There have always been odd pairings in rock and roll. Artists who simply seemed incongruous, but still found common ground – at least musically. Don’t worry, I won’t mention the Gallaghers. They already get enough attention. Besides, musically, Noel and Liam did seem compatible. It’s just in every other way that they were matter/anti-matter. Look at that – I said I wouldn’t mention them, and here I am mentioning them. At the very beginning, no less. Don’t that’s it. For real.
I think the most incongruous pairing I can think of in the rock era came early on. No, it wasn’t Roky Erickson and Tommy Hall of the 13th Floor Elevators, though I know that’s what you all were thinking. It was Salvatore Phillip Bono and Cheryl Sarkisian, or as they were better known in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Sonny & Cher. He was short. She was tall.
She was young. He was old. Politically, they were as different as can be. And musically? Sonny had the same voice that your brother – the one who can kinda-sorta sing – has. Thin and whiny, but at least usually in tune. Cher had – and still has – one of the greatest voices of the last sixty years.
These seven odd rock and roll pairings should have never worked but found their way to do so
It worked for a while, largely because of Cher’s talent and Sonny's ability to perceive current trends as a producer. But, of course, it couldn’t last. They were too different.
More recently, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss might seem like strange musical bedfellows, but they have made it work over a fairly long period. They even survived the mysterious Las Vegas show in 2023 when Krauss walked off stage in the middle of a song and never returned. It just kind of adds to the aura, don’t you think?
Today, I want to look at one-offs. Odd pairings for a song or two. Pairings that really shouldn’t have worked but somehow did. This will focus on rock and roll, but it may branch out a bit. I will not be including hip hop for this one. Guest performers have become SOP in the world of rap, and some of them are indeed odd. But that deserves an article all to itself. For now, we’ll just span the decades – and in some cases, the globe – to find really cool collaborations that resulted in unexpectedly awesome songs.
“State of Shock” by the Jacksons and Mick Jagger (1984)
The legends surrounding this song are … well … legendary. Michael Jackson wrote it as a duet to be performed with Freddie Mercury. They began recording it but never finished. Exactly why is a little murky. The official reason was “schedule conflicts,” which we all know is one of the three classic cop outs when a project collapses. (The other two – for reference are a desire “to spend more time with one’s family” and the slightly more honest “creative differences.”)
Anyway, Mick stepped in for Freddie and completed the banging blend of disco and rock. It came out on the heels of Thriller, and Michael’s involvement with his brothers was declining. The song was a top-ten hit all over the world and helped the Jacksons’ Victory album climb into the top five in the USA. “State of Shock” was brushed off by some.
Mick’s “I need mouth-to-mouth resuscitation” in the outro does seem a bit too campy. But history has been kind. It’s a great dance number that allows you to hear Michael and Mick together. That’s worth a listen.
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