Adult Contemporary, but make it cool
Its not just CVS music, its a lifestyle, and a great new album by CHROMEO
Growing up, there were two sources of music. Neither were cool. First there was NPR, which back in the 1990s was a far cry from today’s hip world of Tiny Desk concerts. Now, a Morning Edition broadcast on the economy might be bookended by an instrumental break of Biggie Small’s “Mo Money Mo Problems,” but in the 1990s, our local public radio affiliate specialized in classical music. Even worse to my young ears, the signal always crackled with static. And so, my parents would have to change the dial to the one alternative: adult contemporary radio.
Adult contemporary played everywhere in my town, from our car, to the grocery store, to the pharmacy, to the local ice cream shop. I heard a constant rotation of Mariah Carey’s and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day,” Meatloaf’s “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),“ Toni Braxton’s “Un-break My Heart,” and Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now“. To this day, frozen yogurt still tastes as cold and sentimental as a smooth ballad performed on an 80s DX7 electric keyboard. But I also knew instinctually this music wasn’t for me. It was full of sonic cues: a gated snare drum was as passé as a mullet (which were admittedly very popular in my town far past their prime).
In middle school our family finally got a CD player. On Saturday afternoons after a long week of work and travel, my dad would play Phil Collins or Sting. It was his relaxation music and it was my cue to get the heck out of there and put on my $10 Walkman headphones gifted to me for my 12th birthday. I’d explore the world of grunge, acid rock, funk, rap and metal in solitude. Angsty music is a fitting soundtrack for youth.
But it’s amazing how time catches up with you. Now when I play back Sting’s “Brand New Day” (1998), I am enchanted instead of repulsed. The delicate acoustic guitar bathed in reverb, the subtle middle eastern scales, the gentle synth flourishes, Stevie Wonder’s graceful harmonica solo, the fine-grain sandpaper texture in Sting’s voice: they all put me at ease in the chaos of adult life. Am I embarrassed when Sting sings about his investment portfolio?
Why don't we turn the clock to zero, honey
I'll sell the stock, we'll spend all the money
We're starting up a brand new day
Turn the clock all the way back
No. Not at all. Don’t we all wish we could take a financially irresponsible vacation? Perhaps when I was young I needed angsty music to add excitement to life in the suburbs. But now, raising two kids in the city, maybe I need to embrace adult contemporary as my age appropriate escapism.
This week on Switched on Pop I spoke with CHROMEO, who after two decades of playing super danceable disco funk, asked themselves, how can you grow up and still stay funky? It’s a deep and wide-ranging conversation about 1980s Reaganomics disco, how it’s ok to just “Netflix and rest,” and the duo’s appreciation for the genre that inspired their new album: Adult Contemporary.
More Adult Contemporary hits from the Switched On Pop team
Reanna: I realized recently that one of my favorite songs of all time was Train's "Drops of Jupiter." We've all heard it; it's a song that, at first listen, can be so corny and cheesy. One day, though, it just unlocked for me, and now I break it out both in the car and at karaoke. I even find the corniness endearing.
Art: Before the band Chicago became known for saccharine ballads and Peter Cetera’s falsetto, they were a jazz/rock band with tight arrangements and a kickass horn section. “Saturday in the Park” is an upbeat jam about people hanging out on a summer’s day — it’s joyful, sonically rich, and so so singable. Can you dig it? Yes I can.
Nate: First of all, I highly recommend going on YouTube and watching the video of Knower performing “It’s All Nothing Until It’s Everything” because then you can see how the band recorded this jazz/thrash/ballad live to tape in a small residential home with a full orchestra in the garage and a choir in the backyard. But the audio recording slaps just as hard. Unique and moving stuff.
Charlie: In case you haven’t listened to this legendary recording in a minute. You really ought to give Sting’s turn of the millenium opus a chance.