From: ROB T
Subject: hi from rob thomas

Re: Rhinofy-Matchbox Twenty Primer

Dear Bob,

I’ve always enjoyed reading your letters and your recent take on matchbox twenty (or 20) was no exception.  There were even some points in there that we, ourselves, have talked about from time to time. But there were also, as I’m sure you would imagine, a couple parts that I feel completely miss the point of who we are and what we have accomplished.

Somewhere between being today’s hitmakers and being yesterday’s news is a zone that I would expect you to understand better than most. An artist that has had enough success to be able to pull together a fan base that genuinely cares about the music they are making even if they aren’t fully a part of the “love me” game we see playing out on reality shows and in celebrity magazines.

We may never be cool. We may never be tastemakers. We may even never again have hits on top 40 radio. But when we put out an album and go on tour there are more than enough people to listen and come see us to give us a career that’s enviable to 99% of people who do what we do.

It’s hard to believe that our career is “over” when so many people still come out to see us play.  In fact, we would’ve loved to have you stop by our last matchbox tour to give your take on our status but chances are we wouldn’t have heard you over the sound of our sold out crowds enjoying themselves hearing music they love.

I have nothing but respect for you and what you do but I feel like you have been so far on the inside for so long that you have lost touch with the best part of music. It’s subjective. And if tens of thousands of people want to come see me or matchbox or anyone that’s exactly what a REAL career is.

Step out from behind your computer sometime, Bob. There are real people out here who are fans of a great number of things that I’m sure you thought were long gone. And the artists they are fans of are having a lot of fun and enjoying their careers just fine.

Rt

p.s.
working on a new solo album. Hope you dig it.

This is not about books.

This is about corporations. And power. And the rights of not only artists, but individuals.

There’s a fiction in America today that corporations are our friends. Amazon even pushes the paradigm by saying all its efforts are for us. Pitting writers against readers in a sideshow that deflects from the truth that this really only about money, Amazon’s bottom line.

Amazon wants to own everything. Is that a good thing?

We’ve been wrestling with this issue for years, but no one wants to take a stand. Because they love that Facebook is free, Twitter too. The goal is to be in an Apple commercial, get sponsored by Samsung or Red Bull. But do these companies now have so much power that they’re hurting rather than helping us?

The Internet shrinks the world down to a click. With every store right next to the other, only one survives. So Google owns search. Facebook is your digital home. And Amazon is where you buy…seemingly everything.

Is this good for us?

Don’t trust the writers, they’re myopic and know nothing about money.

And don’t trust Hachette, run so inefficiently that the writers make a pittance while the company thrives.

Trust your gut. Do you really want to live in a 1984 world where Big Brother controls everything?

That’s the humorous element in this story. Amazon trotted out George Orwell’s quotes, saying to beware of publishers colluding against paperbacks when he said just the opposite. Credit the “New York Times” for revealing this truth, check it out here:

Dispute Between Amazon and Hachette Takes an Orwellian Turn

But what is most fascinating is the nerds at Amazon could get it so wrong. Read Brad Stone’s “The Everything Store.” Amazon long ago fired experts, recommendations are made by algorithms, and the keepers of our culture know nothing about the liberal arts, and everything about money. Either they can’t read or they can’t research or both, and that’s a sorry state of affairs.

But the truth is most of the public can’t either. The great unwashed want to be on reality shows and most college students focus on practical efforts like business, and what gets squeezed is culture. Ever wonder why music is so repetitive and mediocre? Because it’s made by the lowest common denominator element, the best and the brightest are working at the bank.

Hachette does not have clean hands. But the writers are a pawn in this dispute, like the Ukrainians living on the Russian border. They’re getting hurt while powers are fighting about something else.

But now the writers are fighting back, by banding together and taking an ad in the aforementioned “New York Times” urging you to e-mail Jeff Bezos. That’s a waste of time, don’t bother, Jeff will be inundated with a zillion e-mails in defense of the writers, if you base your efforts on public e-mail campaigns or petitions, you’ll do the wrong thing. But the truth is the Amazon/Hachette war is now a matter of public debate.

And that’s what it is, a war. And it’s not about books. It’s about how much of our lives are we going to turn over to Amazon.

Come on, you like instant delivery, you like a trustworthy merchant, but do you like a company that can single-handedly set prices and determine availability?

Oh, shut up about physical books and bookstores. That’s in the rearview mirror, digital won, because it’s convenient and inherently cheaper. If you don’t know this, I feel sorry for you, because then you don’t get the bigger picture, which is…

When are we the people gonna stand up to corporations?

The Supreme Court says they’re people too. Not hard to believe when the Republicans started the Federalist Society to infiltrate the bench and when they got power nominated these pro-business judges.

But the Democrats don’t have clean hands either. Because politics is all about money, and people just haven’t got as much, not when corporations can donate as much as they want.

But we’re supposed to sit at home satiated because we have a cheap mobile phone and free Facebook.

They came for our privacy, and we coughed it up, not only willingly plugging our information into fields online, but not realizing everything we ever did has been codified and put up for sale online. Google yourself, they’ve got not only your age and address, but everywhere you’ve ever lived, and who you were married to, good luck getting a fresh start.

And now they want to “benevolently” control our purchases, never mind our thoughts.

Jeff Bezos will ignore incoming e-mails, but he can’t ignore the publicity. Because it makes Amazon look…evil.

And Amazon is. It undercuts/undersells competitors. It constantly goes into new territories, and if it were smart and priced the Fire phone at zero, it would have a new cadre of supporters mindlessly marching into its coffers.

Do you want one company delivering not only your books, but your television, both the set and the programming, determining what to feature?

Where is the individual in today’s society? Who is looking out for us? Who is making sure we don’t get screwed?

Nobody. That’s right, nobody. You’re on your own, baby. And if we don’t band together, we’re screwed.

We used to band together as political parties, but we lost control of those to the corporations.

We used to band together under artists who spoke the truth, but they too all aligned with the corporations, the only ones with deep pockets.

And we idiots are consumed with logos. Believing if we just drive the right car and wear the right clothes we’ll win, when the truth is we lost a long time ago.

It’s time for a revolution in America, at least online. If we don’t rein in the Internet behemoths, it’s game over. Forget Obama, the kings will be Zuckerberg and Bezos, if they aren’t already. The former determines what information we’ll be exposed to and the latter determines what items we will buy.

This makes the cable and media landscape look like small potatoes. This makes Rupert Murdoch look like a pawn. Because Murdoch doesn’t control ALL the news, nor ALL the programming. Sure, some cable companies have virtual monopolies on distribution, but no cable company covers the entire nation, never mind the entire world.

But Google and Facebook and Amazon do, or are close to it. And they’ve got no competitors. They’re only becoming more powerful.

And the government won’t stop them.

Only we can do it.

Jeff Bezos is just a person. The Orwell screw-up shows the people he employs have blind spots.

At least let us buy our books while you work it out with Hachette.

But you can’t watch the Dodgers if you’re not on Time Warner and if you’re published by Hachette it’s like you don’t exist on Amazon.

Who’s sticking up for the little guy? Who, in this case, is just about everyone?

Nobody.

Never forget that.

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