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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2005 > September > 25 > Entry
The resurrection of Chris Barron and the Spin Doctors
Talk about life lessons.
There’s a good story in the New York Times today about Chris Barron and the Spin Doctors, the 90’s band that made the huge hit song “Two Princes.”
It’s, I suppose, not that unfamiliar a story for a rock band — hard working, talented kids fight their way to the top, dissolve with infighting and bad decisions, lose their record contract, hit bottom and then seek a latter-day comeback. It’s ready-made for VH1’s Behind the Music.
But as someone who sat across the classroom from a then-7th grade Chris Barron, the story holds a special interest for me. Back then, he was Chris Gross (you can see why he changed the name) and a recent move-in to my hometown of Princeton, N.J.
Chris was a gregarious kid, quick with a smile and funny story (usually a tall tale). He used to tell everyone his father helped Ray Kroc found his restaurant chain, and that they picked the name “McDonalds” because “Gross Hamburgers” just didn’t work.
He was one of those new kids you really wanted to hate because he got so popular so fast. The girl I had a crush on immediately stopped flirting with me to hang out with him. But no matter how hard you knocked Chris down in a pickup football game at recess, he’d get up grinning and have you laughing with him in no time. I mean, this is the guy who at the height of his fame asked Sesame Street if he could come on the show and sing with the muppets!
The Times story tells of how Chris, literally and figuratively, lost and regained his voice during a decade of wandering in the wilderness.
I haven’t talked to him in decades, and I have to admit I was only a lukewarm fan of Spin Doctors music in the 90’s. But I might just pick up the new album.
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