1. You don’t need to be good-looking to make it in music.

The MTV era is over, kaput, history. Now it’s about the track. Who even knows what Avicii or Calvin Harris look like! Don’t be dissuaded by the ink TV competition shows garner, that’s a dying paradigm. Sure, being attractive never hurt, but having an infectious track, a creative video, an innovative marketing campaign… Today it’s about the brain, not the body. Bodies are for YouTube, for the untalented, music is about talent once again. And if you can’t eclipse the impact of the teen heartthrobs on Top Forty, you’re probably not good enough, go back to the drawing board, the minions are looking for greatness 24/7, no stone goes unturned, you can make it if you’ve got it.

2. Money isn’t everything.

Twitter reports better numbers but that does not mean more people are using the service and enjoying it. Who am I supposed to follow? Twitter is so decentralized as to be almost incomprehensible and irrelevant. For all the vaunted multi-million follower names, the service is riddled with the self-promoters, all the way from the wannabe to Gilbert Gottfried, who used to tell jokes, but now just lists his appearances and retweets compliments. Why does everybody think people enjoy seeing you slap yourself on the back while you try to get ahead? Real time news is here to stay, but Twitter has yet to figure it out.

3. Don’t equate Facebook’s numbers with usage.

It’s like we’re all business people now. We see the financial pages trumpet Facebook’s numbers and we think the company is in the clear. But that’s more about selling advertising than stickiness of the service. Credit Facebook with figuring out mobile, selling to Madison Avenue, but what is keeping people going there…that’s still a challenging question. YouTube pays people for successful posts, Facebook does not. Facebook is where people go to gloat about their success more than they do to network. It turns off as many people as it turns on. Once you fill out your resume, connect with everybody you ever knew, then what? There’s a reason we don’t keep in contact with everybody we ever met, why we don’t call everyone from high school. Like Twitter, Facebook fills a need. We need a commons, we need a town square, but if you’re satisfied with Facebook, if you’re happily engaged, you keep posting what a winner you are and you’re turning off the rest of us, at least those still paying
attention.

4. Just because people own BlackBerries and talk about their preference, that does not mean the company is going to have a comeback.

This is kind of like the vinyl “comeback.” A few dedicated people participate, a brain-dead media complies and writes about it and the rest of us are supposed to care? Vinyl is a souvenir, a fetish. It’s steampunk. It’s for those reacting to this fast-paced, ever-changing world. I love the sound of vinyl, I’ve got a turntable, but I rarely use it, because the effort’s too high. If you’re sitting at home, spinning discs, reading the credits, I want you to admit you’re not on your smartphone, that you never multitask, that you hate convenience and abhor the new world. While we’re at it, why don’t we bring back carburetors and vent windows too. As for those trumpeting the comeback of cassettes, they weren’t any good to begin with!

5. Music executives are faceless.

You’d think it’s P&G for all the personality these people evidence. They’re so busy balancing the books and playing it safe that they demonstrate no personality, unlike the founders of this business, with rough edges, from Morris Levy to Ahmet Ertegun to… Music is all about personality, a nod and a wink, a tiny innovation is better than making the trains run on time. We know who runs Google, Amazon and Apple, Facebook too. But most people have no idea who runs music companies, because they’re wimps afraid of offending people, just like so many of the artists that they sign.

6. People will take your money.

Just because someone agrees to take on your project, don’t think it’s going to go anywhere. Yes, the PR person will mail out CDs, yes, the promotion person will say he’ll talk to radio, but if you believe you’re going to get traction… Ain’t that America, loaded with parasites feeding on the ignorant.

7. It’s 2014, do you know where your children are?

Grown up. The classic rock era was fifty years ago. If you don’t get today’s music it’s probably because you’re old. Do you want a car that breaks down, do you want to sit by the phone waiting for a call? Then jet back to the sixties where you belong. Kids today grew up with the internet and digital, they’re unaware of the pre-Napster era, they know neither good radio nor albums playable through and through. But since boomers and aged Gen-X’ers control radio and media they keep telling us it’s the same as it ever was, which it’s not.

8. The audience does not care about stupid country lyrics.

It’s a rare record that’s about the lyrics anyway. The new country hits are laden with hooks, that’s why they’re successful. Write a few and you can win too!

9. People take drugs at EDM shows.

But that does not make the music bad! The same people decrying EDM railed about hip-hop, and that just demonstrated their ignorance. Sure, there’s boring EDM. But not all of it. And unlike in the pop world, there’s culture, never underestimate culture.

10. The future is mobile, it’s just about the size.

Press says tablets are dying. But the only difference between a tablet and a smartphone is the size. Yup, we’re arguing about inches. The phone is getting bigger and you don’t buy a tablet every two years because they’re usually not subsidized.

11. Yesterday’s hero is today’s zero.

Like truck-based SUVs for women, Samsung became a fashion item. And now that the company keeps posting ever worse numbers will people avoid Samsung’s mobile products? Looks like it. If you want an Android phone, you might as well get a bargain basement one, the functionality’s almost the same. And never forget that people are cheap. Sure, there’s a cadre who will pay more for Apple, but most people are just trying to get by and aren’t going anywhere anyway, they just want to communicate with their friends and use the maps.

12. He not busy questioning himself is headed for irrelevance.

If you can’t investigate your position, your worth, your desirability, your basic existence, you’ve got no perspective and are on your way out. Ain’t that America, where no one can lose their job and no one can be challenged. When someone says you’re wrong, don’t fight back with a knee-jerk reaction. Think about what they’re saying. Life is about disruption, we’re being disrupted all the time. Used to be going to law school put you ahead of most, today applications and enrollment are down and most students are suckers with few job prospects. Things change, you’re gonna be affected, get over yourself.

13. Most trends burn out.

Like turntable.fm. We’re all interested in the shiny and new, but very little of it lasts. Now, more than ever, it’s not about the splash you make but whether you sustain, when companies invest millions before they even uncover a business model.

14. It’s all about audience.

That’s what we’re all fighting for, people who pay attention and hang on our every word. There are no shortcuts to developing a fan base. Sure, you can hype yourself, get yourself in the “New York Times” Magazine, but most still won’t care, and those who check you out probably won’t like you. Music careers are like politics, which are famously local. To have a lasting music career you need fans with identities, whose names you know, who will testify and sell your music to others, slowly. Everybody will come by for the train-wreck, but few will stay.

15. Have edges but don’t make yourself look dumb and out of touch.

Tom Petty railing against EDM is like Grandpa Simpson bitching about the Beatles.

16. Politics is for old people.

The youngsters know everybody in D.C. is bought and paid for and they believe nothing ever changes. Or else they’re ignorantly fighting for their parents’ position. The game won’t change until we’ve got candidates to believe in, and we haven’t had that spirit here since before the Eagles had a hit.

17. Tattoos and piercings are not rebellious.

They demonstrate your desire to fit in. Want to rebel? Keep your body clean!

18. Artists make it about money.

How is music supposed to triumph against finance when Jay Z and the rest of the winners keep talking about the cash?

19. Festivals used to be a badge of honor.

Now they’re just the multi-act show you go to to hang and eat and text your friends. Tell people you went to a festival other than Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza and chances are they will have never heard of it, never mind be unaware of who performed. Go to have a good time, not to brag, because there’s nothing to brag about, these same acts are playing everywhere.

20. Comedy is hotter than music.

Because comedy is about truth. And people are addicted to truth. And with a new focus on standup as opposed to sitcoms, the scene is burgeoning.

21. Edge is everything.

Which is why Jon Stewart and John Oliver are more important than Jimmy Fallon. If you think eyeballs trump soul then you probably believe that Jay Leno left a legacy. But he didn’t. His show was just somewhere people went to promote their evanescent crap. We need stars, not placeholders.

22. Phony is history.

There are photographers everywhere. Proving your normalcy, as well as shining light on the extravagance you’d prefer to go unseen. You must own your own identity or you’re destined for the scrapheap.

23. Know which side you’re on.

Perez Hilton used to write about the stars, now he wants to be one himself. Never ever try to switch teams. This is like rock writers becoming punk musicians back in the seventies. Just because the barrier to entry is low, that does not mean the winners have no talent, have paid no dues.

24. Sports sustain because the outcome is unknown.

And people love to be members of tribes, which is what fandom is all about. In a world where everything’s so predictable, it’s good to be able to focus on something that is not.

25. Dating sites are all about looks.

It’s about the picture, stupid! Either you’re that good-looking to begin with or you’re going to disappoint people. There’s a reason why so many end up marrying their friends, because you know who your friends are, you can see beneath the surface.

26. People care about eating and getting laid.

The public can’t stay focused on one thing too long, which is good for corporations and bad for artists. Keeping people’s eyeballs glued is a full time job that’s insanely difficult to do.

27. Nobody’s got any answers you don’t.

If you’re in the creative field, it’s all about what you feel inside, your instincts, your desires. Once you start listening to others you’re undercutting your essence, which is the only thing that makes you unique. Read business books to figure out how to become a member of the system, but if you want to triumph in art, you’ve got to go it alone, you’ve got to do it your way, there are no crutches, it’s just your thoughts bouncing inside your brain 24/7. You’re gonna make mistakes, you’re gonna be hated before you’re embraced, but what the world wants most is unique individuals who have something to say, who create stuff we could not think of that makes our lives easier and thrills us. Your move.

Give the movie studios credit. Despite everybody over the age of twelve, maybe twenty five, clamoring for comedies and romances, stuff they can sink their teeth into, the companies refuse to do this, they continue to make the high concept, comic book dreck that these same people bitch about.

But this is smart. Because the truth is this same audience barely goes to the theatre, they don’t want to overpay to chomp candy with people talking and texting, they’d rather stay at home and watch Netflix for a pittance, testifying how television is the new feature.

But the studios realize their game has changed. That it’s best to invest a ton for flicks that will play around the world, since the DVD business cratered. They’re gonna play this game out until the end, not listening to the naysayers whatsoever.

Kind of like the record labels. Now that anybody can cut a track and sell it, promoting themselves ad infinitum by spamming everyone in their address book, the labels have circled the wagons and released even less product, most of it abhorred by everybody over twelve or twenty five.  Because the labels realize that people over twenty five already have their favorites, don’t see music as primary and feel better about themselves if they champion something obscure that no one else can get into, and there’s no money in that.

But now this run for the bottom line is infecting the news. The last supposed bastion of fact. That’s right, movies and music are entertainment, at least they have been ever since “Star Wars” and “Thriller,” when they learned there’s a lot more money in shaving off the rough edges and offending nobody as opposed to being edgy and meaningful.

But the news is inherently edgy and meaningful. But the old farts in control of the game are so baffled by the internet that they’re embracing new concepts that make absolutely no sense. Like allowing anybody to publish.

“More Online Publishers Let Readers Fill The Space”

Now that’s just what I want. Someone who can’t write, who’s got no authority, inserting themselves into the few bastions of fact left, so I’m confused and don’t know what is true.

And the truth is the studio movies and the major label records are better than the self-published dreck.

That’s America, nobody wants to have their chance removed. They want to believe if they make it, people will come, as if the whole country is a field of dreams just waiting for their effort. Statistics tell us upward mobility in the U.S. is worse than in Europe, but no one will accept that, because god darn it, they’re the exception, they’re the rule-breaker, if they just believe in themselves and work 24/7, they’ll succeed, just like the people they read about.

But the people they read about went to elite universities. Or practiced their instrument every day since five years of age. Or know how to code. Whereas the wannabe has social networking skills and doesn’t even know what he does not know. But he believes he deserves our attention.

But we only want the best and the brightest, the absolute best. This is a fact. Movie and music companies are aware of this, even if those same over twenty five year olds are not.

Yup, it turns out viewers want good production values, they want to see the money on the screen. Sure, a great story triumphs, but who are these unheralded writers? Even Amazon, which is rolling in dough, can’t compete in TV, because HBO, Showtime and now even Netflix were there first. Turns out there’s a limited pool of great feature and television writers.

And a limited pool of musicians. The only problem the major labels have is they cannot get their hands on all the money. Jay Z and Beyonce are rich! The goal of the major is to commission all this revenue. Which is why Universal invested in Beats and all the companies got a piece of Spotify. Because they’re greedy and using their leverage to make money. What, you want them to leave it on the table and give it to the artists, who will still bitch that they just can’t get enough?

And that’s the truth. Ever notice it’s the middling and never made it artist who bitches loudest about new paradigm “injustices”? And indie labels, who just don’t have the scale of the majors? They want to level the playing field, when the truth is it’s never been level.

And where are we gonna read about all this? On BuzzFeed? The HuffPo? Where clicking for dollars is paramount over truth?

They’re just money plays.

At least give Rupert Murdoch credit, he’s not interested in money, he’s interested in influence, he’s playing a long game. He’s decimated the “Wall Street Journal,” turned it into a second-rate combination of your local rag and “Redbook,” and Fox News believes truth is anathema, unless it squares with their vision. But CNN, without a wealthy backer, just follows the scandals. Now it’s Ebola all the time, as if people living in Montana or Missouri are susceptible.

But because news outlets are freaked out about the switch to digital, they’re throwing over the one thing that made them valuable, reporting and truth.

Only the “New York Times” has boots on the ground in far-flung places, but now even the Grey Lady has sponsored content and is contemplating utilizing citizen journalists.

We’ve already got that! All over the worldwide web! Know-nothings with a megaphone shouting at each other! If you want to give them a bigger platform, you don’t understand the Internet, you think that Chris Anderson was right in “The Long Tail” and that everybody deserves a voice and we live in one great kumbaya society.

The truth is as we become inundated with information, we want less. Maybe more than before, then again, today we don’t even want the album, just the hit. We want trusted sources and we’ll pay them, give them all our money. This is the transition we saw in the music business that news missed. After the revolution the same powers rule, and they get even richer on fewer products.

There are fewer movies. And fewer major label releases. Because the public can’t handle more.

The fiction is we want more. But we don’t. Can you even name your Facebook friends? Can you listen to two records at once? Can you read the news all day long? No, you want trusted filters that point you to the best.

The fact the best movies and music are empty, soul-killing enterprises does not mean they’re still not the highest quality. Turns out people can see comedies and romance on the small screen, which is getting larger every day, where content is delivered on demand. And in music, the great unwashed don’t seem to realize being able to sing, write and play are virtues. Sure, a lot of the hitmakers cannot do all three, but they hire someone who can. Who are you using? Your next door neighbor? No wonder no one is listening. And once upon a time music was all about truth, but John Lennon’s been gone for decades and ever since MTV it’s been about selling out. But you can’t have truth if you’re beholden to corporations.

But now the last bastion of truth has got sponsored content and is turning the asylum over to lunatics.

He who triumphs in the future knows it’s a long game. That the internet dust has not settled. And only excellence will survive. And excellence can take many forms, Facebook triumphed over MySpace because it just worked. If you want to change the face of music you must have all the skills the major label releases encompass, and then you can state your truth.

But the truth is very few people have these skills, never mind the compunction.

Which brings us to today. Where the poor stay poor and the rich get richer.

Because the rich are smart. They understand the game. And the poor don’t, because they’re uneducated or don’t want knowledge to rain on their parade.

So news organizations… Your audience will respond to quality journalism. That which is reported well by experienced people with passion. Maybe you need to groom new writers, but opening the barn to everybody is a route to disaster. Just look at “Forbes” or the Daily Beast, two enterprises that have become nearly worthless because of unvetted content contributed by nobodies.

That is not the future. The future is quality.

Want to triumph in the future? Pay your dues, and know that we haven’t got time for mediocre, and you will win if you stay in the game, although it might not happen until you’re forty.

And let the news companies look at the music industry. Don’t blink. The major labels still rule fifteen years after Napster. Improve your essence, don’t let your investment be overrun by those with audiences who will be forgotten tomorrow. That’s like putting the number one YouTube artist on CBS. Hasn’t happened yet, and probably never will. Unless CBS plucks talent and grooms it.

Like Les Moonves is gonna give Jenna Marbles an hour on Thursday night?

Released shortly after his American debut, as “Your Song” was peaking, “Tumbleweed Connection” had no hits, but it’s Elton John’s best album.

MY FATHER’S GUN

It closed the first side, it’s not talked about much, but I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since my college buddy told me he was in the process of selling his father’s gun, a World War II artifact.

It’s unfortunate that Elton’s voice is not what it once was, but as soon as you hear the mellifluous notes on this track you melt. That’s how great he was, why he still sustains today, because he could write (with Bernie Taupin’s help), play and sing. Qualities that were seen as necessary forty years ago but somehow are not seen to be required today.

Yes, Elton’s a classic.

And even though you’ll rarely hear this song today, those who know “Tumbleweed Connection” cherish it, as they do the other ten cuts.

Yes, all killer and no filler!

WHERE TO NOW ST. PETER?

My favorite cut on “Tumbleweed Connection.”

The way it used to work with vinyl is you’d settle into one side first, then the other. Oh, you’d start off playing side one, but if you were enraptured with side two first, you’d stick with that until you knew it all and then switch back to side one.

“Where To Now St. Peter?” opens side two.

I bought Elton’s first two American albums at the same time. And over time I’ve come to enjoy and appreciate the first almost as much as the second, the haunting sound of “Sixty Years On” and “The King Must Die,” but despite having a huge crush on “Take Me To The Pilot,” the track I had to hear again and again in my dorm room at Middlebury College was this, “Where To Now St. Peter?”

You know how some cuts immediately grab you from your pedestrian life and propel you into a much better world?

That’s the essence of “Where To Now St. Peter?”

I’d come home from the Middlebury College Snow Bowl or Mad River Glen, take a hot shower and lie on my bed listening to “Where To Now St. Peter?” on headphones.

It was an ethereal number far from the mainstream back then and it still is today, which is why I love it so much.

COME DOWN IN TIME

Arguably the best cut on “Tumbleweed Connection.”

It’s subtle, you don’t discover it immediately, it’s quiet after the raucous first side opener, “Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun.”

It’s romantic. It presages interactions to come. It’s got rich instrumentation absent from today’s compressed scene. This is what money could buy, this sound. And never underestimate the album’s producer, Gus Dudgeon, he crafted this sound, Elton’s worked with others, but never at this quite high a level.

COUNTRY COMFORT

More famous in its Rod Stewart incarnation, from “Gasoline Alley,” released nearly simultaneously.

Elton slows it down and adds gravitas, it’s one of the few situations where the cover is better than the original, but the original is quite fine.

You can see the story.

SON OF YOUR FATHER

And speaking of covers, Spooky Tooth did one of “Son Of Your Father,” but unlike Rod Stewart’s version of “Country Comfort,” it does not trump the rendition of the writer.

This is how great Elton was, his minor work is as hooky as that of most first line artists today. It’s all about the chorus, with the backup vocals, you can’t listen without shaking your head in time.

LOVE SONG

And speaking of backup vocals, you can hear Lesley Duncan with Elton on her composition here.

How stunning, how generous, that a burgeoning artist would cede one of the ten cuts on his album to someone else, think of the songwriting royalties!

Yes, today it’s all about credit so you can get paid. Music back then was more of a community, and from that community came music much more memorable.

I’ll be honest, I was worried at first my album was defective, I thought the ticking in the right channel was a surface imperfection, the bane of vinyl records in their heyday. I was as famous for returning records as I was for buying them.

Alas, it’s part of the track.

AMOREENA

I never hear anybody talk about this, but it was my second favorite cut on “Tumbleweed Connection” after “Where To Now St. Peter?” and I love it no less today. It’s the way Elton waltzes his fingers over the keys with such groove, such attitude, something that Pro Tools and comping has eviscerated, trying to get it right people so often excise the magic.

And then there’s the vocal, employing the same groove. And the chicken-pickin’ guitar.

“Amoreena” is one of the few tracks you get initially, on the first play through, and love even more the more you play it.

The dynamics. The sounds. Whew!

“I can see you sittin’ eatin’
Apples in the evenin'”!

TALKING OLD SOLDIERS

Quiet, intimate, one of my two least favorite cuts on “Tumbleweed Connection,” but it set up the piece de resistance, “Burn Down The Mission.”

BURN DOWN THE MISSION

The intro is almost as subtle and powerful as that to “Stairway To Heaven.” You have no idea what’s coming, that “Burn Down The Mission” will be a tour de force.

And that it was and still is. The triumphant point of Elton’s live show. Only we did not know this yet, “11/17/70” had not yet been released.

It’s six plus minutes long but could lose not a note, it’s neither bloated nor boring, it’s just…right. The way it goes from slow to fast and back again (a trick Zeppelin also employed so well!)

There’s exquisite piano playing, and whenever Elton returns you swoon. Ooh!

BALLAD OF A WELL-KNOWN GUN

The opening cut and my least favorite on the album.

Elton broke the Stones’ rule, which was to lead with the killer single.

But when the album immediately quieted down with “Come Down In Time” it made no difference, but it’s one of the reasons I started with the second side first.

So there you have it, one of the most classic of classic rock albums. So perfect, it’s hiding in plain sight. Without the big hit single, it rarely gets noted, but those who know it can never forget it.

And then there was the packaging, with the tinted cover and inner booklet. You could truly listen and read the lyrics and credits at the same time, that was all the multi-tasking necessary.

And yes, we could talk about the western imagery and Bernie Taupin’s infatuation with America, but that would be too twenty first century, wherein we focus on the penumbra as opposed to the music.

So fire up the big rig, drop the needle and get ready for a mind-blowing experience.

Or just listen to the MP3s, the essence is still there.

I’ve got other favorites, but no one is higher in my personal pantheon than Elton John. Because of his talent, because of the astounding frequency and quality of his production. Because listening to his music makes me happy, makes me feel good, makes me believe that music can enwrap me with all its goodness and solve all my problems.

Rhinofy-Tumbleweed Connection Primer

“4 Reasons Why Music Careers Are Getting Trounced By Tech”

 

From: mabeckerlaw
Re: Hype

I like Jenny Lewis… I really liked Rilo Kiley… but everything here rings true. Sometimes I feel like you’re railing at Niche players like her and my alt country fetish but really you’re just railing at people who try to turn niche into hype and niche artists who think they are the next Dylan voice of a generation but the internet has killed their chances. I agree, those people should just die.

mab