Like, Omigod! The '80s Pop Culture Box (Totally)
Dave, your sparkling prose is a cruelly early and way too energetic wake-up call this morning and for the very goofiest of reasons—I was up last night covering the Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth concert at the Universal Ampitheatre for Rolling Stone. Truth be told, I'm still trying to wash the stench of beer and the mid-'80s off of my tired, middle-aged ass. Remember those carefree days when "Sam" or "Dave" was a heavy moral choice? Remember when you could still complain on vinyl about not being able to drive 55? Remember when David Lee Roth didn't look like your grandma in drag?
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StumbleUponOK, enough running with the devil. To me, the Rhino collection has—much like life itself—a strangely brilliant randomness, an approach of sorts that suits a decade that arguably lacked a guiding philosophy besides making money and wearing goofy colors. But do I detect a slightly anti-Hall-and-Oates bias in your comments today, because for all the online amiability, if you're dissing my boys, I'll still have to kick your ass if you don't admit that Hall and Oates must be forgiven for their videos and applauded for bringing a little pop soul to the radio. And while we're at it, will somebody say Amen for Rick Springfield? His undervalued and underloved "Jessie's Girl" is exactly the sort of pure pop-rock passion play I hunger for after my Van Hagar hangover. Later when I begin to wake up, I'll be ready to get more edgy—maybe I'll go techno old-school and see if the wife and kids want to hear Gary Numan's still-moving "Cars," a song that still sounds more fresh and fun than anything by the Prodigy. Gary, come home; all is forgiven.
Your point about "Walk This Way" is well-taken, so I'll take it right now. I think the song is a watershed moment, and unfortunately, that sort of rap-rock cross-pollination seems to have gotten less charming and joyous and more macho and moronic with each passing moment. Come home Run; your last album is forgiven—and if possible, could you pick up Gary Numan on the way? That would be lovely.
Also, if you need an early rap pick-me-up, just check out the sixth track on the Rhino set—"The Breaks" (Part One), by Kurtis Blow—and wallow in the deathless groove, the funky wit, the stripped-down musicality. Interestingly, Dave, Kurtis didn't blow, yet so many others who followed in his wake and made big money blew big time. P.S.: Sometime in the '80s, if memory serves me correctly, Bob Dylan appeared on a Kurtis Blow album—reason No. 101 I named my first son after Dylan.
By the way, I have a further recommendation today to Slate-heads—check out my show Musicians on Bravo, which has included such '80s faves as Blondie, Hall and Oates, and Heart, as well as Lou Reed, Sheryl Crow, Tony Bennett, Wyclef Jean, Alanis Morissette, Cassandra Wilson, Elvis Costello, and—next Monday at 10 p.m.—Mr. Randy Newman. This comment might seem self-serving, and that's because it is.
Gotta go send in my review of last night's Van Hagar spectacular for Rolling Stone, so I might as well jump.
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Notes From the Fray Editor:
Whose kisses are on whose lists? Who has been fighting the good fight for Hüsker Dü? The Fray has battled over inclusion and exclusion, the ickiness of nostalgia and the roll of Reaganism in our culture. Wild notes that he has been attacked for his outspoken Hall & Oates support (one wonders if this includes the cover of "Jingle Bell Rock.") In Notes I, Big Al provides some useful analysis. Notes II is a remarkable exchange on the imperatives of the market and the elective affinities of rap.
Notes From the Fray I:
Oddly enough, this band would have been better before the age of video. I still recall the dark-haired short one (Hall, Oates? [Oates—ed.]) with the bug-eyes moving his head back and forth like a pigeon on one of those insipid videos. And their domes remind me of how truly horrible 80s hair was. Some vidoes from that era were hilarious, campy, innovative (in a low-tech way). H&O videos were simply and essentially horrible.
-- Big Al
(To reply, click here.)
Notes From the Fray II:
"Walk This Way" signified the end of creative music. This song demonstrated that you could take a recognized song add some new effects and sell a few million copies. It signaled that creativity was unimportant. Look at rap today Puff Daddy won out over Public Enemy. Now music is all formula Like JLo and Britney.
-- biff
(To reply, click here.)
Stop the madness! The idea that "Walk This Way" killed pop music is almost as silly as the idea that pop music is now dead, just because JLo dominates the airwaves. I think Plotz is on to something here: The Run DMC/Aerosmith collaboration not only brought hip-hop to mainstream (read: white) attention, it also brought forth a new direction for listeners to follow. More than either of those two, it proved that the cliques that listeners were lumping themselves into were useless, because the song proved that genres could successfully merge and that pop couldn't be as neatly lumped into camps as we'd been led to believe. (Prince was doing the same sort of thing, but he wasn't rapping.)
Puff Daddy may have won out over Public Enemy, but could PE's rock-riff-fueled sonic assaults have been created without "Walk This Way" coming before? Maybe, but I'm doubtful.
-- aluminum man
(To reply, click here.)
I have nothing against Run Dmc its just that one song. I don't think they particularly liked doing it it was just a deal with the devil that they had to make. What that song did was show record companies that they can make money with garbage and that people will buy records no matter what is put out so there is no point developing real artists when pre fab sells better.
-- biff
(To reply, click here.)
"Could PE's rock-riff-fueled sonic assaults have been created without "Walk This Way" coming before?"
No, and Chuck D. knows it:
Beat is for Sonny Bono, beat is for Yoko Ono
Run-DMC first said a deejay could be a band
Stand on its feet, get you out your seat
Beat is for Eric B. and LL, as well, hell
Wax is for Anthrax, still it can rock bells
Ever forever, universal, it will sell
-- DonkeyBoy
(To reply, click here.)
(7/26)