THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 22, 1995 TAG: 9507210075
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
IF NEIL YOUNG doesn't define rock 'n' roll, who does?
Last week, Young told the Los Angeles Times that more than once over the years he's wondered if he had missed something.
``Rock 'n' roll seemed to be going one way,'' he said, ``and I seemed to be going another.''
This from the man whose catalog includes ``Tonight's the Night,'' ``Rust Never Sleeps'' and ``Ragged Glory,'' and whose collaboration with Pearl Jam, ``Mirror Ball,'' will finish 1995 on many Top 10 lists.
Look between the lines, though, and Young's comment raises an interesting question:
What is rock 'n' roll?
Given radio's evolving formats and new, boundary-stretching bands jockeying for airplay, coming up with a black-and-white definition isn't easy.
In this week's Billboard, half the 40 tracks - by artists as dissimilar as the Foo Fighters, White Zombie and Matthew Sweet - making the magazine's once-exclusive Album Rock and Modern Rock charts appear on both lists.
Locally, it's just as cloudy. The play lists for WNOR, WKOC and WROX include Live, Soul Asylum, Hootie & the Blowfish, U2 and Better Than Ezra. FM99 and 96X list Silverchair; 96X and The Coast, Natalie Merchant; The Coast and FM99, Collective Soul.
That's WNOR, with its classic rock-new rock format; WKOC, an adult-oriented alternative station; and WROX, where the diet is modern rock and nothing but, except for occasional Clash or Peter Gabriel.
So, what is rock 'n' roll?
If you have a definition, plus the names of two or three artists that you think should be on the air, call Infoline at 640-5555, category 3425, by 5 p.m. Thursday. We'll take your comments and run them with a list of the top vote-getters a week later, in the Aug. 3 Daily Break.
``Definitions are always impossible,'' said WNOR's Harvey Kojan. ``In this business, where you have your own vernacular, a description may or may not have anything to do with what real people - the general public - decide is good music. It's fun for debate, but the tough thing about programming is people like a lot of different things.''
Kojan pointed to the Stone Temple Pilots. Some listeners, he said, might file the San Diego outfit under alternative.
``But an alternative to what?'' he asked.
WKOC's Mark Bradley said rock 'n' roll comes down to personal taste. It also comes down to sound judgment. Some stations playing what is considered alternative rock today wouldn't have touched it a decade ago.
``You can call it alternative all day long. It just has a different feel technically. Ten or 12 years down the line, something with a little different feel will come along and replace today's music. Not that it will go away, (but) people don't like to stagnate. They keep up with movies. They buy new cars. They want to stay current with music, too.''
"Radio adapts to the times."
Ditto for WROX, where Chris Blade would rather avoid using alternative in coming up with a definition.
``In our eyes, it's what's new, what's vibrant, even a little scary,'' he said. ``It's what we're playing. The word alternative doesn't really mean anything. We're a mainstream rock station that the industry classifies as alternative, just a newer generation of it.
``It's hard to define. Rock 'n' roll changes every week. We just try to expose new sounds and keep it fresh. I don't think any one person can tell you what rock 'n' roll is today.''
Probably so, which allows Dan Michaels, program director at WAFX, to take a broader view. That jibes nicely with the station's classic hits format - The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan.
``It's like when you look at a painting - everyone has an interpretation of what it means. It's the same with rock. That's the beauty of music. It moves people. None of it is any less legitimate. If it moves you, it's done its purpose.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Natalie Merchant...
The rock music of Live...
by CNB