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The History of Rock
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Heartland rock is a name given to a type of music primarily from the 1970s and 1980s that concerned itself with themes of isolation in the white working class population---especially in the Midwest. The four main artists who have been identified with this style are John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, and Bruce Springsteen. A good example of the style is Michigan native Bob Seger's "Makin Thunderbirds" from his The Distance album released in 1982. Some lyrics appear below: The big line moved one mile an hour At the song's beginning the tenor is clear that the workers had pride in their job and the product they made, at end of the song the change in our economy is described by the line "and you're lucky if you work." Seger describes the lives of the regular man in songs like "Turn the Page," "Main Street," and "Against the Wind." And the years rolled slowly past The lyrics from "Against the Wind" shown above detail the steady erosion in a relationship and a life that becomes more and more isolated and desperate.
Tom Petty Petty's band (the Heartbreakers) has been performing for thirty years now and is very difficult to classify although the themes in some of their songs can clearly fall into th category of heartland rock. They formed a strong partnership for a time with Bob Dylan for whom they served as a backing band on tour. According to The All Music Guide to Rock, Petty's songs have "cataloged a series of middle-class losers and dreamers." The song "Mary Jane's Last Dance" comes to mind as an example. The excerpt below is from "Even the Losers:"
Baby, even the losers get lucky sometimes Bruce Springsteen
Born in Freehold, New Jersey, Springsteen released a series of albums in the
1970s and 80s that celebrated the desperate losers who people songs about the
heartland. The quote below sums up his considerable contribution to this genre. "Mr. Springsteen established heartland rock's main topics - unemployment, small-town decline, disillusionment, limited opportunity, bitter nostalgia. And with the overwhelming success of his 1984 album Born in the US.A., which sold 11.5 million copies in the United States alone, the style became a full-fledged movement.." John Pareles, New York Times In addition to the album mentioned above; Born To Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Nebraska, and The River developed Springsteen's themes. The lyrics below are taken from "Badlands:"
Talk about a dream; try to make it real. John Mellencamp Mellencamp had the perfect background to become a voice in heartland rock. He grew up in Seymour, Indiana and actually lived the life of a blue collar worker for a time before he became successful as a musician and song writer. His album Scarecrow (1985) cemented his position in the forefront of heartland rock. Songs on that album including "Rain on the Scarecrow" and "Small Town" are perfect examples of life decaying and dreams being lost:
Scarecrow on a wooden cross blackbird in the barn, |
