I’m thinking of buying a pair.

Publicity comes last. Unless it comes first, then I ignore it.

If I turn the pages of the paper, of a magazine, click online and find a story about something I already know about, with soft touches saying how great it is, sans facts and figures, I ignore it, for it is hype.

Hype no longer works. It’s ink, usually physical, sometimes digital, to make the perpetrator feel good about themselves, so they can point to the words and get kudos from their boss. This is their job, to spread the word, in a fake manner. Kinda like that story in today’s “Times” about the War On Drugs. Isn’t it funny that it’s their first major label album. Who else has the connections to get it placed, the pull, which is why you sign with a big company.

I ignored it. Even though fans like these victory laps, they illustrate their crush has finally made it. But usually the opposite is true, it’s the beginning of the end, kinda like that squib in today’s rapidly declining, in size and influence, L.A. “Times,” saying that Arcade Fire is overrated. It’s a reaction to the hype about the new album, that’s the thing about media, it’ll turn against you, especially if it thinks it’s being manipulated.

But fans are already long gone. Once it’s penetrated the mainstream, they’re out.

Unless they’ve never heard about it before, like Allbirds.

Felice wants me to get a real pair of shoes. To forgo the athletic footwear and look like a real person. But it’s my last holdout against selling out. Used to be that was the ethos of the music business, you didn’t want to look like one of them, when it was still a rebellious enterprise, when it could still make you rich, when corporations were still the enemy and you reveled in your outsider status instead of doing your best to fit in.

Now once upon a time I used to have real shoes. Clarks. Not Wallabees, like I said, I don’t want to look like everybody else, rather Treks And after that, a pair of Earth Shoes, purchased in 1974. And back in the sixties I had loafers, even Scotch Grain ones, but the only pair of real shoes I’ve owned since were bought in ’96, for my nephew’s bar mitzvah, they’re my go-to when athleisure won’t do, to go with my one and only suit, for funerals and other occasions where I don’t want to draw attention to myself. They’re Dressports, and they too have rubber soles. But every once in a while I wonder if the joke is on me, especially after a buddy showed up in Carhartts and I thought maybe I wanted a pair. Why do I want to look like a member of the working class? Why am I stuck in the seventies?

And then I saw the story about Allbirds yesterday. I’ll link to it below, you’re not gonna read it anyway. That’s the truth, no one has time to click through, we’re all begging for your attention, worried you’ll go elsewhere, you’ve got no time for anything but trusted filters.

And the truth is you don’t have to click through, I’ll tell you everything you need to know right here.

Allbirds are woolen shoes that are the footwear of choice for the digerati.

Not the wannabe digerati, the people you see at the Soho House, but the real rulers, who don’t care what you think about them, who you envy, who you have no access to, the titans of today, like the rock stars of yore.

Today’s “rock stars” are accessible. They’ll sit and sign your merch, show up for the selfie. But the rulers of Silicon Valley you cannot get close to, they live behind closed doors, where they’re changing the universe.

Used to be you wondered what the musicians did when they were offstage. Now you know, they hunger for the spotlight, they’re in cahoots with TMZ, looking for press, they don’t wan to be forgotten, even though they appeal to small niches to begin with. Jay Z ain’t so big, and Katy Perry can’t go clean, and if you don’t know what that means it proves you’re an outsider, and we all want to appear insiders, which is why I might buy Allbirds.

They’re only $95. It’s only the wankers who save up to buy exclusive items. Winners know it’s all about experiences, the physical is disposable, and the cheaper it is, the more it demonstrates you’ve gotten the message.

It’s this paragraph that closed me:

“At a gathering last month hosted by the venture capital firm August Capital on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif., about 1,000 entrepreneurs and investors mingled on a concrete patio over margaritas and deviled eggs to celebrate summer. Guests wore other shoes – New Balance, Top-Siders, Tevas and a rare dress shoe were spotted – but the furry-looking Allbird was by far the most common.”

“A rare dress shoe.” This is my crowd. Go to a music biz gathering and casual is out the window, unless it’s studied, with three figure t-shirts, casual is formal, if it’s worn at all. But in Silicon Valley, it’s all what’s in your mind, clothing is utilitarian and superfluous. Which is why Jobs wore a turtleneck and Zuckerberg a t-shirt and hoodie and I know, I know, it’s all effect, but once upon a time I wanted to look like a rock star, tried to comb my hair like Dennis Wilson’s on the back cover of “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” and failed. We all grew our hair long after the Beatles. Then the Allman Brothers looked just like us, on stage and off. But now…

That’s when I realized I am not immune to fashion, reading this article.

Larry Page wears them. Even better, Ben Horowitz. That’s a litmus test, you either know who he is or not, the same way I had Rod Stewart on my dorm room wall after “Gasoline Alley,” but before “Every Picture Tells A Story” and the hit “Maggie May.” People would flinch, they had no idea who the guy with the rooster hair and legs spread wide was.

But I did.

And soon everybody else did.

And when everybody gets Allbirds, I’ll throw mine out.

But before that…

P.S. I want to appear hip. Signifiers still matter. Just not the ones you think.

P.P.S. This is how trends are started, even how Beats headphones triumphed (and I believe the NBA had more influence than musicians wearing them).

P.P.P.S. Rebellion puts your product over the line. When athletes refused to wear the sponsored headphones, and insisted on wearing Beats, that’s when you knew they won, we never want to look like we’ve been co-opted. And it does not matter what the nobodies do, it’s only when you’re a winner that it counts,

P.P.P.P.S. So build a story, it’s how you get signed to a label today, they can see through the hype. Have press stories about you look like victory laps, not sales efforts.

P.P.P.P.P.S. I’m still on the fence. But one thing’s for sure, for the next month everywhere I go I’ll be looking at people’s feet, to see if they’re clued in. And if they are, if they’re wearing Allbirds, I’ll smile and think they’re in the know, for a while anyway…

“To Fit Into Silicon Valley, Wear These Wool Shoes”

Final note: They’re not for men only, women wear Allbirds too, like Mary Meeker. Carrie Bradshaw is history, if you’re saving up for Manolo Blahniks the joke is on you, because the people who can afford them are not wearing them, at least the thought leaders who count.

There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear

“For What It’s Worth”
Buffalo Springfield

When I grow up I want to own a news outlet. Maybe Fox, maybe CNN. I want to reach everybody and shape public opinion. Because right now we’ve got too many self-satisfied nitwits operating on skewed info trying to reach goals that cannot be achieved.

Now I’m Jewish. And last time I checked Rupert Murdoch was not. But that did not stop the protesters from calling us members of the tribe out, as if we were the problem, they said we controlled the news.

“The Jewish media is going down.”

“The Goyim know.”

Stand up to “the Jewish power structure.”

“Jews will not replace us.”

Am I scared?

You bet I am.

But I don’t think expressing my fear and getting us all on the left to hold hands and sing kumbaya is gonna make any difference. Might make us feel good for a moment or two, but after that?

Now back in the sixties, the protesters didn’t want to jet us back to the past, but to a better future. Whereas the agitators in Charlottesville want to return to an era that cannot be recreated. All in the name of making America “great again.”

Well, I’ve got to tell you, if you were a minority back then, it wasn’t so good.

But now the whites are on the verge of becoming a minority, payback’s a bitch.

But I’m not sure it’s about race. Although there’s a strong undercurrent of religion, I don’t think that’s the prime driver either.

I think it’s about economics. We’re a country of haves and have-nots. And the haves think they know better and the have-nots can sense this contempt and they’re throwing a monkey wrench in the works, believing this is the only way for things to improve.

Yes, they still believe in Trump. And if you think all your holier-than-thou outrage is gonna change their opinion, you’ve got another thing coming.

And isn’t it funny that Rob Halford turned out to be gay. You see homosexuals know no party, no religion, and the truth is people don’t care that much about who you sleep with, as long as they’ve got enough money to go their own way. But when they don’t, they need a scapegoat.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that the left is protesting. Hell, I’ll even argue it prevented the demolition of the ACA, aka “Obamacare.” But the truth is, if you think standing up here and there telling people they’re wrong is gonna get you what you want, you’re completely delusional.

Our only hope is the system. To a good degree, it’s worked already. Trump and the right’s agenda has been stymied. But then there’s the penumbra, the regulations, the pullback of environmental rights, it’s enough to make you cry.

And it makes no sense. The underclass supporting the billionaires.

But they’re convinced government is the problem, even though it’s government programs that are keeping them alive, supporting them.

So I know how this works.

If I express outrage at the adventures of the alt-right, my inbox fills up with hosannas from the left.

And vitriol from the right.

Everybody’s in their own camp, working the refs.

I think it’s pointless to express my opinion, I don’t think it has any effect. When you’re on the frontlines you experience this. When someone says they don’t know anybody who voted for Trump I don’t envy their cocoon, they’re out of touch with what’s happening in America today.

And I’m not sure exactly what is happening.

The left and some of the right are expressing outrage at Trump’s false equivalency, not calling out the right wing supremacist marchers. It’s all over the news…

Except on Fox. Where it came buried fifteen minutes in, after they blamed the anti-protesters for being violent themselves.

So, there’s a good chance you’re living in an echo chamber. I hope it makes you feel good to tweet, to yell at the TV screen, express solidarity with your brethren.

But it’s not moving the ball.

P.S. There’s a good chance a Democrat will win the Presidency next time, but if you think this will solve our problems, you’re wrong.

P.P.S. The left is so deep into identity politics they’ve lost touch with the greater good. Until Democrats unite to win, the party is hopeless.

P.P.P.S. It’s a long hard struggle. Reagan labeled the government useless. The Federalist Society started decades ago, resulting in right wing jurists. To this day tax cuts are seen as paying for themselves, despite evidence to the contrary. Yelling and screaming and crying foul ain’t gonna cut it. The Republicans are organized, they know how to play as a team. Hell, look at the health care vote. Until the Democrats truly put aside their differences, they have no chance.

P.P.P.P.S. Taxes are good, they pay for our roads and schools and our military protection. Everybody partakes. And regulations produce safety. And almost nobody pays estate taxes and small business is not being hobbled… These are right wing canards repeated over and over again. Until the left counters them with their own viewpoint, until they set the agenda, they’re doomed.

P.P.P.P.P.S. It’s every person for themselves in America today. They’ve eradicated so much of the safety net and you pay six figures for a college education that delivers no job. And if you didn’t go to college, you’re doomed. Instead of fighting to get ahead, think about lifting up your brother. We are all in this together, we’re more alike than different, but when times are tough we fight amongst ourselves.

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. I don’t know if Trump is a momentary blip, like Jesse Ventura, or a harbinger of a future disaster. That’s the America we live in today, nobody knows anything, and that includes me, but if you’ve got a big enough megaphone, you can sway public opinion. We are the enemy, but not as big as Facebook and Google, which control our everyday lives whilst telling us they’re helping us. It’s evening in America. It’s ridiculous some innocent person died. Fighting over an aged statue is insane. We all want the same things, food on the table, a roof over our heads and opportunity. Focus on the big issues first. And just because your parents gave you every chance and you’ve succeeded through hard work that does not mean you know what is happening. Like I said, no one does. We’re in uncharted waters, and no one is coming along to rescue us. Everybody’s scratching for cash, we revere economic winners and decry the losers. How did we get here?

Google Google.

That’s right, just don’t enter your search term in the address bar, which you can do with Safari and Chrome, instead enter “Google,” to go to the main Google search page.

Wait, have I confused you?

What I want you to do is go to the Google homepage, however you want to get there. But I also want to inform Luddites that in Safari and Chrome the address bar is also a search engine window, and you can change the default search engine, but most people use Google, as they should. Google is the Uber of search engines, the one with the most market share, although nowhere near as heinous. But Google did not blink, except in the case of the Damore memo, wherein they caved to the wisdom of the crowd. I’m not saying that Damore was right, I’m not saying women should not be offered the same opportunities as men, but I am saying when issues are complicated you don’t take immediate action, you take a step back and analyze all the facts. I believe this is outlined best by David Brooks in today’s “New York Times” column:

“Sundar Pichai Should Resign as Google’s C.E.O.”

And I don’t agree with Brooks’s conclusion, it’s not dissimilar to squeezing out Travis Kalanick, but you should read his viewpoint, that’s the problem with today’s society, we’re locked into our own tunnel vision, we don’t explore others’ viewpoints. We don’t have to ultimately agree with them, but we do need to understand them.

Like those of hip-hop-fans.

Too many oldsters believe hip-hop sucks. They know no history, they refuse to listen, all they can do is wince and protest.

Now if you missed the memo, and it’s hard to today, since messages come at you from multiple angles, August 11th has been anointed the forty-fourth anniversary of hip-hop. Is this truly so? Now we know Alexander Doubleday did not invent baseball, so much of what we’ve been taught is wrong, hell, Pluto is no longer even a planet, but that’s not my point here.

My point is Google has this amazing video on the history of hip-hop.

So now you’re at Google’s homepage, if I haven’t lost you already with my digressive diatribe. And you’ll notice, above the search window, where the logo sits, always stylized, always different every day, there’s a pulsating play button.

That’s right, the ubiquitous diamond we got used to on tape decks, that survives in the internet world.

I wasn’t gonna click it. I was researching something else.

And usually, at least in my experience, the logo is usually static. But the “play” icon was pulsating in a rotating vinyl disc, was this really a video?

I decided to find out, I decided to click.

And you should too.

Upon clicking the logo expanded into a video window with a story told by Fab 5 Freddy. And I’ll tell you, I knew most of this story, but not all of it. And just when it starts to get a bit boring, a little flat, when you think you’re ready to go, that’s when the excitement begins.

Fab 5 Freddy teaches you how to mix, on two turntables, albeit without a microphone.

Don’t skip the tutorial, play with it. Move the fader from right to left.

And then you’re confronted with:

“COOL. NOW YOU DOIN’ IT. LET’S FIND A NEW TRACK TO PLAY. TAP THE RECORD CRATE ICON ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT.”

And you see an image of a Betty Wright album, but then Fab 5 Freddy tells you to:

“USE THE SCROLLBAR TO NAVIGATE THE RECORD CRATE”

And this is when it gets interesting… You see you’re flipping through vinyl, like we did back before it became a fetish, when it was all we had, when the artwork was big and we knew it by heart, could recognize it by its SPINE!

And your instincts tell you it’s gonna be all soul music, urban tunes, R&B, from that spectrum. But I’m flipping through the crate and I see one of my favorite LPs, Little Feat’s “Dixie Chicken.” Huh? They’re as far away from hip-hop as can be.

But NOOOOO! Turns out the beat from “Fool Yourself” is the root of multiple hip-hop hits, it’s sampled in A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebum,” Lupe Fiasco’s “Till I Get There” and Thievery Corporation’s “Sweet Tides.” “Fool Yourself” has got 153 beats per minute and it’s in the key of D.

Billy Squier’s “The Big Beat” has 102 BPM and is in the key of F, it’s sampled in Jay Z’s “99 Problems” and Run-DMC’s “Here We Go (Live at the Funhouse)” and A Tribe Called Quest’s “We Can Get Down.”

And one of my favorite tracks, covered exquisitely by Stevie Winwood, Timmy Thomas’s “Why Can’t We Live Together,” has 107 BPM and is in the key of Cm and is sampled in Drake’s “HOTLINE BLING”!

You could lose an hour, maybe more shifting through the crate and finding records to mix, learning where they’ve been sampled, playing the originals.

And isn’t it funny the denigrated hip-hoppers have no problem entering the rock world but the reverse rarely happens. But this video will open your mind, wake you up from your slumber and open you up to thoughts and possibilities you never had before.

Kind of like reading the Brooks column.

And now we’ve come full circle.

P.S. If this was all too complicated for you, you can just go directly to the video here:

44th Anniversary of the Birth of Hip Hop

P.S. We no longer live in a top-down society, and far too often the self-anointed gatekeepers are a couple of days and a couple of changes behind the curve. And just like with video games, there are few instructions, you’ve got to fiddle around and figure out how to make things work yourself. Mistakes are cool, they illuminate the software, the game, they make you more adept at exploration and use.

P.P.S. The breakthroughs continue to be made by techies, because they take chances and their parent companies don’t need everything to fall directly to the bottom line.

P.P.P.S. The more people know about something, the more they appreciate it. I didn’t get paintings until I took an art history class. When you know where the artist is coming from, the environment within which they created, you understand, you GET IT!

TOP 40

Let’s start with #2, since #1, “Despacito,” is a phenomenon.

#2 is Shawn Mendes’s “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back,” with 17,750 spins.

The Vevo video launched June 20th has 111,761,095 views and the lyric video from June 21 has 9,217,720 more.

On Spotify, the track has 301,709,142 streams.

ACTIVE ROCK

Foo Fighters’ “Run” is number one.

Royal Blood’s “Lights Out” is number 2.

The Foos’ track has 1,888 spins, Royal Blood’s 1,845.

The Foos’ video, launched 6/1, has 13,128,817 views, the audio-only has 1,069,153 more.

“Lights Out” has 5,978,672 views.

“Run” has 13,078,974 streams on Spotify.

“Lights Out” has 13,763,032 streams on Spotify.

In other words, Active Rock tracks have one-tenth of the impact of Top 40 tracks, in reality, even less.

ADULT ROCK

#1 is The National’s “The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness”

It’s got 620 spins, the official video has 1,707,927 views and it’s got 4,683,667 streams on Spotify.

The track is a gnat on the ass of popular music. It exists, it has fans, but if you’re wondering why all the focus is on Top Forty, now you know.

LATIN

An ignored format by the mainstream.

#1 is “Felices los 4,” by Maluma. It’s got 2,036 spins, more than the Foos.

The official video has 816,772,616 views. Yes, you read that right, nearly a billion! And you’ve probably never even heard of the act. and the video has only been up since April 21st. It’s got 232,464,529 streams on Spotify.

COUNTRY

Billy Currington’s “Do I Make You Wanna” has 8,938 spins.

But the official lyric video launched on November 22 last year, only has 4,419,195 views. Is it that country fans don’t go to YouTube or there’s no official video with images? And there are only 18,172,565 streams on Spotify.

So country is a dominant radio force, eclipsing Active Rock by a factor of five, but you don’t see the same reaction online. Could it be that country fans are passive listeners? They traditionally get with the program last, but if I were Nashville, I’d get my customers to stream, because sales are tanking and you want your piece of that streaming pie.

CHRISTIAN

“Even If” by Mercyme has 2,053 spins. That’s more than the Foos folks. And the YouTube clip, from February 17th, has 13,610,569 views. On Spotify it has 7,116,043 streams. So it appears that Christian fans are still stuck on YouTube, they haven’t converted to streaming yet, but they will. And then…the hit acts might be bigger than rockers.

ADULT CONTEMPORARY

Let’s go with #5, the least-known act in the top ten of the chart, James Arthur, with “Say You Won’t Let Go,” it’s got 2,151 spins, once again more than the more famous Foos, and I’m not picking on them, it’s just that they’re number one on Active Rock.

Word is certainly out on YouTube/Vevo, the track has 440,595,607 views. But it was released on 9/9/16. But hit tracks take longer to rise and AC is a notoriously slow-moving format and…the track is monstrous on Spotify too, with 603,232,734 streams.

MULTIPLE FORMAT HITS

That’s right, there are some acts that penetrate multiple radio formats. Like the ubiquitous Ed Sheeran, and the denigrated Imagine Dragons.

Imagine Dragons’ “Believer” is #3 on Top 40, with 15,194 spins. But they’re #2 on Hot Adult Contemporary, with another 6,800 spins. And they’re #6 on Alternative, with 2,259 more spins. They’re EVERYWHERE!

The Vevo video, released March 7th, has 165,932,871 views. The track has 347,369,019 streams on Spotify.

Is this a result of multi-format penetration?

Possibly.

But isn’t it interesting that the track is a radio smash five months after online release.

URBAN & RHYTHMIC

I combine them because DJ Khaled’s “Wild Thoughts” is number one on both. With 5,338 spins on Urban and 7,339 spins on Rhythmic. It’s got 263,216,449 views and 231,231,790 streams. And you wonder why your Spotify check is a pittance when you don’t even break seven figures?

ALTERNATIVE

Let’s go with #2, Weezer, since they’re much more famous than #1, Portugal. The Man. Weezer’s “Feels Like Summer” has 2,652 spins, making it bigger than both #1&2 on Active Rock. (Portugal. The Man’s “Feel It Still” has 3,167 spins!)

Well, I guess I’m detailing both records now…

Weezer’s track has 1,972,569 views since the video was released on March 15th, and 11,230,849 streams. It appears their fans would rather listen than watch.

As for “Feel It Still,” it’s got 12,886,531 views since March 6th and 55,113,156 streams on Spotify. Once again, notice that Spotify eclipses YouTube, meaning that the decriers of the video service are as lost as the mainstream media! The mainstream media keeps writing about these old rock acts, like the Foo Fighters and Weezer, when the truth is they’re minor players in today’s sphere, they might as well write about Loggins & Messina, and IFPI and the RIAA are focusing energy on the wrong target, maybe, just maybe, YouTube is a video service more akin to MTV and for repeated listening you go to Spotify…

MORE TOP FORTY

For perspective, let’s focus on the last track on the Top Forty chart, Cheat Codes’ “No Promises,” it’s #15, it just entered the chart.

Now the video was released back on May 16th. But it’s got 48,536,381 views. But it’s got 203,149,877 streams. Turns out Top Forty lives on streaming! The data tells us this, YouTube has been eclipsed!

And radio shows its retardation by playing a track that’s already been proven a hit on Spotify long before. This is a giant problem in our business. By waiting so long to go on tracks and sticking with them radio is clogging the arteries, and signing its own death warrant. Who in hell is gonna tune in to hear that which was a hit months before? NOBODY! Radio is almost like reruns.

REDBONE

By Childish Gambino.

It’s #14 with increased spins on Top 40, with 6,517, and #4 on Rhythmic with 4,199. But the video was released on November 17,2016, it’s got 108,918,575 views, why did it take radio so long to wake up, it’s the same track it was upon release!

As for streams, it’s got 249,96,786, and it’s still got legs.

CONCLUSION

Hit tracks last a long time.

Radio comes last, all the action, all the movement is on streaming services, where the young people are.

Rock acts get a disproportionate share of press, maybe since writers at news outlets are middle-aged white men. But there’s little happening in that sphere. Sure, some of these acts are selling tickets, but so are classic acts who haven’t had a hit in decades.

But many formats are doing business. So, music is healthy.

But all the action is online, and it’s on music-only services, as opposed to YouTube.

Used to be you weren’t a star until you heard your song on the radio.

Now you’re not a star until you see your track in the Spotify Top 50.

Don’t argue with the data.