MUSIC - OnCampus Triumph of the 'New' By JIM SULLIVAN __ - O- 1f' I.jb The year 1983 will be remembered as the time the rock and roll tide finally turned. Actually, "turned" might be too mild a word for what has happened over the past 18 months. Last year American rock and roll fans embraced a brave new world of pop called New Music, and this commercial and cultural tidal wave crumbled the sea wall of stodgy mainstream rock. A new crop of bands, such as Culture Club, Duran Duran and Men at Work, dominated the sales charts and dance clubs, coming from out of the blue and into the black to create an alternate mainstream. What exactly is New Music and how did it get where it is? For one thing, it's not exactly new. New Music is an outgrowth of the punk and new-wave movements that began in 1976-77 in New York and London as reactions against the tepid, formulaic state of mid-'70s mainstream rock. The New Music of 1983-and no doubt 1984 and beyond-encompasses a wide array of musical styles and philoso- phies. There's new technology at work (pre- eminently synthesizers and drum ma- chines); there's a fascination with the darker, turbulent side of romance; there's a rediscovery of older pop idioms such as rockabilly, Motown soul, Jamaican ska and reggae; there's fertile stylistic cross- pollination, such as the merger of Afri- can rhythms and traditional American pop forms. Danceability is a key element. New Music can also be rebellious, playful, whim- sical or bitter. But even those terms are limiting. At its best, New Music is about creating something fresh, about risk and adventure. It'smusicthatmovesone'sspirit. I n1976and 1977therockandrollplayed by the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and the Clash was harsh, demanding music- forged out of frustration and boredom with rock and roll's flagging spirit of rebellion. That music-first called punk rock, later new wave-took England by storm, revolu- tionizing its pop scene. In America the storm pretty much blew out to sea, ignored by album-oriented rock-radio stations (and thus by most rock fans). The stations were comfortable playing old rock favorites that were unchallenging and bland. Radio deemed punk and new wave as (pick any combination) too aggressive, too artsy, too quirky, too eccentric or too dangerous. The rapid shift toward New Music began in January 1983 during two meetings of radio-station programmers in Florida. Lee Abrams, a rock-radio consultant, recalls the attitude at the meetings: "By 1982 New Music was breaking left and right, with or without air play. We had to react or fade away." Clubs playing New Music'were packed; records were getting onto the charts. And then there was the new and very big kid on the block, MTV, the rock-video cable system. In just two years MTV, which has exposed numerous New Music bands, became a major challenger for the rock audience. Says MTV vice president John Sykes: "We really integrated the most pow- At its best, New Music is about risk and adventure. It's music that moves one's spirit. erful forces in our two decades, TV and rock and roll." It was a giant first step; radio stations were forced to play the songs people had seen and heard on MTV. Last July about 3,000 people met in New York for the fourth annual New Music Seminar. In previous years the predominant question always was, "How can New Music succeed?" Miles Copeland, the keynote speaker, greeted this session's packed ball- room with a broad smile. "We won!" he proclaimed. "The New Music is not the fringe anymore. No one's going around say- ing, 'It ain't gonna happen here'." Some, like Copeland, see New Music's success as a victory, a commercial vindication of the upheaval that punk and new wave forced into rock and roll seven years ago. Others areless certain. "New Music isjust a sophis- ticated marketing tool we all ought to be aware of," says Martin Ware of the English funk-rock band Heaven 17. "What happened to 1976?" asks Lux In- terior, lead singer for the chaotic punk- rockabilly band, the Cramps. "All these bands that were like-'urgh! aargh! there's Helpmi nYou Help Yoursef College placement services offer guidance, but stu- dents must accept responsibility for the job search. Ihe Office of Career Services and Off- knew what my needs were." Advisers are Campus Learning sits smack in the frustrated too, complaining that students middle of the Harvard campus: one often wait until it's too late before seeking block from the university's administrative counseling-and then expect jobs handed offices in Holyoke Center, a block and a to them on a silver platter. half from the gates of Harvard Yard. But, Delays are understandable, though, giv- says junior Bill Cleary, "even though I en the state of the job market. "The current walk by OCS-OCL every day, I've never crop of students is terrified of making any been inside. I'm not thinking about the real decision," says Dean Susan Hauser, direc- world just yet." From her office inside, tor of career services at Yale. "They don't counselor Linda Chernick watches stu- want to leave." And the fear of emerging dents like Bill Cleary walk on by. "Most into the real world can be compounded by students wait until the last minute before confusion over the role of college: is it to they get going," she sighs.."I wish they'd educate, to prepare one for a job-or both? take a little more responsibility." Acknowledges Nancy Nish, director of the Cleary and Chernick are players in a Career Center at Colorado College: "There familiar drama: although placement and is a friction over career counseling at liberal- counseling centers like Harvard's OCS- arts schools, and there can be a tendency to OCL are meant to serve as gatehouses be- ignore career goals in favor of academic tween school and the real world, the rela- experiences." tionship between students and counselors is Counselors say that even after students troubled. Many students simply ignore ca- decide to use career services they all too reer counselors until the chill winds of sen- often have an unrealistic idea of what can be ior year begin to blow. Others, like Colora- done for them. Two things counselors can't do College senior Mary Lois Burns, use the do are make decisions for students about services but find them lacking. Burns calls postcollege life (that's for the students to her visit to the CC Career Center unproduc- do) and guarantee jobs (that, no one can do). tive, generating little more than tips on Counselor Bill Phillips of the University of which books to read and what to look for in Texas sums it up: "We're more catalysts the morning classifieds. "Maybe it's me," than directors." At Texas's Career Choice she says, "butI didn't feel that anyone there Information Center, students work with counselors to "determine values," "inven- tory strengths," "clarify interests." And when Phillips and his associates hear ques- tions such as, "Should I be a poet?" they carefully avoid yes-or-no answers. Says Da- vid Stansbury, a placement officer in the Communications College: "If you're seri- ous about being a poet we'll ask what ways that could be realized. Does it mean you want to be another John Berryman or that you like to write catchy phrases, like in copywriting? What will it cost you to be a poet, and is it a cost you're willing to bear?" ttempting to streamline their oper- ations, larger universities have in- creasingly adopted decentralized systems in which each school or department is responsible for advising and placing its own students. Theoretically, this allows them to tailor services to the different needs of students in different disciplines. In prac- tice, the system can be ungainly and confus- ing. Indiana makes 13 different services available to its students, ranging in size from the Business Placement Office, which operates out of a 36-room suite, to the Geol- ogy Department, where the chairman's sec- retary works part time coordinating place- ment and recruiting. At the Texas career center, many of the 15,000 student visits each year are devoted to checking on proper style for a resume or to practicing an inter- view on videotape. For more specific place- ment activity, Texas students are more like- ly to use one of 20 departmental offices on campus. Some are little more than bulletin boards posted with job offerings; others, like those operated by the colleges of no rock and roll today!'-now they all sound worse than the bands from back then. Now it seems like most of the bands that were called punk bands a few years ago are playing refrigerator music." X, an acclaimed Los Angeles punk band that has pushed its way into the main- stream, hasasongcalled "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts" on its latest album ("More Fun in the New World"). "I hear the radio is finally gonna play New Music," sing John Doe and Exene Cervenka. "You know, the British invasion, but what about the Min. utemen, Flesheaters, DOA, Big Boys and the Black Flag? Will the last American band to get played on the radio please bring the flag? Please bring the flag!" X's point is that bands on the cutting edge, particularly American bands, are still shunned by radio and still unheard by the mass audience. Most New Music hits come from England or, increasingly, Australia. U.S. record companies have found it safer to import proven bands than develop talent. T he situation, however, is better than a year ago. Record companies, pro- grammers and audiences seem more willing to take risks. Michael Jackson, R.E.M. and Eurythmics-all New Music artists-can be played sequentially on rock stations without listeners balking. Dave Stewart, guitarist and co-song- writer of the London-based Eurythmics, is bemused at the American hoopla over New Music's acceptance into the mainstream. Still, Stewart says, "at least this new main- stream is very good because it is diverse. You can do something different." That principle has long been at the core of great rock and roll. American rock and roll fans have begun to reclaim that right. Jim Sullivan is a regular contributor to The Boston Globe. 24 NEWSWEEK ON CAMPUS/MARCH 954 24 NEWSWEEK ON CAMPUS/MARCH 1984 I y