Alternative Wednesday!
Today's Alternative Wednesday is going to be a little different. Then again, aren't they all? Rather than focusing on an artist, I'd like to focus on a decade or at least the popular opinion of the music of one.
One of the more common beliefs is that the 1970s were a musical wasteland. You had arena rock, disco, and nothing else. At least that's what everyone seems to think. I know I did. I was reminded of how this was total bullshit last Wednesday with the death of Alex Chilton.
Alex Chilton was ahead of his time, there's no question of that. There's a video of Chilton performing "The Letter" with the Box Tops and at the center of this transitional 60's band is a man that could have been in any 90's alternative band, visually and audibly. So what did he do after scoring a number one song at 16? Chilton took a left turn and created a new genre in power pop with his band, Big Star. The music was immediate, full of heart, earnestness and emotion, something completely different from what was dominating the charts.
But Chilton wasn't alone in bringing something of musical substance to the '70s. The Ramones, the Clash, the Pistols, and the New York Dolls gave us punk rock as their declaration against the excess of mainstream rock. Play it loud, play it fast, play it now. To quote Tommy Ramone, "In its initial form, a lot of [1960s] stuff was innovative and exciting. Unfortunately, what happens is that people who could not hold a candle to the likes of Hendrix started noodling away. Soon you had endless solos that went nowhere. By 1973 ... what was needed was some pure, stripped down, no bullshit rock 'n' roll." Like Chilton and power pop, the effect they would have would be momentous, influencing music for generations.
Finally while everyone seems to remember that punk was a movement against the virtuoso musicians of the 70's, but people tend to forget that a similar revolution was taking place in Nashville. Country music of the late 60's and 70's, at least the mainstream stuff, was overproduced crap with needless church choirs, harps, and such a mellow sound that you'd think someone dropped a truckload of Quaaludes in the drinking water. Outlaw country said to hell with all that, stripping country back down to something that mattered. Listening to it now, it doesn't seem that much out of the norm, but it you play some Countrypolitan stuff with it, the outlaw movement was truly mind blowing and revitalized the careers of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and brought performers like Kris Kristofferson to the forefront.
The loss of a light like Alex Chilton and the final dimming of Big Star is sad, but in all honesty he went out a hero. Thanks to the efforts of bands like REM and the Replacements his work was publicized and his legacy was assured, he produced some great punk records, and he was a featured performer at this week's South By Southwest Festival. His creation, and that of the punk scene, and the outlaw movement put paid to the belief that the 70's were the musical wasteland that we've all been led to believe they were and frankly gives me hope that there's still good music in the 00's as well. Of all the songs that Big Star was known for In The Street, covered by Cheap Trick, is probably the most famous, but for me I'll always have a soft spot for September Gurls.
One of the more common beliefs is that the 1970s were a musical wasteland. You had arena rock, disco, and nothing else. At least that's what everyone seems to think. I know I did. I was reminded of how this was total bullshit last Wednesday with the death of Alex Chilton.
Alex Chilton was ahead of his time, there's no question of that. There's a video of Chilton performing "The Letter" with the Box Tops and at the center of this transitional 60's band is a man that could have been in any 90's alternative band, visually and audibly. So what did he do after scoring a number one song at 16? Chilton took a left turn and created a new genre in power pop with his band, Big Star. The music was immediate, full of heart, earnestness and emotion, something completely different from what was dominating the charts.
But Chilton wasn't alone in bringing something of musical substance to the '70s. The Ramones, the Clash, the Pistols, and the New York Dolls gave us punk rock as their declaration against the excess of mainstream rock. Play it loud, play it fast, play it now. To quote Tommy Ramone, "In its initial form, a lot of [1960s] stuff was innovative and exciting. Unfortunately, what happens is that people who could not hold a candle to the likes of Hendrix started noodling away. Soon you had endless solos that went nowhere. By 1973 ... what was needed was some pure, stripped down, no bullshit rock 'n' roll." Like Chilton and power pop, the effect they would have would be momentous, influencing music for generations.
Finally while everyone seems to remember that punk was a movement against the virtuoso musicians of the 70's, but people tend to forget that a similar revolution was taking place in Nashville. Country music of the late 60's and 70's, at least the mainstream stuff, was overproduced crap with needless church choirs, harps, and such a mellow sound that you'd think someone dropped a truckload of Quaaludes in the drinking water. Outlaw country said to hell with all that, stripping country back down to something that mattered. Listening to it now, it doesn't seem that much out of the norm, but it you play some Countrypolitan stuff with it, the outlaw movement was truly mind blowing and revitalized the careers of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and brought performers like Kris Kristofferson to the forefront.
The loss of a light like Alex Chilton and the final dimming of Big Star is sad, but in all honesty he went out a hero. Thanks to the efforts of bands like REM and the Replacements his work was publicized and his legacy was assured, he produced some great punk records, and he was a featured performer at this week's South By Southwest Festival. His creation, and that of the punk scene, and the outlaw movement put paid to the belief that the 70's were the musical wasteland that we've all been led to believe they were and frankly gives me hope that there's still good music in the 00's as well. Of all the songs that Big Star was known for In The Street, covered by Cheap Trick, is probably the most famous, but for me I'll always have a soft spot for September Gurls.
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