I saw Lindsay Lohan dancing at a club.

Well, actually, I wasn’t up close and personal, I saw a picture of her in a
MAGAZINE!  "People" to be exact.

But it wasn’t only Lindsay.  There was Hilary Duff.  With that bozo from Good
Charlotte.  Seemingly everybody on MTV, all the celebutantes, they ain’t
going to the show, they’re going to the CLUB!

Now when I was a youngster, the LAST thing we wanted to do was go to a disco.
Oh, we’d populate the bars.  Pour down a few beers, maybe a Flaming
Drambuie, and there’d be a jukebox, but it would play the hits of yore, and nobody
would dance.  And the clothes we were wearing?  Jeans.  And t-shirts.  Maybe a
sweater if we were in a cold clime.  It was about the hang, the bar was not the
CENTER of your universe but where you hung to connect after the fact, to do a
review.  Oh, not that there wasn’t some ogling of the opposite sex, and some
interaction…it’s just that we didn’t sit at home on Friday night thinking
that we were going to doll ourselves up, go to a venue and DANCE the night away. 
That wasn’t what music was for anyway.  Music was SOUL FULFILLMENT!  Not
background, not grease lubricating the friction between bodies.

If you’re not in the urban game, you’re not in the major label business.  The
major labels are big time, MAINSTREAM!  They don’t create the trends, they
follow them.  They assess the landscape and constantly adjust, to be able to
sell tonnage, to keep their shareholders happy.

People will say it’s about hip-hop.  About what the acts are saying.  When
really, it’s just about the beat.  Kids today are slaves to the beat.

Think about it.  When you were a kid your goal was EXCELLENCE!  You wanted to
rise above.  Today’s artists are just lucky commoners.  Who, after their
moment in the spotlight, return to the mob.  That mob, that’s where everybody
WANTS to be.  They want to be INCLUDED!  Who desires to stay home and cry to Cat Stevens when you can go out and CELEBRATE!

Our whole culture has moved in that direction.  America is the land of GOOD
TIMES!  It’s not about intelligence, or quality, it’s about WEALTH!  And the
ability to use this wealth to enjoy a high level lifestyle.  These are the
OPPOSITE of the values of the baby boomers when they were young.

The concert business.  It was an AFTERTHOUGHT!  It GREW OUT of the major
labels and radio.  And now these promoters expect labels and radio to save them
once again.  But it ain’t gonna happen.  Because the labels and radio have
gotten hip.  They’re not purveying a musical culture, they’re selling GOOD TIMES! 
You don’t want to see today’s hit acts live.  That’s not even the point. 
That’s not what the music REPRESENTS!  Oh, you’d like to touch a celebrity, maybe
even have sex with him, but you don’t BELIEVE in him.  Everybody’s seen
"Making The Band".  Been to awfulplasticsurgery.com.  They don’t believe these acts have any talent.  No, Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre have the talent.  The acts just
come and go.  There can be mania, but no WORSHIP!  Because the acts are empty.

Not that the happy hour paradigm represents the complete youth culture. 
There are kids who look nerdy.  Who are lonely.  Who don’t fit in.  THESE are the
true music fans.  And they support a plethora of acts.  Just not the acts the
big labels and radio are hyping.  That’s the ANTITHESIS of what they want. 
For a moment there, the major labels and the public merged in the mainstream. 
But there was a separation, especially in the nineties.  It’s not that MTV
stopped playing music, it’s that the outlet realized IT WASN’T ABOUT THE MUSIC!

Just like the hit acts of the late sixties sounded NOTHING LIKE what was on
AM radio, what will survive tomorrow sounds nothing like what is being played
in clubs today.  Not that those with the dollars want to believe this, because
it’s a building process, return is YEARS down the line.  And these
corporations need their money NOW!  So, they go for the acts that do well in the clubs.

The major labels say they’re the curators.  That without them, music will
DIE!  Just like George Bush and his administration were exposed, in a handful of
years the fatuousness of the major label position will be revealed.  The
labels aren’t protecting music, aren’t interested in artists’ rights, they’re only
interested in their own survival.

Real musicians.  Almost none of them make club friendly music.  They refuse
to bend to the corporate paradigm.  Look at who sells out Bonnaroo, the most
successful show in the land, it’s not the Top Ten artists.

So, broaden your vision.  If you want to play the big money game, so be it. 
Sharpen your knife, spend your marketing money, pay middlemen to get airplay
on radio and in clubs, PUSH for that turntable hit.  That’s what you’re doing,
selling records, right?

No, you were selling a better way of life.  Truth.  Guidance.

That’s all gone.  Those elements were NEVER present in the club.

And no legitimate artist is in the club either.  Because, hate to tell you,
most artists are shy, introverted, in public they’re speechless, flummoxed. 
They’re all emotion, not words.  True artists are LOSERS in clubs.  That’s why
you see the faux players like Lindsay and Hilary and Justin and Jessica
and…in the club.  Because that’s what they do best.  Show up for their photo-op.