Celebrity Jukebox #134: Val Kilmer

He was Jim Morrison* and Elvis Presley**.

He was The Iceman.

He was Batman, a good enough Batman, in a not-that-great Batman movie.

He even played the voice of KITT the car in a Knight Rider remake.

*In Oliver Stone's The Doors, Val did an excellent Jim Morrison impression, in looks, speech and song...

(**In Tony Scott's film of Quentin Tarantino's True Romance.)

Val Kilmer had a huge screen presence when I was growing up. His star has dwindled and he's been fighting throat cancer in recent years (reluctant to engage with medical procedures due to his religious beliefs), but his death, at only 65, still comes as a shock.

On hearing of his passing, I immediately remembered Father John Misty name-dropping him in this story of faded Hollywood glamour from his 2022 LP Chloë and the Next 20th Century.

Val Kilmer had a wall length
Mirror just over there
Well, I'm sure he's someone else now
But he was Batman when he lived here

Next up: Lee Majors. Not that one! This Lee Majors was a rapper in Da Bush Babees, but he also teamed up with Green for this little ditty from Scritti...

I swear I bring the Heat to tracks like Val Kilmer

Scritti Politti - Tinseltown To The Boogiedown

Hundreds of rappers namedrop Val in their lyrics, probably because of his tough guy / take no shit image, but rap will never be my specialist subject, so I'll close today with our old friends Bowling For Soup... even if they do think Val "sucked as Batman". You can't please all the people all the time.