The last few years haven’t been particularly fun for fans of veteran Star Trek hero William Shatner. The now 87-year-old is better known for running his mouth on Twitter and non-ironically calling people “SJWs,” than he is for his acting work these days. The last major TV show he was seen in was the ill-advised Twitter-account-cum-sitcom Shit My Dad Says, while the last major TV show he was heard on was My Little Pony.
However, there was a time when being a Shatner fan was exciting – he represented easy, uncomplicated cool. In 2004, William Shatner released his second studio album Has Been. Produced and arranged by piano-rocker Ben Folds, Has Been was one of the year’s – and, as time proved, one of the decade’s – most unexpected delights. The lead single was extraordinarily popular – a cover of Pulp’s ‘Common People’ with Joe Jackson taking the chorus – and rightfully so, too.
Listen to ‘Common People’ by William Shatner
It was a rousing, humorous rendition that found a home on alternative radio and scored a spot in the triple j’s Hottest 100. If anything, however, it was a red herring for what the album turned out to be – a painting of a vulnerable, frightened, grieving, and complicated man.
Most ignored or dismissed Shatner’s album Has Been.
Shatner knows he’s achieved a lot, but it never feels like enough for him. After all, even an Emmy and Golden Globe winner feels like a failure sometimes. “I can get to the front of the line,” he opines in ‘It Hasn’t Happened Yet’, “but you have to ignore the looks.”
He reaches out to an estranged daughter on ‘That’s Me Trying’, bleakly recalls the death of his third wife on ‘What Have You Done’, and finds warmth in new romance on ‘Familiar Love’.
Shatner knows he’s achieved a lot, but it never feels like enough for him.
There are laughs to be had, sure – the Henry Rollins-assisted rant of ‘I Can’t Get Behind That’; the male-gaze satire ‘Ideal Woman’ – but there’s genuine shock at how open and honest this record gets. Shatner acknowledges his faults and quite literally speaks his truth, all atop of Folds’ ingenious multi-genre arrangements.
Most ignored or dismissed Has Been, maybe letting ‘Common People’ slide as a guilty pleasure. More fool them – Has Been remains one of the most singular and quintessential releases of the 21st century.
It took Shatner 36 years to follow up on his debut The Transformed Man, which gained notoriety as one of the worst albums ever. George Clooney, for instance, picked Shatner’s cover of ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ as one of his Desert Island Discs. His reasoning was that listening to it would make you want to “hollow out your own leg and make a canoe out of it to get off this island.”
On its 50th anniversary, The Transformed Man is more fascinating than ever – it’s perhaps a novelty on surface value, but with so much more to it than meets the eye. Full of dramatic readings that carry over brilliant orchestral arrangements by the late Don Ralke, there’s a touch of other-worldly psychedelia and kitsch revelling for listeners to indulge in. It’s the other side of the coin to Has Been‘s humanity – it’s all about Shatner as a drama king and someone unafraid to step out of his comfort zone.
There are other minor delights among Shatner’s musical history – his infamous 1978 TV performance of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’, his space-themed 2011 covers album Seeking Major Tom – but if you really want a comprehensive idea of this side of Shatner’s creative spectrum, both The Transformed Man and Has Been are essential listens.
Watch William Shatner perform ‘Rocket Man’ live in 1978
In his autobiography Up Till Now, Shatner tells the story of how he performed live shortly after the release of Has Been with Ben Folds and his band backing him up. When it came to performing ‘Lucy In The Sky’, Shatner stuck up his middle finger as he recited it.
“That young audience got it immediately,” he wrote. “They started screaming and laughing. I performed the song almost exactly as I had done so many years earlier. This time, though, instead of being mocked we got a standing ovation.” This, perhaps more than anything, sums up William Shatner’s musical career better than anything. It’s weird, it’s unconventional, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But if you don’t like it? Fuck you.
