While Uncle Joe is best known as one of America's top Classic Rock historians, throughout his 33-year career he's always been acutely aware of current trends in the music industry. Indeed, Classic Rock itself was the finest new music of its day, composed and performed by artists at their creative peak. For a scholarly insight into today's trends, J.B. presents Rave's Raves.
Rave's Raves are composed by Bruce Ravid, a veteran of Capitol Record's A&R Department and in no way reflect the official viewpoint of Uncle Joe, his staff or management. They are written from Rave's industry viewpoint, originally for friends within the music business, but now shared with the world. New editions appear in April, August, and December with occasional updates in between. Enjoy!
February 2002
***RAVE'S RAVES #13.1***
RAVE'S FAVES
(on the air since December)
Something Corporate, Chemical Brothers, Starsailor, No Doubt ("Hella Good"), Garbage ("Girl"), Sum 41 ("Motivation"), Pete Yorn.
I'm surprised that Something Corporate's "If you C Jordon" isn't spreading quicker on a national basis. The song has a great melody and hook, and has been getting top requests for weeks on KROQ. I think the Chemical Brothers have a chance to go mainstream with "Star Guitar." The Starsailor song took awhile, but has grown on me. They are the latest promising British act on Capitol, following in the footsteps of such bands as Radiohead and Coldplay. The Strokes just went gold in mid-February. While sales haven't yet matched the incredible out of the box hype that this band received, it has been gratifying to watch their acceptance grow as the mainstream alternative audience gets more and more used to these guys. "Last Night:" has recently become a regular entity among the Top-Five requested songs in LA. Word is that work is about to resume on various George Harrison catalogue items (music and video) that hopefully will make it to the marketplace. As you probably know, Limp Bizkit auditioned potential guitar players in numerous cities. A friend of a friend gave it a shot in Portland, and he reported that Fred told everyone he was looking for "image" more than talent.
CD unit sales are down again this year after being down for all of last year. In 2001, sales of recordable CD's bested the number of prerecorded CD's by about 30%. People can talk about the economy and quality of music overall, but we all know that there is more and more great music that simply isn't getting on the radio.
LA RADIO:
The stations playing mostly 80's music are adding more 90's to the mix and greatly reducing the amount of 80's airplay. While, I understand their need to remain relevant to younger listeners, I wonder whether 90's hits will have the same staying power. Many airplay songs from the last decade seem to have less character and to fit stricter formulas, so the burn-out may turn out to be higher. In my case, I thought the first 90's weekend on Star 98.7 was great fun, but my staying power hasn't been great as they continue to key on 90's hits. KROQ is adding more 90's songs into their noon hour of "Flashbacks."
80'S COLLEAGUES:
Sum 41 have been regularly mentioning Iron Maiden as a major influence. The readers of "Spin Magazine" just voted Sum 41 the best band of 2001. Guitarist Dave Baksh was asked to list "five guitar solos that will break your skull." Numbers two through five were specific solos. As for #1, he says "Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Janick Gers: any solo (any Iron Maiden album)." He also sports a Maiden t-shirt in the "In Too Deep" video. Speaking of Maiden, they've taken the last year off and will be reconvening soon to play several UK benefits for original drummer Clive Burr, who has MS. Later this year, the band will record a new album, to be followed by another world tour. The Church have a new album out, and I'm hearing it's some of their best work. The Missing Persons reunification seems to have lost steam, so guitarist Warren Cuccurullo has taken the opportunity to expand his extracurricular enterprises with a porn website that will soon debut. The Knack's current CD is getting some strong reaction at college radio. And finally, The Motels are about to tour. I caught a nearby warm-up show and can say that they have some promising new material.
That's it for now. Until my next update in April, enjoy music and enjoy life; or in other words...
RAVE ON!!!
December 2001
***RAVE'S RAVES #13***
RAVE'S FAVES (on the air):
Foo Fighters, Travis ("Side"), Gorillaz ("19-2000"), Lenny Kravitz, Bad Religion, Coldplay ("Trouble"), The Strokes, 311, Jimmy Eat World, The Avalanches, Rob Zombie, U2 ("Stuck").
RAVE'S TOP FIVE AIRPLAY FAVES OF 2001
1 - MANIC STREET PREACHERS -- So Why So Sad
2 - THE LIVING END -- Roll On
3 - GORILLAZ -- Clint Eastwood
4 - TRAVIS -- Side
5 - AEROSMITH -- Just Push Play
A dark horse at #1, as the MS Preachers barely got U.S. airplay with this wonderful Brian Wilson tribute, which was huge in Europe. The Living End song was really hot, but possibly too Clash-like to become a big hit. "Roll On" sounded great in those American Express commercials, and Dodge boosted the fortunes of "Just Push Play." One of these years, Travis will have a smash, and it may be with "Side." The Strokes CD has sold fairly well, but the sales don't match the incredible hype that surrounded this release. The Avalanches are a cool electronic act from Australia.
My most listened to CDs this year, in no particular order, include The Strokes, Air, The Knack, and Daft Punk, with the Dandy Warhols and Moby from 2000. Speaking of Beach Boys tributes, The Knack have a beauty called "Man on the Beach," which is a completely new sound for them.
In October, I talked about the new Garbage CD, which I also like. They're one of my favorite bands, and sales have been a huge disappointment. In my Raves last year, I wondered whether they would harden their sound to accommodate radio. A friend of theirs replied they'd do what they wanted without commercial regard. As it has turned out, radio people are saying that their first single ("Androgyny") was too pop and too soft. "Breaking Up the Girl" is the new single, and it sounds more like their hits. Let's hope it isn't too late to save this CD. My theory is that radio-friendly bands should always supply a couple of obvious radio songs. As long as the promotion department has what they need for airplay, acts can be free to do what they'd like with the rest of the album in terms of artistry. At Capitol, we would frequently send a band back to record more songs. It seems like this doesn't happen often enough.
WHERE IS ROCK GOING?
No one ever knows for sure, but angst-ridden rap metal seems to be on the wane. Somehow, middle class white guy anger in music just doesn't seem relevant after 9/11. Even Fred Durst says he's going to reinvent Limp B. If someone still wants to rap, they better keep it positive, like the Beastie Boys. I'm really anticipating the collaboration between Chris Cornell and the guys from Rage. My hope is that they are in the vein of early Soundgarden, who were heavily metal-influenced. If they go in that direction, imagine Cornell and guitarist Tom Morello together! Word among record execs is that there is an entirely new generation of promising, unsigned rock bands with charismatic lead singers, strong musicianship, and appealing melodies. Let's hope some of them begin to surface in 2002.
GEORGE
Like many Angelinos, I learned about his passing from Arrow 93's Uncle Joe Benson, who was the only morning man in LA that dealt extensively with this news immediately following the announcement. Joe was tasteful and articulate without overdoing it. As George was one of the first baby boomer rockers to die of natural causes, I believe that this reaffirmation of our mortality contributed to the huge media coverage. A good friend knew George quite well, and quoted him as saying, "We're all dying, it's just that some of us are dying more quickly." George is where he's long wanted to be, and this has to be comforting to his loved ones. Let's hope for more remastered, reissued CD's in the near future. Maybe we'll even get to hear some of the new music that George has worked on over the last decade or so. I'm told that some of it is very good.
For those who read this before or during the holidays, let me take this opportunity to wish you a great holiday season; and let's all have a wonderful 2002. I'll be back with an update in February, so until then...