Looking Backwards and Pointing Forwards At The Same Time

Mitch Easter's magnum opus is a defining moment in the history of american pop.

If you listened really closely and filtered out all the fake drums and bad hair of the 1980’s pop scene, you would know that there were still some great buried treasures released that decade. I’ve spoken about them from time to time in this space, covering territory like Rockpile’s “Seconds Of Pleasure”, The Replacements “Let It Be”, and Husker Du’s “Zen Arcade”, to name a few.

I can’t think of another decade prior where there was such a vast chasm between what was popular and what was actually good. Music video bears much of the blame for this, because while it added the visual aspect it did so at the expense of the listener’s own imagination. As a result, we were bombarded with titillating images and colors, manufactured to appeal to the widest variety of people in order to maximize profits. This “boardroom” approach of treating music like margarine permanently blurred (and perhaps even wiped out for good) the fine line between art and commerce.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, a groundswell of sorts was emerging in the southeastern corner of the United States. A musician by the name of Mitch Easter set up a record studio at his parents garage in Winston-Salem, NC, with the intention of producing pop records for all types of regional talent. In summer 1981, an Athens , GA band named R.E.M booked time at Mitch’s “Drive In Studio” to record a 45 titled “Radio Free Europe”. Despite its extremely limited pressing of only 1,000 copies, the disc achieved critical acclaim, most notably by The New York Times which named it as one of the year’s ten best.

This relationship would prove to be a watershed moment for Easter. Soon he found himself producing and/or co-producing R.E.M.’s first three releases for IRS records. The success of these efforts quickly led to a recording contract of his own, and he along with his then girlfriend Faye Hunter and drummer Sara Romwebber formed the group Let’s Active.

Their first EP, titled “Afoot” yielded the minor hit “Every Word Means No”. Its accompanying video, shot of the band against a mostly white backdrop earned enough MTV airplay to get IRS records to request a full-fledged LP release. “Cypress”, despite it’s accessible jangle-pop leanings couldn’t crack the mainstream market, and the band split up during a 1984 tour of the UK.

Easter however, would continue to work under the “Let’s Active” moniker playing the odd show with Hunter and other temporary members throughout 1985. He was also writing and recording mostly on his own what was to become the next “Let’s Active” LP.

“Big Plans For Everybody”, released on May 17th, 1986 was for all intensive purposes a Mitch Easter solo LP. Other than some bass parts plus a few drum and keyboard tracks he played all the instruments himself, as well as handling the production and mixing duties.

The record spent 11 weeks on the Billboard charts, but never cracked the top 100. However, amongst the burgeoning college rock scene, the record was extremely well received. Unfortunately though, college rock charts were still about two to three years away from becoming a more influential piece of the pop music market, mostly due to the groundwork laid out by Easter and co-producer Don Dixon on those early REM records.

“Big Plans” has plenty to appeal to most rock fans, which makes it all the more puzzling as to why it didn’t fare better upon release. Chalk it up to being stuck in a decade where style over substance was quickly becoming the norm. If the record didn’t have a video stuffed with partially clad women in it, then it had no chance for airplay. However, “Big Plans For Everybody” is a record that has gained respect over an extended period of time.

Rhythmically, it possesses the charm and straight forward percussion stylings of early Todd Rundgren. The melodic layering of several tasty guitar parts recalls the studio work of Jimmy Page, as well as Johnny Marr of The Smiths. The songwriting is taut and concise. Most impressively though, is how “Big Plans For Everybody” looks backward and points the way forward at the same time. It’s nothing less than a defining moment in the history of American pop.