University of South Carolina Libraries
If moderr who s bu\y By Lehman Stiles cs Assistant Entertainment Editor In a mere three weeks the Bee pr Gees' new album, Spirits Having ar Flown, has climbed ("coasted" th might be a better word) to the top e\ of Billboard's Top 200 Albums list. pc This is not a review of that ro monster, but merely a list of at reflections on the implications of m such a hugely successful group. The Bee Gees rose from the ashes I of their 1960s popularity hand-in- he hand with the rise of disco, scoring de mis wim songs luce "iMgnis un ai Broadway" and "Jive Talkin' " before taking over the disco re kingdom with Saturday Night pc Fever. m Their latest single, "Tragedy," Tj will obviously be around until at yc least spring. That is the true in- fo dication of a song's popularity: not pi how many copies it sells, but how long it plays on the radio. One still cr hears "How Deep is Your Love," m which was first released in the fall R< of 1977, with some regularity. Ai So much for basic facts. The dr question is: what about Americans hi and American popular music has m made all of this possible? bi Popular music has always been th the ugly stepsister of the music th world. From its beginnings in this m countrv in the alle&edlv sinful th genres of ragtime and jazz, it has existed not so much for its own di sake as for the sake of something cc else. Only a very few groups who Si have been really popular have fo been seriously listened to. Most ca popular music serves as the ve background for other activity. Ni In its origins, popular music Di served as a symbol of rebellion for D; American youth (sound S< familiar?). A certain Reverend th Francis Beckman wrote: "A rc degenerated and demoralizing th musical system is given a ci disgusting christening as 'swing' II and turned loose to gnaw away the ai moral fiber of young people . . . Jam sessions, jitterbugs and m NEW SHil hlfSM ALL WEA1 El? by Wi 114 FABIAI NUBs. R Is* , fwiLDli II STAT _ QUTPQQR 11 OS Lady St. (f Moe Uvyi POV l music is so h 'ing all the albi innibalistic rhythmic orgies are symbol of its r< Doing our youth along the turn on the r, imrose path to Hell!' The working, dr nazing thing about this tirade is Dlavine. restir at it sounds like two things: seldom turn it c 'ery critic's invective against to the music, tpular music (including rock and reasurring ba >11) ever written, and current lives ? a soun tacks on disco and its associated private dramas usical endeavors. We depend o Rock and roll purists hate disco, tell us where hate disco, occasionally; then I and where we iar a song like "Tragedy" and Sometimes botl jcide it's not so bad after all. For accused of beir 1 my trying, I can't dislike this, or provid rragedy": it is too perfect in its limited of socia presentation of everything that but we are the < >pular music has become. No on. We are also atter how much you like the the records, liking Heads and Elvis Costello. >u have to admire the Bee Gees No matter h r knowing exactly what their what has happe iblic wants and giving it to them. promise of the No matter how loudly the rock has happened, j itics scream against popular what it tells us usic, the albums keep selling, potential for b ock and roll's position in powerful art rnerican music has changed socially sign astically in the last decade. It propriately Y is become THE American music has alw< usic; housewives and executives foremost, an es ly Barry Manilow and Queen and and care; it is t e Doobie Brothers. And I suspect been captured at if the truth were known, a lot groups like the ] ore college students buy them Total escapis an most people think. and fantasy, an Television is as good an in- a rule, but the cation as any of rock's ac- popular music i iptance into American society, reality as ai x years ago, the only show on TV although you r rocK ana roil tans was an oc- Spirits Having isional In Concert and the have to accepl ;nerable American Bandstand, successful in ow we have Midnight Special, task: provid on Kirshner's Rock Concert, denominator fo ance, Soul Train, Juke Box, providing a waj >undstage, and a host of shows and anxieties i at, while not devoted entirely to placating, eve >ck music, incorporate it into familiarity and leir formats: WKKP in Cinnnati, Saturday Night Live, You asked foi appy Days, Makin' It, Brothers id Sisters, and soon. ? But the main bastion of popular [j lusic, and the most obvious nmentsTI rHER PARKAS toirich I Dn^i jir T.xil MM! IV >1 Ull 10 HIKING , DOTS 1 IS SIZES I SHOES MESsf ION ~ fj GEAR vfaxf Door to VNTOWN) I?? feilijs|v.4 r,~ v4'1-'zf':"lH-j^^" B "" .g dictatorial about H ling only the most 1 roles and customs, mmm ones who turn them 'iMf IHr&H OfOI the ones who buy IVUIUrGU riGI j Joan Crawford stars as "I House theatre, shown at 1:< iow much we hate the Cinematic Arts Commlti ned to the glittering ? music of the '60s, it ... * ^ diiu we mubi accept r^~ . Music has a great eing an incredibly form, for being f T'J and apligh-minded. But /^B'i! j ays been, first and cape from troubles his quality that has so thoroughly by Bee Gees. I m leads to isolation * id it is unhealthy as A ^ 1 iscapism offered by H /JMH?7 ft s as much a part of ^ ' ly thing else. So, still may not like ^ Gourmef. Flown, you almost : it as imminently Happy Hour 4:30-7: accomplishing its Gourmet Sandwiches Ser\ ing a common Great Drinks ? Nightly r American life and Open Mon. - Fri. 12 - 2 i r out of the neuroses Happy Hour Tuesdi 3f the 1970s into a Open 11 a.m. fo rpresent world of Disco open a surety. Dinner served it ? you got it. Ideas and Issues Cor presents 'dOEl A hit man for the Mafia secret world of organi fun., March 6,197 Carolina Colii Have you ever wondered: How the honest citizen contri! dollar smuggling and hijackin How the numbers racket is se pennies into millions? Just how a Mafia hit is arranc Joey answers i ffUBaHnna IHflB ce' in Russell House Wlldred Pierce" In today's movie at the Russell 30, 4 and 7 p.m. Admission to the film, part of tee's Classic Film Series, Is 75 cents. ?? =T)*joR i Thursday s Delight CAM ROSIN oo Mon. - Sat. Fridav /edTill 12Midnight _ _ * / Entertainment DAVID im sat n 12 HUNTINGTON ly 12 - 2 a.m. r Lunch Saturday ut:S0. Al ? , ? ROB CROSBY I nightly 6-12 GROUP I nmittee r i reveals the ij ized crime. s B:00 p.m. Hum Dutes to a billion g industry? >t up to transform j }ed and executed? mmmm?warn c thviv jy] a 5 mart. Ill L?. L . I? russe* house 3