Navigate to News section

The Great (Taylor) Dayne Follow-Up

More about the #12 best Jewish musician of all time (according to Billboard)

by
Adam Chandler
December 27, 2012

Exactly one week ago, we posted about Billboard Magazine‘s feature on the Top 30 Jewish musicians of all time. We noted the oddness inherent in ranking musicians strictly on their record sales instead of…artistic merit or critical acclaim. Billboard‘s Jewish Top 30, we concluded, composes a weird world.

And in that world, Leonard Cohen doesn’t exist, Lesley Gore cries on, and Eric Carmen is still by himself. Bob Dylan doesn’t crack the Top 25, outpaced by the likes of Pink, Michael Bolton, and Taylor Dayne, none of whom I knew were Jewish (or in Dayne’s case even existed).

This week, I return to say that apparently the Taylor Dayne movement is a real thing. (For those who need a refresher, here’s “Tell It To My Heart.”) As you can see from her above-pictured tweet, Taylor Dayne actually tweeted last week’s Scroll post out to her nearly 27,000 followers, despite my admission that I had no idea who Dayne is.

But as one anonymous reader pointed out, not really knowing about Taylor Dayne can be the source of great comedy. Check out this hilarious piece of stand-up from comedian Tig Notaro about her random encounters with Taylor Dayne. It’s long, but well worth it.

You’re welcome.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.