{"id":1085,"date":"2008-01-27T08:37:38","date_gmt":"2008-01-27T16:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2008\/01\/27\/overnight-sensation\/"},"modified":"2008-01-27T08:37:38","modified_gmt":"2008-01-27T16:37:38","slug":"overnight-sensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/27\/overnight-sensation\/","title":{"rendered":"Overnight Sensation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well I know it sounds funny
But I’m not in it for the money, no
I don’t need no reputation
And I’m not in it for the show<\/em><\/p>\n

I just want a hit record, yeah
Wanna hear it on the radio
Want a big hit record, yeah
One that everybody’s got to know<\/em><\/p>\n

"Overnight Sensation" was not.\u00c2\u00a0 A last hurrah, a final attempt for renewed chart success, this Raspberries track was a complete stiff.\u00c2\u00a0 In the radio arena.\u00c2\u00a0 But in the world of rock criticism, in the world of credibility, it was MORE than a hit record, it turned out not to be a period piece, but a sensation that lasts until this day.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s what brings people to Raspberries shows in the twenty first century.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, they want to hear "Go All The Way" and "I Wanna Be With You", but when that "Overnight Sensation" piano intro begins, when the backup vocals start cascading in waterfalls, you get that same hit you do when you listen to "Good Vibrations".\u00c2\u00a0 You’re reminded of listening to this record alone in your bedroom, sans a date, but knowing this music is enough to get you through.\u00c2\u00a0 You look at the other people in attendance and you feel a bond, you know they had the same experience as you, not only listening, but growing up.\u00c2\u00a0 You feel you could be friends with each and every one of them.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas if it was a multi-act oldies show and the big radio hits were the only ones being played, all you’d have in common would be your age.<\/p>\n

Eric Carmen wanted a hit record in an era when AM radio was floundering.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t read the Joel Whitburn books, sure there are Top Forty charts from 1974, but they were almost meaningless.\u00c2\u00a0 Those acts couldn’t do shit on the road.\u00c2\u00a0 The same way most of today’s radio acts can’t play much more than clubs on the road now.\u00c2\u00a0 All the action was over on FM, where the CAREER BANDS HUNG OUT!<\/p>\n

AM was a cultural wasteland in the mid-seventies.\u00c2\u00a0 Today, Top Forty is not only a cultural wasteland, almost no one’s paying attention!<\/p>\n

Oh, don’t quote me listener statistics.\u00c2\u00a0 What we know is career acts are rarely built on the radio today.\u00c2\u00a0 A hit record won’t buy you much.\u00c2\u00a0 And an overnight sensation is just that.\u00c2\u00a0 On the radio and vapid television shows for a few months, and soon thereafter, the band members are back working at K-Mart.<\/p>\n

If this is so, why are you SO desirous of being an instant success?\u00c2\u00a0 What makes you think it’s that easy?\u00c2\u00a0 What makes you think that kind of rocket into space doesn’t splat on earth not long thereafter?<\/p>\n

Everybody e-mails me trying for a leg up.\u00c2\u00a0 Wanting me to listen to their music, to give them an instant ride to the top.\u00c2\u00a0 The desire to make it eclipses what’s in the tunes.\u00c2\u00a0 Because if it’s really in the tunes, I’ll find out about it from someone else.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though it might take years.<\/p>\n

Years?\u00c2\u00a0 I haven’t got years!\u00c2\u00a0 My parents want me to go to law school!\u00c2\u00a0 I can’t delay my professional career that long!\u00c2\u00a0 My dad gave me TWELVE MONTHS!<\/p>\n

Or maybe you want to give up your day job, which is keeping your wife and kids in food.\u00c2\u00a0 You want relief.\u00c2\u00a0 But the kind of relief you want will only be momentary.\u00c2\u00a0 Want that kind of relief, go on a reality television show.\u00c2\u00a0 Millions of people will suddenly be aware of you, maybe even tune in to see your shenanigans, and then laugh at you when they see you shopping at the supermarket, broke, only months thereafter.<\/p>\n

If you’re into fame, instant success, do me a favor, don’t e-mail me, go knock on the door of the major label.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the only entity that can deliver this kind of instant musical fame.\u00c2\u00a0 The fact that your sound will be processed and oversold and they won’t care about your career…that’s the price you pay.<\/p>\n

There was a fascinating story in the "Wall Street Journal" this week:<\/p>\n

\n

Why ‘It’ Bags Are Out<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They can’t sell overpriced "IT" handbags anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 The kind that Sarah Jessica Parker utilized on "Sex and the City", that tons of women, attempting to be hip and cool, overpaid for.\u00c2\u00a0 The luster has worn off.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no exclusivity.\u00c2\u00a0 And all the money is in exclusivity.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, the new, hip bag maker doesn’t even advertise, and I haven’t even heard of it.<\/p>\n

If you want to last in the fashion world, you need a coterie of people who are willing to overpay for your designs.\u00c2\u00a0 Same deal in the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 You need people willing to give you more than fifteen bucks for a CD.\u00c2\u00a0 They need to go to multiple shows, they need to buy multiple t-shirts.\u00c2\u00a0 And they’re only going to do this if you’re exclusive, if only your fans own you.\u00c2\u00a0 And, if you’re good, if you put on a great show, the world will spread.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like it has on that Italian handbag maker, Marni.<\/p>\n

Don’t focus on the fences, concentrate on the infield.\u00c2\u00a0 Seth Godin’s got a post about how the LAST experience is the one that sticks with you:<\/p>\n

\n

The last interaction<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Don’t worry about people buying your music, worry about keeping them involved by giving them unexpected stuff AFTER they’ve been hooked.\u00c2\u00a0 The free MP3 AFTER they’ve become a fan.\u00c2\u00a0 The great concert tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 Play to THIS audience, not the temporary, casual fan.<\/p>\n

This is why your audience must be able to get good seats.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about maximizing scalper revenue, trying to out StubHub StubHub.\u00c2\u00a0 More important is making sure your core audience sits up front for a reasonable price.\u00c2\u00a0 Focus on this, not the extra revenue momentary fans pay to attend shows up close at the last minute.<\/p>\n

Well if the program director don’t pull it
It’s time to get back the bullet
So bring the group down to the station
You’re gonna be an overnight sensation<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s how the business used to be run.\u00c2\u00a0 How do you goose it, how do you get a bullet?\u00c2\u00a0 And, how do you prevent things from going in the wrong direction?\u00c2\u00a0 How do you get the bullet BACK?<\/p>\n

You don’t want a bullet.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’ve got a bullet, you’re moving too fast.\u00c2\u00a0 If you have to regain your bullet, you’ve been moving way too\u00c2\u00a0 fast.\u00c2\u00a0 Slow and steady.\u00c2\u00a0 It takes that long for the word to spread.<\/p>\n

I’ve been tryin’ to write the lyric
Non-offensive but satiric too
And if you put it in the A-slot
It’s just got to make a mint for you<\/em><\/p>\n

Top Forty is a ghetto, with rules.\u00c2\u00a0 Eric Carmen was trying to bend them, to get a chance.\u00c2\u00a0 Meanwhile, everybody on the FM band had THROWN OUT THE RULE BOOK!\u00c2\u00a0 The rule book has been gone for years.\u00c2\u00a0 Just ask the major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t know what the fuck is up, as their revenue tanks.\u00c2\u00a0 Now is not the time to listen to ANYBODY tell you what to do.\u00c2\u00a0 Now is the time to follow your own muse.\u00c2\u00a0 And to make a mint for yourself.<\/p>\n

I fit those words to a good melody
Amazing how success has been ignoring me
So long
I use my bread making demos all day
Writing in the night while in my head I hear
The record play
Hear it play<\/em><\/p>\n

It was so much different back then.\u00c2\u00a0 You had to please the gatekeepers.\u00c2\u00a0 The labels, to sign you, press up records and work your single.\u00c2\u00a0 You felt like you were harassed by the system.\u00c2\u00a0 If you still believe this, that everybody’s against you, then I’m laughing.\u00c2\u00a0 Nobody cares.\u00c2\u00a0 Because everybody’s busy doing their own thing.\u00c2\u00a0 As should you.\u00c2\u00a0 Make your demos.\u00c2\u00a0 Put them up on the Web.\u00c2\u00a0 Spread them to your buds, if they’re good, they’ll tell others.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to have a personal relationship with those spreading the word.\u00c2\u00a0 Not me, I don’t know you.\u00c2\u00a0 I can’t help you.\u00c2\u00a0 But the kid from school, from work.\u00c2\u00a0 He can give your MP3s to his friends, people you don’t know, he can encourage them to come see you live.\u00c2\u00a0 But people won’t come back unless you’re good.<\/p>\n

Bruce Springsteen built his career on the road.\u00c2\u00a0 He was just that good.\u00c2\u00a0 Took three years for everybody else to notice.\u00c2\u00a0 But imagine if there were no viable radio format to air "Born To Run", it might have taken even longer.<\/p>\n

Bruce was electric.\u00c2\u00a0 You could see this was not a way station, a stop on the way to medical school.\u00c2\u00a0 You believed that he believed.\u00c2\u00a0 That the only thing important to him was this music.\u00c2\u00a0 That the power of this music was enough to convince you.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s how Bruce broke, by you telling everybody he had to be seen!<\/p>\n

Do you need to be seen?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you need to be listened to?<\/p>\n

Chances are no.\u00c2\u00a0 But you don’t want to hear this.\u00c2\u00a0 You want an easy road, where if you bullshit people enough, e-mail enough people blindly, manipulate your MySpace and YouTube numbers high enough, the world will take notice and you’ll gain instant riches and fame.\u00c2\u00a0 Rolling in the big city, partying and screwing celebrities.<\/p>\n

You’ve got a false goal.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s an empty world.\u00c2\u00a0 Filled by people who are here today and gone tomorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 Who don’t care about you.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re fodder for entertainment.\u00c2\u00a0 You want to see Britney wig out, but you want to see Bruce Springsteen PERFORM!<\/p>\n

So go back to the drawing board.\u00c2\u00a0 Create something different, straight from your heart.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t worry if you don’t gain instant success.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re not willing to eat ramen, you’re not willing to make it.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you set your course and stay on the road, if you work on your craft, if you believe you truly have it, that you can hold your own with Springsteen on stage, go for it.\u00c2\u00a0 But know that it won’t happen overnight.<\/p>\n

\n

"Overnight Sensation" live<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Well I know it sounds funnyBut I’m not in it for the money, noI don’t need no reputationAnd I’m not in it for the show I just want a hit record, yeahWanna hear it on the radioWant a big hit record, yeahOne that everybody’s got to know "Overnight Sensation" was not.\u00c2\u00a0 A last hurrah, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-hv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}