At this point we can agree that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ruined not only radio, but the record business.\u00c2\u00a0 The key to selling records is exposure.\u00c2\u00a0 And once all the stations consolidated, became homogeneous, the public tuned out, there was no consensus.<\/p>\n
The consensus has evaded satellite radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Even Howard Stern speaks to a fraction of the faithful.\u00c2\u00a0 So, despite satellite’s strengths, it’s not an aggregator, it’s not a central marketplace, where you can drop in and check out what people are into, get a taste of what’s going on almost instantly.<\/p>\n
Of course you could listen to Top Forty radio, but it hasn’t been classic Top Forty, the best of the best, in over a decade.\u00c2\u00a0 So the fan has been flummoxed.<\/p>\n
But as bad as radio is, why do all the cool acts come from the U.K?\u00c2\u00a0 Why, when you listen to a U.K. act do you get excited, feel that inner pulse, and the American acts leave you feeling "been there, done that"?<\/p>\n
I got a number of e-mails complaining that Duffy is too close to Amy Winehouse.\u00c2\u00a0 That both are reminiscent of an era gone by.\u00c2\u00a0 But do you remember the ska revolution of the early eighties?\u00c2\u00a0 There were great tracks by the (English) Beat, the Specials, Selecter…\u00c2\u00a0 There was a vibrancy to the music, and it wasn’t just a clone of the earlier Jamaican sound…\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve never heard a sixties ska record that sounded like "Mirror In The Bathroom".\u00c2\u00a0 Even if one concedes that Duffy and Amy Winehouse are cut from the same cloth, that sound is new to so much of the audience, and is not a direct rip of what came before.\u00c2\u00a0 The fact that there are insiders pooh-poohing them makes me feel good.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the passion we used to have in the U.S., before everybody started playing video games.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the vaunted records in the U.S. are always indie rock.\u00c2\u00a0 Thin, alternative stuff made by geeks who never had a date about fantasies they’re having in their bedrooms.\u00c2\u00a0 Intellectually, one might be able to relate, but there’s a lack of sex, an absence of a visceral quality, that revs one up and gets one excited.<\/p>\n
That’s what’s off the grid.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s on the grid is disposable.\u00c2\u00a0 Rap has become a laugh.\u00c2\u00a0 And the popsters are all molded by old men, with their sexuality drained as they sing the concoctions of professional songwriters.\u00c2\u00a0 You just can’t get excited about music in the U.S.\u00c2\u00a0 But in the U.K., you can feel the heat, you’re involved.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a national pastime, following hit records (instead of the grosses of high concept movies!)<\/p>\n
I was inundated with e-mail about this act Adele.\u00c2\u00a0 At first listen I loved her, then when I downloaded all the tracks I realized that she was just a bit too jazzy for me.\u00c2\u00a0 But I applaud where she’s coming from.\u00c2\u00a0 But although she’s a smash in the U.K., I seriously doubt she can make it big here in America.\u00c2\u00a0 Because she’s FAT!<\/p>\n
Yes, you can be a drug addict.\u00c2\u00a0 You can be stupid.\u00c2\u00a0 But don’t be FAT!\u00c2\u00a0 In America it’s all about appearances.\u00c2\u00a0 Fat girls don’t get a chance.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, the girl on "Ugly Betty" isn’t even ugly!<\/p>\n
But when was the last time you SAW a record.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, that’s right, MTV made music a visual medium.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, it’s NOT!\u00c2\u00a0 Music is something you hear, check Adele out through your ears.\u00c2\u00a0 Then maybe watch some video footage.\u00c2\u00a0 Because it will be a shock.\u00c2\u00a0 We never see ANYTHING like this on television in America.<\/p>\n
Sure, some of the U.K. acts don’t travel, you’ve got to be British to understand them.\u00c2\u00a0 And some are flashes in the pan.\u00c2\u00a0 But so many are frozen out of our system, there’s just no way for them to enter, to get traction.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s a comment on us, not them.\u00c2\u00a0 While U.K. residents are scheming up innovative tunes, in America kids are playing "Guitar Hero", or learning dance steps and getting plastic surgery to win on "American Idol" or get on Top Forty radio.<\/p>\n
At least on "Guitar Hero" they’re playing great music.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the draw.\u00c2\u00a0 There hasn’t been great music on the radio in the U.S. for far too long.\u00c2\u00a0 And I don’t see Clear Channel and its brethren taking chances any time soon.<\/p>\n
It’s our culture, stupid.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t revere great music, we revere fame.\u00c2\u00a0 Our national radio station is TMZ.com.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t want to listen to Britney’s music (which hasn’t been great since the very first hit), we just want to watch the train-wreck.\u00c2\u00a0 Beyonce is beautiful and talented, but her material is not memorable.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t foster creativity over here.\u00c2\u00a0 For a renegade country, we do our best to give renegades no chance.<\/p>\n
Ahmet Ertegun said a hit record is something you hear on the radio while lying in bed in your pajamas that makes you get up, get dressed and go to the all night record store to buy.\u00c2\u00a0 When was the last time you heard a record like that on U.S. radio?\u00c2\u00a0 When was the last time you LISTENED to U.S. radio?\u00c2\u00a0 Radio’s all about business.\u00c2\u00a0 Music is all about money.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that the number one complaint of musicians today?\u00c2\u00a0 How do I get paid?<\/p>\n
Stop worrying about getting paid and start worrying about making music unfiltered by the system, that grabs people, and makes them want to hear it again and again.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe, if you do, we can get people excited about music.\u00c2\u00a0 When "Rolling Stone" features starlets and is loaded with car ads you know the air has gone out of the balloon.\u00c2\u00a0 And the Web isn’t much better.\u00c2\u00a0 Like I said, listen to those indie alternative records championed on Pitchfork.\u00c2\u00a0 The big players ignore the Websites and the Websites like being so far off the grid that most people ignore them.\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t we fight it out in the center, like in the U.K?\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t we all be focused on greatness in one pool?\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t we try to MAKE some cream, never mind have it rise to the top?<\/p>\n
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