1. “Hello It’s Me”

Todd’s not singing, but he wrote it, and was a member of the band. I still prefer this to Todd’s remake/hit single. The entire first Nazz album is a classic, check it out.

Hello It’s Me by The Nazz

2. “We Gotta Get You A Woman”

Pure magic, written for Paul Fishkin, Stevie Nicks’ ultimate lover and co-proprietor of her record label, this was on Todd’s Ampex debut and made it into the Top Twenty, he’d be legendary for this if it was the only thing he ever did! Gives hope to every red-blooded, self-conscious American male.

3. “Long Flowing Robe”

The hit single that wasn’t, from Todd’s true masterpiece, his second solo album, “Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren.” This is not the best track on this exquisite LP, but it’s the catchiest.

4. “A Long Time, A Long Way To Go”

From the same album, the second.

It’s so MAJESTIC!

5. “Wolfman Jack”

Another hit single that wasn’t, from Todd’s legendary double album “Something/Anything?”

Todd’s problem was he was too talented. He could write hit singles at will. Then again, this was just a bit too hip. Infectious.

6. “The Night The Carousel Burned Down”

You can hear the ponies going up and down, right?
So SWEET!

7. “Dust In The Wind”

A power ballad before that term was coined. Phenomenal.

8. “Piss Aaron”

Because unlike today’s stars, Todd Rundgren had a sense of HUMOR!

9. “Just One Victory”

Including everything but the kitchen sink, this closer to “A Wizard/A True Star,” the disappointing follow-up to “Something/Anything?,” builds and builds to the point where you cannot help but raise your arms and sing along.

10. “A Dream Goes On Forever”

Too good to be a single, a veritable masterpiece, it’s reminiscent of nothing so much as the Left Banke’s classics, this alone will make you believe your life is worth living.

11. “Real Man”

An epic. A ride into the future that looks back to the past. The way he drops down and sings that deep inside him there’s a real man…if your heart is not touched, you don’t have one.

12. “Can We Still Be Friends”

Another song too good to be a hit, this is heartfelt and perfect, we’ve all been there, but Todd encapsulates it all in a three and a half minute masterpiece.

13. “You Cried Wolf”

Also from “Hermit Of Mink Hollow,” like “Can We Still Be Friends,” wherein Todd returned to his roots to show he still had it, this draws from the same vein as “Wolfman Jack” and is just as hooky, if not more.

14. “Love Is The Answer”

Known primarily in its England Dan & John Ford Coley iteration, the original is less saccharine and even more meaningful.

Done with his prog band Utopia, this is when that incarnation veered back to pop on the album “Oops! Wrong Planet.”

And when you feel afraid, love one another
When you’ve lost your way, love one another
When you’re all alone, love one another
When you’re far from home, love one another
When you’re down and out, love one another
All your hope’s run out, love one another
When you need a friend, love one another
When you’re near the end
Love
We got to love
We got to love one another

John Lennon is famous for singing about it, but it’s Todd Rundgren who nailed it.

Love is truly the answer, and if you love Todd Rundgren, you know what I’m talking about, because truly, TODD IS GOD!!

Rhinofy-Todd Rundgren Primer

MAJOR LABELS

Survive. Because they’ve got the money and the relationships with radio. Wanna compete? Have the money and the relationships. Until the radio hegemony is broken, the major labels will sustain.

RADIO

It’s the curation, stupid! And the ability to garner and maintain an audience. No one wants to go where no one else is. Prior to the Internet there was very little off the grid and we were all aware of it. Now, music, like information, is infinite. Do you really want to live on Pluto?

SOUNDSCAN

Toast.

Let’s see, they get their “accurate” numbers from record stores, which are declining, and sales no longer mean anything, gross does. Look at your bottom line, not specific elements. Add up your recording and streaming revenue and tickets, merch and sponsorship dollars then tell me whether you’re winning or not. Tickets are much more expensive than they used to be. And sponsorship dwarfs the dollars of yore. To focus on recording dollars is to miss the point.

SPOTIFY

Helped Universal’s numbers. Read the reports. If you believe streaming is the death of music and there are no dollars involved, you’re uneducated, you’re probably still saying that P2P is gonna kill the incentive to record! But the truth is there are more recordings than ever and I don’t know anybody who steals music anymore, why?

BILLBOARD

The bible no more! To think Janice Min can save “Billboard” is to believe Guggenheim didn’t overpay for it! But focusing on pictures and celebrities in an era where viewpoint and voice matter…is to miss the point. In other words, whatever “Billboard” was it will never be again.

ROLLING STONE

Losing Matt Taibbi is like your lead singer quitting the band. Just like MTV, “Rolling Stone” fumbled its digital future. Neither of these outlets mean much online. There’s still a vacuum without an inhabiting music site. Wanna know why? Because everybody in music is so busy saying their stuff is better, and there’s so little money involved, that anybody with a brain is in tech and all we’re left with is the nerds who believe the mainstream is anathema. But the truth is, we’re all gravitating towards the mainstream, it’s inevitable in a Tower of Babel society, you want to find someone who can speak your language, anyone.

BLOCKBUSTERS

Will rule the future. If you’re not a star, you’re a nobody. Sure, fans will support journeymen, but the old saw wherein you pay your dues and you gradually climb up the ranks? It don’t happen that way no more. Now either you write and play music that many can get, or you reside in your niche.

MANAGERS

Same as it ever was. Every hit act has one. Having a great manager is more important than having a great deal, just ask the Beatles!

ALBUMS

Look at it from the perspective of the listener… He’s time constrained and only wants the best. No one has a short attention span, everybody can just separate the wheat from the chaff, instantly. Don’t tell people they have to give your music time to percolate, no one’s got that time. You’re in the hit business whether you’re radio-friendly or not. You need to create the one hit listen. Which is why Max Martin and Dr. Luke are so successful, they understand the game. You might pooh-pooh the hits, but a lot of work went into them and they’re not easy to create. Making money is hard. Not because people don’t want to pay, but because they don’t want to pay for crap! If every one of the tracks on your album is a certifiable smash, release an LP. But it turns out the public only had time for Adele’s “21.”

VISIBILITY

This week’s soon to be forgotten new album…BECK’S! An unbelievable publicity campaign with absolutely no sticking power. Next week there’s no story. Unless your track is going to get radio play or you’re constantly on the road playing it it’s got a shelf life of close to zero. Your hard core fans buy it, everybody else forgets it. Tomorrow’s musicians have a full time job staying in the public eye. It’s your job to figure out how to do this. But the best way is to dribble out quality music. Because remember…it’s about the bottom line, not anemic record sales.

EXPERIENCE

Not everybody can divine a hit. Not everybody knows where the bodies are buried. Which is why the business is run by old men (and a few women!) They’ve got intuition. You might think you know what’s going on, but you really don’t. Pay your dues!

TAYLOR SWIFT

Is the second most influential artist working. The first is the rappers. Anyone can be a rapper, note I didn’t say a GOOD rapper, but a rapper. Learning how to play an instrument and write songs requires a bigger investment. But people are making it. Just like Mariah Carey begat Christina Aguilera and the Melisma Maddies of TV singing competitions, we’re going to have a bunch of girls singing songs from the heart. Ms. Swift is the biggest star in America, if you’re not trying to replicate her success, you’re looking up a blind alley. She’s represents everything classic rock used to…catchy stuff sung from the heart that sets your mind free.

COUNTRY

Is only going to get bigger. Because not everybody’s a hipster and people clamor for songs that speak to their condition that they can sing along with.

YOUTUBE

Just like Netflix is the majority of bandwidth, YouTube is propped up by music. It’s where fans go to testify. If they’re not making videos of themselves singing your song…it’s not a hit. Video is the new radio. Especially now that everybody can compete. Not everybody is listening to the same radio station, if they’re listening at all. But everybody has YouTube at their fingertips and visits the site on a regular basis. It’s America’s radio station. Just check the views of those monster hits!

ELECTRONIC MUSIC

Who knows? It survives. Does it surpass hip-hop to become the dominant format? Maybe… After all, Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” just became the most played Spotify track of all time. Worldwide. And it is a worldwide business, more than ever before. Everybody’s got money, music is the universal language, speak it.

CREDIBILITY

Do not conflate the wannabe famous no-talent youngsters with true stars. Biggest star of the under twenty set this year? Lorde, with “Royals.” Yes, the less than perfectly good looking geek with the nerdy boyfriend who speaks her mind and truth to power. If you think it’s about cozying up to the Fortune 500, you’re still living in the last decade, or admitting to yourself your music doesn’t capture the zeitgeist, and therefore most people are not interested in it, or can enjoy it today and then forget it. Quick quiz… Name two songs from Jay Z’s Samsung album! Better yet, two songs from Beyonce’s new LP! How about two from Springsteen’s! Those three albums had reams of press, but none of them have stuck. Sticking is the key, not mainstream media coverage, certainly not paid for by an electronics company that’s hipper than your tunes.

CLASSIC ROCK

Soon to be dead on the road. We’ve got somewhere between five and ten years left. See ’em now, before they lose their voices or die. We’re in the middle of a transition wherein the younger acts are generating the touring dollars. It’s happening.

MBAs

Will continue to have no place in the music business, because art can’t be quantified and one hit record blows all your projections to hell. Sure, controlling costs and knowing where the dollars are is important, but not as much as great music. There’s no soul in tech, but soul is the foundation of music.

Everything sounds good when it rains.

On the east coast, rain is a nuisance. On the west, it’s a novelty, kind of like snow in Hot Lanta, just a bit more frequent.

But not this year.

Sometime in January, after days in the 80s, you realize…it hasn’t rained!

And unless you’re a skier, you believe this is good, until you see pictures of dry reservoirs… Seems like America lurches from disaster to disaster, and only those who live where they’re happening care. Yup, when it snows in D.C. we don’t care about the canceled flights in California, and when we’re shaken and stirred by an earthquake, Syracuse shrugs its shoulders.

But unlike the old days, prior to the Internet, back before storms became a story, with a beginning, middle and end, today we’re aware they’re coming. We change plans. We check the hourly reports. We know how bad traffic is gonna be tied up, yes, SoCal is the epicenter of gridlock, don’t ask me to go anywhere during rush hour, even if the Beatles are reuniting and U2 is giving a free show.

So I found myself with the wipers blazing, barely able to see the road, while Jefferson Starship’s “Miracles” emanated from the speakers.

When they were finally free of Matthew Katz, this was the apotheosis, so big in ’75 if you were alive you remember the sexual reference…

I had a taste of the real world
When I went down on you girl

No swear words necessary, all over the airwaves, this was the boomer victory lap, when rock won, before disco came and wiped the slate clean.

But before that, as the sidewalks were darkening, I was listening to some acoustic music on my Sonos system and that’s when I heard the line…

I can’t help thinkin’ I’m just a day away from where I wanna be

It shocked me. Because that’s who I used to be, how I used to feel.

When I was still young, when I was still optimistic.

And I wondered if I could be so again.

Turns out I’m an observer. I used to be a participant. But in the last few decades my voice has been silenced and I’ve become amazed at the stories people tell. And that they do. If you ask. If they trust.

And it all comes down to people. Flawed in extremis, even though few admit it.

I’m sitting down by the highway
Down by that highway side
Everybody’s goin’ somewhere
Ridin’ just as fast as they can ride

Ain’t that the truth. Everybody’s selling something, trying to get ahead, and then you realize none of it matters, that you’d better enjoy the ride, because that’s all you’ve got.

I guess they got a lot to do
Before they can rest assured
Their lives are justified
Pray to God for me babe, he can let me slide

Justification. Is your resume complete? Did you go to the right college, marry the right person, have perfect children, can you fit into your old clothes?

And then there are those who drop out, get divorced, who have lumpy bodies and no children to call them up.

These are the people who are music fans. When you’ve got more questions than answers you turn to the bards. Speaking truth. Making sense of it for us.

Baby if you need me
Like I know I need you
There’s just one thing
I’ll ask you to do

Take my hand and lead me
To the hole in your garden wall
And pull me through
Pull me through

I need you more than you need me. I wouldn’t do it otherwise. It’s a cornucopia of feedback, but it makes me feel connected, like my life is worth living.

And when you tell me your story, when you testify…

My life is complete.

Your Bright Baby Blues – Miracles – Spotify link

Tumblr is for porn.

Facebook is for the wannabe famous.

Instagram is for those who are too lazy to write.

Texting is social currency. It doesn’t matter how many likes or friends or followers you’ve got, but how many people text you and how regularly, that’s how popularity is judged today.

Pinterest is inexplicable to guys.

Samsung is for those who hate Apple and those too cheap to buy an iPhone (not necessarily the same thing, Apple-haters will buy the most expensive Galaxy).

iPhone 4s means you’re almost at the end of your contract or you’re too cheap to upgrade.

Tesla means you’re more interested in status than utility, or you never drive far from home.

iPhone 5c means you think iPhones really cost a hundred bucks, not north of five hundred.

Windows means you got your computer from work or you’re too cheap to buy a Mac. Argue all you want, perception is everything, and perception is reality.

Hip-hop is the rock and roll of the Millennials. With a dollop of Gen-X’ers thrown in.

Rock and roll is the music of the baby boomers, who believe everything they’re into should last forever, but it doesn’t, just like them.

Books get a lot of publicity, but barely sell. Sure, there are exceptions, but very few.

Sales are irrelevant, streams are everything, but newspapers are only trumpeting Spotify plays when all the action’s on YouTube.

Albums are for the creators, no one else cares, except for a cadre of extremely vocal fans.

Terrestrial radio is an advertiser-laden medium for poor people. Anybody with an income is listening to satellite or streaming from their mobile device.

Baby boomers buy Japanese automobiles because they remember how bad their parents’ Detroit iron was. In other words, despite all the press that GM, Ford and Chrysler are improving, boomers are sticking to Toyota and Honda, at least in California, and trends still start in California, don’t ever forget it.

Binge viewing is a badge of honor. Telling everybody you stayed home to watch all the episodes of _______ garners more status than saying you went to the show, and there’s more to talk about!

The Millennials want to be famous, just watch Douglas Rushkoff’s documentary “Generation Like”

Generation Like

Newspapers insist on fat profit margins and head for decrepitude while online sites focus on user experience first and profits last. In other words, it’s the product, stupid!

Companies are constantly fighting for awareness.

Ignorance reigns. Education comes through word of mouth, which also spreads falsehoods. He who knows the most truth wins. We live in an information society, what’s in your brain is paramount.

Without relationships you cannot succeed.

Here today, gone tomorrow, welcome to the twenty first century. You can only combat this by constantly producing. U2 released a single during the Super Bowl, it’s already been forgotten, assuming you knew its name to begin with.

No one cares if Shia LaBeouf wears a bag on his head, it’s a trumped up media story.

Robin Thicke will screw everything that moves, wake up and realize his career is over and lament the loss of his wife.

Alec Baldwin was right about Harvey Levin, but if you think he’s retiring from public life, you believe Kim Kardashian is all natural. That’s what Alec does, turn it on in the public eye, without this oxygen he’s dead, so he’ll be back, just like Scott Shannon, ha!

“Alec Baldwin: Good-bye, Public Life”

Just because you get press for your celebrity cook/lifestyle book, don’t think we care, you’re just another loser like us. In other words, just because you promote it, that does not mean it will sell.

Bitcoin may not be forever, but digital currency is.

Marc Andreesen is a borderline blowhard who is pontificating on tech better than most, pay attention to what he says.

You know Twitter is in crisis when regular tweeters like Michael Moore don’t.

Apple is not going to revolutionize television. Content owners won’t let them.

Manhattan is losing steam as an arts center, it’s just too expensive to live there. In other words, bankers can prop up institutions, but they cannot drive them forward.

Millennials are not mad that technologists are crowding them out of San Francisco as much as they are that they too are not rich.

Bill Gates cannot save Microsoft. Samsung is a better me-too company. Vision is everything today.

Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook. They control the world, consolidation has taken hold, it’s the next hot topic and you don’t know it yet.

People give up when no one’s paying attention, whether it be music, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter… Like hula-hoops, they’re fads, interesting for a while, then abandoned.

Just because something makes money, that does not mean it does not suck.