Rock-n-Roll Oldies: Todd Rundgren 1975

Todd Rundgren -dob 6.22.1948- is a multi-talented American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer who still tours on a limited basis, up-to and including earlier this year. 

Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind 
-absolutely adored by critics- and supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Rundgren went on to produce a diverse range of recordings as solo artist and during the 70s/80s with the band Utopia. 

He has also been successful as a producer and engineer on the recorded work of other musicians. Todd Rundgren engineered and/or produced Stage Fright by The Band, We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf (now ranked as the 5th biggest-selling album of all time), and then later Skylarking by new-wavers XTC in 1986. 

As a musician, best-known hits include Hello It's Me -written when he was just 16- I Saw the Light which still enjoys heavy rotation on classic rock/adult contemporary radio stations, Just One Victory is long a concert favorite, and Bang the Drum All Day has become an anthem in many American sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers. 

It always surprised me when I first moved to California in 1990, nobody really seemed to know much of him... more significant back east, perhaps; but I always thought of Rundgren as a towering talent, and an incredible composer. You couldn't ask for more originality, wildly experimental actually... a true genius.  

He was also a pioneer of the "power pop" genre in the early 70s along with Badfinger and Raspberries... great stuff, despite the WTF stage act and sailor pants, lol.

And a feature unique to Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special show was actual live performances, not lip synching... but Todd here makes light of the fact that although he's singing live, it's to a taped musical track... albeit one he himself played all instruments on:

Todd Rundgren- Real Man 1975

Todd Rundgren- I Saw the Light 1972

Wikipedia   Todd Rundgren Interactive

Previous RR Rock n Roll Oldies features -here-
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