This being near the end of 2021, I figured I'd better start a music retrospective for the year. I'm going to begin with a post about some older men who had some interesting 'comeback' releases this year. I'm using the trope 'Class of 1977' for this post, even though one of them got his start in 1976... close enough when you look though the gauzy haze of nostalgia.
I'm going to start with the 76er in the bunch, Billy Idol, who got his start in the punk band Generation X. With Bitter Taste, his first single in about seven years, the former Mr William Broad explores the lingering trauma of a near-fatal 1990 motorcycle accident. It's a fantastically moody song, almost a country rocker, in which Mr Idol lays bare the physical and emotional scars of his near death:
The second song I'm highlighting here is by that Stang feller,who got his start in 1977 with The Police. Sting has been fairly active lately, including recording material with Jamaican-Brooklyn reggae/dancehall artist Shaggy a few years ago. This year, the former Mr Gordon Sumner has come back with Rushing Water, a song which sounds like a return to the form of his early post-Police solo material. I've heard him on a couple of radio interviews, and he is a funny, charming guy, very different from his 'full of himself' reputation. The song itself is a welcome return to form for this rock-and-roll yeoman:
The last Class of 1977 member who I will highlight in this post is Gary Numan, who formed Tubeway Army that year. Gary Numan had a knack for creating sci-fi dystopias with his concept albums, mixing urban anomie, Cold War paranoia, and an ambivalence toward the emerging technologies which allowed him to create his futuristic soundscapes but also threatened the freedom and well-being of late 20th/early 21st century humanity. Gary Numan's new album, Intruder, is uncannily, even terrifyingly, prescient, being a nightmarish exploration of the Gaia Hypothesis, detailing a world that has, literally, become sick of humanity, and is fighting back in self-defense. The former Gary Webb (sense a pattern here?) was legitimately freaked out when the pandemic hit, and it seemed as if the planet were indeed striking back against its dangerous, ungrateful children. If there were a 'thesis statement' for the album, which gives me goosebumps, it's probably Is This World Not Enough? Just like he did back in 1977, Gary Numan is a nonpareil when it comes to dancing across the line between dream and nightmare:
It's good to see these aging workhorses, old friends all, releasing such quality music in the sixth decade of their careers. I'd have to give the edge here to Gary Numan, because of the scary topicality of his new album, but all three men have proved that they are still forces to be reckoned with in 2021.
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