From my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).
An infnite numbers of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Everybody Is A Star
Taller. Younger. Stronger. Sexier.
We wish to be many things that we are not. We wish to be in better shape, possessed of quicker wit, smarter and better-looking, wealthier, more stylishly dressed, more adept at the things that seem simple for others but impenetrable for us. I wish I had more hair. Yet for all of our square-pegged nature, a song on the radio in 1969 tells us the one thing we always need to hear: "I love you for who you are, not the one you feel you need to be."
We accept you.
Earlier in that combustible decade of the 1960s, Sylvester Stewart was a DJ on San Francisco's soul station KSOL, and a staff producer at the Autumn Records label. Stewart produced the Beau Brummels' 1965 breakthrough "Laugh, Laugh." The (perhaps apocryphal) story was that Stewart became frustrated while producing tracks by the Great Society (featuring future Jefferson Airplane star Grace Slick), and decided to form his own group rather than continuing to put up with such nonsense as a producer at Autumn.
Via whatever sequence of events, Sylvester Stewart became Sly Stone, and he formed Sly and the Family Stone in 1966. Everybody is a star. Their debut album A Whole New Thing did not establish stardom upon its release in 1967; decades later, rapper LL Cool J would sample one of that album's songs, "Trip To Your Heart," as the hook for his own hip hop gem "Mama Said Knock You Out." 1968's Dance To The Music fared better, and its title tune became Sly and the Family Stone's first Top Ten single.
Success. Stardom. Excess. Sly and the Family Stone generated hits, created influence, made some cash, and fed some bad habits along the way. The music was often phenomenal, a uniquely psychedelic hybrid that, like the Chamber Brothers' "Time Has Come Today," was absolutely rock and absolutely soul. The personal toll of this success, the weight of its numbing and high-flying rewards, would not be small. Its cost to Sly Stone in particular would be considerable.
"Dance To The Music." "Everyday People." "Stand." "I Want To Take You Higher." The gorgeously inviting "Hot Fun In The Summertime." "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin," which probably taught '70s UK glam rockers Slade how to spell. This is a great run of great singles, and that's just the singles. The albums that spawned them are acknowledged classics. 1971 brought the group another hit (the # 1 smash "Family Affair") and only # 1 album, There's A Riot Goin' On. From this pinnacle, a fall from grace was set to follow.
But: Before that. Before drugs and spiraling craziness did all the destructive things they do, the B-side of "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin" offers the dignity of acceptance, the quiet, welcoming comfort of a hand to hold and a shoulder to lean on. "Everybody Is A Star" is a casual, unassuming juggernaut, its groove so inviting, its sentiment so naturally easy and at peace.
You don't need darkness to do what you think is right. In the words of another song: This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Even as we wish for better, stronger, faster, more beautiful, a light within can show the way home. Andy Warhol said everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes. He was wrong. Everybody is a star, loved for who we are, not the ones we think we need to be.
That's what the song says, anyway. And when I see a star, well, that's the wish I'll wish for you tonight. I hope you'll wish the same for me.
With or without more hair.
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My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here
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