Matt's mind-reading is that it allows him to read any thoughts going through a person's mind - at one point, Matt read Jessica Sanders' mind and heard Niki in there as well. Jessica was surprised (\"You heard Niki?\").\n\nHe is able to enter the minds of various individuals in different episodes, including Nathan Petrelli, Molly Walker, and Angela Petrelli. When Maury traps Matt inside Molly's \"nightmare world\", Matt is able to bring his father in with them and subsequently leave with Molly, trapping Maury in his own nightmare (though Maury escapes). He later enters Angela's mind to free her after Arthur Petrelli traps her in her own mind and succeeds with Daphne's help, gaining the ability to pull people in with him at the same time. Apparently to free someone trapped in their own mind, someone has to enter it as Peter later has to do the same thing to free Sylar when Matt traps him in a nightmare. In \"Cold Snap\" he enters Daphne's mind to give her a fairytale ending while she dies.\n\nMatt's ability to compel others is not as honed as his father's, though he demonstrates the ability at various points.\n\nMatt can place suggestions in others through telepathic commands as a form of mind control, but those aware of what he is doing can resist. In \"Cautionary Tales\", Angela Petrelli initially resists his commands, though she experiences a nosebleed and eventually succumbs.\n\nIn \"Eris Quod Sum\", Matt is able to make the villain Knox see an illusion of Daphne and Matt himself dying, as well as momentarily immobilize him physically. In \"Cold Snap\" and \"I Am Sylar\" he is able to make agents ignore him and company, making them believe there was no one at the place.\n\nIn Volume Four, the combination of the growth of his telepathy and the precognitive visions induced by Usutu grants him access to the \"same plane of consciousness\" that other precognitive characters access for their own powers, allowing him to draw the future. Unlike Isaac Mendez, he didn't show any artistic skills until gaining this ability, which also happens to other characters.\n\nIn \"The Art of Deception\", Matt tries to use his telepathy to remove Sylar's powers by putting a mental block on them. Due to feedback, he is unable to, but is able to read Sylar's mind enough to know that he is actually serious about this. Ultimately Matt uses his powers to trap Sylar in a nightmare where he has no powers and is alone, similar to what his father once did to Molly Walker. In this nightmare one hour in the real world equals one year in the nightmare. Sylar is ultimately freed from his nightmare by Peter Petrelli who enters his mind and frees him like Matt did for Molly Walker and Angela Petrelli.\n\nReferences\n\nHeroes (American TV series) characters\nFictional characters from Los Angeles\nFictional bodyguards\nFictional telepaths\nDyslexia in fiction\nFictional Department of Homeland Security personnel\nFictional New York City Police Department detectives\nFictional characters with precognition\nFictional hypnotists and indoctrinators\nFictional illusionists\nFictional prophets\nTelevision characters introduced in 2006\nFictional Los Angeles Police Department detectives\nFictional characters with dyslexia\nFictional attempted suicides\nMale characters in television\n\npl:Postacie z serialu Herosi#Matt Parkman\nfi:Luettelo televisiosarjan Heroes hahmoista#Matt Parkman"
]
|
[
"Sylar",
"Haunting Matt Parkman",
"What is Haunting Matt Parkman?",
"Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar,",
"What does Sylar do to Matt Parkman?",
"Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself.",
"How does Parkman react to the haunting?",
"Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances,",
"What kind of consequences begin when Sylar takes control of Matt?",
"Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep."
]
| C_c8edc7ae36c4408382b9e8fe46a52356_0 | Does Matt find out about Sylar's actions with Matt's wife? | 5 | Does Matt find out about Sylar's actions with Matt's wife? | Sylar | Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body. Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop. The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he is is shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more. CANNOTANSWER | Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar | Sylar (Gabriel Gray) is a fictional character and a primary antagonist of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers. He served as the primary villain of the first season and then as a recurring antagonist. Over the course of seasons two, three and four, the writers depicted Sylar attempting at various times and under different circumstances to become a hero or curb his desire to kill, undergoing relapses at various stages. In the series' penultimate episode he experienced over three years of penitence in a mental prison, and later identifies himself as a hero in what became the show's series finale due to cancellation.
TV Guide included him in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".
Concept and creation
Sylar was originally created as a cannibal who ate his victims' brains and "digested their power"; however, in order to avoid the potential silliness and zombie associations, the producers deliberately made this fact vague in the series. In an interview with series creator Tim Kring, it is asked if Sylar eats brains, and he merely states "That's the popular speculation. There's a connection between the powers and the brain, and Sylar has found it." The question is addressed in the season three premiere, when he is depicted in the act of acquiring Claire Bennet's regenerative powers through examination of her brain with his hands. When Claire asks him the same question, he sounds surprised and replies "Eat your brain? Claire, that's disgusting." The writers never bridged the gap between the early insinuations regarding what Sylar does with the brains and the final incarnation they reveal in his encounter with Claire.
Prior to Quinto's first appearance in the episode "Seven Minutes to Midnight", the role of Sylar was played by stunt doubles in "One Giant Leap", with the character's face being obscured by shadows. Quinto himself played the role with his face hidden in the same way until "Six Months Ago". In the second episode of the first season, "Don't Look Back", his voice is heard in a recorded phone conversation on Chandra Suresh's answering machine, spoken by voice actor Maurice LaMarche. Part of this conversation is heard again in "Six Months Ago", this time spoken by Quinto.
Personality
Sylar was raised as the son of a watchmaker, but was indoctrinated by his mother's repeated assertions to believe that he was special and deserved more in life. This and the "evolutionary imperative" to acquire new abilities are what drive him to kill the victims with powers. Taking the name "Sylar" from a watch brand, he has shed all connections to his former life as Gabriel Gray to the point where he angrily lashes out at anyone who calls him Gabriel.
In addition to the above, Sylar shows a marked lack of empathy. As seen in the episode .07%, when shortly before killing Isaac Mendez, he casually comments on Mendez's lack of fear, with the sort of mild surprise that someone might express if he noticed that a train was running late.
Although he at times tries to impersonate other people in order to obtain a longer-term goal, Sylar is also unable to completely control his "hunger," or obsessive tendencies, to the extent that he still intimidates people when he is trying to gain their trust or co-operation. This was seen with Mohinder Suresh, when Sylar tried to impersonate Zane Taylor, and also with Claire Bennet's mother when Sylar was looking for Claire, as well.
Sylar's dominant trait was his innate desire to be recognized as special and admired. This was fueled by his mother's vocal disappointment in him for perceived failure and his own feelings that he did not get a chance to choose his destiny, being forced into the role of a watchmaker. He spent his life hoping to learn something extraordinary about himself.
Sylar is repeatedly shown as desperately looking for a family and parental figures due to his own unhappy home life, desperately wanting to be loved. The flip side of this is that he can react with extreme violence when his emotional needs are exploited by others.
Sylar is also known for his voracious appetite and he can constantly be seen snacking or looking for food. He has even taken time during his murders to eat, such as when he reacted with joy at a birthday cake of the woman he just killed.
Quinto has said of his character,
The sad part is, he's initially well-intentioned. He wants to improve his life. He wants to make a difference. He wants to matter. Through the process of realizing how to do that, he gets blinded and loses himself in the pursuit of it and goes a little crazy—'a little' being an understatement.
Quinto also observed,
He's definitely somebody that has been overcome by a hunger and overcome by a pursuit for power and for importance that did start a little more innocuously than it evolved into.
When asked if he thought Sylar was irredeemable or not, Quinto responded,
I think there's a certain point at which you cross a line and it's sort of irrevocable.... I don't know what the writers have in mind, but it would probably be kind of a challenge at this point, you know?
Quinto has also responded to the question of whether Sylar could ever be good, commenting that
I don't really look at him as, you know, absolutely good or bad. I think that he is constantly walking a line of ambiguity within himself and uncertainty within himself that defines the way he acts.
Sylar, however, is also shown as very caring and thoughtful, like when he takes care of Angela Petrelli, when Arthur and Angela Petrelli claimed that they are Sylar's parents, which Peter wants to go to Pinehearst, Sylar didn't allow him to go alone because it is dangerous, and right after he murdered Brian Davis, he tries to commit suicide, feeling his guilt for murdering a person.
Character history
Genesis
The episode "Six Months Ago" reveals that Sylar's real name is Gabriel Gray, a highly talented watchmaker who follows his adoptive father's footsteps. He encounters Chandra Suresh, who tells Gabriel that he may be an evolved human with superhuman powers. Gabriel eagerly submits to testing. After being rejected by Suresh because the test results are indeterminate, Gabriel contacts another person on Suresh's list, Brian Davis. Gabriel discovers that he himself has the power of intuitive aptitude, and murders Davis for his telekinetic powers. After returning to Suresh, he becomes "Patient Zero", and continues to work with Suresh until Suresh realizes that Sylar is murdering the people that they meet and ultimately, Suresh is killed by Gabriel in his own cab precisely at 11:53 p.m.
Sylar is first referenced in the first episode when Mohinder Suresh (Chandra Suresh's son) finds a cassette tape labeled "SYLAR" on both sides in his dead father's New York apartment. His character is next mentioned in the series as a mysterious serial killer sought out by the FBI, whose existence is completely speculative. Appearing as a shadowy figure, he attempts to obtain Molly Walker's power after failing the first time.
In "Once Upon a Time in Texas", Sylar bumps into a future Hiro in front of the Burnt Toast Diner, and sidesteps him before entering. Here, he converses with Charlie, and discovers her power of enhanced memory. Sylar prepares to kill Charlie, but Hiro stops time and locks Sylar in a bus storage container. Later, when seeking Sylar to fix Charlie's aneurysm, Sylar angrily attacks Hiro, demanding to know what Hiro did to him. He attempts to kill Hiro, but Hiro prevents this with his time control. Finally, Hiro makes a deal: to tell Sylar about his future if he saves Charlie. Sylar proceeds to do so, and is miffed that he is told that - although he will become the most powerful person - he will die alone and unloved.
Sylar proceeds to attempt to obtain Claire Bennet's regenerative abilities, but is stopped by Peter Petrelli. He is greatly injured and is captured by Eden McCain and the Haitian to be experimented on. After various experiments, Sylar manages to escape, but he is again repelled from an attempt to obtain Claire's power.
Remembering Suresh's list, Sylar makes his way to Zane Taylor, and by posing as the person Zane was expecting, Mohinder Suresh, he kills him and obtains his power. After Mohinder arrives, Sylar poses as Zane, and convinces Mohinder to take him to help convince other people with special abilities that Mohinder's research is real. After Sylar acquires enhanced hearing from a woman named Dale, Mohinder discovers Sylar's identity and manages to incapacitate him with drugs. After experimenting on Sylar to create a new list of people with special powers and attempting to kill him, Mohinder is captured. After Peter shows up and is temporarily killed by Sylar, Mohinder knocks him out, but ends up leaving Isaac Mendez's address on the ground.
After meeting Isaac, and being told that his fate is to die at the hands of the other heroes, he takes Isaac's power to paint the future. He soon finishes a painting depicting himself about to kill and acquire the power of the radioactive Ted Sprague, and believes himself to be the "exploding man". Believing that only those who "don't deserve" their powers are the ones that need to die, he doesn't want to kill innocent people. After attempting to confide in Mohinder, he returns home to his alleged mother, Virginia Gray, in the hope that she will tell him that it is fine not to be special and live as a normal watchmaker. She tells him that he can be anything, including the president, causing him to demonstrate his powers and accidentally injure her. This causes her to panic, which eventually leads to her death, and Sylar deciding that his path is correct.
After acquiring the radioactive powers of Ted, Sylar paints a picture of himself facing off against Peter Petrelli at Kirby Plaza. Realizing Peter is part of his final destiny, Sylar prepares to hunt him down. Before he can leave, Ando Masahashi arrives to kill him, though Ando is easily thwarted. After Sylar discovers the comic depicting his death at the hands of Hiro Nakamura, Hiro appears and rescues Ando. Sylar sets off for Kirby Plaza to wait for Peter. After a struggle involving Sylar, Peter, Matt Parkman, and Niki Sanders, Peter begins the process of exploding, showing Sylar that he is not the exploding man. Soon after, Hiro arrives and impales Sylar through the stomach as the comic predicts, terribly wounding him. His last act is to telekinetically throw Hiro towards a building, forcing him to teleport and rendering him incapable of stopping Peter, as he collapses with a triumphant grin on his face while events that transpired throughout the season that end with his injury by Hiro play in his eyes. However, near the end of the episode, a trail of blood leading from where Sylar collapsed and ending at an open manhole is seen, indicating that Sylar is still alive.
Generations
Sylar is rescued by Candice Wilmer, who uses her powers of illusion to make Sylar disappear. After undergoing eight surgeries, he eventually awakes and realizes that he cannot use his powers. Though Candice promises that they will come back eventually, he kills her and attempts to acquire her power in order to start over. After realizing that it also doesn't work, he attempts to leave, though he realizes that he is in the middle of a dense jungle in Mexico. After wandering for three days, he is rescued from the brink of death by the passing-by Maya and Alejandro Herrera. He introduces himself using his real name, and eventually finds out that they are in search of Chandra Suresh to help control Maya's power. He tells them that he knows Suresh, and that he will take them to him.
He continues to travel with them, and while Alejandro becomes more distrustful of Sylar, Maya becomes more trusting of him. After teaching Maya to control her powers, he convinces her that her brother hates her and that in her heart she wanted to see his wife dead. Convincing her to send Alejandro away, Sylar is eventually confronted by Alejandro. He kills him, but states that he would have let Alejandro go had he not come back. Soon after, Maya confesses her love for Gabriel, and they reach Mohinder's apartment. Sylar attempts to obtain a cure for his condition, later revealed to be the same strain of the Shanti Virus which Niki was infected with. Upon finding that Sylar cannot use any of his obtained abilities, Mohinder attempts to kill Sylar, who then threatens him with a gun. This causes Maya to finally see Sylar's true intentions, so Sylar takes Maya, Mohinder and Molly hostage. Sylar agrees to go to Isaac's loft after Mohinder tells him tests need to be run. At the loft, Molly reveals to Maya that Alejandro is dead, who then goes to confront Sylar. He rolls his eyes as Maya screams at him, casually turns around and shoots her in the chest, and then tells Mohinder to cure Maya first. Elle enters the building and starts shooting at Sylar, but by then he has seen that the cure works, and he steals it and escapes.
Villains
In "Villains", Hiro sees Sylar's life shortly after the murder of Brian Davis. Intensely remorseful over the act, Gabriel attempts to hang himself. Elle Bishop walks in and saves him by using her electric abilities to cut the rope, convincing him that he's a good person. However, she is actually working with Noah Bennet to get Sylar to reveal the method behind transferring powers from one person to another. Elle befriends Gabriel and the two begin to share feelings for each other. Against her wishes, Elle helps Noah manipulate him to kill again by introducing Gabriel to Trevor Zeitlan, a young man who can kinetically shatter objects by "shooting" at them with his thumb and forefinger. She purposefully enrages Gabriel by having Trevor repeatedly demonstrate his ability by shattering glasses while calling him "special." Gabriel turns on Elle, who tries to stop him from killing Trevor. When Gabriel realizes Elle also has an ability, he is furious and pushes her against the wall with his mind, commanding her to leave before turning on Trevor and taking his power. Bennet and Elle watch from the car as Gabriel attacks Trevor.
In the third season, Sylar injects himself with the cure, healing his wounds and regaining use of his intuitive aptitude and telekinesis (though none of his other acquired powers). Sylar makes his way to California and finally takes Claire's power, though he does not kill her, claiming that she is special and that he couldn't do so even if he wanted to because he felt something special about her. He also takes several of the Company files on superhumans she had collected.
Sylar breaks into Company headquarters, killing Bob Bishop and acquiring his power. He is captured after attempting to take Elle's power, which results in her involuntarily releasing an electric burst which knocks him unconscious. The discharge also disables the Level 5 security system, allowing a dozen dangerous inmates to escape the complex. Before Sylar can regain consciousness, he is locked up. During his imprisonment, Angela Petrelli claims that she is his mother and attempts to rehabilitate him. She allows him to kill Bridget Bailey, a woman who can see the history of an object by touching it, in order to feed his hunger for power. When Noah Bennet returns to the Company to hunt down the escaped villains, Angela assigns Sylar as his partner, sending the two out to confront the villains and save the trapped Peter Petrelli.
Wanting to prove he is not just a killer, to both himself and Bennet, Sylar saves Bennet from Jesse and Knox, two of the escaped villains. However, his "hunger" reasserts itself and he kills Jesse, allowing Knox to escape in the confusion. Sylar is placed in his cell once more, where he is visited by Peter, who angrily snaps his neck after Sylar reveals that they are brothers. Peter, having absorbed Sylar's power and thereby his hunger, nearly kills Angela before Sylar knocks him unconscious. As Angela deals with her youngest son, Bennet arrives to take Sylar along to capture another Level 5 inmate. Sylar is surprised that Bennet would want to take him, but Bennet rebuffs him and tells him not to "make it harder than it already is." During the road trip, Noah chastises him about the murder of Jesse at the bank and his terrorizing Claire, and Sylar states that "rehabilitation doesn't happen overnight. I am trying."
They track the escapee, Stephen Canfield, to an empty house, unaware that Claire is already there dealing with Canfield herself. The man creates a powerful vortex in the room which nearly sucks in Claire, but Sylar saves her at the last minute. The power gained from Bridget enables him to experience the horror she went through, so he attempts to sincerely apologize to her, but she regards him with anger and disgust, and Bennet emphatically tells him to never to speak to his daughter again. The three find Stephen at an amusement park, where Bennet tries to force him into killing Sylar in exchange for freedom; though Sylar is clearly aware of what Noah is trying to do, he doesn't do anything to stop him. Rather than become a killer, Stephen kills himself with his power instead. Sylar later calmly remarks to Claire that her father doesn't see people with abilities as human, and never will.
Sylar is returned to his cell once more, where he is approached by Daphne Millbrook with an offer to join Pinehearst Industries, who will accept him for what he is. Sylar refuses, wanting to change. After they leave, Sylar revives Peter so he can help Angela Petrelli. Peter is initially skeptical, but Sylar's willingness to change combined with experience with the future Sylar convinces him; Peter's description of the future Gabriel Gray also gives Sylar hope that he can be redeemed. When Peter discovers the Pinehearst logo in her mind and attempts to go there, Sylar tries to stop him from doing so, but Peter easily defeats him due to his wider variety of powers and places him in an artificially-induced coma just as he had been. Angela is able to use her powers to wake him so he can rescue Peter, who has been stripped of his powers by Arthur Petrelli. Sylar does as asked, but is convinced by Arthur to turn on Angela. Arthur has Sylar throw a powerless Peter out a seventh-story window, but Peter miraculously survives. In "It's Coming", Arthur reveals that he knows Sylar slowed Peter's fall. Arthur is not angry; instead, he uses this event as evidence that Sylar can use his emotions like Peter could, to obtain someone's power without killing them.
To test this theory, Arthur places Sylar in a dark room with Elle, who is restrained to the floor and still suffers from her uncontrolled ability. She is furious at Sylar for her father's murder and repeatedly electrocutes him to no avail. Sylar confronts Elle with his sorrow for what he's done as well as her sorrow for what she's done. She rages at him and continues to attack, finally collapsing and begging him to kill her so that her pain will go away. He forgives her for turning him into a monster and convinces her to forgive herself for her crimes, wanting to take away her pain without killing her. At that moment, Elle's pain disappears and she regains control of her ability. Likewise, Sylar is able to absorb her power. Sylar is overwhelmed by this development, as he no longer has to kill to satisfy his hunger. The two appear to rekindle their old feelings for each other as Elle teaches Sylar how to use her ability. In "The Eclipse", Sylar is relieved when he loses his abilities, and wishes to start a new life with Elle. However, after Noah Bennet claims that Angela and Arthur Petrelli are not his real parents and are just manipulating him, Sylar feels betrayed and reverts to his murderous tendencies. Having regained his abilities after the eclipse ended, Sylar expresses seeming remorse and then attacks Elle, using his telekinesis to scalp her.
The next morning Sylar proceeds to cremate her body, receiving a call from Arthur about his absence. Sylar curtly tells Arthur he is not returning and reveals he has a new list in the form of Elle's cell phone contact list. To ascertain the truth for himself, he kills Sue Landers, a human lie detector. He then heads to Pinehearst to confront Arthur, stopping Peter and the Haitian from killing Arthur by freezing the bullet fired at Arthur's head. With both the Haitian and Arthur apparently weakened in attempting to overwhelm one another, Sylar asks Arthur if he is truly his father. Arthur says yes; Sylar detects the lie with Sue Landers' power and proceeds to drive the bullet into Arthur's head, killing him. He then leaves Peter and the Haitian, claiming they do not have anything he desires.
Sylar travels to Primatech, and sets up a mind game for Angela, Claire, Meredith, and Noah Bennet. After locking everyone inside and killing the Primatech staff, he tells them over the PA system that he will turn them all into monsters as they try to hunt him. Noah releases several Level 5 inmates as bait, including Echo Demille, Eric Doyle, and Daniel Pine, but Sylar easily disposes of them. He then injects Meredith with adrenaline, causing her to lose control of her fire ability. She and Noah are then locked in a cell with a single bullet, so Noah will either burn to death or kill Meredith to survive. Claire wants to help, as Sylar expects, forcing her to choose between her grandmother and her father; Claire chooses her father, leaving Angela at Sylar's mercy. He confronts Angela, and finds out that she was only using him for his monstrous qualities. However, she also reveals that she knows who his real parents are, and that they are not the Grays. As Sylar demands to be told the truth, Claire stabs him in the back of the head with a piece of glass, which will prevent him from reviving as long as it remains in place. In the prison cell, Meredith finally loses full control of her power and releases a massive explosion. Primatech goes up in flames with Sylar still inside.
Fugitives
Following the destruction of Primatech, Sylar is shown to be alive and well (it's later revealed that the fire melted the glass, allowing him to regenerate), and begins to search for his true biological parents. He starts by tracking down his adoptive father, Martin Gray, in Baltimore, making a stop in Pittsburgh to kill an insurance broker who could replicate his signature, and possibly learn the whereabouts of Martin. Sylar learns that Martin had paid to take him off the hands of his supposed father, Samson Gray, in order to escape his marriage with Virginia, Sylar's adoptive mother. After interrogating Martin, Sylar raises his hand, and is about to kill Martin, but holds back and walks away. After taking the address from Martin, Sylar finds Samson's home, only for it to be empty and Nathan Petrelli's agents waiting to ambush him. Although shot at, stunned and restrained, Sylar easily recovers and kills the agents, save one Agent Simmons, whom he tortures for information on Samson's disappearance.
In order to extract more information from Simmons, Sylar invades the house of Luke and Mary Campbell. Waiting for the two to return, Sylar telekinetically pins them, and states he intends to torture them to get Simmons to talk. He then proceeds to torture Mary. In a rage, Luke manages to free himself and boils Sylar's coffee with his own ability: microwave emission. Intrigued, Sylar begins to talk to Luke, telling him exactly why Luke has been in so much trouble, and that he understands Luke's frustration. During this, Simmons frees himself from his bindings and tries to grab his gun to shoot Sylar, but Luke notices this and kills Simmons. Sylar proceeds to leave the house, taking Luke with him only after Luke states he knows where Samson is.
As Sylar and Luke proceed to find Samson, Luke wishes to stop at some local diner to eat, as well as lying to Sylar about Samson's location when prodded. This irritates Sylar to the point where he threatens to simply take Luke's emission ability. Luke simply states that Sylar would never find his father then. Choosing to stop at a diner, Luke reveals that he and Samson went birding, awakening a memory from Sylar's childhood. As they eat, Sylar teaches Luke some lessons about using his power and having objectives, as well as revealing the change in his 'hunger' (emphasizing finding Samson over acquiring powers). This results in Luke giving Sylar Samson's location, even under the threat of being killed for his power. They are soon interrupted by Nathan's agents. Luke distracts the agents enough for Sylar to telekinetically toss a few around and punch a hole through a window. However, as he gets into the car, Sylar locks Luke out and drives off, leaving Luke to the agents. However, a short time later, Sylar disguises as an agent and gets into their van, killing the agents and saving Luke, as well as taking a laptop. When confronted about this by Luke, Sylar states that Luke was simply conveniently nearby and that his goal was to get the laptop to understand how Nathan's agents worked, though Luke seems skeptical about that reasoning.
Continuing to elude Nathan's agents, Sylar and Luke finally lose them. Irritated with Luke's wish to fry some agents and subtle attempts to stop the search for Samson, Sylar pins Luke to the side of the truck, essentially telling Luke to shut up. Sylar then seems to remember the area in which the two are in, and they reach an abandoned diner. Sylar makes an entrance by pulling off some of the board (throwing them in Luke's direction) and they enter. Here, Sylar recounts being brought to the diner as a child, and dropping a toy car in a wooden post. To prove this memory true, he rips open the post telekinetically and finds the car. He then remembers exactly what happened at that place: His father took money from Virginia and Martin, then left to his car. Sylar followed, only to see his biological parents arguing, and Samson telekinetically splitting his mother's skull open, killing her. In a rage exacerbated by Luke's revelation that Sylar's father was indeed a bad individual, Sylar pins him to the diner wall, but drops him and tells Luke to go home. Sylar leaves, intent on not only finding, but killing his father.
Arriving at a run-down trailer in the woods, Sylar finds his father old and dying of cancer. Samson is not frightened by Sylar's threat to kill and instead prepares a rabbit for taxidermy. Demonstrating several abilities, he and Sylar realize that they have the same ability - the ability to steal powers. Samson reveals that it did not matter how many people he killed or how many powers he stole; in the end, he did not lead a fulfilling life and is now miserable. He claims to not even remember selling Sylar and killing his mother, as these things did not matter to him. He goes on to say how he would have lived life differently, if given a second chance - how he would risk everything to attain true power and ultimately change the world. He touches on Sylar's original guilt for murdering to steal abilities by mocking Sylar, telling him how both their victims were weak and helpless and that they had no chance against seasoned killers. However, when Sylar cuts himself and heals while stuffing the rabbit, Samson transforms, reviving his hunger for abilities, desperate to gain immortality and escape from death. Temporarily incapacitating Sylar, he is stunned when Sylar first resists and then retaliates, strangling Samson with his own oxygen tube. Samson does not understand, since both he and Sylar know that Sylar would not die from Samson's "examination". Sylar states that he is finishing what he came to do, taking the stuffed rabbit. Samson begs Sylar to kill him quickly, but Sylar refuses, relishing the fact that his father, who is ultimately just like him, will "die alone with his disease". Later, when Danko returns home to his apartment after discovering Nathan's ability, he finds the stuffed rabbit on his desk, unaware that Sylar is lurking in the shadows nearby. Instead of a confrontation, however, Sylar chooses to leave, but not before stringing up an unconscious Eric Doyle in Danko's apartment as a 'gift'.
This 'gift' is explained further when Sylar surprises Danko in his car: He wishes to work with Danko in rounding up all superpowered humans, and quickly leaves before Danko can pull out his gun. To further win Danko's trust, Sylar decides to help Danko track a shapeshifter, James Martin, who managed to kill 4 of Danko's agents (3 via gunshot, and one murdered for his form). At Martin's apartment, Danko surprises Sylar, and the two exchange taunts and information, resulting in Sylar and Danko teaming up for the time being. Through their cooperation, the two find out that Martin takes forms of power and authority, in order to woo women at a local nightclub. At the club, Sylar and Danko are spotted by Martin (in the form of Danko), and they lose track of him. A short time later, Danko and Sylar decide to leave the club; however, the 'Sylar' is actually Martin in disguise with the intention of killing Danko. However, Danko shoots Martin, but doesn't kill him. Instead, he allows the real Sylar to take Martin's ability (without removing the skullcap) in order to not only make hunting superpowered humans easier for them, but to fake Sylar's death and keep people such as Noah Bennett from trying to track Sylar down.
Sylar, disguised as Danko, later meets Noah at Building 26 as Noah, unknowingly, examines Martin's body. Noah, knowing how hard it is to kill Sylar, doubts Danko could do it single-handedly. When Sandra arrives to question Noah about Claire, Sylar shakes her hand in introduction, gaining access to her form. Wanting to destroy Noah, he later visits Noah at Noah's apartment, in disguise as Sandra. He delivers divorce papers, stating that he (Sandra) cannot trust Noah anymore and that their marriage is over. Noah is distraught but, upon examining the signature on the forms, discovers that it is not Sandra's. Rushing to the crematorium, Noah stops the cremation of Martin's body. He removes the metal shard in the back of the corpse's head, telling the surrounding soldiers that when Sylar was stabbed with a glass shard before, it melted in the Primatech fire allowing him to regenerate. When the corpse does not regenerate, Noah returns to Danko and confronts him with the knowledge that Sylar is still alive. Danko confesses and tells Noah that Sylar is in disguise and out on a mission with other soldiers. Noah forces Danko to take him to Sylar and, when they arrive, shoots the soldier Danko identifies as Sylar in the back of the head. When the corpse continues to bleed out and does not heal, Danko orders his men to capture Noah, who Danko claims has gone insane. However, when the soldiers leave in pursuit, the corpse gets up and shifts back into Sylar. When Danko asks him how he survived while bleeding so much, Sylar says it was all to make his death look realistic.
As Sylar continues to shapeshift, he finds it is harder and harder to regain his form without side effects, including left over body parts like teeth. He also retains personality traits and memories of those he changes into, causing him to go through a literal "identity crisis". When Danko tells him that he needs to leave his "Sylar" identity behind to retain his free pass, Sylar kills the next target on Danko's list, Tom Miller, and takes his power. Further examining the shapeshifting ability, Sylar realizes he is actually absorbing different DNA sequences into his body, causing him to permanently change a little each time he shifts. When Sylar starts to shapeshift in his sleep, Danko tells him he has to find an anchor that will remind him of who he is. To that effect, Sylar, as one of Danko's agents, retrieves the evidence from the homicide of his mother, Virginia Gray. While examining her collection of snow globes, Sylar unknowingly shapeshifts into his mother and begins to have a conversation with himself, showing acute symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. He at first does not realize what is happening and talks to his mother about his encounter with Samson, why his mother lied to Sylar about his lineage, and how he is starting to lose himself. He, as his mother, tries to convince himself that he did not mean to kill her and that he is still special. Danko interrupts when his agents track down Rebel. Sylar gets to Rebel (Micah Sanders) before Danko's agents do and prepares to kill him and take his power. Micah, however, reveals that he understands what Sylar is going through because his mother, Niki Sanders, endured the same thing when her power manifested. Convinced that Sylar is special and the only one capable of saving those with powers, Micah convinces Sylar to join his cause. Sylar, disguised as Micah, tricks Danko and his agents into chasing the wrong person, allowing Micah to escape. Sylar, again talking with "his mother", reveals that her murder was no accident but "Virginia" forgives Sylar anyway, convinced that he can still be whomever he wants to be, including the President. Realizing his opportunity, Sylar breaks into Nathan Petrelli's office and finds a brush containing some of Nathan's DNA. He later appears, as Nathan, at a press conference concerning new plans for change he has for the country and how he soon plans to meet with the President and "shake his hand". Realizing what Sylar is trying to do, Nathan returns to DC from Coyote Sands and confronts Sylar, who reveals he has examined Nathan's life in depth using clairsentience. Expressing pity and determined to become better than Nathan, Sylar prepares to take Nathan's ability when Danko appears and stuns Nathan. Attempting to salvage his operation, Danko orders Sylar to shift back into one of his agents so they can continue hunting specials. When Sylar refuses, Danko stabs him in the back of the head with a knife. However, Sylar recovers, having used his shapeshifting ability to relocate his weak spot.
After framing Danko for the murder of an agent, he takes on Nathan's form and goes to meet the President with Claire in tow. When she discovers the truth, he controls her using the power which he had empathically absorbed from Eric Doyle and talks about how similar they are, both being adopted and both having the ability to live forever, proposing that, given enough time, Claire might come to forgive him and even love him. However, Peter and Nathan then confront him, and in the battle Sylar and Nathan fly out of a window and into another room. Sylar subsequently kills Nathan (after empathically absorbing his power during the fight) and takes on the form of the President's Chief of Staff. However, the President injects him with an elephant tranquilizer, and reveals himself to be Peter, having absorbed Sylar's ability during the fight. In an effort to shut down the program, Angela convinces Matt Parkman to use his telepathy to convince Sylar that he is Nathan, Matt using Angela's memories of Nathan's life to essentially 'plant' Nathan in Sylar's head, his shape-shifting power allowing him to assume Nathan's form while his clairsentience will allow him to subconsciously use objects around him to 'fill in the blanks'. Sylar, as Nathan, talks to the President and convinces him to shut down Building 26 and divert the funds to the new Company that will now be built. Later, Sylar, as Nathan, watches "Sylar's" (in reality James Martin's) body burn at Coyote Sands alongside Noah, Claire, Matt, Angela, Peter, Mohinder, Hiro and Ando.
Redemption
Memory loss
Six weeks later, this Nathan starts to rediscover the other powers he had gained in his old life. Later, following Nathan's confession of being involved in the accidental death of his girlfriend Kelly Houston, her mother, Millie Houston, has him shot and buried in a shallow grave. When healed, Sylar emerges from the ground in his own body, suffering from amnesia. Picked up by the police, he is recognized and accidentally uses his powers to escape. He then encounters the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival" and Samuel, who take him in as one of their own. The carnival is hidden from Sylar's pursuers, and Samuel assures him he is safe in his new "home".
Once Sylar has rested, Samuel proceeds to show him around the circus, showing that everyone at the carnival has an ability. Sylar also meets Lydia, who he immediately hits it off with. Edgar, however, jealously attempts to outshow Sylar with his power, but is easily beaten. Samuel also notices that Sylar's memories are not his (in fact, Nathan Petrelli's). In an effort to awaken Sylar's true personality, Sylar is taken by Damien to the hall of mirrors, where he is forced to look at his past murders, starting with his mother. Repulsed, Sylar is unable to believe himself a monster. Samuel uses this to try and convince Sylar that he is a protector of the circus, and must remove threats such as the officer who attempted to capture him the night before. Sylar is told the officer is at the house of mirrors, and goes there to tell the man to leave. However, the officer shoots at Sylar, forcing an uncontrolled electric blast. Here, Sylar's killer instinct begins to take hold, but Sylar stops himself just in time for Edgar to cut the man into pieces. Later, Samuel formally makes Sylar a part of the circus family, baptizing him and letting him mingle with the others. Sylar and Lydia leave arm in arm for the night, much to Edgar's dismay.
In "Shadowboxing", the persona of Nathan returns, causing him to shapeshift back into Nathan's form while sleeping. Panicking upon finding himself at the carnival, he flies away, and is later shown arriving at Peter's door, asking for help. Arriving for work at his office, Peter and Nathan discover that no one has been looking for Nathan, as he had been on 'vacation' according to Angela Petrelli. The brothers are further surprised when the Haitian appears, and tells Peter to go see a storage facility for the truth of the situation. Here, Nathan and Peter discover the real Nathan's preserved body, which 'Nathan' touches and sees Sylar and Matt Parkman. They head to Texas to see Matt, who is at the hospital, in a coma.
Haunting Matt Parkman
Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body.
Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop.
The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more.
Whole again
Staying over at Peter Petrelli's apartment, the brothers are surprised by Angela, who springs a Thanksgiving dinner on them. Nathan wakes up in time to hear Peter and Angela discussing the discovery of Nathan's body. Although they press her for information, Angela threatens to simply leave if they do not sit down and eat. During the dinner, Angela finally confesses that she had Matt Parkman place Nathan's mind into Sylar's body. During dessert, however, Nathan begins to act oddly, and transforms back into Sylar, happy to be controlling his body once more. He telekinetically traps Peter and Angela, relishing his ability to control himself. After taunting Peter, he begins to scalp Angela, only to have the 'Nathan' persona fight back. Losing control, Sylar transforms back into Nathan, who flees the building to protect his family. Peter devises a plan to eliminate the 'Sylar' persona leaving just Nathan using the ability of The Haitian to erase Sylar's memories. On a rooftop however, "Nathan" confesses to Peter he is not himself and cannot keep fighting off the 'Sylar' persona. Nathan jumps off the building and lands onto a parked car. Peter then sees Sylar heal, get up and wave as he walks away.
Sylar returns to the carnival to face Samuel, but Sylar finds that while he wants to kill, he is unable to make himself do so. His identity in crisis, he makes a deal with Samuel. After absorbing Lydia's power, he tells Samuel to give him a tattoo, and that he would do whatever it said. When he sees the tattoo, he decides that he does not belong at the carnival. The next scene shows him floating outside of Claire Bennet's dorm room window, and his tattoo is a picture of her.
In the episode "Pass/Fail", Sylar kidnaps Claire Bennet's friend, Gretchen Berg so Claire will talk to him in exchange for her friend. Sylar feels like they are very similar: they've never felt in place, they both lost their parents, and they are both immortal. Claire doesn't want to talk to him, and makes him tell her where Gretchen is. Claire finds Gretchen tied up, and they hide in a closet and have a talk. Claire tells Gretchen that Sylar thinks they are alike, and she fears that they might be. She is confused at Sylar's attitude, but resents him for who he is. Gretchen comes to the conclusion that Sylar's powers have isolated him from ever having any relationships. Giving them up might be the only way he could have any connections. Gretchen then shape-shifts back into Sylar. He then goes to Matt Parkman and asks him to take away all his powers away. Matt attempts but fails. Sylar threatens Matt's family and forces him to keep trying. Instead, Matt traps Sylar and his powers deep within the confines of his mind, "somewhere you'll never find them," and he is left alone to live out his worst nightmare: Being all alone. Matt then attempts to seal up Sylar within the walls of his basement. However, Peter Petrelli arrives after having a vision that Sylar will save Emma. Using Matt's power, Peter attempts to bring Sylar out of his nightmare, but ends up trapped in Sylar's mind along with him (The Art of Deception).
In "The Wall", Sylar is repairing endless watches in the empty city when he hears banging. Searching for the source of it, he finds Peter using a pole to get his attention by banging it on the concrete. Sylar is shocked to discover that Peter is real and says there's no way out - he's been searching for three years. Peter reveals that it's actually been three hours and that Sylar is trapped in a nightmare, which he is skeptical to accept, and runs back to his shop. Peter tries to convince him of the truth and tells him he must save Emma. He tries to pull them out of the nightmare but is unsuccessful. Peter avoids Sylar for a month while trapped, and Sylar tries being friendly by giving him a 9th Wonders! comic book. Peter, determined to find a way out, does not understand why Sylar is so resistant to find a way out, and realizes that Sylar really doesn't want to be free. They come across a massive brick wall, the same one Sylar's body is actually trapped behind (in Matt's basement). Peter realizes that the two need to break the wall in order to escape. At first Peter tries to break it alone, but fails. Sylar compares his determination to a memory of Nathan's he possesses which angers Peter. Sylar apologizes for Nathan's murder, but Peter refuses to forgive him and Sylar finally joins Peter in attempting to break down the wall. After years of attempting and failing to damage the wall in the slightest, Sylar is surprised when Peter gives him a copy of The Pillars of the Earth as a gift as a to thank him for keeping him sane all the years of their imprisonment. Sylar admits he always worries Peter will attack him with the sledge-hammer which Peter admits he has contemplated. Sylar realizes that Peter won't let go of his anger out of fear of losing the last remnant of Nathan, and points out to Peter that he has truly changed. Peter finally accepts this fact and afterwards the two are easily able to break a hole in the wall, which frees them from their mental prison. Once freed, Sylar uses telekinesis to free him from his physical one and he and Peter learn that they've only been trapped for half a day in reality. The experience seems to have changed both Sylar and Peter and the two head off to save Emma, but are stopped by Eli and his clones who want to prevent their plans.
In "Brave New World," he and Peter easily defeat Eli and save Matt's life as knocking out the Prime Eli gets rid of his clones who were about to kill Matt. Sylar tries to convince a furious Matt that he's changed, but fails and begins to leave with Peter (who read Eli's mind and learned Samuel's plans). Matt tries to telepathically prevent Sylar from leaving, so Sylar asks Matt to read his mind to show him he has changed. Matt is unable to, although he does let them leave. Peter and Sylar fly to New York where Samuel plans to kill thousands of people. Peter is reluctant, but Sylar convinces Peter to trust him and reminds him that the dream says that Sylar saves Emma. Sylar heads off to the tent to save Emma while Peter goes to defeat Samuel. He finds Emma playing the cello with bloody fingers, and tries to save her by taking the cello, but is taken control of by Eric Doyle, the Puppet Master. Doyle, desperate to be better than Sylar, begins to taunt him. However, controlling and mocking Sylar distracts him from his primary focus on controlling Emma. Once Emma realizes he has loosened his control over her, Emma blasts Doyle with a soundwave through the cello, breaking Doyle's control over Sylar, and giving Sylar the chance to telekinetically grab onto Doyle. Doyle begs him to stop, and asks, "What do you care about this girl, anyway?" Sylar tells him that he's going to save her. Confused, Doyle cries out, "That's not you! You're like me!" Sylar looks at him and calmly says, "No. I'm a hero." After Peter reunites with Emma, she tells him that his friend is taking care of Doyle. Fearing the worst, Peter heads into the tent to find Sylar admiring his new "masterpiece": a dazed Doyle trussed up like a puppet, clad in giant light-bulbs. Sylar plugs the lights in, deviously grins, and says, "I like it!"
Brave New World
Sylar walks with Peter and discusses his rescue of Emma. Sylar explains that he could have easily killed Doyle but didn't and that not killing him and saving Emma felt good to him, showing that Sylar is truly changing and is enjoying being a hero rather than a villain. Peter and Sylar witness Claire climbing the Ferris Wheel to reveal her powers to the world and Sylar comments that it's now a "brave new world."
Alternate timelines
In the first alternate future depicted, set five years ahead in the episode "Five Years Gone", Sylar has gained countless new abilities, including those of Candice Wilmer and D. L. Hawkins. Nathan Petrelli, now the President, concocted a story for the explanation of New York's destruction, which blamed Sylar for the explosion, and he is assumed to be deceased. Sylar is able to use Candice's ability to murder Nathan and assume his identity. As President, he begins a campaign to hunt and exterminate all people with abilities, originally claiming that it will unite the world in grief. However, he really just doesn't want the competition. When Claire Bennet is captured, he has her brought to him, pretending to be her father. However, he simply desires one final ability, hers, which he takes. Later, while giving a speech in the ruins of New York, he is informed by Matt Parkman that Peter, the future Hiro, and Ando are staging an attack to free the present-day Hiro. Upon hearing this, Sylar, still disguised as Nathan, flies away from the crowd. He confronts Peter, revealing himself, and they prepare for battle, the outcome of which is left ambiguous.
In a timeline set four years in the future, as seen in the season three episode "I Am Become Death", Sylar has reassumed his identity of Gabriel Gray and is working to suppress his homicidal hunger for the sake of his son, Noah, who lives with him and Mr. Muggles in Claire's former home in Costa Verde. He is visited by the Peter Petrelli of the present, who is intent on learning how to activate the intuitive ability he has absorbed from him so that he can understand the complexities of changing the timeline. Gabriel is initially reluctant, resisting telepathic compulsion to teach Peter, but ultimately relents and tutors him after painting a precognitive picture of the Earth exploding, despite warning Peter that with the intuitive ability comes the same homicidal hunger he has been trying to resist. Shortly afterwards, a team led by Claire Bennet storms the house intent on killing Peter, and in the ensuing fight, Noah is killed. Enraged and grief-stricken, Gabriel loses control of his radiation ability and releases a nuclear detonation, destroying Costa Verde and killing over 200,000 people. It remains unknown whether or not he survived the explosion.
In the original timeline, Sylar kills Charlie Andrews and takes her power of eidetic memory (Seven Minutes to Midnight). In season four, Hiro goes back in time and prevents this, actually enlisting Sylar's help to save her from a blood clot (Once Upon a Time in Texas).
Powers and abilities
Sylar's base power, as described by Chandra Suresh, is "intuitive aptitude", the ability to innately understand and manipulate patterns within complex systems, which initially manifests as a talent for repairing timepieces. As revealed in "One of Us, One of Them", this power comes with a nearly insatiable hunger for "understanding", which, in Sylar's case, specifically refers to craving the powers of others, driving him to kill other superpowered humans to understand their powers and make them his own. Despite the strength of this hunger, two episodes have shown that it can be resisted or satiated: in the alternate future of "Five Years Gone", Sylar has taken on so many abilities that he simply desires to get rid of all of his potential "competition" (other superhumans, to be exact); in the future of "I Am Become Death", he has resumed his identity as Gabriel Gray and denies his hunger for the sake of his son. In "Once Upon a Time in Texas" it is revealed that Sylar can also identify deformities in people such as Charlie's blood clot and Hiro's brain tumor.
Sylar's intuitive aptitude allows him to deduce the workings of the powers of others; by examining the brain of his victim, he is able to find the brain's connection to the ability, and once he finds said connection, he can immediately replicate the power himself. The exact mechanics behind this are unknown, though it is theorized numerous times by many characters that DNA alteration/infusions is what allows him to obtain abilities. Yet, when the process is shown, Sylar only seems to touch the part of the brain that is the source of the ability and immediately replicates it. Sylar cannot acquire an ability from a person who has been dead awhile, even if their brains are intact though the process he uses to acquire abilities kills his victims before he actually gains the ability. In "Fallout", Noah Bennet theorizes that Sylar's additional powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own which, as a side effect, has driven him insane.
Of all the powers Sylar has acquired, the most prominently used is telekinesis, which is the first power he took. In contrast to the limited abilities Brian Davis displayed, Sylar's skills are far more advanced; he exhibits both fine control (precisely cutting open the skulls of his victims) and sheer force (flipping a police van), can enhance his own strength and durability to superhuman levels, and can control a person's motor skills in a manner similar to Eric Doyle's puppet mastery. Tests done on Sylar by Bennet's associate Hank show no overt signs of powers other than telekinesis; while their tests show that he possesses other powers, they are unable to identify what they are. In "The Hard Part", Sylar demonstrates he can use at least two of his acquired abilities at the same time.
During his first killing spree, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
After being injected with the Shanti virus by the Company, Sylar loses all of his abilities. After he is cured at the end of the second season, he only regains his abilities of intuitive aptitude and telekinesis. Sylar's empathic mimicry, which Arthur says he has had all along, is also present. In the third and fourth seasons, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
In "It's Coming", Sylar learns how to gain abilities without removing a person's brain, obtaining Elle Bishop's power of electric manipulation by empathizing with her and convincing her to let go of her anger. This empathy allowed him to retain the use of Brian Davis' telekinesis after being cured of the virus, due to the guilt he felt over his death. Arthur explains that Sylar possessed this ability all along. Despite possessing this ability, he has returned to killing to obtain new powers, though he later uses this method to obtain James Martin's shapeshifting ability, Nathan Petrelli's ability to fly, and also Lydia's empathy.
As a side effect of the use of the shapeshifting ability when used in combination with his acquired psychometry, his mind has begun to fracture into the different personas of those whom he has shapeshifted into, and residual physical characteristics have started to appear, such as his adopted mother when he came into contact with the dried blood on the scissors he killed her with. As stated in "I Am Sylar", his "Achilles' heel" in the back of his head has been relocated due to his continued shapeshifting, making him harder to stop. Aside from superhuman abilities, Sylar is very intelligent and manipulative and possesses decent hand-to-hand combat skills, as seen when he fights Peter Petrelli.
Reception
Sylar was named one of the best new villains by Entertainment Weekly. Sylar was also named the best villain of 2007 by IGN. UGO also ranked Sylar 6th on their list of top 50 TV characters.
In other media
Zachary Quinto provides the voice of a Robot Chicken-parodied Sylar in the episode "Bionic Cow". In it, he kills a man named "Uncle Glen", who is apparently able to remove his fingers, failing to realize that this is a simple sleight of hand trick to impress young children. He instead inherits Glen's power of "explosive diarrhea," remarking that "every once in a while, this power backfires".
Notes
References
External links
Sylar on the Heroes Wiki
adoptee characters in television
fictional attempted suicides
fictional characters from New York City
fictional presidents of the United States
fictional serial killers
fictional shapeshifters
fictional telekinetics
fictional United States senators
Heroes (American TV series) characters
American male characters in television
television characters introduced in 2006
television supervillains
fi:Luettelo televisiosarjan Heroes hahmoista#Sylar / Gabriel Gray | true | [
"Matthew \"Matt\" Parkman, Sr., is a fictional character of the NBC superhero serial drama Heroes, played by Greg Grunberg. Matt is a police officer, who works for the LAPD and NYPD in Seasons One and Two respectively. He is a telepath; his ability allows him to read minds, and eventually extends into aspects of mind control, as stated by Bob Bishop.\n\nPlot\n\nGenesis\nMatt Parkman is a police officer with the LAPD. He tried to become a detective, but had flunked the exam three times due to dyslexia. Parkman is a mind-reader; he can hear the thoughts of people around him. He first realizes this after hearing the thoughts of Molly Walker, a girl who was hiding from a serial killer named Sylar.\n\nHe is nearly arrested by his FBI partner, but then is able to later prove his ability to read thoughts. He is then offered a position in the investigation. Things turn dangerous when a man who appears to be Sylar shows up. Stopping the man from harming Molly, Matt tries to comfort her while Audrey, the FBI agent, gives chase. Ultimately, the man escapes, but not before displaying apparent telekinesis and standing after being shot. Later, Matt comes home to his wife, Janice.\n\nMatt escapes to a bar after a heated argument with his wife and hears the thoughts of the various patrons. However, when he encounters a patron, a tall silent black man, whose mind he cannot read, the other voices fade out. The man sits and stares at Matt until Matt falls unconscious.\n\nMatt wakes up strapped to a table with Mr. Bennet standing over him. Bennet explains that they had to drug him, and that he works for a secret company. Matt tries to read Bennet's mind, but is unable due to The Haitian, who was the man at the bar. Matt is still able to discern the name of Bennet's daughter, Claire, impressing Bennet with his developing power. The Haitian then wipes Matt's memories of being drugged and abducted by Bennet.\n\nMatt wakes up a day later, suffering from what he thinks is a hangover. His wife Janice tells him he has been missing and was worried. He uses his ability to listen to her thoughts and give her everything she wants, healing the rift between the two of them.\n\nThe following day at work, Matt and his partner at the FBI run down a possible lead on Sylar after discovering a charred corpse with a fingerprint. Instead of Sylar, they find a man with radioactive powers. In a stand off, Matt defuses the situation by allowing the man to speak with his comatose wife. At the end of the day, Matt is informed by his old partner that he was being given another chance to apply for a detective position. Matt happens to read the man's mind, discovering that he is sleeping with Janice. Matt punches his former partner and is consequently suspended.\n\nUnaware of this, Audrey asks Matt for assistance in interviewing Ted Sprague, the man who radiates nuclear power. Matt talks with him and discovers that, like himself, Ted was abducted from a bar after seeing the Haitian and woke up later with amnesia. He further discovers similar marks on their necks. Then, Homeland Security takes Ted into custody before Matt can learn more, but Ted tells Matt to \"find the Haitian.\" Audrey later notifies Matt that Ted has escaped. Matt and Audrey then investigate a crime scene at Union Wells High in Odessa, Texas, where they suspect Sylar was intercepted by two people nearby. They don't consider Peter Petrelli a suspect in Jackie's death, but interrogate him and learn that Sylar's target was the cheerleader Claire Bennet.\n\nMatt later attempts to read Claire's mind when she is being interviewed. However, he is unable to hear anything except static, which also happened to him before he was abducted. Suspicious, he and Audrey stake out Primatech Paper and Matt recognizes The Haitian. He attempts to overhear Mr. Bennet or the Haitian's thoughts and is able to pick up just one word: \"Sylar.\"\n\nFor the next two weeks, Matt keeps a close watch on Primatech Paper, but he is seen on cameras. Finally, in \"Godsend,\" Matt and Audrey organize a raid of Primatech. When they find nothing, their boss is very upset and threatens to fire Audrey. Fearful of losing her job, she tells Matt their partnership is over. Matt confronts Bennet, telling him he knows he was kidnapped and will make Bennet pay.\n\nMatt faces a review board that questions his details of the past few weeks. They find his references to a \"super-powered serial killer\" almost insane. Matt recants his statement after hearing it will save his job. However, Matt is suspended for six months. At home, Matt takes a job as a bodyguard for money. His assignment is Aron Malsky, a man who stole $2 million from Linderman as restitution. Upon learning the jeweler is on Linderman's payroll, they try to run, but Jessica comes to kill Aron for Linderman. After a fight, Jessica throws Matt out of a window and onto a sign girder before proceeding to tear Aron in half. Malsky had hidden diamonds in the ceiling shortly before he died. Matt finds them and keeps them.\n\nIn \"Unexpected\", Matt receives a call from Ted, who wants to meet Matt along with Hana Gitelman. Hana informs Matt of Primatech and the connection to their abductions and the markings on their necks. Ted wants to confront Mr. Bennet, but needs Matt's help. Matt agrees. Matt and Ted confront Mr. Bennet and his family at gunpoint as the family was coming home. However, things turn sour and Matt is soon captured again.\n\nIn \"Parasite\", it is revealed that Matt is a prisoner of Thompson and his associates. Then in \".07%\", Bennet helps Matt and Ted escape. Over breakfast, they solidify their plans to travel to New York City to knock out a tracking system. In \"The Hard Part\", Matt, Bennet and Ted continue their mission. They later are shown walking at Kirby Plaza in New York City, where Bennet and Claire are reunited. The group then splits in two, with Peter, Claire and Ted going to a remote town in Nebraska, and Matt and Bennet continuing with their mission to destroy the tracking system. Matt gets them where they need to go.\n\nWhile waiting for the elevator, they bump into Jessica and her husband, D.L. Bennet and Matt then go to where the tracking system is, only to find Thompson waiting. Matt saves Bennet from death, and Bennet kills Thompson. The two then find the tracking system, surprised to find Molly Walker. Matt protests killing her, but Bennet says it must be done. They argue with Bennet until Matt is knocked out by Mohinder from behind.\n\nIn the finale, \"How to Stop an Exploding Man\", Matt finds Sylar and shoots him. However, Sylar reverses the bullets and gravely wounds Matt.\n\nGenerations\nIn \"Four Months Later...,\" it is revealed Matt divorced Janice and that he is now a detective for the NYPD, and is taking care of Molly Walker in Mohinder's apartment. He learns Molly is having nightmares of a dangerous man who can see her when she thinks of him. In \"Lizards\", Matt is investigating the murder of Kaito Nakamura. He interrogates Angela Petrelli and learns that someone may have murdered Kaito for revenge; but Angela refuses to be interrogated further. Matt later saves Angela from a mysterious attacker. In \"The Kindness of Strangers, Matt finds out that his father is part of The Company and that he is the dangerous man frightening Molly. Molly tries to find him for Matt, but she ends up in a coma.\n\nIn \"Fight or Flight\" Matt and Nathan track down Matt's father. When they find him, he reveals he is also a telepath, and is also about to be murdered. At first he seems sorry for having left Matt as a child but ends up tricking Matt and Nathan in separate illusions. Matt is trapped in jail, confronted by his ex-wife and the baby she gave birth to after the divorce. It is indicated that while she said that the baby she was having wasn't Matt's, he knew that this wasn't true. Matt is able to telepathically talk to Nathan and escape the illusion, finding that Bob is set to be killed.\n\nIn \"Out of Time\", Matt discovers he is able to manipulate people and uses it to find the last unknown survivor of the photograph by \"interrogating\" Angela Petrelli. He also finally defeats his father because he learns that like his father he is able to control all aspects of the brain. He manages to tap into this and enter the nightmare Molly's trapped in and summon his father into it. He realizes it's his father's own nightmare and after a battle of wills leaves it with Molly and uses his powers to trap his father in his own nightmare. In \"Powerless\", he goes with Nathan to intercept Peter and Adam Monroe, in hopes of stopping them from releasing a deadly virus that would kill 93% of the world's population. Before leaving to confront them, Angela warns Matt that if they cannot stop Peter, that he'll have to kill him. Upon meeting Peter at Primatech, Matt attempts to compel Peter to stop Adam. Though this proves unsuccessful, Nathan is later able to convince Peter that Adam has tricked him. Together, they manage to stop the virus, and resolve to reveal their secret, and the Company, to the world. Nathan enlists Matt's help to use his powers in convincing the media to hear him out. At the conference, Matt is present when Nathan is gunned down before he can reveal their secrets, but is unable to locate the assailant immediately after the attack.\n\nVillains\nIn \"The Second Coming\", after Nathan is shot, Matt and Peter chase the assailant, a future version of Peter, finding nothing. Matt later confronts the future Peter, who is disguised as his present self, when he becomes suspicious of his actions. Future Peter then removes his disguise, confesses that he is from the future and shot Nathan, and teleports Matt to an unknown location in Africa, because he knows too much. In \"The Butterfly Effect\", he is rescued by Usutu, who paints the future, particularly Parkman's life. He learns Parkman's name by reading it off his badge.\n\nIn \"I Am Become Death\", Matt sees the future through a dream caused by Usutu. In the dream, he finds himself still living with Molly in the same apartment as he did in the second season, only this time accompanied with another daughter, called Daniella, and the baby's mother, Daphne. Matt expresses his concern of Daphne still working for Pinehearst when she comes by to ask Molly where the present Peter fled to. Matt is next seen in awed silence watching a news report on the nuclear explosion in Costa Verde (caused by Sylar), with Molly, worried that Daphne was caught in the blast. Daphne arrives home seconds later with a smile, but gasps that she wasn't fast enough before collapsing in Matt's arms. Matt then wakes up to realize that he never left Usutu or the desert, and realizes that he must find Daphne to keep her from suffering the same fate she did in his dream. Usutu tells him that only Matt can find his way, and that he must follow his spirit guide. Matt is confused, but then notices the tortoise he saw right before meeting Usutu, and realizes it is his spirit guide. He is then seen following the tortoise as it moves slowly through the desert.\n\nIn \"Dying of the Light\", Matt has arrived at an airport with the tortoise. He is greeted by Daphne, who is shocked that he knows her name. He tells her that they are soulmates, which she doesn't believe, instead offering him a job at Pinehearst. She tells him to wait for her. After a while he decides to go ahead and leave. Daphne returns in time to stop him. She says he's a good guy and the people at Pinehearst aren't. She advises him to stay away. He tells her she should keep away from them as well. She tells him that she can't and leaves.\n\nIn \"Eris Quod Sum\", Daphne is directed by Arthur Petrelli to kill Matt after he does not come to Pinehearst. She has the gun pointed at Matt, but drops it. Knox, however, has followed her, and after knocking Daphne unconscious rips his hand through Matt, apparently killing him. After he leaves, this proves to be a dream sequence manifested by Matt. However, soon after this Daphne receives a call from Arthur revealing that she is fooling Matt into trusting her for an unknown purpose.\n\nIn \"It's Coming\", he and Daphne go to Primatech for help and find Angela in a coma. Matt decides to use his powers to try to wake her up. After Daphne supposedly goes to find a nurse but in reality alerts Arthur to his plans, Matt enters Angela's mind like he entered Molly's to save her from Maury. In Angela's mind, he finds her handcuffed to a chair and she tells him to leave as Arthur is too powerful. As he tries to free her, Arthur shows up disguised as Daphne and stabs him. When this wound manifests physically, the real Daphne grabs on to him and manages to get him to pull her into Angela's mind. Once there, Arthur reveals that Daphne had betrayed him, but while Daphne admits this, she repents, saying she loves Matt and the two embrace. Angela manages to convince Arthur to let her go and Matt pulls himself, Daphne and Angela back to the real world, finally waking her up. His psychic wound heals at this point. He then encounters Peter and attacks him for sending Matt to Africa, but Peter is able to convince him, after Matt verifies telepathically, that it wasn't him. Matt is present when Angela reveals that there's a catalyst needed for the formula and Claire realizes that it could be her.\n\nIn \"The Eclipse\", Matt (like everyone else) loses his powers thanks to the eclipse, and Daphne goes home. When he goes to visit her, he discovers that Daphne had trouble walking before she gained her powers. He is later approached by Ando and Hiro, who want him to restore Hiro's memory after it was erased by Arthur, but he is unable to do so due to Hiro's inability to speak English, and aids them in finding a way to restore his memories by looking through 9th Wonders comic books. When the eclipse is over, he helps Daphne reconcile with her father.\n\nIn \"Dual\", Matt, Daphne, and Ando discover that Hiro is trapped in the past, and Daphne steals a vial of Mohinder's superpower-granting formula so Ando can give himself powers and save him. Instead of gaining Hiro's power of space-time manipulation, however, Ando gains the ability to enhance the powers of other evolved humans, which enhances Matt's telepathy to the point where he can hear every thought in the city, and enhances Daphne's speed to the point where she can travel through time, which they use to rescue Hiro. Later, they successfully steal the formula and destroy it.\n\nFugitives\nMatt is seen trying to live a normal life with Daphne, as a bodyguard. He begins seeing Usutu in his apartment, who tells him that he is becoming a prophet, like himself. Although Usutu is clearly dead, and he himself states he is an illusion, it is unclear how he is interacting with Matt. Matt then begins drawing the future like Usutu and Isaac Mendez. He is captured when Claire comes to warn him of Nathan rounding up the rest of the superhumans, and is seen on the plane with the rest when it goes down. Matt survives the crash and escapes together with Mohinder and Hiro Nakamura. He gets a vision from Usutu and leads his friends to a nearby trailer. There, he starts to draw under the spiritual guidance of Usutu. One of the pictures reveals Daphne getting shot in her shoulder near the plane crash, even though she wasn't on the plane. Daphne herself has run together with Ando Masahasi to the crash site to find him. After they find each other, Matt and Daphne embrace but she ends up shot by Danko's soldiers, just as depicted in Matt's paintings. Matt mind controls one of the soldiers, forcing him to shoot his comrades. The distraction allows Matt to escape with Hiro, Ando and Mohinder, leaving a presumably dead Daphne behind. Matt and Mohinder reunite with Peter Petrelli, Ando and Hiro and make plans what to do next.\n\nAt the end of \"Building 26\" and continued in \"Cold Wars\", Matt is seen kidnapping a drugged Noah Bennet at a bar along with Peter and Mohinder. The trio then take Noah to a Motel and Matt attempts to access Noah's memories about the Government's initiative and his meetings with Nathan Petrelli and The Hunter. He discovers that Bennet has warned Mohinder about the attacks, which leads to a fight between them with Mohinder, but then Bennet reveals that Daphne is alive and under custody.\n\nMatt is subsequently captured by the government while trying to rescue Daphne. With Peter having sent a tape to the national news of the government illegally loading up American civilians, The Hunter states that he needs something to blame posthumans for. He drugs Matt and straps explosives to him, pushing him out of a van and behind the Capitol Building. The explosives are disarmed when Nathan intervenes, however, and the government apprehends Matt once again.\n\nIn \"Cold Snap\", Matt, Mohinder, Tracy, and Daphne escape from the facility with help from Rebel. Matt takes Daphne with him to a hospital where she is treated for her gunshot wound. He enters Daphne's mind in her last moment of life, creating a fictional storybook ending for her in Paris to make her happy. However, she tells him to let go.\n\nIn \"Turn and Face the Strange\", Matt attempts to fulfill his lust for revenge against Danko by revealing the truth to Danko's girlfriend, who is unaware of what he really does for a living. Matt then prepares to kill her but cannot bring himself to do it. With nothing to live for, he allows Danko to fire at him. However, Hiro freezes time and rescues Matt. Matt meets his son and is last seen with Matt Parkman Jr. in the back of a car as Hiro and Ando enter.\n\nIn \"I Am Sylar\", Hiro and Ando try to convince Matt to join them bringing down Building 26, but he refuses as he wants to be there for his kid and feels he must retrieve Matt Jr. to Janice back in LA. Once there, he is ought to help Janice and Jr. escape HLS agents and eventually have a life together as a family, but then he realizes than he must help Hiro and Ando so they all will be safe from Building 26. As the agents get inside the house, Matt makes them believe nobody is there.\n\nIn \"An Invisible Thread\", Matt is seen heading to Washington D.C. to join Hiro and Ando; once in the bus stop, he meets Angela who finally convinces him about the importance of Nathan, and that he will save him. They both enter the battle room to find Nathan's dead body. Later, when Sylar is drugged and Peter and Claire are sent away, Angela and Noah convince Matt to brainwash Sylar making him believe he is the real Nathan, due to the fact that he got his appearance and memories, because they all need him to stop the hunt of posthumans. Along with Angela and Noah, they are the only ones that knows the truth about Nathan being dead and Sylar alive impersonating him. He is among the people who witness \"Sylar\" (James Martin) being cremated at Coyote Sands.\n\nRedemption\nIn \"Orientation\", Matt is living a comfortable life with his wife and son. Ever since he forced Sylar to turn into Nathan, Matt has sworn off using his power. When Angela calls asking for help with Sylar, Matt refuses. Later, Matt begins experiencing a hallucination of Sylar, who tells him that when Matt forced his way into Sylar's mind, a part of the serial killer latched on to Matt's own brain. Sylar wants his body back, which Matt says he won't let happen. Sylar begins to harass Matt to force him to lose control and use his power. Matt has an outburst at his addiction meeting (where he refers to his power in vague terms as his \"addiction\") and later on when Matt is interrogating a suspect. Finally, Sylar goads Matt into using his power to drive away the handsome water delivery boy, because Matt was jealous of the delivery boy's relationship with his wife and son.\n\nIn \"Ink\", Matt thinks his one use of his power was a slip up, and turns in his 30-day sobriety chip. Sylar continues to taunt Matt, who says that he will ignore him since Sylar has no real power locked up in Matt's head. While investigating the house of a suspected drug dealer, Sylar points out to Matt that his suspect is hiding in a closet with a gun. Matt is stunned when Sylar turns out to be correct. After the suspect is tied up, Matt's partner checks upstairs, and Sylar points out a pink stuffed bunny in the next room, hinting that a little girl has been kidnapped. Matt finds a ransom note, confirming this fear. Matt reads the suspect's mind and finds the girl's body. He goes berserk and starts pounding the suspect. His partner re-enters the room and demands to know what Matt is doing. Matt tries to explain, but suddenly the bunny, ransom note, and body are gone. Sylar taunts that he used Matt's own power against him, and made him see things that weren't there, and Matt realizes that Sylar does have power over him. Matt's partner is planning to call him in, but Matt, not wanting his life to be ruined, uses his power to convince his partner that the beating of the suspect was justified, and causes him to call it in as such. Sylar gives Matt an ultimatum: either give his body back, or Sylar will continually ruin Matt's life.\n\nMatt still refuses to return Sylar to his body, and in \"Strange Attractors\", Sylar takes control of Matt's body while he's making love to Janice. Matt, fearing that this new development will put his family in danger, reveals what is happening to him to Janice and she offers to take their son and leave to let Matt deal with it. Matt discovers that drinking alcohol appears to injure Sylar, and quickly downs several glasses. Sylar finally appears to disappear, and Matt blacks out right as Janice returns with Matt's partner from the force. Matt awakens hours later, and talks with his wife and partner, vowing to never let this happen to him again. However, it is revealed that Sylar took control of Matt's body while he was blacked out, and now is controlling him completely.\n\nIn \"Shadowboxing\", Matt attempts suicide by cop to prevent Sylar from taking revenge on the people who separated his mind from his body; he is last shown in an ambulance as they try to revive him. In \"Brother's Keeper\", he is healed by Peter and explains the situation, but Nathan brushes up against Matt's hand during a struggle with a guard, allowing Sylar to transfer back in. Simultaneously horrified at Nathan's plight and relieved at his own, Matt uses his telepathy to sneak out of the hospital.\n\nIn \"The Art of Deception\", Matt is confronted by Sylar upon coming home from the store and is shocked, believing Sylar is somehow in his head again. However, it is Sylar in his own body again and Sylar, wanting to become human again, demands that Matt put a block on his powers. Matt is unable to do anything due to feedback, but is able to read Sylar's mind enough to tell that he's actually serious. Sylar ends up threatening Janice (who finally realizes who he is), but Matt talks him down and gets him to allow Janice to leave. At Janice's suggestion, Matt decides to get rid of Sylar for good and pretends to block his powers while in reality he traps Sylar in his own worst nightmare: a world where he is completely alone with no powers and an hour in the real world equals a year there. After erasing Sylar's memory of what he did, Matt starts to brick Sylar in behind his wall when Peter arrives looking for Sylar. Peter copies Matt's powers again and, reading his mind, learns what he did. Needing Sylar's help, Peter enters Sylar's mind to free him against Matt's warnings that he might get trapped. Later, Matt fully bricks up Sylar, but leaves Peter's unconscious body lying against the wall.\n\nIn \"Brave New World,\" Matt is in his kitchen looking through the refrigerator when there's what sounds like an explosion, unknown to him the awakened Sylar breaking free of his prison. Matt is confronted by several Eli clones and tries to use his powers to stop them, but is unable to as only the real Eli has a mind that can be manipulated. Outnumbered and pretty much powerless, Matt is overpowered and his knee dislocated before the Elis' prepare to kill him with kitchen knives. At the last second, the clones disappear as Peter and Sylar defeat the real Eli and the other clones and knock out the Prime Eli which gets rid of the clones. Matt is angered that Peter freed Sylar and refuses to help Peter by reading Eli's mind, so Peter does it himself and learns Samuel's terrible plans. Peter tries to take off with Sylar, but Matt mentally commands Sylar to stay and he and Peter try to convince Matt that Sylar has changed, going so far as to have Matt read his mind. Matt says that while Sylar's mind wants to change, he can't tell what his heart wants, but gives him a chance and orders him and Peter out. Alone with the unconscious Eli, Matt brainwashes him into turning against Samuel which ultimately helps defeat him as Eli's support helps cause the carnies to turn on Samuel and strip him of his powers.\n\nHeroes Reborn\nIn \"June 13 - Part 2\", Matt is brought in by Harris to find out where Claire is. To Noah's shock, Matt now works for Erica and is selling his power to the highest bidder. While Erica won't save everyone, she will save some and that's all Matt cares about now. He reads Noah's mind and learns of Claire's death in childbirth but Caspar Abraham erases Noah's memories before Matt can get any more. Caspar knocks out Harris and while Matt has the two at his mercy, he can't bring himself to harm them and lets them both go.\n\nAlternate futures\n In the alternate future of \"Five Years Gone\", in which New York City is destroyed by a nuclear explosion, Matt is seen working as Director of the Department of Homeland Security and is in direct contact with the now President Nathan Petrelli (who is actually Sylar in disguise). In this future Matt is seen as being a much darker and cynical man who hunts down those with abilities and arrests them in exchange for the protection of his son. He kills Hana Gitelman, Mr. Bennet and Future Hiro. At the end of the episode, he is shocked to find that Sylar had been using his powers to disguise himself as Nathan. He still cares about his family however and has a much greater deal of control over his powers, being able to \"rip out\" memories instead of passively overhearing thoughts.\n In the alternate future of \"I Am Become Death\", in which abilities are publicly available, Matt is living with his adoptive daughter Molly, his wife Daphne, and his own infant daughter. He attempts to talk his wife out of tracking down Peter. He watches Daphne die in his arms when she returns after trying to escape the nuclear explosion in Costa Verde.\n\nPowers and abilities\nMatt is a telepath, able to read and manipulate the thoughts of others. In the episode \"Out of Time\", Bob states that Matt, like his father, should be able to control all aspects of the mind, including thoughts and senses, with practice. Matt originally could not activate his at will, causing him to pick up the thoughts of all those in close proximity to him. He gradually learns to elicit specific thoughts from people, and eventually learns to compel individuals to do as he wishes.\n\nThough Matt's power enables him to read the minds of most people, it can be defeated through various methods. The Haitian's power is able to nullify Matt's, protecting himself and those in his vicinity. Other telepaths, such as Peter Petrelli and Maury Parkman, are also able to shield their minds. Finally, since Matt only speaks English, he cannot understand thoughts in other languages; Noah Bennet is able to defeat Matt's power by thinking in Japanese, which also happens with the child-minded Hiro who didn't know English. Although in \"Cold Wars\" Matt was able to overcome this while displaying a new ability with his telepathy where he was able to make his victims relive past events by going through their memory, while doing this to his victims such as Noah Bennet, it causes them pain. However, this is merely due to them resisting his efforts and it is shown that if the person who he's doing it to allows him to do it of their own free will, there's no pain.\n\nAn interesting aspect of Matt's mind-reading is that it allows him to read any thoughts going through a person's mind - at one point, Matt read Jessica Sanders' mind and heard Niki in there as well. Jessica was surprised (\"You heard Niki?\").\n\nHe is able to enter the minds of various individuals in different episodes, including Nathan Petrelli, Molly Walker, and Angela Petrelli. When Maury traps Matt inside Molly's \"nightmare world\", Matt is able to bring his father in with them and subsequently leave with Molly, trapping Maury in his own nightmare (though Maury escapes). He later enters Angela's mind to free her after Arthur Petrelli traps her in her own mind and succeeds with Daphne's help, gaining the ability to pull people in with him at the same time. Apparently to free someone trapped in their own mind, someone has to enter it as Peter later has to do the same thing to free Sylar when Matt traps him in a nightmare. In \"Cold Snap\" he enters Daphne's mind to give her a fairytale ending while she dies.\n\nMatt's ability to compel others is not as honed as his father's, though he demonstrates the ability at various points.\n\nMatt can place suggestions in others through telepathic commands as a form of mind control, but those aware of what he is doing can resist. In \"Cautionary Tales\", Angela Petrelli initially resists his commands, though she experiences a nosebleed and eventually succumbs.\n\nIn \"Eris Quod Sum\", Matt is able to make the villain Knox see an illusion of Daphne and Matt himself dying, as well as momentarily immobilize him physically. In \"Cold Snap\" and \"I Am Sylar\" he is able to make agents ignore him and company, making them believe there was no one at the place.\n\nIn Volume Four, the combination of the growth of his telepathy and the precognitive visions induced by Usutu grants him access to the \"same plane of consciousness\" that other precognitive characters access for their own powers, allowing him to draw the future. Unlike Isaac Mendez, he didn't show any artistic skills until gaining this ability, which also happens to other characters.\n\nIn \"The Art of Deception\", Matt tries to use his telepathy to remove Sylar's powers by putting a mental block on them. Due to feedback, he is unable to, but is able to read Sylar's mind enough to know that he is actually serious about this. Ultimately Matt uses his powers to trap Sylar in a nightmare where he has no powers and is alone, similar to what his father once did to Molly Walker. In this nightmare one hour in the real world equals one year in the nightmare. Sylar is ultimately freed from his nightmare by Peter Petrelli who enters his mind and frees him like Matt did for Molly Walker and Angela Petrelli.\n\nReferences\n\nHeroes (American TV series) characters\nFictional characters from Los Angeles\nFictional bodyguards\nFictional telepaths\nDyslexia in fiction\nFictional Department of Homeland Security personnel\nFictional New York City Police Department detectives\nFictional characters with precognition\nFictional hypnotists and indoctrinators\nFictional illusionists\nFictional prophets\nTelevision characters introduced in 2006\nFictional Los Angeles Police Department detectives\nFictional characters with dyslexia\nFictional attempted suicides\nMale characters in television\n\npl:Postacie z serialu Herosi#Matt Parkman\nfi:Luettelo televisiosarjan Heroes hahmoista#Matt Parkman",
"\"I Am Sylar\" is the twenty-fourth and penultimate episode of the third season of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes and fifty-eighth episode overall. The episode aired on April 20, 2009. It is the penultimate episode of season 3, and volume 4.\n\nPlot \nThe episode opens with the scene from the previous episode, showing Angela Petrelli and the group seeing Nathan Petrelli, actually Sylar, giving a press conference on TV. The episode then recounts what happened 18 hours earlier.\n\nSylar has an identity crisis after being forced by Emile Danko to impersonate an agent. Danko suggests Sylar find an \"anchor\" to remind himself of who he really is. Sylar finds one in his late mother's effects, and begins having conversations with her by taking her form. Sylar acquires an ability from a target of the agency, who had been contacted by \"Rebel\". Danko's agency tracks Rebel to an abandoned warehouse. Sylar reaches Micah first. Micah, however, offers help with his identity crisis. Sylar protects him, leading Danko's men away, and faking Micah's death. After Micah witnesses Sylar in a conversation with his mother, Sylar sends him off; before leaving, Micah proposes Sylar turn into Nathan Petrelli to convince the President to terminate the agency.\n\nMatt Parkman contacts his ex-wife, Janice Parkman, telling her their son is safe. Hiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi plan to raid Building 26, and want Matt to join them, though he doesn't want to abandon his son. As he and his son reunite with Janice, Matt telepathically discovers Danko's men stationed outside her house, and tells Janice to leave. Initially intending to go with them, Matt changes his mind after seeing his police badge, deciding to help Hiro and Ando. As agents enter the house, Matt uses his telepathy to hide his family.\n\nHiro and Ando head to Isaac Mendez's old loft, where they plan to sound the alarm for Ando to be captured and Hiro to follow the men back to their headquarters. Soon Danko's men attack; Hiro stops time, but finds Ando unaffected, as he was touching him. Hiro tricks him into getting hit with taser darts, and dresses as one of the commandos to accompany them with the captured Ando to Building 26. On the way, Hiro slips up, forcing Ando to disable everyone in the van. They use a G.P.S. device to discover Building 26. Outside the building, Hiro attempts to stop time, but gets a headache and a large nosebleed. Elsewhere, Noah Bennet, Claire Bennet, and Angela Petrelli are stopped at a roadblock. A team of commando units moves in on them. Mohinder Suresh, still at Coyote Sands investigating his father's work, is also captured by Danko's agents.\n\nSylar visits Nathan's office, and finds his toothbrush, allowing him to contact his DNA and morph into him. Sylar then gives his press conference on TV. Nathan decides to confront him, and Peter also goes. Nathan meets Sylar in his office, where Sylar claims he will be a better version of him. As Sylar is about to kill Nathan, Nathan is shot with a taser dart by Danko, who orders Sylar to return to work as his agent, which Sylar refuses. Danko impales Sylar in the back of the head with a knife, but as he is about to call a clean-up crew, Sylar rises and removes the knife, unaffected.\n\nCritical reception\nSteve Heisler of The A.V. Club rated this episode a F.\n\nRobert Canning of IGN gave the episode 7.5 out of 10.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nBeaming Beeman - Season 3, Episode 24 - Director's blog on the filming of this episode\n\nHeroes (season 3) episodes\n2009 American television episodes"
]
|
[
"Sylar",
"Haunting Matt Parkman",
"What is Haunting Matt Parkman?",
"Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar,",
"What does Sylar do to Matt Parkman?",
"Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself.",
"How does Parkman react to the haunting?",
"Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances,",
"What kind of consequences begin when Sylar takes control of Matt?",
"Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep.",
"Does Matt find out about Sylar's actions with Matt's wife?",
"Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar"
]
| C_c8edc7ae36c4408382b9e8fe46a52356_0 | Was the exorcise successful? | 6 | Was the Sylar exorcise successful? | Sylar | Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body. Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop. The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he is is shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more. CANNOTANSWER | Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. | Sylar (Gabriel Gray) is a fictional character and a primary antagonist of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers. He served as the primary villain of the first season and then as a recurring antagonist. Over the course of seasons two, three and four, the writers depicted Sylar attempting at various times and under different circumstances to become a hero or curb his desire to kill, undergoing relapses at various stages. In the series' penultimate episode he experienced over three years of penitence in a mental prison, and later identifies himself as a hero in what became the show's series finale due to cancellation.
TV Guide included him in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".
Concept and creation
Sylar was originally created as a cannibal who ate his victims' brains and "digested their power"; however, in order to avoid the potential silliness and zombie associations, the producers deliberately made this fact vague in the series. In an interview with series creator Tim Kring, it is asked if Sylar eats brains, and he merely states "That's the popular speculation. There's a connection between the powers and the brain, and Sylar has found it." The question is addressed in the season three premiere, when he is depicted in the act of acquiring Claire Bennet's regenerative powers through examination of her brain with his hands. When Claire asks him the same question, he sounds surprised and replies "Eat your brain? Claire, that's disgusting." The writers never bridged the gap between the early insinuations regarding what Sylar does with the brains and the final incarnation they reveal in his encounter with Claire.
Prior to Quinto's first appearance in the episode "Seven Minutes to Midnight", the role of Sylar was played by stunt doubles in "One Giant Leap", with the character's face being obscured by shadows. Quinto himself played the role with his face hidden in the same way until "Six Months Ago". In the second episode of the first season, "Don't Look Back", his voice is heard in a recorded phone conversation on Chandra Suresh's answering machine, spoken by voice actor Maurice LaMarche. Part of this conversation is heard again in "Six Months Ago", this time spoken by Quinto.
Personality
Sylar was raised as the son of a watchmaker, but was indoctrinated by his mother's repeated assertions to believe that he was special and deserved more in life. This and the "evolutionary imperative" to acquire new abilities are what drive him to kill the victims with powers. Taking the name "Sylar" from a watch brand, he has shed all connections to his former life as Gabriel Gray to the point where he angrily lashes out at anyone who calls him Gabriel.
In addition to the above, Sylar shows a marked lack of empathy. As seen in the episode .07%, when shortly before killing Isaac Mendez, he casually comments on Mendez's lack of fear, with the sort of mild surprise that someone might express if he noticed that a train was running late.
Although he at times tries to impersonate other people in order to obtain a longer-term goal, Sylar is also unable to completely control his "hunger," or obsessive tendencies, to the extent that he still intimidates people when he is trying to gain their trust or co-operation. This was seen with Mohinder Suresh, when Sylar tried to impersonate Zane Taylor, and also with Claire Bennet's mother when Sylar was looking for Claire, as well.
Sylar's dominant trait was his innate desire to be recognized as special and admired. This was fueled by his mother's vocal disappointment in him for perceived failure and his own feelings that he did not get a chance to choose his destiny, being forced into the role of a watchmaker. He spent his life hoping to learn something extraordinary about himself.
Sylar is repeatedly shown as desperately looking for a family and parental figures due to his own unhappy home life, desperately wanting to be loved. The flip side of this is that he can react with extreme violence when his emotional needs are exploited by others.
Sylar is also known for his voracious appetite and he can constantly be seen snacking or looking for food. He has even taken time during his murders to eat, such as when he reacted with joy at a birthday cake of the woman he just killed.
Quinto has said of his character,
The sad part is, he's initially well-intentioned. He wants to improve his life. He wants to make a difference. He wants to matter. Through the process of realizing how to do that, he gets blinded and loses himself in the pursuit of it and goes a little crazy—'a little' being an understatement.
Quinto also observed,
He's definitely somebody that has been overcome by a hunger and overcome by a pursuit for power and for importance that did start a little more innocuously than it evolved into.
When asked if he thought Sylar was irredeemable or not, Quinto responded,
I think there's a certain point at which you cross a line and it's sort of irrevocable.... I don't know what the writers have in mind, but it would probably be kind of a challenge at this point, you know?
Quinto has also responded to the question of whether Sylar could ever be good, commenting that
I don't really look at him as, you know, absolutely good or bad. I think that he is constantly walking a line of ambiguity within himself and uncertainty within himself that defines the way he acts.
Sylar, however, is also shown as very caring and thoughtful, like when he takes care of Angela Petrelli, when Arthur and Angela Petrelli claimed that they are Sylar's parents, which Peter wants to go to Pinehearst, Sylar didn't allow him to go alone because it is dangerous, and right after he murdered Brian Davis, he tries to commit suicide, feeling his guilt for murdering a person.
Character history
Genesis
The episode "Six Months Ago" reveals that Sylar's real name is Gabriel Gray, a highly talented watchmaker who follows his adoptive father's footsteps. He encounters Chandra Suresh, who tells Gabriel that he may be an evolved human with superhuman powers. Gabriel eagerly submits to testing. After being rejected by Suresh because the test results are indeterminate, Gabriel contacts another person on Suresh's list, Brian Davis. Gabriel discovers that he himself has the power of intuitive aptitude, and murders Davis for his telekinetic powers. After returning to Suresh, he becomes "Patient Zero", and continues to work with Suresh until Suresh realizes that Sylar is murdering the people that they meet and ultimately, Suresh is killed by Gabriel in his own cab precisely at 11:53 p.m.
Sylar is first referenced in the first episode when Mohinder Suresh (Chandra Suresh's son) finds a cassette tape labeled "SYLAR" on both sides in his dead father's New York apartment. His character is next mentioned in the series as a mysterious serial killer sought out by the FBI, whose existence is completely speculative. Appearing as a shadowy figure, he attempts to obtain Molly Walker's power after failing the first time.
In "Once Upon a Time in Texas", Sylar bumps into a future Hiro in front of the Burnt Toast Diner, and sidesteps him before entering. Here, he converses with Charlie, and discovers her power of enhanced memory. Sylar prepares to kill Charlie, but Hiro stops time and locks Sylar in a bus storage container. Later, when seeking Sylar to fix Charlie's aneurysm, Sylar angrily attacks Hiro, demanding to know what Hiro did to him. He attempts to kill Hiro, but Hiro prevents this with his time control. Finally, Hiro makes a deal: to tell Sylar about his future if he saves Charlie. Sylar proceeds to do so, and is miffed that he is told that - although he will become the most powerful person - he will die alone and unloved.
Sylar proceeds to attempt to obtain Claire Bennet's regenerative abilities, but is stopped by Peter Petrelli. He is greatly injured and is captured by Eden McCain and the Haitian to be experimented on. After various experiments, Sylar manages to escape, but he is again repelled from an attempt to obtain Claire's power.
Remembering Suresh's list, Sylar makes his way to Zane Taylor, and by posing as the person Zane was expecting, Mohinder Suresh, he kills him and obtains his power. After Mohinder arrives, Sylar poses as Zane, and convinces Mohinder to take him to help convince other people with special abilities that Mohinder's research is real. After Sylar acquires enhanced hearing from a woman named Dale, Mohinder discovers Sylar's identity and manages to incapacitate him with drugs. After experimenting on Sylar to create a new list of people with special powers and attempting to kill him, Mohinder is captured. After Peter shows up and is temporarily killed by Sylar, Mohinder knocks him out, but ends up leaving Isaac Mendez's address on the ground.
After meeting Isaac, and being told that his fate is to die at the hands of the other heroes, he takes Isaac's power to paint the future. He soon finishes a painting depicting himself about to kill and acquire the power of the radioactive Ted Sprague, and believes himself to be the "exploding man". Believing that only those who "don't deserve" their powers are the ones that need to die, he doesn't want to kill innocent people. After attempting to confide in Mohinder, he returns home to his alleged mother, Virginia Gray, in the hope that she will tell him that it is fine not to be special and live as a normal watchmaker. She tells him that he can be anything, including the president, causing him to demonstrate his powers and accidentally injure her. This causes her to panic, which eventually leads to her death, and Sylar deciding that his path is correct.
After acquiring the radioactive powers of Ted, Sylar paints a picture of himself facing off against Peter Petrelli at Kirby Plaza. Realizing Peter is part of his final destiny, Sylar prepares to hunt him down. Before he can leave, Ando Masahashi arrives to kill him, though Ando is easily thwarted. After Sylar discovers the comic depicting his death at the hands of Hiro Nakamura, Hiro appears and rescues Ando. Sylar sets off for Kirby Plaza to wait for Peter. After a struggle involving Sylar, Peter, Matt Parkman, and Niki Sanders, Peter begins the process of exploding, showing Sylar that he is not the exploding man. Soon after, Hiro arrives and impales Sylar through the stomach as the comic predicts, terribly wounding him. His last act is to telekinetically throw Hiro towards a building, forcing him to teleport and rendering him incapable of stopping Peter, as he collapses with a triumphant grin on his face while events that transpired throughout the season that end with his injury by Hiro play in his eyes. However, near the end of the episode, a trail of blood leading from where Sylar collapsed and ending at an open manhole is seen, indicating that Sylar is still alive.
Generations
Sylar is rescued by Candice Wilmer, who uses her powers of illusion to make Sylar disappear. After undergoing eight surgeries, he eventually awakes and realizes that he cannot use his powers. Though Candice promises that they will come back eventually, he kills her and attempts to acquire her power in order to start over. After realizing that it also doesn't work, he attempts to leave, though he realizes that he is in the middle of a dense jungle in Mexico. After wandering for three days, he is rescued from the brink of death by the passing-by Maya and Alejandro Herrera. He introduces himself using his real name, and eventually finds out that they are in search of Chandra Suresh to help control Maya's power. He tells them that he knows Suresh, and that he will take them to him.
He continues to travel with them, and while Alejandro becomes more distrustful of Sylar, Maya becomes more trusting of him. After teaching Maya to control her powers, he convinces her that her brother hates her and that in her heart she wanted to see his wife dead. Convincing her to send Alejandro away, Sylar is eventually confronted by Alejandro. He kills him, but states that he would have let Alejandro go had he not come back. Soon after, Maya confesses her love for Gabriel, and they reach Mohinder's apartment. Sylar attempts to obtain a cure for his condition, later revealed to be the same strain of the Shanti Virus which Niki was infected with. Upon finding that Sylar cannot use any of his obtained abilities, Mohinder attempts to kill Sylar, who then threatens him with a gun. This causes Maya to finally see Sylar's true intentions, so Sylar takes Maya, Mohinder and Molly hostage. Sylar agrees to go to Isaac's loft after Mohinder tells him tests need to be run. At the loft, Molly reveals to Maya that Alejandro is dead, who then goes to confront Sylar. He rolls his eyes as Maya screams at him, casually turns around and shoots her in the chest, and then tells Mohinder to cure Maya first. Elle enters the building and starts shooting at Sylar, but by then he has seen that the cure works, and he steals it and escapes.
Villains
In "Villains", Hiro sees Sylar's life shortly after the murder of Brian Davis. Intensely remorseful over the act, Gabriel attempts to hang himself. Elle Bishop walks in and saves him by using her electric abilities to cut the rope, convincing him that he's a good person. However, she is actually working with Noah Bennet to get Sylar to reveal the method behind transferring powers from one person to another. Elle befriends Gabriel and the two begin to share feelings for each other. Against her wishes, Elle helps Noah manipulate him to kill again by introducing Gabriel to Trevor Zeitlan, a young man who can kinetically shatter objects by "shooting" at them with his thumb and forefinger. She purposefully enrages Gabriel by having Trevor repeatedly demonstrate his ability by shattering glasses while calling him "special." Gabriel turns on Elle, who tries to stop him from killing Trevor. When Gabriel realizes Elle also has an ability, he is furious and pushes her against the wall with his mind, commanding her to leave before turning on Trevor and taking his power. Bennet and Elle watch from the car as Gabriel attacks Trevor.
In the third season, Sylar injects himself with the cure, healing his wounds and regaining use of his intuitive aptitude and telekinesis (though none of his other acquired powers). Sylar makes his way to California and finally takes Claire's power, though he does not kill her, claiming that she is special and that he couldn't do so even if he wanted to because he felt something special about her. He also takes several of the Company files on superhumans she had collected.
Sylar breaks into Company headquarters, killing Bob Bishop and acquiring his power. He is captured after attempting to take Elle's power, which results in her involuntarily releasing an electric burst which knocks him unconscious. The discharge also disables the Level 5 security system, allowing a dozen dangerous inmates to escape the complex. Before Sylar can regain consciousness, he is locked up. During his imprisonment, Angela Petrelli claims that she is his mother and attempts to rehabilitate him. She allows him to kill Bridget Bailey, a woman who can see the history of an object by touching it, in order to feed his hunger for power. When Noah Bennet returns to the Company to hunt down the escaped villains, Angela assigns Sylar as his partner, sending the two out to confront the villains and save the trapped Peter Petrelli.
Wanting to prove he is not just a killer, to both himself and Bennet, Sylar saves Bennet from Jesse and Knox, two of the escaped villains. However, his "hunger" reasserts itself and he kills Jesse, allowing Knox to escape in the confusion. Sylar is placed in his cell once more, where he is visited by Peter, who angrily snaps his neck after Sylar reveals that they are brothers. Peter, having absorbed Sylar's power and thereby his hunger, nearly kills Angela before Sylar knocks him unconscious. As Angela deals with her youngest son, Bennet arrives to take Sylar along to capture another Level 5 inmate. Sylar is surprised that Bennet would want to take him, but Bennet rebuffs him and tells him not to "make it harder than it already is." During the road trip, Noah chastises him about the murder of Jesse at the bank and his terrorizing Claire, and Sylar states that "rehabilitation doesn't happen overnight. I am trying."
They track the escapee, Stephen Canfield, to an empty house, unaware that Claire is already there dealing with Canfield herself. The man creates a powerful vortex in the room which nearly sucks in Claire, but Sylar saves her at the last minute. The power gained from Bridget enables him to experience the horror she went through, so he attempts to sincerely apologize to her, but she regards him with anger and disgust, and Bennet emphatically tells him to never to speak to his daughter again. The three find Stephen at an amusement park, where Bennet tries to force him into killing Sylar in exchange for freedom; though Sylar is clearly aware of what Noah is trying to do, he doesn't do anything to stop him. Rather than become a killer, Stephen kills himself with his power instead. Sylar later calmly remarks to Claire that her father doesn't see people with abilities as human, and never will.
Sylar is returned to his cell once more, where he is approached by Daphne Millbrook with an offer to join Pinehearst Industries, who will accept him for what he is. Sylar refuses, wanting to change. After they leave, Sylar revives Peter so he can help Angela Petrelli. Peter is initially skeptical, but Sylar's willingness to change combined with experience with the future Sylar convinces him; Peter's description of the future Gabriel Gray also gives Sylar hope that he can be redeemed. When Peter discovers the Pinehearst logo in her mind and attempts to go there, Sylar tries to stop him from doing so, but Peter easily defeats him due to his wider variety of powers and places him in an artificially-induced coma just as he had been. Angela is able to use her powers to wake him so he can rescue Peter, who has been stripped of his powers by Arthur Petrelli. Sylar does as asked, but is convinced by Arthur to turn on Angela. Arthur has Sylar throw a powerless Peter out a seventh-story window, but Peter miraculously survives. In "It's Coming", Arthur reveals that he knows Sylar slowed Peter's fall. Arthur is not angry; instead, he uses this event as evidence that Sylar can use his emotions like Peter could, to obtain someone's power without killing them.
To test this theory, Arthur places Sylar in a dark room with Elle, who is restrained to the floor and still suffers from her uncontrolled ability. She is furious at Sylar for her father's murder and repeatedly electrocutes him to no avail. Sylar confronts Elle with his sorrow for what he's done as well as her sorrow for what she's done. She rages at him and continues to attack, finally collapsing and begging him to kill her so that her pain will go away. He forgives her for turning him into a monster and convinces her to forgive herself for her crimes, wanting to take away her pain without killing her. At that moment, Elle's pain disappears and she regains control of her ability. Likewise, Sylar is able to absorb her power. Sylar is overwhelmed by this development, as he no longer has to kill to satisfy his hunger. The two appear to rekindle their old feelings for each other as Elle teaches Sylar how to use her ability. In "The Eclipse", Sylar is relieved when he loses his abilities, and wishes to start a new life with Elle. However, after Noah Bennet claims that Angela and Arthur Petrelli are not his real parents and are just manipulating him, Sylar feels betrayed and reverts to his murderous tendencies. Having regained his abilities after the eclipse ended, Sylar expresses seeming remorse and then attacks Elle, using his telekinesis to scalp her.
The next morning Sylar proceeds to cremate her body, receiving a call from Arthur about his absence. Sylar curtly tells Arthur he is not returning and reveals he has a new list in the form of Elle's cell phone contact list. To ascertain the truth for himself, he kills Sue Landers, a human lie detector. He then heads to Pinehearst to confront Arthur, stopping Peter and the Haitian from killing Arthur by freezing the bullet fired at Arthur's head. With both the Haitian and Arthur apparently weakened in attempting to overwhelm one another, Sylar asks Arthur if he is truly his father. Arthur says yes; Sylar detects the lie with Sue Landers' power and proceeds to drive the bullet into Arthur's head, killing him. He then leaves Peter and the Haitian, claiming they do not have anything he desires.
Sylar travels to Primatech, and sets up a mind game for Angela, Claire, Meredith, and Noah Bennet. After locking everyone inside and killing the Primatech staff, he tells them over the PA system that he will turn them all into monsters as they try to hunt him. Noah releases several Level 5 inmates as bait, including Echo Demille, Eric Doyle, and Daniel Pine, but Sylar easily disposes of them. He then injects Meredith with adrenaline, causing her to lose control of her fire ability. She and Noah are then locked in a cell with a single bullet, so Noah will either burn to death or kill Meredith to survive. Claire wants to help, as Sylar expects, forcing her to choose between her grandmother and her father; Claire chooses her father, leaving Angela at Sylar's mercy. He confronts Angela, and finds out that she was only using him for his monstrous qualities. However, she also reveals that she knows who his real parents are, and that they are not the Grays. As Sylar demands to be told the truth, Claire stabs him in the back of the head with a piece of glass, which will prevent him from reviving as long as it remains in place. In the prison cell, Meredith finally loses full control of her power and releases a massive explosion. Primatech goes up in flames with Sylar still inside.
Fugitives
Following the destruction of Primatech, Sylar is shown to be alive and well (it's later revealed that the fire melted the glass, allowing him to regenerate), and begins to search for his true biological parents. He starts by tracking down his adoptive father, Martin Gray, in Baltimore, making a stop in Pittsburgh to kill an insurance broker who could replicate his signature, and possibly learn the whereabouts of Martin. Sylar learns that Martin had paid to take him off the hands of his supposed father, Samson Gray, in order to escape his marriage with Virginia, Sylar's adoptive mother. After interrogating Martin, Sylar raises his hand, and is about to kill Martin, but holds back and walks away. After taking the address from Martin, Sylar finds Samson's home, only for it to be empty and Nathan Petrelli's agents waiting to ambush him. Although shot at, stunned and restrained, Sylar easily recovers and kills the agents, save one Agent Simmons, whom he tortures for information on Samson's disappearance.
In order to extract more information from Simmons, Sylar invades the house of Luke and Mary Campbell. Waiting for the two to return, Sylar telekinetically pins them, and states he intends to torture them to get Simmons to talk. He then proceeds to torture Mary. In a rage, Luke manages to free himself and boils Sylar's coffee with his own ability: microwave emission. Intrigued, Sylar begins to talk to Luke, telling him exactly why Luke has been in so much trouble, and that he understands Luke's frustration. During this, Simmons frees himself from his bindings and tries to grab his gun to shoot Sylar, but Luke notices this and kills Simmons. Sylar proceeds to leave the house, taking Luke with him only after Luke states he knows where Samson is.
As Sylar and Luke proceed to find Samson, Luke wishes to stop at some local diner to eat, as well as lying to Sylar about Samson's location when prodded. This irritates Sylar to the point where he threatens to simply take Luke's emission ability. Luke simply states that Sylar would never find his father then. Choosing to stop at a diner, Luke reveals that he and Samson went birding, awakening a memory from Sylar's childhood. As they eat, Sylar teaches Luke some lessons about using his power and having objectives, as well as revealing the change in his 'hunger' (emphasizing finding Samson over acquiring powers). This results in Luke giving Sylar Samson's location, even under the threat of being killed for his power. They are soon interrupted by Nathan's agents. Luke distracts the agents enough for Sylar to telekinetically toss a few around and punch a hole through a window. However, as he gets into the car, Sylar locks Luke out and drives off, leaving Luke to the agents. However, a short time later, Sylar disguises as an agent and gets into their van, killing the agents and saving Luke, as well as taking a laptop. When confronted about this by Luke, Sylar states that Luke was simply conveniently nearby and that his goal was to get the laptop to understand how Nathan's agents worked, though Luke seems skeptical about that reasoning.
Continuing to elude Nathan's agents, Sylar and Luke finally lose them. Irritated with Luke's wish to fry some agents and subtle attempts to stop the search for Samson, Sylar pins Luke to the side of the truck, essentially telling Luke to shut up. Sylar then seems to remember the area in which the two are in, and they reach an abandoned diner. Sylar makes an entrance by pulling off some of the board (throwing them in Luke's direction) and they enter. Here, Sylar recounts being brought to the diner as a child, and dropping a toy car in a wooden post. To prove this memory true, he rips open the post telekinetically and finds the car. He then remembers exactly what happened at that place: His father took money from Virginia and Martin, then left to his car. Sylar followed, only to see his biological parents arguing, and Samson telekinetically splitting his mother's skull open, killing her. In a rage exacerbated by Luke's revelation that Sylar's father was indeed a bad individual, Sylar pins him to the diner wall, but drops him and tells Luke to go home. Sylar leaves, intent on not only finding, but killing his father.
Arriving at a run-down trailer in the woods, Sylar finds his father old and dying of cancer. Samson is not frightened by Sylar's threat to kill and instead prepares a rabbit for taxidermy. Demonstrating several abilities, he and Sylar realize that they have the same ability - the ability to steal powers. Samson reveals that it did not matter how many people he killed or how many powers he stole; in the end, he did not lead a fulfilling life and is now miserable. He claims to not even remember selling Sylar and killing his mother, as these things did not matter to him. He goes on to say how he would have lived life differently, if given a second chance - how he would risk everything to attain true power and ultimately change the world. He touches on Sylar's original guilt for murdering to steal abilities by mocking Sylar, telling him how both their victims were weak and helpless and that they had no chance against seasoned killers. However, when Sylar cuts himself and heals while stuffing the rabbit, Samson transforms, reviving his hunger for abilities, desperate to gain immortality and escape from death. Temporarily incapacitating Sylar, he is stunned when Sylar first resists and then retaliates, strangling Samson with his own oxygen tube. Samson does not understand, since both he and Sylar know that Sylar would not die from Samson's "examination". Sylar states that he is finishing what he came to do, taking the stuffed rabbit. Samson begs Sylar to kill him quickly, but Sylar refuses, relishing the fact that his father, who is ultimately just like him, will "die alone with his disease". Later, when Danko returns home to his apartment after discovering Nathan's ability, he finds the stuffed rabbit on his desk, unaware that Sylar is lurking in the shadows nearby. Instead of a confrontation, however, Sylar chooses to leave, but not before stringing up an unconscious Eric Doyle in Danko's apartment as a 'gift'.
This 'gift' is explained further when Sylar surprises Danko in his car: He wishes to work with Danko in rounding up all superpowered humans, and quickly leaves before Danko can pull out his gun. To further win Danko's trust, Sylar decides to help Danko track a shapeshifter, James Martin, who managed to kill 4 of Danko's agents (3 via gunshot, and one murdered for his form). At Martin's apartment, Danko surprises Sylar, and the two exchange taunts and information, resulting in Sylar and Danko teaming up for the time being. Through their cooperation, the two find out that Martin takes forms of power and authority, in order to woo women at a local nightclub. At the club, Sylar and Danko are spotted by Martin (in the form of Danko), and they lose track of him. A short time later, Danko and Sylar decide to leave the club; however, the 'Sylar' is actually Martin in disguise with the intention of killing Danko. However, Danko shoots Martin, but doesn't kill him. Instead, he allows the real Sylar to take Martin's ability (without removing the skullcap) in order to not only make hunting superpowered humans easier for them, but to fake Sylar's death and keep people such as Noah Bennett from trying to track Sylar down.
Sylar, disguised as Danko, later meets Noah at Building 26 as Noah, unknowingly, examines Martin's body. Noah, knowing how hard it is to kill Sylar, doubts Danko could do it single-handedly. When Sandra arrives to question Noah about Claire, Sylar shakes her hand in introduction, gaining access to her form. Wanting to destroy Noah, he later visits Noah at Noah's apartment, in disguise as Sandra. He delivers divorce papers, stating that he (Sandra) cannot trust Noah anymore and that their marriage is over. Noah is distraught but, upon examining the signature on the forms, discovers that it is not Sandra's. Rushing to the crematorium, Noah stops the cremation of Martin's body. He removes the metal shard in the back of the corpse's head, telling the surrounding soldiers that when Sylar was stabbed with a glass shard before, it melted in the Primatech fire allowing him to regenerate. When the corpse does not regenerate, Noah returns to Danko and confronts him with the knowledge that Sylar is still alive. Danko confesses and tells Noah that Sylar is in disguise and out on a mission with other soldiers. Noah forces Danko to take him to Sylar and, when they arrive, shoots the soldier Danko identifies as Sylar in the back of the head. When the corpse continues to bleed out and does not heal, Danko orders his men to capture Noah, who Danko claims has gone insane. However, when the soldiers leave in pursuit, the corpse gets up and shifts back into Sylar. When Danko asks him how he survived while bleeding so much, Sylar says it was all to make his death look realistic.
As Sylar continues to shapeshift, he finds it is harder and harder to regain his form without side effects, including left over body parts like teeth. He also retains personality traits and memories of those he changes into, causing him to go through a literal "identity crisis". When Danko tells him that he needs to leave his "Sylar" identity behind to retain his free pass, Sylar kills the next target on Danko's list, Tom Miller, and takes his power. Further examining the shapeshifting ability, Sylar realizes he is actually absorbing different DNA sequences into his body, causing him to permanently change a little each time he shifts. When Sylar starts to shapeshift in his sleep, Danko tells him he has to find an anchor that will remind him of who he is. To that effect, Sylar, as one of Danko's agents, retrieves the evidence from the homicide of his mother, Virginia Gray. While examining her collection of snow globes, Sylar unknowingly shapeshifts into his mother and begins to have a conversation with himself, showing acute symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. He at first does not realize what is happening and talks to his mother about his encounter with Samson, why his mother lied to Sylar about his lineage, and how he is starting to lose himself. He, as his mother, tries to convince himself that he did not mean to kill her and that he is still special. Danko interrupts when his agents track down Rebel. Sylar gets to Rebel (Micah Sanders) before Danko's agents do and prepares to kill him and take his power. Micah, however, reveals that he understands what Sylar is going through because his mother, Niki Sanders, endured the same thing when her power manifested. Convinced that Sylar is special and the only one capable of saving those with powers, Micah convinces Sylar to join his cause. Sylar, disguised as Micah, tricks Danko and his agents into chasing the wrong person, allowing Micah to escape. Sylar, again talking with "his mother", reveals that her murder was no accident but "Virginia" forgives Sylar anyway, convinced that he can still be whomever he wants to be, including the President. Realizing his opportunity, Sylar breaks into Nathan Petrelli's office and finds a brush containing some of Nathan's DNA. He later appears, as Nathan, at a press conference concerning new plans for change he has for the country and how he soon plans to meet with the President and "shake his hand". Realizing what Sylar is trying to do, Nathan returns to DC from Coyote Sands and confronts Sylar, who reveals he has examined Nathan's life in depth using clairsentience. Expressing pity and determined to become better than Nathan, Sylar prepares to take Nathan's ability when Danko appears and stuns Nathan. Attempting to salvage his operation, Danko orders Sylar to shift back into one of his agents so they can continue hunting specials. When Sylar refuses, Danko stabs him in the back of the head with a knife. However, Sylar recovers, having used his shapeshifting ability to relocate his weak spot.
After framing Danko for the murder of an agent, he takes on Nathan's form and goes to meet the President with Claire in tow. When she discovers the truth, he controls her using the power which he had empathically absorbed from Eric Doyle and talks about how similar they are, both being adopted and both having the ability to live forever, proposing that, given enough time, Claire might come to forgive him and even love him. However, Peter and Nathan then confront him, and in the battle Sylar and Nathan fly out of a window and into another room. Sylar subsequently kills Nathan (after empathically absorbing his power during the fight) and takes on the form of the President's Chief of Staff. However, the President injects him with an elephant tranquilizer, and reveals himself to be Peter, having absorbed Sylar's ability during the fight. In an effort to shut down the program, Angela convinces Matt Parkman to use his telepathy to convince Sylar that he is Nathan, Matt using Angela's memories of Nathan's life to essentially 'plant' Nathan in Sylar's head, his shape-shifting power allowing him to assume Nathan's form while his clairsentience will allow him to subconsciously use objects around him to 'fill in the blanks'. Sylar, as Nathan, talks to the President and convinces him to shut down Building 26 and divert the funds to the new Company that will now be built. Later, Sylar, as Nathan, watches "Sylar's" (in reality James Martin's) body burn at Coyote Sands alongside Noah, Claire, Matt, Angela, Peter, Mohinder, Hiro and Ando.
Redemption
Memory loss
Six weeks later, this Nathan starts to rediscover the other powers he had gained in his old life. Later, following Nathan's confession of being involved in the accidental death of his girlfriend Kelly Houston, her mother, Millie Houston, has him shot and buried in a shallow grave. When healed, Sylar emerges from the ground in his own body, suffering from amnesia. Picked up by the police, he is recognized and accidentally uses his powers to escape. He then encounters the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival" and Samuel, who take him in as one of their own. The carnival is hidden from Sylar's pursuers, and Samuel assures him he is safe in his new "home".
Once Sylar has rested, Samuel proceeds to show him around the circus, showing that everyone at the carnival has an ability. Sylar also meets Lydia, who he immediately hits it off with. Edgar, however, jealously attempts to outshow Sylar with his power, but is easily beaten. Samuel also notices that Sylar's memories are not his (in fact, Nathan Petrelli's). In an effort to awaken Sylar's true personality, Sylar is taken by Damien to the hall of mirrors, where he is forced to look at his past murders, starting with his mother. Repulsed, Sylar is unable to believe himself a monster. Samuel uses this to try and convince Sylar that he is a protector of the circus, and must remove threats such as the officer who attempted to capture him the night before. Sylar is told the officer is at the house of mirrors, and goes there to tell the man to leave. However, the officer shoots at Sylar, forcing an uncontrolled electric blast. Here, Sylar's killer instinct begins to take hold, but Sylar stops himself just in time for Edgar to cut the man into pieces. Later, Samuel formally makes Sylar a part of the circus family, baptizing him and letting him mingle with the others. Sylar and Lydia leave arm in arm for the night, much to Edgar's dismay.
In "Shadowboxing", the persona of Nathan returns, causing him to shapeshift back into Nathan's form while sleeping. Panicking upon finding himself at the carnival, he flies away, and is later shown arriving at Peter's door, asking for help. Arriving for work at his office, Peter and Nathan discover that no one has been looking for Nathan, as he had been on 'vacation' according to Angela Petrelli. The brothers are further surprised when the Haitian appears, and tells Peter to go see a storage facility for the truth of the situation. Here, Nathan and Peter discover the real Nathan's preserved body, which 'Nathan' touches and sees Sylar and Matt Parkman. They head to Texas to see Matt, who is at the hospital, in a coma.
Haunting Matt Parkman
Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body.
Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop.
The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more.
Whole again
Staying over at Peter Petrelli's apartment, the brothers are surprised by Angela, who springs a Thanksgiving dinner on them. Nathan wakes up in time to hear Peter and Angela discussing the discovery of Nathan's body. Although they press her for information, Angela threatens to simply leave if they do not sit down and eat. During the dinner, Angela finally confesses that she had Matt Parkman place Nathan's mind into Sylar's body. During dessert, however, Nathan begins to act oddly, and transforms back into Sylar, happy to be controlling his body once more. He telekinetically traps Peter and Angela, relishing his ability to control himself. After taunting Peter, he begins to scalp Angela, only to have the 'Nathan' persona fight back. Losing control, Sylar transforms back into Nathan, who flees the building to protect his family. Peter devises a plan to eliminate the 'Sylar' persona leaving just Nathan using the ability of The Haitian to erase Sylar's memories. On a rooftop however, "Nathan" confesses to Peter he is not himself and cannot keep fighting off the 'Sylar' persona. Nathan jumps off the building and lands onto a parked car. Peter then sees Sylar heal, get up and wave as he walks away.
Sylar returns to the carnival to face Samuel, but Sylar finds that while he wants to kill, he is unable to make himself do so. His identity in crisis, he makes a deal with Samuel. After absorbing Lydia's power, he tells Samuel to give him a tattoo, and that he would do whatever it said. When he sees the tattoo, he decides that he does not belong at the carnival. The next scene shows him floating outside of Claire Bennet's dorm room window, and his tattoo is a picture of her.
In the episode "Pass/Fail", Sylar kidnaps Claire Bennet's friend, Gretchen Berg so Claire will talk to him in exchange for her friend. Sylar feels like they are very similar: they've never felt in place, they both lost their parents, and they are both immortal. Claire doesn't want to talk to him, and makes him tell her where Gretchen is. Claire finds Gretchen tied up, and they hide in a closet and have a talk. Claire tells Gretchen that Sylar thinks they are alike, and she fears that they might be. She is confused at Sylar's attitude, but resents him for who he is. Gretchen comes to the conclusion that Sylar's powers have isolated him from ever having any relationships. Giving them up might be the only way he could have any connections. Gretchen then shape-shifts back into Sylar. He then goes to Matt Parkman and asks him to take away all his powers away. Matt attempts but fails. Sylar threatens Matt's family and forces him to keep trying. Instead, Matt traps Sylar and his powers deep within the confines of his mind, "somewhere you'll never find them," and he is left alone to live out his worst nightmare: Being all alone. Matt then attempts to seal up Sylar within the walls of his basement. However, Peter Petrelli arrives after having a vision that Sylar will save Emma. Using Matt's power, Peter attempts to bring Sylar out of his nightmare, but ends up trapped in Sylar's mind along with him (The Art of Deception).
In "The Wall", Sylar is repairing endless watches in the empty city when he hears banging. Searching for the source of it, he finds Peter using a pole to get his attention by banging it on the concrete. Sylar is shocked to discover that Peter is real and says there's no way out - he's been searching for three years. Peter reveals that it's actually been three hours and that Sylar is trapped in a nightmare, which he is skeptical to accept, and runs back to his shop. Peter tries to convince him of the truth and tells him he must save Emma. He tries to pull them out of the nightmare but is unsuccessful. Peter avoids Sylar for a month while trapped, and Sylar tries being friendly by giving him a 9th Wonders! comic book. Peter, determined to find a way out, does not understand why Sylar is so resistant to find a way out, and realizes that Sylar really doesn't want to be free. They come across a massive brick wall, the same one Sylar's body is actually trapped behind (in Matt's basement). Peter realizes that the two need to break the wall in order to escape. At first Peter tries to break it alone, but fails. Sylar compares his determination to a memory of Nathan's he possesses which angers Peter. Sylar apologizes for Nathan's murder, but Peter refuses to forgive him and Sylar finally joins Peter in attempting to break down the wall. After years of attempting and failing to damage the wall in the slightest, Sylar is surprised when Peter gives him a copy of The Pillars of the Earth as a gift as a to thank him for keeping him sane all the years of their imprisonment. Sylar admits he always worries Peter will attack him with the sledge-hammer which Peter admits he has contemplated. Sylar realizes that Peter won't let go of his anger out of fear of losing the last remnant of Nathan, and points out to Peter that he has truly changed. Peter finally accepts this fact and afterwards the two are easily able to break a hole in the wall, which frees them from their mental prison. Once freed, Sylar uses telekinesis to free him from his physical one and he and Peter learn that they've only been trapped for half a day in reality. The experience seems to have changed both Sylar and Peter and the two head off to save Emma, but are stopped by Eli and his clones who want to prevent their plans.
In "Brave New World," he and Peter easily defeat Eli and save Matt's life as knocking out the Prime Eli gets rid of his clones who were about to kill Matt. Sylar tries to convince a furious Matt that he's changed, but fails and begins to leave with Peter (who read Eli's mind and learned Samuel's plans). Matt tries to telepathically prevent Sylar from leaving, so Sylar asks Matt to read his mind to show him he has changed. Matt is unable to, although he does let them leave. Peter and Sylar fly to New York where Samuel plans to kill thousands of people. Peter is reluctant, but Sylar convinces Peter to trust him and reminds him that the dream says that Sylar saves Emma. Sylar heads off to the tent to save Emma while Peter goes to defeat Samuel. He finds Emma playing the cello with bloody fingers, and tries to save her by taking the cello, but is taken control of by Eric Doyle, the Puppet Master. Doyle, desperate to be better than Sylar, begins to taunt him. However, controlling and mocking Sylar distracts him from his primary focus on controlling Emma. Once Emma realizes he has loosened his control over her, Emma blasts Doyle with a soundwave through the cello, breaking Doyle's control over Sylar, and giving Sylar the chance to telekinetically grab onto Doyle. Doyle begs him to stop, and asks, "What do you care about this girl, anyway?" Sylar tells him that he's going to save her. Confused, Doyle cries out, "That's not you! You're like me!" Sylar looks at him and calmly says, "No. I'm a hero." After Peter reunites with Emma, she tells him that his friend is taking care of Doyle. Fearing the worst, Peter heads into the tent to find Sylar admiring his new "masterpiece": a dazed Doyle trussed up like a puppet, clad in giant light-bulbs. Sylar plugs the lights in, deviously grins, and says, "I like it!"
Brave New World
Sylar walks with Peter and discusses his rescue of Emma. Sylar explains that he could have easily killed Doyle but didn't and that not killing him and saving Emma felt good to him, showing that Sylar is truly changing and is enjoying being a hero rather than a villain. Peter and Sylar witness Claire climbing the Ferris Wheel to reveal her powers to the world and Sylar comments that it's now a "brave new world."
Alternate timelines
In the first alternate future depicted, set five years ahead in the episode "Five Years Gone", Sylar has gained countless new abilities, including those of Candice Wilmer and D. L. Hawkins. Nathan Petrelli, now the President, concocted a story for the explanation of New York's destruction, which blamed Sylar for the explosion, and he is assumed to be deceased. Sylar is able to use Candice's ability to murder Nathan and assume his identity. As President, he begins a campaign to hunt and exterminate all people with abilities, originally claiming that it will unite the world in grief. However, he really just doesn't want the competition. When Claire Bennet is captured, he has her brought to him, pretending to be her father. However, he simply desires one final ability, hers, which he takes. Later, while giving a speech in the ruins of New York, he is informed by Matt Parkman that Peter, the future Hiro, and Ando are staging an attack to free the present-day Hiro. Upon hearing this, Sylar, still disguised as Nathan, flies away from the crowd. He confronts Peter, revealing himself, and they prepare for battle, the outcome of which is left ambiguous.
In a timeline set four years in the future, as seen in the season three episode "I Am Become Death", Sylar has reassumed his identity of Gabriel Gray and is working to suppress his homicidal hunger for the sake of his son, Noah, who lives with him and Mr. Muggles in Claire's former home in Costa Verde. He is visited by the Peter Petrelli of the present, who is intent on learning how to activate the intuitive ability he has absorbed from him so that he can understand the complexities of changing the timeline. Gabriel is initially reluctant, resisting telepathic compulsion to teach Peter, but ultimately relents and tutors him after painting a precognitive picture of the Earth exploding, despite warning Peter that with the intuitive ability comes the same homicidal hunger he has been trying to resist. Shortly afterwards, a team led by Claire Bennet storms the house intent on killing Peter, and in the ensuing fight, Noah is killed. Enraged and grief-stricken, Gabriel loses control of his radiation ability and releases a nuclear detonation, destroying Costa Verde and killing over 200,000 people. It remains unknown whether or not he survived the explosion.
In the original timeline, Sylar kills Charlie Andrews and takes her power of eidetic memory (Seven Minutes to Midnight). In season four, Hiro goes back in time and prevents this, actually enlisting Sylar's help to save her from a blood clot (Once Upon a Time in Texas).
Powers and abilities
Sylar's base power, as described by Chandra Suresh, is "intuitive aptitude", the ability to innately understand and manipulate patterns within complex systems, which initially manifests as a talent for repairing timepieces. As revealed in "One of Us, One of Them", this power comes with a nearly insatiable hunger for "understanding", which, in Sylar's case, specifically refers to craving the powers of others, driving him to kill other superpowered humans to understand their powers and make them his own. Despite the strength of this hunger, two episodes have shown that it can be resisted or satiated: in the alternate future of "Five Years Gone", Sylar has taken on so many abilities that he simply desires to get rid of all of his potential "competition" (other superhumans, to be exact); in the future of "I Am Become Death", he has resumed his identity as Gabriel Gray and denies his hunger for the sake of his son. In "Once Upon a Time in Texas" it is revealed that Sylar can also identify deformities in people such as Charlie's blood clot and Hiro's brain tumor.
Sylar's intuitive aptitude allows him to deduce the workings of the powers of others; by examining the brain of his victim, he is able to find the brain's connection to the ability, and once he finds said connection, he can immediately replicate the power himself. The exact mechanics behind this are unknown, though it is theorized numerous times by many characters that DNA alteration/infusions is what allows him to obtain abilities. Yet, when the process is shown, Sylar only seems to touch the part of the brain that is the source of the ability and immediately replicates it. Sylar cannot acquire an ability from a person who has been dead awhile, even if their brains are intact though the process he uses to acquire abilities kills his victims before he actually gains the ability. In "Fallout", Noah Bennet theorizes that Sylar's additional powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own which, as a side effect, has driven him insane.
Of all the powers Sylar has acquired, the most prominently used is telekinesis, which is the first power he took. In contrast to the limited abilities Brian Davis displayed, Sylar's skills are far more advanced; he exhibits both fine control (precisely cutting open the skulls of his victims) and sheer force (flipping a police van), can enhance his own strength and durability to superhuman levels, and can control a person's motor skills in a manner similar to Eric Doyle's puppet mastery. Tests done on Sylar by Bennet's associate Hank show no overt signs of powers other than telekinesis; while their tests show that he possesses other powers, they are unable to identify what they are. In "The Hard Part", Sylar demonstrates he can use at least two of his acquired abilities at the same time.
During his first killing spree, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
After being injected with the Shanti virus by the Company, Sylar loses all of his abilities. After he is cured at the end of the second season, he only regains his abilities of intuitive aptitude and telekinesis. Sylar's empathic mimicry, which Arthur says he has had all along, is also present. In the third and fourth seasons, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
In "It's Coming", Sylar learns how to gain abilities without removing a person's brain, obtaining Elle Bishop's power of electric manipulation by empathizing with her and convincing her to let go of her anger. This empathy allowed him to retain the use of Brian Davis' telekinesis after being cured of the virus, due to the guilt he felt over his death. Arthur explains that Sylar possessed this ability all along. Despite possessing this ability, he has returned to killing to obtain new powers, though he later uses this method to obtain James Martin's shapeshifting ability, Nathan Petrelli's ability to fly, and also Lydia's empathy.
As a side effect of the use of the shapeshifting ability when used in combination with his acquired psychometry, his mind has begun to fracture into the different personas of those whom he has shapeshifted into, and residual physical characteristics have started to appear, such as his adopted mother when he came into contact with the dried blood on the scissors he killed her with. As stated in "I Am Sylar", his "Achilles' heel" in the back of his head has been relocated due to his continued shapeshifting, making him harder to stop. Aside from superhuman abilities, Sylar is very intelligent and manipulative and possesses decent hand-to-hand combat skills, as seen when he fights Peter Petrelli.
Reception
Sylar was named one of the best new villains by Entertainment Weekly. Sylar was also named the best villain of 2007 by IGN. UGO also ranked Sylar 6th on their list of top 50 TV characters.
In other media
Zachary Quinto provides the voice of a Robot Chicken-parodied Sylar in the episode "Bionic Cow". In it, he kills a man named "Uncle Glen", who is apparently able to remove his fingers, failing to realize that this is a simple sleight of hand trick to impress young children. He instead inherits Glen's power of "explosive diarrhea," remarking that "every once in a while, this power backfires".
Notes
References
External links
Sylar on the Heroes Wiki
adoptee characters in television
fictional attempted suicides
fictional characters from New York City
fictional presidents of the United States
fictional serial killers
fictional shapeshifters
fictional telekinetics
fictional United States senators
Heroes (American TV series) characters
American male characters in television
television characters introduced in 2006
television supervillains
fi:Luettelo televisiosarjan Heroes hahmoista#Sylar / Gabriel Gray | true | [
"Source Direct is an English drum and bass act from St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. Source Direct have released an EP, Controlled Developments (1997), an album, Exorcise the Demons (1999), as well as numerous singles, under both the Source Direct name and a number of aliases.\n\nOriginally Source Direct consisted of James Baker and Phil Aslett, later becoming a solo project of Baker's in 1999.\n\nHistory\nOriginally the act consisted of two childhood friends, James Baker and Phil Aslett. Due to differences between the pair however, it became entirely a solo project of Baker's in 1999, after the release of Exorcise the Demons.\n\nSource Direct's music uses complex and irregular breakbeats, snappy and precise hi-hats, dark atmospheric sampling and abstract song structures.\n\nSource Direct have released music on a variety of record labels: Metalheadz, Science (Virgin Records), Good Looking Records, Astralwerks, Basement, Certificate 18, Odysee, Street Beats and the self-owned Source Direct Recordings. They have released singles under the names Intensity, Sounds of Life, Oblivion, Mirage, X-Files and Hokusai.\n\nDespite not being featured on the officially released soundtrack, Source Direct gained recognition for the track \"Call & Response\" which was used in the horror movie Blade. The track, originally a single, was later included on their EP Controlled Developments, and on their album Exorcise the Demons. Source Direct contributed the track \"2097\" to the CD soundtrack of the PlayStation game Wipeout 2097, released in 1996.\n\nFact included Exorcise the Demons in its \"The 100 Best Albums of the 1990s\".\n\nDiscography\n\nAlbums and EPs\n Controlled Developments (1997, Astralwerks) – 6-track EP\n Exorcise the Demons (1999, Virgin Records)\n\nSingles\n \"Future London/Shimmer\" (1994, Odysee)\n \"A Made Up Sound/The Cult\" (1995, Metalheadz)\n \"Approach & Identify/Modem\" (1995, Source Direct)\n \"Different Groove/Stars\" (1995, Odysee)\n \"Fabric of Space/Bliss\" (1995, Source Direct)\n \"Snake Style/Exit 9\" (1995, Source Direct)\n \"Black Rose/12 Til 4\" (1996, Source Direct)\n \"Stonekiller/Web of Sin\" (1996, Metalheadz)\n \"The Crane/Artificial Barriers\" (1996, Source Direct)\n \"Call & Response/Computer State\" (1997, Virgin)\n \"Capital D/Enemy Lines\" (1997, Virgin)\n \"Two Masks/Black Domina\" (1997, Virgin)\n \"Concealed Identity\" (1998, Virgin)\n \"Mind Weaver\" (1998, Virgin)\n \"Technical Warfare\" (1998, Virgin)\n \"Snowblind/The Place\" (2001, Demonic)\n \"Sub One/Escape From Cairo\" (2001, Demonic)\n \"Yo Bitch!/Pimp Star\" (2001, Demonic)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n \n Source Direct Allmusic Discography\n Source Direct at BBC Music\n\nBritish DJs\nClub DJs\nElectronic dance music DJs\nEnglish drum and bass musicians\nDrum and bass musicians\nBreakbeat musicians\nEnglish electronic musicians\nEnglish record producers\nRemixers\nLiving people\nPeople from St Albans\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nMusical groups from St Albans",
"Single Gun Theory was an Australian electronic dance music band formed in 1986. Founding mainstay members were Jacqui Hunt on lead vocals; Kath Power on vocal melodies and synthesiser; and Peter Rivett-Carnac on guitar, synthesiser and sampling. They released three studio albums, Exorcise This Wasteland (1987), Millions, Like Stars in My Hands, Daggers in My Heart, Wage War (1991) and Flow, River of My Soul (1994) for Canadian label, Nettwerk, and Australia's Volition Records. Their music combined elements of downtempo electronic music with introspective, ethereal vocals and samples of dialogue. They also released a soundtrack album for Samantha Lang's film The Monkey's Mask in 2000.\n\nHistory \n\nSingle Gun Theory were formed in 1986 in Sydney by Jacqui Hunt on lead vocals; Kath Power on vocal melodies and synthesiser; and Peter Rivett-Carnac on guitar, synthesiser and sampling. They won a band competition run by national radio station, Double J, which provided free studio recording time. This resulted in their debut album, Exorcise This Wasteland, which was issued by the Canadian label Nettwerk in 1987. The band had been brought to the label's attention by fellow Australian, Tom Ellard (of Severed Heads). Exorcise This Wasteland was issued in Australia by Volition Records in the following year. By that time Rivett-Carnac joined Severed Heads' touring line-up for that group's North American tour and Single Gun Theory went into hiatus.\n\nWhile they were in hiatus Hunt and Rivett-Carnac travelled to Asia and Europe, Power completed a psychiatric therapy course in Sydney. Single Gun Theory reconvened in Vancouver, Canada in May 1991 to record their second album, Millions, Like Stars in My Hands, Daggers in My Heart, Wage War, which was issued in Australia in December. It peaked in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt it was \"a unique blend of lush, mellow dance grooves, ethnic sampling and fragile, beguiling female vocals.\" AllMusic's Brendan Swift opined that it provided \"Flawlessly executed tracks brushed with Indian, Turkish, and South-East Asian sounds... one that ultimately fails to convey the depth suggested by the new age themes and multicultural music.\" A single from the album, \"From a Million Miles\" (November 1991), was used in the pilot episode (April 1994) of Canadian TV series, Due South, and was issued on the series second soundtrack album, Due South, Volume II: The Original Television Soundtrack (1998). It was also used on the soundtrack of the Australian feature film, Reckless Kelly (1993). Another album track, \"Great Palaces of Immortal Splendour\" was used on The Heartbreak Kid (1993) soundtrack.\n\nThe band's third studio album, Flow, River of My Soul, was released in September 1994. It also reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 50. AllMusic's John Bush noticed the group's \"change of direction\" where they provide \"laidback jazzy tones and mixes in various world music samples, while Jacqui Hunt's airy vocals float throughout the album.\"\n\nSingle Gun Theory toured North America, late in 1994, supporting Canadian singer-songwriter, Sarah McLachlan. For their Australian tour in November, they added a percussionist and dancer to their touring line-up. McFarlane declared that the group had \"pioneered electronic dance music in Australia. The trio created music through technology, utilising samplers and computers as instruments. Although they rarely performed live, and were hardly prolific, the trio earned a cult following with the release of several captivating albums of dance pop.\"\n\nSingle Gun Theory released a soundtrack album for Samantha Lang's feature film, The Monkey's Mask (November 2000).\n\nIn May 2003 Hunt contributed vocals for Endorphin's fourth album, Seduction. Hunt released her debut solo album, Auraphonic, in October 2008.\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums \n\n Exorcise This Wasteland (2 December 1987)\n Millions, Like Stars in My Hands, Daggers in My Heart, Wage War (27 September 1991) – AUS #41\n Flow, River of My Soul (6 September 1994) – AUS #46\n\nExtended plays \n\n Burning Bright (But Unseen) (11 June 1993)\n\nSingles\n\n \"Exorcise This Wasteland\" (1987)\n \"Open the Skies\" (November 1987)\n \"Surrender\" (1991)\n \"From a Million Miles\" (November 1991) – AUS #64\n \"I Am What I See\" (November 1992)\n \"Fall\" (October 1994) – AUS #64\n \"Motherland\" (August 1995)\n \"Metaphysical\" (December 1995)\n\nSoundtracks\n\n The Monkey's Mask: Music from the Motion Picture (2001)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official website archived from the original on 1 February 2001. Retrieved 13 September 2015.\n\nAustralian electronic musicians\nMusical groups established in 1986\n1986 establishments in Australia"
]
|
[
"Sylar",
"Haunting Matt Parkman",
"What is Haunting Matt Parkman?",
"Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar,",
"What does Sylar do to Matt Parkman?",
"Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself.",
"How does Parkman react to the haunting?",
"Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances,",
"What kind of consequences begin when Sylar takes control of Matt?",
"Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep.",
"Does Matt find out about Sylar's actions with Matt's wife?",
"Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar",
"Was the exorcise successful?",
"Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return."
]
| C_c8edc7ae36c4408382b9e8fe46a52356_0 | What happens to Sylar after he is removed? | 7 | What happens to Sylar after being removed from Matt's mind? | Sylar | Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body. Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop. The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he is is shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more. CANNOTANSWER | In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, | Sylar (Gabriel Gray) is a fictional character and a primary antagonist of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers. He served as the primary villain of the first season and then as a recurring antagonist. Over the course of seasons two, three and four, the writers depicted Sylar attempting at various times and under different circumstances to become a hero or curb his desire to kill, undergoing relapses at various stages. In the series' penultimate episode he experienced over three years of penitence in a mental prison, and later identifies himself as a hero in what became the show's series finale due to cancellation.
TV Guide included him in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".
Concept and creation
Sylar was originally created as a cannibal who ate his victims' brains and "digested their power"; however, in order to avoid the potential silliness and zombie associations, the producers deliberately made this fact vague in the series. In an interview with series creator Tim Kring, it is asked if Sylar eats brains, and he merely states "That's the popular speculation. There's a connection between the powers and the brain, and Sylar has found it." The question is addressed in the season three premiere, when he is depicted in the act of acquiring Claire Bennet's regenerative powers through examination of her brain with his hands. When Claire asks him the same question, he sounds surprised and replies "Eat your brain? Claire, that's disgusting." The writers never bridged the gap between the early insinuations regarding what Sylar does with the brains and the final incarnation they reveal in his encounter with Claire.
Prior to Quinto's first appearance in the episode "Seven Minutes to Midnight", the role of Sylar was played by stunt doubles in "One Giant Leap", with the character's face being obscured by shadows. Quinto himself played the role with his face hidden in the same way until "Six Months Ago". In the second episode of the first season, "Don't Look Back", his voice is heard in a recorded phone conversation on Chandra Suresh's answering machine, spoken by voice actor Maurice LaMarche. Part of this conversation is heard again in "Six Months Ago", this time spoken by Quinto.
Personality
Sylar was raised as the son of a watchmaker, but was indoctrinated by his mother's repeated assertions to believe that he was special and deserved more in life. This and the "evolutionary imperative" to acquire new abilities are what drive him to kill the victims with powers. Taking the name "Sylar" from a watch brand, he has shed all connections to his former life as Gabriel Gray to the point where he angrily lashes out at anyone who calls him Gabriel.
In addition to the above, Sylar shows a marked lack of empathy. As seen in the episode .07%, when shortly before killing Isaac Mendez, he casually comments on Mendez's lack of fear, with the sort of mild surprise that someone might express if he noticed that a train was running late.
Although he at times tries to impersonate other people in order to obtain a longer-term goal, Sylar is also unable to completely control his "hunger," or obsessive tendencies, to the extent that he still intimidates people when he is trying to gain their trust or co-operation. This was seen with Mohinder Suresh, when Sylar tried to impersonate Zane Taylor, and also with Claire Bennet's mother when Sylar was looking for Claire, as well.
Sylar's dominant trait was his innate desire to be recognized as special and admired. This was fueled by his mother's vocal disappointment in him for perceived failure and his own feelings that he did not get a chance to choose his destiny, being forced into the role of a watchmaker. He spent his life hoping to learn something extraordinary about himself.
Sylar is repeatedly shown as desperately looking for a family and parental figures due to his own unhappy home life, desperately wanting to be loved. The flip side of this is that he can react with extreme violence when his emotional needs are exploited by others.
Sylar is also known for his voracious appetite and he can constantly be seen snacking or looking for food. He has even taken time during his murders to eat, such as when he reacted with joy at a birthday cake of the woman he just killed.
Quinto has said of his character,
The sad part is, he's initially well-intentioned. He wants to improve his life. He wants to make a difference. He wants to matter. Through the process of realizing how to do that, he gets blinded and loses himself in the pursuit of it and goes a little crazy—'a little' being an understatement.
Quinto also observed,
He's definitely somebody that has been overcome by a hunger and overcome by a pursuit for power and for importance that did start a little more innocuously than it evolved into.
When asked if he thought Sylar was irredeemable or not, Quinto responded,
I think there's a certain point at which you cross a line and it's sort of irrevocable.... I don't know what the writers have in mind, but it would probably be kind of a challenge at this point, you know?
Quinto has also responded to the question of whether Sylar could ever be good, commenting that
I don't really look at him as, you know, absolutely good or bad. I think that he is constantly walking a line of ambiguity within himself and uncertainty within himself that defines the way he acts.
Sylar, however, is also shown as very caring and thoughtful, like when he takes care of Angela Petrelli, when Arthur and Angela Petrelli claimed that they are Sylar's parents, which Peter wants to go to Pinehearst, Sylar didn't allow him to go alone because it is dangerous, and right after he murdered Brian Davis, he tries to commit suicide, feeling his guilt for murdering a person.
Character history
Genesis
The episode "Six Months Ago" reveals that Sylar's real name is Gabriel Gray, a highly talented watchmaker who follows his adoptive father's footsteps. He encounters Chandra Suresh, who tells Gabriel that he may be an evolved human with superhuman powers. Gabriel eagerly submits to testing. After being rejected by Suresh because the test results are indeterminate, Gabriel contacts another person on Suresh's list, Brian Davis. Gabriel discovers that he himself has the power of intuitive aptitude, and murders Davis for his telekinetic powers. After returning to Suresh, he becomes "Patient Zero", and continues to work with Suresh until Suresh realizes that Sylar is murdering the people that they meet and ultimately, Suresh is killed by Gabriel in his own cab precisely at 11:53 p.m.
Sylar is first referenced in the first episode when Mohinder Suresh (Chandra Suresh's son) finds a cassette tape labeled "SYLAR" on both sides in his dead father's New York apartment. His character is next mentioned in the series as a mysterious serial killer sought out by the FBI, whose existence is completely speculative. Appearing as a shadowy figure, he attempts to obtain Molly Walker's power after failing the first time.
In "Once Upon a Time in Texas", Sylar bumps into a future Hiro in front of the Burnt Toast Diner, and sidesteps him before entering. Here, he converses with Charlie, and discovers her power of enhanced memory. Sylar prepares to kill Charlie, but Hiro stops time and locks Sylar in a bus storage container. Later, when seeking Sylar to fix Charlie's aneurysm, Sylar angrily attacks Hiro, demanding to know what Hiro did to him. He attempts to kill Hiro, but Hiro prevents this with his time control. Finally, Hiro makes a deal: to tell Sylar about his future if he saves Charlie. Sylar proceeds to do so, and is miffed that he is told that - although he will become the most powerful person - he will die alone and unloved.
Sylar proceeds to attempt to obtain Claire Bennet's regenerative abilities, but is stopped by Peter Petrelli. He is greatly injured and is captured by Eden McCain and the Haitian to be experimented on. After various experiments, Sylar manages to escape, but he is again repelled from an attempt to obtain Claire's power.
Remembering Suresh's list, Sylar makes his way to Zane Taylor, and by posing as the person Zane was expecting, Mohinder Suresh, he kills him and obtains his power. After Mohinder arrives, Sylar poses as Zane, and convinces Mohinder to take him to help convince other people with special abilities that Mohinder's research is real. After Sylar acquires enhanced hearing from a woman named Dale, Mohinder discovers Sylar's identity and manages to incapacitate him with drugs. After experimenting on Sylar to create a new list of people with special powers and attempting to kill him, Mohinder is captured. After Peter shows up and is temporarily killed by Sylar, Mohinder knocks him out, but ends up leaving Isaac Mendez's address on the ground.
After meeting Isaac, and being told that his fate is to die at the hands of the other heroes, he takes Isaac's power to paint the future. He soon finishes a painting depicting himself about to kill and acquire the power of the radioactive Ted Sprague, and believes himself to be the "exploding man". Believing that only those who "don't deserve" their powers are the ones that need to die, he doesn't want to kill innocent people. After attempting to confide in Mohinder, he returns home to his alleged mother, Virginia Gray, in the hope that she will tell him that it is fine not to be special and live as a normal watchmaker. She tells him that he can be anything, including the president, causing him to demonstrate his powers and accidentally injure her. This causes her to panic, which eventually leads to her death, and Sylar deciding that his path is correct.
After acquiring the radioactive powers of Ted, Sylar paints a picture of himself facing off against Peter Petrelli at Kirby Plaza. Realizing Peter is part of his final destiny, Sylar prepares to hunt him down. Before he can leave, Ando Masahashi arrives to kill him, though Ando is easily thwarted. After Sylar discovers the comic depicting his death at the hands of Hiro Nakamura, Hiro appears and rescues Ando. Sylar sets off for Kirby Plaza to wait for Peter. After a struggle involving Sylar, Peter, Matt Parkman, and Niki Sanders, Peter begins the process of exploding, showing Sylar that he is not the exploding man. Soon after, Hiro arrives and impales Sylar through the stomach as the comic predicts, terribly wounding him. His last act is to telekinetically throw Hiro towards a building, forcing him to teleport and rendering him incapable of stopping Peter, as he collapses with a triumphant grin on his face while events that transpired throughout the season that end with his injury by Hiro play in his eyes. However, near the end of the episode, a trail of blood leading from where Sylar collapsed and ending at an open manhole is seen, indicating that Sylar is still alive.
Generations
Sylar is rescued by Candice Wilmer, who uses her powers of illusion to make Sylar disappear. After undergoing eight surgeries, he eventually awakes and realizes that he cannot use his powers. Though Candice promises that they will come back eventually, he kills her and attempts to acquire her power in order to start over. After realizing that it also doesn't work, he attempts to leave, though he realizes that he is in the middle of a dense jungle in Mexico. After wandering for three days, he is rescued from the brink of death by the passing-by Maya and Alejandro Herrera. He introduces himself using his real name, and eventually finds out that they are in search of Chandra Suresh to help control Maya's power. He tells them that he knows Suresh, and that he will take them to him.
He continues to travel with them, and while Alejandro becomes more distrustful of Sylar, Maya becomes more trusting of him. After teaching Maya to control her powers, he convinces her that her brother hates her and that in her heart she wanted to see his wife dead. Convincing her to send Alejandro away, Sylar is eventually confronted by Alejandro. He kills him, but states that he would have let Alejandro go had he not come back. Soon after, Maya confesses her love for Gabriel, and they reach Mohinder's apartment. Sylar attempts to obtain a cure for his condition, later revealed to be the same strain of the Shanti Virus which Niki was infected with. Upon finding that Sylar cannot use any of his obtained abilities, Mohinder attempts to kill Sylar, who then threatens him with a gun. This causes Maya to finally see Sylar's true intentions, so Sylar takes Maya, Mohinder and Molly hostage. Sylar agrees to go to Isaac's loft after Mohinder tells him tests need to be run. At the loft, Molly reveals to Maya that Alejandro is dead, who then goes to confront Sylar. He rolls his eyes as Maya screams at him, casually turns around and shoots her in the chest, and then tells Mohinder to cure Maya first. Elle enters the building and starts shooting at Sylar, but by then he has seen that the cure works, and he steals it and escapes.
Villains
In "Villains", Hiro sees Sylar's life shortly after the murder of Brian Davis. Intensely remorseful over the act, Gabriel attempts to hang himself. Elle Bishop walks in and saves him by using her electric abilities to cut the rope, convincing him that he's a good person. However, she is actually working with Noah Bennet to get Sylar to reveal the method behind transferring powers from one person to another. Elle befriends Gabriel and the two begin to share feelings for each other. Against her wishes, Elle helps Noah manipulate him to kill again by introducing Gabriel to Trevor Zeitlan, a young man who can kinetically shatter objects by "shooting" at them with his thumb and forefinger. She purposefully enrages Gabriel by having Trevor repeatedly demonstrate his ability by shattering glasses while calling him "special." Gabriel turns on Elle, who tries to stop him from killing Trevor. When Gabriel realizes Elle also has an ability, he is furious and pushes her against the wall with his mind, commanding her to leave before turning on Trevor and taking his power. Bennet and Elle watch from the car as Gabriel attacks Trevor.
In the third season, Sylar injects himself with the cure, healing his wounds and regaining use of his intuitive aptitude and telekinesis (though none of his other acquired powers). Sylar makes his way to California and finally takes Claire's power, though he does not kill her, claiming that she is special and that he couldn't do so even if he wanted to because he felt something special about her. He also takes several of the Company files on superhumans she had collected.
Sylar breaks into Company headquarters, killing Bob Bishop and acquiring his power. He is captured after attempting to take Elle's power, which results in her involuntarily releasing an electric burst which knocks him unconscious. The discharge also disables the Level 5 security system, allowing a dozen dangerous inmates to escape the complex. Before Sylar can regain consciousness, he is locked up. During his imprisonment, Angela Petrelli claims that she is his mother and attempts to rehabilitate him. She allows him to kill Bridget Bailey, a woman who can see the history of an object by touching it, in order to feed his hunger for power. When Noah Bennet returns to the Company to hunt down the escaped villains, Angela assigns Sylar as his partner, sending the two out to confront the villains and save the trapped Peter Petrelli.
Wanting to prove he is not just a killer, to both himself and Bennet, Sylar saves Bennet from Jesse and Knox, two of the escaped villains. However, his "hunger" reasserts itself and he kills Jesse, allowing Knox to escape in the confusion. Sylar is placed in his cell once more, where he is visited by Peter, who angrily snaps his neck after Sylar reveals that they are brothers. Peter, having absorbed Sylar's power and thereby his hunger, nearly kills Angela before Sylar knocks him unconscious. As Angela deals with her youngest son, Bennet arrives to take Sylar along to capture another Level 5 inmate. Sylar is surprised that Bennet would want to take him, but Bennet rebuffs him and tells him not to "make it harder than it already is." During the road trip, Noah chastises him about the murder of Jesse at the bank and his terrorizing Claire, and Sylar states that "rehabilitation doesn't happen overnight. I am trying."
They track the escapee, Stephen Canfield, to an empty house, unaware that Claire is already there dealing with Canfield herself. The man creates a powerful vortex in the room which nearly sucks in Claire, but Sylar saves her at the last minute. The power gained from Bridget enables him to experience the horror she went through, so he attempts to sincerely apologize to her, but she regards him with anger and disgust, and Bennet emphatically tells him to never to speak to his daughter again. The three find Stephen at an amusement park, where Bennet tries to force him into killing Sylar in exchange for freedom; though Sylar is clearly aware of what Noah is trying to do, he doesn't do anything to stop him. Rather than become a killer, Stephen kills himself with his power instead. Sylar later calmly remarks to Claire that her father doesn't see people with abilities as human, and never will.
Sylar is returned to his cell once more, where he is approached by Daphne Millbrook with an offer to join Pinehearst Industries, who will accept him for what he is. Sylar refuses, wanting to change. After they leave, Sylar revives Peter so he can help Angela Petrelli. Peter is initially skeptical, but Sylar's willingness to change combined with experience with the future Sylar convinces him; Peter's description of the future Gabriel Gray also gives Sylar hope that he can be redeemed. When Peter discovers the Pinehearst logo in her mind and attempts to go there, Sylar tries to stop him from doing so, but Peter easily defeats him due to his wider variety of powers and places him in an artificially-induced coma just as he had been. Angela is able to use her powers to wake him so he can rescue Peter, who has been stripped of his powers by Arthur Petrelli. Sylar does as asked, but is convinced by Arthur to turn on Angela. Arthur has Sylar throw a powerless Peter out a seventh-story window, but Peter miraculously survives. In "It's Coming", Arthur reveals that he knows Sylar slowed Peter's fall. Arthur is not angry; instead, he uses this event as evidence that Sylar can use his emotions like Peter could, to obtain someone's power without killing them.
To test this theory, Arthur places Sylar in a dark room with Elle, who is restrained to the floor and still suffers from her uncontrolled ability. She is furious at Sylar for her father's murder and repeatedly electrocutes him to no avail. Sylar confronts Elle with his sorrow for what he's done as well as her sorrow for what she's done. She rages at him and continues to attack, finally collapsing and begging him to kill her so that her pain will go away. He forgives her for turning him into a monster and convinces her to forgive herself for her crimes, wanting to take away her pain without killing her. At that moment, Elle's pain disappears and she regains control of her ability. Likewise, Sylar is able to absorb her power. Sylar is overwhelmed by this development, as he no longer has to kill to satisfy his hunger. The two appear to rekindle their old feelings for each other as Elle teaches Sylar how to use her ability. In "The Eclipse", Sylar is relieved when he loses his abilities, and wishes to start a new life with Elle. However, after Noah Bennet claims that Angela and Arthur Petrelli are not his real parents and are just manipulating him, Sylar feels betrayed and reverts to his murderous tendencies. Having regained his abilities after the eclipse ended, Sylar expresses seeming remorse and then attacks Elle, using his telekinesis to scalp her.
The next morning Sylar proceeds to cremate her body, receiving a call from Arthur about his absence. Sylar curtly tells Arthur he is not returning and reveals he has a new list in the form of Elle's cell phone contact list. To ascertain the truth for himself, he kills Sue Landers, a human lie detector. He then heads to Pinehearst to confront Arthur, stopping Peter and the Haitian from killing Arthur by freezing the bullet fired at Arthur's head. With both the Haitian and Arthur apparently weakened in attempting to overwhelm one another, Sylar asks Arthur if he is truly his father. Arthur says yes; Sylar detects the lie with Sue Landers' power and proceeds to drive the bullet into Arthur's head, killing him. He then leaves Peter and the Haitian, claiming they do not have anything he desires.
Sylar travels to Primatech, and sets up a mind game for Angela, Claire, Meredith, and Noah Bennet. After locking everyone inside and killing the Primatech staff, he tells them over the PA system that he will turn them all into monsters as they try to hunt him. Noah releases several Level 5 inmates as bait, including Echo Demille, Eric Doyle, and Daniel Pine, but Sylar easily disposes of them. He then injects Meredith with adrenaline, causing her to lose control of her fire ability. She and Noah are then locked in a cell with a single bullet, so Noah will either burn to death or kill Meredith to survive. Claire wants to help, as Sylar expects, forcing her to choose between her grandmother and her father; Claire chooses her father, leaving Angela at Sylar's mercy. He confronts Angela, and finds out that she was only using him for his monstrous qualities. However, she also reveals that she knows who his real parents are, and that they are not the Grays. As Sylar demands to be told the truth, Claire stabs him in the back of the head with a piece of glass, which will prevent him from reviving as long as it remains in place. In the prison cell, Meredith finally loses full control of her power and releases a massive explosion. Primatech goes up in flames with Sylar still inside.
Fugitives
Following the destruction of Primatech, Sylar is shown to be alive and well (it's later revealed that the fire melted the glass, allowing him to regenerate), and begins to search for his true biological parents. He starts by tracking down his adoptive father, Martin Gray, in Baltimore, making a stop in Pittsburgh to kill an insurance broker who could replicate his signature, and possibly learn the whereabouts of Martin. Sylar learns that Martin had paid to take him off the hands of his supposed father, Samson Gray, in order to escape his marriage with Virginia, Sylar's adoptive mother. After interrogating Martin, Sylar raises his hand, and is about to kill Martin, but holds back and walks away. After taking the address from Martin, Sylar finds Samson's home, only for it to be empty and Nathan Petrelli's agents waiting to ambush him. Although shot at, stunned and restrained, Sylar easily recovers and kills the agents, save one Agent Simmons, whom he tortures for information on Samson's disappearance.
In order to extract more information from Simmons, Sylar invades the house of Luke and Mary Campbell. Waiting for the two to return, Sylar telekinetically pins them, and states he intends to torture them to get Simmons to talk. He then proceeds to torture Mary. In a rage, Luke manages to free himself and boils Sylar's coffee with his own ability: microwave emission. Intrigued, Sylar begins to talk to Luke, telling him exactly why Luke has been in so much trouble, and that he understands Luke's frustration. During this, Simmons frees himself from his bindings and tries to grab his gun to shoot Sylar, but Luke notices this and kills Simmons. Sylar proceeds to leave the house, taking Luke with him only after Luke states he knows where Samson is.
As Sylar and Luke proceed to find Samson, Luke wishes to stop at some local diner to eat, as well as lying to Sylar about Samson's location when prodded. This irritates Sylar to the point where he threatens to simply take Luke's emission ability. Luke simply states that Sylar would never find his father then. Choosing to stop at a diner, Luke reveals that he and Samson went birding, awakening a memory from Sylar's childhood. As they eat, Sylar teaches Luke some lessons about using his power and having objectives, as well as revealing the change in his 'hunger' (emphasizing finding Samson over acquiring powers). This results in Luke giving Sylar Samson's location, even under the threat of being killed for his power. They are soon interrupted by Nathan's agents. Luke distracts the agents enough for Sylar to telekinetically toss a few around and punch a hole through a window. However, as he gets into the car, Sylar locks Luke out and drives off, leaving Luke to the agents. However, a short time later, Sylar disguises as an agent and gets into their van, killing the agents and saving Luke, as well as taking a laptop. When confronted about this by Luke, Sylar states that Luke was simply conveniently nearby and that his goal was to get the laptop to understand how Nathan's agents worked, though Luke seems skeptical about that reasoning.
Continuing to elude Nathan's agents, Sylar and Luke finally lose them. Irritated with Luke's wish to fry some agents and subtle attempts to stop the search for Samson, Sylar pins Luke to the side of the truck, essentially telling Luke to shut up. Sylar then seems to remember the area in which the two are in, and they reach an abandoned diner. Sylar makes an entrance by pulling off some of the board (throwing them in Luke's direction) and they enter. Here, Sylar recounts being brought to the diner as a child, and dropping a toy car in a wooden post. To prove this memory true, he rips open the post telekinetically and finds the car. He then remembers exactly what happened at that place: His father took money from Virginia and Martin, then left to his car. Sylar followed, only to see his biological parents arguing, and Samson telekinetically splitting his mother's skull open, killing her. In a rage exacerbated by Luke's revelation that Sylar's father was indeed a bad individual, Sylar pins him to the diner wall, but drops him and tells Luke to go home. Sylar leaves, intent on not only finding, but killing his father.
Arriving at a run-down trailer in the woods, Sylar finds his father old and dying of cancer. Samson is not frightened by Sylar's threat to kill and instead prepares a rabbit for taxidermy. Demonstrating several abilities, he and Sylar realize that they have the same ability - the ability to steal powers. Samson reveals that it did not matter how many people he killed or how many powers he stole; in the end, he did not lead a fulfilling life and is now miserable. He claims to not even remember selling Sylar and killing his mother, as these things did not matter to him. He goes on to say how he would have lived life differently, if given a second chance - how he would risk everything to attain true power and ultimately change the world. He touches on Sylar's original guilt for murdering to steal abilities by mocking Sylar, telling him how both their victims were weak and helpless and that they had no chance against seasoned killers. However, when Sylar cuts himself and heals while stuffing the rabbit, Samson transforms, reviving his hunger for abilities, desperate to gain immortality and escape from death. Temporarily incapacitating Sylar, he is stunned when Sylar first resists and then retaliates, strangling Samson with his own oxygen tube. Samson does not understand, since both he and Sylar know that Sylar would not die from Samson's "examination". Sylar states that he is finishing what he came to do, taking the stuffed rabbit. Samson begs Sylar to kill him quickly, but Sylar refuses, relishing the fact that his father, who is ultimately just like him, will "die alone with his disease". Later, when Danko returns home to his apartment after discovering Nathan's ability, he finds the stuffed rabbit on his desk, unaware that Sylar is lurking in the shadows nearby. Instead of a confrontation, however, Sylar chooses to leave, but not before stringing up an unconscious Eric Doyle in Danko's apartment as a 'gift'.
This 'gift' is explained further when Sylar surprises Danko in his car: He wishes to work with Danko in rounding up all superpowered humans, and quickly leaves before Danko can pull out his gun. To further win Danko's trust, Sylar decides to help Danko track a shapeshifter, James Martin, who managed to kill 4 of Danko's agents (3 via gunshot, and one murdered for his form). At Martin's apartment, Danko surprises Sylar, and the two exchange taunts and information, resulting in Sylar and Danko teaming up for the time being. Through their cooperation, the two find out that Martin takes forms of power and authority, in order to woo women at a local nightclub. At the club, Sylar and Danko are spotted by Martin (in the form of Danko), and they lose track of him. A short time later, Danko and Sylar decide to leave the club; however, the 'Sylar' is actually Martin in disguise with the intention of killing Danko. However, Danko shoots Martin, but doesn't kill him. Instead, he allows the real Sylar to take Martin's ability (without removing the skullcap) in order to not only make hunting superpowered humans easier for them, but to fake Sylar's death and keep people such as Noah Bennett from trying to track Sylar down.
Sylar, disguised as Danko, later meets Noah at Building 26 as Noah, unknowingly, examines Martin's body. Noah, knowing how hard it is to kill Sylar, doubts Danko could do it single-handedly. When Sandra arrives to question Noah about Claire, Sylar shakes her hand in introduction, gaining access to her form. Wanting to destroy Noah, he later visits Noah at Noah's apartment, in disguise as Sandra. He delivers divorce papers, stating that he (Sandra) cannot trust Noah anymore and that their marriage is over. Noah is distraught but, upon examining the signature on the forms, discovers that it is not Sandra's. Rushing to the crematorium, Noah stops the cremation of Martin's body. He removes the metal shard in the back of the corpse's head, telling the surrounding soldiers that when Sylar was stabbed with a glass shard before, it melted in the Primatech fire allowing him to regenerate. When the corpse does not regenerate, Noah returns to Danko and confronts him with the knowledge that Sylar is still alive. Danko confesses and tells Noah that Sylar is in disguise and out on a mission with other soldiers. Noah forces Danko to take him to Sylar and, when they arrive, shoots the soldier Danko identifies as Sylar in the back of the head. When the corpse continues to bleed out and does not heal, Danko orders his men to capture Noah, who Danko claims has gone insane. However, when the soldiers leave in pursuit, the corpse gets up and shifts back into Sylar. When Danko asks him how he survived while bleeding so much, Sylar says it was all to make his death look realistic.
As Sylar continues to shapeshift, he finds it is harder and harder to regain his form without side effects, including left over body parts like teeth. He also retains personality traits and memories of those he changes into, causing him to go through a literal "identity crisis". When Danko tells him that he needs to leave his "Sylar" identity behind to retain his free pass, Sylar kills the next target on Danko's list, Tom Miller, and takes his power. Further examining the shapeshifting ability, Sylar realizes he is actually absorbing different DNA sequences into his body, causing him to permanently change a little each time he shifts. When Sylar starts to shapeshift in his sleep, Danko tells him he has to find an anchor that will remind him of who he is. To that effect, Sylar, as one of Danko's agents, retrieves the evidence from the homicide of his mother, Virginia Gray. While examining her collection of snow globes, Sylar unknowingly shapeshifts into his mother and begins to have a conversation with himself, showing acute symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. He at first does not realize what is happening and talks to his mother about his encounter with Samson, why his mother lied to Sylar about his lineage, and how he is starting to lose himself. He, as his mother, tries to convince himself that he did not mean to kill her and that he is still special. Danko interrupts when his agents track down Rebel. Sylar gets to Rebel (Micah Sanders) before Danko's agents do and prepares to kill him and take his power. Micah, however, reveals that he understands what Sylar is going through because his mother, Niki Sanders, endured the same thing when her power manifested. Convinced that Sylar is special and the only one capable of saving those with powers, Micah convinces Sylar to join his cause. Sylar, disguised as Micah, tricks Danko and his agents into chasing the wrong person, allowing Micah to escape. Sylar, again talking with "his mother", reveals that her murder was no accident but "Virginia" forgives Sylar anyway, convinced that he can still be whomever he wants to be, including the President. Realizing his opportunity, Sylar breaks into Nathan Petrelli's office and finds a brush containing some of Nathan's DNA. He later appears, as Nathan, at a press conference concerning new plans for change he has for the country and how he soon plans to meet with the President and "shake his hand". Realizing what Sylar is trying to do, Nathan returns to DC from Coyote Sands and confronts Sylar, who reveals he has examined Nathan's life in depth using clairsentience. Expressing pity and determined to become better than Nathan, Sylar prepares to take Nathan's ability when Danko appears and stuns Nathan. Attempting to salvage his operation, Danko orders Sylar to shift back into one of his agents so they can continue hunting specials. When Sylar refuses, Danko stabs him in the back of the head with a knife. However, Sylar recovers, having used his shapeshifting ability to relocate his weak spot.
After framing Danko for the murder of an agent, he takes on Nathan's form and goes to meet the President with Claire in tow. When she discovers the truth, he controls her using the power which he had empathically absorbed from Eric Doyle and talks about how similar they are, both being adopted and both having the ability to live forever, proposing that, given enough time, Claire might come to forgive him and even love him. However, Peter and Nathan then confront him, and in the battle Sylar and Nathan fly out of a window and into another room. Sylar subsequently kills Nathan (after empathically absorbing his power during the fight) and takes on the form of the President's Chief of Staff. However, the President injects him with an elephant tranquilizer, and reveals himself to be Peter, having absorbed Sylar's ability during the fight. In an effort to shut down the program, Angela convinces Matt Parkman to use his telepathy to convince Sylar that he is Nathan, Matt using Angela's memories of Nathan's life to essentially 'plant' Nathan in Sylar's head, his shape-shifting power allowing him to assume Nathan's form while his clairsentience will allow him to subconsciously use objects around him to 'fill in the blanks'. Sylar, as Nathan, talks to the President and convinces him to shut down Building 26 and divert the funds to the new Company that will now be built. Later, Sylar, as Nathan, watches "Sylar's" (in reality James Martin's) body burn at Coyote Sands alongside Noah, Claire, Matt, Angela, Peter, Mohinder, Hiro and Ando.
Redemption
Memory loss
Six weeks later, this Nathan starts to rediscover the other powers he had gained in his old life. Later, following Nathan's confession of being involved in the accidental death of his girlfriend Kelly Houston, her mother, Millie Houston, has him shot and buried in a shallow grave. When healed, Sylar emerges from the ground in his own body, suffering from amnesia. Picked up by the police, he is recognized and accidentally uses his powers to escape. He then encounters the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival" and Samuel, who take him in as one of their own. The carnival is hidden from Sylar's pursuers, and Samuel assures him he is safe in his new "home".
Once Sylar has rested, Samuel proceeds to show him around the circus, showing that everyone at the carnival has an ability. Sylar also meets Lydia, who he immediately hits it off with. Edgar, however, jealously attempts to outshow Sylar with his power, but is easily beaten. Samuel also notices that Sylar's memories are not his (in fact, Nathan Petrelli's). In an effort to awaken Sylar's true personality, Sylar is taken by Damien to the hall of mirrors, where he is forced to look at his past murders, starting with his mother. Repulsed, Sylar is unable to believe himself a monster. Samuel uses this to try and convince Sylar that he is a protector of the circus, and must remove threats such as the officer who attempted to capture him the night before. Sylar is told the officer is at the house of mirrors, and goes there to tell the man to leave. However, the officer shoots at Sylar, forcing an uncontrolled electric blast. Here, Sylar's killer instinct begins to take hold, but Sylar stops himself just in time for Edgar to cut the man into pieces. Later, Samuel formally makes Sylar a part of the circus family, baptizing him and letting him mingle with the others. Sylar and Lydia leave arm in arm for the night, much to Edgar's dismay.
In "Shadowboxing", the persona of Nathan returns, causing him to shapeshift back into Nathan's form while sleeping. Panicking upon finding himself at the carnival, he flies away, and is later shown arriving at Peter's door, asking for help. Arriving for work at his office, Peter and Nathan discover that no one has been looking for Nathan, as he had been on 'vacation' according to Angela Petrelli. The brothers are further surprised when the Haitian appears, and tells Peter to go see a storage facility for the truth of the situation. Here, Nathan and Peter discover the real Nathan's preserved body, which 'Nathan' touches and sees Sylar and Matt Parkman. They head to Texas to see Matt, who is at the hospital, in a coma.
Haunting Matt Parkman
Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body.
Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop.
The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more.
Whole again
Staying over at Peter Petrelli's apartment, the brothers are surprised by Angela, who springs a Thanksgiving dinner on them. Nathan wakes up in time to hear Peter and Angela discussing the discovery of Nathan's body. Although they press her for information, Angela threatens to simply leave if they do not sit down and eat. During the dinner, Angela finally confesses that she had Matt Parkman place Nathan's mind into Sylar's body. During dessert, however, Nathan begins to act oddly, and transforms back into Sylar, happy to be controlling his body once more. He telekinetically traps Peter and Angela, relishing his ability to control himself. After taunting Peter, he begins to scalp Angela, only to have the 'Nathan' persona fight back. Losing control, Sylar transforms back into Nathan, who flees the building to protect his family. Peter devises a plan to eliminate the 'Sylar' persona leaving just Nathan using the ability of The Haitian to erase Sylar's memories. On a rooftop however, "Nathan" confesses to Peter he is not himself and cannot keep fighting off the 'Sylar' persona. Nathan jumps off the building and lands onto a parked car. Peter then sees Sylar heal, get up and wave as he walks away.
Sylar returns to the carnival to face Samuel, but Sylar finds that while he wants to kill, he is unable to make himself do so. His identity in crisis, he makes a deal with Samuel. After absorbing Lydia's power, he tells Samuel to give him a tattoo, and that he would do whatever it said. When he sees the tattoo, he decides that he does not belong at the carnival. The next scene shows him floating outside of Claire Bennet's dorm room window, and his tattoo is a picture of her.
In the episode "Pass/Fail", Sylar kidnaps Claire Bennet's friend, Gretchen Berg so Claire will talk to him in exchange for her friend. Sylar feels like they are very similar: they've never felt in place, they both lost their parents, and they are both immortal. Claire doesn't want to talk to him, and makes him tell her where Gretchen is. Claire finds Gretchen tied up, and they hide in a closet and have a talk. Claire tells Gretchen that Sylar thinks they are alike, and she fears that they might be. She is confused at Sylar's attitude, but resents him for who he is. Gretchen comes to the conclusion that Sylar's powers have isolated him from ever having any relationships. Giving them up might be the only way he could have any connections. Gretchen then shape-shifts back into Sylar. He then goes to Matt Parkman and asks him to take away all his powers away. Matt attempts but fails. Sylar threatens Matt's family and forces him to keep trying. Instead, Matt traps Sylar and his powers deep within the confines of his mind, "somewhere you'll never find them," and he is left alone to live out his worst nightmare: Being all alone. Matt then attempts to seal up Sylar within the walls of his basement. However, Peter Petrelli arrives after having a vision that Sylar will save Emma. Using Matt's power, Peter attempts to bring Sylar out of his nightmare, but ends up trapped in Sylar's mind along with him (The Art of Deception).
In "The Wall", Sylar is repairing endless watches in the empty city when he hears banging. Searching for the source of it, he finds Peter using a pole to get his attention by banging it on the concrete. Sylar is shocked to discover that Peter is real and says there's no way out - he's been searching for three years. Peter reveals that it's actually been three hours and that Sylar is trapped in a nightmare, which he is skeptical to accept, and runs back to his shop. Peter tries to convince him of the truth and tells him he must save Emma. He tries to pull them out of the nightmare but is unsuccessful. Peter avoids Sylar for a month while trapped, and Sylar tries being friendly by giving him a 9th Wonders! comic book. Peter, determined to find a way out, does not understand why Sylar is so resistant to find a way out, and realizes that Sylar really doesn't want to be free. They come across a massive brick wall, the same one Sylar's body is actually trapped behind (in Matt's basement). Peter realizes that the two need to break the wall in order to escape. At first Peter tries to break it alone, but fails. Sylar compares his determination to a memory of Nathan's he possesses which angers Peter. Sylar apologizes for Nathan's murder, but Peter refuses to forgive him and Sylar finally joins Peter in attempting to break down the wall. After years of attempting and failing to damage the wall in the slightest, Sylar is surprised when Peter gives him a copy of The Pillars of the Earth as a gift as a to thank him for keeping him sane all the years of their imprisonment. Sylar admits he always worries Peter will attack him with the sledge-hammer which Peter admits he has contemplated. Sylar realizes that Peter won't let go of his anger out of fear of losing the last remnant of Nathan, and points out to Peter that he has truly changed. Peter finally accepts this fact and afterwards the two are easily able to break a hole in the wall, which frees them from their mental prison. Once freed, Sylar uses telekinesis to free him from his physical one and he and Peter learn that they've only been trapped for half a day in reality. The experience seems to have changed both Sylar and Peter and the two head off to save Emma, but are stopped by Eli and his clones who want to prevent their plans.
In "Brave New World," he and Peter easily defeat Eli and save Matt's life as knocking out the Prime Eli gets rid of his clones who were about to kill Matt. Sylar tries to convince a furious Matt that he's changed, but fails and begins to leave with Peter (who read Eli's mind and learned Samuel's plans). Matt tries to telepathically prevent Sylar from leaving, so Sylar asks Matt to read his mind to show him he has changed. Matt is unable to, although he does let them leave. Peter and Sylar fly to New York where Samuel plans to kill thousands of people. Peter is reluctant, but Sylar convinces Peter to trust him and reminds him that the dream says that Sylar saves Emma. Sylar heads off to the tent to save Emma while Peter goes to defeat Samuel. He finds Emma playing the cello with bloody fingers, and tries to save her by taking the cello, but is taken control of by Eric Doyle, the Puppet Master. Doyle, desperate to be better than Sylar, begins to taunt him. However, controlling and mocking Sylar distracts him from his primary focus on controlling Emma. Once Emma realizes he has loosened his control over her, Emma blasts Doyle with a soundwave through the cello, breaking Doyle's control over Sylar, and giving Sylar the chance to telekinetically grab onto Doyle. Doyle begs him to stop, and asks, "What do you care about this girl, anyway?" Sylar tells him that he's going to save her. Confused, Doyle cries out, "That's not you! You're like me!" Sylar looks at him and calmly says, "No. I'm a hero." After Peter reunites with Emma, she tells him that his friend is taking care of Doyle. Fearing the worst, Peter heads into the tent to find Sylar admiring his new "masterpiece": a dazed Doyle trussed up like a puppet, clad in giant light-bulbs. Sylar plugs the lights in, deviously grins, and says, "I like it!"
Brave New World
Sylar walks with Peter and discusses his rescue of Emma. Sylar explains that he could have easily killed Doyle but didn't and that not killing him and saving Emma felt good to him, showing that Sylar is truly changing and is enjoying being a hero rather than a villain. Peter and Sylar witness Claire climbing the Ferris Wheel to reveal her powers to the world and Sylar comments that it's now a "brave new world."
Alternate timelines
In the first alternate future depicted, set five years ahead in the episode "Five Years Gone", Sylar has gained countless new abilities, including those of Candice Wilmer and D. L. Hawkins. Nathan Petrelli, now the President, concocted a story for the explanation of New York's destruction, which blamed Sylar for the explosion, and he is assumed to be deceased. Sylar is able to use Candice's ability to murder Nathan and assume his identity. As President, he begins a campaign to hunt and exterminate all people with abilities, originally claiming that it will unite the world in grief. However, he really just doesn't want the competition. When Claire Bennet is captured, he has her brought to him, pretending to be her father. However, he simply desires one final ability, hers, which he takes. Later, while giving a speech in the ruins of New York, he is informed by Matt Parkman that Peter, the future Hiro, and Ando are staging an attack to free the present-day Hiro. Upon hearing this, Sylar, still disguised as Nathan, flies away from the crowd. He confronts Peter, revealing himself, and they prepare for battle, the outcome of which is left ambiguous.
In a timeline set four years in the future, as seen in the season three episode "I Am Become Death", Sylar has reassumed his identity of Gabriel Gray and is working to suppress his homicidal hunger for the sake of his son, Noah, who lives with him and Mr. Muggles in Claire's former home in Costa Verde. He is visited by the Peter Petrelli of the present, who is intent on learning how to activate the intuitive ability he has absorbed from him so that he can understand the complexities of changing the timeline. Gabriel is initially reluctant, resisting telepathic compulsion to teach Peter, but ultimately relents and tutors him after painting a precognitive picture of the Earth exploding, despite warning Peter that with the intuitive ability comes the same homicidal hunger he has been trying to resist. Shortly afterwards, a team led by Claire Bennet storms the house intent on killing Peter, and in the ensuing fight, Noah is killed. Enraged and grief-stricken, Gabriel loses control of his radiation ability and releases a nuclear detonation, destroying Costa Verde and killing over 200,000 people. It remains unknown whether or not he survived the explosion.
In the original timeline, Sylar kills Charlie Andrews and takes her power of eidetic memory (Seven Minutes to Midnight). In season four, Hiro goes back in time and prevents this, actually enlisting Sylar's help to save her from a blood clot (Once Upon a Time in Texas).
Powers and abilities
Sylar's base power, as described by Chandra Suresh, is "intuitive aptitude", the ability to innately understand and manipulate patterns within complex systems, which initially manifests as a talent for repairing timepieces. As revealed in "One of Us, One of Them", this power comes with a nearly insatiable hunger for "understanding", which, in Sylar's case, specifically refers to craving the powers of others, driving him to kill other superpowered humans to understand their powers and make them his own. Despite the strength of this hunger, two episodes have shown that it can be resisted or satiated: in the alternate future of "Five Years Gone", Sylar has taken on so many abilities that he simply desires to get rid of all of his potential "competition" (other superhumans, to be exact); in the future of "I Am Become Death", he has resumed his identity as Gabriel Gray and denies his hunger for the sake of his son. In "Once Upon a Time in Texas" it is revealed that Sylar can also identify deformities in people such as Charlie's blood clot and Hiro's brain tumor.
Sylar's intuitive aptitude allows him to deduce the workings of the powers of others; by examining the brain of his victim, he is able to find the brain's connection to the ability, and once he finds said connection, he can immediately replicate the power himself. The exact mechanics behind this are unknown, though it is theorized numerous times by many characters that DNA alteration/infusions is what allows him to obtain abilities. Yet, when the process is shown, Sylar only seems to touch the part of the brain that is the source of the ability and immediately replicates it. Sylar cannot acquire an ability from a person who has been dead awhile, even if their brains are intact though the process he uses to acquire abilities kills his victims before he actually gains the ability. In "Fallout", Noah Bennet theorizes that Sylar's additional powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own which, as a side effect, has driven him insane.
Of all the powers Sylar has acquired, the most prominently used is telekinesis, which is the first power he took. In contrast to the limited abilities Brian Davis displayed, Sylar's skills are far more advanced; he exhibits both fine control (precisely cutting open the skulls of his victims) and sheer force (flipping a police van), can enhance his own strength and durability to superhuman levels, and can control a person's motor skills in a manner similar to Eric Doyle's puppet mastery. Tests done on Sylar by Bennet's associate Hank show no overt signs of powers other than telekinesis; while their tests show that he possesses other powers, they are unable to identify what they are. In "The Hard Part", Sylar demonstrates he can use at least two of his acquired abilities at the same time.
During his first killing spree, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
After being injected with the Shanti virus by the Company, Sylar loses all of his abilities. After he is cured at the end of the second season, he only regains his abilities of intuitive aptitude and telekinesis. Sylar's empathic mimicry, which Arthur says he has had all along, is also present. In the third and fourth seasons, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
In "It's Coming", Sylar learns how to gain abilities without removing a person's brain, obtaining Elle Bishop's power of electric manipulation by empathizing with her and convincing her to let go of her anger. This empathy allowed him to retain the use of Brian Davis' telekinesis after being cured of the virus, due to the guilt he felt over his death. Arthur explains that Sylar possessed this ability all along. Despite possessing this ability, he has returned to killing to obtain new powers, though he later uses this method to obtain James Martin's shapeshifting ability, Nathan Petrelli's ability to fly, and also Lydia's empathy.
As a side effect of the use of the shapeshifting ability when used in combination with his acquired psychometry, his mind has begun to fracture into the different personas of those whom he has shapeshifted into, and residual physical characteristics have started to appear, such as his adopted mother when he came into contact with the dried blood on the scissors he killed her with. As stated in "I Am Sylar", his "Achilles' heel" in the back of his head has been relocated due to his continued shapeshifting, making him harder to stop. Aside from superhuman abilities, Sylar is very intelligent and manipulative and possesses decent hand-to-hand combat skills, as seen when he fights Peter Petrelli.
Reception
Sylar was named one of the best new villains by Entertainment Weekly. Sylar was also named the best villain of 2007 by IGN. UGO also ranked Sylar 6th on their list of top 50 TV characters.
In other media
Zachary Quinto provides the voice of a Robot Chicken-parodied Sylar in the episode "Bionic Cow". In it, he kills a man named "Uncle Glen", who is apparently able to remove his fingers, failing to realize that this is a simple sleight of hand trick to impress young children. He instead inherits Glen's power of "explosive diarrhea," remarking that "every once in a while, this power backfires".
Notes
References
External links
Sylar on the Heroes Wiki
adoptee characters in television
fictional attempted suicides
fictional characters from New York City
fictional presidents of the United States
fictional serial killers
fictional shapeshifters
fictional telekinetics
fictional United States senators
Heroes (American TV series) characters
American male characters in television
television characters introduced in 2006
television supervillains
fi:Luettelo televisiosarjan Heroes hahmoista#Sylar / Gabriel Gray | true | [
"\"I Am Sylar\" is the twenty-fourth and penultimate episode of the third season of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes and fifty-eighth episode overall. The episode aired on April 20, 2009. It is the penultimate episode of season 3, and volume 4.\n\nPlot \nThe episode opens with the scene from the previous episode, showing Angela Petrelli and the group seeing Nathan Petrelli, actually Sylar, giving a press conference on TV. The episode then recounts what happened 18 hours earlier.\n\nSylar has an identity crisis after being forced by Emile Danko to impersonate an agent. Danko suggests Sylar find an \"anchor\" to remind himself of who he really is. Sylar finds one in his late mother's effects, and begins having conversations with her by taking her form. Sylar acquires an ability from a target of the agency, who had been contacted by \"Rebel\". Danko's agency tracks Rebel to an abandoned warehouse. Sylar reaches Micah first. Micah, however, offers help with his identity crisis. Sylar protects him, leading Danko's men away, and faking Micah's death. After Micah witnesses Sylar in a conversation with his mother, Sylar sends him off; before leaving, Micah proposes Sylar turn into Nathan Petrelli to convince the President to terminate the agency.\n\nMatt Parkman contacts his ex-wife, Janice Parkman, telling her their son is safe. Hiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi plan to raid Building 26, and want Matt to join them, though he doesn't want to abandon his son. As he and his son reunite with Janice, Matt telepathically discovers Danko's men stationed outside her house, and tells Janice to leave. Initially intending to go with them, Matt changes his mind after seeing his police badge, deciding to help Hiro and Ando. As agents enter the house, Matt uses his telepathy to hide his family.\n\nHiro and Ando head to Isaac Mendez's old loft, where they plan to sound the alarm for Ando to be captured and Hiro to follow the men back to their headquarters. Soon Danko's men attack; Hiro stops time, but finds Ando unaffected, as he was touching him. Hiro tricks him into getting hit with taser darts, and dresses as one of the commandos to accompany them with the captured Ando to Building 26. On the way, Hiro slips up, forcing Ando to disable everyone in the van. They use a G.P.S. device to discover Building 26. Outside the building, Hiro attempts to stop time, but gets a headache and a large nosebleed. Elsewhere, Noah Bennet, Claire Bennet, and Angela Petrelli are stopped at a roadblock. A team of commando units moves in on them. Mohinder Suresh, still at Coyote Sands investigating his father's work, is also captured by Danko's agents.\n\nSylar visits Nathan's office, and finds his toothbrush, allowing him to contact his DNA and morph into him. Sylar then gives his press conference on TV. Nathan decides to confront him, and Peter also goes. Nathan meets Sylar in his office, where Sylar claims he will be a better version of him. As Sylar is about to kill Nathan, Nathan is shot with a taser dart by Danko, who orders Sylar to return to work as his agent, which Sylar refuses. Danko impales Sylar in the back of the head with a knife, but as he is about to call a clean-up crew, Sylar rises and removes the knife, unaffected.\n\nCritical reception\nSteve Heisler of The A.V. Club rated this episode a F.\n\nRobert Canning of IGN gave the episode 7.5 out of 10.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nBeaming Beeman - Season 3, Episode 24 - Director's blog on the filming of this episode\n\nHeroes (season 3) episodes\n2009 American television episodes",
"\"How to Stop an Exploding Man\" is the twenty-third and final episode of the first season of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes. The episode was written by Tim Kring and was directed by Allan Arkush. It is the conclusion of the three-part finale for season one.\n\nThe episode started filming March 26. It aired May 21, 2007. The title of this episode is in reference to a question that Hiro Nakamura asked in \"Fallout\".\n\nPlot\n\nOpening Narration\nThe opening narration is an expanded version of the one used in the very first episode of the series, Genesis, narrated by Mohinder Suresh.\n\n\"Where does it come from, this quest, this need to solve life's mysteries when the simplest of questions can never be answered? Why are we here? What is the soul? Why do we dream? Perhaps we'd be better off not looking at all. Not delving, not yearning. But that's not human nature. Not the human heart. That is not why we are here. Yet still we struggle to make a difference, to change the world, to dream of hope, never knowing for certain who we will meet along the way. Who among the world of strangers will hold our hand, touch our hearts, and share the pain of trying.\"\n\nEpisode Summary\nMr. Bennet points a gun at Molly, threatening her in order to save Claire, and Suresh in turn points a gun at Bennet, to save Molly. The stalemate diffuses when Molly and Matt Parkman spot each other.\n\nSylar is seen painting the predicted fight between himself and Peter, whom he immediately recognizes.\n\nHiro tells his father he must save Ando and stop Sylar. He teleports to Isaac Mendez's loft, where Ando has been pinned against the wall by Sylar. Hiro arrives to face Sylar, and Sylar challenges Hiro to move faster than he can. To Sylar's surprise, Hiro teleports across the room to Ando and they both disappear before Sylar can do anything more.\n\nHaving just killed Linderman, an injured D.L. and Niki continue the search for Micah. Once the correct room is found, Niki leaves D.L. behind to get Micah. When Niki enters the door, it appears that Jessica is in the room with a dead Micah. When she engages Niki in a fight, Niki sees the real Jessica in a broken mirror, who tells her that the other person is not her and that she still needs to save Micah. With a super-powered uppercut from the floor up, Niki throws the impostor across the room, revealing it to be Candice. She hears Micah screaming from a closet and rescues him. She then looks in a mirror and sees only herself.\n\nNathan seems to have finally accepted his responsibility as congressman and future president. Nathan's mother informs him that Mr. Linderman is indeed dead, and yet he is unsure if that is a good thing. He seems convinced that his brother Peter will indeed explode, and also that he has no plans to try to prevent the impending disaster. Molly appears to have relapsed into her health problem from \"Landslide\" and Suresh is treating her. As this happens, Mr. Bennet contacts Peter, who informs him of Sylar's new power gained from killing Ted Sprague. Bennet confides in him to stop Sylar before disaster strikes, and begs him to look after Claire. Peter visits Nathan and tries to recruit him in taking on Sylar, and asserts that Sylar must be the one who explodes; however he reflexively hears Nathan's thoughts and realizes that his brother has no intention of stopping the explosion. Peter realizes that Claire was right about not trusting Nathan, but turns to see that she has fled. He tries to locate her in an empty street, but his new \"nuclear\" powers start to take over as his emotions rise and he collapses.\n\nMatt Parkman learns of Molly's amazing ability, but she is distraught to admit that she cannot find \"everyone\": there is one person she claims to be unable to find, someone \"far worse\" than Sylar, and that when she looks for him, he can see her. When Suresh, Parkman, and Bennet ask Molly to find Sylar, she locates him at Isaac Mendez's loft and Parkman decides to go confront him only to find that Sylar has already left for Kirby Plaza. Meanwhile, Bennet has left to find Peter and Molly tells Suresh that Sylar is now \"here\" and they try to make their way out of the building. When they arrive at the elevator, they see an injured D.L., whom Mohinder treats for his wounds, but they find that the elevator will not work. As armed guards approach, Niki and Micah arrive and Micah makes the elevator work. The entire group heads down for the final confrontation.\n\nHiro has teleported himself and Ando back to their office in Japan, escaping Sylar's clutches once more. Ando is determined to help in Sylar's defeat, but Hiro is adamant that his friend remain behind. Hiro assures his friend that he has already proven himself a hero: by facing Sylar without any powers of his own, Ando demonstrated true bravery and inspired Hiro to complete the quest. Hiro states that he must finish it alone, and gives Ando his Kensei sword, telling Ando, \"so you know I'll be back.\"\n\nPeter finds himself within a flashback during his time caring for Charles Deveaux and sees his mother speaking to Charles about the bomb. He also views the first meeting of himself and Simone Deveaux. Peter believes no one can see him until his mother leaves and Charles confronts him. Charles reveals that he knew about the plan to use Nathan as a catalyst to heal the world, but he felt that Peter is the only one with enough love in his heart to truly accomplish it. He then calls the other Peter, who comes to escort him back into the house. When Mr. Bennet awakens Peter, he thanks Peter for saving Claire's life, and tells Peter \"Call me Noah\" (revealing his given name for the first time in the series).\n\nIn the climax, Peter, Bennet, and Parkman confront Sylar in the plaza. Bennet is immediately thrown against a wall, rendering him incapable of stopping Peter if he explodes. Parkman shoots at Sylar, who stops the bullets and turns them back at Parkman, who is hit in the chest. Sylar then telekinetically uproots a parking meter, sends it flying into his free hand, and brutally hits Peter in the stomach with it. Niki steps in and hits Sylar's torso with the meter, saving Peter, who then tells Niki that he can handle the rest and she should return to her family. He grabs Sylar and punches him repeatedly, with Sylar being unable to retaliate. After the final punch, Sylar begins to laugh mockingly at the now glowing Peter. Peter, now losing control over his concentration of controlling Ted's power, realizes that he will be the bomb after all. Sylar stands and taunts Peter, calling him a villain and indicating himself as the hero. As Sylar is about to move forward, Hiro arrives and distracts him. Before Sylar can attack, Hiro impales him with a nodachi and seems to fatally wound him. However, before Hiro can do anything about Peter's request that he kill him, Sylar performs one last act and telekinetically throws Hiro into the air, however, Hiro teleports before he strikes a nearby building.\n\nSylar collapses, seeing a series of visions of everyone who has died due to his own actions as well as himself before his eyes glaze over. As Peter's hands continue to glow, Claire arrives and takes Bennet's gun. She approaches Peter, gun raised as Peter tells her that she is the only one who can, but, in tears, she begs him to think of another way. \"There is no other way.\" Peter says, resolutely. However, before she is able to gather herself to continue, Nathan drops from the sky unexpectedly and says that Claire was right; the future wasn't written in stone after all.\n\nPeter realizes what Nathan intends to do and tries to persuade his brother not to give his life. Nathan assures Peter stating he had \"saved the cheerleader, so we could save the world.\"\n\nPeter reluctantly agrees and Nathan grabs him and flies off far above New York where a large explosion is seen in the night sky moments later.\n\nMatt Parkman is shown being loaded into an ambulance, barely alive. At the end of this scene, the camera shows a trail of blood leading from where Sylar's body was to an open manhole with a cockroach crawling in, leading his \"death\" open to question, and the words \"End of Volume One\" appear on the screen.\n\nConcluding Narration\nFollowing the conclusion of the battle at Kirby Plaza, and the nuclear explosion above New York, Mohinder Suresh concludes the episode with a continuation of his earlier narration, followed by a preview of Volume Two: Generations\n\n\"We dream of hope, we dream of change, of fire, of love, of death. And then it happens; the dream becomes real, and the answer to this quest, this need to solve life's mysteries finally shows itself like the glowing light of the new dawn. So much struggle for meaning, for purpose. And in the end, we find it only in each other. Our shared experience of the fantastic and the mundane. The simple human need to find a kindred. To connect. And to know in our hearts... that we are not alone.\"\n\nVolume Two: Generations \nAfter a fadeout, we are shown the opening of \"Volume Two: Generations.\" Hiro lands in a grassy meadow. As he looks around him, he spots a group of samurai archers raising their bows towards him — he turns to run, but realizes that it is a man wearing the emblem of the hero Takezo Kensei, poised behind him, that they are about to attack. The subtitles then note that Hiro is outside Kyoto, Japan, in the year 1671. Hiro is then caught in a moment of confusion and realization of his dire situation. Before anyone can act, the entire landscape is darkened by a total solar eclipse which creates the logo associated with the title of the series, \"HEROES.\"\n\nRatings\nIn the 18-49 demographic, \"How to Stop an Exploding Man\" earned a 6.1/15 ratings share. This episode was watched by 13.48 million viewers.\n\nAwards\nMilo Ventimiglia submitted this episode for consideration in the category of \"Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series\" on Masi Oka's behalf for the 2007 Emmy Awards.\n\nNotes\n This is Tawny Cypress's final appearance on the show and last regular appearance of Leonard Roberts. Roberts returned as a guest star in season 2 for 2 episodes.\n Noah Bennet's name is first revealed in this episode.\n Maury Parkman is first mentioned in this episode, by Molly Walker, who does not name him but states that he is the one person she never tries to locate by thinking of him, since then he would be able to find her.\n This is the first time where all the heroes are seen together.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Beaming Beeman: Episode 23: How to Stop an Exploding Man, Director's blog on the filming of this episode.\n\nHeroes (season 1) episodes\n2007 American television episodes"
]
|
[
"Sylar",
"Haunting Matt Parkman",
"What is Haunting Matt Parkman?",
"Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar,",
"What does Sylar do to Matt Parkman?",
"Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself.",
"How does Parkman react to the haunting?",
"Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances,",
"What kind of consequences begin when Sylar takes control of Matt?",
"Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep.",
"Does Matt find out about Sylar's actions with Matt's wife?",
"Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar",
"Was the exorcise successful?",
"Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return.",
"What happens to Sylar after he is removed?",
"In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body,"
]
| C_c8edc7ae36c4408382b9e8fe46a52356_0 | What did Sylar do once he was in control of Parkman's body? | 8 | What did Sylar do once in control of Parkman's body? | Sylar | Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body. Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop. The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he is is shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more. CANNOTANSWER | Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. | Sylar (Gabriel Gray) is a fictional character and a primary antagonist of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers. He served as the primary villain of the first season and then as a recurring antagonist. Over the course of seasons two, three and four, the writers depicted Sylar attempting at various times and under different circumstances to become a hero or curb his desire to kill, undergoing relapses at various stages. In the series' penultimate episode he experienced over three years of penitence in a mental prison, and later identifies himself as a hero in what became the show's series finale due to cancellation.
TV Guide included him in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".
Concept and creation
Sylar was originally created as a cannibal who ate his victims' brains and "digested their power"; however, in order to avoid the potential silliness and zombie associations, the producers deliberately made this fact vague in the series. In an interview with series creator Tim Kring, it is asked if Sylar eats brains, and he merely states "That's the popular speculation. There's a connection between the powers and the brain, and Sylar has found it." The question is addressed in the season three premiere, when he is depicted in the act of acquiring Claire Bennet's regenerative powers through examination of her brain with his hands. When Claire asks him the same question, he sounds surprised and replies "Eat your brain? Claire, that's disgusting." The writers never bridged the gap between the early insinuations regarding what Sylar does with the brains and the final incarnation they reveal in his encounter with Claire.
Prior to Quinto's first appearance in the episode "Seven Minutes to Midnight", the role of Sylar was played by stunt doubles in "One Giant Leap", with the character's face being obscured by shadows. Quinto himself played the role with his face hidden in the same way until "Six Months Ago". In the second episode of the first season, "Don't Look Back", his voice is heard in a recorded phone conversation on Chandra Suresh's answering machine, spoken by voice actor Maurice LaMarche. Part of this conversation is heard again in "Six Months Ago", this time spoken by Quinto.
Personality
Sylar was raised as the son of a watchmaker, but was indoctrinated by his mother's repeated assertions to believe that he was special and deserved more in life. This and the "evolutionary imperative" to acquire new abilities are what drive him to kill the victims with powers. Taking the name "Sylar" from a watch brand, he has shed all connections to his former life as Gabriel Gray to the point where he angrily lashes out at anyone who calls him Gabriel.
In addition to the above, Sylar shows a marked lack of empathy. As seen in the episode .07%, when shortly before killing Isaac Mendez, he casually comments on Mendez's lack of fear, with the sort of mild surprise that someone might express if he noticed that a train was running late.
Although he at times tries to impersonate other people in order to obtain a longer-term goal, Sylar is also unable to completely control his "hunger," or obsessive tendencies, to the extent that he still intimidates people when he is trying to gain their trust or co-operation. This was seen with Mohinder Suresh, when Sylar tried to impersonate Zane Taylor, and also with Claire Bennet's mother when Sylar was looking for Claire, as well.
Sylar's dominant trait was his innate desire to be recognized as special and admired. This was fueled by his mother's vocal disappointment in him for perceived failure and his own feelings that he did not get a chance to choose his destiny, being forced into the role of a watchmaker. He spent his life hoping to learn something extraordinary about himself.
Sylar is repeatedly shown as desperately looking for a family and parental figures due to his own unhappy home life, desperately wanting to be loved. The flip side of this is that he can react with extreme violence when his emotional needs are exploited by others.
Sylar is also known for his voracious appetite and he can constantly be seen snacking or looking for food. He has even taken time during his murders to eat, such as when he reacted with joy at a birthday cake of the woman he just killed.
Quinto has said of his character,
The sad part is, he's initially well-intentioned. He wants to improve his life. He wants to make a difference. He wants to matter. Through the process of realizing how to do that, he gets blinded and loses himself in the pursuit of it and goes a little crazy—'a little' being an understatement.
Quinto also observed,
He's definitely somebody that has been overcome by a hunger and overcome by a pursuit for power and for importance that did start a little more innocuously than it evolved into.
When asked if he thought Sylar was irredeemable or not, Quinto responded,
I think there's a certain point at which you cross a line and it's sort of irrevocable.... I don't know what the writers have in mind, but it would probably be kind of a challenge at this point, you know?
Quinto has also responded to the question of whether Sylar could ever be good, commenting that
I don't really look at him as, you know, absolutely good or bad. I think that he is constantly walking a line of ambiguity within himself and uncertainty within himself that defines the way he acts.
Sylar, however, is also shown as very caring and thoughtful, like when he takes care of Angela Petrelli, when Arthur and Angela Petrelli claimed that they are Sylar's parents, which Peter wants to go to Pinehearst, Sylar didn't allow him to go alone because it is dangerous, and right after he murdered Brian Davis, he tries to commit suicide, feeling his guilt for murdering a person.
Character history
Genesis
The episode "Six Months Ago" reveals that Sylar's real name is Gabriel Gray, a highly talented watchmaker who follows his adoptive father's footsteps. He encounters Chandra Suresh, who tells Gabriel that he may be an evolved human with superhuman powers. Gabriel eagerly submits to testing. After being rejected by Suresh because the test results are indeterminate, Gabriel contacts another person on Suresh's list, Brian Davis. Gabriel discovers that he himself has the power of intuitive aptitude, and murders Davis for his telekinetic powers. After returning to Suresh, he becomes "Patient Zero", and continues to work with Suresh until Suresh realizes that Sylar is murdering the people that they meet and ultimately, Suresh is killed by Gabriel in his own cab precisely at 11:53 p.m.
Sylar is first referenced in the first episode when Mohinder Suresh (Chandra Suresh's son) finds a cassette tape labeled "SYLAR" on both sides in his dead father's New York apartment. His character is next mentioned in the series as a mysterious serial killer sought out by the FBI, whose existence is completely speculative. Appearing as a shadowy figure, he attempts to obtain Molly Walker's power after failing the first time.
In "Once Upon a Time in Texas", Sylar bumps into a future Hiro in front of the Burnt Toast Diner, and sidesteps him before entering. Here, he converses with Charlie, and discovers her power of enhanced memory. Sylar prepares to kill Charlie, but Hiro stops time and locks Sylar in a bus storage container. Later, when seeking Sylar to fix Charlie's aneurysm, Sylar angrily attacks Hiro, demanding to know what Hiro did to him. He attempts to kill Hiro, but Hiro prevents this with his time control. Finally, Hiro makes a deal: to tell Sylar about his future if he saves Charlie. Sylar proceeds to do so, and is miffed that he is told that - although he will become the most powerful person - he will die alone and unloved.
Sylar proceeds to attempt to obtain Claire Bennet's regenerative abilities, but is stopped by Peter Petrelli. He is greatly injured and is captured by Eden McCain and the Haitian to be experimented on. After various experiments, Sylar manages to escape, but he is again repelled from an attempt to obtain Claire's power.
Remembering Suresh's list, Sylar makes his way to Zane Taylor, and by posing as the person Zane was expecting, Mohinder Suresh, he kills him and obtains his power. After Mohinder arrives, Sylar poses as Zane, and convinces Mohinder to take him to help convince other people with special abilities that Mohinder's research is real. After Sylar acquires enhanced hearing from a woman named Dale, Mohinder discovers Sylar's identity and manages to incapacitate him with drugs. After experimenting on Sylar to create a new list of people with special powers and attempting to kill him, Mohinder is captured. After Peter shows up and is temporarily killed by Sylar, Mohinder knocks him out, but ends up leaving Isaac Mendez's address on the ground.
After meeting Isaac, and being told that his fate is to die at the hands of the other heroes, he takes Isaac's power to paint the future. He soon finishes a painting depicting himself about to kill and acquire the power of the radioactive Ted Sprague, and believes himself to be the "exploding man". Believing that only those who "don't deserve" their powers are the ones that need to die, he doesn't want to kill innocent people. After attempting to confide in Mohinder, he returns home to his alleged mother, Virginia Gray, in the hope that she will tell him that it is fine not to be special and live as a normal watchmaker. She tells him that he can be anything, including the president, causing him to demonstrate his powers and accidentally injure her. This causes her to panic, which eventually leads to her death, and Sylar deciding that his path is correct.
After acquiring the radioactive powers of Ted, Sylar paints a picture of himself facing off against Peter Petrelli at Kirby Plaza. Realizing Peter is part of his final destiny, Sylar prepares to hunt him down. Before he can leave, Ando Masahashi arrives to kill him, though Ando is easily thwarted. After Sylar discovers the comic depicting his death at the hands of Hiro Nakamura, Hiro appears and rescues Ando. Sylar sets off for Kirby Plaza to wait for Peter. After a struggle involving Sylar, Peter, Matt Parkman, and Niki Sanders, Peter begins the process of exploding, showing Sylar that he is not the exploding man. Soon after, Hiro arrives and impales Sylar through the stomach as the comic predicts, terribly wounding him. His last act is to telekinetically throw Hiro towards a building, forcing him to teleport and rendering him incapable of stopping Peter, as he collapses with a triumphant grin on his face while events that transpired throughout the season that end with his injury by Hiro play in his eyes. However, near the end of the episode, a trail of blood leading from where Sylar collapsed and ending at an open manhole is seen, indicating that Sylar is still alive.
Generations
Sylar is rescued by Candice Wilmer, who uses her powers of illusion to make Sylar disappear. After undergoing eight surgeries, he eventually awakes and realizes that he cannot use his powers. Though Candice promises that they will come back eventually, he kills her and attempts to acquire her power in order to start over. After realizing that it also doesn't work, he attempts to leave, though he realizes that he is in the middle of a dense jungle in Mexico. After wandering for three days, he is rescued from the brink of death by the passing-by Maya and Alejandro Herrera. He introduces himself using his real name, and eventually finds out that they are in search of Chandra Suresh to help control Maya's power. He tells them that he knows Suresh, and that he will take them to him.
He continues to travel with them, and while Alejandro becomes more distrustful of Sylar, Maya becomes more trusting of him. After teaching Maya to control her powers, he convinces her that her brother hates her and that in her heart she wanted to see his wife dead. Convincing her to send Alejandro away, Sylar is eventually confronted by Alejandro. He kills him, but states that he would have let Alejandro go had he not come back. Soon after, Maya confesses her love for Gabriel, and they reach Mohinder's apartment. Sylar attempts to obtain a cure for his condition, later revealed to be the same strain of the Shanti Virus which Niki was infected with. Upon finding that Sylar cannot use any of his obtained abilities, Mohinder attempts to kill Sylar, who then threatens him with a gun. This causes Maya to finally see Sylar's true intentions, so Sylar takes Maya, Mohinder and Molly hostage. Sylar agrees to go to Isaac's loft after Mohinder tells him tests need to be run. At the loft, Molly reveals to Maya that Alejandro is dead, who then goes to confront Sylar. He rolls his eyes as Maya screams at him, casually turns around and shoots her in the chest, and then tells Mohinder to cure Maya first. Elle enters the building and starts shooting at Sylar, but by then he has seen that the cure works, and he steals it and escapes.
Villains
In "Villains", Hiro sees Sylar's life shortly after the murder of Brian Davis. Intensely remorseful over the act, Gabriel attempts to hang himself. Elle Bishop walks in and saves him by using her electric abilities to cut the rope, convincing him that he's a good person. However, she is actually working with Noah Bennet to get Sylar to reveal the method behind transferring powers from one person to another. Elle befriends Gabriel and the two begin to share feelings for each other. Against her wishes, Elle helps Noah manipulate him to kill again by introducing Gabriel to Trevor Zeitlan, a young man who can kinetically shatter objects by "shooting" at them with his thumb and forefinger. She purposefully enrages Gabriel by having Trevor repeatedly demonstrate his ability by shattering glasses while calling him "special." Gabriel turns on Elle, who tries to stop him from killing Trevor. When Gabriel realizes Elle also has an ability, he is furious and pushes her against the wall with his mind, commanding her to leave before turning on Trevor and taking his power. Bennet and Elle watch from the car as Gabriel attacks Trevor.
In the third season, Sylar injects himself with the cure, healing his wounds and regaining use of his intuitive aptitude and telekinesis (though none of his other acquired powers). Sylar makes his way to California and finally takes Claire's power, though he does not kill her, claiming that she is special and that he couldn't do so even if he wanted to because he felt something special about her. He also takes several of the Company files on superhumans she had collected.
Sylar breaks into Company headquarters, killing Bob Bishop and acquiring his power. He is captured after attempting to take Elle's power, which results in her involuntarily releasing an electric burst which knocks him unconscious. The discharge also disables the Level 5 security system, allowing a dozen dangerous inmates to escape the complex. Before Sylar can regain consciousness, he is locked up. During his imprisonment, Angela Petrelli claims that she is his mother and attempts to rehabilitate him. She allows him to kill Bridget Bailey, a woman who can see the history of an object by touching it, in order to feed his hunger for power. When Noah Bennet returns to the Company to hunt down the escaped villains, Angela assigns Sylar as his partner, sending the two out to confront the villains and save the trapped Peter Petrelli.
Wanting to prove he is not just a killer, to both himself and Bennet, Sylar saves Bennet from Jesse and Knox, two of the escaped villains. However, his "hunger" reasserts itself and he kills Jesse, allowing Knox to escape in the confusion. Sylar is placed in his cell once more, where he is visited by Peter, who angrily snaps his neck after Sylar reveals that they are brothers. Peter, having absorbed Sylar's power and thereby his hunger, nearly kills Angela before Sylar knocks him unconscious. As Angela deals with her youngest son, Bennet arrives to take Sylar along to capture another Level 5 inmate. Sylar is surprised that Bennet would want to take him, but Bennet rebuffs him and tells him not to "make it harder than it already is." During the road trip, Noah chastises him about the murder of Jesse at the bank and his terrorizing Claire, and Sylar states that "rehabilitation doesn't happen overnight. I am trying."
They track the escapee, Stephen Canfield, to an empty house, unaware that Claire is already there dealing with Canfield herself. The man creates a powerful vortex in the room which nearly sucks in Claire, but Sylar saves her at the last minute. The power gained from Bridget enables him to experience the horror she went through, so he attempts to sincerely apologize to her, but she regards him with anger and disgust, and Bennet emphatically tells him to never to speak to his daughter again. The three find Stephen at an amusement park, where Bennet tries to force him into killing Sylar in exchange for freedom; though Sylar is clearly aware of what Noah is trying to do, he doesn't do anything to stop him. Rather than become a killer, Stephen kills himself with his power instead. Sylar later calmly remarks to Claire that her father doesn't see people with abilities as human, and never will.
Sylar is returned to his cell once more, where he is approached by Daphne Millbrook with an offer to join Pinehearst Industries, who will accept him for what he is. Sylar refuses, wanting to change. After they leave, Sylar revives Peter so he can help Angela Petrelli. Peter is initially skeptical, but Sylar's willingness to change combined with experience with the future Sylar convinces him; Peter's description of the future Gabriel Gray also gives Sylar hope that he can be redeemed. When Peter discovers the Pinehearst logo in her mind and attempts to go there, Sylar tries to stop him from doing so, but Peter easily defeats him due to his wider variety of powers and places him in an artificially-induced coma just as he had been. Angela is able to use her powers to wake him so he can rescue Peter, who has been stripped of his powers by Arthur Petrelli. Sylar does as asked, but is convinced by Arthur to turn on Angela. Arthur has Sylar throw a powerless Peter out a seventh-story window, but Peter miraculously survives. In "It's Coming", Arthur reveals that he knows Sylar slowed Peter's fall. Arthur is not angry; instead, he uses this event as evidence that Sylar can use his emotions like Peter could, to obtain someone's power without killing them.
To test this theory, Arthur places Sylar in a dark room with Elle, who is restrained to the floor and still suffers from her uncontrolled ability. She is furious at Sylar for her father's murder and repeatedly electrocutes him to no avail. Sylar confronts Elle with his sorrow for what he's done as well as her sorrow for what she's done. She rages at him and continues to attack, finally collapsing and begging him to kill her so that her pain will go away. He forgives her for turning him into a monster and convinces her to forgive herself for her crimes, wanting to take away her pain without killing her. At that moment, Elle's pain disappears and she regains control of her ability. Likewise, Sylar is able to absorb her power. Sylar is overwhelmed by this development, as he no longer has to kill to satisfy his hunger. The two appear to rekindle their old feelings for each other as Elle teaches Sylar how to use her ability. In "The Eclipse", Sylar is relieved when he loses his abilities, and wishes to start a new life with Elle. However, after Noah Bennet claims that Angela and Arthur Petrelli are not his real parents and are just manipulating him, Sylar feels betrayed and reverts to his murderous tendencies. Having regained his abilities after the eclipse ended, Sylar expresses seeming remorse and then attacks Elle, using his telekinesis to scalp her.
The next morning Sylar proceeds to cremate her body, receiving a call from Arthur about his absence. Sylar curtly tells Arthur he is not returning and reveals he has a new list in the form of Elle's cell phone contact list. To ascertain the truth for himself, he kills Sue Landers, a human lie detector. He then heads to Pinehearst to confront Arthur, stopping Peter and the Haitian from killing Arthur by freezing the bullet fired at Arthur's head. With both the Haitian and Arthur apparently weakened in attempting to overwhelm one another, Sylar asks Arthur if he is truly his father. Arthur says yes; Sylar detects the lie with Sue Landers' power and proceeds to drive the bullet into Arthur's head, killing him. He then leaves Peter and the Haitian, claiming they do not have anything he desires.
Sylar travels to Primatech, and sets up a mind game for Angela, Claire, Meredith, and Noah Bennet. After locking everyone inside and killing the Primatech staff, he tells them over the PA system that he will turn them all into monsters as they try to hunt him. Noah releases several Level 5 inmates as bait, including Echo Demille, Eric Doyle, and Daniel Pine, but Sylar easily disposes of them. He then injects Meredith with adrenaline, causing her to lose control of her fire ability. She and Noah are then locked in a cell with a single bullet, so Noah will either burn to death or kill Meredith to survive. Claire wants to help, as Sylar expects, forcing her to choose between her grandmother and her father; Claire chooses her father, leaving Angela at Sylar's mercy. He confronts Angela, and finds out that she was only using him for his monstrous qualities. However, she also reveals that she knows who his real parents are, and that they are not the Grays. As Sylar demands to be told the truth, Claire stabs him in the back of the head with a piece of glass, which will prevent him from reviving as long as it remains in place. In the prison cell, Meredith finally loses full control of her power and releases a massive explosion. Primatech goes up in flames with Sylar still inside.
Fugitives
Following the destruction of Primatech, Sylar is shown to be alive and well (it's later revealed that the fire melted the glass, allowing him to regenerate), and begins to search for his true biological parents. He starts by tracking down his adoptive father, Martin Gray, in Baltimore, making a stop in Pittsburgh to kill an insurance broker who could replicate his signature, and possibly learn the whereabouts of Martin. Sylar learns that Martin had paid to take him off the hands of his supposed father, Samson Gray, in order to escape his marriage with Virginia, Sylar's adoptive mother. After interrogating Martin, Sylar raises his hand, and is about to kill Martin, but holds back and walks away. After taking the address from Martin, Sylar finds Samson's home, only for it to be empty and Nathan Petrelli's agents waiting to ambush him. Although shot at, stunned and restrained, Sylar easily recovers and kills the agents, save one Agent Simmons, whom he tortures for information on Samson's disappearance.
In order to extract more information from Simmons, Sylar invades the house of Luke and Mary Campbell. Waiting for the two to return, Sylar telekinetically pins them, and states he intends to torture them to get Simmons to talk. He then proceeds to torture Mary. In a rage, Luke manages to free himself and boils Sylar's coffee with his own ability: microwave emission. Intrigued, Sylar begins to talk to Luke, telling him exactly why Luke has been in so much trouble, and that he understands Luke's frustration. During this, Simmons frees himself from his bindings and tries to grab his gun to shoot Sylar, but Luke notices this and kills Simmons. Sylar proceeds to leave the house, taking Luke with him only after Luke states he knows where Samson is.
As Sylar and Luke proceed to find Samson, Luke wishes to stop at some local diner to eat, as well as lying to Sylar about Samson's location when prodded. This irritates Sylar to the point where he threatens to simply take Luke's emission ability. Luke simply states that Sylar would never find his father then. Choosing to stop at a diner, Luke reveals that he and Samson went birding, awakening a memory from Sylar's childhood. As they eat, Sylar teaches Luke some lessons about using his power and having objectives, as well as revealing the change in his 'hunger' (emphasizing finding Samson over acquiring powers). This results in Luke giving Sylar Samson's location, even under the threat of being killed for his power. They are soon interrupted by Nathan's agents. Luke distracts the agents enough for Sylar to telekinetically toss a few around and punch a hole through a window. However, as he gets into the car, Sylar locks Luke out and drives off, leaving Luke to the agents. However, a short time later, Sylar disguises as an agent and gets into their van, killing the agents and saving Luke, as well as taking a laptop. When confronted about this by Luke, Sylar states that Luke was simply conveniently nearby and that his goal was to get the laptop to understand how Nathan's agents worked, though Luke seems skeptical about that reasoning.
Continuing to elude Nathan's agents, Sylar and Luke finally lose them. Irritated with Luke's wish to fry some agents and subtle attempts to stop the search for Samson, Sylar pins Luke to the side of the truck, essentially telling Luke to shut up. Sylar then seems to remember the area in which the two are in, and they reach an abandoned diner. Sylar makes an entrance by pulling off some of the board (throwing them in Luke's direction) and they enter. Here, Sylar recounts being brought to the diner as a child, and dropping a toy car in a wooden post. To prove this memory true, he rips open the post telekinetically and finds the car. He then remembers exactly what happened at that place: His father took money from Virginia and Martin, then left to his car. Sylar followed, only to see his biological parents arguing, and Samson telekinetically splitting his mother's skull open, killing her. In a rage exacerbated by Luke's revelation that Sylar's father was indeed a bad individual, Sylar pins him to the diner wall, but drops him and tells Luke to go home. Sylar leaves, intent on not only finding, but killing his father.
Arriving at a run-down trailer in the woods, Sylar finds his father old and dying of cancer. Samson is not frightened by Sylar's threat to kill and instead prepares a rabbit for taxidermy. Demonstrating several abilities, he and Sylar realize that they have the same ability - the ability to steal powers. Samson reveals that it did not matter how many people he killed or how many powers he stole; in the end, he did not lead a fulfilling life and is now miserable. He claims to not even remember selling Sylar and killing his mother, as these things did not matter to him. He goes on to say how he would have lived life differently, if given a second chance - how he would risk everything to attain true power and ultimately change the world. He touches on Sylar's original guilt for murdering to steal abilities by mocking Sylar, telling him how both their victims were weak and helpless and that they had no chance against seasoned killers. However, when Sylar cuts himself and heals while stuffing the rabbit, Samson transforms, reviving his hunger for abilities, desperate to gain immortality and escape from death. Temporarily incapacitating Sylar, he is stunned when Sylar first resists and then retaliates, strangling Samson with his own oxygen tube. Samson does not understand, since both he and Sylar know that Sylar would not die from Samson's "examination". Sylar states that he is finishing what he came to do, taking the stuffed rabbit. Samson begs Sylar to kill him quickly, but Sylar refuses, relishing the fact that his father, who is ultimately just like him, will "die alone with his disease". Later, when Danko returns home to his apartment after discovering Nathan's ability, he finds the stuffed rabbit on his desk, unaware that Sylar is lurking in the shadows nearby. Instead of a confrontation, however, Sylar chooses to leave, but not before stringing up an unconscious Eric Doyle in Danko's apartment as a 'gift'.
This 'gift' is explained further when Sylar surprises Danko in his car: He wishes to work with Danko in rounding up all superpowered humans, and quickly leaves before Danko can pull out his gun. To further win Danko's trust, Sylar decides to help Danko track a shapeshifter, James Martin, who managed to kill 4 of Danko's agents (3 via gunshot, and one murdered for his form). At Martin's apartment, Danko surprises Sylar, and the two exchange taunts and information, resulting in Sylar and Danko teaming up for the time being. Through their cooperation, the two find out that Martin takes forms of power and authority, in order to woo women at a local nightclub. At the club, Sylar and Danko are spotted by Martin (in the form of Danko), and they lose track of him. A short time later, Danko and Sylar decide to leave the club; however, the 'Sylar' is actually Martin in disguise with the intention of killing Danko. However, Danko shoots Martin, but doesn't kill him. Instead, he allows the real Sylar to take Martin's ability (without removing the skullcap) in order to not only make hunting superpowered humans easier for them, but to fake Sylar's death and keep people such as Noah Bennett from trying to track Sylar down.
Sylar, disguised as Danko, later meets Noah at Building 26 as Noah, unknowingly, examines Martin's body. Noah, knowing how hard it is to kill Sylar, doubts Danko could do it single-handedly. When Sandra arrives to question Noah about Claire, Sylar shakes her hand in introduction, gaining access to her form. Wanting to destroy Noah, he later visits Noah at Noah's apartment, in disguise as Sandra. He delivers divorce papers, stating that he (Sandra) cannot trust Noah anymore and that their marriage is over. Noah is distraught but, upon examining the signature on the forms, discovers that it is not Sandra's. Rushing to the crematorium, Noah stops the cremation of Martin's body. He removes the metal shard in the back of the corpse's head, telling the surrounding soldiers that when Sylar was stabbed with a glass shard before, it melted in the Primatech fire allowing him to regenerate. When the corpse does not regenerate, Noah returns to Danko and confronts him with the knowledge that Sylar is still alive. Danko confesses and tells Noah that Sylar is in disguise and out on a mission with other soldiers. Noah forces Danko to take him to Sylar and, when they arrive, shoots the soldier Danko identifies as Sylar in the back of the head. When the corpse continues to bleed out and does not heal, Danko orders his men to capture Noah, who Danko claims has gone insane. However, when the soldiers leave in pursuit, the corpse gets up and shifts back into Sylar. When Danko asks him how he survived while bleeding so much, Sylar says it was all to make his death look realistic.
As Sylar continues to shapeshift, he finds it is harder and harder to regain his form without side effects, including left over body parts like teeth. He also retains personality traits and memories of those he changes into, causing him to go through a literal "identity crisis". When Danko tells him that he needs to leave his "Sylar" identity behind to retain his free pass, Sylar kills the next target on Danko's list, Tom Miller, and takes his power. Further examining the shapeshifting ability, Sylar realizes he is actually absorbing different DNA sequences into his body, causing him to permanently change a little each time he shifts. When Sylar starts to shapeshift in his sleep, Danko tells him he has to find an anchor that will remind him of who he is. To that effect, Sylar, as one of Danko's agents, retrieves the evidence from the homicide of his mother, Virginia Gray. While examining her collection of snow globes, Sylar unknowingly shapeshifts into his mother and begins to have a conversation with himself, showing acute symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. He at first does not realize what is happening and talks to his mother about his encounter with Samson, why his mother lied to Sylar about his lineage, and how he is starting to lose himself. He, as his mother, tries to convince himself that he did not mean to kill her and that he is still special. Danko interrupts when his agents track down Rebel. Sylar gets to Rebel (Micah Sanders) before Danko's agents do and prepares to kill him and take his power. Micah, however, reveals that he understands what Sylar is going through because his mother, Niki Sanders, endured the same thing when her power manifested. Convinced that Sylar is special and the only one capable of saving those with powers, Micah convinces Sylar to join his cause. Sylar, disguised as Micah, tricks Danko and his agents into chasing the wrong person, allowing Micah to escape. Sylar, again talking with "his mother", reveals that her murder was no accident but "Virginia" forgives Sylar anyway, convinced that he can still be whomever he wants to be, including the President. Realizing his opportunity, Sylar breaks into Nathan Petrelli's office and finds a brush containing some of Nathan's DNA. He later appears, as Nathan, at a press conference concerning new plans for change he has for the country and how he soon plans to meet with the President and "shake his hand". Realizing what Sylar is trying to do, Nathan returns to DC from Coyote Sands and confronts Sylar, who reveals he has examined Nathan's life in depth using clairsentience. Expressing pity and determined to become better than Nathan, Sylar prepares to take Nathan's ability when Danko appears and stuns Nathan. Attempting to salvage his operation, Danko orders Sylar to shift back into one of his agents so they can continue hunting specials. When Sylar refuses, Danko stabs him in the back of the head with a knife. However, Sylar recovers, having used his shapeshifting ability to relocate his weak spot.
After framing Danko for the murder of an agent, he takes on Nathan's form and goes to meet the President with Claire in tow. When she discovers the truth, he controls her using the power which he had empathically absorbed from Eric Doyle and talks about how similar they are, both being adopted and both having the ability to live forever, proposing that, given enough time, Claire might come to forgive him and even love him. However, Peter and Nathan then confront him, and in the battle Sylar and Nathan fly out of a window and into another room. Sylar subsequently kills Nathan (after empathically absorbing his power during the fight) and takes on the form of the President's Chief of Staff. However, the President injects him with an elephant tranquilizer, and reveals himself to be Peter, having absorbed Sylar's ability during the fight. In an effort to shut down the program, Angela convinces Matt Parkman to use his telepathy to convince Sylar that he is Nathan, Matt using Angela's memories of Nathan's life to essentially 'plant' Nathan in Sylar's head, his shape-shifting power allowing him to assume Nathan's form while his clairsentience will allow him to subconsciously use objects around him to 'fill in the blanks'. Sylar, as Nathan, talks to the President and convinces him to shut down Building 26 and divert the funds to the new Company that will now be built. Later, Sylar, as Nathan, watches "Sylar's" (in reality James Martin's) body burn at Coyote Sands alongside Noah, Claire, Matt, Angela, Peter, Mohinder, Hiro and Ando.
Redemption
Memory loss
Six weeks later, this Nathan starts to rediscover the other powers he had gained in his old life. Later, following Nathan's confession of being involved in the accidental death of his girlfriend Kelly Houston, her mother, Millie Houston, has him shot and buried in a shallow grave. When healed, Sylar emerges from the ground in his own body, suffering from amnesia. Picked up by the police, he is recognized and accidentally uses his powers to escape. He then encounters the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival" and Samuel, who take him in as one of their own. The carnival is hidden from Sylar's pursuers, and Samuel assures him he is safe in his new "home".
Once Sylar has rested, Samuel proceeds to show him around the circus, showing that everyone at the carnival has an ability. Sylar also meets Lydia, who he immediately hits it off with. Edgar, however, jealously attempts to outshow Sylar with his power, but is easily beaten. Samuel also notices that Sylar's memories are not his (in fact, Nathan Petrelli's). In an effort to awaken Sylar's true personality, Sylar is taken by Damien to the hall of mirrors, where he is forced to look at his past murders, starting with his mother. Repulsed, Sylar is unable to believe himself a monster. Samuel uses this to try and convince Sylar that he is a protector of the circus, and must remove threats such as the officer who attempted to capture him the night before. Sylar is told the officer is at the house of mirrors, and goes there to tell the man to leave. However, the officer shoots at Sylar, forcing an uncontrolled electric blast. Here, Sylar's killer instinct begins to take hold, but Sylar stops himself just in time for Edgar to cut the man into pieces. Later, Samuel formally makes Sylar a part of the circus family, baptizing him and letting him mingle with the others. Sylar and Lydia leave arm in arm for the night, much to Edgar's dismay.
In "Shadowboxing", the persona of Nathan returns, causing him to shapeshift back into Nathan's form while sleeping. Panicking upon finding himself at the carnival, he flies away, and is later shown arriving at Peter's door, asking for help. Arriving for work at his office, Peter and Nathan discover that no one has been looking for Nathan, as he had been on 'vacation' according to Angela Petrelli. The brothers are further surprised when the Haitian appears, and tells Peter to go see a storage facility for the truth of the situation. Here, Nathan and Peter discover the real Nathan's preserved body, which 'Nathan' touches and sees Sylar and Matt Parkman. They head to Texas to see Matt, who is at the hospital, in a coma.
Haunting Matt Parkman
Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, regretting his actions, is haunted by Sylar, who claims to have lingered in Parkman's mind after Parkman "sucked" all his memories and replaced them with Nathan's. Though Parkman had resolved not to use his powers anymore, Sylar eventually tempts him into using them again. Following this, Sylar escalates his tormenting of Parkman, using his own telepathy against him to force Parkman to use his powers to save himself. Sylar then gives a defeated Parkman an ultimatum: either continue to live with Sylar in his mind or return Sylar's mind to his body.
Matt decides to keep Sylar in his mind, which begins to have consequences when Sylar's control over Matt advances, where Sylar has sex with Matt's wife Janice while Matt was asleep. Scared of what Sylar could do to his family (which Sylar himself alludes to), Matt tells Janice the truth, and Janice agrees to let Matt try to exorcise Sylar by leaving the house. During another conversation, Sylar appears pained whenever Parkman drinks alcohol, giving Parkman the idea to drink into a stupor. Sylar appears successfully removed as he fades from Matt's mind, and Matt remains conscious long enough to see his partner and Janice return. In actuality, Sylar simply tricked Parkman into knocking himself out. Now much more powerful, Sylar takes full control of Parkman's body, leaving Matt trapped in his own head. Despite his control over the body, Matt's personality constantly hampers Sylar from reaching his body, including letting Sylar be arrested and "withholding" Sylar's ability to use Matt's telepathy. In response, Sylar threatens to murder innocent civilians if Parkman doesn't cooperate. Faced with an ultimatum, Parkman attempts to commit suicide by cop.
The attempt appears to almost work, but "Nathan" and Peter arrive to revive Matt. Once revived, Matt is surprised to see Nathan and Peter, as is Sylar. Desperate to return to his original body, Sylar forcefully takes over Parkman's body, only needing to touch Nathan in order to jump back into his own body. While "Nathan's" confidence in who he shattered (Matt reveals that "Nathan" is Sylar), Sylar uses Parkman's telepathy to bring Nathan closer to him, with intuitive aptitude forcing Nathan to throw Peter telekinetically and proceed to get closer, to understand who he is. Although the event is temporarily stalled by an incoming guard, Nathan brushes hands with Matt, freeing him from Sylar's hold, and leaving Nathan fearful that Sylar will soon take over his body once more.
Whole again
Staying over at Peter Petrelli's apartment, the brothers are surprised by Angela, who springs a Thanksgiving dinner on them. Nathan wakes up in time to hear Peter and Angela discussing the discovery of Nathan's body. Although they press her for information, Angela threatens to simply leave if they do not sit down and eat. During the dinner, Angela finally confesses that she had Matt Parkman place Nathan's mind into Sylar's body. During dessert, however, Nathan begins to act oddly, and transforms back into Sylar, happy to be controlling his body once more. He telekinetically traps Peter and Angela, relishing his ability to control himself. After taunting Peter, he begins to scalp Angela, only to have the 'Nathan' persona fight back. Losing control, Sylar transforms back into Nathan, who flees the building to protect his family. Peter devises a plan to eliminate the 'Sylar' persona leaving just Nathan using the ability of The Haitian to erase Sylar's memories. On a rooftop however, "Nathan" confesses to Peter he is not himself and cannot keep fighting off the 'Sylar' persona. Nathan jumps off the building and lands onto a parked car. Peter then sees Sylar heal, get up and wave as he walks away.
Sylar returns to the carnival to face Samuel, but Sylar finds that while he wants to kill, he is unable to make himself do so. His identity in crisis, he makes a deal with Samuel. After absorbing Lydia's power, he tells Samuel to give him a tattoo, and that he would do whatever it said. When he sees the tattoo, he decides that he does not belong at the carnival. The next scene shows him floating outside of Claire Bennet's dorm room window, and his tattoo is a picture of her.
In the episode "Pass/Fail", Sylar kidnaps Claire Bennet's friend, Gretchen Berg so Claire will talk to him in exchange for her friend. Sylar feels like they are very similar: they've never felt in place, they both lost their parents, and they are both immortal. Claire doesn't want to talk to him, and makes him tell her where Gretchen is. Claire finds Gretchen tied up, and they hide in a closet and have a talk. Claire tells Gretchen that Sylar thinks they are alike, and she fears that they might be. She is confused at Sylar's attitude, but resents him for who he is. Gretchen comes to the conclusion that Sylar's powers have isolated him from ever having any relationships. Giving them up might be the only way he could have any connections. Gretchen then shape-shifts back into Sylar. He then goes to Matt Parkman and asks him to take away all his powers away. Matt attempts but fails. Sylar threatens Matt's family and forces him to keep trying. Instead, Matt traps Sylar and his powers deep within the confines of his mind, "somewhere you'll never find them," and he is left alone to live out his worst nightmare: Being all alone. Matt then attempts to seal up Sylar within the walls of his basement. However, Peter Petrelli arrives after having a vision that Sylar will save Emma. Using Matt's power, Peter attempts to bring Sylar out of his nightmare, but ends up trapped in Sylar's mind along with him (The Art of Deception).
In "The Wall", Sylar is repairing endless watches in the empty city when he hears banging. Searching for the source of it, he finds Peter using a pole to get his attention by banging it on the concrete. Sylar is shocked to discover that Peter is real and says there's no way out - he's been searching for three years. Peter reveals that it's actually been three hours and that Sylar is trapped in a nightmare, which he is skeptical to accept, and runs back to his shop. Peter tries to convince him of the truth and tells him he must save Emma. He tries to pull them out of the nightmare but is unsuccessful. Peter avoids Sylar for a month while trapped, and Sylar tries being friendly by giving him a 9th Wonders! comic book. Peter, determined to find a way out, does not understand why Sylar is so resistant to find a way out, and realizes that Sylar really doesn't want to be free. They come across a massive brick wall, the same one Sylar's body is actually trapped behind (in Matt's basement). Peter realizes that the two need to break the wall in order to escape. At first Peter tries to break it alone, but fails. Sylar compares his determination to a memory of Nathan's he possesses which angers Peter. Sylar apologizes for Nathan's murder, but Peter refuses to forgive him and Sylar finally joins Peter in attempting to break down the wall. After years of attempting and failing to damage the wall in the slightest, Sylar is surprised when Peter gives him a copy of The Pillars of the Earth as a gift as a to thank him for keeping him sane all the years of their imprisonment. Sylar admits he always worries Peter will attack him with the sledge-hammer which Peter admits he has contemplated. Sylar realizes that Peter won't let go of his anger out of fear of losing the last remnant of Nathan, and points out to Peter that he has truly changed. Peter finally accepts this fact and afterwards the two are easily able to break a hole in the wall, which frees them from their mental prison. Once freed, Sylar uses telekinesis to free him from his physical one and he and Peter learn that they've only been trapped for half a day in reality. The experience seems to have changed both Sylar and Peter and the two head off to save Emma, but are stopped by Eli and his clones who want to prevent their plans.
In "Brave New World," he and Peter easily defeat Eli and save Matt's life as knocking out the Prime Eli gets rid of his clones who were about to kill Matt. Sylar tries to convince a furious Matt that he's changed, but fails and begins to leave with Peter (who read Eli's mind and learned Samuel's plans). Matt tries to telepathically prevent Sylar from leaving, so Sylar asks Matt to read his mind to show him he has changed. Matt is unable to, although he does let them leave. Peter and Sylar fly to New York where Samuel plans to kill thousands of people. Peter is reluctant, but Sylar convinces Peter to trust him and reminds him that the dream says that Sylar saves Emma. Sylar heads off to the tent to save Emma while Peter goes to defeat Samuel. He finds Emma playing the cello with bloody fingers, and tries to save her by taking the cello, but is taken control of by Eric Doyle, the Puppet Master. Doyle, desperate to be better than Sylar, begins to taunt him. However, controlling and mocking Sylar distracts him from his primary focus on controlling Emma. Once Emma realizes he has loosened his control over her, Emma blasts Doyle with a soundwave through the cello, breaking Doyle's control over Sylar, and giving Sylar the chance to telekinetically grab onto Doyle. Doyle begs him to stop, and asks, "What do you care about this girl, anyway?" Sylar tells him that he's going to save her. Confused, Doyle cries out, "That's not you! You're like me!" Sylar looks at him and calmly says, "No. I'm a hero." After Peter reunites with Emma, she tells him that his friend is taking care of Doyle. Fearing the worst, Peter heads into the tent to find Sylar admiring his new "masterpiece": a dazed Doyle trussed up like a puppet, clad in giant light-bulbs. Sylar plugs the lights in, deviously grins, and says, "I like it!"
Brave New World
Sylar walks with Peter and discusses his rescue of Emma. Sylar explains that he could have easily killed Doyle but didn't and that not killing him and saving Emma felt good to him, showing that Sylar is truly changing and is enjoying being a hero rather than a villain. Peter and Sylar witness Claire climbing the Ferris Wheel to reveal her powers to the world and Sylar comments that it's now a "brave new world."
Alternate timelines
In the first alternate future depicted, set five years ahead in the episode "Five Years Gone", Sylar has gained countless new abilities, including those of Candice Wilmer and D. L. Hawkins. Nathan Petrelli, now the President, concocted a story for the explanation of New York's destruction, which blamed Sylar for the explosion, and he is assumed to be deceased. Sylar is able to use Candice's ability to murder Nathan and assume his identity. As President, he begins a campaign to hunt and exterminate all people with abilities, originally claiming that it will unite the world in grief. However, he really just doesn't want the competition. When Claire Bennet is captured, he has her brought to him, pretending to be her father. However, he simply desires one final ability, hers, which he takes. Later, while giving a speech in the ruins of New York, he is informed by Matt Parkman that Peter, the future Hiro, and Ando are staging an attack to free the present-day Hiro. Upon hearing this, Sylar, still disguised as Nathan, flies away from the crowd. He confronts Peter, revealing himself, and they prepare for battle, the outcome of which is left ambiguous.
In a timeline set four years in the future, as seen in the season three episode "I Am Become Death", Sylar has reassumed his identity of Gabriel Gray and is working to suppress his homicidal hunger for the sake of his son, Noah, who lives with him and Mr. Muggles in Claire's former home in Costa Verde. He is visited by the Peter Petrelli of the present, who is intent on learning how to activate the intuitive ability he has absorbed from him so that he can understand the complexities of changing the timeline. Gabriel is initially reluctant, resisting telepathic compulsion to teach Peter, but ultimately relents and tutors him after painting a precognitive picture of the Earth exploding, despite warning Peter that with the intuitive ability comes the same homicidal hunger he has been trying to resist. Shortly afterwards, a team led by Claire Bennet storms the house intent on killing Peter, and in the ensuing fight, Noah is killed. Enraged and grief-stricken, Gabriel loses control of his radiation ability and releases a nuclear detonation, destroying Costa Verde and killing over 200,000 people. It remains unknown whether or not he survived the explosion.
In the original timeline, Sylar kills Charlie Andrews and takes her power of eidetic memory (Seven Minutes to Midnight). In season four, Hiro goes back in time and prevents this, actually enlisting Sylar's help to save her from a blood clot (Once Upon a Time in Texas).
Powers and abilities
Sylar's base power, as described by Chandra Suresh, is "intuitive aptitude", the ability to innately understand and manipulate patterns within complex systems, which initially manifests as a talent for repairing timepieces. As revealed in "One of Us, One of Them", this power comes with a nearly insatiable hunger for "understanding", which, in Sylar's case, specifically refers to craving the powers of others, driving him to kill other superpowered humans to understand their powers and make them his own. Despite the strength of this hunger, two episodes have shown that it can be resisted or satiated: in the alternate future of "Five Years Gone", Sylar has taken on so many abilities that he simply desires to get rid of all of his potential "competition" (other superhumans, to be exact); in the future of "I Am Become Death", he has resumed his identity as Gabriel Gray and denies his hunger for the sake of his son. In "Once Upon a Time in Texas" it is revealed that Sylar can also identify deformities in people such as Charlie's blood clot and Hiro's brain tumor.
Sylar's intuitive aptitude allows him to deduce the workings of the powers of others; by examining the brain of his victim, he is able to find the brain's connection to the ability, and once he finds said connection, he can immediately replicate the power himself. The exact mechanics behind this are unknown, though it is theorized numerous times by many characters that DNA alteration/infusions is what allows him to obtain abilities. Yet, when the process is shown, Sylar only seems to touch the part of the brain that is the source of the ability and immediately replicates it. Sylar cannot acquire an ability from a person who has been dead awhile, even if their brains are intact though the process he uses to acquire abilities kills his victims before he actually gains the ability. In "Fallout", Noah Bennet theorizes that Sylar's additional powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own which, as a side effect, has driven him insane.
Of all the powers Sylar has acquired, the most prominently used is telekinesis, which is the first power he took. In contrast to the limited abilities Brian Davis displayed, Sylar's skills are far more advanced; he exhibits both fine control (precisely cutting open the skulls of his victims) and sheer force (flipping a police van), can enhance his own strength and durability to superhuman levels, and can control a person's motor skills in a manner similar to Eric Doyle's puppet mastery. Tests done on Sylar by Bennet's associate Hank show no overt signs of powers other than telekinesis; while their tests show that he possesses other powers, they are unable to identify what they are. In "The Hard Part", Sylar demonstrates he can use at least two of his acquired abilities at the same time.
During his first killing spree, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
After being injected with the Shanti virus by the Company, Sylar loses all of his abilities. After he is cured at the end of the second season, he only regains his abilities of intuitive aptitude and telekinesis. Sylar's empathic mimicry, which Arthur says he has had all along, is also present. In the third and fourth seasons, Sylar acquires or displays the following abilities:
In "It's Coming", Sylar learns how to gain abilities without removing a person's brain, obtaining Elle Bishop's power of electric manipulation by empathizing with her and convincing her to let go of her anger. This empathy allowed him to retain the use of Brian Davis' telekinesis after being cured of the virus, due to the guilt he felt over his death. Arthur explains that Sylar possessed this ability all along. Despite possessing this ability, he has returned to killing to obtain new powers, though he later uses this method to obtain James Martin's shapeshifting ability, Nathan Petrelli's ability to fly, and also Lydia's empathy.
As a side effect of the use of the shapeshifting ability when used in combination with his acquired psychometry, his mind has begun to fracture into the different personas of those whom he has shapeshifted into, and residual physical characteristics have started to appear, such as his adopted mother when he came into contact with the dried blood on the scissors he killed her with. As stated in "I Am Sylar", his "Achilles' heel" in the back of his head has been relocated due to his continued shapeshifting, making him harder to stop. Aside from superhuman abilities, Sylar is very intelligent and manipulative and possesses decent hand-to-hand combat skills, as seen when he fights Peter Petrelli.
Reception
Sylar was named one of the best new villains by Entertainment Weekly. Sylar was also named the best villain of 2007 by IGN. UGO also ranked Sylar 6th on their list of top 50 TV characters.
In other media
Zachary Quinto provides the voice of a Robot Chicken-parodied Sylar in the episode "Bionic Cow". In it, he kills a man named "Uncle Glen", who is apparently able to remove his fingers, failing to realize that this is a simple sleight of hand trick to impress young children. He instead inherits Glen's power of "explosive diarrhea," remarking that "every once in a while, this power backfires".
Notes
References
External links
Sylar on the Heroes Wiki
adoptee characters in television
fictional attempted suicides
fictional characters from New York City
fictional presidents of the United States
fictional serial killers
fictional shapeshifters
fictional telekinetics
fictional United States senators
Heroes (American TV series) characters
American male characters in television
television characters introduced in 2006
television supervillains
fi:Luettelo televisiosarjan Heroes hahmoista#Sylar / Gabriel Gray | true | [
"\"Five Years Gone\" is the twentieth episode of the first season of the American superhero drama series Heroes. Written by Joe Pokaski and directed by Paul Edwards, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on April 30, 2007. It is the last episode before the three-part finale of season one.\n\nThis episode was originally known as \"String Theory\". The title was changed to \"Five Years Gone\", and \"String Theory\" was used as the title of Chapter 30 in the graphic novels.\n\nPlot\nThis episode focuses on Hiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi travelling five years into the future, showing where the world will be if the explosion isn't stopped. Future Hiro, last encountered in the episode \"Hiros\", is featured more prominently, this time as the world's most wanted terrorist and a master of Battōjutsu. Ando was killed in the blast, which according to Peter, is the reason why Hiro lost his humorous side and became obsessed with changing the past.\n\nNathan Petrelli is now the President of the United States, with Mohinder Suresh as his Chief Medical Advisor and Matt Parkman as the head of Homeland Security with the Haitian at his side. Niki Sanders has become a stripper again, adopting \"Jessica\", the name of both her former alter ego and sister, as her stage name. Her son Micah was killed in the explosion that destroyed much of New York. Niki has a romantic relationship with Peter Petrelli, who has a distinct scar across his face which starts on the right side of his forehead down to his left cheek.\n\nSylar is blamed for detonating a nuclear explosion that destroys half of New York and kills millions of people, and is assumed to be deceased. In the original timeline, Hiro had stabbed him before the explosion, but Sylar had already succeeded in killing Claire Bennet at her high school Homecoming, absorbed her regenerative powers, and survived. However, this timeline was altered and did not actually occur, as Hiro had visited Peter Petrelli with the message \"save the cheerleader, save the world\" and, consequently, Sylar was denied the ability of spontaneous regeneration. Nonetheless, the explosion did occur and, in reality, Peter was the cause of the blast in the alternate timeline. Nathan lied to the public to protect his brother, and blamed Sylar for the explosion.\n\nSylar was able to kill Nathan and impersonate him after killing Candice and acquiring her illusory ability. For him, the hunting and, eventually, extermination of other superpowered people is all part of his \"eliminating the competition\".\n\nWith Sylar disguising himself as Nathan, acting as President (reminiscent of Isaac Mendez' painting), and exploiting public panic after the destruction of New York, persons with special abilities are now viewed with fear and suspicion and are subject to heavy persecution, with the Department of Homeland Security (including Parkman and the Haitian) working to hunt down \"unregistered\" individuals in accordance with the \"Linderman Act\". Mr. Bennet and Hana Gitelman work to hide heroes and their families, giving them new identities and moving them to keep them safe. Mr. Bennet has made a secret bargain with Parkman, however, to turn over individuals with \"dangerous\" powers, while Parkman allows Mr. Bennet to continue helping others with \"harmless\" powers, including Parkman's own son.\n\nOne of the individuals Mr. Bennet is hiding is his adopted daughter Claire. She becomes a brunette and goes undercover as a waitress in Midland, Texas at the Burnt Toast Diner, the same place Charlie Andrews worked at, using her adoptive mother's name, Sandra. She is engaged to Andy (Kellan Lutz), a fellow worker at the diner. Parkman betrays Mr. Bennet after finding out that there are indeed two Hiros and one of them escaped him. Not wanting to face the President empty-handed, he extracts Claire's location from Mr. Bennet's mind, and then shoots his former ally (Hana Gitelman was also killed prior to the confrontation between Parkman and Bennet). Parkman proceeds to capture Claire, who was about to go on the run, and sends her to the Petrelli mansion in Manhattan. There Sylar, under the guise of Nathan, attacks her and once again obtains her power in this alternate timeline.\n\nMeanwhile, present-day Hiro has been captured by Parkman. When Sylar/Nathan orders Mohinder to kill Hiro to begin his plan of genocide of the super-powered, Mohinder instead kills the Haitian and allows present-day Hiro to escape. Mohinder then shows present-day Hiro a new copy of Isaac Mendez's 9th Wonders! comic book (the same copy Isaac drew before being murdered in the previous episode), where Mohinder is shown injecting the Haitian.\n\nWhen Peter, Future Hiro and Ando stage an attack to free present-day Hiro, Parkman calls the President to inform him that they're being repelled by Peter. Upon hearing this, Sylar, still disguised as Nathan, flies away in front of a crowd to whom he just gave a speech about the last five years, effectively revealing to them that he too is a super-powered individual. Sylar reveals himself to Peter and they prepare to battle. Peter generates fire with his hands, while Sylar surrounds his with ice.\n\nWhen Mohinder demands that present-day Hiro go back to the past, the less-experienced Hiro states that he doesn't know how to get back to the correct date. Before Future Hiro can take his earlier self back in time himself, he is shot in the back by Parkman. As Future Hiro dies, he gives Ando a page of Isaac's comic book. As present-day Hiro expresses his shock at seeing his own death, Mohinder pushes Future Hiro's katana into his hands and tells him to go quickly. Hiro and Ando travel back to the past and look happily upon the undestroyed city before them. Hiro looks at the comic strip of him killing Sylar and says, \"Now, the hard part\".\n\nRatings\nIn the 18-49 demographic, \"Five Years Gone\" earned a 5.4/13 ratings share. This episode was watched by 11.92 million viewers.\n\nAwards\nMasi Oka, Adrian Pasdar, and Sendhil Ramamurthy submitted this episode for consideration of their respective work for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, with Oka receiving a nomination. This episode was chosen for submission for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. \"Five Years Gone\" received a nomination for Outstanding Special Visual Effects, but did not win.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nBeaming Beeman: Episode 20: Five Years Gone, Director's blog on the filming of this episode.\n\nHeroes (season 1) episodes\n2007 American television episodes\nAlternate history television episodes\nFiction set in 2012\nTelevision episodes about time travel",
"\"How to Stop an Exploding Man\" is the twenty-third and final episode of the first season of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes. The episode was written by Tim Kring and was directed by Allan Arkush. It is the conclusion of the three-part finale for season one.\n\nThe episode started filming March 26. It aired May 21, 2007. The title of this episode is in reference to a question that Hiro Nakamura asked in \"Fallout\".\n\nPlot\n\nOpening Narration\nThe opening narration is an expanded version of the one used in the very first episode of the series, Genesis, narrated by Mohinder Suresh.\n\n\"Where does it come from, this quest, this need to solve life's mysteries when the simplest of questions can never be answered? Why are we here? What is the soul? Why do we dream? Perhaps we'd be better off not looking at all. Not delving, not yearning. But that's not human nature. Not the human heart. That is not why we are here. Yet still we struggle to make a difference, to change the world, to dream of hope, never knowing for certain who we will meet along the way. Who among the world of strangers will hold our hand, touch our hearts, and share the pain of trying.\"\n\nEpisode Summary\nMr. Bennet points a gun at Molly, threatening her in order to save Claire, and Suresh in turn points a gun at Bennet, to save Molly. The stalemate diffuses when Molly and Matt Parkman spot each other.\n\nSylar is seen painting the predicted fight between himself and Peter, whom he immediately recognizes.\n\nHiro tells his father he must save Ando and stop Sylar. He teleports to Isaac Mendez's loft, where Ando has been pinned against the wall by Sylar. Hiro arrives to face Sylar, and Sylar challenges Hiro to move faster than he can. To Sylar's surprise, Hiro teleports across the room to Ando and they both disappear before Sylar can do anything more.\n\nHaving just killed Linderman, an injured D.L. and Niki continue the search for Micah. Once the correct room is found, Niki leaves D.L. behind to get Micah. When Niki enters the door, it appears that Jessica is in the room with a dead Micah. When she engages Niki in a fight, Niki sees the real Jessica in a broken mirror, who tells her that the other person is not her and that she still needs to save Micah. With a super-powered uppercut from the floor up, Niki throws the impostor across the room, revealing it to be Candice. She hears Micah screaming from a closet and rescues him. She then looks in a mirror and sees only herself.\n\nNathan seems to have finally accepted his responsibility as congressman and future president. Nathan's mother informs him that Mr. Linderman is indeed dead, and yet he is unsure if that is a good thing. He seems convinced that his brother Peter will indeed explode, and also that he has no plans to try to prevent the impending disaster. Molly appears to have relapsed into her health problem from \"Landslide\" and Suresh is treating her. As this happens, Mr. Bennet contacts Peter, who informs him of Sylar's new power gained from killing Ted Sprague. Bennet confides in him to stop Sylar before disaster strikes, and begs him to look after Claire. Peter visits Nathan and tries to recruit him in taking on Sylar, and asserts that Sylar must be the one who explodes; however he reflexively hears Nathan's thoughts and realizes that his brother has no intention of stopping the explosion. Peter realizes that Claire was right about not trusting Nathan, but turns to see that she has fled. He tries to locate her in an empty street, but his new \"nuclear\" powers start to take over as his emotions rise and he collapses.\n\nMatt Parkman learns of Molly's amazing ability, but she is distraught to admit that she cannot find \"everyone\": there is one person she claims to be unable to find, someone \"far worse\" than Sylar, and that when she looks for him, he can see her. When Suresh, Parkman, and Bennet ask Molly to find Sylar, she locates him at Isaac Mendez's loft and Parkman decides to go confront him only to find that Sylar has already left for Kirby Plaza. Meanwhile, Bennet has left to find Peter and Molly tells Suresh that Sylar is now \"here\" and they try to make their way out of the building. When they arrive at the elevator, they see an injured D.L., whom Mohinder treats for his wounds, but they find that the elevator will not work. As armed guards approach, Niki and Micah arrive and Micah makes the elevator work. The entire group heads down for the final confrontation.\n\nHiro has teleported himself and Ando back to their office in Japan, escaping Sylar's clutches once more. Ando is determined to help in Sylar's defeat, but Hiro is adamant that his friend remain behind. Hiro assures his friend that he has already proven himself a hero: by facing Sylar without any powers of his own, Ando demonstrated true bravery and inspired Hiro to complete the quest. Hiro states that he must finish it alone, and gives Ando his Kensei sword, telling Ando, \"so you know I'll be back.\"\n\nPeter finds himself within a flashback during his time caring for Charles Deveaux and sees his mother speaking to Charles about the bomb. He also views the first meeting of himself and Simone Deveaux. Peter believes no one can see him until his mother leaves and Charles confronts him. Charles reveals that he knew about the plan to use Nathan as a catalyst to heal the world, but he felt that Peter is the only one with enough love in his heart to truly accomplish it. He then calls the other Peter, who comes to escort him back into the house. When Mr. Bennet awakens Peter, he thanks Peter for saving Claire's life, and tells Peter \"Call me Noah\" (revealing his given name for the first time in the series).\n\nIn the climax, Peter, Bennet, and Parkman confront Sylar in the plaza. Bennet is immediately thrown against a wall, rendering him incapable of stopping Peter if he explodes. Parkman shoots at Sylar, who stops the bullets and turns them back at Parkman, who is hit in the chest. Sylar then telekinetically uproots a parking meter, sends it flying into his free hand, and brutally hits Peter in the stomach with it. Niki steps in and hits Sylar's torso with the meter, saving Peter, who then tells Niki that he can handle the rest and she should return to her family. He grabs Sylar and punches him repeatedly, with Sylar being unable to retaliate. After the final punch, Sylar begins to laugh mockingly at the now glowing Peter. Peter, now losing control over his concentration of controlling Ted's power, realizes that he will be the bomb after all. Sylar stands and taunts Peter, calling him a villain and indicating himself as the hero. As Sylar is about to move forward, Hiro arrives and distracts him. Before Sylar can attack, Hiro impales him with a nodachi and seems to fatally wound him. However, before Hiro can do anything about Peter's request that he kill him, Sylar performs one last act and telekinetically throws Hiro into the air, however, Hiro teleports before he strikes a nearby building.\n\nSylar collapses, seeing a series of visions of everyone who has died due to his own actions as well as himself before his eyes glaze over. As Peter's hands continue to glow, Claire arrives and takes Bennet's gun. She approaches Peter, gun raised as Peter tells her that she is the only one who can, but, in tears, she begs him to think of another way. \"There is no other way.\" Peter says, resolutely. However, before she is able to gather herself to continue, Nathan drops from the sky unexpectedly and says that Claire was right; the future wasn't written in stone after all.\n\nPeter realizes what Nathan intends to do and tries to persuade his brother not to give his life. Nathan assures Peter stating he had \"saved the cheerleader, so we could save the world.\"\n\nPeter reluctantly agrees and Nathan grabs him and flies off far above New York where a large explosion is seen in the night sky moments later.\n\nMatt Parkman is shown being loaded into an ambulance, barely alive. At the end of this scene, the camera shows a trail of blood leading from where Sylar's body was to an open manhole with a cockroach crawling in, leading his \"death\" open to question, and the words \"End of Volume One\" appear on the screen.\n\nConcluding Narration\nFollowing the conclusion of the battle at Kirby Plaza, and the nuclear explosion above New York, Mohinder Suresh concludes the episode with a continuation of his earlier narration, followed by a preview of Volume Two: Generations\n\n\"We dream of hope, we dream of change, of fire, of love, of death. And then it happens; the dream becomes real, and the answer to this quest, this need to solve life's mysteries finally shows itself like the glowing light of the new dawn. So much struggle for meaning, for purpose. And in the end, we find it only in each other. Our shared experience of the fantastic and the mundane. The simple human need to find a kindred. To connect. And to know in our hearts... that we are not alone.\"\n\nVolume Two: Generations \nAfter a fadeout, we are shown the opening of \"Volume Two: Generations.\" Hiro lands in a grassy meadow. As he looks around him, he spots a group of samurai archers raising their bows towards him — he turns to run, but realizes that it is a man wearing the emblem of the hero Takezo Kensei, poised behind him, that they are about to attack. The subtitles then note that Hiro is outside Kyoto, Japan, in the year 1671. Hiro is then caught in a moment of confusion and realization of his dire situation. Before anyone can act, the entire landscape is darkened by a total solar eclipse which creates the logo associated with the title of the series, \"HEROES.\"\n\nRatings\nIn the 18-49 demographic, \"How to Stop an Exploding Man\" earned a 6.1/15 ratings share. This episode was watched by 13.48 million viewers.\n\nAwards\nMilo Ventimiglia submitted this episode for consideration in the category of \"Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series\" on Masi Oka's behalf for the 2007 Emmy Awards.\n\nNotes\n This is Tawny Cypress's final appearance on the show and last regular appearance of Leonard Roberts. Roberts returned as a guest star in season 2 for 2 episodes.\n Noah Bennet's name is first revealed in this episode.\n Maury Parkman is first mentioned in this episode, by Molly Walker, who does not name him but states that he is the one person she never tries to locate by thinking of him, since then he would be able to find her.\n This is the first time where all the heroes are seen together.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Beaming Beeman: Episode 23: How to Stop an Exploding Man, Director's blog on the filming of this episode.\n\nHeroes (season 1) episodes\n2007 American television episodes"
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"Alejandro Jodorowsky",
"Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990-2011)"
]
| C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0 | What was his first fil in 1990 called | 1 | What was Alejandro Jodorowsky's first film in 1990 called? | Alejandro Jodorowsky | In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, the website, announced that on 1 May 2007, Anchor Bay released a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les tetes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing the perfect complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by Abkco, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but could not find investors for the project. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers". In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MOMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011. CANNOTANSWER | El Topo | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker and artist. Since 1948, he has worked as a novelist, screenwriter, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, a film and theater director and producer, an actor, a film editor, a comics writer, a musician and composer, a philosopher, a puppeteer, a mime, a lay psychologist, a draughtsman, a painter, a sculptor, and a spiritual guru.
Best known for his avant-garde films El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Overview
Born to Jewish-Galician parents (Chodorowski) in Tocopilla, Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, while in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.
After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). During the same period, he wrote a series of science fiction comic books, most notably The Incal (1980–1989), which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written, and also The Technopriests and Metabarons. He has also written books and regularly lectures on his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism" and which borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian Partition, now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann (Jakub Chodorowski), was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless he liked his local area, and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime, and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film, and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond the conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino de Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Flash Gordon, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1982, Jodorowsky divorced his wife.
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
In 1995, Alejandro's son, Teo, died in an accident while his father was busy preparing for a trip to Mexico City to promote his new book. Upon arriving in Mexico City, he gave a lecture at the Julio Castillo Theatre where he once again met Ejo Takata, who at this time had moved into a poor suburb of the city where he had continued to teach meditation and Zen. Takata would die two years later, and Jodorowsky would never get to see his old friend again.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son, Adan Jodorowsky, plays him as an adult and Brontis Jodorowsky, plays as his father Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poetess and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky is a weekly contributor of "good news" to the nightly "author news report" of his friend, Fernando Sánchez Dragó in Telemadrid.
He also released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, and Kanye West.
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal/ Incal/ Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka/ The Caste of the Metabarons/ Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the final outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Tremblay. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo, who played in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal, a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Jodorowsky was interviewed by Daniel Pinchbeck for the Franco-German television show Durch die Nacht mit … on the TV station Arte, in a very personal discussion, spending a night together in France, continuing the interview in different locations such as a park and a hotel.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzio while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
As director
As actor
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
Anibal 5 {Original Mexican edition with Manuel Moro} (1966)
Los Insoportables Borbolla (with Manuel Moro) (1966)
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 {French edition with Mœbius} (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016- ongoing)
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Metabarons Universe
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project. Many of the comics and novels have been translated into Spanish, English, and German under Jodorowsky supervision.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2007)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Simak (2019)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
Autobiography
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky (2005)
The Dance of Reality: A Psychomagical Autobiography (2014)
Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness: The Radical Wisdom of Jodo (2016)
The Finger and the Moon: Zen Teachings and Koans (2016)
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
1929 births
Living people
20th-century alchemists
20th-century atheists
21st-century alchemists
21st-century atheists
Chilean comics writers
Chilean emigrants to France
Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Chilean film directors
Chilean experimental filmmakers
Esotericists
French-language film directors
French comics writers
French film directors
Chilean mimes
Chilean surrealist artists
Chilean surrealist writers
French surrealist artists
French surrealist writers
Surrealist filmmakers
Horror film directors
Anarchist writers
Chilean speculative fiction writers
Chilean autobiographers
Chilean Jews
Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish anarchists
Jewish atheists
Jewish feminists
Jewish mimes
Mystics
Naturalized citizens of France
Chilean occultists
People from Tocopilla
Chilean performance artists
Psychedelic drug advocates
Psychotherapists
Tarot readers
Polish Ashkenazi Jews | true | [
"The 2010 Chick-fil-A Bowl was a college football bowl game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 31, 2010, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. EST. With sponsorship from Chick-fil-A, it was the 43rd edition of the game known throughout most of its history as the Peach Bowl. The game featured the No. 19 South Carolina Gamecocks versus the No. 23 Florida State Seminoles.\n\nTeams\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nThe SEC Eastern Division Champion South Carolina Gamecocks appeared in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. The Gamecocks also entered the game with an impressive 9–4 record after a 7–6 season in 2009. South Carolina has some of the finest young talent in the SEC in freshman running back Marcus Lattimore and sophomore receiver Alshon Jeffery. They also made their first appearance in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, although they do have one Peach Bowl appearance: a 14–3 loss to West Virginia in 1969.\n\nFlorida State\n\nThe ACC Atlantic Division Champion Florida State Seminoles came into the game with a 9–4 record in coach Jimbo Fisher's first season. The strength of the Seminoles this season has been their defense, which ranks No. 2 in the nation in sacks and No. 17 in tackles for loss. Florida State's appearance in the Chick-fil-A Bowl marks a continuance of their streak of active consecutive bowl games to twenty nine. Although FSU has never appeared in the Chick-fil-A Bowl under its current name, it has appeared in two games when it was known as the Peach Bowl, losing the inaugural game in 1968 and winning it in 1983.\n\nLike South Carolina, Florida State has been a member of its current conference since 1992.\n\nGame summary\n\nScoring summary\n\nStatistics\n\nGame Notes\n\nFlorida State QB Christian Ponder had left the game in the second quarter with a concussion, E.J Manuel had taken over the Florida State offense. E.J completed 11 to 15 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown and had seven carries for 46 yards. He was 7-for-7 passing on the fourth-quarter touchdown drive led the Seminoles to 26–17 win. After the game Florida State Coach Jimbo Fisher said \"I hate it for Christian, he got dinged on the back of his head. He came off and he was kind of out of it a little bit. I hate that because of what he means to us but EJ, oh boy, I'm glad he's on our team.\" \"E.J. is special.\"\n\nThe two schools had met 18 prior times with Florida State holding a commanding 15–3 advantage in the series. The last meeting was a 38-10 FSU victory in 1991. This was the first time the programs had met in a bowl game.\n\nReferences\n\nChick-fil-A Bowl\nPeach Bowl\nFlorida State Seminoles football bowl games\nSouth Carolina Gamecocks football bowl games\nChick-fil-A Bowl\nChick-fil-A Bowl\nChick-fil-A Bowl",
"The FIL European Luge Championships 1962 took place in Weißenbach, Austria. It marked the first time event was held under the auspices of the International Luge Federation (FIL) which was formed in 1957. Also, it was the first time the championships had been held after being cancelled from 1957 to 1961.\n\nMen's singles\n\nWomen's singles\n\nMen's doubles\n\nMedal table\n\nReferences\nFIL-Luge.org list of European luge champions - Accessed January 31, 2008.\nMen's doubles European champions\nMen's singles European champions\nWomen's singles European champions\n\nFIL European Luge Championships\n1962 in luge\nLuge in Austria\n1962 in Austrian sport"
]
|
[
"Alejandro Jodorowsky",
"Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990-2011)",
"What was his first fil in 1990 called",
"El Topo"
]
| C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0 | What award did he win | 2 | What award did Alejandro Jodorowsky win? | Alejandro Jodorowsky | In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, the website, announced that on 1 May 2007, Anchor Bay released a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les tetes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing the perfect complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by Abkco, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but could not find investors for the project. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers". In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MOMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011. CANNOTANSWER | CUFF | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker and artist. Since 1948, he has worked as a novelist, screenwriter, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, a film and theater director and producer, an actor, a film editor, a comics writer, a musician and composer, a philosopher, a puppeteer, a mime, a lay psychologist, a draughtsman, a painter, a sculptor, and a spiritual guru.
Best known for his avant-garde films El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Overview
Born to Jewish-Galician parents (Chodorowski) in Tocopilla, Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, while in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.
After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). During the same period, he wrote a series of science fiction comic books, most notably The Incal (1980–1989), which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written, and also The Technopriests and Metabarons. He has also written books and regularly lectures on his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism" and which borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian Partition, now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann (Jakub Chodorowski), was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless he liked his local area, and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime, and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film, and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond the conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino de Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Flash Gordon, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1982, Jodorowsky divorced his wife.
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
In 1995, Alejandro's son, Teo, died in an accident while his father was busy preparing for a trip to Mexico City to promote his new book. Upon arriving in Mexico City, he gave a lecture at the Julio Castillo Theatre where he once again met Ejo Takata, who at this time had moved into a poor suburb of the city where he had continued to teach meditation and Zen. Takata would die two years later, and Jodorowsky would never get to see his old friend again.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son, Adan Jodorowsky, plays him as an adult and Brontis Jodorowsky, plays as his father Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poetess and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky is a weekly contributor of "good news" to the nightly "author news report" of his friend, Fernando Sánchez Dragó in Telemadrid.
He also released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, and Kanye West.
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal/ Incal/ Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka/ The Caste of the Metabarons/ Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the final outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Tremblay. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo, who played in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal, a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Jodorowsky was interviewed by Daniel Pinchbeck for the Franco-German television show Durch die Nacht mit … on the TV station Arte, in a very personal discussion, spending a night together in France, continuing the interview in different locations such as a park and a hotel.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzio while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
As director
As actor
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
Anibal 5 {Original Mexican edition with Manuel Moro} (1966)
Los Insoportables Borbolla (with Manuel Moro) (1966)
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 {French edition with Mœbius} (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016- ongoing)
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Metabarons Universe
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project. Many of the comics and novels have been translated into Spanish, English, and German under Jodorowsky supervision.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2007)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Simak (2019)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
Autobiography
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky (2005)
The Dance of Reality: A Psychomagical Autobiography (2014)
Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness: The Radical Wisdom of Jodo (2016)
The Finger and the Moon: Zen Teachings and Koans (2016)
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
1929 births
Living people
20th-century alchemists
20th-century atheists
21st-century alchemists
21st-century atheists
Chilean comics writers
Chilean emigrants to France
Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Chilean film directors
Chilean experimental filmmakers
Esotericists
French-language film directors
French comics writers
French film directors
Chilean mimes
Chilean surrealist artists
Chilean surrealist writers
French surrealist artists
French surrealist writers
Surrealist filmmakers
Horror film directors
Anarchist writers
Chilean speculative fiction writers
Chilean autobiographers
Chilean Jews
Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish anarchists
Jewish atheists
Jewish feminists
Jewish mimes
Mystics
Naturalized citizens of France
Chilean occultists
People from Tocopilla
Chilean performance artists
Psychedelic drug advocates
Psychotherapists
Tarot readers
Polish Ashkenazi Jews | true | [
"Alex Henning is a visual effects supervisor.\n\nOn January 24, 2012, he was nominated for an Oscar for the film Hugo, which he did win at the 84th Academy Awards in the category of Best Visual Effects. His win was shared with Ben Grossmann, Robert Legato, and Joss Williams.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nLiving people\nVisual effects supervisors\nBest Visual Effects Academy Award winners\nYear of birth missing (living people)",
"A Man's Gotta Do is a 2004 Australian award winning film from Australian director, Chris Kennedy. The film stars John Howard.\n\nTagline \nMost men hold their head high, put their backs to the wall and do what they must do to give their family what they want.\n\nPlot \n\nIn A Man's Gotta Do, Eddy (John Howard), lives with his wife, Yvonne (Rebecca Frith), and their daughter, Chantelle (Alyssa McClelland), in a new suburb in the Illawarra part, south of Sydney.\n\nEddy is a fisherman by day, but by night he works as a standover man, literally a toe-cutter. Dominic, (Gyton Grantley), is his new offsider.\n\nChantelle is upset because her fiancé, Rudi, a Russian air conditioning specialist, has disappeared. Did her Dad have something to do with it?\n\nThe frustrated Yvonne begins flirting with Paul, the plumber, (Rohan Nicol). Eddy encourages Dominic to read his daughter's diary thinking that's the way to get a better understanding of her needs.\n\nReception\n\nReviews \nThe film received Mixed reviews. Australian TV show At the Movies gave it three and a half stars. It holds a 40 metascore, with the Village voice giving it 30/100\n\nAwards \nThe film wasn't nominated for many awards but did win the only award it was nominated for, a Golden Zenith for the Best film from Oceania at the Montreal Film Festival.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\nAustralian films\nAustralian comedy films\n2004 films\n2004 comedy films"
]
|
[
"Alejandro Jodorowsky",
"Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990-2011)",
"What was his first fil in 1990 called",
"El Topo",
"What award did he win",
"CUFF"
]
| C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0 | What does this stand for | 3 | What does CUFF stand for? | Alejandro Jodorowsky | In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, the website, announced that on 1 May 2007, Anchor Bay released a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les tetes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing the perfect complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by Abkco, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but could not find investors for the project. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers". In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MOMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011. CANNOTANSWER | Chicago Underground Film Festival | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker and artist. Since 1948, he has worked as a novelist, screenwriter, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, a film and theater director and producer, an actor, a film editor, a comics writer, a musician and composer, a philosopher, a puppeteer, a mime, a lay psychologist, a draughtsman, a painter, a sculptor, and a spiritual guru.
Best known for his avant-garde films El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Overview
Born to Jewish-Galician parents (Chodorowski) in Tocopilla, Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, while in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.
After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). During the same period, he wrote a series of science fiction comic books, most notably The Incal (1980–1989), which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written, and also The Technopriests and Metabarons. He has also written books and regularly lectures on his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism" and which borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian Partition, now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann (Jakub Chodorowski), was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless he liked his local area, and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime, and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film, and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond the conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino de Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Flash Gordon, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1982, Jodorowsky divorced his wife.
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
In 1995, Alejandro's son, Teo, died in an accident while his father was busy preparing for a trip to Mexico City to promote his new book. Upon arriving in Mexico City, he gave a lecture at the Julio Castillo Theatre where he once again met Ejo Takata, who at this time had moved into a poor suburb of the city where he had continued to teach meditation and Zen. Takata would die two years later, and Jodorowsky would never get to see his old friend again.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son, Adan Jodorowsky, plays him as an adult and Brontis Jodorowsky, plays as his father Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poetess and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky is a weekly contributor of "good news" to the nightly "author news report" of his friend, Fernando Sánchez Dragó in Telemadrid.
He also released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, and Kanye West.
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal/ Incal/ Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka/ The Caste of the Metabarons/ Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the final outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Tremblay. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo, who played in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal, a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Jodorowsky was interviewed by Daniel Pinchbeck for the Franco-German television show Durch die Nacht mit … on the TV station Arte, in a very personal discussion, spending a night together in France, continuing the interview in different locations such as a park and a hotel.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzio while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
As director
As actor
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
Anibal 5 {Original Mexican edition with Manuel Moro} (1966)
Los Insoportables Borbolla (with Manuel Moro) (1966)
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 {French edition with Mœbius} (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016- ongoing)
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Metabarons Universe
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project. Many of the comics and novels have been translated into Spanish, English, and German under Jodorowsky supervision.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2007)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Simak (2019)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
Autobiography
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky (2005)
The Dance of Reality: A Psychomagical Autobiography (2014)
Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness: The Radical Wisdom of Jodo (2016)
The Finger and the Moon: Zen Teachings and Koans (2016)
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
1929 births
Living people
20th-century alchemists
20th-century atheists
21st-century alchemists
21st-century atheists
Chilean comics writers
Chilean emigrants to France
Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Chilean film directors
Chilean experimental filmmakers
Esotericists
French-language film directors
French comics writers
French film directors
Chilean mimes
Chilean surrealist artists
Chilean surrealist writers
French surrealist artists
French surrealist writers
Surrealist filmmakers
Horror film directors
Anarchist writers
Chilean speculative fiction writers
Chilean autobiographers
Chilean Jews
Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish anarchists
Jewish atheists
Jewish feminists
Jewish mimes
Mystics
Naturalized citizens of France
Chilean occultists
People from Tocopilla
Chilean performance artists
Psychedelic drug advocates
Psychotherapists
Tarot readers
Polish Ashkenazi Jews | true | [
"What Does the K Stand For? is a BBC Radio Four sitcom series based on the experiences of comedian Stephen K. Amos growing up as a teenager in south London in the 1980s. The broadcast of the first series began in November 2013; the third series commenced in January 2017.\n\nCritical reception\nReviewing Series 1, Episode 1 for Radio Times, Tristram Fane Saunders found the show suited Amos \"down to the ground; there's a touch of Seinfeld about What Does the K Stand for? in the way it flows from stand up into a deliciously awkward sitcom\".\n\nWriting in The Guardian in February 2015, Priya Elan judged that, \"Standup comedian Stephen K Amos's jaunty sitcom What Does The K Stand For? (Radio 4) reaches the end of its second series with possibly the best episode yet. With shades of Chris Rock's Everybody Hates Chris, Amos takes us back to his 80s childhood, growing up gay and black in a dysfunctional household\".\n\nHowever, he added, \"Playing it broad by mixing farce with double entendres, the sitcom is slightly uneven: although the family are drawn with wit and sympathy, minor characters like the actress turned teacher Miss Bliss feel less like real people than excuses to weave in a few good dad jokes\".\n\nOverall, Elan found, \"What lifts the show are the elements of diaspora life weaved throughout, as when Aunty Princess visits from Nigeria and accuses Virginia [Stephen's mother] of cultural betrayal ('You have adopted too many fine and fancy British ways'). Stephen defends the family by suggesting she should 'go back home', prompting him to reflect that he has turned into his own racist enemy. It's unexpectedly thoughtful stuff, suggesting the third series may be even better.\"\n\nReferences\n\nBBC Radio 4 programmes\nBBC Radio comedy programmes",
"American singer William DeVaughn has released three studio albums, including a record selling nearly two million copies on its release in spring 1974 (#1 within the R&B charts and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart). The track \"Be Thankful for What You Got\" first (1974) peaked at #31 in the UK Singles Chart and later (1980) at #44. \n\nDiscographies of American artists\nRhythm and blues discographies\nSoul music discographies\nBe Thankful for What You Got (1974)\nFigures Can't Calculate (1980)\n\"Creme De Creme (1980)\nTime Will Stand Still (2008)\n\"Staying Power\"(2014)\n\"Love In Any Language \"(2016)\n\"What Does It Take ( to win your love for me)\" &\" I Gotta Dance To keep From Crying\"\" (2017)"
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"Chicago Underground Film Festival"
]
| C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0 | What award did he win | 4 | What other award did Alejandro Jodorowsky win? | Alejandro Jodorowsky | In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, the website, announced that on 1 May 2007, Anchor Bay released a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les tetes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing the perfect complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by Abkco, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but could not find investors for the project. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers". In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MOMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011. CANNOTANSWER | CUFF | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker and artist. Since 1948, he has worked as a novelist, screenwriter, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, a film and theater director and producer, an actor, a film editor, a comics writer, a musician and composer, a philosopher, a puppeteer, a mime, a lay psychologist, a draughtsman, a painter, a sculptor, and a spiritual guru.
Best known for his avant-garde films El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Overview
Born to Jewish-Galician parents (Chodorowski) in Tocopilla, Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, while in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.
After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). During the same period, he wrote a series of science fiction comic books, most notably The Incal (1980–1989), which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written, and also The Technopriests and Metabarons. He has also written books and regularly lectures on his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism" and which borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian Partition, now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann (Jakub Chodorowski), was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless he liked his local area, and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime, and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film, and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond the conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino de Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Flash Gordon, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1982, Jodorowsky divorced his wife.
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
In 1995, Alejandro's son, Teo, died in an accident while his father was busy preparing for a trip to Mexico City to promote his new book. Upon arriving in Mexico City, he gave a lecture at the Julio Castillo Theatre where he once again met Ejo Takata, who at this time had moved into a poor suburb of the city where he had continued to teach meditation and Zen. Takata would die two years later, and Jodorowsky would never get to see his old friend again.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son, Adan Jodorowsky, plays him as an adult and Brontis Jodorowsky, plays as his father Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poetess and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky is a weekly contributor of "good news" to the nightly "author news report" of his friend, Fernando Sánchez Dragó in Telemadrid.
He also released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, and Kanye West.
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal/ Incal/ Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka/ The Caste of the Metabarons/ Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the final outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Tremblay. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo, who played in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal, a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Jodorowsky was interviewed by Daniel Pinchbeck for the Franco-German television show Durch die Nacht mit … on the TV station Arte, in a very personal discussion, spending a night together in France, continuing the interview in different locations such as a park and a hotel.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzio while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
As director
As actor
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
Anibal 5 {Original Mexican edition with Manuel Moro} (1966)
Los Insoportables Borbolla (with Manuel Moro) (1966)
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 {French edition with Mœbius} (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016- ongoing)
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Metabarons Universe
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project. Many of the comics and novels have been translated into Spanish, English, and German under Jodorowsky supervision.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2007)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Simak (2019)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
Autobiography
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky (2005)
The Dance of Reality: A Psychomagical Autobiography (2014)
Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness: The Radical Wisdom of Jodo (2016)
The Finger and the Moon: Zen Teachings and Koans (2016)
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
1929 births
Living people
20th-century alchemists
20th-century atheists
21st-century alchemists
21st-century atheists
Chilean comics writers
Chilean emigrants to France
Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Chilean film directors
Chilean experimental filmmakers
Esotericists
French-language film directors
French comics writers
French film directors
Chilean mimes
Chilean surrealist artists
Chilean surrealist writers
French surrealist artists
French surrealist writers
Surrealist filmmakers
Horror film directors
Anarchist writers
Chilean speculative fiction writers
Chilean autobiographers
Chilean Jews
Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish anarchists
Jewish atheists
Jewish feminists
Jewish mimes
Mystics
Naturalized citizens of France
Chilean occultists
People from Tocopilla
Chilean performance artists
Psychedelic drug advocates
Psychotherapists
Tarot readers
Polish Ashkenazi Jews | true | [
"Alex Henning is a visual effects supervisor.\n\nOn January 24, 2012, he was nominated for an Oscar for the film Hugo, which he did win at the 84th Academy Awards in the category of Best Visual Effects. His win was shared with Ben Grossmann, Robert Legato, and Joss Williams.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nLiving people\nVisual effects supervisors\nBest Visual Effects Academy Award winners\nYear of birth missing (living people)",
"A Man's Gotta Do is a 2004 Australian award winning film from Australian director, Chris Kennedy. The film stars John Howard.\n\nTagline \nMost men hold their head high, put their backs to the wall and do what they must do to give their family what they want.\n\nPlot \n\nIn A Man's Gotta Do, Eddy (John Howard), lives with his wife, Yvonne (Rebecca Frith), and their daughter, Chantelle (Alyssa McClelland), in a new suburb in the Illawarra part, south of Sydney.\n\nEddy is a fisherman by day, but by night he works as a standover man, literally a toe-cutter. Dominic, (Gyton Grantley), is his new offsider.\n\nChantelle is upset because her fiancé, Rudi, a Russian air conditioning specialist, has disappeared. Did her Dad have something to do with it?\n\nThe frustrated Yvonne begins flirting with Paul, the plumber, (Rohan Nicol). Eddy encourages Dominic to read his daughter's diary thinking that's the way to get a better understanding of her needs.\n\nReception\n\nReviews \nThe film received Mixed reviews. Australian TV show At the Movies gave it three and a half stars. It holds a 40 metascore, with the Village voice giving it 30/100\n\nAwards \nThe film wasn't nominated for many awards but did win the only award it was nominated for, a Golden Zenith for the Best film from Oceania at the Montreal Film Festival.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\nAustralian films\nAustralian comedy films\n2004 films\n2004 comedy films"
]
|
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"Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990-2011)",
"What was his first fil in 1990 called",
"El Topo",
"What award did he win",
"CUFF",
"What does this stand for",
"Chicago Underground Film Festival",
"What award did he win",
"Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award"
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| C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0 | Did they show his films | 5 | Did the Chicago Underground Film Festivalshow Alejandro Jodorowsky's films | Alejandro Jodorowsky | In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, the website, announced that on 1 May 2007, Anchor Bay released a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les tetes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing the perfect complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by Abkco, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but could not find investors for the project. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers". In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MOMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011. CANNOTANSWER | Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker and artist. Since 1948, he has worked as a novelist, screenwriter, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, a film and theater director and producer, an actor, a film editor, a comics writer, a musician and composer, a philosopher, a puppeteer, a mime, a lay psychologist, a draughtsman, a painter, a sculptor, and a spiritual guru.
Best known for his avant-garde films El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Overview
Born to Jewish-Galician parents (Chodorowski) in Tocopilla, Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, while in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.
After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). During the same period, he wrote a series of science fiction comic books, most notably The Incal (1980–1989), which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written, and also The Technopriests and Metabarons. He has also written books and regularly lectures on his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism" and which borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian Partition, now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann (Jakub Chodorowski), was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless he liked his local area, and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime, and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film, and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond the conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino de Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Flash Gordon, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1982, Jodorowsky divorced his wife.
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
In 1995, Alejandro's son, Teo, died in an accident while his father was busy preparing for a trip to Mexico City to promote his new book. Upon arriving in Mexico City, he gave a lecture at the Julio Castillo Theatre where he once again met Ejo Takata, who at this time had moved into a poor suburb of the city where he had continued to teach meditation and Zen. Takata would die two years later, and Jodorowsky would never get to see his old friend again.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son, Adan Jodorowsky, plays him as an adult and Brontis Jodorowsky, plays as his father Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poetess and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky is a weekly contributor of "good news" to the nightly "author news report" of his friend, Fernando Sánchez Dragó in Telemadrid.
He also released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, and Kanye West.
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal/ Incal/ Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka/ The Caste of the Metabarons/ Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the final outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Tremblay. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo, who played in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal, a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Jodorowsky was interviewed by Daniel Pinchbeck for the Franco-German television show Durch die Nacht mit … on the TV station Arte, in a very personal discussion, spending a night together in France, continuing the interview in different locations such as a park and a hotel.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzio while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
As director
As actor
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
Anibal 5 {Original Mexican edition with Manuel Moro} (1966)
Los Insoportables Borbolla (with Manuel Moro) (1966)
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 {French edition with Mœbius} (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016- ongoing)
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Metabarons Universe
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project. Many of the comics and novels have been translated into Spanish, English, and German under Jodorowsky supervision.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2007)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Simak (2019)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
Autobiography
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky (2005)
The Dance of Reality: A Psychomagical Autobiography (2014)
Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness: The Radical Wisdom of Jodo (2016)
The Finger and the Moon: Zen Teachings and Koans (2016)
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
1929 births
Living people
20th-century alchemists
20th-century atheists
21st-century alchemists
21st-century atheists
Chilean comics writers
Chilean emigrants to France
Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Chilean film directors
Chilean experimental filmmakers
Esotericists
French-language film directors
French comics writers
French film directors
Chilean mimes
Chilean surrealist artists
Chilean surrealist writers
French surrealist artists
French surrealist writers
Surrealist filmmakers
Horror film directors
Anarchist writers
Chilean speculative fiction writers
Chilean autobiographers
Chilean Jews
Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish anarchists
Jewish atheists
Jewish feminists
Jewish mimes
Mystics
Naturalized citizens of France
Chilean occultists
People from Tocopilla
Chilean performance artists
Psychedelic drug advocates
Psychotherapists
Tarot readers
Polish Ashkenazi Jews | true | [
"was a black and white Japanese anime direct-to-TV short film aired in 1960. It was the first domestic anime ever televised.\n\nBackground\nThe show was an experimental anthology broadcast on the NHK channel. It was divided into 3 parts featuring individual short fairy tales. The first part of the show titled \"The Third Plate\" is technically the first anime segment ever televised. In total, the show was 30 minutes long. Though it is questionable as to how widespread the anime actually was, since NHK was only broadcasting to 866 TV sets as of 1953. There is no known estimate as to how much their infrastructure scaled just 7 years later. Though the best evidence pointing to the anime as being black and white comes from the NHK station record, which indicated they did not make their first analog color broadcast until September 10, 1960, at 8:55pm 9 months later in Tokyo and Osaka.\n\nStory\nThe story is an anthology of 3 separate fairy tales.\n\nStaff\nKenji Miyazawa had already died when the show saw his story turned into an anime, even Mia Ogawa would also die just 1 year after the show's first broadcast in 1961.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n3-tsu no Hanashi in Animemorial (contains a screenshot)\n\n1960 anime films\nAnime short films\nAnime television films\nFantasy anime and manga\nFilms based on works by Kenji Miyazawa\n1960 television films\n1960 films\nJapanese films\n1960s animated short films",
"The Hayseeds' Back-blocks Show is a 1917 Australian rural comedy from director Beaumont Smith. It was the third in his series about the rural family, the Hayseeds.\n\nIt is considered a lost film.\n\nSynopsis\nDad Hayseed and his friends from Stoney Creek, including Dad Duggan, Cousin Harold, Sam, Tom, Poppy, Molly, Peter, Hopkins and M'Arthur, decide to hold an agricultural show. They go to Brisbane to ask the Governor of Queensland to open it and he agrees. They form a brass band to play, and the show is a great success.\n\nCast\nFred MacDonald as Jim Hayseed\nTal Ordell as Dad Hayseed\nHarry McDonna as Cousin Harold\nAgnes Dobson\nCollet Dobson\n\nProduction\nLike the first two Hayseed movies, Beaumont Smith used local appeal to make them attractive to audiences. This one was shot around Brisbane. It was followed by The Hayseeds' Melbourne Cup.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe Hayseeds' Back-blocks Show in the Internet Movie Database\nThe Hayseeds' Back-blocks Show at National Film and Sound Archive\n\n1917 films\nAustralian films\nFilms directed by Beaumont Smith\nLost Australian films\nAustralian silent feature films\nAustralian black-and-white films\nAustralian comedy films\n1917 comedy films\n1917 lost films\nLost comedy films"
]
|
[
"Alejandro Jodorowsky",
"Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990-2011)",
"What was his first fil in 1990 called",
"El Topo",
"What award did he win",
"CUFF",
"What does this stand for",
"Chicago Underground Film Festival",
"What award did he win",
"Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award",
"Did they show his films",
"Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status."
]
| C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0 | What did this mean | 6 | What does a film with grey legal status mean? | Alejandro Jodorowsky | In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, the website, announced that on 1 May 2007, Anchor Bay released a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les tetes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing the perfect complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by Abkco, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but could not find investors for the project. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers". In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MOMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011. CANNOTANSWER | it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker and artist. Since 1948, he has worked as a novelist, screenwriter, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, a film and theater director and producer, an actor, a film editor, a comics writer, a musician and composer, a philosopher, a puppeteer, a mime, a lay psychologist, a draughtsman, a painter, a sculptor, and a spiritual guru.
Best known for his avant-garde films El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Overview
Born to Jewish-Galician parents (Chodorowski) in Tocopilla, Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, while in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.
After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). During the same period, he wrote a series of science fiction comic books, most notably The Incal (1980–1989), which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written, and also The Technopriests and Metabarons. He has also written books and regularly lectures on his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism" and which borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian Partition, now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann (Jakub Chodorowski), was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless he liked his local area, and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime, and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film, and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond the conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino de Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Flash Gordon, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1982, Jodorowsky divorced his wife.
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
In 1995, Alejandro's son, Teo, died in an accident while his father was busy preparing for a trip to Mexico City to promote his new book. Upon arriving in Mexico City, he gave a lecture at the Julio Castillo Theatre where he once again met Ejo Takata, who at this time had moved into a poor suburb of the city where he had continued to teach meditation and Zen. Takata would die two years later, and Jodorowsky would never get to see his old friend again.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son, Adan Jodorowsky, plays him as an adult and Brontis Jodorowsky, plays as his father Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poetess and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky is a weekly contributor of "good news" to the nightly "author news report" of his friend, Fernando Sánchez Dragó in Telemadrid.
He also released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, and Kanye West.
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal/ Incal/ Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka/ The Caste of the Metabarons/ Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the final outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Tremblay. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo, who played in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal, a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Jodorowsky was interviewed by Daniel Pinchbeck for the Franco-German television show Durch die Nacht mit … on the TV station Arte, in a very personal discussion, spending a night together in France, continuing the interview in different locations such as a park and a hotel.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzio while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
As director
As actor
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
Anibal 5 {Original Mexican edition with Manuel Moro} (1966)
Los Insoportables Borbolla (with Manuel Moro) (1966)
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 {French edition with Mœbius} (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016- ongoing)
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Metabarons Universe
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project. Many of the comics and novels have been translated into Spanish, English, and German under Jodorowsky supervision.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2007)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Simak (2019)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
Autobiography
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky (2005)
The Dance of Reality: A Psychomagical Autobiography (2014)
Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness: The Radical Wisdom of Jodo (2016)
The Finger and the Moon: Zen Teachings and Koans (2016)
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
1929 births
Living people
20th-century alchemists
20th-century atheists
21st-century alchemists
21st-century atheists
Chilean comics writers
Chilean emigrants to France
Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Chilean film directors
Chilean experimental filmmakers
Esotericists
French-language film directors
French comics writers
French film directors
Chilean mimes
Chilean surrealist artists
Chilean surrealist writers
French surrealist artists
French surrealist writers
Surrealist filmmakers
Horror film directors
Anarchist writers
Chilean speculative fiction writers
Chilean autobiographers
Chilean Jews
Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish anarchists
Jewish atheists
Jewish feminists
Jewish mimes
Mystics
Naturalized citizens of France
Chilean occultists
People from Tocopilla
Chilean performance artists
Psychedelic drug advocates
Psychotherapists
Tarot readers
Polish Ashkenazi Jews | true | [
"Mean What You Say may refer to:\n\n Mean What You Say (Philly Joe Jones album)\n Mean What You Say (Thad Jones/Pepper Adams Quintet album)\n Mean What You Say (Witness album)\n Mean What You Say (Sent by Ravens album)",
"\"What I Mean\" is a song by French house duo Modjo. It was released in September 2001 as the third single from the studio album, Modjo. There are two versions, the original mix and another more dance-oriented.\n\nTrack listing\nCD single – Europe (2001)\n \"What I Mean\" (Original album mix)\n \"What I Mean\" (Aloud mix)\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\n2001 singles\nModjo songs\n2001 songs"
]
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"Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990-2011)",
"What was his first fil in 1990 called",
"El Topo",
"What award did he win",
"CUFF",
"What does this stand for",
"Chicago Underground Film Festival",
"What award did he win",
"Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award",
"Did they show his films",
"Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status.",
"What did this mean",
"it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down."
]
| C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0 | Who said that | 7 | Who said the police would show up and shut the festival down? | Alejandro Jodorowsky | In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, the website, announced that on 1 May 2007, Anchor Bay released a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les tetes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing the perfect complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by Abkco, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but could not find investors for the project. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers". In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MOMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011. CANNOTANSWER | Bryan Wendorf, | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker and artist. Since 1948, he has worked as a novelist, screenwriter, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, a film and theater director and producer, an actor, a film editor, a comics writer, a musician and composer, a philosopher, a puppeteer, a mime, a lay psychologist, a draughtsman, a painter, a sculptor, and a spiritual guru.
Best known for his avant-garde films El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Overview
Born to Jewish-Galician parents (Chodorowski) in Tocopilla, Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, while in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.
After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). During the same period, he wrote a series of science fiction comic books, most notably The Incal (1980–1989), which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written, and also The Technopriests and Metabarons. He has also written books and regularly lectures on his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism" and which borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian Partition, now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann (Jakub Chodorowski), was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless he liked his local area, and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime, and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film, and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond the conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino de Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Flash Gordon, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1982, Jodorowsky divorced his wife.
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
In 1995, Alejandro's son, Teo, died in an accident while his father was busy preparing for a trip to Mexico City to promote his new book. Upon arriving in Mexico City, he gave a lecture at the Julio Castillo Theatre where he once again met Ejo Takata, who at this time had moved into a poor suburb of the city where he had continued to teach meditation and Zen. Takata would die two years later, and Jodorowsky would never get to see his old friend again.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son, Adan Jodorowsky, plays him as an adult and Brontis Jodorowsky, plays as his father Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poetess and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky is a weekly contributor of "good news" to the nightly "author news report" of his friend, Fernando Sánchez Dragó in Telemadrid.
He also released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, and Kanye West.
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal/ Incal/ Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka/ The Caste of the Metabarons/ Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the final outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Tremblay. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo, who played in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal, a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Jodorowsky was interviewed by Daniel Pinchbeck for the Franco-German television show Durch die Nacht mit … on the TV station Arte, in a very personal discussion, spending a night together in France, continuing the interview in different locations such as a park and a hotel.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzio while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
As director
As actor
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
Anibal 5 {Original Mexican edition with Manuel Moro} (1966)
Los Insoportables Borbolla (with Manuel Moro) (1966)
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 {French edition with Mœbius} (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016- ongoing)
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Metabarons Universe
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project. Many of the comics and novels have been translated into Spanish, English, and German under Jodorowsky supervision.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2007)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Simak (2019)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
Autobiography
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky (2005)
The Dance of Reality: A Psychomagical Autobiography (2014)
Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness: The Radical Wisdom of Jodo (2016)
The Finger and the Moon: Zen Teachings and Koans (2016)
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
1929 births
Living people
20th-century alchemists
20th-century atheists
21st-century alchemists
21st-century atheists
Chilean comics writers
Chilean emigrants to France
Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Chilean film directors
Chilean experimental filmmakers
Esotericists
French-language film directors
French comics writers
French film directors
Chilean mimes
Chilean surrealist artists
Chilean surrealist writers
French surrealist artists
French surrealist writers
Surrealist filmmakers
Horror film directors
Anarchist writers
Chilean speculative fiction writers
Chilean autobiographers
Chilean Jews
Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish anarchists
Jewish atheists
Jewish feminists
Jewish mimes
Mystics
Naturalized citizens of France
Chilean occultists
People from Tocopilla
Chilean performance artists
Psychedelic drug advocates
Psychotherapists
Tarot readers
Polish Ashkenazi Jews | true | [
"Said Kheri is a village situated in Rajpura Tehsil of Patiala District, India. This village was established by a Muslim saint Said Raju, who was also known as Zinda Pir. The real name of Said Raju was Shah Raju and he was born in Bhor village. He migrated to the place later called as Said Kheri on the insistence of the then Raja of the area. After the death of Said Raju, a mazar was built that attracted people of different religions. As many as 10 generations of Said Raju, who was called Dada Raju in the village, passed their lives in Said Kheri till 1947 partition of the sub-continent.\n\nReferences\nMusnad Hussain Asghar authored by Syed Qamar Abbas bin Zainul Abideen Haussaini Tirmizi, pages 287-290\n\nVillages in Patiala district",
"He Said, She Said may refer to:\n\nFilm and TV\nHe Said, She Said (film), 1991 romantic comedy film starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Perkins.\nHe Said, She Said (game show), an American game show hosted by Joe Garagiola\nHe Said, She Said (TV series), a Canadian cooking show\n\"She Said, He Said\", prequel to \"The Name of the Doctor\", an episode of the television series Doctor Who\n\"He Said, She Said\", an episode of the animated television series I Am Weasel\n \"He Said, She Said\" (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), an episode of the sixth season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine\n\nMusic\n He Said She Said, a 2010 album by Sue Foley and Peter Karp\n \"He Said She Said\" (Ashley Tisdale song), 2006\n \"He Said She Said\" (Chvrches song), 2021\n\nSee also\n\"She Said She Said\", a 1966 song by The Beatles"
]
|
[
"Alejandro Jodorowsky",
"Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990-2011)",
"What was his first fil in 1990 called",
"El Topo",
"What award did he win",
"CUFF",
"What does this stand for",
"Chicago Underground Film Festival",
"What award did he win",
"Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award",
"Did they show his films",
"Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status.",
"What did this mean",
"it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.",
"Who said that",
"Bryan Wendorf,"
]
| C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0 | What is hhis title | 8 | What is Bryan Wendorf's title? | Alejandro Jodorowsky | In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, the website, announced that on 1 May 2007, Anchor Bay released a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les tetes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing the perfect complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by Abkco, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but could not find investors for the project. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers". In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MOMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011. CANNOTANSWER | According to festival director | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker and artist. Since 1948, he has worked as a novelist, screenwriter, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, a film and theater director and producer, an actor, a film editor, a comics writer, a musician and composer, a philosopher, a puppeteer, a mime, a lay psychologist, a draughtsman, a painter, a sculptor, and a spiritual guru.
Best known for his avant-garde films El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Overview
Born to Jewish-Galician parents (Chodorowski) in Tocopilla, Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, while in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.
After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). During the same period, he wrote a series of science fiction comic books, most notably The Incal (1980–1989), which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written, and also The Technopriests and Metabarons. He has also written books and regularly lectures on his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism" and which borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian Partition, now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann (Jakub Chodorowski), was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless he liked his local area, and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime, and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film, and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond the conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino de Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Flash Gordon, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1982, Jodorowsky divorced his wife.
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
In 1995, Alejandro's son, Teo, died in an accident while his father was busy preparing for a trip to Mexico City to promote his new book. Upon arriving in Mexico City, he gave a lecture at the Julio Castillo Theatre where he once again met Ejo Takata, who at this time had moved into a poor suburb of the city where he had continued to teach meditation and Zen. Takata would die two years later, and Jodorowsky would never get to see his old friend again.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son, Adan Jodorowsky, plays him as an adult and Brontis Jodorowsky, plays as his father Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poetess and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky is a weekly contributor of "good news" to the nightly "author news report" of his friend, Fernando Sánchez Dragó in Telemadrid.
He also released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, and Kanye West.
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal/ Incal/ Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka/ The Caste of the Metabarons/ Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the final outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Tremblay. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo, who played in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal, a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Jodorowsky was interviewed by Daniel Pinchbeck for the Franco-German television show Durch die Nacht mit … on the TV station Arte, in a very personal discussion, spending a night together in France, continuing the interview in different locations such as a park and a hotel.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzio while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
As director
As actor
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
Anibal 5 {Original Mexican edition with Manuel Moro} (1966)
Los Insoportables Borbolla (with Manuel Moro) (1966)
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 {French edition with Mœbius} (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016- ongoing)
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Metabarons Universe
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project. Many of the comics and novels have been translated into Spanish, English, and German under Jodorowsky supervision.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2007)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Simak (2019)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
Autobiography
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky (2005)
The Dance of Reality: A Psychomagical Autobiography (2014)
Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness: The Radical Wisdom of Jodo (2016)
The Finger and the Moon: Zen Teachings and Koans (2016)
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
1929 births
Living people
20th-century alchemists
20th-century atheists
21st-century alchemists
21st-century atheists
Chilean comics writers
Chilean emigrants to France
Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Chilean film directors
Chilean experimental filmmakers
Esotericists
French-language film directors
French comics writers
French film directors
Chilean mimes
Chilean surrealist artists
Chilean surrealist writers
French surrealist artists
French surrealist writers
Surrealist filmmakers
Horror film directors
Anarchist writers
Chilean speculative fiction writers
Chilean autobiographers
Chilean Jews
Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish anarchists
Jewish atheists
Jewish feminists
Jewish mimes
Mystics
Naturalized citizens of France
Chilean occultists
People from Tocopilla
Chilean performance artists
Psychedelic drug advocates
Psychotherapists
Tarot readers
Polish Ashkenazi Jews | true | [
"What is truth may refer to:\n\nJohn 18:38, a verse from the Bible, also known as \"What is truth?\"\nEdi Nijam, a 1965 Telugu film whose English title is What is Truth\n\"What Is Truth\", a 1970 single by Johnny Cash\nWhat is Truth?, a 1976 book by philosopher C. J. F. Williams\n\nSee also\nTruth\nReligious views on truth",
"What Is to Be Done?, sometimes translated as What Then Must We Do? (Russian: Так что же нам делать?), is a non-fiction work by Leo Tolstoy in which he describes the social conditions of Russia in his day.\n\nTolstoy completed the book in 1886 and the first English language publication came in 1887 as What to Do?. A revised translation with the current title was published in 1899.\n\nThe English title was also used for two better-known works by Nikolai Chernyshevsky and Vladimir Lenin. Tolstoy's Russian title is similar, but not identical to Chernyshevsky's and Lenin's (Что делать?), both of them sharing the same Biblical reference (Luke 3:10–14).\n\nExternal links \n What Is To Be Done?, at TheAnarchistLibrary.org.\n What Shall We Do?, at Revoltlib.com.\n What Shall We Do? at Marxists.org\n What Then Must We Do? at Archive.org, OCR transcription needs work.\n What to Do?, 1887 English translation available on Google Books.\n What Is to Be Done?, 1899 English translation available on Google Books.\n What Then Must We Do?. Complete English translation.\n\n1886 non-fiction books\nBooks by Leo Tolstoy\nWorks about Russia"
]
|
[
"Alejandro Jodorowsky",
"Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990-2011)",
"What was his first fil in 1990 called",
"El Topo",
"What award did he win",
"CUFF",
"What does this stand for",
"Chicago Underground Film Festival",
"What award did he win",
"Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award",
"Did they show his films",
"Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status.",
"What did this mean",
"it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.",
"Who said that",
"Bryan Wendorf,",
"What is hhis title",
"According to festival director"
]
| C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0 | What is his next achievement | 9 | What is Alejandro Jodorowsky's next achievement? | Alejandro Jodorowsky | In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, the website, announced that on 1 May 2007, Anchor Bay released a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les tetes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing the perfect complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by Abkco, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but could not find investors for the project. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers". In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MOMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011. CANNOTANSWER | Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker and artist. Since 1948, he has worked as a novelist, screenwriter, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, a film and theater director and producer, an actor, a film editor, a comics writer, a musician and composer, a philosopher, a puppeteer, a mime, a lay psychologist, a draughtsman, a painter, a sculptor, and a spiritual guru.
Best known for his avant-garde films El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Overview
Born to Jewish-Galician parents (Chodorowski) in Tocopilla, Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, while in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.
After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). During the same period, he wrote a series of science fiction comic books, most notably The Incal (1980–1989), which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written, and also The Technopriests and Metabarons. He has also written books and regularly lectures on his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism" and which borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian Partition, now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann (Jakub Chodorowski), was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless he liked his local area, and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime, and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film, and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond the conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino de Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Flash Gordon, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1982, Jodorowsky divorced his wife.
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
In 1995, Alejandro's son, Teo, died in an accident while his father was busy preparing for a trip to Mexico City to promote his new book. Upon arriving in Mexico City, he gave a lecture at the Julio Castillo Theatre where he once again met Ejo Takata, who at this time had moved into a poor suburb of the city where he had continued to teach meditation and Zen. Takata would die two years later, and Jodorowsky would never get to see his old friend again.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son, Adan Jodorowsky, plays him as an adult and Brontis Jodorowsky, plays as his father Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poetess and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky is a weekly contributor of "good news" to the nightly "author news report" of his friend, Fernando Sánchez Dragó in Telemadrid.
He also released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, and Kanye West.
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal/ Incal/ Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka/ The Caste of the Metabarons/ Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the final outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Tremblay. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo, who played in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal, a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Jodorowsky was interviewed by Daniel Pinchbeck for the Franco-German television show Durch die Nacht mit … on the TV station Arte, in a very personal discussion, spending a night together in France, continuing the interview in different locations such as a park and a hotel.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzio while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
As director
As actor
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
Anibal 5 {Original Mexican edition with Manuel Moro} (1966)
Los Insoportables Borbolla (with Manuel Moro) (1966)
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 {French edition with Mœbius} (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016- ongoing)
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Metabarons Universe
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project. Many of the comics and novels have been translated into Spanish, English, and German under Jodorowsky supervision.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2007)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Simak (2019)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
Autobiography
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky (2005)
The Dance of Reality: A Psychomagical Autobiography (2014)
Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness: The Radical Wisdom of Jodo (2016)
The Finger and the Moon: Zen Teachings and Koans (2016)
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
1929 births
Living people
20th-century alchemists
20th-century atheists
21st-century alchemists
21st-century atheists
Chilean comics writers
Chilean emigrants to France
Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Chilean film directors
Chilean experimental filmmakers
Esotericists
French-language film directors
French comics writers
French film directors
Chilean mimes
Chilean surrealist artists
Chilean surrealist writers
French surrealist artists
French surrealist writers
Surrealist filmmakers
Horror film directors
Anarchist writers
Chilean speculative fiction writers
Chilean autobiographers
Chilean Jews
Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish anarchists
Jewish atheists
Jewish feminists
Jewish mimes
Mystics
Naturalized citizens of France
Chilean occultists
People from Tocopilla
Chilean performance artists
Psychedelic drug advocates
Psychotherapists
Tarot readers
Polish Ashkenazi Jews | true | [
"Tjovitjo is a South African dance drama series. It follows the lives of pantsula dancers and how they navigate around the every day challenges of the township.\n\nPlot \nTjovitjo is a hyper-reality dance series set in the slums of Johannesburg. Tjovitjo is led by Mafred - played by Warren Masemol a- a thug and dancer with a past as a petty criminal, who is seeking the approval of his community.\n\nThe series spotlights sePantsula - a subculture and dance form that emerged in the 1950s, in the shadow of apartheid. Beneath the dirty street dance-offs, each episode Tjovitjo delves into contemporary issues that plague South Africa and the youth, such as unsafe abortion, zama-zama (illegal mining) and physical abuse.\n\nDance is what really what keeps this impoverished community sane but in the second season two dance is banned putting this very sanity to the test.\n\nAmidst Mafred's poverty and struggle, a hardened Pantsula dance leader enters thug life and searches for redemption and salvation in his community.\n\nAccolades\n\nSouth African Film And Television (2019) \n SAFTA Golden Horn (Winner)\nBest Achievement in Directing - TV Drama Vincent Moloi\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Nominee)\nBest TV Drama\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Nominee)\nBest actor - TV Drama Warren Masemola\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Nominee)\nBest Achievement in Editng - TV Drama\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Nominee)\nBest Achievement In Art/ Design Production - TV Drama Vivienne Mahloko\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Nominee)\nBest Achievement in Cinematography- TV Drama Motheo Moeng\n\nSouth African Film And Television Awards, SAFTA (2018) \n SAFTA Golden Horn (Winner)\nBest actor - TV Drama Warren Masemola\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Winner)\nBest TV Drama - Puo Pha Productions\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Winner)\nBest Achievement in Editing - TV Drama Ikaye Masisi\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Winner)\nBest Achievement In Art/ Design Production - Ephraim Mathula, Vivenne Mahloko\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Winner)\nBest Achievement in Sound Design -TV Drama\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Winner)\nBest Achievement in Cinematography - TV Drama Motheo Moeng, Marius Van Graan, Ofentse Mwase\n\n SAFTA Golden Horn (Nominee)\nBest Achievement in Costume Design - TV Drama Charity Shirley Masonto\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nNetflix https://netflix.com/\nShowmax https://www.showmax.com/\nYouTube https://www.youtube.com/\n\n2017 South African television series debuts\nTelevision in Botswana",
"An achievement, armorial achievement or heraldic achievement (historical: hatchment) in heraldry is a full display or depiction of all the heraldic components to which the bearer of a coat of arms is entitled. An achievement comprises not only the arms displayed on the escutcheon, the central element, but also the following elements surrounding it: \n Crest placed atop a:\n Torse (or Cap of Maintenance as a special honour)\n Mantling\n Helm of appropriate variety; if holder of higher rank than a baronet, issuing from a: \n Coronet or Crown (not used by baronets), of appropriate variety. \n Supporters (if the bearer is entitled to them, generally in modern usage not baronets), which may stand on a Compartment)\n Motto, if possessed\n Order, if possessed\n Badge, if possessed\n\nCoat of arms\nSometimes the term \"coat of arms\" is used to refer to the full achievement, but this usage is wrong in the strict sense of heraldic terminology, as a coat of arms refers to a garment with the escutcheon or armorial achievement embroidered on it.\n\nHatchment\n\nThe ancient term used in place of \"achievement\" was \"hatchment\", deriving (through such historic forms as atcheament, achement, hathement, etc.) from the French achèvement, from the French verb achever, a contraction of à chef venir (\"to come to a head\"), ultimately from Latin ad caput venire, \"to come to a head\", thus: \"to reach a conclusion, accomplish, achieve\". The word \"hatchment\" in its historical usage is thus identical in meaning and origin to the English heraldic term \"achievement\". However, in modern heraldry the word \"hatchment\" has come to be used almost exclusively to denote \"funerary hatchment\", whilst \"achievement\" is now used in place of \"hatchment\" in a non-funereal context. An example of the historic use of \"hatchment\" in a non-funerary context to denote what is now termed \"achievement\" appears in the statute of the Order of the Garter laid down by King Henry VIII () concerning the regulation of Garter stall plates:\nIt is agreed that every knyght within the yere of his stallation shall cause to be made a scauchon of his armes and hachementis in a plate of metall suche as shall please him and that it shall be surely sett upon the back of his stall.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nHeraldry"
]
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[
"The Replacements (band)",
"Legacy"
]
| C_3dcefc37a8194361b18e9bc56579b065_0 | What is The Replacements legacy? | 1 | What is the band The Replacements legacy? | The Replacements (band) | The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an "obvious influence" on his music. The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacement's final tour. They also co-wrote the song "We Are the Normal" with Westerberg for their 1993 album Superstar Car Wash. Members of The Cribs have cited The Replacements as a key influence. Members of the alternative country groups Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown have said that The Replacements were an important influence on them. Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem said in a 2009 interview that "without The Replacements, there would be no Gaslight Anthem" and that they were inspired by the song "Left of the Dial". The band They Might Be Giants made a tribute song to them called "We're The Replacements". 1234 Go! Records released We'll Inherit the Earth: A Tribute to The Replacements on October 3, 2006. The album contains twenty-three covers of The Replacements songs by various rock, punk, pop and country artists. On October 16, 2013, the band was announced as one of the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, but they were not inducted. "Alex Chilton" appears as a playable song in Harmonix's music videogame Rock Band 2 for all consoles. "Kids Don't Follow" was also released for the game as downloadable content. Their songs have been used in many feature films. "Treatment Bound" was used in the official soundtrack for Jackass Number Two. The 1998 teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait is named after their single, and the song itself plays over the end credits. The song "I Will Dare" is sung by Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz in the car in Feeling Minnesota. Lou and Nick contemplate their lives and the possibility of changing the past in the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine while "I Will Dare" plays in the background. "I'll Be You" plays during Jerry's bachelor party in the 1996 romantic comedy-drama sports film Jerry Maguire. The 2009 Greg Mottola film, Adventureland, opens with "Bastards of Young". The song "Unsatisfied" is also used in the film during the bus ride to New York. The song was also featured in the 1994 film Airheads. The fictional band the Fingers, in the movie Losers Take All, gets its big break by securing a gig opening for The Replacements. "Within Your Reach" was used in the 1989 film Say Anything. "Here Comes A Regular" was on the episode "Rigby's Graduation Day Special" on Cartoon Network's Regular Show. Here Comes A Regular was on the episode "The Wind That Blew My Heart Away" on One Tree Hill. Peyton's mother describes the song as "the happiest" and it is heard playing in the episode. CANNOTANSWER | The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an "obvious influence" on his music. | The Replacements were an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1979. Initially a punk rock band, they are one of the main pioneers of alternative rock. The band was composed of the guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bass guitarist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars for most of its existence. Following several acclaimed albums, including Let It Be and Tim, Bob Stinson was kicked out of the band in 1986, and Slim Dunlap joined as lead guitarist. Steve Foley replaced Mars in 1990. Towards the end of the band's career, Westerberg exerted more control over the creative output. The group disbanded in 1991, with the members eventually pursuing various projects. A reunion was announced on October 3, 2012. The band is referred to by their nickname "The 'Mats" by fans, which originated as a truncation of "The Placemats," a mispronunciation of their name.
The Replacements' music was influenced by rock artists such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Faces, Big Star, Slade, Badfinger, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Bob Dylan as well as punk rock bands such as the Ramones, the New York Dolls, the Buzzcocks, the Damned, and the Sex Pistols. Unlike many of their underground contemporaries, the Replacements played "heart-on-the-sleeve" rock songs that combined Westerberg's "raw-throated adolescent howl" with self-deprecating lyrics. The Replacements were a notoriously wayward live act, often performing under the influence of alcohol and playing fragments of covers instead of their own material.
History
Formation and early years (1978–1980)
The Replacements' history began in Minneapolis in 1978, when nineteen-year-old Bob Stinson gave his eleven-year-old brother Tommy Stinson a bass guitar to keep him off the streets. That year Bob met Mars, a high school dropout. With Mars playing guitar and then switching to drums, the trio called themselves "Dogbreath" and began covering songs by Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and Yes without a singer. One day as Westerberg, a janitor in U.S. Senator David Durenberger's office, was walking home from work, he heard a band playing in the Stinsons' house. After being impressed by the band's performance, Westerberg regularly listened in after work. Mars knew Westerberg and invited him over to jam. Westerberg was unaware Mars drummed in Dogbreath.
Dogbreath auditioned several vocalists, including a hippie who read lyrics off a sheet. The band eventually found a vocalist, but Westerberg wanted to be the singer and took him aside one day to say, "The band doesn't like you." The vocalist soon left and Westerberg replaced him. Before Westerberg joined the band, Dogbreath often drank and took various drugs during rehearsals, playing songs as an afterthought. In contrast to the rest of the band, the relatively disciplined Westerberg appeared at rehearsals in neat clothes and insisted on practicing songs until he was happy with them.
"They didn't even know what punk was. They didn't like punk. Chris had hair down to his shoulders," Westerberg chortled to an interviewer. But after the band members discovered first-generation English punk bands like the Clash, the Jam, the Damned and the Buzzcocks, Dogbreath changed its name to the Impediments and played a drunken performance without Tommy Stinson at a church hall gig in June 1980. After being banned from the venue for disorderly behavior, they changed the name to the Replacements. In an unpublished memoir, Mars later explained the band's choice of name: "Like maybe the main act doesn't show, and instead the crowd has to settle for an earful of us dirtbags....It seemed to sit just right with us, accurately describing our collective 'secondary' social esteem".
Demo tape and Twin/Tone Records (1980–1981)
The band soon recorded a four-song demo tape in Mars's basement and handed it to Peter Jesperson in May 1980. Jesperson was the manager of Oar Folkjokeopus, a punk rock record store in Minneapolis, and had also founded Twin/Tone Records with Paul Stark (a local recording engineer) and Charley Hallman. Westerberg originally handed in the tape to see if the band could perform at Jay's Longhorn Bar, a local venue where Jesperson worked as a disc jockey. (The band's first performance at a bar was at the Longhorn on July 2, 1980.) He eavesdropped as Jesperson put in the tape, only to run away as soon as the first song, "Raised in the City", played. Jesperson played the song again and again. "If I've ever had a magic moment in my life, it was popping that tape in", said Jesperson. "I didn't even get through the first song before I thought my head was going to explode".
Jesperson called Westerberg the next day, asking, "So do you want to do a single or an album?" With the agreement of Stark and the rest of the band, the Replacements signed with Twin/Tone Records in 1980. Jesperson's support of the band was welcomed, and they asked him to be their manager after their second show. Later that summer they played at the Longhorn on a Wednesday "New Band Night". They also played several club gigs to almost empty rooms. When they finished a song, apart from the low hum of conversation, the band would hear Jesperson's loud whistle and fast clapping. "His enthusiasm kept us going at times, definitely," Mars later said. "His vision, his faith in the band was a binding force."
After the Replacements signed with Twin/Tone, Westerberg began to write new songs and soon had a whole album's worth of material. Mere weeks after their live debut, the band felt ready to record the album. Jesperson chose Blackberry Way, an eight-track home studio in Minneapolis. However, as the band had no clout there, time spent in the studio was intermittent, and it took about six months to record the album. Although not important at the time, Twin/Tone could not afford to release the album until August 1981. Because they were suspicious of the music business in general, the Replacements had not signed a written contract with Twin/Tone Records.
Early releases (1981–1982)
When the band's first album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, was released in August 1981, it received positive reviews in local fanzines. Option's Blake Gumprecht wrote, "Westerberg has the ability to make you feel like you're right in the car with him, alongside him at the door, drinking from the same bottle." The album contained the band's first single, "I'm in Trouble", Westerberg's "first truly good song". Sorry Ma included the song, "Somethin to Dü", a homage to another Minneapolis punk band, Hüsker Dü. The Replacements had a friendly rivalry with the band, which started when Twin/Tone chose the Replacements over Hüsker Dü, and Hüsker Dü landed an opening slot at a Johnny Thunders gig that the Replacements had wanted. Hüsker Dü also influenced the band's music. The Replacements began playing faster and became more influenced by hardcore punk. Despite this, the band did not feel part of the hardcore scene. As Mars later stated, "We were confused about what we were."
Sometime in late 1981, the Replacements played a song called "Kids Don't Follow". Jesperson was convinced the song sounded like a hit and pleaded with the Twin/Tone co-owners Stark and Hallman, "I will do anything to get this out. I will hand-stamp jackets if I have to." The partners agreed to fund the recording, but Jesperson and virtually everyone he knew had to hand-stamp ten thousand white record jackets. The band recorded eight tracks within a week, with Jesperson as producer. Their "balls-to-the-wall hardcore punk attempt", their first EP Stink, containing "Kids Don't Follow" and seven other songs, was released in June 1982, six months after the Chicago show.
The Replacements began to distance themselves from the hardcore punk scene after the release of Stink. "We write songs rather than riffs with statements," Westerberg later stated. Inspired by other rock subgenres, he had been writing songs that incorporated a wide range of musical styles. He even wrote an acoustic ballad, "You're Getting Married One Night", but when he played it to the rest of the band, it was met with silence. "Save that for your solo album, Paul," Bob Stinson said. "That ain't the Replacements". The track remained unreleased for years. Westerberg realized his toughest audience was the band itself, later saying, "If it doesn't rock enough, Bob will scoff at it, and if it isn't catchy enough, Chris won't like it, and if it isn't modern enough, Tommy won't like it."
Hootenanny and Let It Be (1983–1984)
With a batch of new songs, the Replacements entered a warehouse in Roseville, Minnesota, to record their next album, with Twin/Tone co-owner Stark engineering. Westerberg wrote songs in stops and starts, so it took several sessions of recording to finish the album. Stark's meticulous approach to recording contrasted with that of the Replacements, often frustrating the band. In one session, Mars and Westerberg switched instruments, and the band began to improvise, with Westerberg repeatedly shouting, "It's a hootenanny." The band then declared it to be "side one, track one" of the new album. According to Stark, the recording "was a complete joke from their point of view—they did not care what they delivered".
Hootenanny, the band's second studio album, was released in April 1983. Hootenanny saw Westerberg expand his songwriting capabilities, In songs such as "Willpower", with echoed vocals and a sparse arrangement, and "Within Your Reach", which features Westerberg on all instruments, he revealed a more sensitive side. It was a more mature album than Stink and Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. Hootenanny was played on over two hundred radio stations across the country, with critics acclaiming the album. Robert Christgau, writing in the Village Voice, deemed it "the most critically independent album of 1983".
By Hootenanny's release, the Replacements had begun to attract a following outside of Minneapolis. The band embarked on its first tour of the United States in April 1983, joined by Bill Sullivan, a young security guard, as roadie, who approached the band after a show at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Tommy Stinson dropped out of the tenth grade to join the rest of the band on tour. The Replacements toured venues on the East Coast, including a tense gig at City Gardens, in Trenton, New Jersey, where numerous punks lined the edge of the stage as the band played. The band performed in Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia, but its intended destination was New York City, where they played at Gerde's Folk City; they also performed at Maxwell's, in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The Replacements returned to New York in June 1983, playing at CBGB. The gig was a failure; the band were almost refused entry, Bob Stinson was thrown out as soon as he walked in the door, and the Replacements were the last of five bands, which meant they played in the early morning on a Monday night. The show at Folk City was not a success, because "The Replacements were so loud and obnoxious that the people just cleared right out," according to manager Jesperson. The band supported R.E.M. on an eight-date tour later that summer, deciding that they should alienate the audience as much as possible. It was not a successful tour; by the end, various members had threatened to leave the Replacements. Band morale was low, and Westerberg later stated, "We'd much rather play for fifty people who know us than a thousand who don't care."
For the recording of their next studio album, the Replacements decided to return to Blackberry Way Studios in late 1983. The band considered R.E.M.'s guitarist Peter Buck as producer, but when they met him in Athens, Georgia, they did not have enough material to begin recording. Instead, Jesperson and Steve Fjelstad co-produced the album. By this time, the Replacements had grown tired of playing loud and fast exclusively; Westerberg stated, "Now we're softening a little where we can do something that's a little more sincere without being afraid that someone's not going to like it or the punks aren't going to be able to dance to it."
The new material placed more of a focus on songwriting, and the music was influenced by heavy metal, arena rock and Chicago blues. Instruments such as piano, twelve-string guitar and mandolin were featured throughout the album. The new album included songs such as "I Will Dare", which featured Buck playing lead guitar; "Androgynous", with Westerberg on piano; and "Unsatisfied", in which, according to writer Michael Azerrad, Westerberg "had hit upon a moving new way to declare that he can't get no satisfaction." The band's album Let It Be was released in October 1984 to critical acclaim. Robert Christgau gave the album an A+, the first and only A+ Tommy
Stinson would receive in his life, and the Seattle Rocket critic Bruce Pavitt called Let It Be "mature diverse rock that could well shoot these regional boys into the national mainstream". In 1989, Let It Be was ranked number 12 on Spin magazine's list of the "25 Greatest Albums of All Time" and number 15 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s".
Early major-label releases (1985–1988)
Let It Be attracted the attention of major record labels, and by late 1984 several had expressed an interest in signing the Replacements. Financially, the band was not doing well; they were not selling enough records to recoup their expenses, and money from shows went to recording costs, hotels, travel, food and instrument repairs. Bob Stinson worked a day job as a pizza chef. Twin/Tone was not being paid reliably by distributors, and the sales of Let It Be were not high enough to justify extra promotion. "It was time for a major label to take over," according to the label's co-owner Stark. The band was close to a major-label contract but often alienated label representatives by intentionally performing badly in concert; their 1985 live album, The Shit Hits the Fans, was an example of their concert performances at the time.
One label, the Warner Bros. Records subsidiary Sire Records, eventually signed the Replacements. The band admired the label head, Seymour Stein, who had managed the Ramones, and Stein recruited Tommy Ramone as producer for their first major-label album, Tim, released by Sire in October 1985.
The band spent the remainder of 1985 and the first half of 1986 touring behind Tim. In mid-January 1986 the Replacements received a last-minute request to appear as the musical guests on the edition of January 18 of Saturday Night Live, replacing the scheduled act, the Pointer Sisters, who had been forced to cancel only days before the show. The invitation was partly thanks to the show's musical director of the time, G.E. Smith, who was a Replacements fan but, as a result of their shambolic and profanity-laced performance during the late-night live broadcast, SNL producer Lorne Michaels banned them from ever returning to the show (although Westerberg returned as a solo artist in 1993.) They performed "Kiss Me on the Bus" while completely intoxicated, and after playing an out-of-tune "Bastards of Young" (during which Westerberg audibly called out "Come on fucker" just off-mic) they returned to stage wearing mismatched iterations of each other's clothing. In a 2015 interview recorded for the Archive of American Television, G. E. Smith recalled that although the band had performed well for the early evening pre-taped dress rehearsal performance, one of the band's crew then smuggled alcohol into their dressing room and they spent the next few hours drinking (with the guest host, Harry Dean Stanton) and taking drugs. According to Smith, by the time of the late-night live broadcast they were so intoxicated that on their way to the stage to perform, Bob Stinson tripped in the corridor, fell over onto his guitar and broke it, and Smith had to hurriedly loan him one of the SNL house band's spare instruments.
A few weeks later, on February 4, 1986, the band returned to the New York City area to perform at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey. That show was professionally recorded by a crew hired by the band's label Sire Records, for use in a possible live album. Over 30 years later, the recordings were finally released as the double album For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986.
The tour ended abruptly in June 1986 because Westerberg injured his finger during a show at The Ritz in New York City.
In August 1986, the Replacements either fired Bob Stinson from the band which he had founded, or he chose to leave, or a little of both. In either case, it was due to creative and personal differences between Stinson and the remainder of the band, aggravated by Stinson's alcohol and drug abuse issues. They also fired Jesperson the same year. "It was like being thrown out of a club that you helped start," Jesperson later commented. "Everybody was drinking and doing more drugs than they needed to."
Bob Stinson preferred the louder, faster style of the band's early music, while Westerberg was exploring new territory in ballads like "Here Comes a Regular" and "Swingin' Party". The remaining Replacements carried on as a trio for Pleased to Meet Me (1987), recorded in Memphis with Big Star producer Jim Dickinson. Minneapolis guitarist Slim Dunlap took over on lead guitar for the subsequent tour and soon became a full member of the band.
Don't Tell a Soul and All Shook Down (1989–1990)
The band's next album, Don't Tell a Soul, was a quieter, less punky affair, largely considered an attempt at mainstream success. While the move cost the Replacements the appreciation of some hardcore fans, the album had some notable songs, such as "Achin' to Be" and "I'll Be You", the latter of which topped the Billboard Modern Rock chart. The band then made a second appearance on network television, on the short-lived ABC program International Rock Awards, for which they performed a typically energetic version of "Talent Show" and caused a minor controversy when Westerberg responded to the network's censoring of the "feeling good from the pills we took" line by inserting an uncensored "It's too late to take pills, here we go" at the end of the song. The band appeared on the cover of Musician magazine in February 1989, in which it was described as "the last, best band of the 80s".
But there was trouble within the band following a disastrous tour opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Westerberg recorded a new album largely with session musicians but was persuaded to release it as a Replacements album. All Shook Down won critical praise and more mainstream attention and its debut single "Merry Go Round" again topped the Modern Rock charts. However, the album's many guest players and Mars's quick departure from the band following the album's release led many to wonder about the band's future. They also received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.
Breakup (1991–2011)
Steve Foley was recruited as Mars's replacement in 1990, and the band toured with Elvis Costello in June 1991, the final show being at Madison Square Garden. The band then embarked on a long farewell tour, which lasted into the summer of 1991. On July 4, 1991, the band played their last show for 22 years, with the Chicago power-pop trio Material Issue at Taste of Chicago in Grant Park, referred to by fans as "It Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Roadie Plays", because each member disappeared during the set, their respective roadies taking their places. This show was broadcast live by the Chicago radio station WXRT. Several bootlegs are available on the Internet.
Bob Stinson, after leaving the Replacements in 1986, played in local Minneapolis bands such as Static Taxi and the Bleeding Hearts. After several years of drug and alcohol abuse, he died in 1995, at the age of 35. Tommy Stinson quickly followed his time in the Replacements with the short-lived bands Bash & Pop and Perfect. He was the bass guitarist for Guns N' Roses beginning in 1998, replacing Duff McKagan from the band's "classic lineup" until leaving the band in 2016. In 2004, he released a solo CD, Village Gorilla Head, followed in 2011 by One Man Mutiny.
Westerberg is a successful singer-songwriter signed to Vagrant Records and, under his alias Grandpaboy, to Fat Possum Records. His album Folker was released in September 2004, marking a return to the melodic low-fi of the Replacements. Dunlap kept a low national profile but remained active in the Twin Cities music scene until suffering a massive stroke in 2012, which left him without the ability to move or eat. Mars primarily works as a visual artist.
In 1997, Reprise Records released the two CD set All for Nothing / Nothing for All. The All for Nothing disc collected cuts from Tim through All Shook Down; the Nothing for All disc is a collection of B-sides and tracks not previously released on albums.
In 2002, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Westerberg mentioned that the Replacements had been considering a reunion. He said, "We'll get together again one day. It will take a while, or it might take a few legal swipes of the pen, but we ain't over." A partial reunion nearly occurred in March 2002, when Tommy Stinson planned to join Westerberg on a tour of the Midwest, but Stinson's prior commitments with Guns N' Roses prevented it from happening.
On June 13, 2006, Rhino Records released the compilation album Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?, consisting of songs from the Twin/Tone and Sire-Reprise years and including two new songs, "Pool & Dive" and "Message to the Boys". The new songs were written by Westerberg and recorded by the band (Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and Mars) at Flowers Studio in Minneapolis. Session musician Josh Freese (the Vandals, ex-A Perfect Circle, ex-Guns N' Roses) played drums on the two tracks; Mars contributed backing vocals. Neither Slim Dunlap nor Steve Foley participated in the sessions.
On April 22, 2008, Rhino released remastered deluxe editions of the band's four Twin/Tone albums with rare bonus tracks. On September 24, 2008, Rhino similarly released the four Sire albums in deluxe editions. Material recorded with Tom Waits in 1988 was released on the Westerberg solo album 3oclockreep in 2008.
Foley died in 2008 from an accidental overdose of a prescription medication.
Reunion (2012–2015)
On October 3, 2012, it was announced that the Replacements had re-formed and that Westerberg and Tommy Stinson were in the studio recording an EP containing song cover versions. Titled Songs for Slim, the EP was sold in a 250-copy edition of 10" vinyl and auctioned online to benefit former bandmate Dunlap, who had suffered a stroke.
In November 2012, the documentary filmmaker Gorman Bechard released Color Me Obsessed, a film which tells the band's story through the eyes of their most ardent fans.
The Replacements played their first shows in 22 years at Riot Fest in Toronto (August 24 and 25, 2013), Chicago (September 13–15) and Denver (September 21 and 22). Dave Minehan, guitarist and vocalist of the Boston-based band the Neighborhoods, and drummer Josh Freese rounded out the lineup for these shows. Westerberg has said that the band does not rule out touring or recording a new album. The band played two sets at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 11 and 18, 2014; Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong joined the band onstage on the second date. The band was also announced as one of the headliners of the September 2014 Boston Calling Music Festival, along with Lorde and the National. On September 9, 2014, the Replacements appeared as the musical guest on The Tonight Show, performing "Alex Chilton". On September 19, 2014, they played at Forest Hills Stadium. Monsoon rains cancelled the Summer Ends Music Festival in Tempe, Arizona, on September 27, 2014, resulting in their only indoor show of the tour when it was moved to the Marquee Theatre.
On December 17, 2014, a 24-minute jazz improvisation track entitled "Poke Me in My Cage" was uploaded to the band's SoundCloud account.
On February 9, 2015, the band announced a spring tour of the United States. On this tour, they debuted a new song called "Whole Foods Blues", and according to their co-manager Darren Hill, the band has "laid down seven or eight" for a possible new album. Towards the end of the tour, two shows in Columbus and Pittsburgh were initially postponed for medical reasons, but were subsequently cancelled outright. The Replacements performed for the first time in Spain and Portugal at the Primavera Sound festival on May 28, 2015, and June 5, 2015, respectively, as part of a brief European tour. On June 5, 2015, Westerberg announced onstage at the Primavera Sound festival in Porto, Portugal, that it was the band's final show. T-shirts Westerberg had worn to previous shows had hinted at this outcome: each shirt had two letters on it (one each on front and back), ultimately spelling out, "I have always loved you. Now I must whore my past."
In a September 2015 interview, Stinson discussed the band working on new studio material, stating, "it was one of those things: We dipped our toe in the water, and it didn't feel so good." Stinson stated that he had reworked songs he wrote for the Replacements as material for his solo career.
Live performances
The Replacements gained local notoriety following their first live performance, because of Tommy Stinson's young age. Early shows were consistently tight and became more aggressive following the release of the Stink EP in 1982. As their stylistic repertoire began to expand with the writing and recording of Hootenanny the following year, the band's increasingly antagonistic stage show left them with a reputation for their rowdy, often drunken live shows. The band frequently went on stage too intoxicated to play. They were famously banned permanently from Saturday Night Live after performing drunk before a national television audience on January 18, 1986. As one reviewer succinctly observed, the band could quite often be "mouthing profanities into the camera, stumbling into each other, falling down, dropping their instruments, and generally behaving like the apathetic drunks they were." There emerged an element of unpredictability, as The Replacements—when sober—gained critical praise for their live shows. Part of the mystique of The Replacements was the fact that the audience never knew until the start of a concert if the band would be sober enough to play. It was not uncommon for the group to play entire sets of cover versions, ranging anywhere from Bryan Adams's "Summer of '69" to Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love" to Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog."
Legacy
The band has been honored with a star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue, recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue. Receiving a star "might be the most prestigious public honor an artist can receive in Minneapolis," according to journalist Steve Marsh. Westerberg also has a star for his solo work, making him one of the few musicians to be honored with multiple stars on the mural.
The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an "obvious influence" on his music. The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacements' final tour. They also co-wrote the song "We Are the Normal" with Westerberg for their 1993 album Superstar Car Wash. Members of The Cribs have cited The Replacements as a key influence. Members of the alternative country groups Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown have said that The Replacements were an important influence on them. Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem said in a 2009 interview that "without The Replacements, there would be no Gaslight Anthem" and that they were inspired by the song "Left of the Dial". The band They Might Be Giants made a tribute song to them called "We're The Replacements".
Film director Derek Wayne Johnson has stated in interviews that The Replacements are his favorite band of all-time.
1234 Go! Records released We'll Inherit the Earth: A Tribute to The Replacements on October 3, 2006. The album contains twenty-three covers of The Replacements songs by various rock, punk, pop and country artists.
On October 16, 2013, the band was announced as one of the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, but they were not inducted.
"Alex Chilton" appears as a playable song in Harmonix's music videogame Rock Band 2 for all consoles. "Kids Don't Follow" was also released for the game as downloadable content.
Their songs have been used in many feature films. "Treatment Bound" was used in the official soundtrack for Jackass Number Two. The 1998 teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait is named after their single, and the song itself plays over the end credits. The song "I Will Dare" is sung by Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz in the car in Feeling Minnesota. Lou and Nick contemplate their lives and the possibility of changing the past in the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine while "I Will Dare" plays in the background. "I'll Be You" plays during Jerry's bachelor party in the 1996 romantic comedy-drama sports film Jerry Maguire. The 2009 Greg Mottola film, Adventureland, opens with "Bastards of Young". The song "Unsatisfied" is also used in the film during the bus ride to New York. The song was also featured in the 1994 film Airheads and the 2016 film Ordinary World. The fictional band the Fingers, in the movie Losers Take All, gets its big break by securing a gig opening for The Replacements. "Within Your Reach" was used in the 1989 film Say Anything. "Here Comes a Regular" was on the episode "Rigby's Graduation Day Special" on Cartoon Network's Regular Show. "Here Comes a Regular" was on the episode "The Wind That Blew My Heart Away" on One Tree Hill. Peyton's mother describes the song as "the happiest" and it is heard playing in the episode. Here Comes A Regular also appeared in the final episode of the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why.
In what could be considered the only case of The Replacements somewhat receiving any official recording industry accolades, the band's biographist Bob Mehr received the Best Album Notes trophy at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021 for his liner notes on the 2019 box set Dead Man's Pop, which is in itself an anniversary reissue of their 1989 album Don't Tell a Soul.
Members
Paul Westerberg – lead vocals, guitar (1979–1991, 2006, 2012–2015)
Tommy Stinson – bass guitar (1979–1991, 2006, 2012–2015)
Bob Stinson – lead guitar (1979–1986; died 1995)
Slim Dunlap – lead guitar (1987–1991)
Chris Mars – drums (1979–1990), backing vocals (2006)
Steve Foley – drums (1990–1991; died 2008)
Touring musicians
Josh Freese – drums (2006, 2012–2015)
Dave Minehan – guitars (2012–2015)
Timeline
Discography
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981)
Stink (1982)
Hootenanny (1983)
Let It Be (1984)
Tim (1985)
Pleased to Meet Me (1987)
Don't Tell a Soul (1989)
All Shook Down (1990)
References
Notes
Bibliography
External links
Twin Tone Records (audio and video)
City Pages – This Is Hardcore
The Replacements database
The Skyway, a long-running Replacements internet fanzine
Alternative rock groups from Minnesota
College rock musical groups
Punk rock groups from Minnesota
Musical groups established in 1979
Musical groups disestablished in 1991
Musical groups reestablished in 2012
Hardcore punk groups from Minnesota
Sire Records artists
Glass Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Musical groups disestablished in 2015
Sibling musical groups | true | [
"Stink is an EP by the band The Replacements, recorded at Blackberry Way, Minneapolis, Minnesota, on March 13, 1982, and released on June 24, 1982.\n\nBefore the first track, \"Kids Don't Follow\", audio can be heard of the Minneapolis police breaking up a rent party at The Harmony Building in Minneapolis. It is possible by listening carefully to hear one of the audience members curse the police. The audience member in question is believed to be Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum.\n\nThe EP was remastered and reissued by Rhino Entertainment on April 22, 2008, with four additional tracks and liner notes by Peter Jesperson.\n\nThe song \"Kids Don't Follow\" was made available as Rock Band 2 DLC on May 19, 2009.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nThe Replacements\nPaul Westerberg - vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica \nBob Stinson - lead guitar\nTommy Stinson - bass guitar\nChris Mars - drums\nTechnical\nPeter Jesperson - producer, mixer\nSteven Fjelstad - producer, engineer\nErik Hanson - photography\nBruce Allen - artwork\n\nReferences\n\nhttps://blog.thecurrent.org/2016/01/the-replacements-stink-show-a-true-story-from-minnesota-music-history/\n\nThe Replacements (band) EPs\n1982 EPs\nRhino Entertainment albums\nTwin/Tone Records EPs",
"A joint replacement registry is a system of collecting information of arthroplasty outcomes at a population (often national) level, in order to provide an evidence-base for safe and effective treatment options.\n\nBackground\n\nThe UK registry, the NJR, was set up as recommendation of a Royal College of Surgeons of England review into the high-profile failure of the 3M Capital Hip.\n\nInformation collected\n\nRegisters collect information on a combination of hip replacements, knee replacements (both total and unicompartmental), shoulder replacements, ankle replacements and elbow replacements. Some countries exclude hemiarthroplasties done for traumatic hip fractures.\n\nInitially designed only to record surgeon and implant performance, the main outcome collected was implant failure, however recently patient-reported outcome measures are being added.\n\nResearch\n\nGiven the amount of information stored, the data from many of the registries is used as the basis of scientific papers, for example on the metal-on-metal hip controversy.\n\nWorldwide registries\n\nThere are currently 31 national members of the International Society of Arthroplasty Registers (ISAR). In addition, in the United States, there are 10 regional or private registries collecting data.\n\nReferences\n\nOrthopaedic registries"
]
|
[
"The Replacements (band)",
"Legacy",
"What is The Replacements legacy?",
"The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an \"obvious influence\" on his music."
]
| C_3dcefc37a8194361b18e9bc56579b065_0 | Is there any interesting facts about their legacy? | 2 | Are there any interesting facts about the legacy of the band The Replacements? | The Replacements (band) | The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an "obvious influence" on his music. The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacement's final tour. They also co-wrote the song "We Are the Normal" with Westerberg for their 1993 album Superstar Car Wash. Members of The Cribs have cited The Replacements as a key influence. Members of the alternative country groups Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown have said that The Replacements were an important influence on them. Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem said in a 2009 interview that "without The Replacements, there would be no Gaslight Anthem" and that they were inspired by the song "Left of the Dial". The band They Might Be Giants made a tribute song to them called "We're The Replacements". 1234 Go! Records released We'll Inherit the Earth: A Tribute to The Replacements on October 3, 2006. The album contains twenty-three covers of The Replacements songs by various rock, punk, pop and country artists. On October 16, 2013, the band was announced as one of the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, but they were not inducted. "Alex Chilton" appears as a playable song in Harmonix's music videogame Rock Band 2 for all consoles. "Kids Don't Follow" was also released for the game as downloadable content. Their songs have been used in many feature films. "Treatment Bound" was used in the official soundtrack for Jackass Number Two. The 1998 teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait is named after their single, and the song itself plays over the end credits. The song "I Will Dare" is sung by Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz in the car in Feeling Minnesota. Lou and Nick contemplate their lives and the possibility of changing the past in the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine while "I Will Dare" plays in the background. "I'll Be You" plays during Jerry's bachelor party in the 1996 romantic comedy-drama sports film Jerry Maguire. The 2009 Greg Mottola film, Adventureland, opens with "Bastards of Young". The song "Unsatisfied" is also used in the film during the bus ride to New York. The song was also featured in the 1994 film Airheads. The fictional band the Fingers, in the movie Losers Take All, gets its big break by securing a gig opening for The Replacements. "Within Your Reach" was used in the 1989 film Say Anything. "Here Comes A Regular" was on the episode "Rigby's Graduation Day Special" on Cartoon Network's Regular Show. Here Comes A Regular was on the episode "The Wind That Blew My Heart Away" on One Tree Hill. Peyton's mother describes the song as "the happiest" and it is heard playing in the episode. CANNOTANSWER | The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacement's final tour. They also co-wrote the song "We Are the Normal" | The Replacements were an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1979. Initially a punk rock band, they are one of the main pioneers of alternative rock. The band was composed of the guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bass guitarist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars for most of its existence. Following several acclaimed albums, including Let It Be and Tim, Bob Stinson was kicked out of the band in 1986, and Slim Dunlap joined as lead guitarist. Steve Foley replaced Mars in 1990. Towards the end of the band's career, Westerberg exerted more control over the creative output. The group disbanded in 1991, with the members eventually pursuing various projects. A reunion was announced on October 3, 2012. The band is referred to by their nickname "The 'Mats" by fans, which originated as a truncation of "The Placemats," a mispronunciation of their name.
The Replacements' music was influenced by rock artists such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Faces, Big Star, Slade, Badfinger, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Bob Dylan as well as punk rock bands such as the Ramones, the New York Dolls, the Buzzcocks, the Damned, and the Sex Pistols. Unlike many of their underground contemporaries, the Replacements played "heart-on-the-sleeve" rock songs that combined Westerberg's "raw-throated adolescent howl" with self-deprecating lyrics. The Replacements were a notoriously wayward live act, often performing under the influence of alcohol and playing fragments of covers instead of their own material.
History
Formation and early years (1978–1980)
The Replacements' history began in Minneapolis in 1978, when nineteen-year-old Bob Stinson gave his eleven-year-old brother Tommy Stinson a bass guitar to keep him off the streets. That year Bob met Mars, a high school dropout. With Mars playing guitar and then switching to drums, the trio called themselves "Dogbreath" and began covering songs by Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and Yes without a singer. One day as Westerberg, a janitor in U.S. Senator David Durenberger's office, was walking home from work, he heard a band playing in the Stinsons' house. After being impressed by the band's performance, Westerberg regularly listened in after work. Mars knew Westerberg and invited him over to jam. Westerberg was unaware Mars drummed in Dogbreath.
Dogbreath auditioned several vocalists, including a hippie who read lyrics off a sheet. The band eventually found a vocalist, but Westerberg wanted to be the singer and took him aside one day to say, "The band doesn't like you." The vocalist soon left and Westerberg replaced him. Before Westerberg joined the band, Dogbreath often drank and took various drugs during rehearsals, playing songs as an afterthought. In contrast to the rest of the band, the relatively disciplined Westerberg appeared at rehearsals in neat clothes and insisted on practicing songs until he was happy with them.
"They didn't even know what punk was. They didn't like punk. Chris had hair down to his shoulders," Westerberg chortled to an interviewer. But after the band members discovered first-generation English punk bands like the Clash, the Jam, the Damned and the Buzzcocks, Dogbreath changed its name to the Impediments and played a drunken performance without Tommy Stinson at a church hall gig in June 1980. After being banned from the venue for disorderly behavior, they changed the name to the Replacements. In an unpublished memoir, Mars later explained the band's choice of name: "Like maybe the main act doesn't show, and instead the crowd has to settle for an earful of us dirtbags....It seemed to sit just right with us, accurately describing our collective 'secondary' social esteem".
Demo tape and Twin/Tone Records (1980–1981)
The band soon recorded a four-song demo tape in Mars's basement and handed it to Peter Jesperson in May 1980. Jesperson was the manager of Oar Folkjokeopus, a punk rock record store in Minneapolis, and had also founded Twin/Tone Records with Paul Stark (a local recording engineer) and Charley Hallman. Westerberg originally handed in the tape to see if the band could perform at Jay's Longhorn Bar, a local venue where Jesperson worked as a disc jockey. (The band's first performance at a bar was at the Longhorn on July 2, 1980.) He eavesdropped as Jesperson put in the tape, only to run away as soon as the first song, "Raised in the City", played. Jesperson played the song again and again. "If I've ever had a magic moment in my life, it was popping that tape in", said Jesperson. "I didn't even get through the first song before I thought my head was going to explode".
Jesperson called Westerberg the next day, asking, "So do you want to do a single or an album?" With the agreement of Stark and the rest of the band, the Replacements signed with Twin/Tone Records in 1980. Jesperson's support of the band was welcomed, and they asked him to be their manager after their second show. Later that summer they played at the Longhorn on a Wednesday "New Band Night". They also played several club gigs to almost empty rooms. When they finished a song, apart from the low hum of conversation, the band would hear Jesperson's loud whistle and fast clapping. "His enthusiasm kept us going at times, definitely," Mars later said. "His vision, his faith in the band was a binding force."
After the Replacements signed with Twin/Tone, Westerberg began to write new songs and soon had a whole album's worth of material. Mere weeks after their live debut, the band felt ready to record the album. Jesperson chose Blackberry Way, an eight-track home studio in Minneapolis. However, as the band had no clout there, time spent in the studio was intermittent, and it took about six months to record the album. Although not important at the time, Twin/Tone could not afford to release the album until August 1981. Because they were suspicious of the music business in general, the Replacements had not signed a written contract with Twin/Tone Records.
Early releases (1981–1982)
When the band's first album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, was released in August 1981, it received positive reviews in local fanzines. Option's Blake Gumprecht wrote, "Westerberg has the ability to make you feel like you're right in the car with him, alongside him at the door, drinking from the same bottle." The album contained the band's first single, "I'm in Trouble", Westerberg's "first truly good song". Sorry Ma included the song, "Somethin to Dü", a homage to another Minneapolis punk band, Hüsker Dü. The Replacements had a friendly rivalry with the band, which started when Twin/Tone chose the Replacements over Hüsker Dü, and Hüsker Dü landed an opening slot at a Johnny Thunders gig that the Replacements had wanted. Hüsker Dü also influenced the band's music. The Replacements began playing faster and became more influenced by hardcore punk. Despite this, the band did not feel part of the hardcore scene. As Mars later stated, "We were confused about what we were."
Sometime in late 1981, the Replacements played a song called "Kids Don't Follow". Jesperson was convinced the song sounded like a hit and pleaded with the Twin/Tone co-owners Stark and Hallman, "I will do anything to get this out. I will hand-stamp jackets if I have to." The partners agreed to fund the recording, but Jesperson and virtually everyone he knew had to hand-stamp ten thousand white record jackets. The band recorded eight tracks within a week, with Jesperson as producer. Their "balls-to-the-wall hardcore punk attempt", their first EP Stink, containing "Kids Don't Follow" and seven other songs, was released in June 1982, six months after the Chicago show.
The Replacements began to distance themselves from the hardcore punk scene after the release of Stink. "We write songs rather than riffs with statements," Westerberg later stated. Inspired by other rock subgenres, he had been writing songs that incorporated a wide range of musical styles. He even wrote an acoustic ballad, "You're Getting Married One Night", but when he played it to the rest of the band, it was met with silence. "Save that for your solo album, Paul," Bob Stinson said. "That ain't the Replacements". The track remained unreleased for years. Westerberg realized his toughest audience was the band itself, later saying, "If it doesn't rock enough, Bob will scoff at it, and if it isn't catchy enough, Chris won't like it, and if it isn't modern enough, Tommy won't like it."
Hootenanny and Let It Be (1983–1984)
With a batch of new songs, the Replacements entered a warehouse in Roseville, Minnesota, to record their next album, with Twin/Tone co-owner Stark engineering. Westerberg wrote songs in stops and starts, so it took several sessions of recording to finish the album. Stark's meticulous approach to recording contrasted with that of the Replacements, often frustrating the band. In one session, Mars and Westerberg switched instruments, and the band began to improvise, with Westerberg repeatedly shouting, "It's a hootenanny." The band then declared it to be "side one, track one" of the new album. According to Stark, the recording "was a complete joke from their point of view—they did not care what they delivered".
Hootenanny, the band's second studio album, was released in April 1983. Hootenanny saw Westerberg expand his songwriting capabilities, In songs such as "Willpower", with echoed vocals and a sparse arrangement, and "Within Your Reach", which features Westerberg on all instruments, he revealed a more sensitive side. It was a more mature album than Stink and Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. Hootenanny was played on over two hundred radio stations across the country, with critics acclaiming the album. Robert Christgau, writing in the Village Voice, deemed it "the most critically independent album of 1983".
By Hootenanny's release, the Replacements had begun to attract a following outside of Minneapolis. The band embarked on its first tour of the United States in April 1983, joined by Bill Sullivan, a young security guard, as roadie, who approached the band after a show at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Tommy Stinson dropped out of the tenth grade to join the rest of the band on tour. The Replacements toured venues on the East Coast, including a tense gig at City Gardens, in Trenton, New Jersey, where numerous punks lined the edge of the stage as the band played. The band performed in Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia, but its intended destination was New York City, where they played at Gerde's Folk City; they also performed at Maxwell's, in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The Replacements returned to New York in June 1983, playing at CBGB. The gig was a failure; the band were almost refused entry, Bob Stinson was thrown out as soon as he walked in the door, and the Replacements were the last of five bands, which meant they played in the early morning on a Monday night. The show at Folk City was not a success, because "The Replacements were so loud and obnoxious that the people just cleared right out," according to manager Jesperson. The band supported R.E.M. on an eight-date tour later that summer, deciding that they should alienate the audience as much as possible. It was not a successful tour; by the end, various members had threatened to leave the Replacements. Band morale was low, and Westerberg later stated, "We'd much rather play for fifty people who know us than a thousand who don't care."
For the recording of their next studio album, the Replacements decided to return to Blackberry Way Studios in late 1983. The band considered R.E.M.'s guitarist Peter Buck as producer, but when they met him in Athens, Georgia, they did not have enough material to begin recording. Instead, Jesperson and Steve Fjelstad co-produced the album. By this time, the Replacements had grown tired of playing loud and fast exclusively; Westerberg stated, "Now we're softening a little where we can do something that's a little more sincere without being afraid that someone's not going to like it or the punks aren't going to be able to dance to it."
The new material placed more of a focus on songwriting, and the music was influenced by heavy metal, arena rock and Chicago blues. Instruments such as piano, twelve-string guitar and mandolin were featured throughout the album. The new album included songs such as "I Will Dare", which featured Buck playing lead guitar; "Androgynous", with Westerberg on piano; and "Unsatisfied", in which, according to writer Michael Azerrad, Westerberg "had hit upon a moving new way to declare that he can't get no satisfaction." The band's album Let It Be was released in October 1984 to critical acclaim. Robert Christgau gave the album an A+, the first and only A+ Tommy
Stinson would receive in his life, and the Seattle Rocket critic Bruce Pavitt called Let It Be "mature diverse rock that could well shoot these regional boys into the national mainstream". In 1989, Let It Be was ranked number 12 on Spin magazine's list of the "25 Greatest Albums of All Time" and number 15 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s".
Early major-label releases (1985–1988)
Let It Be attracted the attention of major record labels, and by late 1984 several had expressed an interest in signing the Replacements. Financially, the band was not doing well; they were not selling enough records to recoup their expenses, and money from shows went to recording costs, hotels, travel, food and instrument repairs. Bob Stinson worked a day job as a pizza chef. Twin/Tone was not being paid reliably by distributors, and the sales of Let It Be were not high enough to justify extra promotion. "It was time for a major label to take over," according to the label's co-owner Stark. The band was close to a major-label contract but often alienated label representatives by intentionally performing badly in concert; their 1985 live album, The Shit Hits the Fans, was an example of their concert performances at the time.
One label, the Warner Bros. Records subsidiary Sire Records, eventually signed the Replacements. The band admired the label head, Seymour Stein, who had managed the Ramones, and Stein recruited Tommy Ramone as producer for their first major-label album, Tim, released by Sire in October 1985.
The band spent the remainder of 1985 and the first half of 1986 touring behind Tim. In mid-January 1986 the Replacements received a last-minute request to appear as the musical guests on the edition of January 18 of Saturday Night Live, replacing the scheduled act, the Pointer Sisters, who had been forced to cancel only days before the show. The invitation was partly thanks to the show's musical director of the time, G.E. Smith, who was a Replacements fan but, as a result of their shambolic and profanity-laced performance during the late-night live broadcast, SNL producer Lorne Michaels banned them from ever returning to the show (although Westerberg returned as a solo artist in 1993.) They performed "Kiss Me on the Bus" while completely intoxicated, and after playing an out-of-tune "Bastards of Young" (during which Westerberg audibly called out "Come on fucker" just off-mic) they returned to stage wearing mismatched iterations of each other's clothing. In a 2015 interview recorded for the Archive of American Television, G. E. Smith recalled that although the band had performed well for the early evening pre-taped dress rehearsal performance, one of the band's crew then smuggled alcohol into their dressing room and they spent the next few hours drinking (with the guest host, Harry Dean Stanton) and taking drugs. According to Smith, by the time of the late-night live broadcast they were so intoxicated that on their way to the stage to perform, Bob Stinson tripped in the corridor, fell over onto his guitar and broke it, and Smith had to hurriedly loan him one of the SNL house band's spare instruments.
A few weeks later, on February 4, 1986, the band returned to the New York City area to perform at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey. That show was professionally recorded by a crew hired by the band's label Sire Records, for use in a possible live album. Over 30 years later, the recordings were finally released as the double album For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986.
The tour ended abruptly in June 1986 because Westerberg injured his finger during a show at The Ritz in New York City.
In August 1986, the Replacements either fired Bob Stinson from the band which he had founded, or he chose to leave, or a little of both. In either case, it was due to creative and personal differences between Stinson and the remainder of the band, aggravated by Stinson's alcohol and drug abuse issues. They also fired Jesperson the same year. "It was like being thrown out of a club that you helped start," Jesperson later commented. "Everybody was drinking and doing more drugs than they needed to."
Bob Stinson preferred the louder, faster style of the band's early music, while Westerberg was exploring new territory in ballads like "Here Comes a Regular" and "Swingin' Party". The remaining Replacements carried on as a trio for Pleased to Meet Me (1987), recorded in Memphis with Big Star producer Jim Dickinson. Minneapolis guitarist Slim Dunlap took over on lead guitar for the subsequent tour and soon became a full member of the band.
Don't Tell a Soul and All Shook Down (1989–1990)
The band's next album, Don't Tell a Soul, was a quieter, less punky affair, largely considered an attempt at mainstream success. While the move cost the Replacements the appreciation of some hardcore fans, the album had some notable songs, such as "Achin' to Be" and "I'll Be You", the latter of which topped the Billboard Modern Rock chart. The band then made a second appearance on network television, on the short-lived ABC program International Rock Awards, for which they performed a typically energetic version of "Talent Show" and caused a minor controversy when Westerberg responded to the network's censoring of the "feeling good from the pills we took" line by inserting an uncensored "It's too late to take pills, here we go" at the end of the song. The band appeared on the cover of Musician magazine in February 1989, in which it was described as "the last, best band of the 80s".
But there was trouble within the band following a disastrous tour opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Westerberg recorded a new album largely with session musicians but was persuaded to release it as a Replacements album. All Shook Down won critical praise and more mainstream attention and its debut single "Merry Go Round" again topped the Modern Rock charts. However, the album's many guest players and Mars's quick departure from the band following the album's release led many to wonder about the band's future. They also received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.
Breakup (1991–2011)
Steve Foley was recruited as Mars's replacement in 1990, and the band toured with Elvis Costello in June 1991, the final show being at Madison Square Garden. The band then embarked on a long farewell tour, which lasted into the summer of 1991. On July 4, 1991, the band played their last show for 22 years, with the Chicago power-pop trio Material Issue at Taste of Chicago in Grant Park, referred to by fans as "It Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Roadie Plays", because each member disappeared during the set, their respective roadies taking their places. This show was broadcast live by the Chicago radio station WXRT. Several bootlegs are available on the Internet.
Bob Stinson, after leaving the Replacements in 1986, played in local Minneapolis bands such as Static Taxi and the Bleeding Hearts. After several years of drug and alcohol abuse, he died in 1995, at the age of 35. Tommy Stinson quickly followed his time in the Replacements with the short-lived bands Bash & Pop and Perfect. He was the bass guitarist for Guns N' Roses beginning in 1998, replacing Duff McKagan from the band's "classic lineup" until leaving the band in 2016. In 2004, he released a solo CD, Village Gorilla Head, followed in 2011 by One Man Mutiny.
Westerberg is a successful singer-songwriter signed to Vagrant Records and, under his alias Grandpaboy, to Fat Possum Records. His album Folker was released in September 2004, marking a return to the melodic low-fi of the Replacements. Dunlap kept a low national profile but remained active in the Twin Cities music scene until suffering a massive stroke in 2012, which left him without the ability to move or eat. Mars primarily works as a visual artist.
In 1997, Reprise Records released the two CD set All for Nothing / Nothing for All. The All for Nothing disc collected cuts from Tim through All Shook Down; the Nothing for All disc is a collection of B-sides and tracks not previously released on albums.
In 2002, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Westerberg mentioned that the Replacements had been considering a reunion. He said, "We'll get together again one day. It will take a while, or it might take a few legal swipes of the pen, but we ain't over." A partial reunion nearly occurred in March 2002, when Tommy Stinson planned to join Westerberg on a tour of the Midwest, but Stinson's prior commitments with Guns N' Roses prevented it from happening.
On June 13, 2006, Rhino Records released the compilation album Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?, consisting of songs from the Twin/Tone and Sire-Reprise years and including two new songs, "Pool & Dive" and "Message to the Boys". The new songs were written by Westerberg and recorded by the band (Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and Mars) at Flowers Studio in Minneapolis. Session musician Josh Freese (the Vandals, ex-A Perfect Circle, ex-Guns N' Roses) played drums on the two tracks; Mars contributed backing vocals. Neither Slim Dunlap nor Steve Foley participated in the sessions.
On April 22, 2008, Rhino released remastered deluxe editions of the band's four Twin/Tone albums with rare bonus tracks. On September 24, 2008, Rhino similarly released the four Sire albums in deluxe editions. Material recorded with Tom Waits in 1988 was released on the Westerberg solo album 3oclockreep in 2008.
Foley died in 2008 from an accidental overdose of a prescription medication.
Reunion (2012–2015)
On October 3, 2012, it was announced that the Replacements had re-formed and that Westerberg and Tommy Stinson were in the studio recording an EP containing song cover versions. Titled Songs for Slim, the EP was sold in a 250-copy edition of 10" vinyl and auctioned online to benefit former bandmate Dunlap, who had suffered a stroke.
In November 2012, the documentary filmmaker Gorman Bechard released Color Me Obsessed, a film which tells the band's story through the eyes of their most ardent fans.
The Replacements played their first shows in 22 years at Riot Fest in Toronto (August 24 and 25, 2013), Chicago (September 13–15) and Denver (September 21 and 22). Dave Minehan, guitarist and vocalist of the Boston-based band the Neighborhoods, and drummer Josh Freese rounded out the lineup for these shows. Westerberg has said that the band does not rule out touring or recording a new album. The band played two sets at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 11 and 18, 2014; Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong joined the band onstage on the second date. The band was also announced as one of the headliners of the September 2014 Boston Calling Music Festival, along with Lorde and the National. On September 9, 2014, the Replacements appeared as the musical guest on The Tonight Show, performing "Alex Chilton". On September 19, 2014, they played at Forest Hills Stadium. Monsoon rains cancelled the Summer Ends Music Festival in Tempe, Arizona, on September 27, 2014, resulting in their only indoor show of the tour when it was moved to the Marquee Theatre.
On December 17, 2014, a 24-minute jazz improvisation track entitled "Poke Me in My Cage" was uploaded to the band's SoundCloud account.
On February 9, 2015, the band announced a spring tour of the United States. On this tour, they debuted a new song called "Whole Foods Blues", and according to their co-manager Darren Hill, the band has "laid down seven or eight" for a possible new album. Towards the end of the tour, two shows in Columbus and Pittsburgh were initially postponed for medical reasons, but were subsequently cancelled outright. The Replacements performed for the first time in Spain and Portugal at the Primavera Sound festival on May 28, 2015, and June 5, 2015, respectively, as part of a brief European tour. On June 5, 2015, Westerberg announced onstage at the Primavera Sound festival in Porto, Portugal, that it was the band's final show. T-shirts Westerberg had worn to previous shows had hinted at this outcome: each shirt had two letters on it (one each on front and back), ultimately spelling out, "I have always loved you. Now I must whore my past."
In a September 2015 interview, Stinson discussed the band working on new studio material, stating, "it was one of those things: We dipped our toe in the water, and it didn't feel so good." Stinson stated that he had reworked songs he wrote for the Replacements as material for his solo career.
Live performances
The Replacements gained local notoriety following their first live performance, because of Tommy Stinson's young age. Early shows were consistently tight and became more aggressive following the release of the Stink EP in 1982. As their stylistic repertoire began to expand with the writing and recording of Hootenanny the following year, the band's increasingly antagonistic stage show left them with a reputation for their rowdy, often drunken live shows. The band frequently went on stage too intoxicated to play. They were famously banned permanently from Saturday Night Live after performing drunk before a national television audience on January 18, 1986. As one reviewer succinctly observed, the band could quite often be "mouthing profanities into the camera, stumbling into each other, falling down, dropping their instruments, and generally behaving like the apathetic drunks they were." There emerged an element of unpredictability, as The Replacements—when sober—gained critical praise for their live shows. Part of the mystique of The Replacements was the fact that the audience never knew until the start of a concert if the band would be sober enough to play. It was not uncommon for the group to play entire sets of cover versions, ranging anywhere from Bryan Adams's "Summer of '69" to Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love" to Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog."
Legacy
The band has been honored with a star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue, recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue. Receiving a star "might be the most prestigious public honor an artist can receive in Minneapolis," according to journalist Steve Marsh. Westerberg also has a star for his solo work, making him one of the few musicians to be honored with multiple stars on the mural.
The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an "obvious influence" on his music. The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacements' final tour. They also co-wrote the song "We Are the Normal" with Westerberg for their 1993 album Superstar Car Wash. Members of The Cribs have cited The Replacements as a key influence. Members of the alternative country groups Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown have said that The Replacements were an important influence on them. Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem said in a 2009 interview that "without The Replacements, there would be no Gaslight Anthem" and that they were inspired by the song "Left of the Dial". The band They Might Be Giants made a tribute song to them called "We're The Replacements".
Film director Derek Wayne Johnson has stated in interviews that The Replacements are his favorite band of all-time.
1234 Go! Records released We'll Inherit the Earth: A Tribute to The Replacements on October 3, 2006. The album contains twenty-three covers of The Replacements songs by various rock, punk, pop and country artists.
On October 16, 2013, the band was announced as one of the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, but they were not inducted.
"Alex Chilton" appears as a playable song in Harmonix's music videogame Rock Band 2 for all consoles. "Kids Don't Follow" was also released for the game as downloadable content.
Their songs have been used in many feature films. "Treatment Bound" was used in the official soundtrack for Jackass Number Two. The 1998 teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait is named after their single, and the song itself plays over the end credits. The song "I Will Dare" is sung by Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz in the car in Feeling Minnesota. Lou and Nick contemplate their lives and the possibility of changing the past in the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine while "I Will Dare" plays in the background. "I'll Be You" plays during Jerry's bachelor party in the 1996 romantic comedy-drama sports film Jerry Maguire. The 2009 Greg Mottola film, Adventureland, opens with "Bastards of Young". The song "Unsatisfied" is also used in the film during the bus ride to New York. The song was also featured in the 1994 film Airheads and the 2016 film Ordinary World. The fictional band the Fingers, in the movie Losers Take All, gets its big break by securing a gig opening for The Replacements. "Within Your Reach" was used in the 1989 film Say Anything. "Here Comes a Regular" was on the episode "Rigby's Graduation Day Special" on Cartoon Network's Regular Show. "Here Comes a Regular" was on the episode "The Wind That Blew My Heart Away" on One Tree Hill. Peyton's mother describes the song as "the happiest" and it is heard playing in the episode. Here Comes A Regular also appeared in the final episode of the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why.
In what could be considered the only case of The Replacements somewhat receiving any official recording industry accolades, the band's biographist Bob Mehr received the Best Album Notes trophy at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021 for his liner notes on the 2019 box set Dead Man's Pop, which is in itself an anniversary reissue of their 1989 album Don't Tell a Soul.
Members
Paul Westerberg – lead vocals, guitar (1979–1991, 2006, 2012–2015)
Tommy Stinson – bass guitar (1979–1991, 2006, 2012–2015)
Bob Stinson – lead guitar (1979–1986; died 1995)
Slim Dunlap – lead guitar (1987–1991)
Chris Mars – drums (1979–1990), backing vocals (2006)
Steve Foley – drums (1990–1991; died 2008)
Touring musicians
Josh Freese – drums (2006, 2012–2015)
Dave Minehan – guitars (2012–2015)
Timeline
Discography
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981)
Stink (1982)
Hootenanny (1983)
Let It Be (1984)
Tim (1985)
Pleased to Meet Me (1987)
Don't Tell a Soul (1989)
All Shook Down (1990)
References
Notes
Bibliography
External links
Twin Tone Records (audio and video)
City Pages – This Is Hardcore
The Replacements database
The Skyway, a long-running Replacements internet fanzine
Alternative rock groups from Minnesota
College rock musical groups
Punk rock groups from Minnesota
Musical groups established in 1979
Musical groups disestablished in 1991
Musical groups reestablished in 2012
Hardcore punk groups from Minnesota
Sire Records artists
Glass Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Musical groups disestablished in 2015
Sibling musical groups | false | [
"In philosophy, further facts are facts that do not follow logically from the physical facts of the world. Reductionists who argue that at bottom there is nothing more than the physical facts thus argue against the existence of further facts. The concept of further facts plays a key role in some of the major works in analytic philosophy of the late 20th century, including in Derek Parfit's Reasons and Persons, and David Chalmers's The Conscious Mind.\n\nOne context in which the existence of further facts is debated is that of personal identity across time: in what sense is Alice today really the same person as Alice yesterday, given that across the two days the state of her brain is different and the atoms that constitute her are different? One may believe that at bottom, there is nothing more than the atoms and their arrangement at different points in time; while we may for practical purposes come up with some notion of sameness of a person, this notion does not reflect anything deeper about reality. Under this view there would be no further facts. Alternatively, one may believe that there is a deeper sense in which Alice yesterday and Alice today really are the same person. For example, if one believes in Cartesian souls, one may believe that Alice yesterday and Alice today are the same person if and only if they correspond to the same soul. Or one may not believe in Cartesian souls, but yet believe that whether Alice yesterday and Alice today are the same person is a question about something other than facts about which atoms constitute them and how they are arranged. These would both be further-fact views.\n\nThe debate about further facts about personal identity over time is most closely associated with Derek Parfit. In his Reasons and Persons, he describes the non-reductionist's view that \"personal identity is a deep further fact, distinct from physical and psychological continuity\". Parfit takes a reductionist stance and argues against this further-fact view. As a result it is not clear whether a person has any reason to be worried about his or her future self in a special way that does not also apply to worrying about others, with Parfit arguing that it is plausible that \"only the deep further fact gives me a reason to be specially concerned about my future\" (his so-called \"Extreme Claim\"). Sydney Shoemaker objects that it is not clear how a further fact would give a reason for such special concerns, either. Harold Langsam has attempted to give a positive account of how a further fact would give such a reason.\n\nDavid Chalmers lists a number of other types of candidates for further facts. One is facts about conscious experience. For example, it is difficult to see how it follows from the physical facts what it is like to experience seeing red; indeed, inverted spectrum scenarios, where we imagine that experiences of colors are swapped without anything else changing, might suggest that things could have been different without the physical facts changing. Another candidate for a further fact is the fact that there is any conscious experience at all, rather than everyone being a philosophical zombie. Christopher Hill and Brian Mclaughlin have argued against the idea that facts about consciousness are further facts, disputing the logical possibility of a world physically identical to ours in which the facts about consciousness are different.\n\nChalmers also considers facts about indexicality. He cites the fact that \"I am David Chalmers\", noting that its significance seems to go beyond the tautology that David Chalmers is David Chalmers. (See also Caspar Hare's egocentric presentism and Benj Hellie's vertiginous question.) Similarly, in the philosophy of time, what date and time it is now might be considered a candidate for a further fact, in the sense that a being that knows everything about the full four-dimensional block of spacetime would still not know what time it is now. (See also the A-theory and the B-theory of time.)\n\nA final type of fact that Chalmers considers is that of negative facts. For example, consider the following statement: there do not exist nonphysical angels. If in fact true, it does not seem that this logically follows from any of the physical facts by themselves; but, he argues, it would follow if one added a \"That is all\" statement at the end of the list of all the physical facts.\n\nSee also\n Benj Hellie's vertiginous question\n B-theory of time\n Centered world\n Consciousness\n Personal identity\n Simulation hypothesis\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Conitzer, Vincent. A Puzzle about Further Facts. Open access version of article in Erkenntnis.\n\nEpistemological theories\nMetaphysics of mind\nPhilosophy of time\nTheory of mind\nConceptions of self\nIdentity (philosophy)\nThought experiments in philosophy",
"Writing to Persuade: How to Bring People Over to Your Side is a 2019 non-fiction book by Trish Hall, a longtime journalist and former op-ed editor at The New York Times.\n\nOverview\nThe book is \"part memoir, part self-help, and part writing guide\" according to Kirkus Reviews. Subjects covered in the book include: \"why lies on Twitter are more popular than facts,\" \"why Republicans are better persuaders than Democrats,\" \"how things work at Op-Ed,\" as well as \"inside baseball\" at The New York Times about \"memorable essays\" by Angelina Jolie, Vladimir Putin, and others.\n\nReception\nWriting to Persuade received positive reviews. Kirkus Reviews said it is \"a lucid book about building bridges through communication along with some interesting behind-the-scenes background at the NYT.\" Publishers Weekly wrote, \"This book offers sound, well-reasoned advice that will benefit any writer.\" In a review in The New York Times Book Review, Patricia T. O'Conner stated, Hall \"convincingly demonstrates that beliefs always outweigh facts.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n2019 non-fiction books"
]
|
[
"The Replacements (band)",
"Legacy",
"What is The Replacements legacy?",
"The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an \"obvious influence\" on his music.",
"Is there any interesting facts about their legacy?",
"The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacement's final tour. They also co-wrote the song \"We Are the Normal\""
]
| C_3dcefc37a8194361b18e9bc56579b065_0 | What year did they tour with The Goo Goo Dolls? | 3 | What year did the band The Replacements tour with The Goo Goo Dolls? | The Replacements (band) | The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an "obvious influence" on his music. The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacement's final tour. They also co-wrote the song "We Are the Normal" with Westerberg for their 1993 album Superstar Car Wash. Members of The Cribs have cited The Replacements as a key influence. Members of the alternative country groups Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown have said that The Replacements were an important influence on them. Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem said in a 2009 interview that "without The Replacements, there would be no Gaslight Anthem" and that they were inspired by the song "Left of the Dial". The band They Might Be Giants made a tribute song to them called "We're The Replacements". 1234 Go! Records released We'll Inherit the Earth: A Tribute to The Replacements on October 3, 2006. The album contains twenty-three covers of The Replacements songs by various rock, punk, pop and country artists. On October 16, 2013, the band was announced as one of the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, but they were not inducted. "Alex Chilton" appears as a playable song in Harmonix's music videogame Rock Band 2 for all consoles. "Kids Don't Follow" was also released for the game as downloadable content. Their songs have been used in many feature films. "Treatment Bound" was used in the official soundtrack for Jackass Number Two. The 1998 teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait is named after their single, and the song itself plays over the end credits. The song "I Will Dare" is sung by Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz in the car in Feeling Minnesota. Lou and Nick contemplate their lives and the possibility of changing the past in the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine while "I Will Dare" plays in the background. "I'll Be You" plays during Jerry's bachelor party in the 1996 romantic comedy-drama sports film Jerry Maguire. The 2009 Greg Mottola film, Adventureland, opens with "Bastards of Young". The song "Unsatisfied" is also used in the film during the bus ride to New York. The song was also featured in the 1994 film Airheads. The fictional band the Fingers, in the movie Losers Take All, gets its big break by securing a gig opening for The Replacements. "Within Your Reach" was used in the 1989 film Say Anything. "Here Comes A Regular" was on the episode "Rigby's Graduation Day Special" on Cartoon Network's Regular Show. Here Comes A Regular was on the episode "The Wind That Blew My Heart Away" on One Tree Hill. Peyton's mother describes the song as "the happiest" and it is heard playing in the episode. CANNOTANSWER | for their 1993 album Superstar Car Wash. Members of The Cribs have cited The Replacements as a key influence. | The Replacements were an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1979. Initially a punk rock band, they are one of the main pioneers of alternative rock. The band was composed of the guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bass guitarist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars for most of its existence. Following several acclaimed albums, including Let It Be and Tim, Bob Stinson was kicked out of the band in 1986, and Slim Dunlap joined as lead guitarist. Steve Foley replaced Mars in 1990. Towards the end of the band's career, Westerberg exerted more control over the creative output. The group disbanded in 1991, with the members eventually pursuing various projects. A reunion was announced on October 3, 2012. The band is referred to by their nickname "The 'Mats" by fans, which originated as a truncation of "The Placemats," a mispronunciation of their name.
The Replacements' music was influenced by rock artists such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Faces, Big Star, Slade, Badfinger, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Bob Dylan as well as punk rock bands such as the Ramones, the New York Dolls, the Buzzcocks, the Damned, and the Sex Pistols. Unlike many of their underground contemporaries, the Replacements played "heart-on-the-sleeve" rock songs that combined Westerberg's "raw-throated adolescent howl" with self-deprecating lyrics. The Replacements were a notoriously wayward live act, often performing under the influence of alcohol and playing fragments of covers instead of their own material.
History
Formation and early years (1978–1980)
The Replacements' history began in Minneapolis in 1978, when nineteen-year-old Bob Stinson gave his eleven-year-old brother Tommy Stinson a bass guitar to keep him off the streets. That year Bob met Mars, a high school dropout. With Mars playing guitar and then switching to drums, the trio called themselves "Dogbreath" and began covering songs by Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and Yes without a singer. One day as Westerberg, a janitor in U.S. Senator David Durenberger's office, was walking home from work, he heard a band playing in the Stinsons' house. After being impressed by the band's performance, Westerberg regularly listened in after work. Mars knew Westerberg and invited him over to jam. Westerberg was unaware Mars drummed in Dogbreath.
Dogbreath auditioned several vocalists, including a hippie who read lyrics off a sheet. The band eventually found a vocalist, but Westerberg wanted to be the singer and took him aside one day to say, "The band doesn't like you." The vocalist soon left and Westerberg replaced him. Before Westerberg joined the band, Dogbreath often drank and took various drugs during rehearsals, playing songs as an afterthought. In contrast to the rest of the band, the relatively disciplined Westerberg appeared at rehearsals in neat clothes and insisted on practicing songs until he was happy with them.
"They didn't even know what punk was. They didn't like punk. Chris had hair down to his shoulders," Westerberg chortled to an interviewer. But after the band members discovered first-generation English punk bands like the Clash, the Jam, the Damned and the Buzzcocks, Dogbreath changed its name to the Impediments and played a drunken performance without Tommy Stinson at a church hall gig in June 1980. After being banned from the venue for disorderly behavior, they changed the name to the Replacements. In an unpublished memoir, Mars later explained the band's choice of name: "Like maybe the main act doesn't show, and instead the crowd has to settle for an earful of us dirtbags....It seemed to sit just right with us, accurately describing our collective 'secondary' social esteem".
Demo tape and Twin/Tone Records (1980–1981)
The band soon recorded a four-song demo tape in Mars's basement and handed it to Peter Jesperson in May 1980. Jesperson was the manager of Oar Folkjokeopus, a punk rock record store in Minneapolis, and had also founded Twin/Tone Records with Paul Stark (a local recording engineer) and Charley Hallman. Westerberg originally handed in the tape to see if the band could perform at Jay's Longhorn Bar, a local venue where Jesperson worked as a disc jockey. (The band's first performance at a bar was at the Longhorn on July 2, 1980.) He eavesdropped as Jesperson put in the tape, only to run away as soon as the first song, "Raised in the City", played. Jesperson played the song again and again. "If I've ever had a magic moment in my life, it was popping that tape in", said Jesperson. "I didn't even get through the first song before I thought my head was going to explode".
Jesperson called Westerberg the next day, asking, "So do you want to do a single or an album?" With the agreement of Stark and the rest of the band, the Replacements signed with Twin/Tone Records in 1980. Jesperson's support of the band was welcomed, and they asked him to be their manager after their second show. Later that summer they played at the Longhorn on a Wednesday "New Band Night". They also played several club gigs to almost empty rooms. When they finished a song, apart from the low hum of conversation, the band would hear Jesperson's loud whistle and fast clapping. "His enthusiasm kept us going at times, definitely," Mars later said. "His vision, his faith in the band was a binding force."
After the Replacements signed with Twin/Tone, Westerberg began to write new songs and soon had a whole album's worth of material. Mere weeks after their live debut, the band felt ready to record the album. Jesperson chose Blackberry Way, an eight-track home studio in Minneapolis. However, as the band had no clout there, time spent in the studio was intermittent, and it took about six months to record the album. Although not important at the time, Twin/Tone could not afford to release the album until August 1981. Because they were suspicious of the music business in general, the Replacements had not signed a written contract with Twin/Tone Records.
Early releases (1981–1982)
When the band's first album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, was released in August 1981, it received positive reviews in local fanzines. Option's Blake Gumprecht wrote, "Westerberg has the ability to make you feel like you're right in the car with him, alongside him at the door, drinking from the same bottle." The album contained the band's first single, "I'm in Trouble", Westerberg's "first truly good song". Sorry Ma included the song, "Somethin to Dü", a homage to another Minneapolis punk band, Hüsker Dü. The Replacements had a friendly rivalry with the band, which started when Twin/Tone chose the Replacements over Hüsker Dü, and Hüsker Dü landed an opening slot at a Johnny Thunders gig that the Replacements had wanted. Hüsker Dü also influenced the band's music. The Replacements began playing faster and became more influenced by hardcore punk. Despite this, the band did not feel part of the hardcore scene. As Mars later stated, "We were confused about what we were."
Sometime in late 1981, the Replacements played a song called "Kids Don't Follow". Jesperson was convinced the song sounded like a hit and pleaded with the Twin/Tone co-owners Stark and Hallman, "I will do anything to get this out. I will hand-stamp jackets if I have to." The partners agreed to fund the recording, but Jesperson and virtually everyone he knew had to hand-stamp ten thousand white record jackets. The band recorded eight tracks within a week, with Jesperson as producer. Their "balls-to-the-wall hardcore punk attempt", their first EP Stink, containing "Kids Don't Follow" and seven other songs, was released in June 1982, six months after the Chicago show.
The Replacements began to distance themselves from the hardcore punk scene after the release of Stink. "We write songs rather than riffs with statements," Westerberg later stated. Inspired by other rock subgenres, he had been writing songs that incorporated a wide range of musical styles. He even wrote an acoustic ballad, "You're Getting Married One Night", but when he played it to the rest of the band, it was met with silence. "Save that for your solo album, Paul," Bob Stinson said. "That ain't the Replacements". The track remained unreleased for years. Westerberg realized his toughest audience was the band itself, later saying, "If it doesn't rock enough, Bob will scoff at it, and if it isn't catchy enough, Chris won't like it, and if it isn't modern enough, Tommy won't like it."
Hootenanny and Let It Be (1983–1984)
With a batch of new songs, the Replacements entered a warehouse in Roseville, Minnesota, to record their next album, with Twin/Tone co-owner Stark engineering. Westerberg wrote songs in stops and starts, so it took several sessions of recording to finish the album. Stark's meticulous approach to recording contrasted with that of the Replacements, often frustrating the band. In one session, Mars and Westerberg switched instruments, and the band began to improvise, with Westerberg repeatedly shouting, "It's a hootenanny." The band then declared it to be "side one, track one" of the new album. According to Stark, the recording "was a complete joke from their point of view—they did not care what they delivered".
Hootenanny, the band's second studio album, was released in April 1983. Hootenanny saw Westerberg expand his songwriting capabilities, In songs such as "Willpower", with echoed vocals and a sparse arrangement, and "Within Your Reach", which features Westerberg on all instruments, he revealed a more sensitive side. It was a more mature album than Stink and Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. Hootenanny was played on over two hundred radio stations across the country, with critics acclaiming the album. Robert Christgau, writing in the Village Voice, deemed it "the most critically independent album of 1983".
By Hootenanny's release, the Replacements had begun to attract a following outside of Minneapolis. The band embarked on its first tour of the United States in April 1983, joined by Bill Sullivan, a young security guard, as roadie, who approached the band after a show at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Tommy Stinson dropped out of the tenth grade to join the rest of the band on tour. The Replacements toured venues on the East Coast, including a tense gig at City Gardens, in Trenton, New Jersey, where numerous punks lined the edge of the stage as the band played. The band performed in Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia, but its intended destination was New York City, where they played at Gerde's Folk City; they also performed at Maxwell's, in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The Replacements returned to New York in June 1983, playing at CBGB. The gig was a failure; the band were almost refused entry, Bob Stinson was thrown out as soon as he walked in the door, and the Replacements were the last of five bands, which meant they played in the early morning on a Monday night. The show at Folk City was not a success, because "The Replacements were so loud and obnoxious that the people just cleared right out," according to manager Jesperson. The band supported R.E.M. on an eight-date tour later that summer, deciding that they should alienate the audience as much as possible. It was not a successful tour; by the end, various members had threatened to leave the Replacements. Band morale was low, and Westerberg later stated, "We'd much rather play for fifty people who know us than a thousand who don't care."
For the recording of their next studio album, the Replacements decided to return to Blackberry Way Studios in late 1983. The band considered R.E.M.'s guitarist Peter Buck as producer, but when they met him in Athens, Georgia, they did not have enough material to begin recording. Instead, Jesperson and Steve Fjelstad co-produced the album. By this time, the Replacements had grown tired of playing loud and fast exclusively; Westerberg stated, "Now we're softening a little where we can do something that's a little more sincere without being afraid that someone's not going to like it or the punks aren't going to be able to dance to it."
The new material placed more of a focus on songwriting, and the music was influenced by heavy metal, arena rock and Chicago blues. Instruments such as piano, twelve-string guitar and mandolin were featured throughout the album. The new album included songs such as "I Will Dare", which featured Buck playing lead guitar; "Androgynous", with Westerberg on piano; and "Unsatisfied", in which, according to writer Michael Azerrad, Westerberg "had hit upon a moving new way to declare that he can't get no satisfaction." The band's album Let It Be was released in October 1984 to critical acclaim. Robert Christgau gave the album an A+, the first and only A+ Tommy
Stinson would receive in his life, and the Seattle Rocket critic Bruce Pavitt called Let It Be "mature diverse rock that could well shoot these regional boys into the national mainstream". In 1989, Let It Be was ranked number 12 on Spin magazine's list of the "25 Greatest Albums of All Time" and number 15 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s".
Early major-label releases (1985–1988)
Let It Be attracted the attention of major record labels, and by late 1984 several had expressed an interest in signing the Replacements. Financially, the band was not doing well; they were not selling enough records to recoup their expenses, and money from shows went to recording costs, hotels, travel, food and instrument repairs. Bob Stinson worked a day job as a pizza chef. Twin/Tone was not being paid reliably by distributors, and the sales of Let It Be were not high enough to justify extra promotion. "It was time for a major label to take over," according to the label's co-owner Stark. The band was close to a major-label contract but often alienated label representatives by intentionally performing badly in concert; their 1985 live album, The Shit Hits the Fans, was an example of their concert performances at the time.
One label, the Warner Bros. Records subsidiary Sire Records, eventually signed the Replacements. The band admired the label head, Seymour Stein, who had managed the Ramones, and Stein recruited Tommy Ramone as producer for their first major-label album, Tim, released by Sire in October 1985.
The band spent the remainder of 1985 and the first half of 1986 touring behind Tim. In mid-January 1986 the Replacements received a last-minute request to appear as the musical guests on the edition of January 18 of Saturday Night Live, replacing the scheduled act, the Pointer Sisters, who had been forced to cancel only days before the show. The invitation was partly thanks to the show's musical director of the time, G.E. Smith, who was a Replacements fan but, as a result of their shambolic and profanity-laced performance during the late-night live broadcast, SNL producer Lorne Michaels banned them from ever returning to the show (although Westerberg returned as a solo artist in 1993.) They performed "Kiss Me on the Bus" while completely intoxicated, and after playing an out-of-tune "Bastards of Young" (during which Westerberg audibly called out "Come on fucker" just off-mic) they returned to stage wearing mismatched iterations of each other's clothing. In a 2015 interview recorded for the Archive of American Television, G. E. Smith recalled that although the band had performed well for the early evening pre-taped dress rehearsal performance, one of the band's crew then smuggled alcohol into their dressing room and they spent the next few hours drinking (with the guest host, Harry Dean Stanton) and taking drugs. According to Smith, by the time of the late-night live broadcast they were so intoxicated that on their way to the stage to perform, Bob Stinson tripped in the corridor, fell over onto his guitar and broke it, and Smith had to hurriedly loan him one of the SNL house band's spare instruments.
A few weeks later, on February 4, 1986, the band returned to the New York City area to perform at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey. That show was professionally recorded by a crew hired by the band's label Sire Records, for use in a possible live album. Over 30 years later, the recordings were finally released as the double album For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986.
The tour ended abruptly in June 1986 because Westerberg injured his finger during a show at The Ritz in New York City.
In August 1986, the Replacements either fired Bob Stinson from the band which he had founded, or he chose to leave, or a little of both. In either case, it was due to creative and personal differences between Stinson and the remainder of the band, aggravated by Stinson's alcohol and drug abuse issues. They also fired Jesperson the same year. "It was like being thrown out of a club that you helped start," Jesperson later commented. "Everybody was drinking and doing more drugs than they needed to."
Bob Stinson preferred the louder, faster style of the band's early music, while Westerberg was exploring new territory in ballads like "Here Comes a Regular" and "Swingin' Party". The remaining Replacements carried on as a trio for Pleased to Meet Me (1987), recorded in Memphis with Big Star producer Jim Dickinson. Minneapolis guitarist Slim Dunlap took over on lead guitar for the subsequent tour and soon became a full member of the band.
Don't Tell a Soul and All Shook Down (1989–1990)
The band's next album, Don't Tell a Soul, was a quieter, less punky affair, largely considered an attempt at mainstream success. While the move cost the Replacements the appreciation of some hardcore fans, the album had some notable songs, such as "Achin' to Be" and "I'll Be You", the latter of which topped the Billboard Modern Rock chart. The band then made a second appearance on network television, on the short-lived ABC program International Rock Awards, for which they performed a typically energetic version of "Talent Show" and caused a minor controversy when Westerberg responded to the network's censoring of the "feeling good from the pills we took" line by inserting an uncensored "It's too late to take pills, here we go" at the end of the song. The band appeared on the cover of Musician magazine in February 1989, in which it was described as "the last, best band of the 80s".
But there was trouble within the band following a disastrous tour opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Westerberg recorded a new album largely with session musicians but was persuaded to release it as a Replacements album. All Shook Down won critical praise and more mainstream attention and its debut single "Merry Go Round" again topped the Modern Rock charts. However, the album's many guest players and Mars's quick departure from the band following the album's release led many to wonder about the band's future. They also received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.
Breakup (1991–2011)
Steve Foley was recruited as Mars's replacement in 1990, and the band toured with Elvis Costello in June 1991, the final show being at Madison Square Garden. The band then embarked on a long farewell tour, which lasted into the summer of 1991. On July 4, 1991, the band played their last show for 22 years, with the Chicago power-pop trio Material Issue at Taste of Chicago in Grant Park, referred to by fans as "It Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Roadie Plays", because each member disappeared during the set, their respective roadies taking their places. This show was broadcast live by the Chicago radio station WXRT. Several bootlegs are available on the Internet.
Bob Stinson, after leaving the Replacements in 1986, played in local Minneapolis bands such as Static Taxi and the Bleeding Hearts. After several years of drug and alcohol abuse, he died in 1995, at the age of 35. Tommy Stinson quickly followed his time in the Replacements with the short-lived bands Bash & Pop and Perfect. He was the bass guitarist for Guns N' Roses beginning in 1998, replacing Duff McKagan from the band's "classic lineup" until leaving the band in 2016. In 2004, he released a solo CD, Village Gorilla Head, followed in 2011 by One Man Mutiny.
Westerberg is a successful singer-songwriter signed to Vagrant Records and, under his alias Grandpaboy, to Fat Possum Records. His album Folker was released in September 2004, marking a return to the melodic low-fi of the Replacements. Dunlap kept a low national profile but remained active in the Twin Cities music scene until suffering a massive stroke in 2012, which left him without the ability to move or eat. Mars primarily works as a visual artist.
In 1997, Reprise Records released the two CD set All for Nothing / Nothing for All. The All for Nothing disc collected cuts from Tim through All Shook Down; the Nothing for All disc is a collection of B-sides and tracks not previously released on albums.
In 2002, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Westerberg mentioned that the Replacements had been considering a reunion. He said, "We'll get together again one day. It will take a while, or it might take a few legal swipes of the pen, but we ain't over." A partial reunion nearly occurred in March 2002, when Tommy Stinson planned to join Westerberg on a tour of the Midwest, but Stinson's prior commitments with Guns N' Roses prevented it from happening.
On June 13, 2006, Rhino Records released the compilation album Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?, consisting of songs from the Twin/Tone and Sire-Reprise years and including two new songs, "Pool & Dive" and "Message to the Boys". The new songs were written by Westerberg and recorded by the band (Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and Mars) at Flowers Studio in Minneapolis. Session musician Josh Freese (the Vandals, ex-A Perfect Circle, ex-Guns N' Roses) played drums on the two tracks; Mars contributed backing vocals. Neither Slim Dunlap nor Steve Foley participated in the sessions.
On April 22, 2008, Rhino released remastered deluxe editions of the band's four Twin/Tone albums with rare bonus tracks. On September 24, 2008, Rhino similarly released the four Sire albums in deluxe editions. Material recorded with Tom Waits in 1988 was released on the Westerberg solo album 3oclockreep in 2008.
Foley died in 2008 from an accidental overdose of a prescription medication.
Reunion (2012–2015)
On October 3, 2012, it was announced that the Replacements had re-formed and that Westerberg and Tommy Stinson were in the studio recording an EP containing song cover versions. Titled Songs for Slim, the EP was sold in a 250-copy edition of 10" vinyl and auctioned online to benefit former bandmate Dunlap, who had suffered a stroke.
In November 2012, the documentary filmmaker Gorman Bechard released Color Me Obsessed, a film which tells the band's story through the eyes of their most ardent fans.
The Replacements played their first shows in 22 years at Riot Fest in Toronto (August 24 and 25, 2013), Chicago (September 13–15) and Denver (September 21 and 22). Dave Minehan, guitarist and vocalist of the Boston-based band the Neighborhoods, and drummer Josh Freese rounded out the lineup for these shows. Westerberg has said that the band does not rule out touring or recording a new album. The band played two sets at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 11 and 18, 2014; Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong joined the band onstage on the second date. The band was also announced as one of the headliners of the September 2014 Boston Calling Music Festival, along with Lorde and the National. On September 9, 2014, the Replacements appeared as the musical guest on The Tonight Show, performing "Alex Chilton". On September 19, 2014, they played at Forest Hills Stadium. Monsoon rains cancelled the Summer Ends Music Festival in Tempe, Arizona, on September 27, 2014, resulting in their only indoor show of the tour when it was moved to the Marquee Theatre.
On December 17, 2014, a 24-minute jazz improvisation track entitled "Poke Me in My Cage" was uploaded to the band's SoundCloud account.
On February 9, 2015, the band announced a spring tour of the United States. On this tour, they debuted a new song called "Whole Foods Blues", and according to their co-manager Darren Hill, the band has "laid down seven or eight" for a possible new album. Towards the end of the tour, two shows in Columbus and Pittsburgh were initially postponed for medical reasons, but were subsequently cancelled outright. The Replacements performed for the first time in Spain and Portugal at the Primavera Sound festival on May 28, 2015, and June 5, 2015, respectively, as part of a brief European tour. On June 5, 2015, Westerberg announced onstage at the Primavera Sound festival in Porto, Portugal, that it was the band's final show. T-shirts Westerberg had worn to previous shows had hinted at this outcome: each shirt had two letters on it (one each on front and back), ultimately spelling out, "I have always loved you. Now I must whore my past."
In a September 2015 interview, Stinson discussed the band working on new studio material, stating, "it was one of those things: We dipped our toe in the water, and it didn't feel so good." Stinson stated that he had reworked songs he wrote for the Replacements as material for his solo career.
Live performances
The Replacements gained local notoriety following their first live performance, because of Tommy Stinson's young age. Early shows were consistently tight and became more aggressive following the release of the Stink EP in 1982. As their stylistic repertoire began to expand with the writing and recording of Hootenanny the following year, the band's increasingly antagonistic stage show left them with a reputation for their rowdy, often drunken live shows. The band frequently went on stage too intoxicated to play. They were famously banned permanently from Saturday Night Live after performing drunk before a national television audience on January 18, 1986. As one reviewer succinctly observed, the band could quite often be "mouthing profanities into the camera, stumbling into each other, falling down, dropping their instruments, and generally behaving like the apathetic drunks they were." There emerged an element of unpredictability, as The Replacements—when sober—gained critical praise for their live shows. Part of the mystique of The Replacements was the fact that the audience never knew until the start of a concert if the band would be sober enough to play. It was not uncommon for the group to play entire sets of cover versions, ranging anywhere from Bryan Adams's "Summer of '69" to Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love" to Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog."
Legacy
The band has been honored with a star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue, recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue. Receiving a star "might be the most prestigious public honor an artist can receive in Minneapolis," according to journalist Steve Marsh. Westerberg also has a star for his solo work, making him one of the few musicians to be honored with multiple stars on the mural.
The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an "obvious influence" on his music. The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacements' final tour. They also co-wrote the song "We Are the Normal" with Westerberg for their 1993 album Superstar Car Wash. Members of The Cribs have cited The Replacements as a key influence. Members of the alternative country groups Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown have said that The Replacements were an important influence on them. Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem said in a 2009 interview that "without The Replacements, there would be no Gaslight Anthem" and that they were inspired by the song "Left of the Dial". The band They Might Be Giants made a tribute song to them called "We're The Replacements".
Film director Derek Wayne Johnson has stated in interviews that The Replacements are his favorite band of all-time.
1234 Go! Records released We'll Inherit the Earth: A Tribute to The Replacements on October 3, 2006. The album contains twenty-three covers of The Replacements songs by various rock, punk, pop and country artists.
On October 16, 2013, the band was announced as one of the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, but they were not inducted.
"Alex Chilton" appears as a playable song in Harmonix's music videogame Rock Band 2 for all consoles. "Kids Don't Follow" was also released for the game as downloadable content.
Their songs have been used in many feature films. "Treatment Bound" was used in the official soundtrack for Jackass Number Two. The 1998 teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait is named after their single, and the song itself plays over the end credits. The song "I Will Dare" is sung by Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz in the car in Feeling Minnesota. Lou and Nick contemplate their lives and the possibility of changing the past in the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine while "I Will Dare" plays in the background. "I'll Be You" plays during Jerry's bachelor party in the 1996 romantic comedy-drama sports film Jerry Maguire. The 2009 Greg Mottola film, Adventureland, opens with "Bastards of Young". The song "Unsatisfied" is also used in the film during the bus ride to New York. The song was also featured in the 1994 film Airheads and the 2016 film Ordinary World. The fictional band the Fingers, in the movie Losers Take All, gets its big break by securing a gig opening for The Replacements. "Within Your Reach" was used in the 1989 film Say Anything. "Here Comes a Regular" was on the episode "Rigby's Graduation Day Special" on Cartoon Network's Regular Show. "Here Comes a Regular" was on the episode "The Wind That Blew My Heart Away" on One Tree Hill. Peyton's mother describes the song as "the happiest" and it is heard playing in the episode. Here Comes A Regular also appeared in the final episode of the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why.
In what could be considered the only case of The Replacements somewhat receiving any official recording industry accolades, the band's biographist Bob Mehr received the Best Album Notes trophy at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021 for his liner notes on the 2019 box set Dead Man's Pop, which is in itself an anniversary reissue of their 1989 album Don't Tell a Soul.
Members
Paul Westerberg – lead vocals, guitar (1979–1991, 2006, 2012–2015)
Tommy Stinson – bass guitar (1979–1991, 2006, 2012–2015)
Bob Stinson – lead guitar (1979–1986; died 1995)
Slim Dunlap – lead guitar (1987–1991)
Chris Mars – drums (1979–1990), backing vocals (2006)
Steve Foley – drums (1990–1991; died 2008)
Touring musicians
Josh Freese – drums (2006, 2012–2015)
Dave Minehan – guitars (2012–2015)
Timeline
Discography
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981)
Stink (1982)
Hootenanny (1983)
Let It Be (1984)
Tim (1985)
Pleased to Meet Me (1987)
Don't Tell a Soul (1989)
All Shook Down (1990)
References
Notes
Bibliography
External links
Twin Tone Records (audio and video)
City Pages – This Is Hardcore
The Replacements database
The Skyway, a long-running Replacements internet fanzine
Alternative rock groups from Minnesota
College rock musical groups
Punk rock groups from Minnesota
Musical groups established in 1979
Musical groups disestablished in 1991
Musical groups reestablished in 2012
Hardcore punk groups from Minnesota
Sire Records artists
Glass Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Musical groups disestablished in 2015
Sibling musical groups | true | [
"The Daughtry/Goo Goo Dolls Summer was a co-headlining concert tour by American rock bands Daughtry and the Goo Goo Dolls. The tour was in support of their studio albums Baptized (2013) and Magnetic (2013). The tour began on June 12, 2014, and ended on August 23, 2014, but was expanded to include two more dates and ended on August 30.\n\nBackground\nThe tour was first announced on March 10, 2014.\n\nAbout the tour Goo Goo Dolls front man, John Rzeznik says, \"We are excited to finally be teaming up with Daughtry.\" \"Not only are we huge fans of Chris, but we think this is going to be a huge party for the fans of both of our bands. The combination of the two will make for an awesome summer night of great American rock music.\"\n\nConcert synopsis\nThe Goo Goo Dolls' set lasted for eighty-five minutes, Daughtry played for eighty, while opener Plain White T's started the show by playing for thirty. During the Goo Goo Dolls set bass player Robby Takac sang lead for a few songs.\n\nOpening act\nPlain White T's\n\nSetlists\n\nTour dates\n\nBox office score data\n\nCritical reception\nThe Digital Journals, Markos Papadatos says of the Goo Goo Dolls, \"Overall, the Goo Goo Dolls gave Long Island, New York, a night of acoustic, rock and adult contemporary music to remember. It is no wonder that they have been around for well over two decades and they have always managed to stay relevant despite the changes in the music industry.\"\n\nSophia June of the Daily Emerald says, \"Upon the first glance, the nights lineup seemed a bit random-like creating an unconventional meal out of the last ingredients in your pantry. I wasn't convinced the three bands had much cohesion until the Goo Goo Dolls third song-\"Slide\". Goo Goo Dolls are a blending of the melodic, harmony-laden romantic Plain White T's and the rock energy and driving electric guitar of Daughtry.\"\n\nJohn Serba from M. Live gave the show 2½ stars out of 4, and said that he felt like Daughtry sounded generic and that the Goo Goo Dolls \"ring true\". About Daughtry he said that they were \"skirting the edge of aggro-rock at times – the type of sound that might benefit from a more dynamic light show than what nature provides on a mild summer evening. Although the crowd responded with more enthusiasm to songs such as \"Over You\", \"It's Not Over\" and \"Battleships\", Daughtry's set sometimes lacked punch\". For the Goo Goo Dolls, a highlight is when they performed \"Rebel Beat\". When comparing the two bands, Daughtry is stronger at singing and the Good Goo Dolls are stronger at songwriting.\n\nSioux City Journals Bruce R. Miller said, \"While the two acts couldn't have been more dissimilar, they helped show just how far that \"rock\" label can stretch\", \"Daughtry followed a more familiar path, Goo Goo Dolls went an alternate route.\" The showmanship between the two was also different. When Goo Goo Dolls bass player Robby Takac took over on lead vocals on a few songs he didn't receive the same reaction as John Rzeznik did.\n\nPersonnel\nDaughtry\nChris Daughtry – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar\nJosh Steely – Lead guitar, backing vocals\nBrian Craddock – Rhythm guitar, backing vocals\nJosh Paul – Bass guitar\nElvio Fernandes – Keyboards, piano, backing vocals\nJamal Moore – Drums, percussion\n\nGoo Goo Dolls\nJohn Rzeznik – Lead vocals, guitar\nRobby Takac – Bass guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals\nBrad Fernquist – Guitar, mandolin, saxophone, backing vocals\nKorel Tunador – Keyboards, guitar, saxophone, backing vocals\nCraig McIntyre – Drums, percussion\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nDaughtry's Official Website\nGoo Dolls' Official Website\n\n2014 concert tours\nCo-headlining concert tours\nDaughtry (band) concert tours\nGoo Goo Dolls concert tours",
"George Tutuska (born in February 1965) is an American musician, best known as the former drummer of the alternative rock band Goo Goo Dolls.\n\nLife and career\nTutuska is from Buffalo, New York. He is of Irish and Hungarian descent, and he is married with two children.\n\nGoo Goo Dolls\n\nTutuska played drums with the Goo Goo Dolls from 1985 to 1994.\n\nDeparture\nPrior to Tutuska's departure from the Goo Goo Dolls, there was a payment dispute between him and long-time friend and singer/guitarist John Rzeznik over Tutuska's contribution to the writing of the Superstar Car Wash single \"Fallin' Down\". During the completion of A Boy Named Goo, Tutuska had told band management that he would not tour behind the album unless royalties were to be split evenly among the three members, a practice Tutuska said had been the band's standard practice ever since the release of its self-titled debut in 1987. Tutuska has said that when he told Rzeznik he had not received royalties from \"Fallin' Down\", Rzeznik admitted that he had been receiving such royalties for two years.\n\nJust before A Boy Named Goo's release, Tutuska was fired from the band and replaced by Mike Malinin.\n\nPost-Goo Goo Dolls\nDuring the 2000s, Tutuska played drums for a local South Buffalo based Celtic Rock band named Jackdaw. The band broke up in 2009.\n\nReferences\n\nLiving people\nMusicians from Buffalo, New York\nAmerican rock drummers\nGoo Goo Dolls members\nAmerican people of Polish descent\n1965 births\n20th-century American drummers\nAmerican male drummers"
]
|
[
"The Replacements (band)",
"Legacy",
"What is The Replacements legacy?",
"The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an \"obvious influence\" on his music.",
"Is there any interesting facts about their legacy?",
"The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacement's final tour. They also co-wrote the song \"We Are the Normal\"",
"What year did they tour with The Goo Goo Dolls?",
"for their 1993 album Superstar Car Wash. Members of The Cribs have cited The Replacements as a key influence."
]
| C_3dcefc37a8194361b18e9bc56579b065_0 | What other bands have stated The Replacements was their influence? | 4 | What other bands apart from The Goo Goo Dolls have stated that The Replacements were one of their influences? | The Replacements (band) | The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an "obvious influence" on his music. The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacement's final tour. They also co-wrote the song "We Are the Normal" with Westerberg for their 1993 album Superstar Car Wash. Members of The Cribs have cited The Replacements as a key influence. Members of the alternative country groups Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown have said that The Replacements were an important influence on them. Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem said in a 2009 interview that "without The Replacements, there would be no Gaslight Anthem" and that they were inspired by the song "Left of the Dial". The band They Might Be Giants made a tribute song to them called "We're The Replacements". 1234 Go! Records released We'll Inherit the Earth: A Tribute to The Replacements on October 3, 2006. The album contains twenty-three covers of The Replacements songs by various rock, punk, pop and country artists. On October 16, 2013, the band was announced as one of the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, but they were not inducted. "Alex Chilton" appears as a playable song in Harmonix's music videogame Rock Band 2 for all consoles. "Kids Don't Follow" was also released for the game as downloadable content. Their songs have been used in many feature films. "Treatment Bound" was used in the official soundtrack for Jackass Number Two. The 1998 teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait is named after their single, and the song itself plays over the end credits. The song "I Will Dare" is sung by Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz in the car in Feeling Minnesota. Lou and Nick contemplate their lives and the possibility of changing the past in the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine while "I Will Dare" plays in the background. "I'll Be You" plays during Jerry's bachelor party in the 1996 romantic comedy-drama sports film Jerry Maguire. The 2009 Greg Mottola film, Adventureland, opens with "Bastards of Young". The song "Unsatisfied" is also used in the film during the bus ride to New York. The song was also featured in the 1994 film Airheads. The fictional band the Fingers, in the movie Losers Take All, gets its big break by securing a gig opening for The Replacements. "Within Your Reach" was used in the 1989 film Say Anything. "Here Comes A Regular" was on the episode "Rigby's Graduation Day Special" on Cartoon Network's Regular Show. Here Comes A Regular was on the episode "The Wind That Blew My Heart Away" on One Tree Hill. Peyton's mother describes the song as "the happiest" and it is heard playing in the episode. CANNOTANSWER | Members of the alternative country groups Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown have said that The Replacements were an important influence on them. | The Replacements were an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1979. Initially a punk rock band, they are one of the main pioneers of alternative rock. The band was composed of the guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bass guitarist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars for most of its existence. Following several acclaimed albums, including Let It Be and Tim, Bob Stinson was kicked out of the band in 1986, and Slim Dunlap joined as lead guitarist. Steve Foley replaced Mars in 1990. Towards the end of the band's career, Westerberg exerted more control over the creative output. The group disbanded in 1991, with the members eventually pursuing various projects. A reunion was announced on October 3, 2012. The band is referred to by their nickname "The 'Mats" by fans, which originated as a truncation of "The Placemats," a mispronunciation of their name.
The Replacements' music was influenced by rock artists such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Faces, Big Star, Slade, Badfinger, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Bob Dylan as well as punk rock bands such as the Ramones, the New York Dolls, the Buzzcocks, the Damned, and the Sex Pistols. Unlike many of their underground contemporaries, the Replacements played "heart-on-the-sleeve" rock songs that combined Westerberg's "raw-throated adolescent howl" with self-deprecating lyrics. The Replacements were a notoriously wayward live act, often performing under the influence of alcohol and playing fragments of covers instead of their own material.
History
Formation and early years (1978–1980)
The Replacements' history began in Minneapolis in 1978, when nineteen-year-old Bob Stinson gave his eleven-year-old brother Tommy Stinson a bass guitar to keep him off the streets. That year Bob met Mars, a high school dropout. With Mars playing guitar and then switching to drums, the trio called themselves "Dogbreath" and began covering songs by Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and Yes without a singer. One day as Westerberg, a janitor in U.S. Senator David Durenberger's office, was walking home from work, he heard a band playing in the Stinsons' house. After being impressed by the band's performance, Westerberg regularly listened in after work. Mars knew Westerberg and invited him over to jam. Westerberg was unaware Mars drummed in Dogbreath.
Dogbreath auditioned several vocalists, including a hippie who read lyrics off a sheet. The band eventually found a vocalist, but Westerberg wanted to be the singer and took him aside one day to say, "The band doesn't like you." The vocalist soon left and Westerberg replaced him. Before Westerberg joined the band, Dogbreath often drank and took various drugs during rehearsals, playing songs as an afterthought. In contrast to the rest of the band, the relatively disciplined Westerberg appeared at rehearsals in neat clothes and insisted on practicing songs until he was happy with them.
"They didn't even know what punk was. They didn't like punk. Chris had hair down to his shoulders," Westerberg chortled to an interviewer. But after the band members discovered first-generation English punk bands like the Clash, the Jam, the Damned and the Buzzcocks, Dogbreath changed its name to the Impediments and played a drunken performance without Tommy Stinson at a church hall gig in June 1980. After being banned from the venue for disorderly behavior, they changed the name to the Replacements. In an unpublished memoir, Mars later explained the band's choice of name: "Like maybe the main act doesn't show, and instead the crowd has to settle for an earful of us dirtbags....It seemed to sit just right with us, accurately describing our collective 'secondary' social esteem".
Demo tape and Twin/Tone Records (1980–1981)
The band soon recorded a four-song demo tape in Mars's basement and handed it to Peter Jesperson in May 1980. Jesperson was the manager of Oar Folkjokeopus, a punk rock record store in Minneapolis, and had also founded Twin/Tone Records with Paul Stark (a local recording engineer) and Charley Hallman. Westerberg originally handed in the tape to see if the band could perform at Jay's Longhorn Bar, a local venue where Jesperson worked as a disc jockey. (The band's first performance at a bar was at the Longhorn on July 2, 1980.) He eavesdropped as Jesperson put in the tape, only to run away as soon as the first song, "Raised in the City", played. Jesperson played the song again and again. "If I've ever had a magic moment in my life, it was popping that tape in", said Jesperson. "I didn't even get through the first song before I thought my head was going to explode".
Jesperson called Westerberg the next day, asking, "So do you want to do a single or an album?" With the agreement of Stark and the rest of the band, the Replacements signed with Twin/Tone Records in 1980. Jesperson's support of the band was welcomed, and they asked him to be their manager after their second show. Later that summer they played at the Longhorn on a Wednesday "New Band Night". They also played several club gigs to almost empty rooms. When they finished a song, apart from the low hum of conversation, the band would hear Jesperson's loud whistle and fast clapping. "His enthusiasm kept us going at times, definitely," Mars later said. "His vision, his faith in the band was a binding force."
After the Replacements signed with Twin/Tone, Westerberg began to write new songs and soon had a whole album's worth of material. Mere weeks after their live debut, the band felt ready to record the album. Jesperson chose Blackberry Way, an eight-track home studio in Minneapolis. However, as the band had no clout there, time spent in the studio was intermittent, and it took about six months to record the album. Although not important at the time, Twin/Tone could not afford to release the album until August 1981. Because they were suspicious of the music business in general, the Replacements had not signed a written contract with Twin/Tone Records.
Early releases (1981–1982)
When the band's first album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, was released in August 1981, it received positive reviews in local fanzines. Option's Blake Gumprecht wrote, "Westerberg has the ability to make you feel like you're right in the car with him, alongside him at the door, drinking from the same bottle." The album contained the band's first single, "I'm in Trouble", Westerberg's "first truly good song". Sorry Ma included the song, "Somethin to Dü", a homage to another Minneapolis punk band, Hüsker Dü. The Replacements had a friendly rivalry with the band, which started when Twin/Tone chose the Replacements over Hüsker Dü, and Hüsker Dü landed an opening slot at a Johnny Thunders gig that the Replacements had wanted. Hüsker Dü also influenced the band's music. The Replacements began playing faster and became more influenced by hardcore punk. Despite this, the band did not feel part of the hardcore scene. As Mars later stated, "We were confused about what we were."
Sometime in late 1981, the Replacements played a song called "Kids Don't Follow". Jesperson was convinced the song sounded like a hit and pleaded with the Twin/Tone co-owners Stark and Hallman, "I will do anything to get this out. I will hand-stamp jackets if I have to." The partners agreed to fund the recording, but Jesperson and virtually everyone he knew had to hand-stamp ten thousand white record jackets. The band recorded eight tracks within a week, with Jesperson as producer. Their "balls-to-the-wall hardcore punk attempt", their first EP Stink, containing "Kids Don't Follow" and seven other songs, was released in June 1982, six months after the Chicago show.
The Replacements began to distance themselves from the hardcore punk scene after the release of Stink. "We write songs rather than riffs with statements," Westerberg later stated. Inspired by other rock subgenres, he had been writing songs that incorporated a wide range of musical styles. He even wrote an acoustic ballad, "You're Getting Married One Night", but when he played it to the rest of the band, it was met with silence. "Save that for your solo album, Paul," Bob Stinson said. "That ain't the Replacements". The track remained unreleased for years. Westerberg realized his toughest audience was the band itself, later saying, "If it doesn't rock enough, Bob will scoff at it, and if it isn't catchy enough, Chris won't like it, and if it isn't modern enough, Tommy won't like it."
Hootenanny and Let It Be (1983–1984)
With a batch of new songs, the Replacements entered a warehouse in Roseville, Minnesota, to record their next album, with Twin/Tone co-owner Stark engineering. Westerberg wrote songs in stops and starts, so it took several sessions of recording to finish the album. Stark's meticulous approach to recording contrasted with that of the Replacements, often frustrating the band. In one session, Mars and Westerberg switched instruments, and the band began to improvise, with Westerberg repeatedly shouting, "It's a hootenanny." The band then declared it to be "side one, track one" of the new album. According to Stark, the recording "was a complete joke from their point of view—they did not care what they delivered".
Hootenanny, the band's second studio album, was released in April 1983. Hootenanny saw Westerberg expand his songwriting capabilities, In songs such as "Willpower", with echoed vocals and a sparse arrangement, and "Within Your Reach", which features Westerberg on all instruments, he revealed a more sensitive side. It was a more mature album than Stink and Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. Hootenanny was played on over two hundred radio stations across the country, with critics acclaiming the album. Robert Christgau, writing in the Village Voice, deemed it "the most critically independent album of 1983".
By Hootenanny's release, the Replacements had begun to attract a following outside of Minneapolis. The band embarked on its first tour of the United States in April 1983, joined by Bill Sullivan, a young security guard, as roadie, who approached the band after a show at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Tommy Stinson dropped out of the tenth grade to join the rest of the band on tour. The Replacements toured venues on the East Coast, including a tense gig at City Gardens, in Trenton, New Jersey, where numerous punks lined the edge of the stage as the band played. The band performed in Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia, but its intended destination was New York City, where they played at Gerde's Folk City; they also performed at Maxwell's, in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The Replacements returned to New York in June 1983, playing at CBGB. The gig was a failure; the band were almost refused entry, Bob Stinson was thrown out as soon as he walked in the door, and the Replacements were the last of five bands, which meant they played in the early morning on a Monday night. The show at Folk City was not a success, because "The Replacements were so loud and obnoxious that the people just cleared right out," according to manager Jesperson. The band supported R.E.M. on an eight-date tour later that summer, deciding that they should alienate the audience as much as possible. It was not a successful tour; by the end, various members had threatened to leave the Replacements. Band morale was low, and Westerberg later stated, "We'd much rather play for fifty people who know us than a thousand who don't care."
For the recording of their next studio album, the Replacements decided to return to Blackberry Way Studios in late 1983. The band considered R.E.M.'s guitarist Peter Buck as producer, but when they met him in Athens, Georgia, they did not have enough material to begin recording. Instead, Jesperson and Steve Fjelstad co-produced the album. By this time, the Replacements had grown tired of playing loud and fast exclusively; Westerberg stated, "Now we're softening a little where we can do something that's a little more sincere without being afraid that someone's not going to like it or the punks aren't going to be able to dance to it."
The new material placed more of a focus on songwriting, and the music was influenced by heavy metal, arena rock and Chicago blues. Instruments such as piano, twelve-string guitar and mandolin were featured throughout the album. The new album included songs such as "I Will Dare", which featured Buck playing lead guitar; "Androgynous", with Westerberg on piano; and "Unsatisfied", in which, according to writer Michael Azerrad, Westerberg "had hit upon a moving new way to declare that he can't get no satisfaction." The band's album Let It Be was released in October 1984 to critical acclaim. Robert Christgau gave the album an A+, the first and only A+ Tommy
Stinson would receive in his life, and the Seattle Rocket critic Bruce Pavitt called Let It Be "mature diverse rock that could well shoot these regional boys into the national mainstream". In 1989, Let It Be was ranked number 12 on Spin magazine's list of the "25 Greatest Albums of All Time" and number 15 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s".
Early major-label releases (1985–1988)
Let It Be attracted the attention of major record labels, and by late 1984 several had expressed an interest in signing the Replacements. Financially, the band was not doing well; they were not selling enough records to recoup their expenses, and money from shows went to recording costs, hotels, travel, food and instrument repairs. Bob Stinson worked a day job as a pizza chef. Twin/Tone was not being paid reliably by distributors, and the sales of Let It Be were not high enough to justify extra promotion. "It was time for a major label to take over," according to the label's co-owner Stark. The band was close to a major-label contract but often alienated label representatives by intentionally performing badly in concert; their 1985 live album, The Shit Hits the Fans, was an example of their concert performances at the time.
One label, the Warner Bros. Records subsidiary Sire Records, eventually signed the Replacements. The band admired the label head, Seymour Stein, who had managed the Ramones, and Stein recruited Tommy Ramone as producer for their first major-label album, Tim, released by Sire in October 1985.
The band spent the remainder of 1985 and the first half of 1986 touring behind Tim. In mid-January 1986 the Replacements received a last-minute request to appear as the musical guests on the edition of January 18 of Saturday Night Live, replacing the scheduled act, the Pointer Sisters, who had been forced to cancel only days before the show. The invitation was partly thanks to the show's musical director of the time, G.E. Smith, who was a Replacements fan but, as a result of their shambolic and profanity-laced performance during the late-night live broadcast, SNL producer Lorne Michaels banned them from ever returning to the show (although Westerberg returned as a solo artist in 1993.) They performed "Kiss Me on the Bus" while completely intoxicated, and after playing an out-of-tune "Bastards of Young" (during which Westerberg audibly called out "Come on fucker" just off-mic) they returned to stage wearing mismatched iterations of each other's clothing. In a 2015 interview recorded for the Archive of American Television, G. E. Smith recalled that although the band had performed well for the early evening pre-taped dress rehearsal performance, one of the band's crew then smuggled alcohol into their dressing room and they spent the next few hours drinking (with the guest host, Harry Dean Stanton) and taking drugs. According to Smith, by the time of the late-night live broadcast they were so intoxicated that on their way to the stage to perform, Bob Stinson tripped in the corridor, fell over onto his guitar and broke it, and Smith had to hurriedly loan him one of the SNL house band's spare instruments.
A few weeks later, on February 4, 1986, the band returned to the New York City area to perform at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey. That show was professionally recorded by a crew hired by the band's label Sire Records, for use in a possible live album. Over 30 years later, the recordings were finally released as the double album For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986.
The tour ended abruptly in June 1986 because Westerberg injured his finger during a show at The Ritz in New York City.
In August 1986, the Replacements either fired Bob Stinson from the band which he had founded, or he chose to leave, or a little of both. In either case, it was due to creative and personal differences between Stinson and the remainder of the band, aggravated by Stinson's alcohol and drug abuse issues. They also fired Jesperson the same year. "It was like being thrown out of a club that you helped start," Jesperson later commented. "Everybody was drinking and doing more drugs than they needed to."
Bob Stinson preferred the louder, faster style of the band's early music, while Westerberg was exploring new territory in ballads like "Here Comes a Regular" and "Swingin' Party". The remaining Replacements carried on as a trio for Pleased to Meet Me (1987), recorded in Memphis with Big Star producer Jim Dickinson. Minneapolis guitarist Slim Dunlap took over on lead guitar for the subsequent tour and soon became a full member of the band.
Don't Tell a Soul and All Shook Down (1989–1990)
The band's next album, Don't Tell a Soul, was a quieter, less punky affair, largely considered an attempt at mainstream success. While the move cost the Replacements the appreciation of some hardcore fans, the album had some notable songs, such as "Achin' to Be" and "I'll Be You", the latter of which topped the Billboard Modern Rock chart. The band then made a second appearance on network television, on the short-lived ABC program International Rock Awards, for which they performed a typically energetic version of "Talent Show" and caused a minor controversy when Westerberg responded to the network's censoring of the "feeling good from the pills we took" line by inserting an uncensored "It's too late to take pills, here we go" at the end of the song. The band appeared on the cover of Musician magazine in February 1989, in which it was described as "the last, best band of the 80s".
But there was trouble within the band following a disastrous tour opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Westerberg recorded a new album largely with session musicians but was persuaded to release it as a Replacements album. All Shook Down won critical praise and more mainstream attention and its debut single "Merry Go Round" again topped the Modern Rock charts. However, the album's many guest players and Mars's quick departure from the band following the album's release led many to wonder about the band's future. They also received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.
Breakup (1991–2011)
Steve Foley was recruited as Mars's replacement in 1990, and the band toured with Elvis Costello in June 1991, the final show being at Madison Square Garden. The band then embarked on a long farewell tour, which lasted into the summer of 1991. On July 4, 1991, the band played their last show for 22 years, with the Chicago power-pop trio Material Issue at Taste of Chicago in Grant Park, referred to by fans as "It Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Roadie Plays", because each member disappeared during the set, their respective roadies taking their places. This show was broadcast live by the Chicago radio station WXRT. Several bootlegs are available on the Internet.
Bob Stinson, after leaving the Replacements in 1986, played in local Minneapolis bands such as Static Taxi and the Bleeding Hearts. After several years of drug and alcohol abuse, he died in 1995, at the age of 35. Tommy Stinson quickly followed his time in the Replacements with the short-lived bands Bash & Pop and Perfect. He was the bass guitarist for Guns N' Roses beginning in 1998, replacing Duff McKagan from the band's "classic lineup" until leaving the band in 2016. In 2004, he released a solo CD, Village Gorilla Head, followed in 2011 by One Man Mutiny.
Westerberg is a successful singer-songwriter signed to Vagrant Records and, under his alias Grandpaboy, to Fat Possum Records. His album Folker was released in September 2004, marking a return to the melodic low-fi of the Replacements. Dunlap kept a low national profile but remained active in the Twin Cities music scene until suffering a massive stroke in 2012, which left him without the ability to move or eat. Mars primarily works as a visual artist.
In 1997, Reprise Records released the two CD set All for Nothing / Nothing for All. The All for Nothing disc collected cuts from Tim through All Shook Down; the Nothing for All disc is a collection of B-sides and tracks not previously released on albums.
In 2002, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Westerberg mentioned that the Replacements had been considering a reunion. He said, "We'll get together again one day. It will take a while, or it might take a few legal swipes of the pen, but we ain't over." A partial reunion nearly occurred in March 2002, when Tommy Stinson planned to join Westerberg on a tour of the Midwest, but Stinson's prior commitments with Guns N' Roses prevented it from happening.
On June 13, 2006, Rhino Records released the compilation album Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?, consisting of songs from the Twin/Tone and Sire-Reprise years and including two new songs, "Pool & Dive" and "Message to the Boys". The new songs were written by Westerberg and recorded by the band (Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and Mars) at Flowers Studio in Minneapolis. Session musician Josh Freese (the Vandals, ex-A Perfect Circle, ex-Guns N' Roses) played drums on the two tracks; Mars contributed backing vocals. Neither Slim Dunlap nor Steve Foley participated in the sessions.
On April 22, 2008, Rhino released remastered deluxe editions of the band's four Twin/Tone albums with rare bonus tracks. On September 24, 2008, Rhino similarly released the four Sire albums in deluxe editions. Material recorded with Tom Waits in 1988 was released on the Westerberg solo album 3oclockreep in 2008.
Foley died in 2008 from an accidental overdose of a prescription medication.
Reunion (2012–2015)
On October 3, 2012, it was announced that the Replacements had re-formed and that Westerberg and Tommy Stinson were in the studio recording an EP containing song cover versions. Titled Songs for Slim, the EP was sold in a 250-copy edition of 10" vinyl and auctioned online to benefit former bandmate Dunlap, who had suffered a stroke.
In November 2012, the documentary filmmaker Gorman Bechard released Color Me Obsessed, a film which tells the band's story through the eyes of their most ardent fans.
The Replacements played their first shows in 22 years at Riot Fest in Toronto (August 24 and 25, 2013), Chicago (September 13–15) and Denver (September 21 and 22). Dave Minehan, guitarist and vocalist of the Boston-based band the Neighborhoods, and drummer Josh Freese rounded out the lineup for these shows. Westerberg has said that the band does not rule out touring or recording a new album. The band played two sets at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 11 and 18, 2014; Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong joined the band onstage on the second date. The band was also announced as one of the headliners of the September 2014 Boston Calling Music Festival, along with Lorde and the National. On September 9, 2014, the Replacements appeared as the musical guest on The Tonight Show, performing "Alex Chilton". On September 19, 2014, they played at Forest Hills Stadium. Monsoon rains cancelled the Summer Ends Music Festival in Tempe, Arizona, on September 27, 2014, resulting in their only indoor show of the tour when it was moved to the Marquee Theatre.
On December 17, 2014, a 24-minute jazz improvisation track entitled "Poke Me in My Cage" was uploaded to the band's SoundCloud account.
On February 9, 2015, the band announced a spring tour of the United States. On this tour, they debuted a new song called "Whole Foods Blues", and according to their co-manager Darren Hill, the band has "laid down seven or eight" for a possible new album. Towards the end of the tour, two shows in Columbus and Pittsburgh were initially postponed for medical reasons, but were subsequently cancelled outright. The Replacements performed for the first time in Spain and Portugal at the Primavera Sound festival on May 28, 2015, and June 5, 2015, respectively, as part of a brief European tour. On June 5, 2015, Westerberg announced onstage at the Primavera Sound festival in Porto, Portugal, that it was the band's final show. T-shirts Westerberg had worn to previous shows had hinted at this outcome: each shirt had two letters on it (one each on front and back), ultimately spelling out, "I have always loved you. Now I must whore my past."
In a September 2015 interview, Stinson discussed the band working on new studio material, stating, "it was one of those things: We dipped our toe in the water, and it didn't feel so good." Stinson stated that he had reworked songs he wrote for the Replacements as material for his solo career.
Live performances
The Replacements gained local notoriety following their first live performance, because of Tommy Stinson's young age. Early shows were consistently tight and became more aggressive following the release of the Stink EP in 1982. As their stylistic repertoire began to expand with the writing and recording of Hootenanny the following year, the band's increasingly antagonistic stage show left them with a reputation for their rowdy, often drunken live shows. The band frequently went on stage too intoxicated to play. They were famously banned permanently from Saturday Night Live after performing drunk before a national television audience on January 18, 1986. As one reviewer succinctly observed, the band could quite often be "mouthing profanities into the camera, stumbling into each other, falling down, dropping their instruments, and generally behaving like the apathetic drunks they were." There emerged an element of unpredictability, as The Replacements—when sober—gained critical praise for their live shows. Part of the mystique of The Replacements was the fact that the audience never knew until the start of a concert if the band would be sober enough to play. It was not uncommon for the group to play entire sets of cover versions, ranging anywhere from Bryan Adams's "Summer of '69" to Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love" to Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog."
Legacy
The band has been honored with a star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue, recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue. Receiving a star "might be the most prestigious public honor an artist can receive in Minneapolis," according to journalist Steve Marsh. Westerberg also has a star for his solo work, making him one of the few musicians to be honored with multiple stars on the mural.
The Goo Goo Dolls' vocalist and guitarist Johnny Rzeznik cites Paul Westerberg as an "obvious influence" on his music. The Goo Goo Dolls toured in support for The Replacements' final tour. They also co-wrote the song "We Are the Normal" with Westerberg for their 1993 album Superstar Car Wash. Members of The Cribs have cited The Replacements as a key influence. Members of the alternative country groups Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown have said that The Replacements were an important influence on them. Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem said in a 2009 interview that "without The Replacements, there would be no Gaslight Anthem" and that they were inspired by the song "Left of the Dial". The band They Might Be Giants made a tribute song to them called "We're The Replacements".
Film director Derek Wayne Johnson has stated in interviews that The Replacements are his favorite band of all-time.
1234 Go! Records released We'll Inherit the Earth: A Tribute to The Replacements on October 3, 2006. The album contains twenty-three covers of The Replacements songs by various rock, punk, pop and country artists.
On October 16, 2013, the band was announced as one of the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, but they were not inducted.
"Alex Chilton" appears as a playable song in Harmonix's music videogame Rock Band 2 for all consoles. "Kids Don't Follow" was also released for the game as downloadable content.
Their songs have been used in many feature films. "Treatment Bound" was used in the official soundtrack for Jackass Number Two. The 1998 teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait is named after their single, and the song itself plays over the end credits. The song "I Will Dare" is sung by Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz in the car in Feeling Minnesota. Lou and Nick contemplate their lives and the possibility of changing the past in the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine while "I Will Dare" plays in the background. "I'll Be You" plays during Jerry's bachelor party in the 1996 romantic comedy-drama sports film Jerry Maguire. The 2009 Greg Mottola film, Adventureland, opens with "Bastards of Young". The song "Unsatisfied" is also used in the film during the bus ride to New York. The song was also featured in the 1994 film Airheads and the 2016 film Ordinary World. The fictional band the Fingers, in the movie Losers Take All, gets its big break by securing a gig opening for The Replacements. "Within Your Reach" was used in the 1989 film Say Anything. "Here Comes a Regular" was on the episode "Rigby's Graduation Day Special" on Cartoon Network's Regular Show. "Here Comes a Regular" was on the episode "The Wind That Blew My Heart Away" on One Tree Hill. Peyton's mother describes the song as "the happiest" and it is heard playing in the episode. Here Comes A Regular also appeared in the final episode of the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why.
In what could be considered the only case of The Replacements somewhat receiving any official recording industry accolades, the band's biographist Bob Mehr received the Best Album Notes trophy at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021 for his liner notes on the 2019 box set Dead Man's Pop, which is in itself an anniversary reissue of their 1989 album Don't Tell a Soul.
Members
Paul Westerberg – lead vocals, guitar (1979–1991, 2006, 2012–2015)
Tommy Stinson – bass guitar (1979–1991, 2006, 2012–2015)
Bob Stinson – lead guitar (1979–1986; died 1995)
Slim Dunlap – lead guitar (1987–1991)
Chris Mars – drums (1979–1990), backing vocals (2006)
Steve Foley – drums (1990–1991; died 2008)
Touring musicians
Josh Freese – drums (2006, 2012–2015)
Dave Minehan – guitars (2012–2015)
Timeline
Discography
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981)
Stink (1982)
Hootenanny (1983)
Let It Be (1984)
Tim (1985)
Pleased to Meet Me (1987)
Don't Tell a Soul (1989)
All Shook Down (1990)
References
Notes
Bibliography
External links
Twin Tone Records (audio and video)
City Pages – This Is Hardcore
The Replacements database
The Skyway, a long-running Replacements internet fanzine
Alternative rock groups from Minnesota
College rock musical groups
Punk rock groups from Minnesota
Musical groups established in 1979
Musical groups disestablished in 1991
Musical groups reestablished in 2012
Hardcore punk groups from Minnesota
Sire Records artists
Glass Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Musical groups disestablished in 2015
Sibling musical groups | true | [
"Steven Foley (June 4, 1959 – August 23, 2008) was an American drummer who played for Curtiss A, Things That Fall Down, The Replacements, Bash & Pop, Wheelo, and several other bands in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He played live for the most part, but he recorded with songwriter Peter Lack, and he appears in a Replacements video, \"When It Began,\" which received two 1991 MTV Video Music Awards nominations.\n\nFoley replaced founding member Chris Mars and toured Europe and the United States with the Replacements in support of their final album, All Shook Down, and played in their final show (prior to a reunion in 2013), which took place on July 4, 1991, in Chicago's Grant Park.\n\nMinneapolis bands\nFoley grew up in the Hopkins, Minnesota area with six siblings who were all interested in music. He played for the Overtones and Things That Fall Down who were among the favorites of Kevin Cole then of First Avenue, and with the Suprees, Snaps, Routine 11, Bang Zoom and Trailer Trash. Foley was a drummer for Curtiss A for ten years when he most likely did not record on Twin/Tone Records.\n\nThe Replacements\nTwo members of Curtiss A bands replaced two members of The Replacements. Bob Dunlap, now known as \"Slim,\" replaced guitarist Bob Stinson, who was fired in 1986 after the tour for Tim and died at age 35 in 1995. Foley replaced drummer and painter Chris Mars, who left the band in 1990.\n\nWesterberg and Tommy Stinson went out looking for a drummer in 1990, decided on Foley, who was willing, and asked him to drive them all to an audition. They skipped the audition, which became their first practice together when their just-released album All Shook Down happened to be in his car's CD player—loudly when Foley turned on the ignition. The band as well as observers knew at the time that it was self-destructing.\n\nFoley first played with The Replacements publicly for First Avenue's twentieth anniversary. After seeing him play with this band at the Orpheum Theatre, his father finally decided that Foley was a professional musician. Starting in January 1991, The Replacements toured Europe for Warner Bros.' Sire Records for All Shook Down as the opening act for Elvis Costello. But their review in New York was poor and they broke up, perhaps because Westerberg was in pursuit of a solo career, or they just quit.\n\nAt number 69 (Don't Tell a Soul reached 57) on the Billboard 200, All Shook Down was The Replacements' second-best-selling album. It received four stars from Rolling Stone who called The Replacements \"America's best band\". Allmusic didn't like it but gave the album four and a half stars, and, undated, appears to predict the band's breakup.\n\nEarly on The Replacements refused to make videos but later made commercial videos for Sire and MTV. Approximately at the time of Foley's tenure, \"Merry-Go-Round\" with a supporting video with Mars on drums reached number 1, \"When It Began\" with a clay animation video with Foley on drums reached number 4, and \"Someone Take the Wheel\" reached 15 on Billboard'''s Modern Rock Tracks.\n\nWhen Warner's Rhino released four early Replacements albums from Twin/Tone in April 2008, Stinson and Westerberg discussed a reunion in Billboard. Westerberg was in favor of waiting for the reissues of the four Sire albums later that year. Which drummer they had in mind might be unknown. Stinson had praised Foley's work which was on beat rather than behind it like Mars. Westerberg was impressed initially that Foley knew so much of The Replacements' material but also criticized him as he did most of his bandmates. Josh Freese played drums and Mars contributed backup vocals but not drums on a Rhino compilation in 2005. Practice in October 2008 was with Michael Bland.\n\nLater years\nAfter the Replacements disbanded, Foley joined his brother Kevin in Tommy Stinson's new group, Bash & Pop, which released one album, Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993). In 1997 Foley recorded Something Wonderful'' with Peter Lack in the band 69, later known as Wheelo.\n\nFoley married in 2007 and lived in south Minneapolis. His across-the-street neighbor was Chris Mars; they both owned BMW motorcycles. Wheelo reassembled in late 2007 and practiced throughout 2008; according to a bandmate, \"Steve's last cymbal crash came down during a raucous, frenzied, and ridiculously silly jam in the key of 'b'.\" Foley had been sober for 15 years, but he had been medicated for depression and anxiety. He died at age 49 from an accidental drug overdose. Steve Foley is buried in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1959 births\n2008 deaths\nPeople from Hopkins, Minnesota\nAmerican rock drummers\nThe Replacements (band) members\nMusicians from Minnesota\nDrug-related deaths in Minnesota\nAccidental deaths in Minnesota\nBurials at Lakewood Cemetery\n20th-century American drummers\nAmerican male drummers\nBash & Pop members\n20th-century American male musicians",
"O'Banion's was a nightclub located at 661 N. Clark St. in Chicago's River North neighborhood. Named for Chicago Irish gangster Dion O'Banion, it was established in June 1978, inside what had formerly been McGovern’s Saloon (itself an infamous Chicago gangster bar where a young O'Banion had performed as a signing waiter) as well as a series of strip clubs and gay bars. Chicago's first Punk club Le Mer Viper had burned down two months prior, and O'Banion's began to form the epicenter of the city's early Punk scene in what was then a notorious skid row area as well as hire many of the former employees of Le Mer Viper.\n\nThe club promoted shows by national-touring acts including Toxic Reasons, Husker Du, The Replacements, and Dead Kennedys. Additionally, numerous bands from Chicago's own music scene began playing shows there before achieving wider success, including Naked Raygun, Strike Under, Ministry, and Skafish.\n\nIn 1979, the club began hosting newly popular new wave bands after a series of difficulties with their earlier clientele, but owner Rus Cramsie closed the venue in 1982 after encountering financial difficulties.\n\nThe building was eventually renovated into The Kerryman bar and restaurant as River North began to gentrify in the 1990s.\n\nReferences\n\nBuildings and structures in Chicago\nMusic venues in Chicago\nNightclubs in Chicago\nPunk rock venues\nNew wave music\nUnderground culture\n1978 establishments in Illinois\n1982 disestablishments in Illinois"
]
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[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career"
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | When did his college career begin? | 1 | When did Bob Hayes' college career begin? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | false | [
"Michael Patrick (born September 9, 1944) is a retired American sportscaster, known for his long tenure with ESPN.\n\nEarly career\nPatrick began his broadcasting career in the fall of 1966 at WVSC-Radio in Somerset, Pennsylvania. In 1970, he was named Sports Director at WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Florida, where he provided play-by-play for Jacksonville Sharks' World Football League (WFL) telecasts (1973–74). He also called Jacksonville University basketball games on both radio and television.\n\nFrom 1975 until 1982, he worked for WJLA-TV as a sports reporter and weekend anchor. During this period, Patrick also did play-by-play for Maryland Terrapins football and basketball broadcasts as well as pre-season games for the Washington Football Team when WJLA had the TV rights to broadcast those games.\n\nESPN\n\nBeginning in 1982, Patrick worked for ESPN, where he is best known for his role as play-by-play announcer on the network's Sunday Night Football telecasts, with Paul Maguire and Joe Theismann from 1987–2005. Patrick was briefly replaced in 2004 by Pat Summerall, while he recovered from heart bypass surgery.\n\nHe has also called college football, men's and women's college basketball, and the College World Series for the network, as well as several NFL playoff games for ABC Sports while the network held the Monday Night Football television package.\n\nIn 2006, Patrick became the lead play-by-play announcer for ESPN on College Football Primetime, along with Todd Blackledge and field reporter Holly Rowe. In July 2009, ESPN announced that Patrick would begin calling Saturday afternoon ESPN/ABC college football for the 2009 college football season, which he did through 2017.\n\nIn addition, Patrick called the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship from 1996 through 2009 and the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska from 2003 until 2014.\n\nOn February 21, 2018, Patrick retired from ESPN after 35 years with the network.\n\nNon ESPN-related assignments\n\nPatrick also did play-by-play of Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) football and basketball games for Jefferson-Pilot (now Lincoln Financial Sports) between 1984 and 1986.\n\nPatrick is the play-by-play man for MVP 06: NCAA Baseball as well as MVP 07: NCAA Baseball.\n\nFor 2015, 2016 and 2017, Patrick did play-by-play for the Cleveland Browns preseason football games.\n\nPatrick resides in northern Virginia with his wife, Janet.\n\nReferences\n\n1944 births\nLiving people\nAmerican television sports announcers\nCollege baseball announcers in the United States\nWomen's college basketball announcers in the United States\nCollege basketball announcers in the United States\nCollege football announcers\nGeorge Washington University alumni\nMaryland Terrapins men's basketball announcers\nMaryland Terrapins football announcers\nNational Football League announcers\nPeople from Clarksburg, West Virginia\nWorld Football League announcers\nJournalists from West Virginia\nTelevision anchors from Jacksonville, Florida",
"One human poll comprised the 1948 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. The Coaches' Poll began operation in 1950; in addition, the AP Poll did not begin conducting preseason polls until that same year.\n\nLegend\n\nAP Poll\nThe final AP Poll was released on November 29, at the end of the regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP did not release a January final poll regularly until the 1968 season (January 1969).\n\nReferences\n\nCollege football rankings"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,"
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | In what year did his career begin? | 2 | In what year did Bob Hayes' running college career begin? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | false | [
"Rhino What You Did Last Summer is a 2009 novel by Irish journalist and author Paul Howard, and the ninth in the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly series.\n\nThe title refers to the film I Know What You Did Last Summer and to Ross's rhinoplasty.\n\nPlot\nRoss travels to Los Angeles to win Sorcha back; he and his family become reality television stars on Ross, His Mother, His Wife and Her Lover; Ross is persuaded to undergo cosmetic surgery, and Honor becomes addicted to caffeine. Fionnuala's novels begin to earn popularity in America.\n\nReception\nThe novel was the seventh highest-selling book in Ireland for the year 2009.\n\nIn The Irish Times, Ferdia Mac Anna wrote that it was \"inexcusably shallow, deliberately vulgar, puerile and offensive – and it made me laugh like a drain. Indeed, there are sequences so funny that I had trouble breathing.\"\n\nAuthor Paul Howard later admitted that taking the action outside of Ireland was a mistake: \"Ross needs to be here in an environment that he - and the reader - knows well.\"\n\nReferences\n\n2009 Irish novels\nPenguin Books books\nRoss O'Carroll-Kelly\nReality television series parodies\nFiction set in 2007",
"Ryan Cusick (born November 12, 1999) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Atlanta Braves organization. He played college baseball for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.\n\nAmateur career\nCusick began his high school career at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Sudbury, Massachusetts before transferring to Avon Old Farms School in Avon, Connecticut, for his senior year in 2018. He was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 40th round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign and instead enrolled at Wake Forest University where he played college baseball.\n\nIn 2019, Cusick's freshman season, he led the Wake Forest pitching staff in wins, going 7-3 with a 6.44 ERA over innings. That summer, he played in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Bourne Braves. He pitched innings in 2020 before the remainder of the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a junior in 2021, Cusick started 12 games and compiled a 3–5 record, a 4.24 ERA, and 108 strikeouts over seventy innings.\n\nProfessional career\nCusick was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the first round with the 24th overall selection in the 2021 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Braves for a $2.7 million signing bonus. To begin his professional career, he was assigned to the Augusta GreenJackets of the Low-A East. During his first year in the minor leagues, Cusick pitched innings, striking out 34 batters, walking four, and giving up five earned runs.\n\nProfessional career\nCusick was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the first round with the 24th overall selection in the 2021 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Braves for a $2.7 million signing bonus. To begin his professional career, he was assigned to the Augusta GreenJackets of the Low-A East. During his first year in the minor leagues, Cusick pitched innings, striking out 34 batters, walking four, and giving up five earned runs.\n\nPersonal Life\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nWake Forest Demon Deacons bio\n\n1999 births\nLiving people\nAugusta GreenJackets players\nBaseball pitchers\nBaseball players from Massachusetts\nBourne Braves players\nWake Forest Demon Deacons baseball players\nSportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts\nPeople from Sudbury, Massachusetts"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | Did he break any records? | 3 | Did Bob Hayes break any running records? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | true | [
"Donna Cruz Sings Her Greatest Hits is the second compilation album by the Filipino singer Donna Cruz, released in the Philippines in 2001 by Viva Records. The album was Cruz's first album not to receive a PARI certification; all of her studio albums and a previous compilation album, The Best of Donna, were certified either gold or platinum. Though it was labeled as a greatest hits compilation, several songs on the track listing had not been released as singles, and some of Cruz's singles did not appear on the album.\n\nBackground\nReleased during Cruz's break from the entertainment industry, Donna Cruz Sings Her Greatest Hits did not include any newly recorded material. Cruz's version of \"Jubilee Song\", which was not found on any of Cruz's albums (as she never recorded studio albums after Hulog Ng Langit in 1999) was included. It was seen as an updated version of Cruz's greatest hits as it included her latest singles \"Hulog ng Langit\" and \"Ikaw Pala 'Yon\".\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\n2001 compilation albums\nViva Records (Philippines) compilation albums\nDonna Cruz albums",
"Present Company is the fifth studio album by singer-songwriter Janis Ian, and her solitary album for Capitol Records.\n\nAfter her break-up with original producer Shadow Morton, and the failure of her final two Verve albums The Secret Life of J. Eddy Fink and Who Really Cares to dent the Billboard albums chart, Ian moved to California in 1970 and continued writing songs. In the autumn of 1970, Ian began working without a recording contract with producer and musician Jerry Corbitt (of The Youngbloods) in California before signing with Capitol Records in January. The sixteen songs, including three songwriting collaborations with Peter Cunningham, were released as Present Company early in 1971.\n\nDespite a lengthy period of touring extending into early 1972, Present Company did not sell much better than its two predecessors, although it did \"bubble under\" the top 200. Janis' contract with Capitol was not renewed, and apart from the single \"He's a Rainbow\" being performed during the tour in support of her comeback album Stars, nothing from Present Company is known to have been played live since 1972, nor has the album ever been represented on any of Janis Ian's compilations.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\nJanis Ian albums\n1971 albums\nCapitol Records albums"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he break any records?",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,"
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | Did he compete in the Olympics? | 4 | Did Bob Hayes compete in the Olympics? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | true | [
"Lee Yoo-yeon (; born September 4, 2000) is a South Korean swimmer specialized in freestyle.\n\nCareer\nIn October 2018, he represented South Korea at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He competed in 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and mixed 4 × 100m freestyle relay events. In the 50m freestyle heats event, he completed at rank 9, allowing him to advance to compete in the semifinal. In the 50m freestyle semifinal event, he completed at rank 8 with Robin Hanson. In semifinal swim-off against Robin, he completed at rank 2 hence did not advance to compete in the final. In the 100m freestyle heats event, he completed at rank 1, allowing him to advance to compete in the semifinal. In the 100m freestyle semifinal event, he completed at rank 3, allowing him to compete in the final which he completed at rank 5. In the 200m freestyle heats event, he completed at rank 7, allowing him to compete in the final which he completed at rank 8. In the freestyle relay event, the team did not advance to compete in the final.\n\nIn July 2019, he represented South Korea at the 2019 Summer Universiade held in Naples, Italy. He competed in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 4 × 100m freestyle relay, 4 × 200m freestyle relay and 4 × 100m medley relay at the . In the same month, he represented South Korea at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. He competed in 4 × 200m freestyle relay, the team did not advance to compete in the final and qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics which are awarded to top 12 teams in the standings.\n\nIn July 2021, he represented South Korea at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. He competed in 4 × 200m freestyle relay event. The team did not advance to compete in the final.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n ()\n\n2000 births\nLiving people\nSouth Korean male freestyle swimmers\nSwimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics\nOlympic swimmers of South Korea\nPeople from Anyang, Gyeonggi\nSwimmers at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics",
"Lee Ho-joon (; born February 14, 2001) is a South Korean swimmer.\n\nCareer\nIn July 2021, he represented South Korea at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. He competed in the 400m freestyle and 4 × 200m freestyle relay events. In the freestyle event, he did not advance to compete in the semifinal. In the freestyle relay event, the team did not advance to compete in the final.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n2001 births\nLiving people\nSwimmers from Seoul\nSportspeople from Daegu\nSwimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics\nSouth Korean male freestyle swimmers\nOlympic swimmers of South Korea"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he break any records?",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,",
"Did he compete in the Olympics?",
"He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo."
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | Who are some competitors be beat? | 5 | Who are some competitors Bob Hayes beat in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | false | [
"Ahmed Mejri (; born January 2, 1990) is a Tunisian lightweight amateur boxer who won the 2011 All-Africa Games.\n\nHe also won the 2012 African Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in his weight class.\nAt the 2012 Summer Olympics he beat Shafiq Chitou then lost to Felix Verdejo 7:16.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1990 births\nLiving people\nSportspeople from Tunis\nLightweight boxers\nBoxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics\nOlympic boxers of Tunisia\nTunisian male boxers\nAfrican Games gold medalists for Tunisia\nAfrican Games medalists in boxing\nCompetitors at the 2013 Mediterranean Games\nCompetitors at the 2018 Mediterranean Games\nCompetitors at the 2011 All-Africa Games\nMediterranean Games competitors for Tunisia",
"The Olympic triangle is a sailing course used in racing dinghies, particularly at major regattas like State, National and World Titles and was used at the Olympics. (Olympic sailing now uses quadrilateral courses)\n\nThe remainder of this article should be read in conjunction with Sailing Instructions for the specific regatta or the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Race management page, the Racing Rules and particularly Appendix L.\n\nNumber and type of legs \nThe traditional Olympic triangle course consists of a lap (starting with a beat or work to windward from the starting line to the top, weather or windward mark, a first reaching leg to the wing mark (also known as the gybe mark), a second reaching leg from the wing mark to the bottom or leeward mark), a hot dog (a beat to the top mark with a square run back to the bottom mark), another lap and then a beat to the finish line, which may have one end at the top mark, or may be set beyond the top mark. When the finish line is set beyond the top mark, the sailing instructions need to specify whether the top mark remains a mark of the course on the final leg or whether it is to be ignored. There are generally 9 legs, 5 equal to the length of the windward leg (4 beats and a run) and 4 reaching legs (2 of each reaching leg), so once the leg lengths are known the total course length can be calculated. Roundings are generally to Port. Many sailing instructions only specify the length of the windward leg and the total course length, but see below on the use of the law of sines, trigonometry table and spreadsheets to calculate the angles and other leg lengths.\n \nThe angles of the triangle may not always be perfectly sharp, either, since it is a course.\n\nMost common configuration \n\nTraditionally the configuration of the triangle is an equilateral triangle (3 equal sides and 3 equal angles of 60 degrees) with a ratio of the windward leg to a reaching leg being 1:1. In that case the course length for the 9 legs described above is 9 times the length of the windward leg. The angle at each point of the triangle is 60 degrees. The windward leg is generally aligned with the average wind direction.\n\nAlternate configuration \nAnother configuration is a triangle with a right angle at the wing mark and 45 degrees at the top and bottom marks. In this case the ratio of the windward leg to a reaching leg is 1:0.7071 and the course length for the 9 legs described above is 7.8284 times the length of the windward leg. One would imagine that a triangle with 45 degrees at the top and bottom marks and 90 degrees at the wing mark would provide ideal reaching conditions on both reaching legs, provided the windward leg runs straight up wind. However, the wind will often shift during the race and the Committee may not always be able to shift marks to re-align the course to the new wind direction. With a 60, 60, 60 triangle, if the wind shifts 15 degrees either way, one of the reaching legs will be a 45-degree broad reach, while the other will be at 75 degrees to the wind and will be a close reach.\n\nLength of windward leg and course - time versus distance \nMany dinghy classes have a target length for a race for the first boat. This time might take into consideration the age of competitors, how physically demanding the class is and how physically demanding the conditions are. 100 minutes is often used by Herons in Australia as an informal target (not specified in the Sailing Instructions). It is generally accepted that the whole of the course ought be completed in a race to ensure that all points of sailing are tested by competition. This requires consideration of the length of the course for a given class of boat in given wind strength.\n\nWhen dinghies are sailing in displacement mode (as opposed to planing mode) they will take longer to complete a leg than if they are planing. The relationship between the time taken to complete a beat, compared to a run, compared to a reach will vary between classes at a given wind speed and by a class at varying wind speeds, with a significant change once boats are consistently planing on reaches (and runs).\n\nEmpirical evidence for Herons at of breeze on Botany Bay, Sydney with a windward leg length of 0.8 nautical miles (n.n.) saw a beat of 19 minutes, a reach of 9 minutes and a run of 13 minutes (non-planing conditions). With an equilateral triangle the traditional triangle, sausage, triangle, and beat to finish would require a windward leg of approx 15 minutes to allow for a completion time of approx 100 minutes for the first boat. In for a Heron the indicated windward leg length is approx 0.6 n.m..\n\nAny Principal Race Officer wishing to have completed courses within a target time will need timing of completion of beat, reach and run legs over a wide range of wind conditions for the particular class to enable the setting of an appropriate length course (9 times the windward leg length in the traditional configuration described above). Race committees need to ensure that the sailing instructions regarding course length for each particular regatta have taken into account the aims of the Organising Authority in relation to all of target times, course length and course completion and that the achievement of some are not inconsistent with the achievement of the other(s). The possibility of changing leg/course lengths during a race needs to be considered to allow for changes in wind conditions.\n\nThe starting line \nThe starting line often has a bias to the port end (the left end as one looks up the course towards the top mark) of 5 to 10 degrees towards the top mark from what the start line would be if it was straight across the wind direction. This bias encourages competitors to move to the pin end of the line as it is further up the wind towards the top mark. It also provides \"cleaner\" air to competitors on the port end of the line. With many competitors moving to the pin or port end of the line to be further to windward, there is room for the other competitors to form up along the line, and although they may be further down the wind from the top mark, they are more easily able to tack onto port tack should the wind shift or to get clear air. If there is no bias favouring the pin end, or more particularly if the starboard (committee boat) end is favoured (further to windward), competitors will be encouraged to avoid being on the line away from the committee boat and so the committee boat area becomes very congested and most competitors are not on the start line and do not start until some time after the starting signal as they have been queued up in the area to starboard of the starboard end of the line. Boats generally approach the starting line on starboard tack to maintain right of way over boats on port tack.\n\nThe length of the starting line is generally set by reference to the total length or width of the fleet, that is, the number of competitors by the length or width of each boat. While a general rule of thumb is 1.1 to 1.5 times the total length of the fleet, some race officers believe this is too generous according to ISAF. Another rule of thumb is 1.5 to 2.0 times the width of the fleet which is easy to calculate in a one design class, but is generally markedly less than 1.1 to 1.5 times the length of the fleet.\n\nThe finishing line \nThe most flexible way to set the finishing line is to windward of the top mark, using a finishing mark and the committee boat as either end of the line. Generally the top mark should be ignored on the beat from the bottom mark to the finish, even if the top mark is left in place. The advantage of this configuration is that the finish line can be laid late in the race and laid so that the final work is a true beat - the line from the bottom mark to the centre of the finish line should be directly to windward.\n\nSome practical considerations \nSome practical considerations include: \n Whether to set the wing mark higher (more to windward) by using an angle at the top mark of more degrees than the angle at the bottom mark and more than 45 degrees. This can reduce the problems of boats approaching the top mark on port tack having to give way to boats rounding the top mark to port and going low on starboard tack on the reach to the wing mark. For example, the angle at the top mark could be 75 degrees, 45 at the bottom mark leaving 60 at the wing mark.\n Whether to set the triangle so the competitors are assured of a good reaching leg even if the wind shifts and the marks are not moved.\n Whether to have Starboard roundings - Port roundings where the mark is left to the port side of the boat as it rounds the mark are most commonly used as they facilitate traffic flow around the top and bottom marks.\n\nLaying the course \nThe ISAF website (see link below) has a comprehensive Race Management document which contains comprehensive directions on how to lay the Olympic Triangle course.\n\nExternal links \nUseful article on the use of the sine rule to solve triangles\nInternational Sailing Federation (ISAF) Race management\n\nSailing (sport)"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he break any records?",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,",
"Did he compete in the Olympics?",
"He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.",
"Who are some competitors be beat?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | Did he tie any records? | 6 | Did Bob Hayes tie any running records? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | true | [
"In the National Football League (NFL), a tied game occurs when a regular season game ends with both teams having an equal score after one ten minute overtime period. Ties have counted as a half-win and half-loss in league standings since 1972; before that, ties were not counted in the standings at all. NFL teams rarely play for ties. In general, tied games in the NFL are frowned upon by both teams and fans. Because tied games are rare, some players have not known they were allowed in the NFL, such as former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who said after a tie game against the Cincinnati Bengals that he did not know a tie was a possible result, and Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris after his team tied the Detroit Lions in .\n\nTie games were frequent in the NFL from its inaugural season in 1920 through 1973, when the league did not have overtime during the regular season. During this period, the NFL had a total of 258 tied games. Only three seasons (1934, 1950, 1952) went without a tied game, while five seasons (1920, 1923, 1926, 1929, 1932) had at least ten ties. The most ties, 17, occurred in the 1920 season.\n\nTies became uncommon after a 1974 rule change added one sudden death overtime period (15 minutes) to regular-season games if they were tied after regulation. Under the original overtime rules, any score by either team in overtime would win the game. The rules were modified in 2012; if the team that received the opening kickoff scores a field goal, the other team has an opportunity to tie or surpass that score, and if they are able to tie the score the next team to score any points wins. The overtime rules were further modified in 2017, shortening the extra period from 15 minutes to 10 minutes for regular season games.\n\nThere have been 27 tied games since overtime was introduced in 1974; 17 ties occurred from 1974 to 2011 under the original overtime rules, five ties occurred from 2012 to 2016 under the first modified rules, and five ties have occurred since overtime was reduced to ten minutes in 2017. Four seasons (1986, 1997, 2016, and 2018) had two ties since the introduction of overtime. The most recent tie game occurred on November 14, 2021, when the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers played to a 16–16 tie. The Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars are the only current NFL teams that have never recorded a tied game; the New England Patriots have never recorded a tie in an NFL game, but recorded nine ties as members of the American Football League (AFL). The Chicago Bears have played to 42 ties (all prior to 1974), the most of any NFL team, while the Green Bay Packers have recorded the most ties since the 1974 introduction of overtime, with six.\n\nTied games (1920–1973)\n\nNational Football League\n\nFrom 1920 to 1973, there were no overtime rules during the NFL regular season.\n\nAmerican Football League (1960-1969)\n\nLike the NFL at the time, the rival AFL did not use overtime to resolve ties during the regular season. Upon merging with the NFL in 1970, its records and history were incorporated into that of the older league.\n\nTied games (1974–2011)\nIn 1974, the NFL introduced a single sudden death 15-minute overtime period for all games that were tied at the end of regulation. During these seasons, a total of 494 regular season games went to overtime, 17 () of which ended in ties. The most common tie score during this era was 10–10, which occurred six times.\n\nTied games (2012–2016)\nIn 2012, the league instituted a modified sudden death overtime system. A total of 83 regular season games went to overtime during these seasons, 5 () of which ended in a tie.\n\nTied games (2017–present)\nIn 2017, the NFL shortened overtime from 15 minutes to 10 minutes for preseason and regular season games with the intent of reducing the risk of injury. As of , a total of 69 regular season games went to overtime under these rules, 5 (7.2%) of which ended in a tie.\n\nNotes\nNotes\n\nFootnotes\n\nGeneral references\n\nExternal links\nNational Football League\nPro-Football-Reference.com: Years\n\nTied",
"Razor & Tie is an American entertainment company that consists of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles and Nashville), Razor & Tie releases are distributed by Universal Music Group.\n\nRazor & Tie initially focused on compilation albums and re-issues. Directly marketed through television spots, the label had early success with 70s, 80s and 90s-themed albums, beginning with Those Fabulous 70s in 1990. A retail label was launched in 1995 to release new albums from established and developing artists, including Dar Williams, Graham Parker and Marshall Crenshaw. Razor & Tie continued to expand their rock signings, and by 2016, with releases by artists including The Pretty Reckless, Starset, All That Remains and Red Sun Rising it had become a leader in the genre.\n\nIn 2001, Balsam and Chenfeld created Kidz Bop, a series of albums with young singers covering pop hits. As of 2016, Kidz Bop had sold more than 16 million albums, 22 of which debuted in the Top 10 on the Billboard charts, Kidz Bop holds the title for the most Top 10 debuts of any artist in this century. Releases on Razor & Tie have cumulatively exceeded sales of 45 million physical and digital albums, singles, videos and DVDs.\n\nA music publishing division was founded in 2007, and in 2014 Razor & Tie launched Washington Square Records, an alternative leaning label. In 2015 Concord Bicycle acquired an undisclosed percentage of Razor & Tie, which now operates as New Razor & Tie Enterprises LLC, a joint venture. Concord fully acquired Razor & Tie on January 17, 2018. As of May 2018, Razor & Tie operates as an imprint of Concord Music's Fearless Records label.\n\nCraig Balsam\nCraig Balsam is an American businessman, film producer, co-founder and co-CEO of Razor & Tie, an American entertainment company. Balsam grew up in Millburn, New Jersey, graduated from Emory College and earned his law degree from New York University where he met fellow student Cliff Chenfeld. After practicing law for several years, Balsam and Chenfeld left their law jobs in 1990 and formed Razor & Tie, an independent record label. The label initially focused on compilation albums (Monster Ballads) and reissues and has since become one of the leading rock labels in the country with artists such as The Pretty Reckless, Starset, All That Remains, The Sword and Red Sun Rising. In recent years the company has added Washington Square, an alternative leaning imprint and a music publishing company. Razor & Tie Publishing is responsible for No. 1 hits including \"Home\" by Phillip Phillips, \"God Gave Me You\" by Blake Shelton, \"Whiskey in My Water\" by Tyler Farr, \"We Went\" by Randy Houser and \"Alone With You\" by Jake Owen.\n\nIn 2001, Balsam and Chenfeld launched Kidz Bop, a series of audio releases of kids singing pop hits that are appropriate for children. The franchise has sold more than 16 million albums and become the leading kids' audio brand in the country. Kidz Bop has expanded significantly to include a national tour, merchandise, music videos and a channel on Sirius XM.\n\nBalsam has been the executive producer of a number of films including Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound and The Last Five Years and theatrical productions including Small Mouth Sounds.\n\nHistory\n\n1990–1995: Beginnings, compilation albums, reissues\nRazor & Tie was founded by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld, who met while in law school at NYU. Musicians as well as music fans, they played and wrote songs together while pursuing their degrees and continued to collaborate after they had begun working as lawyers. Following several years of practicing separately at large, corporate firms, Balsam and Chenfeld began to explore the idea of releasing records from the 70s. \"We really didn't enjoy practicing law as much as we enjoyed music. So we began to think about ways we could maybe change our careers,\" Chenfeld said in 2010. In 1990, they founded Razor & Tie, naming the company after a song they had written while working as lawyers.\n\nIn late 1990, working out of Chenfeld's apartment, Razor & Tie released their first record, Those Fabulous 70s, a compilation of AM radio hits. It was sold through a late-night television spot presented by The '70s Preservation Society, a fictitious entity that Balsam and Chenfeld had created to market the album. Through the commercial—which featured a \"leisure-suited fellow with a tie so wide you could land a helicopter on it\"—the album sold in excess of 100,000 copies. Those Fabulous 70s was followed by a successful series of genre-specific 70s records and 80s compilations, and in 1994 alone Razor & Tie sold more than 1 million albums. Living in the 90s, released in 1995, was the label's bestselling album of the period; its success helped to establish Razor & Tie as the largest direct response music company in the United States.\n\n \nRazor & Tie's early business model also focused on reissues. With less overhead than larger record companies and an ability to focus on niche marketing, the company licensed titles from major labels which, at the time, would not have otherwise been released on CD. \"It was great because we were allowed to get into a lot of music that we loved, and it was a business scale that worked very well for us. At the time, if we sold twenty thousand copies of something we could make that work, and sometimes, we'd sell one hundred or two hundred and we'd make that work,\" Chenfeld said. The first album Razor & Tie reissued was The Up Escalator by Graham Parker and the Rumour. It was followed by a series of reissues with added bonus material and comprehensive career retrospectives from artists a wide range of artists including Glen Campbell, King Curtis, Joe Meek and Merle Haggard.\n\n1995–2000: Retail label, Dar Williams, Monsters releases \nIn 1995, with an office in Greenwich Village, Razor & Tie launched a new music division. They released new albums by established artists such as Marshall Crenshaw, Joan Baez, and Graham Parker, which allowed Razor & Tie to focus on broadening audiences rather than developing new ones. (Parker had recorded for seven major labels. \"The idea of having advertisements say Graham Parker's 'minor label debut' was appealing to me,\" he said.)\n\nThe first new artist signed to Razor & Tie was Dar Williams, who released her debut album The Honesty Room in February 1995. A single from the album, \"When I Was a Boy\" received significant radio play, and the album went on to become one of the best selling independent folk albums of the year. Williams toured with labelmate Baez, who covered one of Williams' songs. In a 1995 interview with Billboard, Williams noted the similarities in their careers. \"There were parallels in choosing a less flashy label over a more flashy label,\" she said. \"Vanguard (Baez' first label) chose to do things more pared down and acoustic, which is what the label I chose is allowing me to do.\" Each of Williams' first five Razor & Tie releases sold more than 100,000 albums.\n\nRazor & Tie also had significant success with Cledus T. Judd, the \"Weird Al Yankovic of Country Music\". He released four albums on the label between 1995 and 1999, including I Stoled This Record, which was certified gold, and Did I Shave My Back for This? which hit the top 20 on the country music charts.\n\nIn 1997, Razor & Tie released the 2-CD set Monsters of Rock, a compilation of hits by 1980s glam metal bands. Released in December through an \"appropriately over the top, tongue-in-cheek\" two-minute television spot, an abbreviated version was launched at retail the following June. Before the end of the year, it had sold 150,000 copies through direct channels and was certified gold through traditional sales. Monsters of Rock was followed in 1998 by Monster Ballads, an \"aerosol-enhanced\" compilation. With a December TV spot and a June retail debut, it was certified platinum in early 2000.\n\nRazor & Tie created Razor & Tie Media in 1997 to provide media buying for its own releases as well as releases from other record companies. In 1999, the label signed a distribution deal with BMG, which was transferred to Sony Music when BMG and Sony merged in 2003.\n\n2000–2010: Kidz Bop, DVD and video releases, Razor & Tie Music Publishing \nIn 2000, Balsam and Chenfeld created Kidz Bop, a series of records of kids singing pop hits that are appropriate for children. The first compilation, a two-CD set, was released in October 2001. Sixteen of the 17 Kidz Bop albums that came out over the next 10 years debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Kids charts. In 2009, Balsam and Chenfeld decided to expand Kidz Bop by establishing Kidz Bop Kids, who perform the songs both on record and on The Kidz Bop tour. The franchise now includes a radio channel on Sirius XM.\n\nOther successful Razor & Tie titles in the early 2000s included the DVD release of Biggie & Tupac and Darren's Dance Grooves, a workout DVD by choreographer Darrin Henson. Available only as a video and DVD, it charted at No. 1 in its category, and \"seeped into the mainstream culture\". It ultimately surpassed 1.5 million in sales. 2003's Deja Entendu by Brand New, signed through a joint venture with Triple Crown Records, was certified gold; one of Rolling Stone'''s \"Top 40 Emo Records of All Time\", it \"redefined the genre\".\n\nBy the end of the decade, Razor & Tie had begun phasing out the compilation albums and was primarily focused on new albums by established and developing artists. Through a label deal with Prosthetic, they signed All That Remains, whose six Razor & Tie albums had cumulative sales of more than 1 million.\n\nIn 2005, Razor & Tie began distributing the releases of Sh-K- Boom/Ghostlight Records, the Broadway cast recording label. Best-selling releases from Sh-K- Boom/Ghostlight have included the original cast recordings of Book of Mormon, Beautiful, In The Heights, Next To Normal, and Legally Blonde.\n\nIn 2007, the company founded Razor & Tie Music Publishing (RTMP). Self-administered in North America, it was aligned with a global team of sub-publishers throughout the rest of the world.\n\n 2010–present: Rock dominance, Concord Bicycle Music Group, Washington Square Records, RTMP #1s, Analog Spark \nIn 2010, Razor & Tie established a joint venture imprint, Artery/Razor & Tie, with the Artery Foundation, a Sacramento-based management company. It released records by artists including Attila and Chelsea Grin. The joint venture concluded in 2014.\n\nIn 2012, Razor & Tie Music Publishing appeared for the second consecutive quarter in the Top 10 Billboard Country Publishers airplay chart. They had three No. 1 country hits in less than 12 months with \"God Gave Me You\", performed by Blake Shelton and written by singer/songwriter Dave Barnes, \"Alone With You\" performed by Jake Owen and co-written by Catt Gravitt and Shelton's \"Over\", co-written by David Elliott. Among other successful songs, \"We Went\", co-written by RTMP songwriter John King went to No. 1, and Greg Holden's song \"Home\" (as performed by American Idol Winner Phillip Phillips) hit No. 1 on 10 Billboard charts. As of 2016, the song was five times platinum. \"Whiskey in My Water\", performed by Tyler Farr and co-written with Phillip LaRue, also hit No. 1. In 2014, RTMP relocated its Nashville headquarters to a converted warehouse space In the SoBro neighborhood near Cannery Row. It houses several recording studios, writer and listening rooms, a rehearsal space, and a performance area.\n\nWith hit records from The Pretty Reckless, All That Remains, and Starset, Razor & Tie was the most successful independent rock label of the year, and the second strongest rock label overall in 2014. That same year, the company launched Washington Square Records. An alternative leaning label, Washington Square has since released records by artists including MOTHXR, Austin Plaine, Soren Bryce, My Jerusalem, and The Low Anthem. Analog Spark, an audiophile imprint focused on the reissue of classic, critically acclaimed albums on 180-gram vinyl and SACD was established in February 2015. Analog Spark's first releases included titles from Glenn Gould and Dave Brubeck as well as the original cast recordings of My Fair Lady and West Side Story.\n\nIn 2015, Billboard'' published its inaugural \"Greatest of All Time\" rankings, a comprehensive collection of the best-selling songs, albums and artists in music history. With 22 Top 10 debuts since 2001, Kidz Bop was No. 4 on the \"Most Billboard 200 Top 10 Albums\" list, just behind The Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand, The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Kidz Bop held the fourth-highest tally of any artist in history and the most Top 10 debuts of any artist since 2000.\n\nAfter 25 years of operating independently, in September 2015, Concord Bicycle Music acquired a \"significant\" percentage of Razor & Tie to form Razor & Tie Enterprises, LLC. Under the new venture, Concord Bicycle will administer Razor & Tie Music Publishing, support the expansion of the Kidz Bop franchise, and provide other strategic resources. Balsam and Chenfeld remain the company's co-CEOs.\n\nIn April 2018, RT Industries, a new label created by Razor & Tie's founders, was launched, acquiring earlier the catalogs of several Warner Music Group artists, including Fat Joe and Sheena Easton. Warner Music Group, now through ADA division, markets them digitally.\n\nRazor & Tie roster\n\nAssociated labels\nFearless Records\nSh-K-Boom / Ghostlight\nArtery Recordings\nProsthetic Records\nAnalog Spark\nFat Beats\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nAmerican record labels\n1990 establishments in New York City\nRecord labels established in 1990\nReissue record labels\nPop record labels\nRock record labels\nHeavy metal record labels\nFolk record labels"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he break any records?",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,",
"Did he compete in the Olympics?",
"He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.",
"Who are some competitors be beat?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he tie any records?",
"he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash,"
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | Who was the tie against? | 7 | Who was the the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, tie against? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | true | [
"Spain is a nation that has competed at the Hopman Cup tournament on fourteen occasions, their first appearance coming at the 2nd annual staging of the event in 1990. They have won the tournament four times: in 1990, 2002, 2010 and 2013. They were also the runners-up on two occasions: in 1993 and 2007.\n\nPlayers\nThis is a list of players who have played for Spain in the Hopman Cup.\n\nResults\n\n1 Having already won the two singles rubbers and thus the title, Germany conceded the mixed doubles dead rubber against Spain in the 1993 final. This gave the Germans a 2–1 victory overall.\n2 In 1999, Spain did not compete in their final tie against South Africa. They were instead replaced by Zimbabwe.\n3 In 2002, Spain's final round robin tie against Australia was cancelled, with Australia giving Spain a 3–0 walkover. This was due to Australian opponent, Lleyton Hewitt, being diagnosed with chicken pox and being unable to compete. The women's singles match was, however, played as an exhibition match.\n4 In the 2007 final against Russia, the mixed doubles dead rubber was not played.\n5 In the tie against Romania in 2010, opponent Victor Hănescu was forced to retire during the men's singles and forfeit the mixed doubles, contributing two points to Spain's 3–0 victory over Romania.\n6 In the 2012 tie against France, the dead mixed doubles rubber was not played.\n\nReferences\n\nHopman Cup teams\nHopman Cup",
"Acorralados (English: Corralled) is the third Spanish season of The Farm. This season aired on Telecinco after the two first seasons were aired on Antena 3 under the name La Granja. The season began on 15 September 2011, taking over from Supervivientes 2011. Magnolia TV España bought the format from Strix. The hosts were Jorge Javier Vázquez, at the central studio in Madrid, and Raquel Sánchez Silva, from the farm. The Farm was located in a 30 inhabitants mountain village named Lodeña, in Asturias. It's the spin-off of the format, previously broadcast on Antena 3, La Granja\n\nContestants\n\nNominations\n\n Farmhouse Leader\n Immune\n\nNominations and eviction notes\n\n Note 1: At the first round of nominations, the male contestants were immune. Mª Ángeles was also immune as she was who lost the duel against Bárbara. There was a tie between Regina and Brenda and Bárbara broke the tie and chose Brenda as first nominee. Brenda was nominated by the female contestants, Regina was nominated by the male contestants and Blanca was nominated by the FarmHouse leader.\n Note 2: At the second round of nominations, the male contestants were immune. Mª Ángeles was also immune as she was who lost the duel against Sonia. There was a tie between Bárbara and Blanca and Sonia broke the tie and chose Blanca as first nominee. Blanca was nominated by the female contestants, Bárbara was nominated by the male contestants and Nagore was nominated by the FarmHouse leader.\n Note 3: At the third round of nominations, the male contestants were immune. Brenda was also immune as she lost the duel against Nagore. Blanca was nominated by the female contestants, Sonia was nominated by the male contestants, and Mª Ángeles was nominated by the FarmHouse leader.\n Note 4: At the fourth round of nominations, Leticia was immune as she was who lost the duel against Antonio David.\n Note 5: Four new contestants arrive to the farm: Liberto, Álvaro, Raquel and Úrsula. At the fifth round of nominations, Mª Ángeles was immune as she lost the duel against Blanca. Dioni was nominated by the farm leader, Antonio David and Nagore by the main contestants. The new contestants nominated Leticia between the three contestants not nominated Leticia, Raúl and Reche.\n Note 6: The sixth round of nominations was to save. As Antonio David and Mª Ángeles did not receive any vote to save, the farm leader, Reche, had to choose the first nominee between them. The four new contestants voted to evict Raúl; he was the second nominee. Finally Reche nominated Nagore as third nominee.\n Note 7: Liberto had 1 extra point as he told information from outside world. Reche was immune as he was who lost the duel against Álvaro.\n Note 8: On day 50, a public vote among Leticia, Regina and Sonia was open to re-enter into the show. Regina won the vote and she was immune that round. Raquel, Liberto and Blanca had one extra point for talking about the outside world. Reche was immune as he was who lost the duel against Álvaro\n Note 9: Reche was automatically nominated because he broke the rules. Dioni was immune as he was who lost the duel against Álvaro.\n Note 10: Dioni was ejected because he suffered health issues and was suggested to leave the show.\n Note 11: To replace Dioni, a public vote was open to choose between Antonio David, Mª Ángeles and Raúl. With 54% of the votes, Mª Ángeles was chosen to re-enter. She entered on day 67.\n Note 12: Regina was immune as she was who failed the duel against Nagore. Nagore had to break the tie between Álvaro, Liberto and Úrsula, she saved Úrsula but later as farmleader she nominated her.\n Note 13: Mª Ángeles was automatically nominated as she revealed information from the outside world. Since this round, the person who loses the duel is not immune anymore.\n Note 14: There was a tie between Liberto and Raquel with 2 votes. Nagore, as farmleader, had to break the tie and she chose Liberto as the first nominee. Then she nominated Regina as the second one.\n Note 15: The three contestants competed in a challenge and Blanca finished in last place so she was the first nominee. The ex-contestants nominated to choose the second nominee; they chose Nagore. Raquel became the first finalist.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial site\n\nTelevision series by Endemol\nThe Farm (franchise)\nSpanish reality television series"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he break any records?",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,",
"Did he compete in the Olympics?",
"He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.",
"Who are some competitors be beat?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he tie any records?",
"he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash,",
"Who was the tie against?",
"Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year."
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | Did he break any other records? | 8 | Besides the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash,Did Bob Hayes break any other records? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | false | [
"Break the Records: By You & For You (stylized as Break the Records -by you & for you-) is the fourth studio album by Japanese boy band KAT-TUN and was released in Japan on April 29, 2009 by J-One Records. The album was released in two editions: a limited edition version with a 36-page photo booklet included and a regular edition which features the bonus track, \"Moon\".\n\nIt was the last album to feature Jin Akanishi.\n\nContent\nFourth album release from KAT-TUN including the songs \"Don't U Ever Stop,\" \"White X'mas (album version),\" \"One Drop,\" \"Rescue,\" and more for 15 songs total. Regular edition includes one bonus track \"Moon\". Limited Edition includes special booklet. Features alternate jacket artwork. Adam Greenburg on Allmusic gave the album three out of five stars, stating that \"this [album] probably isn't the best KAT-TUN album by any measure, but it shows a lot of incremental gains in ability and composition over previous efforts. The rawest energy and emotion captured by the band in some other releases may not always be present, but on Break the Records KAT-TUN nevertheless take a lot of steps in the right direction toward being a more mature band.\"\n\nTrack listing\n\nChart positions\nRIAJ certified Break the Records: By You & For You platinum denoting more than 250,000 shipments by September 2009.\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\nKAT-TUN albums\n2009 albums",
"Donna Cruz Sings Her Greatest Hits is the second compilation album by the Filipino singer Donna Cruz, released in the Philippines in 2001 by Viva Records. The album was Cruz's first album not to receive a PARI certification; all of her studio albums and a previous compilation album, The Best of Donna, were certified either gold or platinum. Though it was labeled as a greatest hits compilation, several songs on the track listing had not been released as singles, and some of Cruz's singles did not appear on the album.\n\nBackground\nReleased during Cruz's break from the entertainment industry, Donna Cruz Sings Her Greatest Hits did not include any newly recorded material. Cruz's version of \"Jubilee Song\", which was not found on any of Cruz's albums (as she never recorded studio albums after Hulog Ng Langit in 1999) was included. It was seen as an updated version of Cruz's greatest hits as it included her latest singles \"Hulog ng Langit\" and \"Ikaw Pala 'Yon\".\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\n2001 compilation albums\nViva Records (Philippines) compilation albums\nDonna Cruz albums"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he break any records?",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,",
"Did he compete in the Olympics?",
"He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.",
"Who are some competitors be beat?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he tie any records?",
"he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash,",
"Who was the tie against?",
"Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year.",
"Did he break any other records?",
"the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds."
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | Where else did he compete? | 9 | Besides the Olympics in 1964 in Tokyo, Where else did Bob Hayes compete? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | 200 meter dash. | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | false | [
"The Romania national futsal team represents Romania in international futsal competitions such as the FIFA Futsal World Cup and the European Championships and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation.\n\nTournament records\n\nFIFA Futsal World Cup\n 1989 - did not compete\n 1992 - did not compete\n 1996 - did not compete\n 2000 - did not compete\n 2004 - did not qualify\n 2008 - did not qualify\n 2012 - did not qualify\n 2016 - did not qualify\n 2020 - did not qualify\n\nUEFA Futsal Championship\n 1996 - did not compete\n 1999 - did not compete\n 2001 - did not compete\n 2003 - did not compete\n 2005 - did not qualify\n 2007 – 6th place\n 2010 - did not qualify\n 2012 – 7th place (Quarterfinals)\n 2014 – 6th place (Quarterfinals)\n 2016 - did not qualify\n 2018 – 12 place\n 2022 – TBD\n\nGrand Prix de Futsal\n 2005 – did not compete\n 2006 – did not compete\n 2007 – did not compete\n 2008 – did not compete\n 2009 – 3rd place\n 2010 – 14th place\n 2011 – did not compete\n 2013 – did not compete\n 2014 – did not compete\n 2015 – did not compete\n 2018 – did not compete\n\nCurrent squad\nSquad chosen for the UEFA Futsal Euro 2014.\n\nHead coach: Nelu Stancea\n\nResults and fixtures\n\nSee also\nRomania national beach soccer team\nRomania national football team\nRomania national minifootball team\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n UEFA profile\n\n \nRomania\nNational",
"The Switzerland national futsal team is controlled by the Swiss Football Association, the governing body for futsal in Switzerland and represents the country in international futsal competitions, such as the World Cup and the European Championships.\n\nCompetition history\n\nFIFA Futsal World Cup\n\n 1989 - did not compete\n 1992 - did not compete\n 1996 - did not compete\n 2000 - did not compete\n 2004 - did not compete\n 2008 - did not compete\n 2012 - did not qualify\n 2016 - did not qualify\n 2020 - did not qualify\n\nUEFA Futsal Championship\n\n 1996 - did not compete\n 1999 - did not compete\n 2001 - did not compete\n 2003 - did not compete\n 2005 - did not compete\n 2007 - did not compete\n 2010 - did not compete\n 2012 - did not qualify\n 2014 - did not qualify\n 2016 - did not qualify\n 2018 - did not qualify\n 2022 – did not qualify\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Swiss Football Association\n\nSwitzerland\nFutsal\nFutsal in Switzerland"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he break any records?",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,",
"Did he compete in the Olympics?",
"He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.",
"Who are some competitors be beat?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he tie any records?",
"he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash,",
"Who was the tie against?",
"Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year.",
"Did he break any other records?",
"the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.",
"Where else did he compete?",
"200 meter dash."
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | WHat is an interesting fact regarding his career? | 10 | Besides competing in the 200 meter dash, What is an interesting fact regarding Bob Hayes' career? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | false | [
"The Tamil Panar (or , ) were an ancient musical community of the Tamil area in India, attested from the classical Sangam texts onwards through medieval inscriptions. They sang their songs to the accompaniment of the yāl harp.\n\nIn fact medieval inscriptions present evidence for their performing Sanskrit drama and for singing and training temple dancers in hindu temples. As Palaniappan states therein: \"What is interesting about the traditional views regarding the social status of the Pāṇars is that they were not informed by any real data on the Pāṇars actually living in Tamil Nadu during medieval times. Such real data are indeed available to us from Tamil inscriptions, which present a drastically different picture of the social status of the Pāṇars\".\n\nNotable personages \n Tiru Nilakanta Yazhpanar (7th century CE)\n Thiruppaan Alvar (8–9th century CE)\n\nSee also \n Panar (Kundapura), a modern-day community of Karnataka\n\nReferences\n\nTamil history\nTamil",
"Andhra Pradesh is an official monthly magazine brought by the Department of Information and Public Relations Department of Government of Andhra Pradesh. The magazine was started in 1952. It is published in English, Telugu and Urdu languages from Hyderabad. The magazine provides information regarding developmental activities undertaken by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. It also features interesting articles of personality development, humor, career counselling, entertainment, short stories and poetry. There is an online edition of the magazine.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAndhra Pradesh magazine\n\n1952 establishments in India\nGovernment of Andhra Pradesh\nMonthly magazines published in India\nNews magazines published in India\nMagazines established in 1952\nMass media in Andhra Pradesh\nMass media in Hyderabad, India\nMultilingual magazines\nState media"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he break any records?",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,",
"Did he compete in the Olympics?",
"He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.",
"Who are some competitors be beat?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he tie any records?",
"he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash,",
"Who was the tie against?",
"Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year.",
"Did he break any other records?",
"the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.",
"Where else did he compete?",
"200 meter dash.",
"WHat is an interesting fact regarding his career?",
" He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions,"
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | WHat was his best time in the 100? | 11 | What was Bob Hayes best time in the 100 100 yard or 100 meter competitions? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | true | [
"Alex Nepomniaschy is an American cinematographer. He was born in Moscow in what was then the Soviet Union. Nepomniaschy graduated from the AFI Conservatory's cinematography program with a Master of Fine Arts in 1982.\n\nAwards\nAt the 1988 Sundance Film Festival, he won the Best Cinematographer Award for his work on Beirut: The Last Home Movie. In 1995 he was given awards for Best Cinematographer by the National Board of Review, and the Boston Society of Film Critics for the film Safe.\n\nNepomniaschy was nominated in 1989 for an award from the American Society of Cinematographers for the television series, Sable. And was nominated for Best Cinematography in the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards for Narc.\n\nFilmography\n Narc\n Safe\n Never Been Kissed\n Poltergeist III\n It's the Rage\n The Alarmist\n A Time for Dancing\n The End of Innocence\n Rites of Passage\n\nReferences\n\n1955 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Moscow\nAmerican cinematographers\nAFI Conservatory alumni",
"What Weekly is an online magazine published in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, focusing on the visual arts, popular culture, humor and writing. According to its tagline, What Weekly focuses on the beautiful in creative culture and beyond. It is produced by the creative agency What Works Studio.\n\nHistory\nThe magazine was established in 2009 by Brooke Hall and Justin Allen with the tagline \"Documenting the Baltimore Renaissance\". Allen said in an interview with Baltimore's City Paper, \"There didn't seem to be any good news about what was happening in Baltimore, people seem to have this perception that it’s a very negative place, but it’s really coming up. We’re hitting the brink of a really happening time in Baltimore.\"\n\nAwards\nWhat Weekly was named \"Best New Magazine\" in 2011 and \"Best Zine\" for 2013 by Baltimore magazine.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\nFeature In Huffington Post\nImportance Of Art Education\n\n2009 establishments in Maryland\nAlternative magazines\nVisual arts magazines published in the United States\nCultural magazines published in the United States\nOnline magazines published in the United States\nWeekly magazines published in the United States\nMagazines established in 2009\nMagazines published in Maryland\nMass media in Baltimore"
]
|
[
"Bob Hayes",
"College career",
"When did his college career begin?",
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he break any records?",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,",
"Did he compete in the Olympics?",
"He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.",
"Who are some competitors be beat?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he tie any records?",
"he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash,",
"Who was the tie against?",
"Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year.",
"Did he break any other records?",
"the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.",
"Where else did he compete?",
"200 meter dash.",
"WHat is an interesting fact regarding his career?",
" He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions,",
"WHat was his best time in the 100?",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years"
]
| C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | Who was his coach? | 12 | Who was Bob Hayes' coach? | Bob Hayes | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | Jake Gaither | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Bob Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith and retired by the team at the end of Smith's career.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as an erstwhile decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (both career touchdowns and yards per catch average remain franchise records.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the fourth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
1942 births
2002 deaths
African-American players of American football
American football wide receivers
American male sprinters
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Dallas Cowboys players
San Francisco 49ers players
Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Track and field athletes from Florida
Track and field athletes in the National Football League
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | true | [
"Billie Matthews (March 15, 1930 - December 7, 2001) was an American football coach who was the Offensive Coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts from 1985 to 1986. He was also the San Francisco 49ers Running Backs coach from 1979 to 1982, the Philadelphia Eagles Running Backs coach from 1983 to 1984, the Kansas City Chiefs Running Backs coach from 1987 to 1988, and the Detroit Lions defensive backs and running backs coach from 1989 to 1994.\n\nEarly life\nBillie Matthews was born in Houston Texas on March 15, 1930.\n\nCoaching career\n\nKashmere High School\nHis first coaching position came as the head coach at Kashmere High School. He was the head coach for 12 seasons, from 1959 to 1970.\n\nUCLA Bruins\nMatthews got a job as the defensive backs coach for the UCLA Bruins in 1971. He became the running backs coach the next year and was the coach until 1978.\n\nSan Francisco 49ers\nMatthews got his first NFL coaching job as the Running Backs coach for the San Francisco 49ers. He was coach when they won Super Bowl XVI. He was coach from 1979 to 1982.\n\nPhiladelphia Eagles\nHe was the running backs coach for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1983 to 1984.\n\nIndianapolis Colts\nFrom 1985 to 1986, he was the offensive coordinator and running backs coach for the Indianapolis Colts.\n\nKansas City Chiefs\nFrom 1987 to 1988, he was the running backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs.\n\nDetroit Lions\nHe was the defensive backs coach from 1989 to 1991 for the Detroit Lions. He switched to running backs coach from 1992 to 1994. For three years, he was the running backs coach of Barry Sanders.\n\nReferences\n\n1930 births\n2001 deaths\nSan Francisco 49ers coaches\nPhiladelphia Eagles coaches\nDetroit Lions coaches\nKansas City Chiefs coaches",
"This is a list of squads selected for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.\n\nGroup A\n\nAustralia\nCoach: Darren Lehmann\n\nBangladesh\nCoach: Chandika Hathurusingha\n\nEngland\nCoach: Trevor Bayliss\n\nChris Woakes was ruled out of the rest of the tournament after suffering a side-strain during England's opening match against Bangladesh. Steven Finn was added to the squad as his replacement.\n\nNew Zealand\nCoach: Mike Hesson\n\nGroup B\n\nIndia\nCoach: Anil Kumble\n\nAhead of the tournament Dinesh Karthik replaced Manish Pandey, who was ruled out with a side strain.\n\nPakistan\nCoach: Mickey Arthur\n\nUmar Akmal was included in the provisional squad named by the PCB, but failed a fitness test and was called back from England. Haris Sohail was named as his replacement.\n\nWahab Riaz was ruled out of the tournament with an ankle injury after his team's opening match. He was replaced in the squad by Rumman Raees.\n\nSri Lanka\nCoach: Graham Ford\n\nChamara Kapugedera injured his knee during the tournament and was replaced by Danushka Gunathilaka.\nKusal Perera was ruled out of the tournament with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Dhananjaya de Silva.\n\nSouth Africa\nCoach: Russell Domingo\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Squads on ESPN Cricinfo\n\nICC Champions Trophy squads\n2017 ICC Champions Trophy"
]
|
[
"Mohammed Omar",
"Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan"
]
| C_ad8f9d71e0534050949ca97f2b923db7_1 | Who is the leader of the Islamic Emirate? | 1 | Who is the leader of the Islamic Emirate? | Mohammed Omar | On 4 April 1996, supporters of Mullah Omar bestowed on him the title Amir al-Mu'minin ('myr lmw'mnyn, "Commander of the Faithful"), after he donned a cloak alleged to be that of Muhammad that was locked in a series of chests, held inside the Shrine of the Cloak in the city of Kandahar. Legend decreed that whoever could retrieve the cloak from the chest would be the great Leader of the Muslims, or "Amir al-Mu'minin". In September 1996, Kabul fell to Mullah Omar and his followers. The civil war continued in the northeast corner of the country, near Tajikistan. The nation was named the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in October 1997 and was recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Described as a "reclusive, pious and frugal" leader, Omar very seldom left his residence in the city of Kandahar, and visited Kabul only twice between 1996 and 2001 during his tenure as ruler of Afghanistan. In November 2001, during a radio interview with the BBC, Omar stated: "All Taliban are moderate. There are two things: extremism ['ifraat', or doing something to excess] and conservatism ['tafreet', or doing something insufficiently]. So in that sense, we are all moderates - taking the middle path." According to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, Mullah Omar stated in the late 1990s, "We have told Osama [Bin Laden] not to use Afghan soil to carry out political activities as it creates unnecessary confusion about Taliban objectives." In 1998, despite receiving a personal invitation from Saudi Arabia's ruler, King Fahd, Omar refused to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and wouldn't do one in his lifetime. Mullah Omar was also "Head of the Supreme Council of Afghanistan". CANNOTANSWER | "Amir al-Mu'minin". | false | [
"The government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, referred to by the Taliban Islamic Movement as the Islamic Emirate, is the governing authority and system of Afghanistan. After the Afghan Civil War in 1996 until its overthrow in the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the system of the Islamic Emirate governed a majority of Afghanistan. The governing structure of the Islamic Emirate was maintained throughout the ensuing Taliban insurgency, but did not govern the country. After the Fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021, the Islamic Emirate again became the de facto governing system of Afghanistan.\n\nThe Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is temporarily governed under the Constitution of Afghanistan from 1964, amended to be compliant with Sharia law. However, the provisional constitution is currently unenforced to date. On September 23, 2021, the Taliban Islamic Movement announced a constitutional commission will be formed in 2022 to draft a permanent constitution. Others believe that a constitution drafted by the Ulema-e-Jaid in 1998 under Mohammed Omar is currently being enforced.\n\nPolitical power is vested with the Leader and Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, collectively referred to as the Leadership of the Islamic Emirate. Final approval concerning religious, public, military policy, and appointments, is made by the Leader in consultation with the Leadership Council. As a result, the Leadership Council appoints and oversees the work of the Council of Ministers, the general staff of the Islamic Emirate Army, Supreme Court, provincial governors, and municipal leaders.\n\nLeadership of the Islamic Emirate \n\nThe de facto decision-making body of Afghanistan is officially called the Leadership of the Islamic Emirate, consisting of the Leader and Leadership Council. Both entities are based out of Kandahar.\n\nLeader \n\nOfficially known as the leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the position is the de facto head of state and supreme leader of Afghanistan. Currently, the Leadership Council appoints a new leader upon the death, or resignation of the former leader. Historically, the first deputy leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has always chosen as successor. There is no fixed term limit for the position, with the incumbent always holding office for life.\n\nIn the current political setup the Leader exercises final approval on major appointments and decisions made by the Islamic Emirate. The Leader makes all senior legislative, executive, judicial, provincial and municipal appointments and/or dismissals for the Islamic Emirate. These institutions include the members and commission heads of the Leadership Council, Council of Ministers, Supreme Court, and Islamic Emirate Army, provinces, and municipalities. The Leader also directly appoints the Minister of Defence, Minister of Interior Affairs, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Outside of appointments, and in conjunction with the Leadership Council, the Leader officially exercises oversight of the work of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. The Leader may also issue decrees and/or special instructions through the Leadership Office directing the work of the judiciary, cabinet, and provincial governors.\n\nLeadership Council \nOfficially called the Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and also known by its Pashto name Rahbari Shura, the Leadership Council is a consultative body to the Leader and deliberative body of the Islamic Emirate. In reality it functions as the de facto executive branch of the Islamic Emirate. Its members are appointed by the Leader who in turn choose their successor.\n\nThe Leadership Council is made up of 30 members, 18 of them being heads of the various commissions and departments making up the council. In reality, the Leadership Council exercises de facto political power over Afghanistan instead of the Council of Ministers as 30 of the 33 members make up the Council of Ministers. Because of this, most decisions made by the cabinet are really made in direct consultation and approval with the Leader and Leadership Council. There is no transparency as the meetings of the Leadership Council are not recorded, and the membership of the body is mostly unverified.\n\nThe following bodies make up the Leadership Council:\n\n Political Office (formerly Commission for Political Affairs)\n Leadership Office\n Commission of Military Affairs\n Commission for Cultural Affairs\n Commission for Financial Affairs\n Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs\n Commission for Training, Learning and Higher Education\n Commission for Agriculture, Livestock, Ushr and Zakat\n Commission for Prevention of Civilian Casualties and Complaints\n Commission for Preaching and Guidance, Recruitment and Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice\n Department for the Affairs of Needy, Orphans and Disabled\n Department of Power Distribution\n Guidance and Invitation Commission\n Economic Commission\n Health Commission\n Institutional Commission\n Border Commission\n Intelligence Commission\n Mining Commission\n\nExecutive \nThe cabinet of Afghanistan, officially known as the Council of Ministers is the de jure executive branch of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Ministers making up the Council of Ministers, are presided over by the Prime Minister with assistance of the First, Second, and Third Deputy Prime Ministers.\n\nPrime Minister\nThe position is officially known as the Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which presides over the Council of Ministers and is supposed to act as the head of government. Currently the Leader formally appoints and/or dismisses the prime minister and cabinet on independently or on recommendation from the Leadership Council.\n\nIn reality the Prime Minister mainly presides over meetings of the Council of Ministers and oversees the functioning of the civil service.\n\nCouncil of Ministers\n\nThe cabinet, officially referred to as the Council of Ministers of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is the de jure executive body of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In practice the ministries under the cabinet carry out the decisions of a respective commission or department within the Leadership Council. The minister in charge in most cases is also the head of that commission. Independent decisions made by the Prime Minister and cabinet pertain primarily to the operation of the civil service.\n\nJudiciary \n\nThe judiciary of Afghanistan currently consists of the Supreme Court, appeals courts, civil courts and city courts. All justices of the appeals, civil and city courts are presided over by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.\n\nThe judicial system is heavily criticized by legal and human rights for the complete lack of due process, extreme punishments, and lack of legal representation for defendants. However others argue that due to government corruption, the Taliban's judicial system is more quicker and effective at dispensing justice. Because of this, Talibani courts were often sought out by locals in rural areas to resolve cases.\n\nSupreme Court\n\nThe Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate is the final court of appeal in Afghanistan. Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, who is Minister of Justice, currently presides over the court as Chief Justice. Beneath him are two deputy justices; Mohammad Qasim Rasikh and Sheikh Abdul Malik.\n\nCourt of Appeals\n\nThe Court of Appeals are the court of second instance at the provincial level. Each court is currently presided over by a chief Justice appointed by the Supreme Court.\n\nCivil Courts\nCivil Courts operate at the provincial level in seven provinces of Afghanistan as a civil court of first instance, operating on the same level of the provincial Court of Appeals. As its name implies civil cases currently are handled at this level in their respective province. Each civil court is currently presided over by a chief justice appointed by the Supreme Court.\n\nProvinces that currently have civil courts as of 2021 are Baghlan, Samangan, Faryab, Sar-I-Pul, Kunar, Maidan Wardak, and Nuristan.\n\nCity and Municipal Courts\nCity Courts function as the court of first instance at the municipal level across Afghanistan. Each court is currently presided over by a chief justice appointed by the Supreme Court.\n\nAdministrative divisions\n\nProvinces\n\nThe provinces are headed by governors who are appointed by the Leader in consultation with the Leadership Council. The Governor in turn oversees the governing of the province through various departments to handle different aspects of governance, which are parallel to the ministries that make up the Council of Ministers on the national level. The provincial governor presided over several district governors who were also appointed by the Leadership of the Islamic Emirate.\n\nDistricts\nAs with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, provinces are composed of several districts presided over by a governor. As with the provincial governor, the district's governor oversees their area's respective civil service.\n\nSecurity forces \n\nInternal and external security of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan are the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior Affairs and Ministry of Defence respectively. The heads of these two respective ministries are Mohammed Yaqoob, head of the Military Affairs Commission within the Rahbari Shura and son of Mullah Omar, and Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani Network.\n\nCurrently the Islamic Emirate Army is subdivided into eight corps, mostly superseding the previous corps of the Afghan National Army. In November 2021 Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid, Acting Minister of Defense, announced the new names and of the corps.\n\nReferences\n\n \nTaliban\nIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan",
"The Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is the court of last resort of the Taliban's justice system and—since the 2021 fall of Kabul—of Afghanistan. The court was established during the Taliban's first regime in the 1990s and was maintained throughout the Taliban insurgency after the 2001 fall of Kabul. The current chief justice is Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, who was appointed in 2016 after the previous chief justice, Hibatullah Akhundzada, was named Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.\n\nFunctions \nThe supreme court appoints all appellate and city court judges in Afghanistan. 69 appointments to lower courts were made on 15 December 2021.\n\nList of chief justices \nNoor Mohammad Saqib (1990s–2001)\nHibatullah Akhundzada (2001–2016)\nAbdul Hakim Ishaqzai (2016–present)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences \n\nIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan",
"The leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan () is the supreme leader of the Taliban and—since the 2021 fall of Kabul—the de facto ruler of Afghanistan. From 1996 to 2013, the title was Leader of the Islamic Emirate or Supreme Leader. During Mohammed Omar’s tenure as leader during the Taliban’s insurgency, he also held the title of Supreme Leader of the Mujahideen in his role as supreme commander of the movement’s insurgents. During the Taliban’s first regime from 1996 to 2001, then-leader Mullah Omar held the additional title \"Head of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan\", which was only held by Omar.\n\nHistory \nThe office was established by Mullah Mohammed Omar, who founded both the Taliban and the original Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in the 1990s. In 1996, in Kandahar, followers of Omar bestowed upon him the title Amir al-Mu'minin (أمير المؤمنين), meaning \"Commander of the Faithful\", as Omar had donned a cloak taken from its shrine in the city, asserted to be that of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Commander of the Faithful was not a governmental position but rather a religious and honorary title. After the Taliban seized the Afghan capital of Kabul in 1996, the organization instated a \"Supreme Council of Afghanistan\" and proclaimed Omar as the council's head on 27 September of that year; in this capacity, Omar acted as the country's head of state.\n\nFollowing the September 11 attacks and the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Omar was deposed and the office of Head of the Supreme Council was replaced by a presidency. Nevertheless, all subsequent leaders of the Taliban have borne the title of Commander of the Faithful.\n\nFollowing its offensive in 2021, the Taliban recaptured Kabul after the United States withdrew its forces on 15 August of that year and became Afghanistan's new de facto government again.\n\nSelection \n\nUnder the draft constitution of the first Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan the head of state would be selected by an Islamic Council and hold the title \"Leader of the Faithful\".\n\nPowers and duties \n\nUnder Mohammed Omar, the Head of the Supreme Council held absolute power, and the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia was entirely his decision.\n\nIt is unclear what exactly the current role of the Emir is, but under the 1998 draft constitution of the first Islamic Emirate, the Leader of the Faithful would appoint justices of the Supreme Court.\n\nUnder the current government however, the Emir has final authority on political appointments, as well as political, religious, and military affairs. The Emir carries out much of his work through the Rabbari Shura, or the Leadership Council, which oversees the work of the Cabinet of Afghanistan, and appointment of individuals to key posts within the cabinet.\n\nHowever, in a report from Al Jazeera, the cabinet has no authority, with all decisions being made confidentiality by Akhundzada and the Rahbari Shura in Kandahar.\n\nList of leaders\n\nTimeline\n\nDeputy Leader \n\nAll three leaders of the Taliban have had deputies, with the number of deputies fluctuating between one and three. Akhundzada has three deputies: Sirajuddin Haqqani, Mohammad Yaqoob, and Abdul Ghani Baradar. Haqqani was first appointed as a deputy leader by Akhtar Mansour in 2015, and was retained by Akhundzada. Upon assuming office in 2016, Akhundzada appointed Yaqoob, a son of Mullah Omar, as a second deputy. Akhundzada appointed Baradar as a third deputy in 2019, with a special responsibility for political affairs.\n\nSee also \n List of heads of state of Afghanistan\n List of Taliban leaders, which includes lower-level figures\n President of Afghanistan\n History of Afghanistan\n Government of Afghanistan\n Politics of Afghanistan\n\nNotes\n\nReferences \n\nHead of the Islamic Emirate\nHeads of state of Afghanistan\n \nPositions of authority\nReligious leadership roles\nTheocrats\nEmirs\n1994 establishments in Afghanistan"
]
|
|
[
"Mohammed Omar",
"Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan",
"Who is the leader of the Islamic Emirate?",
"\"Amir al-Mu'minin\"."
]
| C_ad8f9d71e0534050949ca97f2b923db7_1 | Who are their main enemies at this time? | 2 | Who are the Islamic Emirate's enemies at the time of Mohammed Omar? | Mohammed Omar | On 4 April 1996, supporters of Mullah Omar bestowed on him the title Amir al-Mu'minin ('myr lmw'mnyn, "Commander of the Faithful"), after he donned a cloak alleged to be that of Muhammad that was locked in a series of chests, held inside the Shrine of the Cloak in the city of Kandahar. Legend decreed that whoever could retrieve the cloak from the chest would be the great Leader of the Muslims, or "Amir al-Mu'minin". In September 1996, Kabul fell to Mullah Omar and his followers. The civil war continued in the northeast corner of the country, near Tajikistan. The nation was named the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in October 1997 and was recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Described as a "reclusive, pious and frugal" leader, Omar very seldom left his residence in the city of Kandahar, and visited Kabul only twice between 1996 and 2001 during his tenure as ruler of Afghanistan. In November 2001, during a radio interview with the BBC, Omar stated: "All Taliban are moderate. There are two things: extremism ['ifraat', or doing something to excess] and conservatism ['tafreet', or doing something insufficiently]. So in that sense, we are all moderates - taking the middle path." According to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, Mullah Omar stated in the late 1990s, "We have told Osama [Bin Laden] not to use Afghan soil to carry out political activities as it creates unnecessary confusion about Taliban objectives." In 1998, despite receiving a personal invitation from Saudi Arabia's ruler, King Fahd, Omar refused to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and wouldn't do one in his lifetime. Mullah Omar was also "Head of the Supreme Council of Afghanistan". CANNOTANSWER | Mullah Omar | false | [
"is a 1989 side-scrolling beat-em-up released by Konami for the arcades. The players takes control of a duo (or squad) of undercover police officers who are assigned to rescue a group of kidnapped damsels from a crime boss and his army of punks.\n\nMuch like Konami's arcade version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (released during the same year), the game was available in a four-player dedicated cabinet, as well as a conversion kit that was available in 2-player and 4-player versions (meant for either Atari Games' Gauntlet or Konami's own Main Event). Unlike Ninja Turtles, each player character is identical, save for each one sporting a different palette swapped color. Crime Fighters was followed by a sequel titled Vendetta (released in Japan as Crime Fighters 2).\n\nGameplay\nIn the four-player versions, each player position has its own coin slot and each credit value adds around a hundred health points to that position which slowly drains one health point per tick (similar to Gauntlet). Players are able to accidentally hit each other and cause allies to drop their weapons permanently. After defeating the boss at the end of each level, if the game has more than one current player then the players are given a time limit that refreshes when a player is hurt and tells the players to fight as long as they want and lose health. While some health is granted at the end of the time limit, it is possible to lose more health than granted during this fight. The two-player version gives players a set number of lives and the health/timer system is replaced with a life meter and life counter similar to other beat-em-ups.\n\nPlayers start in the first level of play, the subway. Upon knocking down the first few enemies, a large icon instructs player to kick downed opponents. There are buttons to punch and kick; pressing both performs a spinning jump kick. It is also possible to grab enemies and attack them, as well as kick them in the groin to stun them. Many enemies have weapons. Certain enemies always use knives to attack, while some \"punk\" enemies will have lead pipes and later enemies have handguns. Upon killing these enemies a player may pick up a weapon and use it indefinitely (including handguns in the two-player versions), however if players are hit once, the players will drop the item and it will disappear (except for the handguns in the four player versions, provided that they have ammo).\n\nIn the final stage, the final boss throws a key to the players and tells them to pick it up. Doing so will allow the boss to pull out a machine gun and shoot at the players. Should the player run out of health at this point, the game will end and a bad ending will be seen with the final boss telling the players to try again. The player however can choose not to get the key and kick (or shoot if the player has a handgun) the main villain repeatedly until he is defeated. Upon winning the game, player will then be subjected to a difficult final all boss round where the players must kill every boss in the game, who all appear on screen at once. If all the bosses are beaten, the game will either end or repeat endlessly.\n\nReception \nIn Japan, Game Machine listed Crime Fighters on their August 1, 1989 issue as being the third most-successful table arcade unit at the time.\n\nSee also\nViolent Storm\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nCrime Fighters at Arcade History\n\n1989 video games\nArcade video games\nArcade-only video games\nBeat 'em ups\nCooperative video games\nKonami franchises\nKonami games\nMultiplayer and single-player video games\nSide-scrolling beat 'em ups\nVideo games about police officers\nVideo games developed in Japan\nKonami arcade games\n\nja:クライムファイターズ#クライムファイターズ",
"\"Who Needs Enemies?\" is the third and final single released from The Cooper Temple Clause's debut album, See This Through and Leave. It peaked at number twenty-two on the UK Singles Chart.\n\nMusic video\nIn the video, the band seem to be performing the song fairly calmly in their studio, but suddenly launch into destroying it completely. It collapses at the end.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCD1\n Who Needs Enemies?\n Before The Moor\n One Quick Fix\n\nCD2\n Who Needs Enemies?\n Lapitu (Bedtime Story)\n Not Quite Enough\n\nCD3\n Who Needs Enemies?\n Jesus, You Smoke Too\n Who Needs Enemies? (video)\n\n2002 singles\nThe Cooper Temple Clause songs\n2002 songs\nSongs with music by Burt Bacharach\nSongs with lyrics by Hal David",
"is an arcade game released by Data East in 1986. The game is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up like Xevious, but as the title indicates, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is incorporated into the gameplay.\n\nSetting & design\nThe game takes place within a gigantic spaceship which has virtually infinite capacity because of its ability to manipulate time and space. The player must deal with enigmatic creatures called EVOL, which consist only of pure energy and need to keep themselves in capsules in order to maintain their existence in the world.\n\nAll of the characters in the game are designed to resemble microscopic organisms, both in their appearance and their quick, tricky movements. The player's ship undergoes over 10 types of transformations throughout the game, each with offensive and defensive maneuvers specific to their design. The sound effects used are minimal, but different types of sounds are used according to the type of shots or their speed. A sound resembling a long scream results when the player's ship is hit and returns to its weakest evolutionary state. The game's designer, graphic designer, and music composer, Tomo Furukawa, would go on to become the vocalist of the band Guniw Tools.\n\nGameplay\n\nThe player must progress through 16 different levels, defeating the boss at the end of each level. The player controls their ship using an 8-way joystick and 2 buttons (one button targets enemies in the air, and the other targets the enemies on the ground). The power of the player's ship increases as it evolves.\n\nThere are two broad categories that define how enemies attack. The first type only shoots in the forward direction at a constant speed, but the second type shoots bullets that travel at different speeds depending on its distance with the player's ship (the bullets travel quicker if the player is farther away, and slower if the player is close by). This made it so that staying away from enemies would not necessarily make it easier to avoid attacks. The game's difficulty also does not change over time, and enemies do not become stronger as the player's ship evolves. This style was continued in the game's sequel.\n\nOnce the player reaches 2,000,000 points, they gain a bonus of 2,000,000 points, and a bonus of 3,000,000 points once they reach 3,000,000 points. This bonus system allows the player to reach 10,000,000 points after gaining only 5,000,000 points, but the game's counter does not display digits in the ten millions. Destroying 16 ground enemies in a row in the desert level extends gameplay without having to insert additional credits.\n\nEvolution system\nThe biggest characteristic of the game is the evolution of the player's ship. The ship starts out in a form called BEAS, and evolves when the player collects EVOL capsules, which appear when certain enemies are killed. The player's ship grows in size and strength as it evolves, but certain forms may be difficult to use effectively, so the player must pace the evolution properly in order to succeed. There are 19 different evolutionary forms in total.\n\nThe ship's attacks that target airborne enemies gradually increase in strength as the ship evolves, but the attacks against enemies on the ground cannot be improved in the same way. Hitting the airborne and enemies with a certain number of shots causes them to get knocked out, and the player's ship can dock into these enemies for a short period of time while they are knocked out. The ship's attacks against enemies on the ground increase in strength during this period. However, some ground enemies cannot be killed during this power-up. No further power-ups exist for attacks against enemies on the ground. The giant version of Zanzō cannot be knocked out, so the player cannot use it to improve their ground attack.\n\nDevolution\nPlayers must collect EVOL capsules frequently in order to advance to the strongest evolutionary forms. Failing to collect a capsules during a certain period of time causes the ship to gradually \"devolve\" one level at a time. However, the devolution timer is stopped while the ship is docked with an enemy character as explained above.\n\nThe player's ship devolves into the weakest form, PISTER (one rank below BEAS), if it is hit by an enemy attack (this does not apply if the ship is in the BLACK DEAME or SUPPURATE forms). The farther up the ship is on the evolutionary chain when it gets hit, the longer the animation is for the ship to devolve. Though coming into contact with any of the enemies normally results in an instant loss, the ship is invincible while the devolution animation lasts, and the player may kill enemies by ramming into them. The player loses their ship only if they are hit by an enemy attack while they are in the weakest evolutionary form (PISTER), or if they crash into an enemy while the ship is not devolving.\n\nMutation\nSeveral evolutionary forms cannot be achieved just by gathering capsules. Mutation occurs if the player is hit by an enemy attack while in a certain evolutionary stage (or if they devolve over time from a certain evolutionary stage), and the ship's attacks become highly stylized and powerful if used effectively.\n\nReverse evolution\nReverse evolution is another special form that occurs if the player is hit by an enemy attack after a specific set of normal evolutions. The reverse evolutionary form, BLACK DEAME, is bat-like, and bears a completely different appearance from any of the other forms. The ship is unaffected by enemy attacks, and packs an extraordinary amount of firepower as it shoots numerous smaller versions of itself as its main attack. However, if the player fails to collect an EVOL capsule during the allotted period of time, the ship immediately devolves into the weakest form, making the transformation a double-edged sword. It is impossible to maintain the BLACK DEAME form throughout the game by docking with enemies, since its attack power is so powerful that enemies die instantly rather than being knocked out.\n\nPorts & related releases\nDarwin 4078 was ported to the 2nd generation MSX in 1987 by Hudson Soft, and bore similar appearance to the arcade game B-Wings and the NES game Hector '87. A sequel titled (also written as S.R.D.) was released by Data East in 1987, and was ported by Sega on April 8, 1990 for the Sega Mega Drive as Darwin 4081. is not a direct sequel to the game, but bears similarities to Darwin as a side-scrolling action game developed by Data East that uses an evolution system. Darwin 4081 was numbered 4081 because it was the 4th game that used the evolution system after Darwin (4078), S.R.D. (4079), and Act-Fancer (4080). Other similar games include Bio-ship Paladin by UPL and Bermuda Triangle by SNK, which also feature ships that change appearance with power-ups.\n\nReception \nIn Japan, Game Machine listed Darwin 4078 on their April 15, 1986 issue as being the third most-successful table arcade unit of the month.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nDarwin 4078 at Data East Games\n\nDarwin 4078 at arcade-history\nEvolution chart at Pole Position.com \n\n1986 video games\nArcade video games\nMSX games\nData East video games\nVertically scrolling shooters\nVideo games about evolution\nVideo games developed in Japan\nData East arcade games"
]
|
|
[
"Mohammed Omar",
"Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan",
"Who is the leader of the Islamic Emirate?",
"\"Amir al-Mu'minin\".",
"Who are their main enemies at this time?",
"Mullah Omar"
]
| C_ad8f9d71e0534050949ca97f2b923db7_1 | Do they currently have live battles? | 3 | Do the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan currently have live battles? | Mohammed Omar | On 4 April 1996, supporters of Mullah Omar bestowed on him the title Amir al-Mu'minin ('myr lmw'mnyn, "Commander of the Faithful"), after he donned a cloak alleged to be that of Muhammad that was locked in a series of chests, held inside the Shrine of the Cloak in the city of Kandahar. Legend decreed that whoever could retrieve the cloak from the chest would be the great Leader of the Muslims, or "Amir al-Mu'minin". In September 1996, Kabul fell to Mullah Omar and his followers. The civil war continued in the northeast corner of the country, near Tajikistan. The nation was named the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in October 1997 and was recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Described as a "reclusive, pious and frugal" leader, Omar very seldom left his residence in the city of Kandahar, and visited Kabul only twice between 1996 and 2001 during his tenure as ruler of Afghanistan. In November 2001, during a radio interview with the BBC, Omar stated: "All Taliban are moderate. There are two things: extremism ['ifraat', or doing something to excess] and conservatism ['tafreet', or doing something insufficiently]. So in that sense, we are all moderates - taking the middle path." According to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, Mullah Omar stated in the late 1990s, "We have told Osama [Bin Laden] not to use Afghan soil to carry out political activities as it creates unnecessary confusion about Taliban objectives." In 1998, despite receiving a personal invitation from Saudi Arabia's ruler, King Fahd, Omar refused to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and wouldn't do one in his lifetime. Mullah Omar was also "Head of the Supreme Council of Afghanistan". CANNOTANSWER | According to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, Mullah Omar stated in the late 1990s, | false | [
"\"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1\" is a song by the American alternative rock band The Flaming Lips, released as the second single taken from their 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. It reached #18 in the UK Singles Chart as the highest-charting single from the album, after which the band made its debut appearance on Top of the Pops.\n\nIt is also a playable song in Rock Band 3 and Fantasia: Music Evolved with 2 remixes: Mumbai and Grimecraft. It is also one of the band's most popular songs they've played live, and it usually is accompanied by a massive sing along at Coyne's urging. During a concert in early 2014, Miley Cyrus and Coyne appeared on stage and sang the song together.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDVD single\n \"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1\" (video)\n \"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1\"\n \"Fish Fry & The Bigot's Drunk\"\n \"Galactic Melancholy\"\n\nUK CD1\n \"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1\" \n \"Do You Realize??\" (Scott Hardkiss Floating In Space Vocal Mix) \n \"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1\" (Japanese version)\n\nUK CD2\n \"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1\"\n \"Can't Get You Out of My Head\" (KEXP version) \n \"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1\" (Sessions @ AOL version)\n\nChart positions\n\nReferences\n\n2003 singles\nThe Flaming Lips songs\n2002 songs\nWarner Records singles\nSongs written by Wayne Coyne\nSongs written by Steven Drozd\nSongs written by Michael Ivins\nSongs about robots\nSongs about fictional female characters\nCultural depictions of rock musicians\nCultural depictions of Japanese women",
"The Voice of Ireland is an Irish reality talent show. The third series began airing on 5 January 2014 on RTÉ One. Kathryn Thomas presents the main show, while Eoghan McDermott co-presents. Bressie, Kian Egan and Jamelia returned as coaches while Dolores O'Riordan replaced Sharon Corr who left after the second series. The first episode aired on 5 January.\nAfter the show Jamelia and Dolores quit and were replaced by Una Foden/Healy and Rachel Stevens\nThe Blind auditions took place on 18, 19 and 20 October at The Helix. An addition this season is that RTÉ 2fm have selected 5 wildcards to audition.\n\nCavan singer and guitarist Brendan McCahey was crowned the 2014 Voice of Ireland on 28 April 2014. He was victorious with his version and now single You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover.\nHe was coached by Bressie and performed with Jerry Fish in the final.\n\nTeams\n\nColor key\n\nBlind Auditions\nThe Blind auditions took place on 18, 19 and 20 October at The Helix. The coaches choose teams of artists through a blind audition process. Each coach has the length of the artists' performance to decide if they want that artist on their team. Should two or more coaches want the same artist, then the artist gets to choose their coach. This series, each coach gets to pick ten artists to join their team. Once the coaches have picked their team, they are to pit them against each other in the ultimate sing off; The Battles. An addition this season is that RTÉ 2fm have selected 5 wildcards to audition.\n\nColor key\n\nBlind Auditions 1\n\nBlind Auditions 2\n\nBlind Auditions 3\n\nBlind Auditions 4\n\nBlind Auditions 5\n\nBlind Auditions 6\n\nRTÉ 2fm Wildcards\n Caoin Fitzpatrick\n Ciara Donnelly\n Áine Finlay\n Brendan McCahey\n Daragh Kiely\n\nBattles\nThe Battle round took place on 15 and 16 December in The Helix. The coaches' mentors included UK singers Sarah Harding and Matt Cardle. There was a new format added to the battles for this series. If an act lost their battle, they are not immediately out of the competition. Each coach has one 'Steal' where they get the opportunity to take one losing act and have them join their team for the live shows. They do this by pressing their 'I Want You' button. 24 acts made it to the Live Shows.\n\nColor key\n\nBattles 1\n\nBattles 2\n\nBattles 3\n\nBattles 4\n\nThe Live Shows\nThe Live Shows aired live on RTÉ One from The Helix in a two-hour-long show every Sunday evening from mid-March to the end of April. The 24 contestants were narrowed down to just four by public voting and the grand-final saw each remaining act release their single with a famous musician. The winner of the show received a recording contract with Universal Music and the title of 'The Voice of Ireland'.\n\nResults summary\nColor keys\nArtist's info\n\nResult details\n\nLive show details\nColor key\n\nLive Show 1 (16 March)\nGuest performer: Kian Egan (\"Home\")\n\nThree artists from each team performed with one from each team being eliminated\nEach coach rated each artists performance out of ten\nThe public vote was combined with the coaches' scores\nThe artist from each team with the highest combined total was sent through to the next round\nEach coach sent a second artist from their own team through to the next round\n\nLive Show 2 (23 March)\nGuest performer: Keith Hanley (\"Gonna Dance\"), Shane Filan (\"\")\n\nThree artists from each team performed with one from each team being eliminated\nEach coach rated each artists performance out of ten\nThe public vote was combined with the coaches' scores\nThe artist from each team with the highest combined total was sent through to the next round\nEach coach sent a second artist from their own team through to the next round\n\nLive Show 3 (30 March)\n Matt Cardle\n\n Two artists from each team performed.\n One act from each team went through, with one of the four remaining acts receiving a wildcard.\n The contestant with the highest combined scored (public vote and judges) received the wildcard.\nEach coach rated each artists performance out of ten\nThe public vote was combined with the coaches' scores\nThe artist from each team with the highest combined total was sent through to the next round\n\nLive Show 4 (6 April)\n Guest performer: The Coronas\n\n Two artists from each team performed.\n One act from each team went through, with one of the four remaining acts receiving a wildcard.\n The contestant with the highest combined scored (public vote and judges) received the wildcard.\nEach coach rated each artists performance out of ten\nThe public vote was combined with the coaches' scores\nThe artist from each team with the highest combined total was sent through to the next round\n\nTop 10 (13 April)\n Guest performer: The Riptide Movement\n\nLeathcheannais (20 Aibreán)\nTaibheoirí:\nThe Riptide Movement: \"All Works Out\"\nOriginal Rude Boys: \"Feel It In Your Soul\"\n\nCeannais (27 Aibreán)\nTaibheoir: Clean Bandit: \"Rather Be\"\n\nRatings\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial Site\n\n3\n2014 Irish television seasons",
"The seventh season of the Thai reality television show, The Voice Thailand premiered on November 19, 2018, on PPTV and LINE TV. The show was hosted by Songsit Rungnopphakhunsi on PPTV and LINE TV.\n\nTeams\nColor key\n\n Nutprawe & Khrongkwan originally were solo artist but Pop Pongkool chose both of them to advance as a duo in the Battles.\n\nBlind auditions\nThe Voice of Thailand Season 7 has added a new rule in the Blind Audition to the Blocked Button, which is a button that can block the chair coaches do not turn to choose the same contestant. The contestants will not be able to select the coach that has blocked the chair. This rule was created to create a rut for the coach.\n\nColor key\n\nEpisode 1 (November 19) \n\nCoaches' Performance - คนไม่เข้าตา\n\nEpisode 2 (November 26)\n\nEpisode 3 (December 3)\n\nEpisode 4 (December 10)\n\nEpisode 5 (December 17)\n\nEpisode 6 (December 24)\n\nThe Knockouts\n\nColor key:\n\nThe Battles\n\n – Artist won the Battles and advanced to the Live Playoffs\n – Artist lost the Battles and was eliminated\n\nLive shows\n\nEpisode 13 & 14 : The Playoffs (February 18 & 25)\n Artist advanced to the Final by the Public's votes\n Artist was eliminated\n\nEpisode 15 : Final (March 4)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n \n \n \n\nThe Voice Thailand\n2018 Thai television seasons\n2019 Thai television seasons"
]
|
|
[
"Mohammed Omar",
"Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan",
"Who is the leader of the Islamic Emirate?",
"\"Amir al-Mu'minin\".",
"Who are their main enemies at this time?",
"Mullah Omar",
"Do they currently have live battles?",
"According to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, Mullah Omar stated in the late 1990s,"
]
| C_ad8f9d71e0534050949ca97f2b923db7_1 | What is the main goal of this group? | 4 | What is the main goal of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan? | Mohammed Omar | On 4 April 1996, supporters of Mullah Omar bestowed on him the title Amir al-Mu'minin ('myr lmw'mnyn, "Commander of the Faithful"), after he donned a cloak alleged to be that of Muhammad that was locked in a series of chests, held inside the Shrine of the Cloak in the city of Kandahar. Legend decreed that whoever could retrieve the cloak from the chest would be the great Leader of the Muslims, or "Amir al-Mu'minin". In September 1996, Kabul fell to Mullah Omar and his followers. The civil war continued in the northeast corner of the country, near Tajikistan. The nation was named the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in October 1997 and was recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Described as a "reclusive, pious and frugal" leader, Omar very seldom left his residence in the city of Kandahar, and visited Kabul only twice between 1996 and 2001 during his tenure as ruler of Afghanistan. In November 2001, during a radio interview with the BBC, Omar stated: "All Taliban are moderate. There are two things: extremism ['ifraat', or doing something to excess] and conservatism ['tafreet', or doing something insufficiently]. So in that sense, we are all moderates - taking the middle path." According to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, Mullah Omar stated in the late 1990s, "We have told Osama [Bin Laden] not to use Afghan soil to carry out political activities as it creates unnecessary confusion about Taliban objectives." In 1998, despite receiving a personal invitation from Saudi Arabia's ruler, King Fahd, Omar refused to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and wouldn't do one in his lifetime. Mullah Omar was also "Head of the Supreme Council of Afghanistan". CANNOTANSWER | extremism ['ifraat', or doing something to excess] and conservatism [' | false | [
"A log line or logline is a brief (usually one-sentence) summary of a television program, film, or book that states the central conflict of the story, often providing both a synopsis of the story's plot, and an emotional \"hook\" to stimulate interest. A one-sentence program summary in TV Guide is a log line. \"A log line is a single sentence describing your entire story,\" however, \"it is not a straight summary of the project. It goes to the heart of what a project is about in one or two sentences, defining the theme of the project...and suggest[ing] a bigger meaning.\" \"A logline is a one-sentence summary of the story's main conflict. It is not a statement of theme but rather a premise.\"\n\n\"A logline...helps content creators simply and easily sell their work in a single sentence, because the emphasis is on what makes their property unique...the logline provides the content creator with a concise way to focus on the three main anchors of their writing,\" the protagonist, the protagonist's wants (goal(s) or desire(s)), and what is at stake (risks).\n\nElements\n\nNarrative elements often referenced in a logline include the setting, protagonist, antagonist, inciting incident, and a conflict and a goal (the conflict's resolution). Change, such as character growth, and action should be suggested. A log line should contain four facts: \"the main character, what the main character wants,\" the villain(s) or obstacle(s), \"standing in the way,\" and, \"the unique aspect(s) of the story.\"\n\nExamples\n\nSee also \n High concept\n\nReferences\n\n \n\nTelevision terminology\nFilm and video terminology",
"GOAL is an agent programming language for programming cognitive agents. GOAL agents derive their choice of action from their beliefs and goals. The language provides the basic building blocks to design and implement cognitive agents by programming constructs that allow and facilitate the manipulation of an agent's beliefs and goals and to structure its decision-making. The language provides an intuitive programming framework based on common sense or practical reasoning.\n\nOverview \nThe main features of GOAL include:\n Declarative beliefs: Agents use a symbolic, logical language to represent the information they have, and their beliefs or knowledge about the environment they act upon in order to achieve their goals. This knowledge representation language is not fixed by GOAL but, in principle, may be varied according to the needs of the programmer.\n Declarative goals: Agents may have multiple goals that specify what the agent wants to achieve at some moment in the near or distant future. Declarative goals specify a state of the environment that the agent wants to establish, they do not specify actions or procedures how to achieve such states.\n Blind commitment strategy: Agents commit to their goals and drop goals only when they have been achieved. This commitment strategy, called a blind commitment strategy in the literature, is the default strategy used by GOAL agents. Cognitive agents are assumed to not have goals that they believe are already achieved, a constraint which has been built into GOAL agents by dropping a goal when it has been completely achieved.\n Rule-based action selection: Agents use so-called action rules to select actions, given their beliefs and goals. Such rules may underspecify the choice of action in the sense that multiple actions may be performed at any time given the action rules of the agent. In that case, a GOAL agent will select an arbitrary enabled action for execution.\n Policy-based intention modules: Agents may focus their attention and put all their efforts on achieving a subset of their goals, using a subset of their actions, using only knowledge relevant to achieving those goals. GOAL provides modules to structure action rules and knowledge dedicated to achieving specific goals. Informally, modules can be viewed as policy-based intentions in the sense of Michael Bratman.\n Communication at the knowledge level: Agents may communicate with each other to exchange information, and to coordinate their actions. GOAL agents communicate using the knowledge representation language that is also used to represent their beliefs and goals.\n Testing: You can also write tests for GOAL.\n\nGOAL agent program \n\nA GOAL agent program consists of six different sections, including the knowledge, beliefs, goals, action rules, action specifications, and percept rules, respectively. The knowledge, beliefs and goals are represented in a knowledge representation language such as Prolog, Answer set programming, SQL (or Datalog), or the Planning Domain Definition Language, for example. Below, we illustrate the components of a GOAL agent program using Prolog.\n\nThe overall structure of a GOAL agent program looks like:\nmain: <agentname> {\n <sections>\n}\n\nThe GOAL agent code used to illustrate the structure of a GOAL agent is an agent that is able to solve Blocks world problems. The beliefs of the agent represent the current state of the Blocks world whereas the goals of the agent represent the goal state. The knowledge section listed next contains additional conceptual or domain knowledge related to the Blocks world domain.\n\nknowledge{\n block(a), block(b), block(c), block(d), block(e), block(f), block(g).\n clear(table).\n clear(X) :- block(X), not(on(Y,X)).\n tower([X]) :- on(X,table).\n tower([X,Y|T]) :- on(X,Y), tower([Y|T]).\n}\n\nNote that all the blocks listed in the knowledge section reappear in the beliefs section again as the position of each block needs to be specified to characterize the complete configuration of blocks.\n\nbeliefs{\n on(a,b), on(b,c), on(c,table), on(d,e), on(e,table), on(f,g), on(g,table).\n}\n\nAll known blocks also are present in the goals section which specifies a goal configuration which reuses all blocks.\ngoals{\n on(a,e), on(b,table), on(c,table), on(d,c), on(e,b), on(f,d), on(g,table).\n}\n\nA GOAL agent may have multiple goals at the same time. These goals may even be conflicting as each of the goals may be realized at different times. For example, an agent might have a goal to watch a movie in the movie theater and to be at home (afterwards).\n\nIn GOAL, different notions of goal are distinguished. A primitive goal is a statement that follows from the goal base in conjunction with the concepts defined in the knowledge base. For example, tower([a,e,b]) is a primitive goal and we write goal(tower([a,e,b]) to denote this. Initially, tower([a,e,b]) is also an achievement goal since the agent does not believe that a is on top of e, e is on top of b, and b is on the table. Achievement goals are primitive goals that the agent does not believe to be the case and are denoted by a-goal(tower([a,e,b]). It is also useful to be able to express that a goal has been achieved. goal-a(tower([e,b]) is used to express, for example, that the tower [e,b] has been achieved with block e on top of block b. Both achievement goals as well as the notion of a goal achieved can be defined:\n\na-goal(formula) ::= goal(formula), not(bel(formula))\ngoal-a(formula) ::= goal(formula), bel(formula)\n\nThere is a significant literature on defining the concept of an achievement goal in the agent literature (see the references).\n\nGOAL is a rule-based programming language. Rules are structured into modules. The main module of a GOAL agent specifies a strategy for selecting actions by means of action rules. The first rule below states that moving block X on top of block Y (or, possibly, the table) is an option if such a move is constructive, i.e. moves the block in position. The second rule states that moving a block X to the table is an option if block X is misplaced.\n\nmain module{\n program{\n if a-goal(tower([X,Y|T])), bel(tower([Y|T])) then move(X,Y).\n if a-goal(tower([X|T])) then move(X,table).\n }\n}\n\nActions, such as the move action used above, are specified using a STRIPS-style specification of preconditions and postconditions. A precondition specifies when the action can be performed (is enabled). A postcondition specifies what the effects of performing the action are.\n\nactionspec{\n move(X,Y) {\n pre{ clear(X), clear(Y), on(X,Z), not(X=Y) }\n post{ not(on(X,Z)), on(X,Y) }\n}\n\nFinally, the event module consists of rules for processing events such as percepts received from the environment. The rule below specifies that for all percepts received that indicate that block X is on block Y, and X is believed to be on top of Z unequal to Y, the new fact on(X,Y) is to be added to the belief base and the atom on(X,Z) is to be removed.\n\nevent module{\n program{\n forall bel( percept(on(X,Y)), on(X,Z), not(Y=Z) ) do insert(on(X,Y), not(on(X,Z))).\n }\n}\n\nRelated agent programming languages \nThe GOAL agent programming language is related to but different from other agent programming languages such as AGENT0, AgentSpeak, 2APL, Golog, JACK Intelligent Agents, Jadex, and, for example, Jason. The distinguishing feature of GOAL is the concept of a declarative goal. Goals of a GOAL agent describe what an agent wants to achieve, not how to achieve it. Different from other languages, GOAL agents are committed to their goals and only remove a goal when it has been completely achieved. GOAL provides a programming framework with a strong focus on declarative programming and the reasoning capabilities required by cognitive agents.\n\nSee also\n Agent communication language\n Autonomous agent\n Cognitive architecture\n Declarative programming\n Practical reasoning\n Rational agent\n\nReferences \n\nNotes\nLiterature on the notion of a goal:\n Lars Braubach, Alexander Pokahr, Daniel Moldt and Winfried Lamersdorf (2004). Goal Representation for BDI Agent Systems, in: The Second International Workshop on Programming Multiagent Systems.\n Philip R. Cohen and Hector J. Levesque (1990). Intention Is Choice with Commitment. Artificial Intelligence 42, 213–261.\n Andreas Herzig and D. Longin (2004). C&l intention revisited. In: Proc. of the 9th Int. Conference Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR’04), 527–535.\n Koen V. Hindriks, Frank S. de Boer, Wiebe van der Hoek, John-Jules Ch. Meyer (2000). Agent Programming with Declarative Goals. In: Proc. of the 7th Int. Workshop on Intelligent Agents VII (ATAL’00), pp. 228–243.\n Anand S. Rao and Michael P. Georgeff (1993). Intentions and Rational Commitment. Tech. Rep. 8, Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute.\n Birna van Riemsdijk, Mehdi Dastani, John-Jules Ch. Meyer (2009). Goals in Conflict: Semantic Foundations of Goals in Agent Programming. International Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.\n\nExternal links\n The GOAL Agent Programming Language home\n\nAgent-based programming languages\nDeclarative programming languages\nMulti-agent systems",
"Hyperspectral Observer for Venus Reconnaissance (HOVER) is a proposed Venus orbiter for remote sensing of its clouds, chemistry, dynamics and surface. The main goal of the mission is research of Venus' climate. The mission is designed by LASP, University of Colorado, SwRI, and the University of Koln.\n\nMain questions the mission would be able to answer are:\n How do convection and chemistry produce the global clouds?\n Where and how is solar energy deposited?\n How is energy transported by largescale circulation?\n What does Venus climate tell us about past climates?\n How is Venus current climate impacted by current volcanism?\n\nReferences\n\nMissions to Venus\nProposed space probes"
]
|
|
[
"Mohammed Omar",
"Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan",
"Who is the leader of the Islamic Emirate?",
"\"Amir al-Mu'minin\".",
"Who are their main enemies at this time?",
"Mullah Omar",
"Do they currently have live battles?",
"According to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, Mullah Omar stated in the late 1990s,",
"What is the main goal of this group?",
"extremism ['ifraat', or doing something to excess] and conservatism ['"
]
| C_ad8f9d71e0534050949ca97f2b923db7_1 | What does Mohammed Omar do for these people? | 5 | What does Mohammed Omar do for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan? | Mohammed Omar | On 4 April 1996, supporters of Mullah Omar bestowed on him the title Amir al-Mu'minin ('myr lmw'mnyn, "Commander of the Faithful"), after he donned a cloak alleged to be that of Muhammad that was locked in a series of chests, held inside the Shrine of the Cloak in the city of Kandahar. Legend decreed that whoever could retrieve the cloak from the chest would be the great Leader of the Muslims, or "Amir al-Mu'minin". In September 1996, Kabul fell to Mullah Omar and his followers. The civil war continued in the northeast corner of the country, near Tajikistan. The nation was named the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in October 1997 and was recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Described as a "reclusive, pious and frugal" leader, Omar very seldom left his residence in the city of Kandahar, and visited Kabul only twice between 1996 and 2001 during his tenure as ruler of Afghanistan. In November 2001, during a radio interview with the BBC, Omar stated: "All Taliban are moderate. There are two things: extremism ['ifraat', or doing something to excess] and conservatism ['tafreet', or doing something insufficiently]. So in that sense, we are all moderates - taking the middle path." According to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, Mullah Omar stated in the late 1990s, "We have told Osama [Bin Laden] not to use Afghan soil to carry out political activities as it creates unnecessary confusion about Taliban objectives." In 1998, despite receiving a personal invitation from Saudi Arabia's ruler, King Fahd, Omar refused to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and wouldn't do one in his lifetime. Mullah Omar was also "Head of the Supreme Council of Afghanistan". CANNOTANSWER | We have told Osama [Bin Laden] not to use Afghan soil to carry out political activities as it creates unnecessary confusion about Taliban objectives. | false | [
"Omar Mohammed Ibrahim Hawsawi (, born 30 July 1993) is a Saudi Arabian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Al-Kawkab.\n\nCareer\nOmar Mohammed started his career at Ohod in Saudi Second Division and earned promotion with Ohod from the Saudi Second Division to the Saudi First Division in the 2014–15 season. During the 2016–17 season he captained Ohod to promotion to the Saudi Professional League. On 10 July 2019, Omar Mohammed left Ohod and joined Al-Hazem following Ohod's relegation to the MS League. On 7 January 2021, Omar Mohammed joined Ohod on loan until the end of the season. On 14 August 2021, he joined Al-Kawkab.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n1993 births\nLiving people\nSaudi Arabian footballers\nOhod Club players\nAl-Hazem F.C. players\nAl-Kawkab FC players\nSaudi Professional League players\nSaudi First Division League players\nSaudi Second Division players\nAssociation football defenders",
"Mohamed Omer or Mohamed Omar may refer to:\n\nMohammed Omer (born 1984), Palestinian journalist, winner of the 2007 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism\nMohamed Omer (Eritrean politician), interim foreign minister after the death of Ali Said Abdella\nMohamed Omar (footballer) (born 1983), Qatari footballer\nMohamed Salih Omer (1934–1969), Sudanese politician\nMohammad Omar (prince), half-brother of the emir of Afghanistan, circa 1900, see 1901 in Afghanistan\nMohammad Omar (musician) (1905–1980), Afghan musician and Rubab virtuoso\nMohammed Omar ( 1950–2013), Taliban leader \nMohammad Omar (Afghan governor) (died 2010), Governor of Kunduz Province, Afghanistan\nMohamed Omar (born 1976), Swedish poet who changed his name to Eddie Råbock in 2017\nMohammad Abdullahi Omar, Somali politician\nMohammad Omar (footballer) (born 1976), retired Emirati footballer\nMuhammad Omar (footballer) (born 1990), Pakistani footballer\nMohamed Omar (mathematician), Egyptian-Canadian mathematician working in the United States",
"Mohammed Omar Bedour (born 2000), is a Jordanian swimmer. He competed at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in the Men's 100 metre freestyle, Men's 100 metre backstroke, 4 × 100 metre mixed freestyle relay and 4 × 100 metre mixed medley relay. re,\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nMohammed Omar Moh'd Bedour profile - Eurosport\n\n2000 births\nJordanian male swimmers\nLiving people\nSwimmers at the 2018 Asian Games\nSwimmers at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics\nAsian Games competitors for Jordan\nJordanian male freestyle swimmers\nMale backstroke swimmers"
]
|
|
[
"Frank Zappa",
"Childhood"
]
| C_e635b3953ffd47fea791d43cce9347fa_1 | What happened to Zappa in his chidhood? | 1 | What happened to Frank Zappa in his childhood ? | Frank Zappa | Zappa was born on December 21, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Rosemarie (nee Collimore) was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry; his father, whose name was anglicized to Francis Vincent Zappa, was an immigrant from Partinico, Sicily, with Greek and Arab ancestry. Frank, the eldest of four children, was raised in an Italian-American household where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents. The family moved often because his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in Florida in the 1940s, the family returned to Maryland, where Zappa's father worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility of the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas, gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident. This had a profound effect on Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare and the defense industry occur throughout his work. Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Zappa's nostrils. At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and although it has since been claimed that nasal radium treatment has causal connections to cancer, no studies have provided significant enough evidence to confirm this. Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel. Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas, released by the nearby chemical warfare facility. His health worsened when he lived in Baltimore. In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health. They next moved to Monterey, California, where his father taught metallurgy at the Naval Postgraduate School. They soon moved to Claremont, California, then to El Cajon, before finally settling in San Diego. CANNOTANSWER | Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. | Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, singer, composer, songwriter and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation.
As a self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical modernism, African-American rhythm and blues, and doo-wop music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm-and-blues bands, later switching to electric guitar. His 1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. He continued this eclectic and experimental approach whether the fundamental format was rock, jazz, or classical.
Zappa's output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. His lyrics reflected his iconoclastic views of established social and political processes, structures and movements, often humorously so, and he has been described as the "godfather" of comedy rock. He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech, self-education, political participation and the abolition of censorship. Unlike many other rock musicians of his generation, he disapproved of recreational drug use, but supported decriminalization and regulation.
Zappa was a highly productive and prolific artist with a controversial critical standing; supporters of his music admired its compositional complexity, while critics found it lacking emotional depth. He had greater commercial success outside the US, particularly in Europe. Though he worked as an independent artist, Zappa mostly relied on distribution agreements he had negotiated with the major record labels. He remains a major influence on musicians and composers. His honors include his 1995 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
1940s–1960s: early life and career
Childhood
Zappa was born on December 21, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Rose Marie ( Colimore), was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry; his father, whose name was anglicized to Francis Vincent Zappa, was an immigrant from Partinico, Sicily, with Greek and Arab ancestry.
Frank, the eldest of four children, was raised in an Italian-American household where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents. The family moved often because his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in Florida in the 1940s, the family returned to Maryland, where Zappa's father worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility of the Aberdeen Proving Ground run by the U.S. Army. Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas, gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident. This living arrangement had a profound effect on Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare, ailments and the defense industry occur frequently throughout his work.
Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Zappa's nostrils. At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and although it has since been claimed that nasal radium treatment has causal connections to cancer, no studies have provided enough evidence to confirm this.
Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel. Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas, released by the nearby chemical warfare facility, and his health worsened when he lived in Baltimore. In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health to Monterey, California, where his father taught metallurgy at the Naval Postgraduate School. They soon moved to Clairemont, and then to El Cajon, before finally settling in nearby San Diego.
First musical interests
Zappa joined his first band at Mission Bay High School in San Diego as the drummer. At about the same time, his parents bought a phonograph, which allowed him to develop his interest in music, and to begin building his record collection. According to The Rough Guide to Rock (2003), "as a teenager Zappa was simultaneously enthralled by black R&B (Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, Guitar Slim), doo-wop (The Channels, The Velvets), the modernism of Igor Stravinsky and Anton Webern, and the dissonant sound experiments of Edgard Varese."
R&B singles were early purchases for Zappa, starting a large collection he kept for the rest of his life. He was interested in sounds for their own sake, particularly the sounds of drums and other percussion instruments. By age twelve, he had obtained a snare drum and began learning the basics of orchestral percussion. Zappa's deep interest in modern classical music began when he read a LOOK magazine article about the Sam Goody record store chain that lauded its ability to sell an LP as obscure as The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Volume One. The article described Varèse's percussion composition Ionisation, produced by EMS Recordings, as "a weird jumble of drums and other unpleasant sounds". Zappa decided to seek out Varèse's music. After searching for over a year, Zappa found a copy (he noticed the LP because of the "mad scientist" looking photo of Varèse on the cover). Not having enough money with him, he persuaded the salesman to sell him the record at a discount. Thus began his lifelong passion for Varèse's music and that of other modern classical composers. He also liked the Italian classical music listened to by his grandparents, especially Puccini's opera arias.
By 1956, the Zappa family had moved to Lancaster, a small aerospace and farming town in the Antelope Valley of the Mojave Desert close to Edwards Air Force Base; he would later refer to Sun Village (a town close to Lancaster) in the 1973 track "Village of the Sun". Zappa's mother encouraged him in his musical interests. Although she disliked Varèse's music, she was indulgent enough to give her son a long-distance call to the New York composer as a fifteenth birthday present. Unfortunately, Varèse was in Europe at the time, so Zappa spoke to the composer's wife and she suggested he call back later. In a letter, Varèse thanked him for his interest, and told him about a composition he was working on called "Déserts". Living in the desert town of Lancaster, Zappa found this very exciting. Varèse invited him to visit if he ever came to New York. The meeting never took place (Varèse died in 1965), but Zappa framed the letter and kept it on display for the rest of his life.
At Antelope Valley High School, Zappa met Don Glen Vliet (who later changed his name to Don Van Vliet and adopted the stage name Captain Beefheart). Zappa and Vliet became close friends, sharing an interest in R&B records and influencing each other musically throughout their careers. Around the same time, Zappa started playing drums in a local band, the Blackouts. The band was racially diverse and included Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood who later became a member of the Mothers of Invention. Zappa's interest in the guitar grew, and in 1957 he was given his first instrument. Among his early influences were Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Howlin' Wolf and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. In the 1970s/1980s, he invited Watson to perform on several albums. Zappa considered soloing as the equivalent of forming "air sculptures", and developed an eclectic, innovative and highly personal style. He was also influenced by Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh.
Zappa's interest in composing and arranging flourished in his last high-school years. By his final year, he was writing, arranging and conducting avant-garde performance pieces for the school orchestra. He graduated from Antelope Valley High School in 1958, and later acknowledged two of his music teachers on the sleeve of the 1966 album Freak Out! Due to his family's frequent moves, Zappa attended at least six different high schools, and as a student he was often bored and given to distracting the rest of the class with juvenile antics. In 1959, he attended Chaffey College but left after one semester, and maintained thereafter a disdain for formal education, taking his children out of school at age 15 and refusing to pay for their college.
Zappa left home in 1959, and moved into a small apartment in Echo Park, Los Angeles. After he met Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman during his short period of private composition study with Prof. Karl Kohn of Pomona College, they moved in together in Ontario, and were married December 28, 1960. Zappa worked for a short period in advertising as a copywriter. His sojourn in the commercial world was brief, but gave him valuable insights into its workings. Throughout his career, he took a keen interest in the visual presentation of his work, designing some of his album covers and directing his own films and videos.
Studio Z
Zappa attempted to earn a living as a musician and composer, and played different nightclub gigs, some with a new version of the Blackouts. Zappa's earliest professional recordings, two soundtracks for the low-budget films The World's Greatest Sinner (1962) and Run Home Slow (1965) were more financially rewarding. The former score was commissioned by actor-producer Timothy Carey and recorded in 1961. It contains many themes that appeared on later Zappa records. The latter soundtrack was recorded in 1963 after the film was completed, but it was commissioned by one of Zappa's former high school teachers in 1959 and Zappa may have worked on it before the film was shot. Excerpts from the soundtrack can be heard on the posthumous album The Lost Episodes (1996).
During the early 1960s, Zappa wrote and produced songs for other local artists, often working with singer-songwriter Ray Collins and producer Paul Buff. Their "Memories of El Monte" was recorded by the Penguins, although only Cleve Duncan of the original group was featured. Buff owned the small Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga, which included a unique five-track tape recorder he had built. At that time, only a handful of the most sophisticated commercial studios had multi-track facilities; the industry standard for smaller studios was still mono or two-track. Although none of the recordings from the period achieved major commercial success, Zappa earned enough money to allow him to stage a concert of his orchestral music in 1963 and to broadcast and record it. He appeared on Steve Allen's syndicated late night show the same year, in which he played a bicycle as a musical instrument. Using a bow borrowed from the band's bass player, as well as drum sticks, he proceeded to pluck, bang, and bow the spokes of the bike, producing strange, comical sounds from his newfound instrument. With Captain Beefheart, Zappa recorded some songs under the name of the Soots. They were rejected by Dot Records. Later, the Mothers were also rejected by Columbia Records for having "no commercial potential", a verdict Zappa subsequently quoted on the sleeve of Freak Out!
In 1964, after his marriage started to break up, he moved into the Pal studio and began routinely working 12 hours or more per day recording and experimenting with overdubbing and audio tape manipulation. This established a work pattern that endured for most of his life. Aided by his income from film composing, Zappa took over the studio from Paul Buff, who was now working with Art Laboe at Original Sound. It was renamed Studio Z. Studio Z was rarely booked for recordings by other musicians. Instead, friends moved in, notably James "Motorhead" Sherwood. Zappa started performing in local bars as a guitarist with a power trio, the Muthers, to support himself.
An article in the local press describing Zappa as "the Movie King of Cucamonga" prompted the local police to suspect that he was making pornographic films. In March 1965, Zappa was approached by a vice squad undercover officer, and accepted an offer of $100 () to produce a suggestive audio tape for an alleged stag party. Zappa and a female friend recorded a faked erotic episode. When Zappa was about to hand over the tape, he was arrested, and the police stripped the studio of all recorded material. The press was tipped off beforehand, and next day's The Daily Report wrote that "Vice Squad investigators stilled the tape recorders of a free-swinging, a-go-go film and recording studio here Friday and arrested a self-styled movie producer". Zappa was charged with "conspiracy to commit pornography". This felony charge was reduced and he was sentenced to six months in jail on a misdemeanor, with all but ten days suspended. His brief imprisonment left a permanent mark, and was central to the formation of his anti-authoritarian stance. Zappa lost several recordings made at Studio Z in the process, as the police returned only 30 of 80 hours of tape seized. Eventually, he could no longer afford to pay the rent on the studio and was evicted. Zappa managed to recover some of his possessions before the studio was torn down in 1966.
Late 1960s: the Mothers of Invention
Formation
In 1965, Ray Collins asked Zappa to take over as guitarist in local R&B band the Soul Giants, following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist. Zappa accepted, and soon assumed leadership and the role as co-lead singer (even though he never considered himself a singer, then or later). He convinced the other members that they should play his music to increase the chances of getting a record contract. The band was renamed the Mothers, coincidentally on Mother's Day. They increased their bookings after beginning an association with manager Herb Cohen, and gradually gained attention on the burgeoning Los Angeles underground music scene. In early 1966, they were spotted by leading record producer Tom Wilson when playing "Trouble Every Day", a song about the Watts riots. Wilson had earned acclaim as the producer for Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel, and was one of the few African-Americans working as a major label pop music producer at this time. Wilson signed the Mothers to the Verve division of MGM, which had built up a strong reputation for its releases of modern jazz recordings in the 1940s and 1950s, but was attempting to diversify into pop and rock audiences. Verve insisted that the band officially rename themselves the Mothers of Invention as Mother was short for motherfucker—a term that, apart from its profane meanings, can denote a skilled musician.
Debut album: Freak Out!
With Wilson credited as producer, the Mothers of Invention, augmented by a studio orchestra, recorded the groundbreaking Freak Out! (1966), which, after Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, was the second rock double album ever released. It mixed R&B, doo-wop, musique concrète, and experimental sound collages that captured the "freak" subculture of Los Angeles at that time. Although he was dissatisfied with the final product, Freak Out immediately established Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to the "relentless consumer culture of America". The sound was raw, but the arrangements were sophisticated. While recording in the studio, some of the additional session musicians were shocked that they were expected to read the notes on sheet music from charts with Zappa conducting them, since it was not standard when recording rock music. The lyrics praised non-conformity, disparaged authorities, and had dadaist elements. Yet, there was a place for seemingly conventional love songs. Most compositions are Zappa's, which set a precedent for the rest of his recording career. He had full control over the arrangements and musical decisions and did most overdubs. Wilson provided the industry clout and connections and was able to provide the group with the financial resources needed. Although Wilson was able to provide Zappa and the Mothers with an extraordinary degree of artistic freedom for the time, the recording did not go entirely as planned. In a 1967 radio interview, Zappa explained that the album's outlandish 11-minute closing track, "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" was not finished. The track as it appears on the album was only a backing track for a much more complex piece, but MGM refused to allow the additional recording time needed for completion. Much to Zappa's chagrin, it was issued in its unfinished state.
During the recording of Freak Out!, Zappa moved into a house in Laurel Canyon with friend Pamela Zarubica, who appeared on the album. The house became a meeting (and living) place for many LA musicians and groupies of the time, despite Zappa's disapproval of their illicit drug use. After a short promotional tour following the release of Freak Out!, Zappa met Adelaide Gail Sloatman. He fell in love within "a couple of minutes", and she moved into the house over the summer. They married in 1967, had four children and remained together until Zappa's death.
Wilson nominally produced the Mothers' second album Absolutely Free (1967), which was recorded in November 1966, and later mixed in New York, although by this time Zappa was in de facto control of most facets of the production. It featured extended playing by the Mothers of Invention and focused on songs that defined Zappa's compositional style of introducing abrupt, rhythmical changes into songs that were built from diverse elements. Examples are "Plastic People" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", which contained lyrics critical of the hypocrisy and conformity of American society, but also of the counterculture of the 1960s. As Zappa put it, "[W]e're satirists, and we are out to satirize everything." At the same time, Zappa had recorded material for an album of orchestral works to be released under his own name, Lumpy Gravy, released by Capitol Records in 1967. Due to contractual problems, the album was pulled. Zappa took the opportunity to radically restructure the contents, adding newly recorded, improvised dialogue. After the contractual problems were resolved, the album was reissued by Verve in 1968. It is an "incredible ambitious musical project", a "monument to John Cage", which intertwines orchestral themes, spoken words and electronic noises through radical audio editing techniques.
New York period (1966–1968)
The Mothers of Invention played in New York in late 1966 and were offered a contract at the Garrick Theater (at 152 Bleecker Street, above the Cafe au Go Go) during Easter 1967. This proved successful and Herb Cohen extended the booking, which eventually lasted half a year. As a result, Zappa and his wife Gail, along with the Mothers of Invention, moved to New York. Their shows became a combination of improvised acts showcasing individual talents of the band as well as tight performances of Zappa's music. Everything was directed by Zappa using hand signals. Guest performers and audience participation became a regular part of the Garrick Theater shows. One evening, Zappa managed to entice some U.S. Marines from the audience onto the stage, where they proceeded to dismember a big baby doll, having been told by Zappa to pretend that it was a "gook baby".
Situated in New York, and interrupted by the band's first European tour, the Mothers of Invention recorded the album widely regarded as the peak of the group's late 1960s work, We're Only in It for the Money (released 1968). It was produced by Zappa, with Wilson credited as executive producer. From then on, Zappa produced all albums released by the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. We're Only in It for the Money featured some of the most creative audio editing and production yet heard in pop music, and the songs ruthlessly satirized the hippie and flower power phenomena. He sampled plundered surf music in We're only in It for the Money, as well as the Beatles' tape work from their song "Tomorrow Never Knows". The cover photo parodied that of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The cover art was provided by Cal Schenkel whom Zappa met in New York. This initiated a lifelong collaboration in which Schenkel designed covers for numerous Zappa and Mothers albums.
Reflecting Zappa's eclectic approach to music, the next album, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets (1968), was very different. It represented a collection of doo-wop songs; listeners and critics were not sure whether the album was a satire or a tribute. Zappa later remarked that the album was conceived like Stravinsky's compositions in his neo-classical period: "If he could take the forms and clichés of the classical era and pervert them, why not do the same ... to doo-wop in the fifties?" A theme from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is heard during one song.
In 1967 and 1968, Zappa made two appearances with the Monkees. The first appearance was on an episode of their TV series, "The Monkees Blow Their Minds", where Zappa, dressed up as Mike Nesmith, interviews Nesmith who is dressed up as Zappa. After the interview, Zappa destroys a car with a sledgehammer as the song "Mother People" plays. He later provided a cameo in the Monkees' movie Head where, leading a cow, he tells Davy Jones "the youth of America depends on you to show them the way." Zappa respected the Monkees and recruited Micky Dolenz to the Mothers but RCA/Columbia/Colgems would not release Dolenz from his contract.
During the late 1960s, Zappa continued to develop the business side of his career. He and Herb Cohen formed the Bizarre Records and Straight Records labels to increase creative control and produce recordings by other artists. These labels were distributed in the US by Warner Bros. Records. Zappa/Mothers recordings appeared on Bizarre along with Wild Man Fischer and Lenny Bruce. Straight released the double album Trout Mask Replica for Captain Beefheart, and releases by Alice Cooper, The Persuasions, and the GTOs.
In the Mothers' second European tour in September/October 1968 they performed for the at the Grugahalle in Essen, Germany; at the Tivoli in Copenhagen, Denmark; for TV programs in Germany (Beat-Club), France, and England; at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; at the Royal Festival Hall in London; and at the Olympia in Paris.
Disbandment
Zappa and the Mothers of Invention returned to Los Angeles in mid-1968, and the Zappas moved into a house on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, only to move again to Woodrow Wilson Drive. This was Zappa's home for the rest of his life. Despite being successful in Europe, the Mothers of Invention were not doing well financially. Their first records were vocally oriented, but as Zappa wrote more instrumental jazz and classical style music for the band's concerts, audiences were confused. Zappa felt that audiences failed to appreciate his "electrical chamber music".
In 1969 there were nine band members and Zappa was supporting the group from his publishing royalties whether they played or not. In late 1969, Zappa broke up the band. He often cited the financial strain as the main reason, but also commented on the band members' lack of diligence. Many band members were bitter about Zappa's decision, and some took it as a sign of Zappa's perfectionism at the expense of human feeling. Others were irritated by 'his autocratic ways', exemplified by Zappa's never staying at the same hotel as the band members. Several members played for Zappa in years to come. Remaining recordings of the band from this period were collected on Weasels Ripped My Flesh and Burnt Weeny Sandwich (both released in 1970).
After he disbanded the Mothers of Invention, Zappa released the acclaimed solo album Hot Rats (1969). It features, for the first time on record, Zappa playing extended guitar solos and contains one of his most enduring compositions, "Peaches en Regalia", which reappeared several times on future recordings. He was backed by jazz, blues and R&B session players including violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris, drummers John Guerin and Paul Humphrey, multi-instrumentalist and former Mothers of Invention member Ian Underwood, and multi-instrumentalist Shuggie Otis on bass, along with a guest appearance by Captain Beefheart on the only vocal track, "Willie the Pimp". It became a popular album in England, and had a major influence on the development of jazz-rock fusion.
1970s
Rebirth of the Mothers and filmmaking
In 1970 Zappa met conductor Zubin Mehta. They arranged a May 1970 concert where Mehta conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic augmented by a rock band. According to Zappa, the music was mostly written in motel rooms while on tour with the Mothers of Invention. Some of it was later featured in the movie 200 Motels. Although the concert was a success, Zappa's experience working with a symphony orchestra was not a happy one. His dissatisfaction became a recurring theme throughout his career; he often felt that the quality of performance of his material delivered by orchestras was not commensurate with the money he spent on orchestral concerts and recordings.
Later in 1970, Zappa formed a new version of the Mothers (from then on, he mostly dropped the "of Invention"). It included British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, jazz keyboardist George Duke, Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons (bass, rhythm guitar), and three members of the Turtles: bass player Jim Pons, and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, who, due to persistent legal and contractual problems, adopted the stage name "The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie", or "Flo & Eddie".
This version of the Mothers debuted on Zappa's next solo album Chunga's Revenge (1970), which was followed by the double-album soundtrack to the movie 200 Motels (1971), featuring the Mothers, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, and Keith Moon. Co-directed by Zappa and Tony Palmer, it was filmed in a week at Pinewood Studios outside London. Tensions between Zappa and several cast and crew members arose before and during shooting. The film deals loosely with life on the road as a rock musician. It was the first feature film photographed on videotape and transferred to 35 mm film, a process that allowed for novel visual effects. It was released to mixed reviews. The score relied extensively on orchestral music, and Zappa's dissatisfaction with the classical music world intensified when a concert, scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall after filming, was canceled because a representative of the venue found some of the lyrics obscene. In 1975, he lost a lawsuit against the Royal Albert Hall for breach of contract.
After 200 Motels, the band went on tour, which resulted in two live albums, Fillmore East – June 1971 and Just Another Band from L.A.; the latter included the 20-minute track "Billy the Mountain", Zappa's satire on rock opera set in Southern California. This track was representative of the band's theatrical performances—which used songs to build sketches based on 200 Motels scenes, as well as new situations that often portrayed the band members' sexual encounters on the road.
Accident, attack, and aftermath
On December 4, 1971, Zappa suffered his first of two serious setbacks. While performing at Casino de Montreux in Switzerland, the Mothers' equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by an audience member started a fire that burned down the casino. Immortalized in Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water", the event and immediate aftermath can be heard on the bootleg album Swiss Cheese/Fire, released legally as part of Zappa's Beat the Boots II compilation. After losing $50,000 () worth of equipment and a week's break, the Mothers played at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with rented gear. During the encore, an audience member jealous because of his girlfriend's infatuation with Zappa pushed him off the stage and into the concrete-floored orchestra pit. The band thought Zappa had been killed—he had suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing.
After the attack Zappa needed to use a wheelchair for an extended period, making touring impossible for over half a year. Upon return to the stage in September 1972, Zappa was still wearing a leg brace, had a noticeable limp and could not stand for very long while on stage. Zappa noted that one leg healed "shorter than the other" (a reference later found in the lyrics of songs "Zomby Woof" and "Dancin' Fool"), resulting in chronic back pain. Meanwhile, the Mothers were left in limbo and eventually formed the core of Flo and Eddie's band as they set out on their own.
During 1971–1972 Zappa released two strongly jazz-oriented solo LPs, Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo, which were recorded during the forced layoff from concert touring, using floating line-ups of session players and Mothers alumni. Musically, the albums were akin to Hot Rats, in that they featured extended instrumental tracks with extended soloing. Zappa began touring again in late 1972. His first effort was a series of concerts in September 1972 with a 20-piece big band referred to as the Grand Wazoo. This was followed by a scaled-down version known as the Petit Wazoo that toured the U.S. for five weeks from October to December 1972.
Top 10 album: Apostrophe ()
Zappa then formed and toured with smaller groups that variously included Ian Underwood (reeds, keyboards), Ruth Underwood (vibes, marimba), Sal Marquez (trumpet, vocals), Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute and vocals), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Tom Fowler (bass), Chester Thompson (drums), Ralph Humphrey (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), and Jean-Luc Ponty (violin).
By 1973 the Bizarre and Straight labels were discontinued. In their place, Zappa and Cohen created DiscReet Records, also distributed by Warner. Zappa continued a high rate of production through the first half of the 1970s, including the solo album Apostrophe (') (1974), which reached a career-high No. 10 on the Billboard pop album charts helped by the No. 86 chart hit "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". Other albums from the period are Over-Nite Sensation (1973), which contained several future concert favorites, such as "Dinah-Moe Humm" and "Montana", and the albums Roxy & Elsewhere (1974) and One Size Fits All (1975) which feature ever-changing versions of a band still called the Mothers, and are notable for the tight renditions of highly difficult jazz fusion songs in such pieces as "Inca Roads", "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" and "Be-Bop Tango (Of the Old Jazzmen's Church)". A live recording from 1974, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 (1988), captures "the full spirit and excellence of the 1973–1975 band". Zappa released Bongo Fury (1975), which featured a live recording at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin from a tour the same year that reunited him with Captain Beefheart for a brief period. They later became estranged for a period of years, but were in contact at the end of Zappa's life.
Business breakups and touring
In 1976 Zappa produced the album Good Singin', Good Playin' for Grand Funk Railroad. Zappa's relationship with long-time manager Herb Cohen ended in May 1976. Zappa sued Cohen for skimming more than he was allocated from DiscReet Records, as well as for signing acts of which Zappa did not approve. Cohen filed a lawsuit against Zappa in return, which froze the money Zappa and Cohen had gained from an out-of-court settlement with MGM over the rights of the early Mothers of Invention recordings. It also prevented Zappa having access to any of his previously recorded material during the trials. Zappa therefore took his personal master copies of the rock-oriented Zoot Allures (1976) directly to Warner, thereby bypassing DiscReet. Following the split with Cohen, Zappa hired Bennett Glotzer as new manager.
By late 1976 Zappa was upset with Warner over inadequate promotion of his recordings and he was eager to move on as soon as possible. In March 1977 Zappa delivered four albums (five full-length LPs) to Warner to complete his contract. These albums contained recordings mostly made between 1972 and 1976. Warner failed to meet contractual obligations to Zappa, but after a lengthy legal dispute they did eventually release these recordings during 1978 and 1979 in censored form. Also, in 1977 Zappa prepared a four-LP box set called Läther (pronounced "leather") and negotiated distribution with Phonogram Inc. for release on the Zappa Records label. The Läther box set was scheduled for release on Halloween 1977, but legal action from Warner forced Zappa to shelve this project.
In December 1977 Zappa appeared on the Pasadena, California radio station KROQ-FM and played the entire Läther album, while encouraging listeners to make tape recordings of the broadcast. Both sets of recordings (five-LP and four-LP) have much of the same material, but each also has unique content. The albums integrate many aspects of Zappa's 1970s work: heavy rock, orchestral works, and complex jazz instrumentals, along with Zappa's distinctive guitar solos. Läther was officially released posthumously in 1996. It is still debated as to whether Zappa had conceived the material as a four-LP set from the beginning, or only later when working with Phonogram.
Although Zappa eventually gained the rights to all his material created under the MGM and Warner contracts, the various lawsuits meant that for a period Zappa's only income came from touring, which he therefore did extensively in 1975–1977 with relatively small, mainly rock-oriented, bands. Drummer Terry Bozzio became a regular band member, Napoleon Murphy Brock stayed on for a while, and original Mothers of Invention bassist Roy Estrada joined. Among other musicians were bassist Patrick O'Hearn, singer-guitarist Ray White and keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson. In December 1976, Zappa appeared as a featured musical guest on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live. Zappa's song "I'm the Slime" was performed with a voice-over by SNL booth announcer Don Pardo, who also introduced "Peaches En Regalia" on the same airing. In 1978, Zappa served both as host and musical act on the show, and as an actor in various sketches. The performances included an impromptu musical collaboration with cast member John Belushi during the instrumental piece "The Purple Lagoon". Belushi appeared as his Samurai Futaba character playing the tenor sax with Zappa conducting.
Zappa's band had a series of Christmas shows in New York City in 1976, recordings of which appear on Zappa in New York (1978) and also on the four-LP Läther project. The band included Ruth Underwood and a horn section (featuring Michael and Randy Brecker). It mixes complex instrumentals such as "The Black Page" and humorous songs like "Titties and Beer". The former composition, written originally for drum kit but later developed for larger bands, is notorious for its complexity in rhythmic structure and short, densely arranged passages.
Zappa in New York also featured a song about sex criminal Michael H. Kenyon, "The Illinois Enema Bandit", in which Don Pardo provides the opening narrative. Like many songs on the album, it contained numerous sexual references, leading to many critics objecting and being offended by the content. Zappa dismissed the criticism by noting that he was a journalist reporting on life as he saw it. Predating his later fight against censorship, he remarked: "What do you make of a society that is so primitive that it clings to the belief that certain words in its language are so powerful that they could corrupt you the moment you hear them?" The remaining albums released by Warner without Zappa's approval were Studio Tan in 1978 and Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites in 1979. These releases were largely overlooked in midst of the press about Zappa's legal problems.
Zappa Records label
Zappa released two of his most important projects in 1979. These were the best-selling album of his career, Sheik Yerbouti, and what author Kelley Lowe called the "bona fide masterpiece", Joe's Garage.
The double album Sheik Yerbouti appeared in March 1979 and was the first release to appear on Zappa Records. It contained the Grammy-nominated single "Dancin' Fool", which reached No. 45 on the Billboard charts. It also contained "Jewish Princess", which received attention when a Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), attempted to prevent the song from receiving radio airplay due to its alleged anti-Semitic lyrics. Zappa vehemently denied any anti-Semitic sentiments, and dismissed the ADL as a "noisemaking organization that tries to apply pressure on people in order to manufacture a stereotype image of Jews that suits their idea of a good time." The album's commercial success was attributable in part to "Bobby Brown". Due to its explicit lyrics about a young man's encounter with a "dyke by the name of Freddie", the song did not get airplay in the U.S., but it topped the charts in several European countries where English is not the primary language.
Joe's Garage initially had to be released in two parts. The first was a single LP Joe's Garage Act I in September 1979, followed by a double LP Joe's Garage Acts II and III in November 1979. The albums feature singer Ike Willis as lead character "Joe" in a rock opera about the danger of political systems, the suppression of freedom of speech and music—inspired in part by the 1979 Islamic Iranian revolution that had made music illegal—and about the "strange relationship Americans have with sex and sexual frankness". The first act contains the song "Catholic Girls" (a riposte to the controversies of "Jewish Princess"), and the title track, which was also released as a single. The second and third acts have extended guitar improvisations, which were recorded live, then combined with studio backing tracks. Zappa described this process as xenochrony. In this period the band included drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (with whom Zappa had a particularly strong musical rapport) Joe's Garage contains one of Zappa's most famous guitar "signature pieces", "Watermelon in Easter Hay". This work later appeared as a three-LP, or two-CD set.
On December 21, 1979, Zappa's movie Baby Snakes premiered in New York. The movie's tagline was "A movie about people who do stuff that is not normal". The 2 hour and 40 minutes movie was based on footage from concerts in New York around Halloween 1977, with a band featuring keyboardist Tommy Mars and percussionist Ed Mann (who would both return on later tours) as well as guitarist Adrian Belew. It also contained several extraordinary sequences of clay animation by Bruce Bickford who had earlier provided animation sequences to Zappa for a 1974 TV special (which became available on the 1982 video The Dub Room Special). The movie did not do well in theatrical distribution, but won the Premier Grand Prix at the First International Music Festival in Paris in 1981.
1980s–1990s
Zappa cut ties with Phonogram after the distributor refused to release his song "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted", which was recorded in February 1980. The single was released independently by Zappa in the United States and was picked up by CBS Records internationally.
After spending much of 1980 on the road, Zappa released Tinsel Town Rebellion in 1981. It was the first release on his own Barking Pumpkin Records, and it contains songs taken from a 1979 tour, one studio track and material from the 1980 tours. The album is a mixture of complicated instrumentals and Zappa's use of sprechstimme (speaking song or voice)—a compositional technique utilized by such composers as Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg—showcasing some of the most accomplished bands Zappa ever had (mostly featuring drummer Vinnie Colaiuta). While some lyrics still raised controversy among critics, some of whom found them sexist, the political and sociological satire in songs like the title track and "The Blue Light" have been described as a "hilarious critique of the willingness of the American people to believe anything". The album is also notable for the presence of guitarist Steve Vai, who joined Zappa's touring band in late 1980.
The same year the double album You Are What You Is was released. Most of it was recorded in Zappa's brand new Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK) studios, which were located at his house, thereby giving him complete freedom in his work. The album included one complex instrumental, "Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear", but mainly consisted of rock songs with Zappa's sardonic social commentary—satirical lyrics directed at teenagers, the media, and religious and political hypocrisy. "Dumb All Over" is a tirade on religion, as is "Heavenly Bank Account", wherein Zappa rails against TV evangelists such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson for their purported influence on the U.S. administration as well as their use of religion as a means of raising money. Songs like "Society Pages" and "I'm a Beautiful Guy" show Zappa's dismay with the Reagan era and its "obscene pursuit of wealth and happiness". Zappa made his only music video for a song from this album - "You Are What You Is" - directed by Jerry Watson, produced by Paul Flattery. It was banned from MTV.
Zappa's management relationship with Bennett Glotzer ended in 1984. From then on Gail acted as co-manager with Frank of all his business interests. In 1981, Zappa also released three instrumental albums, Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar, Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar Some More, and The Return of the Son of Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar, which were initially sold via mail order, but later released through CBS Records (now Sony Music Entertainment) due to popular demand.
The albums focus exclusively on Frank Zappa as a guitar soloist, and the tracks are predominantly live recordings from 1979 to 1980; they highlight Zappa's improvisational skills with "beautiful performances from the backing group as well". Another guitar-only album, Guitar, was released in 1988, and a third, Trance-Fusion, which Zappa completed shortly before his death, was released in 2006.
Zappa later expanded on his television appearances in a non-musical role. He was an actor or voice artist in episodes of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre, Miami Vice and The Ren & Stimpy Show. A voice part in The Simpsons never materialized, to creator Matt Groening's disappointment (Groening was a neighbor of Zappa and a lifelong fan).
"Valley Girl" and classical performances
In May 1982, Zappa released Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch, which featured his biggest selling single ever, the Grammy Award-nominated song "Valley Girl" (topping out at No. 32 on the Billboard charts). In her improvised lyrics to the song, Zappa's daughter Moon satirized the patois of teenage girls from the San Fernando Valley, which popularized many "Valspeak" expressions such as "gag me with a spoon", "fer sure, fer sure", "grody to the max", and "barf out".
In 1983, two different projects were released, beginning with The Man from Utopia, a rock-oriented work. The album is eclectic, featuring the vocal-led "Dangerous Kitchen" and "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats", both continuations of the sprechstimme excursions on Tinseltown Rebellion. The second album, London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I, contained orchestral Zappa compositions conducted by Kent Nagano and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). A second record of these sessions, London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II was released in 1987. The material was recorded under a tight schedule with Zappa providing all funding, helped by the commercial success of "Valley Girl". Zappa was not satisfied with the LSO recordings. One reason is "Strictly Genteel", which was recorded after the trumpet section had been out for drinks on a break: the track took 40 edits to hide out-of-tune notes.
Conductor Nagano, who was pleased with the experience, noted that "in fairness to the orchestra, the music is humanly very, very difficult". Some reviews noted that the recordings were the best representation of Zappa's orchestral work so far. In 1984 Zappa teamed again with Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra for a live performance of A Zappa Affair with augmented orchestra, life-size puppets, and moving stage sets. Although critically acclaimed the work was a financial failure, and only performed twice. Zappa was invited by conference organizer Thomas Wells to be the keynote speaker at the American Society of University Composers at the Ohio State University. It was there Zappa delivered his famous "Bingo! There Goes Your Tenure" address, and had two of his orchestra pieces, "Dupree's Paradise" and "Naval Aviation in Art?" performed by the Columbus Symphony and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus.
Synclavier
For the remainder of his career, much of Zappa's work was influenced by his use of the Synclavier, an early digital synthesizer, as a compositional and performance tool. According to Zappa, "With the Synclavier, any group of imaginary instruments can be invited to play the most difficult passages ... with one-millisecond accuracy—every time". Even though it essentially did away with the need for musicians, Zappa viewed the Synclavier and real-life musicians as separate.
In 1984, he released four albums. Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger contains orchestral works commissioned and conducted by celebrated conductor, composer and pianist Pierre Boulez (who was listed as an influence on Freak Out!), and performed by his Ensemble InterContemporain. These were juxtaposed with premiere Synclavier pieces. Again, Zappa was not satisfied with the performances of his orchestral works, regarding them as under-rehearsed, but in the album liner notes he respectfully thanks Boulez's demands for precision. The Synclavier pieces stood in contrast to the orchestral works, as the sounds were electronically generated and not, as became possible shortly thereafter, sampled.
The album Thing-Fish was an ambitious three-record set in the style of a Broadway play dealing with a dystopian "what-if" scenario involving feminism, homosexuality, manufacturing and distribution of the AIDS virus, and a eugenics program conducted by the United States government. New vocals were combined with previously released tracks and new Synclavier music; "the work is an extraordinary example of bricolage".
Francesco Zappa, a Synclavier rendition of works by 18th-century composer Francesco Zappa, was also released in 1984.
Merchandising
Zappa’s mail-order merchandise business Barfko-Swill was run by Gerry Fialka, who also worked for Zappa as archivist and production assistant from 1983 to 1993 and answered the phone for Zappa’s Barking Pumpkin Records hotline. Fialka appears giving a tour of Barfko-Swill in the 1987 VHS release (but not the original 1979 film release) of Zappa's film Baby Snakes. He is credited on-screen as "GERALD FIALKA Cool Guy Who Wraps Stuff So It Doesn't Break". A short clip of this tour is also included in the 2020 documentary film Zappa.
Digital medium and last tour
Around 1986, Zappa undertook a comprehensive re-release program of his earlier vinyl recordings. He personally oversaw the remastering of all his 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s albums for the new digital compact disc medium. Certain aspects of these re-issues were criticized by some fans as being unfaithful to the original recordings. Nearly twenty years before the advent of online music stores, Zappa had proposed to replace "phonographic record merchandising" of music by "direct digital-to-digital transfer" through phone or cable TV (with royalty payments and consumer billing automatically built into the accompanying software). In 1989, Zappa considered his idea a "miserable flop".
The album Jazz from Hell, released in 1986, earned Zappa his first Grammy Award in 1988 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Except for one live guitar solo ("St. Etienne"), the album exclusively featured compositions brought to life by the Synclavier.
Zappa's last tour in a rock and jazz band format took place in 1988 with a 12-piece group which had a repertoire of over 100 (mostly Zappa) compositions, but which split under acrimonious circumstances before the tour was completed. The tour was documented on the albums Broadway the Hard Way (new material featuring songs with strong political emphasis); The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life (Zappa "standards" and an eclectic collection of cover tunes, ranging from Maurice Ravel's Boléro to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven to The Beatles' I Am The Walrus); and also, Make a Jazz Noise Here. Parts are also found on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, volumes 4 and 6. Recordings from this tour also appear on the 2006 album Trance-Fusion.
Health deterioration
In 1990, Zappa was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. The disease had been developing unnoticed for years and was considered inoperable. After the diagnosis, Zappa devoted most of his energy to modern orchestral and Synclavier works. Shortly before his death in 1993 he completed Civilization Phaze III, a major Synclavier work which he had begun in the 1980s.
In 1991, Zappa was chosen to be one of four featured composers at the Frankfurt Festival in 1992 (the others were John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Alexander Knaifel). Zappa was approached by the German chamber ensemble Ensemble Modern which was interested in playing his music for the event. Although ill, he invited them to Los Angeles for rehearsals of new compositions and new arrangements of older material. Zappa also got along with the musicians, and the concerts in Germany and Austria were set up for later in the year. Zappa also performed in 1991 in Prague, claiming that "was the first time that he had a reason to play his guitar in 3 years", and that that moment was just "the beginning of a new country", and asked the public to "try to keep your country unique, do not change it into something else".
In September 1992, the concerts went ahead as scheduled but Zappa could only appear at two in Frankfurt due to illness. At the first concert, he conducted the opening "Overture", and the final "G-Spot Tornado" as well as the theatrical "Food Gathering in Post-Industrial America, 1992" and "Welcome to the United States" (the remainder of the program was conducted by the ensemble's regular conductor Peter Rundel). Zappa received a 20-minute ovation. G-Spot Tornado was performed with Canadian dancer Louise Lecavalier. It was Zappa's last professional public appearance as the cancer was spreading to such an extent that he was in too much pain to enjoy an event that he otherwise found "exhilarating". Recordings from the concerts appeared on The Yellow Shark (1993), Zappa's last release during his lifetime, and some material from studio rehearsals appeared on the posthumous Everything Is Healing Nicely (1999).
Death
Zappa died from prostate cancer on December 4, 1993, 17 days before his 53rd birthday at his home with his wife and children by his side. At a private ceremony the following day, his body was buried in a grave at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, in Los Angeles. The grave is unmarked. On December 6, his family publicly announced that "Composer Frank Zappa left for his final tour just before 6:00 pm on Saturday".
Musical style and development
Genres
The general phases of Zappa's music have been variously categorized under experimental rock, jazz, classical, avant-pop, experimental pop, comedy rock, doo-wop, jazz fusion, progressive rock, proto-prog, avant-jazz, and psychedelic rock.
Influences
Zappa grew up influenced by avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern; 1950s blues artists Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Guitar Slim, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and B.B. King; Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh; R&B and doo-wop groups (particularly local pachuco groups); and modern jazz. His own heterogeneous ethnic background, and the diverse social and cultural mix in and around greater Los Angeles, were crucial in the formation of Zappa as a practitioner of underground music and of his later distrustful and openly critical attitude towards "mainstream" social, political and musical movements. He frequently lampooned musical fads like psychedelia, rock opera and disco. Television also exerted a strong influence, as demonstrated by quotations from show themes and advertising jingles found in his later works.
In his book The Real Frank Zappa Book, Frank credited composer Spike Jones for Zappa's frequent use of funny sound effects, mouth noises, and humorous percussion interjections. After explaining his ideas on this, he said "I owe this part of my musical existence to Spike Jones."
Project/Object
Zappa's albums make extensive use of segued tracks, breaklessly joining the elements of his albums. His total output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. He also called it a "conceptual continuity", meaning that any project or album was part of a larger project. Everything was connected, and musical themes and lyrics reappeared in different form on later albums. Conceptual continuity clues are found throughout Zappa's entire œuvre.
Techniques
Guitar playing
Zappa is widely recognized as one of the most significant electric guitar soloists. In a 1983 issue of Guitar World, John Swenson declared: "the fact of the matter is that [Zappa] is one of the greatest guitarists we have and is sorely unappreciated as such." His idiosyncratic style developed gradually and was mature by the early 1980s, by which time his live performances featured lengthy improvised solos during many songs. A November 2016 feature by the editors of Guitar Player magazine wrote: "Brimming with sophisticated motifs and convoluted rhythms, Zappa's extended excursions are more akin to symphonies than they are to guitar solos." The symphonic comparison stems from his habit of introducing melodic themes that, like a symphony's main melodies, were repeated with variations throughout his solos. He was further described as using a wide variety of scales and modes, enlivened by "unusual rhythmic combinations". His left hand was capable of smooth legato technique, while Zappa's right was "one of the fastest pick hands in the business." In 2016, Dweezil Zappa explained a distinctive element of his father's guitar improvisation technique was relying heavily on upstrokes much more than many other guitarists, who are more likely to use downstrokes with their picking.
His song "Outside Now" from Joe's Garage poked fun at the negative reception of Zappa's guitar technique by those more commercially minded, as the song's narrator lives in a world where music is outlawed and he imagines "imaginary guitar notes that would irritate/An executive kind of guy", lyrics that are followed by one of Zappa's characteristically quirky solos in 11/8 time. Zappa transcriptionist Kasper Sloots wrote, "Zappa's guitar solos aren't meant to show off technically (Zappa hasn't claimed to be a big virtuoso on the instrument), but for the pleasure it gives trying to build a composition right in front of an audience without knowing what the outcome will be."
Zappa's guitar style was not without its critics. English guitarist and bandleader John McLaughlin, whose band Mahavishnu Orchestra toured with the Mothers of Invention in 1973, opined that Zappa was "very interesting as a human being and a very interesting composer" and that he "was a very good musician but he was a dictator in his band," and that he "was taking very long guitar solos [when performing live]– 10–15 minute guitar solos and really he should have taken two or three minute guitar solos, because they were a little bit boring."
In 2000, he was ranked number 36 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number 71 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and in 2011 at number 22 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Tape manipulation
In New York, Zappa increasingly used tape editing as a compositional tool. A prime example is found on the double album Uncle Meat (1969), where the track "King Kong" is edited from various studio and live performances. Zappa had begun regularly recording concerts, and because of his insistence on precise tuning and timing, he was able to augment his studio productions with excerpts from live shows, and vice versa. Later, he combined recordings of different compositions into new pieces, irrespective of the tempo or meter of the sources. He dubbed this process "xenochrony" (strange synchronizations)—reflecting the Greek "xeno" (alien or strange) and "chronos" (time).
Personal life
Zappa was married to Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman from 1960 to 1963. In 1967, he married Adelaide Gail Sloatman. He and his second wife had four children: Moon, Dweezil, Ahmet, and Diva.
Following Zappa's death, his widow Gail created the Zappa Family Trust, which owns the rights to Zappa's music and some other creative output: more than 60 albums were released during Zappa's lifetime and 40 posthumously. Upon Gail's death in October 2015, the Zappa children received shares of the trust; Ahmet and Diva received 30% each, Moon and Dweezil received 20% each.
Beliefs and politics
Drugs
Zappa stated, "Drugs do not become a problem until the person who uses the drugs does something to you, or does something that would affect your life that you don't want to have happen to you, like an airline pilot who crashes because he was full of drugs." Zappa was a heavy tobacco smoker for most of his life, and strongly critical of anti-tobacco campaigns.
While he disapproved of drug use, he criticized the War on Drugs, comparing it to alcohol prohibition, and stated that the United States Treasury would benefit from the decriminalization and regulation of drugs. Describing his philosophical views, Zappa stated, "I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a 'temporary license to exist'—in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government—it doesn't own you."
Government and religion
In a 1991 interview, Zappa reported that he was a registered Democrat but added "that might not last long—I'm going to shred that". Describing his political views, Zappa categorized himself as a "practical conservative". He favored limited government and low taxes; he also stated that he approved of national defense, social security, and other federal programs, but only if recipients of such programs are willing and able to pay for them. He favored capitalism, entrepreneurship, and independent business, stating that musicians could make more from owning their own businesses than from collecting royalties. He opposed communism, stating, "A system that doesn't allow ownership ... has—to put it mildly—a fatal design flaw." He had always encouraged his fans to register to vote on album covers, and throughout 1988 he had registration booths at his concerts. He even considered running for president of the United States as an independent.
Zappa was an atheist. He recalled his parents being "pretty religious" and trying to make him go to Catholic school despite his resentment. He felt disgust towards organized religion (Christianity in particular) because he believed that it promoted ignorance and anti-intellectualism. He held the view that the Garden of Eden story shows that the essence of Christianity is to oppose gaining knowledge. Some of his songs, concert performances, interviews and public debates in the 1980s criticized and derided Republicans and their policies, President Ronald Reagan, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), televangelism, and the Christian Right, and warned that the United States government was in danger of becoming a "fascist theocracy".
In early 1990, Zappa visited Czechoslovakia at the request of President Václav Havel. Havel designated him as Czechoslovakia's "Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism". Havel was a lifelong fan of Zappa, who had great influence in the avant-garde and underground scene in Central Europe in the 1970s and 1980s (a Czech rock group that was imprisoned in 1976 took its name from Zappa's 1968 song "Plastic People"). Under pressure from Secretary of State James Baker, Zappa's posting was withdrawn. Havel made Zappa an unofficial cultural attaché instead. Zappa planned to develop an international consulting enterprise to facilitate trade between the former Eastern Bloc and Western businesses.
Anti-censorship
Zappa expressed opinions on censorship when he appeared on CNN's Crossfire TV series and debated issues with Washington Times commentator John Lofton in 1986. On September 19, 1985, Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organization co-founded by Tipper Gore, wife of then-senator Al Gore. The PMRC consisted of many wives of politicians, including the wives of five members of the committee, and was founded to address the issue of song lyrics with sexual or satanic content. During Zappa's testimony, he stated that there was a clear conflict of interest between the PMRC due to the relations of its founders to the politicians who were then trying to pass what he referred to as the "Blank Tape Tax." Kandy Stroud, a spokeswoman for the PMRC, announced that Senator Gore (who co-founded the committee) was a co-sponsor of that legislation. Zappa suggested that record labels were trying to get the bill passed quickly through committees, one of which was chaired by Senator Strom Thurmond, who was also affiliated with the PMRC. Zappa further pointed out that this committee was being used as a distraction from that bill being passed, which would lead only to the benefit of a select few in the music industry.
Zappa saw their activities as on a path towards censorship and called their proposal for voluntary labelling of records with explicit content "extortion" of the music industry.
In his prepared statement, he said:
The PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental problems inherent in the proposal's design. It is my understanding that, in law, First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative. In this context, the PMRC's demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation. ... The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on things certain Christians do not like. What if the next bunch of Washington wives demands a large yellow "J" on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?
Zappa set excerpts from the PMRC hearings to Synclavier music in his composition "Porn Wars" on the 1985 album Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention, and the full recording was released in 2010 as Congress Shall Make No Law... Zappa is heard interacting with Senators Fritz Hollings, Slade Gorton and Al Gore.
Legacy
Zappa had a controversial critical standing during his lifetime. As Geoffrey Himes noted in 1993 after the artist's death, Zappa was hailed as a genius by conductor Kent Nagano and nominated by Czechoslovakian President Václav Havel to the country's cultural ambassadorship, but he was in his lifetime rejected twice for admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and been found by critics to lack emotional depth. In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau dismissed Zappa's music as "sexist adolescent drivel ... with meters and voicings and key changes that are as hard to play as they are easy to forget." According to Himes:
Acclaim and honors
The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) writes: "Frank Zappa dabbled in virtually all kinds of music—and, whether guised as a satirical rocker, jazz-rock fusionist, guitar virtuoso, electronics wizard, or orchestral innovator, his eccentric genius was undeniable." Even though his work drew inspiration from many different genres, Zappa was seen as establishing a coherent and personal expression.
In 1971, biographer David Walley noted that "The whole structure of his music is unified, not neatly divided by dates or time sequences and it is all building into a composite". On commenting on Zappa's music, politics and philosophy, Barry Miles noted in 2004 that they cannot be separated: "It was all one; all part of his 'conceptual continuity'."
Guitar Player devoted a special issue to Zappa in 1992, and asked on the cover "Is FZ America's Best Kept Musical Secret?" Editor Don Menn remarked that the issue was about "The most important composer to come out of modern popular music".
Among those contributing to the issue was composer and musicologist Nicolas Slonimsky, who conducted premiere performances of works of Ives and Varèse in the 1930s. He became friends with Zappa in the 1980s, and said, "I admire everything Frank does, because he practically created the new musical millennium. He does beautiful, beautiful work ... It has been my luck to have lived to see the emergence of this totally new type of music."
Conductor Kent Nagano remarked in the same issue that "Frank is a genius. That's a word I don't use often ... In Frank's case it is not too strong ... He is extremely literate musically. I'm not sure if the general public knows that." Pierre Boulez told Musician magazine's posthumous Zappa tribute article that Zappa "was an exceptional figure because he was part of the worlds of rock and classical music and that both types of his work would survive."
In 1994, jazz magazine DownBeats critics poll placed Zappa in its Hall of Fame. Zappa was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. There, it was written that "Frank Zappa was rock and roll's sharpest musical mind and most astute social critic. He was the most prolific composer of his age, and he bridged genres—rock, jazz, classical, avant-garde and even novelty music—with masterful ease". He was ranked number 36 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock in 2000.
In 2005, the U.S. National Recording Preservation Board included We're Only in It for the Money in the National Recording Registry as "Frank Zappa's inventive and iconoclastic album presents a unique political stance, both anti-conservative and anti-counterculture, and features a scathing satire on hippiedom and America's reactions to it". The same year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 71 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
In 2011, he was ranked at No. 22 on the list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by the same magazine. In 2016, Guitar World magazine placed Zappa atop of its list "15 of the best progressive rock guitarists through the years."
The street of Partinico where his father lived at number 13, Via Zammatà, has been renamed to Via Frank Zappa.
Since his death, several musicians have been considered by critics as filling the artistic niche left behind by Zappa, in view of their prolific output, eclecticism and other qualities, including Devin Townsend, Mike Patton and Omar Rodríguez-López.
Grammy Awards
In the course of his career, Zappa was nominated for nine competitive Grammy Awards, which resulted in two wins (one posthumous). In 1998, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
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|rowspan="2"| 1980 || "Rat Tomago" || Best Rock Instrumental Performance ||
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| "Dancin' Fool" || Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ||
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| 1983 || "Valley Girl" || Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ||
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| 1985 || The Perfect Stranger || Best New Classical Composition ||
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|rowspan="2"| 1988 || "Jazz from Hell" || Best Instrumental Composition ||
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| Jazz from Hell ||rowspan="2"| Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist) ||
|-
| 1989 || Guitar ||
|-
| 1990 || Broadway the Hard Way || Best Musical Cast Show Album ||
|-
| 1996 || Civilization Phaze III || Best Recording Package – Boxed ||
|-
| 1998 || Frank Zappa || Lifetime Achievement Award ||
Artists influenced by Zappa
Many musicians, bands and orchestras from diverse genres have been influenced by Zappa's music. Rock artists such as The Plastic People of the Universe, Alice Cooper, Larry LaLonde of Primus, Fee Waybill of the Tubes all cite Zappa's influence, as do progressive, alternative, electronic and avant-garde/experimental rock artists like Can, Pere Ubu, Yes, Soft Machine, Henry Cow, Faust, Devo, Kraftwerk, Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman of Phish, Jeff Buckley, John Frusciante, Steven Wilson, and The Aristocrats. Paul McCartney regarded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the Beatles' Freak Out!. Jimi Hendrix and heavy rock and metal acts like Black Sabbath, Simon Phillips, Mike Portnoy, Warren DeMartini, Alex Skolnick, Steve Vai, Strapping Young Lad, System of a Down, and Clawfinger have acknowledged Zappa as inspiration. On the classical music scene, Tomas Ulrich, Meridian Arts Ensemble, Ensemble Ambrosius and the Fireworks Ensemble regularly perform Zappa's compositions and quote his influence. Contemporary jazz musicians and composers Bobby Sanabria, Bill Frisell and John Zorn are inspired by Zappa, as is funk legend George Clinton.
Other artists affected by Zappa include ambient composer Brian Eno, new age pianist George Winston, electronic composer Bob Gluck, parodist artist and disk jockey Dr. Demento, parodist and novelty composer "Weird Al" Yankovic, industrial music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge, singer Cree Summer, noise music artist Masami Akita of Merzbow, and Chilean composer Cristián Crisosto from Fulano and Mediabanda.
References in arts and sciences
Scientists from various fields have honored Zappa by naming new discoveries after him. In 1967, paleontologist Leo P. Plas, Jr., identified an extinct mollusc in Nevada and named it Amaurotoma zappa with the motivation that, "The specific name, zappa, honors Frank Zappa".
In the 1980s, biologist Ed Murdy named a genus of gobiid fishes of New Guinea Zappa, with a species named Zappa confluentus. Biologist Ferdinando Boero named a Californian jellyfish Phialella zappai (1987), noting that he had "pleasure in naming this species after the modern music composer".
Belgian biologists Bosmans and Bosselaers discovered in the early 1980s a Cameroonese spider, which they in 1994 named Pachygnatha zappa because "the ventral side of the abdomen of the female of this species strikingly resembles the artist's legendary moustache".
A gene of the bacterium Proteus mirabilis that causes urinary tract infections was in 1995 named zapA by three biologists from Maryland. In their scientific article, they "especially thank the late Frank Zappa for inspiration and assistance with genetic nomenclature". Repeating regions of the genome of the human tumor virus KSHV were named frnk, vnct and zppa in 1996 by Yuan Chang and Patrick S. Moore who discovered the virus. Also, a 143 base pair repeat sequence occurring at two positions was named waka/jwka.
In the late 1990s, American paleontologists Marc Salak and Halard L. Lescinsky discovered a metazoan fossil, and named it Spygori zappania to honor "the late Frank Zappa ... whose mission paralleled that of the earliest paleontologists: to challenge conventional and traditional beliefs when such beliefs lacked roots in logic and reason".
In 1994, lobbying efforts initiated by psychiatrist John Scialli led the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center to name an asteroid in Zappa's honor: 3834 Zappafrank. The asteroid was discovered in 1980 by Czechoslovakian astronomer Ladislav Brožek, and the citation for its naming says that "Zappa was an eclectic, self-trained artist and composer ... Before 1989 he was regarded as a symbol of democracy and freedom by many people in Czechoslovakia".
In 1995, a bust of Zappa by sculptor Konstantinas Bogdanas was installed in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital . The choice of Zappa was explained as "a symbol that would mark the end of communism, but at the same time express that it wasn't always doom and gloom." A replica was offered to the city of Baltimore in 2008, and on September 19, 2010 — the twenty-fifth anniversary of Zappa's testimony to the U.S. Senate — a ceremony dedicating the replica was held, and the bust was unveiled at a library in the city.
In 2002, a bronze bust was installed in German city Bad Doberan, location of the Zappanale since 1990, an annual music festival celebrating Zappa. At the initiative of musicians community ORWOhaus, the city of Berlin named a street in the Marzahn district "Frank-Zappa-Straße" in 2007. The same year, Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon proclaimed August 9 as the city's official "Frank Zappa Day" citing Zappa's musical accomplishments as well as his defense of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Zappa documentary
The biographical documentary Zappa, directed by Alex Winter and released on November 27, 2020, includes previously unreleased footage from Zappa's personal vault, to which he was granted access by the Zappa Family Trust.
Discography
During his lifetime, Zappa released 62 albums. Since 1994, the Zappa Family Trust has released 57 posthumous albums, making a total of 119 albums. The current distributor of Zappa's recorded output is Universal Music Enterprises.
See also
List of performers on Frank Zappa records
Frank Zappa in popular culture
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1940 births
1993 deaths
20th-century American guitarists
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Jazz musicians from California
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Surrealist groups | true | [
"Adelaide Gail Zappa ( Sloatman; January 1, 1945 – October 7, 2015) was the wife of musician and composer Frank Zappa and the trustee of the Zappa Family Trust. They met in Los Angeles in 1966 and married while she was pregnant with their first child, Moon, followed by Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva. Gail was also the aunt of model and actress Lala Sloatman.\n\nIn 2002, Gail Zappa founded the Zappa Family Trust, a holder of the title and copyright to Frank Zappa's musical and artistic products, as well as his commercial image. In 2015, the Trust was given to her son Ahmet shortly before she died of lung cancer.\n\nEarly life\nAdelaide Gail Sloatman was born in Philadelphia to John Klein Sloatman Jr. (1915–1967), who was a second generation German-American and nuclear physicist with the United States Navy, and Laura Freitas (born 1921), who was born in Honolulu of Portuguese ancestry. She had 7 siblings, including 1 half-sibling from her father's previous marriage to Joan Lou Gatt. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Adelaide Silva. She grew up in Hollywood, and lived with her family in London, where her father was posted in 1959, and attended Marymount International School. She also modeled for photographer Terence Donovan.\n\nShe worked at the Office of Naval Research and Development, and then moved to New York, where she studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in the mid-1960s. After returning to Los Angeles, she met producer Kim Fowley, and recorded a spoken word single with him as \"Bunny and Bear\". The record is a satire of Sonny and Cher.\n\nZappa made a very brief appearance with then musician boyfriend Bobby Jameson in the documentary film Mondo Hollywood, filmed in 1966. She met Vito Paulekas and Carl Franzoni, the leaders of what became known as the \"freak scene\" in Los Angeles, and by her own account became something of a groupie.\n\nMarriage and children\nShe met her future husband Frank Zappa in 1966 when she was working as a secretary at the Whisky a Go Go nightclub on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. They married in a civil ceremony in New York on September 21, 1967, late in her pregnancy with Moon Zappa, born a week later. The marriage also produced children Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva Zappa. Gail had a fraught relationship with her oldest daughter, Moon, which seemed to have been repaired at the end of Gail's life. But, upon her death, it was revealed that the Zappa estate would not be divided equally among the four Zappa children, leaving Moon and Dweezil in a weaker financial position. “It’s complicated enough to be grieving the loss of a mean mom,” Moon Zappa told the Los Angeles Times in 2016, “and then to find out she was meaner than I could have possibly comprehended... It’s comical, the level of betrayal.” Ahmet Zappa insisted his mother was misunderstood. “She demanded respect and got the respect,\" he said, \"and that’s really unusual.\"\n\nIn Frank Zappa's work\nGail can be seen behind Frank Zappa on the sleeve of his album Absolutely Free (1967) and on the original, parody cover of his We're Only In It For The Money album (1968). Frank Zappa also named Barking Pumpkin Records after his wife's chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or smoker's cough. During his life, Gail acted as her husband's business secretary, and supervised both the labels and his mail order business.\n\nZappa Family Trust\nAt the time of his death in 1993, Frank urged Gail to withdraw from the music business, but never clarified what was to be done with his publishing catalog. In 2002, Gail founded the Zappa Family Trust, intended to oversee the release of his recordings, including multiple previously unavailable works. The trust holds title and copyright to Frank Zappa's musical and artistic products, as well as his commercial image. In July 2015, it was announced that Ahmet Zappa would take over operation of the trust. Ahmet's siblings Dweezil and Moon publicly expressed frustration with his appointment to that role.\n\nDescribed as \"a strong-willed and savvy business woman\", Gail Zappa \"frequently squared off against the music industry’s major players...\". She sent a note ending \"Fuck you\" to Steve Jobs over the creation of the iTunes Store. She criticized tribute bands playing Zappa's music, saying: \"It is absolutely identity theft because from my point of view, Frank Zappa’s audience deserves to hear the music—if it’s for the first time, especially—presented in a way that is in the best possible light of what the composer intended.\"\n\nLawsuit\n\nIn 2008, the Zappa Family Trust sued the organizers of the Zappanale Festival, held outside Bad Doberan, Germany, demanding they change the name of the festival, remove their promotional posters (which contained an allegedly trademarked moustache similar to Frank Zappa's) and remove the bust of him that has stood in the city center since 2002. In January 2009, the court found in Zappanale's favor after their defense argued that as the Zappa Family Trust only sells products on the Internet and accepts only U.S. dollars, it had not effectively exercised its trademarks in Germany for more than five years. The court also ruled that the use of the moustache was sufficiently different in Zappanale's merchandise so as not to cause confusion between the two.\n\nDeath\n\nGail Zappa died in Los Angeles on October 7, 2015. Rolling Stone and TMZ reported that she died following \"a long battle with lung cancer\". She was 70.\n\nReferences\n\n2015 deaths\n1945 births\nBusinesspeople from Los Angeles\nAmerican women in business\nDeaths from cancer in California\nDeaths from lung cancer\nAmerican expatriates in the United Kingdom\nZappa family",
"Zappa Records is an American record label based in Los Angeles which was founded by Frank Zappa in 1977. It was mostly inactive during the 1980s and 1990s, but was revived in 2006 by the Zappa Family Trust.\n\nHistory \nIn May 1976 Zappa ended his relationship with manager and business partner Herb Cohen. The pair had co-owned DiscReet Records which was distributed by Warner Bros. Records. Zappa then left Warner and DiscReet following a series of disagreements and lawsuits in 1977.\n\nAround mid 1977 Zappa founded Zappa Records, and negotiated a deal with Phonogram Inc., to distribute the label's releases in the United States and Canada. Under this agreement Zappa planned to release a four-LP box set titled Läther (pronounced \"Leather\".) The album was scheduled for release on Halloween, October 31, 1977, but production was cancelled at the test pressing stage. Zappa and Phonogram were forced to shelve the package following a legal threat from Warner.\n\nThe first release by Zappa Records was Sheik Yerbouti in May 1979. This was soon followed by the dystopian rock opera Joe's Garage later in the year. The Joe's Garage project initially had to be released in two parts. The first was a single LP, Joe's Garage, Act I (September 1979), followed by a two-LP set Joe's Garage, Acts II and III (November 1979.)\n\nThe album Touch Me There, by L. Shankar, was also released on Zappa Records in 1979. Frank Zappa produced the album, sang, and co-wrote some of the songs.\n\nIn early 1980 Phonogram refused to distribute the Zappa single I Don't Wanna Get Drafted in the United States, though they did distribute the record in Canada. According to Zappa, this was because a Phonogram executive objected to the lyrics. The song criticized US president Jimmy Carter's reintroduction of the military draft. Phonogram president Robert Sherwood disputed Zappa's version of the story, insisting that they did not want to release a single without the support of a full length album. Zappa distributed the single independently in the US and elsewhere through CBS Records.\n\nIn 1981 Zappa founded Barking Pumpkin Records with distribution by CBS Records.\n\nIn 2006, the Zappa Records label was revived with the release of Dweezil Zappa's Go with What You Know and Frank Zappa's Imaginary Diseases and Trance-Fusion on Zappa Records, followed by The Dub Room Special (2007), One Shot Deal (2008) and Feeding the Monkies At Ma Maison (2011).\n\nIn 2012, the Zappa Family Trust regained control of Frank Zappa's recorded output and made a distribution deal with Universal Music Enterprises to reissue the recordings on the Zappa and Barking Pumpkin labels.\n\nArtists \n\n Former\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nOfficial site\n\nFrank Zappa\nAmerican independent record labels"
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| C_e635b3953ffd47fea791d43cce9347fa_1 | Was he raised by both of his parents? | 2 | Was Frank Zappa raised by both of his parents? | Frank Zappa | Zappa was born on December 21, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Rosemarie (nee Collimore) was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry; his father, whose name was anglicized to Francis Vincent Zappa, was an immigrant from Partinico, Sicily, with Greek and Arab ancestry. Frank, the eldest of four children, was raised in an Italian-American household where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents. The family moved often because his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in Florida in the 1940s, the family returned to Maryland, where Zappa's father worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility of the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas, gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident. This had a profound effect on Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare and the defense industry occur throughout his work. Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Zappa's nostrils. At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and although it has since been claimed that nasal radium treatment has causal connections to cancer, no studies have provided significant enough evidence to confirm this. Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel. Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas, released by the nearby chemical warfare facility. His health worsened when he lived in Baltimore. In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health. They next moved to Monterey, California, where his father taught metallurgy at the Naval Postgraduate School. They soon moved to Claremont, California, then to El Cajon, before finally settling in San Diego. CANNOTANSWER | His mother, Rosemarie (nee Collimore) was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry; | Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, singer, composer, songwriter and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation.
As a self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical modernism, African-American rhythm and blues, and doo-wop music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm-and-blues bands, later switching to electric guitar. His 1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. He continued this eclectic and experimental approach whether the fundamental format was rock, jazz, or classical.
Zappa's output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. His lyrics reflected his iconoclastic views of established social and political processes, structures and movements, often humorously so, and he has been described as the "godfather" of comedy rock. He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech, self-education, political participation and the abolition of censorship. Unlike many other rock musicians of his generation, he disapproved of recreational drug use, but supported decriminalization and regulation.
Zappa was a highly productive and prolific artist with a controversial critical standing; supporters of his music admired its compositional complexity, while critics found it lacking emotional depth. He had greater commercial success outside the US, particularly in Europe. Though he worked as an independent artist, Zappa mostly relied on distribution agreements he had negotiated with the major record labels. He remains a major influence on musicians and composers. His honors include his 1995 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
1940s–1960s: early life and career
Childhood
Zappa was born on December 21, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Rose Marie ( Colimore), was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry; his father, whose name was anglicized to Francis Vincent Zappa, was an immigrant from Partinico, Sicily, with Greek and Arab ancestry.
Frank, the eldest of four children, was raised in an Italian-American household where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents. The family moved often because his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in Florida in the 1940s, the family returned to Maryland, where Zappa's father worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility of the Aberdeen Proving Ground run by the U.S. Army. Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas, gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident. This living arrangement had a profound effect on Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare, ailments and the defense industry occur frequently throughout his work.
Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Zappa's nostrils. At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and although it has since been claimed that nasal radium treatment has causal connections to cancer, no studies have provided enough evidence to confirm this.
Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel. Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas, released by the nearby chemical warfare facility, and his health worsened when he lived in Baltimore. In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health to Monterey, California, where his father taught metallurgy at the Naval Postgraduate School. They soon moved to Clairemont, and then to El Cajon, before finally settling in nearby San Diego.
First musical interests
Zappa joined his first band at Mission Bay High School in San Diego as the drummer. At about the same time, his parents bought a phonograph, which allowed him to develop his interest in music, and to begin building his record collection. According to The Rough Guide to Rock (2003), "as a teenager Zappa was simultaneously enthralled by black R&B (Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, Guitar Slim), doo-wop (The Channels, The Velvets), the modernism of Igor Stravinsky and Anton Webern, and the dissonant sound experiments of Edgard Varese."
R&B singles were early purchases for Zappa, starting a large collection he kept for the rest of his life. He was interested in sounds for their own sake, particularly the sounds of drums and other percussion instruments. By age twelve, he had obtained a snare drum and began learning the basics of orchestral percussion. Zappa's deep interest in modern classical music began when he read a LOOK magazine article about the Sam Goody record store chain that lauded its ability to sell an LP as obscure as The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Volume One. The article described Varèse's percussion composition Ionisation, produced by EMS Recordings, as "a weird jumble of drums and other unpleasant sounds". Zappa decided to seek out Varèse's music. After searching for over a year, Zappa found a copy (he noticed the LP because of the "mad scientist" looking photo of Varèse on the cover). Not having enough money with him, he persuaded the salesman to sell him the record at a discount. Thus began his lifelong passion for Varèse's music and that of other modern classical composers. He also liked the Italian classical music listened to by his grandparents, especially Puccini's opera arias.
By 1956, the Zappa family had moved to Lancaster, a small aerospace and farming town in the Antelope Valley of the Mojave Desert close to Edwards Air Force Base; he would later refer to Sun Village (a town close to Lancaster) in the 1973 track "Village of the Sun". Zappa's mother encouraged him in his musical interests. Although she disliked Varèse's music, she was indulgent enough to give her son a long-distance call to the New York composer as a fifteenth birthday present. Unfortunately, Varèse was in Europe at the time, so Zappa spoke to the composer's wife and she suggested he call back later. In a letter, Varèse thanked him for his interest, and told him about a composition he was working on called "Déserts". Living in the desert town of Lancaster, Zappa found this very exciting. Varèse invited him to visit if he ever came to New York. The meeting never took place (Varèse died in 1965), but Zappa framed the letter and kept it on display for the rest of his life.
At Antelope Valley High School, Zappa met Don Glen Vliet (who later changed his name to Don Van Vliet and adopted the stage name Captain Beefheart). Zappa and Vliet became close friends, sharing an interest in R&B records and influencing each other musically throughout their careers. Around the same time, Zappa started playing drums in a local band, the Blackouts. The band was racially diverse and included Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood who later became a member of the Mothers of Invention. Zappa's interest in the guitar grew, and in 1957 he was given his first instrument. Among his early influences were Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Howlin' Wolf and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. In the 1970s/1980s, he invited Watson to perform on several albums. Zappa considered soloing as the equivalent of forming "air sculptures", and developed an eclectic, innovative and highly personal style. He was also influenced by Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh.
Zappa's interest in composing and arranging flourished in his last high-school years. By his final year, he was writing, arranging and conducting avant-garde performance pieces for the school orchestra. He graduated from Antelope Valley High School in 1958, and later acknowledged two of his music teachers on the sleeve of the 1966 album Freak Out! Due to his family's frequent moves, Zappa attended at least six different high schools, and as a student he was often bored and given to distracting the rest of the class with juvenile antics. In 1959, he attended Chaffey College but left after one semester, and maintained thereafter a disdain for formal education, taking his children out of school at age 15 and refusing to pay for their college.
Zappa left home in 1959, and moved into a small apartment in Echo Park, Los Angeles. After he met Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman during his short period of private composition study with Prof. Karl Kohn of Pomona College, they moved in together in Ontario, and were married December 28, 1960. Zappa worked for a short period in advertising as a copywriter. His sojourn in the commercial world was brief, but gave him valuable insights into its workings. Throughout his career, he took a keen interest in the visual presentation of his work, designing some of his album covers and directing his own films and videos.
Studio Z
Zappa attempted to earn a living as a musician and composer, and played different nightclub gigs, some with a new version of the Blackouts. Zappa's earliest professional recordings, two soundtracks for the low-budget films The World's Greatest Sinner (1962) and Run Home Slow (1965) were more financially rewarding. The former score was commissioned by actor-producer Timothy Carey and recorded in 1961. It contains many themes that appeared on later Zappa records. The latter soundtrack was recorded in 1963 after the film was completed, but it was commissioned by one of Zappa's former high school teachers in 1959 and Zappa may have worked on it before the film was shot. Excerpts from the soundtrack can be heard on the posthumous album The Lost Episodes (1996).
During the early 1960s, Zappa wrote and produced songs for other local artists, often working with singer-songwriter Ray Collins and producer Paul Buff. Their "Memories of El Monte" was recorded by the Penguins, although only Cleve Duncan of the original group was featured. Buff owned the small Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga, which included a unique five-track tape recorder he had built. At that time, only a handful of the most sophisticated commercial studios had multi-track facilities; the industry standard for smaller studios was still mono or two-track. Although none of the recordings from the period achieved major commercial success, Zappa earned enough money to allow him to stage a concert of his orchestral music in 1963 and to broadcast and record it. He appeared on Steve Allen's syndicated late night show the same year, in which he played a bicycle as a musical instrument. Using a bow borrowed from the band's bass player, as well as drum sticks, he proceeded to pluck, bang, and bow the spokes of the bike, producing strange, comical sounds from his newfound instrument. With Captain Beefheart, Zappa recorded some songs under the name of the Soots. They were rejected by Dot Records. Later, the Mothers were also rejected by Columbia Records for having "no commercial potential", a verdict Zappa subsequently quoted on the sleeve of Freak Out!
In 1964, after his marriage started to break up, he moved into the Pal studio and began routinely working 12 hours or more per day recording and experimenting with overdubbing and audio tape manipulation. This established a work pattern that endured for most of his life. Aided by his income from film composing, Zappa took over the studio from Paul Buff, who was now working with Art Laboe at Original Sound. It was renamed Studio Z. Studio Z was rarely booked for recordings by other musicians. Instead, friends moved in, notably James "Motorhead" Sherwood. Zappa started performing in local bars as a guitarist with a power trio, the Muthers, to support himself.
An article in the local press describing Zappa as "the Movie King of Cucamonga" prompted the local police to suspect that he was making pornographic films. In March 1965, Zappa was approached by a vice squad undercover officer, and accepted an offer of $100 () to produce a suggestive audio tape for an alleged stag party. Zappa and a female friend recorded a faked erotic episode. When Zappa was about to hand over the tape, he was arrested, and the police stripped the studio of all recorded material. The press was tipped off beforehand, and next day's The Daily Report wrote that "Vice Squad investigators stilled the tape recorders of a free-swinging, a-go-go film and recording studio here Friday and arrested a self-styled movie producer". Zappa was charged with "conspiracy to commit pornography". This felony charge was reduced and he was sentenced to six months in jail on a misdemeanor, with all but ten days suspended. His brief imprisonment left a permanent mark, and was central to the formation of his anti-authoritarian stance. Zappa lost several recordings made at Studio Z in the process, as the police returned only 30 of 80 hours of tape seized. Eventually, he could no longer afford to pay the rent on the studio and was evicted. Zappa managed to recover some of his possessions before the studio was torn down in 1966.
Late 1960s: the Mothers of Invention
Formation
In 1965, Ray Collins asked Zappa to take over as guitarist in local R&B band the Soul Giants, following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist. Zappa accepted, and soon assumed leadership and the role as co-lead singer (even though he never considered himself a singer, then or later). He convinced the other members that they should play his music to increase the chances of getting a record contract. The band was renamed the Mothers, coincidentally on Mother's Day. They increased their bookings after beginning an association with manager Herb Cohen, and gradually gained attention on the burgeoning Los Angeles underground music scene. In early 1966, they were spotted by leading record producer Tom Wilson when playing "Trouble Every Day", a song about the Watts riots. Wilson had earned acclaim as the producer for Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel, and was one of the few African-Americans working as a major label pop music producer at this time. Wilson signed the Mothers to the Verve division of MGM, which had built up a strong reputation for its releases of modern jazz recordings in the 1940s and 1950s, but was attempting to diversify into pop and rock audiences. Verve insisted that the band officially rename themselves the Mothers of Invention as Mother was short for motherfucker—a term that, apart from its profane meanings, can denote a skilled musician.
Debut album: Freak Out!
With Wilson credited as producer, the Mothers of Invention, augmented by a studio orchestra, recorded the groundbreaking Freak Out! (1966), which, after Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, was the second rock double album ever released. It mixed R&B, doo-wop, musique concrète, and experimental sound collages that captured the "freak" subculture of Los Angeles at that time. Although he was dissatisfied with the final product, Freak Out immediately established Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to the "relentless consumer culture of America". The sound was raw, but the arrangements were sophisticated. While recording in the studio, some of the additional session musicians were shocked that they were expected to read the notes on sheet music from charts with Zappa conducting them, since it was not standard when recording rock music. The lyrics praised non-conformity, disparaged authorities, and had dadaist elements. Yet, there was a place for seemingly conventional love songs. Most compositions are Zappa's, which set a precedent for the rest of his recording career. He had full control over the arrangements and musical decisions and did most overdubs. Wilson provided the industry clout and connections and was able to provide the group with the financial resources needed. Although Wilson was able to provide Zappa and the Mothers with an extraordinary degree of artistic freedom for the time, the recording did not go entirely as planned. In a 1967 radio interview, Zappa explained that the album's outlandish 11-minute closing track, "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" was not finished. The track as it appears on the album was only a backing track for a much more complex piece, but MGM refused to allow the additional recording time needed for completion. Much to Zappa's chagrin, it was issued in its unfinished state.
During the recording of Freak Out!, Zappa moved into a house in Laurel Canyon with friend Pamela Zarubica, who appeared on the album. The house became a meeting (and living) place for many LA musicians and groupies of the time, despite Zappa's disapproval of their illicit drug use. After a short promotional tour following the release of Freak Out!, Zappa met Adelaide Gail Sloatman. He fell in love within "a couple of minutes", and she moved into the house over the summer. They married in 1967, had four children and remained together until Zappa's death.
Wilson nominally produced the Mothers' second album Absolutely Free (1967), which was recorded in November 1966, and later mixed in New York, although by this time Zappa was in de facto control of most facets of the production. It featured extended playing by the Mothers of Invention and focused on songs that defined Zappa's compositional style of introducing abrupt, rhythmical changes into songs that were built from diverse elements. Examples are "Plastic People" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", which contained lyrics critical of the hypocrisy and conformity of American society, but also of the counterculture of the 1960s. As Zappa put it, "[W]e're satirists, and we are out to satirize everything." At the same time, Zappa had recorded material for an album of orchestral works to be released under his own name, Lumpy Gravy, released by Capitol Records in 1967. Due to contractual problems, the album was pulled. Zappa took the opportunity to radically restructure the contents, adding newly recorded, improvised dialogue. After the contractual problems were resolved, the album was reissued by Verve in 1968. It is an "incredible ambitious musical project", a "monument to John Cage", which intertwines orchestral themes, spoken words and electronic noises through radical audio editing techniques.
New York period (1966–1968)
The Mothers of Invention played in New York in late 1966 and were offered a contract at the Garrick Theater (at 152 Bleecker Street, above the Cafe au Go Go) during Easter 1967. This proved successful and Herb Cohen extended the booking, which eventually lasted half a year. As a result, Zappa and his wife Gail, along with the Mothers of Invention, moved to New York. Their shows became a combination of improvised acts showcasing individual talents of the band as well as tight performances of Zappa's music. Everything was directed by Zappa using hand signals. Guest performers and audience participation became a regular part of the Garrick Theater shows. One evening, Zappa managed to entice some U.S. Marines from the audience onto the stage, where they proceeded to dismember a big baby doll, having been told by Zappa to pretend that it was a "gook baby".
Situated in New York, and interrupted by the band's first European tour, the Mothers of Invention recorded the album widely regarded as the peak of the group's late 1960s work, We're Only in It for the Money (released 1968). It was produced by Zappa, with Wilson credited as executive producer. From then on, Zappa produced all albums released by the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. We're Only in It for the Money featured some of the most creative audio editing and production yet heard in pop music, and the songs ruthlessly satirized the hippie and flower power phenomena. He sampled plundered surf music in We're only in It for the Money, as well as the Beatles' tape work from their song "Tomorrow Never Knows". The cover photo parodied that of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The cover art was provided by Cal Schenkel whom Zappa met in New York. This initiated a lifelong collaboration in which Schenkel designed covers for numerous Zappa and Mothers albums.
Reflecting Zappa's eclectic approach to music, the next album, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets (1968), was very different. It represented a collection of doo-wop songs; listeners and critics were not sure whether the album was a satire or a tribute. Zappa later remarked that the album was conceived like Stravinsky's compositions in his neo-classical period: "If he could take the forms and clichés of the classical era and pervert them, why not do the same ... to doo-wop in the fifties?" A theme from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is heard during one song.
In 1967 and 1968, Zappa made two appearances with the Monkees. The first appearance was on an episode of their TV series, "The Monkees Blow Their Minds", where Zappa, dressed up as Mike Nesmith, interviews Nesmith who is dressed up as Zappa. After the interview, Zappa destroys a car with a sledgehammer as the song "Mother People" plays. He later provided a cameo in the Monkees' movie Head where, leading a cow, he tells Davy Jones "the youth of America depends on you to show them the way." Zappa respected the Monkees and recruited Micky Dolenz to the Mothers but RCA/Columbia/Colgems would not release Dolenz from his contract.
During the late 1960s, Zappa continued to develop the business side of his career. He and Herb Cohen formed the Bizarre Records and Straight Records labels to increase creative control and produce recordings by other artists. These labels were distributed in the US by Warner Bros. Records. Zappa/Mothers recordings appeared on Bizarre along with Wild Man Fischer and Lenny Bruce. Straight released the double album Trout Mask Replica for Captain Beefheart, and releases by Alice Cooper, The Persuasions, and the GTOs.
In the Mothers' second European tour in September/October 1968 they performed for the at the Grugahalle in Essen, Germany; at the Tivoli in Copenhagen, Denmark; for TV programs in Germany (Beat-Club), France, and England; at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; at the Royal Festival Hall in London; and at the Olympia in Paris.
Disbandment
Zappa and the Mothers of Invention returned to Los Angeles in mid-1968, and the Zappas moved into a house on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, only to move again to Woodrow Wilson Drive. This was Zappa's home for the rest of his life. Despite being successful in Europe, the Mothers of Invention were not doing well financially. Their first records were vocally oriented, but as Zappa wrote more instrumental jazz and classical style music for the band's concerts, audiences were confused. Zappa felt that audiences failed to appreciate his "electrical chamber music".
In 1969 there were nine band members and Zappa was supporting the group from his publishing royalties whether they played or not. In late 1969, Zappa broke up the band. He often cited the financial strain as the main reason, but also commented on the band members' lack of diligence. Many band members were bitter about Zappa's decision, and some took it as a sign of Zappa's perfectionism at the expense of human feeling. Others were irritated by 'his autocratic ways', exemplified by Zappa's never staying at the same hotel as the band members. Several members played for Zappa in years to come. Remaining recordings of the band from this period were collected on Weasels Ripped My Flesh and Burnt Weeny Sandwich (both released in 1970).
After he disbanded the Mothers of Invention, Zappa released the acclaimed solo album Hot Rats (1969). It features, for the first time on record, Zappa playing extended guitar solos and contains one of his most enduring compositions, "Peaches en Regalia", which reappeared several times on future recordings. He was backed by jazz, blues and R&B session players including violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris, drummers John Guerin and Paul Humphrey, multi-instrumentalist and former Mothers of Invention member Ian Underwood, and multi-instrumentalist Shuggie Otis on bass, along with a guest appearance by Captain Beefheart on the only vocal track, "Willie the Pimp". It became a popular album in England, and had a major influence on the development of jazz-rock fusion.
1970s
Rebirth of the Mothers and filmmaking
In 1970 Zappa met conductor Zubin Mehta. They arranged a May 1970 concert where Mehta conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic augmented by a rock band. According to Zappa, the music was mostly written in motel rooms while on tour with the Mothers of Invention. Some of it was later featured in the movie 200 Motels. Although the concert was a success, Zappa's experience working with a symphony orchestra was not a happy one. His dissatisfaction became a recurring theme throughout his career; he often felt that the quality of performance of his material delivered by orchestras was not commensurate with the money he spent on orchestral concerts and recordings.
Later in 1970, Zappa formed a new version of the Mothers (from then on, he mostly dropped the "of Invention"). It included British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, jazz keyboardist George Duke, Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons (bass, rhythm guitar), and three members of the Turtles: bass player Jim Pons, and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, who, due to persistent legal and contractual problems, adopted the stage name "The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie", or "Flo & Eddie".
This version of the Mothers debuted on Zappa's next solo album Chunga's Revenge (1970), which was followed by the double-album soundtrack to the movie 200 Motels (1971), featuring the Mothers, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, and Keith Moon. Co-directed by Zappa and Tony Palmer, it was filmed in a week at Pinewood Studios outside London. Tensions between Zappa and several cast and crew members arose before and during shooting. The film deals loosely with life on the road as a rock musician. It was the first feature film photographed on videotape and transferred to 35 mm film, a process that allowed for novel visual effects. It was released to mixed reviews. The score relied extensively on orchestral music, and Zappa's dissatisfaction with the classical music world intensified when a concert, scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall after filming, was canceled because a representative of the venue found some of the lyrics obscene. In 1975, he lost a lawsuit against the Royal Albert Hall for breach of contract.
After 200 Motels, the band went on tour, which resulted in two live albums, Fillmore East – June 1971 and Just Another Band from L.A.; the latter included the 20-minute track "Billy the Mountain", Zappa's satire on rock opera set in Southern California. This track was representative of the band's theatrical performances—which used songs to build sketches based on 200 Motels scenes, as well as new situations that often portrayed the band members' sexual encounters on the road.
Accident, attack, and aftermath
On December 4, 1971, Zappa suffered his first of two serious setbacks. While performing at Casino de Montreux in Switzerland, the Mothers' equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by an audience member started a fire that burned down the casino. Immortalized in Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water", the event and immediate aftermath can be heard on the bootleg album Swiss Cheese/Fire, released legally as part of Zappa's Beat the Boots II compilation. After losing $50,000 () worth of equipment and a week's break, the Mothers played at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with rented gear. During the encore, an audience member jealous because of his girlfriend's infatuation with Zappa pushed him off the stage and into the concrete-floored orchestra pit. The band thought Zappa had been killed—he had suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing.
After the attack Zappa needed to use a wheelchair for an extended period, making touring impossible for over half a year. Upon return to the stage in September 1972, Zappa was still wearing a leg brace, had a noticeable limp and could not stand for very long while on stage. Zappa noted that one leg healed "shorter than the other" (a reference later found in the lyrics of songs "Zomby Woof" and "Dancin' Fool"), resulting in chronic back pain. Meanwhile, the Mothers were left in limbo and eventually formed the core of Flo and Eddie's band as they set out on their own.
During 1971–1972 Zappa released two strongly jazz-oriented solo LPs, Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo, which were recorded during the forced layoff from concert touring, using floating line-ups of session players and Mothers alumni. Musically, the albums were akin to Hot Rats, in that they featured extended instrumental tracks with extended soloing. Zappa began touring again in late 1972. His first effort was a series of concerts in September 1972 with a 20-piece big band referred to as the Grand Wazoo. This was followed by a scaled-down version known as the Petit Wazoo that toured the U.S. for five weeks from October to December 1972.
Top 10 album: Apostrophe ()
Zappa then formed and toured with smaller groups that variously included Ian Underwood (reeds, keyboards), Ruth Underwood (vibes, marimba), Sal Marquez (trumpet, vocals), Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute and vocals), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Tom Fowler (bass), Chester Thompson (drums), Ralph Humphrey (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), and Jean-Luc Ponty (violin).
By 1973 the Bizarre and Straight labels were discontinued. In their place, Zappa and Cohen created DiscReet Records, also distributed by Warner. Zappa continued a high rate of production through the first half of the 1970s, including the solo album Apostrophe (') (1974), which reached a career-high No. 10 on the Billboard pop album charts helped by the No. 86 chart hit "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". Other albums from the period are Over-Nite Sensation (1973), which contained several future concert favorites, such as "Dinah-Moe Humm" and "Montana", and the albums Roxy & Elsewhere (1974) and One Size Fits All (1975) which feature ever-changing versions of a band still called the Mothers, and are notable for the tight renditions of highly difficult jazz fusion songs in such pieces as "Inca Roads", "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" and "Be-Bop Tango (Of the Old Jazzmen's Church)". A live recording from 1974, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 (1988), captures "the full spirit and excellence of the 1973–1975 band". Zappa released Bongo Fury (1975), which featured a live recording at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin from a tour the same year that reunited him with Captain Beefheart for a brief period. They later became estranged for a period of years, but were in contact at the end of Zappa's life.
Business breakups and touring
In 1976 Zappa produced the album Good Singin', Good Playin' for Grand Funk Railroad. Zappa's relationship with long-time manager Herb Cohen ended in May 1976. Zappa sued Cohen for skimming more than he was allocated from DiscReet Records, as well as for signing acts of which Zappa did not approve. Cohen filed a lawsuit against Zappa in return, which froze the money Zappa and Cohen had gained from an out-of-court settlement with MGM over the rights of the early Mothers of Invention recordings. It also prevented Zappa having access to any of his previously recorded material during the trials. Zappa therefore took his personal master copies of the rock-oriented Zoot Allures (1976) directly to Warner, thereby bypassing DiscReet. Following the split with Cohen, Zappa hired Bennett Glotzer as new manager.
By late 1976 Zappa was upset with Warner over inadequate promotion of his recordings and he was eager to move on as soon as possible. In March 1977 Zappa delivered four albums (five full-length LPs) to Warner to complete his contract. These albums contained recordings mostly made between 1972 and 1976. Warner failed to meet contractual obligations to Zappa, but after a lengthy legal dispute they did eventually release these recordings during 1978 and 1979 in censored form. Also, in 1977 Zappa prepared a four-LP box set called Läther (pronounced "leather") and negotiated distribution with Phonogram Inc. for release on the Zappa Records label. The Läther box set was scheduled for release on Halloween 1977, but legal action from Warner forced Zappa to shelve this project.
In December 1977 Zappa appeared on the Pasadena, California radio station KROQ-FM and played the entire Läther album, while encouraging listeners to make tape recordings of the broadcast. Both sets of recordings (five-LP and four-LP) have much of the same material, but each also has unique content. The albums integrate many aspects of Zappa's 1970s work: heavy rock, orchestral works, and complex jazz instrumentals, along with Zappa's distinctive guitar solos. Läther was officially released posthumously in 1996. It is still debated as to whether Zappa had conceived the material as a four-LP set from the beginning, or only later when working with Phonogram.
Although Zappa eventually gained the rights to all his material created under the MGM and Warner contracts, the various lawsuits meant that for a period Zappa's only income came from touring, which he therefore did extensively in 1975–1977 with relatively small, mainly rock-oriented, bands. Drummer Terry Bozzio became a regular band member, Napoleon Murphy Brock stayed on for a while, and original Mothers of Invention bassist Roy Estrada joined. Among other musicians were bassist Patrick O'Hearn, singer-guitarist Ray White and keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson. In December 1976, Zappa appeared as a featured musical guest on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live. Zappa's song "I'm the Slime" was performed with a voice-over by SNL booth announcer Don Pardo, who also introduced "Peaches En Regalia" on the same airing. In 1978, Zappa served both as host and musical act on the show, and as an actor in various sketches. The performances included an impromptu musical collaboration with cast member John Belushi during the instrumental piece "The Purple Lagoon". Belushi appeared as his Samurai Futaba character playing the tenor sax with Zappa conducting.
Zappa's band had a series of Christmas shows in New York City in 1976, recordings of which appear on Zappa in New York (1978) and also on the four-LP Läther project. The band included Ruth Underwood and a horn section (featuring Michael and Randy Brecker). It mixes complex instrumentals such as "The Black Page" and humorous songs like "Titties and Beer". The former composition, written originally for drum kit but later developed for larger bands, is notorious for its complexity in rhythmic structure and short, densely arranged passages.
Zappa in New York also featured a song about sex criminal Michael H. Kenyon, "The Illinois Enema Bandit", in which Don Pardo provides the opening narrative. Like many songs on the album, it contained numerous sexual references, leading to many critics objecting and being offended by the content. Zappa dismissed the criticism by noting that he was a journalist reporting on life as he saw it. Predating his later fight against censorship, he remarked: "What do you make of a society that is so primitive that it clings to the belief that certain words in its language are so powerful that they could corrupt you the moment you hear them?" The remaining albums released by Warner without Zappa's approval were Studio Tan in 1978 and Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites in 1979. These releases were largely overlooked in midst of the press about Zappa's legal problems.
Zappa Records label
Zappa released two of his most important projects in 1979. These were the best-selling album of his career, Sheik Yerbouti, and what author Kelley Lowe called the "bona fide masterpiece", Joe's Garage.
The double album Sheik Yerbouti appeared in March 1979 and was the first release to appear on Zappa Records. It contained the Grammy-nominated single "Dancin' Fool", which reached No. 45 on the Billboard charts. It also contained "Jewish Princess", which received attention when a Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), attempted to prevent the song from receiving radio airplay due to its alleged anti-Semitic lyrics. Zappa vehemently denied any anti-Semitic sentiments, and dismissed the ADL as a "noisemaking organization that tries to apply pressure on people in order to manufacture a stereotype image of Jews that suits their idea of a good time." The album's commercial success was attributable in part to "Bobby Brown". Due to its explicit lyrics about a young man's encounter with a "dyke by the name of Freddie", the song did not get airplay in the U.S., but it topped the charts in several European countries where English is not the primary language.
Joe's Garage initially had to be released in two parts. The first was a single LP Joe's Garage Act I in September 1979, followed by a double LP Joe's Garage Acts II and III in November 1979. The albums feature singer Ike Willis as lead character "Joe" in a rock opera about the danger of political systems, the suppression of freedom of speech and music—inspired in part by the 1979 Islamic Iranian revolution that had made music illegal—and about the "strange relationship Americans have with sex and sexual frankness". The first act contains the song "Catholic Girls" (a riposte to the controversies of "Jewish Princess"), and the title track, which was also released as a single. The second and third acts have extended guitar improvisations, which were recorded live, then combined with studio backing tracks. Zappa described this process as xenochrony. In this period the band included drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (with whom Zappa had a particularly strong musical rapport) Joe's Garage contains one of Zappa's most famous guitar "signature pieces", "Watermelon in Easter Hay". This work later appeared as a three-LP, or two-CD set.
On December 21, 1979, Zappa's movie Baby Snakes premiered in New York. The movie's tagline was "A movie about people who do stuff that is not normal". The 2 hour and 40 minutes movie was based on footage from concerts in New York around Halloween 1977, with a band featuring keyboardist Tommy Mars and percussionist Ed Mann (who would both return on later tours) as well as guitarist Adrian Belew. It also contained several extraordinary sequences of clay animation by Bruce Bickford who had earlier provided animation sequences to Zappa for a 1974 TV special (which became available on the 1982 video The Dub Room Special). The movie did not do well in theatrical distribution, but won the Premier Grand Prix at the First International Music Festival in Paris in 1981.
1980s–1990s
Zappa cut ties with Phonogram after the distributor refused to release his song "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted", which was recorded in February 1980. The single was released independently by Zappa in the United States and was picked up by CBS Records internationally.
After spending much of 1980 on the road, Zappa released Tinsel Town Rebellion in 1981. It was the first release on his own Barking Pumpkin Records, and it contains songs taken from a 1979 tour, one studio track and material from the 1980 tours. The album is a mixture of complicated instrumentals and Zappa's use of sprechstimme (speaking song or voice)—a compositional technique utilized by such composers as Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg—showcasing some of the most accomplished bands Zappa ever had (mostly featuring drummer Vinnie Colaiuta). While some lyrics still raised controversy among critics, some of whom found them sexist, the political and sociological satire in songs like the title track and "The Blue Light" have been described as a "hilarious critique of the willingness of the American people to believe anything". The album is also notable for the presence of guitarist Steve Vai, who joined Zappa's touring band in late 1980.
The same year the double album You Are What You Is was released. Most of it was recorded in Zappa's brand new Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK) studios, which were located at his house, thereby giving him complete freedom in his work. The album included one complex instrumental, "Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear", but mainly consisted of rock songs with Zappa's sardonic social commentary—satirical lyrics directed at teenagers, the media, and religious and political hypocrisy. "Dumb All Over" is a tirade on religion, as is "Heavenly Bank Account", wherein Zappa rails against TV evangelists such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson for their purported influence on the U.S. administration as well as their use of religion as a means of raising money. Songs like "Society Pages" and "I'm a Beautiful Guy" show Zappa's dismay with the Reagan era and its "obscene pursuit of wealth and happiness". Zappa made his only music video for a song from this album - "You Are What You Is" - directed by Jerry Watson, produced by Paul Flattery. It was banned from MTV.
Zappa's management relationship with Bennett Glotzer ended in 1984. From then on Gail acted as co-manager with Frank of all his business interests. In 1981, Zappa also released three instrumental albums, Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar, Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar Some More, and The Return of the Son of Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar, which were initially sold via mail order, but later released through CBS Records (now Sony Music Entertainment) due to popular demand.
The albums focus exclusively on Frank Zappa as a guitar soloist, and the tracks are predominantly live recordings from 1979 to 1980; they highlight Zappa's improvisational skills with "beautiful performances from the backing group as well". Another guitar-only album, Guitar, was released in 1988, and a third, Trance-Fusion, which Zappa completed shortly before his death, was released in 2006.
Zappa later expanded on his television appearances in a non-musical role. He was an actor or voice artist in episodes of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre, Miami Vice and The Ren & Stimpy Show. A voice part in The Simpsons never materialized, to creator Matt Groening's disappointment (Groening was a neighbor of Zappa and a lifelong fan).
"Valley Girl" and classical performances
In May 1982, Zappa released Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch, which featured his biggest selling single ever, the Grammy Award-nominated song "Valley Girl" (topping out at No. 32 on the Billboard charts). In her improvised lyrics to the song, Zappa's daughter Moon satirized the patois of teenage girls from the San Fernando Valley, which popularized many "Valspeak" expressions such as "gag me with a spoon", "fer sure, fer sure", "grody to the max", and "barf out".
In 1983, two different projects were released, beginning with The Man from Utopia, a rock-oriented work. The album is eclectic, featuring the vocal-led "Dangerous Kitchen" and "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats", both continuations of the sprechstimme excursions on Tinseltown Rebellion. The second album, London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I, contained orchestral Zappa compositions conducted by Kent Nagano and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). A second record of these sessions, London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II was released in 1987. The material was recorded under a tight schedule with Zappa providing all funding, helped by the commercial success of "Valley Girl". Zappa was not satisfied with the LSO recordings. One reason is "Strictly Genteel", which was recorded after the trumpet section had been out for drinks on a break: the track took 40 edits to hide out-of-tune notes.
Conductor Nagano, who was pleased with the experience, noted that "in fairness to the orchestra, the music is humanly very, very difficult". Some reviews noted that the recordings were the best representation of Zappa's orchestral work so far. In 1984 Zappa teamed again with Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra for a live performance of A Zappa Affair with augmented orchestra, life-size puppets, and moving stage sets. Although critically acclaimed the work was a financial failure, and only performed twice. Zappa was invited by conference organizer Thomas Wells to be the keynote speaker at the American Society of University Composers at the Ohio State University. It was there Zappa delivered his famous "Bingo! There Goes Your Tenure" address, and had two of his orchestra pieces, "Dupree's Paradise" and "Naval Aviation in Art?" performed by the Columbus Symphony and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus.
Synclavier
For the remainder of his career, much of Zappa's work was influenced by his use of the Synclavier, an early digital synthesizer, as a compositional and performance tool. According to Zappa, "With the Synclavier, any group of imaginary instruments can be invited to play the most difficult passages ... with one-millisecond accuracy—every time". Even though it essentially did away with the need for musicians, Zappa viewed the Synclavier and real-life musicians as separate.
In 1984, he released four albums. Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger contains orchestral works commissioned and conducted by celebrated conductor, composer and pianist Pierre Boulez (who was listed as an influence on Freak Out!), and performed by his Ensemble InterContemporain. These were juxtaposed with premiere Synclavier pieces. Again, Zappa was not satisfied with the performances of his orchestral works, regarding them as under-rehearsed, but in the album liner notes he respectfully thanks Boulez's demands for precision. The Synclavier pieces stood in contrast to the orchestral works, as the sounds were electronically generated and not, as became possible shortly thereafter, sampled.
The album Thing-Fish was an ambitious three-record set in the style of a Broadway play dealing with a dystopian "what-if" scenario involving feminism, homosexuality, manufacturing and distribution of the AIDS virus, and a eugenics program conducted by the United States government. New vocals were combined with previously released tracks and new Synclavier music; "the work is an extraordinary example of bricolage".
Francesco Zappa, a Synclavier rendition of works by 18th-century composer Francesco Zappa, was also released in 1984.
Merchandising
Zappa’s mail-order merchandise business Barfko-Swill was run by Gerry Fialka, who also worked for Zappa as archivist and production assistant from 1983 to 1993 and answered the phone for Zappa’s Barking Pumpkin Records hotline. Fialka appears giving a tour of Barfko-Swill in the 1987 VHS release (but not the original 1979 film release) of Zappa's film Baby Snakes. He is credited on-screen as "GERALD FIALKA Cool Guy Who Wraps Stuff So It Doesn't Break". A short clip of this tour is also included in the 2020 documentary film Zappa.
Digital medium and last tour
Around 1986, Zappa undertook a comprehensive re-release program of his earlier vinyl recordings. He personally oversaw the remastering of all his 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s albums for the new digital compact disc medium. Certain aspects of these re-issues were criticized by some fans as being unfaithful to the original recordings. Nearly twenty years before the advent of online music stores, Zappa had proposed to replace "phonographic record merchandising" of music by "direct digital-to-digital transfer" through phone or cable TV (with royalty payments and consumer billing automatically built into the accompanying software). In 1989, Zappa considered his idea a "miserable flop".
The album Jazz from Hell, released in 1986, earned Zappa his first Grammy Award in 1988 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Except for one live guitar solo ("St. Etienne"), the album exclusively featured compositions brought to life by the Synclavier.
Zappa's last tour in a rock and jazz band format took place in 1988 with a 12-piece group which had a repertoire of over 100 (mostly Zappa) compositions, but which split under acrimonious circumstances before the tour was completed. The tour was documented on the albums Broadway the Hard Way (new material featuring songs with strong political emphasis); The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life (Zappa "standards" and an eclectic collection of cover tunes, ranging from Maurice Ravel's Boléro to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven to The Beatles' I Am The Walrus); and also, Make a Jazz Noise Here. Parts are also found on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, volumes 4 and 6. Recordings from this tour also appear on the 2006 album Trance-Fusion.
Health deterioration
In 1990, Zappa was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. The disease had been developing unnoticed for years and was considered inoperable. After the diagnosis, Zappa devoted most of his energy to modern orchestral and Synclavier works. Shortly before his death in 1993 he completed Civilization Phaze III, a major Synclavier work which he had begun in the 1980s.
In 1991, Zappa was chosen to be one of four featured composers at the Frankfurt Festival in 1992 (the others were John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Alexander Knaifel). Zappa was approached by the German chamber ensemble Ensemble Modern which was interested in playing his music for the event. Although ill, he invited them to Los Angeles for rehearsals of new compositions and new arrangements of older material. Zappa also got along with the musicians, and the concerts in Germany and Austria were set up for later in the year. Zappa also performed in 1991 in Prague, claiming that "was the first time that he had a reason to play his guitar in 3 years", and that that moment was just "the beginning of a new country", and asked the public to "try to keep your country unique, do not change it into something else".
In September 1992, the concerts went ahead as scheduled but Zappa could only appear at two in Frankfurt due to illness. At the first concert, he conducted the opening "Overture", and the final "G-Spot Tornado" as well as the theatrical "Food Gathering in Post-Industrial America, 1992" and "Welcome to the United States" (the remainder of the program was conducted by the ensemble's regular conductor Peter Rundel). Zappa received a 20-minute ovation. G-Spot Tornado was performed with Canadian dancer Louise Lecavalier. It was Zappa's last professional public appearance as the cancer was spreading to such an extent that he was in too much pain to enjoy an event that he otherwise found "exhilarating". Recordings from the concerts appeared on The Yellow Shark (1993), Zappa's last release during his lifetime, and some material from studio rehearsals appeared on the posthumous Everything Is Healing Nicely (1999).
Death
Zappa died from prostate cancer on December 4, 1993, 17 days before his 53rd birthday at his home with his wife and children by his side. At a private ceremony the following day, his body was buried in a grave at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, in Los Angeles. The grave is unmarked. On December 6, his family publicly announced that "Composer Frank Zappa left for his final tour just before 6:00 pm on Saturday".
Musical style and development
Genres
The general phases of Zappa's music have been variously categorized under experimental rock, jazz, classical, avant-pop, experimental pop, comedy rock, doo-wop, jazz fusion, progressive rock, proto-prog, avant-jazz, and psychedelic rock.
Influences
Zappa grew up influenced by avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern; 1950s blues artists Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Guitar Slim, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and B.B. King; Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh; R&B and doo-wop groups (particularly local pachuco groups); and modern jazz. His own heterogeneous ethnic background, and the diverse social and cultural mix in and around greater Los Angeles, were crucial in the formation of Zappa as a practitioner of underground music and of his later distrustful and openly critical attitude towards "mainstream" social, political and musical movements. He frequently lampooned musical fads like psychedelia, rock opera and disco. Television also exerted a strong influence, as demonstrated by quotations from show themes and advertising jingles found in his later works.
In his book The Real Frank Zappa Book, Frank credited composer Spike Jones for Zappa's frequent use of funny sound effects, mouth noises, and humorous percussion interjections. After explaining his ideas on this, he said "I owe this part of my musical existence to Spike Jones."
Project/Object
Zappa's albums make extensive use of segued tracks, breaklessly joining the elements of his albums. His total output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. He also called it a "conceptual continuity", meaning that any project or album was part of a larger project. Everything was connected, and musical themes and lyrics reappeared in different form on later albums. Conceptual continuity clues are found throughout Zappa's entire œuvre.
Techniques
Guitar playing
Zappa is widely recognized as one of the most significant electric guitar soloists. In a 1983 issue of Guitar World, John Swenson declared: "the fact of the matter is that [Zappa] is one of the greatest guitarists we have and is sorely unappreciated as such." His idiosyncratic style developed gradually and was mature by the early 1980s, by which time his live performances featured lengthy improvised solos during many songs. A November 2016 feature by the editors of Guitar Player magazine wrote: "Brimming with sophisticated motifs and convoluted rhythms, Zappa's extended excursions are more akin to symphonies than they are to guitar solos." The symphonic comparison stems from his habit of introducing melodic themes that, like a symphony's main melodies, were repeated with variations throughout his solos. He was further described as using a wide variety of scales and modes, enlivened by "unusual rhythmic combinations". His left hand was capable of smooth legato technique, while Zappa's right was "one of the fastest pick hands in the business." In 2016, Dweezil Zappa explained a distinctive element of his father's guitar improvisation technique was relying heavily on upstrokes much more than many other guitarists, who are more likely to use downstrokes with their picking.
His song "Outside Now" from Joe's Garage poked fun at the negative reception of Zappa's guitar technique by those more commercially minded, as the song's narrator lives in a world where music is outlawed and he imagines "imaginary guitar notes that would irritate/An executive kind of guy", lyrics that are followed by one of Zappa's characteristically quirky solos in 11/8 time. Zappa transcriptionist Kasper Sloots wrote, "Zappa's guitar solos aren't meant to show off technically (Zappa hasn't claimed to be a big virtuoso on the instrument), but for the pleasure it gives trying to build a composition right in front of an audience without knowing what the outcome will be."
Zappa's guitar style was not without its critics. English guitarist and bandleader John McLaughlin, whose band Mahavishnu Orchestra toured with the Mothers of Invention in 1973, opined that Zappa was "very interesting as a human being and a very interesting composer" and that he "was a very good musician but he was a dictator in his band," and that he "was taking very long guitar solos [when performing live]– 10–15 minute guitar solos and really he should have taken two or three minute guitar solos, because they were a little bit boring."
In 2000, he was ranked number 36 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number 71 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and in 2011 at number 22 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Tape manipulation
In New York, Zappa increasingly used tape editing as a compositional tool. A prime example is found on the double album Uncle Meat (1969), where the track "King Kong" is edited from various studio and live performances. Zappa had begun regularly recording concerts, and because of his insistence on precise tuning and timing, he was able to augment his studio productions with excerpts from live shows, and vice versa. Later, he combined recordings of different compositions into new pieces, irrespective of the tempo or meter of the sources. He dubbed this process "xenochrony" (strange synchronizations)—reflecting the Greek "xeno" (alien or strange) and "chronos" (time).
Personal life
Zappa was married to Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman from 1960 to 1963. In 1967, he married Adelaide Gail Sloatman. He and his second wife had four children: Moon, Dweezil, Ahmet, and Diva.
Following Zappa's death, his widow Gail created the Zappa Family Trust, which owns the rights to Zappa's music and some other creative output: more than 60 albums were released during Zappa's lifetime and 40 posthumously. Upon Gail's death in October 2015, the Zappa children received shares of the trust; Ahmet and Diva received 30% each, Moon and Dweezil received 20% each.
Beliefs and politics
Drugs
Zappa stated, "Drugs do not become a problem until the person who uses the drugs does something to you, or does something that would affect your life that you don't want to have happen to you, like an airline pilot who crashes because he was full of drugs." Zappa was a heavy tobacco smoker for most of his life, and strongly critical of anti-tobacco campaigns.
While he disapproved of drug use, he criticized the War on Drugs, comparing it to alcohol prohibition, and stated that the United States Treasury would benefit from the decriminalization and regulation of drugs. Describing his philosophical views, Zappa stated, "I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a 'temporary license to exist'—in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government—it doesn't own you."
Government and religion
In a 1991 interview, Zappa reported that he was a registered Democrat but added "that might not last long—I'm going to shred that". Describing his political views, Zappa categorized himself as a "practical conservative". He favored limited government and low taxes; he also stated that he approved of national defense, social security, and other federal programs, but only if recipients of such programs are willing and able to pay for them. He favored capitalism, entrepreneurship, and independent business, stating that musicians could make more from owning their own businesses than from collecting royalties. He opposed communism, stating, "A system that doesn't allow ownership ... has—to put it mildly—a fatal design flaw." He had always encouraged his fans to register to vote on album covers, and throughout 1988 he had registration booths at his concerts. He even considered running for president of the United States as an independent.
Zappa was an atheist. He recalled his parents being "pretty religious" and trying to make him go to Catholic school despite his resentment. He felt disgust towards organized religion (Christianity in particular) because he believed that it promoted ignorance and anti-intellectualism. He held the view that the Garden of Eden story shows that the essence of Christianity is to oppose gaining knowledge. Some of his songs, concert performances, interviews and public debates in the 1980s criticized and derided Republicans and their policies, President Ronald Reagan, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), televangelism, and the Christian Right, and warned that the United States government was in danger of becoming a "fascist theocracy".
In early 1990, Zappa visited Czechoslovakia at the request of President Václav Havel. Havel designated him as Czechoslovakia's "Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism". Havel was a lifelong fan of Zappa, who had great influence in the avant-garde and underground scene in Central Europe in the 1970s and 1980s (a Czech rock group that was imprisoned in 1976 took its name from Zappa's 1968 song "Plastic People"). Under pressure from Secretary of State James Baker, Zappa's posting was withdrawn. Havel made Zappa an unofficial cultural attaché instead. Zappa planned to develop an international consulting enterprise to facilitate trade between the former Eastern Bloc and Western businesses.
Anti-censorship
Zappa expressed opinions on censorship when he appeared on CNN's Crossfire TV series and debated issues with Washington Times commentator John Lofton in 1986. On September 19, 1985, Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organization co-founded by Tipper Gore, wife of then-senator Al Gore. The PMRC consisted of many wives of politicians, including the wives of five members of the committee, and was founded to address the issue of song lyrics with sexual or satanic content. During Zappa's testimony, he stated that there was a clear conflict of interest between the PMRC due to the relations of its founders to the politicians who were then trying to pass what he referred to as the "Blank Tape Tax." Kandy Stroud, a spokeswoman for the PMRC, announced that Senator Gore (who co-founded the committee) was a co-sponsor of that legislation. Zappa suggested that record labels were trying to get the bill passed quickly through committees, one of which was chaired by Senator Strom Thurmond, who was also affiliated with the PMRC. Zappa further pointed out that this committee was being used as a distraction from that bill being passed, which would lead only to the benefit of a select few in the music industry.
Zappa saw their activities as on a path towards censorship and called their proposal for voluntary labelling of records with explicit content "extortion" of the music industry.
In his prepared statement, he said:
The PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental problems inherent in the proposal's design. It is my understanding that, in law, First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative. In this context, the PMRC's demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation. ... The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on things certain Christians do not like. What if the next bunch of Washington wives demands a large yellow "J" on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?
Zappa set excerpts from the PMRC hearings to Synclavier music in his composition "Porn Wars" on the 1985 album Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention, and the full recording was released in 2010 as Congress Shall Make No Law... Zappa is heard interacting with Senators Fritz Hollings, Slade Gorton and Al Gore.
Legacy
Zappa had a controversial critical standing during his lifetime. As Geoffrey Himes noted in 1993 after the artist's death, Zappa was hailed as a genius by conductor Kent Nagano and nominated by Czechoslovakian President Václav Havel to the country's cultural ambassadorship, but he was in his lifetime rejected twice for admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and been found by critics to lack emotional depth. In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau dismissed Zappa's music as "sexist adolescent drivel ... with meters and voicings and key changes that are as hard to play as they are easy to forget." According to Himes:
Acclaim and honors
The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) writes: "Frank Zappa dabbled in virtually all kinds of music—and, whether guised as a satirical rocker, jazz-rock fusionist, guitar virtuoso, electronics wizard, or orchestral innovator, his eccentric genius was undeniable." Even though his work drew inspiration from many different genres, Zappa was seen as establishing a coherent and personal expression.
In 1971, biographer David Walley noted that "The whole structure of his music is unified, not neatly divided by dates or time sequences and it is all building into a composite". On commenting on Zappa's music, politics and philosophy, Barry Miles noted in 2004 that they cannot be separated: "It was all one; all part of his 'conceptual continuity'."
Guitar Player devoted a special issue to Zappa in 1992, and asked on the cover "Is FZ America's Best Kept Musical Secret?" Editor Don Menn remarked that the issue was about "The most important composer to come out of modern popular music".
Among those contributing to the issue was composer and musicologist Nicolas Slonimsky, who conducted premiere performances of works of Ives and Varèse in the 1930s. He became friends with Zappa in the 1980s, and said, "I admire everything Frank does, because he practically created the new musical millennium. He does beautiful, beautiful work ... It has been my luck to have lived to see the emergence of this totally new type of music."
Conductor Kent Nagano remarked in the same issue that "Frank is a genius. That's a word I don't use often ... In Frank's case it is not too strong ... He is extremely literate musically. I'm not sure if the general public knows that." Pierre Boulez told Musician magazine's posthumous Zappa tribute article that Zappa "was an exceptional figure because he was part of the worlds of rock and classical music and that both types of his work would survive."
In 1994, jazz magazine DownBeats critics poll placed Zappa in its Hall of Fame. Zappa was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. There, it was written that "Frank Zappa was rock and roll's sharpest musical mind and most astute social critic. He was the most prolific composer of his age, and he bridged genres—rock, jazz, classical, avant-garde and even novelty music—with masterful ease". He was ranked number 36 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock in 2000.
In 2005, the U.S. National Recording Preservation Board included We're Only in It for the Money in the National Recording Registry as "Frank Zappa's inventive and iconoclastic album presents a unique political stance, both anti-conservative and anti-counterculture, and features a scathing satire on hippiedom and America's reactions to it". The same year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 71 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
In 2011, he was ranked at No. 22 on the list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by the same magazine. In 2016, Guitar World magazine placed Zappa atop of its list "15 of the best progressive rock guitarists through the years."
The street of Partinico where his father lived at number 13, Via Zammatà, has been renamed to Via Frank Zappa.
Since his death, several musicians have been considered by critics as filling the artistic niche left behind by Zappa, in view of their prolific output, eclecticism and other qualities, including Devin Townsend, Mike Patton and Omar Rodríguez-López.
Grammy Awards
In the course of his career, Zappa was nominated for nine competitive Grammy Awards, which resulted in two wins (one posthumous). In 1998, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1980 || "Rat Tomago" || Best Rock Instrumental Performance ||
|-
| "Dancin' Fool" || Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ||
|-
| 1983 || "Valley Girl" || Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ||
|-
| 1985 || The Perfect Stranger || Best New Classical Composition ||
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1988 || "Jazz from Hell" || Best Instrumental Composition ||
|-
| Jazz from Hell ||rowspan="2"| Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist) ||
|-
| 1989 || Guitar ||
|-
| 1990 || Broadway the Hard Way || Best Musical Cast Show Album ||
|-
| 1996 || Civilization Phaze III || Best Recording Package – Boxed ||
|-
| 1998 || Frank Zappa || Lifetime Achievement Award ||
Artists influenced by Zappa
Many musicians, bands and orchestras from diverse genres have been influenced by Zappa's music. Rock artists such as The Plastic People of the Universe, Alice Cooper, Larry LaLonde of Primus, Fee Waybill of the Tubes all cite Zappa's influence, as do progressive, alternative, electronic and avant-garde/experimental rock artists like Can, Pere Ubu, Yes, Soft Machine, Henry Cow, Faust, Devo, Kraftwerk, Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman of Phish, Jeff Buckley, John Frusciante, Steven Wilson, and The Aristocrats. Paul McCartney regarded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the Beatles' Freak Out!. Jimi Hendrix and heavy rock and metal acts like Black Sabbath, Simon Phillips, Mike Portnoy, Warren DeMartini, Alex Skolnick, Steve Vai, Strapping Young Lad, System of a Down, and Clawfinger have acknowledged Zappa as inspiration. On the classical music scene, Tomas Ulrich, Meridian Arts Ensemble, Ensemble Ambrosius and the Fireworks Ensemble regularly perform Zappa's compositions and quote his influence. Contemporary jazz musicians and composers Bobby Sanabria, Bill Frisell and John Zorn are inspired by Zappa, as is funk legend George Clinton.
Other artists affected by Zappa include ambient composer Brian Eno, new age pianist George Winston, electronic composer Bob Gluck, parodist artist and disk jockey Dr. Demento, parodist and novelty composer "Weird Al" Yankovic, industrial music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge, singer Cree Summer, noise music artist Masami Akita of Merzbow, and Chilean composer Cristián Crisosto from Fulano and Mediabanda.
References in arts and sciences
Scientists from various fields have honored Zappa by naming new discoveries after him. In 1967, paleontologist Leo P. Plas, Jr., identified an extinct mollusc in Nevada and named it Amaurotoma zappa with the motivation that, "The specific name, zappa, honors Frank Zappa".
In the 1980s, biologist Ed Murdy named a genus of gobiid fishes of New Guinea Zappa, with a species named Zappa confluentus. Biologist Ferdinando Boero named a Californian jellyfish Phialella zappai (1987), noting that he had "pleasure in naming this species after the modern music composer".
Belgian biologists Bosmans and Bosselaers discovered in the early 1980s a Cameroonese spider, which they in 1994 named Pachygnatha zappa because "the ventral side of the abdomen of the female of this species strikingly resembles the artist's legendary moustache".
A gene of the bacterium Proteus mirabilis that causes urinary tract infections was in 1995 named zapA by three biologists from Maryland. In their scientific article, they "especially thank the late Frank Zappa for inspiration and assistance with genetic nomenclature". Repeating regions of the genome of the human tumor virus KSHV were named frnk, vnct and zppa in 1996 by Yuan Chang and Patrick S. Moore who discovered the virus. Also, a 143 base pair repeat sequence occurring at two positions was named waka/jwka.
In the late 1990s, American paleontologists Marc Salak and Halard L. Lescinsky discovered a metazoan fossil, and named it Spygori zappania to honor "the late Frank Zappa ... whose mission paralleled that of the earliest paleontologists: to challenge conventional and traditional beliefs when such beliefs lacked roots in logic and reason".
In 1994, lobbying efforts initiated by psychiatrist John Scialli led the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center to name an asteroid in Zappa's honor: 3834 Zappafrank. The asteroid was discovered in 1980 by Czechoslovakian astronomer Ladislav Brožek, and the citation for its naming says that "Zappa was an eclectic, self-trained artist and composer ... Before 1989 he was regarded as a symbol of democracy and freedom by many people in Czechoslovakia".
In 1995, a bust of Zappa by sculptor Konstantinas Bogdanas was installed in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital . The choice of Zappa was explained as "a symbol that would mark the end of communism, but at the same time express that it wasn't always doom and gloom." A replica was offered to the city of Baltimore in 2008, and on September 19, 2010 — the twenty-fifth anniversary of Zappa's testimony to the U.S. Senate — a ceremony dedicating the replica was held, and the bust was unveiled at a library in the city.
In 2002, a bronze bust was installed in German city Bad Doberan, location of the Zappanale since 1990, an annual music festival celebrating Zappa. At the initiative of musicians community ORWOhaus, the city of Berlin named a street in the Marzahn district "Frank-Zappa-Straße" in 2007. The same year, Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon proclaimed August 9 as the city's official "Frank Zappa Day" citing Zappa's musical accomplishments as well as his defense of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Zappa documentary
The biographical documentary Zappa, directed by Alex Winter and released on November 27, 2020, includes previously unreleased footage from Zappa's personal vault, to which he was granted access by the Zappa Family Trust.
Discography
During his lifetime, Zappa released 62 albums. Since 1994, the Zappa Family Trust has released 57 posthumous albums, making a total of 119 albums. The current distributor of Zappa's recorded output is Universal Music Enterprises.
See also
List of performers on Frank Zappa records
Frank Zappa in popular culture
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
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1993 deaths
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Surrealist groups | false | [
"Alexandru II Mircea (3 March 1529 – 11 September 1577) was a Voivode or Prince of Wallachia from 1568 to 1574 and 1574 to 1577. He was the father of Mihnea II Turcitul. His parents were Mircea III Dracul and Maria Despina. Raised by the Turks in Istanbul, he hardly knew his country of origin before gaining the throne of Wallachia.\n\nRule\nAlexandru and his wife Catherine Salvaresso came to Bucharest in June 1574. Like his great-grandfather Vlad III Dracula, he was known for cruelty, by slaughtering dissident boyars. Eventually, Alexandru was poisoned by noblemen claiming to be loyal to him.\n\nReferences \n\n|-\n\nRulers of Wallachia\n16th-century rulers in Europe\n16th-century Romanian people\nYear of birth unknown\nYear of death unknown\nHouse of Drăculești\n1529 births",
"Prince Hyodeok was a Goryeo Royal family member as the first son of Wang Uk and a grandson of Wang Geon, its founder. He was the oldest brother of King Seongjong, Queen Heonae, and Queen Heonjeong. Since their parents were died when he was young, he was raised by his paternal grandmother, Queen Sinjeong alongside his siblings. Therefore, it was speculated that he lived in Hwangju where Queen Sinjeong came from. Also, since King Gyeongjong's throne was succeeded by his younger brother and not him, so it might be that he died at a young age before the time of throne's ascension.\n\nReferences\n\nKorean princes\nYear of birth unknown\nYear of death unknown\n10th-century Korean people"
]
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"Frank Zappa",
"Childhood",
"What happened to Zappa in his chidhood?",
"Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems.",
"Was he raised by both of his parents?",
"His mother, Rosemarie (nee Collimore) was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry;"
]
| C_e635b3953ffd47fea791d43cce9347fa_1 | how did his frequent illnesses affect his childhood? | 3 | how did Frank Zappa's frequent illnesses affect his childhood? | Frank Zappa | Zappa was born on December 21, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Rosemarie (nee Collimore) was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry; his father, whose name was anglicized to Francis Vincent Zappa, was an immigrant from Partinico, Sicily, with Greek and Arab ancestry. Frank, the eldest of four children, was raised in an Italian-American household where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents. The family moved often because his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in Florida in the 1940s, the family returned to Maryland, where Zappa's father worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility of the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas, gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident. This had a profound effect on Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare and the defense industry occur throughout his work. Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Zappa's nostrils. At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and although it has since been claimed that nasal radium treatment has causal connections to cancer, no studies have provided significant enough evidence to confirm this. Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel. Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas, released by the nearby chemical warfare facility. His health worsened when he lived in Baltimore. In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health. They next moved to Monterey, California, where his father taught metallurgy at the Naval Postgraduate School. They soon moved to Claremont, California, then to El Cajon, before finally settling in San Diego. CANNOTANSWER | At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and | Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, singer, composer, songwriter and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation.
As a self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical modernism, African-American rhythm and blues, and doo-wop music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm-and-blues bands, later switching to electric guitar. His 1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. He continued this eclectic and experimental approach whether the fundamental format was rock, jazz, or classical.
Zappa's output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. His lyrics reflected his iconoclastic views of established social and political processes, structures and movements, often humorously so, and he has been described as the "godfather" of comedy rock. He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech, self-education, political participation and the abolition of censorship. Unlike many other rock musicians of his generation, he disapproved of recreational drug use, but supported decriminalization and regulation.
Zappa was a highly productive and prolific artist with a controversial critical standing; supporters of his music admired its compositional complexity, while critics found it lacking emotional depth. He had greater commercial success outside the US, particularly in Europe. Though he worked as an independent artist, Zappa mostly relied on distribution agreements he had negotiated with the major record labels. He remains a major influence on musicians and composers. His honors include his 1995 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
1940s–1960s: early life and career
Childhood
Zappa was born on December 21, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Rose Marie ( Colimore), was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry; his father, whose name was anglicized to Francis Vincent Zappa, was an immigrant from Partinico, Sicily, with Greek and Arab ancestry.
Frank, the eldest of four children, was raised in an Italian-American household where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents. The family moved often because his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in Florida in the 1940s, the family returned to Maryland, where Zappa's father worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility of the Aberdeen Proving Ground run by the U.S. Army. Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas, gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident. This living arrangement had a profound effect on Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare, ailments and the defense industry occur frequently throughout his work.
Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Zappa's nostrils. At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and although it has since been claimed that nasal radium treatment has causal connections to cancer, no studies have provided enough evidence to confirm this.
Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel. Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas, released by the nearby chemical warfare facility, and his health worsened when he lived in Baltimore. In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health to Monterey, California, where his father taught metallurgy at the Naval Postgraduate School. They soon moved to Clairemont, and then to El Cajon, before finally settling in nearby San Diego.
First musical interests
Zappa joined his first band at Mission Bay High School in San Diego as the drummer. At about the same time, his parents bought a phonograph, which allowed him to develop his interest in music, and to begin building his record collection. According to The Rough Guide to Rock (2003), "as a teenager Zappa was simultaneously enthralled by black R&B (Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, Guitar Slim), doo-wop (The Channels, The Velvets), the modernism of Igor Stravinsky and Anton Webern, and the dissonant sound experiments of Edgard Varese."
R&B singles were early purchases for Zappa, starting a large collection he kept for the rest of his life. He was interested in sounds for their own sake, particularly the sounds of drums and other percussion instruments. By age twelve, he had obtained a snare drum and began learning the basics of orchestral percussion. Zappa's deep interest in modern classical music began when he read a LOOK magazine article about the Sam Goody record store chain that lauded its ability to sell an LP as obscure as The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Volume One. The article described Varèse's percussion composition Ionisation, produced by EMS Recordings, as "a weird jumble of drums and other unpleasant sounds". Zappa decided to seek out Varèse's music. After searching for over a year, Zappa found a copy (he noticed the LP because of the "mad scientist" looking photo of Varèse on the cover). Not having enough money with him, he persuaded the salesman to sell him the record at a discount. Thus began his lifelong passion for Varèse's music and that of other modern classical composers. He also liked the Italian classical music listened to by his grandparents, especially Puccini's opera arias.
By 1956, the Zappa family had moved to Lancaster, a small aerospace and farming town in the Antelope Valley of the Mojave Desert close to Edwards Air Force Base; he would later refer to Sun Village (a town close to Lancaster) in the 1973 track "Village of the Sun". Zappa's mother encouraged him in his musical interests. Although she disliked Varèse's music, she was indulgent enough to give her son a long-distance call to the New York composer as a fifteenth birthday present. Unfortunately, Varèse was in Europe at the time, so Zappa spoke to the composer's wife and she suggested he call back later. In a letter, Varèse thanked him for his interest, and told him about a composition he was working on called "Déserts". Living in the desert town of Lancaster, Zappa found this very exciting. Varèse invited him to visit if he ever came to New York. The meeting never took place (Varèse died in 1965), but Zappa framed the letter and kept it on display for the rest of his life.
At Antelope Valley High School, Zappa met Don Glen Vliet (who later changed his name to Don Van Vliet and adopted the stage name Captain Beefheart). Zappa and Vliet became close friends, sharing an interest in R&B records and influencing each other musically throughout their careers. Around the same time, Zappa started playing drums in a local band, the Blackouts. The band was racially diverse and included Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood who later became a member of the Mothers of Invention. Zappa's interest in the guitar grew, and in 1957 he was given his first instrument. Among his early influences were Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Howlin' Wolf and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. In the 1970s/1980s, he invited Watson to perform on several albums. Zappa considered soloing as the equivalent of forming "air sculptures", and developed an eclectic, innovative and highly personal style. He was also influenced by Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh.
Zappa's interest in composing and arranging flourished in his last high-school years. By his final year, he was writing, arranging and conducting avant-garde performance pieces for the school orchestra. He graduated from Antelope Valley High School in 1958, and later acknowledged two of his music teachers on the sleeve of the 1966 album Freak Out! Due to his family's frequent moves, Zappa attended at least six different high schools, and as a student he was often bored and given to distracting the rest of the class with juvenile antics. In 1959, he attended Chaffey College but left after one semester, and maintained thereafter a disdain for formal education, taking his children out of school at age 15 and refusing to pay for their college.
Zappa left home in 1959, and moved into a small apartment in Echo Park, Los Angeles. After he met Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman during his short period of private composition study with Prof. Karl Kohn of Pomona College, they moved in together in Ontario, and were married December 28, 1960. Zappa worked for a short period in advertising as a copywriter. His sojourn in the commercial world was brief, but gave him valuable insights into its workings. Throughout his career, he took a keen interest in the visual presentation of his work, designing some of his album covers and directing his own films and videos.
Studio Z
Zappa attempted to earn a living as a musician and composer, and played different nightclub gigs, some with a new version of the Blackouts. Zappa's earliest professional recordings, two soundtracks for the low-budget films The World's Greatest Sinner (1962) and Run Home Slow (1965) were more financially rewarding. The former score was commissioned by actor-producer Timothy Carey and recorded in 1961. It contains many themes that appeared on later Zappa records. The latter soundtrack was recorded in 1963 after the film was completed, but it was commissioned by one of Zappa's former high school teachers in 1959 and Zappa may have worked on it before the film was shot. Excerpts from the soundtrack can be heard on the posthumous album The Lost Episodes (1996).
During the early 1960s, Zappa wrote and produced songs for other local artists, often working with singer-songwriter Ray Collins and producer Paul Buff. Their "Memories of El Monte" was recorded by the Penguins, although only Cleve Duncan of the original group was featured. Buff owned the small Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga, which included a unique five-track tape recorder he had built. At that time, only a handful of the most sophisticated commercial studios had multi-track facilities; the industry standard for smaller studios was still mono or two-track. Although none of the recordings from the period achieved major commercial success, Zappa earned enough money to allow him to stage a concert of his orchestral music in 1963 and to broadcast and record it. He appeared on Steve Allen's syndicated late night show the same year, in which he played a bicycle as a musical instrument. Using a bow borrowed from the band's bass player, as well as drum sticks, he proceeded to pluck, bang, and bow the spokes of the bike, producing strange, comical sounds from his newfound instrument. With Captain Beefheart, Zappa recorded some songs under the name of the Soots. They were rejected by Dot Records. Later, the Mothers were also rejected by Columbia Records for having "no commercial potential", a verdict Zappa subsequently quoted on the sleeve of Freak Out!
In 1964, after his marriage started to break up, he moved into the Pal studio and began routinely working 12 hours or more per day recording and experimenting with overdubbing and audio tape manipulation. This established a work pattern that endured for most of his life. Aided by his income from film composing, Zappa took over the studio from Paul Buff, who was now working with Art Laboe at Original Sound. It was renamed Studio Z. Studio Z was rarely booked for recordings by other musicians. Instead, friends moved in, notably James "Motorhead" Sherwood. Zappa started performing in local bars as a guitarist with a power trio, the Muthers, to support himself.
An article in the local press describing Zappa as "the Movie King of Cucamonga" prompted the local police to suspect that he was making pornographic films. In March 1965, Zappa was approached by a vice squad undercover officer, and accepted an offer of $100 () to produce a suggestive audio tape for an alleged stag party. Zappa and a female friend recorded a faked erotic episode. When Zappa was about to hand over the tape, he was arrested, and the police stripped the studio of all recorded material. The press was tipped off beforehand, and next day's The Daily Report wrote that "Vice Squad investigators stilled the tape recorders of a free-swinging, a-go-go film and recording studio here Friday and arrested a self-styled movie producer". Zappa was charged with "conspiracy to commit pornography". This felony charge was reduced and he was sentenced to six months in jail on a misdemeanor, with all but ten days suspended. His brief imprisonment left a permanent mark, and was central to the formation of his anti-authoritarian stance. Zappa lost several recordings made at Studio Z in the process, as the police returned only 30 of 80 hours of tape seized. Eventually, he could no longer afford to pay the rent on the studio and was evicted. Zappa managed to recover some of his possessions before the studio was torn down in 1966.
Late 1960s: the Mothers of Invention
Formation
In 1965, Ray Collins asked Zappa to take over as guitarist in local R&B band the Soul Giants, following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist. Zappa accepted, and soon assumed leadership and the role as co-lead singer (even though he never considered himself a singer, then or later). He convinced the other members that they should play his music to increase the chances of getting a record contract. The band was renamed the Mothers, coincidentally on Mother's Day. They increased their bookings after beginning an association with manager Herb Cohen, and gradually gained attention on the burgeoning Los Angeles underground music scene. In early 1966, they were spotted by leading record producer Tom Wilson when playing "Trouble Every Day", a song about the Watts riots. Wilson had earned acclaim as the producer for Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel, and was one of the few African-Americans working as a major label pop music producer at this time. Wilson signed the Mothers to the Verve division of MGM, which had built up a strong reputation for its releases of modern jazz recordings in the 1940s and 1950s, but was attempting to diversify into pop and rock audiences. Verve insisted that the band officially rename themselves the Mothers of Invention as Mother was short for motherfucker—a term that, apart from its profane meanings, can denote a skilled musician.
Debut album: Freak Out!
With Wilson credited as producer, the Mothers of Invention, augmented by a studio orchestra, recorded the groundbreaking Freak Out! (1966), which, after Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, was the second rock double album ever released. It mixed R&B, doo-wop, musique concrète, and experimental sound collages that captured the "freak" subculture of Los Angeles at that time. Although he was dissatisfied with the final product, Freak Out immediately established Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to the "relentless consumer culture of America". The sound was raw, but the arrangements were sophisticated. While recording in the studio, some of the additional session musicians were shocked that they were expected to read the notes on sheet music from charts with Zappa conducting them, since it was not standard when recording rock music. The lyrics praised non-conformity, disparaged authorities, and had dadaist elements. Yet, there was a place for seemingly conventional love songs. Most compositions are Zappa's, which set a precedent for the rest of his recording career. He had full control over the arrangements and musical decisions and did most overdubs. Wilson provided the industry clout and connections and was able to provide the group with the financial resources needed. Although Wilson was able to provide Zappa and the Mothers with an extraordinary degree of artistic freedom for the time, the recording did not go entirely as planned. In a 1967 radio interview, Zappa explained that the album's outlandish 11-minute closing track, "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" was not finished. The track as it appears on the album was only a backing track for a much more complex piece, but MGM refused to allow the additional recording time needed for completion. Much to Zappa's chagrin, it was issued in its unfinished state.
During the recording of Freak Out!, Zappa moved into a house in Laurel Canyon with friend Pamela Zarubica, who appeared on the album. The house became a meeting (and living) place for many LA musicians and groupies of the time, despite Zappa's disapproval of their illicit drug use. After a short promotional tour following the release of Freak Out!, Zappa met Adelaide Gail Sloatman. He fell in love within "a couple of minutes", and she moved into the house over the summer. They married in 1967, had four children and remained together until Zappa's death.
Wilson nominally produced the Mothers' second album Absolutely Free (1967), which was recorded in November 1966, and later mixed in New York, although by this time Zappa was in de facto control of most facets of the production. It featured extended playing by the Mothers of Invention and focused on songs that defined Zappa's compositional style of introducing abrupt, rhythmical changes into songs that were built from diverse elements. Examples are "Plastic People" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", which contained lyrics critical of the hypocrisy and conformity of American society, but also of the counterculture of the 1960s. As Zappa put it, "[W]e're satirists, and we are out to satirize everything." At the same time, Zappa had recorded material for an album of orchestral works to be released under his own name, Lumpy Gravy, released by Capitol Records in 1967. Due to contractual problems, the album was pulled. Zappa took the opportunity to radically restructure the contents, adding newly recorded, improvised dialogue. After the contractual problems were resolved, the album was reissued by Verve in 1968. It is an "incredible ambitious musical project", a "monument to John Cage", which intertwines orchestral themes, spoken words and electronic noises through radical audio editing techniques.
New York period (1966–1968)
The Mothers of Invention played in New York in late 1966 and were offered a contract at the Garrick Theater (at 152 Bleecker Street, above the Cafe au Go Go) during Easter 1967. This proved successful and Herb Cohen extended the booking, which eventually lasted half a year. As a result, Zappa and his wife Gail, along with the Mothers of Invention, moved to New York. Their shows became a combination of improvised acts showcasing individual talents of the band as well as tight performances of Zappa's music. Everything was directed by Zappa using hand signals. Guest performers and audience participation became a regular part of the Garrick Theater shows. One evening, Zappa managed to entice some U.S. Marines from the audience onto the stage, where they proceeded to dismember a big baby doll, having been told by Zappa to pretend that it was a "gook baby".
Situated in New York, and interrupted by the band's first European tour, the Mothers of Invention recorded the album widely regarded as the peak of the group's late 1960s work, We're Only in It for the Money (released 1968). It was produced by Zappa, with Wilson credited as executive producer. From then on, Zappa produced all albums released by the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. We're Only in It for the Money featured some of the most creative audio editing and production yet heard in pop music, and the songs ruthlessly satirized the hippie and flower power phenomena. He sampled plundered surf music in We're only in It for the Money, as well as the Beatles' tape work from their song "Tomorrow Never Knows". The cover photo parodied that of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The cover art was provided by Cal Schenkel whom Zappa met in New York. This initiated a lifelong collaboration in which Schenkel designed covers for numerous Zappa and Mothers albums.
Reflecting Zappa's eclectic approach to music, the next album, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets (1968), was very different. It represented a collection of doo-wop songs; listeners and critics were not sure whether the album was a satire or a tribute. Zappa later remarked that the album was conceived like Stravinsky's compositions in his neo-classical period: "If he could take the forms and clichés of the classical era and pervert them, why not do the same ... to doo-wop in the fifties?" A theme from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is heard during one song.
In 1967 and 1968, Zappa made two appearances with the Monkees. The first appearance was on an episode of their TV series, "The Monkees Blow Their Minds", where Zappa, dressed up as Mike Nesmith, interviews Nesmith who is dressed up as Zappa. After the interview, Zappa destroys a car with a sledgehammer as the song "Mother People" plays. He later provided a cameo in the Monkees' movie Head where, leading a cow, he tells Davy Jones "the youth of America depends on you to show them the way." Zappa respected the Monkees and recruited Micky Dolenz to the Mothers but RCA/Columbia/Colgems would not release Dolenz from his contract.
During the late 1960s, Zappa continued to develop the business side of his career. He and Herb Cohen formed the Bizarre Records and Straight Records labels to increase creative control and produce recordings by other artists. These labels were distributed in the US by Warner Bros. Records. Zappa/Mothers recordings appeared on Bizarre along with Wild Man Fischer and Lenny Bruce. Straight released the double album Trout Mask Replica for Captain Beefheart, and releases by Alice Cooper, The Persuasions, and the GTOs.
In the Mothers' second European tour in September/October 1968 they performed for the at the Grugahalle in Essen, Germany; at the Tivoli in Copenhagen, Denmark; for TV programs in Germany (Beat-Club), France, and England; at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; at the Royal Festival Hall in London; and at the Olympia in Paris.
Disbandment
Zappa and the Mothers of Invention returned to Los Angeles in mid-1968, and the Zappas moved into a house on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, only to move again to Woodrow Wilson Drive. This was Zappa's home for the rest of his life. Despite being successful in Europe, the Mothers of Invention were not doing well financially. Their first records were vocally oriented, but as Zappa wrote more instrumental jazz and classical style music for the band's concerts, audiences were confused. Zappa felt that audiences failed to appreciate his "electrical chamber music".
In 1969 there were nine band members and Zappa was supporting the group from his publishing royalties whether they played or not. In late 1969, Zappa broke up the band. He often cited the financial strain as the main reason, but also commented on the band members' lack of diligence. Many band members were bitter about Zappa's decision, and some took it as a sign of Zappa's perfectionism at the expense of human feeling. Others were irritated by 'his autocratic ways', exemplified by Zappa's never staying at the same hotel as the band members. Several members played for Zappa in years to come. Remaining recordings of the band from this period were collected on Weasels Ripped My Flesh and Burnt Weeny Sandwich (both released in 1970).
After he disbanded the Mothers of Invention, Zappa released the acclaimed solo album Hot Rats (1969). It features, for the first time on record, Zappa playing extended guitar solos and contains one of his most enduring compositions, "Peaches en Regalia", which reappeared several times on future recordings. He was backed by jazz, blues and R&B session players including violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris, drummers John Guerin and Paul Humphrey, multi-instrumentalist and former Mothers of Invention member Ian Underwood, and multi-instrumentalist Shuggie Otis on bass, along with a guest appearance by Captain Beefheart on the only vocal track, "Willie the Pimp". It became a popular album in England, and had a major influence on the development of jazz-rock fusion.
1970s
Rebirth of the Mothers and filmmaking
In 1970 Zappa met conductor Zubin Mehta. They arranged a May 1970 concert where Mehta conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic augmented by a rock band. According to Zappa, the music was mostly written in motel rooms while on tour with the Mothers of Invention. Some of it was later featured in the movie 200 Motels. Although the concert was a success, Zappa's experience working with a symphony orchestra was not a happy one. His dissatisfaction became a recurring theme throughout his career; he often felt that the quality of performance of his material delivered by orchestras was not commensurate with the money he spent on orchestral concerts and recordings.
Later in 1970, Zappa formed a new version of the Mothers (from then on, he mostly dropped the "of Invention"). It included British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, jazz keyboardist George Duke, Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons (bass, rhythm guitar), and three members of the Turtles: bass player Jim Pons, and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, who, due to persistent legal and contractual problems, adopted the stage name "The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie", or "Flo & Eddie".
This version of the Mothers debuted on Zappa's next solo album Chunga's Revenge (1970), which was followed by the double-album soundtrack to the movie 200 Motels (1971), featuring the Mothers, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, and Keith Moon. Co-directed by Zappa and Tony Palmer, it was filmed in a week at Pinewood Studios outside London. Tensions between Zappa and several cast and crew members arose before and during shooting. The film deals loosely with life on the road as a rock musician. It was the first feature film photographed on videotape and transferred to 35 mm film, a process that allowed for novel visual effects. It was released to mixed reviews. The score relied extensively on orchestral music, and Zappa's dissatisfaction with the classical music world intensified when a concert, scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall after filming, was canceled because a representative of the venue found some of the lyrics obscene. In 1975, he lost a lawsuit against the Royal Albert Hall for breach of contract.
After 200 Motels, the band went on tour, which resulted in two live albums, Fillmore East – June 1971 and Just Another Band from L.A.; the latter included the 20-minute track "Billy the Mountain", Zappa's satire on rock opera set in Southern California. This track was representative of the band's theatrical performances—which used songs to build sketches based on 200 Motels scenes, as well as new situations that often portrayed the band members' sexual encounters on the road.
Accident, attack, and aftermath
On December 4, 1971, Zappa suffered his first of two serious setbacks. While performing at Casino de Montreux in Switzerland, the Mothers' equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by an audience member started a fire that burned down the casino. Immortalized in Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water", the event and immediate aftermath can be heard on the bootleg album Swiss Cheese/Fire, released legally as part of Zappa's Beat the Boots II compilation. After losing $50,000 () worth of equipment and a week's break, the Mothers played at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with rented gear. During the encore, an audience member jealous because of his girlfriend's infatuation with Zappa pushed him off the stage and into the concrete-floored orchestra pit. The band thought Zappa had been killed—he had suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing.
After the attack Zappa needed to use a wheelchair for an extended period, making touring impossible for over half a year. Upon return to the stage in September 1972, Zappa was still wearing a leg brace, had a noticeable limp and could not stand for very long while on stage. Zappa noted that one leg healed "shorter than the other" (a reference later found in the lyrics of songs "Zomby Woof" and "Dancin' Fool"), resulting in chronic back pain. Meanwhile, the Mothers were left in limbo and eventually formed the core of Flo and Eddie's band as they set out on their own.
During 1971–1972 Zappa released two strongly jazz-oriented solo LPs, Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo, which were recorded during the forced layoff from concert touring, using floating line-ups of session players and Mothers alumni. Musically, the albums were akin to Hot Rats, in that they featured extended instrumental tracks with extended soloing. Zappa began touring again in late 1972. His first effort was a series of concerts in September 1972 with a 20-piece big band referred to as the Grand Wazoo. This was followed by a scaled-down version known as the Petit Wazoo that toured the U.S. for five weeks from October to December 1972.
Top 10 album: Apostrophe ()
Zappa then formed and toured with smaller groups that variously included Ian Underwood (reeds, keyboards), Ruth Underwood (vibes, marimba), Sal Marquez (trumpet, vocals), Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute and vocals), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Tom Fowler (bass), Chester Thompson (drums), Ralph Humphrey (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), and Jean-Luc Ponty (violin).
By 1973 the Bizarre and Straight labels were discontinued. In their place, Zappa and Cohen created DiscReet Records, also distributed by Warner. Zappa continued a high rate of production through the first half of the 1970s, including the solo album Apostrophe (') (1974), which reached a career-high No. 10 on the Billboard pop album charts helped by the No. 86 chart hit "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". Other albums from the period are Over-Nite Sensation (1973), which contained several future concert favorites, such as "Dinah-Moe Humm" and "Montana", and the albums Roxy & Elsewhere (1974) and One Size Fits All (1975) which feature ever-changing versions of a band still called the Mothers, and are notable for the tight renditions of highly difficult jazz fusion songs in such pieces as "Inca Roads", "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" and "Be-Bop Tango (Of the Old Jazzmen's Church)". A live recording from 1974, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 (1988), captures "the full spirit and excellence of the 1973–1975 band". Zappa released Bongo Fury (1975), which featured a live recording at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin from a tour the same year that reunited him with Captain Beefheart for a brief period. They later became estranged for a period of years, but were in contact at the end of Zappa's life.
Business breakups and touring
In 1976 Zappa produced the album Good Singin', Good Playin' for Grand Funk Railroad. Zappa's relationship with long-time manager Herb Cohen ended in May 1976. Zappa sued Cohen for skimming more than he was allocated from DiscReet Records, as well as for signing acts of which Zappa did not approve. Cohen filed a lawsuit against Zappa in return, which froze the money Zappa and Cohen had gained from an out-of-court settlement with MGM over the rights of the early Mothers of Invention recordings. It also prevented Zappa having access to any of his previously recorded material during the trials. Zappa therefore took his personal master copies of the rock-oriented Zoot Allures (1976) directly to Warner, thereby bypassing DiscReet. Following the split with Cohen, Zappa hired Bennett Glotzer as new manager.
By late 1976 Zappa was upset with Warner over inadequate promotion of his recordings and he was eager to move on as soon as possible. In March 1977 Zappa delivered four albums (five full-length LPs) to Warner to complete his contract. These albums contained recordings mostly made between 1972 and 1976. Warner failed to meet contractual obligations to Zappa, but after a lengthy legal dispute they did eventually release these recordings during 1978 and 1979 in censored form. Also, in 1977 Zappa prepared a four-LP box set called Läther (pronounced "leather") and negotiated distribution with Phonogram Inc. for release on the Zappa Records label. The Läther box set was scheduled for release on Halloween 1977, but legal action from Warner forced Zappa to shelve this project.
In December 1977 Zappa appeared on the Pasadena, California radio station KROQ-FM and played the entire Läther album, while encouraging listeners to make tape recordings of the broadcast. Both sets of recordings (five-LP and four-LP) have much of the same material, but each also has unique content. The albums integrate many aspects of Zappa's 1970s work: heavy rock, orchestral works, and complex jazz instrumentals, along with Zappa's distinctive guitar solos. Läther was officially released posthumously in 1996. It is still debated as to whether Zappa had conceived the material as a four-LP set from the beginning, or only later when working with Phonogram.
Although Zappa eventually gained the rights to all his material created under the MGM and Warner contracts, the various lawsuits meant that for a period Zappa's only income came from touring, which he therefore did extensively in 1975–1977 with relatively small, mainly rock-oriented, bands. Drummer Terry Bozzio became a regular band member, Napoleon Murphy Brock stayed on for a while, and original Mothers of Invention bassist Roy Estrada joined. Among other musicians were bassist Patrick O'Hearn, singer-guitarist Ray White and keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson. In December 1976, Zappa appeared as a featured musical guest on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live. Zappa's song "I'm the Slime" was performed with a voice-over by SNL booth announcer Don Pardo, who also introduced "Peaches En Regalia" on the same airing. In 1978, Zappa served both as host and musical act on the show, and as an actor in various sketches. The performances included an impromptu musical collaboration with cast member John Belushi during the instrumental piece "The Purple Lagoon". Belushi appeared as his Samurai Futaba character playing the tenor sax with Zappa conducting.
Zappa's band had a series of Christmas shows in New York City in 1976, recordings of which appear on Zappa in New York (1978) and also on the four-LP Läther project. The band included Ruth Underwood and a horn section (featuring Michael and Randy Brecker). It mixes complex instrumentals such as "The Black Page" and humorous songs like "Titties and Beer". The former composition, written originally for drum kit but later developed for larger bands, is notorious for its complexity in rhythmic structure and short, densely arranged passages.
Zappa in New York also featured a song about sex criminal Michael H. Kenyon, "The Illinois Enema Bandit", in which Don Pardo provides the opening narrative. Like many songs on the album, it contained numerous sexual references, leading to many critics objecting and being offended by the content. Zappa dismissed the criticism by noting that he was a journalist reporting on life as he saw it. Predating his later fight against censorship, he remarked: "What do you make of a society that is so primitive that it clings to the belief that certain words in its language are so powerful that they could corrupt you the moment you hear them?" The remaining albums released by Warner without Zappa's approval were Studio Tan in 1978 and Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites in 1979. These releases were largely overlooked in midst of the press about Zappa's legal problems.
Zappa Records label
Zappa released two of his most important projects in 1979. These were the best-selling album of his career, Sheik Yerbouti, and what author Kelley Lowe called the "bona fide masterpiece", Joe's Garage.
The double album Sheik Yerbouti appeared in March 1979 and was the first release to appear on Zappa Records. It contained the Grammy-nominated single "Dancin' Fool", which reached No. 45 on the Billboard charts. It also contained "Jewish Princess", which received attention when a Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), attempted to prevent the song from receiving radio airplay due to its alleged anti-Semitic lyrics. Zappa vehemently denied any anti-Semitic sentiments, and dismissed the ADL as a "noisemaking organization that tries to apply pressure on people in order to manufacture a stereotype image of Jews that suits their idea of a good time." The album's commercial success was attributable in part to "Bobby Brown". Due to its explicit lyrics about a young man's encounter with a "dyke by the name of Freddie", the song did not get airplay in the U.S., but it topped the charts in several European countries where English is not the primary language.
Joe's Garage initially had to be released in two parts. The first was a single LP Joe's Garage Act I in September 1979, followed by a double LP Joe's Garage Acts II and III in November 1979. The albums feature singer Ike Willis as lead character "Joe" in a rock opera about the danger of political systems, the suppression of freedom of speech and music—inspired in part by the 1979 Islamic Iranian revolution that had made music illegal—and about the "strange relationship Americans have with sex and sexual frankness". The first act contains the song "Catholic Girls" (a riposte to the controversies of "Jewish Princess"), and the title track, which was also released as a single. The second and third acts have extended guitar improvisations, which were recorded live, then combined with studio backing tracks. Zappa described this process as xenochrony. In this period the band included drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (with whom Zappa had a particularly strong musical rapport) Joe's Garage contains one of Zappa's most famous guitar "signature pieces", "Watermelon in Easter Hay". This work later appeared as a three-LP, or two-CD set.
On December 21, 1979, Zappa's movie Baby Snakes premiered in New York. The movie's tagline was "A movie about people who do stuff that is not normal". The 2 hour and 40 minutes movie was based on footage from concerts in New York around Halloween 1977, with a band featuring keyboardist Tommy Mars and percussionist Ed Mann (who would both return on later tours) as well as guitarist Adrian Belew. It also contained several extraordinary sequences of clay animation by Bruce Bickford who had earlier provided animation sequences to Zappa for a 1974 TV special (which became available on the 1982 video The Dub Room Special). The movie did not do well in theatrical distribution, but won the Premier Grand Prix at the First International Music Festival in Paris in 1981.
1980s–1990s
Zappa cut ties with Phonogram after the distributor refused to release his song "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted", which was recorded in February 1980. The single was released independently by Zappa in the United States and was picked up by CBS Records internationally.
After spending much of 1980 on the road, Zappa released Tinsel Town Rebellion in 1981. It was the first release on his own Barking Pumpkin Records, and it contains songs taken from a 1979 tour, one studio track and material from the 1980 tours. The album is a mixture of complicated instrumentals and Zappa's use of sprechstimme (speaking song or voice)—a compositional technique utilized by such composers as Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg—showcasing some of the most accomplished bands Zappa ever had (mostly featuring drummer Vinnie Colaiuta). While some lyrics still raised controversy among critics, some of whom found them sexist, the political and sociological satire in songs like the title track and "The Blue Light" have been described as a "hilarious critique of the willingness of the American people to believe anything". The album is also notable for the presence of guitarist Steve Vai, who joined Zappa's touring band in late 1980.
The same year the double album You Are What You Is was released. Most of it was recorded in Zappa's brand new Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK) studios, which were located at his house, thereby giving him complete freedom in his work. The album included one complex instrumental, "Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear", but mainly consisted of rock songs with Zappa's sardonic social commentary—satirical lyrics directed at teenagers, the media, and religious and political hypocrisy. "Dumb All Over" is a tirade on religion, as is "Heavenly Bank Account", wherein Zappa rails against TV evangelists such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson for their purported influence on the U.S. administration as well as their use of religion as a means of raising money. Songs like "Society Pages" and "I'm a Beautiful Guy" show Zappa's dismay with the Reagan era and its "obscene pursuit of wealth and happiness". Zappa made his only music video for a song from this album - "You Are What You Is" - directed by Jerry Watson, produced by Paul Flattery. It was banned from MTV.
Zappa's management relationship with Bennett Glotzer ended in 1984. From then on Gail acted as co-manager with Frank of all his business interests. In 1981, Zappa also released three instrumental albums, Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar, Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar Some More, and The Return of the Son of Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar, which were initially sold via mail order, but later released through CBS Records (now Sony Music Entertainment) due to popular demand.
The albums focus exclusively on Frank Zappa as a guitar soloist, and the tracks are predominantly live recordings from 1979 to 1980; they highlight Zappa's improvisational skills with "beautiful performances from the backing group as well". Another guitar-only album, Guitar, was released in 1988, and a third, Trance-Fusion, which Zappa completed shortly before his death, was released in 2006.
Zappa later expanded on his television appearances in a non-musical role. He was an actor or voice artist in episodes of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre, Miami Vice and The Ren & Stimpy Show. A voice part in The Simpsons never materialized, to creator Matt Groening's disappointment (Groening was a neighbor of Zappa and a lifelong fan).
"Valley Girl" and classical performances
In May 1982, Zappa released Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch, which featured his biggest selling single ever, the Grammy Award-nominated song "Valley Girl" (topping out at No. 32 on the Billboard charts). In her improvised lyrics to the song, Zappa's daughter Moon satirized the patois of teenage girls from the San Fernando Valley, which popularized many "Valspeak" expressions such as "gag me with a spoon", "fer sure, fer sure", "grody to the max", and "barf out".
In 1983, two different projects were released, beginning with The Man from Utopia, a rock-oriented work. The album is eclectic, featuring the vocal-led "Dangerous Kitchen" and "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats", both continuations of the sprechstimme excursions on Tinseltown Rebellion. The second album, London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I, contained orchestral Zappa compositions conducted by Kent Nagano and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). A second record of these sessions, London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II was released in 1987. The material was recorded under a tight schedule with Zappa providing all funding, helped by the commercial success of "Valley Girl". Zappa was not satisfied with the LSO recordings. One reason is "Strictly Genteel", which was recorded after the trumpet section had been out for drinks on a break: the track took 40 edits to hide out-of-tune notes.
Conductor Nagano, who was pleased with the experience, noted that "in fairness to the orchestra, the music is humanly very, very difficult". Some reviews noted that the recordings were the best representation of Zappa's orchestral work so far. In 1984 Zappa teamed again with Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra for a live performance of A Zappa Affair with augmented orchestra, life-size puppets, and moving stage sets. Although critically acclaimed the work was a financial failure, and only performed twice. Zappa was invited by conference organizer Thomas Wells to be the keynote speaker at the American Society of University Composers at the Ohio State University. It was there Zappa delivered his famous "Bingo! There Goes Your Tenure" address, and had two of his orchestra pieces, "Dupree's Paradise" and "Naval Aviation in Art?" performed by the Columbus Symphony and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus.
Synclavier
For the remainder of his career, much of Zappa's work was influenced by his use of the Synclavier, an early digital synthesizer, as a compositional and performance tool. According to Zappa, "With the Synclavier, any group of imaginary instruments can be invited to play the most difficult passages ... with one-millisecond accuracy—every time". Even though it essentially did away with the need for musicians, Zappa viewed the Synclavier and real-life musicians as separate.
In 1984, he released four albums. Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger contains orchestral works commissioned and conducted by celebrated conductor, composer and pianist Pierre Boulez (who was listed as an influence on Freak Out!), and performed by his Ensemble InterContemporain. These were juxtaposed with premiere Synclavier pieces. Again, Zappa was not satisfied with the performances of his orchestral works, regarding them as under-rehearsed, but in the album liner notes he respectfully thanks Boulez's demands for precision. The Synclavier pieces stood in contrast to the orchestral works, as the sounds were electronically generated and not, as became possible shortly thereafter, sampled.
The album Thing-Fish was an ambitious three-record set in the style of a Broadway play dealing with a dystopian "what-if" scenario involving feminism, homosexuality, manufacturing and distribution of the AIDS virus, and a eugenics program conducted by the United States government. New vocals were combined with previously released tracks and new Synclavier music; "the work is an extraordinary example of bricolage".
Francesco Zappa, a Synclavier rendition of works by 18th-century composer Francesco Zappa, was also released in 1984.
Merchandising
Zappa’s mail-order merchandise business Barfko-Swill was run by Gerry Fialka, who also worked for Zappa as archivist and production assistant from 1983 to 1993 and answered the phone for Zappa’s Barking Pumpkin Records hotline. Fialka appears giving a tour of Barfko-Swill in the 1987 VHS release (but not the original 1979 film release) of Zappa's film Baby Snakes. He is credited on-screen as "GERALD FIALKA Cool Guy Who Wraps Stuff So It Doesn't Break". A short clip of this tour is also included in the 2020 documentary film Zappa.
Digital medium and last tour
Around 1986, Zappa undertook a comprehensive re-release program of his earlier vinyl recordings. He personally oversaw the remastering of all his 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s albums for the new digital compact disc medium. Certain aspects of these re-issues were criticized by some fans as being unfaithful to the original recordings. Nearly twenty years before the advent of online music stores, Zappa had proposed to replace "phonographic record merchandising" of music by "direct digital-to-digital transfer" through phone or cable TV (with royalty payments and consumer billing automatically built into the accompanying software). In 1989, Zappa considered his idea a "miserable flop".
The album Jazz from Hell, released in 1986, earned Zappa his first Grammy Award in 1988 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Except for one live guitar solo ("St. Etienne"), the album exclusively featured compositions brought to life by the Synclavier.
Zappa's last tour in a rock and jazz band format took place in 1988 with a 12-piece group which had a repertoire of over 100 (mostly Zappa) compositions, but which split under acrimonious circumstances before the tour was completed. The tour was documented on the albums Broadway the Hard Way (new material featuring songs with strong political emphasis); The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life (Zappa "standards" and an eclectic collection of cover tunes, ranging from Maurice Ravel's Boléro to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven to The Beatles' I Am The Walrus); and also, Make a Jazz Noise Here. Parts are also found on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, volumes 4 and 6. Recordings from this tour also appear on the 2006 album Trance-Fusion.
Health deterioration
In 1990, Zappa was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. The disease had been developing unnoticed for years and was considered inoperable. After the diagnosis, Zappa devoted most of his energy to modern orchestral and Synclavier works. Shortly before his death in 1993 he completed Civilization Phaze III, a major Synclavier work which he had begun in the 1980s.
In 1991, Zappa was chosen to be one of four featured composers at the Frankfurt Festival in 1992 (the others were John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Alexander Knaifel). Zappa was approached by the German chamber ensemble Ensemble Modern which was interested in playing his music for the event. Although ill, he invited them to Los Angeles for rehearsals of new compositions and new arrangements of older material. Zappa also got along with the musicians, and the concerts in Germany and Austria were set up for later in the year. Zappa also performed in 1991 in Prague, claiming that "was the first time that he had a reason to play his guitar in 3 years", and that that moment was just "the beginning of a new country", and asked the public to "try to keep your country unique, do not change it into something else".
In September 1992, the concerts went ahead as scheduled but Zappa could only appear at two in Frankfurt due to illness. At the first concert, he conducted the opening "Overture", and the final "G-Spot Tornado" as well as the theatrical "Food Gathering in Post-Industrial America, 1992" and "Welcome to the United States" (the remainder of the program was conducted by the ensemble's regular conductor Peter Rundel). Zappa received a 20-minute ovation. G-Spot Tornado was performed with Canadian dancer Louise Lecavalier. It was Zappa's last professional public appearance as the cancer was spreading to such an extent that he was in too much pain to enjoy an event that he otherwise found "exhilarating". Recordings from the concerts appeared on The Yellow Shark (1993), Zappa's last release during his lifetime, and some material from studio rehearsals appeared on the posthumous Everything Is Healing Nicely (1999).
Death
Zappa died from prostate cancer on December 4, 1993, 17 days before his 53rd birthday at his home with his wife and children by his side. At a private ceremony the following day, his body was buried in a grave at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, in Los Angeles. The grave is unmarked. On December 6, his family publicly announced that "Composer Frank Zappa left for his final tour just before 6:00 pm on Saturday".
Musical style and development
Genres
The general phases of Zappa's music have been variously categorized under experimental rock, jazz, classical, avant-pop, experimental pop, comedy rock, doo-wop, jazz fusion, progressive rock, proto-prog, avant-jazz, and psychedelic rock.
Influences
Zappa grew up influenced by avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern; 1950s blues artists Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Guitar Slim, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and B.B. King; Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh; R&B and doo-wop groups (particularly local pachuco groups); and modern jazz. His own heterogeneous ethnic background, and the diverse social and cultural mix in and around greater Los Angeles, were crucial in the formation of Zappa as a practitioner of underground music and of his later distrustful and openly critical attitude towards "mainstream" social, political and musical movements. He frequently lampooned musical fads like psychedelia, rock opera and disco. Television also exerted a strong influence, as demonstrated by quotations from show themes and advertising jingles found in his later works.
In his book The Real Frank Zappa Book, Frank credited composer Spike Jones for Zappa's frequent use of funny sound effects, mouth noises, and humorous percussion interjections. After explaining his ideas on this, he said "I owe this part of my musical existence to Spike Jones."
Project/Object
Zappa's albums make extensive use of segued tracks, breaklessly joining the elements of his albums. His total output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. He also called it a "conceptual continuity", meaning that any project or album was part of a larger project. Everything was connected, and musical themes and lyrics reappeared in different form on later albums. Conceptual continuity clues are found throughout Zappa's entire œuvre.
Techniques
Guitar playing
Zappa is widely recognized as one of the most significant electric guitar soloists. In a 1983 issue of Guitar World, John Swenson declared: "the fact of the matter is that [Zappa] is one of the greatest guitarists we have and is sorely unappreciated as such." His idiosyncratic style developed gradually and was mature by the early 1980s, by which time his live performances featured lengthy improvised solos during many songs. A November 2016 feature by the editors of Guitar Player magazine wrote: "Brimming with sophisticated motifs and convoluted rhythms, Zappa's extended excursions are more akin to symphonies than they are to guitar solos." The symphonic comparison stems from his habit of introducing melodic themes that, like a symphony's main melodies, were repeated with variations throughout his solos. He was further described as using a wide variety of scales and modes, enlivened by "unusual rhythmic combinations". His left hand was capable of smooth legato technique, while Zappa's right was "one of the fastest pick hands in the business." In 2016, Dweezil Zappa explained a distinctive element of his father's guitar improvisation technique was relying heavily on upstrokes much more than many other guitarists, who are more likely to use downstrokes with their picking.
His song "Outside Now" from Joe's Garage poked fun at the negative reception of Zappa's guitar technique by those more commercially minded, as the song's narrator lives in a world where music is outlawed and he imagines "imaginary guitar notes that would irritate/An executive kind of guy", lyrics that are followed by one of Zappa's characteristically quirky solos in 11/8 time. Zappa transcriptionist Kasper Sloots wrote, "Zappa's guitar solos aren't meant to show off technically (Zappa hasn't claimed to be a big virtuoso on the instrument), but for the pleasure it gives trying to build a composition right in front of an audience without knowing what the outcome will be."
Zappa's guitar style was not without its critics. English guitarist and bandleader John McLaughlin, whose band Mahavishnu Orchestra toured with the Mothers of Invention in 1973, opined that Zappa was "very interesting as a human being and a very interesting composer" and that he "was a very good musician but he was a dictator in his band," and that he "was taking very long guitar solos [when performing live]– 10–15 minute guitar solos and really he should have taken two or three minute guitar solos, because they were a little bit boring."
In 2000, he was ranked number 36 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number 71 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and in 2011 at number 22 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Tape manipulation
In New York, Zappa increasingly used tape editing as a compositional tool. A prime example is found on the double album Uncle Meat (1969), where the track "King Kong" is edited from various studio and live performances. Zappa had begun regularly recording concerts, and because of his insistence on precise tuning and timing, he was able to augment his studio productions with excerpts from live shows, and vice versa. Later, he combined recordings of different compositions into new pieces, irrespective of the tempo or meter of the sources. He dubbed this process "xenochrony" (strange synchronizations)—reflecting the Greek "xeno" (alien or strange) and "chronos" (time).
Personal life
Zappa was married to Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman from 1960 to 1963. In 1967, he married Adelaide Gail Sloatman. He and his second wife had four children: Moon, Dweezil, Ahmet, and Diva.
Following Zappa's death, his widow Gail created the Zappa Family Trust, which owns the rights to Zappa's music and some other creative output: more than 60 albums were released during Zappa's lifetime and 40 posthumously. Upon Gail's death in October 2015, the Zappa children received shares of the trust; Ahmet and Diva received 30% each, Moon and Dweezil received 20% each.
Beliefs and politics
Drugs
Zappa stated, "Drugs do not become a problem until the person who uses the drugs does something to you, or does something that would affect your life that you don't want to have happen to you, like an airline pilot who crashes because he was full of drugs." Zappa was a heavy tobacco smoker for most of his life, and strongly critical of anti-tobacco campaigns.
While he disapproved of drug use, he criticized the War on Drugs, comparing it to alcohol prohibition, and stated that the United States Treasury would benefit from the decriminalization and regulation of drugs. Describing his philosophical views, Zappa stated, "I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a 'temporary license to exist'—in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government—it doesn't own you."
Government and religion
In a 1991 interview, Zappa reported that he was a registered Democrat but added "that might not last long—I'm going to shred that". Describing his political views, Zappa categorized himself as a "practical conservative". He favored limited government and low taxes; he also stated that he approved of national defense, social security, and other federal programs, but only if recipients of such programs are willing and able to pay for them. He favored capitalism, entrepreneurship, and independent business, stating that musicians could make more from owning their own businesses than from collecting royalties. He opposed communism, stating, "A system that doesn't allow ownership ... has—to put it mildly—a fatal design flaw." He had always encouraged his fans to register to vote on album covers, and throughout 1988 he had registration booths at his concerts. He even considered running for president of the United States as an independent.
Zappa was an atheist. He recalled his parents being "pretty religious" and trying to make him go to Catholic school despite his resentment. He felt disgust towards organized religion (Christianity in particular) because he believed that it promoted ignorance and anti-intellectualism. He held the view that the Garden of Eden story shows that the essence of Christianity is to oppose gaining knowledge. Some of his songs, concert performances, interviews and public debates in the 1980s criticized and derided Republicans and their policies, President Ronald Reagan, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), televangelism, and the Christian Right, and warned that the United States government was in danger of becoming a "fascist theocracy".
In early 1990, Zappa visited Czechoslovakia at the request of President Václav Havel. Havel designated him as Czechoslovakia's "Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism". Havel was a lifelong fan of Zappa, who had great influence in the avant-garde and underground scene in Central Europe in the 1970s and 1980s (a Czech rock group that was imprisoned in 1976 took its name from Zappa's 1968 song "Plastic People"). Under pressure from Secretary of State James Baker, Zappa's posting was withdrawn. Havel made Zappa an unofficial cultural attaché instead. Zappa planned to develop an international consulting enterprise to facilitate trade between the former Eastern Bloc and Western businesses.
Anti-censorship
Zappa expressed opinions on censorship when he appeared on CNN's Crossfire TV series and debated issues with Washington Times commentator John Lofton in 1986. On September 19, 1985, Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organization co-founded by Tipper Gore, wife of then-senator Al Gore. The PMRC consisted of many wives of politicians, including the wives of five members of the committee, and was founded to address the issue of song lyrics with sexual or satanic content. During Zappa's testimony, he stated that there was a clear conflict of interest between the PMRC due to the relations of its founders to the politicians who were then trying to pass what he referred to as the "Blank Tape Tax." Kandy Stroud, a spokeswoman for the PMRC, announced that Senator Gore (who co-founded the committee) was a co-sponsor of that legislation. Zappa suggested that record labels were trying to get the bill passed quickly through committees, one of which was chaired by Senator Strom Thurmond, who was also affiliated with the PMRC. Zappa further pointed out that this committee was being used as a distraction from that bill being passed, which would lead only to the benefit of a select few in the music industry.
Zappa saw their activities as on a path towards censorship and called their proposal for voluntary labelling of records with explicit content "extortion" of the music industry.
In his prepared statement, he said:
The PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental problems inherent in the proposal's design. It is my understanding that, in law, First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative. In this context, the PMRC's demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation. ... The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on things certain Christians do not like. What if the next bunch of Washington wives demands a large yellow "J" on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?
Zappa set excerpts from the PMRC hearings to Synclavier music in his composition "Porn Wars" on the 1985 album Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention, and the full recording was released in 2010 as Congress Shall Make No Law... Zappa is heard interacting with Senators Fritz Hollings, Slade Gorton and Al Gore.
Legacy
Zappa had a controversial critical standing during his lifetime. As Geoffrey Himes noted in 1993 after the artist's death, Zappa was hailed as a genius by conductor Kent Nagano and nominated by Czechoslovakian President Václav Havel to the country's cultural ambassadorship, but he was in his lifetime rejected twice for admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and been found by critics to lack emotional depth. In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau dismissed Zappa's music as "sexist adolescent drivel ... with meters and voicings and key changes that are as hard to play as they are easy to forget." According to Himes:
Acclaim and honors
The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) writes: "Frank Zappa dabbled in virtually all kinds of music—and, whether guised as a satirical rocker, jazz-rock fusionist, guitar virtuoso, electronics wizard, or orchestral innovator, his eccentric genius was undeniable." Even though his work drew inspiration from many different genres, Zappa was seen as establishing a coherent and personal expression.
In 1971, biographer David Walley noted that "The whole structure of his music is unified, not neatly divided by dates or time sequences and it is all building into a composite". On commenting on Zappa's music, politics and philosophy, Barry Miles noted in 2004 that they cannot be separated: "It was all one; all part of his 'conceptual continuity'."
Guitar Player devoted a special issue to Zappa in 1992, and asked on the cover "Is FZ America's Best Kept Musical Secret?" Editor Don Menn remarked that the issue was about "The most important composer to come out of modern popular music".
Among those contributing to the issue was composer and musicologist Nicolas Slonimsky, who conducted premiere performances of works of Ives and Varèse in the 1930s. He became friends with Zappa in the 1980s, and said, "I admire everything Frank does, because he practically created the new musical millennium. He does beautiful, beautiful work ... It has been my luck to have lived to see the emergence of this totally new type of music."
Conductor Kent Nagano remarked in the same issue that "Frank is a genius. That's a word I don't use often ... In Frank's case it is not too strong ... He is extremely literate musically. I'm not sure if the general public knows that." Pierre Boulez told Musician magazine's posthumous Zappa tribute article that Zappa "was an exceptional figure because he was part of the worlds of rock and classical music and that both types of his work would survive."
In 1994, jazz magazine DownBeats critics poll placed Zappa in its Hall of Fame. Zappa was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. There, it was written that "Frank Zappa was rock and roll's sharpest musical mind and most astute social critic. He was the most prolific composer of his age, and he bridged genres—rock, jazz, classical, avant-garde and even novelty music—with masterful ease". He was ranked number 36 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock in 2000.
In 2005, the U.S. National Recording Preservation Board included We're Only in It for the Money in the National Recording Registry as "Frank Zappa's inventive and iconoclastic album presents a unique political stance, both anti-conservative and anti-counterculture, and features a scathing satire on hippiedom and America's reactions to it". The same year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 71 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
In 2011, he was ranked at No. 22 on the list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by the same magazine. In 2016, Guitar World magazine placed Zappa atop of its list "15 of the best progressive rock guitarists through the years."
The street of Partinico where his father lived at number 13, Via Zammatà, has been renamed to Via Frank Zappa.
Since his death, several musicians have been considered by critics as filling the artistic niche left behind by Zappa, in view of their prolific output, eclecticism and other qualities, including Devin Townsend, Mike Patton and Omar Rodríguez-López.
Grammy Awards
In the course of his career, Zappa was nominated for nine competitive Grammy Awards, which resulted in two wins (one posthumous). In 1998, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
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|rowspan="2"| 1980 || "Rat Tomago" || Best Rock Instrumental Performance ||
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| "Dancin' Fool" || Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ||
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| 1983 || "Valley Girl" || Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ||
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| 1985 || The Perfect Stranger || Best New Classical Composition ||
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|rowspan="2"| 1988 || "Jazz from Hell" || Best Instrumental Composition ||
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| Jazz from Hell ||rowspan="2"| Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist) ||
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| 1989 || Guitar ||
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| 1990 || Broadway the Hard Way || Best Musical Cast Show Album ||
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| 1996 || Civilization Phaze III || Best Recording Package – Boxed ||
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| 1998 || Frank Zappa || Lifetime Achievement Award ||
Artists influenced by Zappa
Many musicians, bands and orchestras from diverse genres have been influenced by Zappa's music. Rock artists such as The Plastic People of the Universe, Alice Cooper, Larry LaLonde of Primus, Fee Waybill of the Tubes all cite Zappa's influence, as do progressive, alternative, electronic and avant-garde/experimental rock artists like Can, Pere Ubu, Yes, Soft Machine, Henry Cow, Faust, Devo, Kraftwerk, Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman of Phish, Jeff Buckley, John Frusciante, Steven Wilson, and The Aristocrats. Paul McCartney regarded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the Beatles' Freak Out!. Jimi Hendrix and heavy rock and metal acts like Black Sabbath, Simon Phillips, Mike Portnoy, Warren DeMartini, Alex Skolnick, Steve Vai, Strapping Young Lad, System of a Down, and Clawfinger have acknowledged Zappa as inspiration. On the classical music scene, Tomas Ulrich, Meridian Arts Ensemble, Ensemble Ambrosius and the Fireworks Ensemble regularly perform Zappa's compositions and quote his influence. Contemporary jazz musicians and composers Bobby Sanabria, Bill Frisell and John Zorn are inspired by Zappa, as is funk legend George Clinton.
Other artists affected by Zappa include ambient composer Brian Eno, new age pianist George Winston, electronic composer Bob Gluck, parodist artist and disk jockey Dr. Demento, parodist and novelty composer "Weird Al" Yankovic, industrial music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge, singer Cree Summer, noise music artist Masami Akita of Merzbow, and Chilean composer Cristián Crisosto from Fulano and Mediabanda.
References in arts and sciences
Scientists from various fields have honored Zappa by naming new discoveries after him. In 1967, paleontologist Leo P. Plas, Jr., identified an extinct mollusc in Nevada and named it Amaurotoma zappa with the motivation that, "The specific name, zappa, honors Frank Zappa".
In the 1980s, biologist Ed Murdy named a genus of gobiid fishes of New Guinea Zappa, with a species named Zappa confluentus. Biologist Ferdinando Boero named a Californian jellyfish Phialella zappai (1987), noting that he had "pleasure in naming this species after the modern music composer".
Belgian biologists Bosmans and Bosselaers discovered in the early 1980s a Cameroonese spider, which they in 1994 named Pachygnatha zappa because "the ventral side of the abdomen of the female of this species strikingly resembles the artist's legendary moustache".
A gene of the bacterium Proteus mirabilis that causes urinary tract infections was in 1995 named zapA by three biologists from Maryland. In their scientific article, they "especially thank the late Frank Zappa for inspiration and assistance with genetic nomenclature". Repeating regions of the genome of the human tumor virus KSHV were named frnk, vnct and zppa in 1996 by Yuan Chang and Patrick S. Moore who discovered the virus. Also, a 143 base pair repeat sequence occurring at two positions was named waka/jwka.
In the late 1990s, American paleontologists Marc Salak and Halard L. Lescinsky discovered a metazoan fossil, and named it Spygori zappania to honor "the late Frank Zappa ... whose mission paralleled that of the earliest paleontologists: to challenge conventional and traditional beliefs when such beliefs lacked roots in logic and reason".
In 1994, lobbying efforts initiated by psychiatrist John Scialli led the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center to name an asteroid in Zappa's honor: 3834 Zappafrank. The asteroid was discovered in 1980 by Czechoslovakian astronomer Ladislav Brožek, and the citation for its naming says that "Zappa was an eclectic, self-trained artist and composer ... Before 1989 he was regarded as a symbol of democracy and freedom by many people in Czechoslovakia".
In 1995, a bust of Zappa by sculptor Konstantinas Bogdanas was installed in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital . The choice of Zappa was explained as "a symbol that would mark the end of communism, but at the same time express that it wasn't always doom and gloom." A replica was offered to the city of Baltimore in 2008, and on September 19, 2010 — the twenty-fifth anniversary of Zappa's testimony to the U.S. Senate — a ceremony dedicating the replica was held, and the bust was unveiled at a library in the city.
In 2002, a bronze bust was installed in German city Bad Doberan, location of the Zappanale since 1990, an annual music festival celebrating Zappa. At the initiative of musicians community ORWOhaus, the city of Berlin named a street in the Marzahn district "Frank-Zappa-Straße" in 2007. The same year, Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon proclaimed August 9 as the city's official "Frank Zappa Day" citing Zappa's musical accomplishments as well as his defense of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Zappa documentary
The biographical documentary Zappa, directed by Alex Winter and released on November 27, 2020, includes previously unreleased footage from Zappa's personal vault, to which he was granted access by the Zappa Family Trust.
Discography
During his lifetime, Zappa released 62 albums. Since 1994, the Zappa Family Trust has released 57 posthumous albums, making a total of 119 albums. The current distributor of Zappa's recorded output is Universal Music Enterprises.
See also
List of performers on Frank Zappa records
Frank Zappa in popular culture
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1940 births
1993 deaths
20th-century American guitarists
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Surrealist groups | true | [
"Childhood chronic illness refers to conditions in pediatric patients that are usually prolonged in duration, do not resolve on their own, and are associated with impairment or disability. The duration required for an illness to be defined as chronic is generally greater than 12 months, but this can vary, and some organizations define it by limitation of function rather than a length of time. Regardless of the exact length of duration, these types of conditions are different than acute, or short-lived, illnesses which resolve or can be cured. There are many definitions for what counts as a chronic condition. However, children with chronic illnesses will typically experience at least one of the following: limitation of functions relative to their age, disfigurement, dependency on medical technologies or medications, increased medical attention, and a need for modified educational arrangements.\n\nThere are many different diseases affecting children that have a prolonged course and can lead to disability or impairment including asthma, sickle cell anemia, congenital heart disease, obesity, neurodevelopmental conditions, and epilepsy. Owing to improvements in public health and health infrastructure, infant and child mortality especially from infectious causes has decreased in most areas of the world. Therefore, children are living longer with chronic illnesses.\n\nEpidemiology \nIt is difficult to know the exact number of children who have a chronic illness worldwide. Given that there is no agreement on the definition for a chronic illness and that quality data from every country is not guaranteed, there is a wide range of estimates of prevalence and incidence. In the United States, one study noted the prevalence of chronic conditions among youth more than doubled from 12.8% in 1994 to 26.6% in 2006. One important trend to consider is that the overall number of children with chronic illnesses is increasing. This rise is likely due to decreased infant and child mortality from previously lethal diseases due to innovations in medication and other treatment as well as increased ability to diagnose and therefore discover chronic conditions.\n\nImpact\n\nFamily \nThe presence of a child with a chronic illness in the home has multiple effects on the family's life as it may affect daily routines. One potential consequence is the physical space inside the home being altered by the need for home health or medical equipment. As such children typically require frequent appointments, caregivers can feel strain to participate in their other children's lives equally and may develop increased levels of stress and family discord. The time requirements could also increase social isolation from extended family members. Given the cost associated with the greater need for specialized treatments as well as decreased time to work, these families may also experience economic difficulties.\n\nDevelopment \nChronic illness can affect a child's development at any stage. During infancy and childhood chronic illness can be detrimental to the development of secure attachment, interpersonal trust, self-regulation, and/or peer relation skills. During middle adolescence, chronic illness can prevent a child from being in school on a regular basis. This can affect a child's academic and social competence. During adolescence, chronic illness can affect the development of autonomy and self-image. It can also interfere with peer and romantic relationships, and the desire for independence can lead to poor treatment compliance. In terms of education, one study found that children in Australia with at least one chronic illness scored lower in five domains of educational readiness including social competence, emotional maturity and communication skills.\n\nManagement \nIn general, taking care of a child with a chronic illness will require not one provider, but a team that may include medical providers, therapists and educators, and other caregivers. Coping with a chronic illness can challenge many aspects of life, and there are some therapies that can help children and their families adjust to their condition. Programs that focus specifically on parenting include increasing positive interaction between parent and child and better communication about emotions.\n\nBehavior Therapy \nBehavior therapy in the setting of chronic illnesses aims to change learned behaviors that are problematic using classical conditioning and operant techniques. Some examples of behavioral therapy for children with asthma include stress management techniques and contingency coping exercises. In one study, the asthma patients randomized to such therapies demonstrated fewer behavioral adjustment problems. Additionally, systematic desensitization can be applied to children with illness to decrease the fear associated with some medical treatments that could be required of their condition such as imaging or invasive procedures.\n\nCognitive Behavioral Therapy \nCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most common techniques used to build resilience in children suffering from chronic illnesses. CBT includes the practice of breathing exercises, relaxation training, imagery, distraction methods, coping models, cognitive coping skills, reinforcement for compliance, behavioral rehearsal, role-play and direct coaching. Another intervention that is gaining popularity is the PASS Theory of Intelligence. The PASS Model combines a multitude of interventions to create a well-rounded program to foster resiliency in not only the children but the families affected as well. The goals of the pass model are to minimize trauma symptoms, develop adaptive coping skills, strengthen resiliency, and connect families to support networks.\n\nReferences\n\nKerig, P., Wenar, C. (2005). Developmental Psychopathology: From Infancy Through Adolescence. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.\n\nMorison, J.E., Bromfield, L.M., Cameron, H. J. (2003). A Therapeutic Model for Supporting Families of Children with a Chronic Illness or Disability. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 8 (3), pp. 125–130.\n\nPediatrics",
"Earthquake Terror is a 1996 novel by Peg Kehret. It tells the tale of how a boy named Jonathan has to help his partially paralyzed six-year-old sister Abby, during an earthquake while their parents are at a hospital.\n\nReception \nIn his review for Childhood Education in 1997, J. Robert Dornish described the story as \"absolutely riveting\", noting that it is likely to affect the readers reactions to news reports of earthquakes. In another review for the School Library Journal, MaryAnn Karre, reviewing the audiobook version released in 2012 noted that \"youngsters may find it hard to comprehend how the family could be so out of touch, but Peg Kehret wrote this story [in 1998] before cell phones became a necessity.\"\n\nReferences\n\n1996 novels\nAmerican young adult novels\nEnvironmental fiction books\nWorks about earthquakes"
]
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"Frank Zappa",
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"What happened to Zappa in his chidhood?",
"Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems.",
"Was he raised by both of his parents?",
"His mother, Rosemarie (nee Collimore) was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry;",
"how did his frequent illnesses affect his childhood?",
"At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and"
]
| C_e635b3953ffd47fea791d43cce9347fa_1 | Did he have treatments other than radiation | 4 | Did Frank Zappa have treatments other than radiation for the frequent illnesses in his childhood | Frank Zappa | Zappa was born on December 21, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Rosemarie (nee Collimore) was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry; his father, whose name was anglicized to Francis Vincent Zappa, was an immigrant from Partinico, Sicily, with Greek and Arab ancestry. Frank, the eldest of four children, was raised in an Italian-American household where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents. The family moved often because his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in Florida in the 1940s, the family returned to Maryland, where Zappa's father worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility of the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas, gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident. This had a profound effect on Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare and the defense industry occur throughout his work. Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Zappa's nostrils. At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and although it has since been claimed that nasal radium treatment has causal connections to cancer, no studies have provided significant enough evidence to confirm this. Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel. Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas, released by the nearby chemical warfare facility. His health worsened when he lived in Baltimore. In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health. They next moved to Monterey, California, where his father taught metallurgy at the Naval Postgraduate School. They soon moved to Claremont, California, then to El Cajon, before finally settling in San Diego. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, singer, composer, songwriter and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation.
As a self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical modernism, African-American rhythm and blues, and doo-wop music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm-and-blues bands, later switching to electric guitar. His 1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. He continued this eclectic and experimental approach whether the fundamental format was rock, jazz, or classical.
Zappa's output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. His lyrics reflected his iconoclastic views of established social and political processes, structures and movements, often humorously so, and he has been described as the "godfather" of comedy rock. He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech, self-education, political participation and the abolition of censorship. Unlike many other rock musicians of his generation, he disapproved of recreational drug use, but supported decriminalization and regulation.
Zappa was a highly productive and prolific artist with a controversial critical standing; supporters of his music admired its compositional complexity, while critics found it lacking emotional depth. He had greater commercial success outside the US, particularly in Europe. Though he worked as an independent artist, Zappa mostly relied on distribution agreements he had negotiated with the major record labels. He remains a major influence on musicians and composers. His honors include his 1995 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
1940s–1960s: early life and career
Childhood
Zappa was born on December 21, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Rose Marie ( Colimore), was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry; his father, whose name was anglicized to Francis Vincent Zappa, was an immigrant from Partinico, Sicily, with Greek and Arab ancestry.
Frank, the eldest of four children, was raised in an Italian-American household where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents. The family moved often because his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in Florida in the 1940s, the family returned to Maryland, where Zappa's father worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility of the Aberdeen Proving Ground run by the U.S. Army. Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas, gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident. This living arrangement had a profound effect on Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare, ailments and the defense industry occur frequently throughout his work.
Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Zappa's nostrils. At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and although it has since been claimed that nasal radium treatment has causal connections to cancer, no studies have provided enough evidence to confirm this.
Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel. Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas, released by the nearby chemical warfare facility, and his health worsened when he lived in Baltimore. In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health to Monterey, California, where his father taught metallurgy at the Naval Postgraduate School. They soon moved to Clairemont, and then to El Cajon, before finally settling in nearby San Diego.
First musical interests
Zappa joined his first band at Mission Bay High School in San Diego as the drummer. At about the same time, his parents bought a phonograph, which allowed him to develop his interest in music, and to begin building his record collection. According to The Rough Guide to Rock (2003), "as a teenager Zappa was simultaneously enthralled by black R&B (Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, Guitar Slim), doo-wop (The Channels, The Velvets), the modernism of Igor Stravinsky and Anton Webern, and the dissonant sound experiments of Edgard Varese."
R&B singles were early purchases for Zappa, starting a large collection he kept for the rest of his life. He was interested in sounds for their own sake, particularly the sounds of drums and other percussion instruments. By age twelve, he had obtained a snare drum and began learning the basics of orchestral percussion. Zappa's deep interest in modern classical music began when he read a LOOK magazine article about the Sam Goody record store chain that lauded its ability to sell an LP as obscure as The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Volume One. The article described Varèse's percussion composition Ionisation, produced by EMS Recordings, as "a weird jumble of drums and other unpleasant sounds". Zappa decided to seek out Varèse's music. After searching for over a year, Zappa found a copy (he noticed the LP because of the "mad scientist" looking photo of Varèse on the cover). Not having enough money with him, he persuaded the salesman to sell him the record at a discount. Thus began his lifelong passion for Varèse's music and that of other modern classical composers. He also liked the Italian classical music listened to by his grandparents, especially Puccini's opera arias.
By 1956, the Zappa family had moved to Lancaster, a small aerospace and farming town in the Antelope Valley of the Mojave Desert close to Edwards Air Force Base; he would later refer to Sun Village (a town close to Lancaster) in the 1973 track "Village of the Sun". Zappa's mother encouraged him in his musical interests. Although she disliked Varèse's music, she was indulgent enough to give her son a long-distance call to the New York composer as a fifteenth birthday present. Unfortunately, Varèse was in Europe at the time, so Zappa spoke to the composer's wife and she suggested he call back later. In a letter, Varèse thanked him for his interest, and told him about a composition he was working on called "Déserts". Living in the desert town of Lancaster, Zappa found this very exciting. Varèse invited him to visit if he ever came to New York. The meeting never took place (Varèse died in 1965), but Zappa framed the letter and kept it on display for the rest of his life.
At Antelope Valley High School, Zappa met Don Glen Vliet (who later changed his name to Don Van Vliet and adopted the stage name Captain Beefheart). Zappa and Vliet became close friends, sharing an interest in R&B records and influencing each other musically throughout their careers. Around the same time, Zappa started playing drums in a local band, the Blackouts. The band was racially diverse and included Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood who later became a member of the Mothers of Invention. Zappa's interest in the guitar grew, and in 1957 he was given his first instrument. Among his early influences were Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Howlin' Wolf and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. In the 1970s/1980s, he invited Watson to perform on several albums. Zappa considered soloing as the equivalent of forming "air sculptures", and developed an eclectic, innovative and highly personal style. He was also influenced by Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh.
Zappa's interest in composing and arranging flourished in his last high-school years. By his final year, he was writing, arranging and conducting avant-garde performance pieces for the school orchestra. He graduated from Antelope Valley High School in 1958, and later acknowledged two of his music teachers on the sleeve of the 1966 album Freak Out! Due to his family's frequent moves, Zappa attended at least six different high schools, and as a student he was often bored and given to distracting the rest of the class with juvenile antics. In 1959, he attended Chaffey College but left after one semester, and maintained thereafter a disdain for formal education, taking his children out of school at age 15 and refusing to pay for their college.
Zappa left home in 1959, and moved into a small apartment in Echo Park, Los Angeles. After he met Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman during his short period of private composition study with Prof. Karl Kohn of Pomona College, they moved in together in Ontario, and were married December 28, 1960. Zappa worked for a short period in advertising as a copywriter. His sojourn in the commercial world was brief, but gave him valuable insights into its workings. Throughout his career, he took a keen interest in the visual presentation of his work, designing some of his album covers and directing his own films and videos.
Studio Z
Zappa attempted to earn a living as a musician and composer, and played different nightclub gigs, some with a new version of the Blackouts. Zappa's earliest professional recordings, two soundtracks for the low-budget films The World's Greatest Sinner (1962) and Run Home Slow (1965) were more financially rewarding. The former score was commissioned by actor-producer Timothy Carey and recorded in 1961. It contains many themes that appeared on later Zappa records. The latter soundtrack was recorded in 1963 after the film was completed, but it was commissioned by one of Zappa's former high school teachers in 1959 and Zappa may have worked on it before the film was shot. Excerpts from the soundtrack can be heard on the posthumous album The Lost Episodes (1996).
During the early 1960s, Zappa wrote and produced songs for other local artists, often working with singer-songwriter Ray Collins and producer Paul Buff. Their "Memories of El Monte" was recorded by the Penguins, although only Cleve Duncan of the original group was featured. Buff owned the small Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga, which included a unique five-track tape recorder he had built. At that time, only a handful of the most sophisticated commercial studios had multi-track facilities; the industry standard for smaller studios was still mono or two-track. Although none of the recordings from the period achieved major commercial success, Zappa earned enough money to allow him to stage a concert of his orchestral music in 1963 and to broadcast and record it. He appeared on Steve Allen's syndicated late night show the same year, in which he played a bicycle as a musical instrument. Using a bow borrowed from the band's bass player, as well as drum sticks, he proceeded to pluck, bang, and bow the spokes of the bike, producing strange, comical sounds from his newfound instrument. With Captain Beefheart, Zappa recorded some songs under the name of the Soots. They were rejected by Dot Records. Later, the Mothers were also rejected by Columbia Records for having "no commercial potential", a verdict Zappa subsequently quoted on the sleeve of Freak Out!
In 1964, after his marriage started to break up, he moved into the Pal studio and began routinely working 12 hours or more per day recording and experimenting with overdubbing and audio tape manipulation. This established a work pattern that endured for most of his life. Aided by his income from film composing, Zappa took over the studio from Paul Buff, who was now working with Art Laboe at Original Sound. It was renamed Studio Z. Studio Z was rarely booked for recordings by other musicians. Instead, friends moved in, notably James "Motorhead" Sherwood. Zappa started performing in local bars as a guitarist with a power trio, the Muthers, to support himself.
An article in the local press describing Zappa as "the Movie King of Cucamonga" prompted the local police to suspect that he was making pornographic films. In March 1965, Zappa was approached by a vice squad undercover officer, and accepted an offer of $100 () to produce a suggestive audio tape for an alleged stag party. Zappa and a female friend recorded a faked erotic episode. When Zappa was about to hand over the tape, he was arrested, and the police stripped the studio of all recorded material. The press was tipped off beforehand, and next day's The Daily Report wrote that "Vice Squad investigators stilled the tape recorders of a free-swinging, a-go-go film and recording studio here Friday and arrested a self-styled movie producer". Zappa was charged with "conspiracy to commit pornography". This felony charge was reduced and he was sentenced to six months in jail on a misdemeanor, with all but ten days suspended. His brief imprisonment left a permanent mark, and was central to the formation of his anti-authoritarian stance. Zappa lost several recordings made at Studio Z in the process, as the police returned only 30 of 80 hours of tape seized. Eventually, he could no longer afford to pay the rent on the studio and was evicted. Zappa managed to recover some of his possessions before the studio was torn down in 1966.
Late 1960s: the Mothers of Invention
Formation
In 1965, Ray Collins asked Zappa to take over as guitarist in local R&B band the Soul Giants, following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist. Zappa accepted, and soon assumed leadership and the role as co-lead singer (even though he never considered himself a singer, then or later). He convinced the other members that they should play his music to increase the chances of getting a record contract. The band was renamed the Mothers, coincidentally on Mother's Day. They increased their bookings after beginning an association with manager Herb Cohen, and gradually gained attention on the burgeoning Los Angeles underground music scene. In early 1966, they were spotted by leading record producer Tom Wilson when playing "Trouble Every Day", a song about the Watts riots. Wilson had earned acclaim as the producer for Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel, and was one of the few African-Americans working as a major label pop music producer at this time. Wilson signed the Mothers to the Verve division of MGM, which had built up a strong reputation for its releases of modern jazz recordings in the 1940s and 1950s, but was attempting to diversify into pop and rock audiences. Verve insisted that the band officially rename themselves the Mothers of Invention as Mother was short for motherfucker—a term that, apart from its profane meanings, can denote a skilled musician.
Debut album: Freak Out!
With Wilson credited as producer, the Mothers of Invention, augmented by a studio orchestra, recorded the groundbreaking Freak Out! (1966), which, after Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, was the second rock double album ever released. It mixed R&B, doo-wop, musique concrète, and experimental sound collages that captured the "freak" subculture of Los Angeles at that time. Although he was dissatisfied with the final product, Freak Out immediately established Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to the "relentless consumer culture of America". The sound was raw, but the arrangements were sophisticated. While recording in the studio, some of the additional session musicians were shocked that they were expected to read the notes on sheet music from charts with Zappa conducting them, since it was not standard when recording rock music. The lyrics praised non-conformity, disparaged authorities, and had dadaist elements. Yet, there was a place for seemingly conventional love songs. Most compositions are Zappa's, which set a precedent for the rest of his recording career. He had full control over the arrangements and musical decisions and did most overdubs. Wilson provided the industry clout and connections and was able to provide the group with the financial resources needed. Although Wilson was able to provide Zappa and the Mothers with an extraordinary degree of artistic freedom for the time, the recording did not go entirely as planned. In a 1967 radio interview, Zappa explained that the album's outlandish 11-minute closing track, "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" was not finished. The track as it appears on the album was only a backing track for a much more complex piece, but MGM refused to allow the additional recording time needed for completion. Much to Zappa's chagrin, it was issued in its unfinished state.
During the recording of Freak Out!, Zappa moved into a house in Laurel Canyon with friend Pamela Zarubica, who appeared on the album. The house became a meeting (and living) place for many LA musicians and groupies of the time, despite Zappa's disapproval of their illicit drug use. After a short promotional tour following the release of Freak Out!, Zappa met Adelaide Gail Sloatman. He fell in love within "a couple of minutes", and she moved into the house over the summer. They married in 1967, had four children and remained together until Zappa's death.
Wilson nominally produced the Mothers' second album Absolutely Free (1967), which was recorded in November 1966, and later mixed in New York, although by this time Zappa was in de facto control of most facets of the production. It featured extended playing by the Mothers of Invention and focused on songs that defined Zappa's compositional style of introducing abrupt, rhythmical changes into songs that were built from diverse elements. Examples are "Plastic People" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", which contained lyrics critical of the hypocrisy and conformity of American society, but also of the counterculture of the 1960s. As Zappa put it, "[W]e're satirists, and we are out to satirize everything." At the same time, Zappa had recorded material for an album of orchestral works to be released under his own name, Lumpy Gravy, released by Capitol Records in 1967. Due to contractual problems, the album was pulled. Zappa took the opportunity to radically restructure the contents, adding newly recorded, improvised dialogue. After the contractual problems were resolved, the album was reissued by Verve in 1968. It is an "incredible ambitious musical project", a "monument to John Cage", which intertwines orchestral themes, spoken words and electronic noises through radical audio editing techniques.
New York period (1966–1968)
The Mothers of Invention played in New York in late 1966 and were offered a contract at the Garrick Theater (at 152 Bleecker Street, above the Cafe au Go Go) during Easter 1967. This proved successful and Herb Cohen extended the booking, which eventually lasted half a year. As a result, Zappa and his wife Gail, along with the Mothers of Invention, moved to New York. Their shows became a combination of improvised acts showcasing individual talents of the band as well as tight performances of Zappa's music. Everything was directed by Zappa using hand signals. Guest performers and audience participation became a regular part of the Garrick Theater shows. One evening, Zappa managed to entice some U.S. Marines from the audience onto the stage, where they proceeded to dismember a big baby doll, having been told by Zappa to pretend that it was a "gook baby".
Situated in New York, and interrupted by the band's first European tour, the Mothers of Invention recorded the album widely regarded as the peak of the group's late 1960s work, We're Only in It for the Money (released 1968). It was produced by Zappa, with Wilson credited as executive producer. From then on, Zappa produced all albums released by the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. We're Only in It for the Money featured some of the most creative audio editing and production yet heard in pop music, and the songs ruthlessly satirized the hippie and flower power phenomena. He sampled plundered surf music in We're only in It for the Money, as well as the Beatles' tape work from their song "Tomorrow Never Knows". The cover photo parodied that of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The cover art was provided by Cal Schenkel whom Zappa met in New York. This initiated a lifelong collaboration in which Schenkel designed covers for numerous Zappa and Mothers albums.
Reflecting Zappa's eclectic approach to music, the next album, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets (1968), was very different. It represented a collection of doo-wop songs; listeners and critics were not sure whether the album was a satire or a tribute. Zappa later remarked that the album was conceived like Stravinsky's compositions in his neo-classical period: "If he could take the forms and clichés of the classical era and pervert them, why not do the same ... to doo-wop in the fifties?" A theme from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is heard during one song.
In 1967 and 1968, Zappa made two appearances with the Monkees. The first appearance was on an episode of their TV series, "The Monkees Blow Their Minds", where Zappa, dressed up as Mike Nesmith, interviews Nesmith who is dressed up as Zappa. After the interview, Zappa destroys a car with a sledgehammer as the song "Mother People" plays. He later provided a cameo in the Monkees' movie Head where, leading a cow, he tells Davy Jones "the youth of America depends on you to show them the way." Zappa respected the Monkees and recruited Micky Dolenz to the Mothers but RCA/Columbia/Colgems would not release Dolenz from his contract.
During the late 1960s, Zappa continued to develop the business side of his career. He and Herb Cohen formed the Bizarre Records and Straight Records labels to increase creative control and produce recordings by other artists. These labels were distributed in the US by Warner Bros. Records. Zappa/Mothers recordings appeared on Bizarre along with Wild Man Fischer and Lenny Bruce. Straight released the double album Trout Mask Replica for Captain Beefheart, and releases by Alice Cooper, The Persuasions, and the GTOs.
In the Mothers' second European tour in September/October 1968 they performed for the at the Grugahalle in Essen, Germany; at the Tivoli in Copenhagen, Denmark; for TV programs in Germany (Beat-Club), France, and England; at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; at the Royal Festival Hall in London; and at the Olympia in Paris.
Disbandment
Zappa and the Mothers of Invention returned to Los Angeles in mid-1968, and the Zappas moved into a house on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, only to move again to Woodrow Wilson Drive. This was Zappa's home for the rest of his life. Despite being successful in Europe, the Mothers of Invention were not doing well financially. Their first records were vocally oriented, but as Zappa wrote more instrumental jazz and classical style music for the band's concerts, audiences were confused. Zappa felt that audiences failed to appreciate his "electrical chamber music".
In 1969 there were nine band members and Zappa was supporting the group from his publishing royalties whether they played or not. In late 1969, Zappa broke up the band. He often cited the financial strain as the main reason, but also commented on the band members' lack of diligence. Many band members were bitter about Zappa's decision, and some took it as a sign of Zappa's perfectionism at the expense of human feeling. Others were irritated by 'his autocratic ways', exemplified by Zappa's never staying at the same hotel as the band members. Several members played for Zappa in years to come. Remaining recordings of the band from this period were collected on Weasels Ripped My Flesh and Burnt Weeny Sandwich (both released in 1970).
After he disbanded the Mothers of Invention, Zappa released the acclaimed solo album Hot Rats (1969). It features, for the first time on record, Zappa playing extended guitar solos and contains one of his most enduring compositions, "Peaches en Regalia", which reappeared several times on future recordings. He was backed by jazz, blues and R&B session players including violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris, drummers John Guerin and Paul Humphrey, multi-instrumentalist and former Mothers of Invention member Ian Underwood, and multi-instrumentalist Shuggie Otis on bass, along with a guest appearance by Captain Beefheart on the only vocal track, "Willie the Pimp". It became a popular album in England, and had a major influence on the development of jazz-rock fusion.
1970s
Rebirth of the Mothers and filmmaking
In 1970 Zappa met conductor Zubin Mehta. They arranged a May 1970 concert where Mehta conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic augmented by a rock band. According to Zappa, the music was mostly written in motel rooms while on tour with the Mothers of Invention. Some of it was later featured in the movie 200 Motels. Although the concert was a success, Zappa's experience working with a symphony orchestra was not a happy one. His dissatisfaction became a recurring theme throughout his career; he often felt that the quality of performance of his material delivered by orchestras was not commensurate with the money he spent on orchestral concerts and recordings.
Later in 1970, Zappa formed a new version of the Mothers (from then on, he mostly dropped the "of Invention"). It included British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, jazz keyboardist George Duke, Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons (bass, rhythm guitar), and three members of the Turtles: bass player Jim Pons, and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, who, due to persistent legal and contractual problems, adopted the stage name "The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie", or "Flo & Eddie".
This version of the Mothers debuted on Zappa's next solo album Chunga's Revenge (1970), which was followed by the double-album soundtrack to the movie 200 Motels (1971), featuring the Mothers, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, and Keith Moon. Co-directed by Zappa and Tony Palmer, it was filmed in a week at Pinewood Studios outside London. Tensions between Zappa and several cast and crew members arose before and during shooting. The film deals loosely with life on the road as a rock musician. It was the first feature film photographed on videotape and transferred to 35 mm film, a process that allowed for novel visual effects. It was released to mixed reviews. The score relied extensively on orchestral music, and Zappa's dissatisfaction with the classical music world intensified when a concert, scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall after filming, was canceled because a representative of the venue found some of the lyrics obscene. In 1975, he lost a lawsuit against the Royal Albert Hall for breach of contract.
After 200 Motels, the band went on tour, which resulted in two live albums, Fillmore East – June 1971 and Just Another Band from L.A.; the latter included the 20-minute track "Billy the Mountain", Zappa's satire on rock opera set in Southern California. This track was representative of the band's theatrical performances—which used songs to build sketches based on 200 Motels scenes, as well as new situations that often portrayed the band members' sexual encounters on the road.
Accident, attack, and aftermath
On December 4, 1971, Zappa suffered his first of two serious setbacks. While performing at Casino de Montreux in Switzerland, the Mothers' equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by an audience member started a fire that burned down the casino. Immortalized in Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water", the event and immediate aftermath can be heard on the bootleg album Swiss Cheese/Fire, released legally as part of Zappa's Beat the Boots II compilation. After losing $50,000 () worth of equipment and a week's break, the Mothers played at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with rented gear. During the encore, an audience member jealous because of his girlfriend's infatuation with Zappa pushed him off the stage and into the concrete-floored orchestra pit. The band thought Zappa had been killed—he had suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing.
After the attack Zappa needed to use a wheelchair for an extended period, making touring impossible for over half a year. Upon return to the stage in September 1972, Zappa was still wearing a leg brace, had a noticeable limp and could not stand for very long while on stage. Zappa noted that one leg healed "shorter than the other" (a reference later found in the lyrics of songs "Zomby Woof" and "Dancin' Fool"), resulting in chronic back pain. Meanwhile, the Mothers were left in limbo and eventually formed the core of Flo and Eddie's band as they set out on their own.
During 1971–1972 Zappa released two strongly jazz-oriented solo LPs, Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo, which were recorded during the forced layoff from concert touring, using floating line-ups of session players and Mothers alumni. Musically, the albums were akin to Hot Rats, in that they featured extended instrumental tracks with extended soloing. Zappa began touring again in late 1972. His first effort was a series of concerts in September 1972 with a 20-piece big band referred to as the Grand Wazoo. This was followed by a scaled-down version known as the Petit Wazoo that toured the U.S. for five weeks from October to December 1972.
Top 10 album: Apostrophe ()
Zappa then formed and toured with smaller groups that variously included Ian Underwood (reeds, keyboards), Ruth Underwood (vibes, marimba), Sal Marquez (trumpet, vocals), Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute and vocals), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Tom Fowler (bass), Chester Thompson (drums), Ralph Humphrey (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), and Jean-Luc Ponty (violin).
By 1973 the Bizarre and Straight labels were discontinued. In their place, Zappa and Cohen created DiscReet Records, also distributed by Warner. Zappa continued a high rate of production through the first half of the 1970s, including the solo album Apostrophe (') (1974), which reached a career-high No. 10 on the Billboard pop album charts helped by the No. 86 chart hit "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". Other albums from the period are Over-Nite Sensation (1973), which contained several future concert favorites, such as "Dinah-Moe Humm" and "Montana", and the albums Roxy & Elsewhere (1974) and One Size Fits All (1975) which feature ever-changing versions of a band still called the Mothers, and are notable for the tight renditions of highly difficult jazz fusion songs in such pieces as "Inca Roads", "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" and "Be-Bop Tango (Of the Old Jazzmen's Church)". A live recording from 1974, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 (1988), captures "the full spirit and excellence of the 1973–1975 band". Zappa released Bongo Fury (1975), which featured a live recording at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin from a tour the same year that reunited him with Captain Beefheart for a brief period. They later became estranged for a period of years, but were in contact at the end of Zappa's life.
Business breakups and touring
In 1976 Zappa produced the album Good Singin', Good Playin' for Grand Funk Railroad. Zappa's relationship with long-time manager Herb Cohen ended in May 1976. Zappa sued Cohen for skimming more than he was allocated from DiscReet Records, as well as for signing acts of which Zappa did not approve. Cohen filed a lawsuit against Zappa in return, which froze the money Zappa and Cohen had gained from an out-of-court settlement with MGM over the rights of the early Mothers of Invention recordings. It also prevented Zappa having access to any of his previously recorded material during the trials. Zappa therefore took his personal master copies of the rock-oriented Zoot Allures (1976) directly to Warner, thereby bypassing DiscReet. Following the split with Cohen, Zappa hired Bennett Glotzer as new manager.
By late 1976 Zappa was upset with Warner over inadequate promotion of his recordings and he was eager to move on as soon as possible. In March 1977 Zappa delivered four albums (five full-length LPs) to Warner to complete his contract. These albums contained recordings mostly made between 1972 and 1976. Warner failed to meet contractual obligations to Zappa, but after a lengthy legal dispute they did eventually release these recordings during 1978 and 1979 in censored form. Also, in 1977 Zappa prepared a four-LP box set called Läther (pronounced "leather") and negotiated distribution with Phonogram Inc. for release on the Zappa Records label. The Läther box set was scheduled for release on Halloween 1977, but legal action from Warner forced Zappa to shelve this project.
In December 1977 Zappa appeared on the Pasadena, California radio station KROQ-FM and played the entire Läther album, while encouraging listeners to make tape recordings of the broadcast. Both sets of recordings (five-LP and four-LP) have much of the same material, but each also has unique content. The albums integrate many aspects of Zappa's 1970s work: heavy rock, orchestral works, and complex jazz instrumentals, along with Zappa's distinctive guitar solos. Läther was officially released posthumously in 1996. It is still debated as to whether Zappa had conceived the material as a four-LP set from the beginning, or only later when working with Phonogram.
Although Zappa eventually gained the rights to all his material created under the MGM and Warner contracts, the various lawsuits meant that for a period Zappa's only income came from touring, which he therefore did extensively in 1975–1977 with relatively small, mainly rock-oriented, bands. Drummer Terry Bozzio became a regular band member, Napoleon Murphy Brock stayed on for a while, and original Mothers of Invention bassist Roy Estrada joined. Among other musicians were bassist Patrick O'Hearn, singer-guitarist Ray White and keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson. In December 1976, Zappa appeared as a featured musical guest on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live. Zappa's song "I'm the Slime" was performed with a voice-over by SNL booth announcer Don Pardo, who also introduced "Peaches En Regalia" on the same airing. In 1978, Zappa served both as host and musical act on the show, and as an actor in various sketches. The performances included an impromptu musical collaboration with cast member John Belushi during the instrumental piece "The Purple Lagoon". Belushi appeared as his Samurai Futaba character playing the tenor sax with Zappa conducting.
Zappa's band had a series of Christmas shows in New York City in 1976, recordings of which appear on Zappa in New York (1978) and also on the four-LP Läther project. The band included Ruth Underwood and a horn section (featuring Michael and Randy Brecker). It mixes complex instrumentals such as "The Black Page" and humorous songs like "Titties and Beer". The former composition, written originally for drum kit but later developed for larger bands, is notorious for its complexity in rhythmic structure and short, densely arranged passages.
Zappa in New York also featured a song about sex criminal Michael H. Kenyon, "The Illinois Enema Bandit", in which Don Pardo provides the opening narrative. Like many songs on the album, it contained numerous sexual references, leading to many critics objecting and being offended by the content. Zappa dismissed the criticism by noting that he was a journalist reporting on life as he saw it. Predating his later fight against censorship, he remarked: "What do you make of a society that is so primitive that it clings to the belief that certain words in its language are so powerful that they could corrupt you the moment you hear them?" The remaining albums released by Warner without Zappa's approval were Studio Tan in 1978 and Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites in 1979. These releases were largely overlooked in midst of the press about Zappa's legal problems.
Zappa Records label
Zappa released two of his most important projects in 1979. These were the best-selling album of his career, Sheik Yerbouti, and what author Kelley Lowe called the "bona fide masterpiece", Joe's Garage.
The double album Sheik Yerbouti appeared in March 1979 and was the first release to appear on Zappa Records. It contained the Grammy-nominated single "Dancin' Fool", which reached No. 45 on the Billboard charts. It also contained "Jewish Princess", which received attention when a Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), attempted to prevent the song from receiving radio airplay due to its alleged anti-Semitic lyrics. Zappa vehemently denied any anti-Semitic sentiments, and dismissed the ADL as a "noisemaking organization that tries to apply pressure on people in order to manufacture a stereotype image of Jews that suits their idea of a good time." The album's commercial success was attributable in part to "Bobby Brown". Due to its explicit lyrics about a young man's encounter with a "dyke by the name of Freddie", the song did not get airplay in the U.S., but it topped the charts in several European countries where English is not the primary language.
Joe's Garage initially had to be released in two parts. The first was a single LP Joe's Garage Act I in September 1979, followed by a double LP Joe's Garage Acts II and III in November 1979. The albums feature singer Ike Willis as lead character "Joe" in a rock opera about the danger of political systems, the suppression of freedom of speech and music—inspired in part by the 1979 Islamic Iranian revolution that had made music illegal—and about the "strange relationship Americans have with sex and sexual frankness". The first act contains the song "Catholic Girls" (a riposte to the controversies of "Jewish Princess"), and the title track, which was also released as a single. The second and third acts have extended guitar improvisations, which were recorded live, then combined with studio backing tracks. Zappa described this process as xenochrony. In this period the band included drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (with whom Zappa had a particularly strong musical rapport) Joe's Garage contains one of Zappa's most famous guitar "signature pieces", "Watermelon in Easter Hay". This work later appeared as a three-LP, or two-CD set.
On December 21, 1979, Zappa's movie Baby Snakes premiered in New York. The movie's tagline was "A movie about people who do stuff that is not normal". The 2 hour and 40 minutes movie was based on footage from concerts in New York around Halloween 1977, with a band featuring keyboardist Tommy Mars and percussionist Ed Mann (who would both return on later tours) as well as guitarist Adrian Belew. It also contained several extraordinary sequences of clay animation by Bruce Bickford who had earlier provided animation sequences to Zappa for a 1974 TV special (which became available on the 1982 video The Dub Room Special). The movie did not do well in theatrical distribution, but won the Premier Grand Prix at the First International Music Festival in Paris in 1981.
1980s–1990s
Zappa cut ties with Phonogram after the distributor refused to release his song "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted", which was recorded in February 1980. The single was released independently by Zappa in the United States and was picked up by CBS Records internationally.
After spending much of 1980 on the road, Zappa released Tinsel Town Rebellion in 1981. It was the first release on his own Barking Pumpkin Records, and it contains songs taken from a 1979 tour, one studio track and material from the 1980 tours. The album is a mixture of complicated instrumentals and Zappa's use of sprechstimme (speaking song or voice)—a compositional technique utilized by such composers as Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg—showcasing some of the most accomplished bands Zappa ever had (mostly featuring drummer Vinnie Colaiuta). While some lyrics still raised controversy among critics, some of whom found them sexist, the political and sociological satire in songs like the title track and "The Blue Light" have been described as a "hilarious critique of the willingness of the American people to believe anything". The album is also notable for the presence of guitarist Steve Vai, who joined Zappa's touring band in late 1980.
The same year the double album You Are What You Is was released. Most of it was recorded in Zappa's brand new Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK) studios, which were located at his house, thereby giving him complete freedom in his work. The album included one complex instrumental, "Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear", but mainly consisted of rock songs with Zappa's sardonic social commentary—satirical lyrics directed at teenagers, the media, and religious and political hypocrisy. "Dumb All Over" is a tirade on religion, as is "Heavenly Bank Account", wherein Zappa rails against TV evangelists such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson for their purported influence on the U.S. administration as well as their use of religion as a means of raising money. Songs like "Society Pages" and "I'm a Beautiful Guy" show Zappa's dismay with the Reagan era and its "obscene pursuit of wealth and happiness". Zappa made his only music video for a song from this album - "You Are What You Is" - directed by Jerry Watson, produced by Paul Flattery. It was banned from MTV.
Zappa's management relationship with Bennett Glotzer ended in 1984. From then on Gail acted as co-manager with Frank of all his business interests. In 1981, Zappa also released three instrumental albums, Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar, Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar Some More, and The Return of the Son of Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar, which were initially sold via mail order, but later released through CBS Records (now Sony Music Entertainment) due to popular demand.
The albums focus exclusively on Frank Zappa as a guitar soloist, and the tracks are predominantly live recordings from 1979 to 1980; they highlight Zappa's improvisational skills with "beautiful performances from the backing group as well". Another guitar-only album, Guitar, was released in 1988, and a third, Trance-Fusion, which Zappa completed shortly before his death, was released in 2006.
Zappa later expanded on his television appearances in a non-musical role. He was an actor or voice artist in episodes of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre, Miami Vice and The Ren & Stimpy Show. A voice part in The Simpsons never materialized, to creator Matt Groening's disappointment (Groening was a neighbor of Zappa and a lifelong fan).
"Valley Girl" and classical performances
In May 1982, Zappa released Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch, which featured his biggest selling single ever, the Grammy Award-nominated song "Valley Girl" (topping out at No. 32 on the Billboard charts). In her improvised lyrics to the song, Zappa's daughter Moon satirized the patois of teenage girls from the San Fernando Valley, which popularized many "Valspeak" expressions such as "gag me with a spoon", "fer sure, fer sure", "grody to the max", and "barf out".
In 1983, two different projects were released, beginning with The Man from Utopia, a rock-oriented work. The album is eclectic, featuring the vocal-led "Dangerous Kitchen" and "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats", both continuations of the sprechstimme excursions on Tinseltown Rebellion. The second album, London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I, contained orchestral Zappa compositions conducted by Kent Nagano and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). A second record of these sessions, London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II was released in 1987. The material was recorded under a tight schedule with Zappa providing all funding, helped by the commercial success of "Valley Girl". Zappa was not satisfied with the LSO recordings. One reason is "Strictly Genteel", which was recorded after the trumpet section had been out for drinks on a break: the track took 40 edits to hide out-of-tune notes.
Conductor Nagano, who was pleased with the experience, noted that "in fairness to the orchestra, the music is humanly very, very difficult". Some reviews noted that the recordings were the best representation of Zappa's orchestral work so far. In 1984 Zappa teamed again with Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra for a live performance of A Zappa Affair with augmented orchestra, life-size puppets, and moving stage sets. Although critically acclaimed the work was a financial failure, and only performed twice. Zappa was invited by conference organizer Thomas Wells to be the keynote speaker at the American Society of University Composers at the Ohio State University. It was there Zappa delivered his famous "Bingo! There Goes Your Tenure" address, and had two of his orchestra pieces, "Dupree's Paradise" and "Naval Aviation in Art?" performed by the Columbus Symphony and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus.
Synclavier
For the remainder of his career, much of Zappa's work was influenced by his use of the Synclavier, an early digital synthesizer, as a compositional and performance tool. According to Zappa, "With the Synclavier, any group of imaginary instruments can be invited to play the most difficult passages ... with one-millisecond accuracy—every time". Even though it essentially did away with the need for musicians, Zappa viewed the Synclavier and real-life musicians as separate.
In 1984, he released four albums. Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger contains orchestral works commissioned and conducted by celebrated conductor, composer and pianist Pierre Boulez (who was listed as an influence on Freak Out!), and performed by his Ensemble InterContemporain. These were juxtaposed with premiere Synclavier pieces. Again, Zappa was not satisfied with the performances of his orchestral works, regarding them as under-rehearsed, but in the album liner notes he respectfully thanks Boulez's demands for precision. The Synclavier pieces stood in contrast to the orchestral works, as the sounds were electronically generated and not, as became possible shortly thereafter, sampled.
The album Thing-Fish was an ambitious three-record set in the style of a Broadway play dealing with a dystopian "what-if" scenario involving feminism, homosexuality, manufacturing and distribution of the AIDS virus, and a eugenics program conducted by the United States government. New vocals were combined with previously released tracks and new Synclavier music; "the work is an extraordinary example of bricolage".
Francesco Zappa, a Synclavier rendition of works by 18th-century composer Francesco Zappa, was also released in 1984.
Merchandising
Zappa’s mail-order merchandise business Barfko-Swill was run by Gerry Fialka, who also worked for Zappa as archivist and production assistant from 1983 to 1993 and answered the phone for Zappa’s Barking Pumpkin Records hotline. Fialka appears giving a tour of Barfko-Swill in the 1987 VHS release (but not the original 1979 film release) of Zappa's film Baby Snakes. He is credited on-screen as "GERALD FIALKA Cool Guy Who Wraps Stuff So It Doesn't Break". A short clip of this tour is also included in the 2020 documentary film Zappa.
Digital medium and last tour
Around 1986, Zappa undertook a comprehensive re-release program of his earlier vinyl recordings. He personally oversaw the remastering of all his 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s albums for the new digital compact disc medium. Certain aspects of these re-issues were criticized by some fans as being unfaithful to the original recordings. Nearly twenty years before the advent of online music stores, Zappa had proposed to replace "phonographic record merchandising" of music by "direct digital-to-digital transfer" through phone or cable TV (with royalty payments and consumer billing automatically built into the accompanying software). In 1989, Zappa considered his idea a "miserable flop".
The album Jazz from Hell, released in 1986, earned Zappa his first Grammy Award in 1988 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Except for one live guitar solo ("St. Etienne"), the album exclusively featured compositions brought to life by the Synclavier.
Zappa's last tour in a rock and jazz band format took place in 1988 with a 12-piece group which had a repertoire of over 100 (mostly Zappa) compositions, but which split under acrimonious circumstances before the tour was completed. The tour was documented on the albums Broadway the Hard Way (new material featuring songs with strong political emphasis); The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life (Zappa "standards" and an eclectic collection of cover tunes, ranging from Maurice Ravel's Boléro to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven to The Beatles' I Am The Walrus); and also, Make a Jazz Noise Here. Parts are also found on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, volumes 4 and 6. Recordings from this tour also appear on the 2006 album Trance-Fusion.
Health deterioration
In 1990, Zappa was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. The disease had been developing unnoticed for years and was considered inoperable. After the diagnosis, Zappa devoted most of his energy to modern orchestral and Synclavier works. Shortly before his death in 1993 he completed Civilization Phaze III, a major Synclavier work which he had begun in the 1980s.
In 1991, Zappa was chosen to be one of four featured composers at the Frankfurt Festival in 1992 (the others were John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Alexander Knaifel). Zappa was approached by the German chamber ensemble Ensemble Modern which was interested in playing his music for the event. Although ill, he invited them to Los Angeles for rehearsals of new compositions and new arrangements of older material. Zappa also got along with the musicians, and the concerts in Germany and Austria were set up for later in the year. Zappa also performed in 1991 in Prague, claiming that "was the first time that he had a reason to play his guitar in 3 years", and that that moment was just "the beginning of a new country", and asked the public to "try to keep your country unique, do not change it into something else".
In September 1992, the concerts went ahead as scheduled but Zappa could only appear at two in Frankfurt due to illness. At the first concert, he conducted the opening "Overture", and the final "G-Spot Tornado" as well as the theatrical "Food Gathering in Post-Industrial America, 1992" and "Welcome to the United States" (the remainder of the program was conducted by the ensemble's regular conductor Peter Rundel). Zappa received a 20-minute ovation. G-Spot Tornado was performed with Canadian dancer Louise Lecavalier. It was Zappa's last professional public appearance as the cancer was spreading to such an extent that he was in too much pain to enjoy an event that he otherwise found "exhilarating". Recordings from the concerts appeared on The Yellow Shark (1993), Zappa's last release during his lifetime, and some material from studio rehearsals appeared on the posthumous Everything Is Healing Nicely (1999).
Death
Zappa died from prostate cancer on December 4, 1993, 17 days before his 53rd birthday at his home with his wife and children by his side. At a private ceremony the following day, his body was buried in a grave at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, in Los Angeles. The grave is unmarked. On December 6, his family publicly announced that "Composer Frank Zappa left for his final tour just before 6:00 pm on Saturday".
Musical style and development
Genres
The general phases of Zappa's music have been variously categorized under experimental rock, jazz, classical, avant-pop, experimental pop, comedy rock, doo-wop, jazz fusion, progressive rock, proto-prog, avant-jazz, and psychedelic rock.
Influences
Zappa grew up influenced by avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern; 1950s blues artists Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Guitar Slim, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and B.B. King; Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh; R&B and doo-wop groups (particularly local pachuco groups); and modern jazz. His own heterogeneous ethnic background, and the diverse social and cultural mix in and around greater Los Angeles, were crucial in the formation of Zappa as a practitioner of underground music and of his later distrustful and openly critical attitude towards "mainstream" social, political and musical movements. He frequently lampooned musical fads like psychedelia, rock opera and disco. Television also exerted a strong influence, as demonstrated by quotations from show themes and advertising jingles found in his later works.
In his book The Real Frank Zappa Book, Frank credited composer Spike Jones for Zappa's frequent use of funny sound effects, mouth noises, and humorous percussion interjections. After explaining his ideas on this, he said "I owe this part of my musical existence to Spike Jones."
Project/Object
Zappa's albums make extensive use of segued tracks, breaklessly joining the elements of his albums. His total output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. He also called it a "conceptual continuity", meaning that any project or album was part of a larger project. Everything was connected, and musical themes and lyrics reappeared in different form on later albums. Conceptual continuity clues are found throughout Zappa's entire œuvre.
Techniques
Guitar playing
Zappa is widely recognized as one of the most significant electric guitar soloists. In a 1983 issue of Guitar World, John Swenson declared: "the fact of the matter is that [Zappa] is one of the greatest guitarists we have and is sorely unappreciated as such." His idiosyncratic style developed gradually and was mature by the early 1980s, by which time his live performances featured lengthy improvised solos during many songs. A November 2016 feature by the editors of Guitar Player magazine wrote: "Brimming with sophisticated motifs and convoluted rhythms, Zappa's extended excursions are more akin to symphonies than they are to guitar solos." The symphonic comparison stems from his habit of introducing melodic themes that, like a symphony's main melodies, were repeated with variations throughout his solos. He was further described as using a wide variety of scales and modes, enlivened by "unusual rhythmic combinations". His left hand was capable of smooth legato technique, while Zappa's right was "one of the fastest pick hands in the business." In 2016, Dweezil Zappa explained a distinctive element of his father's guitar improvisation technique was relying heavily on upstrokes much more than many other guitarists, who are more likely to use downstrokes with their picking.
His song "Outside Now" from Joe's Garage poked fun at the negative reception of Zappa's guitar technique by those more commercially minded, as the song's narrator lives in a world where music is outlawed and he imagines "imaginary guitar notes that would irritate/An executive kind of guy", lyrics that are followed by one of Zappa's characteristically quirky solos in 11/8 time. Zappa transcriptionist Kasper Sloots wrote, "Zappa's guitar solos aren't meant to show off technically (Zappa hasn't claimed to be a big virtuoso on the instrument), but for the pleasure it gives trying to build a composition right in front of an audience without knowing what the outcome will be."
Zappa's guitar style was not without its critics. English guitarist and bandleader John McLaughlin, whose band Mahavishnu Orchestra toured with the Mothers of Invention in 1973, opined that Zappa was "very interesting as a human being and a very interesting composer" and that he "was a very good musician but he was a dictator in his band," and that he "was taking very long guitar solos [when performing live]– 10–15 minute guitar solos and really he should have taken two or three minute guitar solos, because they were a little bit boring."
In 2000, he was ranked number 36 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number 71 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and in 2011 at number 22 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Tape manipulation
In New York, Zappa increasingly used tape editing as a compositional tool. A prime example is found on the double album Uncle Meat (1969), where the track "King Kong" is edited from various studio and live performances. Zappa had begun regularly recording concerts, and because of his insistence on precise tuning and timing, he was able to augment his studio productions with excerpts from live shows, and vice versa. Later, he combined recordings of different compositions into new pieces, irrespective of the tempo or meter of the sources. He dubbed this process "xenochrony" (strange synchronizations)—reflecting the Greek "xeno" (alien or strange) and "chronos" (time).
Personal life
Zappa was married to Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman from 1960 to 1963. In 1967, he married Adelaide Gail Sloatman. He and his second wife had four children: Moon, Dweezil, Ahmet, and Diva.
Following Zappa's death, his widow Gail created the Zappa Family Trust, which owns the rights to Zappa's music and some other creative output: more than 60 albums were released during Zappa's lifetime and 40 posthumously. Upon Gail's death in October 2015, the Zappa children received shares of the trust; Ahmet and Diva received 30% each, Moon and Dweezil received 20% each.
Beliefs and politics
Drugs
Zappa stated, "Drugs do not become a problem until the person who uses the drugs does something to you, or does something that would affect your life that you don't want to have happen to you, like an airline pilot who crashes because he was full of drugs." Zappa was a heavy tobacco smoker for most of his life, and strongly critical of anti-tobacco campaigns.
While he disapproved of drug use, he criticized the War on Drugs, comparing it to alcohol prohibition, and stated that the United States Treasury would benefit from the decriminalization and regulation of drugs. Describing his philosophical views, Zappa stated, "I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a 'temporary license to exist'—in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government—it doesn't own you."
Government and religion
In a 1991 interview, Zappa reported that he was a registered Democrat but added "that might not last long—I'm going to shred that". Describing his political views, Zappa categorized himself as a "practical conservative". He favored limited government and low taxes; he also stated that he approved of national defense, social security, and other federal programs, but only if recipients of such programs are willing and able to pay for them. He favored capitalism, entrepreneurship, and independent business, stating that musicians could make more from owning their own businesses than from collecting royalties. He opposed communism, stating, "A system that doesn't allow ownership ... has—to put it mildly—a fatal design flaw." He had always encouraged his fans to register to vote on album covers, and throughout 1988 he had registration booths at his concerts. He even considered running for president of the United States as an independent.
Zappa was an atheist. He recalled his parents being "pretty religious" and trying to make him go to Catholic school despite his resentment. He felt disgust towards organized religion (Christianity in particular) because he believed that it promoted ignorance and anti-intellectualism. He held the view that the Garden of Eden story shows that the essence of Christianity is to oppose gaining knowledge. Some of his songs, concert performances, interviews and public debates in the 1980s criticized and derided Republicans and their policies, President Ronald Reagan, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), televangelism, and the Christian Right, and warned that the United States government was in danger of becoming a "fascist theocracy".
In early 1990, Zappa visited Czechoslovakia at the request of President Václav Havel. Havel designated him as Czechoslovakia's "Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism". Havel was a lifelong fan of Zappa, who had great influence in the avant-garde and underground scene in Central Europe in the 1970s and 1980s (a Czech rock group that was imprisoned in 1976 took its name from Zappa's 1968 song "Plastic People"). Under pressure from Secretary of State James Baker, Zappa's posting was withdrawn. Havel made Zappa an unofficial cultural attaché instead. Zappa planned to develop an international consulting enterprise to facilitate trade between the former Eastern Bloc and Western businesses.
Anti-censorship
Zappa expressed opinions on censorship when he appeared on CNN's Crossfire TV series and debated issues with Washington Times commentator John Lofton in 1986. On September 19, 1985, Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organization co-founded by Tipper Gore, wife of then-senator Al Gore. The PMRC consisted of many wives of politicians, including the wives of five members of the committee, and was founded to address the issue of song lyrics with sexual or satanic content. During Zappa's testimony, he stated that there was a clear conflict of interest between the PMRC due to the relations of its founders to the politicians who were then trying to pass what he referred to as the "Blank Tape Tax." Kandy Stroud, a spokeswoman for the PMRC, announced that Senator Gore (who co-founded the committee) was a co-sponsor of that legislation. Zappa suggested that record labels were trying to get the bill passed quickly through committees, one of which was chaired by Senator Strom Thurmond, who was also affiliated with the PMRC. Zappa further pointed out that this committee was being used as a distraction from that bill being passed, which would lead only to the benefit of a select few in the music industry.
Zappa saw their activities as on a path towards censorship and called their proposal for voluntary labelling of records with explicit content "extortion" of the music industry.
In his prepared statement, he said:
The PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental problems inherent in the proposal's design. It is my understanding that, in law, First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative. In this context, the PMRC's demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation. ... The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on things certain Christians do not like. What if the next bunch of Washington wives demands a large yellow "J" on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?
Zappa set excerpts from the PMRC hearings to Synclavier music in his composition "Porn Wars" on the 1985 album Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention, and the full recording was released in 2010 as Congress Shall Make No Law... Zappa is heard interacting with Senators Fritz Hollings, Slade Gorton and Al Gore.
Legacy
Zappa had a controversial critical standing during his lifetime. As Geoffrey Himes noted in 1993 after the artist's death, Zappa was hailed as a genius by conductor Kent Nagano and nominated by Czechoslovakian President Václav Havel to the country's cultural ambassadorship, but he was in his lifetime rejected twice for admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and been found by critics to lack emotional depth. In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau dismissed Zappa's music as "sexist adolescent drivel ... with meters and voicings and key changes that are as hard to play as they are easy to forget." According to Himes:
Acclaim and honors
The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) writes: "Frank Zappa dabbled in virtually all kinds of music—and, whether guised as a satirical rocker, jazz-rock fusionist, guitar virtuoso, electronics wizard, or orchestral innovator, his eccentric genius was undeniable." Even though his work drew inspiration from many different genres, Zappa was seen as establishing a coherent and personal expression.
In 1971, biographer David Walley noted that "The whole structure of his music is unified, not neatly divided by dates or time sequences and it is all building into a composite". On commenting on Zappa's music, politics and philosophy, Barry Miles noted in 2004 that they cannot be separated: "It was all one; all part of his 'conceptual continuity'."
Guitar Player devoted a special issue to Zappa in 1992, and asked on the cover "Is FZ America's Best Kept Musical Secret?" Editor Don Menn remarked that the issue was about "The most important composer to come out of modern popular music".
Among those contributing to the issue was composer and musicologist Nicolas Slonimsky, who conducted premiere performances of works of Ives and Varèse in the 1930s. He became friends with Zappa in the 1980s, and said, "I admire everything Frank does, because he practically created the new musical millennium. He does beautiful, beautiful work ... It has been my luck to have lived to see the emergence of this totally new type of music."
Conductor Kent Nagano remarked in the same issue that "Frank is a genius. That's a word I don't use often ... In Frank's case it is not too strong ... He is extremely literate musically. I'm not sure if the general public knows that." Pierre Boulez told Musician magazine's posthumous Zappa tribute article that Zappa "was an exceptional figure because he was part of the worlds of rock and classical music and that both types of his work would survive."
In 1994, jazz magazine DownBeats critics poll placed Zappa in its Hall of Fame. Zappa was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. There, it was written that "Frank Zappa was rock and roll's sharpest musical mind and most astute social critic. He was the most prolific composer of his age, and he bridged genres—rock, jazz, classical, avant-garde and even novelty music—with masterful ease". He was ranked number 36 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock in 2000.
In 2005, the U.S. National Recording Preservation Board included We're Only in It for the Money in the National Recording Registry as "Frank Zappa's inventive and iconoclastic album presents a unique political stance, both anti-conservative and anti-counterculture, and features a scathing satire on hippiedom and America's reactions to it". The same year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 71 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
In 2011, he was ranked at No. 22 on the list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by the same magazine. In 2016, Guitar World magazine placed Zappa atop of its list "15 of the best progressive rock guitarists through the years."
The street of Partinico where his father lived at number 13, Via Zammatà, has been renamed to Via Frank Zappa.
Since his death, several musicians have been considered by critics as filling the artistic niche left behind by Zappa, in view of their prolific output, eclecticism and other qualities, including Devin Townsend, Mike Patton and Omar Rodríguez-López.
Grammy Awards
In the course of his career, Zappa was nominated for nine competitive Grammy Awards, which resulted in two wins (one posthumous). In 1998, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1980 || "Rat Tomago" || Best Rock Instrumental Performance ||
|-
| "Dancin' Fool" || Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ||
|-
| 1983 || "Valley Girl" || Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ||
|-
| 1985 || The Perfect Stranger || Best New Classical Composition ||
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1988 || "Jazz from Hell" || Best Instrumental Composition ||
|-
| Jazz from Hell ||rowspan="2"| Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist) ||
|-
| 1989 || Guitar ||
|-
| 1990 || Broadway the Hard Way || Best Musical Cast Show Album ||
|-
| 1996 || Civilization Phaze III || Best Recording Package – Boxed ||
|-
| 1998 || Frank Zappa || Lifetime Achievement Award ||
Artists influenced by Zappa
Many musicians, bands and orchestras from diverse genres have been influenced by Zappa's music. Rock artists such as The Plastic People of the Universe, Alice Cooper, Larry LaLonde of Primus, Fee Waybill of the Tubes all cite Zappa's influence, as do progressive, alternative, electronic and avant-garde/experimental rock artists like Can, Pere Ubu, Yes, Soft Machine, Henry Cow, Faust, Devo, Kraftwerk, Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman of Phish, Jeff Buckley, John Frusciante, Steven Wilson, and The Aristocrats. Paul McCartney regarded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the Beatles' Freak Out!. Jimi Hendrix and heavy rock and metal acts like Black Sabbath, Simon Phillips, Mike Portnoy, Warren DeMartini, Alex Skolnick, Steve Vai, Strapping Young Lad, System of a Down, and Clawfinger have acknowledged Zappa as inspiration. On the classical music scene, Tomas Ulrich, Meridian Arts Ensemble, Ensemble Ambrosius and the Fireworks Ensemble regularly perform Zappa's compositions and quote his influence. Contemporary jazz musicians and composers Bobby Sanabria, Bill Frisell and John Zorn are inspired by Zappa, as is funk legend George Clinton.
Other artists affected by Zappa include ambient composer Brian Eno, new age pianist George Winston, electronic composer Bob Gluck, parodist artist and disk jockey Dr. Demento, parodist and novelty composer "Weird Al" Yankovic, industrial music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge, singer Cree Summer, noise music artist Masami Akita of Merzbow, and Chilean composer Cristián Crisosto from Fulano and Mediabanda.
References in arts and sciences
Scientists from various fields have honored Zappa by naming new discoveries after him. In 1967, paleontologist Leo P. Plas, Jr., identified an extinct mollusc in Nevada and named it Amaurotoma zappa with the motivation that, "The specific name, zappa, honors Frank Zappa".
In the 1980s, biologist Ed Murdy named a genus of gobiid fishes of New Guinea Zappa, with a species named Zappa confluentus. Biologist Ferdinando Boero named a Californian jellyfish Phialella zappai (1987), noting that he had "pleasure in naming this species after the modern music composer".
Belgian biologists Bosmans and Bosselaers discovered in the early 1980s a Cameroonese spider, which they in 1994 named Pachygnatha zappa because "the ventral side of the abdomen of the female of this species strikingly resembles the artist's legendary moustache".
A gene of the bacterium Proteus mirabilis that causes urinary tract infections was in 1995 named zapA by three biologists from Maryland. In their scientific article, they "especially thank the late Frank Zappa for inspiration and assistance with genetic nomenclature". Repeating regions of the genome of the human tumor virus KSHV were named frnk, vnct and zppa in 1996 by Yuan Chang and Patrick S. Moore who discovered the virus. Also, a 143 base pair repeat sequence occurring at two positions was named waka/jwka.
In the late 1990s, American paleontologists Marc Salak and Halard L. Lescinsky discovered a metazoan fossil, and named it Spygori zappania to honor "the late Frank Zappa ... whose mission paralleled that of the earliest paleontologists: to challenge conventional and traditional beliefs when such beliefs lacked roots in logic and reason".
In 1994, lobbying efforts initiated by psychiatrist John Scialli led the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center to name an asteroid in Zappa's honor: 3834 Zappafrank. The asteroid was discovered in 1980 by Czechoslovakian astronomer Ladislav Brožek, and the citation for its naming says that "Zappa was an eclectic, self-trained artist and composer ... Before 1989 he was regarded as a symbol of democracy and freedom by many people in Czechoslovakia".
In 1995, a bust of Zappa by sculptor Konstantinas Bogdanas was installed in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital . The choice of Zappa was explained as "a symbol that would mark the end of communism, but at the same time express that it wasn't always doom and gloom." A replica was offered to the city of Baltimore in 2008, and on September 19, 2010 — the twenty-fifth anniversary of Zappa's testimony to the U.S. Senate — a ceremony dedicating the replica was held, and the bust was unveiled at a library in the city.
In 2002, a bronze bust was installed in German city Bad Doberan, location of the Zappanale since 1990, an annual music festival celebrating Zappa. At the initiative of musicians community ORWOhaus, the city of Berlin named a street in the Marzahn district "Frank-Zappa-Straße" in 2007. The same year, Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon proclaimed August 9 as the city's official "Frank Zappa Day" citing Zappa's musical accomplishments as well as his defense of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Zappa documentary
The biographical documentary Zappa, directed by Alex Winter and released on November 27, 2020, includes previously unreleased footage from Zappa's personal vault, to which he was granted access by the Zappa Family Trust.
Discography
During his lifetime, Zappa released 62 albums. Since 1994, the Zappa Family Trust has released 57 posthumous albums, making a total of 119 albums. The current distributor of Zappa's recorded output is Universal Music Enterprises.
See also
List of performers on Frank Zappa records
Frank Zappa in popular culture
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
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Surrealist groups | false | [
"Dose fractionation effects are utilised in the treatment of cancer with radiation therapy. When the total dose of radiation is divided into several, smaller doses over a period of several days, there are fewer toxic effects on healthy cells. This maximizes the effect of radiation on cancer and minimizes the negative side effects. A typical fractionation scheme divides the dose into 30 units delivered every weekday over six weeks. Hypofractionation is a treatment regimen that delivers higher doses of radiation in fewer visits, which tends to lower the effects of accelerated tumor growth that typically occurs during the later stages of radiotherapy. Hyperfractionation is dividing the same total dose into more deliveries, so that treatments are given more than once a day. Hyperfractionated radiation therapy is given over the same period of time (days or weeks) as standard radiation therapy. Accelerated fractionation (two deliveries per day and/or deliveries on weekends as well) has also been investigated.\n\nBackground\nExperiments in radiation biology have found that as the absorbed dose of radiation increases, the number of cells which survive decreases. They have also found that if the radiation is fractionated into smaller doses, with one or more rest periods in between, fewer cells die. This is because of self-repair mechanisms which repair the damage to DNA and other biomolecules such as proteins. These mechanisms can be over expressed in cancer cells, so caution should be used in using results for a cancer cell line to make predictions for healthy cells if the cancer cell line is known to be resistant to cytotoxic drugs such as cisplatin. The DNA self repair processes in some organisms is exceptionally good; for instance, the bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans can tolerate a 15 000 Gy (1.5 MRad) dose.\n\nIn the graph to the right, called a cell survival curve, the dose vs. surviving fraction have been drawn for a hypothetical group of cells with and without a rest time for the cells to recover. Other than the recovery time partway through the irradiation, the cells would have been treated identically.\n\nThe human body contains many types of cells, and the human can be killed by the loss of a single type of cell in a vital organ. For many short-term radiation deaths due to what is commonly known as radiation sickness (3 to 30 days after exposure), it is the loss of bone marrow cells (which produce blood cells), and the loss of other cells in the wall of the intestines, that is fatal.\n\nRadiation fractionation as cancer treatment \nFractionation effects are utilised in the treatment of cancer with radiation therapy. When the total dose of radiation is divided into several, smaller doses over a period of several days, there are fewer toxic effects on healthy cells. This maximizes the effect of radiation on cancer and minimizes the negative side effects. A typical fractionation scheme divides the dose into 30 units delivered every weekday over six weeks.\n\nHypofractionation is a treatment regimen that delivers higher doses of radiation in fewer visits. The logic behind this treatment is that applying greater amounts of radiation works to lower the effects of accelerated tumor growth that typically occurs during the later stages of radiotherapy.\n\nHyperfractionation is dividing the same total dose into more deliveries. Treatments are given more than once a day. Hyperfractionated radiation therapy is given over the same period of time (days or weeks) as standard radiation therapy.\n\nAccelerated fractionation (two deliveries per day and/or deliveries on weekends as well) has also been investigated.\n\nReferences \n\nCell biology\nRadiation\nDNA",
"Radiation enteropathy is a syndrome that may develop following abdominal or pelvic radiation therapy for cancer. Many affected people are cancer survivors who had treatment for cervical cancer or prostate cancer; it has also been termed pelvic radiation disease with radiation proctitis being one of the principal features.\n\nSigns and symptoms \nPeople who have been treated with radiotherapy for pelvic and other abdominal cancers frequently develop gastrointestinal symptoms.\n\nThese include:\n rectal bleeding\n diarrhea and steatorrhea\n other defecation disorders including fecal urgency and incontinence.\n nutritional deficiencies and weight loss\n abdominal pain and bloating\n nausea, vomiting and fatigue\nGastrointestinal symptoms are often found together with those in other systems including genitourinary disorders and sexual dysfunction. The burden of symptoms substantially impairs the patients' quality of life.\n\nNausea, vomiting, fatigue, and diarrhea may happen early during the course of radiotherapy. Radiation enteropathy represents the longer-term, chronic effects that may be found after a latent period most commonly of 6 months to 3 years after the end of treatment. In some cases, it does not become a problem for 20–30 years after successful curative therapy.\n\nAssociated conditions\n Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth\n Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency\n Bile acid diarrhea\n Urinary urgency\n Sexual dysfunction\n\nCauses \nA large number of people receive abdominal and or pelvic radiotherapy as part of their cancer treatment with 60–80% experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms. This is used in standard therapeutic regimens for cervical cancer, prostate cancer, rectal cancer, anal cancer, lymphoma and other abdominal malignancies. Symptoms can be made worse by the effects of surgery, chemotherapy or other drugs given to treat the cancer. Improved methods of radiotherapy have reduced the exposure of non-involved tissues to radiation, concentrating the effects on the cancer. However, as the parts of the intestine such as the ileum and the rectum are immediately adjacent to the cancers, it is impossible to avoid some radiation effects. Previous intestinal surgery, obesity, diabetes, tobacco smoking and vascular disorders increase the chances of developing enteropathy.\n\nPathology\n\nAcute intestinal injury \n\nEarly radiation enteropathy is very common during or immediately after the course of radiotherapy. This involves cell death, mucosal inflammation and epithelial barrier dysfunction. This injury is termed mucositis and results in symptoms of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhea and abdominal pain. It recovers within a few weeks or months.\n\nLong-term effects of radiation \nThe delayed effects, found 3 months or more after radiation therapy, produce pathology which includes intestinal epithelial mucosal atrophy, vascular sclerosis, and progressive fibrosis of the intestinal wall, among other changes in intestinal neuroendocrine and immune cells and in the gut microbiota. These changes may produce dysmotility, strictures, malabsorption and bleeding. Problems in the terminal ileum and rectum predominate.\n\nDiagnosis\nMultiple disorders are found in patients with radiation enteropathy, so guidance including an algorithmic approach to their investigation has been developed. This includes a holistic assessment with investigations including upper endoscopy, colonoscopy, breath tests and other nutritional and gastrointestinal tests. Full investigation is important as many cancer survivors of radiation therapy develop other causes for their symptoms such as colonic polyps, diverticular disease or hemorrhoids.\n\nPrevention \n\nPrevention of radiation injury to the small bowel is a key aim of techniques such as brachytherapy, field size, multiple field arrangements, conformal radiotherapy techniques and intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Medications including ACE inhibitors, statins and probiotics have also been studied and reviewed.\n\nTreatment \nIn people presenting with symptoms compatible with radiation enteropathy, the initial step is to identify what is responsible for causing the symptoms. Management is best with a multidisciplinary team including gastroenterologists, nurses, dietitians, surgeons and others. Medical treatments include the use of hyperbaric oxygen which has beneficial effects in radiation proctitis or anal damage. Nutritional therapies include treatments directed at specific malabsorptive disorders such as low fat diets and vitamin B12 or vitamin D supplements, together with bile acid sequestrants for bile acid diarrhea and possibly antibiotics for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Probiotics have all been suggested as another therapeutic avenue.\n\nEndoscopic therapies including argon plasma coagulation have been used for bleeding telangiectasia in radiation proctitis and at other intestinal sites, although there is a rick of perforation.\n\nSurgical treatment may be needed for intestinal obstruction, fistulae, or perforation, which can happen in more severe cases. These can be fatal if patients present as an emergency, but with improved radiotherapy techniques are now less common.\nA systematic review has found there is some promising evidence for non-surgical interventions for late rectal damage, however due to low quality evidence no conclusions could be drawn. Optimal treatment usually produces significant improvements in quality of life.\n\nPrevalence \nAn increasing number of people are now surviving cancer, with improved treatments producing cure of the malignancy (cancer survivors). There are now over 14 million such people in the US, and this figure is expected to increase to 18 million by 2022. More than half are survivors of abdominal or pelvic cancers, with about 300,000 people receiving abdominal and pelvic radiation each year. It has been estimated there are 1.6 million people in the US with post-radiation intestinal dysfunction, a greater number than those with inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.\n\nResearch \nNew agents have been identified in animal studies that may have effects on intestinal radiation injury. The research approach in humans has been reviewed.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\nGastrointestinal tract disorders\nDiarrhea\nDiseases of intestines\nRadiation therapy"
]
|
[
"Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark",
"Split and McCluskey-led OMD (1989-1996)"
]
| C_1d30fe7a2f554dec8fb90121acca7cfd_1 | What albums did they release during this time? | 1 | What albums did Split and McCluskey release during 1989-1996? | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | During 1988 the band appeared poised to consolidate their US success, with a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 18 June 1988, a top 20 US hit with "Dreaming" and a successful "Best of" album. However, it was at this point when OMD broke in two. Graham and Neil Weir left at the end of the 1988 US tour and co-founder Paul Humphreys subsequently called it a day, unhappy with the band's commercial orientation. Finally, Cooper and Holmes left OMD to join Humphreys in founding a new band called The Listening Pool in 1989. This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the dance-pop Sugar Tax LP in May 1991, which charted at No. 3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians Raw Unlimited (aka Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw and Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of Sugar Tax: writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e., McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries, "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away". McCluskey's live band was then formed by Nigel Ipinson (keyboards), Phil Coxon (keyboards) and Abe Juckes (drums) since late 1990. Kershaw, Ipinson and Coxon from 1992 to 1996 contributed to OMD albums and a 1993 tour. The fifth track from Liberator (1993), "Dream of Me", was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. To release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give a writing credit to White. Paul Humphreys, while no longer part of the group, co-wrote the single "Everyday". Also in 1993, McCluskey made contributions to the Esperanto album, a project by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos (then working under the moniker of Elektric Music). McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the 1996 album Universal, which featured two songs co-written by Humphreys as well as a holdover from the Esperanto sessions, co-penned by Bartos. The record spawned OMD's first Top 20 hit in five years, "Walking on the Milky Way". CANNOTANSWER | 18 June 1988, a top 20 US hit with "Dreaming" and a successful "Best of" album. | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Cooper (various instruments) and Stuart Kershaw (drums); McCluskey has been the only constant member. Regarded as pioneers of electronic music, OMD combined an experimental, minimalist ethos with pop sensibilities, becoming central figures in the late-1970s/early-1980s emergence of synth-pop.
McCluskey and Humphreys led precursor group the Id from 1977–1978, and re-recorded their track "Electricity" as OMD's debut single in 1979. Weathering an "uncool" image and a degree of hostility from music critics, the band gained popularity throughout Europe with the 1980 anti-war song "Enola Gay", and achieved broader recognition via Architecture & Morality (1981) and its three hit singles. Although later reappraised, Dazzle Ships (1983) was seen as overly challenging, and eroded European support. The group embraced a more radio-friendly sound on Junk Culture (1984); this change in direction led to greater success in the United States, and yielded the 1986 hit, "If You Leave".
In 1989, creative differences saw Humphreys and other members form the spin-off band the Listening Pool, leaving McCluskey the only remaining member of OMD. The group returned with a new line-up and explored the dance-pop genre: Sugar Tax (1991) and its initial singles were hits in Europe. By the mid-1990s, however, electronic music had been supplanted by alternative rock, and both OMD and the Listening Pool disbanded in 1996. McCluskey later conceived pop girl group Atomic Kitten, for whom he served as a principal songwriter, while Humphreys formed the duo Onetwo alongside Propaganda vocalist Claudia Brücken.
In 2006, the band reformed with Humphreys and McCluskey working on material closer in sound to their early output; The Punishment of Luxury (2017) was the group's seventh top 10 entry on the UK Albums Chart. They have also achieved 12 top 20 hits on the UK Singles Chart, as well as three top 20 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100. An influence on many later artists, OMD have sold over 40 million records worldwide.
History
1975–1979: Roots and early years
Founders Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys met at primary school in Meols in the early 1960s, and in the mid-1970s, as teenagers, they were involved in different local groups but shared a distaste for guitar-driven rock with a macho attitude popular among their friends at the time. By 1975 McCluskey had formed Equinox, as bassist and vocalist, alongside schoolmate Malcolm Holmes on drums, while Humphreys was roadie. During that time McCluskey and Humphreys discovered their electronic style, inspired by Kraftwerk. After Equinox, McCluskey joined Pegasus, and, later, the short-lived Hitlerz Underpantz, alongside Humphreys. McCluskey would usually sing and play bass guitar; roadie and electronics enthusiast Humphreys, who shared McCluskey's love of electronic music, graduated to keyboards.
In September 1977, McCluskey and Humphreys put together the seven-piece (three singers, two guitarists, bassist, drummer, and keyboard player) Wirral group the Id, whose line-up included drummer Malcolm Holmes and McCluskey's girlfriend Julia Kneale on vocals. The group began to gig regularly in the Merseyside area, performing original material (largely written by McCluskey and Humphreys). They had quite a following on the scene, and one of their tracks ("Julia's Song") was included on a compilation record of local bands called Street to Street. Meanwhile, Humphreys and McCluskey collaborated on a side project called VCL XI, whose name was adapted from a diagram on the back cover of Kraftwerk's Radio-Activity album, reading "VCL 11". This project allowed them to pursue their more obscure electronic experiments.
In August 1978, the Id split due to musical differences. The same month, McCluskey joined Wirral electronic outfit Dalek I Love You as lead singer, but quit in September. Later that month, he rejoined Humphreys and their VCL XI project was renamed Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. The name was gleaned from a list of song lyrics and ideas that were written on McCluskey's bedroom wall; and was chosen so they would not be mistaken for a punk band. Given that OMD intended to play only one gig, the duo considered their moniker to be inconsequential. McCluskey has since expressed regret over choosing "such a very silly name". The contrasting personalities of Humphreys and McCluskey established the band's dynamic, with the former saying that "two Pauls wouldn't get anything done and two Andys would kill each other." They have further described their creative roles as "The Surgeon" (Humphreys) and "The Butcher" (McCluskey). As working class youngsters OMD had a limited budget, using second-hand "junk-shop" instruments including a left-handed bass guitar (which McCluskey would play upside-down). The pair also created their own devices, with Humphreys "making things out of his aunt's radios cannibalised for the circuit boards". Eventually they acquired a basic Korg M-500 Micro Preset synthesizer, purchased via McCluskey's mother's mail-order catalogue for £7.76 a week, paid over 36 weeks.
OMD began to gig regularly as a duo, performing to backing tracks played from a TEAC 4-track tape-recorder christened "Winston" (after the antihero of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four). Their debut performance was in October 1978 at Eric's Club in Liverpool. Finding themselves on the cusp of an electronic new wave in British pop-music, they released a one-off single, "Electricity", with independent label Factory Records. The track was supposed to be produced by the Factory Records producer Martin Hannett. However, the A-side was the band's original demo produced by their friend, owner of Winston and soon to be manager, Paul Collister under the pseudonym Chester Valentino (taken from a nightclub called Valentino's in the nearby city of Chester). The single's sleeve was designed by Peter Saville, whose distinctive graphics contributed to OMD's public image into the 1980s. The success of "Electricity" led to the band receiving a seven-album record deal with Dindisc, worth over £250,000.
In 1979 they were asked to support Gary Numan on his first major British tour. Humphreys noted, "[Numan] gave us our first big break. He saw us opening for Joy Division and he asked us to go on tour with him... we went from the small clubs to playing huge arenas. Gary was very good to us." Numan later supported OMD on a 1993 UK arena tour.
1980–1988: Classic line-up
Rather than hire studio time to record their eponymous debut album (1980), McCluskey and Humphreys used their advance payment from Dindisc to build their own Liverpool recording studio, The Gramophone Suite. They predicted that they would be dropped by the label due to disappointing sales, but would at least own a studio. The album showcased the band's live set at the time, and included some guest drums from Id drummer Malcolm Holmes and saxophone from Wirral musician Martin Cooper. It had a raw, poppy, melodic synth-pop sound. Dindisc arranged for the song "Messages" to be re-recorded (produced by Gong bassist Mike Howlett) and released as a single – it gave the band their first hit. Dave Hughes, a founder member of Dalek I Love You who joined OMD in 1980, is featured in the "Messages" video. A tour followed: Winston the tape recorder was augmented with live drums from Malcolm Holmes, and Dave Hughes played synths. Hughes left OMD in late 1980.
The second album Organisation (a reference to the band which preceded Kraftwerk, founded by Kraftwerk's original members Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter) followed later that year, recorded as a three-piece with Humphreys, McCluskey and Holmes. It was again produced by Howlett, and had a moodier, dark feel largely inspired by the passing of former Factory label-mate, and Joy Division singer, Ian Curtis. The album included the anti-war hit single "Enola Gay", named after the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The song was intended to be included on the debut album, but was left out at the final selection. The tour for this album had a four-piece band line-up, with saxophonist Martin Cooper (another Dalek I Love You alumnus) recruited for keyboard duties and enlisted as an official group member. The McCluskey/Humphreys/Cooper/Holmes unit came to be regarded as the band's classic line-up. In early 1981, readers of Record Mirror voted OMD the fourth-best band and eighth-best live act of 1980; NME and Sounds readers named the group the eighth and 10th best new act of the year, respectively. In Smash Hits, they were voted both the fifth-best band of 1980 and the eighth-hottest new act for 1981.
Howlett then presided over the recording of a further hit single, "Souvenir", co-written by Cooper & Humphreys. It ushered in a lush choral electronic sound. The song also became OMD's biggest UK hit to date. In November 1981, their most commercially successful album was released in the UK and Europe – Architecture & Morality. The group went into the studio with Richard Manwaring producing. Cooper then temporarily dropped out and was replaced by Mike Douglas, but this change was reversed by the time the album was released and a tour followed. The album's sound saw OMD's original synth-pop sound augmented by the Mellotron, an instrument previously associated with prog rock bands. They used it to add atmospheric swatches of string, choir, and other sounds to their palette. Two more hit singles "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" (which became the biggest-selling single of 1982 in Germany) were on the album. "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" were originally both titled "Joan of Arc"; the name of the latter single was changed at the insistence of the publishers and to avoid confusion. It became "Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)" and later simply "Maid of Orleans". Readers of Smash Hits voted OMD the seventh-best group of 1981, while Record Mirror readers named them the eighth-best band (as well as the 10th-best "new artist") and the third-best live act of the year. The group came close to splitting up in 1982, with McCluskey later saying, "We had never expected the success, we were exhausted."
In 1983 the band lost commercial momentum somewhat, with the release of their more experimental Dazzle Ships album, produced by Rhett Davies. The record mixed melancholy synth ballads and uptempo synth-pop with musique concrète and short wave radio tape collages. Its relative commercial failure caused a crisis of confidence for Humphreys and McCluskey and brought about a deliberate move towards the mainstream. 1984's Junk Culture was a shift to a more pop-style sound and the band used digital sampling keyboards such as the Fairlight CMI and the E-mu Emulator. The album was a success, reassuring the group about their new direction. The "Locomotion" single returned the group to the top five in the UK and was an indicator of the group's newfound sound, notably the adoption of a classic verse–chorus form, which is something the group had often previously avoided. Record Mirror readers named OMD the eighth-best live act of 1984. In 1985, the band expanded to a sextet, adding brothers Graham Weir (guitar, keyboards, trombone) and Neil Weir (trumpet, bass guitar), and released Crush, produced by Stephen Hague in Paris and New York. The success of the single "So in Love" in the US Billboard Hot 100 also led to some success for the LP which entered the American Top 40, establishing the group in the US. During this period, the band also recorded a version of "So in Love" in duet with the French pop singer Etienne Daho.
Later in 1985 the band were asked to write a song for the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. They offered "Goddess of Love", although the ending of the film was re-shot due to a negative response from test audiences. OMD then wrote "If You Leave" in less than 24 hours and it became a top 5 hit in the US, Canada, and New Zealand in 1986. At the end of this year, the same six piece line-up also released The Pacific Age, but the band began to see their critical and public popularity wane notably in the UK. The album's first single, "(Forever) Live and Die", was a top 10 hit across Europe and entered the top 20 in both the UK and US. Journalist Hugo Lindgren argued that the success of "If You Leave" has concealed from US audiences the group's history of making innovative music.
During 1988 OMD played a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 18 June 1988. They also released the top 20 US hit "Dreaming" and a successful greatest hits album, The Best of OMD. Graham and Neil Weir left the band at the end of the 1988 US tour.
1989–1996: McCluskey-led OMD and disbandment
As OMD appeared poised to consolidate their US success, the group continued to fracture. Humphreys departed in 1989 amid personal and creative dissension with McCluskey. Cooper and Holmes then left OMD to join Humphreys in founding a new band called the Listening Pool. McCluskey recalled, "We were all in agreement that something was wrong. How to fix it was where we disagreed."
This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the dance-pop Sugar Tax album in May 1991, which charted at No. 3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians Raw Unlimited (Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw, Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of Sugar Tax: writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e., McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away". McCluskey's live band was then formed by Nigel Ipinson (keyboards), Phil Coxon (keyboards), and Abe Juckes (drums) from late 1990. Smash Hits readers voted OMD the sixth-best British group of 1991.
The album Liberator, which ventured further into dance territory, was released in 1993. It peaked at No. 14 on the UK Albums Chart. Lead single "Stand Above Me" peaked at no. 21 on the UK Singles Chart, with follow-up "Dream of Me" charting at no. 24. Paul Humphreys, while no longer part of the group, co-wrote the single "Everyday" (a No. 59 UK chart entry). The fifth track from Liberator, "Dream of Me", was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. To release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give a writing credit to White.
Also in 1993, McCluskey made contributions to the Esperanto album, a project by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos (then working under the moniker of Elektric Music).
McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the more organic Universal (1996), which featured two songs co-written by Humphreys as well as a holdover from the Esperanto sessions, co-penned by Bartos. The record spawned OMD's first Top 20 hit in five years, "Walking on the Milky Way".
Though both Liberator and Universal produced minor hits, McCluskey retired the OMD name in late 1996, due to waning public interest. A particular source of frustration was the modest commercial response to "Walking on the Milky Way", over which McCluskey said he "sweated blood", considering it "about as good a song as I could write". BBC Radio 1 refused to playlist the song, which in turn led to high street store Woolworths refusing to stock it. McCluskey said, "I just thought: 'Screw this, I'm not going to bang my head against a brick wall'." A second singles album was released in 1998, along with an EP of remixed material by such acts as Sash! and Moby.
Post-1996, McCluskey decided to focus on songwriting for such Liverpool-based acts as Atomic Kitten and the Genie Queen, and trying to develop new Merseyside artists from his Motor Museum recording studio. With McCluskey focusing his talents elsewhere, Humphreys decided to work with his new musical partner Claudia Brücken, of the ZTT bands Propaganda and Act, as Onetwo. He also undertook a US live tour under the banner "Paul Humphreys from OMD".
2006–2012: Reformation and comeback
An unexpected request to perform from a German television show led the group to reunite. On 1 January 2006, Andy McCluskey announced plans to reform OMD with the McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes, and Cooper line-up. The original plan was to tour the album Architecture & Morality and other pre-1983 material, then record a new album set for release in 2007. In May 2007, the Architecture & Morality remastered CD was re-released together with a DVD featuring the Drury Lane concert from 1981 that had previously been available on VHS. Through May and June, the band toured with the "classic" line up of McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes and Cooper. They began their set with a re-ordered but otherwise complete re-staging of the Architecture & Morality album. The second half of each concert featured a selection of their best known hits.
In Spring 2008, a live CD and DVD of the 2007 tour, OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & More, recorded at the London Hammersmith Apollo, was released as was a 25th anniversary re-release of Dazzle Ships, including six bonus tracks. At the same time, a brief October 2008 tour was announced, partly to tie-in with the Dazzle Ships album's 25th anniversary. China Crisis supported OMD on this tour.
In June 2009, an orchestral concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic was given in Liverpool. A recording of this concert was released on DVD in December. In November and December, the band returned to arena touring as support for Simple Minds. OMD had performed with Night of the Proms in December 2006 in Germany and renewed the experience again in Belgium and the Netherlands that year. They were the headline act at Britain's first Vintage Computer Festival at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park, in June 2010. On 9 September 2010, Trevor Horn announced that OMD would perform as a special guest at the "first ever gig" of the Buggles. Their 11th studio album, History of Modern, was released in September, reaching No. 28 in the UK Albums Chart. A European tour followed in autumn.
In March 2011, OMD played their first North American tour as the original line up since 1988. In September, the band appeared at the Electric Picnic 2011 festival in Stradbally, Co Laois, Ireland. In November 2011, OMD announced they were getting back to the studio to start work on their latest album, English Electric. On 12 March 2012, the band played a concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines. In August, OMD performed to South African audiences in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
2013–present: Continued acknowledgement
On 29 January 2013, Goldenvoice announced OMD for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, on 14 and 21 April. On 11 February, OMD announced "Metroland" would be the first single from the forthcoming album English Electric. The single was released on 25 March, and includes the B-side "The Great White Silence". The album English Electric was released in the UK on 8 April and entered the UK album chart at No. 12 and the German chart at No. 10. Reviews for both the album and their concerts have generally been positive. For Record Store Day 2013, on 20 April, a 500-copy limited edition 10-inch picture disc EP "The Future Will Be Silent" from English Electric was made available, which includes a then-exclusive non-album track titled "Time Burns". For Record Store Day 2015, on 18 April, a 1000-copy limited edition 10-inch EP "Julia's Song (Dub Version)" from Junk Culture was made available, which includes an exclusive non-album track titled "10 to 1".
OMD performed a one-off concert at The Royal Albert Hall, London on 9 May 2016 to a sell-out crowd, playing both Architecture & Morality and Dazzle Ships in their entirety, along with other songs that were pre-1983. The only song post-1983 played was "History of Modern Part 1". The concert was recorded and made available on double CD right after the show. A triple LP vinyl recording of the concert was also made available. The band collaborated with Gary Barlow, Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman on the OMD song "Thrill Me", co-written by Barlow and McCluskey for the soundtrack of the film Eddie the Eagle. In October, work was begun on what was to be their 13th studio album The Punishment of Luxury, which was released on 1 September 2017. OMD toured Europe and North America in support of the album, with Stuart Kershaw replacing Holmes as the band's drummer, due to the latter's health issues.
In 2018, OMD published a book entitled "Pretending to See the Future", which is a first-person "autobiography" about the band. It mixed fan-submitted memories with commentary from McCluskey, Humphreys, Cooper, Holmes, and Kershaw. For people who pre-ordered the book on PledgeMusic, they received a limited-edition flexi-disc containing a previously unheard demo of "Messages" from 1978.
As part of the group's 40th-anniversary celebrations, a UK and European tour was announced in March 2019. OMD won "Group of the Year" and "Live Act of the Year" in the 2019 Classic Pop Reader Awards. A retrospective deluxe boxset entitled Souvenir was also announced in August 2019. The 40th anniversary collection includes the band's forty singles, including new release "Don't Go". It also contains 22 previously unreleased recordings from the group's archive, selected and mixed by Paul Humphreys. Two audio live shows, one from 2011 and one from 2013, are also included together with two DVDs bringing together two more live concerts – Drury Lane in 1981 and Sheffield City Hall in 1985 – plus Crush – The Movie, and various BBC TV performances from Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later... with Jools Holland. The boxset was nominated for "Best Historical Album" at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
Artistry and image
James Hunter of Spin wrote that "OMD set about reinventing punk with different applications of dance beats, keyboards, melodies, and sulks", rejecting the genre's "sonic trappings but not its intellectual freedom". The band found commercial success with a style of synth-pop described as "experimental", "minimal" and "edgy". OMD often eschewed choruses, replacing them with synthesizer lines, and opted for unconventional lyrical subjects such as industrial processes, micronations and telephone boxes; the BBC said that the group "were always more intellectual" than "contemporaries like Duran Duran and Eurythmics". Despite the band's experimentation, they employed pop hooks in their music, attaining what AllMusic's Ned Raggett described as "the enviable position of at once being creative innovators and radio-friendly pop giants". They were influenced by electronic artists such as Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and Neu!, as well as more mainstream acts like David Bowie and Roxy Music. OMD drew inspiration from former Factory Records label-mates Joy Division, particularly during the making of Organisation (1980). The group also recorded two Velvet Underground covers.
OMD were indifferent to celebrity status, and avoided the calculated fashion stylings of many of their 1980s peers. During live performances, McCluskey developed a spasmodic dancing style that has been dubbed the "Trainee Teacher Dance"; he explains that it stemmed "from the perception that [OMD] were making boring robotic intellectual music that you couldn't dance to". Journalist Hugo Lindgren noted that the band were perceived as "oddballs, freaks" on the Liverpool scene; McCluskey has identified himself and Humphreys as "synth punks" and "complete geeks". Gareth Ware of DIY called OMD "one of the guiding lights of British synth-pop... albeit one with a disarming naivety and warm characterful nature at odds with the sleek, chic image cultivated by the likes of [the] Human League and Depeche Mode." Critic Andrew Collins said the group represented a wave of "uncool" pop stars who would eventually "become cool" in the public eye.
Mid-1980s style change
The experimental Dazzle Ships (1983) was a critical and commercial disappointment upon release. This prompted OMD to move towards a more accessible sound on the black music-influenced Junk Culture (1984); the band also donned more vibrant garments on the album's accompanying tour. The group continued to incorporate sonic experimentation, although their sound became increasingly polished on the Stephen Hague-produced records Crush (1985) and The Pacific Age (1986).
Some journalists have rejected the group's post-Dazzle Ships reinvention, while others have expressed an appreciation for the new direction. Sean O'Neal of the A.V. Club said OMD would "give up" creatively, while the Quietus founder John Doran wrote, "It's quite popular to see OMD as nose-diving into the effluence after Dazzle Ships but the truth is there is still much to recommend." Although Junk Culture is seen to represent a shift toward a more pop-oriented style, some critics feel that the group did not relinquish their experimental ethos until 1985, the year in which they released Crush. Elements of earlier experimentation have nevertheless been observed on Crush and follow-up The Pacific Age.
Musicians have commented on OMD's mid-1980s output. Michael "Telekinesis" Lerner wrote that Junk Culture "was not something [he] could sink [his] teeth into", adding that he did not invest in the band again until after their reunion. Moby remarked, "Their earlier records were just phenomenal... a few years on they were making music for John Hughes movies, and they were good at it and I'm glad that they had success with it, but it wasn't nearly as creatively inspiring." On the other hand, Tony Kanal of No Doubt said, "[OMD] inspired us to try and do our own John Hughes prom-scene movie moment kind of songs... Junk Culture is great." Angus Andrew of Liars referred to "the complexity and mastery in OMD's later pop material", calling himself "a fan of OMD albums from all of their phases".
Spin journalist Jessica Bendinger wrote in 1988, "[OMD's] music has been colored by continual exploration... which has run the gamut from Gregorian-chant-inspired anthems of love to a union of Orchestral-Motown."
Subsequent reinventions
The McCluskey-led OMD explored a dance-oriented approach on Sugar Tax (1991) and Liberator (1993); critic Ian Peel wrote that the band "defied expectations by updating their sound and becoming, if only briefly, relevant in the 90s". The group disbanded shortly after the release of Universal (1996), on which they strained for a more organic and acoustic sound. McCluskey recalled a negative media perception of the band by the mid-1990s, saying, "At the height of indie rock and Britpop, we were totally out of fashion." Since OMD's 2006 reformation, their material has been seen as more akin to their early output.
Legacy and influence
OMD have been named as pioneers of electronic music, and one of the more important acts of the synth-pop genre; Nightshift identified OMD, and fellow late 1970s debutants Gary Numan and the Human League, as "the holy trinity of synth-pop". AllMusic's Andy Kellman emphasised the band's "inventive albums" and status as "one of the earliest, most commercially successful, and enduring synth pop groups". Hugo Lindgren of the New York Times wrote that OMD cultivated a "legacy as musical innovators", adding, "The genre they helped invent — file under 'synth pop' — proved hugely popular." The band have been recognised as playing a prominent role in defining the sound of 1980s and early 1990s popular music. In particular, "Electricity" (1979) and "If You Leave" (1986) have been identified as two of the most influential records of their era. The group have drawn comparisons to pre-eminent Merseyside act the Beatles, with McCluskey and Humphreys being labelled the "Lennon–McCartney of synth-pop".
OMD often faced hostility from the music press. Record Mirrors Simon Ludgate told how they received a "thorough tarring of the same brush" as then-maligned artist Gary Numan, but were able to weather "this almost certain kiss of death". Ben Walsh of The Independent said that the band "might not attract the kudos of Depeche Mode, Joy Division and New Order, but they were certainly as significant." Despite their difficult relationship with critics, the group have earned a cult following; DJ Chris Evans remarked, "There are fans, and then there are OMD fans. [Their] fans may be among the greatest in the world... they are devout." The band also enjoys a large fanbase within the LGBT community, which McCluskey says they cherish. Architecture & Morality (1981), regarded as OMD's seminal album, had sold more than four million copies by early 2007; Sugar Tax (1991), the record that marked a commercial renaissance for the group, had sold more than three million by the same time period. The experimental Dazzle Ships (1983), which met with a degree of critical and commercial hostility, has been retrospectively praised by critics and cited as one of the band's most influential works. OMD's overall record sales stand in excess of 40 million, with sales of more than 15 million albums and 25 million singles.
Impact on other artists
OMD influenced several 1980s contemporaries, including Men Without Hats and Depeche Mode. Vince Clarke, who established the latter group's electronic direction and later founded Yazoo and Erasure, cites OMD as his inspiration to become an electronic musician. OMD were an important act for Pet Shop Boys, whose singer, Neil Tennant, identified the band as "pioneers of electronic music". The group were revered by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Howard Jones, Alphaville, Book of Love and Ricky Wilde (songwriter/producer for Kim Wilde), and were also influential on New Order and Tears for Fears' exploration of electronic instruments. "Electricity" was an influence on the fledgling Duran Duran. The band have garnered praise from other synth-pop peers including the Human League's Philip Oakey, Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey, Trevor Horn, and Gary Numan, who credited OMD for "some of the best pop songs ever written". Within the rock genre, the group influenced then-progressive band Spoons, and were championed by ZZ Top, who drew inspiration from OMD's use of synthesizers and onstage dancing.
OMD have been influential on later artists such as No Doubt, Moby, Gary Barlow, MGMT, Paul van Dyk, the Shins, the Divine Comedy, Liars, Owen Pallett, Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, the Killers' Dave Keuning, AFI's Davey Havok, Barenaked Ladies' Kevin Hearn, Belle and Sebastian's Stevie Jackson, Spacemen 3's Peter Kember, and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, who said the group's albums "stand up very, very well as experimental pop records with the most enjoyable kind of songwriting." The band's influence also extends to country act Sugarland, physicist Brian Cox, and Steve Lamacq, who became a DJ after hearing "Electricity". 1983's "challenging" Dazzle Ships was a key inspiration for the likes of Saint Etienne, Death Cab for Cutie and Future Islands, while producer Mark Ronson was "completely floored" by the album. Elsewhere, OMD have received endorsements from musicians such as Sash!, Deftones' Chino Moreno, the Charlatans' Tim Burgess, Sharon Van Etten, Hot Chip's Al Doyle, and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, for whom the group were childhood favourites. Sash! recognised OMD as widely influential and "one of the leading bands in the 80s and 90s regarding electronic music/production".
The group's songs have been covered or sampled by acts including Gary Barlow, Howard Jones, MGMT, Owen Pallett, Boy George, Kid Cudi, Good Charlotte, Leftfield, Scooter, NOFX, Nada Surf, Angel Olsen and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. OMD are also the subject of two 2001 tribute albums, which feature interpretations by the likes of White Town, the Faint, Mahogany and Acid House Kings. David Guetta, who contributed a remix to 2003's The OMD Singles, described the opportunity to rework the band's material as "a thrill for any electronic musician". The official biography OMD: Pretending to See the Future (2018) features tributes from OMD collaborators Vince Clarke, Moby and Kraftwerk's Karl Bartos, along with peers like New Order's Stephen Morris, U2's Adam Clayton and the Teardrop Explodes' David Balfe.
Band members
Current members
Andy McCluskey – bass guitar, keyboards, vocals (1978–96; 2006–present)
Paul Humphreys – keyboards, vocals (1978–89; 2006–present)
Martin Cooper – keyboards, saxophone (1980–89; 2006–present)
Stuart Kershaw – drums (1993; 2015–present); piano (2010)
Former members
Malcolm Holmes – drums and percussion (1980–89; 2006–2015)
Dave Hughes – keyboards (1979–80)
Michael Douglas – keyboards (1980–81)
Graham Weir – guitar, brass, keyboards, writer (1984–89)
Neil Weir – brass, keyboards, bass guitar (1984–89)
Phil Coxon – keyboards (1991–93)
Nigel Ipinson – keyboards (1991–93)
Abe Juckes – drums (1991–92)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1980)
Organisation (1980)
Architecture & Morality (1981)
Dazzle Ships (1983)
Junk Culture (1984)
Crush (1985)
The Pacific Age (1986)
Sugar Tax (1991)
Liberator (1993)
Universal (1996)
History of Modern (2010)
English Electric (2013)
The Punishment of Luxury (2017)
See also
Atomic Kitten
The Listening Pool
Onetwo (band)
References
Notes
Bibliography
Houghton, Richard. OMD: Pretending to See the Future (expanded paperback). This Day in Music Books. 2019.
Houghton, Richard. OMD: Pretending to See the Future (hardcover). This Day in Music Books. 2018.
Waller, Johnny; Humphreys, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Messages. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1987.
West, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Omnibus Press. 1982.
External links
Official YouTube channel
English electronic music groups
English new wave musical groups
English synth-pop groups
Factory Records artists
British synth-pop new wave groups
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 1996
Musical groups reestablished in 2006
Virgin Records artists
1978 establishments in England
English experimental musical groups | false | [
"Seismic is the seventh studio album by San Diegan punk band Dogwood, originally titled Your Tongue Is the Deadliest of Arrows by the band. Artwork photos feature former members Scott Bergen and Eddie Spangler, although they did not perform on the album's recording, and both had left the band by the time of its release. Bassist Jason Harper announced he was leaving the group during the album's recording.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Seismic\" \n \"Selfish Americans\" \n \"Conscience in a Cave\" \n \"Sunsets Are But Once a Day\" \n \"Absolution\" \n \"Home Is Here\" \n \"Your Tongue Is the Deadliest of Arrows\" \n \"Trailer Full of Tragedies\" \n \"Faith\" \n \"What Matters\" \n \"Last of the Lost\" \n \"Crushing\"\n\nDogwood (band) albums\n2003 albums\nTooth & Nail Records albums",
"If 3 is the third release by the English jazz rock band If. It was released in August 1971 by United Artists Records (U.K.) and Capitol Records (U.S.) and reached #171 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart. It was reissued in CD in 2006 by Bodyheat with 2 bonus tracks, then by Repertoire in 2007 with 2 different bonus tracks.\n\nThe track \"Forgotten Roads\" featured on the band's live appearance on German TV's Beat-Club in September 1971.\n\nThe track \"Here Comes Mr. Time\" was included on the United Artists Records promotional sampler All Good Clean Fun (1971).\n\nTrack listing\n\nSide one\n \"Fibonacci's Number\" (Quincy) – 7:38\n \"Forgotten Roads\" (Quincy, Preston) – 4:23\n \"Sweet January\" (Quincy, Preston) – 4:30\n \"Child of Storm\" (Quincy, Hodkinson) – 3:39\n\nSide two\n \"Far Beyond\" (Mealing, Preston) – 4:57\n \"Seldom Seen Sam\" (Smith, Hodkinson) – 4:50\n \"Upstairs\" (B. Morrissey, D. Morrissey) – 4:52\n \"Here Comes Mr. Time\" (Mealing, Preston) – 4:43\n\nBonus tracks on 2006 CD release\n \"What Did I Say About the Box Jack?\" (studio version) (D. Morrissey) – 8:24\n \"What Did I Say About the Box Jack?\" (live version) (D. Morrissey) – 20:23\n\n(live version recorded during a European Tour in 1972 and reissued also in \"If Europe '72\" (Repertoire, 1997)\n\nBonus tracks on 2007 CD release\n \"Forgotten Roads\" (single version) (Preston, Quincy) – 4:03\n \"Far Beyond\" (single version) (Mealing, Preston) – 3:53\n\n(\"Forgotten Roads\" reissued also in \"More Live If\" (Repertoire, 2010)\n\nPersonnel\n J.W. Hodkinson – lead vocals, percussion\n Dick Morrissey – tenor and soprano saxophones, backing vocals, flute\n Dave Quincy – tenor and alto saxophones, flute\n Terry Smith – guitar\n John Mealing – organ, backing vocals, electric piano\n Jim Richardson – bass\n Dennis Elliott – drums\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1971 albums\nIf (band) albums\nUnited Artists Records albums\nAlbums produced by Dennis Elliott\nAlbums produced by John Mealing\nAlbums produced by Dick Morrissey\nAlbums produced by Jim Richardson\nAlbums produced by Terry Smith (guitarist)"
]
|
[
"Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark",
"Split and McCluskey-led OMD (1989-1996)",
"What albums did they release during this time?",
"18 June 1988, a top 20 US hit with \"Dreaming\" and a successful \"Best of\" album."
]
| C_1d30fe7a2f554dec8fb90121acca7cfd_1 | Did they do any tours? | 2 | Did Split and McCluskey do any tours? | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | During 1988 the band appeared poised to consolidate their US success, with a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 18 June 1988, a top 20 US hit with "Dreaming" and a successful "Best of" album. However, it was at this point when OMD broke in two. Graham and Neil Weir left at the end of the 1988 US tour and co-founder Paul Humphreys subsequently called it a day, unhappy with the band's commercial orientation. Finally, Cooper and Holmes left OMD to join Humphreys in founding a new band called The Listening Pool in 1989. This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the dance-pop Sugar Tax LP in May 1991, which charted at No. 3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians Raw Unlimited (aka Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw and Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of Sugar Tax: writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e., McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries, "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away". McCluskey's live band was then formed by Nigel Ipinson (keyboards), Phil Coxon (keyboards) and Abe Juckes (drums) since late 1990. Kershaw, Ipinson and Coxon from 1992 to 1996 contributed to OMD albums and a 1993 tour. The fifth track from Liberator (1993), "Dream of Me", was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. To release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give a writing credit to White. Paul Humphreys, while no longer part of the group, co-wrote the single "Everyday". Also in 1993, McCluskey made contributions to the Esperanto album, a project by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos (then working under the moniker of Elektric Music). McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the 1996 album Universal, which featured two songs co-written by Humphreys as well as a holdover from the Esperanto sessions, co-penned by Bartos. The record spawned OMD's first Top 20 hit in five years, "Walking on the Milky Way". CANNOTANSWER | with a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Cooper (various instruments) and Stuart Kershaw (drums); McCluskey has been the only constant member. Regarded as pioneers of electronic music, OMD combined an experimental, minimalist ethos with pop sensibilities, becoming central figures in the late-1970s/early-1980s emergence of synth-pop.
McCluskey and Humphreys led precursor group the Id from 1977–1978, and re-recorded their track "Electricity" as OMD's debut single in 1979. Weathering an "uncool" image and a degree of hostility from music critics, the band gained popularity throughout Europe with the 1980 anti-war song "Enola Gay", and achieved broader recognition via Architecture & Morality (1981) and its three hit singles. Although later reappraised, Dazzle Ships (1983) was seen as overly challenging, and eroded European support. The group embraced a more radio-friendly sound on Junk Culture (1984); this change in direction led to greater success in the United States, and yielded the 1986 hit, "If You Leave".
In 1989, creative differences saw Humphreys and other members form the spin-off band the Listening Pool, leaving McCluskey the only remaining member of OMD. The group returned with a new line-up and explored the dance-pop genre: Sugar Tax (1991) and its initial singles were hits in Europe. By the mid-1990s, however, electronic music had been supplanted by alternative rock, and both OMD and the Listening Pool disbanded in 1996. McCluskey later conceived pop girl group Atomic Kitten, for whom he served as a principal songwriter, while Humphreys formed the duo Onetwo alongside Propaganda vocalist Claudia Brücken.
In 2006, the band reformed with Humphreys and McCluskey working on material closer in sound to their early output; The Punishment of Luxury (2017) was the group's seventh top 10 entry on the UK Albums Chart. They have also achieved 12 top 20 hits on the UK Singles Chart, as well as three top 20 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100. An influence on many later artists, OMD have sold over 40 million records worldwide.
History
1975–1979: Roots and early years
Founders Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys met at primary school in Meols in the early 1960s, and in the mid-1970s, as teenagers, they were involved in different local groups but shared a distaste for guitar-driven rock with a macho attitude popular among their friends at the time. By 1975 McCluskey had formed Equinox, as bassist and vocalist, alongside schoolmate Malcolm Holmes on drums, while Humphreys was roadie. During that time McCluskey and Humphreys discovered their electronic style, inspired by Kraftwerk. After Equinox, McCluskey joined Pegasus, and, later, the short-lived Hitlerz Underpantz, alongside Humphreys. McCluskey would usually sing and play bass guitar; roadie and electronics enthusiast Humphreys, who shared McCluskey's love of electronic music, graduated to keyboards.
In September 1977, McCluskey and Humphreys put together the seven-piece (three singers, two guitarists, bassist, drummer, and keyboard player) Wirral group the Id, whose line-up included drummer Malcolm Holmes and McCluskey's girlfriend Julia Kneale on vocals. The group began to gig regularly in the Merseyside area, performing original material (largely written by McCluskey and Humphreys). They had quite a following on the scene, and one of their tracks ("Julia's Song") was included on a compilation record of local bands called Street to Street. Meanwhile, Humphreys and McCluskey collaborated on a side project called VCL XI, whose name was adapted from a diagram on the back cover of Kraftwerk's Radio-Activity album, reading "VCL 11". This project allowed them to pursue their more obscure electronic experiments.
In August 1978, the Id split due to musical differences. The same month, McCluskey joined Wirral electronic outfit Dalek I Love You as lead singer, but quit in September. Later that month, he rejoined Humphreys and their VCL XI project was renamed Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. The name was gleaned from a list of song lyrics and ideas that were written on McCluskey's bedroom wall; and was chosen so they would not be mistaken for a punk band. Given that OMD intended to play only one gig, the duo considered their moniker to be inconsequential. McCluskey has since expressed regret over choosing "such a very silly name". The contrasting personalities of Humphreys and McCluskey established the band's dynamic, with the former saying that "two Pauls wouldn't get anything done and two Andys would kill each other." They have further described their creative roles as "The Surgeon" (Humphreys) and "The Butcher" (McCluskey). As working class youngsters OMD had a limited budget, using second-hand "junk-shop" instruments including a left-handed bass guitar (which McCluskey would play upside-down). The pair also created their own devices, with Humphreys "making things out of his aunt's radios cannibalised for the circuit boards". Eventually they acquired a basic Korg M-500 Micro Preset synthesizer, purchased via McCluskey's mother's mail-order catalogue for £7.76 a week, paid over 36 weeks.
OMD began to gig regularly as a duo, performing to backing tracks played from a TEAC 4-track tape-recorder christened "Winston" (after the antihero of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four). Their debut performance was in October 1978 at Eric's Club in Liverpool. Finding themselves on the cusp of an electronic new wave in British pop-music, they released a one-off single, "Electricity", with independent label Factory Records. The track was supposed to be produced by the Factory Records producer Martin Hannett. However, the A-side was the band's original demo produced by their friend, owner of Winston and soon to be manager, Paul Collister under the pseudonym Chester Valentino (taken from a nightclub called Valentino's in the nearby city of Chester). The single's sleeve was designed by Peter Saville, whose distinctive graphics contributed to OMD's public image into the 1980s. The success of "Electricity" led to the band receiving a seven-album record deal with Dindisc, worth over £250,000.
In 1979 they were asked to support Gary Numan on his first major British tour. Humphreys noted, "[Numan] gave us our first big break. He saw us opening for Joy Division and he asked us to go on tour with him... we went from the small clubs to playing huge arenas. Gary was very good to us." Numan later supported OMD on a 1993 UK arena tour.
1980–1988: Classic line-up
Rather than hire studio time to record their eponymous debut album (1980), McCluskey and Humphreys used their advance payment from Dindisc to build their own Liverpool recording studio, The Gramophone Suite. They predicted that they would be dropped by the label due to disappointing sales, but would at least own a studio. The album showcased the band's live set at the time, and included some guest drums from Id drummer Malcolm Holmes and saxophone from Wirral musician Martin Cooper. It had a raw, poppy, melodic synth-pop sound. Dindisc arranged for the song "Messages" to be re-recorded (produced by Gong bassist Mike Howlett) and released as a single – it gave the band their first hit. Dave Hughes, a founder member of Dalek I Love You who joined OMD in 1980, is featured in the "Messages" video. A tour followed: Winston the tape recorder was augmented with live drums from Malcolm Holmes, and Dave Hughes played synths. Hughes left OMD in late 1980.
The second album Organisation (a reference to the band which preceded Kraftwerk, founded by Kraftwerk's original members Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter) followed later that year, recorded as a three-piece with Humphreys, McCluskey and Holmes. It was again produced by Howlett, and had a moodier, dark feel largely inspired by the passing of former Factory label-mate, and Joy Division singer, Ian Curtis. The album included the anti-war hit single "Enola Gay", named after the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The song was intended to be included on the debut album, but was left out at the final selection. The tour for this album had a four-piece band line-up, with saxophonist Martin Cooper (another Dalek I Love You alumnus) recruited for keyboard duties and enlisted as an official group member. The McCluskey/Humphreys/Cooper/Holmes unit came to be regarded as the band's classic line-up. In early 1981, readers of Record Mirror voted OMD the fourth-best band and eighth-best live act of 1980; NME and Sounds readers named the group the eighth and 10th best new act of the year, respectively. In Smash Hits, they were voted both the fifth-best band of 1980 and the eighth-hottest new act for 1981.
Howlett then presided over the recording of a further hit single, "Souvenir", co-written by Cooper & Humphreys. It ushered in a lush choral electronic sound. The song also became OMD's biggest UK hit to date. In November 1981, their most commercially successful album was released in the UK and Europe – Architecture & Morality. The group went into the studio with Richard Manwaring producing. Cooper then temporarily dropped out and was replaced by Mike Douglas, but this change was reversed by the time the album was released and a tour followed. The album's sound saw OMD's original synth-pop sound augmented by the Mellotron, an instrument previously associated with prog rock bands. They used it to add atmospheric swatches of string, choir, and other sounds to their palette. Two more hit singles "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" (which became the biggest-selling single of 1982 in Germany) were on the album. "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" were originally both titled "Joan of Arc"; the name of the latter single was changed at the insistence of the publishers and to avoid confusion. It became "Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)" and later simply "Maid of Orleans". Readers of Smash Hits voted OMD the seventh-best group of 1981, while Record Mirror readers named them the eighth-best band (as well as the 10th-best "new artist") and the third-best live act of the year. The group came close to splitting up in 1982, with McCluskey later saying, "We had never expected the success, we were exhausted."
In 1983 the band lost commercial momentum somewhat, with the release of their more experimental Dazzle Ships album, produced by Rhett Davies. The record mixed melancholy synth ballads and uptempo synth-pop with musique concrète and short wave radio tape collages. Its relative commercial failure caused a crisis of confidence for Humphreys and McCluskey and brought about a deliberate move towards the mainstream. 1984's Junk Culture was a shift to a more pop-style sound and the band used digital sampling keyboards such as the Fairlight CMI and the E-mu Emulator. The album was a success, reassuring the group about their new direction. The "Locomotion" single returned the group to the top five in the UK and was an indicator of the group's newfound sound, notably the adoption of a classic verse–chorus form, which is something the group had often previously avoided. Record Mirror readers named OMD the eighth-best live act of 1984. In 1985, the band expanded to a sextet, adding brothers Graham Weir (guitar, keyboards, trombone) and Neil Weir (trumpet, bass guitar), and released Crush, produced by Stephen Hague in Paris and New York. The success of the single "So in Love" in the US Billboard Hot 100 also led to some success for the LP which entered the American Top 40, establishing the group in the US. During this period, the band also recorded a version of "So in Love" in duet with the French pop singer Etienne Daho.
Later in 1985 the band were asked to write a song for the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. They offered "Goddess of Love", although the ending of the film was re-shot due to a negative response from test audiences. OMD then wrote "If You Leave" in less than 24 hours and it became a top 5 hit in the US, Canada, and New Zealand in 1986. At the end of this year, the same six piece line-up also released The Pacific Age, but the band began to see their critical and public popularity wane notably in the UK. The album's first single, "(Forever) Live and Die", was a top 10 hit across Europe and entered the top 20 in both the UK and US. Journalist Hugo Lindgren argued that the success of "If You Leave" has concealed from US audiences the group's history of making innovative music.
During 1988 OMD played a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 18 June 1988. They also released the top 20 US hit "Dreaming" and a successful greatest hits album, The Best of OMD. Graham and Neil Weir left the band at the end of the 1988 US tour.
1989–1996: McCluskey-led OMD and disbandment
As OMD appeared poised to consolidate their US success, the group continued to fracture. Humphreys departed in 1989 amid personal and creative dissension with McCluskey. Cooper and Holmes then left OMD to join Humphreys in founding a new band called the Listening Pool. McCluskey recalled, "We were all in agreement that something was wrong. How to fix it was where we disagreed."
This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the dance-pop Sugar Tax album in May 1991, which charted at No. 3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians Raw Unlimited (Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw, Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of Sugar Tax: writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e., McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away". McCluskey's live band was then formed by Nigel Ipinson (keyboards), Phil Coxon (keyboards), and Abe Juckes (drums) from late 1990. Smash Hits readers voted OMD the sixth-best British group of 1991.
The album Liberator, which ventured further into dance territory, was released in 1993. It peaked at No. 14 on the UK Albums Chart. Lead single "Stand Above Me" peaked at no. 21 on the UK Singles Chart, with follow-up "Dream of Me" charting at no. 24. Paul Humphreys, while no longer part of the group, co-wrote the single "Everyday" (a No. 59 UK chart entry). The fifth track from Liberator, "Dream of Me", was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. To release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give a writing credit to White.
Also in 1993, McCluskey made contributions to the Esperanto album, a project by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos (then working under the moniker of Elektric Music).
McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the more organic Universal (1996), which featured two songs co-written by Humphreys as well as a holdover from the Esperanto sessions, co-penned by Bartos. The record spawned OMD's first Top 20 hit in five years, "Walking on the Milky Way".
Though both Liberator and Universal produced minor hits, McCluskey retired the OMD name in late 1996, due to waning public interest. A particular source of frustration was the modest commercial response to "Walking on the Milky Way", over which McCluskey said he "sweated blood", considering it "about as good a song as I could write". BBC Radio 1 refused to playlist the song, which in turn led to high street store Woolworths refusing to stock it. McCluskey said, "I just thought: 'Screw this, I'm not going to bang my head against a brick wall'." A second singles album was released in 1998, along with an EP of remixed material by such acts as Sash! and Moby.
Post-1996, McCluskey decided to focus on songwriting for such Liverpool-based acts as Atomic Kitten and the Genie Queen, and trying to develop new Merseyside artists from his Motor Museum recording studio. With McCluskey focusing his talents elsewhere, Humphreys decided to work with his new musical partner Claudia Brücken, of the ZTT bands Propaganda and Act, as Onetwo. He also undertook a US live tour under the banner "Paul Humphreys from OMD".
2006–2012: Reformation and comeback
An unexpected request to perform from a German television show led the group to reunite. On 1 January 2006, Andy McCluskey announced plans to reform OMD with the McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes, and Cooper line-up. The original plan was to tour the album Architecture & Morality and other pre-1983 material, then record a new album set for release in 2007. In May 2007, the Architecture & Morality remastered CD was re-released together with a DVD featuring the Drury Lane concert from 1981 that had previously been available on VHS. Through May and June, the band toured with the "classic" line up of McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes and Cooper. They began their set with a re-ordered but otherwise complete re-staging of the Architecture & Morality album. The second half of each concert featured a selection of their best known hits.
In Spring 2008, a live CD and DVD of the 2007 tour, OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & More, recorded at the London Hammersmith Apollo, was released as was a 25th anniversary re-release of Dazzle Ships, including six bonus tracks. At the same time, a brief October 2008 tour was announced, partly to tie-in with the Dazzle Ships album's 25th anniversary. China Crisis supported OMD on this tour.
In June 2009, an orchestral concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic was given in Liverpool. A recording of this concert was released on DVD in December. In November and December, the band returned to arena touring as support for Simple Minds. OMD had performed with Night of the Proms in December 2006 in Germany and renewed the experience again in Belgium and the Netherlands that year. They were the headline act at Britain's first Vintage Computer Festival at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park, in June 2010. On 9 September 2010, Trevor Horn announced that OMD would perform as a special guest at the "first ever gig" of the Buggles. Their 11th studio album, History of Modern, was released in September, reaching No. 28 in the UK Albums Chart. A European tour followed in autumn.
In March 2011, OMD played their first North American tour as the original line up since 1988. In September, the band appeared at the Electric Picnic 2011 festival in Stradbally, Co Laois, Ireland. In November 2011, OMD announced they were getting back to the studio to start work on their latest album, English Electric. On 12 March 2012, the band played a concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines. In August, OMD performed to South African audiences in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
2013–present: Continued acknowledgement
On 29 January 2013, Goldenvoice announced OMD for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, on 14 and 21 April. On 11 February, OMD announced "Metroland" would be the first single from the forthcoming album English Electric. The single was released on 25 March, and includes the B-side "The Great White Silence". The album English Electric was released in the UK on 8 April and entered the UK album chart at No. 12 and the German chart at No. 10. Reviews for both the album and their concerts have generally been positive. For Record Store Day 2013, on 20 April, a 500-copy limited edition 10-inch picture disc EP "The Future Will Be Silent" from English Electric was made available, which includes a then-exclusive non-album track titled "Time Burns". For Record Store Day 2015, on 18 April, a 1000-copy limited edition 10-inch EP "Julia's Song (Dub Version)" from Junk Culture was made available, which includes an exclusive non-album track titled "10 to 1".
OMD performed a one-off concert at The Royal Albert Hall, London on 9 May 2016 to a sell-out crowd, playing both Architecture & Morality and Dazzle Ships in their entirety, along with other songs that were pre-1983. The only song post-1983 played was "History of Modern Part 1". The concert was recorded and made available on double CD right after the show. A triple LP vinyl recording of the concert was also made available. The band collaborated with Gary Barlow, Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman on the OMD song "Thrill Me", co-written by Barlow and McCluskey for the soundtrack of the film Eddie the Eagle. In October, work was begun on what was to be their 13th studio album The Punishment of Luxury, which was released on 1 September 2017. OMD toured Europe and North America in support of the album, with Stuart Kershaw replacing Holmes as the band's drummer, due to the latter's health issues.
In 2018, OMD published a book entitled "Pretending to See the Future", which is a first-person "autobiography" about the band. It mixed fan-submitted memories with commentary from McCluskey, Humphreys, Cooper, Holmes, and Kershaw. For people who pre-ordered the book on PledgeMusic, they received a limited-edition flexi-disc containing a previously unheard demo of "Messages" from 1978.
As part of the group's 40th-anniversary celebrations, a UK and European tour was announced in March 2019. OMD won "Group of the Year" and "Live Act of the Year" in the 2019 Classic Pop Reader Awards. A retrospective deluxe boxset entitled Souvenir was also announced in August 2019. The 40th anniversary collection includes the band's forty singles, including new release "Don't Go". It also contains 22 previously unreleased recordings from the group's archive, selected and mixed by Paul Humphreys. Two audio live shows, one from 2011 and one from 2013, are also included together with two DVDs bringing together two more live concerts – Drury Lane in 1981 and Sheffield City Hall in 1985 – plus Crush – The Movie, and various BBC TV performances from Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later... with Jools Holland. The boxset was nominated for "Best Historical Album" at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
Artistry and image
James Hunter of Spin wrote that "OMD set about reinventing punk with different applications of dance beats, keyboards, melodies, and sulks", rejecting the genre's "sonic trappings but not its intellectual freedom". The band found commercial success with a style of synth-pop described as "experimental", "minimal" and "edgy". OMD often eschewed choruses, replacing them with synthesizer lines, and opted for unconventional lyrical subjects such as industrial processes, micronations and telephone boxes; the BBC said that the group "were always more intellectual" than "contemporaries like Duran Duran and Eurythmics". Despite the band's experimentation, they employed pop hooks in their music, attaining what AllMusic's Ned Raggett described as "the enviable position of at once being creative innovators and radio-friendly pop giants". They were influenced by electronic artists such as Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and Neu!, as well as more mainstream acts like David Bowie and Roxy Music. OMD drew inspiration from former Factory Records label-mates Joy Division, particularly during the making of Organisation (1980). The group also recorded two Velvet Underground covers.
OMD were indifferent to celebrity status, and avoided the calculated fashion stylings of many of their 1980s peers. During live performances, McCluskey developed a spasmodic dancing style that has been dubbed the "Trainee Teacher Dance"; he explains that it stemmed "from the perception that [OMD] were making boring robotic intellectual music that you couldn't dance to". Journalist Hugo Lindgren noted that the band were perceived as "oddballs, freaks" on the Liverpool scene; McCluskey has identified himself and Humphreys as "synth punks" and "complete geeks". Gareth Ware of DIY called OMD "one of the guiding lights of British synth-pop... albeit one with a disarming naivety and warm characterful nature at odds with the sleek, chic image cultivated by the likes of [the] Human League and Depeche Mode." Critic Andrew Collins said the group represented a wave of "uncool" pop stars who would eventually "become cool" in the public eye.
Mid-1980s style change
The experimental Dazzle Ships (1983) was a critical and commercial disappointment upon release. This prompted OMD to move towards a more accessible sound on the black music-influenced Junk Culture (1984); the band also donned more vibrant garments on the album's accompanying tour. The group continued to incorporate sonic experimentation, although their sound became increasingly polished on the Stephen Hague-produced records Crush (1985) and The Pacific Age (1986).
Some journalists have rejected the group's post-Dazzle Ships reinvention, while others have expressed an appreciation for the new direction. Sean O'Neal of the A.V. Club said OMD would "give up" creatively, while the Quietus founder John Doran wrote, "It's quite popular to see OMD as nose-diving into the effluence after Dazzle Ships but the truth is there is still much to recommend." Although Junk Culture is seen to represent a shift toward a more pop-oriented style, some critics feel that the group did not relinquish their experimental ethos until 1985, the year in which they released Crush. Elements of earlier experimentation have nevertheless been observed on Crush and follow-up The Pacific Age.
Musicians have commented on OMD's mid-1980s output. Michael "Telekinesis" Lerner wrote that Junk Culture "was not something [he] could sink [his] teeth into", adding that he did not invest in the band again until after their reunion. Moby remarked, "Their earlier records were just phenomenal... a few years on they were making music for John Hughes movies, and they were good at it and I'm glad that they had success with it, but it wasn't nearly as creatively inspiring." On the other hand, Tony Kanal of No Doubt said, "[OMD] inspired us to try and do our own John Hughes prom-scene movie moment kind of songs... Junk Culture is great." Angus Andrew of Liars referred to "the complexity and mastery in OMD's later pop material", calling himself "a fan of OMD albums from all of their phases".
Spin journalist Jessica Bendinger wrote in 1988, "[OMD's] music has been colored by continual exploration... which has run the gamut from Gregorian-chant-inspired anthems of love to a union of Orchestral-Motown."
Subsequent reinventions
The McCluskey-led OMD explored a dance-oriented approach on Sugar Tax (1991) and Liberator (1993); critic Ian Peel wrote that the band "defied expectations by updating their sound and becoming, if only briefly, relevant in the 90s". The group disbanded shortly after the release of Universal (1996), on which they strained for a more organic and acoustic sound. McCluskey recalled a negative media perception of the band by the mid-1990s, saying, "At the height of indie rock and Britpop, we were totally out of fashion." Since OMD's 2006 reformation, their material has been seen as more akin to their early output.
Legacy and influence
OMD have been named as pioneers of electronic music, and one of the more important acts of the synth-pop genre; Nightshift identified OMD, and fellow late 1970s debutants Gary Numan and the Human League, as "the holy trinity of synth-pop". AllMusic's Andy Kellman emphasised the band's "inventive albums" and status as "one of the earliest, most commercially successful, and enduring synth pop groups". Hugo Lindgren of the New York Times wrote that OMD cultivated a "legacy as musical innovators", adding, "The genre they helped invent — file under 'synth pop' — proved hugely popular." The band have been recognised as playing a prominent role in defining the sound of 1980s and early 1990s popular music. In particular, "Electricity" (1979) and "If You Leave" (1986) have been identified as two of the most influential records of their era. The group have drawn comparisons to pre-eminent Merseyside act the Beatles, with McCluskey and Humphreys being labelled the "Lennon–McCartney of synth-pop".
OMD often faced hostility from the music press. Record Mirrors Simon Ludgate told how they received a "thorough tarring of the same brush" as then-maligned artist Gary Numan, but were able to weather "this almost certain kiss of death". Ben Walsh of The Independent said that the band "might not attract the kudos of Depeche Mode, Joy Division and New Order, but they were certainly as significant." Despite their difficult relationship with critics, the group have earned a cult following; DJ Chris Evans remarked, "There are fans, and then there are OMD fans. [Their] fans may be among the greatest in the world... they are devout." The band also enjoys a large fanbase within the LGBT community, which McCluskey says they cherish. Architecture & Morality (1981), regarded as OMD's seminal album, had sold more than four million copies by early 2007; Sugar Tax (1991), the record that marked a commercial renaissance for the group, had sold more than three million by the same time period. The experimental Dazzle Ships (1983), which met with a degree of critical and commercial hostility, has been retrospectively praised by critics and cited as one of the band's most influential works. OMD's overall record sales stand in excess of 40 million, with sales of more than 15 million albums and 25 million singles.
Impact on other artists
OMD influenced several 1980s contemporaries, including Men Without Hats and Depeche Mode. Vince Clarke, who established the latter group's electronic direction and later founded Yazoo and Erasure, cites OMD as his inspiration to become an electronic musician. OMD were an important act for Pet Shop Boys, whose singer, Neil Tennant, identified the band as "pioneers of electronic music". The group were revered by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Howard Jones, Alphaville, Book of Love and Ricky Wilde (songwriter/producer for Kim Wilde), and were also influential on New Order and Tears for Fears' exploration of electronic instruments. "Electricity" was an influence on the fledgling Duran Duran. The band have garnered praise from other synth-pop peers including the Human League's Philip Oakey, Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey, Trevor Horn, and Gary Numan, who credited OMD for "some of the best pop songs ever written". Within the rock genre, the group influenced then-progressive band Spoons, and were championed by ZZ Top, who drew inspiration from OMD's use of synthesizers and onstage dancing.
OMD have been influential on later artists such as No Doubt, Moby, Gary Barlow, MGMT, Paul van Dyk, the Shins, the Divine Comedy, Liars, Owen Pallett, Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, the Killers' Dave Keuning, AFI's Davey Havok, Barenaked Ladies' Kevin Hearn, Belle and Sebastian's Stevie Jackson, Spacemen 3's Peter Kember, and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, who said the group's albums "stand up very, very well as experimental pop records with the most enjoyable kind of songwriting." The band's influence also extends to country act Sugarland, physicist Brian Cox, and Steve Lamacq, who became a DJ after hearing "Electricity". 1983's "challenging" Dazzle Ships was a key inspiration for the likes of Saint Etienne, Death Cab for Cutie and Future Islands, while producer Mark Ronson was "completely floored" by the album. Elsewhere, OMD have received endorsements from musicians such as Sash!, Deftones' Chino Moreno, the Charlatans' Tim Burgess, Sharon Van Etten, Hot Chip's Al Doyle, and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, for whom the group were childhood favourites. Sash! recognised OMD as widely influential and "one of the leading bands in the 80s and 90s regarding electronic music/production".
The group's songs have been covered or sampled by acts including Gary Barlow, Howard Jones, MGMT, Owen Pallett, Boy George, Kid Cudi, Good Charlotte, Leftfield, Scooter, NOFX, Nada Surf, Angel Olsen and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. OMD are also the subject of two 2001 tribute albums, which feature interpretations by the likes of White Town, the Faint, Mahogany and Acid House Kings. David Guetta, who contributed a remix to 2003's The OMD Singles, described the opportunity to rework the band's material as "a thrill for any electronic musician". The official biography OMD: Pretending to See the Future (2018) features tributes from OMD collaborators Vince Clarke, Moby and Kraftwerk's Karl Bartos, along with peers like New Order's Stephen Morris, U2's Adam Clayton and the Teardrop Explodes' David Balfe.
Band members
Current members
Andy McCluskey – bass guitar, keyboards, vocals (1978–96; 2006–present)
Paul Humphreys – keyboards, vocals (1978–89; 2006–present)
Martin Cooper – keyboards, saxophone (1980–89; 2006–present)
Stuart Kershaw – drums (1993; 2015–present); piano (2010)
Former members
Malcolm Holmes – drums and percussion (1980–89; 2006–2015)
Dave Hughes – keyboards (1979–80)
Michael Douglas – keyboards (1980–81)
Graham Weir – guitar, brass, keyboards, writer (1984–89)
Neil Weir – brass, keyboards, bass guitar (1984–89)
Phil Coxon – keyboards (1991–93)
Nigel Ipinson – keyboards (1991–93)
Abe Juckes – drums (1991–92)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1980)
Organisation (1980)
Architecture & Morality (1981)
Dazzle Ships (1983)
Junk Culture (1984)
Crush (1985)
The Pacific Age (1986)
Sugar Tax (1991)
Liberator (1993)
Universal (1996)
History of Modern (2010)
English Electric (2013)
The Punishment of Luxury (2017)
See also
Atomic Kitten
The Listening Pool
Onetwo (band)
References
Notes
Bibliography
Houghton, Richard. OMD: Pretending to See the Future (expanded paperback). This Day in Music Books. 2019.
Houghton, Richard. OMD: Pretending to See the Future (hardcover). This Day in Music Books. 2018.
Waller, Johnny; Humphreys, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Messages. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1987.
West, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Omnibus Press. 1982.
External links
Official YouTube channel
English electronic music groups
English new wave musical groups
English synth-pop groups
Factory Records artists
British synth-pop new wave groups
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 1996
Musical groups reestablished in 2006
Virgin Records artists
1978 establishments in England
English experimental musical groups | false | [
"A book tour is a promotion for a newly published book in which the author tours a region to do bookselling, present to the media, and meet the people who would read the book. Three objectives of any presentation on a book tour are to entertain the audience, serve the interest of whichever institution is hosting the presentation, and to sell books in person at the presentation. Authors have a range of opinions about the effectiveness of book tours.\n\nHigher profile writers sometimes do tours with an escort to help them manage interaction with the audience during presentations.\n\nBook tours have become less common since the 2008 Great Recession.\n\nReferences\n\nBookselling\nPromotion and marketing communications\nTouring performing arts",
"The Battle of Monnaie, also known as the Battle of Tours was a battle of the Franco-Prussian War. It took place on the December 20, 1870 at Indre-et-Loire, France. During this engagement, a Hanover division of the Imperial German Army under the command of General Schwarzkoppen, belonging to Legion X under the command of Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz attacked and won the victory against an army of Garde Mobile's 234 led by General Ferry Pisani, driving the French to Langreais. This victory allowed the Germans to enter and occupy the city of Tours.\n\nPrelude \nOn December 20, 1870, it became apparent that the Prussians would attack Tours. While the French general Pisani had only a weak force to resist the attack, he and his men were determined not to let the Prussian army capture Tours without encountering any resistance. If his troops were to organize a defense in the city, they would be in a good position, but Pisani was conscious of the risk this posed to the inhabitants of Tours. If the French were to lose the battle, the city would be ravaged by the enemy. Thus, the French general left Tours, and took the road to Château-Renault.\n\nBattle \nAt Monnaie, the Garde Mobiles stationed there were attacked by the 19th Division under General Schwarzkoppen. The 19th Division had been advancing from Vendôme to Tours along the Château-Renault road, not to capture Tours but to verify that the French were still concentrated in significant numbers there, and at the same time to cut the railway line from Tours to Le Mans. While the French army numbered 6,000 men and 6 field artillery, the Prussian army had 12,000 to 14,000 troops and 24 cannons. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the French army conducted fierce resistance from morning to night, causing the Prussian army very heavy losses. But in the end, Pisani was forced to retreat. His forces withdrew to Notre-Dame d'Oe, near Tours.\n\nCapture of and subsequent withdrawal from Tours \nAfter this victory, the German army continued its advance, and, on the morning of December 21, 1870, they appeared at the walls of Tours in great numbers. From nearby heights, the Germans launched an artillery barrage, causing damage to several townspeople on the street. The French armistice flag was raised, and the mayor appeared before the German forces and ordered them to stop shelling. The Germans accepted this offer and Hanoverian troops entered Tours. However, General Schwarzkoppen did not establish his headquarters here, but instead preferred to set up headquarters to the east. That same day, the X Corps was headquartered at Blois. Tours surrendered, but the Germans did not last long in the city. It was too far from the main force of the Second Army under the command of Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, so it was not certain that the Germans could safely capture Tours. Voigtz-Rhetz was ordered to withdraw to Orléans with his X Army Corps, to monitor the movements of the corps under French general Charles Denis Bourbaki which more threatened the Prussian army.\n\nReferences\n\n1870 in France\nMonnaie\nMonnaie\nMonnaie\nMonnaie\nDecember 1870 events"
]
|
[
"Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark",
"Split and McCluskey-led OMD (1989-1996)",
"What albums did they release during this time?",
"18 June 1988, a top 20 US hit with \"Dreaming\" and a successful \"Best of\" album.",
"Did they do any tours?",
"with a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena,"
]
| C_1d30fe7a2f554dec8fb90121acca7cfd_1 | Did they play with any other artists? | 3 | Besides Music for the Masses, did Split and McCluskey play with any other artists? | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | During 1988 the band appeared poised to consolidate their US success, with a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 18 June 1988, a top 20 US hit with "Dreaming" and a successful "Best of" album. However, it was at this point when OMD broke in two. Graham and Neil Weir left at the end of the 1988 US tour and co-founder Paul Humphreys subsequently called it a day, unhappy with the band's commercial orientation. Finally, Cooper and Holmes left OMD to join Humphreys in founding a new band called The Listening Pool in 1989. This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the dance-pop Sugar Tax LP in May 1991, which charted at No. 3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians Raw Unlimited (aka Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw and Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of Sugar Tax: writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e., McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries, "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away". McCluskey's live band was then formed by Nigel Ipinson (keyboards), Phil Coxon (keyboards) and Abe Juckes (drums) since late 1990. Kershaw, Ipinson and Coxon from 1992 to 1996 contributed to OMD albums and a 1993 tour. The fifth track from Liberator (1993), "Dream of Me", was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. To release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give a writing credit to White. Paul Humphreys, while no longer part of the group, co-wrote the single "Everyday". Also in 1993, McCluskey made contributions to the Esperanto album, a project by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos (then working under the moniker of Elektric Music). McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the 1996 album Universal, which featured two songs co-written by Humphreys as well as a holdover from the Esperanto sessions, co-penned by Bartos. The record spawned OMD's first Top 20 hit in five years, "Walking on the Milky Way". CANNOTANSWER | Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Cooper (various instruments) and Stuart Kershaw (drums); McCluskey has been the only constant member. Regarded as pioneers of electronic music, OMD combined an experimental, minimalist ethos with pop sensibilities, becoming central figures in the late-1970s/early-1980s emergence of synth-pop.
McCluskey and Humphreys led precursor group the Id from 1977–1978, and re-recorded their track "Electricity" as OMD's debut single in 1979. Weathering an "uncool" image and a degree of hostility from music critics, the band gained popularity throughout Europe with the 1980 anti-war song "Enola Gay", and achieved broader recognition via Architecture & Morality (1981) and its three hit singles. Although later reappraised, Dazzle Ships (1983) was seen as overly challenging, and eroded European support. The group embraced a more radio-friendly sound on Junk Culture (1984); this change in direction led to greater success in the United States, and yielded the 1986 hit, "If You Leave".
In 1989, creative differences saw Humphreys and other members form the spin-off band the Listening Pool, leaving McCluskey the only remaining member of OMD. The group returned with a new line-up and explored the dance-pop genre: Sugar Tax (1991) and its initial singles were hits in Europe. By the mid-1990s, however, electronic music had been supplanted by alternative rock, and both OMD and the Listening Pool disbanded in 1996. McCluskey later conceived pop girl group Atomic Kitten, for whom he served as a principal songwriter, while Humphreys formed the duo Onetwo alongside Propaganda vocalist Claudia Brücken.
In 2006, the band reformed with Humphreys and McCluskey working on material closer in sound to their early output; The Punishment of Luxury (2017) was the group's seventh top 10 entry on the UK Albums Chart. They have also achieved 12 top 20 hits on the UK Singles Chart, as well as three top 20 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100. An influence on many later artists, OMD have sold over 40 million records worldwide.
History
1975–1979: Roots and early years
Founders Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys met at primary school in Meols in the early 1960s, and in the mid-1970s, as teenagers, they were involved in different local groups but shared a distaste for guitar-driven rock with a macho attitude popular among their friends at the time. By 1975 McCluskey had formed Equinox, as bassist and vocalist, alongside schoolmate Malcolm Holmes on drums, while Humphreys was roadie. During that time McCluskey and Humphreys discovered their electronic style, inspired by Kraftwerk. After Equinox, McCluskey joined Pegasus, and, later, the short-lived Hitlerz Underpantz, alongside Humphreys. McCluskey would usually sing and play bass guitar; roadie and electronics enthusiast Humphreys, who shared McCluskey's love of electronic music, graduated to keyboards.
In September 1977, McCluskey and Humphreys put together the seven-piece (three singers, two guitarists, bassist, drummer, and keyboard player) Wirral group the Id, whose line-up included drummer Malcolm Holmes and McCluskey's girlfriend Julia Kneale on vocals. The group began to gig regularly in the Merseyside area, performing original material (largely written by McCluskey and Humphreys). They had quite a following on the scene, and one of their tracks ("Julia's Song") was included on a compilation record of local bands called Street to Street. Meanwhile, Humphreys and McCluskey collaborated on a side project called VCL XI, whose name was adapted from a diagram on the back cover of Kraftwerk's Radio-Activity album, reading "VCL 11". This project allowed them to pursue their more obscure electronic experiments.
In August 1978, the Id split due to musical differences. The same month, McCluskey joined Wirral electronic outfit Dalek I Love You as lead singer, but quit in September. Later that month, he rejoined Humphreys and their VCL XI project was renamed Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. The name was gleaned from a list of song lyrics and ideas that were written on McCluskey's bedroom wall; and was chosen so they would not be mistaken for a punk band. Given that OMD intended to play only one gig, the duo considered their moniker to be inconsequential. McCluskey has since expressed regret over choosing "such a very silly name". The contrasting personalities of Humphreys and McCluskey established the band's dynamic, with the former saying that "two Pauls wouldn't get anything done and two Andys would kill each other." They have further described their creative roles as "The Surgeon" (Humphreys) and "The Butcher" (McCluskey). As working class youngsters OMD had a limited budget, using second-hand "junk-shop" instruments including a left-handed bass guitar (which McCluskey would play upside-down). The pair also created their own devices, with Humphreys "making things out of his aunt's radios cannibalised for the circuit boards". Eventually they acquired a basic Korg M-500 Micro Preset synthesizer, purchased via McCluskey's mother's mail-order catalogue for £7.76 a week, paid over 36 weeks.
OMD began to gig regularly as a duo, performing to backing tracks played from a TEAC 4-track tape-recorder christened "Winston" (after the antihero of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four). Their debut performance was in October 1978 at Eric's Club in Liverpool. Finding themselves on the cusp of an electronic new wave in British pop-music, they released a one-off single, "Electricity", with independent label Factory Records. The track was supposed to be produced by the Factory Records producer Martin Hannett. However, the A-side was the band's original demo produced by their friend, owner of Winston and soon to be manager, Paul Collister under the pseudonym Chester Valentino (taken from a nightclub called Valentino's in the nearby city of Chester). The single's sleeve was designed by Peter Saville, whose distinctive graphics contributed to OMD's public image into the 1980s. The success of "Electricity" led to the band receiving a seven-album record deal with Dindisc, worth over £250,000.
In 1979 they were asked to support Gary Numan on his first major British tour. Humphreys noted, "[Numan] gave us our first big break. He saw us opening for Joy Division and he asked us to go on tour with him... we went from the small clubs to playing huge arenas. Gary was very good to us." Numan later supported OMD on a 1993 UK arena tour.
1980–1988: Classic line-up
Rather than hire studio time to record their eponymous debut album (1980), McCluskey and Humphreys used their advance payment from Dindisc to build their own Liverpool recording studio, The Gramophone Suite. They predicted that they would be dropped by the label due to disappointing sales, but would at least own a studio. The album showcased the band's live set at the time, and included some guest drums from Id drummer Malcolm Holmes and saxophone from Wirral musician Martin Cooper. It had a raw, poppy, melodic synth-pop sound. Dindisc arranged for the song "Messages" to be re-recorded (produced by Gong bassist Mike Howlett) and released as a single – it gave the band their first hit. Dave Hughes, a founder member of Dalek I Love You who joined OMD in 1980, is featured in the "Messages" video. A tour followed: Winston the tape recorder was augmented with live drums from Malcolm Holmes, and Dave Hughes played synths. Hughes left OMD in late 1980.
The second album Organisation (a reference to the band which preceded Kraftwerk, founded by Kraftwerk's original members Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter) followed later that year, recorded as a three-piece with Humphreys, McCluskey and Holmes. It was again produced by Howlett, and had a moodier, dark feel largely inspired by the passing of former Factory label-mate, and Joy Division singer, Ian Curtis. The album included the anti-war hit single "Enola Gay", named after the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The song was intended to be included on the debut album, but was left out at the final selection. The tour for this album had a four-piece band line-up, with saxophonist Martin Cooper (another Dalek I Love You alumnus) recruited for keyboard duties and enlisted as an official group member. The McCluskey/Humphreys/Cooper/Holmes unit came to be regarded as the band's classic line-up. In early 1981, readers of Record Mirror voted OMD the fourth-best band and eighth-best live act of 1980; NME and Sounds readers named the group the eighth and 10th best new act of the year, respectively. In Smash Hits, they were voted both the fifth-best band of 1980 and the eighth-hottest new act for 1981.
Howlett then presided over the recording of a further hit single, "Souvenir", co-written by Cooper & Humphreys. It ushered in a lush choral electronic sound. The song also became OMD's biggest UK hit to date. In November 1981, their most commercially successful album was released in the UK and Europe – Architecture & Morality. The group went into the studio with Richard Manwaring producing. Cooper then temporarily dropped out and was replaced by Mike Douglas, but this change was reversed by the time the album was released and a tour followed. The album's sound saw OMD's original synth-pop sound augmented by the Mellotron, an instrument previously associated with prog rock bands. They used it to add atmospheric swatches of string, choir, and other sounds to their palette. Two more hit singles "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" (which became the biggest-selling single of 1982 in Germany) were on the album. "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" were originally both titled "Joan of Arc"; the name of the latter single was changed at the insistence of the publishers and to avoid confusion. It became "Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)" and later simply "Maid of Orleans". Readers of Smash Hits voted OMD the seventh-best group of 1981, while Record Mirror readers named them the eighth-best band (as well as the 10th-best "new artist") and the third-best live act of the year. The group came close to splitting up in 1982, with McCluskey later saying, "We had never expected the success, we were exhausted."
In 1983 the band lost commercial momentum somewhat, with the release of their more experimental Dazzle Ships album, produced by Rhett Davies. The record mixed melancholy synth ballads and uptempo synth-pop with musique concrète and short wave radio tape collages. Its relative commercial failure caused a crisis of confidence for Humphreys and McCluskey and brought about a deliberate move towards the mainstream. 1984's Junk Culture was a shift to a more pop-style sound and the band used digital sampling keyboards such as the Fairlight CMI and the E-mu Emulator. The album was a success, reassuring the group about their new direction. The "Locomotion" single returned the group to the top five in the UK and was an indicator of the group's newfound sound, notably the adoption of a classic verse–chorus form, which is something the group had often previously avoided. Record Mirror readers named OMD the eighth-best live act of 1984. In 1985, the band expanded to a sextet, adding brothers Graham Weir (guitar, keyboards, trombone) and Neil Weir (trumpet, bass guitar), and released Crush, produced by Stephen Hague in Paris and New York. The success of the single "So in Love" in the US Billboard Hot 100 also led to some success for the LP which entered the American Top 40, establishing the group in the US. During this period, the band also recorded a version of "So in Love" in duet with the French pop singer Etienne Daho.
Later in 1985 the band were asked to write a song for the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. They offered "Goddess of Love", although the ending of the film was re-shot due to a negative response from test audiences. OMD then wrote "If You Leave" in less than 24 hours and it became a top 5 hit in the US, Canada, and New Zealand in 1986. At the end of this year, the same six piece line-up also released The Pacific Age, but the band began to see their critical and public popularity wane notably in the UK. The album's first single, "(Forever) Live and Die", was a top 10 hit across Europe and entered the top 20 in both the UK and US. Journalist Hugo Lindgren argued that the success of "If You Leave" has concealed from US audiences the group's history of making innovative music.
During 1988 OMD played a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 18 June 1988. They also released the top 20 US hit "Dreaming" and a successful greatest hits album, The Best of OMD. Graham and Neil Weir left the band at the end of the 1988 US tour.
1989–1996: McCluskey-led OMD and disbandment
As OMD appeared poised to consolidate their US success, the group continued to fracture. Humphreys departed in 1989 amid personal and creative dissension with McCluskey. Cooper and Holmes then left OMD to join Humphreys in founding a new band called the Listening Pool. McCluskey recalled, "We were all in agreement that something was wrong. How to fix it was where we disagreed."
This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the dance-pop Sugar Tax album in May 1991, which charted at No. 3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians Raw Unlimited (Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw, Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of Sugar Tax: writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e., McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away". McCluskey's live band was then formed by Nigel Ipinson (keyboards), Phil Coxon (keyboards), and Abe Juckes (drums) from late 1990. Smash Hits readers voted OMD the sixth-best British group of 1991.
The album Liberator, which ventured further into dance territory, was released in 1993. It peaked at No. 14 on the UK Albums Chart. Lead single "Stand Above Me" peaked at no. 21 on the UK Singles Chart, with follow-up "Dream of Me" charting at no. 24. Paul Humphreys, while no longer part of the group, co-wrote the single "Everyday" (a No. 59 UK chart entry). The fifth track from Liberator, "Dream of Me", was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. To release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give a writing credit to White.
Also in 1993, McCluskey made contributions to the Esperanto album, a project by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos (then working under the moniker of Elektric Music).
McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the more organic Universal (1996), which featured two songs co-written by Humphreys as well as a holdover from the Esperanto sessions, co-penned by Bartos. The record spawned OMD's first Top 20 hit in five years, "Walking on the Milky Way".
Though both Liberator and Universal produced minor hits, McCluskey retired the OMD name in late 1996, due to waning public interest. A particular source of frustration was the modest commercial response to "Walking on the Milky Way", over which McCluskey said he "sweated blood", considering it "about as good a song as I could write". BBC Radio 1 refused to playlist the song, which in turn led to high street store Woolworths refusing to stock it. McCluskey said, "I just thought: 'Screw this, I'm not going to bang my head against a brick wall'." A second singles album was released in 1998, along with an EP of remixed material by such acts as Sash! and Moby.
Post-1996, McCluskey decided to focus on songwriting for such Liverpool-based acts as Atomic Kitten and the Genie Queen, and trying to develop new Merseyside artists from his Motor Museum recording studio. With McCluskey focusing his talents elsewhere, Humphreys decided to work with his new musical partner Claudia Brücken, of the ZTT bands Propaganda and Act, as Onetwo. He also undertook a US live tour under the banner "Paul Humphreys from OMD".
2006–2012: Reformation and comeback
An unexpected request to perform from a German television show led the group to reunite. On 1 January 2006, Andy McCluskey announced plans to reform OMD with the McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes, and Cooper line-up. The original plan was to tour the album Architecture & Morality and other pre-1983 material, then record a new album set for release in 2007. In May 2007, the Architecture & Morality remastered CD was re-released together with a DVD featuring the Drury Lane concert from 1981 that had previously been available on VHS. Through May and June, the band toured with the "classic" line up of McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes and Cooper. They began their set with a re-ordered but otherwise complete re-staging of the Architecture & Morality album. The second half of each concert featured a selection of their best known hits.
In Spring 2008, a live CD and DVD of the 2007 tour, OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & More, recorded at the London Hammersmith Apollo, was released as was a 25th anniversary re-release of Dazzle Ships, including six bonus tracks. At the same time, a brief October 2008 tour was announced, partly to tie-in with the Dazzle Ships album's 25th anniversary. China Crisis supported OMD on this tour.
In June 2009, an orchestral concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic was given in Liverpool. A recording of this concert was released on DVD in December. In November and December, the band returned to arena touring as support for Simple Minds. OMD had performed with Night of the Proms in December 2006 in Germany and renewed the experience again in Belgium and the Netherlands that year. They were the headline act at Britain's first Vintage Computer Festival at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park, in June 2010. On 9 September 2010, Trevor Horn announced that OMD would perform as a special guest at the "first ever gig" of the Buggles. Their 11th studio album, History of Modern, was released in September, reaching No. 28 in the UK Albums Chart. A European tour followed in autumn.
In March 2011, OMD played their first North American tour as the original line up since 1988. In September, the band appeared at the Electric Picnic 2011 festival in Stradbally, Co Laois, Ireland. In November 2011, OMD announced they were getting back to the studio to start work on their latest album, English Electric. On 12 March 2012, the band played a concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines. In August, OMD performed to South African audiences in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
2013–present: Continued acknowledgement
On 29 January 2013, Goldenvoice announced OMD for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, on 14 and 21 April. On 11 February, OMD announced "Metroland" would be the first single from the forthcoming album English Electric. The single was released on 25 March, and includes the B-side "The Great White Silence". The album English Electric was released in the UK on 8 April and entered the UK album chart at No. 12 and the German chart at No. 10. Reviews for both the album and their concerts have generally been positive. For Record Store Day 2013, on 20 April, a 500-copy limited edition 10-inch picture disc EP "The Future Will Be Silent" from English Electric was made available, which includes a then-exclusive non-album track titled "Time Burns". For Record Store Day 2015, on 18 April, a 1000-copy limited edition 10-inch EP "Julia's Song (Dub Version)" from Junk Culture was made available, which includes an exclusive non-album track titled "10 to 1".
OMD performed a one-off concert at The Royal Albert Hall, London on 9 May 2016 to a sell-out crowd, playing both Architecture & Morality and Dazzle Ships in their entirety, along with other songs that were pre-1983. The only song post-1983 played was "History of Modern Part 1". The concert was recorded and made available on double CD right after the show. A triple LP vinyl recording of the concert was also made available. The band collaborated with Gary Barlow, Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman on the OMD song "Thrill Me", co-written by Barlow and McCluskey for the soundtrack of the film Eddie the Eagle. In October, work was begun on what was to be their 13th studio album The Punishment of Luxury, which was released on 1 September 2017. OMD toured Europe and North America in support of the album, with Stuart Kershaw replacing Holmes as the band's drummer, due to the latter's health issues.
In 2018, OMD published a book entitled "Pretending to See the Future", which is a first-person "autobiography" about the band. It mixed fan-submitted memories with commentary from McCluskey, Humphreys, Cooper, Holmes, and Kershaw. For people who pre-ordered the book on PledgeMusic, they received a limited-edition flexi-disc containing a previously unheard demo of "Messages" from 1978.
As part of the group's 40th-anniversary celebrations, a UK and European tour was announced in March 2019. OMD won "Group of the Year" and "Live Act of the Year" in the 2019 Classic Pop Reader Awards. A retrospective deluxe boxset entitled Souvenir was also announced in August 2019. The 40th anniversary collection includes the band's forty singles, including new release "Don't Go". It also contains 22 previously unreleased recordings from the group's archive, selected and mixed by Paul Humphreys. Two audio live shows, one from 2011 and one from 2013, are also included together with two DVDs bringing together two more live concerts – Drury Lane in 1981 and Sheffield City Hall in 1985 – plus Crush – The Movie, and various BBC TV performances from Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later... with Jools Holland. The boxset was nominated for "Best Historical Album" at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
Artistry and image
James Hunter of Spin wrote that "OMD set about reinventing punk with different applications of dance beats, keyboards, melodies, and sulks", rejecting the genre's "sonic trappings but not its intellectual freedom". The band found commercial success with a style of synth-pop described as "experimental", "minimal" and "edgy". OMD often eschewed choruses, replacing them with synthesizer lines, and opted for unconventional lyrical subjects such as industrial processes, micronations and telephone boxes; the BBC said that the group "were always more intellectual" than "contemporaries like Duran Duran and Eurythmics". Despite the band's experimentation, they employed pop hooks in their music, attaining what AllMusic's Ned Raggett described as "the enviable position of at once being creative innovators and radio-friendly pop giants". They were influenced by electronic artists such as Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and Neu!, as well as more mainstream acts like David Bowie and Roxy Music. OMD drew inspiration from former Factory Records label-mates Joy Division, particularly during the making of Organisation (1980). The group also recorded two Velvet Underground covers.
OMD were indifferent to celebrity status, and avoided the calculated fashion stylings of many of their 1980s peers. During live performances, McCluskey developed a spasmodic dancing style that has been dubbed the "Trainee Teacher Dance"; he explains that it stemmed "from the perception that [OMD] were making boring robotic intellectual music that you couldn't dance to". Journalist Hugo Lindgren noted that the band were perceived as "oddballs, freaks" on the Liverpool scene; McCluskey has identified himself and Humphreys as "synth punks" and "complete geeks". Gareth Ware of DIY called OMD "one of the guiding lights of British synth-pop... albeit one with a disarming naivety and warm characterful nature at odds with the sleek, chic image cultivated by the likes of [the] Human League and Depeche Mode." Critic Andrew Collins said the group represented a wave of "uncool" pop stars who would eventually "become cool" in the public eye.
Mid-1980s style change
The experimental Dazzle Ships (1983) was a critical and commercial disappointment upon release. This prompted OMD to move towards a more accessible sound on the black music-influenced Junk Culture (1984); the band also donned more vibrant garments on the album's accompanying tour. The group continued to incorporate sonic experimentation, although their sound became increasingly polished on the Stephen Hague-produced records Crush (1985) and The Pacific Age (1986).
Some journalists have rejected the group's post-Dazzle Ships reinvention, while others have expressed an appreciation for the new direction. Sean O'Neal of the A.V. Club said OMD would "give up" creatively, while the Quietus founder John Doran wrote, "It's quite popular to see OMD as nose-diving into the effluence after Dazzle Ships but the truth is there is still much to recommend." Although Junk Culture is seen to represent a shift toward a more pop-oriented style, some critics feel that the group did not relinquish their experimental ethos until 1985, the year in which they released Crush. Elements of earlier experimentation have nevertheless been observed on Crush and follow-up The Pacific Age.
Musicians have commented on OMD's mid-1980s output. Michael "Telekinesis" Lerner wrote that Junk Culture "was not something [he] could sink [his] teeth into", adding that he did not invest in the band again until after their reunion. Moby remarked, "Their earlier records were just phenomenal... a few years on they were making music for John Hughes movies, and they were good at it and I'm glad that they had success with it, but it wasn't nearly as creatively inspiring." On the other hand, Tony Kanal of No Doubt said, "[OMD] inspired us to try and do our own John Hughes prom-scene movie moment kind of songs... Junk Culture is great." Angus Andrew of Liars referred to "the complexity and mastery in OMD's later pop material", calling himself "a fan of OMD albums from all of their phases".
Spin journalist Jessica Bendinger wrote in 1988, "[OMD's] music has been colored by continual exploration... which has run the gamut from Gregorian-chant-inspired anthems of love to a union of Orchestral-Motown."
Subsequent reinventions
The McCluskey-led OMD explored a dance-oriented approach on Sugar Tax (1991) and Liberator (1993); critic Ian Peel wrote that the band "defied expectations by updating their sound and becoming, if only briefly, relevant in the 90s". The group disbanded shortly after the release of Universal (1996), on which they strained for a more organic and acoustic sound. McCluskey recalled a negative media perception of the band by the mid-1990s, saying, "At the height of indie rock and Britpop, we were totally out of fashion." Since OMD's 2006 reformation, their material has been seen as more akin to their early output.
Legacy and influence
OMD have been named as pioneers of electronic music, and one of the more important acts of the synth-pop genre; Nightshift identified OMD, and fellow late 1970s debutants Gary Numan and the Human League, as "the holy trinity of synth-pop". AllMusic's Andy Kellman emphasised the band's "inventive albums" and status as "one of the earliest, most commercially successful, and enduring synth pop groups". Hugo Lindgren of the New York Times wrote that OMD cultivated a "legacy as musical innovators", adding, "The genre they helped invent — file under 'synth pop' — proved hugely popular." The band have been recognised as playing a prominent role in defining the sound of 1980s and early 1990s popular music. In particular, "Electricity" (1979) and "If You Leave" (1986) have been identified as two of the most influential records of their era. The group have drawn comparisons to pre-eminent Merseyside act the Beatles, with McCluskey and Humphreys being labelled the "Lennon–McCartney of synth-pop".
OMD often faced hostility from the music press. Record Mirrors Simon Ludgate told how they received a "thorough tarring of the same brush" as then-maligned artist Gary Numan, but were able to weather "this almost certain kiss of death". Ben Walsh of The Independent said that the band "might not attract the kudos of Depeche Mode, Joy Division and New Order, but they were certainly as significant." Despite their difficult relationship with critics, the group have earned a cult following; DJ Chris Evans remarked, "There are fans, and then there are OMD fans. [Their] fans may be among the greatest in the world... they are devout." The band also enjoys a large fanbase within the LGBT community, which McCluskey says they cherish. Architecture & Morality (1981), regarded as OMD's seminal album, had sold more than four million copies by early 2007; Sugar Tax (1991), the record that marked a commercial renaissance for the group, had sold more than three million by the same time period. The experimental Dazzle Ships (1983), which met with a degree of critical and commercial hostility, has been retrospectively praised by critics and cited as one of the band's most influential works. OMD's overall record sales stand in excess of 40 million, with sales of more than 15 million albums and 25 million singles.
Impact on other artists
OMD influenced several 1980s contemporaries, including Men Without Hats and Depeche Mode. Vince Clarke, who established the latter group's electronic direction and later founded Yazoo and Erasure, cites OMD as his inspiration to become an electronic musician. OMD were an important act for Pet Shop Boys, whose singer, Neil Tennant, identified the band as "pioneers of electronic music". The group were revered by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Howard Jones, Alphaville, Book of Love and Ricky Wilde (songwriter/producer for Kim Wilde), and were also influential on New Order and Tears for Fears' exploration of electronic instruments. "Electricity" was an influence on the fledgling Duran Duran. The band have garnered praise from other synth-pop peers including the Human League's Philip Oakey, Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey, Trevor Horn, and Gary Numan, who credited OMD for "some of the best pop songs ever written". Within the rock genre, the group influenced then-progressive band Spoons, and were championed by ZZ Top, who drew inspiration from OMD's use of synthesizers and onstage dancing.
OMD have been influential on later artists such as No Doubt, Moby, Gary Barlow, MGMT, Paul van Dyk, the Shins, the Divine Comedy, Liars, Owen Pallett, Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, the Killers' Dave Keuning, AFI's Davey Havok, Barenaked Ladies' Kevin Hearn, Belle and Sebastian's Stevie Jackson, Spacemen 3's Peter Kember, and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, who said the group's albums "stand up very, very well as experimental pop records with the most enjoyable kind of songwriting." The band's influence also extends to country act Sugarland, physicist Brian Cox, and Steve Lamacq, who became a DJ after hearing "Electricity". 1983's "challenging" Dazzle Ships was a key inspiration for the likes of Saint Etienne, Death Cab for Cutie and Future Islands, while producer Mark Ronson was "completely floored" by the album. Elsewhere, OMD have received endorsements from musicians such as Sash!, Deftones' Chino Moreno, the Charlatans' Tim Burgess, Sharon Van Etten, Hot Chip's Al Doyle, and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, for whom the group were childhood favourites. Sash! recognised OMD as widely influential and "one of the leading bands in the 80s and 90s regarding electronic music/production".
The group's songs have been covered or sampled by acts including Gary Barlow, Howard Jones, MGMT, Owen Pallett, Boy George, Kid Cudi, Good Charlotte, Leftfield, Scooter, NOFX, Nada Surf, Angel Olsen and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. OMD are also the subject of two 2001 tribute albums, which feature interpretations by the likes of White Town, the Faint, Mahogany and Acid House Kings. David Guetta, who contributed a remix to 2003's The OMD Singles, described the opportunity to rework the band's material as "a thrill for any electronic musician". The official biography OMD: Pretending to See the Future (2018) features tributes from OMD collaborators Vince Clarke, Moby and Kraftwerk's Karl Bartos, along with peers like New Order's Stephen Morris, U2's Adam Clayton and the Teardrop Explodes' David Balfe.
Band members
Current members
Andy McCluskey – bass guitar, keyboards, vocals (1978–96; 2006–present)
Paul Humphreys – keyboards, vocals (1978–89; 2006–present)
Martin Cooper – keyboards, saxophone (1980–89; 2006–present)
Stuart Kershaw – drums (1993; 2015–present); piano (2010)
Former members
Malcolm Holmes – drums and percussion (1980–89; 2006–2015)
Dave Hughes – keyboards (1979–80)
Michael Douglas – keyboards (1980–81)
Graham Weir – guitar, brass, keyboards, writer (1984–89)
Neil Weir – brass, keyboards, bass guitar (1984–89)
Phil Coxon – keyboards (1991–93)
Nigel Ipinson – keyboards (1991–93)
Abe Juckes – drums (1991–92)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1980)
Organisation (1980)
Architecture & Morality (1981)
Dazzle Ships (1983)
Junk Culture (1984)
Crush (1985)
The Pacific Age (1986)
Sugar Tax (1991)
Liberator (1993)
Universal (1996)
History of Modern (2010)
English Electric (2013)
The Punishment of Luxury (2017)
See also
Atomic Kitten
The Listening Pool
Onetwo (band)
References
Notes
Bibliography
Houghton, Richard. OMD: Pretending to See the Future (expanded paperback). This Day in Music Books. 2019.
Houghton, Richard. OMD: Pretending to See the Future (hardcover). This Day in Music Books. 2018.
Waller, Johnny; Humphreys, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Messages. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1987.
West, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Omnibus Press. 1982.
External links
Official YouTube channel
English electronic music groups
English new wave musical groups
English synth-pop groups
Factory Records artists
British synth-pop new wave groups
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 1996
Musical groups reestablished in 2006
Virgin Records artists
1978 establishments in England
English experimental musical groups | true | [
"is a band from Osaka, Japan. The band was active from 2002 to 2010 and announced a reform in 2016. The members are Oni (guitar, vocals) and Pikachu (drums, vocals). Afrirampo has toured with Sonic Youth and Lightning Bolt, played with Yoko Ono collaborated with Acid Mothers Temple and released several CDs on various labels.\n\nMusical Style\n\nAfrirampo's music often features call and response vocals, catchy distorted pop melodies, looping fret noise, droning feedback, guttural barks and impromptu squealing. Their early albums featured a sound that could be described as noise-punk, albeit with surprisingly melodic vocal parts, along with some longer, less melodic improvised jam pieces. Their later albums, especially Suuto Breakor and We Are Uchu No Ko, featured a much more expansive sound, sometimes with very long songs and quieter, more ethereal passages. The band's later albums featured noticeable elements of African music, with a tribal percussive sound and call-and-response vocals. This derived in part from a 2004 stay with pygmy tribes in Cameroon documented on their 2006 album Baka Ga Kita.\n\nHistory\n\nAfter playing in several bands throughout their teens, Oni with an instrumental trio called Hankoki and Pikachu with a psychedelic quartet of girls called Z, the pair started Afrirampo in the spring of 2002 at the ages of 18 and 19. The band started out using a pair of Casio synthesizers before adopting the guitar/drum format that they became known for.\n\nThe period of 2002-2005 saw Afrirampo's visibility within the ranks of contemporary noise rock increasing in a manner that Matthew Murphy of Pitchfork described as \"meteoric\". This might be attributed to their powerful stage presence, and hyper-energized live performances which generated considerable interest within the alternative music press.\n\nThe duo put out a few independent releases in their in the 2002-2004 period, notably the album A. During the same period of time, they played extensively in Japan, played their first shows in the US, toured Europe with Sonic Youth and spent some time in Cameroon with the Baka pygmy tribe.\n\nIn 2005, they had a particularly productive year, including their major-label Japanese debut Urusa in Japan, the album Kore Ga Mayaku Da on the New Yorked-based Tzadik (record label), and a collaboration with Acid Mothers Temple entitled We Are Acid Mothers Afrirampo! In the same year, they performed at All Tomorrow's Parties, the avant-garde music festival curated by Vincent Gallo, and joined performance artist Yoko Ono on stage for her closing piece.\n\n2006 saw the release of their album Baka Ga Kita, which was recorded during the 2004 Cameroon visit. This album consisted mostly of a cappella chants recorded by Afrirampo with members of the Baka tribe, and features no electric guitar.\n\nIn early 2007, they canceled some shows and took a break for several months, due to Oni's pregnancy. Later that year, they released Suuto Breakor, which showed their style becoming more complex, melodic and ethereal, with more noticeable African influences than their other electric releases, although the music still contained healthy doses of noise.\n\nThe band did not release any more albums for the rest of the decade, although they did continue to play live extensively, both inside and outside of Japan.\n\nIn 2010, they released their final studio album to date, the double album We Are Uchu No Ko. While this release saw a return to the band's original noise-punk on some songs, it also showcased the band's growing musical complexity and influenced of psychedelia and world music. \n \nIn June 2010, Afrirampo announced that they would be disbanding after their final show in Osaka on June 26. However, their homepage stated in Japanese that if the \"Mother of Heaven\" called upon them to play together again, they would play. In the English version, they stated \"If our mother of monster say \"PLAY!PLAY!together!!\", then we will play,\" indicating that the door was open for future reunions.\n\nAfter breaking up, Afrirampo did a special \"Bye-bye Matsuri\" performance on July 26, 2010, a month after their supposed final show, in which members of the Osaka underground music scene appeared with them onstage. In 2011, they released a live CD/DVD entitled Never Ending Afrirampo, which consists of material from the last official performance on June 26, 2010, as well as some clips from the \"Bye-bye Matsuri\" performance on July 26, 2010. During their hiatus, the band also maintained their website and appeared in each other's solo shows.\n\nIt was announced on their official website that the band were reforming in March 2016 after six years of hiatus to embark on a reunion tour in Japan. Since then, they have continued to play live in Japan and abroad and have introduced new songs to their sets. In August 2018, they announced their first studio album since 2010, to be entitled Afriverse. The album was released on September 18, 2018.\n\nDiscography\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Afrirampo Feature on Dusted Magazine\n KoreGaMayakuDa Album Review on Pitchfork\n Afrirampo Video Library\n Early English Interview 2004 (sfburning.com)\n Nippop Profile | Afrirampo\n Acid Mothers Temple\n Afrirampo live recording (Ladyfest Brighton, November 2005)\n\nAll-female punk bands\nFemale musical duos\nJapanese alternative rock groups\nJapanese punk rock groups\nKi/oon Music artists\nMusical groups from Osaka\nRock music duos\nTzadik Records artists",
"Philippe Ménard (born August 15, 1986) is a Canadian curler from Boucherville, Quebec. He currently played for his brother, Jean-Michel's team from 2011 to 2018. He is known for wearing a bandana during play.\n\nCareer\n\nJuniors\nMénard was a member of the Quebec team at the 2006 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, skipped by Martin Crête. Ménard threw third stones on the team. The team finished with a 7–5 record, missing the playoffs in 6th place. Before then, Ménard played at the 2003 Canada Winter Games, placing 10th.\n\nMen's\nAfter juniors, Ménard would skip his own team for a season before joining the Simon Dupuis rink for the 2007–08 season, as his lead. That year, Ménard was invited to be Team Quebec's alternate at the 2008 Tim Hortons Brier. The team, skipped by brother Jean-Michel went 4–7, and Ménard would play in two matches. The next season, he joined the François Gagné rink. He again played as his brother's alternate, playing at the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier. The team went 7–4, losing in a tie breaker to Manitoba. Ménard did not play in any games, however. He then joined the Pierre Charette rink for one season, before joining the Gagné team again for a run at the 2011 Tim Hortons Brier, where Ménard played lead. The team would finish the round robin with a 3–8 record. After the season Ménard was recruited to his brother's rink as their lead in 2011. He has remained with his brother's team ever since.\n\nIn his first season with his brother, the team won the Challenge Casino Lac Leamy World Curling Tour event, and played in the 2011 BDO Canadian Open Grand Slam event, where they made the quarterfinals. The team did not make it to the Brier that year. The next season they played in two Grand Slam events, the 2012 ROGERS Masters of Curling and the 2012 Canadian Open of Curling, missing the playoffs in both events. They also played in the 2012 Tim Hortons Brier, finishing with a 6–5 record. In 2013–14, the team did not play in any Slams, but found success at the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier. There they made the playoffs after posting a 7-4 round robin record. However the team lost both of their playoff matches, including the bronze medal game, settling for fourth.\n\nIn 2014–15, the team again did not play in any Slams, but were the winners of the Challenge Casino de Charlevoix WCT event. They again went to the Brier, posting a 6–5 record at the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier. The next season they played in The National Grand Slam event, missing the playoffs. They played at the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier, finishing with a 4–7 record.\n\nPersonal life\nMénard works as an administrative coordinator with Martin Ménard Consultant Inc. He is married and has one child.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1986 births\nCurlers from Quebec\nFrench Quebecers\nLiving people\nPeople from Boucherville\nPeople from Amos, Quebec\nCanadian male curlers"
]
|
[
"Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark",
"Split and McCluskey-led OMD (1989-1996)",
"What albums did they release during this time?",
"18 June 1988, a top 20 US hit with \"Dreaming\" and a successful \"Best of\" album.",
"Did they do any tours?",
"with a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena,",
"Did they play with any other artists?",
"Love's Theme\" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White."
]
| C_1d30fe7a2f554dec8fb90121acca7cfd_1 | Were they with any other artists? | 4 | Besides Love's Theme, were Split and McCluskey with any other artists? | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | During 1988 the band appeared poised to consolidate their US success, with a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 18 June 1988, a top 20 US hit with "Dreaming" and a successful "Best of" album. However, it was at this point when OMD broke in two. Graham and Neil Weir left at the end of the 1988 US tour and co-founder Paul Humphreys subsequently called it a day, unhappy with the band's commercial orientation. Finally, Cooper and Holmes left OMD to join Humphreys in founding a new band called The Listening Pool in 1989. This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the dance-pop Sugar Tax LP in May 1991, which charted at No. 3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians Raw Unlimited (aka Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw and Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of Sugar Tax: writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e., McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries, "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away". McCluskey's live band was then formed by Nigel Ipinson (keyboards), Phil Coxon (keyboards) and Abe Juckes (drums) since late 1990. Kershaw, Ipinson and Coxon from 1992 to 1996 contributed to OMD albums and a 1993 tour. The fifth track from Liberator (1993), "Dream of Me", was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. To release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give a writing credit to White. Paul Humphreys, while no longer part of the group, co-wrote the single "Everyday". Also in 1993, McCluskey made contributions to the Esperanto album, a project by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos (then working under the moniker of Elektric Music). McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the 1996 album Universal, which featured two songs co-written by Humphreys as well as a holdover from the Esperanto sessions, co-penned by Bartos. The record spawned OMD's first Top 20 hit in five years, "Walking on the Milky Way". CANNOTANSWER | However, it was at this point when OMD broke in two. Graham and Neil Weir left at the end of the 1988 | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Cooper (various instruments) and Stuart Kershaw (drums); McCluskey has been the only constant member. Regarded as pioneers of electronic music, OMD combined an experimental, minimalist ethos with pop sensibilities, becoming central figures in the late-1970s/early-1980s emergence of synth-pop.
McCluskey and Humphreys led precursor group the Id from 1977–1978, and re-recorded their track "Electricity" as OMD's debut single in 1979. Weathering an "uncool" image and a degree of hostility from music critics, the band gained popularity throughout Europe with the 1980 anti-war song "Enola Gay", and achieved broader recognition via Architecture & Morality (1981) and its three hit singles. Although later reappraised, Dazzle Ships (1983) was seen as overly challenging, and eroded European support. The group embraced a more radio-friendly sound on Junk Culture (1984); this change in direction led to greater success in the United States, and yielded the 1986 hit, "If You Leave".
In 1989, creative differences saw Humphreys and other members form the spin-off band the Listening Pool, leaving McCluskey the only remaining member of OMD. The group returned with a new line-up and explored the dance-pop genre: Sugar Tax (1991) and its initial singles were hits in Europe. By the mid-1990s, however, electronic music had been supplanted by alternative rock, and both OMD and the Listening Pool disbanded in 1996. McCluskey later conceived pop girl group Atomic Kitten, for whom he served as a principal songwriter, while Humphreys formed the duo Onetwo alongside Propaganda vocalist Claudia Brücken.
In 2006, the band reformed with Humphreys and McCluskey working on material closer in sound to their early output; The Punishment of Luxury (2017) was the group's seventh top 10 entry on the UK Albums Chart. They have also achieved 12 top 20 hits on the UK Singles Chart, as well as three top 20 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100. An influence on many later artists, OMD have sold over 40 million records worldwide.
History
1975–1979: Roots and early years
Founders Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys met at primary school in Meols in the early 1960s, and in the mid-1970s, as teenagers, they were involved in different local groups but shared a distaste for guitar-driven rock with a macho attitude popular among their friends at the time. By 1975 McCluskey had formed Equinox, as bassist and vocalist, alongside schoolmate Malcolm Holmes on drums, while Humphreys was roadie. During that time McCluskey and Humphreys discovered their electronic style, inspired by Kraftwerk. After Equinox, McCluskey joined Pegasus, and, later, the short-lived Hitlerz Underpantz, alongside Humphreys. McCluskey would usually sing and play bass guitar; roadie and electronics enthusiast Humphreys, who shared McCluskey's love of electronic music, graduated to keyboards.
In September 1977, McCluskey and Humphreys put together the seven-piece (three singers, two guitarists, bassist, drummer, and keyboard player) Wirral group the Id, whose line-up included drummer Malcolm Holmes and McCluskey's girlfriend Julia Kneale on vocals. The group began to gig regularly in the Merseyside area, performing original material (largely written by McCluskey and Humphreys). They had quite a following on the scene, and one of their tracks ("Julia's Song") was included on a compilation record of local bands called Street to Street. Meanwhile, Humphreys and McCluskey collaborated on a side project called VCL XI, whose name was adapted from a diagram on the back cover of Kraftwerk's Radio-Activity album, reading "VCL 11". This project allowed them to pursue their more obscure electronic experiments.
In August 1978, the Id split due to musical differences. The same month, McCluskey joined Wirral electronic outfit Dalek I Love You as lead singer, but quit in September. Later that month, he rejoined Humphreys and their VCL XI project was renamed Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. The name was gleaned from a list of song lyrics and ideas that were written on McCluskey's bedroom wall; and was chosen so they would not be mistaken for a punk band. Given that OMD intended to play only one gig, the duo considered their moniker to be inconsequential. McCluskey has since expressed regret over choosing "such a very silly name". The contrasting personalities of Humphreys and McCluskey established the band's dynamic, with the former saying that "two Pauls wouldn't get anything done and two Andys would kill each other." They have further described their creative roles as "The Surgeon" (Humphreys) and "The Butcher" (McCluskey). As working class youngsters OMD had a limited budget, using second-hand "junk-shop" instruments including a left-handed bass guitar (which McCluskey would play upside-down). The pair also created their own devices, with Humphreys "making things out of his aunt's radios cannibalised for the circuit boards". Eventually they acquired a basic Korg M-500 Micro Preset synthesizer, purchased via McCluskey's mother's mail-order catalogue for £7.76 a week, paid over 36 weeks.
OMD began to gig regularly as a duo, performing to backing tracks played from a TEAC 4-track tape-recorder christened "Winston" (after the antihero of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four). Their debut performance was in October 1978 at Eric's Club in Liverpool. Finding themselves on the cusp of an electronic new wave in British pop-music, they released a one-off single, "Electricity", with independent label Factory Records. The track was supposed to be produced by the Factory Records producer Martin Hannett. However, the A-side was the band's original demo produced by their friend, owner of Winston and soon to be manager, Paul Collister under the pseudonym Chester Valentino (taken from a nightclub called Valentino's in the nearby city of Chester). The single's sleeve was designed by Peter Saville, whose distinctive graphics contributed to OMD's public image into the 1980s. The success of "Electricity" led to the band receiving a seven-album record deal with Dindisc, worth over £250,000.
In 1979 they were asked to support Gary Numan on his first major British tour. Humphreys noted, "[Numan] gave us our first big break. He saw us opening for Joy Division and he asked us to go on tour with him... we went from the small clubs to playing huge arenas. Gary was very good to us." Numan later supported OMD on a 1993 UK arena tour.
1980–1988: Classic line-up
Rather than hire studio time to record their eponymous debut album (1980), McCluskey and Humphreys used their advance payment from Dindisc to build their own Liverpool recording studio, The Gramophone Suite. They predicted that they would be dropped by the label due to disappointing sales, but would at least own a studio. The album showcased the band's live set at the time, and included some guest drums from Id drummer Malcolm Holmes and saxophone from Wirral musician Martin Cooper. It had a raw, poppy, melodic synth-pop sound. Dindisc arranged for the song "Messages" to be re-recorded (produced by Gong bassist Mike Howlett) and released as a single – it gave the band their first hit. Dave Hughes, a founder member of Dalek I Love You who joined OMD in 1980, is featured in the "Messages" video. A tour followed: Winston the tape recorder was augmented with live drums from Malcolm Holmes, and Dave Hughes played synths. Hughes left OMD in late 1980.
The second album Organisation (a reference to the band which preceded Kraftwerk, founded by Kraftwerk's original members Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter) followed later that year, recorded as a three-piece with Humphreys, McCluskey and Holmes. It was again produced by Howlett, and had a moodier, dark feel largely inspired by the passing of former Factory label-mate, and Joy Division singer, Ian Curtis. The album included the anti-war hit single "Enola Gay", named after the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The song was intended to be included on the debut album, but was left out at the final selection. The tour for this album had a four-piece band line-up, with saxophonist Martin Cooper (another Dalek I Love You alumnus) recruited for keyboard duties and enlisted as an official group member. The McCluskey/Humphreys/Cooper/Holmes unit came to be regarded as the band's classic line-up. In early 1981, readers of Record Mirror voted OMD the fourth-best band and eighth-best live act of 1980; NME and Sounds readers named the group the eighth and 10th best new act of the year, respectively. In Smash Hits, they were voted both the fifth-best band of 1980 and the eighth-hottest new act for 1981.
Howlett then presided over the recording of a further hit single, "Souvenir", co-written by Cooper & Humphreys. It ushered in a lush choral electronic sound. The song also became OMD's biggest UK hit to date. In November 1981, their most commercially successful album was released in the UK and Europe – Architecture & Morality. The group went into the studio with Richard Manwaring producing. Cooper then temporarily dropped out and was replaced by Mike Douglas, but this change was reversed by the time the album was released and a tour followed. The album's sound saw OMD's original synth-pop sound augmented by the Mellotron, an instrument previously associated with prog rock bands. They used it to add atmospheric swatches of string, choir, and other sounds to their palette. Two more hit singles "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" (which became the biggest-selling single of 1982 in Germany) were on the album. "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" were originally both titled "Joan of Arc"; the name of the latter single was changed at the insistence of the publishers and to avoid confusion. It became "Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)" and later simply "Maid of Orleans". Readers of Smash Hits voted OMD the seventh-best group of 1981, while Record Mirror readers named them the eighth-best band (as well as the 10th-best "new artist") and the third-best live act of the year. The group came close to splitting up in 1982, with McCluskey later saying, "We had never expected the success, we were exhausted."
In 1983 the band lost commercial momentum somewhat, with the release of their more experimental Dazzle Ships album, produced by Rhett Davies. The record mixed melancholy synth ballads and uptempo synth-pop with musique concrète and short wave radio tape collages. Its relative commercial failure caused a crisis of confidence for Humphreys and McCluskey and brought about a deliberate move towards the mainstream. 1984's Junk Culture was a shift to a more pop-style sound and the band used digital sampling keyboards such as the Fairlight CMI and the E-mu Emulator. The album was a success, reassuring the group about their new direction. The "Locomotion" single returned the group to the top five in the UK and was an indicator of the group's newfound sound, notably the adoption of a classic verse–chorus form, which is something the group had often previously avoided. Record Mirror readers named OMD the eighth-best live act of 1984. In 1985, the band expanded to a sextet, adding brothers Graham Weir (guitar, keyboards, trombone) and Neil Weir (trumpet, bass guitar), and released Crush, produced by Stephen Hague in Paris and New York. The success of the single "So in Love" in the US Billboard Hot 100 also led to some success for the LP which entered the American Top 40, establishing the group in the US. During this period, the band also recorded a version of "So in Love" in duet with the French pop singer Etienne Daho.
Later in 1985 the band were asked to write a song for the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. They offered "Goddess of Love", although the ending of the film was re-shot due to a negative response from test audiences. OMD then wrote "If You Leave" in less than 24 hours and it became a top 5 hit in the US, Canada, and New Zealand in 1986. At the end of this year, the same six piece line-up also released The Pacific Age, but the band began to see their critical and public popularity wane notably in the UK. The album's first single, "(Forever) Live and Die", was a top 10 hit across Europe and entered the top 20 in both the UK and US. Journalist Hugo Lindgren argued that the success of "If You Leave" has concealed from US audiences the group's history of making innovative music.
During 1988 OMD played a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 18 June 1988. They also released the top 20 US hit "Dreaming" and a successful greatest hits album, The Best of OMD. Graham and Neil Weir left the band at the end of the 1988 US tour.
1989–1996: McCluskey-led OMD and disbandment
As OMD appeared poised to consolidate their US success, the group continued to fracture. Humphreys departed in 1989 amid personal and creative dissension with McCluskey. Cooper and Holmes then left OMD to join Humphreys in founding a new band called the Listening Pool. McCluskey recalled, "We were all in agreement that something was wrong. How to fix it was where we disagreed."
This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the dance-pop Sugar Tax album in May 1991, which charted at No. 3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians Raw Unlimited (Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw, Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of Sugar Tax: writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e., McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away". McCluskey's live band was then formed by Nigel Ipinson (keyboards), Phil Coxon (keyboards), and Abe Juckes (drums) from late 1990. Smash Hits readers voted OMD the sixth-best British group of 1991.
The album Liberator, which ventured further into dance territory, was released in 1993. It peaked at No. 14 on the UK Albums Chart. Lead single "Stand Above Me" peaked at no. 21 on the UK Singles Chart, with follow-up "Dream of Me" charting at no. 24. Paul Humphreys, while no longer part of the group, co-wrote the single "Everyday" (a No. 59 UK chart entry). The fifth track from Liberator, "Dream of Me", was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. To release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give a writing credit to White.
Also in 1993, McCluskey made contributions to the Esperanto album, a project by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos (then working under the moniker of Elektric Music).
McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the more organic Universal (1996), which featured two songs co-written by Humphreys as well as a holdover from the Esperanto sessions, co-penned by Bartos. The record spawned OMD's first Top 20 hit in five years, "Walking on the Milky Way".
Though both Liberator and Universal produced minor hits, McCluskey retired the OMD name in late 1996, due to waning public interest. A particular source of frustration was the modest commercial response to "Walking on the Milky Way", over which McCluskey said he "sweated blood", considering it "about as good a song as I could write". BBC Radio 1 refused to playlist the song, which in turn led to high street store Woolworths refusing to stock it. McCluskey said, "I just thought: 'Screw this, I'm not going to bang my head against a brick wall'." A second singles album was released in 1998, along with an EP of remixed material by such acts as Sash! and Moby.
Post-1996, McCluskey decided to focus on songwriting for such Liverpool-based acts as Atomic Kitten and the Genie Queen, and trying to develop new Merseyside artists from his Motor Museum recording studio. With McCluskey focusing his talents elsewhere, Humphreys decided to work with his new musical partner Claudia Brücken, of the ZTT bands Propaganda and Act, as Onetwo. He also undertook a US live tour under the banner "Paul Humphreys from OMD".
2006–2012: Reformation and comeback
An unexpected request to perform from a German television show led the group to reunite. On 1 January 2006, Andy McCluskey announced plans to reform OMD with the McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes, and Cooper line-up. The original plan was to tour the album Architecture & Morality and other pre-1983 material, then record a new album set for release in 2007. In May 2007, the Architecture & Morality remastered CD was re-released together with a DVD featuring the Drury Lane concert from 1981 that had previously been available on VHS. Through May and June, the band toured with the "classic" line up of McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes and Cooper. They began their set with a re-ordered but otherwise complete re-staging of the Architecture & Morality album. The second half of each concert featured a selection of their best known hits.
In Spring 2008, a live CD and DVD of the 2007 tour, OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & More, recorded at the London Hammersmith Apollo, was released as was a 25th anniversary re-release of Dazzle Ships, including six bonus tracks. At the same time, a brief October 2008 tour was announced, partly to tie-in with the Dazzle Ships album's 25th anniversary. China Crisis supported OMD on this tour.
In June 2009, an orchestral concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic was given in Liverpool. A recording of this concert was released on DVD in December. In November and December, the band returned to arena touring as support for Simple Minds. OMD had performed with Night of the Proms in December 2006 in Germany and renewed the experience again in Belgium and the Netherlands that year. They were the headline act at Britain's first Vintage Computer Festival at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park, in June 2010. On 9 September 2010, Trevor Horn announced that OMD would perform as a special guest at the "first ever gig" of the Buggles. Their 11th studio album, History of Modern, was released in September, reaching No. 28 in the UK Albums Chart. A European tour followed in autumn.
In March 2011, OMD played their first North American tour as the original line up since 1988. In September, the band appeared at the Electric Picnic 2011 festival in Stradbally, Co Laois, Ireland. In November 2011, OMD announced they were getting back to the studio to start work on their latest album, English Electric. On 12 March 2012, the band played a concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines. In August, OMD performed to South African audiences in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
2013–present: Continued acknowledgement
On 29 January 2013, Goldenvoice announced OMD for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, on 14 and 21 April. On 11 February, OMD announced "Metroland" would be the first single from the forthcoming album English Electric. The single was released on 25 March, and includes the B-side "The Great White Silence". The album English Electric was released in the UK on 8 April and entered the UK album chart at No. 12 and the German chart at No. 10. Reviews for both the album and their concerts have generally been positive. For Record Store Day 2013, on 20 April, a 500-copy limited edition 10-inch picture disc EP "The Future Will Be Silent" from English Electric was made available, which includes a then-exclusive non-album track titled "Time Burns". For Record Store Day 2015, on 18 April, a 1000-copy limited edition 10-inch EP "Julia's Song (Dub Version)" from Junk Culture was made available, which includes an exclusive non-album track titled "10 to 1".
OMD performed a one-off concert at The Royal Albert Hall, London on 9 May 2016 to a sell-out crowd, playing both Architecture & Morality and Dazzle Ships in their entirety, along with other songs that were pre-1983. The only song post-1983 played was "History of Modern Part 1". The concert was recorded and made available on double CD right after the show. A triple LP vinyl recording of the concert was also made available. The band collaborated with Gary Barlow, Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman on the OMD song "Thrill Me", co-written by Barlow and McCluskey for the soundtrack of the film Eddie the Eagle. In October, work was begun on what was to be their 13th studio album The Punishment of Luxury, which was released on 1 September 2017. OMD toured Europe and North America in support of the album, with Stuart Kershaw replacing Holmes as the band's drummer, due to the latter's health issues.
In 2018, OMD published a book entitled "Pretending to See the Future", which is a first-person "autobiography" about the band. It mixed fan-submitted memories with commentary from McCluskey, Humphreys, Cooper, Holmes, and Kershaw. For people who pre-ordered the book on PledgeMusic, they received a limited-edition flexi-disc containing a previously unheard demo of "Messages" from 1978.
As part of the group's 40th-anniversary celebrations, a UK and European tour was announced in March 2019. OMD won "Group of the Year" and "Live Act of the Year" in the 2019 Classic Pop Reader Awards. A retrospective deluxe boxset entitled Souvenir was also announced in August 2019. The 40th anniversary collection includes the band's forty singles, including new release "Don't Go". It also contains 22 previously unreleased recordings from the group's archive, selected and mixed by Paul Humphreys. Two audio live shows, one from 2011 and one from 2013, are also included together with two DVDs bringing together two more live concerts – Drury Lane in 1981 and Sheffield City Hall in 1985 – plus Crush – The Movie, and various BBC TV performances from Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later... with Jools Holland. The boxset was nominated for "Best Historical Album" at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
Artistry and image
James Hunter of Spin wrote that "OMD set about reinventing punk with different applications of dance beats, keyboards, melodies, and sulks", rejecting the genre's "sonic trappings but not its intellectual freedom". The band found commercial success with a style of synth-pop described as "experimental", "minimal" and "edgy". OMD often eschewed choruses, replacing them with synthesizer lines, and opted for unconventional lyrical subjects such as industrial processes, micronations and telephone boxes; the BBC said that the group "were always more intellectual" than "contemporaries like Duran Duran and Eurythmics". Despite the band's experimentation, they employed pop hooks in their music, attaining what AllMusic's Ned Raggett described as "the enviable position of at once being creative innovators and radio-friendly pop giants". They were influenced by electronic artists such as Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and Neu!, as well as more mainstream acts like David Bowie and Roxy Music. OMD drew inspiration from former Factory Records label-mates Joy Division, particularly during the making of Organisation (1980). The group also recorded two Velvet Underground covers.
OMD were indifferent to celebrity status, and avoided the calculated fashion stylings of many of their 1980s peers. During live performances, McCluskey developed a spasmodic dancing style that has been dubbed the "Trainee Teacher Dance"; he explains that it stemmed "from the perception that [OMD] were making boring robotic intellectual music that you couldn't dance to". Journalist Hugo Lindgren noted that the band were perceived as "oddballs, freaks" on the Liverpool scene; McCluskey has identified himself and Humphreys as "synth punks" and "complete geeks". Gareth Ware of DIY called OMD "one of the guiding lights of British synth-pop... albeit one with a disarming naivety and warm characterful nature at odds with the sleek, chic image cultivated by the likes of [the] Human League and Depeche Mode." Critic Andrew Collins said the group represented a wave of "uncool" pop stars who would eventually "become cool" in the public eye.
Mid-1980s style change
The experimental Dazzle Ships (1983) was a critical and commercial disappointment upon release. This prompted OMD to move towards a more accessible sound on the black music-influenced Junk Culture (1984); the band also donned more vibrant garments on the album's accompanying tour. The group continued to incorporate sonic experimentation, although their sound became increasingly polished on the Stephen Hague-produced records Crush (1985) and The Pacific Age (1986).
Some journalists have rejected the group's post-Dazzle Ships reinvention, while others have expressed an appreciation for the new direction. Sean O'Neal of the A.V. Club said OMD would "give up" creatively, while the Quietus founder John Doran wrote, "It's quite popular to see OMD as nose-diving into the effluence after Dazzle Ships but the truth is there is still much to recommend." Although Junk Culture is seen to represent a shift toward a more pop-oriented style, some critics feel that the group did not relinquish their experimental ethos until 1985, the year in which they released Crush. Elements of earlier experimentation have nevertheless been observed on Crush and follow-up The Pacific Age.
Musicians have commented on OMD's mid-1980s output. Michael "Telekinesis" Lerner wrote that Junk Culture "was not something [he] could sink [his] teeth into", adding that he did not invest in the band again until after their reunion. Moby remarked, "Their earlier records were just phenomenal... a few years on they were making music for John Hughes movies, and they were good at it and I'm glad that they had success with it, but it wasn't nearly as creatively inspiring." On the other hand, Tony Kanal of No Doubt said, "[OMD] inspired us to try and do our own John Hughes prom-scene movie moment kind of songs... Junk Culture is great." Angus Andrew of Liars referred to "the complexity and mastery in OMD's later pop material", calling himself "a fan of OMD albums from all of their phases".
Spin journalist Jessica Bendinger wrote in 1988, "[OMD's] music has been colored by continual exploration... which has run the gamut from Gregorian-chant-inspired anthems of love to a union of Orchestral-Motown."
Subsequent reinventions
The McCluskey-led OMD explored a dance-oriented approach on Sugar Tax (1991) and Liberator (1993); critic Ian Peel wrote that the band "defied expectations by updating their sound and becoming, if only briefly, relevant in the 90s". The group disbanded shortly after the release of Universal (1996), on which they strained for a more organic and acoustic sound. McCluskey recalled a negative media perception of the band by the mid-1990s, saying, "At the height of indie rock and Britpop, we were totally out of fashion." Since OMD's 2006 reformation, their material has been seen as more akin to their early output.
Legacy and influence
OMD have been named as pioneers of electronic music, and one of the more important acts of the synth-pop genre; Nightshift identified OMD, and fellow late 1970s debutants Gary Numan and the Human League, as "the holy trinity of synth-pop". AllMusic's Andy Kellman emphasised the band's "inventive albums" and status as "one of the earliest, most commercially successful, and enduring synth pop groups". Hugo Lindgren of the New York Times wrote that OMD cultivated a "legacy as musical innovators", adding, "The genre they helped invent — file under 'synth pop' — proved hugely popular." The band have been recognised as playing a prominent role in defining the sound of 1980s and early 1990s popular music. In particular, "Electricity" (1979) and "If You Leave" (1986) have been identified as two of the most influential records of their era. The group have drawn comparisons to pre-eminent Merseyside act the Beatles, with McCluskey and Humphreys being labelled the "Lennon–McCartney of synth-pop".
OMD often faced hostility from the music press. Record Mirrors Simon Ludgate told how they received a "thorough tarring of the same brush" as then-maligned artist Gary Numan, but were able to weather "this almost certain kiss of death". Ben Walsh of The Independent said that the band "might not attract the kudos of Depeche Mode, Joy Division and New Order, but they were certainly as significant." Despite their difficult relationship with critics, the group have earned a cult following; DJ Chris Evans remarked, "There are fans, and then there are OMD fans. [Their] fans may be among the greatest in the world... they are devout." The band also enjoys a large fanbase within the LGBT community, which McCluskey says they cherish. Architecture & Morality (1981), regarded as OMD's seminal album, had sold more than four million copies by early 2007; Sugar Tax (1991), the record that marked a commercial renaissance for the group, had sold more than three million by the same time period. The experimental Dazzle Ships (1983), which met with a degree of critical and commercial hostility, has been retrospectively praised by critics and cited as one of the band's most influential works. OMD's overall record sales stand in excess of 40 million, with sales of more than 15 million albums and 25 million singles.
Impact on other artists
OMD influenced several 1980s contemporaries, including Men Without Hats and Depeche Mode. Vince Clarke, who established the latter group's electronic direction and later founded Yazoo and Erasure, cites OMD as his inspiration to become an electronic musician. OMD were an important act for Pet Shop Boys, whose singer, Neil Tennant, identified the band as "pioneers of electronic music". The group were revered by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Howard Jones, Alphaville, Book of Love and Ricky Wilde (songwriter/producer for Kim Wilde), and were also influential on New Order and Tears for Fears' exploration of electronic instruments. "Electricity" was an influence on the fledgling Duran Duran. The band have garnered praise from other synth-pop peers including the Human League's Philip Oakey, Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey, Trevor Horn, and Gary Numan, who credited OMD for "some of the best pop songs ever written". Within the rock genre, the group influenced then-progressive band Spoons, and were championed by ZZ Top, who drew inspiration from OMD's use of synthesizers and onstage dancing.
OMD have been influential on later artists such as No Doubt, Moby, Gary Barlow, MGMT, Paul van Dyk, the Shins, the Divine Comedy, Liars, Owen Pallett, Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, the Killers' Dave Keuning, AFI's Davey Havok, Barenaked Ladies' Kevin Hearn, Belle and Sebastian's Stevie Jackson, Spacemen 3's Peter Kember, and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, who said the group's albums "stand up very, very well as experimental pop records with the most enjoyable kind of songwriting." The band's influence also extends to country act Sugarland, physicist Brian Cox, and Steve Lamacq, who became a DJ after hearing "Electricity". 1983's "challenging" Dazzle Ships was a key inspiration for the likes of Saint Etienne, Death Cab for Cutie and Future Islands, while producer Mark Ronson was "completely floored" by the album. Elsewhere, OMD have received endorsements from musicians such as Sash!, Deftones' Chino Moreno, the Charlatans' Tim Burgess, Sharon Van Etten, Hot Chip's Al Doyle, and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, for whom the group were childhood favourites. Sash! recognised OMD as widely influential and "one of the leading bands in the 80s and 90s regarding electronic music/production".
The group's songs have been covered or sampled by acts including Gary Barlow, Howard Jones, MGMT, Owen Pallett, Boy George, Kid Cudi, Good Charlotte, Leftfield, Scooter, NOFX, Nada Surf, Angel Olsen and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. OMD are also the subject of two 2001 tribute albums, which feature interpretations by the likes of White Town, the Faint, Mahogany and Acid House Kings. David Guetta, who contributed a remix to 2003's The OMD Singles, described the opportunity to rework the band's material as "a thrill for any electronic musician". The official biography OMD: Pretending to See the Future (2018) features tributes from OMD collaborators Vince Clarke, Moby and Kraftwerk's Karl Bartos, along with peers like New Order's Stephen Morris, U2's Adam Clayton and the Teardrop Explodes' David Balfe.
Band members
Current members
Andy McCluskey – bass guitar, keyboards, vocals (1978–96; 2006–present)
Paul Humphreys – keyboards, vocals (1978–89; 2006–present)
Martin Cooper – keyboards, saxophone (1980–89; 2006–present)
Stuart Kershaw – drums (1993; 2015–present); piano (2010)
Former members
Malcolm Holmes – drums and percussion (1980–89; 2006–2015)
Dave Hughes – keyboards (1979–80)
Michael Douglas – keyboards (1980–81)
Graham Weir – guitar, brass, keyboards, writer (1984–89)
Neil Weir – brass, keyboards, bass guitar (1984–89)
Phil Coxon – keyboards (1991–93)
Nigel Ipinson – keyboards (1991–93)
Abe Juckes – drums (1991–92)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1980)
Organisation (1980)
Architecture & Morality (1981)
Dazzle Ships (1983)
Junk Culture (1984)
Crush (1985)
The Pacific Age (1986)
Sugar Tax (1991)
Liberator (1993)
Universal (1996)
History of Modern (2010)
English Electric (2013)
The Punishment of Luxury (2017)
See also
Atomic Kitten
The Listening Pool
Onetwo (band)
References
Notes
Bibliography
Houghton, Richard. OMD: Pretending to See the Future (expanded paperback). This Day in Music Books. 2019.
Houghton, Richard. OMD: Pretending to See the Future (hardcover). This Day in Music Books. 2018.
Waller, Johnny; Humphreys, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Messages. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1987.
West, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Omnibus Press. 1982.
External links
Official YouTube channel
English electronic music groups
English new wave musical groups
English synth-pop groups
Factory Records artists
British synth-pop new wave groups
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 1996
Musical groups reestablished in 2006
Virgin Records artists
1978 establishments in England
English experimental musical groups | false | [
"MTV Artists was an online music portal, owned by Viacom, once intended to generate traffic to web and video content owned by the company. Initially launched in August 2012 in beta, the MTV Artists platform was launched to give more opportunity to artists. With the Artists platform any musician (indie to arena) could connect with fans through MTV, VH1, and CMT, both online and on-air. However, the service never made it out of beta, although the web pages have not been taken down, and are primarily populated with third party meta-data, instead of MTV original content. Features allowing artists to upload their music were removed from the site after launch.\n\nHistory \nIn 2008 MTV Networks had launched their first online music hub, meant for sharing music videos and generating ad revenue, MTV Music (also known as MTVM). MTV Music offered a large collection of music videos that dated back to the early 1980s. The library once included more than 16,000 videos, although many of these were subsequently removed from the site, as major music companies demanded significant compensation for their use.\n\nMTV Music was merged with MTV Hive in January 2012. MTV Hive was an editorial website for coverage of indie music genres. MTV had later quit their editorial music blogs (MTV Hive and MTV Buzzworthy) to focus on bringing more content to the online MTV News blog. On October 31, 2013, MTV Hive tweeted that it was transforming into @MTVArtists, a Twitter feed.\n\nToday MTV Artists hub houses the music videos from Warner Music Group and third-party content from Vevo. Anybody can search any artist and browse through the MTV collection of live performances, artists interviews, and other music related content created by MTV, VH1, and CMT. The application also relies on The Echo Nest and Gracenote for its music content.\n\nAccording to the Mashable website, the MTV Artists Platform was developed to allow artists who did not have an MTV profile to generate their own content.\n\nCMT Artists \nViacom had released a special version of the mobile app branded by CMT, it features curated country music news, music, and artists.\n\nArtists Connect \nArtists can claim their own MTV artists page by signing up. Artists can connect using Facebook and Twitter. They used to be able to also post their own music videos, MP3s, photos, and other video content, although that feature was later abandoned. Fans can donate money to artists through tip jars.\n\nReferences\n\nMTV\nVH1",
"{{Multiple issues|\n\nEmji Saint Spero is a trans queer writer and performance artist living in Los Angeles, California. Their practice occupies a hybrid space between poetry and prose, utilizing documentation, personal ephemera, and somatic ritual to queer the familiar, mapping the boundaries of collective engagement. They work closely with other writers and artists, stretching the potential of creative intimacies, sociality, and the poetics of relation. \n\nThey are 1/2 of curbAlert, a performance duo with J Shelley Harrison, since 2018; this project seeks to find embodied modes of connection with unacknowledged spaces of the urban landscape through movement and collaborative performance. \n\nThey co-founded the Oakland-based small press and poetry cult Timeless, Infinite Light with Joel Gregory. In 2014, Timeless, Infinite Light was a founding collective of Omni Commons, a collectively-run community space in Oakland, along with the Bay Area Public School, and Sudo Room Sudo Room.\n\nSaint Spero is the author of disgust (Nomadic Press, 2021) and almost any shit will do (Timeless, Infinite Light, 2014) , and they co-founded the Oakland-based small press and queer poetry cult Timeless, Infinite Light with Joel Gregory. With Lauren Levin, were Co-Developmental Editor for We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan (eds. Ellis Martin and Zach Ozma, Nightboat Books, 2019), which was awarded the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction .\n\nCareer \nSpero authored two books of poetry, disgust, published by Nomadic Press in 2021, and almost any shit will do, published by Timeless, Infinite Light in March 2014. They co-founded Timeless, Infinite Light, a queer performance art and poetry collective and Omni Commons , a collectively-run community space in Oakland.\n\nBooks \n\ndisgust (Nomadic Press, 2021) \nAn epic, fragmented poem born of a week-long performance, a series of escalating constraints that send Saint Spero spiraling into a frenzy and ultimately, a manic break. In this hesitant and hyper-confessional excavation of the quotidian, Saint Spero constructs a manual for maneuvering as a body under duress. Debased, abject, and perfectly problematic, it asks us to dissect the ways in which we are othered and the ways we are complicit in our own objectification. Introduction by Brontez Purnell Brontez Purnell.\n\nWe Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan Lou Sullivan (Timeless, Infinite Light and Nightboat Books, 2019) \nAs Developmental Editor at Timeless, Infinite Light, Saint Spero worked with eds. Ellis Martin and Zach Ozma, as well as The GLBT Historical Society Archives, to publish the diaries of Lou Sullivan, arguably the first gay trans man to medically transition. When Timeless, Infinite Light disbanded in 2019, the collective gave the fully edited and designed book to Nightboat Books for publication. Introduction by Susan Stryker. \n\nalmost any shit will do (Timeless, Infinite Light, 2014) \nalmost any shit will do is a work of conceptual poetry conceptual poetry that pulls language from mycelium studies to investigate the underground of political unrest, from its emergence as riots to the single moment of impact: a body in protest thrown to the ground by the cop. This book was published as both a paperback trade edition and a hand-bound, gatefold artist book .\n\nNotes\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\nWriters from Oakland, California\nWriters from Los Angeles, California\nAmerican performance artists\nAmerican poets\nTransgender artists\nQueer artists\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\nWriters from Oakland, California\nWriters from Los Angeles, California\nAmerican performance artists\nAmerican poets\nTransgender artists\nQueer artists\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)"
]
|
[
"Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark",
"Split and McCluskey-led OMD (1989-1996)",
"What albums did they release during this time?",
"18 June 1988, a top 20 US hit with \"Dreaming\" and a successful \"Best of\" album.",
"Did they do any tours?",
"with a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena,",
"Did they play with any other artists?",
"Love's Theme\" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White.",
"Were they with any other artists?",
"However, it was at this point when OMD broke in two. Graham and Neil Weir left at the end of the 1988"
]
| C_1d30fe7a2f554dec8fb90121acca7cfd_1 | Why did they split? | 5 | Why did Split and McCluskey split? | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | During 1988 the band appeared poised to consolidate their US success, with a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 18 June 1988, a top 20 US hit with "Dreaming" and a successful "Best of" album. However, it was at this point when OMD broke in two. Graham and Neil Weir left at the end of the 1988 US tour and co-founder Paul Humphreys subsequently called it a day, unhappy with the band's commercial orientation. Finally, Cooper and Holmes left OMD to join Humphreys in founding a new band called The Listening Pool in 1989. This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the dance-pop Sugar Tax LP in May 1991, which charted at No. 3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians Raw Unlimited (aka Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw and Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of Sugar Tax: writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e., McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries, "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away". McCluskey's live band was then formed by Nigel Ipinson (keyboards), Phil Coxon (keyboards) and Abe Juckes (drums) since late 1990. Kershaw, Ipinson and Coxon from 1992 to 1996 contributed to OMD albums and a 1993 tour. The fifth track from Liberator (1993), "Dream of Me", was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. To release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give a writing credit to White. Paul Humphreys, while no longer part of the group, co-wrote the single "Everyday". Also in 1993, McCluskey made contributions to the Esperanto album, a project by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos (then working under the moniker of Elektric Music). McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the 1996 album Universal, which featured two songs co-written by Humphreys as well as a holdover from the Esperanto sessions, co-penned by Bartos. The record spawned OMD's first Top 20 hit in five years, "Walking on the Milky Way". CANNOTANSWER | Paul Humphreys subsequently called it a day, unhappy with the band's commercial orientation. | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Cooper (various instruments) and Stuart Kershaw (drums); McCluskey has been the only constant member. Regarded as pioneers of electronic music, OMD combined an experimental, minimalist ethos with pop sensibilities, becoming central figures in the late-1970s/early-1980s emergence of synth-pop.
McCluskey and Humphreys led precursor group the Id from 1977–1978, and re-recorded their track "Electricity" as OMD's debut single in 1979. Weathering an "uncool" image and a degree of hostility from music critics, the band gained popularity throughout Europe with the 1980 anti-war song "Enola Gay", and achieved broader recognition via Architecture & Morality (1981) and its three hit singles. Although later reappraised, Dazzle Ships (1983) was seen as overly challenging, and eroded European support. The group embraced a more radio-friendly sound on Junk Culture (1984); this change in direction led to greater success in the United States, and yielded the 1986 hit, "If You Leave".
In 1989, creative differences saw Humphreys and other members form the spin-off band the Listening Pool, leaving McCluskey the only remaining member of OMD. The group returned with a new line-up and explored the dance-pop genre: Sugar Tax (1991) and its initial singles were hits in Europe. By the mid-1990s, however, electronic music had been supplanted by alternative rock, and both OMD and the Listening Pool disbanded in 1996. McCluskey later conceived pop girl group Atomic Kitten, for whom he served as a principal songwriter, while Humphreys formed the duo Onetwo alongside Propaganda vocalist Claudia Brücken.
In 2006, the band reformed with Humphreys and McCluskey working on material closer in sound to their early output; The Punishment of Luxury (2017) was the group's seventh top 10 entry on the UK Albums Chart. They have also achieved 12 top 20 hits on the UK Singles Chart, as well as three top 20 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100. An influence on many later artists, OMD have sold over 40 million records worldwide.
History
1975–1979: Roots and early years
Founders Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys met at primary school in Meols in the early 1960s, and in the mid-1970s, as teenagers, they were involved in different local groups but shared a distaste for guitar-driven rock with a macho attitude popular among their friends at the time. By 1975 McCluskey had formed Equinox, as bassist and vocalist, alongside schoolmate Malcolm Holmes on drums, while Humphreys was roadie. During that time McCluskey and Humphreys discovered their electronic style, inspired by Kraftwerk. After Equinox, McCluskey joined Pegasus, and, later, the short-lived Hitlerz Underpantz, alongside Humphreys. McCluskey would usually sing and play bass guitar; roadie and electronics enthusiast Humphreys, who shared McCluskey's love of electronic music, graduated to keyboards.
In September 1977, McCluskey and Humphreys put together the seven-piece (three singers, two guitarists, bassist, drummer, and keyboard player) Wirral group the Id, whose line-up included drummer Malcolm Holmes and McCluskey's girlfriend Julia Kneale on vocals. The group began to gig regularly in the Merseyside area, performing original material (largely written by McCluskey and Humphreys). They had quite a following on the scene, and one of their tracks ("Julia's Song") was included on a compilation record of local bands called Street to Street. Meanwhile, Humphreys and McCluskey collaborated on a side project called VCL XI, whose name was adapted from a diagram on the back cover of Kraftwerk's Radio-Activity album, reading "VCL 11". This project allowed them to pursue their more obscure electronic experiments.
In August 1978, the Id split due to musical differences. The same month, McCluskey joined Wirral electronic outfit Dalek I Love You as lead singer, but quit in September. Later that month, he rejoined Humphreys and their VCL XI project was renamed Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. The name was gleaned from a list of song lyrics and ideas that were written on McCluskey's bedroom wall; and was chosen so they would not be mistaken for a punk band. Given that OMD intended to play only one gig, the duo considered their moniker to be inconsequential. McCluskey has since expressed regret over choosing "such a very silly name". The contrasting personalities of Humphreys and McCluskey established the band's dynamic, with the former saying that "two Pauls wouldn't get anything done and two Andys would kill each other." They have further described their creative roles as "The Surgeon" (Humphreys) and "The Butcher" (McCluskey). As working class youngsters OMD had a limited budget, using second-hand "junk-shop" instruments including a left-handed bass guitar (which McCluskey would play upside-down). The pair also created their own devices, with Humphreys "making things out of his aunt's radios cannibalised for the circuit boards". Eventually they acquired a basic Korg M-500 Micro Preset synthesizer, purchased via McCluskey's mother's mail-order catalogue for £7.76 a week, paid over 36 weeks.
OMD began to gig regularly as a duo, performing to backing tracks played from a TEAC 4-track tape-recorder christened "Winston" (after the antihero of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four). Their debut performance was in October 1978 at Eric's Club in Liverpool. Finding themselves on the cusp of an electronic new wave in British pop-music, they released a one-off single, "Electricity", with independent label Factory Records. The track was supposed to be produced by the Factory Records producer Martin Hannett. However, the A-side was the band's original demo produced by their friend, owner of Winston and soon to be manager, Paul Collister under the pseudonym Chester Valentino (taken from a nightclub called Valentino's in the nearby city of Chester). The single's sleeve was designed by Peter Saville, whose distinctive graphics contributed to OMD's public image into the 1980s. The success of "Electricity" led to the band receiving a seven-album record deal with Dindisc, worth over £250,000.
In 1979 they were asked to support Gary Numan on his first major British tour. Humphreys noted, "[Numan] gave us our first big break. He saw us opening for Joy Division and he asked us to go on tour with him... we went from the small clubs to playing huge arenas. Gary was very good to us." Numan later supported OMD on a 1993 UK arena tour.
1980–1988: Classic line-up
Rather than hire studio time to record their eponymous debut album (1980), McCluskey and Humphreys used their advance payment from Dindisc to build their own Liverpool recording studio, The Gramophone Suite. They predicted that they would be dropped by the label due to disappointing sales, but would at least own a studio. The album showcased the band's live set at the time, and included some guest drums from Id drummer Malcolm Holmes and saxophone from Wirral musician Martin Cooper. It had a raw, poppy, melodic synth-pop sound. Dindisc arranged for the song "Messages" to be re-recorded (produced by Gong bassist Mike Howlett) and released as a single – it gave the band their first hit. Dave Hughes, a founder member of Dalek I Love You who joined OMD in 1980, is featured in the "Messages" video. A tour followed: Winston the tape recorder was augmented with live drums from Malcolm Holmes, and Dave Hughes played synths. Hughes left OMD in late 1980.
The second album Organisation (a reference to the band which preceded Kraftwerk, founded by Kraftwerk's original members Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter) followed later that year, recorded as a three-piece with Humphreys, McCluskey and Holmes. It was again produced by Howlett, and had a moodier, dark feel largely inspired by the passing of former Factory label-mate, and Joy Division singer, Ian Curtis. The album included the anti-war hit single "Enola Gay", named after the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The song was intended to be included on the debut album, but was left out at the final selection. The tour for this album had a four-piece band line-up, with saxophonist Martin Cooper (another Dalek I Love You alumnus) recruited for keyboard duties and enlisted as an official group member. The McCluskey/Humphreys/Cooper/Holmes unit came to be regarded as the band's classic line-up. In early 1981, readers of Record Mirror voted OMD the fourth-best band and eighth-best live act of 1980; NME and Sounds readers named the group the eighth and 10th best new act of the year, respectively. In Smash Hits, they were voted both the fifth-best band of 1980 and the eighth-hottest new act for 1981.
Howlett then presided over the recording of a further hit single, "Souvenir", co-written by Cooper & Humphreys. It ushered in a lush choral electronic sound. The song also became OMD's biggest UK hit to date. In November 1981, their most commercially successful album was released in the UK and Europe – Architecture & Morality. The group went into the studio with Richard Manwaring producing. Cooper then temporarily dropped out and was replaced by Mike Douglas, but this change was reversed by the time the album was released and a tour followed. The album's sound saw OMD's original synth-pop sound augmented by the Mellotron, an instrument previously associated with prog rock bands. They used it to add atmospheric swatches of string, choir, and other sounds to their palette. Two more hit singles "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" (which became the biggest-selling single of 1982 in Germany) were on the album. "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" were originally both titled "Joan of Arc"; the name of the latter single was changed at the insistence of the publishers and to avoid confusion. It became "Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)" and later simply "Maid of Orleans". Readers of Smash Hits voted OMD the seventh-best group of 1981, while Record Mirror readers named them the eighth-best band (as well as the 10th-best "new artist") and the third-best live act of the year. The group came close to splitting up in 1982, with McCluskey later saying, "We had never expected the success, we were exhausted."
In 1983 the band lost commercial momentum somewhat, with the release of their more experimental Dazzle Ships album, produced by Rhett Davies. The record mixed melancholy synth ballads and uptempo synth-pop with musique concrète and short wave radio tape collages. Its relative commercial failure caused a crisis of confidence for Humphreys and McCluskey and brought about a deliberate move towards the mainstream. 1984's Junk Culture was a shift to a more pop-style sound and the band used digital sampling keyboards such as the Fairlight CMI and the E-mu Emulator. The album was a success, reassuring the group about their new direction. The "Locomotion" single returned the group to the top five in the UK and was an indicator of the group's newfound sound, notably the adoption of a classic verse–chorus form, which is something the group had often previously avoided. Record Mirror readers named OMD the eighth-best live act of 1984. In 1985, the band expanded to a sextet, adding brothers Graham Weir (guitar, keyboards, trombone) and Neil Weir (trumpet, bass guitar), and released Crush, produced by Stephen Hague in Paris and New York. The success of the single "So in Love" in the US Billboard Hot 100 also led to some success for the LP which entered the American Top 40, establishing the group in the US. During this period, the band also recorded a version of "So in Love" in duet with the French pop singer Etienne Daho.
Later in 1985 the band were asked to write a song for the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. They offered "Goddess of Love", although the ending of the film was re-shot due to a negative response from test audiences. OMD then wrote "If You Leave" in less than 24 hours and it became a top 5 hit in the US, Canada, and New Zealand in 1986. At the end of this year, the same six piece line-up also released The Pacific Age, but the band began to see their critical and public popularity wane notably in the UK. The album's first single, "(Forever) Live and Die", was a top 10 hit across Europe and entered the top 20 in both the UK and US. Journalist Hugo Lindgren argued that the success of "If You Leave" has concealed from US audiences the group's history of making innovative music.
During 1988 OMD played a support slot for Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 18 June 1988. They also released the top 20 US hit "Dreaming" and a successful greatest hits album, The Best of OMD. Graham and Neil Weir left the band at the end of the 1988 US tour.
1989–1996: McCluskey-led OMD and disbandment
As OMD appeared poised to consolidate their US success, the group continued to fracture. Humphreys departed in 1989 amid personal and creative dissension with McCluskey. Cooper and Holmes then left OMD to join Humphreys in founding a new band called the Listening Pool. McCluskey recalled, "We were all in agreement that something was wrong. How to fix it was where we disagreed."
This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the dance-pop Sugar Tax album in May 1991, which charted at No. 3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians Raw Unlimited (Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw, Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of Sugar Tax: writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e., McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away". McCluskey's live band was then formed by Nigel Ipinson (keyboards), Phil Coxon (keyboards), and Abe Juckes (drums) from late 1990. Smash Hits readers voted OMD the sixth-best British group of 1991.
The album Liberator, which ventured further into dance territory, was released in 1993. It peaked at No. 14 on the UK Albums Chart. Lead single "Stand Above Me" peaked at no. 21 on the UK Singles Chart, with follow-up "Dream of Me" charting at no. 24. Paul Humphreys, while no longer part of the group, co-wrote the single "Everyday" (a No. 59 UK chart entry). The fifth track from Liberator, "Dream of Me", was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White. To release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give a writing credit to White.
Also in 1993, McCluskey made contributions to the Esperanto album, a project by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos (then working under the moniker of Elektric Music).
McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the more organic Universal (1996), which featured two songs co-written by Humphreys as well as a holdover from the Esperanto sessions, co-penned by Bartos. The record spawned OMD's first Top 20 hit in five years, "Walking on the Milky Way".
Though both Liberator and Universal produced minor hits, McCluskey retired the OMD name in late 1996, due to waning public interest. A particular source of frustration was the modest commercial response to "Walking on the Milky Way", over which McCluskey said he "sweated blood", considering it "about as good a song as I could write". BBC Radio 1 refused to playlist the song, which in turn led to high street store Woolworths refusing to stock it. McCluskey said, "I just thought: 'Screw this, I'm not going to bang my head against a brick wall'." A second singles album was released in 1998, along with an EP of remixed material by such acts as Sash! and Moby.
Post-1996, McCluskey decided to focus on songwriting for such Liverpool-based acts as Atomic Kitten and the Genie Queen, and trying to develop new Merseyside artists from his Motor Museum recording studio. With McCluskey focusing his talents elsewhere, Humphreys decided to work with his new musical partner Claudia Brücken, of the ZTT bands Propaganda and Act, as Onetwo. He also undertook a US live tour under the banner "Paul Humphreys from OMD".
2006–2012: Reformation and comeback
An unexpected request to perform from a German television show led the group to reunite. On 1 January 2006, Andy McCluskey announced plans to reform OMD with the McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes, and Cooper line-up. The original plan was to tour the album Architecture & Morality and other pre-1983 material, then record a new album set for release in 2007. In May 2007, the Architecture & Morality remastered CD was re-released together with a DVD featuring the Drury Lane concert from 1981 that had previously been available on VHS. Through May and June, the band toured with the "classic" line up of McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes and Cooper. They began their set with a re-ordered but otherwise complete re-staging of the Architecture & Morality album. The second half of each concert featured a selection of their best known hits.
In Spring 2008, a live CD and DVD of the 2007 tour, OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & More, recorded at the London Hammersmith Apollo, was released as was a 25th anniversary re-release of Dazzle Ships, including six bonus tracks. At the same time, a brief October 2008 tour was announced, partly to tie-in with the Dazzle Ships album's 25th anniversary. China Crisis supported OMD on this tour.
In June 2009, an orchestral concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic was given in Liverpool. A recording of this concert was released on DVD in December. In November and December, the band returned to arena touring as support for Simple Minds. OMD had performed with Night of the Proms in December 2006 in Germany and renewed the experience again in Belgium and the Netherlands that year. They were the headline act at Britain's first Vintage Computer Festival at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park, in June 2010. On 9 September 2010, Trevor Horn announced that OMD would perform as a special guest at the "first ever gig" of the Buggles. Their 11th studio album, History of Modern, was released in September, reaching No. 28 in the UK Albums Chart. A European tour followed in autumn.
In March 2011, OMD played their first North American tour as the original line up since 1988. In September, the band appeared at the Electric Picnic 2011 festival in Stradbally, Co Laois, Ireland. In November 2011, OMD announced they were getting back to the studio to start work on their latest album, English Electric. On 12 March 2012, the band played a concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines. In August, OMD performed to South African audiences in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
2013–present: Continued acknowledgement
On 29 January 2013, Goldenvoice announced OMD for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, on 14 and 21 April. On 11 February, OMD announced "Metroland" would be the first single from the forthcoming album English Electric. The single was released on 25 March, and includes the B-side "The Great White Silence". The album English Electric was released in the UK on 8 April and entered the UK album chart at No. 12 and the German chart at No. 10. Reviews for both the album and their concerts have generally been positive. For Record Store Day 2013, on 20 April, a 500-copy limited edition 10-inch picture disc EP "The Future Will Be Silent" from English Electric was made available, which includes a then-exclusive non-album track titled "Time Burns". For Record Store Day 2015, on 18 April, a 1000-copy limited edition 10-inch EP "Julia's Song (Dub Version)" from Junk Culture was made available, which includes an exclusive non-album track titled "10 to 1".
OMD performed a one-off concert at The Royal Albert Hall, London on 9 May 2016 to a sell-out crowd, playing both Architecture & Morality and Dazzle Ships in their entirety, along with other songs that were pre-1983. The only song post-1983 played was "History of Modern Part 1". The concert was recorded and made available on double CD right after the show. A triple LP vinyl recording of the concert was also made available. The band collaborated with Gary Barlow, Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman on the OMD song "Thrill Me", co-written by Barlow and McCluskey for the soundtrack of the film Eddie the Eagle. In October, work was begun on what was to be their 13th studio album The Punishment of Luxury, which was released on 1 September 2017. OMD toured Europe and North America in support of the album, with Stuart Kershaw replacing Holmes as the band's drummer, due to the latter's health issues.
In 2018, OMD published a book entitled "Pretending to See the Future", which is a first-person "autobiography" about the band. It mixed fan-submitted memories with commentary from McCluskey, Humphreys, Cooper, Holmes, and Kershaw. For people who pre-ordered the book on PledgeMusic, they received a limited-edition flexi-disc containing a previously unheard demo of "Messages" from 1978.
As part of the group's 40th-anniversary celebrations, a UK and European tour was announced in March 2019. OMD won "Group of the Year" and "Live Act of the Year" in the 2019 Classic Pop Reader Awards. A retrospective deluxe boxset entitled Souvenir was also announced in August 2019. The 40th anniversary collection includes the band's forty singles, including new release "Don't Go". It also contains 22 previously unreleased recordings from the group's archive, selected and mixed by Paul Humphreys. Two audio live shows, one from 2011 and one from 2013, are also included together with two DVDs bringing together two more live concerts – Drury Lane in 1981 and Sheffield City Hall in 1985 – plus Crush – The Movie, and various BBC TV performances from Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later... with Jools Holland. The boxset was nominated for "Best Historical Album" at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
Artistry and image
James Hunter of Spin wrote that "OMD set about reinventing punk with different applications of dance beats, keyboards, melodies, and sulks", rejecting the genre's "sonic trappings but not its intellectual freedom". The band found commercial success with a style of synth-pop described as "experimental", "minimal" and "edgy". OMD often eschewed choruses, replacing them with synthesizer lines, and opted for unconventional lyrical subjects such as industrial processes, micronations and telephone boxes; the BBC said that the group "were always more intellectual" than "contemporaries like Duran Duran and Eurythmics". Despite the band's experimentation, they employed pop hooks in their music, attaining what AllMusic's Ned Raggett described as "the enviable position of at once being creative innovators and radio-friendly pop giants". They were influenced by electronic artists such as Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and Neu!, as well as more mainstream acts like David Bowie and Roxy Music. OMD drew inspiration from former Factory Records label-mates Joy Division, particularly during the making of Organisation (1980). The group also recorded two Velvet Underground covers.
OMD were indifferent to celebrity status, and avoided the calculated fashion stylings of many of their 1980s peers. During live performances, McCluskey developed a spasmodic dancing style that has been dubbed the "Trainee Teacher Dance"; he explains that it stemmed "from the perception that [OMD] were making boring robotic intellectual music that you couldn't dance to". Journalist Hugo Lindgren noted that the band were perceived as "oddballs, freaks" on the Liverpool scene; McCluskey has identified himself and Humphreys as "synth punks" and "complete geeks". Gareth Ware of DIY called OMD "one of the guiding lights of British synth-pop... albeit one with a disarming naivety and warm characterful nature at odds with the sleek, chic image cultivated by the likes of [the] Human League and Depeche Mode." Critic Andrew Collins said the group represented a wave of "uncool" pop stars who would eventually "become cool" in the public eye.
Mid-1980s style change
The experimental Dazzle Ships (1983) was a critical and commercial disappointment upon release. This prompted OMD to move towards a more accessible sound on the black music-influenced Junk Culture (1984); the band also donned more vibrant garments on the album's accompanying tour. The group continued to incorporate sonic experimentation, although their sound became increasingly polished on the Stephen Hague-produced records Crush (1985) and The Pacific Age (1986).
Some journalists have rejected the group's post-Dazzle Ships reinvention, while others have expressed an appreciation for the new direction. Sean O'Neal of the A.V. Club said OMD would "give up" creatively, while the Quietus founder John Doran wrote, "It's quite popular to see OMD as nose-diving into the effluence after Dazzle Ships but the truth is there is still much to recommend." Although Junk Culture is seen to represent a shift toward a more pop-oriented style, some critics feel that the group did not relinquish their experimental ethos until 1985, the year in which they released Crush. Elements of earlier experimentation have nevertheless been observed on Crush and follow-up The Pacific Age.
Musicians have commented on OMD's mid-1980s output. Michael "Telekinesis" Lerner wrote that Junk Culture "was not something [he] could sink [his] teeth into", adding that he did not invest in the band again until after their reunion. Moby remarked, "Their earlier records were just phenomenal... a few years on they were making music for John Hughes movies, and they were good at it and I'm glad that they had success with it, but it wasn't nearly as creatively inspiring." On the other hand, Tony Kanal of No Doubt said, "[OMD] inspired us to try and do our own John Hughes prom-scene movie moment kind of songs... Junk Culture is great." Angus Andrew of Liars referred to "the complexity and mastery in OMD's later pop material", calling himself "a fan of OMD albums from all of their phases".
Spin journalist Jessica Bendinger wrote in 1988, "[OMD's] music has been colored by continual exploration... which has run the gamut from Gregorian-chant-inspired anthems of love to a union of Orchestral-Motown."
Subsequent reinventions
The McCluskey-led OMD explored a dance-oriented approach on Sugar Tax (1991) and Liberator (1993); critic Ian Peel wrote that the band "defied expectations by updating their sound and becoming, if only briefly, relevant in the 90s". The group disbanded shortly after the release of Universal (1996), on which they strained for a more organic and acoustic sound. McCluskey recalled a negative media perception of the band by the mid-1990s, saying, "At the height of indie rock and Britpop, we were totally out of fashion." Since OMD's 2006 reformation, their material has been seen as more akin to their early output.
Legacy and influence
OMD have been named as pioneers of electronic music, and one of the more important acts of the synth-pop genre; Nightshift identified OMD, and fellow late 1970s debutants Gary Numan and the Human League, as "the holy trinity of synth-pop". AllMusic's Andy Kellman emphasised the band's "inventive albums" and status as "one of the earliest, most commercially successful, and enduring synth pop groups". Hugo Lindgren of the New York Times wrote that OMD cultivated a "legacy as musical innovators", adding, "The genre they helped invent — file under 'synth pop' — proved hugely popular." The band have been recognised as playing a prominent role in defining the sound of 1980s and early 1990s popular music. In particular, "Electricity" (1979) and "If You Leave" (1986) have been identified as two of the most influential records of their era. The group have drawn comparisons to pre-eminent Merseyside act the Beatles, with McCluskey and Humphreys being labelled the "Lennon–McCartney of synth-pop".
OMD often faced hostility from the music press. Record Mirrors Simon Ludgate told how they received a "thorough tarring of the same brush" as then-maligned artist Gary Numan, but were able to weather "this almost certain kiss of death". Ben Walsh of The Independent said that the band "might not attract the kudos of Depeche Mode, Joy Division and New Order, but they were certainly as significant." Despite their difficult relationship with critics, the group have earned a cult following; DJ Chris Evans remarked, "There are fans, and then there are OMD fans. [Their] fans may be among the greatest in the world... they are devout." The band also enjoys a large fanbase within the LGBT community, which McCluskey says they cherish. Architecture & Morality (1981), regarded as OMD's seminal album, had sold more than four million copies by early 2007; Sugar Tax (1991), the record that marked a commercial renaissance for the group, had sold more than three million by the same time period. The experimental Dazzle Ships (1983), which met with a degree of critical and commercial hostility, has been retrospectively praised by critics and cited as one of the band's most influential works. OMD's overall record sales stand in excess of 40 million, with sales of more than 15 million albums and 25 million singles.
Impact on other artists
OMD influenced several 1980s contemporaries, including Men Without Hats and Depeche Mode. Vince Clarke, who established the latter group's electronic direction and later founded Yazoo and Erasure, cites OMD as his inspiration to become an electronic musician. OMD were an important act for Pet Shop Boys, whose singer, Neil Tennant, identified the band as "pioneers of electronic music". The group were revered by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Howard Jones, Alphaville, Book of Love and Ricky Wilde (songwriter/producer for Kim Wilde), and were also influential on New Order and Tears for Fears' exploration of electronic instruments. "Electricity" was an influence on the fledgling Duran Duran. The band have garnered praise from other synth-pop peers including the Human League's Philip Oakey, Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey, Trevor Horn, and Gary Numan, who credited OMD for "some of the best pop songs ever written". Within the rock genre, the group influenced then-progressive band Spoons, and were championed by ZZ Top, who drew inspiration from OMD's use of synthesizers and onstage dancing.
OMD have been influential on later artists such as No Doubt, Moby, Gary Barlow, MGMT, Paul van Dyk, the Shins, the Divine Comedy, Liars, Owen Pallett, Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, the Killers' Dave Keuning, AFI's Davey Havok, Barenaked Ladies' Kevin Hearn, Belle and Sebastian's Stevie Jackson, Spacemen 3's Peter Kember, and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, who said the group's albums "stand up very, very well as experimental pop records with the most enjoyable kind of songwriting." The band's influence also extends to country act Sugarland, physicist Brian Cox, and Steve Lamacq, who became a DJ after hearing "Electricity". 1983's "challenging" Dazzle Ships was a key inspiration for the likes of Saint Etienne, Death Cab for Cutie and Future Islands, while producer Mark Ronson was "completely floored" by the album. Elsewhere, OMD have received endorsements from musicians such as Sash!, Deftones' Chino Moreno, the Charlatans' Tim Burgess, Sharon Van Etten, Hot Chip's Al Doyle, and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, for whom the group were childhood favourites. Sash! recognised OMD as widely influential and "one of the leading bands in the 80s and 90s regarding electronic music/production".
The group's songs have been covered or sampled by acts including Gary Barlow, Howard Jones, MGMT, Owen Pallett, Boy George, Kid Cudi, Good Charlotte, Leftfield, Scooter, NOFX, Nada Surf, Angel Olsen and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. OMD are also the subject of two 2001 tribute albums, which feature interpretations by the likes of White Town, the Faint, Mahogany and Acid House Kings. David Guetta, who contributed a remix to 2003's The OMD Singles, described the opportunity to rework the band's material as "a thrill for any electronic musician". The official biography OMD: Pretending to See the Future (2018) features tributes from OMD collaborators Vince Clarke, Moby and Kraftwerk's Karl Bartos, along with peers like New Order's Stephen Morris, U2's Adam Clayton and the Teardrop Explodes' David Balfe.
Band members
Current members
Andy McCluskey – bass guitar, keyboards, vocals (1978–96; 2006–present)
Paul Humphreys – keyboards, vocals (1978–89; 2006–present)
Martin Cooper – keyboards, saxophone (1980–89; 2006–present)
Stuart Kershaw – drums (1993; 2015–present); piano (2010)
Former members
Malcolm Holmes – drums and percussion (1980–89; 2006–2015)
Dave Hughes – keyboards (1979–80)
Michael Douglas – keyboards (1980–81)
Graham Weir – guitar, brass, keyboards, writer (1984–89)
Neil Weir – brass, keyboards, bass guitar (1984–89)
Phil Coxon – keyboards (1991–93)
Nigel Ipinson – keyboards (1991–93)
Abe Juckes – drums (1991–92)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1980)
Organisation (1980)
Architecture & Morality (1981)
Dazzle Ships (1983)
Junk Culture (1984)
Crush (1985)
The Pacific Age (1986)
Sugar Tax (1991)
Liberator (1993)
Universal (1996)
History of Modern (2010)
English Electric (2013)
The Punishment of Luxury (2017)
See also
Atomic Kitten
The Listening Pool
Onetwo (band)
References
Notes
Bibliography
Houghton, Richard. OMD: Pretending to See the Future (expanded paperback). This Day in Music Books. 2019.
Houghton, Richard. OMD: Pretending to See the Future (hardcover). This Day in Music Books. 2018.
Waller, Johnny; Humphreys, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Messages. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1987.
West, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Omnibus Press. 1982.
External links
Official YouTube channel
English electronic music groups
English new wave musical groups
English synth-pop groups
Factory Records artists
British synth-pop new wave groups
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 1996
Musical groups reestablished in 2006
Virgin Records artists
1978 establishments in England
English experimental musical groups | false | [
"Split EP! is a split EP from American indie hip hop artists Why? and Odd Nosdam. It was released on Anticon in 2001. The EP consists of Why?'s You'll Know Where Your Plane Is... and Odd Nosdam's EAT.\n\nReception\nDarren Keast of SF Weekly gave the EP a mixed review, saying: \"While Split EP! provides a welcome respite from the conservatism of rap, it also sends up a red flag -- a warning that Anticon's 'alternative' might evolve into a samey-sounding cottage industry.\"\n\nTrack listing\n You'll Know Where Your Plane Is...\n Untitled (0:24) \n Untitled (2:11)\n Untitled (1:29)\n Untitled (1:50)\n Untitled (1:00)\n Untitled (2:12)\n Untitled (3:49)\n EAT\n Untitled (1:27)\n Untitled (1:51)\n Untitled (1:11)\n Untitled (1:43)\n Untitled (2:09)\n Untitled (1:03)\n Untitled (2:06)\n Untitled (31:07)\n Untitled (7:59)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n2001 EPs\nAnticon EPs\nAlternative hip hop EPs",
"Gasolin' is a 2006 documentary film directed by Anders Østergaard.\n\nThe film is about Denmark's most influential rock band, Gasolin'. For the first time since they split up in 1978, the four band members reflect upon their career and why they parted.\n\nGasolin'\nFranz Beckerlee\nWili Jønsson\nKim Larsen\nSøren Berlev\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\nDanish films\nDanish documentary films\nDanish rock music films\n2006 films\nRockumentaries\nBest Documentary Bodil Award winners\n2000s Danish-language films"
]
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