Geography - the genre?

thefsb

thefsb

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Somebody was spinnin' Chicago in the November Challenge today and that reminded me how a long time ago a line in Hedwig and the Angry Inch suggested there might be a musical genre or general style that we could call geography because
  • America – Sister Golden Hair
  • Asia – Heat of the Moment
  • Boston – More Than A Feeling
  • Europe – The Final Countdown
  • Foreigner – I Want to Know What Love Is
  • Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
  • Kansas – Dust In The Wind
Then my sister suggested Japan, which disproved the theory and I gave up.

But maybe if we are suitably selective (i.e. cheat) we can flesh the list out a bit and still maintain the stylistic consistency. Just for fun.
 
I'm very confused by this thread. Two questions: 1) What does the title following the band name have to do with the topic? (i.e., why not just: America, Asia, Boston, etc., or why couldn't it be, for example, Chicago - Question 67 and 68?), and 2), How does Japan disprove the theory? (Or maybe it's just one question: What IS the theory?)
 
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Sorry to confuse, @Russ I. The song title beside the band name is a song intended to exemplify the theory. The theory itself is probably more BS than not but I think there's enough to it to be fun. It is that these geography bands have a certain style in common.

Describing musical style is tricky but I'll try with: 70s to early 80s, top-30 single, power ballad, stadium rock, romantic, sweet vocal harmony, big hair, macho.

In terms of musical style Japan doesn't really fit. No guitars, weird slow synth noises instead of straightforward rock, and a very different kind of machismo.

Btw, I want to substitute Carry on Wayward Son for the Kansas example, mostly because of the magnificent hair in this video

 
thefsb said:
Sorry to confuse, @Russ I. The song title beside the band name is a song intended to exemplify the theory. The theory itself is probably more BS than not but I think there's enough to it to be fun. It is that these geography bands have a certain style in common.

Describing musical style is tricky but I'll try with: 70s to early 80s, top-30 single, power ballad, stadium rock, romantic, sweet vocal harmony, big hair, macho.

In terms of musical style Japan doesn't really fit. No guitars, weird slow synth noises instead of straightforward rock, and a very different kind of machismo.

Btw, I want to substitute Carry on Wayward Son for the Kansas example, mostly because of the magnificent hair in this video

Click to expand...

Okay, maybe I'm getting closer to understanding, but if so, I have to offer that America fits this list only by virtue of the band's name--their music isn't anything like what's offered by the rest of the list. No power ballads, no screaming guitars, no stadium rock. Just good old, mellow country rock, and I sure don't recall any big hair or macho attitudes from them. They were about as laid back as music came back then.
 
Here's the Hedwig bit that started this all those years ago.



Hedwig: [voiceover] He sang me songs.
Tommy: Classics.
Hedwig: [voiceover] The bands were new to me: Boston, Kansas, America, Europe, Asia.
Hedwig: [stops Tommy from playing his guitar] Travel exhausts me.

www.imdb.com

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) - Quotes - IMDb

Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Directed by John Cameron Mitchell. With John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor, Stephen Trask, Theodore Liscinski. A gender-queer punk-rock singer from East Berlin tours the U.S. with her band as she tells her life story and follows the former lover/band-mate who stole her...
www.imdb.com www.imdb.com
 
Russ I said:
Okay, maybe I'm getting closer to understanding, but if so, I have to offer that America fits this list only by virtue of the band's name--their music isn't anything like what's offered by the rest of the list. No power ballads, no screaming guitars, no stadium rock. Just good old, mellow country rock, and I sure don't recall any big hair or macho attitudes from them. They were about as laid back as music came back then.
Click to expand...
I think this shows you do understand the theory and that you know music better than I do. And that the theory is likely to fall to pieces in the next few minutes.
 
thefsb said:
I think this shows you do understand the theory and that you know music better than I do. And that the theory is likely to fall to pieces in the next few minutes.
Click to expand...
Hahaha! Maybe not, maybe not! I've been wondering whether there's any evidence any of these bands have songs that are true to their geographic namesakes. With America, for example, I seem to recall a Native American flavor to at least some of their music. And another issue I have with the original theory is that there are SO MANY bands whose music could be charazterized by "top-30 single, power ballad, stadium rock, romantic, sweet vocal harmony, big hair, macho" that's it's hard to see any particular significance to bands that are named after locales. But hey, this is fun stuff to think about!
 
Russ I said:
And another issue I have with the original theory is that there are SO MANY bands whose music could be charazterized by "top-30 single, power ballad, stadium rock, romantic, sweet vocal harmony, big hair, macho" that's it's hard to see any particular significance to bands that are named after locales.
Click to expand...
I was thinking exactly that as I scanned YouTube's up-next suggestions after checking out More Than A Feeling. There was no shortage and most of the bands didn't have geography names.
 
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