Musical Space 10/18: Crossover

Click Image to Enlarge

KMUW / Mark Foley

Musical crossovers are either wonderful or they’re not, as Mark Foley discusses on this week’s Musical Space.

When record executives use the word “crossover,” it means they are trying to make money by packaging a type of music to a new audience. In the ‘80s country artists such as Kenny Rogers had hits that crossed over to the pop charts.

But for some, crossover can mean artificial or watered down, an imitation of the genuine article. The commercial motivations for some crossover projects are all-too-transparent, the results undesirable—like the recent pairing of the once ubiquitous Kenny G. with indie rock band Foster The People on Saturday Night Live.

But when done well, crossover can create something new. In the 1960s the Beatles and other acts such as Led Zeppelin and Cream transformed R&B and the blues into new permutations that reverberate in popular music to this day. Later, Gary Burton and John McLaughlin brought jazz chops to the arena of rock ‘n’ roll, creating jazz fusion.

The ‘90s saw the emergence of alt country music which took the energy of the Sex Pistols and the Clash and married it with the refined, down-home harmonies of the Carter Family, the Louvin Brothers and the Flying Burrito Brothers.

The possibilities are apparently endless. New York’s heavy metal giants Anthrax collaborated with hip-hop innovators Public Enemy just over 20 years ago to create one of the dominant forms of popular music in recent decades, rap rock. And each year veteran and new artists collaborate with symphonies in an attempt to shed new depth and light on old classics.

So, as with so many things in the world of music, the key is always experimentation, taste, and having the foresight to put a new spin on something old.

Music: “Bring The Noise” by Anthrax and Public Enemy from Attack of the Killer B’s