I hadn’t heard of this song but being a former mainstream club DJ I thought why not click the link.

It took me all of 7 seconds to go damn this is really good. Another 7 seconds and if I was still playing mainstream venues I would’ve started playing the s*** out of this at my gigs.

People hearing this and not giving it it’s due is kind of like the people that heard Master KG and Nomcebo’s Jerusalema which was released in late 2019 and went on to chart all over the world and has just under 450,000 streams.

I find it funny that the whole camp of musicians/writers that will say these songs are simplistic drivel are the same people that can’t write a song that gets a quarter of these streaming numbers!

My advice to them:

If it’s so easy, you do it!

Regards,

Anik Townsend

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Hey Bob

Also —

I represent producer/DJ Stryv and wanted to share this story with you about the origins of ‘Move’:

“Stryv on His Global Hit ‘Move’ & What Comes Next: ‘I Was Like, This Is So Special — Just Trust Me, This Is Crazy’ – Billboard’s Dance Rookie of the Month for February 2025, Stryv was born in Pakistan, raised in New York, and clocked a dance smash in 2024 with his Adam Port and Malachiii collab ‘Move.-”

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/stryv-move-keinemusik-dance-rookie-of-the-month-1235911856/

Megan Dembowski

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“Get Lucky (feat. Pharell Williams and Nile Rodgers”

Eric Bazilian

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This is what I call “haircut music.” You know, the mindless salon sounds.

Also, no substance and shallow.

So, really?

Jon Meyers

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The “Move” track reminds me a lot of what is coming out of South Africa lately.

Check out “Isaka (6 am) by CIZZA and see what I mean https://open.spotify.com/track/7c5uGV9Rys18JP2570ykTu?si=88d2ec778f4f4f48

Dave Richards

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Hey Bob If you like Move you should also check out “I adore you” by Hugel

Danny Whittle

IMS Co Founder

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I think I know why you like it….

It’s the changes to “Get Lucky”, but a fraction of the groove.

Jason Steidman

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Seems to me that the point of the article was that there really IS an exciting new music revolution out there. But when I hear Move I hear something old, old, old. Fine if it’s a hit but don’t try to use it to convince me that pop music nowadays is much more than recycling. That’s not the same thing as saying there aren’t enjoyable tracks for dancing or listening, or talented artists. But one can’t use it to argue that we aren’t in a decadent period. (Referencing Gioia’s and Kornhaber’s articles.)

Tom Moore

Fairfax VA

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Great article Bob.
The effective simplicity of ‘Move’ would drive the naysayers mad.They are way too clever to dream of something like this.
Your fan,
Dalmau Box

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Daft Punk and Pharrell should sue. “Move” is just “Get Lucky” up a whole step.

Jeff Eyrich

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‘And a lot of dance music is…just that, made to dance, not much
more. It fades into the woodwork’

In all honesty Bob; The f*ck do you know about dance music..

Christiaan Macdonald

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On your recommendation I listened to Move.
Bob, are you alright?
Steven Casper

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I’ve been reading you for decades, and nothing has made me happier than seeing Adam Port in your headline.

I’ve been lucky enough to watch Adam, his brothers, &Me, and Rampa (the Keinemusik crew) go from local Berlin DJs to the global players they are today. In the 2010s, I spent many summers in Berlin, where the publication I co-founded was based. While I worked from the New York office, much of what was happening in culture was centered in Berlin—and being there during those summers was something special.

Adam and Keinemusik were part of a circle of friends I was welcomed into. I credit Berlin during that time for allowing businesses like mine to thrive, and for creating the space for growth and exploration in dance music that set Adam, KM, and others on their way to massive success.

Jeff Carvalho

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Great write up, Bob. Refreshing to hear some dance takes from you!

I would just add that Keinemusik played Sahara, which you could argue is one of the main stages now, just after charli xcx on Saturday night at Coachella. One of the other members is infamously dating Naomi Campbell and while they are very famous here, they are near legendary status across the pond and all around.

All the best

Bryan Alexander

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Agreed! As a dance music aficionado, this post made me think of this track by Omar, remixed by Henrik Schwartz. Vocals by Stevie Wonder, so this was an unreleased gem for a long time, but now cleared for everywhere it looks like:

“Feeling You – Henrik Schwarz Mix”

Don Sizzle

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Keinemusik is boring AF… Charli was the moment at Coachella… I would imagine Keinemusik plays better in the background of various events/stores/bars than the much more interesting and engaging parts of Brat… Charli has 2X the listeners of Keinemusik regardless of their one “hit”.

Drew Massey

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A big shout out to you as i probably wouldn’t get a chance to get around to listening to this track for another 6 months. Thanks Bob

Donald Kasen

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Nice sounding track. I listen to a lot of tunes on the Spotify Chillout playlist that have this vibe. Not a fan of the damn auto tune……

Mike from Mission

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This is a rehash of “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk.

Or did you miss that one?

George Kahn

___________________________________________

I’ve been reading your newsletter for over 10 years and this is the first time you really covered dance music and its meteoric rise.

I am one of the co-founders of GOSPËL (voted #1 nightclub in the USA in Ibiza last summer) which had a big rise in popularity mostly because of the rise of electronic dance music. I also teach at Harvard Business School. In my opinion the dance genre is what hip-hop was in the 90s and it will keep rising in the years to come.

Thanks for covering this, I think it’s important and you what you say is true!

All the best,

Juriël Zeligman

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Adam Port’s reedy thin vocal & crap monotonous melody do nothing for me. Not a hit Bob. You’ve nailed a lot, but not this lame attempt. I would however love to see you dancing to it – Post a video please? I hear it, it ain’t a hit. Sounds so old school to me and lyrically leaves me cold.

Best,

David Glenn Middleworth

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“Girl, I really like the way you move”

https://genius.com/Adam-port-stryv-keinemusik-orso-duo-and-malachiii-move-lyrics

Then again so many of the classic rock tracks of yore…the lyrics were not much deeper, then again, it was all about the RIFF!

The Kinks had THE riff; their lyric might not be deeper, but it was sharper: “Girl, you really got me now . . .”

Steve Hurlburt

___________________________________________

Spurred on by your enthusiasm, I just listened to MOVE.  Awful.  Still looking for the hook. Bring on A.I., it can’t be any worse.  I’d rather listen to “today’s” country music.

Best,

David Leonard

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Agreed- another example from this Dutch duo-

“Because You Move Me”

Michael Wijnen

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Excited for you to dig into dance music more Bob. Lot of great House music for you to explore. Check out Kryptogram when you have a chance — he will be a star.

Timmy Haehl

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Not to mention that I heard the instrumental of this song all over social media for a long time as the background to posts and photos. I just never knew what it was or who made it.

I’d love to see a study on how social media affected its popularity.

Wendy Day

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Well, he just picked up five more streams.   I listened. Intently.   I see the streams.  I just don’t hear this as a one listen smash.

Coop

RICK COOPER MUSIC

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No idea how you got hooked on this or anyone else for that matter. There is no hook. It’s reggaeton’s slightly less annoying brother. Then again the immense number of streams for lots of the top songs suggest dumbed-down and hook-less is the way to go. People want background noise. You want a hook? Listen (again) to the Elton John/Brandi Carlile track “Who Believes in Angels.” Yeah, I know it didn’t do much for you. All I know is I hit play on that track driving my daughter and two other chatty 10 year old’s home from school and they stopped talking and listened. That is what a hit does even if it’s not a hit by today’s standards. You can’t ignore it when it confronted.

Matt Jacobs

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For those in the know Bob, Move but one of many songs in this subgenre that has seen its day. Those in the know have already moved on. Still, though, a tasty track.

Ed Shapiro

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Dear Bob,

Truly one of the most grabbing first listens since the wonderful “Wake Me Up” by

AVIICI.

Thanks.

Dennis Brent

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Sorry, Bob. I don’t give a crap this song has millions of streams all around the world. It’s a sad state of the world. It’s sad, lazy, boring drivel. It steals from those who stole from Marvin Gaye. It’s not music it’s MUZAK! I’ve spent the last few weeks listening to Andrew Hickey’s History of Rock & Roll in 500 Songs. And it gives me hope that someday someone will break through this drivel and give us Train Kept A Rollin’ or Brown Eyed Handsome Man or Drugstore Rock & Roll! I get it, we’re living in this lowest common denominator world and it’s part all the time. Just wished we weren’t.

David George

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It’s a hit ! I’m 71 and I just added to my playlist now

Victor Stent

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I don’t doubt that this is popular, but this sounds like a mobile phone commercial, and not a good one. And this is coming from a huge electronic music fan. This is dreck, no build or release, just an innocuous beat fronted by what sounds like AI-generated and auto-tuned vocals without a discernible hook. If you want some real riffs in your dance music, put on some Leftfield, Chemical Brothers, or The Prodigy.

D.C. Hannay

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I hope you weren’t  just referring to me in your commentary. I suppose not. I get the vibe for the dance,the pulsating rhythm is infectious for people in general but the autotune that goes with it is not enjoyable. When the average age of stress.ers streaming new music this is what they want. As far as people  I don’t really care what they think. Like Zappa and most genius”s I make my art for me and hopefully others like it. It is just in today’s over saturated social media world it is almost impossible to get any traction

Paul Donsanto

P.S. Hey maybe you did use my critique as your springboard for your criticism. I understand that the people listening to music on the streaming platforms now are younger then The Boomers and Generation X.I should mention NEW music mainly. I not only can play as well as anyone on the planet but have written some pretty catchable tunes. Most of them not yet streaming. I do have about 12 up there now. Some more commercial than others but a plethora of diversity. I understand that the Times They Are a Changing but there should be more than one set of algorithms ,one for the masses ,the other one for the Minority. If any of the bands and genius’s of the past were to get traction today it would be almost impossible for them to make it in today”s over populated ,mindless landscape. Can you say Beethoven,Hendrix,The Stones to name a few. I do enjoy your writing and like that you pull no punches. I have Frank Zappa’s mental approach,I don’t give a rats f*ck about what others think.I know I got something worthwhile. #theguitarmasterdisaste

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No, Bob.

It’s not bad because it’s popular.

It’s bad because it’s a facile, mundane steaming pile.

Philbillie

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Hi Bob , does this remind you of the Veldt by Deadmaus ?

John Kieselhorst

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Hey Bob – Have been reading your letters for years. My artist Stryv released “Move” with Adam Port last June. Thanks for the write-up. Would love to add some color some time and chat if you are open to it. Appreciate your letter this week more than ever before!

—
Regards,
Nicholas Parasram

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Great track, thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Just want to point out that I hear multiple elements of the afrobeats movement that has been slowly infiltrating popular music (in a good way) in Move.
Haven’t seen you write much about Burna Boy, Tems, Davido, or some of the other African names making international waves, curious if the chatter I see about these artists ever makes it your way, or if I just live in a bubble?
Thanks
Russel Kreitman

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This sound was pioneered in South Africa and is known as Afro House, Move also has elements of Amapiano, another South African dance genre.

Check out these genre playlists on Spotify if you want more of the vibe, a personal current fave is Famax by Raffa Guido – medicine music to heal the ailments of this hectic world.

Oliver Moira

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Hi,  I listened.

That which you call ?’the riff’ is just literally the chords from Daft Punk’s ‘Get lucky’.

Another stolen track, not cool in my book.

Edward Verhaeghe

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Once again Bob, you’re wise beyond your years!

These days of our lives will be “the good old days”, fifty years from now.

Why are so many paddling upstream, when it’s much more effective to chart your course while “going with the flow”??

Marshall Block from Detroit.

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Of course I have real curiosity so I went and checked out “Move”.. I agree with most of what you’re saying but living here in Europe now and seeing what is on the tube, there is a channel called “Fashion TV” and to me it really is a fascinating channel because if you really wanna hear what’s happening in EDM put on that channel and you’ll see all the biggest fashion models in the world modeling for all the biggest designers and what keeps the flow going is the music behind the videos that they shoot with all of these famous models.. and 90% of the music I would say is EDM.. and I would say a lot of it to me if being in this business for 50 years and I hope that my ear still works.. It’s very creative and has got something to it.

I could definitely see Move being a track that definitely would be behind a fashion brand with the right video and how it would definitely work.. if anybody that questions EDM music well it’s just like everything else.. there are some that really make it great and there is some that is really lousy…. Just like every other form of music…Now when I wanna hear something that gets me buzzing in EDM,  I definitely turn on the fashion channel and it’s all there by all these different artists backing up very creative visuals with dance music… and I would say that’s where a lot of these people are wearing the clothes and creating the vibe… in the clubs.. I would say that nothing like wearing the most in fashion at a great club in Ibiza and showing yourself off while you’re dancing to “Move”

Peace,Jason

Jason Miles

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The New York Times article took a global perspective and argued that there are new and interesting styles of music percolating around the world.  I find that exciting and I’d enjoy sampling it. But I’m almost 72 and don’t go to clubs and in any case a lot of dance music is for dancing, not listening. I sent the article to my 28-year old son who lives in London and does go out to clubs and to hear live music. He sends me musical recommendations occasionally. I didn’t think “Move” exemplified the sort of exciting fusions that the author described. Whether a hit or not is beside the point if what we are talking about is something really new in music. That should be subject to analysis, not mere popularity. I really liked the fusion soundtrack to the Thai White Lotus, which for some crazy reason I can’t find on Qobuz. But sometimes soundtracks that work in a show aren’t for listening either.

Tom Moore

Fairfax VA

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I love your insights around the Adam Port track and, even more, your thoughts about the negative pushback that you’ve received from readers.

Music to Trump and back to music.

As a lowish level artist and – albeit British – follower of US politics, it all connects for me.

I can even stomach the ‘NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU THINK!’  I’ve always liked your tough medicine. Please keep doing what you’re doing; it’s meaningful and valued.

Jake Williams / Rex The Dog

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You’re unpacking a lot of hate on people who don’t share your opinion here.

I get it, you love the track.  To others, it’s MEH!  They (we) just don’t find it as amaze-balls as you do.

To me, it’s a long intro that never takes off.  Pound me with hooks, THEN it’s a hit.

Bob Davis

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100% Bob.

It blows my mind that there are so many bands/artists that can now do 30 dates in Europe, 30 dates in America, 30 dates in Asia playing to 3000 people a night and you’ll never hear about them in mainstream media.

‘Officially’, they’re unheard of BUT they’re grossing over $100K a night 90/100 nights a tour.

It may not be big time but with merch on top it’s sustainable and these guys are living the dream.
They’re not the least bit bothered they’re under the mainstream media’s radar and why would they be.

Sau Marcus

P.S ‘Move’ is a banger

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Can you not hear the Pharrell “Happy” or whatever that song was underneath the riff that’s why it’s so catchy if you think it’s catchy which I do not thank you so
NOAH K LESSER

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Good lord Bob, it’s a #3 with cheese. Deep dive into this genre, nothing to see here, he just got lucky.

Billy Chapin

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It’s a transient trifle, that is nonetheless a goes-down-easy, hits-the-hips groove ideal for today’s disco dance floor. Soon forgotten, but will end up on one of those Dance Hits of the 2020’s compilations. You may have oversold it, Bob, but you are correct.

Cameron Dilley

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Yeah, well I get the reasoning as to why this is a hit, but quite frankly I’ve heard way more catchy and exciting, similar but original, not manufactured to a formula, songs by original Goan and Punjabi artists playing on the speakers at my local award winning Goan curry restaurant, compared to those this sounds muted, repetitive in a bad way and manufactured, like so many concocted dance ‘hits’.  In this particular case, I reckon 500,000,000 listeners can be wrong!

 

TonyB from down under

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As a professional songwriter, I feel like I’m a very tough critic and fair judge of music. A lot of traditional folks don’t understand EDM because it’s not guitars, drums and riffs. It’s based on a vibe. Do I like this song? No. But I get why it got popular. It’s a simpler fan base. They don’t need country music breakups and elaborate storytelling. They want a good beat, a catchy lyric or melody and room to dance.

Danny “Jay” Jacobson

Nashville, TN

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I enjoy your opinions — and your willingness to take the heat on them!

Reading your comments and listening to “Move” has me putting it in the same category as William’s “Happy”  or “Gangham Style” — infectious, but unlikely to be studied in graduate programs in musicology.

Keep on making us think…

Michael Alston

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It’s good but I can see more clearly why this one was successful  – same stream count.

“Because You Move Me”

 

 

Michael McCarty

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Thank you for taking the time to do a post mortem on the responses to Move. I am in the hater category and you are right, no one cares!

To your point, I CAN see why it’s a hit given where the music world is at this point in time. Hooks still matter but it’s more about vibe. Maybe along the lines of music that accompanies an experience versus music that IS the experience. My perspective is more a matter of, I don’t WANT it to be a hit because I WANT “Who Believes in Angels” to be a hit. But it’s not, and that’s the way it it. The public is indeed the gatekeeper and we are witnessing the shift in what a hit sounds like when record labels don’t control the narrative. Take care. ~Matt

Matt Jacobs

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I played the track, and liked it. 63 male life long music lover of mostly guitar based melodic blues rock.

I let it play on to see what the algs introduced me to…we’ll see…

What, are you never going to try a new recipe, restaurant, book, movie, ski run ever again? You’ll like some and some not, but the point is trying.

Steve Hopkins

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I always appreciate your take. And can’t argue with streams.

But here’s the thing you don’t answer – what are artists supposed to glean from this? Repeating three chords and MORE GODDAMNED AUTO TUNE will get you a hit?

Comparing this with, say, “Somebody I Used To Know” or “Blinding Lights”, there is nothing to it. I would never want to listen to this again, and even though I don’t listen to pop, those two songs had something to grab onto.

In this tune, there’s no songwriting, no rise and fall, no drama. It’s the flavor of the week but it’s utterly forgettable. Nobody will play this in a year, even six months.

Daryl Shawn

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Sounds great but it seems to use the exact same chord sequence as “Get Lucky,” which is already embedded in all our brands.

David Vawter

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Nah. Sounds like all the other pushbutton pop. I’ll stick to John Cale.

Bob Anthony

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Great groove.  I LOVE it!  Dance on, Bob!

ELF

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I listened to the song.

I was always one who could appreciate a well-constructed dance track even though I have five left feet. But I think you are dividing the population by old and young erroneously. Anyone of any age could tap their foot to Move. When people, especially those in some way affiliated with the arts, listen to a pop song, they strive to relate to the artistry therein. I think Move is difficult for many to appreciate because it is so synthetic, so computer generated, it contains near zero humanity. I think it is more difficult to appreciate the artistry in a machine-made recording. Once you are two shots of tequila and a beer into your evening and focused on some version of social interactivity, Move gets the job done, at least for this very brief moment in time. Big deal.

Micah Sheveloff

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Check out Echolocation!!

A San Diego trio that is up and coming!

Josh Gruenberg

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Obvious copied “Get Lucky” entire chord structure.

 

Lindsey C. Spight

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‘Move’ is right in the hyper-pop formula soup. 4 chords that just cycle and outline a “riff” in the voicing. Perhaps more importantly, it’s also hypnotic and immersive -consider the drenched ‘deep mix’ placement of the vocals. And, the lyrics are, ahem, “naughty.”..that, I’d suggest, being the key word in the lyric.  All of which points to the idea that this track is perhaps less about dancing and more about sex, on repeat, which might help explain the play count.

Chris Desmond

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It’s a hit all right. Daft Punk made it, what 10 years ago? 20? I miss Nile Rodgers’ guitar track, though

Joe Henderson

Yonkers NY

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Please explain how this song is innovative!
The reason you are hearing from musicians (who you disdain) is that the song is awful music and the lyrics are embarrassing.

peter grant

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Move is just a re-write of  of Get Lucky

Dale Janus

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Familiar set of chords. Immediately hear Daft Punk Get Lucky. Only more vocal adjustments.

Cate Cahill

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Your strident defense of this song and calling it art of neglects to take into account that it is a very basic song which is not a criticism but a fact. The hooks, for me, were weak. Everybody has different taste let them vent. Just because you like it means one thing only…you like it. A broader discussion is your assertion that this song is art. I guess you could call anything that a person or a machine creates art. But by the same token most art sucks.

D. Mark MacGillvray
Sotheby’s International Realty

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No sour grapes here, not even any judgment as to whether it’s a good song. Just sharing the observation that it’s the same chords as Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, up a whole step and a little faster. Could its big appeal be about how familiar it sounds to another song that was a big hit?

 

-Marcus Ryle

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I’ve always loved this clip from Stephen Carpenter of the Deftones discussing simple vs complex in terms of music and popularity.  I pulled 60 seconds of the interview from the Ernie Ball YouTube interview.  https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxWrwjfgphathgNpKCmzddueEMRd6LQ7Dx?si=zuC3q0sQ8PGAqhVB

Jim Blaney

Nashville

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I am a bit confused about why you utilizing “Move” as the vehicle for your thinking. I entirely admit that I know nothing about how to make a hit song, wright one, do it sufficient justice in the recording in production, and certainly not in the marketing of such.

However, I do know something about craft in all of these previously mentioned aspects of the music industry, despite never myself having written or fielded any work that drew any distinction itself at all.

Well, if I nothing inherently wrong with “Move” , and it certainly falls within many of the current paradigm’s such as Downtempo, easily digestible, repeatable, catchphrases “girl you want to party” “listen to your body” is great for Saturday night dancefloor, but it fails on many other levels. It has no outstanding hook, nor are any of the sounds and ideas used in the composition either new, or new in juxtaposition. It certainly is a hit of the moment, but they did not hit it out of the ballpark, like, for example, last decades “Uptown Funk”, which had some of the same issues as “Move” yet managed to be catchy and ladened with hooks vocal and instrumental.

My two cents

Jesse Walkershaw

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I don’t think you get it. I totally understand it and I don’t care. It’s drivel.

You’re an intellect. You know music.

Music is extremely subjective, more so now than ever!

My business hat screams lowest common denominator for the masses. This is what they wanted us to listen to in the 1950s when rock and roll was still being played for adults in backwoods gin houses and on the chitlin’ circuit. Then rock and roll had an identity and the Beatles and the Kennedys opened a whole new world. People started thinking. Suddenly, the latte 60s and early 70s had singer/songwriters with intelligent lyrics and songs that spoke right to our hearts and the man wanted to shut us down. Then the rock and roll was at its height in the 80s with the big ROCK bands. The end of the 80s became a quagmire of derivative stuff all over and then Seattle broke it open. Hip Hop also did that. EDM (generalization) has had a niche since the… I’d say 80s (I loved it then, love it now)… but it wasn’t until the raves brought in the masses like a Timothy Leary dance party. Check in and tune the f*ck out!

Show me your positive feedback, please! I’m not harping on Spotify. I love Spotify and YouTube music. It’s how I make money and am able to listen to a zillion tracks of music!

I had my moment and had a blast. I toured North America. Had my music on TV and in Films. I got to play guitar for a legend for a couple years performing on Letterman and Leno. I’ve done everything I’ve wanted and now my focus has turned. I still make music, but it’s a whole different ball of wax.

“Move” is sh*te. That’s all I have to say.

Thanks.

David George

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I kind of get your get your overall point with the Move missives. I think. Don’t complain, understand the audience, and make music that appeals to more people.  Sounds like good advice.

 

I don’t know if using a dance track to make that point, though, was the best example.

 

In dance, if a track gets hot in clubs for period of time, it can stream big numbers.  Dance producers/DJs tend to over-index in streams compared to their popularity  with the general public.

 

You have dance artists like Tinlicker and Nicky Romero with individual tracks that have 500 million streams on Spotify.  And relatively new DJs like John Summit whose tracks regularly surpass 100M streams.

 

This doesn’t really happen in other “niche” genres.

 

I’m not a big fan of Active Rock, but I’m not sure why you constantly use that genre as one not to emulate. It’s pretty small in the music world, but those acts tend to over-index in ticket sales. Ask Danny Wimmer how he’s done promoting Active Rock festivals in the last decade or so. Also, I don’t think too many of those acts wear leather jackets—or any kind of leather clothing—anymore.

 

I think your usual advice for artists to try to write songs with hooks and melodies sung by a great voice probably makes the most sense to the general musician who is writing you to complain.

 

But they could also cultivate a persona and immerse themselves in a culture and have tremendous success without ever having a “hit.”  There are so many  scenes that embrace artists if they focus on serving those audiences.  From jam band to jazz,  darkwave to hyperpop, if an artist finds a niche and does it well, they can make a solid living from music—maybe even a great one.

 

Seth Keller

___________________________________________

It doesn’t matter who the artist is or what the medium; art, food, writing, music, architecture, film, wine are about creation as you say and they elicit an emotional response, or not. That doesn’t make each effort inherently brilliant or crap. We used to make fun of Rolling Stone album reviews, right?. For good reason, we aren’t all moved by the same thing. Art is as subjective as anything can be. Word of mouth from your posse is about all most people want to know about.

RE Louie Louie, a great garage song, some people still didn’t care for it and that’s okay. I didn’t find Move all that interesting (its not Jackson Pollock or a Campbells Soup Can). A nice beat, but there was nothing there that stood out to me or made me want to hear it again. It’s not groundbreaking but it’s okay if you like it. MMMBop was a simple ditty but I loved it and will turn it up anytime its on.

In the wine business, I used to tell people, its’ not important if you don’t like a particular wine, what’s important is to find one you like. It makes no difference what someone else thinks. You could like one costing $20 and dislike one that costs $100. So what. It’s way there is more than one kind of everything.

The really committed musicians don’t seem to care what people are looking for, they are following their own instincts.

John Brodey

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be contrarian than to work on oneself…Turns out that enlisting oneself to be the biggest fan of the realest version of oneself is really, really hard esp. when the aggregate of most of us is a combination of low self esteem and entitlement. There’s a reason why we can’t be the center of all things as the aggregate of which, as we find out quickly, is void of joy even to the most enlightened which is why it is so important that we choose carefully esp. those first few steps else we get off track…and right quick. This is where Galloway steps in as he’s spot on talent v. passion. But alas the allure of delusion is far too strong and we are much too weak as most of us lack discipline due in large to the overinflated sense of our personal brands, as sold to us by social media, brands that never materialized, manifested into clay that then could be shaped into a sense of self worth. What’s left? Lashing out. Hence, the degree of castigation towards the flavor of the day as that flavor is a reminder of our shortcomings.

Marty Winsch

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You’re still meaningless.  I sour whenever you try to equate your bologna with art.  It’s not. It’s never moved me emotionally. You’re a mindscribe and that’s another word for “critic”. Fine you’ve got a readership but how many dumbfuxks open their email and read it for ten minutes which is the average time it takes you to make a point about something else. Your skis your musical taste your expensive medical care.  Doesn’t move hearts dear bob.  You fiddle with minds and love the bite back. Otherwise you’d have. No reason to write cause you don’t create anything new. You comment…

Ian McCrudden

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We whine and preen. You dial it in. That’s why, agree or not, we read you, Bob.

Cameron Dilley

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Bob I usually agree with you but on this one I just don’t hear it. Song doesn’t grab me or make me want to even hear it again. If I was on the dance floor pumped up on stimulants maybe. I just drove from southwest Michigan to Detroit last week to see Fontaines DC which absolutely floored me with how good the band was!  That’s music I can listen to over and over again!  I can’t wait until they hit Chicago (I couldn’t attend Chicago gig only a hour away compared to Detroit over 2.5 hours) again to give them whatever they want for the ticket!  It was that good!

David Wolnik

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I’ll be honest, I don’t hear a riff and there’s nothing that would make we want to return after two listens. There’s no hook, it’s not bad but it’s def not great. The vocal is not original either. I mean, who isn’t doing this type of vocal, it’s all over hip hop tunes these days.

I can’t agree with you here.

Adam Franklin

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Bob, I presume you’re talking about Adam Port’s track?  I finally searched it out on Spotify.. Well, guess what? I LIKE IT..haha…and I’ll tell ya why.  It’s simple and SHORT. I like simple production values..I’ve been recording for 50 years and if there’s one thing I’ve learned is that people only hear a melody and a beat..Everything else is just icing on a cake.  I’m not a fan of autotune but when it’s done right it adds to the atmosphere especially in that genre  i.e. EDM etc. My first hit record in Toronto was written when I was sixteen. I considered it a throw away.. Three chord wonder. It wasn’t until I was about 23 when I entered it in the Q-107 Homegrown contest in Toronto in 1980..A four track demo we recorded in one afternoon in a studio I’d never seen or heard of.  We went up against bands with sixteen track recordings…No one was more surprised than me when we were included on the same vinyl record of twelve original songs by various bands in T.O. culminating in sold out shows at the El Mocambo. (Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Todd Rundgren) And the rest is history. It certainly put Me on the map. Hell, I had to put a new version of the band together just to do that one off show..I had broken up the band six months earlier to come off the road to be with my wife and newborn daughter…Funny how things go…;You just never know! Keep up the good work!

Randy Dawson

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What’s most important is that YOU like it. F*ck everyone else!

Dan Millen

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This is the banana and duct tape all over again.
Insert standard arguments for/against.

Jer Gervasi

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and this is where I unsubscribe. It’s been fun Bob, Goodbye.

-max lee

1

“Are you the original owner of this car?”

What does that have to do with the smog test? And I’m wary of giving the wrong answer but I say yes and the guy starts asking me questions about my car and then he starts smiling…HE WANTS TO BUY IT!

For years no one even knew what it was. And as a result of making it for only two years and Saab going out of business my 9-2x was worth less than the equivalent WRX, even though it was better appointed, with the steering from the STi and…my nephew alerted me a couple of years back that prices were soaring, to a level high above the Subaru version, much higher,  you could get about 10k for a clean machine with the equivalent mileage…but mine’s only clean under the hood, the paint job is execrable. You get something for your money. You can pay twice as much for a BMW and it won’t drive a whole hell of a lot better but it’ll have better sound insulation and a computer and other technology and…

This guy knew what my 9-2x was. More than he was letting on at first. Because he wanted a deal. And I was tempted, except for the fact that I went through a previous experience with the stereo installer on my last BMW and he lowballed me to the point where I ended up giving it away to my friend Leo. And after almost a decade, Leo sold it to some kid who had two, he was going to assemble one good car out of both, and I was driving down a side street in Culver City and I saw a car that looked like my old one and I checked the license plate and it was! I lowered my window and yelled to the guy inside…THAT’S MY CAR, YOU’RE DRIVING MY CAR! But it didn’t mean anything to him. I’d bought that car new, drove it for twenty years and felt an endless ownership position, but that’s not how this teenager saw it.

And when that car had too many problems to fix, after I put in too much money trying to fix it, I bought this one.

At first I road-tested the WRX. Because after driving BMWs I needed a performance automobile. And the WRX had great performance, but a ride so stiff it would send me to the orthopedist, so I passed.

But then Jim Rondinelli told me about the 9-2x, which had a softer suspension and I test drove it and got $7500 off because Leo worked for a GM affiliate (at this point GM owned Saab), and I was never really happy. My twenty year old BMW had a computer, sensors that told you when the oil was low, never mind the pressure, and this car had basically…nothing.

And you want to feel good about a new automobile, and every once in a while a valet parker would remark on it, because they’re into hot cars, and this was one, the tuner automobile of choice at the time, not that I ever changed anything but the stereo.

But after making my peace with the 9-2x, I started to get into it. Because it has amazing performance. It’s four wheel drive and turbocharged, from back when almost no cars were turbocharged, never mind having a hood scoop, and on the canyon roads, weaving my way in traffic on the 405, on Mulholland, it was a blast to drive, STILL IS!

But it hasn’t been trouble-free. Even though “Consumer Reports” just rated Subaru the most reliable car in the world. Then again, the repairs were much cheaper than they were at the BMW dealership. I mean how much can you charge a Subaru owner? (Which is where I have the car serviced, the Subaru dealership…they see Subarus all day long, I want someone who knows the car to work on it. I know I’m paying a premium, but it’s for peace of mind.)

So, my car is twenty years old. And I have no desire to get a new one. Which is funny, because years ago, back in the seventies, even the eighties, I’d obsess about cars. I mean if someone dropped a new one on me I wouldn’t complain, but odds of it driving a whole hell of a lot better than this one are very low. It’d be quieter, more luxurious, but on the streets of L.A…

It gets terrible gas mileage, and requires premium, but it’s paid for, and registration is very cheap, even though insurance is not, the companies know what the car is and charge appropriately. They don’t care that I’m not street-racing.

2

So I think every state requires smog testing these days, but back in the last century, California was one of the first, if not the very first. And for a while, you could scam it. Pay the tester and get a certificate. But they put the kibosh on that, furthermore everything is now computerized, results are sent directly to the DMV and…

It’s hard to beat the system.

But it’s not that hard to fail the test.

Actually, just when they started smog testing I took my BMW 2002 in and it failed. But back then the outlets could fix it, now most stations are test only. And they charged me fifty bucks to squirt a two dollar can of cleaner into the carburetor and I felt ripped-off, but the car hadn’t driven that well in years! And, needless to say, it passed.

But that car got totaled and I purchased a new BMW, and after about ten years (I own/drive the cars until they die) it didn’t pass the test, and I was broke to boot, I didn’t have the money to fix it. But the tech told me to drive it on the freeway really hard for about ten miles and to come back, and then it passed.

As far as this car goes, the Saab 9-2x, it’s been smooth sailing, except for this one time…

I was in Santa Monica and they wouldn’t pass me because they said a hose exhibited cracks. And I brought it to Subaru to be fixed and the head mechanic was incensed. Told me that’s an exhaust-only hose and it lasts forever and he gave me the name of his guy deep in the Valley and I went there and the car passed no problem, and it has continued to pass.

But now it’s twenty years old. Nothing lasts forever.

So I go to the Smog Stop today knowing if there’s a problem I’ve got enough time to run to the Subaru shop and…

The guy wants to buy my car. I was tempted to have him make me an offer, but I realized no matter what he said I was never going to sell it, because then I’d have to buy a new car!

So after about ten or fifteen minutes this same guy comes into the waiting room with a smile on his face and says “Your car is ready!”

And then I go outside to the cash register and he takes my credit card and then he tells me I’m going to have to come back.

Huh? This I wasn’t prepared for, my anxiety had dissipated, what the hell went wrong?

So this guy points to two elements on the printout. Even highlights them in yellow. And I’m getting ready to drive straight to Subaru Sherman Oaks when he says… “Did you get a new battery?”

YES!

But what does that have to do with it.

And he starts spewing gobbledygook that I don’t understand but ultimately there’s a communication breakthrough and it becomes clear… The oxygen sensor and the computer are reset when you install a new battery, and you have to drive the car fifty to a hundred, maybe two hundred miles before the machine can get a reading.

And I hadn’t driven that far.

He told me to drive steadily for fifty to a hundred miles on the freeway and it should take care of the problem.

Yeah, right. I’m skeptical, I’m going to come for a retest and the only difference will be I’ll fail closer to the drop dead date for renewal, but then the guy says my car PASSED!

Now wait a minute…

He said it was all good, but he needed these two other readings to give me a certificate and…

I didn’t know what to think.

But ultimately I drove off the lot with kind of a smile on my face.

I reset the trip odometer. I’ll wait until the end of the month and go back.

Will it pass?

I wanted my anxiety extinguished, yet it’s still flickering. But that’s life, nothing is easy, nothing ever goes smoothly.

No, let me restate that. EVERYTHING does not go smoothly. And oftentimes it’s not what you expect.

Like I’m flying home from Toronto and there’s an emergency on the plane. They’re calling for a doctor, more than once. And the flight attendants are running up and down the aisle and there are more announcements over the PA and…after I get over the shock of what might be happening back there, I realize…

This plane may have to make an emergency landing. You read about it all the time. For one person they’ll do this, that’s the value of a life, it exceeds everybody else’s needs.

So I was prepared for a really long day but we made it to L.A. and they held us on the plane and the paramedics came on and escorted this guy off and I got in on time, but…

You never know.

Simple can be great.

That’s the main complaint I’m getting in the second round of feedback, that there’s not enough there, the track employs auto-tune, a much more complicated record is superior and deserves attention!

Does this mean “Louie Louie” sucks, or “Satisfaction”?

Separate the art from the artisan.

Frank Stella couldn’t draw but became a legendary abstract painter with his protractor series.

Art is about the conception.

Yeah, you could make a Jackson Pollock (who did know how to draw), but you never came up with the idea until AFTER the fact.

We lionize the innovator, the progenitor, not the imitator.

Furthermore, our educational system does not focus on blue sky/test the limits innovation, it teaches rules, to the book. This will teach you how to do it, but not how to COME UP WITH IT!

All you’ve got to know about “Move” is people hear it and have to play it again. Ask yourself why.

But that’s too difficult for many, they need to analyze why it sucks. Which cracks me up completely. Just because it isn’t done your way according to your precepts that means it can’t possibly have any redeeming factors?

The people I hear most from are the musicians. They’ve slaved their lives away and they’ve never had a hit, so this simple song doesn’t deserve success, furthermore, THEIRS DOES!

The idea…

It’s much easier to listen to hit songs and try to imitate them.

As for the ability to play… Sure, there are virtuosos, but do you need to be a virtuoso to write a hit tune? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

It’s hysterical. You’ve been practicing your instrument for decades, you’ve got a studio in your home, you’ve labored over your productions for days, if not weeks, and then these punks who only know how to play a computer keyboard come and steal your thunder, eat your lunch.

HOW FANTASTIC IS THAT?

Isn’t that the ethos of punk?

Punk stripped it all down. Beat on the brat with a baseball bat? It was so simple and stupid and funny as to be great. The Ramones were all about conception. They wore leather jackets…Joey Ramone was about as dangerous as a flea, it was all posturing. And very few got it at first, only other musicians, primarily in England, who embraced the sound. Actually, it took DECADES for the masses to catch up with the Ramones, that’s how far ahead of the game they were. Not because they were experts on their instruments, but because they used their BRAINS!

I see the same thing in the literary world. People from the Iowa Workshop rewrite their tomes ad infinitum to the point they’re too dense and oftentimes barely comprehensible, putting style before substance. And then someone comes along who focuses on plot instead of style and triumphs commercially AND THEY CAN’T HANDLE IT! They go back to their teaching jobs laying bogus information upon another generation of soon to be failed writers.

Your experience is a jumping off point, not the end all and be all.

Three chords and a beat? That used to be enough, but not anymore. Hell, you may only need one chord…and that can be INNOVATIVE!

But the arbiters of truth keep telling us otherwise. They sit in judgment.

This is why the Grammys are so bogus. They can’t recognize true genius and have missed the mark ad infinitum. Because the people judging…they’ve paid their dues but real stars don’t have time to sit and debate records, they’re too busy making them!

Everybody who comes along and does it some way new is excoriated by the old. But it’s the old who are missing the point. The cheese has been moved. You can stay in the past, but don’t try to bring the rest of us back there with you, which is what you want.

The lame movie directors who insist their productions must be seen in theatres. Why? The public has moved on, the home experience is much better, it’s on demand, there are no interruptions and people have giant screens with great resolution.

Kind of like the music business that tried to convince us CDs were better than MP3s.

And then we heard for years that the MP3’s sound sucked. So now even better than CD quality is streamable and how many people care? ALMOST NONE! Turns out most people weren’t clamoring for better sound, just those lost in the past.

I’m not saying sound is not important, I’m just saying if your argument is based on protecting the past…

As for musical training, skill… I hate to tell you, they’re not necessary for successful art, for that you need an idea. Hell, you might even get other people to execute it!

But sour grapes rules.

I hear it myself. The main criticism of my writing isn’t that I’m wrong, BUT I’M A WORTHLESS PIECE OF SH*T WHO SHOULD STOP WRITING AND CRAWL BACK INTO THE HOLE THAT I CAME OUT OF.

So their principles can rule.

But I’ve earned my place in the firmament whereas they’ve never tried to play. Why don’t you start writing. Oh, you can talk, but everybody can. Writing so people will read it, have a reaction to it? That’s much harder. And the day you start is not the day you’re great.

But they criticize the writing too. It’s not in the proper style.

Meanwhile, I’m laughing ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK!

Which some of the complainers work at. They didn’t take the road less traveled, they didn’t want to go into the great unknown, and they don’t want you to either.

The public is hungry for the new and different. And if you think that it’s going to look and sound exactly like the past…

You’ve got another think coming!

So you can’t understand it. You think it’s awful drivel.

You’re entitled to your opinion, but can you step back, put on your business hat and see why it’s a hit?

NO!

It’s trash and that’s all there is to say about it.

Now in truth I got much more positive feedback than negative feedback about “Move.” But it is this definitive opinion that something that is popular, that is embraced by the masses can’t be good that is contributing to the division in our world, both culturally and politically. I mean if you can’t understand the viewpoint of the other side, irrelevant of whether you agree with it…

The younger generation looks at music differently. They either like it and listen to it or they don’t like it and don’t listen to it. It’s a binary world. They don’t feel a need to excoriate those who like something different.

This oldster thinking is a relic of the twentieth century, when we lived in a smaller, much more comprehensible world, when there were guys in leather jackets and black jeans who’d never been laid telling us what was good and bad. Now no one listens to those people. Criticism in general has faltered, because no one is trustworthy and you really want to listen to the opinion of someone who knows your tastes, as opposed to someone who laughs at it.

If you can’t understand why “Move” is such a successful track…

That means you don’t understand the music business. Which is fine, but I’ve got so many writers telling me that “Move” sucks and THEIR track is much better!

Well, the barrier to entry is essentially zero, why doesn’t your cut have 500+ million streams on Spotify?

Oh, that’s right, the game is RIGGED!

We hear excuses like this across society. If you’re not winning, the game is stacked against you. And in some cases it is, but in most the purveyors are not that talented, their complaints have more substance than their music, and they spend the majority of their time complaining as opposed to making music.

There are still Democrats who can’t understand why Trump won. They believe everybody who voted for Trump is a tool. Now some of them are, but a lot of them are not. A lot of them felt bamboozled by the Democratic Party which kept telling us Biden was capable and then foisted the undesirable Harris upon us. Hell, even Amy Klobuchar went on record this morning that there should have been a Democratic primary.

BUT NO!

It’s orthodoxy. If you voted for Trump you hate women and the rule of law and should be ignored. When in truth the border was overrun and economics were not good.

Now don’t argue with the points, because that’s not my point. The question is can you UNDERSTAND what the other side is thinking, can you weigh it and separate the wheat from the chaff?

No, everybody who voted for Trump is a loser who should not be given the time of day!

And the funny thing is so many people who voted for Trump know that you feel this way about them and this is one of the reasons they voted for Trump!

Why do you so definitively have to hate on “Move”? In truth, no one cares about your opinion, listen or don’t, it’s your prerogative. The old school gatekeepers are gone, the public is the gatekeeper today, the game is wide open.

And unlike in politics, the choice is not binary. It’s not either or. You can listen to this and that. And if you like more than one thing it increases overall consumption of music, and…

This is what we’re seeing across the board. Acts that can sell out stadiums that are not universally liked. The press doesn’t acknowledge this, it would have you believe today’s big musical acts are icons, when they have less impact overall than all the superstars of the recorded music era and…

If you’re making a big deal about what you hate…

I’m just trying to edify you here. A song you may not have known has more streams than the songs the press is telling you are hits. Why is this? How did this happen? When you just say “Move” sucks you’re completely missing the point.

But that’s the modern day world, where everybody gets a voice on the internet, and everybody is frustrated that someone has more of a footprint/impact/money than they do.

That’s the main complaint… Someone else is successful and you’re not.

Maybe you’ve got something, a spark, a talent, but understanding the landscape might help you turn it into a success.

However, all we hear is social media is bad, Spotify doesn’t pay enough and while we’re at it, ticket prices are too high! When social media breaks records, Spotify is the #1 payer in music and ticket prices are only high because people are willing to pay them. 

Sure, you can stay home, but more interesting is trying to determine what is going on, why is this selling and this is not.

If you want to be successful in any endeavor today, you must hook the audience. After you’ve made it you can explore and test limits, but a hit is what allows you to do this. Sans hit, no one wants your drivel.

And a hit is just something that people can’t get enough of. Oftentimes it can’t be quantified. Hell, do you see Alice in Chains’ “Rooster” in all kinds of all-time charts? No, but if you’ve ever listened to it, it’s got this magic…

I get it. You’re frustrated. You think you know better. But the only way you can succeed in today’s world is to jump in, become part of the morass as opposed to sitting on the sidelines.

“Rolling Stone” is irrelevant. Even Pitchfork means little. All the old arbiters have been torn down. And this makes the scene incomprehensible, you don’t know what to listen to or watch, but it allows everything to have a chance, to begin from the same starting line.

You think you know better. But I’m going to let you in on a little secret. NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU THINK!

And the sooner you accept this, the more successful you will be.

Sure, some people care what some people have to say, but you have to EARN your attention, and it happens slower than it did in the pre-internet era, but it happens.

It’s a lot of work. And there is great stuff out there. We’re all looking for it. I can understand why the Kendrick Lamar/Drake bitchfest was successful, but that does not mean I want to listen to the tracks. Hell, even Questlove said it was the end of hip-hop.

But the truth is people want something to believe in, something to defend, something to live for. Will they live for you?

Possibly, but you’ve got to catch fire first. That’s the primary skill of the social media influencers, their train-wreck value. But they gain your attention in very innovative ways.

You think if you shout loud enough everybody will listen. But we live in the age of cacophony, not everybody has an audience, most people’s voices are ignored. How do you get people’s attention?

That’s job #1.

And the best way to do this is to understand the game. Why certain things are successful and certain things are not.

But people would rather say the baseball player with fifty home runs a season sucks. Do you think that opinion is gaining any traction?

Maybe on talk radio, which specializes in conflict, but…

If anyone gains traction and maintains it today, ask yourself why.

It’ll help you.