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Article: Blanded Down for the USA
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- January 22, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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BACK WHEN rock 'n' roll first jolted the industrialized world,
"American" was a synonym for raw.
Thirty years later, the Great American Blandout (sponsored by
U.S. FM rock radio) forces British bands to tone down their style if
they want to enter the American mega-market. That's what Gene Loves
Jezebel and Flesh for Lulu have obligingly done.
Not that either Gene's Celtic dance-rock or Flesh's Velvet
Underground/Rolling Stones synthesis ever set a new standard of rock
inspiration. Still, in planing the edges of their sounds, Gene has
lost some of its atmospheric depth and Flesh a bit of its grit.
Both bands have come out ahead, though, in areas appreciated by
American corporate-rock ...