Some "Unusual" Bands

Rock bands have traditionally been configured in many forms: power trio, power trio with vocals )a la Sabbath or Zeppelin), quintets, and rarely sextets or more.

What's even MORE rare is that there are also bands that had something unusual about them. For all intents and purposes, "unsual" does not mean that they did not follow a set path like the traditional band, but had some punch or style to them that deemed them in the unusual category.

Jethro Tull:

How were they unusual?

Two words, the flute. That's right. I wrote an earlier blog post on Ian Anderson's band leadership and also on one of their greatest albums, which plucked them out of obscurity for all to see (or hear for that matter). They also had a unique twist to their style by incorporating folk rock in their music. Also did I mention that in 1988 they won a highly contraversial grammy award?

A brief history:

Although I touched on Tull a few months ago, I'll go into a quicker version here. Basically, Tull began as the Blades, a threesome formed by Anderson and his good friends Barrimore Barlow and John Evan. This band later expanded into a septet naming themselves the John Evan Band (later Smash). They moved to London by 1967 and dissolved. This led to Anderson and bass player Glenn Cornick to start their own band, and Anderson managed to buy a second-hand flute to take lessons. Cat's Squrrel, from ther 1968 debut record This Was, illustrates Anderson's just-learned flute work with its incredible flute solos. In 1968, guitarist Mick Abrahams also quit as he was a strict blues-oriented musician. After a short stint with soon-to-be Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, the band found Martin Barre as a definite replacement and carried. on.

Wait, what about that Grammy?

In 1987, Tull released Crest of a Knave. The record was highly hard-rock/metal sounding, and the band won a Grammy the following year for Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Rock Album losing to, you guessed it, Metalica's ...And Justice for All.  The award was so contravrsial, that in the next month's edition of NME, there was a photo of a flute on some iron re-bars with the words, "...the flute is a heavy metal instrument?" Tull were never considered hard rock or heavy metal, and and at the warning of their management, none of the members, not even Anderson, showed up at the ceremony as they were warned they don't stand a chance of winning.

Four years later, Metalica finally won the award. At their speech, Lars Urich said, and I quote. "The first thing we're going to do is thank Jethro Tull for not releasing an album this year." This was akin to Paul Simon thanking Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album in 1975 after Sinon won, in 1976, Album of the Year for his 1975 record Still Crazy After All These Years.

In the early 90s, Anderson re-learned to play the flute and became interested in world music influences as evident on their two records, Roots to Branches (1995), and J-Tull Dot Com (1999).

Chicago:

How were they unusual? While they were a rock band in their own right, they used a permanent horn section and made brass/horn heavy records in the first ten years or so of their existense. Their sound in the 1980s, however, had dfrited to a more soft rock sound, but the horns were slowly reinstated by the 90s.

What else made them unusal? Their debut album, Chicago Transit Authority (1969) was a double-discer, as was its successor, 1970's Chicago II. The latter did produce one of their signature songs, and did I mention a misinterpreted classic?

A brief history:

It all started on Valentine's Day 1967 when a sextet of Walter Parzaider (saxophones), Terry Kath (guitar), Danny Seraphine (drums), James Pankow (trombone), Lee Loughanne (trumpet), and Robert Lamm (keyboards/vocals) called a meeting where they decided to start a group. They named themselves The Big Thing, and started playing at Chicago area nightclubs mostly covering top 40 hits. Lamm, inspired by Ray Manzerek of the Doors fame, used organ bass pedals, but the band felt it was insufficient and they also needed a tenor voice to augment Lamm and Kath's baritone voices. As such, the newformed band was joined by bass player/singer Peter Cetera who is considered the "official" lead singer, singing on many of their well-known hits. In the summer of 1968, they moved to Los Angeles and thanks to manager James William Gurceio, got a deal with Columbia Records, and began cutting their debut album calling themselves, and the album, Chicago Transit Authority - the name being derived from the mass-transit provider in Chicago. Towards the end of 1969, the real CTA threatened to take the band to court, which led to a shortening to simply Chicago by early 1970.

Their 1970 second LP featured a thirteen-minute suite called Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon, whose opener, Make me Smile, was issued as a single, as was the cryptic 25 or 6 to 4, which, FYI, refers to the time of day (i.e. 3:35 or 3:34 AM).


Take a look at this picture of the band's logo. The "C" is shaped a lot like the "C" in Coca-Cola, and became a trademark for the band in the 70s, as did the tradition of using the band name plus a hierarichal Roman Numberal. Most all albums follow this scrpt, 1978's Hot Streets being the first not to. Also for 1982's Chicago 16, the Roman Numeral was replaced by the Arabic Numeral instead.

The band enjoyed successful albums, and a streak of successful singles in the 1970s. Sadly in 1978, guitarist Tarry Kath accidentally shot himself and was soon pronounced dead. During the 1980s, the band ditched the horns in favor of a softer, adult-contemporary sound. Their 1982 hit Hard to Say I'm Sorry features on Cetera, other musicians being David Paich, and the Porcaro brothers of Toto fame.

By 1985, Cetera decided to leave Chicago and start a parallel solo career (a la Phil Collins of Genesis). When the rest of the band did not approve, he officially announced his departure to start an adult-contemporary solo career.

The band, since the 90s, tours regularly and have even done a few tours with Earth, WInd, & Fire.

Steely Dan:

How were they unusual? They were as unusual as unusual can get. Cryptic lyrics, jazzy arrangements, a TON of studio musicians. Between 1971 and 1981, the late Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, made seven modestly successful albums, and had a string of chart success singles.

A brief history:

Their story began in 1967 when Fagen and Becker were students at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Fagen passed into the Red Balloon Cafe where he heard Becker playing his guitar. Fagen liked what he heard, and seeing a mutual musical interest, the duo began an everlasting partnership.

For the rest of the decade, they played in local area groups. In the early 70s they moved to Brooklyn and backed Jay and the Americans on tour. Their salaries were eventually halved, and the band had little luck. However, shortly after this time, Gary Katz, being a staffing agent at then ABC Records Los Angeles, heard the band's style and decided to get them signed. Their name coms from a revolutionary steam-powered dildo from the William S Buroughs novel Naked Lunch..

Their 1972 debut album Can't Buy a Thrill was a smash success with the reminiscing Reeling in The Years and their signature song, Do it Again. The latter being a Santana sound-alike, featured Don Fagen playing a plastic organ solo.

After releasing 1973's Countdown to Ecstacy and 1974's Pretzel Logic, the band elected to strictly go studio much like the Beatles did in 1967. Utilizing renowned session musicians of the day: guitarist Larry Carolton, keyboardist Michael Omarition, even future Toto members Steve Porcaro and Jeff Porcaro, as well as Michael McDonald (later of Doobies' fame, as was guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter).

In this configuration they released four more albums: Katy Lied (1975), The Royal Scam (1976), Aja (Prounounced "Asia," 1977), and Gaucho (1980). Up until the late 80s, Fagen pursued a solo career before the band went on a comeback tour in the early 90s. They released two more albums since then: Two Against Nature (2000), and Everything Must Go (2003).

Today Steely Dan is mostly a predominant live act, occassionally touring with companion band, the Doobie Brothers.

Quarterflash:

How were they unusual? Well not really a strick ROCK band, Quarterflash were formed by husband and wife Mindy (saxophone, vocals), and Marv Ross (guitars).

But it's not the fact that they had a female lead singer that really made them unusual, but rather the fact that their singer sang AND doubled on saxophone - very unusual indeed. In a 1991 interview, Mindy confessed that the saxophone solos she played were an extension of her voice and enabled her to express what she could not by singing.

A brief history:

Their history is as brief as brief can get. They were formed in 1979 by combing two local Portland, Ore bands Seafood Mama and Pilot (not the Pilot known for Magic). Their first three albums Quarterflash (1981), Take another Picture (1983), and Back into the Blue (1985) were their only charting albums. Particularly their debut included their well-known hit, Harden my Heart. Their 1983 hit, Find Another Fool, did not garner as much attention, but was a hit nonetheless.

Overall...

We've seen bands here with cryptic lyrics, use of woodwinds, and other unique genres. Many of these are generally unthought of nowadays and in some cases, such as Steely Dan or Jethro Tull, do not get the attention today that they deserve.