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So...I don't know much about Jimmy Buffett. Or rather, here's what I think I know in a nutshell: he had a cool song in the early 70s called "Come Monday", followed up by a major slice of cheese called "Margaritaville", which caught the average public ear much the way "Kokomo" did for the BBs. Then this whole phenomenon cropped up around him, with  crazed drunkard fans called Parrotheads, flocking to his concerts with beer bongs and XXXXL sized Hawaiian shirts. (Or maybe that's just the impression I had of them from a guy I once worked with who was exactly that way.) I guess Buffett writes books now too, and judging by the covers, it seems to continue the parrothead theme of Florida, drinks with little umbrellas, and walking around in your bare feet. I haven't read one, so I really don't know.

But what I WOULD like to know is...do Jimmy Buffett fans have divisions of fandom like we do? Is there a Come Monday camp and a Margaritaville/parrothead camp that are bitterly divided? A sector adores his music but hates his books? An uncritical wing of fandom that spends all its spare change on whatever he puts out?

And more importantly: is Jimmy Buffet actually an OK guy and heart, and someone who really does harbor (ha, pun) talent that he doesn't often get to use, because it's the goddam parrot stuff that's what sells? (I've seen other artists that people tend to blow off because their successes outshadowed their deeper talents, and been amazed at what I saw...I'm talking Colin Hay (MAW) and Glen Phillips (Toad TWS)...)

This whole ponderous thread has been spurred by the new Kokomo thread, plus  the comparisons of the midsection of the new album with Buffett's stuff...

It's making me wonder: could there be a whole bunch of cool JB stuff I might like, but was too put off by the popular stuff to bother with? (I mean, hey, I didn't listen to the BBs for years because of their image...then a SMiLE boot seeped into my blood and tore my head off like a tab of Owsley...)

Well, at least he covered a lot of Hunter Thompson's bills.

I'm a Jimmy Buffet fan, but not a Parrothead, so I feel semi-qualified to answer this question. 
The short answer is yes, Jimmy Buffet was and is a talented guy, whose genuine talent got lost after the whole parrothead thing blew up.  That said, he was always a kind of country singer, so you have to like country to like even his best stuff, but a number of his early albums are full of great songs, and at his best he sounds like no one else out there. 

My recommendations for some cool Buffet to check out (not digging very deep here, many of these songs would appear on a greatest hits collection):

He Went to Paris is a beautiful country ballad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGmERAWVdWM

Pencil Thin Mustache is pretty amusing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dgjOObPxds

Grape Fruit Juicy Fruit isn't on youtube, but it's a really weird, great song, despite it's inclusion among the maragaritaville set. 
I think its absolutely true that there's a segment of Jimmy Buffet fans who love everything he does and especially the parrothead stuff, and another segment of fans who think he was a talented country singer and great songwriter who lost his way due to it.  But, unlike the kokomo phenomenon, which was very much an accident in many ways, Jimmy Buffet actively constructed his tropical persona.  And he does live the lifestyle - I read his autobiography when I was a kid and wanted to be Jimmy Buffet when I grew up for years.  He basically flies around the caribbean in his own boat-plane, writing songs and enjoying being rich. 

Jimmy Buffett did a nice cover of "Sail On Sailor".

Yes, there are LOTS of great Jimmy Buffett songs, I think he's a very talented guy.

It's hard to explain.  I think to some of these guys liek Jimmy Buffett, he probably doesn't draw a distinction between the artistic merit of "He went to Paris' which is a straight up gifted song in the traditional, artistic way... he doesn't draw a distinction between that and "Cheeseburger in Paradise".  He probably likes them both just as well, and although some people would think it much harder to write something as beautiful as "He went to Paris", he probably thought it was just as hard to find a song that had the hit potential of "Cheeseburger in Paradise".  

you know, too, another thing you have to think about is, after you tour around, and meet the 10,000th fan who tells you how much they love "Margaritaville".... it'd be hard for you not to think that's the best thing you ever wrote, when 10,000 people are telling you, in person, how much they love it.  

Here's another great Jimmy Buffett Song, "A Pirate Looks at 40"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df1E4NJu7ng&feature=related

Notice how it still has a Nautical vibe to it.  He, in my opinion, sings about the carribean because he loves the carribean.  

Another great one: Trying To Reason with Hurricane Season

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9_ZjUVAQEY

I don't think the sellout label would stick to Jimmy because he lives what he sings about and is proud of it.  

He also co-wrote and performed on South America off BW's Imagination album :)

Thank you, guys, that was very interesting! I will check that stuff out. Good discussion!

I met him once in New Orleans and he was a very nice guy. I like "A Pirate Looks At 40" and a couple of others but I would never be able to put them in the category of say anything off of Pet Sounds. And his collaboration with Brian on Imagine is kind of forgettable. Anybody else notice that "Summer's Gone" is a B.Wilson/J.B.Jovi collaboration? And that it is VERY good?

South American is one of my favorite songs off Imagination. Though the only thing that seems particularly Buffet-esque is the last verse, "South American, I'm not on some trip / South American, I just long for a ship..."

I think at some point, when I was very young, Jimmy Buffett and the Beach Boys were on in the same, in my mind. Jimmy Buffet was a Beach Boy, or the Beach Boys' songs were Jimmy Buffett songs.

I don't think Jimmy Buffett and the Beach Boys are OVERLY similar except for the beach feel of many of their popular tunes. Granted, both are among my favorite artists in rock music. Buffett is one of those that I need to be in a summery mood to listen to all the time. I don't often listen to his music outside of the May-September months.

When I saw Jimmy B here in KC two months ago, it had the vibe of a BB show. Beachballs and all.