I am absolutely positively FLABBERGASTED at the response to Mike Van Jura’s e-mail about selling out.  Could it be that the insiders in this business are such whores, drinking their own kool-aid to SUCH a degree that they’re COMPLETELY out of touch with the public?

I’m gonna say it again.  Most music sucks.  The fact that you can’t get arrested, that nobody is interested in your music, that you’ve got to get a day job is almost ALWAYS because you just don’t have it.  You need talent to make it.  Oh, unless you’re one of those autotuned wonders purveyed by the major label like we’re giving a shit.  Marketing has eclipsed talent.  It’s just that simple.  Believe me, if I come across ANYTHING good I’m going to tell you and everybody else I know.  That’s how it is today.  With word of mouth options so vast on the Internet.  It’s human nature, we want to tell people.  But not believing this, with their heads so far up their asses they can see no light, those in power want to do everything the same old way.

I’ve got to ask you, ever wonder why essentially no band other than Pearl Jam still HAS a career fifteen years on?  Could it be that they all whored themselves out to such a degree that nobody cares about them anymore?

Hell, if you want to make money, be the Goo Goo Dolls.  Change from punk to pop and rewrite the same damn song every time and just PRAY that one’s a hit.  But if you want to have true longevity, if you want someone to see you live, people have to BELIEVE in you!

Shit, that’s a weird concept.  When most of the people e-mailing me don’t even believe in themselves.  Having purchased cars to impress their brethren, being all about appearance as opposed to what’s on the inside.  We used to look to the acts for inspiration, dedication and enlightenment.  They were the ones beholden to no one, who spoke the truth.  And the execs, the MARKETEERS, didn’t like this.  They didn’t like that the acts could get laid whenever they wanted, that people revered them, so they put out the story that THEY were the act.  Yup, today Clive Davis is more famous than most people MAKING records.  Yet, last I checked, Mr. Davis never played or sang a note.  You wonder why the public no longer cares, that almost nobody has a career?

Those acts we remember from the sixties and seventies…  They were dangerous, they were different.  They didn’t align themselves with the corporate sphere because they didn’t TRUST IT!  They didn’t want it to REPRESENT THEM!  And if you trust the corporation today, you just haven’t been on a conference call where they’re asking what they’re getting for their money.  Believe me, they don’t pay all that endorsement money for NOTHING!

Sure, it’s society.  With those ridiculous stories about people selling ads on their heads.  But I’ll let you in on a little secret.  The average person would NEVER do this, nor does he have the OPPORTUNITY TO!  The average person has more soul than all you hypester pricks will EVER have.  Doubt me?  Just go to egotastic.com or perezhilton.com or awfulplasticsurgery.com where they make FUN of the celebrities.  The public isn’t stupid.  People know if you’re taking money, you’re just not to be trusted.  What ELSE will you do?  Because your INTEGRITY is in question.

You businessmen.  You don’t give a shit about the art, you just want to get paid.

You acts who are doing this, you’re the same fucking way.

Count your money.  But know that for every dollar you take, as a whore, you’re losing an equal number of days in your career.

It’s this kind of bullshit logic, that EVERYBODY is doing it, that gives us the fucked-up government everybody is railing against.

I do not want to hear about how it’s a changed landscape, how things are different now.  I’ll believe that when human nature changes, when people fuck in some newfangled way.  Sure, a great track triumphs.  But if you want fans, if you want longevity, you must manage your career very closely.  There’s a thin line between hackdom and legend.  Just compare Crosby, Stills & Nash with Neil Young.  Three are jokes and the one who never took a dime from a corporation is still revered.  Do you think this happened by accident?  Do you think you can buy Neil Young’s soul?  Imfuckingpossible, and that’s why you believe in him.