Sounds simple.\u00c2\u00a0 But most people don’t heed this advice.<\/p>\n
Practicing the piano for ten years does not make you creative.\u00c2\u00a0 It just allows you to replicate what’s been done before.\u00c2\u00a0 But writing something new?<\/p>\n
People put in the effort and wonder why they’re not famous.\u00c2\u00a0 The world is filled with journeymen, skilled at their jobs, just check out the band in the lounge, frequently those cats can play.\u00c2\u00a0 But they’re not famous.\u00c2\u00a0 Because to be famous you’ve got to make jaws drop, people have to forgo other activities to see you, people have to want to tell others about you.<\/p>\n
In order to succeed, you’ve got to innovate.\u00c2\u00a0 In such a way that a large percentage of the public cares.<\/p>\n
There’s always someone who is breaking so many rules that few can get into their music.\u00c2\u00a0 You know, the lead can’t sing, but that’s intentional, why be like the guys on Top Forty radio?\u00c2\u00a0 And the time changes are there to demonstrate they’ve got chops, not just anybody can play this music.\u00c2\u00a0 And the noise represents anger…\u00c2\u00a0 Why is it so many unlistenable acts can write a complete thesis on why their music sounds like it does but you don’t want to listen to it?<\/p>\n
Conversely, there are those who insist on playing by the rules, taking the easy way out.\u00c2\u00a0 You might make it, but it’s going to have little to do with your talent.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s gonna be about your relationships and your marketing, and your spot in the firmament is always at risk, someone may steal your thunder, whereas nobody’s gonna steal Springsteen’s thunder.<\/p>\n
Bruce’s way out was the live show.\u00c2\u00a0 In an era where bands were four or five pieces, the E Street Band was huge.\u00c2\u00a0 And they were honed and practiced.\u00c2\u00a0 To the point when you saw them live, you were blown away, even if you didn’t know the material.<\/p>\n
This is the essence of Phish.\u00c2\u00a0 With a few additional elements.\u00c2\u00a0 A sense of humor, a willingness to take risks, the choice to not do it the same damn way each and every night.<\/p>\n
Then there’s Elton John.\u00c2\u00a0 A nobody one day, everywhere the next.\u00c2\u00a0 That was the power of "Your Song".\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore, when you bought the album you found out Elton wasn’t a one hit wonder, and that NOTHING ELSE ON THE RECORD SOUNDED LIKE YOUR SONG!<\/p>\n
You never know when the audience will get it.\u00c2\u00a0 I keep talking about seeing Prince at Flippers Roller Disco.\u00c2\u00a0 I liked "Dirty Mind", but I had no idea this guy took his music this seriously, that he was this good a guitar player, this good a performer.\u00c2\u00a0 I went home and played the album incessantly, and am still testifying about this show DECADES later!<\/p>\n
It’s an incredible challenge.\u00c2\u00a0 To employ a classic art form, pop music, but come up with something new.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s this new thing that excites us, that not only makes our blood boil but makes us tell everyone.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of like "District 9".\u00c2\u00a0 My inbox is filled with fans.\u00c2\u00a0 People saying it was their favorite movie of 2009.\u00c2\u00a0 The establishment didn’t get it, they’d rather fawn over "Avatar", but "District 9" got inside your system and affected you much more than James Cameron’s opus.\u00c2\u00a0 "District 9" had allegory, had humanity, felt real even though it was science fiction, the film could not be denied.<\/p>\n
Too much of today’s music can be denied.<\/p>\n
You can play it for a friend and he can ignore it.<\/p>\n
But you could not ignore Jimi Hendrix…\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing else sounded like "Are You Experienced"!<\/p>\n
"Like A Rolling Stone"?\u00c2\u00a0 Like nothing else on the radio.<\/p>\n
And my go-to track from this decade, Gnarls Barkley’s "Crazy".\u00c2\u00a0 It sounded like a late night gin-soaked romp, you heard it once and needed to hear it again and again.<\/p>\n
We’re in the era of marketing.\u00c2\u00a0 Because it’s so damn easy.\u00c2\u00a0 You can just go online and tell your story.\u00c2\u00a0 And isn’t it interesting that as more people are selling, fewer albums are moving…both sales-wise and emotionally.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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