Friday, October 31, 1997
Making ‘Peace’
MUSIC: Music pioneer Patti Smith brings a lifetime of rock ‘n’
roll to her new album, "Peace and Noise"
By Mike Prevatt
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
For many everyday music listeners, the name Patti Smith is
either barely familiar or unknown. Yet to hard-core rock ‘n’ roll
fans, or those involved in the burgeoning punk scene in New York in
1974, Patti Smith reigns as the queen of poetic rock.
Smith, now 50, has just released "Peace and Noise," only her
second record of the ’90s, and yet it has been given the critical
red-carpet treatment, hailed already as one of the best albums of
the year. In "Peace and Noise," she returns to familiar lyrical
territory with songs centering around the lost and lonely
youth.
Smith, with her widely celebrated gigs at New York’s punk mecca
CBGB’s, helped begin a punk revolution in 1974 with her starkly
personal indie single, "Piss Factory." A year later, she released
her major-label debut, "Horses," which has been lauded as one of
the best and most influential records of all time. In the spirit of
Bob Dylan, Smith put her poetry to moving music, yet her sound was
noted for its passionate fury. Smith took themes of religion, sex
and the unguided youth and gave them a blunt rock ‘n’ roll
treatment never seen before, somewhere Generation X and Alanis
Morrisette eventually came from.
"I don’t really direct my work to anyone, or any age group or
type of person," Smith says, practicing in her New York home for
her Halloween stint at CBGB’s. "I don’t presume to know what kind
of person listens to records. I just try to do the best work I can,
and communicate abstractly to whomever will listen."
The new record looks at a past, present and future of America.
Smith takes a lot of the issues confronting young people of today
and tomorrow, just like she did in 1975.
"The first song, ‘Waiting Underground,’ is just an abstract form
of hope," Smith says, "just giving some people something to think
about in terms of the constructive aspects of union, of people
gathering together."
One song, "Whirl Away," looks at the disturbing direction of
today’s young people. "One of the things that inspired (that song)
was just daily reading, things in the paper like ’14-year-old boy
on the subway getting killed for his leather jacket’ and these kind
of things. Young people are killing each other for material objects
or some abstract idea, or they don’t like the color of the person’s
skin or the way they looked at them in the subway.
"Often, people are measuring their worth by material things,
instead of the kind of person they are," Smith says. "And really,
when it comes down to it, what you’ve got is yourself. No matter
what kind of clothes you’ve got on or stuff you’ve got … what you
really have in the end is yourself. That’s what one should be
working on, themselves … not so much bettering their financial
position."
This humble, earnest attitude has been with Smith since the
early years, but it’s no longer for herself as much as it is for
the generation her 15-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter belong
to, a family she gave up rock ‘n’ roll for in 1980. But besides
maternal instincts, there seemed to be an event sparked with a
different urgency that led her to some of the themes on "Peace and
Noise."
"I started feeling extremely concerned when Kurt Cobain took his
life," Smith admits. "I really loved Nirvana. I thought it was a
great band, and I thought he was extremely gifted. I was deeply
shocked at that. I was living at Detroit at the time and I remember
going into record stores, or just seeing young people standing all
over the streets not knowing what to do with themselves, you know,
feeling really bummed out. I was really concerned that this would
have its reverberations, that young people looking up to him …
might apply that to their own lives.
"I just felt like the younger generation seemed extremely lost,"
Smith says. "I mean, they don’t lack strength or energy. The newer
generations aren’t being brought up with a lot of spiritual values,
or hopes … or even a deep respect for their own humanity. And
self respect … if one lacks self respect, one’s not going to
respect another, or the planet for that matter."
The only problem with Smith’s musical mission statement is her
appeal. Despite being one of the founding parents of alternative
rock and punk (although she did not really having that aggro-punk
sound), her styles and sounds just don’t seem to translate to the
youth listening to the blitzkrieg pop dominating radio today.
"I don’t have any particular place with younger generations,
obviously – I’m 50 years old," Smith says. "I might not do the kind
of work nor have the kind of image that’s interesting. But I do
care and I have a lot of experience behind me. And I feel like I am
a person that can be trusted. Maybe some people will be helped by
it or inspired by it. It’s one of the reasons I do the work that I
do."
Smith’s defiant yet soothing prose, especially on the "Horses"
album, has been a source of inspiration for countless rock stars,
like members of R.E.M., U2 and Sonic Youth. Courtney Love and PJ
Harvey have also credited Smith as an inspiration. Yet Smith
herself doesn’t seem to keep up with modern music like one might
assume.
"I don’t really know what people are doing," Smith admits. "I’m
very involved in working and taking care of my family, so it
wouldn’t be right of me to put down or not be supportive of what
people are doing. I haven’t really heard anything lately that has
really inspired me. I like things people are doing, like Flying
Saucer Attack, and I like this band Smoke. I like R.E.M."
"I listen to a lot of old stuff," Smith says. "I listen to a lot
of old blues records, Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead. And
Beethoven. I tend to keep accessing the things I’ve liked for much
of my life. I still get inspired by them. But the band I listen to
the most these days is my own, ’cause we’re always working and
practicing. I guess the last band that I put a lot of faith in and
really liked was Nirvana. And I haven’t really taken with a new
band since then. But, that’s just me."
Smith is also a huge Bob Dylan fan – he influenced her life like
she has so many others. "I got to tour with Bob Dylan, which was a
very big dream of mine. I was really happy when Bob came out with
the (new) record. He’s been with us for so long, he really helped
me get through rough times when I was younger and I think that’s
one of the things I think about all the time."
Smith’s tours tend to be small so she can spend more time with
her children, but she will stage a small tour for the album
nonetheless, including a stop in Los Angeles. "We’re working it out
now. I don’t tour much; I have a family. But I always come to San
Francisco and L.A. In the ’70s, being the band we were, we had our
certain places where people supported us, and one of those places
is L.A. It’s always inspiring to come back."
Besides touring and promoting her new album, Smith has books
in-the-making for the future. But the seemingly busy Smith doesn’t
get so preoccupied as to forget the important things.
"I’m working with Doubleday to do a really beautiful book with
all my lyrics and history of the band. I have a really great band,
and we did "Peace and Noise," which I’m really proud of. So, I have
to say I’m really lucky. I have my dark days like anyone else, but
I would have to say that with everything, I feel like a blessed
person."
Patti Smith is known as "the mother of alternative music."
Smith’s 1975 album "Horses" has inspired many current
artists.