Dwight Twilley - leader of The Dwight Twilley Band - passed away this week from a traffic accident after suffering a stroke while driving. (For a more complete story, check Dwight Twilley Dies at 72 - The L.A. Times.)
The Dwight Twilley Band (that’s Dwight and drummer/co-lead singer Phil Seymour doing the sublimely sung & placed “ooooooo’s” in Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers “American Girl”) was a rarity among 1970’s & 80’s power-pop bands in that they actually had hit records (however fleetingly): 1975’s “I’m On Fire” and Twilley’s solo tune “Girls” in 1984.
When I was employed at Ace In The Hole Music from 2000 to 2010 it seemed like there was always a Dwight Twilley Band album in our bargain vinyl bins, most often 1977’s Twilley Don’t Mind on Arista Records, and I can’t tell you how many kids I turned onto that record by convincing them to plonk down their hard-earned 2 to 3 dollars for the disc. (It’s possible that Joe Peppercorn - then of Mrs. Children, now of The Whiles and Sgt Peppercorn’s Beatles Marathon fame - was one of those kids. He might have already known of them, but I’m pretty sure I pointed him at that album.)
Anyway, I’m not gonna belabor any points here about power-pop and how it never got a fair shake on American radio among a plethora of corporate-rock acts of the late-70’s - Styx, Journey, Foreigner; among others of their ick (ooops, sorry, I meant ilk; no, wait, I did mean ick). I’m just gonna let The Dwight Twilley Band’s music do the talking.
RIP, Dwight; you will definitely be missed.
ps. Pencil Storm readers, please keep in mind that while 70-something multi-millionaires Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones are taking in hundreds of your dollars for the privilege of seeing them (and more power to ‘em if they can get it) there are 70-something rockers in our hometown of Columbus, OH. (Willie Phoenix and Jim Johnson come to mind) who - just like Dwight Twilley before he passed - are still playing just for the love of rock & roll.
The Twilley Band’s first hit; peaking at number 16 in 1975.
(Lower than The Raspberries biggest hits but higher than anything from Big Star, two other 70’s power-pop bands I worshipped.)
The (unsuccessful) follow-up single to “I’m On Fire”; nonetheless a sublime slice of sweet power-pop confection.
Two tunes from the Twilley Don’t Mind LP, the first featuring guest star Tom Petty on bass.
Dwight Twilley’s solo hit from 1984.
(Oddly, this song also peaked - like “I’m On Fire” - at number 16 on the Billboard Singles Chart.)
Ricki C. turned 71 years old earlier this summer. His first favorite rock & roll song was Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” when he was five years old, riding in his sainted Italian father’s Oldsmobile. He figures his last favorite rock & roll song will be by either Elliott Murphy or Ian Hunter, sometime in the future.