I've always been fascinated by bands that imitate other bands. Some I have seen have been downright awful and a few have sounded better than the bands they were imitating.
Musicians often live on the margins, and only a select few get rich doing it. Sometimes, wildly talented people never get their break. Conversely, plenty of mediocre talents have also become superstars. Timing, nepotism, connections and just flat-out luck all play a part. But having dipped a toe in the show business world myself, I would say a combination of exceptional talent AND the exceptional ability to sell yourself would give you the best possible chance to succeed. That or the Nepotism thing.
But even then, there would be no guarantee.
Some musicians accept they will never get big playing their own songs and make a living playing cover songs. Some of my favorite people fit into this category. You can still bring a lot of joy to the world singing other people's songs.
In this movie, our main protagonist Mike is a man with talent who has never quite caught his big break. He's a recovering alcoholic and commemorates each passing year of sobriety singing the Neil Diamond tune, "Song, Sung Blue." More accurately, he sings an "interpretation" of this song. This word "interpretation" will become key later in the movie. Faced with dwindling prospects as a musician, he decides to become a Neil Diamond "interpreter", with the help of current friend and soon to be wife Claire. They call themselves "Lightening & Thunder," and, despite a rocky start, pretty soon they are opening up for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder even joins them on stage. The unlikely duo has clearly struck a positive vein.
Everyone wants to hear Sweet Caroline. As virtually every musician I've ever known has reminded me, bands and musicians have other songs besides their biggest hit everyone always wants to hear. Some musicians have even grown to despise their biggest hits. Sweet Caroline is the default request from your average fan at the pub or the show. Bob the contrarian just wants to play Soolaimon once in a while. Thunder balances him out a bit. Let's give the fans what they want.
Misfortune strikes the family on numerous occasions. Every time something starts going right for them, tragedy seems to strike.
The movie has a lot of other interesting characters along for the ride. Jim Belushi plays a promoter, cheerleader and fan. A Chinese restaurant owner gives them one of their first breaks. He may love Neil Diamond even more than the band, and despite the fact his daughters want to hear Jodeci, he hires them and spends lots of nights singing along. Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly impersonator who is wayyy too old to be Buddy Holly, who also pitches in and helps.
The fact that this is a real story makes it even more interesting. These two misfits brought a lot of joy to a lot of people over the years. Their shows sold out and thousands of people have belted out Sweet Caroline in unison with them over the years. Despite starting all of this fairly late in life, they touched a whole lot of lives.
This movie was a little personal for me as well. My mom used to play Neil Diamond songs over and over again, and his music was a big part of the soundtrack of my childhood. Neil Diamond's music helps Mike finds a wife, family, career, and purpose in his life, so obviously it was a big part of his as well.
And I also prefer Soolaimon. But no one ever seems to know it when I've tried it at Karaoke.
But Sweet Caroline certainly endures.
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