As far as I can see, there are two models:
Only time will tell what is the best. Anyway, music will continue to be free for some users
Steve, the curly-haired drunk homeless dubliner I had a chat with in the bus, informed me that we all (not him) are “far beyond”, especially in rock and roll, and suggested me to listen to Head, Hands and Feet. Which I did. And found out it was Albert Lee’s group. Thanks Steve. Even if you think I’m called “Igor”.
I always asked myself why the rock band Van Halen didn’t leave that deep mark in history as some conditions were suggesting.
They had a lot,
Sure they had fair success and sold a lot of records, but for example the influence of Edward Van Halen as a guitar player and innovator,
went far beyond the limit he is credited to by common awareness; and the fact the band he played in didn’t become the “new Led Zeppelin” did not work in his favor and this is a further evidence of their miss.
I can try to point out some reasons, I would like to hear regarded opinions about it.
The song form.
Van Halen always remained stuck in the “song” form. No cosmic flights, no LP-side-sized suites, no powerful instrumentals, strange instruments or ethnic influence. Just verse-chorus or verse-bridge-chorus rock’n’roll songs. That was all, and that wasn’t enough to leave a permanent mark in popular music history, at least as authors.
Context.
If you take a look at the charts between 1978 (debut album) and 1984 (last album of “classic” Van Halen), here’s barely a trace of something that can be defined as rock’n’roll. They were almost alone in their attempt to keep rock’n’roll alive in its classic form, that is
Rock’n’roll was at a tipping point. It was losing its “ideology” aspect to simply become a music style. Or, to be precise, it was becoming also a music style. Rock’n’roll turned out often later to be a flag for ideas, but it was at the end of the 70s that the basis was set to use Rock’n’roll aesthetics just to create a positioning (posing or positioning), and this started the decline of the “hip” Rock’n’roll for dance/electropop and the underground for novel rock explosions (content-based, as e.g. Grunge, or style-based, as e.g. White Stripes).
In fact, Van Halen didn’t have the self-convinced positioning of the Iron Maiden genre of groups, neither the hip new-rock attitude of groups like Police and then U2. They refounded guitar rock, when guitar rock was dead or in a coma. They effectively hit the charts only when Eddie put his fingers on a fat synthesizer keyboard and turned to hair-aor style with “Jump”.
Irony.
Rock doesn’t admit irony. Led Zeppelin had it, but few understood it was there. Furthermore, the blast of energy was so huge, that intended irony became iron branded words, and it lost humour in the sublimation versus legend. “Immigrant Song” is an ironic metaphore where the American market-winning Brits become the viking conquerors, but who cares, when the song is a milestone for all the self-convinced epic rock songs to come?
US residence
Is it a case, or Elvis left apart, the big changes in Rock always came from the UK?
If you’re interested please comment, I’m sure I have a partial view and I’d like to hear opinions.
