4GBs

1989 was the twentieth anniversary of 1969 (I know, I’m a genius), the year of Woodstock, etc.  In 1989, pop culture got bombarded by ’60s nostalgia.  We might be sick of hearing about the sixties, but as far as rock music is concerned, every young American since the early ’70s has felt at one point or another that they missed out on the salad days of rock.

The splintered nature of rock music in the early ’70s reflects a country in the middle of an identity crisis.  Vietnam, Nixon, all that stuff; for the first time, America felt like it might be losing out after all.

People who were young, rock-loving fans in the late ’60s moved on to more serious stuff by then, like James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon… while their younger siblings, the majority of rock fans, felt like they missed out big time.  A splintering of genres occurred: progressive rock, country rock, British-based hard rock, glam rock, funk rock, singer-songwriters, on and on.  It wasn’t until the arrival of punk and disco, and their mainstream counterpart New Wave, that the hippie aesthetic, as music theorist John Covach calls it, died out.

But not for long.  In the late ’80s, enough time had passed.  The Grateful Dead had their first hit in eons (“Touch of Grey”).  The Allman Brothers Band got back together in a good way and went on tour.  Jam bands were flourishing.

Lenny Kravitz managed to channel three Beatle eras in this one song:

1): The Rubber Soul, still-sorta-moptoppish era Beatles.  The chorus of “Let Love Rule,” 0:42, is built on the same progression as the verse in the “You Won’t See Me,” for example.

2): The Sgt. Pepper/Summer of Love-era Beatles.  The similarities to “All You Need is Love” are apparent all over the chord changes, not to mention the whole love-anthem theme of the song.

and 3) the White Album / post-hippie Beatles.  The whole “Hey Jude” sing-along in the extended outro, from about the sax solo on, 2:48, sounds more like the Wilson Pickett remake of “Hey Jude,” however, which featured Duane Allman.

He managed to channel Stax and Sly & the Family Stone in there as well.  There’s no reverb in the whole freaking song, and the bass walks all over the map.

Yeah, I know.  It’s not all that hip to have Lenny Kravitz on your iPod, but this one will probably stay for awhile.