The Bee Gees were the first band that I hated. I don’t mean that to be blasphemy, but it’s really true. My mom loved the Bee Gees in the way that’s incredibly annoying when you’re a kid. She played the records really, really loud and always sang along. She was a Bee Gees superfan. She loved her some Gibb brothers.
It wasn’t until I was a teenager and actively seeking out music that my friends thought was uncool that I got how truly talented and unique the Bee Gees were. My friends were so busy with Pink Floyd classics that they couldn’t recognize that the 70s had some awesome pop music, too. But the Bee Gees were frickin’ fantastic in that specifically 70s way. Amazing harmonies, memorable lyrics, and I mean… really… let’s not forget Stayin’ Alive. I think nearly every American or Aussie between the ages of 30 and 65 can sing along with at least two or three Bee Gees songs. And when one comes on you can always say, “Hey! That’s the Bee Gees!” even if you’ve never heard the song. They were one of a kind.
And so it’s with great pop-music sadness that we report the death of Robin Gibb, age 62, from complications of cancer.
Poor Barry Gibb. Brother Andy died in 1988 at age 30, brother Maurice died of cancer in 2003 (he was Robin’s twin) and now Robin. All so young. He has a non-Bee Gee brother, Lesley, who is not famous, and hopefully still thriving.
What’s your favorite Bee Gees song? When you hear the Bee Gees, do you remember a certain time and phase of your life?
And how awesome is this song and video?
Awesome 70s photo of the Gibb brothers (Robin, left) courtesy of the AP
Very sad but not unexpected. He had been sick for a while, and he outlived his twin brother by quite a few years. One twin doesn’t often outlive the other by almost a decade.
On my iPod/iPhone are:
More than a Woman
Stayin Alive
How Deep is Your Love
Night Fever
Guilty (duet with Barbara Streisand)
I gotta go look up the Streisand duet.
Aw….sad now!