Dec 14

CBS Sunday Morning

CBS SUNDAY MORNING
 
 
CBS News Sunday Morning  is an American newsmagazine television program that has aired on CBS since January 28, 1979.  Created by Robert Northshield and original host Charles Kuralt, the 90-minute program currently airs Sundays from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time (8:00 to 9:30 a.m. in all other time zones).  The current host of the program is Charles Osgood, who took over duties from Kuralt upon his retirement on April 3, 1994, and has since surpassed Kuralt’s tenure as host.  Substitute anchors for Osgood include CBS correspondents Lee Cowan, Anthony Mason, Charlie Rose, and Jane Pauley.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
I heard the other day on CBS Sunday Morning that CD’s are barely 60% of the music market now, with most of the remainder being sold digitally.  On the other hand, vinyl sales were up to 14% last year, and it isn’t all nostalgia that is driving these sales either – a lot of young people are discovering the joys of LP’s.  Some people are now putting their music collections “in the cloud” and then somehow accessing it over the Internet; as painful as it was to lose my collection to Katrina, I cannot imagine doing that myself. 
 
(November 2012)
 
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The king of all of the new garage-y bands is probably the blues-rock duo the Black Keys. 
  
The Black Keys in fact have become so mainstream that I was astounded to see the band profiled last year on the CBS Sunday Morning show that is hosted by Charles Osgood.  During their interview, the bandmembers mentioned that their music has also been featured in numerous TV ads.  That used to be seen as the ultimate sell-out, but no longer. 
 
(January 2013)
 
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No rock music fan could fail to notice that other musical forms have been pushing rock and roll from the musical mainstream; this is particularly true over the past 20 to 25 years.  Country, hip hop, boy bands, teen pop – all of these musical genres and more arose, expanded or were revived over this period, and yet a poll shown on the CBS Sunday Morning television program still shows rock music as being America’s favorite, though not by much:  At the moment, rock edges out country by 23% to 21%.  

 

(May 2013)

 

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There is a great story in Keith Richards’ autobiography, Life about a chance meeting that he had with Mick Jagger; I saw something on TV about it also, probably on CBS Sunday Morning.  In a series called Letters of Note that was printed (or reprinted) in The Huffington Post is this section of a letter that Keith Richards wrote to his aunt about this meeting – I think the very next day: 
 
“You know I was keen on Chuck Berry and I thought I was the only fan for miles but one mornin’ on Dartford Stn. [that’s so I don’t have to write a long word like station] I was holding one of Chuck’s records when a guy I knew at primary school 7-11 yrs y’know came up to me.  He’s got every record Chuck Berry ever made and all his mates have too, they are all rhythm and blues fans, real R&B I mean (not this Dinah Shore, Brook Benton crap) Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Chuck, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker all the Chicago bluesmen real lowdown stuff, marvelous.  Bo Diddley he’s another great. 
 

“Anyways the guy on the station, he is called Mick Jagger and all the chicks and the boys meet every Saturday morning in the ‘Carousel’ some juke-joint.  Well one morning in Jan. I was walking past and decided to look him up." 

I think I also remember Keith’s saying in that letter, or telling his mother or something, that Mick Jagger was going to be famous. 

 

(May 2015)

 

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I heard the story I believe on CBS Sunday Morning; my own seething anger at the time about the whole PMRC charade had been blunted somewhat by seeing the tongue-in-cheek 2002 movie that VH1 broadcast called Warning: Parental Advisory. (As an aside, I have no children of my own, and that might have affected how I feel about it all, though I very much doubt it). It seems that little Karenna Gore (11 years old at the time) was a Prince fan, and Mom and Dad bought her the Purple Rain soundtrack album. And then the track “Darling Nikki” came on; in the context of the film, the Prince character was engaging in what might be called “slut-shaming” today: 
I knew a girl named Nikki I guess you could say she was a sex fiend I met her in a hotel lobby Masturbating with a magazine
 
This was also a central story in their best-selling book, appearing on the third page of Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society: “The song went on and on, in a similar manner. I couldn’t believe my ears! The vulgar lyrics embarrassed both of us. At first, I was stunned — then I got mad!” 
(June 2016)
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Not long after I put up my last post on (among others) punk icon Iggy Pop and his first band the Iguanas as the Under Appreciated Rock Band that month, CBS Sunday Morning had a profile of Iggy Pop in early January 2017, mentioning the Stooges and other career highlights.  I was surprised enough when the show had a piece on the Black Keys, but this really blew me away.  At one point, he was asked about how the Stooges became so popular decades after their music was recorded, and Iggy said with a big grin that he thinks the world finally caught up with him after all that time.
 
(March 2017)
 
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I have previously noted that the Black Keys were profiled on CBS Sunday Morning several years ago. During their interview, they mentioned that they frequently allow their music to be used for commercials and other similar purposes. They kept expecting to hear cries of “sellout!”, but they never came. Wikipedia mentioned: “The band continued to gain exposure through continued song licensing, so much so that they were Warner Bros. Records’ most-licensed band of the year [2010].”  
(June 2017)
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When I got a big package of Iguana Chronicles albums several years ago, the first one that I played was the California Bleeding LP (all the rest were CD’s as I recall).  Near the beginning of the album, Iggy Pop gives a little speech:  “I have no desire to continue being a failure.  I’ve already done that, I’ve achieved that.”  There are several other fascinating comments interspersed among the live performances on this album.
 
What exactly he meant by that is unclear, but it did not appear to be one of his rants during a concert.  Probably though he was talking about the music by the Stooges from a purely financial standpoint.  Decades later, the world would finally catch up – I have already noted that the Stooges were recently profiled on CBS Sunday Morning, and you can’t get more mainstream than that – but that was no help to the bandmembers in the early 1970’s.
 
(December 2017)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021