Gonna write a Classic...?
Ron, IrishUnsigned
There are a lot of tracks that leave themselves in the category of 'Classics'. It is a term often abused when some Mickey-mouse Boy-Band comes along with another cover version. However, occasionally there are releases that might, in time, become the classics of today. 'Stan' by Eminem is possibly one of them simply for its cleverness and innovation. The only recent band I can think of in terms of classics is, maybe, Nirvana. Pop bands just don't do it. Yes, they sell millions. Yes, they break records. Yes, they become world famous. How many can you say have actually written/released a Classic? Maybe Robbie Williams at a push (but the push would be needed).

In the 60s, 70s and 80s Classics abounded. The mid-70s saw marketing become as important as music with the explosion of Punk. The big boys began to realise that image was important. A couple of years earlier the very first custom-made music video was shot. It was a track by Queen and they could not make it to the Top Of The Pops studio so they made a video to promote Bohemian Rhapsody. Now, there's a classic.

Even non-Queen fans and non-70s fans will appreciate that. It's re-exposure in Wayne?s World (where they were all head-banging in the car to Bohemian Rhapsody?) made it news to many a spotty teenager (and some spotty adults) but there is no doubt whatsoever that it is one of the classics of all time. Tracks such as Stairway To Heaven, Freebird, Whiter Shade Of Pale, American Pie (get the full version), Mrs. Robinson, Bat Out Of Hell, amongst dozens of others, make the classics of the period.

Bohemian Rhapsody goes one better: not only was it a hugely innovative piece of music, it was released in the face of disbelief and distaste from the record company and management team. Heavy Metal, Piano solo, Opera, Harmonising, Guitar solo, hints of Blasphemy, murder and panic - all in one track. Of course, it was a long track, and that was another thing that went against it. At the time there were numerous 'metal' or 'rock' bands knocking out 10-minute guitar solos in the middle and who made the whole genre stagnant. Queen, on the other hand had just hit the charts over the previous year or two. I believe it was ?Killer Queen? and maybe 'Seven Seas Of Rhye' (both less than three minutes long) that preceded Bohemian Rhapsody and this, perhaps, is the most remarkable thing about it.

Bohemian Rhapsody is one of those tracks that leave a little disappointment when it is finished. Like ?Stairway To Heaven? it seems to last forever but it is, in fact, less than six minutes long. This was Queen's second or third release, if memory serves me correctly, and how very different it was. Freddie Mercury, front man of the band, was as odd, different and questionable as the song. It seemed to sum his public persona up to a tee. Mercury was one of the best stage performers ever in the history of rock music ? and I don't mean all this boy-band prancing about in choreographed hotstepping.

Mercury could quite happily have entertained alone. On stage the music simply served to give him a background to do it. Many of you (even those like me who are old enough to know Queen from the first time round) will believe that Freddie was Queen and there was no Queen without him. This detracts from the playing talents of the other members and the writing/guitar talents of Brian May. There would be little point looking for early CD for those of you who have never really heard Queen's material from the early days. Get a copy of Greatest Hits or Greatest Hits Two and actually pay attention to the tracks on them. It might take a while for you to realise that this is what music is supposed to be like - created, moulded, evolved instead of computer-produced and marketing-enhanced - but after you have heard these tracks a few times you will begin to ask where you can get some more from Queen, from the era and from the Genre.

Allow yourself some time to appreciate the tracks. The reason why modern Pop music is so bland is because, like with modern mass-produced cars, they are aiming at the middle ground - instant appeal but not lasting appeal. It?s a throwaway culture and Pop (and a lot more of modern music) is throwaway background music.

How many of today's "Superstars" will be able to produce something new and fresh in five years (let alone continually for nearly 50 years like Paul Simon) or change their image in a manner that encapsulates the idea of continuous musical evolution (like Madonna?). Queen did something different virtually every time they opened their collective mouth. When you do get hold of a copy of Greatest Hits one or two (beg, borrow, steal?) and realise there is real music in the world, carry on.

Get hold of Meatloaf's "Bat Out Of Hell" greatest hits collection (the Sports Commentary in 'Paradise By The Dashboard Light' is one of the most unusual pieces of ?music? ever), Led Zeppelin, Paul Simon (with or without Garfunkel) or even the more 'heavy' hitters like Black Sabbath, early David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust, and countless others. One thing you will notice about this stuff, presuming you could be bothered to ignore the pleadings of Louis Walsh or Sony Inc., is that the talent was there in a way that it hardly ever is any more.

Lyrics, Melody and ideas were the currency of musicians back then, not dance-steps and computer-aided vocal gymnastics. One of the most satisfying things about listening to music from a generation to which you and your peers would not normally look is that it proves you can think for yourself. It proves you are capable of picking the music you want to listen to and are not a simple statistical entry on the demographic playlist software of the major record companies and radio stations.

When I was in secondary school there was a kid who had - like the rest of us - all sorts of band names on his bag, jacket and books. Instead of Madness, Depeche Mode etc, however, the names on his gear were 'Tangerine Dream', 'Yello', 'Zepellin', and so on. We all though he was pretty barmy but, in private, we all reckoned he was pretty cool. Whether he was either is irrelevant - he was an individual and he was thinking for himself. I still remember his name while at the same time I have long since forgotten some of the people who were my 'friends'. He was about as individual as it was possible to get in the days when you were not allowed to have an original thought in your head by the time you finished school.

That sort of anti-establishment mini-rebellion was a big deal back then. It is nice to see that it still exists to a degree - there are plenty of people who would happily never hear a mainstream radio station again in their lives and will, instead, make their own choices and go for the more obscure - but real - music out there.

Ron, www.IrishUnsigned.com

ron@irishunsigned.com

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