Old artist/young artist collaborations

[NORTHCOAST]

I was just reading in Rolling Stone how U2 met up with Green Day to record a song to help in Hurricane Katrina relief. It got me thinking about collaborations between veteran A-List artists and younger artists. I know it's a stretch to call Green Day "younger artists". But they are from a different generation of music and certainly are not in the same league as U2 in anyone's book. I wondered whether these type of collaborations are good for the older artists or if they drift into the territory of old guys trying to stay young and hip by associating themselves with younger artists. Can you name other May-December collaborations and whether you think it was beneficial to the bands involved? The one that jumps out immediately is the Carlos Santana/Rob Thomas collaboration on Smooth. Huge hit that elevated both artists.

The Aerosmith/Run DMC collaboration on "Walk this Way". Run DMC seemed to garner more stature (not to mention radio play on Pop stations) by getting Aerosmith to sign on to their remake, and Aerosmith came off as cool and on top of the hip hop trend.

[vinyl]

Steven Tyler did songs with Christina Milian [well for the Be Cool movie, haha], P!nk (Misery) and Sarah Hudson (I Know).

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

In that same vein, Duran Duran and Justin Timberlake are supposed to be doing a song or some songs on Duran Duran's upcoming studio album.

[SAY IT RIGHT]

Madonna & Britney!

[MyLastView]

There's been a rumor that Madonna & Lindsay Lohan will be doing a duet for Lindsay's 3rd album...

I hope it isn't true.

[NORTHCOAST]

But have the above collaborations been good for both artists?

[babyboylrtm]

Madge and Brit= Like A Virgin!

[tico]

For Aerosmith and Santana, their collaborations with younger artists have paid huge dividends for them. Aerosmith, being the rock titans that they were in the 70s, were relatively dormant in the 80s until their collaboration with Run DMC. And because of the 1986 version of "Walk This Way" got airplay on urban radio, even black audiences got some exposure to Aerosmith, though my guess is that they got very minimal gains from black audiences. Carlos Santana's career was even more dormant until Rob Thomas came around. Granted, Santana hasn't had as many hits in the seven years since "Smooth" as Aerosmith has had since "Walk This Way" in '86, but "Smooth" had an advantage in that the song was much more accessible to other formats than WTW. Also, MTV was in more homes in 1999 than 1986 and the Hispanic population in America was much larger in 1999 than 1986. You may remember, too, in 1999 that Latin-flavored music was hot then, with songs from Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez paving the way for Santana. It also helps, too, that Rob was still riding the wave of popularity from his own band, Matchbox 20, one of the most popular bands of the latter half of the 90s.

[johnm1120]

Probably the biggest one this year was Brad Paisley & Dolly Parton.  The song gave Dolly her first top 5 country hit in 15 years (and I believe the song hit #1).



Others:
Santana comes to mind for me as well with Rob Thomas, Product G&B, Michelle Branch, Alex Band, et al.

Celine Dion's LTAL album was on both sides.  She collaborated with legends like The BeeGees, Barbra Streisand, Pavoratti and Carole King.  On Treat Her Like a Lady, she worked with Diana King & Brownstone.  The song then got performed on the Essence awards. 

Gretchen Wilson had a collab with Merle Haggard this year.

[jaxxalude]

northcoast said:

I wondered whether these type of collaborations are good for the older artists or if they drift into the territory of old guys trying to stay young and hip by associating themselves with younger artists.

There's also the flipside: younger artists soughting after status and credibility by collaborating with an established (if somehow, in some cases, faded) act.

[NORTHCOAST]

jaxxalude said:

northcoast said:

I wondered whether these type of collaborations are good for the older artists or if they drift into the territory of old guys trying to stay young and hip by associating themselves with younger artists.

There's also the flipside: younger artists soughting after status and credibility by collaborating with an established (if somehow, in some cases, faded) act.

So true. Plus, in the case of Carlos Santana it seemed like the later collaborations never were as monumental as the Smooth hit. So in comparison the other artists may be seen by some as trying to replicate the Rob Thomas formula but falling short by comparison.

It is interesting too how some artists are multi-Grammy winners and have sold tons of albums, but are now viewed as has beens by the younger buying public. People like Billy Joel, Phil Collins, Paul Simon, Hall & Oats, etc. But some younger artists still look to these artists as their idols and would love to collaborate with them. But it probably would be viewed as a ploy to get a hit record, when in reality it is a dream come true for the younger artist.

[drock89]

Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire sang "Does He Love You" live a few times. Kelly will also be on Reba's upcoming duets album, due out sometime in the spring of 2007.

I found it on YouTube. Just click here to watch. Pretty impressive! :)

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

We can add Ray J. and Whitney Houston to that list. They just did a track together.

[Nick]

northcoast said:

But have the above collaborations been good for both artists? 

We will see in 2007 in Duran Duran's case. Their new CD is expected in the first quarter.

I'm hoping they score a big hit.

[johnm1120]

Gloria Estefan & 'N Sync just came to mind. Gloria was 42, Justin was 18. It did give Gloria her first top 40 hit in 3 years and got her her first TRL #1 hit, but it was the lowest charting single of 'N Sync's career on Pop coming in at #21.

The song did hit #2 on the Hot 100 ('N Sync's 2nd biggest hit on the Hot 100 next to IGBM) though and was nominated for an academy award.

[Minimalism]

Ray Charles & Norah Jones, and they won ROTY at the Grammies.

[joker]

A few others that came to mind:

- Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson.
- Puff Daddy & Jimmy Page.
- Elton John & LeAnn Rimes.

[derek]

Elton John and Eminem :)

[CookyMonzta]

Al B. Sure and Diana Ross.  I forgot the name of the song, but it was on Al B.'s album (it went gold, by the way), and it went to #4 on the R&B charts in 1991.  He was 23, she was 47.

And for good measure, if Steven Tyler is on Fantasia's new album, this will be a huge age difference, indeed; 58 vs. 22.