Michelle Shocked

Michelle Shocked is a singer-songwriter whose music and performances seem influenced by her Texas roots, her political activism, and a self-assured style that her first major-label producer likened to troubadors such as Joni Mitchell, Spider John Koerner, and Dave Van Ronk.

Related Topics:
Singer-songwriter - Texas - Activism - Major-label - Producer - Troubador - Joni Mitchell - Spider John Koerner - Dave Van Ronk

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She was born Karen Michelle Johnston on February 24, 1962, in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of a carpenter and a woman who would end up committing her to a psychiatric hospital twenty-something years later. She graduated from high school in Gilmer, Texas and received her bachelor's degree in the Oral Interpretation of Poetry from the University of Texas in Austin.

Related Topics:
February 24 - 1962 - Dallas, Texas - Carpenter - Psychiatric hospital - High school - Gilmer, Texas - Bachelor's degree - University of Texas - Austin

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Michelle's stage name dates back to the name she gave when arrested in 1984 at a protest for fair housing during the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, California. Her nickname was 'Chel, so Michelle Shocked was play on words intended to resemble the phrase "shell shock". The front cover of her (arguably) best-known album, Short Sharp Shocked, shows her restrained by the chokehold of a San Francisco policeman in a supposedly authentic photograph of this incident. However, some indie music critics of the time observed that the style of this image showed a strong similarity to a photo that appeared on the cover of British punk band known as Ultranegative. This led some to assert that she plagiarized the concept, but the accusation was never answered nor seriously pursued.

Related Topics:
Stage name - 1984 - Protest - Fair housing - Democratic National Convention - San Francisco, California - Nickname - Play on words - Shell shock - San Francisco - Indie

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Her break into national reknown came with the appearance of her 1988 album Short Sharp Shocked on college radio rotations around the US, which was met with strong acclaim from listeners. On the crest of this independent momentum, her 1989 album Captain Swing in 1989 was accompanied with a strong promotional push including a MTV-aired video of the single "On the Greener Side". However, commercial success did not follow, and she returned to making music as a grassroots singer/songwriter.

Related Topics:
1988 - 1989 - MTV

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