Appreciating Patti Smith, Or Not

My old friend Bob recently texted me: “If you’re a fan of Patti Smith…. Someday, over a beer, you will have to explain it to me. I have never quite gotten her popularity…” I am a fan of Patti Smith – in fact, more than ever, due to seeing her live. The first live show I witnessed after the COVID lockdown (August 7, 2021, at Surly Brewing Festival Field) was Patti and her band, and it was one of the top live shows that I have ever experienced. It was transcendent and cathartic.

I get Bob’s question – there are lots of certifiably great artists who just have never resonated with me. Bob has a wonderfully eclectic taste in music. He is very open-minded in what he likes. He is the rare old guy (we are in our late 60s) who has open ears to contemporary artists. So it kind of surprised me that he didn’t get Patti Smith. But to repeat myself, there are lots of artists who, on paper, I should like, but I don’t, so it makes sense that a musichead like Bob would have some blindspots just like I do.

I have been writing this blog since 2011 and have over 800 published posts – mostly record reviews. My primary purpose has been to try to articulate why I like a particular artist and, more specifically, why I like a specific album. It has been an unsatisfying experience. I don’t feel like I have ever successfully captured why I like a song, an album, or an artist. It clicks, or it doesn’t. Sometimes it is love at first sight, sometimes it is an acquired taste, and sometimes you lose the love. But in general, what clicks or doesn’t is unexplainable. Yet I write on.

As for Patti Smith, after the Surly show, I wrote about it and noted that her performance was a collection of contradictions:

• Organic and transcendent
• A real down-to-earth person and a rock star
• Angry and compassionate
• Humorous and dead serious
• Ragged and beautiful
• Loud and soft

Patti is a singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. She started as a poet but clearly understood that poetry needed to be performed, not merely read, and so she soon transitioned to performing her poetry as rock music. Her 1975 debut album, Horses, made her an influential member of the New York City–based punk rock movement. She has been hugely influential, per Wikipedia, she has influenced: Todd Rundgren, The Waterboys, Hole, R.E.M., Garbage, KT Tunstall, and Madonna – a pretty diverse set of musicians.

It is impossible to convince someone to like a musician or band; the best you can do is explain why you like them and recommend some tracks to listen to. Then it is out of your hands.

Why do I like Patti Smith?

• She is an articulate punk. She can emote like a punk, but she also has a fantastic way with words
• She has exquisite taste in cover songs that she makes her own, for example, her take on the Byrds’ “So You Want to Be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star“
• Back in the 70s and 80s (her artistic and commercial prime), she had an unconventional, sexy image (see Easter cover art below)
• She is a great live performer – the fact that she rocked at Surly in her mid-70s is breathtaking.
• She has aged gracefully
• She has written some truly great songs

Suggested tracks to sample:

• “Because the Night” – this is Patti’s one big hit (co-written with Bruce Springsteen).
• “Gloria: In Excelsis Deo” Smith mashes up her poem “Oath,” and Them’s garage-band staple “Gloria” to create her first hit to help spark punk rock.
• “People Have the Power” – after a long break from performing and recording, Smith comes back with a conventional rock anthem that is also her personal manifesto.
• “Redondo Beach” has a playful reggae arrangement juxtaposed by heavy lyrics about the suicide by drowning of a young woman following an argument with the song’s female narrator.
• “So You Want to Be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star” – a sample of her brilliance with covers

If, after listening to these five tracks, you are not hooked on Patti, I respectfully accept that she is not for you.