Some musical acts from the 1970s transitioned nicely into the 1980s - Hall & Oates, Aerosmith and Prince found their niche in this new decade and flourished. Others... well, let's just say things didn't work out too well.For example, if you were in a stanky booger nosed funk band, you had a choice: get Caucasian or die. The Ohio Players died, meanwhile the once-funky Kool & the Gang took a page from the Lionel Richie playbook and hung in there.
Hush Puppy wearin' 70s guys like Seals & Crofts and Gordon Lightfoot were ancient history- not glossy and synthetic enough. However ex-hippies like Steve Winwood rolled with the changes and were successful.
And now, disco was dead and new wave was in... so what's a band like The Village People to do? Answer: Try to fit into the New Romantic movement in such a way that twenty-five years later people are still laughing at them.
Some bands just completely chunked their former image (and credibility). One of the worst transitions had to be Grace Slick. How in the hell did she go from "White Rabbit" to "We Built this City"?!?!
And how do you go from being The First Lady of Acid Rock...
...to this and still look in the mirror without crying uncontrollably?
Oh well, I guess that's just part of the music biz. You either stay in step with the times (no matter how awful they may be) or go bye-bye like The Ohio Players.
However, it still made me a bit sad to see a band like Heart get Wang Chunged. "These Dreams" was a far, far cry from the kick ass "Barracuda" (see previous post on the song), "Magic Man" and the incredible Zeppelin-esque "Love Alive".
