Michael Jackson

I have to admit that I have never bought a Michael Jackson record in my life. Not a one, not Thriller, not Off The Wall, nothing. Back in the 70's I considered myself a rocker and to those unfamiliar with our motto, it was, “If it ain’t Rock, it ain’t music”. As we moved forward into the late 70's and early 80's, I was kind of adrift when it came to popular music. Disco was a thing that was making my stomach turn at every bar and dance club I went too. Disco babes and dancing queens (both female and male, as it turned out) were not even on my radar. I certainly didn’t have any time for the namby pamby stylings of musical acts such as Peaches and Herb, Donna Summers or God forbid, KC and the Sunshine Band. I rejoiced in teasing one of my best friends who was a fervent Stones fan about the band going disco with Emotional Rescue. I kind of stayed in my own groove and celebrated every time some real music came out. A ray of sunshine in a bleak musical landscape, so to speak.

Tape decks in cars became my outlet for music, I don’t think I tuned in to an AM station for years in a row and only rarely allowed an FM station to be played. My musical life was made up of home made tapes. In fact, the whole musical repertoire of my wedding reception consisted of 90 minute tapes that I made, just to ensure dance music didn’t somehow sneak in.

All of that changed when I first saw the video of Billie Jean on NBC’s Friday Night Videos, our only source of music videos at the time. He took elements from every genre of music and somehow melded them into a cohesive and seductive form of music. It wasn’t Rock, it wasn’t Disco, it wasn’t R&B and it wasn’t Pop, but yet it was somehow all of them, all at once. And he didn’t so much as dance as much as he glided. His movements didn’t seem to be a series of connected routines like John Travolta laid on the world in Saturday Night Fever. He had a more like a natural way to him, like a flowing river. You certainly couldn’t go into a bar and dance like Michael Jackson did, that just wasn’t realistic. But you could go in and pretend you could dance like Michael Jackson and no one would fault you for it.

The hits that followed were more of the same, each seemed to move the entertainment apect of music and videos forward. Even as the number of hits started to fall off, there was still a quality to them. The morphing faces on Black and White were, at the time stunning. It still didn’t prompt me to go out and buy any of his records, that’s just not who I was. But it certainly didn’t stop me from admiring a man who could take such divergent musical styles and history and make them into a musical entity that everyone appeared to enjoy and tap at least their toes to.

The only thing I really can’t forgive him for was introducing the Moonwalk to the rest of the world. It was nothing short of embarrassing to see grown men, usually somewhat overly refreshed, trying to do this step in a crowded bar. Man, I still cringe at the thought and to be honest, I still can't do it.

Lip Syncing? Nothing New Here

Lip syncing has again been in the headlines. Most recently Paris Hilton was caught mouthing along to some song at her birthday party. One of the Simpson girl’s was caught again, Jennifer Hudson was outed for her Super Bowl XLIII performance and even the Boss, Bruce Springsteen was accused of singing to a prerecorded tape for the same Super Bowl halftime show. I don’t understand why people are so much up in arms over these transgressions, it is not as though this is anything new in an industry as rife with scandal and deception as the music industry is. Well, let’s not bring the banking sector into this right now.

Perhaps the most famous case is that of Milli Vanilli. Their story gets dragged out just about every time there is a new instance of lip syncing. For all of you unfamiliar with this example, Milli Vanelli was a duo consisting of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan. They formed in 1988 and won the Best New Artist Grammy in 1990. It turned out that the duo were merely a front for other singers and did not perform on the Grammy winning record. A technical glitch caused a song to “skip” repeatedly at a concert in late 1989 and the seeds of the truth of this band were sown. The Grammy was revoked once the story got out and unfortunately Rob Pilatus died in 1998 as a result of suicide. This is particularly sad when you realize what happened to them is only one in a series of affairs that the music industry has pulled over on the listening public.

It is more likely that people have heard of Milli Vanilli more than actually heard the songs that made them infamous. I know, because I am one of them. I couldn’t hum a note from “Girl You Know It’s True” to save my life. But I don’t think the finger of blame should be pointed at the alleged singers as much as it should be at producer Frank Farian who has continued on in the music industry.

There have been many instances in the history of Rock and Roll where the final recording put out by the record companies had very little reflection on the bands that purportedly sang them. The deception has been as simple as substituting session players for band members, including The Beatle’s with their first hits, “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me”, which featured drummer Andy White instead of Ringo and extends to the all out creation of a totally fictitious band consisting of one person.

In 1965 a record producer took an acoustic song that had flopped on the charts and the failure of the album to sell caused the dissolution of the singing duo. A year later and unbeknownst to the singer/composer, the producer added some drums and a new electrical rhythm and re-released it. The song, “The Sounds of Silence” rose to Number One on the Billboard charts and first reunited and then re-launched the career of Simon & Garfunkle.

The classic dance song, “The Twist” has a bit of a jaded past as well. It was originally written and performed by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters who toured the country with it, singing and dancing the Twist to their audience. But the craze did not take off until they performed it in Pennsylvania and Maryland. A local Deejay, Buddy Dean, saw how much fun the kids were having with this new dance. He in turn called Dick Clark who after some trepidation due to Ballard’s rather raunchy R&B earlier recordings agreed to listen to the song. He then tested it on American Bandstand. The response was phenomenal, but after an appearance by Ballard on American Bandstand fell through, Clark decided to have the song recorded by someone else and release it. To do so he hired Ernest Evans, who was an accomplished impersonator who had done a recorded Christmas card for Clark featuring the voices of Fats Domino and Elvis Presley among others. He copied Hank’s version note for note and sound for sound. In fact, when Hank Ballard first heard it on the radio, he thought it was himself singing it. Ernest Evans of course was the soon to be renamed Chubby Checker (a play on the name Fats Domino).

In 1964 Gary Lewis and the Playboys reached Number One with “This Diamond Ring” although they had very little to do with the actual recording. The Playboys were left to sing some overdubs but the instruments were played by session men (Leon Russell, Hal Blain and Tommy Alsup) and even Gary Lewis was left on the sidelines with Ron Hicklin laying down the basic lead vocals with some overlay of Gary’s voice. It may have charted and sounded great, but it wasn’t Gary Lewis and the Playboys.

If Frank Farian is to be held up as an example of a producer gone wild, what should be done to Don Kirshner? It was Kirshner who produced The Monkees. Most people are aware that the band was formed by Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, who putting ads in the trade papers looking for performers for a new musical act. The plan was to try and recreate the success the Beatles were having in motion pictures, but to do so on the more lucrative prime time of television. When the group was started the band members were not permitted to play their instruments on the songs. They were replaced again by session players. The band did finally revolt over this and as a result Kirshner was removed from his position by the network. But not before he released “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You”, a Top 5 hit in 1967. In this song Davey Jones was given an opportunity to sing lead vocals for the first time. The other members of The Monkees didn’t even know the song was being recorded. To replace the rest of the group as background singers, Kirshner reportedly used Neil Diamond, the writer of the Monkees second Number One sing “I’m a Believer” and Carole King. It was then released without the band’s knowledge and precipitated the firing of Don Kirshner. When you think that Kirshner received royalties of 15% per record sold as compared to The Monkees 1.5%, you really begin to wonder about the music industry.

Kirsher was also the force behind the creation of The Archies. He apparently learned that working with cartoon characters was a bit easier than real people. No one in their right mind would ever think that the vocals were of comic book characters Archie, Jughead, Reggie, Betty and Veronica on the 3 million seller, “Sugar, Sugar”. It was actually studio musicians Hugh McCracken and Dave Appell along with singers Toni White who sang for both Betty and Veronica and Ron Dante who supplied the voices of Archie, Jughead, Reggie and Moose. To add to Dante’s credit, he was also the vocals of the group The Cufflinks who had a Top 5 hit with “Tracy”, thus making him one of the few singers to chart two different songs with two separate bands at the same time. After Dante decided to end his career with the Cufflinks, Rupert Holmes (“Pina Colada Song”) stepped in to become the band. It is especially sad that these musicians were paid scale for their work.

It is true that a lot of the bands that we have listened to did not exist in the truest sense of the word. But so what? The prime matter for most of who listen to music is for the enjoyment, not for who or what the band or singer is or is not. Fame and wealth are part of the rewards of Rock & Roll performers. Granted, some artists feel and need to change the world, but these sensibilities really only emerge after the fame and wealth. While the humanitarian efforts by performers from George Harrison to Bob Geldoff to Bono are admirable and they have done a lot of good for many people, I don’t think this was foremost on their minds when they were traveling the back roads in cold vans and setting up their equipment in dank basement bars in a two horse town. No. Fame was number one on their lists and most would do anything for a shot at it. Some more than others. According to the excellent book, “Rockonomics, The Money Behind The Music”(1989) by Marc Eliot some bands have to break up as an end result of this desire. The Police are a prime example of this. In trying to secure a recording contract and fearing this was the final chance, Sting signed away 75% of the band’s profit but after finding success found that the band could not afford to remain together under the existing agreement, even though album after album went platinum. Their only option was to disband the Police and record as solo artists.

What is important to me is not the money or the fame of the artists. It is the music. There are hundreds of songs that I listen to that have not been hits. There are bands in all likelihood I was one of the few fans. That did not mean their music was not good, it either meant they didn’t get the distribution they needed or wasn’t written for mass consumption. But still the music stands alone. When looks and fashion overtake the music to become the motivation as to what sells a musician, then we have come close to hitting Rock bottom.

There are times that once the artist is established that they become a persona, something more than just the music. They become an icon, but not before showing the talent, people like Jagger, Bowie or Presley. That too is Rock n’ Roll, we romanticize the singer, we may even idolize the singer as what happened after John Lennon was shot. People glossed over his very evident flaws and only mythologized his life. But still the singer is based on the music. If looks were the only ticket to who could record music, then it would have been doubtful that Dylan, Orbison or Holly or countless others would have made it to the studio, they probably would have been unknowns banging out songs for friends and family.

So the next time lip syncing hits the headlines just remember the past history of the industry and chalk it up to just another incident in the long history of Rock & Roll.

A Eureka Moment - "American Pie"

I have never really ever been graced with a lucid and clear mind that is able to grasp all the relevant issues and then gather this information in one binding conclusion. A-ha moments (as opposed to the band) are certainly not a thing that comes along too often for me. However, when they do knock on my mental door, I almost always welcome them into my little mess.

Just recently and quite early in the morning, I may add, I did have one. Although not earth shattering in its nature nor in its relevance to the world today, but it gave me an inner sense of smugness that I was aware of something that much of the world wondered about. It was not quite of the kind that Archimedes had when he ran down the street yelling, "Eureka"!! So instead of running naked down the street, as I may have done in my earlier years, I fumbled for a pen and a piece of paper to record this revelation, something I had wondered about since around 1971. I ended up not finding either, so I took the chance that all writers take when they say to themselves this is such an incredible thought/story/song/plot (you take your pick) that I would never forget. In this case, fortune was on my side and I remembered when I awoke in the morning.

What could make me, as well of millions of other people, so obsessive about a 38 year old question? The only person who could answer the riddle, the writer, has steadfastly refused to unveil the enigma. So people, here I am to take the bows. I unveil to you the mystery of Don McLean's classic masterpiece, "American Pie".

Most people know of the references to various characters in the song from Buddy Holly and the Crickets, to Bob Dylan, to the Beatles ( a take off of the Crickets) to the sinful bad boys of Satan worship, the Rolling Stones (for a complete breakdown see (http://www.faqs.org/faqs/music/american-pie/). But all that is not the point of this piece. The question really is, what is the feel of the song, what is the whole message?

So, here we go. The first thing is that American Pie is a tri-level song, meaning at different levels there are differing meaning but all add up to the same conclusion. The first level is the Marching Band/Jester level of analysis, the 'what is what, who is who' reference. The second level is a little fuzzier and only took me until about 1994 to figure out. The third level is that epiphany that I wrote about before. The actual thought behind the song, the Miss American Pie part.

The first four stanzas of the song are All American. Pick-up trucks, Chevy's, pink carnations, levees and dancin' in the gym. It is Buddy Holly, it IS American Rock and Roll. Then things changed. The day the music died. Holly's untimely death.

The second level is the advancement of each verse to a change in the style of Rock and Roll after every chorus there were new things to report in the change of music style, the Summer of Love to the violence of Altamont. With each chorus of "So, bye, bye Miss American Pie", it marked an evolution of musical tastes. From the early days of Buddy and Elvis to the more mystical styles of the late '60's. It was the transfer of music from an American influence to a British influence.

So, what is that epiphany that I had? What ties in all these three levels? Like most complicated solutions, it is disarmingly simple. Deejays in the early days of Rock n' Roll referred to record albums as platters or pies. What Don McLean wrote about was not "bye, bye Miss American Pie", but "bye bye, Miss American Record". American music to him had really died. The day the music died is not only when Buddy Holly was killed, but it was when American influence in music also died and gave way to the British invasion.