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Sting, Where Is Thy
Pop? From October 1999 Ah, Sting. Der Schtingmeister. Sting-ling-a-ding-dong, as I believe he was referred to in one memorable Saturday Night Live skit. Let us consider musical artiste Sting, on the occasion of his new album, as an emblem symptomatic of the failings of pop. When I use the word pop, most people wince. Pop has a bad reputation. The comment "Oh, his new album is so pop" is not a compliment in most circles. Pop often means a musical creature which is neither fish nor fowl. The performer isn't folk or rock or blues, he's pop. For example, let us pick on Eddie Fisher, just at random. Eddie Jefferson, the founder of vocalese, is definitely a jazz vocalist. One could make a case that, at times, Frank Sinatra sang with jazz stylings. But Eddie Fisher? Or Patti Page? Where's the edge? It's round, it's soft, it's bland. It's pop! When Stewart Copeland recruited Sting for The Police back in 1977, they created a pop band. They were never punk, and they knew it, but they played pop with the energy of punk and the formula worked. When Sting went solo in 1985 with The Dream of the Blue Turtles, he played at being a jazz band. But it was only pop with the stylings of jazz. And so it has gone, over the years, up to his newest offering Brand New Day. He brings in country and rai (an Algerian pop style), but it's the same thing: round, soft, bland. The same charges have been leveled at Eric Clapton (raiding the blues), Paul Simon (a touch of South Africa) and Michael Bolton (slumming at soul and opera). Let me reclaim pop and offer an alternative. Okay, here's a cooking metaphor. You remember those horrible recipes from years ago? Make a dish with chopped chicken, cream of mushroom soup, crumbled corn flakes -- and if you put Chung King noodles on top, it was called Chicken Chop Suey. Clearly, it's not Chinese. Adding a touch of this or that, doesn't make it so. To some extent, that's what Sting is doing. But then, you go to one of these fusion restaurants. They have a Cajun eggroll. Authentic eggroll, stuffed with spicy duck. The seasonings are Asian and Cajun at the same time. There's no reason music can't do the same thing. And sometimes it does. Universal sometimes is interpreted as "everything and therefore nothing." Pop can go that way. But the good side of the universal nature of pop, is that it can travel around the globe and captivate people wherever it goes. And the fun part is that synthesis that Sting doesn't manage to achieve -- those wonderful moments when pop travels to other cultures, picks up something along the way and comes back transformed. Such as the way John Coltrane was influenced by Middle Eastern music or Nigerian Feli Kuti was affected by James Brown. Instead of that miserable Chicken Chop Suey, go for gumbo -- in food and music and every other part of pop culture. And that's what I mean when I say pop. |