"Really awful is more interesting to listen to than pretty good" - Eno ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. welcome to the drivel blog of "music detractor, Simon Reynolds"
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
nadirs of rockpop music (2 of ????)
nadir criteria = not so much active badness (which as per blog strapline slogan up above can be oddly stimulating in its piquant rankness - and sometimes food-for-thought) but more like nothingness
I remember Radio 1 DJs always being very keen to give Argent's Russ Ballard his writing props on this one. I think it's good; as a young lad was always a bit confused though by the presence of the rather flash-looking Graham Bonnet among the assorted hairies.
"To thine own self be true". This was Rainbow making a straight mersh move, to the benefit of Ritchie Blackmore's bank balance but to the detriment of their art. The previous swords and sorcery version with Ronnie James Dio was deeply silly, but had some impressively thunderous moments, particularly on the proto-Speed Metal Kill the King. Metallica loved them. This time out, to quote Chuck Eddy on Aerosmith at a similar phase in their career, "they sucked, and sold". The crucial signifiers are Graham Bonnet's ears. The fact that you can see them exposed by his vaguely Bryan Ferry haircut is the most obvious sign that Rainbow were aiming for the charts.
This song is in the same ball park as "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor I think. It's insincere hysteria, the musical equivalent of WWF wrestling. A high-pitched drama in which nothing is really at stake. That said, it's an effective enough earworm.
As for Aerosmith, they were always pretty lame as far as I can tell. They're one of those bands that Americans have to pretend were much better than they actually were, to compensate for the fact that the best British & Commonwealth bands of the era (Zep, Sabs, AC/DC) absolutely shat on anything that was coming out of the US.
Agree on Blackmore deliberately going more radio friendly but he hated Bonnett's short hair: “We were a long-hair band,” Blackmore says. “In 79, everybody wore denim and had straggly hair. But he looked like a Las Vegas casino man. He had such a great voice, we thought: ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter. We’ll rough him up a bit round the edges.’ But he never took to that.”
yeah i read that too - he seems to be one of those journeymen of rock who pops up in all kinds of contexts. bit like Gary Tibbs who was in Roxy Music, Adam and the Ants, the fictional band in Breaking Glass, and oh yes in the Vibrators. NME even took the piss out of him with a minipiece contrasting his very different sartorial get-ups in each of these bands.
Haha I didn’t know that about Bonnett. That is very funny. There was a bit of a vogue for short-haired singers in British metal around that time, though, with the cropped Rob Halford at Judas Priest and the punkoid Paul DiAnno at Iron Maiden. Although both Rainbow and Maiden went for longhairs when they hired new singers in the 80s.
11 comments:
I remember Radio 1 DJs always being very keen to give Argent's Russ Ballard his writing props on this one. I think it's good; as a young lad was always a bit confused though by the presence of the rather flash-looking Graham Bonnet among the assorted hairies.
"Nadir" is a bit harsh, this was a pretty decent radio tune from my youth. Plenty of worse and more nothingey chart hits over the years....
when even interesting bands (The Tubes, BOC) modeled their songs after Saga.
"To thine own self be true". This was Rainbow making a straight mersh move, to the benefit of Ritchie Blackmore's bank balance but to the detriment of their art.
The previous swords and sorcery version with Ronnie James Dio was deeply silly, but had some impressively thunderous moments, particularly on the proto-Speed Metal Kill the King. Metallica loved them.
This time out, to quote Chuck Eddy on Aerosmith at a similar phase in their career, "they sucked, and sold".
The crucial signifiers are Graham Bonnet's ears. The fact that you can see them exposed by his vaguely Bryan Ferry haircut is the most obvious sign that Rainbow were aiming for the charts.
yes i was wondering what such a cleancut shorthaired chap was doing in a metal band!
Phil Knight sez:
This song is in the same ball park as "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor I think. It's insincere hysteria, the musical equivalent of WWF wrestling. A high-pitched drama in which nothing is really at stake. That said, it's an effective enough earworm.
As for Aerosmith, they were always pretty lame as far as I can tell. They're one of those bands that Americans have to pretend were much better than they actually were, to compensate for the fact that the best British & Commonwealth bands of the era (Zep, Sabs, AC/DC) absolutely shat on anything that was coming out of the US.
Agree on Blackmore deliberately going more radio friendly but he hated Bonnett's short hair: “We were a long-hair band,” Blackmore says. “In 79, everybody wore denim and had straggly hair. But he looked like a Las Vegas casino man. He had such a great voice, we thought: ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter. We’ll rough him up a bit round the edges.’ But he never took to that.”
Seems Bonnet was in the running to replace Brian Connelly in Sweet at one point!
yeah i read that too - he seems to be one of those journeymen of rock who pops up in all kinds of contexts. bit like Gary Tibbs who was in Roxy Music, Adam and the Ants, the fictional band in Breaking Glass, and oh yes in the Vibrators. NME even took the piss out of him with a minipiece contrasting his very different sartorial get-ups in each of these bands.
Haha I didn’t know that about Bonnett. That is very funny. There was a bit of a vogue for short-haired singers in British metal around that time, though, with the cropped Rob Halford at Judas Priest and the punkoid Paul DiAnno at Iron Maiden. Although both Rainbow and Maiden went for longhairs when they hired new singers in the 80s.
I always thought Bonnett was the inspiration for the Chris Ryan character in The Young Ones https://images.app.goo.gl/6K39zkEFLysRMbfe6
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