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From: rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Music and Style:  All Show and No Go??
Message-ID: <1948@pyuxd.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Oct-85 12:34:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxd.1948
Posted: Wed Oct 23 12:34:47 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 24-Oct-85 08:13:46 EDT
References: <16928@watmath.UUCP>
Organization: Whatever we're calling ourselves this week
Lines: 34

>> Has anybody seen the new ABC album?  What does its cover look like?

> Something has been starting to really worry me lately.  First I heard that
> Wham! played in Toronto and Georgeous George had 2 (or 3) backup *dancers*.
> And then I was locked in a small room with my TV and forced to watch parts
> of Live Aid and saw Madonna cavorting with (yup - you guessed it) 2 backup
> dancers.  (I also heard Power Station whose drummer has never heard of the
> concept of a steady beat or keeping in time.)
> So much emphasis these days seems to be on appearance and perceptions of
> style rather than on the music.  (Yes - there are many counter examples)
> Is this what videos have been doing to our music?  [JOHN SELLENS]

I don't think having backup dancers *alone* qualifies them for the banality
heap.  (Such a categorization would make ballet and modern dance troupes
worthless:  "My God, dancing on the stage while the MUSIC is playing????
DIS-gusting!!!")  Though clearly both Madonna and Wham! fit cleanly into
that heap.  But that's what the real "pop" side of pop music is and always
has been all about:  flash, showbiz, glam schlock, etc.  For the purpose
of sating the "entertainment" "needs" of the "masses" who have come to
expect it.  Today it's just so fine tuned you can't tell the difference
between Sheena Easton and Madonna and Dolly Parton.   (well... )  All this
at the expense of the "serious" side of the house, those who really are
making some real music worth listening to on its own merits and not
based on the prettiness of the face that sang it.  And guess what the
rest of the world (the "jazz" and "classical" buffs, e.g.) see when the
words "popular music" appear:  the schlock side of the house.

> John's rule of bands #1:  Never trust a band whose bass player uses a
> headless bass.

I thought you said the important thing was the music itself, not what
type of flashy stuff and/or equipment goes with it...
-- 
"Mrs. Peel, we're needed..."			Rich Rosen 	ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr