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20/20, power pop and "Yellow Pills"
I guess you had to be there. It is an interesting phenomenon and one you are probably familiar with. A friend or acquaintance is trying to convey to you their love for a certain song, a certain band, a certain album (as collections of recorded music were called before the CD and way before the mp3) but you are just not getting it. Perhaps they have a sample and are playing it for you (or, depending on how you feel about it, force-feeding it to you). But your fire refuses to light. Your balloon doesn’t inflate. Your skirt doesn’t blow up. For instance, I have a friend who really loves a record by a very obscure rock group. Swears it is the best thing ever. Plays it for me. Hmm. Okay. I am polite but really I am not enthusiastic–I want to be, of course. I want to share the magic of this glowing yet hidden gem. But the lustre ain’t there, pal. It is like when you have a dream that is sooo deep and sooo real–like a 3-D movie in 5.1 surround sound plus the added bonus of sensation and emotion. But you try to explain it to someone else and that quality just cannot be adequately translated. I have been on both sides of this scenario, so I know the frustration I have felt in trying to give someone what I feel is a true gift but it’s like speaking Hebrew to the Spanish teacher. Like giving roses to a cat. Like trying to reason with the federal government. I have come to realize that it is a matter of “a time and a place.” They were there in that time place and I was not. We all have our own times and places. That is the missing piece, the spark that would light the fire, the breeze that would rouse the skirt hem. They listened to that unremarkable pop band when they were 15 years old and got into a rock club for the first time, when they were young and innocent and irresponsible and without obligations, like we all were at one time in our lives. That record was their soundtrack (or my soundtrack or yours) and it permeated that time and place and is an inextricable part of it or vice-versa. We are lucky as beings in the way we are constructed to have this faculty of being able to associate the time and the place and how we felt with objects, music, people. And of course, because most of us want to help, we feel a desire to share these things that enriched our lives. 20/20 was a "power pop" band from Los Angeles, CA (started by two fellas that relocated from Tulsa, Oklahoma in the mid-70s). They had pretty deep roots in Buddy Holly, the early Beatles and that kind of innocent rock and roll (before it became “rock”). They also had a side that was future-facing, but not in a hopeful way. More a feeling of alienation in the Brave New World. But 20/20 rocked (oh, here I go). They made two albums for a major label but never really got broad national exposure. They were mostly a West Coast phenomenon, based on a regional hit, “Yellow Pills” in 1979. To this day, I am not really sure if this song is about drugs. All I know is that, to me, it is a shining, glorious, propulsive, invigorating, infectious (had enough adjectives yet?) celebration of youth. Other 20/20 song titles, to perhaps give you an idea of their viewpoint: “Jet Lag,” “Leaving This World Behind,” “Beat City,” “Alien,” “Mobile Unit 245,” “Out of This Time,” “Tonight We Fly” and “Nuclear Boy.” Their first two albums (for you younger readers, "albums" is what music used to come in, before CDs and downloads. Albums were 12 inches and made of vinyl) "20/20" and “Look Out” were re-released as one CD a few years back by Oglio Records (http://www.oglio.com/webs/pages/home.shtml) but it is currently out of stock. I see it for sale on e-Bay all the time though, so check it out if you're curious. Meanwhile I am still at work on my first CD, tentatively titled “Starters” and have finished recording about half of the songs. Stick around. I swear I will get it done before we are all on Social Security. Thanks for reading. Sincerely, Steven Neal Wagner |
Oglio Records homepage
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