{"id":1628,"date":"2008-08-15T00:43:37","date_gmt":"2008-08-15T04:43:37","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2008-12-10T23:00:45","modified_gmt":"2008-12-10T23:00:45","slug":"olympic-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/olympic-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zHxFW-yU61k?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nIt&#8217;s hard to believe we&#8217;re halfway through the 2008 Summer Olympics and I have not posted my thoughts on <strong>Olympic Rock<\/strong>. Some of you may be familiar with this concept: it&#8217;s long been my belief that there are certain genres of music that are best judged by the musicians&#8217; ability to hit certain standards, they way gymnasts and divers are scored, for instance. Established forms of Olympic music on which we might agree include <strong>rock cover bands<\/strong> as well as their predecessors, <strong>Classical music cover bands<\/strong>. In the case of a <strong>KISS<\/strong> cover band, for instance, the musicians are judged according to their ability to play the music of KISS as closely to the original studio (and in the case of some KISS tunes, I would presume, live album) versions as possible while also hitting the high, well-defined standards for each KISS member&#8217;s Look, gear, stage banter, and chest hair. A first-rate KISS cover band is expected to fit snuggly into the shadows of the masters themselves.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/is4lWYGM6rM?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nSome genres of rock &#8216;n roll, I would argue, are &#8220;Olympic&#8221; in nature. The clearest example of Olympic Rock may be found in <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rockabillyhall.com\/\">Rockabilly<\/a><\/strong>. Nothing original is required in Rockabilly; in fact, it might be argued that nothing original is desired. A good Rockabilly band depends on hot licks, hot chicks, hot rods, smokin&#8217; tone, cool threads, long sideburns, and high-stacked pompadours. A <em>great<\/em> Rockabilly band depends on all those things but done to perfection! And maybe the bassist is really good at riding his standup bass at key points in a performance. Rockabilly judges watch intently, with tattooed arms folded, to ensure that the guitarist is playing the solo in <strong>Billy Lee Riley<\/strong>&#8216;s &#8220;Trouble Bound&#8221; EXACTLY as <strong>Roland Janes<\/strong> intended it to be played when he first perfected his licks in some shotgun shack.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/AP_SMART_CAR.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"322\" height=\"340\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"image_legend\">NOT slapback friendly<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Can you imagine a Rockabilly band performing songs with emotionally rich lyrics and positive references to a bitchin&#8217; <strong>Smart Car<\/strong>? Ain&#8217;t gonna happen! You smartypants types may be itching to point to a Rockabilly-<em>influenced<\/em> tune by some enlightened cat like Steve Earle, but the Rockabilly judges would not deem his routine worthy of their scoring system. Here&#8217;s an example of a Rockabilly-based performance that, because of its originality, comes nowhere close to competing in Lillehammer.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u5T1N7b_Bm8?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>That cat&#8217;s better fit for the <strong>Ro<em><ins>X<\/ins><\/em>abilly Games<\/strong> in San Diego. The following Rockabilly revivalists are much more attunded to what the judges will be assessing.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lVQDK_dw97k?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a fun story about <strong>Dave Edmunds<\/strong>, a true Olympic musician, playing with one of his idols, <strong>Carl Perkins<\/strong>. Edmunds was leading the band that would be backing Perkins, and when they first ran through &#8220;Blue Suede Shoes&#8221; Edmunds stopped the band and told Perkins that he played the solo wrong. Perkins was perplexed. Edmunds explained to the Master that he was playing Scotty Moore&#8217;s solo from Elvis&#8217; version of the song rather than Perkins&#8217; own, original solo. Now <em>that&#8217;s<\/em> the power of Olympic Rock.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mOkwRHaIqsc?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FXh2yB8jizU?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nCertain forms of <strong>Heavy Metal<\/strong> may qualify for Olympic Rock status. <strong>Power Pop<\/strong> has a strong Olympic contingent. Early &#8217;80s <strong>Power Ballads<\/strong> are definitely sanctioned as Olympic events. <strong>Jazz fusion<\/strong>, especially the kind cranked up in hotel bathrooms to cover the horrid sounds and smells of bodily functions, may be Olympic in nature. Competitive jazz fusion depends on a great deal of porn rock faces and satin jumpsuits as much as the musicians&#8217; chops.<\/p>\n<p>Some musicians take an Olympic approach within their bands, regardless of whether the band itself is sanctioned for Olympic play. The Police&#8217;s <strong>Stewart Copeland<\/strong>, for instance, strikes me as a dedicated Olympian. I don&#8217;t think he cares what&#8217;s going on in a Police song. The man just wants to get his chops in. He&#8217;s got a certain amount of paradiddles, rock rides, and splash cymbals to execute &#8211; Sting and the other guy be damned!<\/p>\n<nav class=\"page-links\"><strong>Pages:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/olympic-rock\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">1<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/olympic-rock\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">2<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/olympic-rock\/3\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">3<\/span><\/a><\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s hard to believe we&#8217;re halfway through the 2008 Summer Olympics and I have not posted my thoughts on Olympic Rock. Some of you may be familiar with this concept: it&#8217;s long been my belief that there are certain genres of music that are best judged by the musicians&#8217; ability to hit certain standards, they <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/olympic-rock\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[51,72],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}