1970s bands sell out to today’s plastic pop
|J\ iVJdl S'
Senior Reporter
Tnc steps to success in the 1980s
for 1970s rock V roll stars have been
fairly simple: Get the hair trimmed,
put on some clean, brightly colored
clothing, replace the rhythm section
with some son of synthetic thud and
put out some videos with lots of good
looking women in them
And make sure everybody remem
bers what you did in the past.
The recent successes of artists
such as Robert Plant, Yes, Aerosmith
or Jethro Tull have little to do with the
music of the ’70s, good music or
continued excellence over the years.
It has more io do with good marketing
the ability to see what sells now and
to adapt onesel f or one ’ s band accord
ingly.
It’s not hard to picture Robert
Plant sitting around at home, getting
bored and slightly less mega-rich and
suddenly being struck by the reali/.a
nun uuu everyone suu remembers
“Stairway to Heaven.”
All he has to do is call up the
computer center where today’s pop
music is really made, order up an
album and then get on to the more
important business of lining up video
shoots and an appearance on MTV’s
“New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”
It is hard to believe that the man
who appeared on that show’s stage,
under the multipastel lights, lip-syn
ching his heart out on synthetic, sug
ary metal coming from a tape deck
backstage somewhere, once sang
about going to California to smoke
his stuff and drink all his wine.
It’s impossible not to feel down
right sorry lor Yes while watching
anything from their “9012 Live”
video release.
Old guys with their hair all puffed
up, decked out in brightly-colored
sweaters from the Cosby TV family
line, playing synthetic, sugary metal
is nothing short of pathetic. Espe
cially considering songs like
“Roundabout” or “Close to the
Edge.”
At least Jethro Tull’s synthetic
metal comeback wasn’t sugary. It
was just weak and uninteresting. For
some reason, ’70s art rock seems to
translate directly into bad imitations
of Def Leppard in the ’80s.
Acrosmith came back preaching
temperance. I don’t know what to
make of that.
Mick Jagger, a hero from both the
’60s and ’70s, is still ugly (there isn’t
much he can do about that), but he is
cleaned up a great deal and he did do
away with his rhythm section. He
even sports a pair of Reeboks in his
video duet with David Bowie.
Like Jagger, Bowie didn’t really
need a comeback because he never
really went away. He just steadily
degenerated his music into synthetic,
thudding pop. And enjoyed his great
est successes ever.
He also got Peter Frampton into
his band, which, thankfully, is as far
back as that ’70s phenomenon has
managed to get.
There’s an obvious common
thread running throughout all of this:
synthetic, especially in the rhythm
area. If there is a living, breathing
rhythm section and the band hopes to
^ v V ,,J
John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan
score big successes in the ’80s, it’s in
big trouble. Unless the rhythm sec
tion can sound like machines, a la
Van Halen and Dcf Leppard.
Brief aside: Ric Savage of Def
Leppard was voted one of the best
five rock ‘n’ roll bass players in the
world in the Rolling Stone readers’
poll, which is fairly amazing because
anyone with two functioning hands
can learn to play bass as well as Ric
Savage in about 10 minutes, no exag
geration.
Of course, there are many 70s
performers who have either contin
ued to make good records in the ’80s
or have at least influenced them
greatly, like Lou Reed, The Clash and
Alex Chilton.
But they are all being commer
cially overshadowed by the acts de
scribed above, whose only contribu
tion to this decade has been money
making imitations of the already
horrible pop music made by newer
bands.
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Disc jockeys say 70s tunes
are similar to today’s music
Hy Lisa Donovan
Senior Reporter
Like the spinning disc, one Lincoln radio
personality said music trends go in circles.
According to Rod Meyer, a radio personal
ity for KFRX radio station, much of today’s
music style is similar to the sounds that crossed
the air waves about 10 to 15 years ago.
' The ’70s arc far enough back that people
can begin to appreciate it (the music),” Meyer
said.
Right now, Meyer said, new singer/song
writers are beginning to emerge. Artists like
Tracy Chapman, R.E.M. and U2 sing socio
political songs much like Carol King's and Cat
Stevens’ music of the early '70s.
“A lot of artists are trying to make a lot of
statements,” said J.J. Cook, another KFRX air
personality.
Cook said it is apparent that people miss the
old music by the number of remakes.
Cook lists Will to Power’s ‘‘Freebird Med
ley’ and Poison’s remake of Kenny Loggin’s
and Jim Messina’s, “Your Mama Don’t
Dance’’ as two of the recent popular remakes.
Overall, the music of the ’70s has a bad
•mage, Meyer said, because critics didn’t think
music by bands of the early ’70s like Seals and
Croft and America was musically adventurous.
'But that doesn ’ t mean it was bad, ’ ’ he said.
As the ’70s progressed, a dance craze took
over, thanks to movies like Saturday Night
Fever, Cook said.
“In the mid- to late-70s there was a disco
boom,” Meyer said.
In about 1986 and 1987, Meyer said, there
was another disco boom, but it was called
dance music.
Although KFRX discontinued their Satur
day night dance music show, KRNU, the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincdn station, continues
their special dance music programming.
Ron Eis, KRNU air personality, hosts a
show Monday nights at 10 p.m. which plays
female artist dance music.
“Half themusic Iplayisrc-mixesof 12inch
singles,” said Eis, a junior broadcasting major.
“I’ll probably play no more than three or
four slow songs out of 26,” Eis said.
According to Eis, the dance music is a spin
off of disco, but it’s different because it’s
modem.
“It’s more advanced, more studio-ized,”
he said. “A lot of what we hear is done by a
computer.”
One Lincoln night club manager said music
te hnology has added to the dance music aura.
“Drums have been taken over by drum
machines and pianos have been taken over by
synthesizers,” said Mike Roberts, advertising
and promotions director at Celebration.
This modernization has been combined
with the dance music to create technopop, Eis
said.
Technopop, Cook said, is urban music with
a rock edge. The tempo is more varied and a bit
faster than disco, because technopop involves
guitars and the music is more synthesized.
Eis identifies Janet Jackson and Madonna as
the two most influential artists on the 1980s
dance/technopop craze.
“You can’t turn on the radio without hear
ing a song that sounds like Madonna or Con
trol-influenced,’’ he said.
Although this dance/technopop craze may
fade, Eis said, it will never completely die
because this type of music always branches,
but still retains its roots.
“I don’t think it (disco) died,” Eis said. “It
changed. There will still be die-hard dancers.”
Dancing is one of the few things just about
everyone can participate in, according to Mike
Roberts, advertising and piomotions director
at Celebration.
Roberts said the dance-music trend peaked
in Lincoln in 1985 for a good 18 months, but he
attributes that to the mystique the club was
enjoying because it was new.
Although many say that dance music is
dead, Roberts said he doesn’t see that.
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