Todd Rundgren needs no introduction.
The singer, songwriter, bandleader, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is best known for his classic hits, including “Hello, It’s Me,” “I Saw the Light,” and “Bang the Drum All Day.” Perhaps lesser-known outside of music circles, Rundgren is an acclaimed producer, responsible for such records as Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell, Grand Funk’s We’re an American Band, and breakout albums from Badfinger, Hall and Oates, and the punk forerunners, the New York Dolls.
The Philadelphia native will be at the revitalized Park Theatre in Cranston on Saturday, June 21, on his Still Me, Still We tour. I spoke to the singer recently and learned more about the upcoming concert and his career in the music industry. He noted the show will be a mix of familiar hits and deep cuts, from throughout his 58-year career.
“The tour is a combination of songs that fans like and respond well to, and songs that I like,” says Rundgren. “I try to pick songs that aren't the most obvious; they come from all different phases in my career. They're strung together in a way that has a certain story arc to them - not a literal story, but there is kind of a modulation of the mood and the subject matter and things like that. In the end, I try to give people something that sticks with them long after the show is over, something to think about.”
That might mean a new way of thinking about a song, that you may or may not have heard before. “I think that's the ultimate goal for an artist, to affect people beyond the point that they are experiencing it, that doesn't suddenly leave their mind when they leave the gallery,” adds Rundgren.
Studio Genius
In addition to his songwriting, Rundgren is known for his work in the recording studio, where he produced numerous critically acclaimed albums. He continues to create new music, but has adopted more contemporary means to make it, joining many young artists who produce albums on their laptops. “I got my MacBook here, and I got my keyboard control over there, and everything else is pretty much software,” he says. “I'm well familiar with the process, and yeah, I've been doing it for a while. I don't see why anybody wouldn't do that if they really wanted to make music. Does it make you musical? No. If your musical ideas aren't very good, then you're probably just making music for yourself.”
He even sees a role for AI in music production, a somewhat controversial idea among many artists. “I don't necessarily see anything wrong with AI suggesting something to you because that’s how musicians kind of work anyway,” he says. “You listen to music, and you get ideas from listening to other people's music. So if AI is making suggestions to you about something that you might write or something that you might perform, I don't see that as being any different than listening to someone else's music.”
Classic Rock Roots
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the music business had a solid formula for success. That changed when the rock bands in the mid/late-60s and 70s took more control of the creative process. Rundgren entered the music business at age 19 in 1967, when his band Nazz recorded their debut album, at the height of the Beatles/Beach Boys rivalry. Those bands and others were using the recording studio as a means of innovation, creating sounds not previously heard, a trend that undoubtedly influenced Rundgren.
“The feeling that musicians had, that the music business had, up until Elvis went into the military, everybody thought they understood how it worked,” he explains. “It was enough just to find some good-looking guy and stick him in front of a bunch of musicians and have somebody write songs for him, and there, you have an act. That was the music business.”
“Then suddenly, there were the Beatles,” he continues. “Four guys get together and dominate the entire world. Suddenly, the sky was the limit. And I think that everybody saw the music business differently at that point. Every musician said, we own this now. We're going to determine what kind of music gets onto records.”
“It was a halcyon time,” continues Rundgren. “It was the most inspiring time in music; we've had times that sort of approach that, like punk rock, which was a devolution, we were taking back the music again. We don't even have to be musicians; we only need to know three chords, but I'm in charge now. And that kind of broke the mold. And we had other genres appear like new wave, the very beginnings of rap music, and stuff like that.”
Rundgren feels the industry is due for a similar moment. “We're overdue for a real breakdown, because we've reached that, maximum swiftness at this point. You know, we really need something new.”
Todd Rundgren plays the Historic Park Theatre and Events Center on Saturday, June 21. VIP packages are available. Click here for tickets.
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