We are not creating enough new hit acts.

Business is great at the top. Stadium shows had a stellar year. Despite constant complaints about ticket prices, the truth is people will pay the freight to see their favorite acts. But those might be the only shows they go to. As a matter of fact, the old habit of being an active concertgoer, attending multiple shows on a regular basis, seems to be fading. There are still oldsters who do this, having gotten into the habit growing up, and there are youngsters who are music fanatics going to club shows…but the acts these active youngsters are seeing frequently do not have mass appeal.

Business is off. You can read the statistics, but what you’ve got to know is in the middle there is a problem, even for arena acts…shows are no longer instant sell-outs.

Has the post-Covid surge died off? Yes, a bit. But the truth is we continue to live in an age of experiences, the one and done. You want to be there, there is strong basic desire and a bit of FOMO. People are still documenting their meals… Nothing has changed here.

Are people concerned about cash? Absolutely! And that affects grosses. However, when there is a burning desire to see an act people find the money…again and again and again. It’s a one time unique experience. You have to be there!

Do you have to go see a band that is constantly on the road one more time? In many cases, no. There is a point of satiation. Smaller acts are on the road all year, they come back to markets frequently, people are tapped out, they’ve been there and done that.

And stars used to lay fallow, take a year or two off. Now many go back on the road…to go once is a thrill. Why go twice? Especially if there’s not a slew of new music you want to hear. As for seeing the latest production… This is antithetical to a healthy music business. Then it becomes about the show. The music should be enough unto itself, the production must sit on top of it, not only not overwhelm it, but not be the main selling factor.

As for shows that didn’t sell out… It’s not because people don’t have the money, they just don’t want to go. Concerts are not like shoes or food, they are not necessary, you must feel it in your gut, you must want to go…it’s an emotion first and foremost. And that emotion is connected to the music itself. And this is where the music industry has done a poor job, it has not fostered that emotional connection to the point where people want to lay down their cash to see an act.

Now the business changed about fifteen years ago. Used to be you worked your way up to arenas. Then Sam Smith started in arenas! Word spreads just that fast, people want to lay down their cash, and once again, it’s the music that is selling tickets, not the production, not even showmanship, because no one has seen the act before! A similar situation applies to Olivia Dean.

And the interesting thing about Olivia Dean is she sits smack dab in the middle of a genre, soft R&B, that people are familiar with. You hear her music and become infatuated. Whereas most of what is purveyed by the labels, the Spotify Top 50, people don’t care about.

Of course there are hard core K-pop fans. And fans of other bands. But universal acts are few and far between. And this is a failure of marketing. Not everybody is going to like everything, but more people could like one thing.

The labels can no longer break acts, and therefore they have become safe, conservative. They don’t build any talent from scratch. They just sign what gets a reaction online or fits in with the pop and hip-hop genres. There is no excitement there.

It’s a business. But the nation is not music crazy. It might be TikTok crazy. In the past two decades music has abdicated its power as the leading edge art form.

So whose responsibility is it? To develop new music that is exciting and different?

Well, promoters have picked up the slack a bit, promoting new acts, but their system is not as efficient as the one the major labels employed in the old days…terrestrial radio, print and television. With these avenues on life support, everybody seems to have thrown their hands in the air and abdicated power.

But there are still acts that appeal to broad swaths of the public, like Adele…how do we make more like her?

Well, in truth Adele broke big before terrestrial radio listening totally cratered, but…

If we want the live business to burgeon, to generate more revenue instead of less, we must create acts the public wants to see. Easy concept, hard to execute.

TV competition shows don’t work… Some of these people can sing, but that is no longer enough, none of them become stars, because they don’t write! And many of the pop stars don’t write or do so as part of a committee. The public reacts to and resonates most with music that is written by those who sing it. Culture sells music.

And we have too many acts with poor singers. This was never a thing, it is now. Go to club shows…these acts have fans, but word can never spread because the lead singer just doesn’t have the chops.

Sure, Chappell Roan broke through, aided by festival appearances, kudos, but who else? We used to have a rolling list of new hit acts. Universal doesn’t even seem to be in this business anymore, merging Interscope and Capitol. The majors can coast on their catalogs, it doesn’t look like we can depend upon them to move the needle, they’re risk averse.

And concert promotion is a nuts and bolts business. You have to make money. And with people consuming less alcohol, the business is more challenging than ever.

Where are the acts people have to see, are dying to see?

There are a good number of superstars. But most of them have their roots in the old system, of radio and print and TV exposure. As for labels…their idea of artist development is to break a single album, whereas labels used to stick by acts for five LPs, growing their business.

So where are these new acts going to come from?

There will always be a music business, people will want to go to shows, but to grow…you’ve got to motivate the public, and you do this via new acts!

We need to promote quality acts that don’t sound just like everybody else in the marketplace. Of course it’s the public that must create this music and…with music absent from schools, it’s those who went to music school in Britain and Sweden who are triumphing. It’s not rocket science. You build from the roots up.

On top of this we have the issue of turning the public on to great new music, something that was not fixed with playlists, which remains a problem in the digital era. I’ve always said that Spotify could promote an act a week or a month…but the politics are a problem, labels whose acts are not chosen will complain.

Do we wait until something happens organically, or do we goose the system?

Once again, we need to have better systems to make people aware of quality new acts.

But we also have to inspire, find and promote quality new acts. Make people excited about music in general, not just one or two acts. We can start with tracks…the public is eager for great ones. Forget the career, the detritus of mediocre music, this is the service that radio once fulfilled. We actually need a gatekeeper, we’re living in a Tower of Babble, and no one seems to want to take the reins.

Where are the opening acts trying to blow the headliner off the stage?

Well, opening acts have been so bad that most people don’t even arrive to see them. It didn’t used to be this way, the undercard was a core part of the show, not anymore.

So we can debate ticket prices all day long, talk about bots and fees and… That’s for shows that everybody wants to go to. How about the shows that are struggling, how about quality new acts without traction…who is talking about those, who is championing those?

That is the question.

WRITE SONGS

That’s where all the money and action is. If you just want to be a player…you’re at the mercy of the band leader and studio work has dropped off dramatically. Today many songs are simple with one chord throughout. Don’t be beholden to what is popular now, classic song structure always triumphs. “Yesterday” was not that different from what was popular decades before the Beatles had success. Hacks imitate, original writers triumph. This is something that has hobbled Nashville, when you write by committee you kill the bolt of inspiration of great work that pushes the envelope. And, when you write your own material, people resonate with your work that much more, they know you are speaking directly from your heart.

CREATE CONSTANTLY

You get better the more you do it. Ask anyone who has had success, in hindsight they laugh at their earlier work.

PRACTICE

Know the basics… Whether it be how to play your guitar or drums or… Or if you’re a singer/lyricist, you should be reading all the time. Inspiration comes when you’ve got the tools down, when it’s reflexive as opposed to intellectualized.

POST

Everything you do should be posted online on all platforms. Probably it will be ignored, but you never know what will resonate with the public. Don’t self-censor. And failure is no longer the stain it once was. Stiffs are ignored and hits are recognized. In other words, no matter how big an act you are, if you misfire it’s no longer held against you, the work is just forgotten… You can come back with better work later. This means you can experiment.

MARKETING & PROMOTION

Do none until you have a buzz, a reaction. Not only professionals, but average people are overloaded and will give you one chance, usually not more. But when something is happening, when you’ve got multiple streams/views, that means that someone likes what you are doing and that’s what professionals are looking for, someone who is building their audience all by their lonesome.

CREATION VS. MARKETING & PROMOTION

Yes, you should be on TikTok, your music should not only be on all platforms you must create interesting videos to promote it. However, do not fall into the modern trap of spending most of your time marketing as opposed to creating and playing. There are millions of great marketers, there are not millions of great musicians. You have to lead with the music.

DON’T COMPLAIN

There’s no upside. If you’re not making any money that means that your music is not causing a reaction. Focus on the reaction…if that happens, you’ll end up making money. History is littered with people who didn’t give up their day jobs until after their album went gold…let this be a lesson to you.

DON’T WAIT TO BE RESCUED

If you’re banking on finding a deep pocket, a label or an investor, you’re doing it wrong. That’s positively last century. You have all the tools in your pocket. Furthermore, oftentimes the label can’t do anything but pay you, they have proven again and again in the past few years that they don’t know how to break an act, and as a result of this they are focusing more and more on fewer genres, trying for moonshots. Labels are very much like movie studios in this way. As for an indie label… The truth is you are your own label, you’ve got to do it yourself. And if you have success you’ll get so much more money from streaming. Beware of hucksters telling you they can help you out, they talk a good game but rarely deliver. And know that anyone who wants to get involved with you only will do so because they want to make money. If you’re not generating cash, they’re not interested. And the moment you stop generating cash, or never break through, their interests go elsewhere. This is capitalism, this is human nature… There is no music league akin to sports. Everybody starts their journey wet behind the ears and learns through the process, especially when they get screwed. Never give up your copyrights, however if you can’t give a little to get a little, don’t expect anybody to want to be in business with you.

PLAY IN YOUR GENRE

Don’t study the hit parade and try to imitate it, play what’s in your soul. You might have to create a market for it, but if it’s great, people will find it. However the conundrum of the modern internet era is everything is available, there for the listening/taking, but it almost always takes longer than it did in the past to gain traction/critical mass. If you’re even thinking of going to graduate school, don’t even start as a professional musician. Now, more than ever, it takes eons to break through and it’s not like in the past, where when you do riches pour down. You might just end up with a business that keeps you afloat at best, with enough fans to tour and support you. If you’re getting into music to get rich, there are many other avenues with better odds, go down those paths.

INFLUENCES

Yes, you should know records, but you need to read and socialize and…you are your influences. Which is why the barely pubescent acts almost always flame out, they haven’t had enough life experience, they might have a hit but they can’t follow it up because they’ve got nothing to say.

PEFORMANCE IS A SKILL

You develop it over time. No one is great right out of the box. If your act depends on live appearances, play everywhere you can, even for free…you need the experience to get good. And you can close people with a live performance, although finding a place to play for an act without traction is not easy.

READ DON PASSMAN’S BOOK

It’s much better than sitting around with wannabes providing false information on how the business works.

START WITH PEOPLE AT YOUR OWN LEVEL

Sure, some bigwig might come along and be interested in what you’re doing and want to be in business with you, but you’re best off being involved with young hustlers your own age, who are at the same point in the music business or just slightly ahead. Most established people don’t have the time or inclination to build something from zero, they want something that will pay in prodigious amounts quickly. They’ve been there and done that, developed acts that succeeded but mostly failed. You need the passion of someone who is just starting out. In addition, that big theoretical button that can be pushed for success no longer exists.

BE A STUDENT OF THE GAME BUT DON’T BE CRIPPLED BY THE GAME

Every big story, every big break is unique. Just because someone made it one way doesn’t mean you should try to replicate the formula.

YOUR BIG BREAK WILL BE A SERIES OF LITTLE BREAKS

If you ever have a big break…it’s almost never what you think it will be. So if you’re planning on a TV appearance or newspaper article to break you through…I’m not saying not to do it, but don’t expect this to be the one thing that will put you over the top, especially today when you’re competing with so many messages.

PERSEVERANCE

If you’re not willing to starve, music is not the business for you. If you want to get married, have a house and children, you don’t have the time nor the ability to barely survive, which are almost always key elements of the road to success. Don’t think of music as a conventional job, it’s more akin to a lottery. No one cares how much you practiced, they just care if your music resonates with them. Period. Stop telling people you’ve put in 10,000 hours. Never mind that it’s 10,000 hours of hard work, which few are willing to do. As a guitarist are you willing to try and read music, constantly batting your head against the wall with difficult stuff to play? I’m not saying you need to read in order to succeed, but I am saying if the process isn’t frustrating, if you don’t feel like sometimes you’re banging your head against the wall, if you don’t contemplate giving up…then you’re just not doing it right, you’re not working hard enough. Sure, you might play in a bar band six nights a week, and you’ll gain some skills, but not all the ones you need to be a star or even a journeyman playing your own material. If the process of making it is not frustrating to you…the joke is on you. Put yourself in uncomfortable situations. And you’re flying without a net. The success of every musical act is different, as is the path they take to get there. You’re building it from scratch, it’s solely about you, someone might be able to give you some help but you are in the driver’s seat.

DON’T BE SOUR GRAPES

The truth is the public is dying for great new music, and if they find it they tell everybody they know about it. Don’t blame the public if they don’t get what you’re doing. Maybe it’s too far out there or too ahead of the game, maybe if you stay at it the audience will catch up with you… But the dirty little secret is most people and their music is just not great. People don’t spread the word on good music, they spread the word on great music!

YOU’RE ONLY IN COMPETITION WITH YOURSELF

No one is taking your slot, your lane is unique to you and unlimited. Think about what you’re doing, about your audience, not what another act is doing. This is a business of uniqueness, that’s what rises above the morass. Which is why Berklee students don’t dominate the charts. Sure, learn how to play. But do you have a vision, can you create something unique?

INSPIRATION IS EVERYTHING

The idea trumps the ability to execute it. You don’t have to be the best player in order to break through, but you do have to have the best idea. Look at the Ramones…they started a whole movement based on precepts that weren’t even considered by those in power in the business.

MORE INSPIRATION

Sure, there are artists who build songs over time, but most of the great tunes were concocted very quickly, on instinct. If you live your life, exercise, take a shower, you’ll be surprised when an idea comes to you…and then rush to your instrument and notepad, don’t squander the inspiration, it comes rarely, stay in the zone and lay it down, it will feel like you’re channeling something, like the song is writing itself. If you’ve never had this feeling, then either you’re doing it wrong or haven’t done it enough. This is the story of the majority of legendary hits. Period. Sure, there are hits that were made by committee, but the bolt of lightning, from the heavens into your brain and fingers…those are the ones that are special, that evidence humanity, that connect with people. Keep going until you have this experience…and you only have this experience when your chops are in order…so when the idea comes you can lay it down just that fast, maybe in an hour, maybe in only fifteen minutes.

The reason you go on TikTok is to get the pulse of the nation, to be informed of what people think.

This is where the oldster/mainstream media/anti-technology perspective gets it wrong. If you’re not on your phone consistently, if you’re not surfing TikTok, you don’t know what the majority of the public is thinking, and therefore, how can you market to them?

We keep hearing about IRL. That one must put down the phone and interact with those around them. I’ve got no problem with in person relations, but we are not going back to the 1860s, or even the 1960s. To insist on real life only is like decrying the car and continuing to use your horse and buggy.

Think of music. How is it marketed today? Online!

Of course we had word of mouth previously, but music didn’t spread as wide previously. But there are put-downs of TikTok and Spotify and…this is how most of the active consumers find out about music and consume it. This is what is driving the sale of tickets. Terrestrial radio comes last, if at all. Find a youngster who listens to terrestrial radio and I’ll give you a nickel, and at the end of the day all the requests will be fulfilled by the cash in my wallet…and I’ll still have money left over.

Social media is not the devil. And today’s social media is not that of yesteryear’s. It used to be one to one, now it’s one to many. Furthermore, unlike Instagram, TikTok is not a bragging platform. As for influencers trying to sell you something… People are trying to sell you things all day long, you’re bombarded by sales messages. And despite all the press, the number of straight ahead sold out influencers on TikTok is de minimis. The story is just amplified because some of these people make bank.

And when people make money online this way, they don’t make music.

Trends start on TikTok. And if you don’t know the trends…

TikTok is where creativity lives. Want to be inspired? Just go through some TikTok clips. It’s a cornucopia of expression and ideas. With modern technology everybody has the ability to record themselves and post the result. This is what the smartphone has wrought. It’s broadened the playing field, reduced the barrier to entry to nothing.

Also, unlike on competing platforms, you can get pushed into people’s feeds without having a history of success. In other words, if what you do is good people will see it. This is the problem the music industry has, how do you expose people to new music, how do you break an act?

Of course not all music on TikTok is good. And sure, labels have injected money into TikTok successes to no result, but you’ve got to separate the wheat from the chaff, it’s a skill you must develop.

And do you know what one of the main types of video on TikTok is? Confessional. Women especially speaking about their relationships. But most A&R people are men, and this doesn’t square with either their lives or their history. You want to sign up new Joni Mitchells, you want to sign up women who fit Taylor Swift’s adolescent confessional niche in country.

The other thing you’ll find out on TikTok is your feed is different from another’s. Demonstrating that we’re all in our own silos. But those silos run deep. We are looking for expertise in these silos. An example would be Billy Strings, whose success is based on his ability to play, whose career in arenas is a result of internet exposure and word of mouth.

If you are concerned with marketing, you must take the pulse of the public constantly. This is one of the reasons the Democrats lost in 2024, they didn’t know how the public thought. And Andrew Cuomo lost all that money on television ads during the mayoral campaign while Mamdani created online viral moments.

What are people thinking? What are they interested in? What keeps popping up again and again? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you can’t relate to the public at large. Which is fine if you want to live in a bubble, but if you are selling anything…

A starting musician could surf TikTok to inform them what people are listening to, what succeeds. As for those artists sitting on the sideline, refusing to post on social media, the joke is on you.

Oldsters are now explaining their songs on TikTok. Todd Rundgren gave a lengthy explanation of “Hello It’s Me.” I bought both the Nazz album and “Something/Anything?” which contain that tune when those records came out, I’ve spoken with Todd multiple times, I still learned stuff.

Yes, that’s one kind of video that works on TikTok. An explanation of your past, of your history. You used to have to rely on the press to do this, your PR person had to persuade outlets. Now you don’t need a PR person, you can go directly to your fans and talk about whatever you want for as long as you care.

And newbies know that a TikTok clip must have internal value beyond the music. That this is a canvas to be creative. If you say you play music and that’s it, if you don’t come up with new ideas and how to express them visually, you’re marketing yourself with one hand behind your back.

The precepts have changed. And when one rails against TikTok it’s no different from those who railed against MP3s and then streaming. Where did the market go? Not back to physical media.

You can choose to live in a bubble, but if you want to know what is going on with the people, if you want to be exposed to and learn from unfiltered messages, unlike in the press, you need to spend a lot of time online, and right now the platform that is king is TikTok.

If I were a company marketing to people I would insist that my team watch TikTok for at least twenty minutes every day. This is no different from those who watched MTV during the eighties to be hip to what worked, what the outlet would play.

As for record companies, I’d tell them to hire more women, because women rule disproportionately online. Too many men who pooh-pooh feelings and intimacies, who are baked in the rock or rap of the past, have decision making power, and they’ve got it all wrong.

And mindless can work, but what resonates most on TikTok is knowledge and depth. Think about marketing to that.

The same people whose parents told them their music was for troglodytes have contempt for what the younger generations are into today. But Perry Como never came back.

I harp on this point, the need to utilize TikTok, because it’s so important.

Also, you must be on for a while for the algorithm to figure out what to serve you. To go on for a few minutes and say you don’t get it is a mistake. You must invest yourself, make a little effort, then the payoff will begin.

If you’re too busy to be on TikTok you’re too busy to market to the public. And that’s fine. But if you’re selling…

And Hollywood wonders why this was a box office disappointment?

There have been reams of pages utilizing “One Battle After Another” as an illustration of a failure of the audience, that people just won’t come out to see a great movie. Having now watched it on HBO…

I was hipped by Harold that it was a disappointment. He went to see it in the theatre. Something I choose not to do. Not only do I find the experience passé, how do you expect me to sit for two hours and forty two minutes without getting up to pee? If you want to make a series, do so, but don’t give us these lengthy, extended films that are a chore to watch in one sitting.

Now I’ve recently thought that Leonardo DiCaprio was overrated. However he was good here. But Sean Penn? He’s the new Meryl Streep, you can see the preparation, you can see the acting, the ultimate result being that the portrayal just doesn’t ring true. The walk? Both bow-legged and stiff? Maybe if you’re in your twenties… I mean he’s signaling the rigidity of the character, but it ends up making viewers wince…this is why people decry Penn, he takes himself so seriously. I loved Willa’s put-down of him, about the tight shirt and the lifts in his shoes, but it’s hard not to square that with the real Penn.

But Benicio del Toro has never been better. Confident yet understated.

The acting in all was pretty good. But the plotting?

I didn’t read Pynchon’s “Vineland,” although online research tells me the film is not faithful to the book. But the first issue the flick has is TONE! You want to take it seriously. Is this a commentary on immigration? I mean there are no laughs at first. Except maybe for when Teyana Taylor’s Perfidia Beverly Hills first encounters Sean Penn’s Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw. The plot seems so fantastical, an underground rebel organization akin to the Weathermen, one which we don’t have today (don’t tell me Antifa is equal, Antifa is not even an organization!), taking violent action. The inspiration for putting their lives on the line is not made clear. And then they’re robbing banks… Is this like the Symbionese Liberation Army?

And then sixteen years go by and you start to wonder…is this like a Mexican drug lord movie, like “Sicario,” or is it a family drama and…why should I care so much?

I know, I know, the reviews talk about the humor. And there is some, but it’s not like I was laughing out loud, I smiled at most.

And then it’s a chase movie.

But all the critics have waxed rhapsodic. Maybe this is why they no longer have pull. If an adult went to the theatre to see this based only on reviews, if they didn’t consider themselves a cineaste, they’d be angry, they’d want their money back, and they would not journey to the theatre soon thereafter, if at all.

This is not what the public wants. This faux intellectualism. It’s not as bad as Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master,” then again, his previous film, “Licorice Pizza,” had tone and not much more…but at least the tone was consistent.

Do I think “One Battle After Another” would be best seen on a big screen? Sure. The cinematography was rich. But I watched it on an iPad and I didn’t feel that I was missing anything. Then again, the intelligentsia will say that’s why I didn’t love it. Hogwash.

Let’s say that theatrical is for event movies only. It is no longer a broad-based business. If anything, what is purveyed by Netflix and the other streamers is superior. And now you’ve got Tinseltown’s knickers in a twist regarding Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. The two main fears being that Netflix will make fewer films and those they do produce won’t be distributed theatrically.

This reminds me of nothing so much as Napster. You had the record labels and old farts saying that the CD was superior, that no one would want anything better, need anything better. But now computers and cars don’t even come with a CD drive, on demand streaming is king, and vinyl is mostly a souvenir, don’t let the press persuade you otherwise.

Why can’t Hollywood do what Spotify did and get ahead of the market?

Oh, that’s right, that’s what Netflix did. It switched its formula from rental to streaming and there was public outcry, people loved their DVDs! Ask them today if they even have a DVD player! And then all the studios licensed their product, building Netflix’s business, and Netflix started production itself. This is Clayton Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma write large. If you don’t disrupt yourself, someone else will!

When I think back on 2025, the best production I saw was “Adolescence.” Notice that despite all the ink spilled about “White Lotus,” no one is talking about that anymore, it was formulaic when “Adolescence” was not. And we can talk all about the one extended shot technique, but that was secondary to the plot and the performances. I still think about “Adolescence,” it raised issues in our culture today. Am I going to think about “One Battle After Another” tomorrow? No!

Sometimes the wisdom of the crowd is right. Not always, but if you’re in the business of commerce/money as opposed to pure art, you should look at what the people say.

And don’t crap on the public too much. People do not want retreads, they always want something new, they’re open to something new, the fact that the purveyors don’t give it to them is something else.

There might be an audience for superhero movies, there might be an audience for the Spotify Top 50, but most people don’t even bother, they’re not even shrugging their shoulders, they just don’t care, these productions don’t speak to them.

And did you read  in the “Wall Street Journal” today about the lack of melody in today’s popular music? Once the mainstream goes on something you know there’s a problem:

“Has America Lost Its Melody? – Something changed in popular music around 2005. I suspect it reflects a change in the country.”

Free link: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/has-america-lost-its-melody-0ec9fc31?st=1yjWtD&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

This is how Lou Pearlman ate the labels’ lunch with Backstreet Boys and NSYNC! The majors weren’t selling this stuff, there was no competition. All the A&R people were too hip. Just like they’re too hip to sign something today that’s pure melody, laden with hooks…it just doesn’t get them off.

The record labels lost touch with the public years ago. That’s why the business is stale. And theatrical films are almost laughable.

Do I think they spent a lot of money on “One Battle After Another”? Do I think everybody involved gave it their best? Yes. But I also think it was the emperor’s new clothes…didn’t anybody see that this production didn’t appeal to enough people to make a profit? That the movie is flawed in tone and ultimately indescribable? Is it action, romance, comedy…so much is thrown in that the audience can’t ultimately be engaged, never mind that there is nothing to take from the flick.

And if you think “One Battle After Another” is an allegory about today’s political scene… Yeah, right. And today’s revolutionaries don’t even fight with violence, they fight with technology, computers, the internet…but everybody involved in this picture is an old fart invested in old ways. Hell, I’d like to see a movie about Ukraine’s homemade drones and how they’re attacking Russia’s vulnerabilities, that’s modern warfare… Not some nincompoops out of the sixties who look so out of date they’re laughable. And I’m not laughing with the filmmakers, but at them.

First and foremost it has to be an enjoyable experience. No one cares about the look and the performances if the story isn’t great. Same deal with music… Without a good song, it doesn’t matter how good the playing is.

The film industry needs the equivalent of the Ramones and the punk bands of the seventies, revolting against the overproduced rock of the day.

Oh wait! We’ve got that, on TikTok and YouTube. Instead of criticizing these platforms, creators have to study them, to see what is so attractive about these videos.

And I’ll bet most of the reviewers saying how great “One Battle After Another” is, and those at the studio too, don’t even have a TikTok account, they’re out of touch with the public. The public is ravenous, if it finds anything good it will embrace it and spread the word.

“One Battle After Another” is not it.