Music is certainly a point of my interest. But it is not what went on inside the artists I am after.
The main subjects of my site are songs I listen to and the unique angle I take on them - namely, comparing them to Pirates of the Caribbean. This page gives you a taste of what music I cover, the opinionated sorts of things I write, and how I make the connections to Pirates of the Caribbean.
I do this by presenting an entry for each of the artists I have parodied many songs by. I reflect on how interesting I can find bands to be, but also on why I do not tend to be much of an expert on them - namely, the sad things that have happened with many of them. It is not uncommon for musicians to commit suicide, wreak havoc on themselves with recreational substances, or have rifts between band members that end up lasting for decades. Therefore, I have written biographies for the artists I have used the most that are divided between the essential facts and the tragic or acrimonious details, hoping you will appreciate the segregation. (I know I could have used artist biographies that made it easy to skip the sad and depressing parts.)
The southwestern American rock band Gin Blossoms formed in 1987 and recorded mostly in the 1990s. Their main claim to fame is the hit single Hey Jealousy.
Founding band member Doug Hopkins was the lead guitarist and principal songwriter* (responsible for writing Hey Jealousy and Found Out About You) until February 1992, when he developed problems with drinking and depression and was sacked. In December 1993, he took his own life.
I have often noted (or made complaints) that some of PotC leaves more questions than answers, especially the second and third films. There are similarities to this situation of lacking knowledge in Until I Fall Away. The same song also makes a reference to never going to be in love again, which is also certainly relevant to the two aforementioned films.
The Californian rock band Green Day was founded in 1987 by Billie Joe Armstrong. To this day, he is the member of Green Day, generally writing and singing all the songs as well as being the lead guitarist.
The band is best known for their 1994 album Dookie, with which they first achieved commercial success (after going through a phase of being punk rockers, which was not the subject of mainstream popularity), and for their 2004 concept album American Idiot. Individual hit songs include Long View, Basket Case, When I Come Around, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and the title track of American Idiot. Their career has continued into recent years with the albums Revolution Radio (2016) and Father of All. . . (2020).
Billie Joe Armstrong lost his father at the age of ten. September, the month when this happened, is known to have given him painful flashbacks for decades after, to the point of making him regret being conscious. One of their most popular songs, Wake Me Up When September Ends, (which is not appearing on my site!) tells its listeners all about this.
Drug abuse has always been a problem in the band. Billie Joe Armstrong once went into rehabilitation somewhere around late 2012.
While albums that are exceptions to this certainly exist, Green Day songs have often been weirdly similar to things from PotC. I trace this back to the Insomniac album, where the combination of self-destruction, bleeding, anguish, and disposition being eaten away makes it so that Panic Song could have been played when Davy Jones found himself abandoned by his love. Similarly reminiscent is the song Worry Rock off of their next album after that, where there is a sentimental argument, love turns bitter in the absence of a kiss, and then a fight and open wounds figure in.
This goes on. They started getting into protest songs with the album American Idiot, and that sort of song can suit pirates, who are all about freedom, after all. Also on that album, the bad relationship where she was all alone and he felt like dying in Extraordinary Girl is almost perfect for the story of Davy Jones and Calypso, and the first line in Homecoming is My heart is beating from me
- not sure why that bore mentioning at the time, but PotC makes that worth calling attention to.
All this, and I have not even gotten to the most striking of the Green Day albums in this regard: Revolution Radio. Outlaws is even more PotC-relevant than it sounds, having love come first, then going on to broken hearts and lost souls. Youngblood features a woman who is a loner and a bleeding heart. Too Dumb to Die opens with the lines Oh oh, I love you/Oh oh, I do/I’ve got a sentimental illness for you.
A word to the wise, though: do not check out the Green Day album 21st Century Breakdown looking for songs that can be effectively repurposed - for anything other than what they were originally written about, for that matter.
The Minnesotan electronic music act Information Society released their self-titled debut album in 1988. The album produced the hits What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy) and Walking Away.
In 1992, the band planned to tour with another band called Cause and Effect, but the frontman of the latter band died before they could do so. The turn of events resulted in all plans being cancelled by both bands.
Only having their first album, I cannot provide much of my angle on the band. However, when it comes to relationships between songs and PotC, I have observed that their song Tomorrow happens to share similarities with the kinds of relationships Captain Davy Jones got himself into, starting with dying for someone, then going off into fear and hate.
The Californian rock band Journey is best known for the albums Escape (1981), which produced the hits Don’t Stop Believin’ and Who’s Crying Now. Their next most popular album was Frontiers (1983), from which one particularly popular song was Separate Ways (Worlds Apart). However, the band dates back to the 1970s, with a notable hit of theirs from that decade being Wheel in the Sky.
The best-known individual to provide lead vocals for Journey was Steve Perry. However, the band fell apart for a time during the 1980s when he spent long periods unavailable to the recording process, because he was visiting his ailing mother until she died. Then, at least a decade later, he was rendered unable to perform well by a degenerative bone condition that he found he had in the summer of 1997 (whose showing itself ruined plans for a tour). Because of this, he resigned from the band*.
Facts you may not want to knowabout Styx further down this page (although, to be fair, the two stories really are similar).
Being a fairy ordinary rock band, Journey usually can relate to PotC through love songs, bittersweet topics, and things like that (although the title track of Escape certainly suits pirates, and the song Mother, Father off that album sounds rather like the things the Turner family of PotC characters went through). One point where this starts getting weird, however, is in Chain Reaction, where someone gets changed in every way, apparently after something to do with love, and there is soul-stealing.
The Canadian rock band Loverboy released their self-titled debut album in 1980. The big hit off that album was Turn Me Loose, although The Kid Is Hot Tonite was another song released as a single off the album. The following year, they released their second album, Get Lucky, which includes the hits Working For The Weekend and When It’s Over.
The original bassist for the band died when he was just 45.
Lacking anything extraordinary about their lyrics, this band can have relevances to PotC, but usually just with the ever-popular subjects for songs of love and heartache.
The American rock musician Pat Benatar released her first album, In the Heat of the Night, in 1979. The album includes three songs that were released as singles, If You Think You Know How to Love Me, Heartbreaker, and We Live for Love. The following year, she released her second album, Crimes of Passion, which produced singles that included Treat Me Right and You Better Run. Her third album, Precious Time, was released in July 1981 and is best known for Fire and Ice and Promises in the Dark.
In the mid-1980s, she moved away from her early hard rock sound to more experimental songs, while continuing to release albums on an almost annual basis. She had a hit single, Invincible, in 1985.
The name Benatar came from a man she married in in 1972. However, she divorced him seven years later.
Pat is not especially unusual in terms of lyrics, but she has several songs about bad relationships to give me hooks.
The English pop musician Phil Collins is best known for first serving as the drummer, then lead vocalist, for the rock band Genesis, and eventually going solo during times when the band was inactive. More specifically, his claim to fame came with the albums he did in the 1980s, which produced hit songs such as the cover of the much older song You Can’t Hurry Love, Take Me Home, Something Happened on the Way to Heaven, and I Wish It Would Rain Down. Easy Lover, a duet he sang with another artist, was also a popular song.
His career continued well after the 1980s, although his albums did not sell as much following that decade. An example single of his from the 1990s is Dance Into the Light.
Collins once had a family of his own until 1979, when his wife complained that he spent too much time away from home, touring with Genesis, and filed for divorce.
And then, one of my friends talked about something (I have not read up on this, but neither I nor you may want to) about an ex-wife of Collins, apparently not the marriage I read about, as he said the divorce was somewhere around 2008. I only researched what were relevances to the Collins songs I used and did not look at what has been going on with the man in the past two decades - apparently for good reasons. I did not memorize any of the details, but said ex-wife came back into the picture somehow, and my friends and I agree that any info on what went on with Collins in 2020 is probably worth avoiding. (It is acknowledged that I probably should not just repeat the spoken word to you, but my friend reported this from an article he had just read, so he probably had it more or less right.)
Like many popular artists, Phil Collins has songs about troubled relationships, which can usually be related to PotC, although the similarities are not especially outstanding compared to what I have heard from other artists.
The rock band REO Speedwagon was originally pulled together in Illinois in 1967, though their first album was not released until 1971. Their notable success started with their 1978 album You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish, which includes the hits Roll with the Changes and Time for Me to Fly. Their true popularity started with their 1980 album Hi Infidelity, which includes the hits Keep On Loving You, Take It on the Run, In Your Letter, and Don’t Let Him Go.
In 1989, tensions between the lead vocalist, Kevin Cronin, and then lead guitarist Gary Richrath resulted in the latter leaving the band. He came back for one concert in 1998, and did the same in 2000 and 2013, but never had a lasting reunion, and then he died following surgery in 2015.
REO Speedwagon’s work often involves bad relationships somehow. These can work for the story of Davy Jones and Calypso very well, although they are not that extraordinary, considering.
The Australian rock musician Rick Springfield started to become known with his 1981 album Working Class Dog. The big hit off that album was Jessie’s Girl (though I did not parody that one, but a hit off that album I did do was I’ve Done Everything For You). Another example of a hit from him is Affair Of The Heart from his 1983 album Living In Oz. His 1985 album, Tao, had some modest hits including State Of The Heart and Celebrate Youth.
Springfield has been affected by depression since he was a teen. I shall stop the details there. If you do research on his personal life, you have been warned!
His father died on the 24th of April 1981. His 1982 album Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet includes a ballad about the event, which uses the date as its title. (However, I will say that unlike the individual covered in the Facts you may not want to know about Green Day
elsewhere on the page, Springfield was an adult when his father died. Supposed that is something.)
Rick Springfield songs can be related to PotC in a few different ways. He has covered bad relationships on multiple occasions, such as Hole in My Heart, I Can’t Stop Hurting You and Stranger in the House. The Power of Love (The Tao of Love) may not have been about a breakup, but the mention of a soul, never being the same after the relationship, and the jewels mean it is also quite fitting. For some completely different Pirates connections, Like Father, Like Son suits the Turner family, and Dance This World Away mentions a sinking ship.
Styx was founded as a progressive rock band from Chicago. Notably they have had the unusual setup of having three lead vocalists, those being rhythm guitarist James Young (though he generally only sings one or two songs per album) and whoever were the keyboardist and lead guitarist at the time. However, in the 20th century their original keyboardist, Dennis DeYoung, served as the most prominent member of the band, generally writing and singing more songs than anyone else.
The band released their first four albums from 1972 to 1974. Their only major hit from this time was the song Lady from the album Styx II. Their next big hit was Suite Madame Blue, off of their fifth album, Equinox (1975), which also includes the lesser hit Lorelei. Hits from their seventh album, The Grand Illusion (1977), include Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) and the title track. The last of their prog rock albums was Pieces of Eight (1978), off of which the most popular songs were Renegade and Blue Collar Man (Long Nights), though it also includes the minor hit Sing For The Day.
The band was considerably more pop-like at least from their 1979 album Cornerstone onward. Some songs that got attention from that album were Why Me, Borrowed Time, and Boat on a River.
Their most successful album, Paradise Theatre (1981), yielded the hits Best of Times and Too Much Time On My Hands. Kilroy Was Here, known for the hits Mr. Roboto and Don’t Let It End, was their last album before having their members disagreeing caused them to disband.
The band had a brief reunion in 1990 to produce the album Edge of the Century. They reformed again in 1995, and stayed together this time, but Dennis DeYoung has been absent from the band since 1999 due to other band members (notably lead guitarist Tommy Shaw) being unable to get along with him.
A set of long-standing problems with the band is Dennis DeYoung having an affinity for musical diversity, ballads, and songs with significant meaning, while the guitarists Tommy Shaw and James Young just want to play straight-ahead rock. This first led to ongoing arguments in early 1980, when the ballad First Time was released as a single, and Shaw, objecting to this, gave Dennis the sack. However, this was patched up quickly.
The original drummer for the band drunk himself to death when he was only in his forties.
In 1999, the band had more arguments against themselves. On top of this, Dennis caught a virus that rendered him sensitive to bright light, making him have to go off of touring for a time, and the rest of the band, against his wishes, permanently carried on without him. They then took his name off their official website, dropped some of his songs from their concert set lists, released a compilation with no songs he wrote or sang, and generally did their best to pretend he had never had anything to do with them, even though he wrote and sang most of their hits. Very childish and deserving of River Styx jokes, I call that.
Styx has often (about once per album) been strikingly PotC-like. The lengthy experimental piece Father O.S.A. off of their second album practically seemed to predict the father-son tragedy of the two William Turners, even to the point of saying said father would sail eternally.
Equinox features a song about a thief titled Born For Adventure. In the song Man in the Wilderness from The Grand Illusion, the viewpoint character is a tragic seagoing individual, who has sold his soul to where he has to question what kind of man he has become and finds it makes no sense at all. Literal treasure was covered in the title track of Pieces of Eight. Cornerstone has Love in the Midnight, where he who goes looking for a woman has the devil brought out in him and ends up asking where his heart is. The resemblances are probably not quite as amazing after this, but both Paradise Theatre and Kilroy Was Here touched on wanting to be free. The story of Davy Jones and Calypso rushed back to mind when Edge of the Century brought Homewrecker, with a broken heart driving someone mad.
Styx is famous for a song titled Come Sail Away (which is, ironically, not on my site), a certainly obvious choice for Pirates, but it pales at the purpose in comparison to several obscure Styx songs, as you see. I can say that it is enough to significantly alter your view, as both Man in the Wilderness and Father O.S.A. were notable influences in how my knack for marrying songs to PotC developed in the first place.
The Californian new wave band The Motels formed in the 1970s, but are better known for their work in the 1980s. At the beginning of the latter decade, they released the album Careful, which includes some popular songs, including Danger.
In 1982, they released the album All Four One, which produced the singles Only the Lonely and Take the L. In 1985, they released the album Shock, from which the first single released was Shame. This was the last album they released before they were disbanded by their lead vocalist, Martha Davis, who wished to embark on a solo career. (She did, however, eventually form a new band that became known as Martha Davis and The Motels.)
All Four One was actually a re-recorded version of an album titled Apocalypso, which was supposed to come out in November 1981, but was criticized by their record company for being not commercial enough
and too weird
and consequently did not come out until 2011.
Like many bands, The Motels sometimes sang about love going wrong, and that usually gives me hooks, but they cannot be compared to the likes of Green Day and Styx in this regard.
The British new wave band Ultravox were established in the 1970s, but are best known for their work from the early 1980s, with their most successful singles including the 1980 hit Vienna and a number of others that were compiled into an album titled The Collection. They fell apart after this time of popularity, but had a short reunion in the early 21st century, during which they released the album Brilliant.
The going for the band started getting rough in 1986 when their drummer was sacked at the beginning of sessions for a new album. He was successfully replaced, but the band considered the new album unfocused.
It was not as popular as its predecessors, so some of the personnel left. Not long after that, the entire band decided to throw in the towel.
A lyrically atypical band, Ultravox were not into love songs, instead tending towards unusual topics that they often only covered once. This makes them difficult to sum up, and means they are not reminiscent of other things the way other artists are. The one song of theirs that I could really hang Pirates off of was Love’s Great Adventure.