The PIGS, that’s what we called them back when I was growing up.

And I still don’t trust the police, they’ve never been there when I needed them and have most certainly hassled me when I have not.

Welcome to the sixties, minus the draft. Wherein the younger generation mistrusts their elders and…

Wait a minute, that’s not what’s happening at all.

The educated whites are chummy with their parents. They’re all about succeeding and paying no taxes and making sure the government protects their assets.

The underclass?

Being pushed further down.

America’s a bad Hieronymus Bosch painting. All of us struggling, but not realizing we’re in hell.

Read the statistics, it’s the poor who donate to charity, who help their brother. Everybody else is just out for themselves.

Hate to harp on Tidal, but it’s evidence of the backlash. The rich and famous believe they’re admirable, that they deserve their wealth and status. Kind of like the Republicans dissing the 47%. Not realizing that without customers, you’ve got no business. Unless, of course, your customer is the government… Too many bad boy corporations suck on the government tit and complain about regulation at the same time.

But it seems that some of us are mad as hell and ain’t gonna take it any more.

But, once again, it’s not the richies, the upwardly mobile, not the artists.

Because the artists are in bed with the rich. You don’t want to take a stand, you might lose your endorsement with the corporation. The radio station might stop playing your record. Why are we all paying fealty to a structure we hate? Bitching and then hoping we can get some milk from the corporate teat.

That’s right, government and corporations run this country. In bed with each other. And they do their best to keep us scared. You’d better give up your privacy or they’re gonna drop a nuke in Montana and steal your baby in Arkansas. Everybody’s so scared of loss that they don’t complain. As their future is pulled out from under them.

But when you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Which is why protest is being led by those without assets.

The Supreme Court tells us racism is history, we need no voter protections.

The corporations tell us if we just deregulated, the nation would soar, throwing safety out the window. And you’d better not ask for a higher wage or health insurance, because then… The stockholders would not make a profit and the execs would not make double digit millions and when you got your opportunity there’d be nothing left.

YOU’RE NOT GONNA GET YOUR OPPORTUNITY!

They came for the instruments in the schools. Music must go. Education is about science and math, the humanities are a joke, and don’t ever ask me to pay taxes to contribute to the common good, if it doesn’t benefit me, I’m out.

They came for your personal information. Edward Snowden stood up for you, the way artists once did. But today a techie’s got more brains and more soul than anybody making music. Music is about bitching about what you don’t have. What you do have is a platform and a voice. And funny, when you get down in the pit and stand up for what’s right people rally around you, they clamor for more. But today’s stars believe their audience is the media, not their fans.

But I don’t expect you to do anything. Not the artist class. Not those who keep bitching about Spotify payments. Because you just don’t get it. You’re part of the problem, not the solution.

When we were all middle class, we could fight for what’s right.

Now that we’re divided, we can’t unite on a single thing.

And I won’t bore you with Kansas welfare restrictions. It all doesn’t mean a thing.

What does mean a thing is the Arab Spring. Whose flames were fanned by modern media, i.e. the internet. The truth is we can all see the story, and not only from one side. And we’re all sitting here wondering what happened to our country. How did the police become a paramilitary organization, able to perform with no regard to basic human rights, rallying around each other in defiance whenever questioned.

It happened this way once before. And history repeats.

That’s right, the African-Americans couldn’t take it anymore. They wanted to use the same restrooms, the same water fountains and the same buses.

Protest music came thereafter.

I’m just warning you here. I don’t expect you to do anything. You’re a good American, you’re a follower. But keep watching. There’s a coterie of Americans you denigrate who’ve had just about enough and are willing to put their lives on the line. And sure, some of them are crossing the line, but you stole music, didn’t you?

Because when a system is unjust, people rebel.

Music should not be free, but when the label makes you pay fifteen bucks for a CD with one good song you’re just waiting to exact retribution.

Those in underprivileged economies, the inner city where the schools suck and the police are oppressive and every other black man is in jail, have been waiting for their moment to fight back.

It happened in Baltimore.

Before that in Ferguson and New York City.

And if you’re debating the details you’re missing the point. Which is you can only keep people down for so long. America is a great country, but it’s not the best in the world on every benchmark. We need to look at ourselves, we need to do what’s right.

But that’ll happen when they get money out of politics.

And seeing as how that’s no time soon, expect more flash points, expect more rebellion.

It’s happening here.

And it’s becoming more clear.

For what it’s worth.

And there used to be music.  No longer.

In just the last few generations, we have witnessed the complete devolution of the mainstream of music from the intricacies and demands of jazz, swing and modern “classical”; the subtleties and finesse of the best of popular song writing; the mastery of “folk” instruments and vocal performance in the best of folk and rock; the singular high-mindedness of the greatest singer songwriters; and the hard-won craft of playing and writing and creating meaningful work, to four bar grids of “cut and paste” monotony over which someone writes shallow nursery rhymes about partying, trucks and beer or bitches and bling, or whines in hardly rhyming verse about their sad little white boy or girl life.

There are occasional exceptions, of course.  But where are the anthems, the protest songs, the songs to march to or the ideas to fight for, the truths to believe in.  Instead it’s all about “me”.

“Glory” from the film “Selma” is the great current exception – as is Kendrick Lamarr’s work. And – yes – let’s not forget the valiant Dixie Chicks!!  But mostly there’s little more than a bit of catchy ear candy and nice beats.

All that talk about the “me generation” turns out to be true.  We lost “us” in the 80’s and since then we only care about ourselves and our personal gain;  we only want the money.

The rhetoric endures – as it does in politics.  There’s not a single human working in the “music industry” who doesn’t say that they’re in it for the music, for the art form.  Just like there’s no politician who doesn’t claim to be doing it to serve their country or community. But the reality is, we’re all in everything for the pay off.  Period.

There used to be meaning.  No more.

With our music and words, we used to fight for freedom;  we used to incite change;  we used to elevate each other;  we used to speak for all of us and literally move mountains.

No more.

Thanks for reminding us of this, Bob.

Bob Ezrin

I can’t get an Apple Watch, but every celebrity known to man has been seeded one to make them look cool. Who’s using who? And if you think it’s the musicians who are coming out ahead, you own no Apple stock.

Used to be different. Players weren’t rich. They were in it for the dope, the sex, the hang and the music. It was a lifestyle. What did Donald Fagen sing in “Deacon Blues”…”I cried when I wrote this song, sue me if I play too long”? There are no blues in popular music today. No one’s crying, unless it’s about the loss of recorded music revenue as they charge a zillion dollars for a ticket.

Once again, watch this video:

Tidal – End The Suffering

In it you’ll see how rich Jay Z and Madonna and the rest of the Tidalites truly are. Turns your stomach, makes you lose sympathy.

Ever know any bluebloods?

I certainly did. Back in Connecticut. They wore chinos and Topsiders and drove old Fords, they didn’t flaunt their wealth, it was unseemly. Now it’s all about showing how rich you are. Then again, a lot of the techies don’t. Zuck wears a hoodie and doesn’t brag about flying private, that’s for the “artists.”

No wonder no one believes in them.

That’s the Tidal story. It’s got nothing to do with streaming and everything to do with income inequality. Once upon a time it was about forming a tribe, a fan base, people who heard your music and followed you everywhere. No one wanted to follow anybody to Tidal. Why?

The story was completely missed by the media. Because the goal is to write a book and go on a lecture tour. Used to be writers were outsiders who were in it for the alcohol and the truth. Now they’re wannabe stars themselves, who don’t want to offend anyone on their way up.

Once the artist is divorced from his fan base, he’s screwed.

Your fans are all you’ve got. Life is long. You want them in your pocket after your hits dry up. And they will. No one has ever sustained.

But the players play on.

The classic rockers didn’t know there was that much money in it. Go back and read the interviews. Ringo figured he’d become a hairdresser, everybody was out on a lark, having fun before their real lives began. No one thought being a rock musician was a role you could play to the end of your days.

But today Ringo hypes Skechers.

Explain this to me Mr. Starkey… Do you want to buy a baseball team? Don’t you have enough cash? Or are we supposed to believe you just want the rest of the world to be turned on to a great product.

But that’s food. Something evanescent that everybody’s talking about. Remember chefs? The unheralded nobodies? Then they were in the right place at the right time and they became rich and famous. The stardom comes AFTER!

But today everybody believes it comes before.

They want to be famous, they want to be rich.

They don’t want to be musicians.

A musician is someone who practices, ALONE! Explain that to today’s social media darlings.

And a musician is someone who is oftentimes ignored. Sometimes for his entire career. And a musician never bitches he can’t get paid, he’s privileged to be playing.

But not today! Today everybody with a YouTube clip feels entitled to be wealthy. They’ll spam you to watch and complain if you don’t. As if everybody could make it. What, are we living in Lake Wobegon?

How about saying no. How about ending the fashion parade and the ghost writes and sitting down and hammering it out yourself. How about testing limits and blowing our minds.

But that can’t happen. That’s too hard. It might piss somebody off. Remember the Dixie Chicks?

AT LEAST WE DO!

Most of their contemporaries have faded in the rearview mirror. Because if you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing.

We want people who stand for something. We’re a nation of followers looking for leaders.

They used to be musicians.

No longer.

1. “This Diamond Ring”
Gary Lewis & the Playboys

Cowritten by our Lefsetz favorite, Al Kooper. However, Al was horrified by this take until the royalty checks started piling in. Al saw it as a soul number. And I’m including Al’s take from his 1977 album “Act Like Nothing’s Wrong,” check it out.

But Gary Lewis’s version was different. Haunting, very sixties.

Let’s see, February 1965. We were one year into the British Invasion, long enough for the hysteria to die down and allow American acts onto the chart.

And this week I spent with my parents at the Concord, in Kiamesha Lake, New York. Sick from a rained-out Christmas in Vermont, they wanted to take no chances, the Concord had a ski area, however minimal.

It also had entertainment. That week Neil Sedaka. I was too young to know “Calendar Girl” when it was a hit, but I remember hearing Neil perform it that evening, and banging the knockers on the table instead of clapping…that’s what you did.

Who wants to buy this diamond ring
She took it off her finger now it doesn’t mean a thing

How different from today, where everybody’s a winner, not only in rap but pop. What did Pink sing…that the party could finally start because she arrived? Make me puke.

Life is full of losses. Big ones and little ones. And when you experience discomfort, you turn to the tunes.

And you saved them up for when they were necessary. I’m not sure I’d been rejected when I first heard “This Diamond Ring,” but I certainly have been since!

2. “Downtown”
Petula Clark

How did you pronounce it? “Pet” like the animal or “Petch”? I’m still not sure. But I’m absolutely positive this was a huge smash that winter. My little sister bought the single.

Although British, this was a respite from the usual male stuff. We had no idea that Petula had been at it for years, was not brand new, this was back before the internet provided all the answers.

Brings you right back. This track was made for the listener only, even if you were listening in a group.

So GO DOWNTOWN
Where all the lights are bright
DOWNTOWN
Waiting for you tonight
DOWNTOWN
You’re gonna be all right now…

3. “Eight Days A Week”
The Beatles

You know it by heart, doesn’t everybody?

Obviously not on Spotify, but just click the chip in your brain and you’ll hear it.

From my favorite Beatles album, “Beatles For Sale,” but I didn’t know that until the CDs came out in America in their proper form decades later.

The way the song comes over the hill, the way it gets louder, John Lennon’s vocal, the handclaps, the bridge…a stone cold smash. Then, now and forevermore.

4. “My Girl”
The Temptations

I was just too young.

I’d had my first girlfriend. I even looked her up online, took me years, positively horrifying, never mess with your memories.

But, I hadn’t had enough love experience to fully understand “My Girl.” Of course it’s a masterpiece, but I’ve recognized this more as the years have gone by, sometimes you hear something so many times it seems less than special, but in this case that is wrong, it doesn’t get much better than this.

5. “The Name Game”
Shirley Ellis

Okay, let’s do CHUCK!

The funny thing is this song gets little airplay, but every baby boomer can sing its complicated lyrics.

Come on…

Arnold!
Arnold, Arnold bo Barnold Bonana fanna fo Farnold
Fee fy mo Marnold, Arnold!

6. “Goldfinger”
Shirley Bassey

Remember when they flipped over the pool table and there was a model of Fort Knox?!

“Goldfinger” was the movie that ensconced James Bond in the public consciousness, it was the one with the tricked-out Aston Martin they exhibited at the New York World’s Fair.

One can argue the film’s predecessor, “From Russia With Love,” was superior, but “Goldfinger” was in your face, it had Pussy Galore, it had this track.

The girl was literally painted gold. Story was they left part of her skin unpainted, otherwise she would have died.

Nothing like the British Invasion numbers, this was still from the island nation and its bombast was foreign enough to stop us in our tracks and mesmerize us.

7. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'”
The Righteous Brothers

Nearly Phil Spector’s last hurrah. A throwback to what had come before…before the Beatles, who ultimately used Spector themselves.

To say this was overplayed… It was ubiquitous, it made me yearn for more British Invasion stuff on the radio. Like “My Girl,” I’ve come to love it as time has gone by. You know what turned me? Bill Medley’s duet with Jennifer Warnes on “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life” from the “Dirty Dancing” soundtrack.

There used to be movies like this, that the whole nation rallied around because they captured the zeitgeist from years gone by. Stuff like “American Graffiti” and “Dirty Dancing.” It wasn’t real, but in some way it was. I refused to see “Dirty Dancing” in the theatre, but my then wife and I rented the videotape and couldn’t stop watching it for the twenty four hours until we returned it. And hearing Bill Medley’s voice connected me to this classic track from ’64 and I came to love it, just like everybody else.

8. “Stop! In The Name Of Love”
The Supremes

My favorite is “Come See About Me,” but I always loved this.

Imagine, there were two camps competing for our attention, England and Michigan. Two different sounds, that came from the same roots but were oh-so-different.

And the Wrecking Crew in L.A., creating the Brian Wilson classics.

It was a golden era.

9. “The Boy From New York City”
The Ad Libs

This is why I’m writing this list… I heard this on Sirius XM this afternoon and it made my day.

I disliked this way back when… It seemed like a cheesy throwback. But all these years later, it’s just COOL!

Do kids know this? Does Kidz Bop do a cover?

They should, it’s infectious in any incarnation.

10. “Hurt So  Bad”
Little Anthony and the Imperials

My favorite is “Goin’ Out Of My Head,” but this ethereal number resonates too.

A winter song, no one is this depressed, no one is this interior during the summer.

That’s one great thing about living on the east coast, the miserable weather, having you playing board games and listening to the radio and your records daydreaming…about both the pitfalls and the way life can be.

Rhinofy-WABC Top Ten-2/24/65