Editor in chief: Tim Pyle
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E-mail: ode@oregpauotegMi.edu
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We’ve heard
it all before
Whatever the reasons, old rockers are becoming increasingly reluctant to hang up their guitars
I have a song running through my head.
This experience alone can be an annoying distrac
tion, especially if it’s the sort whose chorus you un
consciously hum and even sing repeatedly as you go
about your day. Sometimes it’s made worse by the fact that
the ditty on your mind is one you otherwise — that is, con
sciously — dislike or even despise.
This actually seems to be the more-frequent occurrence,
a little psychological joke your brain plays on you. Over
and over a refrain drones in your ear, again and again you
catch yourself singing while driving or waiting in line for
coffee.
Nothing is more disturbing than not being able to rid
your mind of a song you not only don’t care for, but one
Opinion
Sara
Lieberth
that is a 25-year-old monster ballad that
never should have gotten airtime in the
first place. That’s the case here, as the j
tune that’s been playing like a broken *
record on my mental eight track for days is
“Babe” by the ever-scintillating quintet
STYX.
But it’s not my fault, I’ve determined. Oh
no, I’m holding Dennis De Young and his
cronies personally responsible for this
one.
And the reason?
They’re touring again.
That’s right, even as I write they are
sending out promotional materials to news outlets across
the country and actively performing in any venue that
will have them. When the Emerald received its packet, I
saw the band’s 8-x-lO glossy sitting on a desk and as
sumed from the outgrown perms and oversized collars
that it was in fact from the 1970s.
“No,” the editor informed me, “this is new.”
I shouldn’t pick on STYX solely, however, because
they’re not the only ones dragging us down memory lane
so shamelessly. Indeed, there’s been an influx of long-re
tired acts from the ‘70s reemerging in our collective con
sciousness of late.
Olivia Newton John played the Hult last week. Earth
Wind and Fire and The Moody Blues are scheduled for
Eugene stops next month. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s new release
is the subject of a review in this issue’s Pulse section. Jour
ney “faithfully” just released a greatest hits album last
year. And perhaps most notable in this trend is the poster
artist of love ballads himself, Mr. Barry Manilow, who will
be crooning away at the Rose Garden in September.
The question begging an answer here is... why?
Why are these acts that had their proverbial 15 minutes
two decades ago back to remind us of it?
its
fashion back to platforms and hip-huggers as a cue that
their music could be en vogue again as well?
Did they make bad investment choices with their prof
, and now we have to pay for it... again? Did they take
Has the near-extinction of turntables in fa
vor of CD players
threatened to place
their music on the dusty shelves of America forever? And
was this just too hurtful to their egos?
Or are they of the belief that Y2K might do us all in, and
so they’re hoping to get one last bit of the spotlight before
the dawning millennium?
It’s hard to say, really.
But one thing is for certain: they’re back and coming
soon to a mid-size auditorium near you.
They’re touring, releasing compilations and per
forming on Rosie O’Donnell and “The Donny
and Marie Show. ” (Come to think of it...
what are those two trying to prove?)
They’re back all right, playing those
“timeless” hits you just can’t forget.
Because they won’t let you.
^ Sara Lieberth is an Emer
ald associate editor. She
can be reached via e
mail at
ode@oregon. uore
gon.edu.
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R.D. Miller/for the Emerald
The Oregon Daily Emerald is published daily Monday through Friday during the
school year and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Daity Emer
ald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. A member of the
Associated Press, the Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in
Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. The unlawful re
moval or use of papers is prosecutable by law.
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