Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003232176
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TRACY WIMMER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Lose that 5 o'clock shadow. George Michael use to sport one, and we know what happened to him.
More to the point . . . we don't know.
Actually, Richard Marx is probably less likely to fall into the black hole of pop than anyone else on the music scene today.
His self-titled first release went double platinum, selling in excess of 2 million copies, in 1988. "Repeat Offender," his second album released in 1989, has sold more than 4 million copies in the United States alone.
Marx's latest success with the single "Angelia" makes him the first solo artist in rock history to reach the Top 5 with seven straight singles. And - get this - as a result of this success, Marx is now being considered for inclusion in the "Guiness Book of World Records."
But after interviewing a refreshingly straight-forward Marx by phone, it's apparent he's more concerned about making records than breaking them.
"What I get nailed for is being premeditatively 4 1 MARX Marx commercial and just trying to have hits," Marx said from Charleston, S.C., where he was performing Tuesday night.
"That's such b--- s---. I'm just writing songs I would want to hear if I were listening to the radio. And they're songs that I don't think are on the radio that much. I mean, the days of writing songs instead of just grooves and raps are . . . well, I'm one of the few people doing it right now."
With such success, it's a little surprising that the 26-year-old Marx is somewhat defensive about his own music. But popularity has on occasion taken its toll.
By the end of his tour in August, Marx will have been on the road with his "Repeat Offender" tour for a year without a break - something he admittedly hates - and four years with only periodic breaks. His performance at the Salem Civic Center Saturday night at 8 marks his second appearance in this area in two years.
Unfortunately, he explained, touring is the only way to perform live, which he loves. And what's more, it's the only way to give audiences a chance to see the "whole picture."
After all, sing a beautiful ballad and the world sings with you. Sing too many and you're labeled "laid back."
"And that is part of what I do - sing ballads," Marx said. "But I immediately got this reputation, and I don't think it has anything to do with the music."
Marx said he thinks the criticism has a lot to do with the way he looks - and the fact that he doesn't play the rock 'n' roll press games, like planting stories about his sexual exploits. "And I'm not in rehab," he said.
While drug rehabilitation has become rock 'n' roll's biggest publicity ploy, Marx calls on musicians to back the hype with talent.
Aerosmith has. Alice hasn't, according to Marx.
"What made Alice Cooper special when he made it big the first time . . . well, I don't hear anything in his music now. It just sounds like rehashed Bon Jovi songs. Desmond Child, Cooper's last producer, I think has a tendency to keep writing the same songs over and over and over."
While Marx says he wouldn't know a hit if he tripped over it, trusting his instincts has worked every time - which is why he writes, produces and performs his own material. He is, in a word, self-made.
When Marx left his Chicago home eight years ago to live in Los Angeles, he spent the first nine months of his career holed up in his apartment writing lyrics and watching TV. Soon his craft paid off, and artists like Chicago and Philip Bailey had Marx penning their songs.
During this period, he also put together his own demo tape which was ultimately turned down by every major label. Inspired by anger, Marx wrote "Don't Mean Nothing," a cynical commentary on the struggle of aspiring musicians. The song became his first Top 5 hit in 1987, when the EMI label signed Marx.
"If my approach was I wanted to have hits, I'd be making dance records," Marx said. "When `Don't Mean Nothing' came out, it was in a flurry of disco. And when `Satisfied' came out, it was in a flurry of rap. So I am certainly not following the trends."
Today Marx and his wife call Los Angeles home. His parents have also moved there. Dick Marx, his father, is a one-time jazz musician who became famous for writing hundreds of commercial jingles, such as "Aren't you glad you use Dial?" - soap, that is. His mother often sang the jingles.
The only formal musical training Richard ever had was six weeks of piano lessons at age 5 and two years of guitar beginning at age 10. He talked his parents into allowing him to quit piano but eventually taught himself to play it while they were out of the house.
"I couldn't let them know they were right all along," Marx mused.
Songwriting came a lot easier to Marx, who actually completed 30 songs for his last album while on tour in 1988. He carries a mini-cassette recorder so that he can hum tunes or dictate lyrics whenever he feels like it.
Billy Joel is his idol, Elvis a hero and Sam Cooke an influence. But "the best singer in the world," Marx said, is Australia's No. 1 pop singer, John Farnham.
Farnham released a song in the United States last year that didn't do well. Marx hopes the song he recently wrote for Farnham will be a hit.
Marx recently received a note from his other hero, Rod Stewart, after having written a song for him.
"I guess he really liked the song but his quote to me was, `I think you'll sing this better than I ever could.' But I'm going to keep trying to write some songs for him because I'm a huge Rod Stewart fan."
Marx's press releases seem to read with a note of hostility - with earthy subtitles about what makes Marx mad. But he denies that it's a sign that he's tired of the music business.
"I don't get tired of what I do musically, but I get tired of all this stuff that goes along with what I have to do," Marx said. "There are so many people that I have to come in contact with and work with and get involved with that I can't stand, and that makes it difficult.
"I'm not a fan of the press. I'm not a fan of the corporate scene. All that has nothing to do with music. I mean, what some a--hole at some magazine writes about me writes or about my live show is nothing I can learn from, because that person probably can't write, sing or play. . . . I don't mean to generalize when I'm talking about reviewers, but it's just like some director who makes a film about tap dancing and he has never tap danced in his life. How does he do that?"
For someone who is not a fan of the corporate scene, Marx chose a mighty corporate sponsor for this tour: AT&T.
"What they do is something I don't object to," he said. "What they are selling is putting people in touch with people - sort of what I do."
Marx has dedicated a lot of time and money to "Children of the Night," a nationwide foundation based in Los Angeles that builds shelters for runaway kids.
His next single is named after the foundation and uses runaway teens as back-up singers. Marx said a video for the song is being filmed and the song itself will be released in a few weeks.
As for his next album, Marx isn't so sure when he'll record. The last thing he wants to do is run into a recording studio when this tour is over in five months.
"All I want to do is spend time with my wife," he said. "And maybe watch some TV."
Marx performs Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Salem Civic Center, with special guest Tim Karr. Tickets are $17.50 reserved. Call 375-3004 for more information.
Keywords:
PROFILE
by CNB