— Sian Pattenden
The nineties had gotten off to a slow start but at least the music was beginning to improve. After five straight reviews with average-to-poor Singles of the Fortnight, it's nice to encounter a genuinely great record headlining. And Jimi Hendrix isn't alone. Also reviewed by Sian Pattenden this issue is a terrific Morrissey single, the epic "November Spawned a Monster", and "Real Real Real" an uncharacteristically strong offering from Jesus Jones (and see below for yet another excellent new release). In addition, David Bowie and Madonna are present. Neither of them have especially brilliant singles (the Dame's 1990 version of old classic "Fame" was a lousy way to promote his otherwise superb Changesbowie compilation; Madonna's "Vogue" is decent even if (a) it isn't close to as great as people say and (b) it worryingly kicked off the 'clever Madonna' period which coincides with me losing interest in her) but they're here nonetheless. Most of the rest are of little consequence which makes putting The Cure's "Pictures of You", UB40's "Kingston Town", Adamski's "Killer" and Janet Jackson's "Escapade in the Also Released This Fortnight section an unforgivable error. A solid fortnight though and a sign that pop was on the mend.
The early nineties was just about the last time that it was a bit sad to listen to old music. If you were into to The Beatles back then it was vaguely embarrassing. Pop songs from just a year earlier would've been dismissed as being "old". But with the rise of oldies radio and millions of Baby Boomers buying up favourites from their younger days on CD, it was impossible to completely avoid stuff from the sixties and seventies but there certainly wasn't any need for us to seek it out. Especially since so much of it kept popping up on TV commercials.
As Tom Ewing has pointed out, "if Levi's Jeans advertisers counted as a single artist they would have six Number Ones", a total that would outpace David Bowie and Britney Spears, among others. Classics such as Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" and The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" did far better as a result of appearing in adverts for denim than they did when the acts that recorded them were in their respective primes. But what about Wrangler jeans, very much the Pepsi to Levi's Coke? A stone cold classic by a rock 'n' roll legend not even managing to squeak its way into the Top 60? Yeah, that sounds about right. 501 jeans could make a hit but boot cut nut-huggers worn by American stock car racers? Nah!
Jimi Hendrix wasn't your typical classic rock star — either that or he was the most typical rock star. He oozed talent. He died young (crucially, he also didn't live long enough for everyone to see him decline). He never failed to look cool. Not conventionally handsome yet the sort of person you couldn't look away from. There was an aura about him. He also happened to transcend tastes and perhaps more so in the nineties than when he was still alive. Metalheads and rock fans could appreciate his incredible guitar playing; those of us more inclined towards the pop end of the spectrum could still enjoy the tunes and we understood there was much more to him than being an ax god. Everyone knew that Hendrix was cool even if we'd never dare touch anything else connected to oldies rock.
Wrangler jeans commercial or not, it's strange that "Crosstown Traffic" didn't do better in 1990.
Its lack of success is mirrored by its relative failure back in 1968. While his extraordinary early singles "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze" and "The Wind Cries Mary" were all Top 10 hits in Britain in the first half of 1967, the fate of later records was much more mixed. His brilliant and influential cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" was another big hit but third album Electric Ladyland was meant to place him among the more serious faction of rockers who cared less and less about the pop charts. As if in acknowledgement of this, fans stayed away from the LP's second single for the most part. Hendrix wasn't exactly in the midst of an imperial period but his discs were supposed to do better than number 37.
This lack of chart success hides the fact that it's a perfectly fine offering and one that should have appealed to more. It lacks the explosive magic of "Purple Haze" and the dynamics of "Watchtower" but "Crosstown Traffic" is punchy, the tune is great and who can possibly resist Hendrix's makeshift kazoo? In some ways, it is actually a cross between his '67 acid rock British sound and the upcoming hard rock/funk American period that he would follow to the end of his life. I prefer the early phase but I'll happily admit that he needed to make a change as psychedelic music was fading away. Perhaps it's too much of a transitional work (not showy enough for the acid freaks, too pop for the rock crowd) and, again, it isn't quite Premiership-level Hendrix but it deserved to do better in both the sixties and nineties.
Finally, it's worth pointing out that this singles review is full of errors. (Well, there are two that I spotted anyway) The Jimi Hendrix Experience (the rhythm section of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell got so little credit to begin with) did not release a single called "Downtown Traffic", nor did A Tribe Called Quest do a rap known as "Public Enemy", just as Public Enemy have never had a number called "A Tribe Called Quest". Nothing against Sian Pattenden, who happens to be one of my favourite Smash Hits reviewers from the era, but I suspect that the editorial standards from the days of Mark Ellen and Steve Bush were beginning to slacken somewhat. The decline of Smash Hits wasn't far off and it's easy to blame the increasingly bland pop scene (as well as the stratifying that occurred between pop and rock a year later) but the keen editorial eye may have also played a part in the gradual fall of a once top pop mag.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
A Tribe Called Quest: "Pubic Enemy"
As Sian Pattenden says, this is one of those ubiquitous hip hop 'message' songs but one that it's still possible to enjoy even if said message is oblivious to the listener. She credits De La Soul wee bit too much (this single owes at least as much to Erik B & Rakim) but that's probably down to the context of how Posdnuos, Turgoy and Maseo had changed hip hop so radically a year earlier. Anything remotely quirky was destined to get lumped into the same bag of trendy hippie rap. Of course, ver Tribe were happy to ride along as part of that scene. Still, a great single about AIDS and STDs that doesn't come across as overly preachy and is a fun listen. What more could they have done?
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