Michael Been may not have been a household name, but his band, The Call, had several major hits in the 1980s, and even had Bono sing backup to him on his song Let the Day Begin. Been died at the Pukkelpop Music Festival in Belgium last Thursday. He was attending as sound engineer for his son Robert Been’s band, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
The Call never received the attention it deserved, and its own website refers to it as “Perhaps the most underrated band ever.” They were not alone in thinking this. Peter Gabriel once said that they were “the future of American music.” So close and yet not close enough. Just like Al Gore’s presidential campaign, The Call almost reached the top, but missed out at the very last minute. In fact, it is no coincidence that Gore used their song “Let the Day Begin” as the theme for his campaign.
Been was born in Oklahoma, but moved to LA with friend and fellow musician Steve Musick. By the 1970s, they were in Santa Cruz, where they put together band called The Original Haze together with Moby Grape guitarist Jerry Miller and saxophonist player Cornelius Bumpus. Musick was eventually replaced with keyboardist Dale Ockerman, and the band changed its name to Airtight. Ockerman eventually left the band to join the Doobie Brothers. Been regrouped with Musick, along with Tom Ferrier and Jim Goodwin, to create The Call. They band had a series of commercial successes, but none like those anticipated for them by Gabriel.
Ferrier called Been “a big, giant personality … the most complete player and musician that I’ve ever been around.” Ockerman called him “a very cosmic cat.”
As his career winded down, Been moved back to Los Angeles, but Santa Cruz will always be the place associated with the formation of his greatest project, The Call.
