Playboy Jazz & Rock Poll 2000

This year in music was hardly ho-hum. Popular music in 2000 was a hybrid of belly-jeweled teen sensations, boy-toy bands, old-fart reunion tours, cutie-pie country, postmodern blues and rap dramatics. Digital distribution through Napster and MP3 made the world smaller. Musical genres both meshed and clashed; some styles were new and others were rehashed.

Cultural and musical counterpoints created the biggest sparks in rap. On "The Marshall Mathers LP," Eminem juxtaposed lyrical, poetic raps against violent themes. He spewed angst on race and drugs. He is a master, spot-welding rhymes and cadence with cunning word (continued on page 204)Jazz & Rock(continued from page 152) usage. The CD sold 1.7 million copies in its first week, the most ever by a rap artist. This year the 27-year-old became the scary-era Elvis for a new generation. He punched the envelope with Kill You, his rap about raping his mother, a 2000 version of Jim Morrison's The End. Despite his often vile message, Eminem grew in stature. He is the anti-Britney. (Eminem is not shy about weighing in on Spears, describing her as "garbage," "retarded" and "Shitney Queers.")

But white rap isn't new. Third Bass and the Beastie Boys pioneered the form years ago. What was most adventurous was this year's hybrid of rap-rock and two traditional white bastions, pro wrestling and television. Eminem's label head, Jimmy Iovine, is also the producer of Farmclub.com, a weekly show for the USA Network. Iovine shrewdly slotted his show right after the World Wrestling Federation's Raw Is War, cable TV's smash show. Farmclub.com is a kinetic mesh of live performance, website and music label. With personality and quick camera cuts, it targets teenage boys. There's a lot more testosterone to be tapped. This year Kid Rock, DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill and George Clinton collaborated as producers with XXX stars Stacy Valentine, Rebecca Wild and Stephanie Swift on the Deep Porn CD.

When applied correctly, flamboyance can go a long way. A colorful wrestler from long ago was the poignant centerpiece of the Memphis Rock and Soul Museum. Sputnik Monroe (Rock Brumbaugh) broke down racial barriers while wrestling in Memphis from the Fifties to the Eighties. Monroe is white, but he walked tall down predominantly black Beale Street in Memphis, wearing flashy threads from Lansky Brothers---Elvis' haberdasher. Monroe cut the ribbon for the museum when it opened this past spring. Although the Experience Music Project garnered more press, the Rock and Soul Museum is more important. The museum's steamy blend of Sixties and Seventies soul is honored with Smithsonian-curated items such as Ike Turner's piano and the Reverend Al Green's Bible.

Soul music also manifested itself this year with D'Angelo's continued assent. His sophomore album, Voodoo, sold more than a million copies. D'Angelo was the brightest commercial beacon of a back-to-basics soul movement that also included Macy Gray and Angie Stone. On his 2000 tour, D'Angelo paid homage to classic Seventies soul, reworking Roberta Flack's Feel Like Makin' Love with his tender falsetto, framed by jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove. He even handed out roses to the ladies in the front row, just like Reverend Al, but there's nothing nostalgic about D'Angelo. He uses the spiritual elements of classic soul as a bridge between contemporary funk and hip-hop.

American blues took equally dramatic steps. Postmodern blues was popularized a few years ago by Tom Mazzolini, founder and producer of the San Francisco Blues Festival. The movement argues that traditional blues is an endangered species. So po-mo blues follows a pastiche of modern rhythms with contemporary jazz, hip-hop and gospel influences. Former Jimmy Reed bandleader Eddie C. Campbell turned the house inside out by blending Stevie Wonder's Superstition with hip-hop and a Bo Diddley beat on the wacked-out track Geese in the Ninny Bow (Hey!) from his Hopes and Dreams CD. The North Mississippi Allstars dipped deep into Allman Brothers guitars, especially as an opening act for Steve Earle. And Alvin Young-blood Hart turned out the bravest CD of his career by covering honky-tonk, rock and even Seventies disco on Start With the Soul. But some of the strangest blues sounds of the year came from Clarksdale, Mississippi's Super Chikan and the Fighting Cocks. On his 2000 rerelease, Blues Come Home to Roost, Super Chikan (a.k.a. James Louis Johnson) flaunts his one-string diddley-bo guitar. With that single string, Chikan makes a piercing Middle Eastern sound that complements his screeching vocals. Postmodern blues returns the blues to an earlier period and then updates it.

Folk music is one of the oldest stylistic hybrids. The year's most ambitious folk release was Arhoolie Records' 40th Anniversary Collection: The Journey of Chris Strachwitz, a five-CD boxed set featuring 106 songs from 96 artists. Strachwitz, who founded Arhoolie in 1960, views himself as more a documentarian than a producer. His first discovery was Texas sharecropper Mance Lipscomb. But the collection also includes acts as diverse as Tex-Mex legend Flaco Jiménez, Big Mama Thornton singing Little Red Rooster (with Buddy Guy on guitar), honky-tonk singer Rose Maddox, zydeco king Clifton Chenier, Omar Shariff and the Any Old Time String Band.

Sundazed Music got cooking this year with a sterling reissue series reminiscent of the glory days of Rhino Records. Based out of Coxsackie, New York, Sun-dazed---formerly know for its garage-surf-psychedelia reissues---released chestnuts from such well-known artists as Paul Revere and the Raiders, Otis Redding, the Meters, and Buck Owens and His Buckaroos (the March 25, 1966 Carnegie Hall concert), as well as lesser-known acts such as the Van Dykes, a Texas soul trio profoundly influenced by Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions.

Other old rock acts didn't need reissue projects. The road goes on forever for Bob Dylan, who will tour with anybody---even Phil Lesh. Ozzfest, featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Pantera, was a head-banging success. And the Who once again roamed the earth, along with Jimmy Page and future geezers the Black Crowes. Beach Boy Brian Wilson reunited with himself on a tender tour where he performed the entire Pet Sounds album backed by a big orchestra. But the most bizarre reunion of the year was that of Diana Ross and the Supremes. The public didn't buy it or its lofty ticket prices.

That Supremes tour was dropped by Ross' promoter, SFX Entertainment, and it carried supreme ramifications. When tours were struggling in the past, individual promoters from cities on the tour renegotiated and conducted damage control to cut their losses. No one promoter could pull the plug on a whole tour---until SFX came along. It owns 120 live-entertainment venues across America and 16 amphitheaters in the country's top 10 markets. Besides Ross, the SFX roster also includes 'N Sync. Pearl Jam plays almost exclusively at SFX venues across America. SFX is also the talent agent for Michael Jordan and Andre Agassi. Ross' Return to Love tour carried an ambitious and expensive cast: a full orchestra, her own band and go-go dancers, along with the standard support group of crew and vendors. They were all thrown out of work midway through the tour, an example of corporate consolidation at work. And there's more in store: In August, Texas-based Clear Channel Communications bought out SFX for about $3.3 billion in stock. This year, Clear Channel bought a radio chain as well, becoming the primary avenue through which listeners are exposed to popular music. Clear Channel now has the upper hand at venues, on tours, through radio play and even in promotion.

In September, Madonna released Music, her first studio album since 1998's Ray of Light. Music is brighter and more upbeat. Madonna's vocals move away from the dense vibe of Ray of Light, notably on the album's second single, What It Feels Like for a Girl, her big-sister address to the bejeweled and beleaguered Britney Spears. Spears' second album, Oops! I Did It Again, features a sleazy cover of the Rolling Stones' (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, and the project's title video has Spears prancing around in formfitting red latex while singing, "I did it again/I made you believe we were more than just friends." Spears successfully played into the randy-girl power most recently exploited by the Spice Girls.

Critically, it was an oops kind of year for the former Mouseketeer. K.D. Lang said teen acts like Spears and 'N Sync had lots of musical talent and little emotional depth. The gossip columns had Spears hooked up with everyone from Britain's Prince William to former Mouseketeer Justin Timberlake of 'N Sync. As the year was winding down, Spears remained at the head of a bevy of Baby Britneys, including Christina Aguilera (yet another ex-Mouseketeer), Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore.

On the other hand, older, Nashville-based women such as Lee Ann Womack and Trisha Yearwood made meaningful music by looking past traditional Music Row songwriters for material. Womack had a number one hit with the inspirational ballad I Hope You Dance. Year-wood's heartfelt Real Live Woman addressed her divorce. Yearwood also delivered a hopeful version of Bruce Springsteen's Sad Eyes, and the Bobbie Cryner title track went against the Britney Spears shtick. In weathered tones, Year-wood sings: "I don't need to be 19 years old/Or starve myself for some weight I'm told/Will turn men's heads, been down that road/ And I thank God that I finally know just who I am."

Latin pop was less reflective, but much more energetic. Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and Enrique had impressive years at the concert box office and with record sales. Santana was part of a compelling summer tour with Everlast. Erik Schrody (a.k.a. Everlast) wrote Put Your Lights On, the centerpiece of Santana's megaselling Supernatural CD. Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers tried valiantly to fill the void left by this year's passing of Latin bandleader Tito Puente. Cuban music continued to ride the ripple effect of 1997's Buena Vista Social Club CD and the accompanying movie and tour. The Afro-Cuban All Stars big band (led by Buena Vista arranger, vocalist and tres player Juan de Marcos González) came to America to promote its eclectic sophomore album, Distinto, Diferente. Longtime Cuban favorites Los Van Van continued to barnstorm America, appearing at the Playboy Jazz Festival.

There were no more tricks left for the Smashing Pumpkins, who announced they were disbanding. But treats are sure to remain in future outtakes. The platinum-selling band had talked about breaking up even before recording this year's Machina/The Machines of God, a commercial failure compared with the previous Pumpkins catalog. Expect Billy Corgan and guitarist James Iha to pursue solo careers. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who rejoined the Pumpkins after beating a drug problem, has talked about a new career as a race car driver. A loyal goth rocker, Corgan blamed the success of teen singers and boy-toy bands for the Pumpkins' demise.

After all, 'N Sync's sophomore album, No Strings Attached, spent nearly half the year in Billboard's top 10. 'N Sync continued to exploit engaging five-part harmonies in the crisp, saccharine manner of the Four Freshmen and doo-woppers like Eddie and the Starlights. Life was more colorful offstage for 'N Sync. In what may have been the photo op of the year, Keith Richards took in an 'N Sync show at Madison Square Garden. The formerly out-of-sync Rolling Stone and his wife and daughters hung out backstage with the fab five after they sang hits like (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time. If that wasn't strange enough, the Richards clan bumped into Janet Jackson backstage. The Pumpkins should sit tight. The last time teen music ruled the world like this (1971, with the Osmonds and the Jackson 5), the natural counter-reaction helped stoke the careers of Car-ly Simon, Alice Cooper and Steve Miller.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young continued their reunion tour during the first part of 2000. Then Neil Young went off on his own to support his Silver and Gold solo CD that includes Buffalo Springfield Again, a ballad about his other band. For both the Silver and Gold record and the tour, Young hired a gloriously organic soul band. Its members include Ben Keith on steel guitar, former Booker T. and the MGs bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, drummer Jim Keltner and keyboardist Spooner Oldham (best known for co-writing Sixties soul hits such as I'm Your Puppet and Sweet Inspiration with Dan Penn). Still, Silver and Gold was a commercial disappointment for Young. The tour fared better, thanks in part to the Pretenders' opening slot.

Phish broke out of its cult jam-band status thanks to its nonstop touring ethic and the demise of the Grateful Dead. A few years back, young jam bands like Phish and Widespread Panic had to rely on package tours such as Horde. But the band's eclectic live sets (no two shows are the same) and a couple of strong albums gave Phish the best year of its career. Its minimalist 2000 studio album, Farmhouse, was a perfect follow-up to 1999's six-disc live set, Hampton Comes Alive, which includes a cover of Stevie Wonder's Boogie on Reggae Woman and an off-the-wall version of the Beastie Boys' Sabotage.

Other acts maintained cult status this year, but that didn't lessen the splendor of their music. Alex Chilton toured as part of a trio to support his CD Set, a clever collection of tunes including Jesse Belvin's soul ballad Goodnight, My Love, Gary Stewart's kick-ass country anthem Single Again and the always jazzy April in Paris. In concert, Chilton turned it up a notch with an irreverent cover of Michael Jackson's Rock With You. Singer-songwriter Robert Crenshaw (younger brother of Marshall) may have turned out the best pop-rock record of the year with Victory Songs, harking back to the crisp, appointed hooks of mid-Sixties rock. Don Dixon and Marti Jones guest on Victory Songs and Crenshaw pays tribute to his Detroit compatriots the MC5 with a sizzling version of Shakin' Street.

American jazz celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Louis Armstrong. The New Orleans trumpet player always claimed his birthday was July 4, 1900, although subsequent documents cite August 4, 1901 as his real date of birth. No matter. We can do it all over again next year. Armstrong transformed jazz into a solo form, changing the course for just about every instrumentalist and singer who followed in his footsteps. Notable Armstrong reissues in 2000 included Legacy's Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings, a four-CD set covering Armstrong's Twenties energy. Roulette also released the double-CD Complete Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington Sessions, where Armstrong is driven by a hipster rhythm section. Queens College in Flushing, New York created an Armstrong exhibit, Pops Offstage: Louis' Home-Recorded Tapes, from an archive that includes 650 reels of Satchmo telling jokes and talking about his daily doses of marijuana and Swiss Kriss laxative. About half a dozen of the tapes can be accessed on the Internet by punching in satchmo.net.

Innovative jazz bassist Charlie Haden was given the prestigious Miles Davis Award at the 2000 Montreal International Jazz Festival. The annual award is bestowed upon jazz artists who have renewed the art form. It was a proper call for Haden, an exploratory bassist who has worked with such diverse performers as Ornette Coleman and Rickie Lee Jones. Jazz bassists rarely bask in the limelight.

The unbending spirit of jazz carried over into the 21st century. Steadfast individuals like Louis Armstrong worked, fought and improvised together to create one nation under a groove. In the rapidly changing landscape of digital distribution, a world of diverse music can be combined into one unified sound. Much of it will be on the Internet. This year, digital sound left much to be desired, but digital distribution offers countless opportunities for musicians, as does the proliferation of independent labels. Everyone expected consolidation in the music business to leave the industry dominated by a few giant labels. But that wasn't the case. When you go online, you'll be able to find chord changes from thumb-picking country guitarist Merle Travis and Motown bassist James Jamerson. The more sophisticated computers become, the less consumers will have to rely on software networks such as Napster and Scour. It will become increasingly difficult to keep intellectual property in an earnings position. In the future the music could have a corporate sponsor. Maybe labels will charge the customer to hear their artists online. But the songs will be heard. Music still speaks to the heart and soul.

Eminem became the scary-era Elvis for a new generation