INFORMATION OVERLOAD

The twentieth century was all about scarcity, making it to the top and then dominating. Today there’s so much information that you feel inadequate. It’s an endless buffet that never closes where you find yourself unable to resist taking one more bite, yet still believe there’s something you don’t know. Distribution used to raise certain elements above, if it was in the paper, if it was on TV, it was important. Now it just has to be on the Internet, and anybody and anything can be on the Internet.

INADEQUACY

Used to be you only had to compare yourself to the people in your neighborhood, you drove a Chevy, they piloted a Cadillac. Today you compare yourself to everybody in the world. There were always princes, always oligarchs, but now you know their names and want some of what they’ve got. Even worse is those people with the Cadillacs… Now you can peer into their lives via Facebook and other social media. The somewhat rich flaunt it and you sit at home snickering that you haven’t got it.

VENERATION OF YOUTH

We see their slim, perky bodies everywhere and they seem to be the only people who can figure out the new technology, and they’re always on to something new, whether it be Instagram or Snapchat or… You may wear skinny jeans and diet yourself down to nothing, but deep inside you feel that you’re missing out, that you don’t know what’s really going on.

AMPING UP OF PUBLICITY

Since it’s so much harder to reach people with your sales pitch, those with money marketing products employ a scorched-earth publicity juggernaut that has you believing stars are your best friends, that they come over to your house for dinner. But only for a week or two. After that they disappear, and you feel triumphant, that they’re nobody and you’re somebody, after all, you’re still here.

EMPOWERMENT OF THE PROLETARIAT

Everyone now has a voice. Jimmy Kimmel even has stars reading negative tweets. That’s the new American pastime, not being famous for a season on reality TV, but bashing the opinion and fame of those who’ve risen their heads above. If you think these naysayers should get a life, you’re missing the point, this is their life, protesting against the injustices done to them, bringing everybody down to their level.

PERSONAL BRANDING

In the money culture, everybody’s selling. They’re establishing their brand from middle school, if not before. Everything’s on the permanent record and you’re either on the right track or not. And if you don’t have something to sell, you’ll never be a successful entrepreneur, the number one aspiration. Yes, in a nation where the corporation does not care about you, and most people have numerous jobs in their lives, the key is to work for yourself and make millions.

INSTANT ACCESS

If your product doesn’t fit this paradigm, you’re destined for the scrapheap, you’re being ripped-off, if your product is desirable. Everybody expects what they want when they want it. It’s not only intellectual property, but goods. Amazon, et al, are now delivering on the same day. To fight this expectation is to be delusional. Movie windows will collapse.

DIGGING DEEP

Everybody’s an expert on something, if only a TV series. Now you can sit at home on a weekend and devour the entire history of a production and go to work and pontificate on Walter White. In a virtual world, where products are fluid, it’s not about what you have but what you know.

INFORMATION ACCESS

Everything’s at your fingertips online. LTE has given most people instant access to information. So if you’re uninformed, you’re going to be busted.

MONEY CULTURE

It’s the number one aspiration. Religion is down, the arts supposedly self-satisfy, but the truth is everyone is pursuing money. The Ivy Leaguers go into finance, anyone with money or who desires some is conversant with the stock market, and if you’ve got money, you’ve won, no one can say a bad thing about you. Going public is the new record release. Not only is there a big initial splash, as well a run-up thereto, unlike with most music there’s an afterlife, as people see whether the stock goes up or down. If a company makes money, it doesn’t matter what their product is, what other indicators say, in the eyes of the press and the public they’re winners!

POLITICS IS A PROFESSION

Something we’re all aware of but most don’t pay much heed to. We’re aware of the game, but we believe we’re outsiders, that we’ve got no power. We can’t tell Mark Zuckerberg what to do, and we can’t tell our Congressman either, someone else much richer and more powerful has their ear.

EDUCATION IS PREPARATION

Knowledge for itself is pooh-poohed, other than at the most elite institutions, where the liberal arts are vaunted but everybody’s an entrepreneur making money while studying. Traditional culture, whether it be the symphony or the opera or…is dying because no one studies it, it’s not seen as relevant or important. America is all business, all of the time.

DUMBNESS

The irony is in an information culture, great swaths of the public have no idea how the game is played. They know who is famous and rich, but they’ve got no idea how they got there. And those who are famous and rich realize this, and like this. It keeps the dumb from rising above, and also has them continuing to consume their b.s.

POWERLESSNESS

You read about Rupert Murdoch wanting to buy Time Warner but all you know is your cable bill keeps going up and there’s nothing you can do about it.

CAMERAS ARE EVERYWHERE

Only dumb people commit traditional crime. Because afterwards the government/establishment pulls up the tape/images, and you’re caught. The only burgeoning crime is white collar crime, which is about flaunting the rules, working the margins, and then hiring attorneys better than the government employs to either get off or pay a fine less than your winnings.

TRANSPORTATION IS A COMMODITY

Cars work. You can buy a better one, but it’s mostly about status. And if you haven’t sat next to someone in flip-flops on a plane, you haven’t flown.

IT’S ABOUT TODAY, NOT TOMORROW

Global warming, infrastructure replacement, that’s someone else’s problem.

RIGHT WING FINANCIALS

The right wing dominates the financial conversation. Such that most people believe the government wastes money, so it should be given less.

LEFT WING SOCIAL VALUES

We have a black President, gay marriage and legal pot, all of which were unfathomable in the last century. The truth is children may worship money, but they’ve disconnected from their parents’ social values. Furthermore, in the information society, that which gets traction can become a tsunami overnight. So when you say something just can’t happen, you’re probably wrong.

LUDDITES

Society is moving so fast and it’s so confusing that everyone aware in the last century laments the loss of what they once knew in the twenty first century. But the truth is modern life is confusing, even the young people don’t have a handle on it. Best to dive in and surf, because the past is never coming back.

INSTANT FAME

PSY, the Malaysian air crash. The Internet culture has everybody knowing something almost instantaneously. Everyone knows “Gangnam Style” and everyone knows about international crises, because they’re unavoidable when you load your browser.

IT’S HARD TO STAY

Sure, you can go viral and have instant fame, but publicity is grist for the mill, if it’s what’s propping up your enterprise, you’re gonna fade. Which is why the music business is in trouble. It’s using a today model, i.e. overwhelming instant publicity, to try and prop up a business that’s always been about tomorrow/the long term. But the long term doesn’t square with a number one world where the executive gets paid for short term results.

CORPORATIONS ARE GODS

Not only does the Supreme Court say they’re people, they’re the only ones with enough money to make you instantly known and/or rich. So no one criticizes Samsung, they just try to get ahold of part of its advertising budget.

IF IT PAYS, IT STAYS

Unless you’re an axe murderer and everybody knows it, I’ll play your private party if you pay me enough.

FAME IS NOT ABOUT SUBSTANCE

Paris Hilton invented the paradigm, Kim Kardashian perfected it. It’s about being famous and making money therefrom. If Kim Kardashian stopped trumpeting how much money she made from her shenanigans, no one would pay attention.

FASHION IS PERSONAL BRANDING

Clothes are not protection from the elements, but a way to define yourself in society. As are piercings and tattoos. You cannot become a successful entrepreneur, you cannot get laid, unless you’re unique. Didn’t Mark Zuckerberg always wear a hoodie?

TECHNOLOGY IS THE NEW SPORTS

Sure, people can testify about the Yankees or the Patriots, but the truth is more people know about and are aware of mobile devices and technological innovations. Apple has a product rollout on Tuesday September 9th, do you even know when the Super Bowl is being played? The opening date of the NFL season?

EXPERIENCES TRUMP POSSESSIONS

Where you’ve been and what you’ve done is more important than what you own.

EVERYONE’S GOT A SECRET PLAN TO BE RICH

It may be delusional, they may be too afraid to enact it, but they’ve got it. Just get them juiced up and talking late at night.

SOCIAL IS EVERYTHING

The loner is anathema. And the loner is history. The loner connects with other loners online. But most people are social. Not only on their devices but in real life. Oldsters go to the show to see what’s on stage, youngsters go to hang out with other youngsters.

ACCESS TO SELLERS

If you bought it, you expect to be able to e-mail and tweet to those who sold it to you. If you’re complaining and no one is responding, you feel like it’s an international crisis.

MOST STUFF WORKS

Power windows broke in the last century, if something breaks now you’re stunned, and just go out and buy a new one because most goods are cheap and no one knows how to fix anything anymore.

MOBILE IS EVERYTHING

You expect to be able to take all your data with you everywhere you go, and your data is your most prized possession. If you’re purveying and you don’t have a mobile strategy, you’re screwed.

INSTANT ACCESS TO FRIENDS

There’s no such thing as a busy signal. We expect to be able to reach everybody right away.

TRAGEDIES/DISASTERS

They’re happening all the time, whether they be tornadoes or wars, but they’re happening to someone else. We live in a myopic world where it’s everybody for himself, baby.

Too soon?

I was never a fan until I heard the acoustic version of “Push” on a Star 98.7 holiday sampler. You remember Star 98.7, don’t you? Where Ryan Seacrest got his start paired with Lisa Foxx? She kept giving him a hard time for being so metrosexual. To think that if it weren’t for “American Idol” most people would have never known Ryan. Then again, his will was irrepressible. The most talented people don’t succeed, but those who want it most, and learn how to play the game.

PUSH

The studio version never did anything for me. Unfortunately, there’s not an easy link to the Star 98.7 acoustic take, but you can check this one out here:

Push (Acoustic) – Matchbox Twenty

When it’s acoustic, without all the accoutrements, the lyrics shine:

And I don’t know if I’ve ever been really loved
By a hand that’s touched me
And I feel like something’s gonna give
And I’m a little bit angry, well

Insecurity. I’m riddled with it. It’s the curse of being human. Some cover it up, but are we really loved, do people really care about us, especially those not related by DNA?

And it makes us so angry!

“Push” is a masterpiece. And either you know this already or you will now, after giving it a second chance, especially in this acoustic take.

Meanwhile, listen to that intro guitar on the studio take. Whew, it puts you right in the mood, it enthralls you!

BACK 2 GOOD

And then comes this. How do we get it back to good?

It’s impossible. There’s something that goes down in a breakup, it’s what’s said, but even more it’s the disconnection, and the feelings that seep in, that it’s done.

I wish I could get so much back to good in my life. “Back 2 Good” is a bit subtle, but listen to it alone, especially at night, at home, and you’ll get it.

LONG DAY

It almost sounds like early period Beatles, at least the intro, come on, work with me.

And then the way the song breaks down after getting intense.

And then there’s the hooky chorus, you can’t help but sing along, come on, IT’S BEEN A LONG DAY!

3 AM

The acoustic intro enraptures you, the song is a romp, not in your face, but a road trip that you’re eager to go on.

The changes, the lyrics, Matchbox Twenty’s minor work isn’t.

Come on, 3 AM! The mood is instantly set!

BENT

This is the first cut from the band’s second album. It didn’t quite live up to the hype. And the expectations were so high, all four of the previous cuts were hits on the first album, Matchbox Twenty was a giant MTV act before the generations changed and the boy bands usurped their throne.

“Bent” was a disappointment upon release, but it’s quite good with distance. Especially when you go through the roller coaster of the changes.

IF YOU’RE GONE

This was the second single. And it’s better than “Bent,” but it’s quiet and it’s anathema to start the campaign for a rock group’s new album with a ballad.

Well, at least the song starts off slow and quiet, but it amps up in the chorus. It may be girl-centric, but sensitive guys can get it too.

MAD SEASON

And then there’s this, the title cut from the second album, my favorite from that disc, because of the way it twists and turns, it’s impossible to keep your body still when you listen to it.

UNWELL

And then there was a third album, in 2002, two years after “Mad Season.”

This was the hit.

The verse is nothing special, but the chorus is hooky as usual.

Then there were a couple of Rob Thomas solo albums, and another group album, but no one really cared, because the nineties were done, we were in the Internet era and Matchbox Twenty was made for a different world, when we lived in a monoculture and we were all aware of what was a hit and heard tracks long enough to grudgingly accept their quality.

Then again, Matchbox Twenty’s quality declined.

Then again, how do you follow up such massive success?

And massive success begets backlash, especially when the acts were not just faces, when they wrote the songs and played them too. Rob Thomas became one of the most hated men in music, because he got fat and married a model and didn’t evidence enough hubris.

Then again, the band did change its name from “Matchbox 20” to “Matchbox Twenty.” Huh? I mean I’ve heard of making monikers shorter, from Grand Funk Railroad to Grand Funk, from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Creedence, never mind CCR, what was the reason for this? Accept your success, don’t demand we change to fit your vision of yourself, not if you want our attention.

And then there was that Santana hit, “Smooth,” which Thomas cowrote and performed on, which was overplayed on television. Rob’s ubiquity trumped his talent.

And then it was done. That’s what performers can never accept, that their time will be over. That the scene and audiences change and suddenly you’re yesterday’s news instead of today’s hitmaker.

But Matchbox Whatever were truly talented, they made memorable music, just listen…

Rhinofy-Matchbox Twenty Primer

 

Subject: a reply from someone in matchbox 20/twenty

Thanks for the kind words Bob!

Our career is not done though. I know this because I just bought a new house and a very expensive divorce all with money I earned playing a g chord last summer.

Hope You’re Well

Paul Doucette
matchbox vingt

I thought I heard her calling my name

I had a Norelco Compact Cassette player. Yup, that’s what it said right on the tiny machine about the size of a shoebox, but much thinner, with a speaker on top and a drawer for the cassette below. Eventually they changed the name to Philips and dropped “Compact” but back in ’68 8-tracks were just taking hold, no one thought the cassette would make inroads, never mind last.

And it came with a microphone that looked like nothing so much as a sex toy, but recording friends was a novelty, the machine’s main function was to record music, after I went to Radio Shack to purchase the proper connectors. Yup, back before it was a going out of business cell phone store Radio Shack was the home of odds and ends, you could find a cable to do anything, like the one I used to turn stereo into mono, that took the outputs of my all-in-one Columbia box and turned them into one plug I could connect to the Norelco.

This was long before people borrowed albums to record to save money, to make mix tapes for friends, most people didn’t have any albums, they had mostly singles and the radio was their main source of music, imagine that, sitting at home, waiting for your favorite track to come on!

Which is what I did. But with my hand on the triangular Norelco button, which I pushed to RECORD whenever I heard the notes of my favorite tracks on WDRC.

That’s right, the hip FM in Hartford, which my box could get, I was not limited to the New York sounds. And I was an album guy, and there were certain LPs I knew I’d never own, there was nothing worth owning other than the hit, but I wanted to be able to hear that over and over again, on the go, those tapes traveled everywhere with me, they’re up on my wall right now.

Hush, hush

My goal was to get it perfect, my reflexes got quite good. But I’d still get the deejay talking over the beginning and the end. And those tracks on my cassettes, on no-name brands long before the advent of Maxell, became part of my DNA.

There’s nothing like getting behind the wheel of your own machine. Hearing the sound pouring out of the multiple speakers. Yes, yesterday was one of those days that everything sounded good, the oldies and the newbies. But I was driving on the 405, deep into darkness, and I heard this.

First it was Steppenwolf, whose “Magic Carpet Ride” I also had on cassette.

And some songs you’ve heard so much you think you’re immune.

But I just bought a new amplifier, the old one burned up, and the bass was pumping and suddenly it was 1968 all over again, Deep Purple’s “Hush” sounded brand new.

There’s that Ritchie Blackmore screaming intro, back before we knew his name.

And there’s the groove. And it’s not Ian Gillan. But it is Jon Lord.

That’s right, the singer is Rod Evans, long before anybody could conceive of “Smoke On The Water.” And the record came out on Bill Cosby’s Tetragrammaton Records, but what seals the deal is the organ. As if Felix Cavaliere pushed up the volume and fought with  Gene Cornish for attention. There were no limits on “Hush.” Heavy metal had to start somewhere, and most people say it was Zeppelin, yup, that’s what was metal before speed and screech, but it took bands pushing the limits, taking us to the stratosphere, to get us there.

So I’m parked, sitting in front of Felice’s house, and I’m enveloped in that sound, of Jon Lord squeezing the keys, it’s like I’m in a spaceship that’s about to levitate.

And it felt so good!

P.S. The song was written by Joe South. I heard “Games People Play” too much to like it back then, and it was contrary to the edgy rock which was suddenly starting to dominate, but I can hear its greatness now.

P.P.S. The original version was done by Billy Joe Royal, yes, the maestro of the boondocks, now that’s a song I love. And if you listen to the original, which made it up to #52 on the chart, which means most people never heard it, you’ll hear the framework of the Deep Purple hit, but that’s all. Who do we credit for Deep Purple’s take, Joe Meek’s compatriot Derek Lawrence, whose memory has been lost to the sands of time?

P.P.P.S. The entire Deep Purple debut album was cut in three days. You see greatness is about catching lightning in a bottle. Labor long enough and you can get it perfect, but perfect is rarely a hit, not one that sticks, because perfect eliminates humanity. That’s right, once upon a time we went to the gig and expected the performance to be different from the record, do that today and the audience boos.

P.P.P.P.S. Come on, it sounds like a band, a cohesive unit that you can only marvel at, that you can’t penetrate, like Stonehenge. We bought songbooks, we learned how to play these songs at home, but we could never get close, because the musicians were Gods and their tracks were the Torah.

Hush – Spotify link

Chatting with the Chopped Teen Tournament, Part 4 Winner

The judges talked shit.

Why is it that everybody believes their kid is a talented musician deserving the accolades of everybody and no one will tell a wannabe he sucks to his face?

Felice is addicted to the Food Network. Because of my ongoing ass problems, I’ve been unable to exercise, so once again I found myself lying next to her watching ten o’clock TV, in this case the “Chopped Teen Tournament.”

What I loved was the passion. These kids had been cooking for years! And no one said how many followers they have, Facebook and Twitter didn’t come up at all! You see it’s all about the food, although presentation does count, and the penumbra is irrelevant.

Kind of like in music. That’s what no one likes to admit, that it all comes down to the music. They believe if they’re pretty, if they’ve got a kick-ass YouTube video, if they’ve got lots of friends, then they’re entitled to success. But the truth is it’s in the file. Music is something you hear, that goes in your ears, everything else is secondary.

So do you pick up an instrument and play it for years?

Sure, you can sing cover songs. But have you been practicing in obscurity, trying to find your way?

These young chefs have. And what stunned me most was their ability to improvise on the fly, their ability to take mystery ingredients and concoct a meal in thirty minutes, with no prior preparation. This would be like having “Idol” contestants write and record a song every episode. Would that song be good? Probably not. Not all of the meals were good. The meat was undercooked, the couscous sticky. But did the judges say what a fantastic job the young contestants did? NO! They spoke honestly, told them the truth. Something we all know but never say out loud, especially in the music business. Yup, we’ll talk behind someone’s back, but tell them right up front they and their music are not good enough? Never gonna happen.

There’s a fiction that young people can create at the level of those who are mature. But the truth is almost all of the teens with success in music are working with adults, oftentimes middle-aged adults. Yup, if you think it’s a youth business, you’re wrong. Youth are just the front. Max Martin is the star. And speaking of presentation…

Presentation does not mean you’re beautiful, it means the production is seamless and enticing. One kid got chopped because he forgot to put sauce on one of the judge’s plates. Everyone agreed his meal had fine elements, but you just can’t succeed if you don’t hit the notes. Sure, you might have written a good song, well, probably not, but is it produced in a way that most people will enjoy it, people who consume music every day?

And there’s no fiction that these teens will open a restaurant at the end of the episode, that they’re ready for prime time. They’re fighting for scholarships, they need more education.

Now rumor has it that Linda Perry’s got an honest show on cable. I’ve yet to see it, maybe she’s turning the tide.

But the truth is music is hard to do, at least very hard to do well. Most people will never make it. Insiders know this. But the truth is not usually on television and baby boomer and Gen-X parents believe their kids are perfect and entitled to success.

Success is always the same, it’s about hard work and practice, and inspiration.

Yes, it’s about passion. And the passion of these young chefs on the “Chopped Teen Tournament” was palpable. It wasn’t about fame, it was about food!

What a concept.

It’s a lesson we can learn in the music business. That music comes first. And it’s hard. And it makes no sense to instill false concepts into the makers. Those who continue to succeed have talent and desire. You can only be the front person for old men for so long. We’re looking for acts that last. Because unlike food, great music is forever!