Day 88: Heart – Dreamboat Annie
I think for me, possibly the most relatable thing a celebrity has said is when Julia Fox did her Criterion Closet picks and said that she used to rent the film Virgin Suicides every week for a year when she was a kid. Me too! Not every week, but my preteen coping mechanism for being sad was my routine of getting a bag of popcorn and watching Virgin Suicides on DVD. In that film, teenage heartthrob Trip Fontaine is walking through the school and the crowd goes wild, with Heart’s “Magic Man” playing in the background.
Album cover courtesy of Mushroom Records
So I’ve been aware of Heart since I was young, but aside from hearing a few songs here and there, I haven’t actually listened to them much. Today, I thought I’d go for their 1975 debut album, Dreamboat Annie.
Heart are a rock band formed in Seattle in 1973 by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, along with Michael Derosier and Howard Leese. They’re still active, having had a few changes in the line-up and several successful comebacks after breaks from recording and performing. They were also one of the first big mainstream rock bands fronted by women. They said, “it never occurred to us that we couldn’t be in a band, we had no concept of specific gender roles. We were unusual among friends at school in that we wanted to wanted to be The Beatles rather than marry them.”
From the first moment I’m listening to Dreamboat Annie, I’m hooked. I thought it would be more soft rock or yacht rock-esque than it is, I didn’t know the band was so inspired by metal and hard rock. I was listening to “Soul of the Sea” thinking that this could easily be sung by Robert Plant as a slightly mellower version of Led Zeppelin.
It makes sense that they performed “Stairway to Heaven” at Zeppelin’s Kennedy Center Honors with Bonham’s son. And Led Zeppelin is my favourite band, women who rock are my favourite people. How was I not more aware of Heart? How did I watch this several times and not immediately go listen to all of their albums? Better late than never, but jeez.
If I had a nickel for every band with Wilson siblings that I love, I’d have two nickels. That’s not a lot, but I’d say if your surname is Wilson, just set up a band with your sisters and/or brothers just in case there’s something there. Incredible album. Dreamboat Annie might actually be a rare 10/10 for me, I loved every second of it. And they’re still going! Theoretically I could go see them live someday. I’m about to listen to everything they’ve ever made.