It’s a ROCK format!

So, are those heirloom or cherry tomatoes?

Today it even made the L.A. “Times,” the statement by country music consultant Keith Hill that he advises stations not to play two women in a row, that males are the lettuce and women are the tomatoes in the salad.

And the women are up in arms.

And on the surface I get it, artificial rules are anathema. You play what’s good. And good reacts. But the truth is country radio is not your dad’s format, it’s something totally new, it’s the AOR of the twenty first century, it’s all about ROCK!

And how often do you hear Joni Mitchell on KLOS?

Now I’m not saying Joni doesn’t deserve to be heard. In almost all cases, she’s better than the rockers being played on KLOS. But KLOS is appealing to a certain demo, which wants to rock out. Do you want to rock out?

If you want to hear new music you do it on the COUNTRY station!

That’s right, Active Rock drove itself right off the cliff. If you’re not deep into that scene you don’t want to go there, it’s too hard-edged and atonal.

As for Adult Alternative and Americana… Those are NICHE formats. If that’s what people wanted, if the masses wanted to tune in, they would. But they never have, not in prodigious numbers. AAA got a good chance in major markets, but ratings were bad and the stations flipped format.

And now everybody’s listening to country. Where there may be big hats, even trucker caps, but there are even bigger guitars. And you don’t put a Loretta Lynn track in the mix, or if you do you do it sparingly.

Which means if you want to get on country radio you’re better off sounding like Pat Benatar than Patsy Cline. You want to belt.

Even worse, the data says that women want the harder-edged rock country acts, they would rather hear Jason Aldean. And one thing we know about radio, it never goes against the data.

So that’s the world we live in. For fifteen years musicians rail against “American Idol,” not knowing it’s a television show and except for a few instances it affected music not a whit.

Now they’re bitching that women aren’t getting a fair shake on country radio.

All I’m saying is everything you read in the press is wrong. We don’t live in a hip-hop nation, we live in a COUNTRY ROCK NATION!

I ain’t gonna defend what the format plays. Tom Petty says it’s the rock of the seventies, which to a great degree it is, good call Tom. But it’s also influenced by everything that’s happened outside country for the last fifteen years, like pop and electronica.

That’s right, we thought EDM was gonna take over the country. But COUNTRY took the country.

If you want to break big, if you want to have a sustained career, forgo your turntable and pick up a guitar. Write songs with hooks and changes. Sure, pop has a huge radio presence, but country is even bigger, and country trumps pop live every day of the week. That’s the story of this summer, the inroads country festivals have made in the marketplace.

Because everywhere we go, the kids wanna rock.

As do their older siblings and oftentimes their parents.

If you were addicted to classic rock and want new music you can get into tune in to the country station, go to the country festival. You’ll feel right at home.

That’s right, it’s the country artists who have tattoos and wear jeans, who reflect the America we live in. There’s more honesty in the average country record than there is in the deepest inner city hip-hop track. But those in the media don’t like the narrative. They even get sidetracked into this non-story about women being kept down.

Women run this world, you should never forget it. It’s they who want to rock down hard. And if you wanna get laid…you know where to go, what station to play.

P.S. Don’t read the reports, go straight to the source, read Keith Hill’s comments in “Country Aircheck” by going to:

Country Aircheck and clicking on “Click here to download” on the left-hand side, under “Country Aircheck Weekly (5/26)”.

Keith Hill is a blowhard who takes his business way too seriously, but give the guy credit for saying what no one else will and sticking to his guns, and for having an opinion. Isn’t it strange that those with sharp edges rule in this world, every tech titan is prickly, but in entertainment we think it’s B2B and we put on a suit and go all nice as if not offending anybody is the key to success. Wanna know the truth? If you’re not offending people, you’re not saying anything worthwhile. Maybe country radio isn’t for soft female music, maybe country radio isn’t for you, but country radio is America’s number one radio format, it’s where the bucks are, and when money’s involved risk is reduced. Which means you can combat those who play it safe by risking, but you’ve got to be great, you just can’t be a crybaby, and if you’re making music it had better be ROCK!

It had a lousy name, a dot net address and a terrible website.

Sure, Mossberg and Swisher were starting all over, but they could have given themselves a fighting chance!

“AllThingsD” was a brand, never underestimate the difficulty in building one and the power in an established one. Scott Weiland was in Velvet Revolver, what acts did he populate thereafter? Velvet Revolver got some recognition, because it had multiple stars and united their individual fanbases, but after that… You’d need a chart to know who Weiland played with. As for Bill Simmons, how dumb to name the site “Grantland”! It had to be SIMMONSLAND! And he needed to own it. Instead, he built brand equity for ESPN and walked without it!

Let’s start with the number one deal-killer, ReCode’s site.

It’s like they never surfed the net before.

It wasn’t only me, everybody hated it. It was unfathomable. Didn’t Steve Jobs say design was paramount? That usability was key? Didn’t Walt and Kara interview him? Did none of his message penetrate? ReCode’s site is so busy, you can’t get the grasp without scrolling, and the headline, which was never big, was rarely important. That’s what the HuffPo has right, design. The big headline is right up front and clear. The site may not have been updated in years, but it works.

As for the name… What does it mean? Either your moniker has to indicate what you’re about, like Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram, or it must relate to nothing, like Shazam or Corolla. ReCode, what is that? A place where you rewrite C++? And what’s with the forward slash in the middle…yes, technically it’s Re/Code. Most people don’t even know where that key is to type, so you’re inherently limiting discussion. Hell, even the press doesn’t get it right, every story about the sale to Vox calls it “ReCode”!

And dot net? Is it Amazon.net? Google.net? Type recode into Safari and you’ll get Google results, you won’t automatically go to the site, as you will with Amazon and the rest of the .coms.

And if you’re on mobile, and you’d prefer not to use your browser, you’ve got to remember it’s dot net. Do you know any other significant site that’s a dot net?

And speaking of mobile… ReCode’s site works a bit better there. And mobile rules. But the truth is the people into this kind of info are sitting in front of their desktops all day and want to go to the regular site. And regular surfers go back multiple times a day, to see if there’s breaking news. But nothing is emphasized, there’s nothing you can see at a glance on ReCode’s homepage.

Which brings us to another question… Are you a breaking news site or an analysis site? If it’s the former, you’ve got to have more stickiness, a reason to return. If it’s the latter… You’ve got to deliver the goods, feature something that is forwarded. But since the site’s creation I don’t ever remember forwarding a link.

Hmm…

The truth is ReCode was hampered by its need to start from scratch, albeit with two stars.

But that’s not the whole story. A lot of little things go into making a successful site. Why did AOL triumph? IT WAS EASY!

You’ve got to make it easy. You’ve got to make it forwardable. You’ve got to make it accessible. You’ve got to either break news or explain it or both.

But the truth is Walt and Kara were so busy establishing relationships with the insiders they want to appear at their conferences that they lost touch with the rank and file who had to visit their site to make it work. Once again, in the internet age there’s rarely a middleman. The customer is the hoi polloi, the regular users. Play to them, not to the big swinging dicks you’re trading favors with who never break news at your conferences anyway.

Our planet is addicted to tech. Everybody’s wired. We want tech news. Tech drives the culture today, like music did in the sixties.

But ReCode couldn’t see that the game had changed. They were playing to the same people they always did, instead of broadening their game to appeal to EVERYBODY!

In other words, it was never gonna scale.

And scale is everything.

And scale is not only built on a good idea, executed properly, but delivery is also key. Isn’t that what those truly in the know always say, that distribution is king?

Well, being with the WSJ solved that problem.

But going alone Walt and Kara were completely unaware of the challenge, I’d say they punted, but they didn’t even understand the game. It’d be like leaving the major label, sacrificing radio, putting out an album with no hit singles and expecting to be successful.

But that ain’t the way it happens.

Give yourself a fighting chance.

Maybe Walt and Kara can pivot. Maybe they will realize you don’t reinvent the wheel. Just like you rent server power from Amazon instead of owning it yourself (even Netflix!) Walt and Kara spent too much time trying to replicate what others do better.

Like design a usable site.

ReCode To Vox

I love this record!

“Rides Again” got all the attention, maybe because of “Funk #49,” there was no hit on “Yer’ Album,” but “Yer’ Album,” the James Gang’s first, is the best!

I discovered this record through Steph.

Oh, our initial crushes.

Actually, she found me. I was skiing in goop on the last weekend of the season at Stratton and she called out from the chairlift. I figured it couldn’t be me, except there was nobody else on the slope!

And there began…

A multi-year adventure. I wish I still had all those letters, smelling of perfume, but I threw them out in a moment of pique, maybe not long after she turned me on to this LP.

You see it was fading. It was already years on. We skied together at Bromley, but she just wasn’t as into it, wasn’t paying me quite the mind. So, I pushed it a bit, which is so unlike me, maybe because of the result of this effort.

Her family was renting a house in Dorset. Maybe my friend Ronnie and I could stop by?

She was somewhat reluctant. But I ultimately got a yes and I can say this was a total mistake, except for “Yer’ Album.”

We got there, feeling the freedom of my newfound driver’s license, steering my dad’s VistaCruiser through the snow, this was long before every teenager had his own wheels, and we went upstairs to her lair where we were promptly ignored.

Do you leave?

We should have.

Instead Ronnie and I ended up playing mini-pool and listening to “Yer’ Album.”

That’s right, miniature pool tables were all the rage in the sixties, this was long before the economy improved and middle class citizens could afford a full-sized one. And at least we had this distraction, as the mellifluous notes of Joe Walsh and the Gang pierced my ears.

TAKE A LOOK AROUND

There’s an irreverent, orchestrated tune-up intro for forty one seconds and then the album segues into this.

Joe Walsh is famous for his guitar playing, but on “Take A Look Around” it’s his organ work that is featured.

How come no one believes in a riff anymore? You’re hooked right away.

And then the whole thing changes and…

You will never see me
Walking ’round feeling low
You will never hear there
Goes a man who doesn’t know

The music was empowering me, helping me see the light…

That it was over with Steph.

FUNK #48

Yes, there was a “Funk #48,” that preceded “#49”! Maybe not quite as memorable, but still good.

BLUEBIRD

Yes, Stephen Still’s Buffalo Springfield track, which most of us only knew from buying “Retrospective,” after becoming enraptured by Crosby, Stills & Nash.

The take here is slowed down, but the only cover as good is Bonnie Raitt’s, from her debut.

They make it heavier. It’s the same song, but a different record.

LOST WOMAN

A Yardbirds cover. Pretty faithful, although extended. Evidencing the James Gang’s roots, everybody needs roots.

But many who purchased “Yer’ Album” had never heard the original. That was the sixties, when unless it was on the radio, chances are you didn’t know it, not unless it was in your collection, and the Yardbirds’ LPs were never big sellers in the USA.

COLLAGE

After another short intro, opening the second side, “Stone Rap,” Joe Walsh evidences his soft side, which became more famous with “Ashes The Rain And I” on “Rides Again,” which is spectacular, but “Collage” is just about as good.

It used to be different. Our music was made to soothe us. A record we could play in the dark with the headphones on, that made us feel all right in the world, that was something we were looking for. Hits have always been important, but “Collage” is the essence of the appeal of album rock.

I DON’T HAVE THE TIME

A rocker composed by Joe Walsh and drummer Jim Fox, it’s not as good as the other tracks on the album, but it’s still very good! Especially the spacy interlude… And your head will nod to the electric guitar riff.

WRAPCITY IN ENGLISH

An orchestral interlude that you hoped would go on longer, but it served as a mood-setting, magical intro to “Fred”…a bombastic stoner cut that you could listen to in your basement ad infinitum.

FRED

And it’s strange, strange

If you were there, you’ll get it immediately. If you weren’t, if you want to know what listening to music was like at the turn of the decade, from ’69 to ’70, check this out, with its groovy heaviness and changes, into almost jazz, and then back again. Fantastic. This is why I love this album, it was a whole world, that took me away, made me feel good, about myself.

STOP

A twelve minute tour-de-force to end the album.

Composed by Jerry Ragovoy and Mort Shuman, this iteration sounded completely different from the one on Al Kooper’s “Super Session” LP. If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was a James Gang original.

And there you have it, an exquisite LP with no clunkers, all wheat, no chaff, that’s been completely forgotten.

Welcome to the twenty first century, where if it was never on classic rock radio it’s fallen by the wayside.

But “Take A Look Around” plays in my head all the time. I pull up the LP on a regular basis.

Joe ultimately left the band and soldiered in the wilderness until he hit with “Rocky Mountain Way,” and then he and his producer, Bill Szymczyk, hooked up with the Eagles and the rest is history.

Like my relationship with Steph.

Good things must end
They never last
Look to tomorrow
Forget the past

EXCEPT FOR THIS RECORD!

Rhinofy-Yer’ Album

I ran into him at the Sonos studio.

I’d like to tell you what I learned about the company but it was all off the record. But I can tell you they want to bring hi-fi back. And I had a long conversation with Giles Martin, who’s been hired to help them achieve this. As for a silver spoon in his mouth…papa George sold out his royalties long ago, Giles has been on his own. And we had a fascinating discussion about sound, hi-res, vinyl, CDs, streaming… And Giles said every format sounds different. And he may prefer one song in one and another in something else. And that oftentimes we prefer vinyl because of its limitations. It’s all in the tweaking. And first and foremost comes enjoyment, do you like what you’re hearing?

And we’re sitting in the back room, surrounded by equipment. I can soak up knowledge from a guy like Giles all day long. What was it like having a famous father, listening to stories of mixing George Harrison’s music for Martin Scorsese, revamping “Love.”

But we reached a natural stopping point and I had to drive all the way across town and back again so I got up, went out the door, and there was Lou Adler.

Famous these days for sitting on the Lakers’ sideline, Lou is one of the engines of rock and roll, the modern music business, he was there from Jan & Dean through the Mamas & the Papas to Spirit to Carole King to the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” And he wasn’t just the executive, he was the producer! How did this happen?

Famous people… How do you act?

If you’re a rube from out of town you gush and ask for an autograph.

Live long enough in Los Angeles and you respect their privacy, you keep your distance.

But in this case I was introduced.

Okay, how do I start.

“I’m friends with your son.”

WHICH ONE, I HAVE SEVEN!

I didn’t anticipate this, I figured the door would open wide. And after telling Lou it was Nic, he said he’d just spoken with him.

So now is where you have to prove you really know the person, that you’re just not dropping names and making it up. So I decided to reference Nic’s hospital stay as a result of overdoing it at the CrossFit studio. It’s a known syndrome, you piss a fluid that looks like Coke.

Lou acknowledged this so I figured I could start asking questions. I’ve got so many questions.

How did you hook up with Jan & Dean?

THROUGH KIM FOWLEY!

The story is true. Kim came in with a briefcase, with none of Kim’s music inside it, and told Lou about the University high school students, just after Arnie had departed (yes, it was Jan & Arnie first.)

And in telling this story, Lou referenced “Herbie,” who I knew had to be Herb Alpert. So I asked that next… How did Lou know Herbie?

They were introduced by their girlfriends!

Serendipity, it’s key to so much success.

So that’s how Lou’s Ode ended up with A&M…

Actually, it was after Lou’s contract lapsed with Epic. His old friend Herbie said they should form an alliance.

It’s personal, all business is.

And now I’m at that point where…

The story with famous people is you don’t want to ask too many questions, they start putting up their guard, they start to pull back, if you run into them again they retreat. So my thoughts are ping-ponging around my brain, how many questions can I proffer?

Every time I’ve seen Lou previously he hasn’t given me the time of day. But after referencing Nic, I told him I was friends with Andrew Loog Oldham, who I knew stayed at Lou’s house. This is when I found out Lou knew who I was, he said Andrew was a big fan of my writing.

Oh, that’s another thing when meeting famous people, never ever tell them your story, who you are. Don’t pitch. That’s anathema to them. How are they gonna respect you if they’re clueless as to who you are? There’s the conundrum, welcome to Hollywood.

And since we had a link on Andrew, I decided to go deeper, referencing Oldham’s residence in Bogota, had Lou been down there?

Talk about anything but business, be a person first.

And then we started talking about how it was back then and how it is now and Lou told me one of his sons was deep into history and I was thinking how I wanted to sit on the couch all afternoon and hear stories, soak it up from a man who was not only there, but steered!

But you can’t do this. Where’s the endpoint.

The slight body movement. The way his frame leaned to the side, the way his head tilted towards his next destination. It was time to end it.

And you can’t plead and you can’t be abrupt, you’ve got to make it like a passing thing, that you’re both on campus and will run into one another again soon.

But will we?

I don’t know, but I do know that despite the internet linking us all together, there’s nothing like living in L.A. where all these people are out and about.

It’s living history.

They witnessed it.

I want to record it.