RIP Greg Kihn, singer of “Jeopardy” and “The Breakup Song”
Greg Kihn has died at the age of 75. The singer and novelist had been struggling with Alzheimer’s. Over the course of his career, he was behind almost 20 albums, six novels, and a plethora of short stories.
Kihn started releasing in the middle 70s to little acclaim. But in 1981, he scored with Rockihnroll, his sixth record, which contained this solid melancholy radio hit about the end of a relationship.
A follow-up album, Kihntinued, didn’t do as well, but in 1983, he released Kihnspiracy. This single was a monster, thanks to plenty of radio airplay and rotation on MTV. Believe it or not, it was a number one dance chart hit for Billboard and even made the top 50 of the soul chart. The only person to stop it from achieving number one status on the Billboard Hot 100 was a song called “Beat It” by Michael Jackson.
He gave Weird Al permission to record a parody, which resulted in “I Lost on Jeopardy.” That’s Kihn in the convertible at the end of the video.
Kihn’s band had a great run in the 80s, opening for The Rolling Stones, Jeopardy, and The Grateful Dead. He later worked as a DJ for KUFX/San Jose starting in 1996.
Kihn’s writing ambitions began when he won a radio station talent contest at the age of 17. Along with a guitar and some records, he also was awarded a typewriter. He’d do his DJ shift and then go home and write. His debut novel, Horror Show, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, an honour given out to the writer judged to have the best first novel.
Other works include Rock Beat and Mojo Hand (sequels to Horror Show) and Carved In Rock: Short Stories by Musicians which included contributions from Pete Townshend and Joan Jett. In 2013, he released Rubber Soul, a mystery novel themed around The Beatles.
When he wasn’t writing songs or novels, he had an interesting hobby: breeding rare praying mantises.
He held the DJ gig until 2018. In July of this year, he hinted that he was retiring. I quote:
“Hello all my wonderful Kihnfolk. I wanted to come on here and thank all of you for the lovely birthday wishes. I’m sure you’ve all been wondering where I’ve been. My apologies for not updating you sooner but I needed some time away to myself and my family. After so many years of touring as well as doing radio shows from 3am-3pm for 15 years, it’s finally time I get to chill out. I’m enjoying sleeping in, watching movies, listening to music and my favorite thing to do is just spend time with my family. Again thank you to each and every one of you for all your love and support now and over the years. Rock on!”
What we didn’t know is that he was suffering from Alzheimer’s. The end, it seems, came swifty.
