Rock And Roll History: the 2000's!

[Steve M.]

And now we turn to. . .

2000!

The grunge revolt of the nineties had changed the pop landscape for good. In 1990, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, Paula Abdul, Tommy Page, and pop rappers like M.C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice were going strong. By 2000, Billy Joel had retired to compose classical music, Phil Collins had been forgotten, Paula Abdul was a hasbeen, Tommy Page was the answer to a trivia question ("What one-hit wonder from 1991 came from the same town as G. Gordon Liddy, Samuel Alito, and the composer of this post?"), M.C. Hammer had disappeared from the face of the planet, and Vanilla Ice was in cold storage (as seen in the first Austin Powers movie ).

The grunge revolt may have changed popular music, but rock and roll was not the beneficiary of these changes. A whole new crop of popsters emerged to make life miserable for us, and hip-hop, thanks to Russell Simmons, was dominating the FM airwaves and possibly consigning rock to the dustbin of history.

It seemed we were going back to the early nineties, only without the Arsenio Hall show. What was next, George Bush's namesake son succeeding Bill Clinton in the White House?

[Steve M.]

One person who was not standing tall at the turn of the millennium, surprisingly, was Ricky Martin. In 1999, he was hailed as a Latin Elvis and the twenty-first century's first major pop star. But by 2000, it was all over - possibly beause girls realized that solo artist Ricky Martin was the same Ricky Martin who sang in Menudo in the 1980's.

Ricky Martin released his second English-language album, Sound Loaded, in 2000. It was not exactly the big success his previous LP had been. It soon became apparent that was not the next Elvis, but that he was in fact the new Fabian. Like we needed another one of those.

[Steve M.]

One of the biggest stars of 2000 had, in fact, died 26 years earlier, depicting the inability of the twentieth century's final year (2000 was that because there was no year zero) to produce a performer of comparable quality.

Singer-songwriter Nick Drake had released only three albums between 1969 and his death in 1974. Though praised by critics for his introspective, intense lyricism, Drake never had a large audience while he was alive, and he hated playing concerts as well. After he died, his albums gradually went out of print due to lack of interest.

Then, in 2000, Volkswagen used Drake's song "Pink Moon" in one of its ads. Volkswagen, then enjoying a comeback among young people in the auto market, received numerous inquiries about the title and artist of the song they were using.

As fate would have it, Island Records re-released Nick Drake's three albums that year on CD, with all of the artwork restored - plus lyric sheets. A new generation of fans discovered the work of a forgotten artist in the process.

Pink Moon was originally released in 1972.


Pink Moon - Nick Drake

(Drake)

I saw it written and I saw it say,
Pink moon is on its way.
And none of you stand so tall
Pink moon gonna get you all.
It's a pink moon,
Yeah, it's a pink moon.
Pink, pink, pink, pink,
Pink moon.

I saw it written and I saw it say,
Pink moon is on its way
And none of you stand so tall
Pink moon gonna get you all.
It's a pink moon.

[Steve M.]

Drake's first album, Five Leaves Left, was issued in 1969 by Island Records. Produced by Joe Boyd and featuring Fairport Convention leader Richard Thompson on guitar on a few tracks, it marked a change from the self-aggrandizing in British rock toward a quiter, moodier self-analytic style.

"Time Has Told Me" was a hopeful song, but "Day Is Done" was specifically about death and "Fruit Tree" all but prophesized Drake's fate for being remembered more than known.

Time Has Told Me -Nick Drake

Time has told me
You're a rare rare find
A troubled cure
For a troubled mind.

And time has told me
Not to ask for more
Someday our ocean
Will find its shore.

So i`ll leave the ways that are making me be
What i really don't want to be
Leave the ways that are making me love
What i really don't want to love.

Time has told me
You came with the dawn
A soul with no footprint
A rose with no thorn.

Your tears they tell me
There's really no way
Of ending your troubles
With things you can say.

And time will tell you
To stay by my side
To keep on trying
'til there's no more to hide.

So leave the ways that are making you be
What you really don't want to be
Leave the ways that are making you love
What you really don't want to love.

Time has told me
You're a rare rare find
A troubled cure
For a troubled mind.

And time has told me
Not to ask for more
For some day our ocean
Will find its shore.

Day Is Done - Nick Drake

When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done.

When the day is done
Hope so much your race will be all run
Then you find you jumped the gun
Have to go back where you'd begun
When the day is done.

When the night is cold
Some get by but some get old
Just to show life's not made of gold
When the night is cold.

When the bird has flown
Got no-one to call your own
Got no place to call your home
When the bird has flown.

When the game's been fought
You speed the ball across the court
Lost much sooner than you would have thought
Now the game's been fought.

When the party's through
Seems so very sad for you
Didn't do the things you meant to do
Now there's no time to start anew
Now the party's through.

When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done.

Fruit Tree - Nick Drake

Fame is but a fruit tree
So very unsound
It can never flourish
Till its stalk is in the ground
So men of fame
Can never find a way
Till time has flown
Far from their dying day.

Forgotten while you're here
Remembered for a while
A much updated ruin
From a much updated style.

Life is but a memory
Happened long ago
Theatre full of sadness
For a long forgotten show.

Seems so easy
Just to let it go on by
Till you stop and wonder
Why you never wondered why
Safe in a womb of an everlasting night
You find the darkness can give the brightest light.

Safe in your place deep in the earth
That's when they'll know
What you are really worth.

Forgotten while you're here
Remembered for a while
A much updated ruin
From a much updated style.

Fame is but a fruit tree
So very unsound
It can never flourish
Till its stalk is in the ground
So men of fame can never find a way
Till time has flown far from their dying day.

Fruit tree
Fruit tree
No one knows you but the rain and the air
Don't you worry
They'll stand and stare when you're gone.

Fruit tree
Fruit tree
Open your eyes to another year
They will know that you were here
When you are gone.

[Steve M.]

We discussed Drake's 1970 album Bryter Layter briefly in the seventies thread. Let's revisit that album, shall we?

Bryter Layter was an unexpected sophomore effort from Drake after his quiet debut album. Bryter Layter was an ambitious song cycle with more inventive lyrics and more elaborate arrangements. Fairport Convention members Richard Thompson and Dave Mattacks (on drums) made guest appaerances, as did John Cale of the Velvet Underground. The LP drew comparisons to Van Morrison's own second album, 1968's Astral Weeks.

Choice songs from Bryter Layter inculded "Hazey Jane II" (which came before Hazey Jane I"!), At The Chime of a City Clock," and "Northern Sky."

Hazey Jane II - Nick Drake

And what will happen in the morning when the world it gets
so crowded that you can't look out the window in the morning?

And what will happen in the evening in the forest with the weasel
with the teeth that bite so sharp when you're not looking in the evening?

And all the friends that you once knew are left behind they kept you safe
and so secure amongst the books and all the records of your lifetime. . . .

What will happen
In the morning,
When the world it gets so crowded that you can't look out the window
in the morning?

Hey, take a little while to grow your brother's hair
And now, take a little while to make your sister fair.
And now that the family
Is part of a chain
Take off your eyeshade
Start over again.

Now take a little while to find your way in here
Now take a little while to make your story clear.
Now that you're lifting
Your feet from the ground
Weigh up your anchor
And never look round.

Let's sing a song
For Hazey Jane
She's back again in my mind.
If songs were lines
In a conversation
The situation would be fine.

At The Chime Of A City Clock - Nick Drake

A city freeze
Get on your knees
Pray for warmth and green paper.
A city drought
You're down and out
See your trousers don't taper.
Saddle up
Kick your feet
Ride the range of a London street
Travel to a local plane
Turn around and come back again.

And at the chime of the city clock
Put up your road block
Hang on to your crown.
For a stone in a tin can
Is wealth to the city man
Who leaves his armour down.

Stay indoors
Beneath the floors
Talk with neighbours only.
The games you play
Make people say
You're either weird or lonely.
A city star
Won't shine too far
On account of the way you are
And the beads
Around your face
Make you sure to fit back in place.

And at the beat of the city drum
See how your friends come in twos;
Or threes or more.
For the sound of a busy place
Is fine for a pretty face
Who knows what a face is for.

The city clown
Will soon fall down
Without a face to hide in.
And he will lose
If he won't choose
The one he may confide in.
Sonny boy
With smokes for sale
Went to ground with a face so pale
And never heard
About the change
Showed his hand and fell out of range.

In the light of a city square
Find out the face that's fair
Keep it by your side.
When the light of the city falls
You fly to the city walls
Take off with your bride.

But at the chime of a city clock
Put up your road block
Hang on to your crown.
For a stone in a tin can
Is wealth to the city man
Who leaves his armour down.

Northern Sky - Nick Drake

I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you're here
Brighten my northern sky.

I've been a long time that I'm waiting
Been a long that I'm blown
I've been a long time that I've wandered
Through the people I have known
Oh, if you would and you could
Straighten my new mind's eye.

Would you love me for my money
Would you love me for my head
Would you love me through the winter
Would you love me 'til I'm dead
Oh, if you would and you could
Come blow your horn on high.

I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you're here
Brighten my northern sky.

(All songs are by Nick Drake.)

[Brian Damage]

Why are you the only one posting in this thread? lol

[Steve M.]

Among of Nick Drake's new generation of fans was, of all people, actor Brad Pitt. Pitt was quickly becoming Hollywood's golden boy, the man men wanted to be like and women wanted to be with. He was the equivalent of the big man on campus. Nick Drake was nothng like that; he was the equivalent of the poetry geek that got picked on by the jocks and rejected for dates by the girls. And yet Brad Pitt could relate to Drake's work. It was a testament both to Pitt's all-around good-guy personality and the ability of Drake's songs to tap into something deep in the feelings of listeners that at long last gave his work the respect it deserved.

Pink Moon, acclaimed for its stellar sound and naked feel, featured several arresting songs, but this one - "Things Behind The Sun" - might have been his masterpiece.

Things Behind The Sun - Nick Drake

(Drake)

Please beware of them that stare
They'll only smile to see you while
Your time away
And once you've seen what they have been
To win the earth just won't seem worth
Your night or your day
Who'll hear what I say.
Look around you find the ground
Is not so far from where you are
But not too wise
For down below they never grow
They're always tired and charms are hired
From out of their eyes
Never surprise.

Take your time and you'll be fine
And say a prayer for people there
Who live on the floor
And if you see what's meant to be
Don't name the day or try to say
It happened before.

Don't be shy you learn to fly
And see the sun when day is done
If only you see
Just what you are beneath a star
That came to stay one rainy day
In autumn for free
Yes, be what you'll be.
Please beware of them that stare
They'll only smile to see you while
Your time away
And once you've seen what they have been
To win the earth just won't seem worth
Your night or your day
Who'll hear what I say.

Open up the broken cup
Let goodly sin and sunshine in
Yes that's today.
And open wide the hymns you hide
You find reknown while people frown
At things that you say
But say what you'll say
About the farmers and the fun
And the things behind the sun
And the people round your head
Who say everything's been said
And the movement in your brain
Sends you out into the rain.

(The publicity-shy Nick Drake, below, fooling around with a camera.)

[Steve M.]

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

Why are you the only one posting in this thread? lol

I started it so the Cap'n could just join in when he's ready.

[Nighthawk76]

Steve and Cap'n, you guys have written some pretty good reviews. However, I am slightly disappointed in the albums you both choose. What makes you decide which albums get reviewed and which ones do not? Like for example, Cap'n did a review of Rush's Grace Under Pressure, but never did ones for Power Windows and Roll The Bones. Also, I don't think either one of you have done a Van Halen album or a Bruce Springsteen album (not even Born In The USA).

[ABlairican Pie]

Originally Posted by Steve M.

I started it so the Cap'n could just join in when he's ready.

WOW!!!! I was all about to start the 2000's thread, but you beat me to the punch!!! It's cool that I inspired someone else to do it!!!

[ABlairican Pie]

Originally Posted by Blair's Number #1 Fan

Steve and Cap'n, you guys have written some pretty good reviews. However, I am slightly disappointed in the albums you both choose. What makes you decide which albums get reviewed and which ones do not? Like for example, Cap'n did a review of Rush's Grace Under Pressure, but never did ones for Power Windows and Roll The Bones. Also, I don't think either one of you have done a Van Halen album or a Bruce Springsteen album (not even Born In The USA).

Actually, I did cover Power Windows in my 80's thread, but the last segment of the 90's Part 2 thread was a "Stuff We Missed" section of bands or other information and trivia not covered previously. After a while, I started focusing on band videos and other things, but I SHOULD put in "The Big Money" from Power Windows, or even better yet, a little something from Rush I forgot to put in for the year 1990....

[Steve M.]

DIdn't someone do Born In The USA? I know I covered Darkness On the Edge of Town.

[ABlairican Pie]

Originally Posted by Steve M.

DIdn't someone do Born In The USA? I know I covered Darkness On the Edge of Town.

I'm sure I did Born In the U.S.A. That was in the 80's thread about several eons ago.

[ABlairican Pie]

Well, now we finally made it to the year:

Y2K!!!!!

or: Year 2 thousand; K=kilo (thousand)

and it was an interesting year to start off a new decade, new century, and new millenium!! Many fears about the "Y2K Bug" affecting computers were averted when technicians worked overtime to make sure that the machines did not revert back to thinking "1900" now that calendars had reached a new set of digits. New Year's celebrations all over the world continued on without incident, as people woke up relieved things were all in one piece.

As far as music was concerned, let us proceed to an album that seemed to capture the shaky mood of the times....

[ABlairican Pie]

One long-awaited album was the release of Iron Maiden's Brave New World, their first since the return of vocalist Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith. The band had now become a six-piece, with not two but three guitarists, veteran member Dave Murray, returning member Adrian, and Janick Gers, who had served during the interim in Smith's absence. Things had worked out so well with Gers that the band kept him on as well. He was so well-liked, a peacemaker to the band, and a decent guitarist as well. The band decided to find a place for all three guitarists to work together in the studio and on tour.

The new album featured such successful tracks as "Wicker Man", based on the movie of the same name starring horror actor Christopher Lee, "The Ghost Of the Navigator", "Out Of the Silent Planet", "Blood Brothers", and the title track. Fans hearing "Wicker Man" for the first time were amazed and ecstatic: The Maiden was back. It was like Bruce had never left, and the warm vibe between band members since reuniting helped the quality of the music. The album was a venture into more progressive metal territory, with literary and cinematic themes abounding throughout the collection of songs and more elaborate compositions. Fans braced themselved for the major world tour that was about to follow.

The album cover for the new disk was the last created by long-time illustrator
Derek Riggs, who had designed the Eddies on all the album covers since the early days. He left over disagreements with the band over creative direction, and now it was time to new artists for their famed macabre mascot. The album cover fit in so well with the theme of the new year 2000: a dazzling world of the future, having progressed to astounding heights of technology, and yet a fearsome, sinister presence loomed over them.

The Wicker Man

Hand of fate is moving and the finger points to you
He knocks you to your feet and so what are you gonna do
Your tongue has frozen now you've got something to say
The piper at the gates of dawn is calling you his way

You watch the world exploding every single night
Dancing in the sun a newborn in the light
Say goodbye to gravity and say goodbye to death
Hello to eternity and live for every breath

Your time will come, your time will come
Your time will come, your time will come

The ferryman wants his money you ain't going to give it back
He can push his own boat as you set up off the track
Nothing you can contemplate will ever be the same
Every second is a new spark, sets the universe aflame

You watch the world exploding every single night
Dancing in the sun a newborn in the light
Brothers and their fathers joining hands and make a chain
The shadow of the Wicker Man is rising up again

Your time will come, your time will come
Your time will come, your time will come

Your time will come, your time will come
Your time will come, your time will come
Your time will come, your time will come
Your time will come, your time will come