Blogger reconsiders The Hudson Brothers

We’ve been writing for a while now about a revival of interest in the Hudson Brothers, the rock n roll trio turned pop culture legends thanks to their unexpected turn as Seventies variety television stars and friendships and collaborations with the likes of John Lennon, Harry Nilsson and M. Richard Monda. The combination of new fan-created MySpace pages, video clips on YouTube, attention on the Internet and their work together behind the scenes on The Seventh Python film was enough to win them our 2007 Comeback of The Year award.

And now we hear that LA’s Mark & Brian morning radio team took time out from their time-killing hours of playing Trivial Pursuit on the air (either the most passive-aggressive work action in the medium’s history or a brilliant Kaufmanesque take on Godot) for a riff that went from Britney Spears’ shaved head to Brett Hudson’s short haircut to the Grammy Awards and whether the show will include a Hudson Brothers tribute.

Though we suspect they were “making fun,” M&B must be aware of the grassroots movement to boycott The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and its czar Jann Wenner’s Rolling Stone magazine if they continue to refuse to seriously consider the very influential Hudsons in the Performer or Lifetime Achievement categories.

And the movement spreads, as reflected in "Maybe I had them pegged all wrong," a posting this week from journo Erik Hogstrom’s Route 1 blogsite. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reporter, Heartland hipster and self-professed “music geek” writes about compiling an iPod playlist “full of songs my sister Inger and I would have heard on KFRC 610 -- a former Bay Area Top 40 station we enjoyed during the heyday of AM radio”:

“While compiling my playlist, I have discovered three categories of songs:

1) Songs I will always love ("Chevy Van" by Sammy Johns).

2) Songs I will always hate ("Playground in my Mind" by Clint Holmes).

3) Songs I once hated, but now I think I might like them -- but -- maybe --
OK, yeah I like them.

This latter category includes "So You Are a Star" by THE HUDSON BROTHERS.

I always thought there was something phony about The Hudson Brothers when I was a kid. I watched them on "The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show," for one thing. The kids' show also featured Rod Hull and that Emu puppet of his. I hated them. Now, more than three decades later, I am starting to think I might have been wrong about Mark, Bill and Brett. "So You Are a Star" sounds a little like Wings, which is OK.

I also now know that Mark Hudson is a bit of a musical savant. He has co-written a dozen Aerosmith songs and produced Ringo Starr, among others. Bill Hudson holds the distinction of having married not one but *TWO* of my childhood dreamgirls -- Goldie Hawn and Cindy Williams. Brett Hudson became a television producer.

So, there was apparently some talent in those boys from Portland, Ore., even if I couldn't see it at the time.