The Brat Pack Sings - Introduction

Last week, I wrapped up my multi-week post series entitled "When Madonna Was Hot" - a series initially conceived several years ago that talked about several songs that Madonna released in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In my view, there are three benefits to a multi-part post series:

• They offer the opportunity to explore a topic in more detail.


• They provide a recurring feature for blog readers to enjoy.


• They take up space.

So now that "When Madonna Was Hot" has run its course, I've been trying to think of a new series of music posts to run.

This led me to think of the Rat Pack - that group of individuals that included Frank Sinatra and his good buddies, several of whom - Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra himself - were well-known musically.

A couple of decades after the Rat Pack reigned in both the swanky joints and the dives, a whole crop of movie stars emerged that became collectively known as the Brat Pack. Primarily known for various teen movies during the 1980s, several of the Brat Pack members have gone on to have long and fulfilling movie careers.

Admittedly there is some debate about who is in the Brat Pack and who isn't. One site specifically lists eight actors and actresses as part of the Brat Pack - Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy - but others expand this definition significantly, mentioning other names such as Kevin Bacon, Matthew Broderick, Tom Cruise, Jon Cryer, John Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Jami Gertz, Jennifer Grey, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Mary Stuart Masterson, Sean Penn, Charlie Sheen, James Spader, Kiefer Sutherland, and Patrick Swayze.

Regardless of how you define the group, the Brat Pack was primarily known for its movie work. But what about the music element? Did any of the Brat Packers follow in the footsteps of the Chairman of the Board and his pals?

Tune in next week. I'll confess that as I write this, I've only come across one example of a Brat Packer singing, and if I can't find any more this will be a very short series. We'll see what happens.