Jetting for indie success

Last week, two blast-from-the-past bands brought their sets to Phoenix. One has become a staple for modern rock ‘n’ roll bands in the United States, and the other, dominated Billboard charts with a few rock solid hits in the 1980s then appeared to fade out. The first band performed at the newly built University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale for nearly 60,000 fans, with ticket prices ranging from $60 to $2,000. The second band performed at the charming Marquee Theatre in Tempe for no more than 200 fans for a modest flat rate of $14.

Both bands are awesome in my book, but there’s only one that I would’ve gone to see. When bands play gigantic arena-sized shows like the Rolling Stones did last Wednesday, I can’t get over the loss of relationship that occurs between the performer and the spectator. I also can’t squeeze $60 out of my tight budget for seats a mile away or the extra cash for the binoculars I’d need in order to see the band perform.

I respect Joan Jett and the Blackhearts for their modesty. I don’t think they’d have much trouble filling up a large arena -at least halfway - if they wanted, but they chose to keep their stardom at an attainable length for their fans. When they played the Marquee last Saturday, there wasn’t a lot of hype in the papers. In fact, the only publication that printed anything about the show was the Phoenix New Times.

That doesn’t mean the band can’t hold its own in rock ‘n’ roll. Jett has written nine Top 40 hit singles for the group, and her most widely recognized contribution to pop music, the song “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” held the #1 spot on the Billboard Charts for eight weeks in a row and is now the #28 Billboard song of all time.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are maintaining their indie roots and modest fashion in their current U.S. tour by performing in small venues to promote their latest album on their own label. “Sinner” features 14 new tracks in Jett’s traditional style of power chord riffs and raspy vocals, but she strays a little from love songs and experiments with songs for social and political change. She’s not dubbed one of the original Riot Grrrls for nothing.

Music to make you vote

Remember the Rock the Vote effort that seemed to dominate MTV programming during the Clinton/Bush 1992 elections and Clinton/Dole 1996 elections? It was a valiant attempt to increase voter turnout among young adults by using pop music and celebrity musicians to spark interest in politicians and hot-button issues, like abortion. On the surface, it seemed Rock the Vote was successful in perking the interests of 18-to-24-year-olds, but the numbers showed then as they still do now -- young people just don’t care enough to make it to the polls, no matter what mainstream band is pushing the candidates.

Rock the Vote was started in 1990 by Jeff Ayeroff, co-chief of the renowned powerhouse label Virgin Records, and since then, it has teamed up with big-name bands to organize concerts, voter registration drives and education efforts across the country and defeat political apathy among American youth. Currently, the group is working with the controversial Iraq war-hating Texan trio, the Dixie Chicks, which may put the non-profit political advocacy group into left-leaning light, but at least it has good clean elections intentions.

The Dixie Chicks answer questions and pose for
pictures at the Rock the Vote Press Conference
in 2003.

Unfortunately, Rock the Vote is much more active during the national presidential elections and not so much during state midterm elections. That doesn’t make Arizona’s gubernatorial election next week any less important. There will be a slew of weighty constitution-amending propositions on the Nov. 7 ballot, such as Proposition 107, which would define marriage as an institution between one man and one woman and denies benefits and rights to currently registered heterosexual and homosexual domestic partner couples.

If I were the president of Rock the Vote, I would get three politically charged bands to play a huge get-out-the-vote-rally at each of Arizona’s major state colleges. Those bands would be Sleater-Kinney, a feminist indie-rock trio from Olympia, Wash., Le Tigre, an all-out, in-your-face political commentary music explosion from New York, and the D.C.-based hardcore punk group Fugazi.