Opus 80|A Musical Opus from the 1980s

I know, I know, I’m starting to sound like my parents when it comes to complaining about the state of modern music these days.  I mean, doesn’t every generation throw a hero up the pop charts, as my friend Paul Simon used to say?  But then again, doesn’t every generation have a bunch of parents ready to douse the current set of music artists, and burn them in effigy?  OK, that may be a little harsh, but there is a certain set of justice to it.  Lady Gaga, is one that at first I would have put into this category.  She seemed to care about nothing but here persona in the media, the internet, and television.   But, then I actually started liking some of her music and changed my mind.  Funny how that works.  All it needs is a good song hook in the chorus, and all of a sudden my viewpoint changes.  I guess the music from our formative years will always seem better, because of how we associate with some very defining moments in our growth.  Although, one good thing about getting older, is how I have a whole history of great songs to listen to, plus an occasional new one that sparks my interest.

Your guitar cables play an integral role in your guitar’s tone.  There are so many different options to choose from and it’s important that you find the one that is right for your rig.  In this post I’ll show you some different things to consider when shopping for

Music is an amazing thing; it has the power to change your mood (either for better or worse), and a good quality set of speakers can make a really welcomed enhancement to your home. A top quality set of speakers is no longer just for the the audiophiles out there; good speakers can be a great addition to a room even if you know little about them, and sometimes there’s nothing better than a set of good wall speakers.

Over the last few years, sound systems have advanced a lot technologically, from the features they have to their ability to faithfully replicate the recorded audio they play back. However, you may own the best sound system and amplifier on the market, but if you have a poor set of speakers, the audio quality will also be poor. You need to choose carefully when buying speakers, which means carefully comparing the features of the different sets of speakers.

Music from the eighties had a unique sound, that seems to be missing from so much of the music today. I know I sound like an old codger when I start writing stuff like that, but I do believe it’s true. At least the artists of the seventies and eighties seem to be trying to come up with a unique sound for their bands to distinguish them from the rest of the crowd. Where as today, the number of artists trying to do that seem far and few in between.

That’s not to say that there aren’t any, it just seems like so many all sound the same. All the hip hop dance floor stuff seems to be the music of choice by so many people today. When I think back to the eighties, I think about the unique sounds of bands like Journey (Steve Perrys voice), Abba, the Eagles, the Beach Boys (maybe a little pre-1980),Led Zeppelin, The Who and Queen. There are of course dozens of others. But the point is, has anyone in the current age of musicians really grabbed the torch and broken free from the mold.

Not too many I suspect, but maybe I’m being just a little too harsh on the current generation of musicians. I know there were plenty of derivative bands from the eighties, and plenty of one hit wonders, that were never able to make a go of it in the business either commercially or artistically. Which actually brings about another point I have to wonder about.

Music distribution has certainly changed this days for artists, with the world of the internet leveling the field somewhat. Really, if your band is good, then you should be able to get plenty of recognition by distributing your music online, and making use of musician friendly websites like MySpace to build up a group of followers. Decades ago, in the pre internet age, it was very risky for a band to try and be different. Cutting a record was expensive, as was the marketing and promotion that went along with it.

With the internet providing such a low cost entry barrier, and digital technology allowing just about anyone with a microphone to create a CD, you’d think there would be far more diversity in the music business today. Or perhaps, maybe there is. Maybe I’m just stuck in the eighties haven’t given the artists of today a chance. If you’ve found some great artists via the internet, I’d love to hear about it. Just leave some comments below, with links to your favorite current bands.

If there ever was a band that created their own niche, and succeeded in creating their own sound, it was Queen.  Theatrical to be sure, and definitely not a band to shy away from the big production numbers.   This was a band that was both classic and iconic as the years have proved them to be.  I’m not sure why, but for some reason I always assumed that Queen was an American band.  I was surprised to learn only recently, even after having listened to their music for years (decades ?), that their actually from the UK.  Yes, Queen is a British band.  I suppose, that since I wasn’t one of this to listen to a lot of rock and roll celebrity interviews, I never picked up on their English accents.  As with most singers, their native accent rarely comes across in their singing.

One of my fondest memories of Queen, was being at a high school buddies place when he had just got the latest Queen album Jazz that featured the song “Fat Bottom Girls”.  Of course, the best part of the album was the poster of 65 naked women on rented bicycles at Wimbledon stadium in England.  Remember, these are teen age boys were talking about here.  It was a bizzare little twist for an 80s album that at least covered two out of three from the phrase “Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll”.   Those girls definitely looked like they were on some sports nutrition supplements, in that they were very healthy, and expert bicycle riders as well.  Or at the very least, they had been dabbling in some Maximuscle Promax Diet to prepare for their big rock and roll race day.  My personal choice for that day would have been PhD Pharma Blend, but who am I to argue with the ladies.

It’s pretty much impossible to talk about Queen the band, without mentioning two of their most enduring songs.  Those would have to be Bohemian Rhapsody, and We Will Rock You.  Bohemian Rhapsody continues to be one of my favorites, and is a song I never get tired of hearing.  I do like songs that tell a story, and even if it is as disjointed as the tale told here.  It would have taken quite a bit of audicity in the early stages of pitching this song, to convince the producers that it should be on a rock bands album.  I mean really what do these guys know about four part opera?  Apparently enough to make one of the most enduring rock songs of all time.  I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not, but every time I hear that song I get Wayne and Garth stuck in my head right around the four minute mark.

I must admit, that over the years I have developed an affinity for piano playing rock stars.  I just like listening to piano music for some reason.  Could be the fact that my father taught himself piano, and played quite a bit in my younger days.  We still have that piano as a matter of fact, and all my kids have learned to play on it.  Kinda cool, but I do digress.

Bands and artists that feature piano players prominently like Billy Joel, Elton John, Marc Cohn, Bruce Hornsby and Five For Fighting have always been favorites of mine.  Of them all, Billy Joel would be my first choice for a private front row contest, if I was ever given such a wonderful choice.  I saw him perform live back in Detroit back in the eighties, and even back then I was impressed by the range and size of both his songs and his fans.  He played for what seemed like hours.  And, there were grandparents with their grand-kids amongst the fans.

His concerts in Russia back when travel into that country by westerners was largely unheard of was ground breaking.  I believe, he was the first western artist ever to perform behind the iron curtain.  And in spite of that little fit he had where he flipped a piano on stage, it was one of the most amazing concert experiences to be captured on film.

Billy Joels versatility as an artist has always impressed by as well.  I should make that statement a little broader in scope, to include his band members as well.  There all incredibly accomplished musicians.  I remember seen a documentary on him on VH1 as part of the series “Story Tellers”.  I think his bio had to be broked into two episodes.  But the one piece that sticks in my mind, was where they picked out a song that was from about ten years before there time, and very atypical compared to what they normally play, but they just started playing it flawlessly.  I think it was something by Creem.

There are very few artists that can put out an album where every single song is hit worthy.  Piano Man was of course just such an effort.  And to carry that thought a little further.  When he released a greatest hits double CD, every single song on that was amazingly wonderful as well.  His journeys down alternate music paths, have been equally successful as well.  The jazzier stuff he did with the likes of Ray Charles ranks among his best work I think.  Mulberry Street is a terrific piece.

In summary, I must say Billy Joel is one of the few musicians from the eighties that stayed relevant and continued produce wonderful music, and exploring alternate musical paths long past the swan song of his contemporaries.

I know Journey may not be the coolest band for a guy from the eighties to admit to liking, but I can’t help myself.  Yep, the lyrics are often far too sentimental for those with too much testosterone.  But I still can’t help but crank up one of their songs every time I hear it.  It’s of course not just the lyrics that get me, but the amazing guitar riffs by the master Neal Schon.  Here’s a guy that cut his chops at a very young age playing with the latin flavored rock gods Santana.  What I didn’t realize when I first started listening to Journey, was that prior to the addition of Steve Perry, these guys were a hard core jamming rock band.  Plenty of long extended and technically tough guitar solos were the order of the day.  And, Neal Schon was just the guy to pull that kind of stuff off.  I never listened to much pre-Steve Perry Journey, and neither did a lot of my generation.

It was truly Steve Perry that brought a lot of pop sensibilities and sentimentality to the band.  While it was an odd mix at first, and the source for much published friction later on, I also think, that it was that melding that made Journey the success they were.  A band that only has strong technically masterful chops will only appeal to a small group of listeners.  Usually other musicians that marvel at the playing ability of the band.  And that’s what Journey was before Steve Perry came along.  Of course on the other side, any other band that attempted to pull off the weepy, sentimental stuff without amazing musicians behind the scenes won’t last long.

Now another thing about getting hooked on a band from your growing up years, is that you often are blinded to the actual music, and just remember the memories.  That can be said to be true for me.  Journey was something I listened to during my teenager years, where a lot of things were going on.  Of which I’m sure I don’t need to explain to anyone over the age of 15.  Let’s just say it was a tumultuous and emotional time for me.  And the music of Journey was there for me for most of it.  Especially that one night, with that one girl, with that one Journey song.  You know who you are, and I’m sure you remember that song.  At least I do.  Nuff said on that topic for now

All in all, Journey is one band that will always be one of my favorites.  No matter how many times I listen to their music, it can’t help but elicit strong feelings and memories.  Surely good ones.  But the more I learn about the band, and the musical skills, that more I appreciate.

The Originals

Another one of my favorite bands from those formative 1980’s, has to be the band Boston.  In doing a little research about the band, I was surprised to have a few myths dispelled.  For some reason, I was always under the impression that the band was always made up of a few rich kids, that were bored with life so they decided to start a band, and just turned out to be incredibly talented.  Well, it would appear that nothing could be further from the truth.  After years of record company rejection, Tom Scholz the found member through all the money he had left into a studio basement at home to record some real demo tracks.  If the demos weren’t picked up, he would have had to sell all the equipment to survive.  As it turned out, those demos were prompted the interest of  four different record labels, and the rest is rock and roll history.  The unique sound of Boston guitar licks was generally the result of Scholz’s wizardy in the recording studio.  Tom was one of the earliest electronic geeks, that happened to also be a very accomplished musician and song writer.  The songs “More Than A Feeling”, “Amanda”, “Don’t Look Back”, and “Hitch A Ride” are some of my favorite.  In reality though, I must admit to liking just about every track on the albums “Boston”,  “Don’t Look Back” and “Third Stage”.  “Walk On” was never really an album that I connected to.  I think what I really liked about Boston, was their sound.  It seemed such a big deal in the 80s for bands to find their unique sound, and Bostons guitar licks and chords stood out from a mile away.  You’d recognize a new Boston song, the second you heard it.  I think that’s the biggest difference between bands back then and today.  Few of the bands today seem to be really distinguishable from the rest of their peers.  Or, perhaps that’s just my age showing through.  On a final note, I had to say I was sadden to hear the the lead singer for Boston (Brad Delp) actually committed suicide back in 2007.  I suppose that you never realize what goes on in the mind of someone else, especially someone you don’t know personally.  But, you would think that an individual that had touched so many with such emotion filled songs and lyrics would be a happy person.  We all know what fame can do to a person, but by all accounts Brad didn’t seem to be someone that fell into that trap.  It’s too bad we’ll never get to see a Boston reunion tour with all the original members, although Tom Scholz do tour in 2008 with a reformed “Boston” band, and another one of my favorite 80s bands Styx.  But, that’s a story for another day.

While everyone likely goes through a reggae phase at some point in their life, most likely only last for those few weeks they spend in the Caribbean on vacation. Mine seemed to last a little longer. I do have a tendency to obsess a bit when it comes to music I like, and when I first discovered Bob Marley, I played his CDs over and over and over again. Those living with me were driven a little crazy I think. I’m not as bad as I used to be, but still enjoy very much anything with a roots reggae feel similar to what Bob would have done. The dance hall reggae is definitely not something I’m very keen on, as it’s a little too much like rap and hip hop for my liking. Not that I have a problem with either of those two genres of music, at least not in small doses. While, it’s hard for me to narrow down a list of favorite songs from Bob Marley, I’m sure these belong in the top 10 at least: No Woman No Cry, Natural Mystic, Redemption Song, Jamming, and War. There are plenty more, but I’d never get tired of listening to those songs. Part of my affinity for his music, has to be the total escapism to a very different life. I often found myself looking for a big escape in my selection of movies, televisions shows, books and music. Two of my favorite sayings, are that “I like a lot of fiction in my fiction”, and “Reality is just for people with no imagination”. Those aren’t totally original quotes, so if you want to use them go right ahead. I think, as I grew older, the other thing that really kept me interested in the music of Bob Marley, was how he was so much more than a musician. He was a beacon for peace, and a strong spiritual leader, that seems so lacking in these troubled times. (aren’t all times troubled in one way or another). I can’t help but wonder, what kind of life Mr. Marley would have lead, and what kind of impact he would have had on the world, if he hadn’t been taken at such a young age. I guess we’ll never know. It’s kind of fun to wonder though. I’m pretty sure, that a world with more Bob Marley music would have had to be a better one.