Big Star is nothing if not the most ironically-named group in Rock history. Similar to the Velvet Underground, their influence on several subsequent musical movements is immeasurable despite garnering virtually no commercial success throughout their existence in the 1970's. While they are still unknown to the general public, they have been frequently hailed as favorites of both Rock journalists and bands like R.E.M. Since the late 1990's, Big Star has slowly begun to permeate mainstream culture with the use of their songs in films like Adventureland and That '70s Show - the theme of which featured Big Star's "In the Street" as covered by Cheap Trick.
Led by singer songwriters Chris Bell and Alex Chilton (former vocalist of the Box Tops), Big Star are often credited as being the definitive "Power-Pop" band, a sub-genre characterized by Beatles-inspired pop songs and heavy Who-like power chords. While a handful of their songs certainly fit the bill, Big Star's sound was more diverse, with diminutive songs rooted more in Folk and Soul. Right out of the gate, their 1972 debut #1 Record stood in contrast to the progressive-tinged mainstream Rock of the time. Big Star's guitars were crunchy, but not heavy. Their harmonies were pretty, but not operatic. Chilton and Bell crafted earthy Pop / Rock anthems like an American Lennon and McCartney. Catchy rockers like "My Life is Right" and the acoustic ballad "Thirteen" lyrically (and musically) captured the fleeting innocence of teen culture, from school dances to driving around looking for a joint - essentially the spirit of Dazed & Confused in a 3 minute song.
After the release #1 Record began Big Star's critically acclaimed yet commercially disastrous legacy, Chris Bell left the group, turning the creative duties over to Chilton. Like their debut, the sophomoric effort Radio City was centered around simple Pop / Rock, but with often cryptic lyrics and an audible weariness due to Chilton's growing cynicism surrounding the group's financial misfortune. Songs like "Back of a Car" and their signature song "September Gurls" (featured in Rolling Stone's Top 500 Songs of All Time) were still rooted in crunchy guitars and sweet melodies, but they also had a dreamy air to them which reflected a shift from the sunny optimism of the debut.
Their most notorious record Third / Sister Lovers is one of Rock's most shambolic and bizarre experiences. Often considered an Alex Chilton solo effort, Third is a thrown together collection of acoustic demos and half-finished demos augmented with maudlin strings and noisy textural treatments courtesy of producer Jim Dickinson. Dark ballads like "Kangaroo" and "Holocaust" viscerally detailed Chilton's descent into complete despair while sardonic rockers like "You Can't Have Me" saw him wounded and contemptuous at an industry which virtually ignored Big Star's acclaimed existence, leaving them in dire straits. Third was never even properly released until 1978, four years after its recording and the band's dissolution.
It was this tragic saga that made Big Star's story one of Rock's most mythic and Chilton a hero to underground rockers. Like the Velvet Underground, Big Star's influence was widespread and diverse, with bands like Cheap Trick and R.E.M. adapting their crunchy guitars and pop simplicity. Moody Alternative rockers like Nirvana would emulate the doomed pop sound of Third on subdued records like MTV Unplugged. Paul Westerberg of '80s Indie Rock kings The Replacements paid perhaps the deepest tribute, writing the classic "Alex Chilton" in tribute to one of his songwriting heroes.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Top 10 Influential Proto-Punk Bands (Part 2)
5. T. Rex
Along with Bowie, T. Rex front man Marc Bolan was Glam Rock's chief pioneer, single-handedly giving birth to the genre's visual and musical trademarks. Bolan merged a trashy, groovy take on early Rock & Roll with mystical lyricism that bordered on pretentious if not for a kitschy sense of humor. In many ways, Bolan was the definitive Rock star, effortlessly commanding the stage with a vibrant swagger and a love for the limelight. Like Bowie and Slade, T. Rex enjoyed a short-lived but enormous sweep of popularity among youths in the U.K. known as "T-Rextasy". In the U.S., their most well-known songs are the sleazy "Bang a Gong (Get it On)" and the roaring "20th Century Boy", the latter of which was featured in a Levi's commercial in the '90s.
Beginning as a folk-oriented duo featuring Mickey Finn on hand percussion, T. Rex later upgraded to a full lineup featuring bass and drums on their magnum opus Electric Warrior. Driven by Finn's almost tribal percussion and Bolan's fat, reverb-drenched guitar, T. Rex balanced their catchy dance-able rockers with mock-epic ballads often augmented by a string section. While Bolan's lyrics and Rock star exuberance would seem to put him at odds with Punk, his joyously pure sound and tongue-in-cheek sense of humor endeared him with the street kids. Indeed, Bolan was one of the few old guard rockers who fully embraced the Punk movement, inviting the Damned as a support act for his late '70s comeback tour.
T. Rex's influence stretched far beyond Punk, inspiring a legion of Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and Alternative Rock artists to follow. Like many of the artists on this list, T. Rex had a a strong crossover appeal, serving as an inspiration for both out-there Punk bands and mainstream Hard Rock bands. The Black Keys continue to carry his legacy into the modern era with Bolan-inspired songs like "Lonely Boy", and even Pop wunderkind Prince wrote his own take on T.Rex's sound with the No. 1 hit "Cream" in 1991.
Recommended songs: "Bang a Gong (Get it On)", "20th Century Boy", "Jeepster", "Telegram Sam", "Ride a White Swan".
4. New York Dolls
Though the Ramones or Patti Smith may have officially kicked off the late '70s New York movement at CBGB's, the New York Dolls may have been the first true Punk band in sound and spirit. Often classified as a Glam Rock band due to their androgynous, flashy sense of fashion, their sound was anything but glamorous. Mixing their back-to-basics Rock & Roll with Lou Reed-esque tales of urban decay, the Dolls stood in direct contrast to the excess of early '70s mainstream Rock with their ugly, noisy take on pure Rock & Roll. Thanks to front man David Johansen's dead-on Mick Jagger impression and guitarist Johnny Thunders' reputation for substance abuse worthy of Keith Richards, the Dolls were often maligned as a poor man's Rolling Stones.
Though they only released two classic albums in their early '70s heyday, both were massively influential for capturing the harrowing, irreverent and bizarre spirit of New York "street" music before it officially found a home at CBGB's just a few years later. The Dolls' nasty grind and completely off-the-wall fashion made them enormously influential on subsequent bands in all forms of Rock, most notably on both Punk bands who adopted their primitive sound and even Hair Metal bands, all of whom owe something to the Dolls' kinky dress sense.
Unlike once-edgy Rock bands from the Rolling Stones to Guns 'N Roses, the New York Dolls' sound remains too dangerous and bizarre to ever truly permeate the mainstream. While their bitchy "Looking For a Kiss" made a cameo appearance in 2009's Adventureland, you're not likely to hear one of their songs at a football game or a car commercial anytime soon. The Dolls will always be too edgy, regardless of how culture changes.
Recommended songs: "Personality Crisis", "Looking For a Kiss", "Trash", "Jet Boy", "Human Being".
3. David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars)
Though it seemingly bordered on cheating to add a solo artist, David Bowie's influence on Punk Rock (and popular music in general) cannot be overstated. Oddly enough, only a handful of Bowie's songs truly sound like Punk, but he was the definitive Rock star for musicians who came of age during his early '70s commercial heyday. An early adopter of shifting musical conventions and a champion of the bizarre, Bowie's string of albums throughout the '70s showed constant musical growth and have influenced hundreds of artists across all genres. Few artists have shared a stage with artists as diverse as Bing Crosby, John Lennon, Sonic Youth and Trent Reznor.
Bowie was arguably most influential on Punk Rock bands during his time as "Ziggy Stardust", a fictional stage persona created by Bowie and backed by his real-life touring and recording group at the time, the Spiders From Mars. Bowie's fearless swagger and Mick Ronson's brash, roaring guitar tone elevated Bowie's songs to epic proportions. Along with friend and professional rival Marc Bolan, Bowie was one of the few artists from the Glam Rock movement to truly create a massive public hysteria, captivating youths and frightening elders.
Not only did Bowie influence every three-chord driven Punk band with bitchy rockers like "Suffragette City" and "Hang on To Yourself", he also acted as the chief inspiration behind many Punk-associated genres with his late '70s albums referred to as his "Berlin Trilogy". Their experimental, electronic nature presaged gloomy Post-Punk artists like Joy Division and New Wave bands like Duran Duran. It would be easier to find artists who haven't been influenced by Bowie in one way or another, especially in the Punk world.
Recommended songs: "Hang on to Yourself", "Suffragette City", "Rebel Rebel", "Queen Bitch", "The Jean Genie".
2. The Stooges
Rock rebel Iggy Pop is often dubbed as the "Godfather of Punk" thanks in part to wild, shocking antics that continue on till this day but also due to his tenure fronting Detroit's the Stooges, one of the wildest and most confrontational Rock & Roll bands in history. Releasing their debut in 1969, the Stooges stood in wild contrast with the hippies with their rough, streetwise swagger and anarchic sound. Few Rock bands can be described as truly chaotic compared to the Stooges. Pop and his band were among the first Rock bands to take an axe to Rock conventions, frequently employing heavy machinery and vacuum cleaners as instruments, creating a metallic blast reflective of their Motor-City upbringing. Only the Velvet Underground presaged their use of dissonant noise in music. The Stooges took it to another level, playing blisteringly intense Rock which was then considered too menacing to be classified as Garage Rock and too primitive to be Heavy Metal.
Like Mott the Hoople, the Stooges were all but disbanded in 1973 before David Bowie took it upon himself to bring Pop and the band to England, rejuvenating them for what turned out to be the aptly-titled Raw Power. Though the band was always loud, menacing and aggressive, the album took that intensity to new heights. Little to no Rock music was as confrontational as Raw Power in 1973, which was classified as the "loudest album ever recorded" in a late 1990's reissue. With rampaging songs like "Search & Destroy" and the Chuck Berry-on-steroids title track, the Stooges essentially wrote the blueprint for Punk Rock.
Like many of the bands on this list, the Stooges were equally influential on Hard Rock and Heavy Metal as they were on Punk and Alternative artists. Virtually every major band from either side of the equation has cited the Stooges' wild, unhinged sound as vital to their sound. Guns 'N Roses included their own version of "Raw Power" on their covers album The Spaghetti Incident, and the album itself has been touted as a favorite of both Kurt Cobain and Cee Lo Green. There have been bands who have outdone the Stooges in terms of volume, speed and heaviness, but few have matched the "raw power" of Pop and his band in their heyday.
Recommended songs: "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "No Fun", "Loose", "Gimme Danger", "Cock in My Pocket".
1. The Velvet Underground
An obvious choice for top pick, the Velvet Underground is undoubtedly the most iconic and renown cult band in Rock history. Few other groups can claim such a massively widespread influence, spanning virtually every off-beat musical movement to spring in their wake. Forming in mid 1960's New York, the Velvets stood in stark opposition to the flower power movement with their bleak, harrowing tales of sadomasochism, drug addiction and urban horror. Led by one of Rock's most treasured poets Lou Reed, the Velvets instead fell in with Andy Warhol and his troupe of "superstars"- a collection of poets, visual artists and drag queens.
The Velvets were the original "Alternative" Rock band before the phrase even existed. Their edgy, avant-garde informed sound appealed to artistic outsiders and their primitive approach inspired young musicians who realized that they too could play guitar. On their first two records, the Velvets pushed rock beyond conventional boundaries into dissonant, noisy and often ethereal territory on the two-chord ode "Heroin" or "Sister Ray, a grisly seventeen minute jam ruminating on drag queens and murder. On their last two records however, the group began to explore more palatable territory beginning with hushed electric folk on The Velvet Underground and conventional Pop / Rock on Loaded.
A common colloquialism attributed to the group is that they sold very few records in their heyday, but everyone who bought one subsequently started a well-known band. They were the first band in popular music to become well known more through word of mouth than record sales or radio play. To this day, the Velvet Underground continues to influence bands with Reed's left-of-center take on Pop, Rock and Folk. When Lou Reed died in 2013, he was honored by a diverse set of stars from Martin Scorcese and David Bowie to Samuel L. Jackson and Metallica - a testament to the Velvet Underground's silent but monumental impact not only on Punk, but on the art world as a whole.
Recommended songs: "I'm Waiting For the Man", "Heroin", "White Light / White Heat", "Pale Blue Eyes", "Sweet Jane".
Afterward
While I tried to focus on relatively lesser-known artists, there's no denying that Punk Rock was also indebted to plenty of mainstream music. The seeds of Punk were sown as early as the 1950's with Chuck Berry's three chord teen mischief anthems and in the mid 1960's, when bands like the Kinks and the Who played songs that would have been considered Punk if released a decade later. One must also recognize the importance 1960's Garage Rock, as many of the groundbreaking singles on the Nuggets Garage compilation undoubtedly informed the earliest Punk bands.
Along with Bowie, T. Rex front man Marc Bolan was Glam Rock's chief pioneer, single-handedly giving birth to the genre's visual and musical trademarks. Bolan merged a trashy, groovy take on early Rock & Roll with mystical lyricism that bordered on pretentious if not for a kitschy sense of humor. In many ways, Bolan was the definitive Rock star, effortlessly commanding the stage with a vibrant swagger and a love for the limelight. Like Bowie and Slade, T. Rex enjoyed a short-lived but enormous sweep of popularity among youths in the U.K. known as "T-Rextasy". In the U.S., their most well-known songs are the sleazy "Bang a Gong (Get it On)" and the roaring "20th Century Boy", the latter of which was featured in a Levi's commercial in the '90s.
Beginning as a folk-oriented duo featuring Mickey Finn on hand percussion, T. Rex later upgraded to a full lineup featuring bass and drums on their magnum opus Electric Warrior. Driven by Finn's almost tribal percussion and Bolan's fat, reverb-drenched guitar, T. Rex balanced their catchy dance-able rockers with mock-epic ballads often augmented by a string section. While Bolan's lyrics and Rock star exuberance would seem to put him at odds with Punk, his joyously pure sound and tongue-in-cheek sense of humor endeared him with the street kids. Indeed, Bolan was one of the few old guard rockers who fully embraced the Punk movement, inviting the Damned as a support act for his late '70s comeback tour.
T. Rex's influence stretched far beyond Punk, inspiring a legion of Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and Alternative Rock artists to follow. Like many of the artists on this list, T. Rex had a a strong crossover appeal, serving as an inspiration for both out-there Punk bands and mainstream Hard Rock bands. The Black Keys continue to carry his legacy into the modern era with Bolan-inspired songs like "Lonely Boy", and even Pop wunderkind Prince wrote his own take on T.Rex's sound with the No. 1 hit "Cream" in 1991.
Recommended songs: "Bang a Gong (Get it On)", "20th Century Boy", "Jeepster", "Telegram Sam", "Ride a White Swan".
4. New York Dolls
Though the Ramones or Patti Smith may have officially kicked off the late '70s New York movement at CBGB's, the New York Dolls may have been the first true Punk band in sound and spirit. Often classified as a Glam Rock band due to their androgynous, flashy sense of fashion, their sound was anything but glamorous. Mixing their back-to-basics Rock & Roll with Lou Reed-esque tales of urban decay, the Dolls stood in direct contrast to the excess of early '70s mainstream Rock with their ugly, noisy take on pure Rock & Roll. Thanks to front man David Johansen's dead-on Mick Jagger impression and guitarist Johnny Thunders' reputation for substance abuse worthy of Keith Richards, the Dolls were often maligned as a poor man's Rolling Stones.
Though they only released two classic albums in their early '70s heyday, both were massively influential for capturing the harrowing, irreverent and bizarre spirit of New York "street" music before it officially found a home at CBGB's just a few years later. The Dolls' nasty grind and completely off-the-wall fashion made them enormously influential on subsequent bands in all forms of Rock, most notably on both Punk bands who adopted their primitive sound and even Hair Metal bands, all of whom owe something to the Dolls' kinky dress sense.
Unlike once-edgy Rock bands from the Rolling Stones to Guns 'N Roses, the New York Dolls' sound remains too dangerous and bizarre to ever truly permeate the mainstream. While their bitchy "Looking For a Kiss" made a cameo appearance in 2009's Adventureland, you're not likely to hear one of their songs at a football game or a car commercial anytime soon. The Dolls will always be too edgy, regardless of how culture changes.
Recommended songs: "Personality Crisis", "Looking For a Kiss", "Trash", "Jet Boy", "Human Being".
3. David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars)
Though it seemingly bordered on cheating to add a solo artist, David Bowie's influence on Punk Rock (and popular music in general) cannot be overstated. Oddly enough, only a handful of Bowie's songs truly sound like Punk, but he was the definitive Rock star for musicians who came of age during his early '70s commercial heyday. An early adopter of shifting musical conventions and a champion of the bizarre, Bowie's string of albums throughout the '70s showed constant musical growth and have influenced hundreds of artists across all genres. Few artists have shared a stage with artists as diverse as Bing Crosby, John Lennon, Sonic Youth and Trent Reznor.
Bowie was arguably most influential on Punk Rock bands during his time as "Ziggy Stardust", a fictional stage persona created by Bowie and backed by his real-life touring and recording group at the time, the Spiders From Mars. Bowie's fearless swagger and Mick Ronson's brash, roaring guitar tone elevated Bowie's songs to epic proportions. Along with friend and professional rival Marc Bolan, Bowie was one of the few artists from the Glam Rock movement to truly create a massive public hysteria, captivating youths and frightening elders.
Not only did Bowie influence every three-chord driven Punk band with bitchy rockers like "Suffragette City" and "Hang on To Yourself", he also acted as the chief inspiration behind many Punk-associated genres with his late '70s albums referred to as his "Berlin Trilogy". Their experimental, electronic nature presaged gloomy Post-Punk artists like Joy Division and New Wave bands like Duran Duran. It would be easier to find artists who haven't been influenced by Bowie in one way or another, especially in the Punk world.
Recommended songs: "Hang on to Yourself", "Suffragette City", "Rebel Rebel", "Queen Bitch", "The Jean Genie".
2. The Stooges
Rock rebel Iggy Pop is often dubbed as the "Godfather of Punk" thanks in part to wild, shocking antics that continue on till this day but also due to his tenure fronting Detroit's the Stooges, one of the wildest and most confrontational Rock & Roll bands in history. Releasing their debut in 1969, the Stooges stood in wild contrast with the hippies with their rough, streetwise swagger and anarchic sound. Few Rock bands can be described as truly chaotic compared to the Stooges. Pop and his band were among the first Rock bands to take an axe to Rock conventions, frequently employing heavy machinery and vacuum cleaners as instruments, creating a metallic blast reflective of their Motor-City upbringing. Only the Velvet Underground presaged their use of dissonant noise in music. The Stooges took it to another level, playing blisteringly intense Rock which was then considered too menacing to be classified as Garage Rock and too primitive to be Heavy Metal.
Like Mott the Hoople, the Stooges were all but disbanded in 1973 before David Bowie took it upon himself to bring Pop and the band to England, rejuvenating them for what turned out to be the aptly-titled Raw Power. Though the band was always loud, menacing and aggressive, the album took that intensity to new heights. Little to no Rock music was as confrontational as Raw Power in 1973, which was classified as the "loudest album ever recorded" in a late 1990's reissue. With rampaging songs like "Search & Destroy" and the Chuck Berry-on-steroids title track, the Stooges essentially wrote the blueprint for Punk Rock.
Like many of the bands on this list, the Stooges were equally influential on Hard Rock and Heavy Metal as they were on Punk and Alternative artists. Virtually every major band from either side of the equation has cited the Stooges' wild, unhinged sound as vital to their sound. Guns 'N Roses included their own version of "Raw Power" on their covers album The Spaghetti Incident, and the album itself has been touted as a favorite of both Kurt Cobain and Cee Lo Green. There have been bands who have outdone the Stooges in terms of volume, speed and heaviness, but few have matched the "raw power" of Pop and his band in their heyday.
Recommended songs: "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "No Fun", "Loose", "Gimme Danger", "Cock in My Pocket".
1. The Velvet Underground
An obvious choice for top pick, the Velvet Underground is undoubtedly the most iconic and renown cult band in Rock history. Few other groups can claim such a massively widespread influence, spanning virtually every off-beat musical movement to spring in their wake. Forming in mid 1960's New York, the Velvets stood in stark opposition to the flower power movement with their bleak, harrowing tales of sadomasochism, drug addiction and urban horror. Led by one of Rock's most treasured poets Lou Reed, the Velvets instead fell in with Andy Warhol and his troupe of "superstars"- a collection of poets, visual artists and drag queens.
The Velvets were the original "Alternative" Rock band before the phrase even existed. Their edgy, avant-garde informed sound appealed to artistic outsiders and their primitive approach inspired young musicians who realized that they too could play guitar. On their first two records, the Velvets pushed rock beyond conventional boundaries into dissonant, noisy and often ethereal territory on the two-chord ode "Heroin" or "Sister Ray, a grisly seventeen minute jam ruminating on drag queens and murder. On their last two records however, the group began to explore more palatable territory beginning with hushed electric folk on The Velvet Underground and conventional Pop / Rock on Loaded.
A common colloquialism attributed to the group is that they sold very few records in their heyday, but everyone who bought one subsequently started a well-known band. They were the first band in popular music to become well known more through word of mouth than record sales or radio play. To this day, the Velvet Underground continues to influence bands with Reed's left-of-center take on Pop, Rock and Folk. When Lou Reed died in 2013, he was honored by a diverse set of stars from Martin Scorcese and David Bowie to Samuel L. Jackson and Metallica - a testament to the Velvet Underground's silent but monumental impact not only on Punk, but on the art world as a whole.
Recommended songs: "I'm Waiting For the Man", "Heroin", "White Light / White Heat", "Pale Blue Eyes", "Sweet Jane".
Afterward
While I tried to focus on relatively lesser-known artists, there's no denying that Punk Rock was also indebted to plenty of mainstream music. The seeds of Punk were sown as early as the 1950's with Chuck Berry's three chord teen mischief anthems and in the mid 1960's, when bands like the Kinks and the Who played songs that would have been considered Punk if released a decade later. One must also recognize the importance 1960's Garage Rock, as many of the groundbreaking singles on the Nuggets Garage compilation undoubtedly informed the earliest Punk bands.
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Top 10 Influential Proto-Punk Bands (Part 1)
Within the realm of Rock journalism, there is a loose classification known as Proto-Punk, less a true musical movement and more a way to identify artists who served as the primary influence on the first wave of Punk Rock in the late 1970's. These bands spanned across their own diverse sub-genres from mid '60s British Mod Rock to the early Glam Rock bands who would reign the charts nearly a decade later. Despite their scattered origins, they are all unified in their towering influence over the Punk and New Wave revolution of the late '70s due to their simplistic, aggressive brand of Rock or utter defiance of excesses in the mainstream Rock world.
10. Roxy Music
The first entry on this list is a band whose "Punk" elements may not be as immediate as the others. Roxy Music is often summarized as a Glam Rock band that was obsessed with fashion, art and the avant-garde. While that is ostensibly true, their (even now) ahead of the times Rock blended traditional song structures with freakishly dissonant textures, with or without founding member and experimental music pioneer Brian Eno. Debuting in 1972 with a self-titled effort, Roxy Music distinguished themselves from the rest of the Rock world, retaining none of the traditional Blues influences found in contemporaries like the Rolling Stones or even the boundary-pushing David Bowie.
Toying with traces of Cabaret, early Electronic Music, Beatlesque Pop and an avant-garde approach borrowed from the Velvet Underground, Roxy forged a completely original sound from this raw material. Leader Bryan Ferry was capable of writing nearly traditional Pop songs before twisting them with dissonant and often jarring chord changes. Paul Thompson pounded his drums with a primal insistence that was aggressive yet infectious. Longtime guitarist Phil Manzanera is one of the most overlooked guitar heroes in Rock, capping off melodically challenging compositions with soaring, appropriately noisy solos. Roxy sounded unlike any other band before them and very few artists have even attempted to tread down the edgy, sometimes frightening paths they paved.
Along with many other artists from England's early '70's Glam Rock movement, Roxy served as the early influence for British bands to come from the Punk movement later in the decade, including straight-ahead rockers like the Sex Pistols, gloomy Post-Punk pioneers Joy Division and even pop-oriented synth artists like ABC. This extended even further, with artists as disparate as disco symbols Chic and early Alternative Rockers Faith No More citing their impact. Whether it was due to their own relatively simplistic rockers ("Virginia Plain"), their menacingly sophisticated epics ("In Every Dream Home a Heartache") or their twisted pop songs ("Love is the Drug"), Roxy Music shaped the sound of a surprising number of musical movements to come without the worldwide A-list popularity they deserve.
Recommended songs: "Virginia Plain", "In Every Dream Home a Heartache", "The Thrill of it All", "Street Life", "Both Ends Burning".
9. Faces
It's hard to imagine Rod Stewart having any sort of influence on Punk Rock, but before the "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" singer became a symbol of anything but Punk, he lent his powerfully ragged voice to some of the toughest Rock music ever recorded. Most of that music was recorded with the Faces, an iteration of the Small Faces featuring Stewart on vocals and future Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood on guitar. Together, they created a sloppy, joyous and frequently intoxicated brand of Rock and Roll rivaled only by the Stones in swagger.
Their minor chart hit "Stay With Me" says it all - direct and borderline misogynistic lyrics about a one-night stand, a hoarsely belted vocal from Stewart, a chugging rhythm guitar part from Wood and a rhythm section that sounds like it's falling victim to that last shot of whiskey. While their excessive lifestyle put them in league with the Rock star culture from which Punk defected, their pure sound and party-animal image inspired the first wave of British Punks who endeavored to bring Rock back to its basics. Outside of Punk, the Faces' hard groove-driven Rock also inspired Hard Rock icons Guns 'N Roses and early Alternative Rockers The Replacements.
Recommended songs: "Stay With Me", "Bad 'N Ruin", "Had Me a Real Good Time", "Pool Hall Richard", "(I Know) I'm Losing You".
8. Slade
Slade was one of England's definitive Glam Rock bands, famed for their outlandish costumes and deliberately trashy singles. Along with T. Rex and David Bowie, they exemplified the essence of the genre. Unfortunately, their focus on making immediate and sometimes gimmicky tunes meant they were denied the same critical acclaim as those artists. Slade never had the same grand artistic ambitions. Apart from the occasional ballad, Slade specialized in campy, sleazy and deafeningly loud Rock singles with distinctly misspelled titles like "Mama We're All Crazee Now" and "Cum On Feel the Noize".
Like the Faces, Slade's sound was pure, unadulterated Rock and Roll turned up to 11, complete with roaring guitars and primal beats fit for a stadium. Lead singer Noddy Holder possessed a shrill, glass-shattering howl worthy of Robert Plant at his height. Their songs were infectiously simple and specifically written to bait the audience into participating. Late '70s rock band Cheap Trick famously derived their name after seeing a Slade show, noting that they used "every cheap trick" in the book.
While they are primarily remembered in the U.S. for providing Glam Metal band Twisted Sister with a pair of hit covers, Slade was a commercial behemoth in their homeland during the early '70s. Their unhinged, pure and over the top take on Rock & Roll proved to be massively influential not only on Punk but on Heavy Metal and Alternative Rock bands from The Replacements to Nirvana. Kurt Cobain summed it up best, describing Slade as the one band that "didn't give a fuck".
Recommended songs: "Mama We're All Crazee Now", "Gudbuy T'Jane", "Get Down Get With It", "Take Me Bak 'Ome", "Cum On Feel the Noize".
7. Mott the Hoople
While they are mostly known for their definitive take on Bowie's Glam anthem "All the Young Dudes", Mott the Hoople was enormously influential in their own right, blending leader Ian Hunter's deadpan Lou Reed-style vocals with a tough Rock sound reminiscent of The Rolling Stones at their height. Mott had three albums under their belt and were on the verge of disbanding in 1972 before Bowie swooped in and offered his assistance as a producer.
While they had a similarly primal and kitschy sound - complete with barrelhouse piano and epic guitars courtesy of future Bad Company axeman Mick Ralphs - Mott lacked the commercial ambitions of Slade. Mott was never quite as catchy as T. Rex nor did they have the androgynous sex appeal of David Bowie, but their take on Glam Rock was the weirdest and among the most enduring. Hunter's lyrics were more poetic and cryptic, spinning tales of dead-end losers and revealing a strong Dylan influence.
It was this empathetic passion for the downtrodden street kids which appealed greatly to English Punk bands who identified with Mott's down-to-earth contrast to the pretensions of the era's Progressive Rock bands. Mott did indeed pave the way for the streetwise Punk bands that followed, with the Clash even writing a tribute entitled "All the Young Punks".
Recommended songs: "All the Young Dudes", "One of the Boys", "All the Way From Memphis", "Roll Away the Stone", "The Moon Upstairs".
6. MC5
The first American entry on this list, Detroit's MC5 defined the city's chaotic sound at the end of the 1960's, a symptom of the era's fiery sociopolitical climate, but in a louder and more aggressive manner than the average hippie band. Managed by political activist and founding member of the anti-racist "White Panther" party, MC5 played some of what is still the most aggressively decibel-breaking Rock & Roll ever recorded. Lead vocalist Rob Tyner had a menacing, baritone capable of leading the cacophonous dual-guitar attack from Fred "Sonic" Smith and Wayne Kramer, capped off by the pummeling rhythm section of Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson.
Though they only released three albums in their heyday, their live debut Kick Out the Jams was heavier, more chaotic and volatile than anything else released in 1969, outdoing even Led Zeppelin and The Who. The title track's now-infamously shouted introduction "Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!" and its monstrously anarchic sound essentially served as the blueprint for countless heavy Rock bands including the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned Motorhead and Black Flag.
While the MC5's music was rooted in a crushingly loud take on Blues-based Rock music (with later albums showing more of a Chuck Berry influence) Kick Out the Jams featured passages of dissonant, metallic noise which reflected their Motor City roots and a free jazz influence learned from genre icons John Coltrane and Sun Ra. This extended their influence beyond more traditional Rock and Roll with noise-driven experimental band Sonic Youth in particular citing them as an inspiration.
Recommended songs: "Kick Out the Jams", "Ramblin' Rose", "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)", "Looking at You", "Shakin' Street".
10. Roxy Music
The first entry on this list is a band whose "Punk" elements may not be as immediate as the others. Roxy Music is often summarized as a Glam Rock band that was obsessed with fashion, art and the avant-garde. While that is ostensibly true, their (even now) ahead of the times Rock blended traditional song structures with freakishly dissonant textures, with or without founding member and experimental music pioneer Brian Eno. Debuting in 1972 with a self-titled effort, Roxy Music distinguished themselves from the rest of the Rock world, retaining none of the traditional Blues influences found in contemporaries like the Rolling Stones or even the boundary-pushing David Bowie.
Toying with traces of Cabaret, early Electronic Music, Beatlesque Pop and an avant-garde approach borrowed from the Velvet Underground, Roxy forged a completely original sound from this raw material. Leader Bryan Ferry was capable of writing nearly traditional Pop songs before twisting them with dissonant and often jarring chord changes. Paul Thompson pounded his drums with a primal insistence that was aggressive yet infectious. Longtime guitarist Phil Manzanera is one of the most overlooked guitar heroes in Rock, capping off melodically challenging compositions with soaring, appropriately noisy solos. Roxy sounded unlike any other band before them and very few artists have even attempted to tread down the edgy, sometimes frightening paths they paved.
Along with many other artists from England's early '70's Glam Rock movement, Roxy served as the early influence for British bands to come from the Punk movement later in the decade, including straight-ahead rockers like the Sex Pistols, gloomy Post-Punk pioneers Joy Division and even pop-oriented synth artists like ABC. This extended even further, with artists as disparate as disco symbols Chic and early Alternative Rockers Faith No More citing their impact. Whether it was due to their own relatively simplistic rockers ("Virginia Plain"), their menacingly sophisticated epics ("In Every Dream Home a Heartache") or their twisted pop songs ("Love is the Drug"), Roxy Music shaped the sound of a surprising number of musical movements to come without the worldwide A-list popularity they deserve.
Recommended songs: "Virginia Plain", "In Every Dream Home a Heartache", "The Thrill of it All", "Street Life", "Both Ends Burning".
9. Faces
It's hard to imagine Rod Stewart having any sort of influence on Punk Rock, but before the "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" singer became a symbol of anything but Punk, he lent his powerfully ragged voice to some of the toughest Rock music ever recorded. Most of that music was recorded with the Faces, an iteration of the Small Faces featuring Stewart on vocals and future Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood on guitar. Together, they created a sloppy, joyous and frequently intoxicated brand of Rock and Roll rivaled only by the Stones in swagger.
Their minor chart hit "Stay With Me" says it all - direct and borderline misogynistic lyrics about a one-night stand, a hoarsely belted vocal from Stewart, a chugging rhythm guitar part from Wood and a rhythm section that sounds like it's falling victim to that last shot of whiskey. While their excessive lifestyle put them in league with the Rock star culture from which Punk defected, their pure sound and party-animal image inspired the first wave of British Punks who endeavored to bring Rock back to its basics. Outside of Punk, the Faces' hard groove-driven Rock also inspired Hard Rock icons Guns 'N Roses and early Alternative Rockers The Replacements.
Recommended songs: "Stay With Me", "Bad 'N Ruin", "Had Me a Real Good Time", "Pool Hall Richard", "(I Know) I'm Losing You".
8. Slade
Slade was one of England's definitive Glam Rock bands, famed for their outlandish costumes and deliberately trashy singles. Along with T. Rex and David Bowie, they exemplified the essence of the genre. Unfortunately, their focus on making immediate and sometimes gimmicky tunes meant they were denied the same critical acclaim as those artists. Slade never had the same grand artistic ambitions. Apart from the occasional ballad, Slade specialized in campy, sleazy and deafeningly loud Rock singles with distinctly misspelled titles like "Mama We're All Crazee Now" and "Cum On Feel the Noize".
Like the Faces, Slade's sound was pure, unadulterated Rock and Roll turned up to 11, complete with roaring guitars and primal beats fit for a stadium. Lead singer Noddy Holder possessed a shrill, glass-shattering howl worthy of Robert Plant at his height. Their songs were infectiously simple and specifically written to bait the audience into participating. Late '70s rock band Cheap Trick famously derived their name after seeing a Slade show, noting that they used "every cheap trick" in the book.
While they are primarily remembered in the U.S. for providing Glam Metal band Twisted Sister with a pair of hit covers, Slade was a commercial behemoth in their homeland during the early '70s. Their unhinged, pure and over the top take on Rock & Roll proved to be massively influential not only on Punk but on Heavy Metal and Alternative Rock bands from The Replacements to Nirvana. Kurt Cobain summed it up best, describing Slade as the one band that "didn't give a fuck".
Recommended songs: "Mama We're All Crazee Now", "Gudbuy T'Jane", "Get Down Get With It", "Take Me Bak 'Ome", "Cum On Feel the Noize".
7. Mott the Hoople
While they are mostly known for their definitive take on Bowie's Glam anthem "All the Young Dudes", Mott the Hoople was enormously influential in their own right, blending leader Ian Hunter's deadpan Lou Reed-style vocals with a tough Rock sound reminiscent of The Rolling Stones at their height. Mott had three albums under their belt and were on the verge of disbanding in 1972 before Bowie swooped in and offered his assistance as a producer.
While they had a similarly primal and kitschy sound - complete with barrelhouse piano and epic guitars courtesy of future Bad Company axeman Mick Ralphs - Mott lacked the commercial ambitions of Slade. Mott was never quite as catchy as T. Rex nor did they have the androgynous sex appeal of David Bowie, but their take on Glam Rock was the weirdest and among the most enduring. Hunter's lyrics were more poetic and cryptic, spinning tales of dead-end losers and revealing a strong Dylan influence.
It was this empathetic passion for the downtrodden street kids which appealed greatly to English Punk bands who identified with Mott's down-to-earth contrast to the pretensions of the era's Progressive Rock bands. Mott did indeed pave the way for the streetwise Punk bands that followed, with the Clash even writing a tribute entitled "All the Young Punks".
Recommended songs: "All the Young Dudes", "One of the Boys", "All the Way From Memphis", "Roll Away the Stone", "The Moon Upstairs".
6. MC5
The first American entry on this list, Detroit's MC5 defined the city's chaotic sound at the end of the 1960's, a symptom of the era's fiery sociopolitical climate, but in a louder and more aggressive manner than the average hippie band. Managed by political activist and founding member of the anti-racist "White Panther" party, MC5 played some of what is still the most aggressively decibel-breaking Rock & Roll ever recorded. Lead vocalist Rob Tyner had a menacing, baritone capable of leading the cacophonous dual-guitar attack from Fred "Sonic" Smith and Wayne Kramer, capped off by the pummeling rhythm section of Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson.
Though they only released three albums in their heyday, their live debut Kick Out the Jams was heavier, more chaotic and volatile than anything else released in 1969, outdoing even Led Zeppelin and The Who. The title track's now-infamously shouted introduction "Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!" and its monstrously anarchic sound essentially served as the blueprint for countless heavy Rock bands including the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned Motorhead and Black Flag.
While the MC5's music was rooted in a crushingly loud take on Blues-based Rock music (with later albums showing more of a Chuck Berry influence) Kick Out the Jams featured passages of dissonant, metallic noise which reflected their Motor City roots and a free jazz influence learned from genre icons John Coltrane and Sun Ra. This extended their influence beyond more traditional Rock and Roll with noise-driven experimental band Sonic Youth in particular citing them as an inspiration.
Recommended songs: "Kick Out the Jams", "Ramblin' Rose", "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)", "Looking at You", "Shakin' Street".
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
"Rogue One" Goes Rogue...and Emerges Victorious
The biggest ripple in the Star Wars universe since The Phantom Menace first kicked off the much-maligned prequel series in 1999 came over a year ago when Disney released The Force Awakens, the first official sequel to the original trilogy. Its announcement and release reawakened a pop culture behemoth so great it was a bit puzzling to hear that Disney would be releasing a spinoff prequel to the original series entitled Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Its announcement provoked a mix of reactions from fans, many of whom saw it as little more than a fevered attempt to cash in on the buzz created by The Force Awakens. I was one of those fans. Was the studio actually trying to do artistic justice to the series legacy or were they trying to set and meet a very lucrative one-film-a-year quota?
Not only does Rogue One do more justice to the series than The Force Awakens, it also expands upon it in a satisfying, intriguing manner. Where the latter essentially cloned the structure of the first film of the original trilogy and colored it with aesthetics borrowed from the other two, Rogue One is bold enough to make a Star Wars film unlike any other in the series. This was evident from an intro that lacked the series' signature opening crawl to onscreen texts to keep track of the film's shifting locales.
Apart from a few quips courtesy of a droid more sardonic than C-3PO and R2-D2 combined, the film largely lacks the playful humor found in all of the Star Wars entries to date. At times, its tone verges on dark and even touching. Where The Force Awakens hashed out a rewrite of a New Hope, Rogue One spins out a more tragic, military-oriented interpretation of the underdogs vs. the machine story. As a result, it's the first Star Wars film that really feels more like a war film than an epic adventure. There are even scenes While the battle scenes hardly outdo the original series in terms of violence or gore, onscreen deaths of even new supporting characters warrant more emotion than ever before.
Like the other films, it's centered around a ragtag team of misfits who band together for the greater cause. Unlike the starry-eyed Luke Skywalker, the spunky royal Princess Leia and the lovable rebel Han Solo, however Rogue One's cast consists mainly of beaten-down warriors finding redemption in the greater good despite scheming corruption from both sides of the battle. In that sense, it's somewhat timely considering the currently volatile political world. Where the line between heroic and villainous factions were clear cut in previous films, Rogue One is the first to portray dark agendas within the Rebel Alliance.
While the two leads portrayed by Felicity Huffman and Diego Luna lack the same star power and charisma of Harrison Ford or even The Force Awakens' Daisy Ridley, they portray much more earthly characters with interesting moral dilemmas. The supporting cast follows this approach, straying from the template that endured throughout the series. While there are a few familiar archetypes present from the wise force-sensitive mystic to a trigger-happy sideman with the biggest gun, there are no definitive parallels to the Star Wars universe's most beloved characters. While it's unlikely that any of the characters will have the enduring impact of say Han Solo or Emperor Palpatine, they are entertaining and charming as an ensemble, not unlike a sci-fi version of The Untouchables.
Like The Force Awakens, the appeal of a film like Rogue One is built on the legacy of possibly the most popular franchise of all time. It's almost a basic requisite in today's backwards-looking industry to pepper a box office juggernaut like this with inside jokes and cheeky nods to the series' centerpiece films. The Force Awakens was built almost entirely on them. Rogue One displays its fan service more subtly, to its great benefit. The film's shift in tone and structure might make you forget that you're watching a Star Wars film, but there are some well-earned cameos from beloved characters that serve the plot as well as they illicit applause.
On that note, Rogue One isn't perfect. There are a few moments where director Gareth Edwards chooses to resurrect characters as we knew them in 1977 via Computer Generated Imagery and while the method is impressive, it is ultimately distracting and unconvincing. The film also lacks the same epic scope of the average Star Wars film which makes its relatively long run time (at roughly 2 hours and 15 minutes) questionable in terms of pacing.
Ultimately however, Rogue One succeeds where The Force Awakens disappointed. Though it's obviously best appreciated as an entry in the Star Wars saga, it is notably one of the few films in the franchise that plays well as a solid and scenic piece of sci-fi action in its own right. It boldly strayed from the series' familiar devices and was successful in that gamble. Though it doesn't make you think or add anything truly important to the series in terms of story, it does make for an entertaining and gloomily beautiful two hours of entertainment.
Not only does Rogue One do more justice to the series than The Force Awakens, it also expands upon it in a satisfying, intriguing manner. Where the latter essentially cloned the structure of the first film of the original trilogy and colored it with aesthetics borrowed from the other two, Rogue One is bold enough to make a Star Wars film unlike any other in the series. This was evident from an intro that lacked the series' signature opening crawl to onscreen texts to keep track of the film's shifting locales.
Apart from a few quips courtesy of a droid more sardonic than C-3PO and R2-D2 combined, the film largely lacks the playful humor found in all of the Star Wars entries to date. At times, its tone verges on dark and even touching. Where The Force Awakens hashed out a rewrite of a New Hope, Rogue One spins out a more tragic, military-oriented interpretation of the underdogs vs. the machine story. As a result, it's the first Star Wars film that really feels more like a war film than an epic adventure. There are even scenes While the battle scenes hardly outdo the original series in terms of violence or gore, onscreen deaths of even new supporting characters warrant more emotion than ever before.
Like the other films, it's centered around a ragtag team of misfits who band together for the greater cause. Unlike the starry-eyed Luke Skywalker, the spunky royal Princess Leia and the lovable rebel Han Solo, however Rogue One's cast consists mainly of beaten-down warriors finding redemption in the greater good despite scheming corruption from both sides of the battle. In that sense, it's somewhat timely considering the currently volatile political world. Where the line between heroic and villainous factions were clear cut in previous films, Rogue One is the first to portray dark agendas within the Rebel Alliance.
While the two leads portrayed by Felicity Huffman and Diego Luna lack the same star power and charisma of Harrison Ford or even The Force Awakens' Daisy Ridley, they portray much more earthly characters with interesting moral dilemmas. The supporting cast follows this approach, straying from the template that endured throughout the series. While there are a few familiar archetypes present from the wise force-sensitive mystic to a trigger-happy sideman with the biggest gun, there are no definitive parallels to the Star Wars universe's most beloved characters. While it's unlikely that any of the characters will have the enduring impact of say Han Solo or Emperor Palpatine, they are entertaining and charming as an ensemble, not unlike a sci-fi version of The Untouchables.
Like The Force Awakens, the appeal of a film like Rogue One is built on the legacy of possibly the most popular franchise of all time. It's almost a basic requisite in today's backwards-looking industry to pepper a box office juggernaut like this with inside jokes and cheeky nods to the series' centerpiece films. The Force Awakens was built almost entirely on them. Rogue One displays its fan service more subtly, to its great benefit. The film's shift in tone and structure might make you forget that you're watching a Star Wars film, but there are some well-earned cameos from beloved characters that serve the plot as well as they illicit applause.
On that note, Rogue One isn't perfect. There are a few moments where director Gareth Edwards chooses to resurrect characters as we knew them in 1977 via Computer Generated Imagery and while the method is impressive, it is ultimately distracting and unconvincing. The film also lacks the same epic scope of the average Star Wars film which makes its relatively long run time (at roughly 2 hours and 15 minutes) questionable in terms of pacing.
Ultimately however, Rogue One succeeds where The Force Awakens disappointed. Though it's obviously best appreciated as an entry in the Star Wars saga, it is notably one of the few films in the franchise that plays well as a solid and scenic piece of sci-fi action in its own right. It boldly strayed from the series' familiar devices and was successful in that gamble. Though it doesn't make you think or add anything truly important to the series in terms of story, it does make for an entertaining and gloomily beautiful two hours of entertainment.
Monday, January 2, 2017
Ziggy Played Guitar...Remembering Bowie
Happy New Year! We've officially said goodbye to a year filled with seemingly nonstop worldwide violence, divisive political upheaval and a surprising number of celebrity deaths. The latter especially led many on social media to demonize 2016 as a particularly horrible year. As a fan of many of the Baby Boomer era icons to leave us this year, I'd be inclined to agree. One of the heaviest losses from my perspective was someone I consider to be my all time favorite musician; David Robert Jones, known more widely as David Bowie.
I can remember hearing his name and seeing Jimmy Fallon doing an appropriately off-kilter impression of this strange, almost devilish yet charismatic character on Saturday Night Live as a child. Even as a proponent of the bizarre, I was more frightened than interested in this vampire of a musician. Many years later as a teenager, I was finally swayed to buy his albums after reading about his unequaled role in the development of glam rock, punk rock and countless other musical sub-genres. Almost all of his albums from the '70s earned perfect or near-perfect ratings on allmusic.com. Musicians from all across the board from Madonna to the Pixies cited him as a major influence. I was properly intrigued.
The fact that everyone has a different favorite album or phase in Bowie's career is a true testament to his boundless creativity and versatility. Bowie's massive oeuvre was marked by wildly different musical excursions ranging from his beginnings as a hippie-ish folk songwriter in the '60s to his dabbles in Industrial music three decades later. He managed to touch upon just about every disparate musical movement in between including glam rock (which he pioneered), English music hall, early heavy metal, progressive rock, soul, German-influenced electronic music and synth-pop. Only fellow 2016 departed Prince can claim a musical resume so diverse.
Not only did Bowie influence countless musical movements, but he was also a lightning rod for the latest trends, often taking great influence from another artist while influencing them. He had such a dynamic of respect with younger artists who looked up to him and ended up touching him with their own music. The most notable examples include the Pixies, Trent Reznor and Sonic Youth. In the '70s, Bowie also found time to revive the then-dormant careers of his own heroes, producing and writing albums for Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Mott the Hoople in addition to his own fledgling career as a superstar. Even shortly before his death, Bowie was still gleaning inspiration from this generation of music in Kendrick Lamar for his swan song Blackstar.
Bowie is perhaps remembered most widely as not one but several visual icons. Lady Gaga and Lana del Rey toy with these concepts in today's pop culture landscape, but Bowie was the first rock star to successfully create and live out his own creations with their own complex backstories. The most notable is Ziggy Stardust, the alien rock star who brings rock music to save Earth from death. Then there was the Thin White Duke, a cocaine-driven white soul singer who managed to blend a steely personality with the most lively and vivacious music known to man. Sometimes he was just "David Bowie", but was this the David Bowie who donned a dress and played what would soon be known as heavy metal or the David Bowie who lived in Berlin and made among the first widely known electronic music?
His music itself was rich and too diverse to describe in one thought. Interestingly enough, there is a widely supported critical consensus that his work had a certain depth to it, even if he was dabbling in a genre as consciously trashy as glam rock or in the excesses of '70s music in general. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Bowie could augment one of his songs with a five minute guitar solo from the great Mick Ronson or sing of monsters and aliens doing the boogie without having it sound kitschy or pretentious. It was all art from his pen.
While he continued to make critically well-received music even years after retiring from live performances in the last decade, his commercial peak was 1983's Let's Dance, which is how most casual fans became familiar with him. Artistically however, he created his most memorable and lasting works in the 1970's, including his glam rock masterpieces Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. He closed out the era with a trio of forward-thinking electronic albums known as his Berlin Trilogy after dabbling in his own strain of R&B music he would dub "plastic soul". Most amazingly however, seemingly wandered from one genre from the next, bridging the most disparate styles in the previously unimaginable ways.
He was always a personal hero of mine as a musician and an artist in general, as he refused to be defined or characterized by one single thought. He's a musician who requires a complicated description, and in the process he consciously forged out a large output of art which will be dissected and honored decades after his death. Upon his passing, musicians as diverse and young as Lorde, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake all flocked to sing their praises. One word that fans and foes (if they exist) alike seem to agree upon as an appropriate one-word description would be "weird". David Bowie was anything but normal and the world will be notably less interesting without him.
I can remember hearing his name and seeing Jimmy Fallon doing an appropriately off-kilter impression of this strange, almost devilish yet charismatic character on Saturday Night Live as a child. Even as a proponent of the bizarre, I was more frightened than interested in this vampire of a musician. Many years later as a teenager, I was finally swayed to buy his albums after reading about his unequaled role in the development of glam rock, punk rock and countless other musical sub-genres. Almost all of his albums from the '70s earned perfect or near-perfect ratings on allmusic.com. Musicians from all across the board from Madonna to the Pixies cited him as a major influence. I was properly intrigued.
The fact that everyone has a different favorite album or phase in Bowie's career is a true testament to his boundless creativity and versatility. Bowie's massive oeuvre was marked by wildly different musical excursions ranging from his beginnings as a hippie-ish folk songwriter in the '60s to his dabbles in Industrial music three decades later. He managed to touch upon just about every disparate musical movement in between including glam rock (which he pioneered), English music hall, early heavy metal, progressive rock, soul, German-influenced electronic music and synth-pop. Only fellow 2016 departed Prince can claim a musical resume so diverse.
Not only did Bowie influence countless musical movements, but he was also a lightning rod for the latest trends, often taking great influence from another artist while influencing them. He had such a dynamic of respect with younger artists who looked up to him and ended up touching him with their own music. The most notable examples include the Pixies, Trent Reznor and Sonic Youth. In the '70s, Bowie also found time to revive the then-dormant careers of his own heroes, producing and writing albums for Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Mott the Hoople in addition to his own fledgling career as a superstar. Even shortly before his death, Bowie was still gleaning inspiration from this generation of music in Kendrick Lamar for his swan song Blackstar.
Bowie is perhaps remembered most widely as not one but several visual icons. Lady Gaga and Lana del Rey toy with these concepts in today's pop culture landscape, but Bowie was the first rock star to successfully create and live out his own creations with their own complex backstories. The most notable is Ziggy Stardust, the alien rock star who brings rock music to save Earth from death. Then there was the Thin White Duke, a cocaine-driven white soul singer who managed to blend a steely personality with the most lively and vivacious music known to man. Sometimes he was just "David Bowie", but was this the David Bowie who donned a dress and played what would soon be known as heavy metal or the David Bowie who lived in Berlin and made among the first widely known electronic music?
His music itself was rich and too diverse to describe in one thought. Interestingly enough, there is a widely supported critical consensus that his work had a certain depth to it, even if he was dabbling in a genre as consciously trashy as glam rock or in the excesses of '70s music in general. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Bowie could augment one of his songs with a five minute guitar solo from the great Mick Ronson or sing of monsters and aliens doing the boogie without having it sound kitschy or pretentious. It was all art from his pen.
While he continued to make critically well-received music even years after retiring from live performances in the last decade, his commercial peak was 1983's Let's Dance, which is how most casual fans became familiar with him. Artistically however, he created his most memorable and lasting works in the 1970's, including his glam rock masterpieces Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. He closed out the era with a trio of forward-thinking electronic albums known as his Berlin Trilogy after dabbling in his own strain of R&B music he would dub "plastic soul". Most amazingly however, seemingly wandered from one genre from the next, bridging the most disparate styles in the previously unimaginable ways.
He was always a personal hero of mine as a musician and an artist in general, as he refused to be defined or characterized by one single thought. He's a musician who requires a complicated description, and in the process he consciously forged out a large output of art which will be dissected and honored decades after his death. Upon his passing, musicians as diverse and young as Lorde, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake all flocked to sing their praises. One word that fans and foes (if they exist) alike seem to agree upon as an appropriate one-word description would be "weird". David Bowie was anything but normal and the world will be notably less interesting without him.
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