JUNE 17, 2017
“THEY CALLED IT ROCK” (WRITER: NICK LOWE AND ROCKPILE)
ARTIST: NICK LOWE WITH ROCKPILE
RELEASED 1978 ON 7” 45 AND AS A BONUS ONE-SIDED 45 ON THE JESUS OF COOL LP
Bassist/singer/producer Nick Lowe had released two solo
singles and one extended play 45 under his own name by the end of 1977, making
him among the earliest proponents of the so-called British “new wave.” He was
also a known quantity behind the desk, producing other up-and-comers like The
Damned, Graham Parker, and Elvis Costello.
His first solo single of 1978 was “I Love the Sound of
Breaking Glass,” a sonic and lyrical nod to the David Bowie song “Breaking
Glass” which the Thin White Duke had put out the previous year. (Bowie’s Low album, which included “Breaking
Glass,” led Lowe to issue an EP jokingly called Bowi.)
On the flip side of the “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass”
45 was “They Called it Rock,” a hot chunk of rocking, rootsy power pop with
funny lyrics about a band’s quick rise to the top of the charts and even
quicker skid into obscurity. It was a tale that the sardonic Lowe, already a
ten-year-veteran of the pop scene, could sing from personal experience.
Lowe’s mates on the song were the other members of the loose
foursome known as Rockpile: guitarists Dave Edmunds and Billy Bremner and
drummer Terry Williams. (The latter would, in a few years, join Dire Straits.)
Rockpile released one album under its own name and, as a group, played on each
other’s “solo” projects through the early 1980s.
Most of Lowe’s greatest material had a sense of humor about
itself, about pop, and about celebrity. “They Called it Rock” is no exception.
Well they went and cut a record,
the record hit the chart
'cause someone in the newspaper said
that it was art
…is how the fable begins. Lowe spends the chorus reciting
the names of various major record labels, pleading for a chance. Later, after
the band had reached the top,
They cut another record, it
never was a hit
'cause someone in the newspaper
said it was shit.
And it gets worse from there.
Lowe himself would become, in America, something of a
“one-hit wonder” himself with the release of the impossibly catchy “Cruel to Be
Kind” in 1979; it reached #12 on the Billboard
charts and was his only top 40 single.
Now here's a guy who should have been huge - much of what he released (including that Rockpile album) is miles above what was making it on the radio and in sales in that period, as well as being much better than most of his peers who were lumped in with him as "new wave", many of whom also saw more success than he did. This is a great song and record.
ReplyDeleteI love his 1977-81 work. It's great stuff. Thanks for chiming.
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