Information found on this page is furnished by Joe Bine. The article was printed incomplete in the magazine, which is reflected in the abrupt ending.
Richard Carpenter remembers watching an instalment of Our World, an acclaimed but short-lived ABC documentary series that aired a little over a decade ago. In a segment recapping the year 1970, the Carpenters wistful ballad Close To You was used as an audio backdrop to the film footage of B52s dropping bombs over Cambodia.
"It was an interesting juxtaposition," recalls Carpenter, noting the ironic intent of pairing one of his groups romantic pop hits with images reflecting the strife and controversy that was tearing the United States apart at the time.
The soft airy and immensely popular music of the Carpenters really did stand in stark contrast to the political mood and the increasingly rebellious rock that was gripping young America in the early-mid 70s. While the heavy metal was spawning and the Stones where singing about drugs and decadence, the brother sister team of Karen and Richard Carpenter offered melodic pop songs that pulled at the heartstrings. While John and Yoko protested the war. The Carpenters played the White House after president Richard Nixon, asked the Downey California duo to perform at a state dinner honoring German Chancellor Willie Brandt.
Hipsters and Revolutionaries sneered at the Carpenters squeaky clean image. Critics laughed them off as musical lightweights. The group responded by racking up 20 top-40 hits and establishing themselves as a quintessential middle American pop group capable of appealing to listeners from the age of six to sixty.
By the late 70s the stream of hits had slowed to a trickle. In 1983 the group came to a halt when Karen died of a heart attack caused by anorexia nervosa. She was just 33 years old.
Removed from the cultural stigmas that surrounded the duo in the 70s, the Carpenters music has since grown in stature. Some critics and artists (like Chrissie Hynde and Madonna ) have acknowledged the understated beauty of Karen Carpenter's melancholy singing, Richard's classy and refined work as the pair's producer, arranger and sometimes songwriter has also come to greater light in the face of a slew of overwraught ballads that have been unleashed in the last twenty years by the likes of Barry Manilow and Celine Dion. He was recently named one of the 500 top producers ever by Billboard and his arrangements have been studied at numerous University music departments, including Stanford and the Berkley school of music.
In 1994 artists including Sonic Youth, Sheryl Crow and Matthew Sweet contributed to If I Were A Carpenter. A Carpenters tribute album. In January VH1, PBS, and A&E all aired documentaries on the group.
Recently, Richard Carpenter released Pianist, Arranger, Composer, Conductor, an album of orchestral versions of Carpenters songs. It was his first album since Time. His debut solo project of 11 years ago.
Carpenter, 51, recently talked to Bam about Pianist, Arranger, Composer, Conductor, Karen and how the Carpenters have been interpreted and misinterpreted over the years.
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Last changed: Sat Sep 26 12:36:33 EDT 1998