First everybody was gonna have a website, then they were gonna have a blog, then a page on Facebook and now pictures on Instagram. What do all these endeavors have in common? They’re passing fads. Because it was too much work and too few people were paying attention.

America is evolving into niches. I’m not talking entertainment, I’m talking people themselves. Zuckerberg has it right that we want private groups, because these are the only people who care about us.

It was all about garnering attention. But after you connected on Facebook with all the people you went to school with and distanced yourself from for good reason, what was your next move?

It’s kind of like the seventies. After the tumultuous sixties, we had the back to the land movement. And the personal development movement, i.e. EST, and Tom Wolfe labeled the era the “Me Decade.”

We are on the verge of another Me Decade. History repeats, but always with a twist. People are overwhelmed with information. They can’t make sense of it. They’re trying to figure out how to tune it out.

Yes, you have the coastal baby boomers with their anti-smartphone campaigns, but ignore them, they just want to jet back to a past that will never come back. Your smartphone opens your life, makes it easier, and it’s all personalized to you. This is the personalization that will become prominent in the twenties.

I’m not talking about tech personalization, robot personalization, algorithm personalization, this personalization will come from the users themselves. They’ll choose the info they want and the people they want to connect with. And it will be relatively few.

The internet allows us to reach everybody, but everybody is not listening. We had the Vine people, and now the social media “influencers.” They’re a fad. Because the truth is most people don’t care about them. Sure, there’s room for a few big ones, but…

I’ll give you an example. Wipe out your Twitter account and start over. Good luck getting the same number of followers. Or start a new Facebook page and see how many friends you can garner. That’s something people did years ago that they’re no longer into, they delete the invites. As for Instagram, fine if you’re posting the photos for your friends, for your circle, but if you think you can reach more, you’re deluded.

That’s right, putting on your best face, curating your image, that will be passe. We’re evolving into a more honest era, where it’s all about what your friends think of you. And the truth is they’ll forgive flaws, that’s what makes you human. And all those makeup tutorials on YouTube, the purveyors are going to give up and not be replaced.

This is a complete reset. A disassembling of the twentieth century model of gatekeepers and number ones. And the early internet model of virality. Virality is almost dead. No one has the time for it. If your friend recommends something, you’ll check it out, otherwise you’ll ignore it.

Friends have points of reference. There will be a switch to real life as opposed to internet life. Of course friends will utilize the internet and the smartphone to ease their existence, but they’ll mostly use these tools to gain information and communicate with their friends.

So marketing will become ever more difficult.

But also the aspirational culture we live in will decline. Everybody wanted to be rich and famous. Turns out very few people can be rich and famous. So why try? Everybody was gonna write an app, nobody does that anymore. Apps are something you get for free, they’re not a way to get rich.

As for getting rich… The millennials and Gen-Z are far different from their forebears. It’s not enough just to have money, how did you earn it, do you give back? Forget the disinformation paraded in the media, about influencers frolicking and flying on private jets. Everybody’s resetting their aspirations. They want fulfillment, not fame. And no one can be as famous as the stars of yesteryear.

It’s like America will become a nation of small towns. Because you don’t want to feel like a number.

Amazon is becoming the king of advertisers, because that’s where you go to shop, you only see ads for what you’re interested in. Google is losing. As for the ads you get in websites, where Facebook and Google triumph? Turns out algorithms don’t work, because they’re not personal. We’re looking for the personal touch in the machine age. Start with honesty and credibility and work from there. Everybody hates spam.

And you can be on TV and unknown.

Have an article about you in the paper and get no traction.

You’ve got to infect group by group. And the process is much slower, even though the internet is instantaneous.

We’re overloaded, we’re fatigued with what’s going on. We don’t want to hear about new, new, new, we just want to have relationships with a few enterprises and call it a day.

The internet barons are out of touch because they think tech solves all problems.

But that is untrue. And the public knows it.

So everybody will have a story and only their close friends will know it.

And everyone will be happier.

What kind of crazy, fucked-up world do we live in where a Korean boy band sings to track and blows away every performance on SNL this year?

One in which Blackpink has been the highlight of Coachella so far.

I mean you want to hate BTS, on principle. It’s manufactured, we’ve seen this movie before.

Only we haven’t. We thought NSYNC could dance? There’s no Joey Fatone in BTS and the moves were more complicated and executed flawlessly.

And the song was pop, not hip-hop.

Oh, how far we’ve gotten from the garden.

I was talking to Susan Rosenbluth, she went on the road with the band, she told me the girls know all the dances and now I get it!

That’s right, the Koreans know more about music than the Americans, at least those in the music industry. We’ve gotten so far from the garden, we don’t even know what an apple is anymore. The labels and the media tell us it’s all hip-hop all the time, but I got an e-mail from a promoter, telling me he wouldn’t book Lil Nas X, there was no demand. But BTS!

Now the song won’t set the world on fire, be embedded instantly in your brain and having you testify as to seeing God, but god, you can listen to it, it’s not offensive. That’s how far we’ve come, where the standard is being INOFFENSIVE and NOT GETTING ARRESTED!

It’s pure show business. And that’s far from what the modern music business was built upon. Then again, Mariah Carey broke almost thirty years ago, a generation and a half ago, the only credible songs Gen-Z are aware of are those from the classic rock era, which they’re listening to, but they want something new, to call their own.

Music is like politics. Did you read the “New York Times” article saying that social media is an inaccurate view of the Democratic party? As in the far left is posting constantly, the center is not.

Used to be record labels were full service enterprises, everything from pop to classical. Now it’s all hip-hop, all the time. Even the pop acts use beats. And the biggest act in the world is Adele, and she sounds nothing like this.

We’ve got to get back to the song.

We no longer live in an homogeneous society. Everybody doesn’t like the same thing. So pockets of the audience are underserved, and these pockets trump what is supposedly mainstream.

I’d buy a ticket to BTS and stay to the end. You can give me a ticket to most of the modern acts and I’d leave before it was done, it’s too boring and you can’t understand the lyrics and…

SNL is long in the tooth, it’s rarely funny, it’s just the endless repetition of the same tropes. And when BTS hit the screen my mind told me this was a new low for the show, giving up any pretense of credibility, just going with what was popular. But by seeing BTS I was converted.

And I’m not the only one.

“The Democratic Electorate on Twitter Is Not the Actual Democratic Electorate”

It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction

“Song For Sharon”
Joni Mitchell

It’s hard to be an aging rocker. If you’ve got a fanbase, you can play your old hits in sheds, maybe arenas if you’re lucky, do endorsement deals, hell, even Iggy Pop has a clothing line, and live on the fumes, albeit financially lucrative fumes. But if you’re a fan…

I first met Gary Stewart in the Rhino Records store on Westwood Boulevard. It was a legendary place, because not only did they make recommendations, they’d insult you too, commenting on your taste. But if you went there long enough, you got to know Harold and Jeff and Gary.

And all three went on to further success. Harold Bronson created the Rhino Records label and with his partner Richard Foos they became the kings of reissues. And sometimes new stuff. They rereleased the Billy & the Beaters album, when the single “At This Moment” got airplay on TV. Harold was debating sending his gold record back to the RIAA, because the album never quite broke 500,000. That’s the kind of vibe that permeated the company, one of humor and seeing things from a skewed viewpoint. No one was puffed up, there was no attitude, and employees felt like it was home.

Jeff Gold went on to be a majordomo at A&M and Warner and then became the expert on rare records and memorabilia. He was into it from the beginning. Hell, he bid for a guest spot on “Seinfeld,” and you can see him sitting in the shvitz, and he also took a script that he gifted me.

And Gary Stewart…

Graduated from the Rhino store to the label, and I remember just after he got his job, being on the A&M lot, Gary pulling up in his car, thrilled that he had this new job, and giving me a copy of each title from his trunk.

Gary got excited. But he also liked to split the hairs. Sure, he was friendly, but if you wanted to argue about minutiae, he was the guy.

And eventually he graduated to Apple, and then went out on his own, and then back to Apple. And when you went out, you saw him. And he always got into it with you immediately. He’d ask if you were going to the gig. He’d tell you to go to this other gig. I remember him telling me I had to see Jason Isbell. But whenever you bumped into him, it was never casual, you just fell right back into the groove.

And one year I went to his Christmas “Losers Party.” Talk about a record collection! It snaked throughout the entire house. And there were a lot of women there, but I never knew Gary to have a girlfriend. But everybody knew him. I remember twenty years ago, at the beginning of the internet, on Match.com, when it was still free, I got into a conversation with a woman and when I told her I was in the music business she asked me if I knew Gary Stewart. That was him, interacting, being known, out and about.

But now he’s no longer with us.

His second stint at Apple ended last year and he was confronted with the question…WHAT DO I DO NOW?

It’s hard to stay in the music business, where people are willing to work for free, and those without families 24/7. If you’re in touring, you can have a lifetime career. But if you’re in recordings? They throw you on the scrapheap and replace you without thinking twice.

Now when this happened in the eighties, you went into the video business.

And when this happened in the nineties, you went into real estate.

But now there’s no longer a video business. And real estate is really competitive. So what do you do?

Go independent. But the rewards are slimmer than ever. I tell these people to give up, get a straight job, but they lose everything and still try to promote records, that you’ve never heard of. Hell, the classic acts selling tickets have got no chance of succeeding with new music, what are the odds for these acts?

Some get regular jobs. And they adjust. They view their stint in the music business like going to college. Something they did long ago, that yielded stories and good times, but is now over.

And I don’t know the exact details of what was in Gary’s mind. But my source says he was depressed, and seeing a therapist and on medication, and was open about it.

But it still didn’t make a difference.

When you’re so down, it’s hard to ask for help. A zillion people would have stopped by Gary’s house if they’d known. But they didn’t. And the truth is now more than ever, everybody’s caught up in their own little world, focused on themselves, and when someone passes, the Earth still spins, people go on with their lives.

You get a text, or an e-mail, completely out of the blue. That’s how it always happens. Sure, some people are sick and in decline, but others… You know, like the rock stars who O.D. Like Tom Petty. Playing the Hollywood Bowl one week, deceased the next.

And the details are so horrific. Jumping at midnight from a parking garage. Imagine the torture, the state of mind. And then imagine the thoughts while you’re falling. And that parking garage ain’t that tall, maybe eight stories, what happens when you…

But Gary died.

A woman I knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or punishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions

On Twitter. Then obits at the end of the day in “Billboard,” and “Deadline” and “Variety” and the L.A. “Times.” If only Gary had seen the love.

But he won’t. Death is final.

And then I got a DM this afternoon that Bobby Gale was killed in a car wreck, last night coming home from a gig in Montreal.

I met Bobby the first time I went to Toronto, in ’89. He’d graduated from being a deejay to working promo for Polygram. Bobby was so passionate, and the kind of guy I connected with, that I could talk to.

But then his wife left him and his bank account was nearly empty…

But Bobby soldiered on. Never losing the passion. Always working independent records. Going back to radio, sending me the playlist. I won’t say Bobby was ecstatic, but he was devoted, he still believed. God, if I knew he was gonna pass I would have had Bryan Ferry call him. Bryan was his idol, he fashioned his look to imitate him, all these years later, still.

Now earlier today I was listening to a seventies rock playlist on Apple Music. One with some deeper cuts beyond the hits, but I knew every song by heart. And listening on headphones…I was astounded how good they sounded. Listen to the Eagles’ “Out On The Border,” with the guitar parts in each ear, whew! And it’s not even one of my favorite Eagles songs. And Rod Stewart’s version of “(I Know) I’m Losing You.” God, the keyboard intro.

And last night on the satellite I heard “Miss You.” Most disco has been forgotten, but ironically the rockers’ foray still stands.

And I was thinking about rockers crossing over into hip-hop today. Old acts, established acts, not new ones. People would laugh, they’d be excoriated.

And we read all about hip-hop, but there are so many people lost, who are not fans of those beats, wondering how to discover new music. And how many times can you see the warhorses trot out their old material anyway.

So you spin the old records and…

What?

You watch TV. Maybe get into food and…

There’s no place for the record junkies anymore, certainly not “Record Store Day.” That’s all about collectibles. Going to the record store used to be a religious experience. You came home, broke the shrinkwrap and heard notes you’d never heard before. Speaking of the Eagles, I bought “Hotel California” on the day it came out. And played it on my giant stereo I’d purchased less than a month before. With the JBL L100s and the Technics direct drive turntable and two channels of 110 watt power from the Sansui integrated amp, that sound was pure, it was before the loudness wars.

I was shocked. I was instantly into it.

Your discovery happened in your bedroom.

But now… You’ve heard the tunes already online, and most people’s stereos are a joke.

And you read the magazines, you were hungry for information. You were interested in what the players had to SAY! No one did endorsements, sponsorships were taboo, it messed with the music.

And you went to see bands no one had ever heard of in clubs, and you followed them into bigger rooms, if they ever got there.

You were tuned in. Music was everything.

But it’s not like that today.

It could come back, but maybe not.

I was talking to Jack Douglas the other day and he was saying how early sixties music sucked, where was Chuck Berry? And then came the Beatles.

We’re still waiting. The last time we had that spirit here was in 1991, with the release of Nirvana’s “Nevermind.”

And the last hurrah was Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill,” back in ’95, but just recently a female writer criticized the album for being out of touch with the times, the woman not having power, but what’s wrong with giving head in a theatre?

We’ve scrubbed all the rough edges from the music. There could be no Aerosmith or Led Zeppelin today. And if you want to compare Ariana Grande or Rihanna to them, you’re probably at Coachella people-watching, where the music is secondary.

Yes, times have changed.

And some of us just can’t handle it.

It appears Gary Stewart could not.

But he will be remembered for his passion for the music, creating all those boxed sets, curation being king.

As Bad Company, an act he probably hated, once so simply sang:

I’m gonna live for the music
Give it everything you got
Live for the music
You know you’re gonna find a lot
To ease your mind

That was Gary Stewart.

Gary Stewart – Spotify

Yes, today, and every Thursday hereafter!

I’ve switched distributors from TuneIn to iHeart, but now we’re up and running with a bunch in the can and I know you will be titillated and delighted with the new content.

This week’s guest…Billy Bragg.

Yes, you know the name, but do you know the man?

You’d love to have him for dinner. He’s the anti-musician, very articulate with viewpoints explained and you’ll be reaching for his records when he’s done.

The podcast is available from all your regular distributors…

Ladies and gentlemen, start your listening!

Bob