He may be antiquated, but he ain’t stupid.

By likening the Internet to an A-Bomb and saying a bunch more outrageous things, Johnny Cougar got everyone to know that he’s got a new album out.  Are people gonna listen to it?

Well, at least they know it’s out.

This is Rock PR 101.  Say something outrageous and the somnambulant press eats it up as you laugh all the way, in the old days, to the bank.  Brown M&M’s!  Who hasn’t heard that story!  Come on, the landscape is littered with ridiculous claims that have been trumped up by the press and believed by the masses.  And sure, many people may not believe Mellencamp’s statements, but they know he’s made new music.

In other words, you’ve got to create your own Super Bowl.  Devise an event that the old and new guards will trumpet ad infinitum.

This is what Cee-Lo did.

This is what too many of the old artists going on the road to bad returns don’t do.

I got the following e-mail:

From: William Nollman

This has nothing to do with Crowded House but I saw a funny show this week at the Ives in Danbury.

It was Donald Fagen, Boz Scaggs and Mike McDonald. You would expect a slick reprise of the great Rock and Soul Revue show from the 90s that I was lucky enough to catch at the Beacon.

But it was the first show of the tour and completely LOOSE.

The crazy and most entertaining thing was the song list. Of course they did some catalog songs. But Boz covered a Mink DeVille song, they opened with Lee Michaels’ Heighty Hi, did Them Changes, Teddy Pendergrass’ Love TKO, a Band medley (Caledonia Mission- Fagen, Rag Mama Rag- Boz, The Shape I’m In-MM), a few obscure r&b tunes… they did HELP ME RHONDA as one of the encores!

But the nuttiest thing and real jaw dropper of the evening was Fagen calling out and singing Shakedown Street by the Grateful Dead. Somewhere Jerry is smiling that the most maligned band of all time was somehow legitimized by the El Exigente of rock.

They were not tight or in great voice but it felt like a great wedding reception with a sick cover band.

Doesn’t this make you want to go to the show?  I figured it was old farts on the road trying to make a buck when they can no longer make money from their old acts.  Instead, it’s something new, it’s radio artists who built their careers on precision stretching out, improvising!  This sounds like FUN!

And if tickets were cheap enough, business would be good.  If people knew about it.

This concoction should have been the house band on Letterman for a week.  Not because anybody watches, but because the newspaper and web would be chock full of stories about it, which would reach the target audience, ultimately driving success.

It’s really hard to get noticed if you’re a nobody.  But if you’re a somebody, you should use the new tools to your advantage.

Say something outrageous.

These cover tunes should be available at iTunes.  If you can buy "Idol" tracks the next day on iTunes, why can’t you download these Beach Boys and Lee Michaels covers?

Sure, world domination is elusive.  But now that the audience is sick of overpaying to hear the old hits, you’ve got to build something new, you’ve got to leverage your assets utilizing the new tools to get the word out on creativity, you’ve got to get the audience involved.

Where is the contest for covers?  Boomers are lighting up Facebook, how come the old acts don’t leverage this participation/social networks?