Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 8, 1988 Music The Michigan Daily - Thurs Don't mi on all th 88.3 88.7 89.1 89.9 91.7 92.3 93.9 94.7 95.5 96.3 97.9 98 7.7 99.5 100.3 101.1 101.9 102.9 104.3 105.1 105.9 106.7 107.5 FM WCBN Student-run International/ Alternative CJOM Hip Top 40 WEMU (NPR) Jazz out of EMU CBE Classical WUOM (NPR) Classical WVAE New Age/Jazz CKLW Classic Pop WCSx Classic Rock WCZY Top 40 WHYT Top 40/ Top 10 soul/funk WJLB Urban WLLZ Album Rock WDTX Top 40 WNIC Adult Contemporary WRIF Album Rock WDET (NPR) Jazz/Alternative WIQB Ann Arbor-based. Classic Rock WOMC Pop WQRS Classical WJZZ Jazz Country L WGPR Modern R&B '. 0 NPR - National Z, Public Radio Station N Ar 11 to the music in Ann Arbor BY TODD SHANKER In the late '60s, a bug-eyed imp named Iggy Pop crashed onto the Ann Arbor music scene like a blast of filthy thunder. With the Stooges, Iggy spurted out the definitive teen- age angst of a hyper and horny little bastard with "nuthin' ta do." The Igster and Ann Arbor became synonymous symbols of a saliva- dripping, dog-in-heat musical gene- sis that has since spurned numerous mutated incarnations of the Stooges' anomie skull-sonatas. However, Ann Arbor's current In music scene, with a group of shin- ing exceptions, is basically your typical college town yawn-slaught of grinning bar bands that induce tradi- tional University hijinx. Bands such as Mission Impossible and the Blue Meanies have become notorious for weak-limbed covers of everything from the Talking Heads to Jimi Hendrix and have led many to com- mit the ultimate late-night sin - that's right, the purchase of a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 Plum Supreme wine in a plain brown bag. Luckily, if you're up for some- thing a little different, a cavalcade of bands exist that stray like bastard tomcats from the standard bar-band mentality. One of the most dastardly Waves of repeats wash up FM radio BY BRIAN JARVINEN Welcome to the worst rock radio market in the country. If you enjoy something besides pop/rock, the local market seems fairly healthy. But your choices for anything else are static. The worst problem with local airwaves is the strict musical/racial divi- sions. Listeners can choose from two Top 40 stations, one Urban ('80s R&B) station, and five Album Rockers. I think you'll agree that Terrence Trent D'Arby rocks twice as hard as Bruce Hornsby, but Hornsby is overplayed daily on four rock stations. D'Arby can only be heard on the Top 40 stations and WJLB. Why is this? D'Arby is Black. With the ex- ceptions of Jimi Hendrix, Robert Cray, and an occasional Stevie Wonder oldie, all five rock stations play white artists exclusively. Local radio also strictly limits which rock bands are played. Advertis- ers want to sell things to the largest demographic group in the country - the baby boomers - who like "classic" rock, not Guns 'N' Roses and Metallica. Until Metallica's sales breakthrough a few years ago, anything on the album charts was on the radio. Guns 'N' Roses' debut album re- cently went platinum and Metallica's new album shipped platinum before release, yet neither receive airplay. The reason? I doubt many people over the age of 25 like either band. And I doubt if the people who do like them spend disposable income on new cars, downtown bars, and CDs. Besides, classic playlists are boring. If classic rock meant playing tracks like the Who's "Boris the Spider" or the Stone's "Stray Cat Blues," I would listen often. Instead listeners hear endless repeats of "Magic Bus" and "Satisfaction." Classic rock playlists are based on what sold well from 1966 to 1978, so you won't hear the Velvet Underground, '60s Pink Floyd, Chuck Berry, or Bo Diddley. The worst thing about classic rock formats is the neglect of local rock history. Ann Arbor was the home of two of the greatest rock and roll bands in the world, the MC5 and the Stooges. But local programmers See Radio, Page 12 of these bands is the rancorous Laughing Hyenas. With bitching, droning guitars showered in post- Iggy acid-rain feedback, the Hyenas' definitive sound comes from John Brannon, whose toxic-shocking vo- cals scream like Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween. Along the same lines, restless recording artists the Necros occa- sionally perform their diabolical, warlock-magic at the Blind Pig. One warning: If you see these guys live get ready to take cover 'cuz their bite-the-bullet speed metal is guar- anteed to pump gleaming guitar shrapnel right at yo' pretty face. The Holy Cows are another group of noise-meisters who combine meaty guitar dissonance with unholy rhythmic-crime to create a chaotic brand of moo-sic. Good o1' Frank Allison & the Odd Sox have gained a loyal follow- ing for their twang-bang guitars, swell pop melodies, and goofball lyrics that are guaranteed to bring the geek out of everyone. Frank makes a whole bunch of funny faces that will have you laughing and spilling your beers. Ann Arbor also has its share of unclassifiable bands; knavish bastard musicians with bizarre, off-beat sounds. The Groove Biscuits are a perfect example. With their sing-a- long blockbuster hit, "Johnny's a Dickhead," these guys emulate the sound of a stale dinner roll flung across the room that accidentally thunked off Mom's forehead. Add Mom's inevitable bitching and your welpish whining and you've got the Groove Biscuits. Maroon, Ann Arbor's only rap group, falls under the eccentric cate- gory as well. I don't know about you, but every time I hear the name of this band I think of Bugs Bunny chomping on a carrot and matter-of- factly calling the frothing, grunting, whirling Tasmanian Devil a "maroon." Actually the comparison kind of fits; William Pflaum's wise- ass white-boy rap carries an air of Bugs Bunny get-out-of-my-face cockiness while local poster-paster Martin Kierzenbaum's fitful dj- See Bands, Page 12 BY JOSHUA RAY LEVIN Jazz. Does it exist in Ann Arbor? This is the question many newcom- ers to the University ask because the campus scat scene seems scant - unless one knows where to look. The most accessible jazz and blues venue for the discerning lis- tener is the campus FM radio sta- tion, WCBN (88.3). CBN plays all styles of music, including a good amount of bebop and off-line jazz. Especially worthwhile is their daily "Jazz 'til noon" show. The DJs program their own shows, so the jazz connoisseur would do well to sample various CBN pro- grams to find their DJ and "sound" of choice. Like anywhere else in Reagan's America, the next best sources of jazz besides alternative radio are record stores, and Ann Arbor has several decent disc shops. Though rock 'n' roll predominates, at the very least one can always find great, underappre- ciated jazz albums and tapes in the "bargain" shelves. As for live jazz performances, the pickings are some- what slimmer. The campus jazz organization, Eclipse, usually offers about a dozen shows a schoolyear, featuring headliners of varying fame. In the last two years, Eclipse has brought the likes of Pat Metheny and Ornette Coleman, Miles, and Ahmad Jamal. The prices for Eclipse shows are not cheap but are standard for headline jazz perfor- mances. Another, smaller scale Eclipse jazz series is "Java and Jazz," held on Sunday afternoons in the Michigan Union Tap Room (starting in Octo- ber). The weekly programs feature Detroit-based talent which the stu- dent/fan might not otherwise have Bands on the run BY JIM PONIEWOZIK College music. It's one of those record in- dustry terms, like "neo-psychedelic" or "grunge- y, garage-style crunch chords," which, despite le- gions of music critics bandying them about, no one really understands. Probably no one has ever started a band saying, "all we want to do is play some kick-ass college music." You won't find a college music bin at Record Town or Musicland. It's not mentioned in university admissions brochures. But it exists. It exists enough to have its own Top 10 album listing on the back page of Rolling Stone. It exists enough to have hordes of Rickenbacker-toting new bands begging for comparisons to R.E.M., which used its Big Band On Campus status to catapult itself into the Top 10. It may defy definition; it may be reggae one minute and industrial the next, but it's there and Ann Arbor's got a lot of it - live. OH, MAYBE not as much as Detroit. Cer- tainly not as much as New York. But definitely more than you're likely to find in a Midwestern town this size - or even bigger - surrounded on all sides by flat fields of Queen Anne's Lace. Check out the Toledo music scene if you don't t } believe it. Ann Arbor's large student and other- wise young population, as well as its proximity to the Detroit area's teeming millions have long made it - if not a hotbed - at least as close to one as you're likely to find in the Midwest, for music acts appealing to we young 'uns. This fact, combined with the Ann Arboreal predilection for the unusual, has meant that every year sees not only a number of nationally known acts come to town, but also an even greater number of nationally unknown ones. Examples? Well, over the past year, we've had ... HaskerDUINXS ScreamingTreesMiriamMakeb aDinosaurGameTheoryDeadMilkmenKingSunny Ad6EchoandtheBunnymenReddKrossTootsandthe MaytalsThrowingMusesAlexChiltonMeatPuppet sPixiesYoungFreshFellowsHughMasekelaFlam in gLipsR.E.M.BoDeansDbsBruceCockburnJonatha nRichmanandtheModernLoversFishboneRedHotC hiliPeppersTheloniousMonsterLosLobosFirehose ... to name a few. BUT DISREGARDING all of this ca- cophonous name-dropping, there have been dry stretches in appearances by national bands at the clubs and theaters still in existence. Why? Lack of interest? Doubtfully. Promoters bringing acts OyN L ZNA ily o, from A2 to the Detroit area instead? Possibly. The cruel vengeance of the music gods for Ann Arbor's part in launching Bob Seger's career? If there's any justice in the world, yes. But the most major contributor may be Michigan's 21 drinking age. Live music, in par- ticular rock and "new" music, tends to draw a college-age crowd. If we define "college-age" as being roughly 18 to 22, it doesn't take much to calculate that three-fifths of that range can't legally drink alcohol - or, to be more blunt, can't pay money to legally drink alcohol. For a club owner paying several thousand dollars a pop for a band, this can be discouraging - and can make the prospect of replacing said bands with DJed dance party marathons more and more ap- pealing. Yet the Ann Arbor area still manages to dredge up enough national music to give all but the staunchest connoisseurs of the mainstream (those of you whose musical tastes are deter- mined by Billboard would be better off finding a friend who can drive to Detroit regularly) a chance to catch some of their favorites, or at least get a break from studying the Greek alphabet at See Scene, Page 11 Flutist Tokyo String Moscow State Vienna Philhar- Vienna Cellist Itzhak Perlman Quartet Symphony monic Orchestra Symphony Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Thursday, Sept. 29, conducted by conducted by Orchestra Monday, Dec. 5, ConcertsSamuel Sanders Rackham Auditorium, Yevegny Leonard conducted by Hill Auditorium, Sunday, Sept. 25, 8 p.m. Svetlanov Bernstein Georges Pretre 8p.m. Hill Auditorium, Sunday, Oct. 23, Saturday, Oct. 29, Friday, Nov. 11, 4 p.m. Hill Auditorium, Hill Auditorium, Hill Auditorium, 8p.m. 8p.m. 8p.m.