I was corresponding with a colleague about the fact that I was reading a new oral history of &ls
I was corresponding with a colleague about the fact that I was reading a new oral history of ‘80s hard rock, and he wrote, “I felt like I was marching behind R.E.M. and U2 and a thousand more, in a parallel opposition to metal, which felt like it was not ideologically valid.”If it seems odd to think about Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, and Guns N’ Roses in terms of ideology…that’s precisely, I realized, the point. Art college rockers R.E.M., Christian rockers U2, conceptual rockers Devo, and even New Romantic rockers like Culture Club had ideologies; punk rockers like the Clash and the Sex Pistols, whose energy informed all those artists, had very explicit ideologies. The hard rockers of the '80s were just looking for…well, the apt title of that new oral history is Nöthin’ But a Good Time.I reviewed Nöthin’ But a Good Time for The Current. -- source link