This is forever.

You can’t manufacture virality. Remember “Gangnam Style”? People weren’t even interested in the follow-up video. Quick, name it! (It’s entitled “Gentleman,” and if you know that you’re entitled to automatic qualification for the next hobby horse nationals. Meanwhile, “Gentleman” does have 1.6 billion views on YouTube, but that does not mean its impact lasted. Everybody checked it out, and then… Meanwhile, “Gangnam Style” has 5.2 billion views. If you’ve seen the trick once, that’s enough.)

But “Gangnam Style” hit before TikTok, before participatory media became everything. You just don’t want the word to spread, you want people to use the basics to create something new, you want them involved, you want them to OWN IT!

You don’t fight hoi polloi creation, you embrace it. The more time people dedicate to making clips with your content, the longer your content lasts.

So an individual spreading the word is not enough. Sure, if you’re the very first, you can get props, assuming anybody knows, and most people don’t care.

And sure, some of the eating pets pics and videos were released immediately and gained traction, but it took a little time for the great ones to appear…half a day? Remember the cycle is short. Which is why you want something that lasts forever, but this is rare.

Like last night’s VMAs… Remember when the VMAs were not only the talk of the town, but the world? Milton Berle and RuPaul. A spontaneous interaction. The appearance of Pee Wee Herman not long after his arrest. Is anybody talking about last night’s VMAs? I’ve seen news stories, but there’s no social media virality, whereas I’m still cracking up over pics and videos of pets in my feeds.

And it’s not only my feeds, it’s my email and iMessages. Everybody wants to play. Because it’s so ridiculous.

Do I think Trump’s statements will negatively impact his campaign?

Well, so far nothing has.

Then again, the Democrats have changed their strategy. Rather than try to be serious, they’re standing at arm’s length and making fun of Trump. This started with “weird.” And when Trump was going off the rails on Tuesday night, Kamala held her hands to her chin and smiled in a way school kids do when the object of their attention doesn’t realize they’re committing a faux pas, that they’re a laughingstock.

Of course Trump doubled-down, by entering the media room and doing his own spin. Talking about how he won the debate and quoting numbers to that effect. When you’re going down you don’t fight, you take a break, hope that it blows over.

Now in order to go viral today not only do you have to create content that the public can utilize to create new content, you need to be in the game constantly.

This is a paradigm older acts complain about and younger acts don’t think twice about.

You never know when your lucky break will come. You never know what will cause your lucky break. But talk to anybody who’s ever had one and you’ll find out…the action that caused the break was never the one they anticipated would do it. The well-planned action, crickets. The one you do reluctantly, on a whim, that spreads. When you’re less invested, your attitude reflects this. It’s the difference between a studio recording and a live one. The former is studied, worked over. The latter is spontaneous, you can capture lightning in a bottle.

And one thing that is at the heart of most virality is humanity. Click tracks and building a record instrument by instrument reduce this, as do multiple writers and remixes/effects. You want to be able to polish it, because getting it right out of the box, with just the basics, is so difficult to do.

The reason so much music does not resonate with the public is because it’s lacking humanity. Not in the lyrics, although there can be a problem there too, but in the basic music. We’re so far from the garden that people expect that four decade old 808 sound on every record. Where’s the surprise?

Records are the essence of virality. If they contain that humanity and capture the zeitgeist. And this is why sixties tunes and classic rock over index in the culture. It was about experimentation, it was about being different, the public couldn’t stop paying attention.

So Trump is in the news 24/7. And it’s been working to his advantage. In that he still takes up most of the air in the media.

But Trump has veered so far from the truth that he was just begging for someone to push him over, he was ready to topple like Humpty Dumpty.

The “Access Hollywood” tape had legs, might have sunk Donald if it weren’t for Comey reopening investigation into Hillary’s server. But we’re used to sex scandals. And the public can’t participate in them, own them. But comedy?

Keep throwing things against the wall and something will stick. But you don’t know what it is and if you’ve lost track of the plot beware.

Other than J.D. Vance, no one is defending the inane idea that immigrants are eating cats and dogs in Ohio. Furthermore, Trump and his team illustrated that despite Truth Social and his tweeting, they really don’t have a grip on the internet. The net is full of b.s. and scams. And you can get away with forwarding this crap to like-minded, narrow-visioned friends, but when you put it into the world at large…it’s going to be scrutinized, and debunked.

Turns out this election is not about the issues, but the penumbra, and Trump and his team didn’t realize this. No one wants to hear about fracking, even taxes or the border, they want to see the two candidates wrestle, they’re waiting for one to touch the third rail. And wrestling is a good analogy, in that it’s scripted entertainment, fake. And Kamala was pretty scripted Tuesday night, and it was her off the cuff stuff that resonated most. As for Trump… When he went off script he lost all of us.

So if this stops being about Trump and Harris and what they stand for, and becomes about how laughable Trump is, that might be to Harris’s advantage. No one wants to be associated with a laughingstock. Even Fox said Harris won the debate. Only in Trump’s deranged mind was he the winner.

So, remember, ink is one thing, virality is another. Don’t point to how many stories you’ve got on Google, pull up Instagram and TikTok and X and see how often it comes up in your feed. That’s the measure of virality.

And this is what the mainstream doesn’t understand and to the degree it does hates it. Because that means they’ve got no control. And let’s be clear, they’ve got less control than any time in history!

Most people in America can’t even name two songs by Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, the Weeknd…but if you paid attention to the press, you’d think they’re ubiquitous. But all of the public doesn’t want the same thing.

But this election is binary, so there’s amazing focus. And it’s the only game we’re all focused on. Forget music, forget the NFL, everybody’s got an opinion on the election. And when Trump steps in it and then doubles-down on something that was not vetted that is almost impossible to believe, people are going to notice.

You remember the Kennedy assassination. You remember 9/11. You’re going to remember that Trump said immigrants were eating cats and dogs.

Now if you’re Tiny Tim, if you’re an influencer, all publicity is good publicity. But if you’re selling the aforementioned humanity, if you have any credibility, this is not true. Be wary of doing things off brand with the hopes of virality.

This is what we live for in a controlled country. The unexpected. The spontaneous.

We’ve had two big events this year.

One, Biden dropping out.

Two, Trump telling us that pets are in peril in Springfield, Ohio.

Trump gets the trophy here. He’s the strongman who rang the bell at the county fair. But he doesn’t even realize it. If he did, he’d make fun of himself, neutralize his words.

Trump is built for a passé era. When you could deny, deny, deny and stay above the fray. No one is above the fray anymore, we’re all in it together, and if you don’t have a sense of humor about yourself, you’re ripe for excoriation.

I can’t stop laughing at the posts. The pictures of cats dressed up as law enforcement. Others talking about the risk to pets. The warnings to stay away from Springfield.

This is genius.

But it’s not helping Trump. He didn’t have to lay out this craziness, but he’s lost touch with the public.

Don’t you do the same.

Bassist for Peter Gabriel, King Crimson and so many more!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tony-levin/id1316200737?i=1000669276346

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/b395e989-24c2-4ca5-83fb-1e14f32a592e/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-tony-levin

RE: COWBOY CARTER SNUBBED

You mentioned two venues on my home turf. To answer your question about Merriweather Post Pavilion – it’s probably the most beloved large venue in the Baltimore / DC area. People DO like going there. It’s a bit of a schlep from Baltimore, even more so from DC, but parking is easy, traffic is a breeze, and it’s got a great vibe.

My wife and I are going there to see The National there next week and I made the mistake of checking tickets even though we bought ours long ago. The pavilion is mostly sold out, but some “Platinum” seats are available right in front for just about the same price we paid for row M. Totally flexed pricing. What a scam! This actually upsets me much more than scalping. I checked some of the other acts who are coming and tickets were incredibly plentiful. Very surprising.

You also mentioned Slipknot at CFG Arena. CFG is the newly refurbished version of our old dumpy Baltimore Civic Center where The Beatles played in 1964. Pharell, Irving Azoff and some other heavy hitters are behind it and they did an amazing job. We’re attracting acts that traditionally would have skipped Baltimore for DC and Philly. Opening weekend at CFG was Bruce Springsteen and The Eagles! It’s not just legacy acts; Lizzo played there and so have many other artists that we never would have gotten in the old days. It’s truly amazing how this makeover has revitalized what used to be a third tier venue.

You mentioned Slipknot. I know nothing about them except that they played CFG Arena recently. How did I know? I was at the farmer’s market the day after the show and tons of vendors were wearing Slipknot t-shirts! I asked many of them how they liked the show and about their opinion on the band. It was mind blowing – they LOVED them! It was like talking to Phish or Dead fans! One even gave me a free ear of corn….

Rich Madow

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I felt compelled to write in and defend Merriweather Post Pavilion, my favorite local venue here in Maryland. It’s a great spot to see a show that’s spent a fortune recently on modernization, is relatively easy to get to and doesn’t charge extra for parking. I’m not sure why attendence has been down there this year, but it’s certainly not the fault of the venue. As a counterpoint, I took my daughter to MPP to see Mitski last week, who sold out three nights in a row. Great show.

Oh yeah, I was also at the Slipknot show in Baltimore that you mentioned. I think they tapped into a great idea this year revisiting their first album not just by playing it in whole, but replicating the entire stage performance from 1999. For someone my age who was there in ’99 it made it feel like a “can’t miss” even though I hadn’t seen them in years.

Thanks,

Jason Vandervliet

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Re: Merriweather – “do people just not want to go to this venue” ?

It’s true, they don’t. For those who live in NoVA, Montgomery County MD or NW DC, getting out to Merriweather in traffic is a pain in the ass, especially when there’s so many other great options -The Anthem, 9:30, even Wolf Trap, the National Park where you can bring in your own booze. Merriweather has some great history – the only place Led Zep and the Who ever shared a bill – but history doesn’t make a great show today.

Brian Howell

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I follow you on most of this, but whether you know them or not, Knocked Loose is doing 2500-5000 tickets in most markets.  They’re a monster direct support for Slipknot.  Great packaging, both exciting live shows.

Nate Dorough

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Hey Bob, I think you should look under the hood with Knocked Loose. For being arguably the most metal/aggressive band out in the market currently, they ironically broke on tiktok. I’d imagine they got the Slipknot tour because the ticket sales from their latest headline tour were so impressive. For instance, they headlined The Shrine in LA which sold out quickly which is 6300 tickets. Everyone at the show looked between 20-25. Worth mentioning they also played Coachella last year with artists like Billy Eillish watching side stage. Hell, at the Shrine show you had Kourtney Kardashian watching side stage!

All of this just proves your point in your below email but even an act that you perceive as nobody’s in Knocked Loose, to me I see a band that’s exploding albeit in the heavy rock world.

Jeff Geasey
REYNOLDS MGMT 

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Bob — thanks for your super entertaining and engaging emails. When I think about the CMA “snub” for Beyonce…I wonder how much did she show that she actually wanted to be a part of the country industry? A cowboy hat and a couple country songs won’t cut it. The industry, rightly so, nominates those who are making waves in that particular industry—tours, press, and radio station visits. It didn’t appear to me that Beyonce made much of an effort to be a part of the industry, unlike Post Malone who seems to have done it all so genuinely. Heck, Beyonce didn’t do much for any market with this release.

Marcus Royce

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squeeze and boy george just cancelled their only georgia appearance at the new amphitheatre in macon. i’ve seen squeeze 5 times in the last 15 years, they sold out the kennedy center a few years back. but a 10k seat amphitheatre is not the right venue for this tour. just like chastain wasn’t the right venue for crowded house a few weeks ago. agents and promoters need to be smarter with their venue choices.

lisa henley

RE: THE SOPRANOS DOCUMENTARY

It was better than I had hoped it would be.  Even better.  Like everybody else,  I watched the series when it launched on HBO and was enthralled.  Then the pandemic and streaming came so I watched it over.  In order. No more than one episode per night and only four per week. After each viewing I read about the episode I had just watched in “The Sopranos Sessions” by Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall and savored the experience as I hadn’t been able the first time.   Now that I binged (only two episodes so no big deal) “Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos” it’s all coming back in big way.  It’s reasonable to conclude after all the time spent viewing, analyzing (psychologically and otherwise) and discussing the series — a word that falls short of really describing what it is.. it’s more of a Norsk saga set in New Jersey rather than Valhalla — this is the one of the greatest works of art ever devised by mortals.  You got a problem with that?

Bob Merlis

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This is a fantastic article on an equally fantastic documentary. When it first came out, the music industry was buzzing.   At the time, I was working at BMG, and my colleague Ken Levy at Arista Records was also closely following the show. We invited the cast to an Eurythmics showcase, and almost the entire cast showed up, including the producers. That marked the beginning of a great relationship between us and the show.

We started sending music to be placed in the show, supplying posters for Meadow’s room, and even collaborating with some of the actors on their own music projects (like Dominic Chianese). It was a golden era for us—an amazing show, a stellar soundtrack, and a team of people who truly understood the hustle of the music business. Alex Gibney did a brilliant job with this documentary too.  Thanks Bob for celebrating this bygone era.  Scott Richman

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That’s a different version of “Im Not Like Everybody Else” than the one on The Great Lost Kinks Album (c 1973?)

Best

Jamie Kitman

This is the live version from “To the Bone” used in “The Sopranos”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzQEoSDURdA

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David Chase’s Italian name is DeCesare, I grew up with him.

Bob Zachary

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From: Robin Green

Hi Bob, I feel compelled to tell you that the scenes in the doc which were positioned to look like a writers room were not – those were production meetings and the women at the table besides me were from the wardrobe and prop departments. There was anyway at no time in my memory or Mitch’s a camera recording in the writers room for the same reason we didn’t have assistants in there, privacy.

Loved what you said about the doc and glad you liked it.  I cud too. They really pursued me to be in it and I’m glad I sat down with Alex. But didn’t I look cute 25 years ago with my bangs and little white shirts? Love, Robin

DAVE GROHL’S BABY ANNOUCEMENT

Typical rock star behavior, but totally off brand for Mr. Grohl, America’s sweetheart, the rock statesman in counterbalance to Questlove’s hip-hop statesman.

Dave may have started out as a punk, but he’s appeared warm and fuzzy for years, even promoting a book by his mother!

And didn’t he ever hear of a condom?

Of course condoms can break, and I don’t know the specifics here, but it’s not a good look.

Criminal? No. But there will be an effect on his family. Didn’t Moon Zappa’s book tell us this? Frank was a notorious “swordsman” as Ahmet once said to me.

On one hand, it’s good for rock and roll. It never changes, even if it’s on life support.

Rock stars are not like you and me. They don’t play by the same rules. They’re offered opportunities we are not. And it’s hard not to take advantage of them.

But this doesn’t square with a guy who parades his children and talks about his home life, who is constantly smiling like a regular guy. He’s not. He’s a rock star. Complicated, in a world of temptations.

Do I think this will hurt the Foo Fighters, Grohl’s musical career?

Not a whit.

But will the press continue to look to him for answers… That will be diminished, I guarantee you. The press runs from scandals, unless they’re getting inside, salacious details. Outlets don’t want to employ the words of tainted celebrities, it undercuts their authority, the actions taint the words, and ultimately the publications.

Then again, what is the job of a rock star… To be a wholesome family man or to make music?

The latter.

P.S. I give Grohl credit for announcing the news, coming out ahead of the tabloids. Like Letterman. But there was no baby involved in that Dave’s case. And the kid makes a difference.

TAYLOR SWIFT’S ENDORSEMENT OF KAMALA HARRIS

For someone supposedly so publicity savvy, to announce on the same night as the debate was a gross miscalculation. You want to make your statement when it will get the most ink, the most attention, when it will have the most impact and spread. You don’t want to compete with another news story.

Will Swift’s endorsement of Kamala have a definitive effect?

Could be, but nowhere near the degree everybody is anticipating.

People follow celebrities in fashion, but when it comes to core beliefs… Hell, even Chris Christie is a giant Springsteen fan.

This was completely mishandled. Swift should have announced on the VMAs, where she will look big in contrast to all the gnats appearing.

She should have waited for a slow news day.

This is PR 101. Just like governments release negative news on Friday afternoons, when people are leaving the office and are in weekend mode.

And the post did not look spontaneous, but premeditated. 

Now the story is overshadowed by all the reporting about last night’s debate.

Swift normally wants to own the stage, she sets everything up for that.

But not this time.