The Day the Music Died - (side 2)

The second in a short series opinionating on the terminal decline and why it happened.

Photo by Jamakassi on Unsplash

Part 2 – Bits and Pieces

(Part 1 can be seen here)

FREE SAMPLES!

In the first part of this amble through selected aspects of the popular music culture of the last fifty or so years, I wrote about the impact and legacy of the music video/MTV phenomenon, and how perhaps this marked a fork in the cultural road through the incorporation of what had been the music business into a more broadly based entity which might be termed the “youth entertainment business”; whereby audio and visual content became one consumer offering to a large extent.

Which brings me to what in my view was the next nail in the box: sound sampling.

It's important to stress that the concept and to some extent the practice of taking existing recordings (or indeed live sounds) and incorporating these in a “new” artefact had been around in some form since the mid-20^th century. Indeed, the technology in its earlier offerings was a central component in the arsenal of many serious rock artists from the late 1960s onwards. Notably British progressive rock behemoths like King Crimson, Yes and Genesis, as well as the more mainstream but still musically adventurous Moody Blues. I am referring to the Mellotron keyboard and its variants. These were innovative but notoriously temperamental electronic instruments which employed onboard tape loops of real brass or most often string sections or choral groups.

The effect was immediately impressive and - frankly, as a teen rock fan back then – mesmerisingly opulent and grandiose-sounding.

This was indeed SERIOUS music for SERIOUS music fans. Sadly, we were mostly blokes as I recall, so not too great for meeting girls. But after all, art is to be suffered for. Possibly.

However, in the mid '80s, the first real digital sampler went mainstream. The Fairlight. To put this in perspective in terms of outlay: in a recent interview I saw Alan Parsons - the legendary producer and later main man in the Alan Parsons Project - talking about the advent of this instrument. He said that such was the demand for this revolutionary kit that they were commanding a price of over £100,000. In the 1980s, you can imagine what kind of money that was ! However, tech moved on as it does, and the Fairlight was soon followed by more affordable models via manufacturers like Korg and Roland. If there is one sound that everyone associates with many popular , high-gloss recordings of that era, it is the sampler. It was ubiquitous, as musicians and producers alike seemed besotted with the possibilities.

It is difficult to imagine how Kate Bush could have made Hounds of Love, probably the most impactful album of her entire career, without this technology, isn't it?

And progressive rock legends Yes, who had been somewhat in the doldrums commercially and artistically since the late 1970s after the culture shock of the stripped-back and ascetic New Wave movement, completely reinvented themselves with no small assistance from probably the most influential UK-based musician/producer of the era – Trevor Horn. Remember his band The Buggles and the prophetic single Video Killed the Radio Star, from 1979? Readers of the first part of this series will appreciate the irony contained therein !

And here is the shiny new 1980s version of YES, after being….re-imagined.

Anyway, the reader might ask...what's negative about any of this? Absolutely nothing, I would agree. In fact it seemed to be the next kick up the pants that a lot of artists needed to become or at least feel relevant again in the post-punk era.

But as with most technological innovations, it turned out to be a double-edged sword, in a creative sense.

It’s Only Words

I won't dwell much on the whole Rap thing, which according to Wiki was a development of the urban artform of hip-hop, emerging in the Bronx in the early 1970s. It also speaks about antecedents such as the music-and-speech jazz records of Gil Scott-Heron and even traces its heritage back to African chants and spoken-word blues in the early part of the 20th century. So I stress that I certainly don't claim to have any extensive knowledge on this movement.If anyone wants to correct me on the subtle but important distinctions between rap and hip-hop, that's just fine. In essence, the concept and execution seem similar enough to be examined as the same phenomenon. So, this is just opinions and I stand to be put straight on any of this. Okay. Let’s begin here.

I clearly remember hearing Rapper’s Delight in 1979 or thereabouts, and thinking that there was something very familiar about the music on first listen. Then on quick realisation that this was the main bass/guitar hook from Chic's Good Times, I wondered why this was being credited to a different artist. So that was my introduction to Rap/Hip-Hop. The germane thing for me is that the evolution and increasing sophistication of sampling technology immediately opened doors for a whole tranche of young people. People who (let's be blunt) had a great enthusiasm for the act of playing and/or creating music; but who now had a fast-track option which did not involve the thousands of hours’ practice involved in learning to play a musical instrument passably well.

Now, I would not want come across as a musical elitist or (heavens above!) culture snob. I thought the whole Punk ethos of buying or begging any electric guitar and learning a handful of chords led to some truly thrilling music being created, performed and recorded. It was an incredibly exciting time for popular music in my recollection. And the really important point is that the very discipline and adventure of learning just to play an instrument must inevitably have set many creative fires burning in many of those young people, enabling them to craft their own music and lyrics.

What I am saying in essence is that as with most endeavours, that stretch out of one's comfort zone takes almost anyone, including novice musicians, to the most unexpected places. And in many cases, those creative destinations turn out to be a bit magical.

Take that step out of the process, and what you have is a whole lot of potential creativity that goes untapped, as the crafter remains essentially in that comfort zone. I am sure that in many , many cases, these people who went on to become Rap/Hip-Hop artists of note would in earlier years have become established as musicians and writers, but we will never know now. Undoubtedly, there were and are some very gifted lyricists working within the genre. And writing a good lyric is very difficult. No question about that in my experience. Just as one example , Eminem took things a stage further by even including the original singer and writer Dido in his (superb) video story to his record Stan. The wordcraft here is undeniably the work of a talented artist, even if the content is shocking in places.

But whereas there have been any amount of wonderful popular tunes with lousy or disposable lyrics, I don't think anyone reading this could honestly claim that the opposite was ever true. Amazing words can never turn an indifferent tune into a great record. There was a reason Elton John took the plaudits and awards and Bernie Taupin didn't. Likewise with Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Absolutely terrific wordsmiths all three, but life and business ain't fair in that way.

One thing is certain: the sampling /Rap/Hip-Hop phenomenon has left its mark, to the point where hugely successful artists still exploit the technology (and the cultural acceptance of it) to keep themselves in the charts. It could be asserted, perhaps controversially to most fans at least, that often the only real music to speak of on a given recording is the ever-repeating “sample”, often lifted from an obscure track recorded and forgotten several decades earlier. All the better, as the intended audience will almost certainly accept the music as being original, I would offer. Here is a prime example, which got me laughed at on social media when I dared to suggest that the artist concerned perhaps didn’t have too much to do with the writing of the music on the hugely successful record involved.

But most notable to me in all of this, was that perhaps the target audience didn’t even care very much as to the writing and performing credentials, as long as they enjoyed the product.

The implications of which will be the thrust of the final part in this series. Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the nostalgia. I’m always glad to read comments and feedback if you feel moved to do so.

( to be continued in the final section - “I Want My mp3...” )