{"id":1411,"date":"2023-02-09T04:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T04:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.justsheetmusic.com\/blog\/?p=1411"},"modified":"2023-02-09T04:00:07","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T04:00:07","slug":"kylie-minogue-her-story-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.justsheetmusic.com\/blog\/other\/kylie-minogue-her-story-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Kylie Minogue: Her Story So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Kylie Minogue: Her Story So Far<\/p><\/div>\n

Kylie Minogue, a global music sensation who, though she hasn’t made as big a mark in the U.S. as she might have hoped, has been a star pretty much everywhere else for more than a quarter century now, has been in the news of late for two reasons. First, she signed a management contract with Roc Nation, a music label headed by Jay-Z.\u00a0 He might at last secure her props from the \u2018States.<\/p>\n

Second, she rocked a striking mustard-yellow dress at a pre-Grammy Awards event<\/a> this month. These are surely good reasons for a bit of a trip down memory lane.<\/p>\n

When Kylie first appeared up on the music scene, she was just another dime-a-dozen pop princess, doing a song that was already then (in 1987) achingly familiar, The Loco-Motion.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Kylie\u2019s Loco-Motion<\/em> is not in any way an improvement upon that of Little Eva in 1962, [recorded six years before Kylie\u2019s birth, and seven years before the birth of Shawn Corey Carter, aka Jay-Z] and I have to say, probably reflecting my own generational biases all too well here, that the definitive version remains that of Grand Funk Railroad<\/a> in 1974. One odd change in lyrics does set Minogue\u2019s version apart, though. Instead of motion \u201clike a railroad train\u201d she proposes motion \u201clike a railway<\/em> train.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Big Screen<\/h3>\n
\"\"

The Delinquents (1989)<\/p><\/div>\n

Minogue has performed in several movies. I\u2019ll mention only three here. Her first role was in the 1989 flick \u201cThe Delinquents,\u201d as Lola Lovell. This whole movie was a piece of young-lovers-are-so-cute escapism, in which the singer played a teenager in the Australian town of Bundaberg in 1950. Her character becomes pregnant by \u201cBrownie\u201d Hansen (played by American actor Charlie Schlatter). Lola and Brownie run away from their home town in expectation that that way they can have the baby together and live happily ever after without interference from their parents or the welfare agencies.\u00a0 After various melodramatic twists and turns, they are to be found back at home and married in a proper wedding with both of their families in attendance.<\/p>\n

Minogue sang \u201cTears on My Pillow<\/a>\u201d for the soundtrack.\u00a0 \u201cTears\u201d is a genuine period doo-wop<\/a> song, done back in the day by Little Anthony<\/a>.\u00a0 It was the work of composers Sylvester Bradford and Al Lewis. You cannot listen to Little Anthony doing this without ingesting the whole doo-wop era. It\u2019s in the background, it\u2019s in the foreground, and it\u2019s around the sides.<\/p>\n

Here, though, is how Minogue did it<\/a>. And you can see, even in the background of the track the Little Anthony type of Doo-Wop sound is only a spectral presence. Meanwhile in the foreground Kylie\u2019s own singing is something else entirely. And peeking out from around the sides? \u2013 more than a hint of Olivia Newton-John of Grease<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Petra Von Kant<\/h3>\n

In 1996, Minogue got involved in something a bit campier. She was Dr. Petra von Kant in Bio-Dome<\/em>.\u00a0 This movie was an effort at starting a Bill-and-Ted type comedy pairing, in which the characters Bud and Doyle would provide the laughs and various straight men and straight women would chew up the scenery. But those central characters, played by Pauly Shore and Steven Baldwin respectively, stunk up the joint, so this movie and the whole idea of a franchise disappeared quickly. Minogue called it her worst career move.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, it did give the world this classic moment.<\/a> By this time clearly the chomper of that carrot was no longer an interchangeable pop princess. She was doing her own thing. Sometimes, when you do that, it doesn\u2019t work. But if you\u2019re brave, you plough on.<\/p>\n

The soundtrack of Bio-Dome <\/em>is as easy to forget as the movie, and Minogue\/von Kant made no contribution to that.<\/p>\n

Dance Floor Diva<\/h3>\n

\"\"Ah, but from here on her career is more of a triumphal progression than a struggle. In the 21st century, Minogue has been carving out her considerable market share of the dance floors of the world. In 2002 she released \u201cCan\u2019t Get You Out of My Head<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 The video for this song has its own attractive weirdness, but it\u2019s the music itself, the hypnotic techno-beat and the almost-as- hypnotic chanted chorus that make this a memorable booty-shaker. It was all over the radio waves in the U.S. Or maybe it just seemed that way at the time; because the chorus is so hard to \u2026 well \u2026 get out of one\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

\"\"In 2004 Minogue advanced her dance floor diva cred, winning the Grammy for Best Dance Recording for \u201cCome Into My World.\u201d<\/a> It beat out formidable competition. The other nominees for that award that year included two other career-extension marvels: Cher, \u201cLove One Another,\u201d<\/a> and Madonna<\/a>, \u201cDie Another Day.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Billboard<\/em> magazine, in a piece written that January, just after the nominees were announced, praised the selection as a fair reflection of the \u201cdiversity that exists in clubland,\u201d and quoted Ron Slomowicz, a DJ based in Nashville, Tenn.,<\/a> who had said, \u201cIt\u2019s as if those doing the voting actually know what\u2019s going on in dance music.\u201d\u00a0 Grudging praise, but frankly Slomowicz sounds like the sort of hipster to be found in any field, which can once in a while hand out such grudging praise and knows it will stand out from a background noise of carping.<\/p>\n

She Has<\/em> Been So Lucky<\/h3>\n

\"\"In 2011 Kylie was on tour, the Aphrodite \u2013 Les Folies<\/em> tour, reviewed here<\/a>.\u00a0 The critic for The Guardian <\/em>was not impressed, and here (in contrast to Slomowicz\u2019s comment for Billboard<\/em>) one gets the impression not of faint praise as hip praise, but of faint praise as understated condemnation.\u00a0 \u201cKylie’s career has never been based on gritty realism but this latest production, themed loosely around Greek mythology, opens up new frontiers in high camp.\u201d\u00a0 And so forth.<\/p>\n

Still: what did he know? Triumphal progressions don\u2019t depend on critics. This tour did 72 shows around the world in 52 cities and earned more than $58 million.<\/a> High camp sells. Santiago Felipe of The Village Voice<\/em> said of one of these shows that Minogue \u201cradiated at maximum wattage throughout the evening.\u201d And in November of that year, the Australian Recording Industry Association inducted her into its ARIA Hall of Fame<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Personally, I just want to say I wish Minogue and her new managers well in all her and their future endeavors. Despite Bio-Dome<\/em>, I have high hopes upon learning that an upcoming movie is in the works. She is to be featured in a musical romance called Walking on Sunshine.<\/a><\/p>\n

And I\u2019ll end by coming full circle, linking you to a performance of one of her early hits, \u201cI Should Be So Lucky.\u201d<\/a> She was doing a girl-next-door thing here.<\/p>\n