Happy Birthday Todd Rundgren

Todd Rundgren turns sixty today, so happy birthday Todd. Awesome first name, by the way. I’ve written about Todd before, so this is kind of a follow-up in regards to that first post. I downloaded the majority of Utopia’s Oblivion before being banned by the uploader, an occurrence which is frustrating, but I think I figured out why it happens to me on a regular basis. At first, I took it personally. But now I realize, thanks to a message from a user who also chose to ban me, that I have been frolicking along, downloading as I please, while letting no-one take a look at my own goods. You see, I had to re-add SLSK several months back and I inadvertently neglected to change my configurations. So when I downloaded whatever I wanted from your files and you attempted to look at mine, you would be met with a big fat no. Sorry about that.
I guess that is what happened with the person I was downloading Oblivion from. The bitch of it is, this seems to be the only person on Earth that actually has Oblivion, so every time I go and look for the remaining tracks I need, and the same dude comes up. I’ve spun the few tracks that I did manage to glean and they were even more uneventful than I remember them. First of all, what the fuck is with the drum sound on that album? It seems that in the process of trying to sound “modern” back in 1983, they actually managed to secure the entire album in ice and, to that point, the album even sounds retarded by 1983 standards.
I’m showing my gayness here, but I still think the song “I Will Wait” is a wonderful slice of love-song pap and I continue to get a kick out of “Winston Smith Takes It On The Jaw.” It seems that everyone circa ’84 was into the whole George Orwell trip.
Both of those songs, by the way, don’t appear to be Todd Rundgren composed tunes.
Yes, it seems that Rundgren has spent the past quarter-century M.I.A., releasing product that isolates him further from the mainstream and fringe fans (like myself) that enjoy his stubbornness but don’t appreciate his apparent laziness at creating an album that’s listenable from start to finish.
I think it came to a head when I received a Todd Rundgren album at the radio station that I was working for that declared it to be a live recording. Upon further examination, I learned that the fans who were allowed into the venue were met with a note that informed them that they needed to shut the fuck up during the performance. That’s right: fans were not allowed to clap, hoot or holler before, during or after each song. What’s the point? I think Rundgren gave some lame ass excuse, but if you’re not interested in creating a true live document, why not forgo the inclusion of an audience? Just rent the fucking venue and record your shit.
More recently, there was the announcement that Rundgren had signed on as a member of The New Cars, a project started by Cars’ guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes after Ric Ocasek advised them that he would not be interested in a Cars’ reunion. To his credit, Ocasek realized that bassist/vocalist Ben Orr was fucking dead and, therefore, a true Cars reunion would never be possible.
To side-step such a dilemma, Easton and Hawkes then hired Todd Rundgren to fill in for the missing Ocasek, while occasionally allowing him to sing a few of his own songs too. Now, not only is this a pretty shitty thing to do, it doesn’t bode well for Todd that his main motivation for this decision was, as he admitted to, money.
If money is such an important factor, Todd, then why did you release an album created entirely from your voice (A Capella)?
Rundgren is such an unbelievably frustrating artist that you wonder if there’s something in his wiring that has him intentionally sabotaging any chance of consistency in career path. I understand the need to be challenged, but serious, is there any challenge to covering “Just What I Needed?” Where is the challenge is trodding out the hits for another Ringo Star All Star Band tour? What’s the fucking reason why you made those drums sound so retarded on Oblivion?
Happy birthday, Todd. You frustrating and contradictive sell-out.