my power pop addiction, no. 87 (159)

If you lived in LA and tuned into FM radio on any given day in the mid 70s, chances are you'd be treated to Steely Dan, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Fleetwood Mac... There's a lot to admire about this milieu, and I appreciate how deeply imprinted these artists are on the psyche of this city, but the truth is that they collectively constituted the rear guard of pop. The advanced guard was happening at KROQ-FM, an oasis in the hescher desert, and the Pop is one of the great if little known bands the station played while Hotel California and Aja chimed incessantly from the more mainstream stations. The Pop's music is fueled by a very different spirit and a different way of experiencing Los Angeles, one that's more youthful, more energetic, and not so drearily burned out. Don't get me wrong though. There's definitely room in my life for some good LA-style post-60s malaise. Nothing wrong with a little navel gazing and self-involvement. But a lot of those titans of the FM dial just sound so heavy to me these days, not in the sense of the music being hard and loud, but more in the sense of the music having a vibe I can only describe as dispirited, traumatized and fatigued. By comparison, Down on the Boulevard sounds as if it comes from a completely different world, one that's punchy and crackling with creative excitement. The band sounds like they're having fun, as trite as that may be to say. I'm a huge fan of Jackson Browne, but let's be honest, he rarely sounds like he's having a very good time. He's too haunted by the death of the hippie dream to think about injecting pleasure back into the process of making music. Sometimes I hear his stuff and I wish he'd just snap out of it already. Yeah, it's a bummer that it all didn't work out the way you and your cohorts might have hoped, but it's over now, it's not coming back, and you're filthy rich to boot, so quit whining and let's get back to the serious business of fresh faced music, tight and concise, endlessly melodic, and fully given over to the hooky goodness of the pop life...