I was paging through my Moderator’s Log last night and ran across an entry noting disappointment over the response to this early thread posted by Townsman KingEd. KingEd has moved on, but I find that the best way to dispel of lingering feelings of disappointment is to keep firing! If for no other reason than offering a fresh look at this video, I propose that we revisit this topic and see if we can’t do it justice.
This post initially appeared 02/05/07.
There are artists every few years who, we probably agree, serve as examplars of their times and magically tap into their era’s zeitgeist. Elvis in the ’50s, The Beatles through the middle years of the ’60s, CSNY in the years after Altamont, Bowie through much of the ’70s, Prince…let’s just turn over the cards and get to the obligatory Nirvana in the ’90s.
Before I bore you to death with the obvious and get off subject, what interests me are rock’s Unlikely Exemplars of Their Times. Those who may not have made it into the Time/Life representation of history yet who for reasons only explained by “the times” played a large part in pop culture when they were in vogue. I’m thinking of successful artists who, in their day and especially with a few year’s hindsight, could only be explained as part of the zeitgeist of their particular time.
Think about Jetho Tull. With a few year’s hindsight, what rational explanation was there for this band’s massive popularity? In any other era, would a flute-playing madman wearing a codpiece have a chance at hitting it big?
Think about GRAMMY Award-winning Christopher Cross. Did his reign say more about his times, or did his times say more about his reign? Not even rampant drug use could explain that guy’s appeal.
I’ll try to think of other artists who could only have succeeded in their particular time, and to make it more interesting, I’ll also try to think about what it was about those times that made theses artists’ success possible. I do hope you’ll join me.
Would Bjork fall into this category for the mid- to late-90s, or whenever would be considered her peak period of popularity? I was so busy living in my times at that point, that I’m having trouble figuring out what it is about the times that made her weird music go down easy with audiences.
Mr. Moderator, *thank you* for posting that most excellent Tull video! I hadn’t heard (or thought of) that song since I was, like, 12 or something. But I now remember how much I loved it as a wee lad. As an adult, I can chuckle at Martin Barre Chorde’s silly purple silk baldness-cover chapeau, and — most especially — the keyboard player’s Sherlock Holmes pipe!
Still, I realize this is not the point of your thread, for which I have nothing to offer. Perhaps we might examine the Tull in depth sometime in the future? Eh?
I’ve got a pipe! And a drum to play!
I was only doing Ed’s bidding. All thanks will be forwarded his way. I don’t remember that song. The video is hilarious. Is that pipe the inspiration for Harry Shearer’s Spinal Tap bassist’s pipe.
I’m still trying to get my head around Ed’s question myself, but it’s bugging me, so that’s usually a good sign. With Tull, I’m wondering if it’s one of those mid-’70s phenomena that would indicate the dangerous merging of drug culture with fans of fantasy fiction. It must have been all so easier when early readers of Tolkein simply sipped herbal tea.
You may be onto something with Tull, Mr. Mod. To add to that, how about the merging of macrobiotics, pipe smoking, 19th century facial hair, and organic farming?
Can I make a comment about the cans they are wearing in the studio? I alway found that type to be almost painful to wear.
The Grateful Dead. Interestingly, though, they’re a kind of sub-category here: the band whose main success becomes representing an era that has passed.
From Mr. Mod’s journal, morning of 2/6/07:
Well, this thread was a real disappointment. I thought we’d be rewriting history today, but it was not meant to be. No problem. We’ll move on.
I can’t help but attribute the success of Michael Bolton as a sign of his times. That smoothed out, blue-eyed soul mixed with his “look” made him a Grammy Award-winning superstar for about 4-5 years. It was solidly mediocre. Plus, an artist like that could have only been popular in that time-frame. I don’t think his career would have been anything if he had came around during the late 90s. He had that certain appeal for people like my mom (women in their late 30-early 50s. As those women got older, his popularity begand to fade. Now, he’s relegated to the casinos.
One of my favorite exchanges when I worked at the recco sto concerned a Southern Lady of about 48 walking up to me at the counter:
Southern Lady: “Do you have Michael Dalton?”
Me: “No, ma’am, I am not familiar with him…I know Michael BOLTON…”
SL: (Very assertive and sure of herself) “No! Michael Dalton! He WROTE ‘Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay!'”
Me: “No, ma’am, we don’t have that in yet. Have a nice day…”
TB
“Think about GRAMMY Award-winning Christopher Cross. Did his reign say more about his times, or did his times say more about his reign? Not even rampant drug use could explain that guy’s appeal.”
Yacht Rock, pure and simple. It got HUGE with older people who wanted to show off their high priced Stereos but were not “rock” people and Steely Dan was too subversive (which it actually was)..and Phil Collins was not yet on the scene to be their poster child.
(now they play Dave Matthews on their Lexus car stereo for this effect)
I always thought Beck enjoyed WAY more success than he would have otherwise, having cashed in perfectly on the slacker era mainstreaming of what had previously been known as Alternative Music.
I think he’s quite talented, but there’s no way he would have been as big if it weren’t for the timing of “Loser” as it related to the breaking of Nirvana and the realization that it was time to dig out Paul’s Boutique, which sat in everyone’s record stacks, ignored as a sophomore slump record, from 1989-1992 and study it for the masterpiece it was.
He would have been more like Paleface, or Will Oldam, or John Wesley Harding, or Hammel on Trial, or John S. Hall, or the Silver Jews dude, or any of the thousands of geniuses with no real budget.
Ah, the early 90s
That the Dudley Moore movie Arthur was funny despite that Cristopher Cross to bear AND Liza Minelli is a source of wonder to me.
Jungleland, you may be summoned to define “yacht rock”, but Kokomo HAS to be included.
I think with Bolton, uberemoting and all, we watched him like a car race, expecting his head to explode when he hit that “man” note in the song.
Were we expecting it or hoping for it?
Jungleland is on to something with this “Yacht Rock”…This may explain the Jimmy Buffet phenomenon. I believe the best examples of a “Yacht Rock” record collection would the one pictured on a CD rack for sale at Wal Mart.
TB
I’ve mentioned Yacht Rock here before and got the impression that the Townspeople were somehow largely unfamiliar with it, despite it seeming to be right in RTH’s wheelhouse: http://www.channel101.com/shows/show.php?show_id=152
One interesting thing about Beck is that I seem to remember him having been written off as kind of a one hit wonder in the year between “Loser” and Odelay‘s release and great critical reception. You’re probably right on the money, Kilroy: Ill Communication came out after Loser and probably prompted a Paul’s Boutique re-evaluation before Odelay came out.
I agree that Yacht Rock needs to be added to the RTH Glossary. jungleland2, I’ll be happy to set you up with Back Office privileges later today so you can draft it and see your byline appear next to the published piece. No rush!
Shawnkilroy, Beck is probably a great example of what KingEd was looking for. We’ll have to see what the man says.
Man, time must not have been all that important to me in the 70’s. I barely hit two minutes of The Whistler and had to bail. Speaking of Grammy’s, didn’t Tull win one in the heavy metal category, beating out Metallica one year? I think that proves that the size of your codpiece IS the most important thing in award winning metal.
I can’t imagine Yes releasing an album like Fragile today and selling more than ten copies. I always thought Feart was a true product of their times. What other year than 76 could Crazy on You have propelled a career? Just a little later and the punks would have laughed at it (not that punk was really all that popular, but it did help stop the epic grandeur of some music then). I could never understand how those women made it out of the 70’s and continued having a career.
Concerning the Metallica/Jethro Tull Grammy (from Wiki):
In 1989, Metallica received its first Grammy Award nomination for …And Justice for All, in the new Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrument category. Metallica was the favorite to win; however, the award was given to Jethro Tull for the album Crest of a Knave. The result generated controversy among fans and the press, as Metallica was standing off-stage waiting to receive the award after performing the song “One”. Jethro Tull had been advised by its manager not to attend the ceremony as he was expecting Metallica to win. The award was named in Entertainment Weekly’s “Grammy’s 10 Biggest Upsets”. Three years later, Ulrich referred to the award when accepting a Grammy for “Enter Sandman” stating “We gotta thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album this year.”
You mean to tell the that the Grammys were wrong? Say it ain’t so!
TB
I could have fun with my Yacht Rock profile (and can just go through my father in law’s record collection for inspiration.
There is a band in Atlanta that does a weekly Yacht Rock show, they do Christoper Cross, Little River Band, Seals & Croft, Doobies and PACK the club every week. Poeple show up in faded Polo shirts with the colar up, shorts and boat shoes…but it is all tongue-in-cheek, these are Generation Y kids, not their parents.
http://www.yachtrockrevue.com/Yacht_Rock_Revue.html
you yacht rock lovers might like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q29CY76Mo9U