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It will come as no surprise when I tell you that I was a tragically
unhip teenager, and that I didn't get any better as I got older.
Yes, it's true; as proof I admit to owning a copy of the Starland
Vocal Band's album. I am consoled only a little by the fact that
I wasn't the only one to fall under their spell. In 1976, this
lighter than air pop quartet received a Grammy as Best New Artist.
They even had their own show on CBS, which disappeared as quickly as
the band itself. And what greater arbiter of taste do we need than
Homer Simpson, who is revealed in the
Round
Springfield episode to have been so enamored of the band (or
so drunk out of his mind) as to have their logo tattooed on his
arm?
The band is best known, to the degree they're known at all, for their
chart topping
Afternoon
Delight, perhaps the most cheerful and upbeat ode to the humble
nooner ever penned. The only other track I remember from this album is
an a capella rendition of Paul Simon's
American
Tune. Listening to it now, I can only assume that it was the
song that impressed me.
If I have any younger readers, perhaps you can use this album as a
response to your forty- or fiftysomething parents' complaints about
the crap music you listen to. As Homer himself said, "Starland Vocal
Band? They suck!"
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