Musical musings | Reviving the spirit: Greenbaum’s classic returns

“I had come across a greeting card of two American Indians sitting at their teepee with a little fire looking up to the sky, and it said, ‘spirit in the sky’” recalls Greenbaum today on what inspired the album’s title track.

“I thought that was interesting, as everybody has their own way when it comes to God.

“As I liked country music too, I watched this TV show, The Porter Wagoner Show, and halfway through this show, Porter would always perform a gospel song.

“And on this particular episode, he sang a song about a man who hadn’t been down to the church for many years.

“But, one day he went to the door of the church only to find a sign saying, ‘Pastor’s absent on vacation’.

“And I thought, ‘oh boy, that’s something for a song’.”

Spirit In The Sky proved to be a precursor to what soon would become the Christian rock genre.

“It seemed to have come out about the same time, maybe a year or two earlier,” he says.

“But in terms of being that type of music put to a religious theme song, and especially that fuzz box guitar sound, it was the first of its kind.”

The song went on to sell two million copies, bringing Greenbaum short-lived fame, but in the wake of its success, he was left almost broke.

“When you record for a major label, they put up the money for recording, and you have to pay it back,” he says.

“And that’s all part of the ordinary deal.

“After the song, I kind of became what they call a one-hit wonder because the next two albums didn’t do well.

“So, I owed all this money for those two albums.

“People forget that at that time, we didn’t get much for royalties and most of the money I earned, which wasn’t that much, was from radio airplay.”

It was many years later before Greenbaum’s fortunes turned around, largely due to his song being included in many feature films.

“Eventually, and luckily, things changed when my song started appearing in movies such as, Wayne’s World 2 (1993), Apollo 13 (1995) and Ocean’s Eleven (2001),” he says.

“That started a whole new thing.

“And from then on, it was like one thing after another and things got a lot better financially.”

Today, Greenbaum enjoys being in semi-retirement.

“I’m 82 now, and I do occasional appearances,” he says.

“It’s mostly a lot of appearances to raise money for organisations.

“And sometimes paid appearances, too.”

For more on Norman Greenbaum, go to spiritinthesky.com

Before they were famous

Shane Nicholson is one of Australia’s most respected country music artists, a multi-award-winning singer-songwriter and producer, yet back in early 2001, when I first met and interviewed Nicholson, he was just a young singer-guitarist with up-and-coming Brisbane rock band Pretty Violet Stain.

The band was comprised of Nicholson and guitarist Nathan Lockwood, bass player Scott Rutherford and drummer Brad Taylor.

Pretty Violet Stain’s debut EP, Blush, appeared in 1997. In 2000, they signed to Warner Music and their major label debut, Parachutes & Gravity, which had been recorded the previous year, was due to be released that same year, but label politics saw the album pushed back until early 2001.

In the interim, they undertook endless touring that also saw them support international bands such as Fuel on their 2000 Australian tour as well as perform at the now defunct Homebake festival.

Warner Music was at the time investing huge sums of money signing up a number of Brisbane-based bands — other Brisbane bands such Regurgitator and Powderfinger were all meeting with much popularity and success, and the company was hoping to capitalise on that situation.

It was similar to what happened with grunge in the early 1990s when all the record labels flocked to Seattle to sign every band there, in order to capitalise on the success of Nirvana.

But Pretty Violet Stain didn’t last much longer, as soon after, they split, with Nicholson embarking on a solo career and the rest, as they say, is history.

Music news

Last week, pop singer Billie Eilish won the prestigious Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards.

Eilish won out over Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Morgan Wallen and other nominees. Eilish won awards in seven categories, including Album of the Year.

• Taylor Swift has finally regained the rights to the masters of her first six albums.

Though the exact amount that Swift paid for them is unknown, rumours have speculated it may have been upward of $1 billion.

• Is the ABBA Voyage show, which has extended its run, about to announce its intention to head down under?

And while on the subject of ABBA, last week the Voyage show premiered its changes to the Voyage set list with four new songs added: Super Trouper, Take A Chance On Me, The Name of the Game and Money Money Money.

• Are ’80s synth pop rock group Duran Duran about to release new music?

Posting on their social media last weekend, the group said they had spent the weekend at Abbey Road Studios in London with Chic guitarist and producer Nile Rodgers.

Duran Duran kick of their European tour this week.

Global classical music album charts

UK: No.1: Islands: Essential Einaudi — Ludovico Einaudi

US: No.1: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — Soundtrack

Aus: No.1: Piano Diary — Andrea Lam

Fun fact

Pre-fame jobs: Elvis Presley was a truck driver, Cyndi Lauper was a dog kennel cleaner, Keith Richards was a tennis ball boy, Freddie Mercury was an airport baggage handler, David Bowie was a butcher delivery boy, Kurt Cobain was a janitor, Sting did a number of jobs including bus conductor, tax officer and teacher and Jon Bon Jovi did work as a Christmas decoration designer.

Joe Matera is a local singer-songwriter, recording artist, guitarist and music journalist providing readers with all the latest music news