Overated Icons
I know my musical taste is at 180 degrees to the collective groupthink of mainstream rock critics. I'm still an unrepentant fan of the much-maligned progressive rock bands of the early 70s, which is ridiculed and sneered at even by those who've never heard a single note of Yes, Genesis or ELP. I think most of today's music would be vastly improved with the addition of more guitar solos (of for many bands, some guitar solos).
Consequently, I find a lot of the bands awarded iconic status to be rather overrated. None of those listed below are truly awful, down to the level of the hideous Morrissey. But the mainstream groupthink consistently rates these far above bands like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd, which to me is simply... wrong.
The Kinks. As far as I'm concerned, they were no more than a fair to middling band who had a few hits in the late sixties. I saw them live at the 1981 Reading festival, and found them dull and uninspiring, and wondered what all the fuss was about. But nowadays loads of dull bands seems to namecheck them. I can pretty much guarantee that any band claimed to 'evoke the classic English songwriting of The Kinks' is going to suck badly, and isn't going to be worth listening to.
Roxy Music. OK, so there was some interesting stuff on their early of albums, especially when Brian Eno was still in the band. But they would have sounded better if they'd had a proper singer rather than that ridiculous poseur Ferry. Their major crime was to advance the idea that style mattered more than the actual content, which resulted in so many dreadful bands in the 1980s.
The Clash. I might have felt differently if I'd ever seen them live. But they never managed to reproduce the sound of their "ultimate high energy rock'n'roll" onto their often tinny records. And with the bloated 'Sandanista' album they proved that punk could outdo Yes or ELP when it came to self-indulgence. At least "Tales from Topographic Oceans" had some good music on it. If Roxy Music were the triumph of style over content, then The Clash were they triumph of attitude over content.
Posted by TimHall at May 21, 2005 11:15 PM | TrackBackOne could argue that Roxy is responsible for the pablum of today even moreso than that of the 80's. I'd kill for Kajagoogoo over Britney Spears.
And that is scary.
Posted by: Scott on May 23, 2005 04:22 AMAlthough not much can top Sigue Sigue Sputnik...
Posted by: Scott on May 23, 2005 04:23 AMAck! I had forgotten the existance of such sanity draining artists until you reminded me of them. Don't forget Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Visage, Spandau Ballet and the whole of the ridiculous New Romantic scene....
As Not The Nine O'Clock News' parody song said "Nice video, shame about the record".
Posted by: Tim Hall on May 23, 2005 01:06 PMIrrelevant factoid: Earlier this year I was on a contract, working with a team that included Sputnik's current bass player.
Kinks thought: Not a band that I'd rate alongside the all-time greats, but they have given birth to more than their fair share of 'classic' tracks that get covered by others. This alone will keep them in the public eye alongside the Chuck Berrys of this world, getting name-checked by generations unaware of many of their contemporaries.
The Clash: Never one of the key players in punk, IMHO, unless you read music mags rather than going to gigs and buying records. Your Sandanista comment sums them up nicely. No disrespect to the recently departed Mr Strummer, just that he was doing something completely different to many of his peers.
Punk generally: Music mags are infamous for writing bullshit at the time and then rewriting history repeatedly as the years goes by. I can't reconcile the punk I lived through with the hand-me-down myth regurgitated on a regular basis by today's generation of adolescent journalists. While I have no doubt there was an element of "anti-prog" at the time, it was barely noticeable amidst all of the vibrant new bands most of us non-hacks were going to see.
Punk was just the vehicle of the time for the guitar wielding hordes. In the same way that grunge or NWOBHM have been flags for emergent musician wannabees to rally around since. Apart from the hardcore fashion victims, I was seeing the same faces at punk gigs in the seventies as I was at Yes and Genesis concerts. It was just more music to us at the time, yet the history re-writers make it sound like The Clone Wars.
Parting irrelevant factoid: Before punk as we know it was born, a hack in one of the UK rags labelled Black Sabbath as punk rock - I'd love to be able to look at that piece now! Although the tag didn't stick, it was obviously a label that the media didn't want to waste...
Great site. I was just listening to "Still - You turn me on" when I found your site. I guess I am not the only person out here listening to ELP. Can I link you to my site? Check it out and let me know....
Posted by: Layla on May 31, 2005 01:42 AMGreat site. I was just listening to "Still - You turn me on" when I found your site. I guess I am not the only person out here listening to ELP. Can I link you to my site? Check it out and let me know....
Posted by: Layla on May 31, 2005 01:43 AM