Blood: Bloodbuzz, Ohio

Purchase: The National, High Violet

This month, I was going to write about Pearl Jam’s Blood, but then I had to remind myself: this isn’t a blog about my personal favorites. Modern music is a galaxy without limits, and studying it is like attending an endless history class (and a scientific and sociological and anthropological class, too.) One of the great things about researching for these entries are the discoveries I make looking for appropriate tunes to fit our theme. Some tunes I know, but I get the chance to discover a little more. Like, did you know Bon Scott was a bagpipe player (AC/DC’s  If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)? Or that Ryan Adams' Bad Blood is way better than Taylor Swift’s? Well, that’s probably not something I needed to research to know…

One of the most interesting thing that I’ve come across is a write up about a song I knew well, yet obviously hadn’t listened to as closely as I should. Rolling Stone’s Rob Sheffield makes the case that The National’s Bloodbuzz, Ohio, from 2010’s High Violet, is a literal and exact copy of INXS’ brilliant and timeless Don’t Change. Listen to Bloodbuzz right now—you won’t be able to unhear it…But, you can’t really blame The National, or take points off their paper for plagiarism. Sheffield quotes the dearly departed Michael Hutchence as saying: “ ‘...You couldn't make a bad record copying ‘Don't Change.’”

So, we can forgive The National for working within that nebulous world of inspired by, or in tribute to. When it comes to rock songs sounding too similar to a predecessor, it’s hard to assign blame. I think loving imitations make some of the best work we encounter.  The National do little wrong in their music—moody and smoldering yet driven with an intensity of sulk and smoky atmospherics that is hard to define, even harder to imitate. Accusing them of plagiarism comes across as jealousy more than anything else. But, wait: their lead single of 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me was titled Sea Of Love. To the Principal’s office!  The parentage of a rock song is a nebulous thing. Pete Townshend, one of our founding fathers, once said he’d never really written anything original. Rather, he just took songs he liked, reworked them until he had something new, and that was that. I think there’s a lot of wisdom there. The paternal song in this equation—INXS’—is as pop-perfect as it gets, with the driving guitar line and the warp-speed keys. When you listen to The National’s Bloodbuzz, those same ethereal elements are there—just as they are in song after song we end up loving.  The pedigree of a rock song is always going to spring from opaque origins. The similarities shouldn’t surprise us: the originality of turning an old phrase into a new one should, and usually does. Which is why, if you are a proper student of rock and roll, you’ve got more favorite songs and albums than makes sense.

Professor of rockology Tom Petty has the final say on plagiarism in rock, in response to the accusation that The Red Hot Chili Peppers ripped off Mary Jane’s Last Dance when they recorded Dani California : “I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of rock ‘n’ roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry. The Strokes took ‘American Girl’ [for their song ‘Last Nite’], and I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, ‘OK, good for you’ … If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe [I’d sue]. But I don’t believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous law suits in this country without people fighting over pop songs.”

Early: The One Thing

INXS: The One Thing

[purchase]

It was 1982. It would be another year before MTV went on the air, another year and a half before we had it on our local cable system. I found new music in those days in a few ways. I listened to our local college radio station. I saw a band I had never heard of on Saturday Night Live. I read about them in Musician magazine, and bought an album on spec. Normally, I did not find new music by channel surfing.

But one night, I was up entirely too late. It must have been at least one in the morning. And channel surfing is just what I was doing. I kept coming across this concert by this band, and they looked different. And I kept passing it by, knowing that the show was Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert, and the music must therefore be crap. But finally, the look drew me in, and I stopped and put the sound on.

The background was entirely black, and the band was entirely in white, and their instruments were white. There was the usual drums, bass, and guitar, and there was one band member seated at a bank of keyboards. The sound of the band was echoey in the manner of a pipe organ in a huge cathedral. Indeed, the overall effect of the guitars, bass, and keyboard was not unlike the awe inspired by a pipe organ, and the baritone vocals only enhanced the effect. The drums pushed the whole thing along beautifully.

The band, of course, was INXS, and the first song I heard was The One Thing. As I recall, there was one more song, Don’t Change, and they were done. Remember, I came in late. After the commercials, another band came on, and they were as lame as I had expected. But the sound of INXS stayed with me, and I made sure I got the album. It was just as good as the two songs I knew.

Of course, INXS went on to be one of the biggest hit makers of the 80s, and I enjoyed their later work. But, after there first album, they never sounded like this again. Did I still like the band? Well, Rock Star: INXS is the only reality show I have ever watched. But the wrong person won, and the band and I parted ways at that point. Their work with original singer Michael Hutchence is still great though.

Hell Week: Devil Inside

INXS: Devil Inside

[purchase]


INXS were a nifty pop tune machine that cranked out easy-on-the-ears hits to a welcoming US radio market that had tired of drawn-out AOR tunes from Rock's dinosaurs. Vocalist Michael Hutchence was a New Wave Jim Morrison and unfortunately, came to a similar end - in 1997, he was found dead in a Sydney hotel room, most likely the result of autoerotic asphyxiation.

Since then, the band has continued on, rotating the vocal spot with Terence Trent D'Arby, Russell Hitchcock and Jimmy Barnes.

In an odd twist, INXS threw their hat into the reality teevee ring with a contest to find a new lead singer. The winner was J.D. Fortune, who recorded and toured with the band in 2006.