James Taylor "Never Die Young"

On episode 3 of Past Prime, Matty and Steve confront the
grit-less, flavorless, bottled water of James Taylor's 1988
album, "Never Die Young." Equal parts singer songwriter, dope
fiend and Hippie-turned-Yuppie icon, Taylor and his music are
confounding to our co-hosts. Like most of his 80's albums, "Never
Die Young" sounds both like high end children's music and low end
white R&B. It features a howling wolf on its cover but
manages to avoid any semblance of a musical howl. Try as they
may, Matty and Steve struggle to understand the appeal of the man
and his music. Worse, in Taylor's musical complacency, our hosts
stare down their very worst fears for their own middle age.
Together, we travel from Taylor's signing to Apple Records in
1968, through his famous 70s albums and into his tepid 40s. Along
the way, we get a lot of cheap jokes and snark but the singer
remains impenetrable. Matty & Steve conclude that, like Tik
Tok is for Gen Z, James Taylor was for the Boomers. To them, he
is unknowable.


To read more about James Taylor's "Never Die Young," check out
the full essay at Past Prime.