Music in the 1980s largely involved hearing with one’s eyes as much as ears, all due to a waterfall of on-screen pop stars like Madonna, Michael Jackson, Culture Club, Milli Vanilli, Lionel Richie, Duran Duran, and Cyndi Lauper. The decade’s MTV and VH1 music videos also featured the sounds of synthesizers, electronic drums, programming, overproduction, and … [Read more...]
Multi-genre guitar virtuoso Steve Vai living link to alt-rock history
If you asked fans of 63-year-old guitarist Steve Vai (www.vai.com) what he’s best-known for, you might get a variety of answers. One might be the Long Island, N.Y., native’s recording and touring run within the fusion of styles created by Frank Zappa (1940-1993). Those seeds were sown when Vai — still a student at the Berklee College of Music in Boston — sent him exacting … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The season in pop
"Pop" is an all-encompassing term used to describe music that basically isn't jazz, classical or opera. Therefore, it describes the sampling of James Brown, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Alison Krauss, Lucius, Nirvana, Public Enemy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Hank Williams. Which mostly constitutes a cross-reference of what's become, in the tribute act era, a form of … [Read more...]