Linda Perry

 Linda Perry, the acclaimed producer, Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, and 4 Non Blondes singer, goes record shopping at Amoeba Hollywood in this "What's In My Bag?" episode. She shares some of the music that shaped her artistry -- from Mahalia Jackson and Sergio Mendes to Jesus Christ Superstar -- and recalls the moment she first saw Karen Carpenter playing drums. Linda Perry's first solo album in 25 years, Let It Die Here, is out now via Kill Rock Stars.

Linda Perry's picks:
• Mahalia Jackson - Moving On Up A Little Higher (LP)
• Sergio Mendes - Equinox (LP)
• Astrud Gilberto - Beach Samba (LP)
• Wanda Jackson - There's A Party Goin' On (LP)
• The Cars - The Cars (LP)
• Andrew Lloyd Webber - Jesus Christ Superstar [OST] (LP)
• Carpenters - The Singles 1969-1973 (LP)

Featured Artist: Linda Perry

Editor: Brendt Rioux
Executive Producer: Rachael McGovern
Producer/Director: Craig Miller
Assistant Director: Derich Heath
Cameras: Derich Heath
Audio Recorded by: Patrick Emswiler
Assistant Editor: Patrick Emswiler

Watch Linda Perry's "What's In My Bag?" episode on Amoeba.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hi, I'm Linda Perry. I'm at Amoeba and this is what is in my bag. I'm gonna reach in my bag and see what pops out first. And the first one is Mahalia Jackson.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yes, I'm gonna leave the live for single by my zone.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

An emotional one for me because long time ago I was searching through a record store in San Francisco. I was looking for Janice Joplin. I saw Mahalia Jackson, and for some reason I was just very attracted to the name and everything. So I started reading about all issues. Gospel.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Didn't it rain children?

SPEAKER_03 1:15

At the time I bought the CD, and I used to drive from San Francisco over to Mill Valley all the time, and I would pop that record in. I would just get so emotional. And this is during the time of Four Non Blondes. I was having a lot of doubt if I should be in the band still. I was like going through that stuff. And something about her voice, hearing the reverbs and the natural sounds, it just really moved me. So, anyways, when I was in that area, I was like, where's the gospel? I just immediately thought about her if I was gonna go an emotional route. So that's my first choice.

SPEAKER_04 1:50

You can't go wrong with an emotional route. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Which brings me to Brazil 66 from Sergio Mendez. My mom would play this over and over and over. My mother's from Sao Paulo, she's Brazilian. My mom just was never able to go back to Brazil, so it was like her way of bringing Brazil to her, and she loved Sergio Mendes. Even though most of it I have no idea what they're saying, they do a lot of in English, and I cannot go through life not listening to this record. So Sergio Mendez. I used all of that influence. And this record particular, I was so excited to see this record because Wanda Jackson, I think, started this whole style of music.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

There's a party going on.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

She had a whole style. Rockability wasn't a thing, I think, at the time. I think she actually really started it because they weren't going to let her play on the Grand Ole Opera because her strap was off of her shoulder and they considered her extremely risky. Wanda Jackson also dated Elvis Presley, which is amazing. And the story there that Dolly Parton told me was that they were performing together, Elvis and Wanda, and he was opening for her at the time. She went to him and said, listen, darling, we're done. You're gonna take off. That's not my bit, you know. So she knew he was gonna go really famous, let him go, and this woman I feel is extremely underrated. Oh yeah.

unknown 5:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

She did so much for rock and roll. I don't think people realize it. And fashion. And for women, her voice, that scratchy voice, when people are like, you know, more Peggy Lee and classy, I guess traditional girl next door singing very clean style music. She came in punk rock. I feel she she started punk rock as well.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:04

This record, it's my teenage years.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

I guess you're trustworthy. I guess you're trustword I need us when I need that.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

I have so many incredible memories and terrible memories at the same time, but this record just there's something about it that just brings me down. It grounds me. If we really put our mind to it. Not that this record is saying anything lyrically that makes me feel empowered, but something about the feeling of this record takes the weight of the world off of my shoulders. And I can still pop this on and just start smiling.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Let the good times grow.

SPEAKER_05 7:26

It was beautiful, but now it's out. Yes, it's all God's hour.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

When I saw this movie, at this time I'm listening now to The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Pop, Beatles, whatever, right? I didn't understand that music could be outside of this boundary of pop. At the time, it had a verse chorus, verse chorus bridge. It was very formalized, you know? It didn't do this at all. And the feeling of expression, where all of a sudden the song just goes somewhere else and it drops, and there's the big strings, the orchestration that goes behind it, the delivery of the vocals telling a story.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Jesus. I only wanna know.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

Jesus Christ Superstar, I think, is an extremely important musical for people to go back to to really understand where musicals came from. It wasn't just Oklahoma. It's so traditional the way they still try to make musicals. We need to be reminded of this story. It's a pretty impressive record.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Close your eyes, close your eyes and relax. Think of nothing, close your eyes, close your eyes.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Carpenters. Karen Carpenter is like when I was a kid, I was I had a lot of bad shit happening. And you don't really know how to identify that at all. And then one day, I think my sister brought this record home. She put it on, and I just went, what is that? Sing a song.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Make it simple to ask your heart.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

There's something dark and depressing about her tone. My heart immediately grabbed onto her because something about her tone, it identified the feeling of this dark moan that was going on in my life to her voice, and it felt very similar, but here is a sound. Like it's living in here, but now somebody's voice is giving that feeling a sound.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Hanging around, nothing to do but fry. Rainy days, Mondays always get me back. Don't you remember you telling me about the baby?

SPEAKER_03 10:35

And then one day, I might have been five years old, the TV's on, and I hear close to you. Now, mind you, I have not seen what this woman looks like. I ran to the TV and I'm looking for the singer, and I can't find the singer, and then all of a sudden, there she fucking is on the drums.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Just like me, belong to the close to you.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

It was like if you can have a mind-blown moment, it was one of those, like, what? Because you don't see women on the drums singing their pop song. It changed my whole thing. I zeroed in on music right then and there. Something about that combination of this woman expressing my emotions through her voice and her being powerful and fucking cool, sitting on drums, and a phenomenal drummer. Cut to, you know, when I get older, I'm still obsessed with her. I start researching her more, and you know, obviously she died, you know, of anorexia. And then you go into that story, and the truth about Karen Carpenter was she never wanted to be in the front. She wanted to play jazz music. She wanted to wear jerseys, jeans, tennis shoes, and be behind the drum set. And it was that forcing her feeling like she had to jump in front of the spotlight, get on stage, put the drums beside, wear the most ridiculously girly dress, you know, from the prairies with her hair all done up. It killed her. Because no one saw past this. And mind you, what are we? We're talking about the late 60s, you know, early 70s. This kind of pressure was being put on women back then, in those days, of them feeling like they had to be skinny and beautiful, and she didn't feel like she was like the other women that were, you know, in front. So it put this massive stress on her body where she felt like she had to keep losing weight because somebody made a comment about her gaining weight. You know, she just wanted to play drums.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Can't we stop hurting each other? Goddess stop, hurting each other.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

This record and this artist is so underrated because she stood for the power of women and the demise of them as well. You know, of how you can fall because you are put in a situation you don't want to be in.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

And though it's not the easy way, I guess I've always known I'd say goodbye to love.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

Thank you so much for coming in today.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 13:33

I am so glad you chose really emotional records like that because to me that is what makes it so interesting about music is how it can really impact people and touch people, and thank you for sharing that with us.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.