WABC’s All American Survey for Week of 21 December 1965 – Spotify

1. “Turn! Turn! Turn!”
The Byrds

It began in the spring with “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Out of nowhere, folk rock was born. A melding of what once was before the Beatles to that which came thereafter, no wonder Dylan went electric, he had no choice, he not busy being born is busy dying.

But the lyrics for this number came from Ecclesiastes, that was the word that spread throughout school, before there was a Wikipedia, when everything was word of mouth. Back when religion was dying, when “Time” asked whether God was dead, before it all flipped back in the next decade and our whole country took a right turn, remember when it was the musicians who were atheists, imagine the Grammys without everybody thanking God, these players believed in themselves, and credit Jim/Roger McGuinn for creating his own unique guitar sound, you immediately knew it was the Byrds.

2. “A Taste Of Honey”
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass

From “Whipped Cream & Other Delights”! We had this album at home, did you?

It was my first exposure to Herb, when he had his first hit, “The Lonely Bull,” my transistor was mostly used for baseball games. Not that I bought no singles, but it wasn’t until the Beatles broke that I became glued, it was the AOL of its day, remember 1995, when the masses went out and bought computers just so they could play online, it was just like that!

But in those days before Spotify it was a while before I heard the first hit, but at this late date I prefer “The Lonely Bull” to “A Taste Of Honey,” which I know by heart because it was right there, on the chart, in between…

3. “We Can Work It Out”
The Beatles

One of Paul McCartney’s best Beatle vocals. There were other records on the radio, but you bonded with the lads from Liverpool immediately, it was something about the vocals, as if they were just across the street testifying and you couldn’t help but pay attention.

Furthermore, the b-side was “Day Tripper,” whew!

4. “The Sound of Silence”
Simon & Garfunkel

We laughed at his name, we didn’t think it was real, this was in the era of bands adopting monikers for effect.

Talk about a winter song… Dark and introspective… We loved it, but we had no idea Paul Simon was a genius who would only get bigger, did I ever tell you I saw the duo open for Soupy Sales at Fairfield U? This was after the hits, but before “The Graduate”…

5. “Let’s Hang On!”
The Four Seasons

It was over.

I was a huge Four Seasons fan. My favorite was “Dawn (Go Away),” but at this point the act was running on fumes, this was a hit, but it did not have the gravitas of what came before, true, they survived the British Invasion, but not for long, kinda sad, I remembered “Rag Doll” from the year before, this was a lighthearted trifle compared to that masterpiece.

6. “Over and Over”
The Dave Clark Five

By this point we knew they were not the new Beatles, yet this was a smash featuring Dave’s drums but the key to the act was the ultra-cool, very talented Mike Smith, who has been lost to the sands of time, not helped by Mr. Clark’s refusal to license his music, why?

Dave Clark Five, Over and Over – YouTube

7. “I Hear A Symphony”
The Supremes

At this point they were a chart staple, this features an intimate vocal, it was a righteous smash but I still prefer “Come See About Me,” but at this point they could do no wrong, we expected them to have hits forever, but then Diana Ross went solo, how many lead singers leave to greater success, we believe in the act, we have an investment, it was THE SUPREMES!

8. “I Got You (I Feel Good)”
James Brown & his Famous Flames

This was long before Eddie Murphy made fun of him, before James got arrested and went to jail, this was when he was the king of black radio and most white people were ignorant as to his talent. This was the apotheosis, undeniable in every way, only in hindsight can we see how talented the man was, sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone…

9. “Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)”
The Wonder Who?

Did I know this was the Four Seasons?

I don’t think so!

Never underestimate the power of a great song, even if this arrangement stripped the composition of most of its meaning.

10. “England Swings”
Roger Miller

We were UK crazy, it’s hard to imagine today’s America being infatuated with another nation this much, to the point where a country star testified about it, but Roger Miller did way back when in ’65. Still, my favorite number from this genre is “Next Plane To London” by the Rose Garden, with the airport announcement and everything.

11. “I Can Never Go Home Anymore”
The Shangri-Las

At first I didn’t remember this, but then…

The Shangri-Las got stuck in their own device, the teen angst backwater, this was one of their last gasps, they were close to done.

12. “Ebb Tide”
The Righteous Brothers

This was the kind of drivel that drove me nuts as I waited for the British Invasion hits on the radio, I’ve come to like the Righteous Brothers, which I did not back then, but this was a cheap shot, a cover of an old number, an old fogey trip to way back when that I did not need.

13. “Fever”
The McCoys

Rick Derringer was only eighteen, this was a new generation of musicians, who cared that this was a classic song, we were indoctrinated by “Hang On Sloopy” and we were glad to have more.

14. “As Tears Go By”
The Rolling Stones

This was a surprise, we expected the Stones to be dark and grungy, but this was sweet and meaningful demonstrating range we were not prepared for, this was a complete surprise after “Satisfaction” and “Get Off My Cloud,” it made the boys presentable to those turned off previously.

Furthermore, by this point we all had our guitars and this was one of the few songs that could be easily picked out and played, and we did.

15. “She’s Just My Style”
Gary Lewis & the Playboys

One of the great non-Beach Boys Beach Boys songs, the apotheosis of Gary Lewis’s career, the song was cowritten by Leon Russell, along with Al Capps, Snuff Garrett and Mr. Lewis himself, I loved this so much I bought the album, and tried to buy a shirt like the band wore on the cover.

16. “A Must To Avoid”
Herman’s Hermits

They were supposed to be done by this point, right?

No.

The magic is in the way Herman spits out the words. This P.F. Soan/Steve Barri song is a tear, only eclipsed by its follow-up, “Listen People.”

17. “It’s My Life
The Animals

Vastly underrated, Eric Burdon needs his victory lap, a small man with a deep voice who sang the lyrics like they were the most important thing in the world, he made the songs his own, and never underestimate the bass work by Chas Chandler.

18. “Hang On Sloopy”
The Ramsey Lewis Trio

Back when jazz cats were still cool and rather than sample a record you just remade it in your own style.

19. “Make The World Go Away”
Eddy Arnold

We’d wince and push the button, not believing they were playing this dreck on our station, did fans of this stuff actually tune in to Top Forty, and one of the great things about Top Forty was they played mostly the Top Ten or Fifteen, so you rarely had to hear this, thank god.

20. “The Men In My Little Girl’s Life”
Mike Douglas

Ditto.

21. “1-2-3”
Len Barry

I loved it then and I love it now, it’s like Barry is a carnival barker who we cannot resist, when selling a song meant more than belting.

24. “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore”
The Young Rascals

The beginning of the American renaissance. The British Invasion was fading and the Americans were coming on strong and this was the great east coast hope, the Young Rascals, their initial single which was undeniable, the fact that this band is hiding in plain sight and not getting its deserved accolades is criminal.

47. “Flowers On The Wall”
The Statler Brothers

Lord only knows why this track is included in the online chart, which skips from #21 to #24 and then goes to this. In theory I should despise this song, this was back before country was rock and roll, when it was music made for the south before Nixon established his strategy and brought attention to what was going on down there, before that we just ignored it, but not this track, which is genius in that you hear it and you get it and every time it came on you could not turn it off, if for no other reason than you wanted to sing “Captain KANGAROO”!

Don’t tell me I’ve got nothin’ to do.

WABC All American Survey for Week of 21 December 1965

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Playlist

“Autobahn”
Kraftwerk

More influential than any of the bands enshrined this year, the R&RHOF is a worthless organization with no credibility but it does allow us to have these discussions, keeping the legacy of old acts alive.

Now when “Autobahn” hit the airwaves back in ’75 there was nothing else remotely like it, there were few successful German acts in the U.S., the track was seen as a one hit wonder novelty, which got airplay all over FM, which ruled the era, the fact that they could play this is astounding in retrospect, especially through the lens of today, when little radio risk is taken.

Let’s start with the fact that it’s 22 plus minutes long, not a negative way back when, but the magic was in how hypnotic it was, if only something so revolutionary could be released today.

“Computer Love”
Kraftwerk

This is the album that closed me, back in ’81, the hit was “Pocket Calculator,” but this is the magical, infectious track. The LP came in two versions, “Computerwelt,” with German lyrics, and the Americanized “Computer World.”

I went to see the show at the Santa Monica Civic and it was one of the most innovative I’ve ever seen, with the showroom dummies and…

Nobody pushes the edge like this anymore. But back then we embraced the new and quirky, the innovative and outrageous, and despite sounding like nothing else Kraftwerk was considered part of the canon, everywhere but the R&RHOF, where you’ve got wankers with special interests, guys who never got laid who are still wearing their hair long trying to extend their influence when the truth is we stopped listening to these self-appointed know-it-alls a long time ago, about the same time “Rolling Stone” lost all relevance.

The truth is without Kraftwerk there’s no EDM. And the electronic sound is not only the bass-heavy thumping you hear at festivals, it’s all over the pop chart, to exclude Kraftwerk from the R&RHOF is CRIMINAL!

“Every Little Thing”
Yes

They made prog-rock safe for America.

And if you pooh-pooh this, I feel sorry for you, is there anything wrong with being able to play your instrument, demonstrate your virtuosity, test limits?

Genesis came after. A great band, but Yes was the one that forged the way.

This is from their initial LP, “Yes,” which I discovered on a drive back from Vermont on 8-track in my dentist’s car. In case you’re unfamiliar with the track, it’s my favorite Beatles song of all time, but this time reworked…

Listen for the “Day Tripper” riff, exalt in Jon Anderson’s vocal, get hooked by the changes…

“Yours Is No Disgrace”
Yes

The second LP, “Time And A Word,” had zero impact, you couldn’t even find it on the shelf, but the story was different with the third LP, the one that gained traction and began the juggernaut, this is the opening cut, it starts on a  tear and then takes you to hyperspace.

“Roundabout”
Yes

Yes, I can barely listen to it anymore either. But you’ve got to picture it… An almost unknown band with a sound that lived on FM if it got airplay at all crossed over to AM radio and dominated, talk about a success story!

“Heart Of The Sunrise”
Yes

I saw the “Fragile” tour, at UVM in Burlington. It was positively astounding. Remember when you were just thrilled to be inside the building, before if you weren’t up close and personal you didn’t even want to go? We sat in the bleachers, and this song was the highlight, Rick Wakeman was a showman, a star in his own right, remember when you went to the show for the music? I DO!

“It Can Happen”
Yes

“90125” is a masterpiece. Yes, there I said it. The band got too far out there, I liked “Close To The Edge,” “Tales From Topographic Oceans” was too indulgent, thereafter the band sometimes stumbled upon greatness, but there was too much filler and then…

They reconstituted the act and melded pop with prog-rock and the result was so hooky, so infectious, you couldn’t stop playing the album.

“Owner Of A Lonely Heart” was the hit, but this is the best cut. If you want to go deeper, also listen to “Leave It” and “Changes.”

This is not music made for earbuds, this is music made for the big rig, with the lights off, cranked to 11… TRY IT!

P.S. The fact that they waited until the Fish was dead to induct the band is a faux pas nonpareil. The guy who kept the act together, who carried the flame, is not around to see the band get its just due. Makes me sick.

“Message From The Country”
The Move

And we thought the genius was Roy Wood.

You only have to hear this track once to be infected. It’s got all of Jeff Lynne’s magic, all in one cut. The riff, the melodicism, the hook…

And it’s not on Spotify.

Listen on YouTube:

The Move – Message From The Country

“Do Ya”
The Move

Have you ever heard the original? It’s far superior to the ELO remake.

Once again, not on Spotify…

The Move – Do Ya

“10538 Overture”
Electric Light Orchestra

This is the track that broke them, it did not get airplay everywhere, but a ton more than the Move.

Jeff Lynne was almost completely unknown in the U.S., ELO was just seen as a side project, but it got traction.

“Showdown”
Electric Light Orchestra

And then, suddenly, this was all over the airwaves, you could not escape it, it was impossible to dislike, but I never loved it, and then…

“Can’t Get It Out Of My Head”
Electric Light Orchestra

“Eldorado”‘s been completely forgotten. Released in the second half of 1974, it was playable through and through, and it was this initial track that sealed the deal, I’ve got a weakness for majesty and I fell for this immediately.

“Free Fallin'”
Tom Petty

Tom was in a fading band on MCA with a deal so rich Irving Azoff hoped they never put out another album. Tom was working on this solo LP no one was waiting for for years. And then…

“Free Fallin'” didn’t sound quite like anything that came before, but it had the ELO majesty and the hookiness of said band and the gravitas of Tom Petty.

A TOUR-DE-FORCE!

Credit Jeff Lynne.

“Wheel In The Sky”
Journey

For a long time, my favorite track by them.

It was 1978, AOR ruled, and Journey segued from a Santana-offshoot, a home for players, into a hit machine. They fit right in, we did not know they were a beacon for a younger generation, ready to dominate the next decade.

“Lights”
Journey

Soft, but not cynical. This was long before the spandex-clad hair-bands did power ballads to get MTV airplay. This was just a ballad by rockers, but it was majestic and meaningful, long before the band was seen as the wimpy favorite of women, when men could admit they liked soft, soulful stuff.

“Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin'”
Journey

Now it was a year later, ’79, and the band was serving notice they were something different, not leather-clad rockers who occasionally went soft, but a whole new thing. Then again, AOR was getting long in the tooth, soon to be supplanted by punk, new wave and MTV.

“Stone In Love”
Journey

I’m gonna skip 1980’s “Departure,” with “Any Way You Want It,” a certified hit, a calling card for a lesser band, but I dare say a tad too formulaic for me, in sound, if not changes. But this…

That guitar. Come on, try and deny that riff. And to have a singer who can actually sing, WHEW!

“Who’s Crying Now”
Journey

A personal favorite. It’s haunting, and I’m a fool for that sound.

This is track three on 1981’s “Escape,” track two is “Stone In Love,” and the opening cut of this trifecta is…

“Don’t Stop Believin'”
Journey

This is not radically different from the election of Donald Trump, as in the media completely missed the public’s love for this cut, the people on the R&RHOF committee pooh-poohed this band until…

David Chase included this track in the finale of “The Sopranos,” the greatest TV drama of all time.

And then everybody realized…

“Don’t Stop Believin'” is the essence of the American Dream. We keep on keepin’ on, we keep on thinking things will work out, we don’t stop believin’, this is us!

Credit Journey for embodying all this in song.

And if you’d asked me a decade back I would have denied that Journey belonged in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but if you include Kiss and Cheap Trick and Joan Jett… Are we really gonna eliminate a band that’s bigger with more hits and more cultural impact?

No way.

“California Love”
2Pac

His peak, created with Dr. Dre, this is part of what made white people love hip-hop, you could not deny the sound.

“Ambitionz Az A Ridah”
2Pac

He was a rock star, as in he didn’t care what anybody else thought, he had to speak his truth and live life his way. The fact he lost his life in the rap wars is criminal, what was that all about, after all isn’t it only music, but that was back when it was more than that, when it was the voice of the street, when a record gave you more truth than the newspaper, 2Pac was part of it.

“Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns”
Mother Love Bone

If Andrew Wood had lived, maybe it would be Mother Love Bone being inducted.

This is everything we love about rock, not made for the airwaves, just made to satisfy the makers, and in the process satisfying us all.

If you don’t know this…

Put on the headphones, turn out the lights and go on an aural trip.

“Alive”
Pearl Jam

It’s hard to like Eddie Vedder, a talented man who created a myth about being a nobody from nowhere when the truth he was one of the most popular kids in school.

But there’s no denying that “Ten” is an achievement. Epic Records did an incredible job of breaking this act.

“Even Flow”
Pearl Jam

It’s heavy but accessible.

“Jeremy”
Pearl Jam

The piece-de-resistance, with a legendary video, this track defines the era.

But the act was never really able to follow up “Ten,” not in any truly memorable way, one that penetrated beyond the core. But the band soldiered on, and then they were the only ones left standing, and ended up the great white hope of the white boy Gen-X’ers. They did everything right, supported all the right causes, fought Ticketmaster, but Vedder IS smug and although the rest of the band is lovable the catalog is not, shoot me, I don’t care.

“Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right”
Joan Baez

She was pre-rock, and I’m not sure she was an influence, other than as an inspiration to women, illustrating they could play and win just like the boys.

It was a completely different era, folk music ruled, what you stood for was key, musicians were not rich, they were artists, and so was Baez, possibly the most famous exponent of the scene. She was the figurehead, but she was plowed under by rock until…

“Joe Hill”
Joan Baez

Woodstock. Joan was on the album and in the movie. She talked about her husband in prison, she sang this protest song and it had an impact, but it was a different era, when the youth were frustrated and were more about righting wrongs than getting theirs. Oh, how times have changed.

Subsequent to this, Joan became a caricature of herself. She got a divorce, she sang about Dylan, but…

Before the rock era she was an icon. Talk to those over 65 and they’ll testify, how she was on every college student’s turntable, how she was the most desirable…

But if we’re inducting women into the R&RHOF fame… Where’s Mary, along with Peter and Paul? And Cyndi Lauper, who certainly went her own way and was a beacon and had more hits than many inductees. And Exene Cervenka and her band X, who carried the punk torch in Los Angeles. And while we’re at it, how about Kate Bush, who was a limit-tester as opposed to a follower?

And if Cheap Trick and Kiss are in, SHOULDN’T PAT BENATAR???

It’s not on Spotify:

Joan Baez Live – Woodstock 1969 Joe Hill

“Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)”
Chic

The voters still hate disco, they’re truly racist, don’t doubt me, they just wish Steve Dahl and his army had prevailed, when the truth is the disco beat has permeated the music scene ever since, ever heard Prince’s masterpiece “Dirty Mind”?

They hate white suits, pooh-pooh “Saturday Night Fever,” deny the fact that disco was a big tent that included all those usually left out, can’t they see the value of the act in retrospect?

It started here.

“Everybody Dance”
Chic

A new sound back then, but one that is still played today, just like “Don’t Stop Believin’.” From the same initial album, back in ’77.

“Le Freak”
Chic

It’s nearly impossible to craft an instant classic that grabs you from the very first note, a lot of the acts inside the Hall have never done this, but Chic did, “Le Freak” animates wallflowers, you cannot hear it and not move your body, and that’s an accomplishment!

“Good Times”
Chic

Ditto on this.

And the R&RHOF gives Nile Rodgers a second-rate honor instead of inducting his breakthrough act, putting him in a category with Ringo, who’s already inside with the Beatles, and the E Street Band?? Come on, that induction is a travesty, old boys in a back room giving payback, how about the Spiders From Mars or the Revolution or the Experience? The E Street Band was support, Nile Rodgers outclasses and outperforms them on every level, as a writer, producer and an innovator, never mind a player, if I was Nile I wouldn’t bother to show up, the perpetrators of this travesty must be revealed, sun must shine upon them, how many guys vote, how old are they?

But that’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an inane institution riddled with political agendas that is oftentimes completely out of touch. Sure, it’s hard to judge art, but what are we doing here, giving honors to those who test limits or those who have commercial success, the inductees are all over the place!

The best we can do is shame those who run this organization.

Assuming we care at all.

Because the truth is the music survives. And those excluding the worthy only wish they could create one hit song, pluck it out of thin air on pure inspiration.

But they can’t.

Not A Hit In America – Spotify

“Miss You”
James Hersey

Hang in there, through the one minute mark. Before that the song is good, but it doesn’t grab you. But then the electronic sounds go wild, your mind is set free and you feel good all over, the way you do when you’re alone in the middle of a field, feeling how great it is to be alive and needing no one to confirm this sensation.

Hersey is from Vienna, Austria, and the truth is there’s been almost no radio play anywhere, but despite that, as of this writing “Miss You” has got 46,273,109 streams on Spotify. An official video went up on YouTube on October 20, 2016, but it only has 438,793 views, could it be that despite all the carping by the international recording organizations YouTube is already in the rearview mirror? Could it be that YouTube is just for the casual fan, of a young age, and that the true music zealots are on Spotify?

As for the Spotify/Apple Music debate, I refer you to the following article that details how Apple Music’s adoption rate trails Spotify’s:
“Why Apple Has a Steep Hill to Climb in the Streaming Music Business”

Now I don’t see this fitting in on Top Forty radio, and that’s the problem, ever since MTV we’ve had a Top Forty mind-set. It’s just that Top Forty has gotten narrower and narrower. The huge stream rate of “Miss You” illustrates the public is hungry for something beyond the fare being delivered to them over the airwaves.

We have an international business, a veritable global village, it’s astounding that tracks stop at national borders. You’d think if something worked one place it would work elsewhere, after all we’ve got the same phones, the same clothes…

Spotify is breaking records, via its playlists. But we still need further curation, of gems like this.

Put this on at your holiday party and watch heads turn. It’s subtle, but it works. The more you play it, the more you play it.

And for those without Spotify subscriptions (which I can’t understand, since they’re free, although I have sympathy if you live in one of the few markets where the service has not launched, and once again, I have no ownership interest in Spotify, get paid in no way, it’s just that it’s a dream come true, it killed piracy, it put all the music in one place for one low price and it allows us to share it, as I’m doing here) this is the YouTube link:

James Hersey – Miss You (Official Video)

“Lost On You”
LP

This has 30,721,426 plays on Spotify. But unlike “Miss You,” it’s had a ton of radio action, of course, outside the United States. It came out over a year ago, November 20, 2015 to be exact, and has already reached number one in fourteen countries, but in the U.S…crickets.

It doesn’t sound anything like what’s presently on U.S. Top Forty radio, and that’s a good thing, its magic! Remember in the heyday of Top Forty, back in the sixties, when it was just the best of the best and it all sounded different? This is more akin to “Winchester Cathedral” than anything by the Weeknd, not that LP comes from a foreign country, she’s written for everyone from Rihanna to Joe Walsh, but most people still don’t know her, showing how hard it is to get traction these days.

There’s a disconnect between the makers and the consumers, and the middlemen are at fault, they’re so far up each others asses, thinking that only certain stuff will work, that they don’t give elixirs like this a chance. Remember when they’d play a record and it would light up the phones? Well, radio’s done doing that job, it’s not like we’re all paying attention to the same stations, but if people only heard “Lost On You,” it would be embraced.

YouTube links:

LP – Lost On You [Official Video]

(with 58,240,705 views, the reverse of the situation with “Miss You” above, who knows!)

And you might be interested in this live take (with 30,118,262 views and it’s stiff in America?):

LP – Lost On You [Live Session]

Actually, this live take is a career-defining moment, it’s just that the tastemakers did not get the memo, used to be a performance like this on Letterman minted stars overnight, but that was before late night became a cesspool of hijinks and feel good moments as opposed to evidencing any authenticity. Usually the live take pales in comparison to the studio version, but this is the same, yet different, be sure to hang in there ’til 3:39 when LP starts to wail, you’ll immediately forget the TV competition shows and your vision of what talent is will be re-centered. (And this video was posted on January 12, 2016, almost a year ago…)

“Shine”
Mondo Cozmo

Ironically, this reminds me of Collective Soul’s “Shine,” not because it’s a rip-off, but because it’s ANTHEMIC!

You’ve got to hang in there, until he hits the chorus.

“Shine” has been in the marketplace since September 16, 2016, and it’s no better now than it was then, but buzz is beginning, sometimes when nothing happens it’s not because you got it wrong, but because most people haven’t heard it.

“Shine” only has 968,864 streams on Spotify. But it’s just one push away from getting traction. And that push will not be on alternative radio stations, which have played it a bit, those are backwaters that don’t matter, tracks are broken on Spotify, statistics say so, just ask BuzzAngle.

What kind of ridiculous world do we live in where you have to start a song in some minor format to prove to Top Forty that it’s worthy? That’s like trying to convince grandparents to like it before you can feed it to babies, like seeing if it sells at a local shop in Peoria before you can put it in Wal-Mart in the metropolis, boy do we have a screwed-up system.

I’m not saying that “Shine” is an instant hit, but I am saying that most people who might like it aren’t hearing it.

(Meanwhile, Mondo Cozmo just dropped a new track “Higher,” last Friday, proving that you can’t wait for everybody to catch up, you’ve got to keep on producing, feeding the muse, testing limits, satiating those who are paying attention, the old stuff is hiding in plain sight for the johnny-come-latelies, “Higher” is more electronic but it’s definitely the same guy, it chugs along, you listen to these two cuts and you become a fan, and isn’t that what we’re trying to do, get people to stick to acts, and the easiest way to do this is to be unique, to write the stuff yourself, or with your own little group, as opposed to the song doctors du jour, whose music all sounds similar and whose efforts don’t rub off on acts, they’re just one stiff single away from disappearing, but Mondo Cozmo…it doesn’t sound like everything else, it’s got rough edges that hook you, that intrigue you, that make you eager to hear more as the sounds satiate you along the way…)

YouTube links:

“Shine”

“Higher”

Snapchat is banking on it.

For the past fifteen years we’ve heard that kids don’t care about selling out, that tying up with corporations is a badge of honor.

But Evan Spiegel thinks different.

Turns out Snapchat’s value may not be dependent upon a technological breakthrough, but a philosophical one.

Snapchat is anti-influencer, anti-celebrity and anti-metric. In other words, the company is saying everything we know is wrong.

For years we’ve been hearing about nobodies triumphing on social media. Gaining a slew of followers and then selling them stuff. It’s the new American Dream.

And then there’s the quantification game, played not only by said influencers and celebrities, but you at home. That’s right, how many followers have you got?

Snapchat won’t tell you.

It’s positively un-American I say!

We’ve been hearing for years that bands are brands. But there are few terms more diametrically opposed to art. Art should be ever-changing, testing limits, pissing people off, elating them. Art is amorphous, brands are stagnant.

Your identity used to be evidenced by your art.

Now you build your identity online and your art is a small part of your endeavor. Maybe the key kernel, but really just a way to get rich.

Snapchat wants to get rich too. But it does not want to play the typical social network advertising game. For those of you scoring at home, you know that ad rates keep dropping. Which is why you see more link-bait. They’ve got to entice you to click through. But you end up pissed off, and the ads are ineffective, so the price keeps dropping, it’s an endless circling down the drain.

But not on Snapchat. On Snapchat ad rates are sky high. Because the service doesn’t allow this detritus to enter its platform.

Hollywood, that purveyor of junk? If you watch their movies you can see the product placements.

There are no product placements on Snapchat. A few slip through, but Snapchat does its best to eliminate them. Because they ruin the experience.

How can one startup get the experience so right when the rest of entertainment gets it so wrong? Not only the web, with its fake news and link-bait, but movie theatres with their ads and the music industry with its opaque ticketing…

Snapchat is jetting us back to the past.

If you’re not playing the metrics game, if there’s no ranking of followers, you must create the art for art’s sake. There’s no gaming the system. There’s no point. Snapchat is where you go to connect, where celebrities are just like regular people, where if what they’ve got to say is worthwhile people will pay attention, otherwise not.

So Snapchat is about trust and innovation. Key elements in the entertainment business of yore, but long gone today.

And being famous for nothing? Snapchat puts a crimp in that too. Because all those people are doing it to sell, and you can’t sell on Snapchat.

This is a revolution folks. This is the undoing of everything we’ve known for decades.

In the music business it’s all about sponsorship.

But there’s no sponsorship on Snapchat, celebs cannot tie in with corporations to make bucks. Of course, Snapchat makes bucks, the service has sponsors, but this is the way it used to be. Sure, you’re playing Staples Center, but do you have an alcohol logo on stage with you, one that you’ve been paid to display?

Evan Spiegel is banking on authenticity selling.

Authenticity… Are you speaking from the gut or saying what’s expedient? Are you willing to take a stand on the issues of the day? Do you have rough edges that thrill some and piss off others, as opposed to being a wishy-washy wimp?

In the classic rock era acts testified.

Today all we’ve got is crickets. The artists are too afraid. Of not only pissing off fans, but corporations.

And that’s just plain wrong.

People know what’s real and what’s fake. And you might be able to fool some of them some of the time, but never all of them all of the time.

But that’s the paradigm the entertainment business is banking on. Let’s just do the same old thing with the usual suspects and tie in with every corporation known to man and we’ll be richer and the public will be none the wiser.

Absolutely wrong.

Could be that Evan Spiegel and his team revolutionize art/creativity the same way Shawn Fanning revolutionized distribution. We’ve been ripe for disruption. Hell, we haven’t had a new sound in music this century. The record labels are looking for insurance. No one’s willing to take a risk. And the primary risk should be with the art.

What if it was about the music as opposed to the clothing line? What if as a result of Snapchat’s policy sponsorship completely disappeared from music?

Snapchat is banking on it. That authenticity emerges victorious. And so far, the service is winning. Youngsters have flocked from other social networks to Snapchat, its valuation is through the roof, because it’s not all fake image and sales pitches, nincompoops on Instagram trying to sell us their lifestyle.

So once again, the techies, the outsiders, are willing to do what none of the usual suspects is willing to. Snapchat is willing to leave all the celebrity/influencer crap by the wayside to deliver a better experience. The Beats paradigm of selling crappy headphones by getting sports stars to wear them? That may be left in the dust. Because right now Snapchat is winning, by playing a game none of their competitors will.

Success always comes from taking a risk, by doing what’s in your gut as opposed to what others tell you to do.

Sponsorship is the enemy. Selling out is a travesty. Art and commerce do intersect, but for years commerce has swallowed art.

That might not be the future if Snapchat has its way.

“Snapchat Plays Hard to Get With Celebrities and Influencers”