*
ir
Of
T
By Ann Stack
IHp-hop lends
new pulse to
music scene
OK kids, gather ‘round. Aunt
Annie’s got a little tale to tell. Some
wise words to pass on. Some hot air
to blow. A yam to spin. Some... OK,
you get the point.
Last week I met a wise seer. She
told me many things. She revealed
to me secrets of the universe—how
to draw blood from a stone, how to
walk on water and how to remove
grease stains from pants.
She told me the meaning of life
in one sentence (but if you don’t
know, I’m not going to tell you).
She also told me to look for
something very important and inno
vative coming to American music
— the next new thing, the next big
burrito.
She said that Darth Vader would
come to me in a dream with the
prophet David Lee Roth, and if I
didn’t listen to him he’d melt my
brain and...oh wait. That wasn’t me.
That was George McFly in “Back
To The Future.” Never mind.
But in a way, that’s valid, be
cause it’s all about electronics. It’s
the wave of the future. Even—no,
especially—the music future.
My soothsayer lady called this
new buzz of the underground “trip
hop.” It’s based on monotonous,
repetitive pulsation on keyboards,
basically. Call it a higher state of
techno, if you will.
But trip-hop’s not something
you’re going to hear on the radio
— except maybe on 90.3-FM
(KRNU). The next U2 album will
be as mainstream as the genre is
going to get.
Speaking of U2 and trip-hop, the
band has a new member—Howie
B — who owns the trip-hop label
Pussyfoot. That’s why, obviously,
their next album will have elements
of trip-hop.
I checked out tnp-hop on the
World Wide Web, which put me in
touch with a Shane Mudgett, a hoser
in Alberta, Canada, eh. He was very
polite, despite the fact that I woke
him up.
“TYip-hop’s a psychedelic strain
of hip-hop,” he told me. He com
pared it to psychedelic '60s music,
where musicians would play for a
while, then switch themes in the
middle of a song—so it’s possible
to have a song about love and hate
at the same time.
But in the ‘60s, he said, there
woe words, so you didn’t notice the
changes in the music. Trip-hop has
few vocals. But it’s not fair to call it
background music, like ambient, or
acid jazz, or jungle or even techno.
So who are sane trip-hop bands
to look fa? The ones most well
known on the scene are Portishead,
Tricky and Massive Attack. Some
ambient toothers of trip-hop would
be the Underworld, the Orb, Orbital
and the Chemical Brothers.
I doubt trip-hop will ever make
it big in the mainstream corporate
radio world of American music. But
it’s out there. And npw, I hope you
have a better idea of what it is you’re
listening to in die back room.
Stack is a senior news-edito
rial major and Daily Nebraskan
Kiss prepared to rock ft roll all night in Nebraska
Rock City quartet brings circus show to Omaha this week
By Ann Stack
Senior Reporter
Sometimes things happen that can't
be explained. Ross Perot. Arizona
State. Dennis Rodman. A Kiss reunion.
But the gods of rock ‘n’ roll must
have had divine intervention in mind
for the Rock City quartet, because af
ter more than a decade of separation,
the original members of the legendary
band are back together—and they’re
coming to Nebraska.
Kiss is bringing one of the best
arena rock shows around to the Omaha
Civic Auditorium tonight and Thurs
day at 7:30. Both shows are sold out.
Not only does the influential rock
outfit have the original lineup back, but
they’re also back in full makeup and
costume, with the complete pyrotech
nic stage show.
“I’ll never say never again,” drum
mer Peter Criss said.
Criss left the band in 1980, vowing
never to return.
“I didn’t want to have anything to
do with Kiss for the last 17 years,” he
said.
But all that changed when he took
his 15-year-old daughter to a Kiss con
vention.
“I wanted her to see her dad's life,”
he said. “They (the band members) got
-wfad that Lwas coming.”
«
We’ve known each other for 24 years and
we bring that on stage. We’re having the
time of our lives.”
Peter Criss
Kiss drummer
He met Gene Simmons and Paul
Stanley for lunch, and they decided to
hold an impromptu rehearsal.
“When we walked out on the stage,
the place just went insane. Gene had a
lode in his eyes 1 haven’t seen in years,”
he said. “Then we did MTV un
plugged, and that was total magic.”
He said there was talk of a reunion
tour, but at that point, he still wasn’t
sure if he wanted to go through with it.
“I thought if we were ever going to
do it again, it had to be now,” he said.
“1 said if we do it, we have to do it 110
percent.”
That meant hiring personal trainers
to help the band get back into the
Spandex. Criss said he worked out five
hours a day, and then rehearsed on top
of that.
“I’m in the best shape I’ve ever
been in,” he said. “We’re doing five
shows a week. We didn’t even do that
. in our heyday.” . ... . ......' .
Criss reasserted that he wanted the
reunion to be even better than the
band’s original shows. He said the
physical fitness of the members was
just as important as the actual produc
tion.
“We didn’t want to blow up
people’s dreams they’ve had over the
last 17 years,” he said. “We felt the
worst thing would be for four old guys
with bellies to come out. We had to be
perfect.”
The shows are even more intense
than they were when the band was in
its prime, Criss said, thanks to modem
technology. The show includes a drum
kit that levitates 148 feet in the air (in
stead of the original 16 feet), bombs,
rockets and a flying Gene Simmons.
“We’re like a circus,” Criss said.
“You gotta bring a safety belt, because
it’s one helluva roller coaster ride.”
Criss said the success of the tour
has surprised even the band members.
,Kissis bpQketf aqd^ spl d put. ‘til. 19$7.
“It’s insane. At the shows I see these
five and 10-year-old kids with makeup
on, and their parents are standing right
behind them in makeup,” he said.
“We’re pulling in a generation that
wasn’t even around. It’s amazing—it’s
like we’re reborn. We’re bigger now
than when we were first together.”
And they’re better friends, too.
“We’re getting along better now
than we ever have,” he said. “There arc
no poisons — it’s out of our lives.
We’re more mature, more interesting
and more focused.
“We’ve known each other for 24
years and we bring that on stage. We’re
having the time of our lives.”
Kiss formed in 1972, with
Simmons, Stanley, Criss and Ace
Frehley. In 24 years, the band has pro
duced 27 albums. Kiss has influenced
everyone from Garth Brooks to the Gin
Blossoms, and are showing an influ
ence over a whole new set of future
rockers.
The new generation of Kiss fans is
a sign of the times, Criss said. People
are tired of the whiny, angst-filled mu
sic from the first half of the decade and
are ready for something new... or is that
something old?
“I’m sick of hearing bands in plaid
shirts sing about depression,” he said.
“I’m sick of it — rock ‘n’ roll should
be a party”
And Kiss is a band that’s deter- „
mined to bring the party to the people.
“If we can’t find a place to play,”
he saidj^we’llbuildit.”
