Sic Semper Tyrannis

Whatcha Listenin' To? (Special Billboard Edition)

For those not in the know, Billboard is the organization that keeps track of chart data of popular and classical music, (music within a lot of genres, actually.) They publish this info in a fascinating weekly magazine. I say it’s fascinating because it so grotesquely reminds me of the business behind making music, getting it on the radio, etc. etc.

I’ve always found it strangely creepy to see the photos of insanely popular, beautiful pop divas and tattoo-ed gangsta rappers, and cowboy-hatted studly dudes, and mopey indie rockers, and past-their-prime dinosaur rockers making the state fair circuit…all of these kaleidoscopic performers and entertainers glad-handing the record label execs that pay the bills (perfectly tanned rich white guys in expensive suits) at press events. Those photos always seemed kind of out-of-whack somehow, as if the business were a kind of image-driven circus with out-of-touch Great Oz-type guys controlling it all.

When I worked at a music store in college, we used to consult the Billboard to try to translate when customers would come in looking for “this song I heard at the club” or “you know that song on the radio? It goes ‘doot doo doo…”

Billboard’s been around for awhile and the CDs they compile of each year’s big hits (along with the “Have a Nice Day” series) serve as a great document of what gooey, transient treats the culture was producing way back in the day. Well, our public library has a lot of these discs. And me being…well…me, I decided to start methodically working my way through these, having finished experiencing the 90 or so albums the library had from the Rolling Stone Top Albums of All Time.

The library’s collection of Billboard discs starts with the year of 1975. Here are some highlights so far:

1976-
It was an auspicious year, in that yours truly came on the scene.

“All By Myself” by Eric Carmen- I have an untested theory that the chorus of this song can be overlaid by Harry Nilsson’s “Without You.”

1977-
“Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day- I’d never heard this song before. It’s one of the goofiest mish-mashes of pop/rock and over-the-top studio production I’ve heard in a while.

“Rich Girl” by Hall & Oates- I leave this little aural adventure of mine with a new appreciation for these guys as they had several hits in this time period. Fantastic funky Rhodes piano and triumphant B section.

“Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Thelma Houston- It took Baz Luhrman’s Moulin Rouge to really hear the darkness underneath the bubbliness. I like it when songs can trick you like that. (See also most of They Might Be Giants’ catalog written by John Linnell.)

1979-
“Heart of Glass” by Blondie- There are a scant few songs that even have a remote chance to get me to bob my head, much less dance. But this one is definitely on that list. Let’s be honest. A large part of this band’s appeal was how good Deborah Harry looked. But this is a very tightly-constructed disco-pop song, regardless of the band’s image. The melodies will stick in your head but they are delivered with such a lackadaisical sigh. Also of interest to me is the unconventional 4/4 bar followed by ¾ bar in the B section. Maybe I won’t be dancing to this after all…

“Just When I Needed You Most” by Randy Vanwarmer- I wonder what good ol’ Randy Vanwarmer is doing these days… The gentle falsetto vulnerability of this song is pretty creepy in my book. And I'm pretty sure I'm hearing an auto-harp solo in there too! I wonder why you don’t hear this kind of thing on the radio anymore.

1982-
“Eye in the Sky” by Alan Parsons Project- This is the best Pink Floyd song never written or recorded by Pink Floyd. Lyrically, it’s a thing of ambiguity. Is it about God or a creepy lover? You tell me. Also of interest are the extended chords which employ quite a bit of dissonance, but it’s all dressed up in such a comforting soft-rock kind of way, you don’t even notice the complexity of the harmony you’re hearing. This is probably my favorite song I’ve heard off of these Billboard discs so far.

1983-
This was apparently a schizophrenic year in music. You have Men at Work’s Australian version of The Police with “Down Under,” Eddy Grant’s Jamaican funk heard on “Electric Avenue,” Culture Club’s reggae on “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” (probably deserving of an award or medal for “most times to repeat a refrain so as to avoid writing a verse,”) and the epic “best impression of a Meatloaf song by a female artist” in Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” And don’t forget Michael Cembello’s “Maniac.” And yet somehow the Stray Cats’ “Stray Cat Strut” is still an anomaly, even amidst such a mixed-up year.

More later…

posted by Mike @ 10:01 AM