When you have a moment, listen to some 70s rock and roll. It might not be your cup of tea but you’ll learn a lot from it as far as stretching the musical landscape. The cross section of sounds was nothing short of staggering.
It really began in the late 60s with groups like King Crimson. But it wasn’t until the prog rock explosion of the early 70s that you really got a taste of what it was like.
My personal favorite groups included the likes of Renaissance, Yes, Kansas, Genesis, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Triumverat, Electric Light Orchestra and Starcastle, just to name a few. What did all these groups have in common? Nothing and everything. Neither Emerson, Lake and Palmer nor Starcastle incorporated classical instruments into their sound the way groups like Renaissance, Kansas and ELO did. ELP’s sound was incredibly different from all the rest. And while Starcastle was a direct copy of Yes, every other group was truly unique to themselves. I mean you knew who each group was as soon as you heard them.
What they all had in common, however, was that epic sound. It was incredibly rare for any of these groups to perform songs under 7 or 8 minutes long. ELO, as they started to become more commercial in the late 70s, did start to write shorter tunes. But their early stuff was ridiculously long. And Genesis? Supper’s Ready took up all of side B at over 20 minutes long.
When you listened to these groups, you were listening to something that bordered on classical music even if they didn’t use classical instruments. Mozart wrote symphonies shorter than some of the stuff these guys came out with.
And this is just one example of a musical cross section. There are so many more.
Take early country music. Early country music sounded like country and nothing else. You almost never heard a country song on a pop or rock chart.
Flash forward ahead to the 21st century and a group by the name of Lone Star came out with an amazing song called “I’m Already There.” Well, there were two versions of this song. One was a typical country version, and even that is stretching it, but the other was pure power pop rock complete with synths and screaming guitars.
When I was with a songwriting group back in the 90s, I remember speaking with Steve Zuckerman one day. In case the name isn’t familiar, he’s the one who discovered Bon Jovi. Anyway, he was very frustrated one day about something. It was these narrow minded songwriters who try to pigeon hole themselves into one genre with their songs. He said to me, and I’ll never forget this, “Don’t these guys understand that you want to crossover?”
If you’re wondering why, the answer is simple. Let’s say you write a song. It has a country flavor but also contains elements of either pop or rock. What happens is this. It probably initially makes the country charts but as the song is heard by others, it makes its way onto the pop or rock stations and suddenly, this country chart hit is now on the main Billboard Top 100 singles. So now, the artist has his country fans but he also has a cross section of the pop and/or rock fans.
A great example of a crossover hit was the 1970 classic “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” sung by B.J. Thomas. Not only was the song a country hit but it was the number 1 song of 1970. You can’t get bigger crossover action than that. And THAT is what songwriters should be shooting for. You want to appeal to as many people as possible.
So how do you do this? Well, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. Let’s face it. Big crossover hits are the exception and not the rule. However, if you want to give yourself at least a shot at having a crossover hit, here are some tips.
First off, you want to listen to as much music as you can, especially popular music. You may not like everything that’s out there (I sure don’t) but you need to be familiar with it, if for no other reason than to at least get an idea of what you’re up against.
Then you want to pick two genres that are at least slightly related to each other. It’s tough to have a country hit crossing over to the house charts. That’s a stretch by any stretch of the imagination. Fortunately, there are enough similarities between many genres that you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding at least two that fit together.
After you’ve done that, you want to isolate the elements of each genre that makes it specific to that genre. One way to do this is with instrumentation. For example, in a lot of country music you’ll find pedal steel and slide guitars. Maybe a fiddle too. Now, let’s say you want to cross over to the rock charts. What’s pretty common about most hard rock songs? Well, you’ve got that distorted or fuzz lead guitar sound for starters. And sometimes, that alone can be enough. Add in some synths and you’re pretty much there. That’s what Lone Star did with their monster hit.
Then you just put it all together and voila. You’ve got a crossover hit. Well, a potential crossover hit.
But if you’re going to do this with any degree of accuracy, you’re going to have to listen to a lot of music and be comfortable writing each genre on its own. I wouldn’t even attempt to write a crossover reggae/house song because I can’t write reggae to save my life.
If all this sounds easier than it really is, you’re right. It’s not easy. But nothing worth your time is. The rewards of writing something that appeals to the masses are many and not just in the wallet. The satisfaction you’ll get just from knowing you did it will be reward enough.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim