SINGLES GOING STEADY: "BROWNSVILLE GIRL" BY BOB DYLAN

Despite all the die-hard fans Bob Dylan had accumulated with such classics as "Blowin' In The Wind," "Like A Rolling Stone," "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Tangled Up In Blue," this Minnesotan dreamer turned Greenwich Village troubador had pretty much fallen off the radar in the mid 1980s.  By 1986, Dylan seemed to be coasting on albums that, with some exception, were mediocre at best.  It must have been frustrating for fans who watched as Paul Simon released his landmark album, Graceland, which became one of the biggest selling albums of the 1980s (and of all time.)  Simon was still making great music at 45.  Why wasn't Bob Dylan?

The thing is, Dylan was releasing some great music in the 1980s, but much of the public wasn't paying any attention.  When the artist's 24th studio album Knocked Out Loaded was released in 1986, most fans were disappointed in every album following 1976's Desire.  So, it was no longer a really big deal when news broke that Bob Dylan had a new album coming out.  It's not like it was going to be any good.

Knocked Out Loaded was not a strong album, it didn't break new sonic ground like Graceland and its sales were pretty weak.  It did, however, feature a couple of decent songs and one great one.  The latter was an 11 minute epic written with playwright Sam Shepard called "Brownsville Girl."  The song was on par with most other Dylan epics and was even better than a couple classics (See "Joey" on the album Desire.)  

Village Voice "Consumer Guide" rock critic, Robert Christgau, actually hits the nail right on the head.

• "One of the greatest and most ridiculous of Dylan's great ridiculous epics.  Doesn't matter who came up with such lines as 'She said even the swap meets around here are getting pretty corrupt' and 'I didn't know whether to duck or run, so I ran' — they're classic Dylan."

So, let's have a listen:

"Brownsville Girl" by Bob Dylan

SINGLES GOING STEADY: "SOMETHING IN THE AIR" BY THUNDERCLAP NEWMAN

Thunderclap Newman

Thunderclap Newman was the ultimate one-hit wonder band.  Their lone hit "Something In The Air" has been in countless commercials, movies and TV shows,  It's for a good reason, too.  Why? Because the song is really, really, really good.  

Formed in 1968, the band consisted of three members: vocalist, guitarist and drummer John "Speedy" Keen,  pianist Andy "Thunderclap" Newman and guitarist Jimmy McCullough.  

Although he isn't pictured, you could say the band had one other member.  He was a gifted singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer who played in a very successful band.  Who was he? Get this...

Pete Townshend of The Who

...Crazy, right?

Pete Townshend not only assembled Thunderclap Newman, he produced them and played bass on all their singles.  Townshend had met singer John "Speedy" Keen during the sessions for one of The Who's best albums The Who Sell Out.  Keen had written the opening song "Armenia In The Sky"—one of only a few Who songs NOT written by Pete Townshend, by the way.  

So, Pete decided he wanted to work on some other projects between albums for The Who.  He brought Speedy to his home studio to record the song "Something In The Air."  He also brought Thunderclap and Jimmy (who was only 15) for completely unrelated projects.  You could say he was trying to start another career as a marathon producer.

Thunderclap Newman wasn't intended to be a band, but a band it became.  Pete had a lot of work ahead of him for what would become the album Tommy, so he decided to scrap the other projects and just focus on "Something In The Air" using Thunderclap and Jimmy for additional backing.

The only person who expected the song to be huge was probably Pete Townshend.  He had such good taste and was such a genius that he had to have known "Something In The Air" was a really special piece of music that had the power to move people.  It really is.  The song hit number one in 1969.  

The band released an LP's worth of tunes and several other singles, but nothing reached the impact of "Something In The Air."  The band broke up in 1971 but partially resurfaced in 2007.  Today the song still sounds incredibly fresh.  

Here's my favorite version of the song which appeared on a reissue of the soundtrack to the film Easy Rider. 

Something In The Air by Thunderclap Newman

A BIT ON DATED MUSIC, HOW TO AVOID IT, AND THE 2012 HIT I PREDICT WILL SOUND DATED BY 2023

A song's potential to become dated is an interesting conversation to have.  To be clear, "datedness" doesn't reflect, in any way, how good or bad a song is.  After all, the skeleton of a song lies in its melody and lyrics— attributes which have nothing to do with whether a song becomes dated or not.  How could they?  Those things have been in music forever!

So what determines a song's datedness?

Datedness is determined by either the song's instrumentation or how the instrumentation is placed within the song's overall mix.  Here's an example of a great song which sounds totally dated because the use and tone of its synthesizers doesn't hold up today. 

"I'm On Fire" by Bruce Springsteen

Here's an example of a good song that sounds dated because the drums are so loud in the mix.

"Behind The Sun" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

And here's an example of a good song that sounds dated because of a chorus effect on the rhythm guitar—an effect that really isn't used on guitars in mainstream music anymore.

"Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses

Some of the above songs have dated elements which I wish weren't considered dated today.  Others have dated elements which make me glad they are never coming back.  So the logical question becomes this: why did these dated elements make it into the song in the first place?  The simple answer is because it seemed like a "fresh idea" at the time.

But a funny thing happens over time.  It keeps on moving.  And moving.  And moving.  And something happens to the "fresh idea" in the process. Like all things fresh, it  spoils until it eventually rots!   So, shit.  How do you avoid sounding dated then? 

Your last song became dated because the sound was fresh like bubblegum.  

The bubblegum that this girl is chewing won't be good in 10 years. Just like her bubblegum, the "cool" within your dated song's production also has an expiration date.  

What a production actually needs is something that stays fresh like honey.

It's sweet like bubblegum—that's good.  But the difference is that honey has no expiration date.  HONEY IS TIMELESS!  It will be just as good good 30 years from now as it will be today.

So let's look at a song whose production is timeless like honey.  

"Kodachrome" by Paul Simon

The drums sit nicely in the mix.  The bass isn't filled with fuzz.  The vocals have a little compression and not too much reverb.  There's acoustic pianos and the electric pianos that are there aren't effected with phasers or other artificial-sounding sounds.  There's little to no delay on the guitars.  Everything is just sort of straight.  In other words, this 1973 song could be released today.  It's fresh like honey, baby!!

This means the key to making a song fresh is to not get overly fancy with your production.  A great song will sell itself with the wonderful music and inspiring lyrics you've created.  

It's my opinion that in the last 15 years or so, we've done a good job of making mainstream music that has a low risk of sounding dated in the future.  

I just don't hear anything in these songs that could make them sound dated in another 10 years.  We'll see if my opinion changes in 2023.

However, I have heard one hit song this year that just SCREAMS "dated potential"  whenever I hear it.

"Too Close" By Alex Clare

It really is a shame, because Alex Clare's international smash "Too Close" really isn't a bad song.  It has an instantly singable hook  and Clare has a strong and soulful voice which is needed to really sell a song like this.  Without a doubt, there is something good here.  There's also something which I think will make it sound incredibly dated 10 years from now  You probably know what I'm talking about.  It's the wobble-wobble of that dubstep which is holding the rhythm in the chorus.  Granted, I'm not a huge fan of dubstep.  But even if you love the genre, you have to recognize that, like disco, it's not going to be popular forever.  It's fresh like bubblegum, not like honey.  

Even Deadmau5 agrees with me.

"It's a conduit now for previously mainstream pop acts to use. I've only made one dubstep track and I will admit I only did it because it was cool at the time." 

Thank you, Mr. Mau5.  Now, what do you think?