Metro Pulse/Music/Todd Rundgren

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What:
Todd Rundgren with Roy Langden of Spacehog

When:
Saturday, Feb. 1 at 8 p.m.

Where:
Tennessee Theatre

Cost:
$25 plus $4 service charge at Tickets Unlimited Outlets or 656-4444 to charge by phone

After three decades, Todd Rundgren keeps looking forward

by John Sewell

Though he's not exactly a household name, anyone with a smidgen of knowledge of rock 'n' roll history will know Todd Rundgren. In a career that has spanned over 30 years, Mr. R. has donned a variety of hats: mod/power-pop fashionista (with The Nazz); sensitive singer/songwriter soloist (as in the brilliant Runt and Something/Anything albums); prog rock fusionist (with Utopia); knob-twisting tech head (see 1994's No World Order, a CD-ROM that allowed users to re-sequence and re-mix his music); glitter rock gender-bender (Rundgren was a pioneer of unnatural hair colors in the early '70s, not to mention that makeup!); and producer extraordinaire (he has worked with The New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Badfinger, Meatloaf, and XTC). And then there's his role as longtime partner of uber groupie Bebe Buell and "stepfather" of Liv Tyler.

And who could forget Todd's infamous, ahem, lifestyle choices? The man is as known for his libertine lifestyle and open relationships as anything else. Mr. Rundgren has certainly gotten around.

Which brings us to the Todd Rundgren of the new millennium: musical wizard, cultural critic, renaissance man, and—of course—musician par excellence. Though Rundgren could certainly talk for hours about his swashbuckling past, he prefers to continually forge into the netherworlds of creativity.

"I'm not the kind of guy who ever looks backwards," Rundgren says. "I've never dwelt on the past and I can't say there's any particular point in my career that was the best. I'm just trying to keep building new ideas."

As with any artist, Rundgren has seen peaks and valleys with the commercial success of his work. However, he has never seen fit to relax and has never experienced a fallow period.

"I've toured a lot more in the last few years, but that's mostly because of coincidence," he says. "The music is still great fun, but the travel really gets tiring." (Rundgren also tours as a member of Hall & Oates' backup band.)

More than five years ago, Rundgren inked a deal with Avon Books to write an autobiography. Ever the perfectionist, Todd chose to write it all himself instead of taking the easy route with a ghostwriter.

"It has been taking a great deal of time because writing kind of seems like homework to me," says Rundgren. (Incidentally, there is another Rundgren bio penned by writer Billy Marsh that Todd describes as, "interesting, but not totally accurate.")

And just how much dirt is Rundgren willing to dish in his upcoming book, which could certainly be chock full of salacious detail if the author felt like providing it? "There are some things that I will talk about and other things that I won't," he says, laughing. "Many people perceive my life as being decadent. When people say 'decadent,' I know what they mean, though I prefer to characterize my life as being unconventional. I mean, I'm no Ozzy Osbourne. I've never taken a drug overdose and I'm not brain damaged in any way."

Sure, Rundgren is a continual force. But the man has also become a figurehead of a power-pop revival that seems to be ebbing once again. In fact, there are legions of bands that virtually recreate what Rundgren did in the past by rote, presenting their work as "new."

"Well, I guess I have done some stuff that would fall into the power-pop category," says Rundgren. "But I wasn't necessarily thinking that way at the time. I mean, a lot of my stuff could be classified as fusion, R&B, or even heavy metal, but you don't hear a lot of those kind of comparisons being made.

"Right now, I think that popular music is in kind of a doldrums period. It seems like what's being created now is more a result of calculation as opposed to inspiration.

"Music is a cyclic thing. And in our Western world, there are only 12 notes that you can work with. So the rehash of older musical styles might just be a product of what's happening in society at the present.

"I mean, everything that has come along as being new has had a precedent," Rundgren continues. "Sure, The Beatles were great and they had a lot to say. But would The Beatles have been what they were if society wasn't at the place it was when they came along? I doubt it."