The Complete Guide What is Fuzz? It’s a word to symbolize a feeling. A tidy Vietnam. They couldn’t stop “the Man.” label to give to a kind of music that many So maybe instead of trying to change the would define as a subset of “soft rock.” It world, they decided to focus on their own was a type of scene, a kind of aesthetic, pleasure—on getting their kicks while a kind of mentality during the 70s. the getting was good. Over time, as we’ve come to understand There is no real term to describe what it better, it could be the lynchpin to became of the main body of hippie understanding the “masculine mystique” dilettantes during the 70s. Real, devoted, during that decade. Its something so hippies never gave up, but the majority obvious, but it has so far escaped of the youth that had been swept up in critical notice. that movement when it was mainstream was cast adrift. They were left sitting in It’s like a mountain right under our nose. their denim, with their long hair and their It’s titanic. weed wondering “what happened?” Or is it a figment of our imagination? It is our hypothesis that the baby boom- First, let’s set the stage. The 70s were a ers collectively gathered themselves up, complicated time. It was hard getting took off their tie-dye, put on their shades, over the 60s. Famously, in retrospect, it’s hopped in their custom vans, and turned seen that 1968 was a turning point. It was on the 8-track before physically and met- the zenith of the hippie movement. After aphorically heading out on the highway that watershed year, the hippies began to fall in love with a new kind of music to lose their hold on the cutlural zeitgeist. called “soft rock.” In many ways, it’s likely that America’s youth cultural had been surprised by Put simply, “Fuzz” is a term we’ve coined its own strength, but also confounded for this new kind of leisure-suit-loving, by its inability to reach its goals. Baby sensitive but macho, culture that quietly boomers had experienced a cultural took over America the better part of a awakening during the summer of love, decade. The 60s introduced long hair but it was followed close behind by a and shag carpeting, but now the carpet rude awakening into the real world. They was there to help soften the interior of discovered they couldn’t stop the war in the custom van and the hair sprouting from chests and upper lips became an FULL FRONTAL FUZZ emblem of virility. This guide covers everything we know about the So in your imagination, reach out and Fuzz phenomenon, from top to bottom. But if you touch the shag in your own custom van, wanted to boil it down to only two words, those words would be women and vans. run your hands through your hair. And feel the Fuzz. THE MUSIC GENRE SPECTRUM Popular Musical GenreFuzz overlaps with manySpectrum other kinds of music How We Found the Fuzz from the 70s, so you may find songs with multiple [Soft Rock focus - circa 1970s] We stumbled on this idea, this era, this To better understand what Fuzz music is, genres represented in a single song. cultural movement without a name more let’s talk about what it is not. than a decade ago—around the year SAP - This is a term we invented for 2000. We discovered it through the music. the slow, weepy, and overly sensitive It all started when we began to curate music of people like Eric Carmen, Barry a playlist of songs from the 70s that had Manilow, etc. But bands from other genres something in common. They all had a can write a Sap song, too. “Beth” by Kiss similar feeling.They were all soft rock SAP is “Sap.” songs, but they weren’t too soft. They were all well-known, or at least easily YACHT - We didn’t invent this term, but it recognized because they were hits that is the type of soft stuff you could imagine POP YACHT remained in classic rock circulation. But on your sailboat (the van of the sea). they were often by bands with obscure Examples would be Christopher Cross, names that the average guy today might Poco, Toto (Poco’s evil twin) and the not recognize, artists with names like Yacht/Sap crossover, Air Supply. Starbuck, Firefall, Pablo Cruise, Player, and FOLK - This should be pretty obvious. In Ambrosia—even long-winded names like the 70s, this genre was represented by DISCO FOLK Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Climax Blues people like Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, etc. Band, Atlanta Rhythm Section, and England SOUL - This genre would include a lot of Dan and John Ford Coley. R&B as well: Bill Withers, Curtis Mayfield, But all these songs, even if unfamiliar by Spinners, Marvin Gaye, etc. name, are instantly recognizable. They are beyond “one hit wonders.” They are WANK - This is another term we made stitched into the fabric of our classic rock up. It is hard guitar-driven rock by bands FUNK SOUL history, and in most cases—because they like Kiss, Ted Nugent, Slade, Foghat, Thin are so ubiquitous—they transport you Lizzy, Sweet, Billy Squier, etc. WANK back in time to other times you heard FUNK - You know what the funk we’re the songs: in the car, in the pizza parlor, talking about here. in the elevator or the drug store. So it’s DISCO - Again, this genre is obvious, but not exactly accurate to call the songs it’s important to see how it overlaps with “obscure.” Most of them are as familiar Pop, Funk, and Fuzz. This is a continuum. as an old baseball glove. They have been played on FM radio stations now for POP - This brings us back to overlap almost 40 years. with Sap. Want to hear a Pop/Sap cross- over band, turn on Captain & Tenille. MUSIC INDUSTRY BREAKTHROUGHS Radio DJs changed Fuzz Fundamentals from entertainers (Wolfman Jack) to something more like tas- Shag THE PERIODIC TABLE OF FUZZ Cigarettes Vans Eight-track Acoustic carpeting (high-tar) (custom) tape guitar temakers by exposing To understand what kinds of elements go listeners to new artists. Sh 1 into creating the “Fuzz molecule,” study C 2 V 3 Et 4 Ag 5 the table below and practice getting the FM radio also reached maturity in the Denim Hair chemistry just right. Jeans Marijuana Playboy Hi-fi Fat Bass (bell-bottomed) 70s. AM radio had the advantage of broadcast range, but the quality of the 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 D H Jn M Pb Hf Fb audio is generally poor. So broadcasted Polyester Casual sex Mellowness Ramblin’ Sunglasses Cut-offs Tequila Hot tubs Turntable Keyboard music was now more often in stereo and the focus on musical nuance/variety. Py 13 Cs 14 M 15 Ra 16 Su 17 Cu 18 Tq 19 Ho 20 Tu 21 Ke 22 Naugahyde Mustaches Orange Airbrush Iron-on tees Boots (old) Gallo wine Captain’s Headphones Electric guitar (color) artwork chair

Ny 23 Mu 24 Or 25 Ai 26 Io 27 Bo 28 Ga 29 Ca 30 He 31 Eg 32 Simulated Breasts Forgotten Trucking English Safari suit Mexican CB Radio Vinyl LPs Ludwig drums woodgrain (natural) underwear Leather food

Sw 33 Br 34 Fu 35 Tr 36 En 37 Sf 38 Mx 39 Cb 40 Vy 41 Ld 42 Corduroy Feathered Sunsets Stagflation Hai Karate Platform Fondue Waterbeds FM Radio Saxophone hair shoes

Cr 43 Fe 44 Su 45 St 46 Hk 47 Pl 48 Fn 49 Wb 50 Fm 51 Sx 52 Macramé Sideburns Keep-on Cocaine Flokati rugs String art Sitar truckin dude

Rh 53 Sb 54 Kt 55 Co 56 Fk 57 Sa 58 Si 59

MATERIALS BODY IDEAS/ACTIVITIES WEARABLES CONSUMABLES VEHICLES/OBJECTS INSTRUMENTS

CONFIGURED FOR PLEASURE

The invention of the 8-track tape allowed people to play entire albums in their cars. So when you were travelling (or partying) in your mobile pleasure palace, you could enjoy more complex or introspective cuts than the hits you heard on the radio. “LIBRA” custom van layout “TAURUS” “VIRGO”

Fuzz Volume 1 (originally compiled – 2000) PABLO CRUISE The band featured the 1 Sundown Gordon Lightfoot most on the second mix 2 Moonlight Feels Right Starbuck is Pablo Cruise with the funky Fuzz crossover tunes 3 I’d Really Love To See You Tonight England Dan & John Ford Coley 6 “Whatcha Gonna Do” and “Love Will Find A Way.” 4 Love Is Alive Gary Wright 5 Just Remember I Love You Firefall 6 I Am So Into You Atlanta Rhythm Section 7 Wishing You Were Here Chicago 8 Alone Again Naturally Gilbert O’Sullivan 9 Rock On David Essex 10 Tin Man America 11 Afternoon Delight Starland Vocal Band 12 Let Your Love Flow Bellamy Brothers 13 Escape (Pina Colada Song) Rupert Holmes Fuzz Volume 2 (originally compiled – 2002) 14 Magnet and Steel Walter Egan 1 Ventura Highway America 15 Summer Breeze Seals & Croft 2 Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) Looking Glass 16 You Are The Woman Firefall 3 Lowdown Boz Skaggs 17 Sentimental Lady Bob Welch 4 On And On Stephen Bishop 18 When You’re In Love With Dr. Hook 4 A Beautiful Woman 5 Kiss You All Over Exile 19 The Air That I Breathe The Hollies 6 Baby Come Back Player 7 Make It With You Bread 8 Miracles Jefferson Starship 9 How Deep Is Your Love? Bee Gees 10 Love Will Find A Way Pablo Cruise 11 Spooky Atlanta Rhythm Section 12 Right Down The Line Gerry Rafferty 4 FIREFALL 13 Sara Smiles Hall & Oates Each of the three CDs has 14 Jackie Blue Ozark Mountain Daredevils an artist that has multiple tracks represented in the 15 Undercover Angel Alan O’Day mix. In the case of Fuzz 1 16 Anytime Journey the first superstar band was Firefall with the very fuzzy 17 Whatcha Gonna Do Pablo Cruise “Just Remember I Love You” 18 South City Midnight Lady Doobie Brothers and “You Are The Woman.” 19 I Love You Climax Blues Band Fuzz Volume 3 (originally compiled – 2012) But what about _____?

1 How Long Ace There are a number of bands that seem 2 Couldn’t Get It Right Climax Blues Band 4 to meet the criteria of “Fuzz” but aren’t 3 Baker Street Gerry Rafferty included in this set. 4 Devil Woman Cliff Richard For instance, if you look at all of the 5 She’s Gone Hall & Oates elements in the Periodic Table of Fuzz and then listen to many of the hits from 6 Another Saturday Night Cat Stevens Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, or Eagles, Guitar Man 7 Bread you would rightly wonder why they aren’t 8 I Keep Forgettin’ Michael McDonald in this collection. Would you have had 9 Ah! Leah! Donnie Iris those songs on 8-track? Yes. Would you 10 Sharing The Night Together Dr. Hook be rolling them in your van, cruising down to Venice Beach in the 70s with 11 Blinded By The Light Manfred Mann your hot girlfriend sitting next to you in a Dirty Work 12 Steely Dan pair of cutoff shorts trying to roll herself 13 Steal Away Robbie Dupree a..(ahem). Yes. Yes. And Yes. How Much I Feel 14 Ambrosia There is a good number of bands that 15 Smoke From A Distant Fire Sanford-Townsend Band are in a different category. They are the 16 I Saw The Light Todd Rundgren overplayed Titans of Classic Rock. 17 Come And Get Your Love Redbone “Hotel California” might be very Fuzzy, but it just has no place in this set because 18 Shadow Dancing Andy Gibb this compilation is about the popular 19 Holding On To Yesterday Ambrosia songs that are often overlooked classics. The Titans can remain on Mt. Olympus. They don’t need our help. One caveat though, you will notice that Doobie Brothers, Journey, Chicago, and Steely Dan all show up in the mix. Even though these bands are super well-known and could rightly be called “Titans,” the songs themselves are the AMBROSIA off-hits that aren’t super identifiable as The standout of Fuzz 3 is being by those bands. Ambrosia with the synthy pop of “How Much I Feel” and a melancholy ballad which could sum up the THE TITANS OF CLASSIC ROCK whole Fuzz Project called “Holding On To Yesterday.” Even though the hits from these bands are undeniably “fuzzy,” they are not part of the Fuzz canon if they are too well-known. The facial hair and complicated male psychology showed up in the music, but it also showed up in TV, movies, even sports. Look at Ken Stabler, the The Fuzz Man bad-boy quarterback of the Oakland Much has been made of what was called Raiders, Joe Namath, even Mark Spitz, during the 50s and 60’s “the feminine the most decorated athlete of the THE “FUZZ WOMAN” mystique.” But search for an equivalent Olympics for many years, knew how idea for men, and you will not discover to flaunt the Fuzz. It’s not hard to seethat female artists any persuasive description of an idea are woefully under-represented in this called the “masculine mystique.” definitive collection of Fuzz. This is not During the soft rock era, men were an oversight. In developing the playlists, getting more in touch with their sensitive extra time and attention was paid to find side. But in the context of Fuzz, that desire feminine musical acts who deliver the was tempered by the portrait of a very Fuzz. What we discovered is that most of strong, and some might say exaggerated the women that are musically in-synch ideal for what it means to be a man. with the Fuzz either a.) fall more into To try to sketch the simple outlines of the “Titans of Classic Rock” category that portrait. The Fuzz man is strong and or b.) are too heavily in one of the other lantern-jawed (but now often wearing a surrounding genres. As soft as this music beard or mustache). In many ways, he’s is, it is possible that its a little too hard, like the heroes of the 60s, but the man of soulful, or lacking in the dance and disco the 70s is a little more complex. One can characteristics to attract a female point of imagine the he’s seen some road. He’s view, fan base, and/or mindshare. fun-loving, but he’s a little haunted. He Which led us to a hypothesis about Fuzz. has lost his innocence. Because the role of women in this music is most often either as an object of desire, or as an unfaithful partner, maybe this is one of the places male chauvenism took refuge during this decade, away from “com- plicated” ideas like ERA. So maybe the ideal Fuzz woman is not a real A FEW GOOD FUZZ MEN person at all, but rather Some of the actors who one could the kind of fantasy object one finds in say symbolized the Fuzz masculine fantasy (clockwise Lee Majors, the pages of Playboy. An ideal romantic Burt Reynolds, James Caan, James companion in your van on the uncertain Garner, Sam Elliott, Al Pacino, highway of life. Tom Selleck, and Gil Gerard) The End of an Era So when exactly was the “Fuzz Era?” Fuzz was the soundtrack to the baby The chart below depicts the Billboard boom generation’s struggle as they chart positions and years for each of started to really grow up. For most of that the 51 songs in this compilation. We generation, it was what they listened to independently collected these songs as they aged through their late 20s and from an aesthetic point of view, so by early 30s, as they began to get jobs, to looking at these chart positions and get married, to have affairs, to try new dates we can see a pattern that would kinds of methods (drugs) to continue roughly denote a beginning and end to inward journeys, or to go out on the road the period when Fuzz was in its popular to “find themselves.” ascendency. In short, this music tells the story of the Are there Fuzz songs that appear before American baby boomers’ first taste of or after this time? Absolutely. But these maturity and true loss of innocence. would be outliers falling in the fuzzy Admittedly, there is a lot of soft rock margins outside the main Fuzz period. that is insipid pap. But it’s our assertion While creating these playlists and that much of this music that we call Fuzz thinking deeply about what songs are has earned the privilege to step out of part of the Fuzz canon, we started to see the shadows and be truly celebrated as the whole decade in a new way. It is an important and formative period in significant that this music was popular. our culture. It was a time full of passion, It points, in a sociological sense, to the sensuality, fun, yearning, and personal way people were thinking and feeling, struggle. It was soft, but it still rocked. the ideas that were resonant back then. (December 2012)

1 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 20 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-0101-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 40 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 60 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 FUZZ POPULARITY OVER TIME 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 80 01-01 01-01 This graph depicts the Billboard 100 chart position 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 01-01 of each of the songs in three volumes by year. 01-01 Each colored dot’s label correlates to the volume 100 and song number from one of the three playlists. 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 Produced by El Tormento Records, in cooperation with Wildfreshness and Lost Rocket Productions.