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The Biggest Disappointments in Rock and Roll

The history of rock music is a tale of squandered talent, over-hyped failures, and missed opportunities. In too many instances, the portend of greatness is followed by the all-too dismal reality. Here are my nominations for the biggest disappointments in rock.

1.The 80’s: 1976 through 1980 were the most exciting and innovative five years in the entire short history of rock music. Even though, by 1980, the punk revolt had petered out, there was an exciting “anything is possible” buzz in the music scene. The two minute, three chord, punk song had given way to some astonishing experimentation. I was enjoying noises as diverse as Gang of Four, Joy Division, Throbbing Gristle, Public Image Limited, and The Clash.
So, what happened? The airwaves were not conquered by these “post-punk”cohorts. Instead, it was the execrable “as if punk never happened” crew (e.g., Duran Duran, Huey Lewis and the News, Culture Club) that came to dominate. Hip-hop was the only music flourishing in the 80’s that broke new ground. Considering the promising way the decade started (i.e., 1980), it sure turned into a rotten decade for pop music.

2.The CD: The compact disc promised clean, crackle-free sound in a durable format (albeit at a higher price). It s soon became apparent that it was sonically inferior to the cheaper format that it had replaced. The compact disc rendered a sound that was sterile, compressed, and cold. Perhaps it was a fitting format for the cold, sterile synthpop of the day. Think about how much personal computers have improved in twenty years. It is truly scandalous that state of the art audio circa 1976 (i.e., a Linn Sondek turntable w/ all-tube amplification) has not been so dramatically improved upon. The compact disc was supposed to be a great leap forward. We got screwed.

3. Paul McCartney’s Solo Career: While there has since been a critical reappraisal in favor of John Lennon, at the time of the Beatle’s disintegration, it was McCartney who was believed to be the superior songsmith. His imminent solo career was awaited with the highest of expectations. While his solo career cannot be dismissed as a total failure, nobody is calling it an artistic triumph. “Silly Love Songs” and “Ebony and Ivory” do not a legend make.

4. US interest in Jamaican music died along with Bob Marley

5. The solo work of Led Zeppelin members: From the early to mid 70’s, Led Zep dominated the music scene. With the interesting exception of Robert Plant’s most recent album, none of the surviving members have released anything worth buying.

6. The Sex Pistols tour of The United States: This was supposed to be The Big One. Instead, they went to San Francisco, and proceeded to bite The Big One.

7. Elvis Presley’s post Sun Records music

8. The Stone Roses: After releasing what was, without a doubt, the most brilliant and beautiful album of the second half of the sorry ass 1980’s, this most promising of all bands then, as Monica Kendrick would put it, dropped the soap in the showers of the big record company. Barred from recording anything for nearly ten years, they sat out the Britpop explosion that they had created. When they did eventually get around to releasing a follow-up, it was nothing but some lame 70’s style guitar rock rehash. The Stone Roses remain rock’s greatest one-album wonder.

9. “End of the Century” (The Ramone’s Phil Spector produced fifth album): I wanted so much to like it. I was, and still am, an obsessed fan of both the Ramones and Phil Spector. The trouble was, it just didn’t work. It sounded trite, forced, and artificial. The tracks bespeak blatant toadying to the tastes of AOR programmers. Sure, it got more airplay than the previous Ramones releases; but at what price? This awkward disc didn’t give them the superstardom that their previous records should have earned them. The only thing worse than selling out is selling out, and finding no buyers.

10. The Ron Wood era Rolling Stones: Mick Taylor was by no means a first-division player when he was recruited for The Stones. However, with him on board, the Stones produced their very best work. Ron Wood was an established A-list player when he joined the band. At the time, the expectation was not only that, with Woodie on the team, The Stones could make records comparable to “Sticky Fingers” or “Exile on Main Street, ” it was even suggested that they would thus be able to make even better records! Instead, the Stones degenerated into a campy, overpriced, touring nostalgia act; kind of like a post-greaser Sha Na Na that charges 150 bucks a ticket.
tweakgeek

Showing 4 responses by tweakgeek

tweakgeek OP
76 posts
 
Point well taken, Rar1
While the AOR FM format went in for some harsh, mostly richly deserved criticism in the late 70's, the playlists of (some) of the FM rock stations in those days seem downright adventurous and expansive in comparison to such contemporary banality as MTV's "Big Ten." (In case you haven't heard, MTV now has a playlist consisting of, you guessed it, ten videos that are marked for heavy rotation.) Though the FM rock stations were never aggressive advocates for good music, there were some remarkably good commercial radio stations.

Though, in the late 70s, it played more crap like Dan Fogleberg than anything else, Chicago's now-dismal WXRT was where I first heard The Sex Pistol's "God Save the Queen." WMMR in Philadelphia, to cite another example, introduced me to Reggae.
tweakgeek OP
76 posts
 
Good point about Bowie, Tok20000:
The long-term reputation of Bowie would have been best served by his sudden death say, right after 'Scary Monsters' was released. Bowie's horrid "Let's Dance" is the absolute epitome of the sterile, soulless sound that plagued pop music in the 80's. You should check out the surprisingly good film "Velvet Goldmine." In this movie, a character closely based on Bowie's 80's persona gets a well deserved skewering.
tweakgeek OP
76 posts
 
Phasecorrect,
I am in total agreement with, say nine and a half, of your 10 points. I too have been disappointed by the folks that you mentioned, especially the squandered, or perhaps dried-up, talents of Rod Stewart. However, I do think that some of Iggy's solo stuff, especially the album "New Values," ranks with the best Stooges material. Your point is well taken, though. I would argue that Iggy wrote a brilliant song for the "Repo Man" soundtrack, and that everything he has recorded since has been mediocrity leavened with crap.
tweakgeek OP
76 posts
 
Phasecorrect & Waltersalas,
Once again, you are both bang on! Most of the rock stars for whom a death cult has emerged were in a severe creative decline by the time of their departure. More often than not, we find that rockers who do in fact live to a ripe old age lose their creative abilities long before they depart this mortal coil. The exceptions are rare.

I do believe that if were born 10-15 years later, I would have been an almighty Nirvana fan. Despite whatever backlash may now be in vogue, I have nothing but good things to say about Kurt Cobain. As for D.Boon, his death was the most tragic of all; more of a loss to music than even the demise of Ian Curtis. I think that D. Boon’s songwriting talents were, at the time of his premature demise, just starting to hit the sweet spot. He could have transformed the music of the 80's to much the same extent that Dylan did in the 60's. Would it be overly maudlin and sentimental for me to add that he was a kind, intelligent, and generous man?

As for MTV, phasecorrect: guilty as charged. MTV achieved the triumph of the look over the sound. Could anyone imagine the mega-talented, but not exactly bootylicious, songwriter Carole King getting even a look at a record contract in the today’s video music era. A big reason why the pop music of the 80's was so crap was the plain fact that bands that made bland music, but were oh so pretty, could now be wildly successful w/o any good songs. May I present Exhibit A: Duran Duran. Yup, the pop music of the 80's sucked, and phasecorrect has identified the guilty party.
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