In 1990, the debate over explicit lyrics had one ironic effect: It proved that rock could still tick people off.
In an era when a half-dozen corporations control the bulk of the music that is bought and sold in this country, that was reason to cheer.
In the latest leap by a corporate giant into the cash-rich waters of rock `n` roll, MCA Inc. (which includes such best-selling acts as Bobby Brown, Bell Biv DeVoe, Fine Young Cannibals and Elton John) was bought out recently by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Inc. for $6.13 billion.
Big business also continued to squeeze the life out of commercial radio, as evidenced by the increasing popularity of ”classic rock.” The format, which reduces the music`s 35-year history to about 700 songs, most of them recorded by white male guitarists before 1980, pulled down monster ratings nationwide in 1990.
In Chicago, ”classic-rock” WCKG, one of six stations owned by Cox Broadcasting in Atlanta, and increasingly conservative WLUP-FM, one of six stations owned by Evergreen Media in Dallas, waged a year-long battle for the ears of the Baby Boom generation. The two finished the year in a virtual deadlock in the ratings, far ahead of any other area rock station.
But even corporate rock`s back-to-the-future mentality couldn`t stop a number of artistic breakthroughs in 1990.
Faith No More`s long-ignored 1989 album ”The Real Thing” eventually cracked the Billboard Top 10 and surpassed 1 million in sales because the band toured incessantly.
Sinead O`Connor defied even her own record company`s expectations by scoring a massive hit with ”Nothing Compares 2 U,” and Public Enemy and Ice Cube both sold more than 1 million records without radio or video airplay.
Living Colour, Deee-Lite, Happy Mondays, A Tribe Called Quest, the Chills, Sonic Youth and Jane`s Addiction also made splashes with great records long before commercial radio caught on, if at all.
Other acts achieved notoriety for less noble reasons. 2 Live Crew sold 2.5 million copies of their 1989 album ”As Nasty As They Wanna Be,” but didn`t really hit big until the sexually explicit record was declared obscene earlier this year by a Florida judge.
The ruling set off a chain reaction: 2 Live Crew was arrested and later acquitted on charges of obscenity after an adults-only concert June 10 in Hollywood, Fla., and Charles Freeman, a Ft. Lauderdale merchant, was convicted of obscenity and fined for selling a copy of ”As Nasty As They Wanna Be” to an undercover officer.
But 2 Live Crew wasn`t the only target in a year in which rock and rap groups often found themselves on the defensive over lyrics, explicit or otherwise.
Judas Priest was accused of putting subliminal messages on a record that led to the suicide of one young man and the attempted suicide of another. The heavy metal band was acquitted by a Reno judge, but the question of whether subliminal messages exist-and whether they can influence a listener`s behavior-was left unresolved.
The CD pressing plant in Indiana that handles all of Geffen Records`
product refused to press the label debut from Houston rap group the Geto Boys because of its explicit lyrics. Geffen later refused to release the record, and severed ties with the Geto Boys` label, Def American. The record was eventually pressed and distributed by the Warner-Elektra-Atlantic Corp. and sold 200,000 copies within weeks of its release.
More recently, the Geto Boys were dropped by a Chicago-based promoter, Premiere Entertainment, from a recent hard-core rap show at the UIC Pavilion and nine other Midwest venues because of concerns about ”the offensive nature of (the group`s) language and material.” Local promoters and talent buyers said they couldn`t remember a rock or rap show ever previously being canceled in Chicago because of the act`s content.
Rock was denounced by New York Cardinal John O`Connor as an agent of Satan, and record stores around the country, ranging from small mom and pop shops to chains such as WaxWorks, either refused to carry or were warned by local authorities against stocking allegedly obscene albums by the likes of 2 Live Crew, the Geto Boys and N. W. A.
Rockers and rappers even found the record industry itself turning against them, when the Recording Industry Associaton of America, which includes all the major record companies, agreed to voluntarily affix a uniform warning sticker to its most controversial product.
Though the association was under heavy pressure from parents groups and state legislators, many free-speech advocates viewed the action as an admission of guilt.
”If the association refused to sticker albums and a state went ahead and imposed mandatory record labeling, the law would`ve probably been thrown out by the Supreme Court on 1st Amendment grounds,” said one industry insider.
”Now these censorship groups have an opening and can tighten the screws again in a couple of years. What next? A review panel selected by (Parents Music Resource Center president) Tipper Gore to monitor which albums deserve stickers?”
Gore probably wouldn`t have had many problems with most of 1990`s major commercial acts, however.
M. C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice swept rap into the mainstream by holding down the top two positions on the Billboard pop album chart for the last half of the year. A Streisand-style belter, Mariah Carey, and an innocent harmony group, Wilson Phillips, composed of offspring of famous `60s rockers, released multi-platinum debuts. A Belgian group, Technotronic, finally took house music, a dance sound invented a decade ago in Chicago, into the pop Top 10.
Two big teen groups had relatively disappointing years. New Kids on the Block sold 3 million copies of their latest record, ”Step By Step,” a considerable drop from the standards set by its 8-million selling predecessor, ”Hangin` Tough.” Milli Vanilli won and later lost a Grammy for best new group, as a result of revelations that they didn`t sing a note on their debut, ”Girl You Know It`s True,” which nonetheless is now approaching 9 million sales.
Janet Jackson pushed her 1989 album, ”Rhythm Nation,” past the 4 million mark in sales with her first tour, and rivaled her brother Michael in combining kinetic pop music with energetic dancing and showmanship.
Madonna salvaged her poorly received ”I`m Breathless” album with a world tour, aptly titled ”Blond Ambition.” In a year in which censors often got the better of many artists, Madonna got the last word by selling her
”Justify My Love” video at $9.98 a pop after MTV banned it.
Paul McCartney was easily the most famous rock act to play Chicago in 1990, ending his first U. S. tour in 13 years with a sold-out show at Soldier Field on July 29. The crowd, 52,000-strong, adored McCartney`s every move, even though the show was largely a bland rehash of decades-old Beatles songs and far-inferior McCartney solo hits.
Though far fewer people attended it, the year`s best concert was delivered by Ice Cube last month at the sold-out UIC Pavilion. Without the fireworks, hydraulic lifts or laser displays that accompanied McCartney`s show, Ice Cube lit up the crowd of 10,000 with razor-sharp rhymes and cutting rhythms.
If the McCartney love-in at Soldier Field, complete with ads underlining his $7 million partnership with a credit card company, typified a year in which rock`s corporate face became ever more predictable, Ice Cube`s show affirmed rock`s ability to subvert and inspire with just the barest essentials.
