Sometimes--all right, maybe once in 1997--a rock song is an event too. That would be Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping," which proved that rock & roll isn't dead but just in need of an irresistible novelty song to keep the corpse twitching.
"I don't know whether it's the Year of the Woman or the Year of Electronica or the year of this or that. I think every year is the Year of the Song," says Capitol Records president Gary Gersh. "And I don't think that there is a resurgence in pop music. I think there is a desire by radio to play more hit records--and the hit records came from those kinds of [pop] acts this year. But rock has never gone away since Bill Haley showed up. If 1998 is a year where four or five rock bands break through, will this be the year that 'rock comes back'?"
From your lips to God's ears, Gary... --CW
