Rundgren tries to out-do The Rutles on Deface The Music

Utopia : Alone

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On September 24, 1980 Utopia released Deface The Music, an album that apparently confused fans. Todd Rundgren had said Utopia never had a set sound and would never be predictable. My own theory is Rundgren watched The Rutles one night and decided he could write faux Beatles songs better than Neil Innes. He doesn't. But that doesn't mean Deface The Music isn't a fun way to spend 32 minutes, playing spot the influence. "Alone" may be based on "And I Love Her" but it stands on its own.

Rolling Stone's David Fricke seemed to appreciate the exercise, writing:

A literal rewrite of the Lennon-McCartney songbook may seem as pointless as a new Knack LP. But Utopia–and Rundgren, in particular–have always had a talent for this sort of snappy, crackling pop. Besides, the ingenious, engaging way they go about it here is a tribute to the spirit of fun that marked the originals. That kind of imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

"Take It Home", inspired by "Day Tripper", is another song that stands on its own. Think Cheap Trick with more cowbell.

Side Two takes on the psychedelic era with fewer good results. Rundgren's Beatleisms would come in handy when he produced Psychedelic Furs' Forever Now and XTC's Skylarking  years later. 

1980's Best Self Isolation Songs

The Police : Don't Stand So Close To Me

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In 1980 quite a few rock bands recorded songs about the threat of nuclear warfare. I've already covered that. 40 years later, we now live in a new age that will define this generation. To lower the infection rate of the Covid-19 virus, we must put up barriers between the infected and would-be patients. Here are some songs to help us keep this in mind.

1. The Police : Don't Stand So Close To Me

Inspirational Lyric:

He starts to shake he starts to cough
Just like the old man in
That famous book by Nabakov
Don't stand so close to me

2. Joy Division : Isolation

Inspirational Lyric:

In fear every day, every evening

... Isolation, isolation, isolation.

3. English Beat: Mirror in the Bathroom

Inspirational Lyric:

Mirror in the bathroom 

Please talk free 

The door is locked 

Just you and me

4. Generation X : Dancing With Myself

Inspirational lyric:

So let's sink another drink
Cause it'll give me time to think
If I had the chance I'd ask the world to dance
And I'll be dancin' with myself

5. 10cc : I Hate To Eat Alone

Inspirational lyric:

'N' frozen dinners don't do much for me
When you've got T.V. on the table
'N' T.V. on T.V.
All you do is chew your fingers
Down to the bone
I hate to eat alone

6. The B-52's: Private Idaho

Inspirational lyric:

You're living in your own Private Idaho 

Living in your own Private Idaho 

Underground like a wild potato 

Don't go on the patio

7. Bruce Springsteen : You Can Look But You Better Not Touch

Inspirational lyric:

You can look but you better not touch boy
Mess around and you'll end up in dutch boy
You can look but you better not, no you better not, no you better not touch

8. Utopia : Alone

Inspirational lyric:

Alone, alone
Nobody knows how lonely it can be
And I'm so tired of being alone

9. The Cramps: Fever

Inspirational lyric:

When you put your arms around me
I get a feeling that's hard to bear
You give me fever, when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the morning
Fever all through the night

10. The Specials Do Nothing

Inspirational lyric:

I'm just living in a life without meaning
I walk and walk, do nothing
I'm just living in a life without feeling
I talk and talk, say nothing

40 Year Itch : Wyatt Ear in the Atomic Age

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   On paper it sounded like a great idea: team up Philly's blue-eyed soul sensations Hall and Oates  ("She's Gone") with Philly hit maker ("Hello, It's Me", Something/Anything and that soul medley on A Wizard, A True Star) Todd Rundgren producing. I'm sure Atlantic Records was salivating at the thought of a pop classic.  

    That's not exactly what they got.

    Instead they got a Hall and Oates eager to experiment with their sound and a producer who was knee deep in nut-so prog rock with his band Utopia. The result is War Babies, an album that nearly destroyed the duo's career. It also happens to be one of the most interesting listens of 1974. Those outtasight guitar solos are Todd and the backing band throughout is Utopia.

  "We wanted to cut loose from what we called the gingerbread'" said Hall, "the people who had seen us doing acoustic stuff in the folk clubs, who though that we were just these nice, safe folkie guys. Certain people in our initial fan base got violently upset about that album. We lost a lot of them, but I think that the fans we gained later, who carried us across, realized that we were innovators. I think that has characterized our creative direction ever since then."

  War Babies would be the final Hall and Oates album for Atlantic.

  Says Rundgren "So what? I didn't care what the label wanted. We weren't even pondering what they wanted, or their expectations, which I suppose was the issue. In those days, it was supposed to the era of freedom of the artist, and I think Hall and Oates took advantage of that. The label had other things in mind."

   

A month earlier, Todd Rundgren's Utopia released their first album. If you can sit through more than two minutes of this album, you're a bigger rock n roll fan than I.