New book traces the impact of Kiss, Aerosmith and more
The 1970s were the decade when pop music became corporate and profitable. Not that the business didn’t exist before then, but the ’70s created the mega superstar. Touring became a money-making spectacle in ways that had not previously existed. This was the era of coliseum rock, when teenagers were dangerously packed together in stadiums to pay tribute to their idols. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper and The Who paved the way in the early part of the decade. By the end of the ’70s the merchandising and promotion of various monsters of rock established a paradigm of performance and image that went hand in hand.
In “They Just
Seem a Little Weird:
How KISS, Cheap
Trick, Aerosmith, and Starz Remade
Rock and Roll,” aut h o r Doug Brod traces this phenomenon through the interconnected stories of four of the ’70s biggest bands: KISS, Aerosmith, Cheap
Trick, and … Starz?
The question most people are asking right now is, ‟ Who in the world are Starz and how did they get included in a book with all of these Hall of Fame inductees?” Starz were a band built from the remnants of Looking Glass, who had a smash with the AM radio hit “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).” A new singer and guitarist turned them into a solid rock band, signed to Casablanca, the record label of KISS. They released four albums that arguably are as good as most of what the other three, more famous bands, released. They were predicted to be the next big thing, but Casablanca just didn’t seem to know what to do with them. Lack of radio airplay, promotion, and support from their label killed them. But, as Brod shows, they were an essential part of the story he was telling, providing connective tissue among the other three bands. Poor sales or not, many of the biggest names in hair metal and rock in the ’80s, Motley Crue specifically, rank Starz as a huge influence.
As a rock fan who spent most of his teen years in the ’70s all four of these bands would have made my favorite bands list in 1979 (yes, even Starz). I was the perfect age for them to be ‟ my bands,” in ways their predecessors of even a few years earlier could not be. They were as defining to the sound and look of the late ’70s, at least as far as rock music went, as Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath were to the earlier part of that decade.
The book spends most of its pages tracing the various connections among these four bands. Producers, roadies, studio musicians, as well as many others, were instrumental in linking their careers. While a lot of the focus is on the ’70s, Brod does follow each of the bands throughout their careers, or in the case of Starz, the lack of one, up to the present. Like most rock biographies/histories there are a lot of anecdotes about drugs and groupies and antics while touring. In the case of both KISS and Aerosmith many of them are tales we have read before, though with a different spin or point of view. The stories of Cheap Trick and Starz are not as welldocumented, and both of these provide insights into the industry from positions not quite as lofty as the others. For three of these four bands we see both the highs and lows of their careers.
If the reader is a fan of this era or these groups there is a lot to recommend in this title. If the book fails at all it is in not making a convincing argument for how, as the title suggests, these specific four bands ‟ remade Rock and Roll.” There is a general sense, as the Motley Crue reference above suggests, that most of the hair metal bands of the ’80s owe a debt of gratitude for their success on those who influenced them. But, other than the occasional quote from a Nikki Sixx or a Slash about the impact they had there are few direct correlations. While I essentially agree with his thesis, I’m not sure Brod convinces anyone who is not already a fan and ready to believe him.
“THEY JUST SEEM A LITTLE WEIRD: HOW KISS, CHEAP TRICK, AEROSMITH, AND STARZ REMADE ROCK AND ROLL” By Doug Brod Hachette Book Group ($28)