Loggins, Kenny

DM) I read that you wrote "Pooh's Corner" and "Danny's Song" when you were a senior in High School. When did you first start songwriting?

KL) It was probably a year before that, when I was 16 or so. I was pretty lucky to have a hit that early.

DM) At the time, did you consider it luck or did you think that you had a hit on your hands.

KL) As a kid, I didn't think along those lines. To me it was just something I did. I was in a band and we never thought we were the hottest things around. We needed a couple of songs and a couple of them came out good. I wrote a couple of crappy songs that nobody will ever hear. That's the process of learning how to write.

DM) In the beginning of your career it seems that you were excessively prolific.

KL) What do you see listed there?

DM) Well from 1972 to 1979 you've had an album every year.

[Editors note: Below is according to KennyLoggins.com]

Keep the Fire (1979)
Nightwatch (1978)
Celebrate Me Home (1977)
Finale (Live) (1977)
The Best of Friends (Collection) (1976)
So Fine (1975)
Mother Lode (1974)
One Stage (Live) (1974)
Native Sons (1973)
Full Sail (1973)
Loggins and Messina (1972)
Sittin' In (1972)

KL) I never realized how much we put out at that time. (pauses) Wow. I think we hit it around a year and a half every time. Clive Davis was the president of Columbia Records back then and he put a lot of evidence on "Continuity of product," which is what he called it.

It meant, "Get your ass in the studio and make me a lot of money." Elton [John] was putting out one album per year. I was put on the same pace. That's what radio wanted. Nowadays is a completely different thing. A/C Radio is now a marathon, it's not a sprint anymore.

DM) Has something changed in your songwriting over the years that effected your productivity?

KL) In the early days, I had a truckload of material. Some of that material spread itself across the first three albums. In a duo, you only need to write half of the music. Jimmy would write five songs and I would five.

DM) It sounds like you started the career with some songs ready to go.

KL) Yeah, it was a backlog of material. That's why they talk so often about the sophomore jinx. A writer will come into his first album with years of material to pick from. The sophomore album is usually the material that didn't make it into the first one, plus some new songs to go along with it. Eventually you're just polishing turds.

DM) From looking at your career, the 70s were adult contemporary and the 80s you seemed to have done more pop or am I reading that wrong.

KL) I think you're reading it inside out. It's radio that changed. I kept making the music that I made, so it's the categories that shifted based on how radio perceived what I was doing. I made the same music that I've been making, plus I'm a pretty eclectic artist. I don't sit in one window of style. Like with Jimmy Buffet you know exactly what he plays and can always identity his style. You can always tell a jimmy buffet song. I've been a moving target throughout my career. Country rock with Loggins and Messina, and pop songs like Danger Zone, and smooth jazz with Michael McDonald.

DM) Your biggest hits seems to be in different genres too. Pooh's Corner, Danger Zone and Footloose.

KL) No they're not, but it's not like I'm aiming at marketplaces or radio formats. I just try to write whatever it is that I'm moved by.

DM) Then in a different angle, you seemed to have focused more on writing songs for movies in the 80s than you did in the 90s. Was there a reason fro that change?

KL) I was hot shit in the 80s. (said laughing)

DM) So it wasn't a conscious effort on your part.

KL) On me trying to cut back on my income. I never had a pick of 30 movies. You work with what comes along. Some of the things you don't do and some of the things you do. At the top of my career I did a couple of things that maybe I shouldn't have done. On the other hand I did "Danger Zone" because it was up-tempo and I needed an up-tempo song for my live show. I have all of these ballads, but not enough up-tempo songs. I didn't even know what the song was, it was just blind luck.

DM) It sounds like in any career you sometimes just ride the wave.

KL) Absolutely, I worked with a producer [Tom Dowd] a few years ago who said, "Success was an artist standing in a moving train. And you get a moment in that window and it moves on." You've probably noticed, when an artist is in the window, it's like they can't do anything wrong. It's not logical, but its like we crave the sound of their voice. Like Dave Matthews, there was a period of time when he was the only thing in the window or Norah Jones had a good time in the window. All of a sudden, she could sing a Rice Krispies ad in that genre. Something happens when you're in the window and that just lasts a minute and a half.

DM) It sounds like that can be depressing too.

KL) I think I've been lucky in that I've had a couple of separate moments where I've been in the window. Plus, I've had a nice long career so now I can be called a legacy act. It's more freedom now. I don't have to follow the trends. I get to be completely me. Moments when artists are in the window, they ARE the trend. I've had a few moments where I was there and it's a cool feeling. You never quite realize it when you're in it and you just sort of keep on, keeping on. You're the hot thing and then the next thing you know, you're not.

A friend of mine once said the five stages of show biz are: 1. "Whose Kenny Loggins" 2. "Get me Kenny Loggins" 3. "Get me the new Kenny Loggins" 4. "Get me a young Kenny Loggins" 5. "Whose Kenny Loggins again?"

DM) Well, I'm glad to have met Kenny Loggins, all five of them.