The 1981 Listening Post - Bryan Adams - You Want It You Got It

 Bryan Adams - You Want It You Got It

#339

July 21 1985

Bryan Adams

You Want It You Got It

Genre: Rock

Allen’s Original Rating: 2.5 Out of 5

Rating: 2 out of 5

I have a little obsession. It’s about the perception of time. There’s a really good VSauce video on it. He talks about the same thing I do, but I’m purposely burying the lede. 

It’s weird to think that human beings are closer on the timeline to Tyrannosaurus Rex than say, Stegosaurus. And I think about that a lot when it comes to music because time is marked by events. This is why High School takes FOREVER!!! Not only do we have a limited about of experience as living creatures but there is something happening every damned day in High School, whereas, say, today, especially during a lockdown, the days fly by: Nothing is really happening. There are fewer amazing events as you get older and the spaces between them are far between. 

So, when I think about 2021, when this is being written, Pearl Jam’s 10 or Nirvana’s Nevermind are both 30 years old and that means that when they came out, any record released in 1962 was younger then than those albums are now. 

For example: The Beatles first really landed on our shores in 1963. That’s 28 years. But, in 1991 when the Beatles popped up on the radio they *might* be on classic rock but a lot of their older songs would find their way to oldies rock. If not them, certainly a lot of their contemporaries. It was no longer “modern”.  And that sort of freaks me out.

Cuz, about 20 years ago I was at a retirement resort where my mom was staying and the music they had piped in was music from the 60s. Like the Stones and The Beatles and it had me thinking…jeez, when I am in a retirement community will they pump in…The Clash and The Ramones? 

Umm…yeah. Those are oldies now.

So, here we are on this timeline and 1981 is 40 years in the past. Which means that all of these albums are the same age now as anything released in 1941 was back then and that predates “rock” by 14 years. 

But I distinctly remember Bryan Adams being all over the radio and being the vanguard of MOR rock. And, while this album isn’t his best (that would be coming) and he is definitely struggling to find the formula here, he is also really old. 

When You Want It came out our involvement in WWII wasn’t even as old as this record is now. But it doesn’t sound “old” to me. It sounds mediocre. But not old. 

Which makes me old. 

Because I’m closer to Stegosaurus than T Rex, if you get my meaning.

The songs just ain’t there, Bry. 

(This album got dropped by someone and it needed reviewing and I wanted to see if my original rating held up. I was too kind)

https://open.spotify.com/album/4HhfxkjFB38HBTEsNjGoEH?si=khSHD1BaQC61Vj1QoCHlAQ