More McCartney
Watch this video. To the very end. It’s only a minute twelve.
I was down with it until the very end, when the desperation FREAKED ME OUT!
Oh, you can watch the video that comes on thereafter, but if you don’t agree Paul’s impromptu solo performance in the initial video is better, we’re never going to agree on ANYTHING!
If Paul McCartney wasn’t a Beatle, he’d be…Macy Gray? Wearing a dress to the Video Music Awards emblazoned with her album’s drop date?
Or would he be Britney Spears. With a train-wreck personal life, trumpeted all over the media, overshadowing his music.
As for all of you Macca fans blowing back? There just AREN’T THAT FUCKING MANY OF YOU! "Chaos and Creation In The Backyard" only scanned 533,000, and the first week total for the new one is projected at 150k by the seers at "Hits". Enjoy it, even love it, but most people just don’t give a shit.
But this isn’t about MCartney. This is about new acts, today.
1. Desperation Never Works
Ever hear of a homeless man becoming a millionaire? If begging truly worked, EVERYBODY would be out doing it. But no, when you come to the intersection of San Vicente and Wilshire you raise your car window, you suddenly find something fascinating in your dashboard, ANYTHING to avoid eye contact with the so-called "veteran" looking for a hand-out.
2. The Hype Era Is Over
Well, not completely. Not if you’re one of Clive Davis’ charges, selling bland crap, appearing in all media that will have you.
Speaking of Mr. Davis, have you caught this video on YouTube?
It’s not the eighties anymore. The people get to BITE BACK! And, an online groundswell put Dell Computer in the ground. "Dell Hell", that’s what they call it, don’t they? Wherein you’re on hold for hours in India and when you finally get "Bob" or "Sue" or "David" on the line they can’t help you, if they can even frickin’ UNDERSTAND YOU! (Never mind you them!)
Yes, one lone Website got the anti-Dell ball rolling.
And, this coupled with a failure to realize that demand had shifted to physical stores from ordering online or on the phone DECIMATED Dell’s sales, hell, the company will probably never recover. Dell took its eyes off the ball. The labels took their eyes off the ball YEARS ago! And, unlike Michael Dell, they don’t seem to realize they’re in crisis, they haven’t fired enough PRESIDENTS!
Hate to tell you Clive, but the public sees you as just another over-the-hill hack standing in the way of good music. The media might bow at your feet, but the public is laughing. They don’t take those "American Idols" seriously, nor you either. Want to rehabilitate your image? Come down off your throne. Have a blog. Answer questions. Put demos online, so when YOU pass everybody can see the track is shite TOO!
3. We’re All In It Together
If you’re on a pedestal, you’re just asking to be pulled down.
Look at Paris Hilton. The media thought she was a star. But now, with this prison fiasco, they found out the public HATES HER! Hell, even her CONSTITUENCY booed her at the MTV Movie Awards!
No one is above the law. (Well, except maybe R. Kelly.)
If you’re getting special treatment, you’re just one step away from not getting any treatment at all. You’re one step away from being ignored. Don’t parade yourself, a-twitter in the glow of the spotlight, go nail a few houses together with Habitat For Humanity, and DON’T PUBLICIZE IT! Hell, just pose for a few cell phone photos and the story will be ALL OVER THE WEB, and it will look like you had nothing to do with it.
Interact with your fans. Tell them you’re just like them. Or GET OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT!
4. We Live In A Pull, Not A Push World
Playing McCartney 24/7… Sounds good on paper, people buy music when they hear it, but is Paul pissing off more people than he’s pleasing?
In the above Seattle "Post-Intelligencer" article, thirty two year old Starbucks customer Melanie Hernandez says:
"It feels a little bit like it’s being shoved down my throat."
And you wonder why people gave up on terrestrial radio. They had no control over hearing the same damn worthless crap over and over again. Kind of like being at Starbucks yesterday.
This might work for Paul, he might be the last one through the door, but if you’ve got a new act, don’t shove it down our throats, don’t take every marketing opportunity thrown your way. Focus on the music and getting fans. Fans beget fans. Corporations don’t beget fans (unless, maybe, they’re Apple Computer!)
This Hear Music/Starbucks paradigm is now officially done.
That Ray Charles CD sold at Starbucks, and then a few discs in reasonable numbers thereafter, but now the coffee chain is just another outlet, whose imprimatur is close to worthless. If they sold ONE ALBUM A YEAR, and it wasn’t on their own label… Hell, they’re selling COFFEE, not music. And what sells their coffee is quality and word of mouth. They’re not banging us over the head with ads telling us how fucking great their main product is. The company is positively SOFT SELL! Isn’t it curious when it comes to music they’re so fucking HARD SELL? In other words, they don’t want to dilute their main brand (unless it be with water!) To make it perfectly clear, Starbucks respects coffee more than music! And doesn’t seemingly EVERYBODY these days. This overhype and overselling of music has tainted the whole damn medium. Everybody thinks music is for wannabe rich hypesters looking to pull themselves above the rest of us. Hell, watch MTV, follow their antics. Stars are two-dimensional cartoon characters we laugh at, we don’t BELIEVE IN THEM!
Isn’t it funny that Trent Reznor won’t tie in with ANYBODY and won’t even go on TV, won’t do the late night shows, and he can sell out arenas fifteen odd years down the line and the "stars" of today work clubs? Trent’s about servicing the fanbase. Leaving those who don’t care OUT!
Paul McCartney wants everybody. And that’s why his carpet bomb hype turns us off.
Oh, Paul will go on tour and sell out too. But when he gets to the music from this new album, that’s when everybody will go to the bathroom.
I figured he had more dignity. But no, that was Lennon.
I want a human Paul. Not a slick vessel promoting a disc.
But I’ll leave him alone now. MAYBE! I’ll leave you with your ancient memories as you coast into the retirement home.
But what kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where people are more partial to coffee than music, where music is a second-class citizen?
It goes to the music itself, and how it is sold.
Trying to reach as many people as possible, the labels signed bland crap, and overhyped it.
When we finally had the chance to get out, WE DID! We want more choice, we want something different from the wall to wall hip-hop and melisma-choking females. We want something that touches our SOULS! Fuck, touch someone’s soul and the music doesn’t even HAVE to be that good. Have a beer with a fan, and he’ll be yours for LIFE! Listen to your public. Try to respect us. THEN we’re interested.
How about a house concert. Yup Paul, come play somewhere in the suburbs, the STICKS! Talk about Beatlemania, can you imagine the town it occurs in? People will be lined up for blocks, looky-loos will jam up roads for miles around. Because people want to touch a Beatle. We all want to touch a Beatle. But we want the Beatle of our memories. Not some out of touch huckster.
Start with the fucking basics. The tunes and the public. If you’ve got something real, press will be organic, and your record will sell.
A hard core fan will stay with you for eons.
Someone knocked over the head, caught up in temporary mania, he’ll be gone forever.
The reason Paul can’t sell is because he’s burned us too many times. If the new one really were the next "Band On The Run", it would be best to UNDERSELL IT!
One drop in the water, that’s all it takes. Just like a single file in the P2P network might be traded by MILLIONS!
But we only trade what we want.
And we buy what we need.
What do you want? What do you need? Something that comforts you at night, that you picked out, that’s yours, that feels like yours alone? Or an impulse item bought in a momentary lapse of reason?
We no longer need QUICK purchases, but DETERMINED ONES! Come to my site, listen to the tunes, kick the tires, become a fan if YOU want to. Everybody’s welcome. And if I’m good, you’ll give me ALL your money. Because there’s very little good shit out there, and that’s what we’re all looking for, GOOD SHIT!
