Under the Influence: The New Rock Revolution

Hello. The goal of this new column, Under the Influence, is to look at past and current trends in the music industry and weigh in on both their influences as well as who they’ve influenced. The wider range of this column is to discuss all of the things that are great about music. Many of you reading this, including myself, are described as “early-adopters” by the music industry. We are the people on the lookout for new bands and great songs. More importantly (at least to the record biz), we are the one’s telling our friends about that band we heard on college radio last night, or the great opening band that played their heart out. We see music as the art form it is and not just the product we have been conditioned to think of it as.

And like any entertainment medium such as books, movies, and paintings, the more one scratches the surface, the more a devotee can begin to see trends and see the power of influence has over future generations. Like Brian Eno had noted about the poor sales of the Velvet Underground and Nico’s first album, “It only sold 5,000 copies, but everyone who bought it started a band.” I am a constant student of the ever-evolving form of music, and appreciate it the more I learn of the connections between bands, era’s, and sounds. If nothing else, my goal with this column is to make you, the reader, love music just a little bit more. A lofty goal, I know. So off we go.

The New Rock Revolution

Many critics and journalists are writing about how there is a “renaissance” occurring on modern rock radio at this time. According to these pundits, after years of bland rap-rock and interchangeable pop stars, the most talked about music on the radio and MTV are challenging bands that are trying to make the most individualistic and progressive music possible.

I for one liked many of the “nu-metal” bands that were being presented in the mainstream. My favorites included Coal Chamber, Soulfly, and of course, The Deftones, whose “White Pony” is one of the greatest albums of the decade. My enjoyment of that era may also have to do with the fact that I was a teenage male when most of those bands emerged on the mainstream. But there was no denying that creatively the genre had hit a malaise by the late nineties, creating band after band that sounded very similar. This opened the doors for program directors to give airtime to other bands in a “see what sticks” approach. Looking across the pond, radio began playing bands, ironically from the U.S., which were flooding British airwaves.

Spurned on by the initial success of the Strokes and the White Stripes in 2001, it has now expanded to like minded but different sounding bands such as the Yeah Yeah Yea’s, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse.

Music as we know is very cyclical, and since the birth of rock and roll, popular music has followed a pattern of discovery, growth, overabundance, and then rediscovery. The psychedelic era put a close to ‘safe’ musical acts such as Jan and Dean, Mersey Beat-era Beatles, and Pre-Pet Sounds Beach Boys. Their new recording techniques and adventurous song structures further developed until most bands became a wash under the drugs they used to “inspire” themselves. The counter balance to that came in the singer-songwriter movement of the early seventies. Elton John, James Taylor, Rod Stewart and the like’s authentic simple songs and structures.

By the late seventies, however, even those performers (along with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and the Who; three bands that were born between periods and carried the torch for rock in the seventies) had bloated tours and over produced records. The Punk explosion of the late seventies ushered in a back to basics approach to rock by essentially capturing the raw energy that rock and roll first emerged with in the 1950’s.

Punk fizzled out by the lack of any singular drive or vision by the beginning of the 1980’s. Another key factor was the birth of MTV, which placed an emphasis on gloss and stylizied production. Beginning first with Euro-pop acts such as Duran Duran, Adam and the Ants, and Depeche Mode, the channel was overrun with hair metal bands such as Motley Crue, Poison, and the Bullet Boys.

This excess occurred until Nevermind by Nirvana dropped in September of 1991. In the alternative era, many of the bands were redirecting punk energy through fuzz boxes (Mudhoney, The Melvins) or combined it with their love of big rock acts of the seventies (The Smashing Pumpkins, Tool), too young then to know they weren’t supposed to like both. And like clockwork, the majority of these bands collapsed as the nineties came to a close through drugs (Elastica, The Smashing Pumpkins), internal conflict (Rage against the Machine, The Smashing Pumpkins), and death (Blind Melon, Hole, and, um”¦ The Smashing Pumpkins. The second half of the decade wasn’t particularly great for the Pumpkins).

This new era we are experiencing, currently dubbed “new rock,” doesn’t have one exact reference point of influence, which is why everything is sounding so different. Taking liberally from late seventies bands such as Television (The Strokes) Gang of Four (Radio 4) and Talking Heads (Stellastarr*), to eighties giants such as Echo and The Bunnymen (The Stills) and the Cure (The Rapture, plus many, many more), the current landscape is littered with bands influenced by only great bands before them, thus creating diversity.

But for all of the praise being heaped on bands such as The Walkmen, TV on the Radio, and the Yeah Yeah Yea’s (rightfully so, I might add), it isn’t translating into sales at the record stores. Of course there can be many reasons for this, such as file trading and none of these bands having a true crossover top-five single (The White Stripes and Modest Mouse excluded), but in the end, the major labels will only sell what they know can get rid of. Inevitably, the record industry and mainstream radio will go back to what is safe and thus the battle between art and commerce will continue.

For those who are enjoying modern radio at this time (like myself), I would suggest to savor it as much as possible because it is not going to last. As you can see, the time between shifts in each era are growing further apart. Truly innovative, progressive music can’t stay under the glare of the mainstream spotlight before it will harden and become routine. Some of these bands will be relegated to one-hit wonder status, or be a one-album flash in the pan. While inevitably some of these bands (probable candidates include The White Stripes and Interpol) will have successful careers that will carry them throughout the decade if not longer, they will become so ingrained into the mainstream that an underground backlash will no doubt create the next creative boom. Until then, check out every band and absorb every sound you can hear, so in 7-8 years you can say you remember when there was great music on the radio.

Let’s Get Known

In this segment, I name 2-3 things that have been preventing me from doing the things I should be doing. If you get the chance, I highly recommend you check out any of the things I mention.

1. Jandek on Corwood
-This 90-minute documentary making the festival rounds (and now available on dvd at www.jandekoncorwood.com) looks into the prolific career of the enigmatic music legend Jandek. With involved interviews with Jandek fans and “experts,” the doc attempts to dissect a career that has lasted 25 years and over 30 albums. Amazing stuff.

2. The Departure – “Be My Enemy” single
– This Chichester band combines the Jam’s angular guitar with the very trendy post-punk danceable sound. Very infectious song. Check out the video at www.thedeparture.com

3. Mastodon
– I know I am very late on this band, but this four piece from Atlanta is a great brutal combination of metal, grind, and hardcore. I just heard “March of the Fire Ants” about two weeks ago, and have been hooked since.

Thank you for taking the time to read my debut column. I welcome your feelings, criticisms, nods of approval, as I would like this to be an open forum where music can be discussed. You can email me by clicking the link below.