Corporate Rock

[Jondalar]

I was feeling nostalgic and I started downloading 1980s songs and I came across Send Her My Love by Journey. I forgot how much I loved that song. It is my favorite Journey song. Just love the hook. Anywho, one thing led to another and I watched Journey's Behind the Music. In the Behind the Music Journey talked about the curse of being labeled Corporate Rock. I did some more research on them and found out that critics didn't like them at all because they were Corporate Rock." I also found out that they have outsold Fleetwood Mac. Their Greatest Hits alone has sold 15 million copies. Escape sold 9 million. Frontiers sold 6 millions. They had a few other albums sell 3 million a piece.

Anyway, I never ever heard Fleetwood Mac labeled as Corporate Rock. i have heard of Heart, Starship, Boston, Foreigner and even the Eagles being labeled as Corporate Rock, but not Fleetwood Mac. I wonder if that is because of the oddness of Stevie and Lindsey. Does their quirkiness throw the band off in people mind? Did Tusk derail any thoughts of Corporate Rock? Tango in the Night could of been a Corporate Rock album, but it's not really referenced as one. It does have own sound that makes it a little unique.

I just find the whole thing a bit odd, especially because of the success of Rumors. Unlike, Heart or Journey, they haven't been ripped to shreds by the critics. Critics pretty much like them even though their music sales like corporate rock. There is a quality that just sets them apart.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

I was feeling nostalgic and I started downloading 1980s songs and I came across Send Her My Love by Journey. I forgot how much I loved that song. It is my favorite Journey song. Just love the hook. Anywho, one thing led to another and I watched Journey's Behind the Music. In the Behind the Music Journey talked about the curse of being labeled Corporate Rock. I did some more research on them and found out that critics didn't like them at all because they were Corporate Rock." I also found out that they have outsold Fleetwood Mac. Their Greatest Hits alone has sold 15 million copies. Escape sold 9 million. Frontiers sold 6 millions. They had a few other albums sell 3 million a piece.

Anyway, I never ever heard Fleetwood Mac labeled as Corporate Rock. i have heard of Heart, Starship, Boston, Foreigner and even the Eagles being labeled as Corporate Rock, but not Fleetwood Mac. I wonder if that is because of the oddness of Stevie and Lindsey. Does their quirkiness throw the band off in people mind? Did Tusk derail any thoughts of Corporate Rock? Tango in the Night could of been a Corporate Rock album, but it's not really referenced as one. It does have own sound that makes it a little unique.

I just find the whole thing a bit odd, especially because of the success of Rumors. Unlike, Heart or Journey, they haven't been ripped to shreds by the critics. Critics pretty much like them even though their music sales like corporate rock. There is a quality that just sets them apart.

because FM retained control over what they recorded and why. The others got dictated to over time by the record companies. Heart talk about how they were just told these are the songs you are going to do and they were the most bland, sound-like-everything-else-on-the-radio songs. Honestly, I think Stevie started down that road particularly as her addictions, especially the Klonopin, got worse. Tom Petty recalls sniping at her that she was becoming a "pop star" and told her she should 'stop surrounding herself with all these losers who keep pushing her for hit singles'. He said she needed to be "reminded of what she's capable of" and not get pushed into more "synthesizer rock" as he called it.

I think Lindsey gets a lion's share of credit for the band not being pigeon-holed that way. He saw it coming after Rumours and fought tooth and nail for Tusk.

[Macfan4life]

This is apple and oranges. Journey was given the "corporate rock" slanderous adjective because of their sound. Their productions very slick for radio hits. Ballads like Open Arms, etc.
Fleetwood Mac has never been accused of being corporate rock. Yes Rumours was one time the biggest selling album but they did not alter their sound to do it. You cant compare the phrase "corporate rock" with album sales. Some of the biggest sellers are very very much anti-establishment and anything but corporate rock.

The only negative slander that was thrown Fleetwood Mac's way was "commercial." Mirage and Tango are definitely commercial pop albums.

Any hoo, I never agreed with the Journey categorization but I understand it.

[SisterNightroad]

Actually now I finally remembered that I read Tom Petty talking about Fleetwood Mac as a "corporate rock band":

And we were a little wary of Stevie. We didn’t quite know whether to like Stevie or not, because we kind of saw this big corporate rock band, Fleetwood Mac, which was wrong, they were actually artistic people. But in those days, nobody trusted that sort of thing and we just kept thinking, ‘What does she want from us?


Then I read some other magazines that prefer a "harder" sound, and among them Fleetwood Mac could be considered a corporate rock band.
So ultimately I think it depends on which public you are talking about.

[redbird]

To me "corporate rock" pretty much means "arena rock" and Fleetwood Mac's sound never quite got there, though you can see the trajectory of their sound nearing it. Stevie got closer, I'd agree.

Maybe it's because Fleetwood Mac made their mark before the term did. They have been so many things over time, so why focus on the period in which they sound the most like Journey or Foreigner? It wasn't their hallmark sound IMO. The Rumours line-up made its mark as a post-60's band, which is not what is meant by "corporate rock" as I see it. The band may have shared the lifestyle because of the money but they evolved from a blues background meeting a folk rock background. They were soft rock, which did get commercial, but to me "corporate rock" and "arena rock" had a hard rock ancestry, influence from metal and glam.It's hard to imagine them doing a song like "Hot Blooded", and you can admit that "Over My Head" and "Little Lies" and so on are designed to be radio hits, but they would still never be Styx songs.

I have to ask though, did critics really love them? Always? I feel like there surely was a lot of critical dismay over what was once Peter Green's band churning out slick little top ten ditties. They look okay in retrospect because they could have been so much worse, and the songwriting and more grounded musical influences were still there, there was enough cream to rise to the top, but I can't believe that they were never dismissed as lightweight.