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Betty Davis has died
- mootzville 5y ago
- neonate 5y agoIf you haven't heard her incredible music before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpuDoR_L0M0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpuDoR_L0M0 Edit: that link works for me but if not, maybe this one will work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IhCCtcEEFU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IhCCtcEEFU
- yesenadam 5y ago"video unavailable" (both those links) They Say I'm Different https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWPynScqgw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWPynScqgw Nasty Gal album https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5HthdWlMfw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5HthdWlMfw If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2B0FBdzGis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2B0FBdzGis 26 second video of her & band doing that song live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvRo1AUeAfM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvRo1AUeAfM Her 4th album, Is it Love or Desire?, recorded 1976, released 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfV9ZO_CFyA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfV9ZO_CFyA The 2017 documentary about her (54 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4HYfDDd_lA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4HYfDDd_lA
- nabla9 5y agoWhen you listen Prince, you can always hear the influence of Betty Davis.
- dinero_rojo 5y agoVery sad to see her go. Mike Judge's (of King of the Hill and Idiocracy fame) Tales From the Tour Bus episode on her was excellent.
- listenallyall 5y ago
- lotophage 5y ago
- wgj 5y agoTales From the Tour Bus is a delight, and I keep hoping for a season 3.
- hunterb123 5y agoMike Judge knows how to portray culture. Every thing he creates, including his satire, is so accurate. As someone growing up in a small Texas town, KOTH is right on the money. As someone in the software industry, Silicon Valley is right on the money.
- kerneloftruth 5y ago..and don't forget Office Space. He has savant-like abilities to observe and reflect personalities and society. True genius, and much under-appreciated. I, too, grew up in Texas (in the 'metroplex') and really love his portrayal of it all. His insights and satire aren't hateful or spiteful; but rather more playful. KOTH made me more proud and happy to be a Texan, in fact.
- hodgesrm 5y agoRegarding Texas, this sounds kind of like the better work of Larry McMurtry. I loved 'Leaving Cheyenne.'
- 5y ago
- irrational 5y agoI read this as Betty White and was so confused. I guess I don't know of very many people named Betty.
- conductr 5y agoMe too and I was confused why the news just made it here, thought this must be a great Rolling Stones article to be trending on HN 5-6 weeks after she passed. Then, oh, nope, that’s not Betty white…
- singlow 5y agoMore confusingly, I first thought of Bette Davis who died in 1989.
- mc32 5y agoYeah, given the original and the cover of the song Bette Davis Eyes, it's not hard to confuse who's who.
- ghaff 5y agoIt's (at least mostly) a diminutive for Elizabeth (or Elisabeth more recently) but Elizabeth has declined a lot in the past few decades. I'd also (very anecdotally) observe that diminutives like Liz have probably become more popular than Betty.
- jayzalowitz 5y ago
- dang 5y agoPlease don't post unsubstantive comments here.
- neonate 5y agoSomeone has put up the 2017 documentary about her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4HYfDDd_lA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4HYfDDd_lA
- worik 5y agoSad. Love her music. So under rated and so maligned She was too far ahead of her time. The Rock'n'Roll world was not ready for such an independent, sexual, and black woman in the 1970s
- oregano 5y agoHow so maligned? Because of her marriage to and influence on Miles Davis (similar to Yoko Ono and John Lennon)? Agree she was under rated.
- yucky 5y agoChaka Khan, Mavis Staples, Bernadette Cooper etc would disagree.
- zeruch 5y agoBetty predates Chaka and Bernadette (and Chaka admits to influence from Betty), and Mavis was considerably prudish compared to the stage antics of Betty. Betty's gravity on Miles alone would be enough to guarantee her iconic status, but her overall body of work is significant for its overall influence.
- bogomipz 5y agoHow did you figure she was "maligned" exactly? She was extremely well-respected and well-connected. She wrote the tracks for the Commodores that got them signed to Motown Records as well as wrote "Uptown for the Chambers Brothers. And this was in the 60's long before she ever met Miles. Barry Gordy even offered her a job as a songwriter for Motown. She put out her first album and had the Pointer Sisters singing backup and Sly and the Family Stone's rhythm section backing her. You don't get that type of backing band on your debut record without a lot of respect. I mean Muhammad Ali and Richard Pryor were fans and would turn up at her shows. Also I don't believe she ever saw herself as even part of the Rock and Roll world, she was straight up Funk.
- whocares34y45y 5y ago
- dang 5y agoYou may be under a misimpression of what's on topic here. Nothing has changed. HN has always been for posts that gratify intellectual curiosity, on literally any topic. Betty Davis is interesting because of her music, her story, and her historical significance. Of course, no post gratifies everyone's curiosity—the front page is an amalgam of a lot of people's different tastes. If this topic isn't to yours, there are plenty of others to look at. If you'd please do that instead and refrain from posting unsubstantive comments, we'd appreciate it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- teddyh 5y ago
- Apocryphon 5y agoThat guideline probably should be revised, all manner of tech news is covered on television these days.
- dang 5y agohttps://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20spirit%20letter%20law&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
- dang 5y agoNote that word probably (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4922426 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4922426). Betty Davis is hardly the epitome of a TV news story.
- teddyh 5y ago
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoWorth noting for those who don't click through to read the article that this is funk artist Betty Davis, not actress Bette Davis.
- tyingq 5y ago
- TedShiller 5y ago
- Kye 5y agoI'm sure a plausible argument could be made, but nothing in HN's guidelines requires it.
- pyuser583 5y ago
- m348e912 5y agoThis is unrelated on so many levels but I was today years old when I learned that it wasn't Rod Stewart that sung "Betty Davis Eyes" Though I was aware the song was about actress Ruth "Betty" Davis, not singer Betty (Mabry) Davis
- guilhermejordan 5y agoAnd the song is actually titled "Bette Davis Eyes".
- helloworld11 5y agoBoy did I get confused when Google gave me Bette Davis and I saw her death as having happened in 1989...