Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / Dec. 14, 1989, edition 1 / Page 3
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DECEMBER 14,1989 — THE DECREE — PAGE 3 'Aerosmith' pumps out new album By MARK BRETT The first thing that catches your attention is the cover. It depicts, in vivid black-and-white, two flat-bed trucks caught in what can best be described as the throes of passion. Appropriately enough, both trucks are stripped of their flatbeds, leaving only the frame. On the door of the truck on top is painted the work “Pump.” Locked together like two dogs in heat, the trucks represent a wit that is both tasteless and clever. That combination is also highly appropriate, as it turns out, be cause this image fronts the new album from Aerosmith. Entitled “Pump,” this album serves notice to all of us out here who had thought that the A- Smith boys had finally lost their grip and succumbed to the Top- 40-worshipping legion of Pop- Metal Bon-Jovi-wanna-be’s. While that thought was well-jus- tified after last year’s “Permanent Vacation,” the album that brought us “Angel,” “Pump” kicks the notion in the teeth. With the kind of tough, growling, grunting blues metal Aerosmith is known for, this album brings the band back to its former glory. In addition to that, however, new musical styles are woven into the old patterns, making this more than just a re-hash of the past. “Pump,” again appropriately enough, pumps Aerosmith into the future. All of which makes the first track on “Pump” a bit ironic. That song is entitled “Young Lust,” and it takes a look back to the past. Done in Aerosmith’s famil iar blues metal style, the song has the feel of a man approaching middle age looking back fondly on the hormone-controlled days of his youth. This is followed by “F.I.N.E.,” which, according to the liner notes, stands for (and I quote,) “F**ked up, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional.” This song continues in the vein of the first; a look back, this one to a rough period. Both songs, however, are a celebration of youth; they look Sports writers sought The editors of The De cree regret the lack of sports articles appearing in the newspaper. If anyone is in terested in writing sports articles or joining the De cree staff, please contact us through Box 3666 at the NCWC post office. Review back with no regrets. Next up is “Love in an Eleva tor,” a song that probably every one has heard by now. This one combines Aerosmith’s blues metal standards with a sort of sing-song feel that reminds me in a way of prison work songs. This would seem to be borne out by the song’s opening lines: “Workin’ like hell for the boss- man/(whoa-oh)AVorking’ for the company/(whoa-oh-year)/Bet- tin’ on the dice I’m tossin/(whoa- oh)/Gonna have a fantasy.” The song itself, however, according to lead singer Steven Tyler, is based on an actual occurrence. Some guys have all the luck. “Pump” turns dark for a couple of songs at this point, first is “Monkey on my Back,” a song about the band’s well-known problems with drug and alcohol addiction. The song is, thank fully, not preachy. It tells its story and ends, leaving the listener to decide on any meaning it may have had. Next is “Janie’s Got a Gun,” which is about child abuse and one tragic solution to it. The album continues with a strange instrumental that begins and ends side two. Untitled, this short snippet of music sounds like the kind of music that is usu ally heard in movies set in the Middle Ages. Its presence is in explicable, but interesting. This is followed by two standard Aer osmith tunes, then by “Don’t Get Mad, Get Even.” This one’s a Classifieds REAL ESTATE — Attention — Government Homes from $1 (U-repair). Delinquent tax prop erty. Repossessions. Call 1- 602-838-8885 Ext. GH 18736. HELP WANTED — Market Discover Credit Cards on your campus. Flexible hours. Earn as much as $10.00/hour. Only ten positions available. Call 1- 800-950-8472, ext. 4. SPRING BREAK 1990 — Individual or student organiza tion needed to promote our Spring Break trips. Earn money, free trips and valuable work ex perience. Apply Now! Call Inter- Campus Programs: 1-800-327- 6013. ATTENTION: HIRING! Gov ernment jobs, your area. $17,840-$69,485. Call 1-602- 838-8885, ext. R18736. ATTENTION: Earn money reading books, $32,000/year in come potential. Details. 1-602- 838-8885, ext. Bk18730. blues revenge song with a vocal delivery straight out of a lullaby, which gives the song a very au thoritative tone. Next is “Voodoo Medicine Man,” about therash of strange behaviors that seems to be sweeping the nation among teenagers as they pursue cheap thrills (such as “masturbating with a noos.”) Many of these activities can be self-destructive, but they are engaged in anyway. The song Students today are more inter ested in getting better grades than their predecessors, but are more willing to cheat to get them, the nation’s professors said in a poll. Students’ study habits gener ally aren’t very good, the profes sors added in the survey, con ducted by the Carnegie Founda tion for the Advancement of Teaching. “Today’s faculty present a discouraging portrait of stu dents,” said Carnegie President Ernest Boyer in the foreword to “The Condition of the Profes sorate: Attitudes and Trends, 1989,” which was released Nov. 5. compares this insanity with fol lowing a witch doctor. The solu tions don’t make much sense, but these people are so desperate for release that they’ll do anything. The song does a good job of con veying that kind of desperation. The album ends with “What it Takes,” best described as a heavy metal ballad. This one, however, is well-written (at least as these things go.) While in the fine tra dition of the “woman done me Of the 5,450 professors polled, 70 percent said students have become more grade-con- scious over the past five years, but 43 percent said students are more likely to cheat and 55 per cent said students do only enough to get by. “About two-thirds of the fac ulty say that too many students are ill-prepared for academic life, and they conclude that their insti tution spends too much time and money teaching students what they should have learned in high school,” Boyer wrote. The study, conducted every five years to measure faculty members’ feelings about their wrong” song, this one sounds more like a sappy teen love bal lad. An interesting combination, perhaps, but there’s a bit too much sap and not enough meat here. Still, even ending on this sour note, “Pump” can stand high among Aerosmith’s albums. It acknowledges the past, but rnoves on to the future, building up enough energy to move Aer osmith through the next decade and beyond. increasing lives, concludes that “public edu cation, despite six years of re form, is still producing inade quately prepared students.” The professors also thought their schools should emphasize giving students a broad liberal education instead of narrower, specialized trianing. In October, the National En dowment for the Humanities (NEH) separately issued a call to alter all students’ graduation re quirements to include 50 hours of liberal arts classes. The professors in the Carnegie poll felt better about their cam puses than they did about their students. Look Here For Good Looks The Worlds Finest Sunglasses Prices From $39.95 117 West Church Street Nashville, N.C. 27856 (919) 459-2135 WARD )rus Cc Professors say cheating
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Dec. 14, 1989, edition 1
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