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L'idole des jeunes
August 24, 2009 1:30 PM   RSS feed for this thread Subscribe

Johnny Hallyday is perhaps best known to most Americans as French President Nicolas Sarkozy's BFF and "Special American Advisor" (and to younger French kids as that actor in the Optic 2000 ads), but his career started in 1960 and has only now slowed with what has been named his farewell tour. Though he began his career with many Aznavour-penned tracks, he swiftly became a household name by covering British and American hits and adapting them into French.

Some other choice selections:

(Many of these YouTube clips come from what is sure to be a delightful DVD anthology of Johnny's 1960's career, though it is only available in PAL format.)

Random trivia: Johnny's first wife, Sylvie Vartan, is the paternal aunt of actor Michael Vartan of Alias.
posted by nonmerci (29 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite

Actually, I know him best from a cultural context article on "Les Célébrités Françaises" in my junior high French textbook. (C'est Johnny Hallyday! C'est Gérard Depardieu! C'est l'épouse de Johnny Depp!)

I also heard that L'homme du train was pretty awesome.
posted by Iridic at 1:43 PM on August 24 [2 favorites]


.



Oh, sorry. Not the thread I thought it would be.


Too soon!
posted by chillmost at 1:45 PM on August 24 [1 favorite]


Oh, sorry. Not the thread I thought it would be.

Meme chose ici!
posted by Jody Tresidder at 1:48 PM on August 24


Oh there's a brilliant quote from Hallyday in the Telegraph link (about why the singer isn't that upset about finally leaving fame behind):

“Perhaps I’ve had enough of being Johnny Hallyday…More and more, I want to be Jean-Philippe Smet.”
posted by Jody Tresidder at 1:54 PM on August 24


Best known in parts of Europe as the guy who pissed off both the French and the Swiss after "moving" to Switzerland, and bragging openly about the lump sum taxation deal he got that resulted in him paying a tenth of the taxes that Swiss national hero Roger Federer paid for the same gross income. At least one kanton has voted to abolish the system after that little incident.
posted by effbot at 2:02 PM on August 24


Nooo! He's not dead. I just wanted to showcase those awesome covers and provide some context in the meantime, as many Americans have never really heard of the guy. L'homme du train is indeed awesome, and I highly recommend it.

(And yeah, effbot, I posted some articles about the tax scandal.) :P
posted by nonmerci at 2:07 PM on August 24


I learned about Johnny Hallyday after picking up a French copy of Premiere magazine which contained the poster for "Love Me" when I was over there in 2000.

That poster was on the wall in my dorm room for the next few years. I never saw the film, but I loved that poster.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:09 PM on August 24


Most exciting Johnny Halliday news in a long time? He's about to star with Anthony Wong and Simon Lam in a movie directed by Hong Kong crime film auteur, Johnnie To.

Vengeance
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:14 PM on August 24


Wow, all the cheesy dialogs involving Johnny Hallyday in one way or another from years and years of French class come flooding back...
posted by contessa at 2:28 PM on August 24


Oy, Johnny Hallyday. The janitor/handyman at the student residence I lived in in Paris 2006-07 always wore a Hallyday concert t-shirt—a different one each day. Aside from that, I mostly managed to avoid too much direct contact with Hallyday's music. And then, his farewell tour, which of course involved copious interviews on French TV channels. This meant close-range videography of this man, who has clearly lived 5 or 6 lives already. He clearly had his share of cosmetic work done, clumsily, back in the days when that sort of surgery wasn't particularly sophisticated. And then it seems like somebody has spooged a whole litre of botox into his face. And his eyes are constantly small and red. I can't say that I'm either a fan or particularly in awe of him, but I have a certain respect for what must've been a hard-partying life.

On the swiss taxation sillyness and his borderline-french-nationalist politics, I'm less cool.
posted by LMGM at 2:30 PM on August 24


(And yeah, effbot, I posted some articles about the tax scandal.)

You did? I hovered over all your links, and sampled a few, but I guess I missed all references. Sorry for that.
posted by effbot at 2:35 PM on August 24


J'<3 bien le fromage.
posted by everichon at 2:35 PM on August 24 [1 favorite]


It's true, it's a bit link-heavy! They were under the Sarkozy's BFF bit. :)

Oh, good, the Flight of the Conchords references are coming out... /sigh
posted by nonmerci at 2:39 PM on August 24


It's amazing how big he still is in France. Posters in bars, on the telly all the time, huge sections devoted to him in otherwise hip second-hand record shops... every time I see him, I think 'I bet Cliff Richard is really jealous'.
posted by jack_mo at 3:06 PM on August 24


I distinctly remember a different French cover version of Girl which had a much straighter translation of the lyrics. Anyone come across it?
posted by Kattullus at 4:34 PM on August 24


You're in luck, Kattullus! Looks like Les Blue Notes did a cover called Rêve. Apart from Hallyday, Gilles Brown, Les Paraders and Les Chantels covered it as Je l'aime and Les Makadams did a version titled Girl. Les Zeniths did a version called Seul.
posted by nonmerci at 4:53 PM on August 24 [1 favorite]


This meant close-range videography of this man, who has clearly lived 5 or 6 lives already.

I have a copy here of the cover of an issue of Télé 7 Jours (that incomparable record of things the French find French) from 1998 which clearly shows four different faces of Johnny and possibly shows five. God only knows what zombie technologies have been practised upon that tan and shrieking head since.

Johnny's* music is, well, terrible, but I am pretty sure Cliff Richard never starred in a Godard film. I'm also pretty sure this requires a cinematic presence a little more, well, incisive? than Sir Cliff was able to demonstrate in his sainted cinematic œuvre of distant memory.

*Yes, they all call him "Johnny".
posted by Wolof at 5:35 PM on August 24


Claude Francois (who saw Johnny as his rival) rewrote some US hits as well. Like this one, which is perhaps the greatest music video ever made.

(Ok, so Johnny had way more class than Cloclo...)
posted by grounded at 6:26 PM on August 24 [2 favorites]


Like this one, which is perhaps the greatest music video ever made. (grounded)

OH MY GOD THAT IS AWESOME.

Jumping jacks!
posted by ocherdraco at 6:32 PM on August 24


Be sure to check out the movie Jean-Philippe. Premise: an obsessive fan of Johnny Hallyday wakes up one day in a parallel universe where Johnny is still known as Jean-Philippe Smets and runs a bowling alley.
posted by robinhoudt at 6:38 PM on August 24


Optiiiiiiiiiiic Deux Mille! Love it!

Really have never liked his music, given that he's tried to be American all his life (the drifter, western bad boy image) it's so hypocritical of the French to holid him up as a musical icon.

He was good in L'Homme du Train though. There's a great bit in that with the lady in the boulangerie, "et avec ceci monsieur?".
posted by jontyjago at 8:18 PM on August 24


I hated Johnny Hallyday back when I had to read about him and listen to his crappy, crappy music as an independent study in high school French. (Because the French teacher was trying to be cool and with-it; I was deeply committed to Black Flag and Dead Kennedys, so would have preferred reading Racine or whatever. Then later I found out about Serge Gainsbourg, and was doubly pissed off.)

And then. And then Johnny Hallyday just kept doing his thing. And I started to love him, just like I started to love Tom Jones and Willie Nelson, because these guys have been doing this shit for so long now it's like some kind of ultramarathon event that you can't take your eyes away from.

I'm also pretty sure this requires a cinematic presence a little more, well, incisive? than Sir Cliff was able to demonstrate in his sainted cinematic œuvre of distant memory.

I wish that someone had interviewed all the real actors (Walter Slezak, Robert Morley, et al.) who appeared in Cliff Richard's movies about what that was like, because yow.

I would also like to stage a Death-Cage Match For Jesus! between Pat Boone and Cliff Richard.
posted by Sidhedevil at 8:24 PM on August 24


Then later I found out about Serge Gainsbourg, and was doubly pissed off.

Because I could have been listening to his weird quirky music instead of Johnny's tripe, and it would have made no difference to the French teacher, I mean.
posted by Sidhedevil at 8:25 PM on August 24


Yes, The Man on the Train is really very good. Hallyday is hard not to watch.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:06 PM on August 24


Taking advantage of the tangent for a moment, when I lived in France, I discovered Joe Dassin's "Salut les Amoureaux", sung to the tune of "City of New Orleans".

It's maudlin, sure, but for some reason, I really, really dig that song.
posted by darkstar at 10:10 PM on August 24


effbot Not content with angering the French and the Swiss, Johnny then proceeded to piss off the Belgians too, by suddenly (and entirely unexpectedly) attempting to obtain Belgian citizenship. His interest disappeared just as quickly when told that for that he'd have had to live in Belgium (and pay Belgium's sky-high income taxes) for a while, giving credence to the theory that it was all an elaborate plot to move to Monaco. French citizens aren't allowed to be Monaco residents for tax purposes. There's of course no such restriction for Belgians.
posted by Skeptic at 11:38 PM on August 24


Well, Skeptic, it should be noted that Johnny's father, M. Smet, was indeed Belgian (a dancer, even)...but because his father was married to another woman when he knocked up Johnny's mother, Huguette, the paternity was 'not valid'.
posted by nonmerci at 9:23 AM on August 25


And a big fan of the "boîte à coucou".
posted by zouhair at 7:47 PM on August 25


This trailer for Détective (by Godard, w/Halliday) is extremely amusing for the francophonically inclined.
posted by Wolof at 8:10 PM on September 4 [1 favorite]


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