December is always a busy month for celebrity deaths, and
just a couple of days after Christine McVie, I was saddened to hear about
Kirstie Alley losing her battle against cancer at just 71. I was a huge Cheers
fan when I was a teenager and although I enjoyed the on again / off again chaos
of the Sam & Diane romance, it was clear it’d run its course by the time
Shelley Long left the show. Kirstie Alley breathed new life into Cheers, and although
there was a brief fling with Sam, the show became about more than just Sam
Malone’s love life, and was better for it.
Kirstie also appeared in the Look Who’s Talking films, Star
Trek II (the best Star Trek movie, apart from the one with the whales), among many
other roles. I was surprised by how many times she pops up in songs though. Here’s a
sampling, minus all the inappropriate (or just plain rude) rap lyrics…
Let’s start with Prince. I’d always start with Prince, given the opportunity. Kirstie makes a guest appearance on Prince’s 14th album, Love
Symbol, playing Vanessa Bartholomew on the short link track below…
Effectively that’s the intro to the rather cool reggae-flavoured
track that follows…
The Lovely Eggs are Lancaster husband & wife, David
Lancaster & Holly Ross. I was a big fan of Holly’s previous band, Angelica.
Here they place Kirstie among a short list of their favourite Alis and Alleys…
The Lovely
Eggs – Muhammad Ali & All His Friends
Dr. Ali
Chemical Ali
Kevin Ali
Bowling alley
Kirstie Alley
Muhammad Ali
Fault Lines are described as “Nu Metalcore”, but don’t let
that put you off. They sound like Garbage to me. (And by that, I don’t mean
they’re rubbish.) Can’t really work out why they named this song after Ms.
Alley, but clearly they’ve got nothing to lose…
Bethlehem Steel come from Brooklyn, and they’re a bit
grungy. Again, no idea why they chose this song title.
Bethlehem
Steel – Kirstie Alley
Only Sound are a bluesy rock band from Missouri. Here’s
their punny contribution…
Only
Sound – Kirstie Alley Cat
Meanwhile, Folk Soul Revival were named Band of the Year by the Virginia
Tourism Corporation in 2011. What finer recommendation?
Folk
Soul Revival – Kirsty Alley Ate My Shoe
Today’s winner comes from Canadian rock band Addicts of
Affliction, who also do a pretty good cover of Chris De Burgh’s Lady In Red. Well, it’s
less annoying than the original. The track below was recorded as the
theme tune of a reality TV show Kirstie appeared in dealing with her fight to
lose weight.
Addicts of Affliction – Only Kirstie Alley
Yeah, you played Rebecca Howe
That was then and this is now
To me you’ll always be
Kirstie Alley
