Did time just pass it by, was rap the new Beatles, or did something CONSPIRE to kill rock and roll.  Oh, maybe we weren’t aware of the factors, but maybe colliding forces eviscerated rock’s power.

Actually, rock was on the skids until MTV.  What MTV did was allow the non-mainstream to click.  Rock radio LITERALLY wouldn’t play "Tainted Love" and "Don’t You Want Me".  Never mind Haircut 100, T’Pau and a bunch of new wave/romantic English acts.  You see, they didn’t get the memo in the U.K.  Maybe it became about fashion, but underprivileged kids still saw rock stardom as a way out.  And with limited radio play on the continent, their labels made videos, which MTV played.

And then the mainstream acts kicked in.  Eddie Money became a video star.  And then black acts too.  Actually, the mid-eighties were the first time white and black music coexisted on the same outlet in almost TWO DECADES!  Yes, after the death of Top Forty radio, white music was on rock stations on FM, in a format which came to be known as AOR.  And black music gravitated to Quiet Storm stations, and R&B stations.  Suddenly, the average white man was being exposed to soulful music again.  And he LIKED IT!

And what did rock, the classical white music, respond with?  HAIR BANDS!

Hair bands and corporate rock both contributed to the death of rock.  Suddenly, boiled down to its crass essence, after a sale surge, nobody wanted this music anymore.  Vapid corporate rock opened the door for mindless disco.  And hair bands opened the door for…Mariah Carey.

The labels always hated rock music.  Well, Clive Davis always hated rock music.  And, his emulator, Charles Koppelman, he worshipped at the altar of Barbra Streisand, not Jethro Tull, who he suddenly was in charge of.  And, Donnie Ienner used to work for Clive.  And Mo and Lenny lost their jobs.

Oh, there was a last hurrah.  Grunge.  Kurt Cobain.

But then it was done.  Rock was gone and forgotten.

There was no room for it on MTV.  Because you had to sell your soul for airplay.  The end came when actors played the roles of Blues Traveler in their big hit video.  Suddenly, a video couldn’t be a band playing, but had to be a MINI-MOVIE!

Which nobody did better than rap acts.  Rap was the OPPOSITE of rock.  Not a live medium, but a VIDEO medium.  A DANCE medium.

And many old rock fans hated rap.  Begging even for the almost atonal riffs of AC/DC.  And, with MTV airing less music than ever before, the old rock fans tuned out.

Yes, the old rock fans GAVE UP!

They went to see their favorite dinosaurs in concert, but they no longer listened to a radio which played the same old classic rock tracks or music that they couldn’t fathom, like the aforementioned hip-hop.  And those rock acts that still existed, they got even FURTHER out there.  Their sound was almost as grating as that of the rap acts.

But then came the boy bands.  And the old rock fans’ KIDS started buying CDs.  Of acts their parents hated.

And then the whole thing imploded.

Who do we blame?

Maybe Bono.  Who got rid of every element of rock stardom he ever had in order to stay relevant.  Instead of QUESTIONING authority, he threw in with it.

And the Stones and McCartney became positively mercenary.

And the new acts would do whatever the label told them to.

And the audience no longer cared.

So now, there’s still a need for a track.  Whether it be by Kelly Clarkson, Mariah Carey or Fat Joe.  But nobody in the mainstream is ubiquitous, and nobody is rock.

We have the Strokes.  Which would make Ray Davies roll over in his grave if only he were dead.

We’ve got Oasis, which hasn’t cut a decent record in a decade.

We’ve got Pete Doherty, but his arrest record is better than his music.

We’ve got people PLAYING rock stars, but we’ve GOT no rock stars.

A rock star is someone whose music is SO good, he can get away with anything shy of murder.

Like Led Zeppelin.

Or Sly Stone.

There was a heat.

But it’s not the early eighties anymore.  The audience has given up.  They’re not waiting for the next big thing.  They don’t believe there IS a next big thing.

It’s not only music.  It’s movies too.  Everything’s been dumbed down, commercialized, HOMOGENIZED, to the point where nobody’s even paying attention anymore.

To rectify the situation we need somewhere where people are paying attention.  And it ain’t NEVER going to be MTV, no music television whatsoever.  And no terrestrial radio.  FM blew up because the owners considered their stations an afterthought, they didn’t give a shit WHAT was on them, because nobody was listening.  And it’s not the Internet, not MySpace, because those are inert.  We need some heroin, that we can mainline, fed to us by living, breathing, human beings.

Could be satellite radio.  That’s what I’m betting on.  Certainly XM, which is not massaged AT ALL!  Where you get the feeling renegades are running the channels.  Where passionate, sixties-style deejays rule.

But what music are they going to play?

We’ve got to REDEFINE what a rock star is.

He’s no longer someone on "Cribs".  No longer someone at a fashion show.  He’s an ICONOCLAST!  Who’s never seen partying at the latest Hollywood joint.  HE’S the party.  Wherever HE is, it’s happening.  Hell, he doesn’t need the publicity, people can FIND HIM!  They’re tracking him all over the Net.

And what does his music sound like?

It’s going to be straight ahead.  Verse chorus bridge.  Like the Backstreet Boys’ best material, but with a BACKBONE!  It’s going to be what the act is SAYING as opposed to what he looks like, or the sound of the loop.

Word is going to spread of these new acts.  SLOWLY!

They’re not going to cover them in the "New York Times" until the last minute.  People are going to FEEL the heat.  And be drawn to the flame.  And the act won’t play stadiums, but small halls.  You won’t be able to get in.  And you’ll tell all your friends about him.  Because he won’t be on TV, or in the tabloids.

Everybody’s doing it wrong.  They’re looking at the marketplace and trying to shoehorn "talent" into it.  FIRST you find the talent.  And you just nurture that talent.  And wait for the people to come to IT!  Because if you’re good, you can’t keep people AWAY!

Everything said above is anathema to those in charge.  Because these aren’t their rules, their systems.  But their game has turned everybody off.  They said rock and roll would never die, but its caretakers have dug a grave and are piling on dirt.  We need a resurrection.  We need people to care.  We need people to pay attention.  And it doesn’t start with distribution, but ACTS!  Sure, the material is important, but a hit song is not a hit song is not a hit song.  It’s about EMOTION, FEELING!  Something no song doctor can add.  Sure, anybody can sing, even Paris Hilton, but not everybody can sell what’s inside, not everybody can project an inside people are INTERESTED IN!