They think we’re fucking idiots.

Used to be that music was the bastion of reality, it was where you went for truth.  But ever since Clive Davis went from zero to hero, completely out of the mainstream TO the mainstream, and every other label followed his hit/dreck formula, music has been a joke.  Made for the lowest common denominator.  Those with IQ’s under 100.  And, if you complain about this, you’re told you’re TOO INSIDE, TOO MUCH OF A MUSO!  And worse…LOOK AT THE GROSSES!

Yeah, but now the grosses aren’t so good.

Something’s happening here.  The same baby boomers who went from love your brother to rip him off in the eighties have now completely lost touch with the marketplace.  These cynical fucks are so out of touch with what people think that their work is truly laughable.

Take MTV’s coverage of Live 8 for example.

Let’s stop being pissed for a minute and analyze it.  MTV hasn’t been about music for eons.  The only reason they air videos is so they can get cheap celebrity entertainment and not have to change their name.  But, even MUSIC celebrities are too expensive, too strongwilled, so they’ve created THEIR OWN!  Yes, for doing nothing, the stars of "Real World" and the so-called newscasters are now personalities, presiding over a modern day Mickey Mouse Club.

They won’t tell you that.  But the audience of MTV skews EXTREMELY young.  Hell, you’d have to be completely inexperienced, unjaded, to BUY their crap programming.

Of course MTV had to air Live 8, since they’re supposedly "Music Television" and they aired Live Aid.  But their goal wasn’t to be in service to the music or the cause, but their AUDIENCE!  Yup, ten year olds.

Only problem was, with knowledge of the outlet’s Live Aid coverage, oldsters tuned in.  And the teenagers who’ve abandoned the channel FOR music, who are Pink Floyd fans, they dialed in too.  And that’s what all the brouhaha’s about.  NON-fans, who tuned into MTV for Live 8 coverage the same way they tune into CNN when there’s a disaster, were STUNNED at the change that had been wrought.  They didn’t even RECOGNIZE MTV, never mind its values (i.e. cutting off "Comfortably Numb").

The fact that MTV couldn’t foresee this is astounding.  The fact that the channel was SO caught up in servicing its core audience of ten year olds that they didn’t realize there was a whole other WORLD out there!

Yup, MTV wasn’t caught flat-footed. They INTENTIONALLY aired lame Live 8 coverage, carefully calculated to keep the barely pubescent at best viewer tuned in.  Hell, old farts playing decades old music, that’s ratings DEATH!

And it IS, when shown as videos.  But this was a SPECIAL EVENT!

Same deal with "Rock Star".

Let’s see.  People like reality shows.  They like the drama of seeing people eliminated.  Mark Burnett’s got a track record, we can sell advertising.  LOOKS GOOD!

Only problem is CBS is in essentially every home.  And the show was labeled ROCK STAR, not something cheesy like "American Idol".  And it featured a one time credible band.  So, people were going to pay attention, just like they did with Live 8 (albeit in smaller numbers), and what they’ve seen is an ABOMINATION!

What does Brooke Burke have to do with music?  There’s not ONE female musician you could hire to host this show?

But the whored out audience is worse.  Just about everybody who views this show has been to a concert.  And knows rampant pandemonium does not break out the instant some lame opening act hits the stage.  You’ve got to EARN your applause.  FIRST you sing, THEN you get acclaim.  Assuming you’re good.

Which these contestants are not.

"American Idol" is a talent show.  How many people from your high school talent show made it?  NONE!  But, you enjoyed watching them perform in the gym, making fun of those who sucked, marveling that some girl or boy you never talked to actually had a good voice.

And what if you could audibly hear YOUR critique of these performers.  Yup, Simon provides that.  And, you hate Paula Abdul just like you hated the saccharine cheerleaders.  And you forgive Randy because hell, you know he’ll let you take a hit of his blunt if you run into him in the bathroom.

"American Idol" WAS NEVER MEANT to be real.  Ratings on TV are good because of the drama, and CDs sell because of the exposure.

But "Rock Star" is PREDICATED on being real.  CREDIBLE!

And the band itself, the four surviving members of INXS, they’re sitting there slapping their thighs, grooving to the lame performances of these wannabes.  Maybe TWO of these performers verge on being professional, but even they don’t quite measure up.

And then you’ve got the contestants themselves.  Standing up grooving to the efforts of their co-competitors.  I mean it would be one thing if someone blew the roof off the place, and the rest were willing to concede, but in a CONTEST, do you really cheer on the other people, who are not doing so well ANYWAY?  I mean if you want to WIN??

But they’ve been coached.  Be ANIMATED!

As have been Brooke, and the audience and the band.  As for Dave Navarro, I’ve got the sneaking suspicion he really is this lame.

So what you’ve got is a fake show made for an audience that DOESN’T EXIST!  Everybody involved is SO inside as to be COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCH!

And there you have today’s music business.  Cynical old men who only know the ways of yore who are completely out of touch with their audience.

Yup, labels truly believe the riches are in the lowest common denominator.  That we’re fucking stupid.  That we won’t notice that these performers didn’t write their own songs and can’t really sing.  It’s all about IMAGE, right?

Well, until you can convince me that the quality of a tune is commensurate with someone’s looks, I don’t think so.  As a matter of fact, doesn’t some of the best music come from the UNATTRACTIVE?  Frustrated at their plight in society, the fact that no one notices them, that they can’t get LAID?

Oh, there’s a market for crap.  But it’s not the mainstream.  The mainstream wants respect, they want something they can sink their teeth into, that they can chew.

Even though it’s stumbled, that’s what HBO was built on.  RESPECTING its audience.  And people pay every month for the privilege of being respected.

Credibility.  Respect.  Passion.  THESE are the building blocks of success in the music business.  To the degree anybody working at a label knows this, they only pay lip service to it.  Because they’re whores to their mortgages, slaves to the grind.

Unless you’re willing to put it all on the line, the public just doesn’t care.

Ask Iggy.  Hell, ask just about ANY true rock star.  They came from nothing.  There was no fall back position.  They NEEDED this.

And we could sense it.

And the drama, the pure desire, made us pay attention.

We’re not paying attention to "Rock Star: INXS".  Just check the ratings if you doubt me.