|
Color them edgy
Pick a color and you'll find a band or artist aptly named. It's all about edging out your competitor.
By GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 8, 2002
[AP photo]
Pink
|
Pop bad girl Pink, coming with Lenny Kravitz to the Ice Palace on Sunday, is hardly the first artist to adopt a colorful name. Rock 'n' rollers have been using hues to express their identities since rock got rolling in the 1950s. An exhaustive Team Pop study reveals it's not all just black and white -- or, make that Black Sabbath and White Stripes -- colors as varied as purple and green pop up again and again.
Team Pop's study found that the artists adopting colors are typically the edgiest sort, performers so uncompromising, so "out there," they can't be bothered using regular ol' names.
Here's a brief overview of what we found with several hues, and the artist or act Team Pop picked as the edgiest in each:
* * *
PINK: Sure, pop princess Pink is prickly, and so are other aficionados of this deceptively sweet color. Check out progressive rockers Pink Floyd, known for leading fans down a hallucinogenic highway of songs rife with despair and themes of alienation -- and oh, yeah, also for utilizing that big inflatable pink pig in its stage show.
Pinky Tuscadero
|
Team pop pick: Pinky Tuscadero. Okay, so technically the Happy Days character and sometime Fonzie squeeze didn't play rock 'n' roll, but her tough chick sister Leather Tuscadero did. (Neat anecdotes: Leather's character was played by real life 1970s tough rock chick Suzi Quatro, who is the aunt of actor Sherilyn Fenn. Roz Kelly, the woman who played our Pinky, was arrested in 1998 for blasting a 12-gauge shotgun at a neighbor's home after the neighbor's car alarm woke her. That's edgy.)
* * *
RED: The Red Hot Chili Peppers have a history of mayhem, heroin addiction, and wearing tube socks on their particulars while performing. Rapper Redman is known for keeping it tough and gritty, and the Red Elvises play Soviet surf rock.
Mick Hucknall
|
Team Pop pick: Simply Red. Lead singer Mick Hucknall sported that gigantic orb of orange hair. Inspired by little Danny Partridge? An unfortunate influence on comedian Carrot Top? More important, why? To recoin a phrase: Bozo knows.
* * *
BLUE: Blue Oyster Cult -- how provocative can you get? The band urged us to not fear the reaper and celebrated the likes of Godzilla. The hippy dippy Moody Blues tripped us out early on with Nights in White Satin (note: more color usage) and even more so, later, with the band's 1980s shlock. Do feminist folk rockers Indigo Girls belong in the blue category?
Elijah Blue Allman
|
Team Pop pick: Elijah Blue Allman. Dude, just being the offspring of Cher and Greg Allman is weird enough.
* * *
BLACK: Think the metalheads in Black Sabbath were tough? Did Henry Rollins and his fellow punks in Black Flag make you quiver? Do the rappers in the alternative hip-hop outfit Blackilicious seem edgy to you, or perhaps the always feudin' brothers Chris and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes?
Clint Black
|
Team Pop pick: Squinty-eyed, happy-go-lucky country crooner Clint Black. Black's way too jovial, and still married to that lady from Knot's Landing. Hey, guys, don't you know television starlet/musician duos have a shelf life? Look at Heather Locklear and Tommy Lee. Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen. Clint, Lisa: you're freaking us out with your bliss!
* * *
PURPLE: Deep Purple rocked our socks off. As did New Riders of the Purple Sage, who hung out with the Grateful Dead.
Barney
|
Team Pop pick: Barney the Purple Dinosaur, yes, Grimace's less benign purple counterpart. Barney forever wedged that blasted I love you, you love me song in our brains. Surely, it's an evil tune and Team Pop intends to get out the ol' Victrola and analyze the backward masking on that one!
* * *
ORANGE: Skate punkers Agent Orange have been making noise for more than 20 years. Orange 9mm is hard rocking, too.
Team Pop pick: Let's just call it a tie. Really, not too many well known acts have gone the sun-kissed route. Tangerine Dream? The Lemonheads? Now we're getting into citrus, not colors, and that's a whole 'nother report.
* * *
WHITE: Folks are digging the garage rock rawness of the White Stripes. Others enjoyed Whitesnake's gratuitous videos featuring big-busted Tawny Kitean (who was then the wife of lead singer David Coverdale) who is so edgy Kitean's second hubby had her arrested for domestic violence. Or, perhaps creepy, crawly sci-fi monster act White Zombie is more your bag.
Barry White
|
Team Pop pick: Soul singer Barry White. Not for the sultry, come-love-me baritone, but for appearing on Ally McBeal like so many other edgy musical pioneers like, um, Vonda Sheppard and Jon Bon Jovi.
* * *
YELLOW: Yellow Magic Orchestra made electronica in the 1970s before it was hep. Some consider reggae's Yellowman an innovator. Smooth jazz act the Yellowjackets?
Yello
|
Team Pop pick: New Wave synth act Yello for creating that totally cool Oh Yeah song that trailed the one and only Ferris Bueller around Chicago as he skipped school with Cameron and Simone. Yello, an act so edgy they didn't even need the W.
* * *
GREEN: Snotty punks Green Day may have inspired legions of young, feisty musicians. Same with Green On Red. Soul crooner Al Green is known for his silky voice and appeal to the ladies.
Mr. Green Jeans
|
Team Pop pick: Mr. Green Jeans. Captain Kangaroo's lovable and handy sidekick seemed harmless, but Mr. Green Jeans was more a mentor to Eminem than Dr. Dre ever was. Would Eminem ever have sported overalls and menacing power tools if Mr. Green Jeans hadn't paved the way? Mr. Green Jeans: so bad a-, he didn't need to wield a chainsaw. He carried, like, little garden hoes and stuff.
* * *
-- Times staffer Lyra Solochek contributed to this report.
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
