Tragic Jill Sobule News
Plus new/old Bruce cut and the usual political cartoons.
Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre.” Now watch trailer for acclaimed 2025 film “The Atomic Bowl.” Before all that, he was a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy. At Blue Sky and Twitter: as @gregmitch. You can still subscribe to this newsletter for FREE. Sustain this newsletter by ordering one of his books.
Starting with music today, here’s the latest cut, “Faithless,’ just out from that forthcoming mega-package of unreleased tunes from Bruce Springsteen—this one, they say, from an unproduced movie long ago.
Yesterday, I wrote about the appearance of John Cale and Maggie Rogers on John Mulaney’s live Netflix show but did not have video of the song “Shark-Shark” from his 2024 album. Now here it is, in all its updated (if silly) Velvet Underground glory.
Now, shocking news last night, that eclectic (and often political) singer-songwriter Jill Sobule had died in a house fire in Minneapolis at the age of 66. And she was on the verge of an interesting fresh creative turn behind a new musical. An outpouring of sadness and appreciation on social media last night from friends and collaborators suggests she was a deeply engaging and swell person. One of dozens was Tom Morello: “Rest in peace beloved @jillsobule. My dear friend and comrade for over 20 years we played many good shows together for many good causes.”
I saw her live at a local club long ago and she was indeed a lot of fun. You may not be very familiar with her, so from Hollywood Reporter:
Jill Sobule, the singer-songwriter behind “I Kissed a Girl,” the first openly gay track to break into the Billboard Top 20, has died. She was 66.
Sobule died Thursday in a house fire while staying with friends in a Minneapolis suburb, her manager, John Porter, told The Hollywood Reporter. The friends “lost Jill, their house and their dogs,” he added.
The Denver native broke into the music industry in 1990 with her debut album, Things Here Are Different. Five years later, she released Jill Sobule, which included her 1995 song “I Kissed a Girl,” which is regarded as the first openly LGBTQ+ track to land atop the Billboard Top 20. The album also featured “Supermodel,” which was notably featured in the Clueless soundtrack.
Sobule was most recently working on her autobiographical musical F*ck 7th Grade. The show was a New York Times Critic’s pick and nominated for a Drama Desk award. An original cast recording of F*ck 7th Grade is set for release June 6 alongside a 30th anniversary Jill Sobule vinyl with her hit tracks “I Kissed a Girl” and “Supermodel.”
Here she does live her big hit “I Kissed a Girl.”
One of her many topical songs, also live, “America Back.”
“San Francisco”
She also did a lot of covers, with Warren Zevon a favorite, and here Neil Young’s “Down By the River,” with John Doe.
She even wrote and sang this for an episode of “The Simpsons,” about “Marge the Lumberjill.” Don’t miss:
Humpty Trumpty Had a Big Fall
Even Ann Coulter was moved to tweet yesterday (and see Mike Luckovich below): “Would it be possible to have a cabinet meeting without the Kim Jong-il style tributes?”
Steve Brodner:
Thanks for the post on Jill Sobule.
I've seen her a number of times, she was always getting out there, wherever she could, to play.
She was funny, witty and honest.
Thank you for your tribute to the wonderful Jill Sobule. I've always especially loved her version of Zevon's "Don't Let Us Get Sick" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7NL03zncD0 I hope her *F*ck7thGrade* will have a further run even in her absence. Never have we needed our Queer musicians and their work more!