I got excellent news for '70s music freaks like me: on Oct 1, Vh1 will kicked off the 4th season of Behind The Music with none other than the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam). his music was classic,soothing,&beautiful. we'll find out why he quit the business & to teaching the world of Islam & why his religious life wound up in the center of controversy. It's a 90min. episode that should be interesting

: I got excellent news for '70s music freaks
: like me: on Oct 1, Vh1 will kicked off the
: 4th season of Behind The Music with none
: other than the artist formerly known as Cat
: Stevens

He doesnt deserve 90 minutes of airtime, egads!
How about Journey, 38 Special Dan Fogelberg
or Heatwave!

Aj

: He doesnt deserve 90 minutes of airtime, egads!
: How about Journey, 38 Special Dan Fogelberg
: or Heatwave!

: Aj
maybe not; but, Journey does. as for 38 Special,Dan Fogelberg,& Heatwave; it would be great, but would the vh1 demographic viewers be interest of it? I would. but I don't know about the others. out of curiousity, what do have against Cat Stevens and who are your favorite artists from the 70's that was profile on the show?

: maybe not; but, Journey does. as for 38
: Special,Dan Fogelberg,& Heatwave; it
: would be great, but would the vh1
: demographic viewers be interest of it? I
: would. but I don't know about the others.
: out of curiousity, what do have against Cat
: Stevens and who are your favorite artists
: from the 70's that was profile on the show?

First off I dont agree with Cat's philosophy
abandoning his roots and then the worst agreeing
that author Saloman Rushdie should be killed
for his "Satanic Verses" book. An author and
an artist like Cat are no different to me
and they have a right to express their views but
I feel they were far too strong regarding the
policy Rushdie should be killed. Granted it
was religious beliefs that so to speak called
or warranted this, however so was Rushdie's
point of view in his book too. I'm so glad
we in America are free so to speak unlike
other countries. And lastly, most Behind
the Music specials are what one hour in length?
Why does Cat deserve 90 minutes much longer than
other artists have had, who had much better careers and are more well known and liked.

I liked his music and I will watch it but I dont
have to like him as a person.

Only recently has Cat even acknowledged he had a
past and that it was in music and successful, for years he has been against the very thing that made him a household name in the 70s, his music.

I've liked most of the artists profiled thus far,
but dont agree on them doing ones on Ricky Martin
and other current acts like they have a tendency at times to do.

Sometimes TNN will do a Biography special similiar to Behind the Scnes, called the Life & Times, granted its a country & western station, however
they have profiled Rick Springfield even, and may have done Paul Davis but I missed it alas!

Aj

: Only recently has Cat even acknowledged he had a
: past and that it was in music and successful,
: for years he has been against the very thing
: that made him a household name in the 70s,
: his music.

that always disturbed me the most about him, strange political views aside, the fact that a major portion of his life was music, and he just wanted to forget it.. even if the scene he was in was awful, he could have still started a private studio and continued to record.. he must REALLY hate his music and fans to have dropped it so entirely..

: I've liked most of the artists profiled thus
: far,
: but dont agree on them doing ones on Ricky
: Martin
: and other current acts like they have a
: tendency at times to do.

well, those are part of their Behind the Music lite series, or whatever they call it.. I still remember when Tori Amos burst on the scene with her second album (Little Earthquakes) and suddenly their were tons of biographies on all the shelves.. it's a cheap attempt to cash in on the popularity of a hot artist

: Sometimes TNN will do a Biography special
: similiar to Behind the Scnes, called the
: Life & Times, granted its a country
: & western station, however
: they have profiled Rick Springfield even, and
: may have done Paul Davis but I missed it
: alas!

TNN since being bought by Dick Clark is quickly abandoning it's country roots, so it doesn't surprise me they ventured out of the realm of country music... though Rick Springfield was an interesting choice

: First off I dont agree with Cat's philosophy
: abandoning his roots and then the worst
: agreeing
: that author Saloman Rushdie should be killed
: for his "Satanic Verses" book. An
: author and
: an artist like Cat are no different to me
: and they have a right to express their views
: but
: I feel they were far too strong regarding the
: policy Rushdie should be killed. Granted it
: was religious beliefs that so to speak called
: or warranted this, however so was Rushdie's
: point of view in his book too. I'm so glad
: we in America are free so to speak unlike
: other countries. And lastly, most Behind
: the Music specials are what one hour in length?
: Why does Cat deserve 90 minutes much longer
: than
: other artists have had, who had much better
: careers and are more well known and liked.

: I liked his music and I will watch it but I
: dont
: have to like him as a person.

: Only recently has Cat even acknowledged he had
: a
: past and that it was in music and successful,
: for years he has been against the very thing
: that made him a household name in the 70s,
: his music.

: I've liked most of the artists profiled thus
: far,
: but dont agree on them doing ones on Ricky
: Martin
: and other current acts like they have a
: tendency at times to do.

: Sometimes TNN will do a Biography special
: similiar to Behind the Scnes, called the
: Life & Times, granted its a country
: & western station, however
: they have profiled Rick Springfield even, and
: may have done Paul Davis but I missed it
: alas!

: Aj

I'll be the first to admit that I'm far from being Cat Stevens' #1 fan, but I won't deny that I always liked his hits as a kid back in the '70s, and currently own a couple of his hits collections. But hey, let's not pre-judge, Aj; you may even change your mind about the time-allotment given to Mr. Stevens by VH-1 for their "BTM" episode on him after actually watching it! I, too, was a bit surprised to hear that he was getting 90 minutes (vs. the usual 60) for his episode, and that the video channel was actually choosing to launch the new season w/ him as well, so they must have a pretty good reason for it. I say give VH-1 some credit; I'm sure we'll all learn quite a bit from it...

Yeah, I agree w/ you 100% that VH-1 has devoted episodes of "BTM" to less-than-worthy artists in the past (and indeed, Ricky Martin is among them; others I'd add to that list include No Doubt, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and other '90s artists who barely have a musical history to tell [yet]!), but thankfully, that has so far been rare. However, last week's issue of "TV Guide" notes that this season they'll be devoting episodes to Snoop Dogg, the Wallflowers, and Barenaked Ladies, among others. That scares me a bit... On the flip side, I think it's cool that in the past they've had the b@lls to devote episodes to less-than-hip artists such as John Denver and Tony Orlando...

I've been a big fan of the "BTM" series since episode #1, and have seen them all. It's received a lot of critical praise as well, and as long as we continue to watch, and it remains VH-1's most popular series (which it is), it will go on for several more seasons to come. So don't fret, Aj, I'm sure some of the artists you named that you felt were more worthy than Cat Stevens (especially Journey), will eventually get their stories told, too...

BTW, I also saw the "Life & Times" episode on TNN devoted to Rick Springfield - very cool!