Mr. ShoLo Rising
Sweet Lou checks in on our discussions now and then. This morning, in response to ladymisskirroyale‘s Splitting Hairs commentary and a response within that thread by 2oo0 Man, he sent me a note with a link to the following live performance and these words:
Hey Rock Town Hall,
2K is right on regarding a rocker’s responsibility to allow his mane to cascade down his back. Tell your ’80s UK pouffy hair bands to stick it! Get back to me when any one of them tops this ‘do.
Not all pouffy hair bands are alike.
We here at RTH are interested in an in-depth understanding of music and all the minutiae that goes with it, including the musicians (David Bowie!, Paul Weller!), the culture (Hippies!), the way in which we listen to music (Headphones!), the ranking of the output of a band or artist (Top 10 Lists!)…and The Look (Sideburns!). So when Mr. Mod recently made this comment in regards to Paul Weller and the 1980s UK fashions, it made my blood go cold:
I don’t need anything beyond a couple of ABC, Orange Juice, Haircut 100, New Order, and Human League-type singles from that v-neck sweater/pouffy hair scene.
We at Rock Town Hall can not stand for this egregious misunderstanding of the fashion of an era! Just as we focus and comment on the subtle differences in a musician’s use of a Les Paul vs Fender, it is crucial to discern an artist’s or era’s fashion trends and the possible meaning behind those trends. And it is of utmost importance that when we include descriptors such as “v-neck sweater, pouffy hair scene” we know exactly whom we are talking about.
While the UK music scene of the early ’80s could be a swirling tea of fashion over function, each band worked very hard to craft a particular “Look” that acted as a signifier to other musicians and the music press.
Orange Juice: In love with VU, the Byrds, and Andy Warhol Pop Art, they adopted Ray-Ban glasses, nautical striped tees, fringed suede jackets, raccoon hats, plaid shirts, and jellies.
ABC: To reflect his love for disco and Roxie Music, Martin Frye et al adopted a slick, tailored look, which included gold lame suits.
New Order: Although the band members went on to disclaim the Third Reich references of their name, their early look was very similar to fellow Factory Records band, A Certain Ratio, and included military references such as tailored white shirts and shorts. Bernard Sumner appeared to have watched “The Tin Drum” too many times.
Haircut 100: I’ll give this one to Mod: when I think of Haircut 100, even I imagine those pretty blond boys with their sweaters and nicely-coiffed hair. And Nick Heyward’s smile was just so sparkly.
Human League: Who can forget (even if we try) Phil Oakey’s asymmetrical hair cut and heavy eyeliner? But before the girls came along, Human League’s dark, futuristic music and look were pretty gloom-and-doom and even featured some facial hair.
Perhaps Mod (and others?) are reacting to the way that these bands were promoted and adopted in the United States, and how they spawned such evil fashion offspring as Wham and Kajagoogoo. But to lump them all together would be a crime that we at RTH should not stand for!
Thought the Hall might like this. Cool site called Tubalr.com that lets you make a playlist of youtube videos without all the extra crap that comes with youtube. It just plays one song after another. Very clean design, too. And you can make playlists.
enjoy.
Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!
In this week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In a relatively joyous Mr. Moderator plays, among other tracks, a Slade song that may finally live up to the tough, swaggering, yet steadfast connotations somehow suggested by the band’s name. There’s a strong sense of this week’s 5-year anniversary festivities culminating in something special. Listen in and see if you don’t agree.
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-62.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 62][Note: The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player. In fact, you can even set your iTunes to search for an automatic download of each week’s podcast.]
In our continuing review of Rock Town Hall’s first 5 years as a blog, we will be providing some brief reviews of key aspects of this place. The hope is these overviews will pay homage to the contributions of our peers and provide newcomers easy access into the blog’s rich past. Let’s look at Rock Town Hall’s role as a home for the holidays. Continue reading »
Who dat?
Recently, I stumbled across a bit of promo fluff for an upcoming album by a musical entity I’m sure you’d all recognize. Your job is to guess who it describes. Your secondary task is to assess the teeth-grinding idiocy/insightful brilliance of the blurb in question. Here’s the blurb:
mixing pop art punch with soulful communication, jazzy explorations into psychedelia and dub with razor-sharp melodies, abstract soundscapes with clear-eyed forest-folk.
I look forward to your responses.
HVB
Certain artists play especially well here in the Halls of Rock. By “play especially well” I mean they instantly spark discussion, incite turf wars, cause Townspeople to question their fellow Townspeople’s true motives for getting so worked up about the particular artist. Respected, accomplished, yet polarizing artists The Boss and REM are sure to get folks going. Most Townspeople are willing to jump in as pure fanboys on any Beatles-related topic, but throw a Stones thread up here, especially one that plays off the ’60s Stones vs the ’70s Stones, and Townspeople take their positions personally. Among all the “go-to” artists for inciting rock chatter, however, few hold a candle to David Bowie. There are so many angles at which Bowie can be appreciated or derided, all of which boil down to, Is Bowie a shaman or a sham? We don’t question this split personality in an artist like Bob Dylan, but Bowie’s ambiguities are a constant cause for examination. Who could forget sammymaudlin‘s groundbreaking study of Bowie’s deep-seated balls envy, Bowie & Balls: If He Can’t Have Them, No One Can.
In high school I bought the standard Changesonebowie single-album greatest hits collection in high school and loved almost everything on it. Despite the pleasure derived from those 11 songs, I soon found Bowie’s album cuts frequently disappointing if not outright annoying. The whole chameleonic Bowie persona was a turn-off too. Here I was, hip deep in trying to be all that I could be while this guy was, as I saw it, constantly running away from himself. In college I heard a few more good album cuts off The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, but at the same time the worst Bowie music ever had become wildly popular: the Let’s Dance album. Just typing that album title gave me a gated reverb flashback. Ugh. It wasn’t until I turned 30 that I finally bought Hunky Dory and realized I probably loved 30 Bowie songs yet still couldn’t say that I loved Bowie. Word got out and friends wanted to know what was lacking in the 30 songs I loved by David Bowie that failed to put the artist over the hump for me. Probably nothing was lacking in the songs. All the stuff I didn’t like about Bowie, including how frequently I strongly disliked those songs of his that I didn’t love, was too much to overcome, at least until recently.
In November 2007, after years of prodding and a campaign led by Townsman alexmagic, I finally released the list of the 30 David Bowie songs I love. Yesterday the Magic Man asked whether Bowie’s “Five Years” would make my next grouping of songs 31-60. I replied that it would probably rank among the Top 35. Then I thought about this issue some more. There’s no way I could fill out a list of my Top 60 Bowie songs, but I think I could fill out entries 31 through 40. Following is my list of the next 10 Bowie songs that I like.
