Tom Waits has a voice that not everyone can love. In fact, I think a lot of people hate it (my Mom, for instance, can’t be in the same room as any musical device channeling Mr. Waits sound waves). However, if you learn to appreciate his unique sound, Waits proves to be one of the most talented songwriters in the past few decades.
Waits is also respectable because he’s fiercely independent — he’s signed with smaller independent record labels for almost all of his career, and even left the ones that were bought out by the majors or became majors themselves. He’s also refused to allow his music to be used in commercials, leading him to sue companies like Frito-lay, Levi’s and Audi.
So, to start you week off right, listen to a legend your parents will probably hate and check out Tom Waits perform “Mr. Siegal” off of 1980′s Heartattack and Vine at the Montreal Jazz Festival in July of 1981.
