History Music / SomethingAnything

* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: The original Nazz version of "Hello It's Me" is a [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]]-styled ballad. The version here pushes the tempo up and goes for more of a pop-jazz feel a la Music/CaroleKing. In the process, the lyrics change tone from regretful to wistful.

* MusicalPastiche[=/=]InTheStyleOf: "I Saw the Light" for Music/CaroleKing, "Wolfman Jack" for Creator/{{Motown}}, "Song of the Viking" for Creator/GilbertAndSullivan, "Little Red Lights" for Music/JimiHendrix, "Slut" for Music/TheRollingStones.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness - spans from 1 to 5. Examples:
** 1 - "Hello It's Me", "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference"
** 2 - "Saving Grace", "You Left Me Sore"
** 3 - "I Saw the Light", "It Takes Two to Tango"
** 4 - "Couldn't I Just Tell You", "Wolfman Jack"
** 5 - "Black Maria", "Little Red Lights"

The commercial and critical success of ''Something/Anything?'' was something of a double-edged sword for Rundgren, who set out immediately to avoid being pigeonholed as a SingerSongwriter on the ProgressiveRock-tinged followup ''A Wizard, A True Star'', aiming away from the pop mainstream towards cult status. Paradoxically, this ensured that ''Something/Anything?'' would remain his best-known release. The album was listed at #173 in ''Magazine/RollingStone'''s [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]] and spawned the major hit singles "I Saw the Light" and "Hello It's Me". "Couldn't I Just Tell You" subsequently became a PowerPop classic that served as a major influence on subsequent works in the genre.

[[AC: Side One: "A Bouquet of Ear-Catching Melodies"]]

# "I Saw the Light"
# "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference"
# "Wolfman Jack"
# "Cold Morning Light"
# "It Takes Two to Tango (This Is for the Girls)"
# "Sweeter Memories"

[[AC: Side Two: "The Cerebral Side"]]

# "Intro"
# "Breathless"
# "The Night the Carousel Burnt Down"
# "Saving Grace"
# "Marlene"
# "Song of the Viking"
# "I Went to the Mirror"

[[AC: Side Three: "The Kid Gets Heavy"]]

# "Black Maria"
# "One More Day (No Word)"
# "Couldn't I Just Tell You"
# "Torch Song"
# "Little Red Lights"

# "Overture–My Roots: Money (That's What I Want)/Messin' with the Kid"
# "Dust in the Wind"
# "Piss Aaron"
# "Hello It's Me"
# "Some Folks Is Even Whiter Than Me"
# "You Left Me Sore"
# "Slut"

The commercial and critical success of ''Something/Anything?'' was something of a double-edged sword for Rundgren, who set out immediately to avoid being pigeonholed as a SingerSongwriter on the followup ''A Wizard, A True Star'', aiming away from the pop mainstream towards cult status. Paradoxically, this ensured that ''Something/Anything?'' would remain his best-known release. The album was listed at #173 in ''Magazine/RollingStone'''s [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]] and spawned the major hit singles "I Saw the Light" and "Hello It's Me". "Couldn't I Just Tell You" subsequently became a PowerPop classic that served as a major influence on subsequent works in the genre.

----

The commercial and critical success of ''Something/Anything?'' was something of a double-edged sword for Rundgren, who set out immediately to avoid being pigeonholed as a SingerSongwriter on the followup ''A Wizard, A True Star'', aiming away from the pop mainstream towards cult status. Paradoxically, this ensured that ''Something/Anything?'' would remain his best-known release. The album was listed at #173 in ''Magazine/RollingStone'''s [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]] and spawned the hit singles "I Saw the Light" and "Hello It's Me".

The 1972 double album ''Something/Anything?'' is Music/ToddRundgren's third and most successful album as a solo artist. Though heavily influenced by the SingerSongwriter movement - Music/LauraNyro in particular - different songs range into [[PsychedelicRock psychedelia]], Creator/{{Motown}} {{Soul}}, PowerPop, early SynthPop, and even opera. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the ''Something/Anything?'' sessions involved copious Ritalin use by the singer. Rundgren played every instrument on the first three sides, but after an earthquake struck his UsefulNotes/LosAngeles studio, Rundgren set up live sessions in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and at his upstate Bearsville studio to complete the final side with a rotating series of session players chosen for him by keyboardist Moogy Klingman.

* CoverVersion: "Money (That's What I Want)", originally by Creator/{{Motown}} artist Barrett Strong.

* ShoutOut: "Wolfman Jack" is a shout-out to the legendary radio DJ of the same name.

* IAmTheBand[=/=]SelfBackingVocalist: As [[lampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in [[http://vsmallfires.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/photo.jpg the album's artwork]], on the first three sides of the album, Rundgren is the only featured performer, and also produced everything himself (the majority of them were recorded with the assistance of James Lowe and John Lee, though he recorded some of the songs himself at his home studio). He initially intended to do the same for the fourth side, but after an earthquake struck his studio in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles he decided to take a different approach and performed the songs in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity with anyone who showed up to the sessions.

* IAmTheBand: On the first three sides of the album, Rundgren is the only featured performer, and also produced everything himself (the majority of them were recorded with the assistance of James Lowe and John Lee, though he recorded some of the songs himself at his home studio). He initially intended to do the same for the fourth side, but after an earthquake struck his studio in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles he decided to take a different approach and performed the songs in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity with anyone who showed up to the sessions.

* OneManBand[=/=]SelfBackingVocalist: As [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in [[http://vsmallfires.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/photo.jpg the album's artwork]], Todd plays and sings ''everything'' for the first three quarters of the album.