Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren (born
June 22,
1948 in
Upper Darby, a suburb of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
USA) is an
American musician,
singer,
songwriter and
record producer.
Rundgren began his career in
Woody's Truck Stop, a Philadelphia-based group based on the model of
Paul Butterfield Blues Band. However, he wanted to pursue a more
pop/rock-oriented sound, and left the band to form the
garage rock group
The Nazz in
1967, which gained minor recognition with the songs "Open My Eyes" and "Hello It's Me." (He later recorded an uptempo version of "Hello It's Me" solo; it became a Top Ten hit and remains one of his signature songs.)
After leaving The Nazz in
1969, Rundgren alternated production work for other groups with his career as a solo artist. His first solo project was
1970's
Runt, which was followed by two highly acclaimed albums,
1971's
Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren and
1972's
Something/Anything?. Of particular note is that Rundgren wrote, played, sang and produced everything on three of the four sides of the latter album, and has often recorded in this way since then. His music during this period (later classified as an early form of
power pop) was profoundly influenced by
soul music,
60s pop/rock (especially
The Beatles and
The Beach Boys,) and the work of
singer-songwriters like
Carole King and
Laura Nyro. However, he sometimes demonstrated an interest in other genres as well, such as
heavy metal and
experimental music.
Though Rundgren never completely abandoned his popular music influences, by the mid-70s many of his compositions were stretching themselves into something akin to
progressive rock.
1973's transitional
A Wizard, a True Star caught the beginning of this trend, which came to fruition in
1974's
Todd and
1975's
Initiation. His music during this period addressed cosmic themes, showed a strong interest in spirituality (particularly
Far Eastern religion and
philosophy,) and displayed the musical influence of
psychedelic rock as well as the avant-garde
jazz fusion of contemporary acts such as the
Mahavishnu Orchestra and
Frank Zappa. When touring, the music was presented in a lavish stage setting that echoed the ambitious space-themed shows of acts like
Parliament/Funkadelic. Rundgren (who had adopted an outlandish space-rock image on stage) was often seen playing the eye-catching psychedelic
Gibson SG guitar that
Eric Clapton played in
Cream. (Rundgren reportedly returned the guitar to Clapton decades later.)
His
1976 album
Faithful marked a return to the pop/rock genre, featuring one side of original songs and one side of covers of significant songs from
1966 such as "Good Vibrations" and the
Yardbirds' "Happening Ten Years Time Ago" (incidentally, the B-side of that Yardbirds single gave the Nazz its name).
Faithful was followed by the well-received
Hermit of Mink Hollow (
1978); this included the hit ballad "Can We Still Be Friends," which was accompanied by an innovative self-produced
music video. Subsequent solo releases included the album-long concept work
Healing (
1981), the
New Wave-tinged
The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (
1983) and the eccentric (but mostly accessible)
A Cappella (
1985), which was recorded using Rundgren's multitracked voice accompanied by arrangements constructed from programmed vocal samples.
Nearly Human (
1989) and
2nd Wind (
1991) were both cut live: the former in the studio, the latter in a theater before a live audience which was instructed to remain silent. Each song on these albums was recorded as a complete single take with no later overdubbing. Both albums marked, in part, a return to his Philly soul roots.
2nd Wind also included several excerpts from Rundgren's musical
Up Against It, which was adapted from the screenplay (originally titled "Prick Up Your Ears") that British playwright
Joe Orton had originally offered to The Beatles for their never-made follow-up to
Help!. After a long absence from touring, Rundgren hit the road with the large and versatile
Nearly Human-
2nd Wind band, which included brass and a trio of slinky backup singers (one of whom, Michele Gray, Rundgren married). He also toured during this period with
Ringo Starr's All-Starr band.
The next few years saw Rundgren re-inventing himself again, recording under the pseudonym TR-i ("Todd Rundgren interactive") for two albums. The first of these,
1993's
No World Order, consisted of hundreds of seconds-long snippets of music that could be seamlessly combined in various ways to suit the listener. Initially targeted for the Philips
CD-i platform,
No World Order featured interactive controls for tempo, mood, and other parameters, along with pre-programmed mixes by Rundgren himself,
Bob Clearmountain,
Don Was, and
Jerry Harrison. The disc was also released for
PC and
Macintosh and in two versions on standard
audio CD, the continuous mix disc
No World Order and, later, the more song-oriented
No World Order Lite. The music itself was quite a departure from Rundgren's previous work, with a
dance/
techno feel and much
rapping by Rundgren. The follow-up,
1995's
The Individualist, featured interactive video content that could be viewed (and in one case, played -- it was a simple video game) along with the music, which was more rock-oriented than
No World Order.Rundgren returned to recording under his own name for
With a Twist, an album of bossa-nova covers of his older material. His Patronet work, which trickled out to subscribers over more than a year, was released in
2000 as
One Long Year. In
2004, Rundgren released
Liars, a concept album about "paucity of truth" that features a mixture of his older and newer sounds.
Rundgren's back-up band circa
A Wizard, a True Star proved to be the first incarnation of
Utopia, which featured
Tony and
Hunt Sales (the sons of 60s television comedian
Soupy Sales) on bass and drums respectively, and
M. Frog Labat on synthesizers. Utopia would reform again in 1974 as a larger prog-rock ensemble which included multiple keyboards, synthesizers and brass. They premiered on 1974's
Todd Rundgren's Utopia, and went on to record the 1975 live album
Another Live. In 1976, Rundgren re-established Utopia as a tight, disciplined four-piece group that became a popular recording and touring band of its day. Favoring pop and
anthemic rock over the group's earlier synthesizer experimentation, this core Utopia lineup featured
Roger Powell on keyboards,
Kasim Sulton on bass, and
Willie Wilcox on drums, although all members played multiple instruments and sang both lead and harmony vocals at times. After 1976's prog-rock fusion homage
Ra, Utopia moved toward a more pop-oriented style with
1977's
Oops! Wrong Planet and the more successful
Adventures In Utopia in
1980, which spawned the hits "Road to Utopia", "Set Me Free" and "Caravan". Other releases include
Deface the Music (also 1980), an uncanny Beatles
homage that borders on
parody; their pop-referenced, self-titled album
Utopia (1982) as well as their 1983
Oblivion, which showed a cynical side of Utopia while mimicking the rock-umentary parody,
This is Spinal Tap by sporting a black cover; 1985's
P.O.V. includes "Mated", later a staple of Rundgren solo tours. Rundgren eventually disbanded Utopia in the mid-80s; they released
Trivia (1986) as their "swan song" effort.
Eventually,
Oblivion, P.O.V. and Some Trivia was released in 1996, an effort by
Rhino Records to re-release selections from the Todd/Utopia discography.
(Additions referenced from [
1])
In addition to his own recordings, Rundgren has produced albums for the
Sparks,
New York Dolls,
Badfinger,
Grand Funk Railroad,
Hall & Oates,
Ian and Sylvia,
Meat Loaf,
Patti Smith,
The Tubes,
Tom Robinson Band,
XTC,
Bad Religion,
Cheap Trick,
Bourgeois Tagg,
The Psychedelic Furs,
The Band, and many others. The troubled XTC sessions produced the album
Skylarking, now considered a high point for band and producer despite its acrimonious origin. Rundgren's production of Meat Loaf's
Bat Out of Hell resulted in that album becoming one of the very top selling LPs released in the 1970's. The industry regard for Rundgren's production work has been a lofty one:
Jim Steinman, with whom Rundgren worked with on
Bat Out of Hell, has said in interviews that
"Todd Rundgren is a genius and I don't use that word a lot." [
2]
Rundgren has long been on the cutting edge of music and video technologies. His
music video for the song "Time Heals" was the eighth video to be aired on
MTV, and a video he produced for
RCA (accompanied by Holst's "The Planets") was used as a demo for their videodisc players. His experience with computer graphics dates back to 1981, when he developed one of the first computer paint programs, dubbed the Utopia Graphics System; it ran on an
Apple II with Apple's digitizer tablet. He is also the co-developer of the computer
screensaver system
Flowfazer.
In the
1990s, Rundgren was an early adopter of the NewTek
Video Toaster and made several videos with it. The first, for "Change Myself" from
2nd Wind, was widely distributed as a demo reel for the Toaster; he also used the system for videos from
No World Order (songs "Fascist Christ" and "Property"). Later, he set up a company to produce 3D animation using the Toaster; this company's first demo, "Theology" (a look at religious architecture through the ages featuring music by former Utopia bandmate Roger Powell) also became a widely-circulated item among Toaster users. Most of Rundgren's Toaster work is available on the video compilation
The Desktop Collection.Rundgren composed music for the
1986 TV series
Pee-wee's Playhouse and
Crime Story and for the
1994 movie
Dumb and Dumber, plus background cues for several other TV shows. He hosted a syndicated radio show called "The Difference" in the early 1990s.
As the Internet gained mass acceptance in the mid-1990s, Rundgren and longtime manager Eric Gardner started
Patronet, which offered fans (patrons) access to his works in progress and new unreleased tracks in exchange for a subscription fee, cutting out record labels. The songs from Rundgren's first Patronet run were later released as the album
One Long Year. Since then, Rundgren has severed his connections with major record labels and continues to offer new music direct to subscribers via his website, although he also continues to record and release CDs through independent labels.
In late 2005, rumors began circulating that the influential
Boston-based band
The Cars were planning to re-form despite bass player
Benjamin Orr's death and the oft-mentioned refusal of former lead singer
Ric Ocasek to even consider any reunion. Soon the rumors mentioned that Rundgren had joined
Elliot Easton and
Greg Hawkes in rehearsals for a possible new
Cars lineup. Initial speculation pointed to The New Cars being fleshed out with
Clem Burke of
Blondie and
Art Alexakis of
Everclear. Eventually it was revealed that The New Cars were to complete their lineup with veteran bass player and former Rundgren bandmate
Kasim Sulton and studio drummer
Prairie Prince, formerly of
The Tubes, who had played on
XTC's Rundgren-produced
Skylarking and who has recorded and toured with Rundgren.
In early 2006, the new lineup played a few private shows for industry professionals. The band sounded amazingly unchanged from their 1970s/80s incarnation, and many for the first time noticed how similar Rundgren's vocals were to Ocasek's.
Rundgren has referred to the project as "an opportunity ... for me to pay my bills, play to a larger audience, work with musicians I know and like, and ideally have some fun for a year."
The New Cars' first single, "Not Tonight," was released on March 20, 2006. A portion of the song is featured on a promotional teaser for the band online. A live album/greatest hits collection,
The New Cars: It's Alive, was released in June, 2006. The album includes classic Cars songs (and two Rundgren hits) recorded live plus three new studio tracks.
The new lineup played live on
The Tonight Show and made other media appearances before commencing a 2006 summer tour with the re-formed
Blondie.
Ocasek has had revenge of sorts; on the April 17, 2006 edition of
The Colbert Report, show host
Stephen Colbert placed Rundgren
"on notice" at the behest of Ocasek.
Rundgren helped raise actress
Liv Tyler, who was led to believe that she was his daughter until she was 11. Her biological father, however, is
Aerosmith's
Steven Tyler, whose drug excesses during Liv's childhood led to her mother
Bebe Buell's paternity deception.
The song "Bang the Drum All Day", from
The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect, was used in several TV commercials during the late 1990s and became an unofficial anthem of the
Green Bay Packers and a sports arena favorite. The
Cincinnati Bengals continue to play it following every touchdown. It was also used by the
New York Knicks after taking late leads during the mid-90s.
His son,
Rex Rundgren, is a
shortstop in the
Florida Marlins organization. Currently, in the 2006 season, he is beginning his third season with the Class AA
Carolina Mudcats, for whom he has played since 2004.
Ron Bennington said on The
Ron and Fez Radio Show on 7/20 that Todd is one of the only geniuses to come out of the United States.
Todd also composed and recorded theme music for the American pilot for cult UK sci-fi comedy
Red Dwarf. It was never aired.
On the day he shot and killed
John Lennon,
Mark David Chapman left an eight-track tape of Rundgren's album
The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, along with other artifacts, in his New York hotel room in an orderly semicircle on the hotel dresser. "I left it as a statement, I guess," he was quoted as saying in
Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon (Jack Jones, Villard Books, 1992). Chapman had been obsessed with Rundgren and told Jones, "Right between the chambers of your heart is how Rundgren's music is to me. I cannot overestimate the depth of what his music meant to me."
In the pilot of
That 70s Show the main characters attend a Todd Rundgren concert. During the end credits, they are singing along to "Hello It's Me". This credit sequence was again used in the final episode of the show.
Solo
Studio albums
Runt (1970)
Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (1971)
Something/Anything? (1972)
A Wizard, a True Star (1973)
Todd (1974)
Initiation (1975)
Faithful (1976)
Hermit of Mink Hollow (1978)
Healing (1981)
The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (1983)
A Cappella (1985)
Nearly Human (1989)
2nd Wind (1991)
No World Order (1993)
The Individualist (1995)
With a Twist (1997)
One Long Year (2000)
Liars (2004)
Live albums
Back to the Bars (1978)
With Utopia
Todd Rundgren's Utopia (1974)
Another Live (1975)
Ra (1977)
Oops! Wrong Planet (1977)
Adventures in Utopia (1980)
Deface The Music (1980)
Swing To The Right (1982)
Utopia (1982)
Oblivion (1983)
P.O.V. (1985)
*"
Anthology (1974-1985)" (1989)
Redux '92: Live in Japan (1992)
*''
Oblivion, P.O.V. and some Trivia" (1996)
(Corrections/additions reference: [
3])
Related
An Elpee's Worth of Productions -- tracks from albums Rundgren has produced
Reconstructed -- techno remixes of Rundgren and Utopia tracks by other artists
Todd Rundgren and His Friends -- various artists remake and remix Rundgren songs
* http://www.tr-i.com/ (official website)
* http://patronet.com/
*
The Todd Rundgren Connection*
TR & Utopia Video Vault* http://www.mikestrickland.net/todd/
*
Todd Rundgren Lyrics* http://graphikdesigns.free.fr/sparks-todd-rundgren.html
*
Halfnelson - Sparks*
The New Cars official site*
Utopia Grokware Site with Java Flowfazer
