Funny how the most legendary tracks are never hits.\u00c2\u00a0 Not singles played on the radio, but album cuts that seep into the consciousness, never mentioned by the hoi polloi, but celebrated by the cognoscenti.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Leonard Cohen’s "Everybody Knows".<\/p>\n
What does everybody know?<\/p>\n
Everybody knows radio sucks.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows MTV plays no videos.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows mainstream hip-hop is about money.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows Mariah Carey is a twit.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows Gene Simmons is a breadhead.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows "American Idol" is about the drama, not the music.<\/p>\n
But the mainstream media never admits the above.\u00c2\u00a0 It keeps slinging the shit the big entertainment companies create.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re in cahoots.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a closed system.\u00c2\u00a0 And it can’t be changed, because there’s too much money involved, and longstanding relationships.<\/p>\n
Everybody knows TicketMaster fees are excessive.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows CDs are overpriced.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows most of the music on an iPod is stolen.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows Led Zeppelin is better than any act breaking today.<\/p>\n
But the pundits just accuse those into classic rock as being old farts.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the music of today’s players is just as good as those of the Beatles’.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, it’s not as good as that of the Dave Clark Five.\u00c2\u00a0 Not even Herman’s Hermits.<\/p>\n
Everybody knows that when acts gets sponsors they do it for the money.\u00c2\u00a0 Same deal with advertisements.\u00c2\u00a0 But they wince when classic acts do this.\u00c2\u00a0 Because they don’t want their illusions shattered, don’t want the acts’ credibility undermined.<\/p>\n
How come if everybody knows all of this, you can’t read it, you can’t hear it?\u00c2\u00a0 How come we must be subjected to the asexual Ryan Seacrest who the mainstream says is the reincarnation of Dick Clark, who we never believed in anyway?<\/p>\n
The younger generation knows the truth.\u00c2\u00a0 You might think you’re pulling one over on them, jamming empty calories down their throats, but they know you and your products are full of shit.<\/p>\n
I thought the Iraq war would generate quality new music.\u00c2\u00a0 But it turns out the war is a movie playing in art cinemas on the edge of town, you can ignore it without a problem.\u00c2\u00a0 If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to.<\/p>\n
But you can’t ignore the financial wreck this country has become.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t ignore the fact that our President is incompetent.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t ignore the fact that Hillary Clinton says what’s expedient, not what’s in her heart.\u00c2\u00a0 And you can’t ignore that Barack Obama is different.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s speaking truth.\u00c2\u00a0 And the youth are rallying around him.<\/p>\n
These youth are sick of the lies.\u00c2\u00a0 Sick of the baby boomers who believe they’re entitled.\u00c2\u00a0 And with their tool, the Internet, with modern technology, they’re spreading the word.\u00c2\u00a0 That they’re mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore!<\/p>\n
Is Barack Obama going to become President?\u00c2\u00a0 Is he even going to win the Democratic nomination?\u00c2\u00a0 Will he be proven to be closer to those inside the Beltway than our dream?\u00c2\u00a0 All interesting questions, but what we do know is those under thirty are sick of what’s been happening in our country and are poised to take up the reins.<\/p>\n
How can we not believe in Madonna?\u00c2\u00a0 A fifty year old with so much plastic surgery she doesn’t even look like herself anymore?<\/p>\n
How can we not believe in the "New York Times" and the pollsters, who get it wrong time and again?<\/p>\n
How can we not believe in the talking heads, spewing from their perspective, completely unaware of the heartbeat of this country.<\/p>\n
Hillary thought the heartbeat was patriotic warmongers.\u00c2\u00a0 She had to be tough on defense.\u00c2\u00a0 But it turns out having seen New Orleans underwater and an endless conflagration in Iraq people are questioning our leadership.\u00c2\u00a0 They want to push the older generation out of the way.<\/p>\n
And not only in politics, but music.<\/p>\n
It started with Napster.\u00c2\u00a0 The public felt justified, because everybody knows there’s only one good single on an album.<\/p>\n
Everybody knows that you can eat all you want for a low price with the mobile and cable companies, but the music business finds this to be anathema.<\/p>\n
Once upon a time, the music industry was populated by idealists.\u00c2\u00a0 But now, anyone who leaves money on the table is a chump.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to support your lifestyle.\u00c2\u00a0 And the acts are complicit in the shenanigans.\u00c2\u00a0 You wonder why no one wants the product in the same quantity?<\/p>\n
The inane banter.\u00c2\u00a0 The ridiculous records.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows that music is just grease to get laid to.\u00c2\u00a0 To be discarded when the new evanescent track appears.\u00c2\u00a0 Greatest hits of the twenty first century?\u00c2\u00a0 Everything’s disposable!<\/p>\n
It’s too late.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t have one foot in the past and one in the present.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to abandon your old ways.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to play by the customers’ rules.\u00c2\u00a0 Doesn’t matter if Wal-Mart wants cheaper CDs, those under thirty don’t want discs.\u00c2\u00a0 Elvis Costello knows this, how come no one else in the industry does?<\/p>\n
But really, it’s not about this generation adjusting.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s laughable, just like their wearing of the kids’ clothes and hairstyles.\u00c2\u00a0 Fifty the new forty?\u00c2\u00a0 Tell that to your brain.<\/p>\n
Really, it’s about acknowledging that there’s a new consensus.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s not being made by the oldsters.\u00c2\u00a0 And by oldsters, I mean you, the baby boomer, who thought he was going to rule forever.<\/p>\n
This business is being taken over by those under thirty as you read this.\u00c2\u00a0 People who don’t have Mercedes-Benzes, never mind private jets.\u00c2\u00a0 Who are willing to ride in vans and sleep four to a room.\u00c2\u00a0 Who put the music first.<\/p>\n
And this music isn’t made for radio.\u00c2\u00a0 And not for corporations.\u00c2\u00a0 But for the audience.<\/p>\n
Exciting times.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re willing to realize that everything you believe is wrong.<\/p>\n
Everybody knows that you’re in trouble<\/span> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Funny how the most legendary tracks are never hits.\u00c2\u00a0 Not singles played on the radio, but album cuts that seep into the consciousness, never mentioned by the hoi polloi, but celebrated by the cognoscenti.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Leonard Cohen’s "Everybody Knows". What does everybody know? Everybody knows radio sucks.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows MTV plays no videos.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-iG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Everybody knows what you’ve been through<\/span>
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary<\/span>
To the beach at Malibu<\/span>
And everybody knows it’s coming apart<\/span>
Take one last look at this sacred heart<\/span>
Before it blows<\/span>
And everybody knows<\/span><\/p>\n