Type Without Thinking (Much) With Alan Light
Type Without Thinking (Much) is a new email interview series I’m working on where my subjects let their mind wander and don’t give my questions much thought. Given the strange times we’re living in, I’m hopeful this gives you a bit of a break from the news.
Alan Light is a legend in the music industry. I don’t say that lightly, and no, that wasn’t an intentional play on words. While he doesn’t slay a guitar or sell out arenas, the co-host of “Debatable” on SiriusXM with Mark Goodman (that MTV God) has been synonymous with music for decades. He’s the former editor in chief of Spin and Vibe, regularly writes for the New York Times and Rolling Stone, and has written a bunch of books on luminaries of the rock world from Leonard Cohen to Prince. Enough bio, let’s get random.
The first question isn’t much of a question. Plug as much as you can before we get bored.
I’m the co-host of the daily music talk show “Debatable” on SiriusXM. We’re on air from 4–6pm Eastern time on the Volume Channel, at 106 on your SXM dial. We’ve had to adjust from live in studio to taped from home(s), but my co-host, Mark Goodman, and I are still getting a show up every weekday, full of interviews, coverage of all kinds of music news and topics, new releases, and more. Also, I’m finishing up work on my next book — I’m the co-writer of Peter Frampton’s upcoming memoir “Do You Feel Like I Do?,” which will be coming out in October.
What’s been the soundtrack to your pandemic? Explain.
I’m relying on two things pretty much every day — listening to archived podcasts of Bob Dylan’s “Theme Time Radio Hour” and to Questlove’s near-nightly livestreamed DJ sets. Maybe it feels good to surrender the decision making to others, but I know that I can count on both of these to introduce me to stuff I don’t know, and to connect the dots in ways that continue to make me think about history and creative evolution, to surprise me and make me laugh and make my gears turn a little harder even on songs that I’ve heard a thousand times.
If the pandemic were a song what would it be and why?
“Wake Up Everybody” by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, which I’ve already thought of as the anthem of the last four years, but which resonates even harder right now with its tributes to doctors, teachers, and the elderly. “The world won’t get no better, if we just let it be/We gotta change the world, you and me.” Honorable mention to two songs that make me cry when I hear them under current circumstances — “When Will I See You Again” by the Three Degrees and “Someday We’ll Be Together” by Diana Ross and the Supremes.
What record/cd/etc. in your collection would you hide from people as a kid or young adult if they walked in your room for fear of losing street cred? Mine was Paula Abdul’s followup to Forever Your Girl.
I’m not a big believer in the idea of the guilty pleasure. But probably a Neil Diamond Greatest Hits record I had in my youth, though I’d sold it to the used record store by the time I was in high school.
What is the worst movie with the best soundtrack?
First thought was Purple Rain — a project about which I wrote a book, “Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain” — but somehow, the movie actually still ends up working despite all of its obvious and indefensible flaws. So I’ll go with Magical Mystery Tour. It would be impossible to love The Beatles more than I do, but I defy you to actually make it through the hour-long running time.
If people entered rooms with entrance music like wrestlers do what would yours be?
If I had a WWE manager, I’m sure they would insist on some kind of pun on my last name — “Light My Fire” or “Beginning to See the Light” or “I Saw the Light” — but since I’ve had to put up with that since I was a kid, I will go with “Sure Shot” by The Beastie Boys, for no good reason (Final plug: I also wrote a book about the Beasties, titled “The Skills to Pay the Bills.”)
Say something nice about Trump’s of Twitter.
It tells you everything you need to know about the guy.
Which musician is in need of an autobiography?
Though Stevie Nicks remains the Great White Whale of the publishing industry, I have long wished that Bonnie Raitt would write her amazing story. I’d love to read a book by Jack White, but not a memoir.
Who would play you in a Lifetime TV movie if it were made in the 90s?
For the indie rockers out there, it has often been said that I look like Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo. But I have no idea if he can ask, so I’ll go with John Cusack, at risk of type-casting him after High Fidelity.
Rick Moranis is finally making a comeback. Who should be next?
Fiona Apple just put out her first album in eight years, so she’s out. A Talking Heads reunion, romantic as it may seem, would be a disaster. So I’ll go with Stevie Wonder — it’s been 15 years since his last record!
You’re in charge of a streaming service of only awful 1980s music videos. What do you call it?
Since “Seen Your Video” by The Replacements is too on-the-nose, let’s go with one of the great cross-genre unifiers of the era — call it “BigHair” (or maybe “SkinnyTie”).
Well Done!
Jon Chattman is published author of such books as Moving Foreword, Sweet ‘Stache, Superfly: The Jimmy Snuka Story, and How the Red Sox Explain New England. He is the creator of the informal music series A-Sides, has his own social media marketing firm Moving Forward Consulting, but above all else, is a proud dad.
