The Singer Who Brought Us ‘Margaritaville’ Is Long Overdue to Be Recognized By The Recording Industry
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2012 but it still rings true today, especially after the death of Jimmy Buffett.
Michael Jackson? Of course.
The Rolling Stones? Without question.
Stevie Wonder? Most certainly.
Willie Nelson? Yes.
The Beach Boys? That’s Good Vibrations.
But there’s someone missing.
When the Grammys hand out the next Lifetime Achievement Award, it should give it to an artist who has influenced the lifestyle of the hundreds of thousands of loyal people who follow him and who has created an entirely new category of music all by himself which many other singles now follow.
Jimmy Buffett.
For some reason, the Grammys and the Country Music Awards have snubbed Buffett. So, too, has the entire recording industry. For decades, it considered him a “tweener,” a sports term for a basketball player who is too big and slow to be a guard but not big or powerful enough to be a forward. Buffett was not country and he wasn’t pop. He was a “tweener.” Record companies could not “categorize” him.
But now, he’s TropRock.
“I have never, ever won an award for anything I’ve done,” Buffett once told an audience at one of his many quickly-sold-out 20,000-plus concert. “And I dot’t care as long as I have fans like Parrotheads.
“Reward ENOUGH!
Well, ENOUGH, I say. to the Grammys. Buffett is long overdue for something that has been presented to, among many others, Mel Torme, Merle Haggard and The Kingston Trio.
His concerts sell out in 15 minutes and are, year in and year out, among the top five grossing tours in the country. A legion of loyal followers, who call themselves “Parrotheads,” pour out into parking lots hours before concerts, bringing home-built tiki bars, pirate ships and even their own bands to a pre-party scene that rivals tailgate parties at any football game.
He has a career that started in the 70s and has gone non-stop since. Sure, there’s a lot of 70s and 80s bands doing reunion tours now like Van Halen and Kool and the Gang, but Buffett has never stopped. He’s toured every single year. And he sells out each show in huge amphitheaters.
He has produced a song – “Margaritaville” – that every musician in every dive bar in America plays at every gig. Plus dozens of other beach lifestyle anthems such as “Boat Drinks,” “Fins,” “Volcano,” and the legendary love song, “Let’s Get Drunk (And Screw).”
He’s released 46 – that’s fourty-six! – albums.
He has opened a chain of Margaritaville Cafes and they are so popular that the Sin City location is the top grossing restaurant in all of Las Vegas.
It’s time the Grammys recognized these remarkable achievements of Jimmy Buffett.
Actually, it’s past time.
Give it to him right now. He is the only concert I will pay the money to hear every year. I am 69 years old. The pre concert atmosphere is the best. I will in the Midwest, but have visited a number of his bars.
A couple of things… You forgot all of the charity work that Jimmy Buffett has done and continues to do. He was co-founder of the Save the Manatees organization, which is still running.
Also, the song is entitled “Why Don’t We Get Drunk (and Screw)”…….
Jimmy Rocks!