Tag: The New Sound

My Dream ‘Rona Rock’ Song — Taylor Swift Singing ‘Would I Lie To You?’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have written about this before and, really, for me to keep talking about it, I’m being both “delusional and stupid.” But can you imagine if Taylor Swift did a quickie cover of the Eurythmics “Would I Lie To You?”

Here’s what you do — get Taylor Swift to fucking break something. Get her glammed up and tricked out as a rocker. She gets to scream at the top of her lungs about something very relevant in the Trump Era — lies. Remember, this song’s key is female empowerment. Imagine if it was Annie Clark on lead guitar. She as very distinctive style, so that, in itself, would update this 80s hit.

I love this song. And, really, come to think of it, if you were going to get all “girl supergroup” on us, instead of a trio of R&B backing vocals, you get Billie Eilish to lend her deep, husky sound to the song. So, you’d have Taylor Swift on vocals, St. Vincent on guitar, Billie Eilish as a backup vocalist and, say, Meg White on drums.

That would rock!

The Vision Thing: The ‘New Sound’ Of ‘Rona Rock’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m not a music producer — ha! But I do have an ear for music. It’s easy for me to see connections between sounds and genres. So, if I was in charge of making the “new sound” of Rona Rock, here’s what I would do. I’ve talked about this before, but I’m coming at it from a different angle.

First, start with this song.

Then you spend a few hours studying this song and figuring out what made it a hit. Was it the lyrics? The wall of sound? The moment? What?

Your “in” to modern audiences is the following song. This is a very modern song that if you used as a frame of reference the average person might bob their head to it. Or, put another way, this song gives you the chassis for a monster hit. Remember, the point is that Rona Rock would be pop-rock. It would be popular music that had a beat and you can dance to it. (With a rock guitar and drums.)

Remember, St. Vincent really throws down with her guitar abilities. So, if I was constructing some sort of “Rona Rock” super girl group, she would need to be in it just for the guitar solos, if nothing else. The next step is to find an Adult Contemporary song that people might reference in their minds a they hear the “new sound” of Rona Rock.

I think the song “Don’t Call Me Angel” is just the song you need to pull this off. Notice, while this song is still “Adult Contemporary” it does have a really strong hook and it’s soooo close to being a rock song: all it needs is a guitar and drums. I guess the point is — it’s faster and definitely easy to dance to. I just want something with a bit more edge than we’re used to with the shit that is in Top 40 these days.

Having said all that, here’s the song I want some genius music producer to update and turn into a Top 40 hit.

An Observation About The Proto-‘Rona Rock’ Song ‘Midnight Sky’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I think I may have figured out what it is about Miley Cyrus’ song “Midnight Sky” that makes me think about it so much. Listen to this first:

Then, if you drain the song of the weight of its Adult Contemporary market-required influence, speed it up and make it more obviously rock, you get:

There’s definitely a similar vibe there. So I can go back to hating modern music. I wish someone would do something with the notion of “Rona Rock,” thought. It’s pretty cool.

Constructing The ‘New Sound’ Of Rona Rock


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Absolutely no one listens to me. But I do have an ear for music — and an obsessive personality — so I’m going to rant about this for a little bit until I get this out of my system.

Ok, so, here we are. We have suffered through about 15 years of Modern Adult Contemporary as absolutely dominating pop music. Rock music is dead. It’s relegated to a small corner of the musical world. No longer is rock pop music and pop music, rock. But we are overdue for a change.

We’re overdue for a “New Sound.”

Here’s how I would construct it.

First, you think up a way to make this type of song by The Talking Heads sound more modern.

Then, there are three songs on U2’s Achtung Baby to use as a frame of reference.

These songs are pretty much juiced up Adult Contemporary songs. They’re songs that kind of oldies (ugh) but still modern enough that they fit the conventions of modern music. Next, you throw in the Butch Vig sound that can be found in this song.

And then here’s the crucial aspect of this New Sound. What what I just let you listen to in your mind, draw out what is obviously a “New Sound” in this song to make an entire genre — Rona Rock.

I know that this “New Sound” I’m hearing is simply a producer referencing mid-80s rock. Ok, I get it. But the song does sound very modern to my ears. It’s like I hear something different. I hear potential. Go that way! I wouldn’t mind top 40 music sounding like warmed over Talking Heads. That would be pretty cool, in fact.

And, remember, if the history of pop music is any indication, once you get a New Sound, that changes the dynamic of things so much that some interesting things could happen, like, say….rock n roll? Maybe Rona Rock would be actual rock before it was all over with.

But that’s being delusional.

At best, we we’ll probably just simply Adult Contemporary with a little bit of mid-80s influence.

‘Rona Rock’ — The New Sound


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We’re overdue for a “new sound” in pop music. The history of pop right now goes something like this:

1955 – 1959 “American Pop Rock”
1959-1963 “Waiting”
1964 – 1970 “The British Invasion”
1970-1979 “Punk, Prog and Disco”
1980 – 1983 “New Wave”
1984 – 1989 “Big Hair & Rock”
1989-2000 “Grunge & Britpop”
2001-2008 “Dance Pop Rock”
2008-Now “Adult Contemporary”

The above is not exactly perfect, but it gives you a rough back-of-the-envelope assessment of things. As you can tell, we’re overdue for a new era in pop rock. In short, we need a New Sound.

The thing is, I can hear faint element of a New Sound in this song by, of all people, Miley Cyrus. The production gives the song just a tinge of mid-80s pop rock to it. And, yet, it sounds rather modern.

I find a similar proto-New Sound in some of the more recent stuff done by Dua Lipa. In a sea of Adult Contemporary crap, anything that sounds different is noteworthy.

But there’s something missing. It needs a bit more rock to it to qualify as a “good” song to my old fart ears. All you would need to do is add a bit of THIS song.

I guess what I’m saying is, I would add a strong rock guitar and drums to this New Sound. It wouldn’t really have to be all that much, just enough for people who grew up on pop rock to sit up and take notice. I even know the producer who could do it — Butch Vig.

If he could somehow manage to rustle up a super girl group, then, well, that would rock. Or, put another way, if pop music is ever-so-subtly drifting towards a New Sound, why not give it a push and bring back the rock sensibilities of guitar and drums?