Mad Props! to Townsman eh, who made Rock Town Hall his place and pointed us toward this video for “Jane,” Starship’s smash hit. A motion was made to bring this video to The Main Stage. So it is written, so let it be done!
The floor is open to your analytical skills!
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Townspeople,
This is your Rock Town Hall!
If you’ve already got Back Office privileges and can initiate threads, by all means use your privileges! If you’d like to acquire such privileges, let us know. If you’ve got a comment that needs to be made, what are you waiting for? If you’re just dropping in and find yourself feeling the need to scat, don’t hesitate to register and post your thoughts. The world of intelligent rock discussion benefits from your participation. If nothing else, your own Mr. Moderator gets a day off from himself. It’s a good thing for you as well as me!
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It occurred to me that George Harrison wrote at least two songs on the art of songwriting, “This Song” (check out the “humorous” promotional video that one of those soft serves who don’t allow embedded videos from YouTube has posted here) and “It’s Only a Northern Song.” Traffic has that song every songwriter can relate to, “Empty Pages.” Collectively I’m sure we can list a hundred songs on the art of songwriting, but rather than turn this into another Last Man Standing, let’s share what have these songs taught us about songwriting and the songwriter of each song? For instance, Harrison’s songs about songwriting teach us that it’s not brain surgery, that it can be as much a matter of punching the clock than it is inspiration, that there’s no point in overthinking a song…
This may be the shortest Last Man Standing we’ve ever had, but then again, we frequently say that, don’t we? The goal is not to list any old song about horses; the song has to be about horse racing, or have a definite reference to horse racing. Simply riding a horse doesn’t count, so don’t bother suggesting The Rolling Stones‘ “Wild Horses” whenever that day comes when you ride them.
Because there may be so few horses in this race, I won’t kick things off with the one obvious entrant that comes to mind.
The horses have entered the starting gate…they’re off!
Enjoy the following promotional message, courtesy of one of our very own Townsmen!
This is where we show our exquisite taste in haberdashery and personal grooming, indicating just what we would do with our Look, if we were to enjoy the same (presumably) unexpected mega-stardom enjoyed by the Kings of Leon. KoL chose, for whatever reason, to dump their dope-smoking, white-trash hillbilly Look (the one that so pleased “authenticity”-starved British rock critics a few years ago), in exchange for slick, Randy Jackson-approved, AmIdol garb, hair and grooming.
But what would *you* do? And while we’re at it: which current or past rock personalities dressed with the kind of style and panache that matched your high expectations of a *rock star*?
I look forward to your responses.
HVB
In our recent thread examining things singers do during long solos and other instrumental breaks, we discussed the move known as The Anderson, named after Yes singer Jon Anderson‘s surprisingly effective, drama-free approach to commanding the stage during long stretches when he could have had nothing better to do than iron out the wrinkles in his dashiki. Someone wondered if the reference to the move’s lack of “drama” was a commentary on the brief period when the Drama-era Yes was led by Trevor Horn, then of The Buggles’ fame and soon to be better known as a producer of slick, fairly interesting ’80s (and beyond) pop. Although the reference to the Horn era was unintentional, this observation necessitated a full-blown examination of the contrasting instrumental break styles of Anderson and Horn.
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I just have one question: what are we to make of the Kings of Leon‘s transformation from greasy-haired, southern-fried dirt rockers — i.e., this:
… to poncey American Idol contestants; i.e., this:
I mean, really, am I the only person who finds this transformation both weird, and, I dunno, somehow backwards? Aren’t rock stars supposed to start out dressed for success, then let themselves slip into lazy, bongwater-atained hippiedom? What’s going on here?
HVB
