But as with any trend, progress is made by committed individuals.įM stations in cities like New York and San Francisco have begun to champion the music, and advocates in trade magazines like Record World have begun to write regularly about it.Įventually, the music will stand or fall depending on the passion of its advocates and the response they evoke. Thus when some particularly aggressive, obnoxious punk comes along blasting three-chord rock into a radio executive's eardrums, he may rationalize his own conservative prejudices by appealing to the presumed taste of the country as a whole. Radio stations, for all their obeisances to hipness and to accurate reflections of teen-age tastes, are still run by middle-aged men, whose own preferences may well be for Johnny Mathis. This is the time of "mellow rock," "beautiful rock" and such-like. The 1970s have been a genuine reaction against the more extreme forms of 60s rock. But the radio stations are another matter. The press, at least in the big coastal cities and the national music magazines, is no problem: Many critics have been among the principal champions of this music. The next link in the chain is to get the music out to the public. The next step is for American record companies to arrange distribution deals with smaller American organizations (as Warner Brothers has just done with Sire) or with foreign companies (as CBS may do with the British Stiff label). Most of the even semi-important New York bands have record contracts now, as do many of the London groups.Īnd even bands in towns like Boston are being snapped up now, too - as with the eminently worthy Willie (Loco) Alexander and his Boom-Boom Band. The most obvious index is the proliferating signings of punk groups by record companies. But there are interesting behind-the-scenes pressures building within the music business that may soon lead to a breakthrough. NEW YORK - Punk or "new wave" rock still hasn't made any significant commercial impact on the vast American pop-music market.
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