Why is Terry’s music all over the map? He plays Country music one song and Soul the next, then rocks like ass for a while. Well, I thought it was because there are only 2 kinds of music, good and bad. I mean, I like Buck Owens and George Jones as much as I like Prince, Todd, The Faces and The Rolling Stones. But I was reading a story about Todd Rundgren in the magazine, Mojo in the van and he put it into some OTHER terms that I thought were interesting…Well, not about ME but about making music and continuously re-inventing yourself:
MOJO: It’s been said that if you’d concentrated on crafted pop you could have achieved Prince-like mega stardom in the 70’s…
TODD: Well, the problem is I grew up listening to The Beatles and they quickly evolved from being an act that didn’t even have enough songs to fill up a whole album to songwriting and experimenting with sound. I thought that’s what the best musicians were supposed to do, be like musical sharks, constantly moving and incorporating new influences. A lot of people thought I was just trying to be clever, that the reason I followed up Something/Anything with A Wizard, A True Star was just spite. It wasn’t anything like that. I never thought I was looking for a sound that I could milk for the rest of my life.
3 comments:
Jump the SHARK!
George Clinton 'bout Good and Bad music : Bad music is what your kids are listening to, Good music is what we were listening to as kids....
Cheers Terry, Roland - NL
What's funny is that once you extract all of the crazy shit out of Todd's music (Sunset Blvd, S.L.U.T. Everybody's going to Heaven/King Kong Reggae, Bang on the Drum, Heavy Metal Kids,) You're left with Pure Todd. I can tell a one of those Todd songs a mile away. Songs like "Just one Victory, or "A dream goes on Forever" are fucking timeless classics. Did he set out to write all of these Beatlesque/disney soundtracks, I doubt it. But in trying to sound new, he; like most veteran composers, ended up absorbing the sounds and changes of those who impressed him the most and created his "signature" sound.
And weather you know it or not T you've developed your own "Signature" sound. (once you quit trying to sound like NRBQ or Dave Edmunds)
Yes, Todd is a great example of an ubercomposer. Just look at the music he wrote for "Up against it" the Broadway musical written by playwrite Joe Orton. Then look at both "Deface The Music" and "Not Tonight"(by the new Cars)
Personally, I like everything Todd ever did. And the stuff I like the least was the stuff that the Industy ate up (Love is the Answer/Can we still be friends etc...)
My favorite Todd song of alltime is "Just One Victory". Kasim Sultan once told me: "Ace, I love playing that song".
But Todd once said, "If you're a musician, keep a day job so you can be true to your craft".
He didn't have much to say about "Focus" or "Handles", and the first thing they teach you in a music marketing class is to establish a "brand name". You need to have the utimate answer to the question "Hey what does your music sound like"?
I like to say it sounds like Ironman having sex.
I guess there is something to be said about handles. Dave Edmunds was so undefined until he started hanging out with Carl Perkins and Steve Cropper. While at the same time; Brian Setzer and the Cats stayed true to Rockabilly. There's no mistaking a Stray Cat song. But come one, Dave outplays Brian in his sleep but who the fuck wants to hear "Queen of Hearts"?
I dunno....
Ace out........
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