Monday, March 29, 2010
Gary! Wilson!
Sometimes we call people like Gary Wilson legends in their own time, but Wilson was never really a legend, in his own time or any other. Best known, if that's the right word, for the late '70s "You Think You Really Know Me," recorded in his mother's basement and featuring such undying classics as "6.4=Make Out". This is certainly music ahead of its time; in a very strange way a song like the absolutely amazing "Chromium Bitch" predates not only obvious followers like "Midnite Vultures" era Beck but even musicians like Prince, at least in his "Pussy Control" /Camille mode.
If anything can show the change the internet (and, you know, decades of MTV) has wrought on our culture, just try and listen to these performances by Indie Critcal Darlings Ariel Pink and Nite Jewel:
Right? Now, I like both artists, but I do find the issue somewhat perplexing. I hope this doesn't sound like a complaint, but: why is the lunacy of yesterday the blog pop of today?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
20 year rule + massive availability of music on internet.
ReplyDeleteAlso context: being in a synth pop band in 1985 vs. 2005.
I always saw 70s & 80s synth pop as a sort of reaction to emerging technologies, the return to those themes in the 2000s after the explosion of the internet was natural. The main difference seems to be the what the music engaged with: automaticism (Kraftwerk) and destructive nature of technology (Gary Numan & DEVO), whereas bands now are looking for mysticism in the sense of the unknown and obscure that technology is supposed to stamp out.