Sad to read, just now, that producer Martin Rushent is dead at 63. He’s a musical figure whose name I’ve jotted down on yellow sticky notes as someone to attempt contacting for a Rock Town Hall interview: Buzzcocks, Generation X, The Stranglers, and—I’d forgotten about this until just now—Human League‘s Dare, possibly the only ’80s synth-pop band capable of turning out a few songs that I liked! (Speaking of Buzzcocks and Gen X, stay tuned for a coming thread/tournament centered on a brief discussion around those bands at our recent Sausagefest!)
Andrew Gold also died, also in his early 60s. I first heard him as the man behind the soft-rock anthem “What a Lonely Boy.” Prior to his solo career he was a key contributor to Linda Rondstadt‘s big ’70s albums. He would later strike paydirt writing and performing the theme songs to television sitcoms. Then, with money in the bank, didn’t he release some pseudo-’60s psych albums under a pseudonym and become a hero of the Audities power pop crowd? Or am I thinking of someone else? I do not recall Wax, an ’80s band he formed with 10 cc’s Graham Gouldman that seemed intent on showing Tears for Fears who was boss. Dig the trick Gold pulls at the end of his sax solo!
NEXT: Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy…
Wax UK was very unlike Tears for Fears in that Wax had little use for morose psychobabble or pretentious epic-length songs – they were pretty much in it for pure bouncy pop. They didn’t get much airplay in the US but were pretty big in Europe for a while. I think “Bridge To Your Heart” is a wonderful cotton-candy synth-pop confection. Absolutely no musical nourishment at all but it’s hard to resist, especially when it gets to the “whoooaaa-ooaa” part. Here’s the official video for the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0g5gKp2BHg
Huh. Just heard Lonely Boy this past weekend and found myself thinking, as I always have when I hear that song, that the titular figure in it needs a damn good whacking, as George might say. “When they said he was an only son, he thought he was the only one!” I remember that he had been on Ronstadt albums but had no idea he had gone on to other things such as Wax. Well, RIP indeed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBe-6EXBvaA&feature=related
The Fraternal Order of the All is the name of Gold’s Dukes of Stratospheare-like offshoot. Some of the stuff I’ve heard is pretty good, such as this Byrds tribute:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3-oBob2-tg
Here’s a more appropriate video to accompany this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCXTojNt_AU
Martin Rushent helped facilitate a lot of great music, but then there is this: “According to the book Let it Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, renowned music critic Lester Bangs died of an accidental drug overdose while listening to Dare.” I’m not sure where to go with this. I do however, look forward to whatever Gen X/Buzzcocks thread is coming down the pike…
Ok, that is pretty uncanny!
I’m very bummed about Martin Rushent. His name is on quite a few records in my collection.
I can’t say that Andrew Gold’s hits were wonderful, but they are part of that 1970’s Top 40 Schadenfreude stuff that I wrote a post about several months ago. Alas, because I grew up with it, I have a soft spot for it, even if it is terrible.
Neever knew of Andrew Gold prior to this post. I was a fan of 10cc’s Mirror Mirror and The Fraternal Order of the All stuff is pretty cool.
Never heard of Wax, in fact if you google them you get a 90’s alt-rock band named Wax.
And this Bolan fan has to add that Rushent was the engineer for T. Rex’s Electric Warrior. Get It On!
Wow, that’s pretty cool!
A nice appreciation of Andrew Gold as an editorial in the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08wed4.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss