Aug 14 2009
The Revolution vs. the Evolution
It’s amazing how short-sighted people can be, at least in my opinion. Some people do things that revolutionize the world. Some people make a big splash evolving the world. And we seem to go gaga over the evolution guys and not the revolutionaries.
Am I talking politics? Nah, actually I’m talking music. Les Paul died today. On my birthday, of all days. We all know him from the guitar that bears his name, but he’s far more fascinating and influential than just a name on a headstock of a guitar. If you don’t believe me, spend some time reading up or watching biographies of the man.
Anywhoo, an old friend posted on facebook a nice farewell and how he touched so many millions. I echoed the sentiment, and said his contributions were so significant his coverage should dwarf Michael Jacksons. And some dude, maybe I went to high school with, maybe who’s life is stuck in 1984, posted this:
“Les Paul memorials should dwarf the response about Michael Jackson.”
DING DING DING We have a winner for most absurdly hyperbolic statement!
Sorry, but let’s try and keep a dose of perspective on hand. Les Paul was a brilliant pioneer in a niche area that directly affected thousands. MJ was a global icon who at one point in time was, arguably, one of the most influential people on the planet.
Yeah…
So, let’s think about this for a minute. Let’s skip the Michael Jackson of the last 20 or so years, let’s ignore allegations of all sorts of things, all the things we know he denied he did that we now know he did. Let’s purely talk about his impact on music, and on the world.
Michael in his day was a fabulous songwriter. A fabulous singer. An amazing dancer. Arguably in the early and mid-80s he was the best. Like the Beatles in the 60’s were. Like Elvis in the 50’s. And the Bee Gees in the 70s. He had an amazing run for several years. And then pretty much only showed up on our radars when he wasn’t paying his bills, was holding his kids out windows, or in court. Hey man, that’s fine, but has nothing to do with music. For the last 20 years he’s been that guy who was amazing in the 80’s that now makes for good TV on slow news days.
Now…let’s think about Michael Jackson recording like Benny Goodman did. A couple mics, spread the guys around, play live, record to wax and hope everything is good enough to keep the take. Michael always danced around, bobbing, snapping, tapping while he was singing, and they never could get him to stop. The perfect recipe for a recording disaster, unless you can edit individual tracks. Which brings me to the man.
The story goes in olden times you recorded directly to wax (which became the mold for record). Somebody figured out how to record to magnetized wire, but it sucked. Apparently those crafty German Socialists made magnetic tape work (when they weren’t busy trying to remake the world into what they thought it should be), and Les Paul was given one of the captured machines in 1946. Short story is he is the father of looping, multi-track recording, and the guide of things we had to do until the 90’s, which is plan out the optimum order to record and bounce tracks to keep the song sounding good. Ever wonder why the drums, bass and rhythm guitars usually get done early and the vocals get dones last? Bouncing would lose it’s fidelity with every take and Les figured out these tracks could stand the degradation better but the vocals and leads needed to be clear, and thus recorded last. We don’t need to do that any more, but usually we still do. We are drones lol
This wasn’t like the Wright Brothers being the first to fly. There were a bunch of other folks trying to be the first with a plane. Multi tracking and looping was a concept so foreign that he disguised it as magic for a long time. He confounded President Eisenhower and VP Nixon with it at the White House. The trick was a novelty on TV. He was the Criss Angel of the 50’s.
Les Paul fundamentally changed music forever. All music. Not just pop music in the 80s. Think about Sgt. Peppers sounding like Buddy Holly. Think about Dark Side of the Moon sounding like Chubby Checker. Wolfman Jack talking over Pink Floyd. Well maybe not that bad lol
Geez, I didn’t even mention the dude basically invented the electric guitar in the ’30s. Or that he and his wife were topping the charts as performers for several years. Or that after a horrific car wreck while on the road playing, he talked the doctor out of amputating his bum arm and instead into setting it permanently at a 90 degree angle…so he could still maybe still play guitar. (Would the US government let him do that? okay okay…lol) How about that he kept playing guitar for another 50+ years, and played out weekly almost until his death?
So we have one dude, who was top of his game for a while that got all weirded out, it eventually caught up with him and he’s dead. Like a lot of other stars. A month later another dude, who created groundbreaking concepts, figured out how to do them, enabled the world of music to be what it has been the last 40-60 years, beat all odds to keep playing music for almost a century, he’s dead too.
Why does the evolution get all the play, and the revolution gets a footnote? Is it the freakshow aspect? Is it because one guy was popular 20 years ago instead of 60? Do we just gauge the relevance and importance by how the media treats it?
I won’t take anything away from Michael Jackson, he was incredible in his time and deserves any attention he got. As a songwriter myself I’ve studied his works and he brought it all to the table. And you folks in LA, if you want to throw a million bucks into holding a funeral you’re welcome to it. But making Les Paul’s death a scrolling footnote on a news channel is not the way to be. The man had an incredible life, was amazingly creative and smart enough to make the things he thought of work, which dramatically changed music forever. And a great performer and guitar player in a time when folks didn’t dance or hide behind fog or explosions.
It just seems to me, it’s like comparing George Washington to Bill Clinton and saying “Washington just chopped down a cherry tree, and not a lot of people really care about cherry trees any more”. Rarely do people come along in the world that have so much impact, especially impact that redefines a whole segment of life. We should recognize and celebrate that. So I celebrate the man and the revolution he created – he’s the reason why we can do what we do here. The rest of us drones would have just kept doing things like we had before, and we’d still be cutting mono wax discs run by a falling weight. Thanks Les!!! This dude was inspired for a long time by you, and I will miss you.
