STAGE DOLLS??

19 feet of Norwegian rock! (the 3 of them were all over 6 feet tall)

I haven’t seen their name for decades.  We spent a FORTUNE trying to break them.

Mike Bone

__________________________________

I was the head of rock radio, alternative radio and video promotion at Chrysalis when this album came out.   This album wasn’t easy to promote, but the one thing I remember well, was that these were really great guys.  I fondly remember some crazy stunts we pulled at MTV, with my buddy Rick Krim, to get their attention.  Sadly it never stuck but it sure was fun to try and get them noticed.  Thanks for the memories!

Steve Schnur

__________________________________

I loved these guys.
Worked together when I was at chrysalis I used to take them to conventions have them hang out in our suite and watch them make all the radio guys drink some Norwegian liquor that just knocked everybody on their butt
Very nice guys.
Music was great , the world changed underneath their feet.

Best
Greg Thompson

__________________________________

“Love Cries” was the track I remember most from Stage Dolls. I remember seeing a clip of it on Casey Kasem’s America’s Top 10 TV show, I think it was a ‘future hit’ or something like that, and I was hooked. I NEEDED to find that album. Living in small town Saskatchewan, Canada. That was a lot harder than you think, but I remember when I finally found the cassette in a used record store. Like you, I assumed this was their only release. Say what you will about the evils of the internet and it’s ‘impact’ on the music industry, it’s thanks to the internet that I discovered some other great releases from Stage Dolls and why I’m able to take multiple trips down memory lane listening to music that I thought was lost to the ages.

Danny Fournier

__________________________________

Hey Bob, long time reader. I absolutely LOVE this record! One of my prized CD’s. I was working indie promotion with independent record promoter Tony Muscolo in Granada Hills, CA in the late 80’s. He asked me to listen to this album (cd) and tell him what I thought. Told him I thought it was great and as good as anything getting added at radio at the time.  Too bad Chrysalis didn’t really get behind this band.

P.S. Got to keep the CD also.

David Wolnik
Muscolo Promotion

__________________________________

Wow. Stage Dolls. That was the first real record release party I attended. At The Rainbow, if memory serves. I hadn’t heard that name or thought about the band in decades. When I saw your subject line in my inbox, the memories instantly flooded back. That was a night of good debauchery. Glad to hear the Dolls are still at it!

Pat Kraus

__________________________________

The emphasis AOR song off that Stage Dolls record was “Love Cries.”

Still holds up pretty well today in a Bryan Adams kinda way.

It was released as a single and mid-charted.

Fun Fact: The B-side was one of the songs you also mentioned—“Ammunition.”

Marty Bender Sobolewski

__________________________________

Wow!!! I had no idea you even knew them.

I bought that CD for the track Love Cries – it was on many of my playlists.

Love your writing. Keep it coming.

Have a great holiday! Stay safe.

Miguel d’Escoto

__________________________________

Love Cries by the Stage Dolls is dynamite.  The guitar tone hits a sweet spot and the vocal hook is perfect.  Pure 1980s gold.

 

-Steve Coscia

__________________________________

I’ve been a Stage Dolls fan for decades, since that record first came out. “Love Don’t Bother Me” is a MONSTER track. Great ear, as always, Bob!

Jer Gervasi

__________________________________

Great piece on the Stage Dolls. I was involved with their later effort, “Stripped”. If you want to hear a song that deserved to be a hit, check out Love Don’t Bother Me – Stage Dolls: http://tinyurl.com/ykcdm9cz

This is one of the songs I look back on and lament “Why didn’t we break this one?”

Sky Daniels

__________________________________

Agree with you about Stage Dolls. They also had an Album called Commandos with similar song called Magic worth mentioning. Sorry to say they never broke in Scandinavia. Another Norwegian  guy worth listening to is Morton Abel!
Kind regards from Sweden.

Reidar Erlandsson

__________________________________

I am beyond ecstatic that you wrote about Stage Dolls. I lived in Norway for 10 years as a kid from ‘88-‘98.

Being a jazz head heavily into the ECM world and GRP recordings, rock wasn’t really in my focus. But I remember Stage Dolls on the radio.

Now imagine my surprise here in Hollywood when I came across a cassette tape at Counterpoint in Franklin Village. I bought it because my Volvo still has a tape deck.

Torstein Flakne had something else than the other rockers and frontmen in Norway had. His melodies, chords and songwriting would pique any music lovers interest, if they ever dared to venture into rock, as it did mine.

I revisited the music after reading your mail today, and yes, it still holds up and was not nostalgia. It was simply enjoying good old songs beyond peering over the shoulder with rose tinted glasses.

Thank you for writing about them and yes, they do have a power ballad: “Love Don’t Bother Me”.

Alexander Andresen

__________________________________

When I saw the subject heading of this email, I chuckled to myself and thought “imagine if Bob was talking about that killer Norwegian rock band”. I then ignored it for a few hours before coming back and…

“…he IS talking about THAT band!”

You were there at the time, it makes more sense that you would have had these guys on your radar. For me, younger, I came across the song “Love Cries” as a late teen when i started to become obsessed with those more polished mid-late 80s AOR-esque bands. The power of the internet, eh?

Norway seemed like such an unusual origin for a band playing this type of music, kind of like Strangeways from Scotland, however there has been such a huge resurgence of this polished AOR/melodic rock sound coming out of Scandinavia in particular over the last 15 or so years that it doesn’t seem as weird now. No doubt bands like Stage Dolls played a key part in that.

I’m so happy to read your thoughts on what i think is an incredible album and is no doubt underrated in every corner of the planet. Probably even in Norway as well!

I made a super cheesy AOR (loosely defined) playlist on Spotify which has everything from Stage Dolls, Treat, Jaded Heart and Talisman, through to Jimmy Barnes (that ONE album!), Boulevard, Harem Scarem, Work of Art and more. Many successful tracks, but a lot of underrated gems. I just hope more of those forgotten ones make it onto stream (Unruly Child’s self titled in particular!).

I absolutely love your newsletter, but this one really made my day.

Thanks and happy holidays.

Andy Dowling
Sydney, Australia

Rhetorical question? It’s because our brains are still wired to 10,000 years ago. When change nearly always meant danger, trouble, and even death.

It’s why people long for the good old days when houses were cheap and breast cancer was a death sentence and college was cheap for the lucky few who could get in and cars were death traps and there was only blindness if you had cataracts and black Americans couldn’t even use a public bathroom in the south – or even in Connecticut in the 60s when a restaurant wouldn’t let Louis Armstrong use their bathroom and…

I’m with you Bob, The only way we have managed to overcome reluctance to change is because of a commitment to science and progress, which is being stripped out of “public” schools and government. My worry is that more reactionary behavior will grow as a result of people looking for someone to lead them against change.

John Parikhal

____________________________________

 

Timely article Bob. I’m up here at Northstar on a four day ski trip with wife and two kids. There’s hardly any snow, thank God for snowmaking.  I probably would have canceled if I hadn’t bought the Epic passes early on. Basically just said f*ck it, let’s make the best of it. Probably would not have done so at the old prices. Skiing is essentially a “Don’t think about the cost” sport. Expenses are absurd either way.

Kia Kamran

____________________________________

 

Just picked up the 4-day Crested Butte/Keystone pass (part of the EPIC/Vail world) for the 4th straight year for $240. At $60 a day that’s less than I paid to ski 20 years ago. Saturdays can have some long lines so we avoid them or take mid-day off. Aside from that, zero complaints about the skiing. I’m sure holidays are no treat either but that’s kinda all holiday travel.

I do think there are some legit negatives to the current model, in particular as to how it affects new or more casual skiers who don’t pay attention to the various passes, deadlines, etc. But a lot of what pisses people off isn’t really ski or ski-town specific, it’s a reflection of the society we live in these days and you’ll find some variation of it in just about any place people want to live. Which is a much bigger problem than the price of skiing.

Don Bartlett

____________________________________

 

As a 69 yr old I agree skiing has never been cheaper, I buy an epic northeast weekday pass in April/May to get the best senior rate $240ish? and get out 25-30 days a year, bring my own lunch. My wife just turned 70 and gets an unlimited pass at a local mountain in Pa. near our grandkids for $70, next year I’ll get one too.

Not so cheap though for families with kids who need to go on the weekends.

Bruce Lorenz

____________________________________

 

I’m at my house in S. Lake Tahoe for the holidays and Heavenly Ski Resort is owned by Vail Corp. The daily rate right now is $259.00 for a day ticket, 2 Day is $518.00 and 3 day is $729.00.

Crazy!

2 Years ago it was $160.00 a day.

I have a Military Epic Pass where I can ski any Vail resort and no blackouts otherwise we are here for 2 weeks and you can do the math. Wacky!

Val Garay

(Note: This was exactly my point. Heavenly has been on the Epic Pass for 16 years, people know to buy in advance for the deep discount, you break even on a season pass in four ski days over the holidays and the rest is gravy.)

____________________________________

 

I chuckled at the stupidity of that article as well! Heading west and hitting multiple ski areas on my IKON, all’s well in ski world thanks to the passes.

Peter Wheeler

____________________________________

 

Great article Bob.  I can say that Epic Pass got me more into skiing.  I used to go 1x/year with a group of guys buying lift tix for the trip.  This year I got a pass and took my family before Christmas to Breckenridge.  Going back to Beaver Creek in Jan, and lining up a Keystone trip in Feb.  Hoping for 2-3 more.  I’m at the point in life I enjoy the camaraderie of the group, being outdoors, and the physical activity.  It’s a win all round.  You’re right, the mental financial hurdle isn’t there when you pay for the season upfront.  Maybe I’ll see you on the slopes this season…

Gino Gennaro

____________________________________

 

Just got back from Alta / family loves the Peruvian; we are regulars.  The locals don’t love Ikon, but I sure do… Tom Shpetner

____________________________________

 

Facts Bob. Good job.

Daniel Cignarella

____________________________________

 

The author is railing against the sterilization of these places, and he’s right.

Just as every NHL/NBA arena has now been Oak Viewed to death, so goes every hedgefund transformation — the usual soul-removing ‘march forward’ — in scale and commodification only.

(Note: A canard that does not play out in reality. Every ski area is still unique in mountain and structures, you wouldn’t know you were at a Vail or IKON resort unless you asked. Furthermore, advance pass sales have allowed a huge investment in infrastructure.)

____________________________________

As a Colorado skier, the biggest issue I have with the duopoly is the inability to go across the moat. As an Epic pass holder, I’m paying full price if I want to ski Copper, Steamboat or Winter Park. Breck, Vail and Beaver Creek will cost me if I’m skiing Ikon. Back in the day, this NEVER used to be a problem. And I’m not paying close to 2 grand for both season passes.

The conglomerates should offer the ability to trade days with the other side.

Peter Duray-Bito

(Note: I have both Epic and IKON passes, many active skiers do. And one can purchase individual tickets good at other resorts at a deep discount prior to the season. Furthermore, the combined cost of Epic and IKON is still less than a season pass at many ski areas. An all access pass at Aspen costs $2,779 dollars if you buy it prior to September, if you buy it after December 2nd it costs $3,314. But it does come with an IKON base pass, not a full IKON pass. At Deer Valley a season pass is presently $3,525. With an IKON base pass it is $3,924. If you buy a base IKON pass and add $150 you can get 5 days at Aspen and at Deer Valley. If you have the full IKON pass you get 7 days. A full Epic Pass bought at the absolute last minute has no blackout dates and is good at 41 destinations. A full IKON pass is $1,079 and is good at 52 resorts, with some restrictions.)

____________________________________

You’re of course correct that progress is inevitable, and business models change and it it’s just the way of it.

I have been skiing since I was 4 years old (I’m in my mid-40’s), mostly in the North Lake Tahoe/Truckee area.

Something changed over the pandemic. Palisades (formerly Squaw Valley & Alpine Meadows) has become, to me, almost un-skiable. Getting there takes ages, the parking lots are full, etc etc. (like Vail though, once you’re on the hill it’s fine as long as you avoid a couple impacted areas).

Progress, etc. I get it. But we have a unique situation here (I imagine at Vail as well, but probably not as bad) of remote tech workers moving here and working remotely (again, progress) but the issue is the infrastructure is nowhere near enough to deal with this many people. It’s ruining it.

This year I got a pass at a smaller but still good privately owned mountain.

Just a perspective.

Best,

Max Roman

____________________________________

 

The problem for skiing is the short sightedness of this strategy of forcing pass-buying by making window purchases of lift tix beyond outrageous ($300 a day per person!).  Who is going to buy an Epic or Icon pass for a family of four ($5,000 for the season in total before you get to the mountain) to try the sport out in an era of ever-diminishing snowfall?  The little mountains where folks used to learn can’t afford to operate advanced snow-making systems or provide adequate facilities.  So we are in essence doing exactly what you are rightfully preaching against: barring the door to entry.  Quarterly profits gleaned by the equity boys and girls until they drive the business into the ground, then move on.

Music and skiing are based on passion.  But even passion can be extinguished by abject greed.  To quote the great Huntz Hall. “Hey, I seen it myself!”

Charlie Sanders

President

North American Snowsport Journalists Association

____________________________________

 

Like you, I have been a skier all my life. And I agree with your perspective on Ikon/Epic.

58 years of skiing have reminded me that, when I grew up in the midwest skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maple City, MI, weekends in the 70’s and 80’s were wildly busy. I remember many times waiting in lines for a half an hour to get to the top of the hill. This is not a new phenomenon that started with the Ikon/Epic passes. I’ve skied many times at both Epic/Ikon mountains, prior to the existence of these passes, on weekends when crowds were simply off the chart and that was from a la carte ticket purchases or local resort season passes. I ski afternoons/evenings midweek now for a couple hours, problem mostly fixed, it’s not a solution for everyone, but designing a system that works for everyone is pretty nigh impossible, and I do think that it’s important to make concessions in order to try to even out revenue for mountains impacted disproportionately by climate change. And if you don’t believe that climate change is impacting ski resorts, speak to someone at a resort (I’ve worked at several).

I lived in Park City in the late 80’s, worked at Cole Sport, and skied whenever I could. Yes, there were a lot fewer people skiing there than today, today’s bigger crush is also a by-product of Delta making Salt Lake a hub city (that and some of the most dependable light snow nationwide). And weekends were always incredibly busy and high speed lifts weren’t as ubiquitous back then so you waited longer in lines…hi-speeds are expensive to build and maintain, and as you’ve pointed out, there’s almost always a “most crowded” lift on the mountain – so get up early, get up it / past it, and ski some of the other runs/lifts. Chasing powder has *always* been a prize for the early bird.

In the 00’s, the conversation was all about the shrinking population of skiers. That’s starting to turn around, a huge thing for US skiing.

Epic/Ikon aren’t the only options out there either. Mountain Collective and Indy Pass work for more casual (or more road trip oriented) individuals, and they are both a lot cheaper than Epic/Ikon. And let’s not forget that these options often allow you to pay off your pass purchase monthly, which was never a thing previously and opens the door for those who don’t put aside savings to buy an expensive pass all at once.

Overall, as you’ve pointed out, subscription revenue is a win for mountains which is why they’re all pursuing it. And it’s a win for consumers too…without multi-mountain season passes, it would be expensive and largely prohibitive for much of the population to ski at multiple resorts over a winter. Last year for me…Big Sky, Tahoe, Alta, Mt. Bachelor, Red Mountain, thanks to Ikon. As an out-of-towner, I support the restaurants and shops and craft galleries, and by extension their employees, that locals might not.

I take issue with the author of this Slate article’s characterization of the commercialization of resorts as a required output of signing up to an Epic/Ikon pass. Sure that’s happened at some of the bigger resorts, but the author should visit Red Mountain in Rossland, B.C. This is a mountain that is not only an iKon pass mountain, but that also did a crowdfunding campaign enthusiastically embraced by the local Rossland community and diehard Red fans worldwide (including me), that takes pride in highlighting its role as an independent with a very independent feel – a number one rated ski bar, huge skiable terrain, super friendly people, still (wildly) uncrowded skiing, snow-cat day skiing for $15 per run, etc.

I do think that for mountains that are extremely popular, putting a number of days limit on the Epic/Ikon pass is a reasonable compromise to alleviate excessive skier traffic. This has happened at many locations (including A Basin as you’ve pointed out). This makes it possible for out of towners to visit, support the local economy for a weekend or a week, and then head home. If you’re a local and want to ski more – buy a local mountain season pass (I also usually pick up a midweek pass for my local mountain, Hood Meadows, which is only on Indy Pass), or alternately buy a day pass online or often at local businesses for a discount.

Skiing is expensive – it has always been – but there are options if you are creative, it is so worth it, and with Epic/Ikon it’s now achievable at a larger number of resorts than ever before. There are relatively few other sports that let you experience nature, whether in-bounds or out-of-bounds, the way skiing does.

dick huey

____________________________________

 

Young woman we know recently graduated from nursing school. She got a job, but kept complaining about not making enough money. So, she started an OnlyFans page. Now she makes $100k a month. The moral of the story…if you’re not making the rent on Spotify, porn is always an option.

Marty Winsch

“Epic Fail: How a Corporate Duopoly Ruined Skiing”: http://tinyurl.com/2xxrfkub

Skiing hasn’t been this cheap in decades!

But that doesn’t stop old-schooler Gordon LaForge trashing the new model in a nostalgic play for days that in fact were much worse. Kinda like MAGA if you think about it (and if you castigate me for mentioning politics, if you accuse me of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” the joke is on you…or, as women said back in the seventies, “sex is a feminist issue”…in other words, EVERYTHING is politics).

Why does everybody hate change, which is inevitable?

Closer to home we can talk about streaming music. First and foremost, Spotify is not ripping you off, absolutely not. The Swedish streaming company pays so much of its income to rightsholders that it has trouble staying profitable. Furthermore, unlike almost all lauded tech companies, the service does not scale. In other words, as volume goes up, so do costs, proportionately. But you’re still angry. Well, let me just say the paradigm switched, from sales to consumption. If your song is being listened to, you’re being paid. And if it’s not, you’re not. But you lament the old days of physical sales… Back when you couldn’t participate at all, because the costs of recording, manufacturing and distribution were prohibitively high. Now you can do all that on your laptop, for a de minimis price, but people like to forget that.

So skiing was losing customers. It’s a mature business. Yes, something is the new new thing and then it is not. Did you see that article the other day about social media participation going down? Oh, people are still on the platforms, they’re just not posting anymore. They see it as fruitless. And as a matter of fact, most of the famous influencers are paid to be on the platform, to post, either directly or through revenue sharing. You don’t post because you don’t think it’s worth it. So much effort for so few views. But when it comes to music you think everybody should listen to your production.

In any event, according to the nostalgic wankers ski resorts shouldn’t have done a thing. There should have been no change. Pirate outlets like lockers, the last new thing prior to Spotify, should have been the standard. Let the people steal, or buy singles at the iTunes Store. Yes, that was what was going on prior to Spotify, which changed the entire game, music revenues have now gone up. Sure, you might have a lousy deal with the label, which is taking the lion’s share. Sure, no one may be listening. But if you’re being listened to you’re making bank, prodigiously. So, you complain about this income inequality. But I don’t believe artists deserve to be paid, supported. You can choose to be one, but that doesn’t mean you’re owed a living. Furthermore, there are so many more ways to make money in music than ever before. If you’re really that good and have a dedicated fan base go on Patreon… But no, rather than take action you’d rather bitch, like this guy writing this skiing article.

So how to save the ski industry, which was perceived as being too expensive. Rob Katz of Vail Resorts came up with a new paradigm, lower the price.

Now if you go back in history, every improvement at Vail has been met with local resistance. You can’t replace the old slow chairlift in the Back Bowls because that will ruin the powder, it will get tracked out sooner. But you don’t get more runs, you just wait in line longer. You’ve seen those pictures of the Back Bowls, with the prodigious line during a powder day… So what did Vail do, build another lift!

Everywhere this is happening. Any change is met with resistance.

And sure, like the article says, local lodging is a problem. But to blame Vail? Vail was planning on building employee housing and then the town rose up against it in a NIMBY effort. But it’s easier to blame Vail. Not that housing isn’t a problem. But Vail made the minimum wage $20 at its resorts. There isn’t a state in the country with a rate that high.

So today it’s not even ten degrees. In the old days, I’d be debating whether to buy a lift ticket. Because on a day like this, one makes so few runs. But since I have an Epic Pass, I’ll go out. And prior to the Epic Pass, days were cheaper, but fifteen years ago a season’s pass was nearly $3000, and today an Epic Pass, which is good at a slew of resorts around the world, is under $1000. But that’s a horrible deal, don’t you think? Let’s keep prices high so the newbies can’t participate.

And sure, the daily rate during holidays is nearly $300. But you can buy day tickets in advance for a much lower price. Yes, as many days as you want, one or more. You’ve just got to buy them before the beginning of December.

And the reason Vail does this, and its competitor Alterra, with its IKON pass, is to guarantee revenue. In fact, this December has been one of the worst snowfall years in a long time. Under the old model, the ski areas would have been empty. Because no one is going to show up to pay so much for so little. But since people purchased their season passes in advance, for a low price, they’ll still come, and it’s a long season, there’s always snow eventually.

And yes, Vail makes it up on food, rentals, lessons and they even own the branded stores, like Burton, Salomon and Patagonia. I haven’t eaten lunch, not a bite, at Vail and I’ve skied every day since December 10th. It’s not like I’m being forced to buy. And the last thing I purchased at Patagonia was 40% off, and that has to be at least seven or eight years ago.

But you don’t ski much and you’re being ripped-off and…

You’re not. Turns out most people, or many part time skiers, now rent their equipment. Which is top-notch, and they get the benefit of new stuff every year. This is hurting the ski manufacturers, volume is down, but it’s great for the customer. Furthermore, you don’t need to pay airline baggage fees.

But then there are the crowds. They’re almost always less of a factor than proclaimed. The truth is there are lifts at Vail that never have a line. You just have to avoid Mid-Vail. Which requires you to read a map, but that’s in an app on your phone. And you don’t have to show your pass, because it’s RFID and Bluetooth to boot.

But Vail has made all the resorts the same. Well, they’ve got similar websites, that’s for sure. And America is riddled with chain restaurants, but you can’t do something similar and cut costs in skiing? Not to mention that every single mountain is different, literally, which is one of the appeals of skiing.

More ski areas would be nice, but in truth environmentalists won’t let anybody build one. That isn’t Vail or Alterra’s fault. Furthermore, so many days are nearly empty. Yes, it’s crowded over Christmas and MLK and Presidents’ Day, but isn’t every resort area?

And the writer’s point that A-Basin removed itself from the Epic Pass and still makes money… One still gets days there with the IKON pass, and right, that’s the future of business, making less money. You can choose to do this, like Patagonia, but most corporations do not.

Ain’t that America. The last one in wants to shut the door and keep the rest of the people out. Screw ’em.

But progress is inevitable. And nature abhors a vacuum. Sure, skiing can fade, but the people are not going to stay home, they’re just going to do something else.

As for this “Slate” article… The internet is riddled with articles like this, ones that feel good but are inaccurate, or completely false. Want traction? Write an anti-Spotify article. My inbox is full of them, e-mailed to me by people who found some nobody or even a musician pontificating. It’s just like the Israel/Hamas war, the oppressor versus the little guy. Only it’s not. But that’s a problem with college campuses, everything is now viewed through the lens of oppressor vs. oppressed, screw nuance.

Oh, we can go deeper. But you won’t like that either. Yes, we need free speech, but that doesn’t apply to corporations. Don’t like it, start your own platform. Having said that, trigger warnings are ridiculous. You can’t handle the truth? But the internet is now full of fully false statements which are protected under the rubric of free speech, which doesn’t even apply.

But freedom for all! Do what you want to, ignore the statistics! Make up your own rules, your own reality.

The reality is skiing has turned around, as a result of these multi-resort passes. Which have obvious benefits like you can ski for free with the Epic Pass at Whistler, which I’ve done. And Park City… I could go on and on, how the Epic and IKON passes have saved me money, but that doesn’t feel right.

But once again, don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.

As for the past… Every lift at Vail is now detachable and high speed, other than a few beginner lifts, which are intentionally kept slow. The lifts run two and a half times faster. They’re very expensive, but they eat up lines and allow one to ski…nobody skis bell to bell anymore, it’s just too much. Having said that, I remember waiting an hour to get on the lift at Stowe. Yes, literally, an hour. Those days are through.

You probably don’t care about skiing, although I must say you’re missing out by not participating, but it’s this thinking, that progress is ruining our lifestyle, that oldsters can’t stop proffering. While they’re texting their friends on their smartphones. No, you can’t be selective. You either take all of progress or none of it. You don’t hear the young people complaining, do you? And when you were young you didn’t complain either.

Sure, something is always lost in the march forward, like vent windows when all cars got air-conditioning, but on the whole the future is better. Embrace it.

There were only 17 last year. That’s down from 28 in 2020.

In other words, if you’re overwhelmed with new music, feel out of touch, think you don’t know what is going on, welcome to the club.

Those statistics are from Guy Zapoleon in the article:

“2023 Marked Fourth Year Of Worst Music Doldrums For Top 40 Radio”: http://tinyurl.com/7z8jknms

Or why don’t you mosey over to “Variety,” and look at their writers’ best albums of the year: http://tinyurl.com/s3fpeapu

They’re all different, there’s no consensus. No “Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” No album you haven’t heard that you need to go out and buy immediately. Even worse, everything is available to you all the time and chances are you still don’t have the desire to click and listen. You would if you felt you were the only person out of the loop, but inside you believe it’s a fruitless effort. You’re going to spend time checking out something that no one you know knows, you’re going to end up just as isolated as you started off. And your goal is to feel connected. It’s everybody’s goal. That’s the human condition.

And if you really want to laugh, check out the “New York Times”‘s “Best Songs of 2023”: http://tinyurl.com/2s49u864 (That’s a free link.) What you’ll end up reflecting on is not the unfamiliar tracks themselves, but the writers who selected them. Is this what they are doing with their time, combing the untold millions of songs released each year for exactly what? Certainly not our respect. They’re the equivalent of those guys in leather jackets with long hair who never went on a date who told us everything in our music collection sucked. But that paradigm went out years ago. When someone criticizes me for being late to a project I laugh. There are only so many hours in day. If you find something, whether it be released yesterday or in 1969, that’s cool. Just like when you stumble on a ten year old TV series. There’s just too much out there, kudos for discovering anything at all. Especially in a world where Guy Zapoleon says “75% of music consumed is older than two years.”

As for that which does have consensus, other than Taylor Swift, the album I’ve seen lauded most at the end of this year is that by the supergroup boygenius. But check on Spotify and you’ll see that not a single cut on “the record” has triple digit million streams. The opening cut only has 14,258,655, meaning people are cherry-picking the hits, not listening to the whole album, since tracks 5 & 6 have 59,848,499 and 69,495,641 respectively. Of the twelve tracks on the album, seven don’t even have 20 million streams on Spotify.

Yes, this is not a definitive reflection on the quality of “the record,” but it is a declaration of popularity. The album came out on March 31st of this year. It’s not like it’s new and we’ve yet to see the build. And for perspective, the last track in the Spotify Top 50 Global chart had 2,863,445 streams yesterday. And the U.S. chart? Number 50 had 831,778 streams yesterday.

It’s not like Taylor Swift isn’t big. But of the top ten global songs on Spotify this past year, #5 is by Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma, a regional Mexican group. That never happened before.

So what do we know?

That what is big is smaller than ever before. It reaches fewer people than ever before. Fine for the act involved, just don’t buy the hype that everybody is listening except you.

The entire system has broken down. This is what happens when the barrier to entry is almost nonexistent and the supposed powers-that-be lose control of the game. This is akin to the Republican party. Forever it was controlled by fat cats/corporations who wanted low taxes and few regulations. But now it’s the domain of the blue collar whose interests are contrary. The blue collar want health care. And although Trump lowered taxes on the rich, and despite the canard that more IRS agents will mean higher taxes on the rank and file, in truth those who used to set the path no longer do. As a matter of fact, many have become anti-Trumpers.

So there are many acts that are not on major labels that can sell thousands of tickets a night. They’re probably not on radio either. But in a country of more than 300 million, they’ve developed a fan base. Most over time. They’ve invested, made music and toured, and grown their audience. Overnight success? Even “The Voice” can’t do that. And even if you have overnight success that does not mean anybody wants to see you live, that you’ve truly got fans. I mean if everybody listening to those two boygenius tracks was really a fan they would have consumed the whole album, right?

As for the future…

We could have a new Beatles. But we haven’t had one yet. There have been big acts since the Beatles, but not one that affected an entire generation and the world, that penetrated every corner of society, that created music we all knew and could sing and people can still sing more than fifty years later. Don’t compare numbers from the “Billboard” chart. They’re nearly meaningless. How many number one hits an act has had. In the sixties a number one hit was known by everybody, we were all listening to Top Forty radio. Today? We keep being told by terrestrial radio that its listenership is going up but I can’t find anybody under twenty who tunes in.

This is akin, but not like television, As many series as there are, there’s a tiny fraction of shows compared to new music. And shows cost a ton of money and there are gatekeepers. Everybody can afford to make music today, right on their laptop, and distribute it for a de minimis cost.

So we’ve got a Tower of Babel music landscape. Consumption continues, but everybody is listening to their own thing. They don’t need you to listen to their music and you don’t need to listen to theirs. You can even ignore Taylor Swift’s music. In a pull society you don’t have to pull it, you don’t have to go to the show or the movie. Same deal with Beyonce. The Renaissance World Tour? Nearly a sideshow. And everybody is coursing the sideshow, because there are not enough acts to fill the three rings in the Big Top, ones that people will sit and want to see.

As far as breaking acts… You’re on your own there, the major labels don’t know how to do it.

Music has become cottage industry. If you’re looking for help, look in the mirror.

And if you’re a listener…chances are the scene is so overwhelming you’re just listening to the same damn stuff over and over again. With the insertion of a few new acts you hear about from friends, from trusted sources. That’s who gets you to listen to new material, your friends. You want to experience what they’re talking about, you don’t want to feel outside. But as to the world at large? It’s incomprehensible.