Smooth Is the New Cool

I turned 35 years old this fall. I grew up somewhere in Europe in the 1980s. My first vinyl LP was Make It Big by Wham! Don Johnson in Miami Vice was my idol, and I worked hard to emulate his style - all slick hair, white suits and pastel colored t-shirts - in high school - at age 14...

I grew up, thankfully, and reconsidered both my hairstyle and my clothes, but I never stopped looking back, musically. Since turning music into an obsession at about age 14, I've never really been hooked on any contemporary trends. Guns'n'Roses, Kurt Cobain, Oasis, Red Hot Chili Peppers - or Madonna for that matter - all of them more or less eluded me. I wasnt' indie-cool, and definitely not mainstream-cool. I wasn't any kind of cool. Instead I went back in time to smooth and jazzy acts, like Michael Franks, Steely Dan, Al Jarreau and Pat Metheny Group. I don't mind hard rock or avant-garde classical, and I love hard bop jazz. I do, however, have a definite soft spot for the mellower side of rock music, often with a touch of jazz, and that's going to be the main focus of this blog.

It's a guilty pleasure, for sure, nevertheless I have a genuine affection for this kind of music. Whenever Sometimes when I hear some Stephen Bishop or vintage Michael McDonald, I'm in musical ecstacy (unlikely as that might seem to most of you).

But if you feel the same way, stay tuned. I'll be back in a couple of days with a few useful links to help explain this particular brand of rock music.