Arrogance

In the Swing Era, there existed what were called "territory bands," swing outfits that performed successfully in a specific region but never ventured much beyond it to achieve national recognition. By the time the Rock Era got started, regionalism had faded somewhat in the U.S., but the modern period has still had its share of rockers who became local heroes yet somehow never went nationwide. Arrogance, from the Piedmont area of North Carolina, must be counted one such rock ‘n' roll territory band. It's not that they didn't try to achieve stardom beyond their natural stomping grounds. But timing was against them. The group was a tuneful outfit influenced by the Beatles and the Byrds who came along just after the period when they might have made a splash as a "folk rock" or "garage rock" group and lasted until just before they might have been equally successful as an "alternative" band. Indeed, former member Don Dixon, who took to producing acts like R.E.M. just as Arrogance finally gave up the struggle, was one of the architects of the alternative trend of the 1980s. But anyone who saw Arrogance play in North Carolina or Virginia between the late 1960s and early ‘80s will tell you that they are one of the great lost bands of rock ‘n' roll. Singer/guitarists Dixon and Robert Kirkland formed Arrogance in the fall of 1969 when they were both freshmen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, adding keyboard player Marty Stout and drummer Scott Davison. The boastful name, coined by Dixon, referred to their ability to upstage other acts and their early hard-rock style. By the time of their self-released debut album, Give Us a Break, in 1973, however, Arrogance had adopted a softer folk-rock style. They also recorded a second album on their own, 1975's Prolepsis....