TS: T. Rex vs. Todd Rundgren

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I dunno, Bolan was apparently very much his own creation, but maybe he did a better job of APPEARING unself-conscious. He could definitely let the kooky lyrical non-sequitirs flow in a way that didn't betray much editing, not to mention his ability to lay back in a chunka-chunka glam-stomp groove. Todd is and was too clever by half for that stuff.

todd has always been a bit of a cold fish. i find very little worthwhile after, like, '72. the black-and-white utopia album is marred by antiseptic, weird, trebly production, but i like the songs. but far more true musical value in todd and todd did make one great album, "something/anything." the t. rex albums are pretty inconsistent. so, as a rock star, bolan gets the nod, but in toto--you're comparing two fairly minor figures here i think--i say todd.

And I don't get the "one-dimensional" thing. Were Eddie Cochran or the Ramones "one-dimensional?"

todd had a pretty great run in the early '70s, but by the time he got around to banging on the drum all day ... well, "bang on the drum" was no "bang a gong."

i think both acts have been hugely influential in pop music ever since their heyday. bolan's glittery sex-snarl basically came to define bowie's. how does hunky dory get to ziggy stardust (i agree that THAT one is somewhat overrated) without electric warrior? i dont think it does. and as far as the depth of the songs goes, ill take "main man" as one of the saddest, most evocative songs i can think of right now.

rundgren is a little tougher for me to be so effusive about, simply because i dont know his oeuvre as well as bolan's. but it just seems like 70/80's pop production is his domain. he worked with the ny dolls, he worked with xtc, he worked with patti smith, badfinger, sparks, and he put his weirdo-pop stamp on all of them. i cant imagine a record like prince's around the world in a day or sign o the times existing without TR, and i KNOW youre not calling prince minor.

if big star isnt minor, neither is t.rex or TR.

TR's latest is a pretty solid piece of work from a 56 year old guy.

i've always been on the fence about the ramones...i enjoy the idea of them more than the reality. but i like them far more now than i did a few years ago. kind of like my reaction to the cramps, whom i now really like after initially thinking of them as a one-dimensional joke...and my take on pop music is that if you can't appreciate a good one-dimensional joke then the joke's on you (sometimes sex is a one-dimensional joke but you go thru with the damned thing anyway, even if you're like me and you don't like it...)

and i would say that, in my opinion, big star is kind of another thing entirely and i wouldn't call them minor. neither todd nor bolan did anything with the depth of the third big star record. i'd say part of the appeal of the first BS albums is the surface quality of same, altho i'd argue there's a lot more to chew on on the best of those records than anything in the bolan or rundgren ouvre. i'm a fan of glam and power-pop and i'm aware that they're both genres that are somewhat shallow by definition.

and no, i wouldn't call prince minor. and again minor isn't necessarily pejorative. i love lots of minor r&b for ex. and i feel like if it enriches my life and satisfies my admittedly formalist bent, all to the good. prince kind of does, did, what a lot of glam/power-poppers/bubblegumers wanted to do, as on things like "peach" and "she's always in my hair," which is the kind of prince material i go for the most. there's something so reassuringly crass and populist, yet distanced, about the prince and that's what i think todd was going for on a lot of his stuff..."slut" and "piss aaron" for example, and bolan too. but they sorta fall short in there somewhere.

yeah, i like sex.

Again, though, have you heard Unicorn?

Maybe I'm misreading into this, but the "even" makes me think that Electric Warrior is assumed to be his best. I was always under the impression that The Slider held that position (with fans of T Rex arguing that point endlessly, to be sure). I know I can't think of a weak song off of that one.

haven't heard that particular track, but i must say that big star have always struck me as the LEAST "swingin'" act i've ever heard. they're pleasant, but there's something downright soporific about them - i literally can't sit through more than half of radio city at a time without starting to nod off. i'll take "updated eddie cochran" over that any day.

(And the only two Tyrannosaurus Rex songs I ever heard, I didn't like. So I'll give 'em the benefit of doubt and say I'm unfamiliar with them.)