You had to watch SNL, because it reflected our generation, it was the only place you could go to experience television that had the viewpoint of the boomers, where music was a staple building block and irreverence was baked-in. You felt alone until 11:30 Saturday night. And the time slot was reflective of the dividing line between young and old. The oldsters in charge didn’t want to give away a valuable time slot, and the youngsters were still up at that hour, when the oldsters were not.

I was watching SNL Saturday night, because Felice likes to and I was doing my back exercises, and I didn’t laugh once. The jokes were broad and the formula the same. That’s what makes the show so retro. David Bowie and Madonna reinvented themselves a number of times, while their contemporaries who did not faded away. Maybe Weekend Update has to come first. Maybe there is no musical segment. Maybe it’s not about skits.

Meanwhile, Lorne Michaels is lauded by a press that thinks the show has impact, touting its efforts every Sunday and Monday, when the truth is the action is elsewhere.

We’re all looking for a home. And we denigrate those who are locked into the past, doing it the usual way. This is why you derided the girls hooked on pop. This is why the vinyl test was given in “Diner,” which made the film legendary. And “Animal House” tested limits. And…

Everything today is me-too or is clamoring for undeserved attention.

Nobody involved in the original SNL was inexperienced. Chevy Chase was 32! You could see him and Belushi in “Lemmings” Off-Broadway, and I did. Kinda like the “National Lampoon” itself, when it got it right, it captured the zeitgeist.

As did Live Aid. Which was when the MTV generation was crowned.

Or Michael Jackson with the “Thriller” video on the same channel.

And Ice-T telling us the reality of what was going on in the hood.

Or Mark Zuckerberg creating Facebook. Suddenly, we could all connect!

And then it all fades. Zuckerberg today is a zero, not a hero. And seemingly everybody I know never goes on Facebook anyway.

And not only is Ice-T an actor, rap is pure entertainment with villains and heroes akin to wrestling.

And Michael Jackson lost it as soon as he insisted on being called “The King Of Pop.” That’s not how it works, WE ANOINT YOU!

And once video became an on demand item online, we deserted MTV and it faltered.

Now for the last twenty years, the internet captured the zeitgeist. We were addicted to gadgets, new platforms, and then it all went kaput. It got consolidated, your old gadgets were good enough. Sure, there are still breakthroughs, but none like the iPod, which had everybody excited.

And then there were the Beatles, who wrote ditties and then amped it up and blew our minds. Unlike SNL, they weren’t happy resting on their laurels, repeating themselves, they wanted to explore, and they took the rest of the world with them, to drugs, meditation, a way of looking at the world through glasses our parents couldn’t locate.

So what we are missing in music is artists that capture the zeitgeist.

We used to have a slew of them. Kurt Cobain. Alanis Morissette…a woman singing her truth with angst, she owned the airwaves!

But then the delivery method eclipsed the music and for twenty years, music has been a sideshow.

You know who captured the zeitgeist? Donald Trump! He rounded up all those left behind, all those fearful of immigrants, all those angry at minorities, and he said the unsayable, again and again and again. He ended up looking authentic, which Hillary did not. Once again, even though I voted for the woman, when she claimed the Bible was her favorite book, I winced. Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, tell me what you truly feel!

But Hillary is incapable, which is why she could never triumph.

But Trump believes it’s the same as it ever was, that what worked two years ago will still work today. But it doesn’t, ergo the Blue Wave, the takeover of the House by the Democrats…he’s stuck in a rut.

I’m not saying there are not consequences, but he’s lost his hold on America. He might win again via the electoral college, like Bill Maher said, he might lose and insist he won, but those states that were crucial to his 2016 victory, like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, they seem to be turning away from him. As they did in usually red Arizona.

Sure, there’s a market in retro. Look at all the acts plying the boards playing the hits of yesteryear. They don’t dare do something new, for fear of losing status and cash. Then there’s Bob Dylan who is reinventing the songs, and Todd Rundgren who refuses to write the ditties that made him famous. I’m not endorsing their new music, but I am endorsing their tacks.

As for the media…

The papers still think they dominate when they don’t. And if the “New York Times” writes one more anti-tech column I’m gonna puke. Don’t upgrade your cell phone, don’t upgrade the operating system of your computer, don’t be an early adopter, the virtues of a flip-phone… The Gray Lady has printed all these stories recently, when the public feels just the opposite. I ain’t giving up my phone, I love it! I just upgraded! The “Times” prescription leaves one hopelessly lost in the past, and where’s that at, if you want me I’ll be in the bar.

So for the past two plus years politics has captured the zeitgeist.

But this won’t last forever.

What will be next?

Your move.

Albums, tracks or acts that have faded into the woodwork that deserve attention/recognition.

Like Blondie Chaplin’s “Lonely Traveler,” have you heard it? The whole initial solo LP is fine:

Blondie Chaplin

Or Nik Kershaw’s “15 Minutes,” absolutely brilliant in sound and lyrics and it’s not even on Spotify, never mind any other streaming music service! (Although you can find tracks on YouTube.)

Then there are albums by acts like the Rowan Brothers. Their initial Asylum LP was hyped heavily by Jerry Garcia, yet other than the opening track, “Hickory Day,” it was positively pedestrian.

Call in or tweet your favorites!

Tune in tomorrow, Tuesday December 4th, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

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Six13 – Bohemian Chanukah (a Queen adaptation)

This is so last decade.

But it’s got over a million streams in under a week on YouTube.

Now, is Article 13 gonna prevent these parodies? Beware of what you wish for. Rappers stole samples and then when rightsholders refused to license on reasonable terms, it became all about beats. Every action has a reaction, and we want more freedom, not less. But the truth is the copyright bullies, the movie studios are the worst, but music publishers are pretty bad, have crippled creativity, all in the name of more money. Meanwhile, rightsholders get paid on these YouTube parodies, but it isn’t enough, it’s never enough.

Now when anti-Semitism is rampant, it takes balls to let your Jewishness fly. Believe me, I’ve got the e-mail to prove it. But this act Six13 doesn’t care, then again, this is their shtick, Jewish songs, but I’ve never heard of them before today, even though their bio tells me they’ve been on “The Today Show,” “The View,” CBS and CNN. Shows the power of those outlets, as in little. You see we live in a word of mouth culture, and we need a trusted filter to get us to check out ANYTHING! In this case, my nephew Blake. I clicked and…

I smiled.

You remember smiling, don’t you? Back when music was about pushing limits within the record, as opposed to social media online. When acts as diverse as Allan Sherman and Frank Zappa put out music that rarely got Top Forty play, but owned living rooms and bedrooms for years. Come on, have you listened to Frank’s “Status Back Baby”? It still applies today!

And the replication of the original “Bohemian Rhapsody” video…

Shows that they put in some effort. And we appreciate effort, when you take your work seriously. Now, in the big time world, people only put in the effort if they’re gonna get paid. But it’s those not worried about money who always gain our hearts. Humanity comes through with the creativity

And the air guitar… Obviously this is an a cappella act, they can’t play.

But they can sing.

Funny how the voices are so good and the songs singable. This is a bit of what “The Voice” is selling, but the contestants want it so bad, it’s a turnoff. We don’t like it when you need it, when you grovel, we like it when the performance, the production, the singing, the song, is enough.

In a world of hype, it’s those who don’t hype, who let the work alone shine and stand for them, that we embrace.

And sure, there was a TV show about a cappella groups, “The Sing-Off,” it ran for five years, and one of the winners, Pentatonix, consistently tops the chart. Think about that, they’re not like everybody else, but they’re winning.

So, this act made a YouTube video and it’s connecting, it far outpaces their previous work, then again, they do this every Chanukah, and three years ago they broke seven digits with their “cover” of “Shake It Off,” but they’ve been posting for seven years, that’s how long it takes to get recognition in this world, far different from the pre-internet era, where if the label signed you, there was a good chance people would be aware of you, then again, would Six13 ever get signed?

I’ll be looking for Six13’s Chanukah song next year.

And know that you’ve got to satisfy yourself, you can see Six13 having fun in this video, they aren’t grimacing trying to get it perfect while exhibiting their hours in the gym, they’re being human, and once again, humanity resonates.

So they struck at the right time, when Queen and “Bohemian Rhapsody” are top of mind in the public sphere, but they got it right.

You too can get it right, if you stop complaining about money and focus on the art.

Then again, it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock n’ roll.

The rewards are on the edge, but it’s easy to fall off.

Everyone who pushes the envelope does so too soon, you always have to wait for the audience to catch up with you.

People are confounded by the new and different before they embrace it.

Legends push the envelope, journeymen don’t.

Record labels used to push the envelope, now they’re stuck in the present, waiting for “artists” to prove their worth online before they invest. Meanwhile, true artists go it alone, without help and many give up. Record labels are ripe for disruption because of this.

The envelope is pushed live as opposed to on record today, that is where people take risks. More people talk about Beyonce at Coachella than they do about her album “Lemonade.” You had to be there, it was an experience. Ditto with David Byrne’s tour. The ex-Talking Head has not released a record the masses have embraced in decades, but this tour had huge buzz. Sure, people want to see Bruce Springsteen on Broadway, but Byrne’s a close second.

Speaking of the Boss on the Great White Way, it reinvigorated his career when he was known for playing oldies shows to acolytes. Expect the Netflix special to become legendary, unlike his recent albums and tours. Fans will watch it Day One. Their chatter and press (which works with oldsters, but is not the driver of the Byrne hysteria, that’s positively word of mouth, and boomer word of mouth is slow, which is why the Byrne tour is not top of mind like it should be) will get casual fans to tune in and the film of the show will become part of the national fabric.

The more different it is every night, the more buzz you’ll get, the more people will want to go. Jam bands proved this eons ago.

Drake’s playlist on streaming services pushed the envelope, it made people want to check it out.

Rap beefs pushed the envelope decades ago, with the east coast/west coast wars. Today’s kerfuffles are no different from the WWE, albeit with guns.

Using a TR-808 is no longer even retro, it’s the epitome of me-tooism, use real drums to stand out.

You can only get away with a substandard voice if you’re the best lyricist of all time, i.e. Bob Dylan. If your songs are not this good, get someone else to sing them.

If you cover a song, make it different, Joe Cocker rode this all the way to the bank.

The odds of someone under nineteen having something to say are low, they haven’t lived long enough. So they can have cowriters, like Liz Rose, or you can ignore them and see them as “phenoms” jammed down your throat.

Tricks can only be done effectively once, like Radiohead name your own price, or Amanda Palmer with Kickstarter. Best to focus on the music rather than the penumbra.

Licensing or buying beats was pushing the envelope, utilizing the internet to create your music, but that’s standard now.

Giving it away for free was pushing the envelope. When there is a sea change in distribution, get onboard. Go where the public is, not where you think it should stay.

Flipping the script is oftentimes revolutionary. If everyone is using machines, use real instruments, and vice versa.

Follow distribution innovations. The major players are stuck in the past, they still want to embrace television and radio, when those formats are moribund. PSY broke on YouTube. Hip-hop dominates Spotify. If there’s a new way to get your message out there, employ it, as long as it’s not too retro. You hear about the cassette comeback, it’s a press story, not enough people have cassette players! And mainstream press is traditionally behind, like it was on Trump. If getting a record deal and your name in the paper gets you off, you’re still living in the last century.

Hoovering all the money by selling tchotchkes and doing endorsements is passe. You may make some money, but you’ll build cred by saying no, and cred is everything, it’s what leads to a long career.