“KPop Demon Hunters” is #1 on both the Global and USA charts.

However, Bad Bunny’s “DeBi TiRAR Más FOToS” is #2 globally, but only #8 in the USA.

Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” is #2 in the USA and #5 globally. Used to be that American country music didn’t translate overseas, this is no longer true. However, Wallen is the only country artist in either Top 50, so…maybe he’s just a phenomenon, an outlier, but what a success!

Laufey’s “”A Matter of Time” is #17 globally, but #3 in the USA. This is astounding, not only because Laufey is Icelandic, but Laufey has only had two songs on the American chart, and both were Christmas tunes and one went to #89 and the other to #56. Then again, in truth this album just came out on August 22nd. But it has not been forgotten by listeners. They didn’t check it out and move on, they continued to listen. This is akin to the old days, the truly old days, the sixties and seventies, when an artist who didn’t sound like anybody else could carve out their own niche. And the funny thing is it’s not even on a major label, it was released by AWAL…then again, at this point AWAL is part of Sony.

Deftones’ “private music” is #46 globally and #14 domestically. Pretty amazing for a band whose first album came out THIRTY YEARS AGO! Sure, the album came out on August 22nd, but the band is playing stadiums and very occasionally an act would have a hit single years later, but usually with the help of a current artist, and it was usually just about the single, the album did not sell in prodigious numbers. Would Deftones be as big if it weren’t for the internet, where all their music is available 24/7 around the world, able to be discovered and played by new fans? This proves you don’t need Spotify Top 50 hits to be a successful artist. Furthermore, “private music” sounds nothing like anything in the Spotify Top 50. Everybody’s chasing hits yet here a career act with hard core fans is triumphing doing it their own way.

Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” is #13 domestically, even though it came out in 2022! This would be impossible in the old days. Once radio stopped playing the singles, the album stopped selling. But people love Kahan and keep streaming his music and this is what new acts have to compete with, stars with established fan bases. Best to start off slow and find your way with authentic music and hope to get lucky as time goes by than polish a written by committee single that might stream but doesn’t generate a dedicated fan base. Furthermore, the lyrics of “Stick Season” are personal and not always positive. Kahan is breaking all the rules and continuing to triumph.

Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” is #6 globally and #23 domestically. Are streams higher internationally because she was on tour over there? Tours drive streams.

Beéle’s “BORONDO” is #7 internationally. He doesn’t chart domestically. He’s Colombian. Not only is Latin music a big market, it’s bigger than ever because it can be listened to with a click around the world.

Fuerza Regida may have a Spanish name, but they’re from San Bernardino. Their album “111xpantia” is #10 internationally. And this does not represent the burst of streams of a recent release, this album came out on May 2nd, it’s got staying power. The album is #30 in the U.S.

“Mi Vida Mi Muerte” by Neton Vega is #21 internationally. He’s a Mexican artist, but he’s playing as far north as Jones Beach. The same album is #41 domestically.

Mexican artist Junior H’s “$ad Boyz 4 Life II” is #28 internationally and #42 domestically.

No one may want Katy Perry’s new albums, but 2012’s “Teenage Dream” is #40 internationally, it’s not on the USA chart. Katy did four Mexican dates in April and two Australian dates at the beginning of June… So international touring is not driving these streams.

Mexican rapper Tito Double P’s  “Incómodo” is #43 internationally. It doesn’t chart in the Top 50 domestically. The music is released by the Orchard via Sony.

Mexican urban music star Victor Mendivil’s “Tutankamon” is #45 internationally, it’s not in the domestic Top 50. He has no Wikipedia page. The music is distributed via Downtown…and you wonder why the majors are buying up the indie distributors…they’re the ones with all the breaking talent! The majors can’t find new hit music, never mind sign it and promote it. They rely on people who are in the weeds, who make deals that are far from rich.

Morgan Wallen’s 2023 album “One Thing at a Time” is #9 domestically. Wallen has two albums in the Top Ten, Taylor Swift only one, #6’s “Tortured Poets Department.” However, “Folklore” is #15, “Lover” is #26, “Midnights” is #35 and “reputation” is #36. Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album” is #20.

“Hamilton” is #22 domestically. I guess it doesn’t translate overseas. However, one must note the album came out TEN YEARS AGO!

“Rumours” is #19 domestically and #33 internationally.

Arctic Monkeys’ “AM” is #22 internationally. It came out in 2013. In the days of physical retail, most stores would not have even stocked it. But today, the great records of the past never die.

Christian artist Forrest Frank’s 2024 album “Child of God” is #47. It came out in 2024, “Child of God II” came out in May. Both are distributed by Warner.

Hozier’s 2014 self-titled debut is #34 domestically. Welcome to the modern world where your original work can overshadow your newer music.

The Marías 2024 album “Submarine” is #25 domestically. They sing in English and Spanish, as for the style of music…can I say it’s all over the place? (In a good way!) This is on Atlantic, but the contract pre-dates Elliott Grainge’s tenure. The deal is through producer Ricky Reed’s Nice Life, which also has Lizzo and Pussy Riot as well as Tinashe, but the latter is distributed by RCA.

Is everything. If you can’t buy it, it doesn’t matter how good it is.

I bought something on Amazon. My usual seller was out, so I opted for a competitor and when the merchandise arrived, the packaging was different. And in this case the packaging is key. So I decided to return it. Which is easy, you go online, click a few boxes drop it off at Whole Foods and…

Before I left the house I decided to do some research. Turns out they don’t make that packaging anymore. Now this is interesting. One person complained and an entire industry redid its packaging to make it less convenient, people are going crazy online. But in this case, I’m expecting a change in the future, because we now live in Trump’s America. He’s alienating our allies, RFJ, Jr. is making the nation unsafe, but I’ve got to give him credit, he’s getting rid of B.S. Stuff that makes no sense. That is adjusted for a small minority instead of the vast majority.

So then I decided to go on a mission. To CVS. The internet told me they still had the old packaging. And if they did I could go to multiple CVS’s and buy up enough inventory to carry me through to the point when the law is changed and the industry goes back to the old packaging.

I never go to a retail store. It’s the world’s worst experience.

This is what I don’t understand about oldsters, they cling to the past when it’s history. Today everything is about CONVENIENCE! Youngsters know this. They want what they want and they want it NOW! And any friction in the works is not only frustrating, they refuse to participate.

Like the movie business. Theatrical is never coming back. This year’s summer gross was essentially flat, down just a bit, never mind the inflated prices. It’s a bad proposition. I’ve got to leave my house and bake in enough time for parking and ticket buying to make sure I get there when the movie starts. And having done this, I then have to sit and watch endless trailers/commercials… I’m PAYING, why are you insulting your best customers?

Then again, I can’t remember the last time I went to the movies.

So I drive down to CVS and…

Everything you’ve heard is true. Everything valuable is locked in a case. But it’s worse than that, THEY NEVER HAVE WHAT YOU WANT!

And they didn’t. But I had to pick up a prescription for Felice. So I got into line and…

This very large woman was talking on her cellphone on speaker. Is this a new thing? I was at the hospital waiting for an infusion and the woman next to me was doing this. I asked her to hold the phone to her ear and you’d think I’d asked for a kidney. Can I at least have a modicum of peace and quiet?

And then when I was next in line, the previous customer decided to reorganize her purse before sacrificing the window. I ultimately asked her to move. I know, I know, bad behavior. But I’ve got places to go and people to see.

That’s what nobody talks about, we got all this time back during lockdown/Covid and we don’t want to give it back. Medical appointments are virtual. We have more time to work and we don’t want to sacrifice it. Don’t love your work? I feel sorry for you.

As for what I was looking for, I was SOL. That old packaging was history, not to be found.

So then I drove to another CVS. The layout was different. I started looking for the item and when I didn’t find it soon I looked for help. THERE WAS NONE! This is the physical retail experience we’re supposed to adore and pay for? Utterly ridiculous.

I ultimately found where the item I wanted was shelved and they were out of both the new packaging and the old, it was like someone had ransacked the place.

Meanwhile, it’s a zillion degrees out. The A/C in my car works well, but I was driving in the hills yesterday and the thermometer in the dash said 102 and… In the old days, my 2002 couldn’t handle it. The temperature gauge would start to rise and then not only did you have to turn off the A/C, you had to turn on the heat to cool down the engine.

But not only is it hot, the light is different. It’s September 1st. Back to school, but the hottest days in L.A. are not in June and July, but the end of August and September.

So I ultimately decided to punt and make the new packaging work, what option did I have, and I thought how great Amazon was.

HUH? AMAZON’S THE DEVIL!

This makes me insane, people fighting convenience. Like Spotify. All of the world’s music at your fingertips and you can take it anywhere? Why in the hell would you want physical product?

Not that Amazon is perfect. You run the gauntlet every time you try to buy something. You’ve got to sift through the ads. I mean give me a break, it’s a horrible experience, can you get rid of these?

But if you’ve got Prime, and I don’t know how you cannot, the item usually comes the next day, if not the SAME DAY!

But it’s better than that, they have EVERYTHING! Every product, every size, at if not the lowest price, close to it. You find it, you click on it and it arrives. What could be better?

But NO, the same people protesting in the street believing that anybody is paying attention think if they just don’t buy from Amazon…

This is a failed strategy, because the service is so good and there’s not a real alternative. They stopped drinking Bud Light, but that did not mean they stopped drinking beer!

And now my inbox is going to go wild with the Trumpers. I’ve got to ask you… These companies that left China for India, now that’s not an option. The doors are closing on our society minute by minute, all in the name of AMERICA FIRST! It reminds me of that old Harold Lloyd movie, AMERICA LAST! Actions have consequences.

Never mind the fact that homicides are greater in red cities yet the military goes to blue ones.

But the truth doesn’t matter.

You’re supposed to be courteous when everybody feels entitled. Drives me nuts.

This is the world we live in. Who is happy?

That’s what it comes down to. The friction in society is rampant and we keep hearing from oldsters, who hold the reins, that we should adhere to the old ways because they’re better. HUH? Where in the hell is that the truth?

I’ve got no time for Jeff Bezos, but if you’re buying a retail item…why in the hell would you go to a physical outlet? There’s no help and they don’t have what you’re looking for. And the solution for most retailers is to cut, cut, cut and make the experience WORSE!

This is how the “New York Times” ended up owning national news. They refused to circle the drain. And they added Wirecutter and the Athletic and games and cooking and…

So you don’t like the “Times”… That’s not the point!

Everybody in America is so tribal that they can’t pull back and see the forest for the trees.

Meanwhile, “Consumer Reports” thought it owned the sphere and now Wirecutter is stealing the old outlet’s thunder. How? Constant reviews! Not once a month, but consistently. To the point where that’s where you go.

Disruption is not done. And it won’t be done until the Boomers and Gen-X’ers invested in the old ways retire and die off. They can’t get over how things used to be. And some of the old things were better, but on the whole the new stuff is far superior.

If I hear one more person complaining about chatbots causing suicide… Yeah, these were well-adjusted people who just got pulled into a hole. If you believe that, you’re delusional. Just like if you believe AI is going to dominate in the future you’re not using it. The hallucinations/mistakes are SO bad as to make the answers unreliable.

But then there are people turning off Google AI because copyright holders are not being paid. This is just like the Amazon protesters. The truth is that in many cases, AI search is good enough, has made the search experience much better. When I need tech help it gives me just enough to get by. If I have to get names and locations right I go deeper, but a lot of search doesn’t require anything deeper.

We live in meme-world and the truth becomes irrelevant, and it’s not only politics. Like the dotcom era. You could deliver a Fudgsicle for free? Can we employ a little common sense?

You want to see the present, never mind the future, start with convenience. If there’s an easier way to do it, that’s how the flow is gonna go. And sure, make sure exactly who you’re Zelling money to, but those afraid to cough up their credit cards online because of potential fraud are the same ones still writing paper checks, which are RAMPANT with fraud.

But it doesn’t feel that way. This is the world we now live in, emotions are king, facts are irrelevant.

And then there are the endless complaints. Spotify is ripping off artists, Vail Resorts is ripping off skiers. Skiing has never been cheaper. It’s astoundingly cheap. But you’ve got to hate on the big boy…

Which is why I stay home so much. Because you interact with the public and you want to tear your hair out.

And I haven’t got much left!

1

I watched it.

I’ve been flummoxed by the ticket sales for festivals headlined by pop acts. For a boomer who grew up on the Beatles and the ensuing classic rock, this is unfathomable. Pop was the enemy. No there there. We dug our teeth into “artists,” people who honed their skills, wrote their own songs and testified about their lives. They broke apart musical structure, were all about exploration. It was a bonanza of styles. And in order to sell tickets in prodigious numbers you had to have this background and credibility, you could not be a construct of the man, you had to STAND FOR SOMETHING!

No more.

Now the music business is the hit business. And no one questions it.

Which is how it was before underground FM radio in the sixties, but we didn’t really return to a pop world until MTV, which created a monoculture. And then younger generations had no frame of reference. If you grew up on Mariah Carey, what were the odds you were going to form a band like the Doors? Never mind Black Sabbath.

Now heavy metal/active rock has sustained by being off-center. It abhors the mainstream, for a long time the acts were anti-streaming. It’s about the downtrodden expressing their anger. This is not Def Leppard produced by Mutt Lange creating earworms one step removed from the Beach Boys, nor even AC/DC and its thunderous riffs, no today’s metal is more about the noise, the raw emotion, and if you don’t have great vocal chops it doesn’t matter. But this metal is a backwater. It cannot spread. Because if you too are not an angry outlier you cannot relate.

But at least there’s a culture in today’s metal.

Now the culture of classic rock was based on a clear dividing line between performer and audience. They were on stage, you were not. You yearned for access, which you could never attain. The band dripped out info, oftentimes cryptically, in interviews and news squibs. The image was one of a fabulous life of drugs and alcohol, women and sex. Didn’t they call it “sex, drugs and rock and roll”? No more.

The rock acts wanted what the pop acts had. The exposure, the opportunities to sell out, the hits that generated cash and ticket sales. But in the process they sacrificed their credibility. With the spandex, etc. The rock acts became a joke. So we ended up living in a pop world 24/7. And even hip-hop merged with pop. It was about the hit. And even Huntrix in “KPop Demon Hunters” writes a diss track. This is the world we live in.

So at first I didn’t understand “KPop Demon Hunters,” the phenomenon. But if you watch the entire flick it becomes clear.

But one thing is evident straight from the start. They’ve pulled back the curtain on stardom, they assume the audience knows the game.

Like the private jet. Who knew what transpired on the seventies Starship, the jet the superstars leased. We believed drugs and debauchery, but we didn’t really know. And then cellphone cameras came along and killed the rock lifestyle. Act badly and video would hit the internet. You had to pull your punches. Furthermore, mistreatment of women was a taboo… You had to be worried about public perception of your antics. But in “KPop Demon Hunters,” like today’s pop world, everything is right up front for you to see and pick apart. There is no mystery.

And the fans are more than bodies in the seats. They’re active participants.

If you watch “KPop Demon Hunters,” you’re dying to go to a show. It’s the best advertisement for live gigs I’ve ever seen. To be one of the screaming masses in the stadium, just to be there, part of the throng? THAT’S IT! A boomer will say you’re too far away, they don’t like being in a sea of humanity, but that’s the attraction for young fans. That’s the culture. Being at one with the act, bonding to them and believing in them.

This is the essence of KPop.

As for the music?

IT’S POP!

2

Now if you’re aware of KPop, you know it’s based on identity and story. Culture. It’s much more than the music. The music is just the glue to keep the entire enterprise together. If you were conscious during Beatlemania, you know that everybody had their favorite Beatle. You did not have your favorite member of Led Zeppelin, that was something different. But you have you favorite member of a KPop act, who has a backstory, which they feed. Everything’s on the table.

But not everybody cares. This is also genius. Rather than playing to everybody, they’re playing to a niche, but that niche is huge and can sustain them. KPop is more palatable than today’s metal, but it’s not for everybody. But having said that, “KPop Demon Hunters” has some catchy songs.

Most specifically “Soda Pop.” Give the creators credit, this is hooky. The hooks in the rock of yore were the riffs, other elements that wannabes are no longer able to create. Listen to those Beatle records, they were FULL of hooks. Bridges. All kinds of “tricks” to hook the audience.

And it’s not only “Soda Pop,” but “Golden” and “Your Idol” and…

In truth, this is not a new formula. Hit movie generates hit records. But with the internet we can see evidence of this success. It’s right up front. At this very second, “KPop Demon Hunters” has four songs in the Spotify Top 50, and it would have more if Sabrina Carpenter hadn’t just released her new album on Friday. Most of the Carpenter tracks will fade soon, some will sustain, but “KPop Demon Hunters”? It’s an unending juggernaut. The song of the summer, assuming you believe in that lame construct, is “Golden,” but the arbiters can’t fathom this, they didn’t watch the movie, how can it be so popular? And don’t think it’s only in the U.S. The Global Top 50 has FIVE “KPop Demon Hunters” songs. And Sabrina Carpenter is evident, but she doesn’t dominate. For all the ink about Carpenter, the real money is in “KPop Demon Hunters,” it’s a true worldwide phenomenon, and we now exist in a global business, with streaming providing everything to everybody all over the world.

As for the music itself… Sure, it’s cartoon characters, but one of the most surprising and fulfilling elements of the movie is when the curtain is pulled back after the action is over and they go to real life, showing the actual people recording the songs, singing their hearts out and having fun in a way too many front line performers are not. Everybody’s so into their image, their brand, these are just women in a studio…

Soon to sell out stadiums, but that’s another chapter. Yes, the tour is being baked right now.

3

So we’ve got the elements of modern society right up front, the essence of being a fan, and the music, but those are not enough to sustain a movie, to make it legendary.

Actually, I was watching it and didn’t get it.

But then, there’s a romance. Straight out of “Seventeen” magazine. If you’re a young girl, it rings your bell. And although the animation is not up to Pixar levels, the love interests are beautiful and you get it. And the romantic thread plays throughout the rest of the movie.

And then there’s the war between good and evil.

Let’s be clear, these are Disney-type demons. Did you know the Mouse House has put out FOUR “Zombies” movies? Believe me, these are not the zombies from “Night of the Living Dead,” never mind “The Walking Dead.” They’re just forces of evil. Like the demons in this film. They’re bad, but they’re not scary.

Now if you want to go deeper, you can talk about the theme of being your real self, and that’s a factor, but really “KPop Demon Hunters” rests on the romance and the push and pull between good and bad. And those make a movie.

Yes, you’ve got a relatively traditional story laid on top of KPop. Once again, with everything up front and personal, nothing behind a curtain like in the classic rock days.

So where does this leave us?

Well, in music, the hit business is all pop. There is an alternative business, and it’s pretty large, but it does not cross over, nor does most of it deserve to cross over, it’s just not that good. It feeds the audience, the fans, but if you think Jesse Welles is going to be in the Spotify Top 50 you think that he’s equal to Bob Dylan, and he’s not anywhere near the Bobster’s league. Dylan had many covers before he broke through on the radio with “Like a Rolling Stone.” Unlike Welles, who’s not for everybody, more of a one trick pony.

Sure, so much of today’s hit country music is paint-by-numbers dreck. But not everybody in the Americana world deserves mass attention. Then again, Chris Stapleton is a superstar, illustrating that when you’ve got the goods, people know it and clamor to it. Then again, Stapleton is forty seven and writes and sings and plays.

And if you don’t write your own material, you’re inherently less believable. Of course there are exceptions, but this was the essence of classic rock, directly from the artist’s heart into yours. Trying to ensure a hit, the labels have squeezed out this element, with covers and writing by committee and insisting on co-writers. You might end up with something catchy that is even a hit, but you won’t end up with a classic. Like these tunes from “KPop Demon Hunters,” they’ve got no lasting power, they’re akin to New Kids on the Block. They’re for now.

So…

4

Beatlemania, classic rock, are in the rearview mirror. Swiftmania is real, but it cannot hold a candle to Beatlemania, which affected the entire world, everybody…made people pick up guitars and also pick apart the music, whereas Swift’s new album is made with Max Martin (and Shellback), who only needs an act to front the sound, he can create the hits all by his lonesome.

But this is what the audience expects. Which is why music is a second class citizen. Believe me, you want to go to the gig. Music will never die. But driving the culture? “KPop Demon Hunters” is a phenomenon, but it’s not evidence of lasting culture, unless you consider KPop lasting culture, which is sub-Disney stuff at best.

There’s plenty of money in this stuff, but don’t try and convince us it matters, that it’s great, that it speaks to underlying issues and changes hearts and minds. If anything, most people today seem to go to the show like lemmings. Brainless. There to see and dance to pop songs while they hang with their buddies and shoot selfies. Everybody in the business is congratulating themselves but there’s no there there. I won’t say it’s equivalent to Kodak before digital photography, but the analogy applies. There’s this belief that the public will be satiated by empty calories forever. Ariana Grande? A child star with a good voice? Even Ricky Nelson had more gravitas, never mind making better music.

Then again, it’s easy to disrupt music, with the means of production and distribution in the hands of the proletariat. However, today’s younger generations have no models, like we did in the classic rock era. And they want success right up front, when it comes slower than ever because of noise in the channel. Their goal is to become a brand. Whereas the acts of yore just wanted to make music, do drugs and get laid. They hoped there was money in it, but for so many when the mania was done there was none.

5

As for the movie…

This proves the power of Netflix. The business is caught up in data. Weekly grosses. Like the irrelevant “Billboard” charts, manipulated to satisfy the retro players. It’s always been about mindshare. To really win you need everybody to partake, to see or listen. As for leaving money on the table… God, the dough from “KPop Demon Hunters” is just beginning…there’s the music, the tour, the sequel.

And unlike superhero movies, “KPop Demon Hunters” does not assume you have a wealth of knowledge, you can go in blind and still get it.

As for the brevity of success of films/series on Netflix… This is what the studios and streamers who drip episodes out week by week don’t get. EVERYTHING is evanescent. Shoot someone today, it’s forgotten tomorrow. Memes come and go quickly. Why should it be any different in movies? You strike when the iron is hot, when people are interested they need to be able to partake of it all, to become part of the culture. As for the hoopla in the press… The last I checked more people had seen “Adolescence” than “White Lotus,” it’s just if you’re baked into the old system you think otherwise because of all the old school press.

The world has changed.

If someone had pitched me the idea of “KPop Demon Hunters” would I have known it would be a gargantuan worldwide success? No. The line between success and failure in movies is a knife edge, and if you’re on the wrong side you’ve got a stiff. And the funny thing is the more you play it safe, the more you’re ensuring a stiff. You’ve got to hang it all out there. The audience can tell. The same way they can tell that “KPop Demon Hunters” was made for THEM! Not for critics. Not for anybody but the young people who will buy this stuff.

Do you need to watch “KPop Demon Hunters”?

Only if you’re interested in a business lesson.

And if you start, hang in there, it gets better.

But it’s not for you. And that’s cool.

But it’s for somebody. And those people are rabid for it. They watch it again and again, go to the theatre to sing along. That’s the passion you’re trying to generate. If you’re playing to everybody you can’t achieve this. If you’re afraid of risks you can’t succeed.

“KPop Demon Hunters” is an incredible success. It’s a cash generator. Kudos.

But if you think it’s one step forward for music…

You’ve got no ears.

And no perception.

You think a dollar today is better than thinking about a dollar ten years from now. You studied business in college, not the liberal arts. Or you’re nobody from nowhere who believes they deserve to be a success at age twelve.

Want to see real creativity?

Go on TikTok.

But the same people who are not watching “KPop Demon Hunters” are not scrolling there either.

And either you’re in on the joke, you can see the landscape, or you can’t.

There’s definitely a lot here. And to a degree it’s clear. But if you’re looking at the present through the past’s glasses…

You’re lost.

1

Which is half an hour away. At least. A totally different mind-set. I’m sure there are people living in Thousand Oaks commuting to L.A., but not many, it’s just too far.

And just too far for the rock aficionados, the business honchos, the lifers, to drive out for a gig. This is more akin to your local PAC than the Greek, never mind the United Theater, where the band played last time.

Well, who was coming?

That is always the question. 10cc had a few hits back in the seventies, but that’s fifty years ago. Is that enough to get people out to see them?

Not a full house.

But those who were there…

2

I just couldn’t understand the rapturous reception. The standing ovations. It’s one thing to clap for “I’m Not in Love” or “The Things We Do For Love,” but they were applauding non-hits with vigor. Who were these people?

Well, it’s California so everybody is casually dressed. Like they just came from the beach, or a picnic. And they were old. Then again, so am I.

How many of these people had purchased those 10cc albums and salivated over them?

I loved, loved, LOVED the first LP with “Rubber Bullets,” but until I moved to L.A. I didn’t know another person who’d bought it. You’d read about it in the rock press, that’s how I found out about it, but there was no radio play, the way you reached customers back in the day.

The second album?

FM rock played “Wall Street Shuffle.” A little bit. No more.

The third album, “The Original Soundtrack”? Not as good as what came before, but it contained the aforementioned legendary hit, “I’m Not in Love.”

The follow-up, “How Dare You!,” had even less penetration in America than the first two albums.

Then the band split in half. There was 1977’s giant hit “The Things We Do For Love,” and then the band was essentially done.

Well, close to it anyway. “Dreadlock Holiday” was a hit everywhere but the U.S.

10cc didn’t come up in conversation. They were a private luxury, for those in the know. Who knew Graham Gouldman had written those Yardbirds and Herman’s Hermits hits and Eric Stewart had sung “Groovy Kind of Love” and…

This was not the bombast of seventies AOR. The thing about 10cc was they had a sense of humor, with a dash of intelligence thrown in. They weren’t brain dead and nor where their fans. But where does that leave you in the world of rock and roll? Fans were passionate about the music, but not the band, they didn’t get tattoos of 10cc, it was only about the music.

As it was Friday night.

3

Now if you’re of a certain vintage you remember when everybody bought a guitar and there were battles of the bands… This was as mainstream as today’s influencer culture. And unlike so much of today’s music, you had to be able to play or it didn’t work. There were no tape loops, never mind hard drives. Either you could play or you couldn’t. There was no auto-tune, if you didn’t have a great voice you had to be a phenomenal lyricist, and oftentimes that still wasn’t enough.

The band took the stage, and that was it.

As it was Friday night.

There was a row of amps and guitars, and that was it. No backdrop, no video, no special effects, NO HARD DRIVES!

There was only one prerecorded moment, that breathy vocal “Big boys don’t cry” in “I’m Not in Love,” otherwise what you saw was what you got, LITERALLY!

And that was a revelation. Far from today’s world. Because there were no TRAPPINGS!

Forget production, there were no fancy outfits, just people playing music.

And that’s when I realized my perspective had changed. The musicians, the bands, used to be gods. Now I know they’re just regular people. They used to be seen as rich, living a glamorous lifestyle. Now there are tons of people richer than musicians, and not every musician is rolling in dough. You’re putting on a show. That’s it. After doing a post mortem with Graham he told me he had to go, they had an early wake-up call. Sound glamorous? An endless string of one-nighters for a modicum of pay at this age? You’ve got to love it, because that’s all there is…the aura, it’s gone.

4

Now the one thing about the band on Friday night was they were TIGHT! I mean IMPOSSIBLY tight. It was positively astounding. Like they’d rehearsed to the nth degree, or maybe in this case have done the same show so many times they’re a well-oiled machine.

Now you can turn up the amps and create a wash of sound that covers up your mistakes, but that was not what was happening, not at all. They were playing the music, faithfully, all these years later. But with the ensuing years, some of the lyrics gained new meaning. Or maybe it was already there and I just uncovered the wisdom.

Like in “Art for Art’s Sake.”

“Money for God’s sake,” I know, I know, but…

“Gimme a silver, gimme a gold

Make it a million, for when I get old”

Wow, that’s what all these musicians are living on… THEIR PUBLISHING ROYALTIES! Which is why they’re being sold for millions. Their hit days are way behind them. They’re living on the past, if not in the past. All those credits? Ownership? Done on somewhat of a whim back then, absolutely crucial today.

“Keep me in exile the rest of my days

Burn me in hell but as long as it pays”

The lyrics are prescient. Forget where I am in the future, as long as I have my ROYALTIES, I’ll be okay!

And then there’s “The Wall Street Shuffle.”

“Oh, Howard Hughes

Did your money make you better”

Forget the platitudes, the truth is life is better with money, but to assume everybody with money is happy is just plain wrong. As a matter of fact, many are not. They were ruthless in accumulation and now have few friends and can trust almost nobody. Never mind those who inherited it and have lived a life of debauchery.

You definitely need a yen to make a mark. It doesn’t rain down from the sky willy-nilly. Yet the musicians of yore liked the money, but it was secondary to the tunes and the lifestyle, being in control of your own destiny.

All of this is encased in these 10cc songs. Which were too smart to be hits. Too insightful. Too FUNNY!

5

Now the amazing thing about this show is all the whiz-bang effects you know from the records are replicated on stage. All the percussion hits. It’s a fan’s dream.

Assuming you’re a fan.

Like I said, the applause was astounding. “Feel the Benefit” is a tour-de-force, I can see people appreciating it without knowing it, with its various movements and solos…

But for this level of reaction, for this many people to stand up clapping, you had to know the song.

Or did you?

There was a fiftysomething woman in the row behind me who knew more than the hits, but when I turned around a few songs before the end, she was gone. As were a number of the other attendees.

Now I can understand leaving if you’re not into it. Then again, tickets were not so cheap you would go on a whim. What was going on? It certainly wasn’t traffic, there is none in Thousand Oaks, and the parking structure is huge and was far from full. Is this the new normal, had they had enough, was it just too late? I’d say they were going home to relieve the babysitter, but this generation’s kids were already out of the house. Gray and white hair was rampant.

So they came out, loved it, and then had enough? Like small children, they’d reached their limit?

But the show plowed on.

6

Now I’d seen the show a year ago so it wasn’t like it was brand new, but I was dying to hear “Feel the Benefit,” and the band delivered. And their a cappella version of “Donna” is a showstopper. But what resonated most Friday night was a song I liked, but never previously loved, “I’m Mandy, Fly Me.”

It was a hit in the U.K., was released as a single in the U.S. but if you heard it on the radio, it was probably at three in the morning.

The title says it all. An in joke with sexual connotations. But what truly puts “I’m Mandy, Fly Me” over the top are the various movements, from the intro and throughout it’s anything but predictable, you’re constantly surprised. And then comes the refrain…

“I’m Mandy, fly me”

It comes around now and again, there is melody, it’s uplifting, there’s a raw optimism that’s absent in so much of today’s music, the song starts in the brain and then travels down the body as opposed to so much that begins in the genitalia and just stays there.

You listen to stuff like this and you’re on the edge of your seat, waving your arms, conducting the band like an orchestra.

I listened to the new Sabrina Carpenter album. It’s pop music, which used to be anathema back in the seventies, the lowest common denominator. But then MTV created a monoculture and Madonna came along and the Top 40 became everything and either you were on it or you weren’t. Whereas in the old days you had a vision, you executed it, and sometimes songs crossed over to the hit parade, but it was all about exploration and your statement on wax.

Like 10cc.

7

Who knows if 10cc will ever tour America again. After all, it’s a business. And if everybody is not making money, it doesn’t happen.

Roxy Music will never be seen on these shores again. They played arenas the last time through, people went, but Live Nation lost too much to do it again.

Never mind the aging of these performers. Graham Gouldman is 79. Spry, with all his marbles, never mind an amazing ability to play the bass, but no one is forever. You do it until you can’t. And that day always comes. And then you can see the band no more.

So many of the acts you’ve already seen. But probably not 10cc, who waited nearly fifty years to come back to America.

If you’re a fan of the hits, it’s your choice. But if you were a fan of the albums you must go. Because you’ve got a group of guys loving to play this music and nailing it. And if you played those records in your bedroom or on cassette in your car like I did and you were enraptured by the sound…

You may never get this chance again.