Anatomy of a Song - Marc Myers

   2016; 323 pages.  Full Title: Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits that Changed Rock, R&B, and Pop.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Music History; Reference; Pop Culture; Non-Fiction.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

 

   The title says it all – 45 songs spanning 41 years and chronicling the development of the modern music era, focusing on Rock, Pop, and R&B, but also touching on associated genres such as folk, reggae, punk, country, alt-rock, and others.

 

    The first song – Lawdy Miss Clawdy - sung by Lloyd Price can arguably be viewed as the birth of music's modern era, as it introduced the “45” record, something receptive to teenage ears and wallets.  The last song – Losing My Religion – by R.E.M. provides the cut-off year for this book, as the author asserts that a song has to be around for 25 years or more to be able to be called “Iconic”.

 

    The book is actually a compilation of entries from a monthly Wall Street Journal column that author Marc Myers has been writing since June 2010.  There's a goodly proportion of black groups and music , and I liked that.  The 45 chapters are all short, averaging about 7 pages each, one of which is always a picture of the artist(s).  The structure each chapter is the same:

 

    a.) An overview, telling the song’s backstory, how it fared on the Billboard charts and how it impacted the music scene,

    b.) a list of people, including their professions, whom the author sought out and interviewed to research the song, and

    c.) excerpts from those interviews, explaining how each song evolved.

    Want to learn how to make a hit tune?  Here are 45 examples.

 

What’s To Like...

    Anatomy of a Song hammered home a couple points about making hit songs.  The first thing to know is that it requires the input of a lot of people: songwriters, producers, lead singers, back-up singers, bandmates, arrangers, engineers/mixers, and session musicians.  I was surprised to learn that the “radio versions” of a majority of the 45 songs were done by session musicians, who were available courtesy of whichever studio a band or singer was contractually associated with.  You want the best musicians playing the version that the radio will play; hopefully the actual band members can then learn it by the time they go on tour.

 

    The producer, mixer, and arranger, and sometimes even the singer and/or band members, then take the raw song and add things such as horns-or-strings, overdubs, upbeats, a light reggae bass line, power chords, distortion, and layering.  Isolation booths can be used, particularly for the lead singer’s part, and in order to keep each track separate and pure.  Then comes the mixing, which is a work of art.  Finally, demo tapes are made and distributed to all associated for added input and tweaking.

 

    The book is a music trivia buff’s delight.  John Kay of Steppenwolf is completely color-blind.  Bette Midler used to work as a coat-check girl.  The Marvelettes originally called themselves “The Cansinyets” a slightly garbled version of “Can’t Sing Yet”.  Early on, Aerosmith was “heavily into funk and soul”.  Dion was supposed to be on the plane that crashed and killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.  He gave up his seat because he didn’t want to pay the $36 that Buddy Holly was charging for a seat.

 

    The mention of the Led Zeppelin tour in late 1969  brought back personal memories.  I was at their Phoenix concert, having snuck in via some way that I’ve long since forgotten.  Alas, Led Zeppelin quit after 30 minutes or so, announcing that lead singer Robert Plant was sick as a dog, with the evidence being that he was singing everything an octave below his normal voice range.

 

    Two additional other things stood out to me.  One was the professionalism of all the bands and singers showcased.  These are not a bunch of wide-eyed, zonked-out amateurs doing whatever they please; they are musicians/artists constantly studying their trade and trying out new things.  The second was that the constant pressure to compose new material, then rehearsing, recording, promoting, touring, making TV appearances, and trying to maintain some sort of private life, while also somehow putting out one or two albums every year is a surefire way to get totally burnt out.  The daily life of a successful rock-n-roll band lost a lot of its glamour in this book.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Achromatopsia (n.) : a condition characterized by a partial or total absence of color vision.  People with it see only black, white, and shades of gray.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 217 ratings.

    Goodreads: 3.74/5 based on 1,078 ratings and 205 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    When MTV began broadcasting in August 1981, hip-hop was virtually ignored, with the cable channel focusing instead on major rock and pop acts whose labels provided MTV with music videos.  Many of those acts also happened to be white.  As MTV’s popularity and influence grew with the increasing number of cable subscribers, a rift widened between hip-hop and rock over rap’s exclusion.  Rappers viewed rockers as little more than video actors, and rockers viewed rappers as glorified disc jockeys and music thieves, not bona fide artists or musicians.  (pg. 237)

 

    “The song’s success was a complete fluke.  None of us thought that ‘Losing My Religion’ had much potential.  There’s no traditional chorus, and the lead instrument was a mandolin.  The video was unusual and groundbreaking – super-pop, super-homoerotic, and hypercharged.  In the video, I lip-synched for the first time.  But it all connected, and fans responded to the song’s realness and emotional urgency.”  (Michael Stipe, pg. 323)

 

“’White Rabbit’ is a very good song.  I’m not a genius but I don’t suck.  My only complaint is that the lyrics could have been stronger.  More people should have been annoyed.”  (Grace Slick, pg. 99)

    There are some things to quibble about, the major one, unsurprisingly, being the song-selection.  The are zero entries for the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys, Elton John, and Bruce Springsteen.  Elvis gets one, but it’s from 1969 in the twilight of his career, not the 1950s when he dominated the music scene.  But I don't think these glaring omissions are due to any poor judgment on the part of Marc Myers; most likely he simply didn't have any interviews involving these artists.

 

     Also, the final decade in the book’s 40-year timespan, 1982-1991, is a bit sparsely represented – only three songs.  And while I enjoyed the many references to bands beyond these 45 – such as Lindisfarne, The Incredible String Band, and Stephen Stills – it would have been nice have an index of every act that gets mentioned.

 

    There’s a small amount of cussing, but it was always from direct quotes by the people Marc Myers was interviewing.  Hey, if they say it, and he quotes it, the cusswords have to be included.

 

    But let's be clear – I found Anatomy of a Song to be a fantastic book, bringing back a flood of old music memories, as well as enlightening me about just how much drudgery there is to being a music idol.  No wonder so many of them, regardless of genre, sought relief via booze and/or drugs.

 

    8½ Stars.  For the record, I was familiar with 40 of the 45 artists spotlighted here, and 35 of the songs.  Most of the unfamiliar artists were from the 1950s, which is before my time.  Your "hits" will probably be different f rom mine.