posted
In the mid-seventies, pop music was at a crossroads. Disco was hitting the air, the edgy rock of the late sixties had been co-opted and somewhat over produced (although I still dug the production values), and the Glitter or Glam Rock thing was passing. My friends and I were listening to Progressive Rock at the time, Yes, Rush, King Crimson, and Jethro Tull, mainly. Throw in heaping tablespoons of Pink Floyd and David Bowie, and you get the idea.
We liked to listen to "Art Rock" but that was just another title dropped on to bands that didn't quite fit the mold, like Roxy Music, and Velvet Underground. We had no idea that they would form the basis for so much that followed.
One day, a gangly pair of musicians strolled into an obscure bar in NYC, hoping to get a gig. The bar was called CBGB's, which stood for "Country, Blue Grass, and Blues", and the musicians called themselves Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell, having abandoned their given names for glamourous psuedonyms. They asked the manager if they could play there, and the manager asked them if they could play country music. They said, yeah, sure, and came back to gig later.
The name of the band was Television, and they played no country music. Had CBGB's been in the south, or other areas of the county, that would have been the end of it, right there. Much like what happened in the Blues Brothers movie, when they played the country bar.
But this was New York. A cult following ensued. Talking Heads started playing there, along with the Modern Lovers and Patti Smith. Punk was born. They sang angst-ridden songs and chopped their guitars heavily. Truely, the spirit of Rock and Roll had been transferred to these guys, not the Bee Gees and the Jacksons. They made unintentional fashion statements, and the kids started showing up wearing their styles, even though they were just art students wearing what their mothers had sent them to wear in the mail....
At least we called it Punk back then. Now people refer to it as Proto-punk. They even had pronounced Punk Rock dead at one point, a year or two later when "New Wave" took off. Some continued, some faded away, and only now some are starting to return.
Television, I noticed, has gotten back together to gig again! I missed seeing an ad for them in the Datebook section of the paper, so I missed the show!
Patti Smith has apparently dried out, and is producing again.
Talking Heads never really went away.
So the question is: were they just too far ahead of their time? America wasn't in as dire straights, back then. England was. The Ramones crossed the pond, and Great Britton exploded with great Punk talent. The Pistols arrived back on our shores in '76, the same year that The Ramones finally got an album pressed. But it never really took off in America like it had in England.
In the early ninties, when America was finally ready for Punk, the Grunge thing happened in Seattle. That became the voice of frustrated American Youth.
Now here we are, in the 21st century, and Disco is coming back....
I hope for good things on the horizon!
Posts: 1843 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
i am so relieved to recognize everyone you mentioned.
there will always be individuals that aren't content with what is out there. therefore, good music never dies...sometimes it's just harder to find.
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Wow. I dig Television. Marquee Moon was a great album. I had no idea they were back together.
This is my kind of thread. You're talking about all my favorite bands. Rush, Talking Heads, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Yes (okay, a lot of their stuff was pretentious crap, but they made some good albums). That's some fine taste in music you've got there.
posted
The seventies changed our ideas on pop. Sounds like you have pretty good taste yourself.
Actually, my tastes are pretty eclectic, however these guys hold a special place in my influence. I think the attitude is due for a revival, due to the current socio/economic situation in this country!
If you care, David Bowie's new album Reality includes the Modern Lovers' song Pablo Picasso. It's a good rendition, but much more instrumentally arranged.
My fav of theirs remains Roadrunner however. "I liked that much better than walkin' past the Stop 'n' Shop, 'cause I had the radio on...."
Posts: 1843 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
The Steely Dan CD wasn't bad. It was groovy. So next time I'm feeling groovy, I'll compliment you on your taste.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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i completely forgot! seeing as how i live with COWS that's not so hard to do.
i have to check it out, Heathen was amazing. (Hours was only so-so, Earthling only slightly better so-so; Heathen, however, rocked the socks.)
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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