Blondie
Heart Of Glass
Atomic
vs
Fleetwood Mac
Rhiannon
Go Your Own Way
Here’s a contest we don’t need to be too agonized about—two bands who are not cosmically different, and have not generated too many PhD papers on how they ‘changed music forever;’ Blondie is sometimes credited with starting something (rap?) but this is doubtful—Fleetwood Mac, like Blondie, is generally considered one of the best party bands of the post-60s pre-rap era.
“Heart of Glass” was not loved by everyone in New York CIty’s New Wave scene—it was too disco. It was released in 1979 but was written in 1974 by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein (a couple until 1989.) Blondie’s producer suggested the disco format which made the song famous.
“Go Your Own Way” was a breakup song written by guitarist Lindsey Buckingham for singer Stevie Nicks in 1976, as Fleetwood Mac became the most popular band on the planet for a short time. “Rhiannon” was written (in a few minutes, it is said) by Stevie Nicks a year earlier. Both Fleetwood Mac songs have simple chord structures.
Winner Fleetwood Mac
Nirvana
Smells Like Teen Sprit
Come As You Are
vs
Bruno Mars
It Will Rain
Locked Out Of Heaven
Nirvana enjoyed success as an act for just two years. In March of 1992, as Nirvana was becoming a world sensation, Kurt Cobain successfully filed paperwork to receive more money as the chief songwriter—which almost broke up the band. Cobain died in March of 1994. The single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” ushered in grunge (which replaced hair metal) by late 1991.
As Nirvana was poised to change popular music, Peter Hernandez, born in 1985, called Bruno by his father, was making a name for himself within a musical family as a 5 year old Elvis impersonator in Honolulu—where he lived until moving to LA at 17. Producer, songwriter, and singer, Bruno Mars has sold twice as many records as Nirvana.
“Locked Out Of Heaven” is beautifully produced—Bruno Mars populates his songs so that he seems to be channeling the excellence of many great songs at once. We hear the Police in “Locked Out Of Heaven,” but layered hooks and rhythms in the song make it more than just an homage to one sound or genre—great songwriting and great production are all over “Locked Out Of Heaven.” “It Will Rain” also has production muscle—though it’s a sad and intimate love song.
Perhaps the question here is: which do we care about more—Will Bruno Mars get laid? Will Kurt Cobain keep his sanity?
The challenge for Nirvana was that once they said what they had to say, how many times could they keep saying it? Their new genre boxed them in.
Bruno Mars has a different challenge—he’s covered in genres. But who is he? Bruno Mars seems to have found the answer: Love as religion.
Nirvana never did find the answer. It’s impossible to say whether this makes them more interesting. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” does feel like a greater cry of agony.
Winner Nirvana
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sweet Home Alabama
Free Bird
vs
T. Rex
Bang A Gong
Cosmic Dancer
Ronnie Van Zant and Marc Bolan died within a month of each other at the same age (29) in 1977, both were passengers—Lynyrd Skynyrd’s singer in a plane which crash-landed in trees and T. Rex’s singer in a car driven by his girlfriend which crashed into a tree. Both are central figures in their respective sub-genres—Southern rock and Glam rock. One was a short guy from Jacksonville, Florida, the other, a short guy from London.
Their bands both featured groovy, listenable, extremely popular, guitar-based music—Lynyrd Synyrd felt like an army of guitars, while T. Rex rocked just as strongly. Marc Bolan was also a poet, and projected sex more expressively.
“Cosmic Dancer” is a poetry jam, with amazing strings and drums. “Bang A Gong” grooves tremendously.
“Sweet Home Alabama” is a bright blue sky of guitar and rhythm brilliance and “Free Bird” is perhaps the most iconic extended rock jam of all time.
Marc Bolan replaced the Beatles in England as the no. 1 rock act in the early 70s; Lynyrd Skynyrd shared the top southern rock act in the early 70s with the Allman Brothers Band in the United States.
Winner T. Rex
Pink Floyd
See Emily Play
Comfortably Numb
vs
David Bowie
Space Oddity
Heroes
David Bowie was an artist who kept adding mythical adornments to himself as a talented guy flourishing in the world of androgynous glam. Pink Floyd was a committee, dealing, through their music, with the reality of a destroyed myth—their original songwriter and lead singer, Syd Barrett, had been turned into a zombie by LSD in 1968.
“See Emily Play” (1967) is Syd Barrett leading Pink Floyd before he succumbed to anti-success—which existed in the Pink Floyd genes from the beginning; the band refused to play their single, “See Emily Play” when they first toured. Just because. “Comfortably Numb” is Pink Floyd exploiting what came to be their myth about the myth of Syd, within the druggy days of those days generally. Pink Floyd without Syd had enough talent to make them more Wagnerian than Woe Is Me—and their success was quite remarkable. They were the champions of “head music,” building on the marvelous (and crashed) spirit of Syd.
I think most agree David Bowie could have replaced Syd in Pink Floyd—but would have never chosen to do so.
“Space Oddity” (1969) features a “Major Tom” instead of an “Emily,” and its theme and production value stands somewhere in the middle of “Two Thousand Light Years From Home” by the Rolling Stones (1967) and “Rocket Man” by Elton John (1972). “Space Oddity” begins with acoustic guitar, but the double-tracked vocal sings to the synthesizers. Outer space and inner madness in studio recordings are similar—“See Emily Play” and “Comfortably Numb” share some of the same sounds as “Space Oddity.”
“Comfortably Numb” substitutes the voice of a physician for the voice of “ground control.” Not everyone has been to outer space, but having a fever, or feeling ‘out of it,’ which Pink Floyd exploits, is universal.
Bowie’s “Heroes” uses a soaring synthesizer to add hysteria to the driving rhythm.
Bowie is mesmerizing in a more extroverted manner than Pink Floyd—your personality will probably determine who you like best; or you may like both equally. Bowie will make you stand in awe; Pink Floyd will make you curl up and close your eyes in awe.
Winner Pink Floyd
Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, T. Rex, and Pink Floyd advance to the second round.