Dan Loves The Carpenters

One day, my husband, Dan, surprised me. Dan informed me he likes The Carpenters. Yes, I'm talking about the same Dan whose musical preferences usually hover somewhere around death metal, grunge, anything distorted and guitar-heavy, sprinkled occasionally with a little hip-hop, Riot Grrl, and punk.

He actually owns a "Best of The Carpenters. . ." album. This surprised me as well, almost more than the time I caught him singing along to the Indigo Girls' “Closer to Fine.” 

 

 

 

For a long time, I knew he liked the Sonic Youth version of “Superstar,” but little did I realize he was a genuine fan of full on Every-Sha-La-La-La-Why-Do-Birds-Suddenly-Appear Carpenters music.

 

As it turned out, being a Carpenters enthusiast was pretty typical for us GenX rockers who came of age in the '80s and '90s.  

 

Concrete Blonde and The Bangles both cited The Carpenters as an influence. Sonic Youth, per the band's most excellent cover of "Superstar," was obviously impacted by The Carpenters as well. (Apparently, Richard Carpenter did not like the band's version.)

 

And then there is the tribute album. 

 

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20161226

 

If I Were a Carpenter is a compilation of alt rock bands from the ‘90s covering Carpenters songs (including the Sonic Youth "Superstar"), and yes, it's as amazing as it sounds.

A few nights ago, Dan missed a question about Fleetwood Mac on Jeopardy.

 

“I can’t keep those soft rock bands straight,” he muttered.

“Fleetwood Mac is hardly soft rock, Mr. I Love The Carpenters,” I said.

 

Dan started singing, “Just like me, they long to be close to you . . .” then he said, “I was listening to this awesome Carpenters tribute album on Spotify—”

 

“Oh, I know all about the Carpenters tribute album . . . ”

 

"Why . . . ?"

 

"Because," I paused. Dan gave me a look. "I needed to research it for a blog post,” I continued.

A few weeks later, we were on a road trip listening to a playlist I had created, and—What?— The Carpenters came on the stereo. 

 

Dan glanced over at me, "I feel like this is a test for your blog post, to see if I sing along."

 

"My favorite Carpenters song is 'Superstar,'" I said, ignoring him.

"Mine too," Dan agreed, "But I also like 'Rainy Days and Mondays.'"

A few minutes later, we were both belting out, "Don’t you remember you told me you loved me baby?"

 

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