Betty Davis has died | Hacker News Reader

Betty Davis has died

rollingstone.com

223 pointsneonate44 comments

Sad. 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

How so maligned? Because of her marriage to and influence on Miles Davis (similar to Yoko Ono and John Lennon)?

Agree she was under rated.

Chaka Khan, Mavis Staples, Bernadette Cooper etc would disagree.

Betty 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.

How 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.

Modern day search engines still aren't it seems, I tried looking her up yesterday and kept getting results for Bette Davis instead for her until I turned off all safe search features. And what I saw did not at all warrant filtering her out for sexual content IMO.

If you haven't heard her incredible music before: 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

"video unavailable" (both those links)

They Say I'm Different https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWPynScqgw

Nasty Gal album https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5HthdWlMfw

If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2B0FBdzGis

26 second video of her & band doing that song live 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

The 2017 documentary about her (54 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4HYfDDd_lA

When you listen Prince, you can always hear the influence of Betty Davis.

Damn it seems there's a gaping hole in my culture.

You are in for a treat.

Someone has put up the 2017 documentary about her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4HYfDDd_lA

Boy did I get confused when Google gave me Bette Davis and I saw her death as having happened in 1989...

Worth noting for those who don't click through to read the article that this is funk artist Betty Davis, not actress Bette Davis.

Very 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.

Tales From the Tour Bus is a delight, and I keep hoping for a season 3.

Mike 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.

..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.

Regarding Texas, this sounds kind of like the better work of Larry McMurtry. I loved 'Leaving Cheyenne.'

He also did Silicon Valley.

I read this as Betty White and was so confused. I guess I don't know of very many people named Betty.

More confusingly, I first thought of Bette Davis who died in 1989.

Yeah, given the original and the cover of the song Bette Davis Eyes, it's not hard to confuse who's who.

Me 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…

It'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.

This 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

And the song is actually titled "Bette Davis Eyes".

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