What the Nation Needs Now Is ... Lollapalooza?

In 1991, the U.S. was engaged in military action in an Islamic nation, the economy was shaky and the pop music world was dominated by teen pop on one side and silly hair-metal on the other.

In 2001, the U.S. is engaged in military action in an Islamic nation, the economy is shaky and the pop music world is dominated by teen pop on one side and silly rap-metal on the other.

1991 proved to be the perfect time for the launching of Lollapalooza, a rock festival designed to expose large audiences to urgent music that was new or had flown under the radar of the mass-marketing machinery.

Its first edition brought Nine Inch Nails its large-scale break. The second year featured Pearl Jam, a little-known act at the start of the tour but an exploding phenomenon by the end. Over the years, the tour featured acts ranging from Beck to Ice Cube to Metallica.

But five years ago, Lollapalooza was put on the shelf because of skyrocketing costs and the increasing difficulty of putting together a compelling lineup.

And now?

“We think the time is right,” says Peter Grosslight, senior vice president and worldwide head of music of the William Morris Agency, which co-owns Lollapalooza with instigator Perry Farrell and his former manager, Ted Gardner.

The partnership is laying the groundwork to roll the venture out again next summer.

No official overtures have been made to artists, but Grosslight sees an emerging rock world ripe with potential core acts (early speculation raises such names as Staind and Incubus, and the new band featuring Chris Cornell and three-fourths of Rage Against the Machine) and lesser-known discoveries.

“We’re seeing bands that are meaning something to kids without great support from radio,” Grosslight says. “There is a sort of new alternative scene, so to speak. Obviously, nothing repeats exactly the same way, but we see things happening with the economy and all that.

“We went through a period where people [in the music business] cared about nothing but money, but now that some things have changed, people will be a lot more concerned about ticket pricing and doing business right,” he adds.

One thing different today is the competition. Lollapalooza’s success spawned many imitators. Ozzfest, the Warped Tour and Family Values are now staples of the summer and fall seasons, although they tend to have a narrower musical focus than Lollapalooza sought.

And then there’s the plethora of radio station-sponsored packages in major markets, such as the KROQ-FM (106.7) Weenie Roast and Almost Acoustic Christmas.

This past summer also saw the first go for Moby’s Area:One fest, while Farrell’s own Jubilee, although scaled down from its original ambitious plans, recently finished with his Jane’s Addiction reunion headlining.

But Farrell says he found a lot of longing for the eclectic approach he pioneered.

“When we were out with Jane’s Addiction, the most-asked question besides if Jane’s will record again was, ‘Are you going to revive Lollapalooza?”’ Farrell says. “In the past decade, I watched the festivals, and being an intimate part of the original building process, I’ve been wanting to add something to it--not just have a roster of eight bands and 800 trucks [of equipment]. There’s so much more that can be done.”

Farrell and Grosslight promise extra-musical elements using new technological developments that, they say, can achieve some of the community building and outreach that Farrell envisioned in the beginning.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt it could still be meaningful,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of concert business publication Pollstar.

“There is certainly some history behind the Lollapalooza name, but that in and of itself will not sell any tickets. It all depends on whether they can find those couple of key acts that will make it a success.”

Oh, one other thing may be different with the new Lollapalooza: sponsorship.

“Before we didn’t and wouldn’t have sponsorship, and the demands of the bands made it prohibitive to put a bill together,” Grosslight says. “We just couldn’t afford it.”

Would attaching a corporate name to the festival diminish its reputation?

“It hasn’t hurt the Warped tour in the least,” Bongiovanni says. “It’s not like kids are not constantly bombarded with advertising messages and don’t know how to sift through this. And it may well be the only way it’s economically viable in this day and age.”

STOCKING STUFFERS: So you sold your tech stocks before the crash and are eyeing that Neiman Marcus limited-edition Lexus for someone special this Christmas? Why spend $70,000 for what is still just a car when, for a relative bargain of $40,000, you could get three whole pieces of paper?

If your someone special is a serious rock memorabilia collector, that could be the way to go. The three pieces of paper in question are Elvis Presley’s first contract to be represented as an actor by the William Morris agency, signed by the King on Jan. 31, 1956, while he was in New York to appear on the Dorsey Brothers’ TV show and to record “Blue Suede Shoes” for RCA.

The contract is the star attraction on a new “one of a kind” Internet site for rock collectors. The feature was just added to Recordmecca ( https://www.recordmecca.com ), a venture operated by Jeff Gold, former Warner Bros. Records vice president and general manager, and major-league collector himself.

Gold acquired the contract--as well as a companion contract for Presley’s career as a touring performer, which he’s keeping for himself--recently via EBay from an autograph dealer and says that it’s a rare treasure.

“These are from the beginning of when Elvis was blowing up,” Gold says.

“They even misspelled Elvis’ name--it looks like they spelled it ‘Elvin’ and then the last letters were whited out and retyped. That shows how early this was. Even people at the agency didn’t know Elvis yet.”

Some other, less pricey, selections: Jimi Hendrix’s love beads ($5,000); a program from Bob Dylan’s first New York concert in 1961 featuring dubious biographical notes ($2,000); and a late-’40s autographed promotional 78 rpm record of Frank Sinatra singing “Ol’ Man River” ($850).

SMALL FACES: Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl recently pitched in on drums (his instrument in Nirvana) for the band Queens of the Stone Age. Original plans had called for him to play on a couple of songs, but he stayed for the entire album, to be titled “Songs for the Deaf” and due in the spring from Interscope Records. Tentative plans are being made for Grohl to sit in with the Queens on several concert dates as well. The Foos, meantime, are well into recording their next album, also due in spring or summer....

In a cross-promotion with the Landmark movie theater chain, the video for Icelandic band Sigur Ros’ “Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa” will be shown before screenings of the film “Princesa” at the Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles for the week starting Jan. 11....

Rhett Miller of Old 97’s is starting work in January on his first solo album, with Jon Brion producing. (The two have regularly collaborated in each other’s appearances at Largo.) The album is due in late summer. After that, Miller will regroup the band for its next album ....

Pantera’s Phil Anselmo is finishing the second album for his side-project band Down. The album is due in March. Recording outside of Anselmo’s hometown New Orleans, the group features his Pantera pal Rex Brown on bass, Corrosion of Conformity guitarist Pepper Keenan and drummer Jimmy Bower, and Crowbar guitarist Kirk Windstein--all friends and off-and-on bandmates since childhood. *