I’d like to say they were terrible, unwatchable, the end of the world as we know it.<\/p>\n
But they were not.<\/p>\n
They were a representation of America…yesterday.<\/p>\n
Have you noticed the new BEP album has stiffed?\u00c2\u00a0 That none of the singles has broken through?\u00c2\u00a0 Live by the hit, die by the hit.<\/p>\n
But I want to give the NFL credit, for imparting the kiss of death upon musical acts.\u00c2\u00a0 If you perform at the Super Bowl, you’re now over.<\/p>\n
Oh, don’t tell me about U2 and Prince.\u00c2\u00a0 The former was ten years ago and Prince has always functioned in his own sphere.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you’re part of the hit parade, once you appear on the Super Bowl, you’re toast.<\/p>\n
I will say the BEP were better than the Who.\u00c2\u00a0 The Who were just sad.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Old Timers Day at Yankee Stadium.\u00c2\u00a0 Once upon a time they were great, now it’s just creepy.<\/p>\n
But classic rock is dead.<\/p>\n
And the Peas are dead too.\u00c2\u00a0 Because once the mainstream endorses you, you’re toast.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially in an era where Facebook is more important than the "New York Times".<\/p>\n
Don’t expect the NFL to be cutting edge.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s not their job.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t even want excitement.\u00c2\u00a0 Did you see that penalty for excessive celebration?\u00c2\u00a0 No man is bigger than the game.\u00c2\u00a0 But a great musical act is bigger than radio, bigger than the middlemen, the gatekeepers who are more about money than music.<\/p>\n
Great production.\u00c2\u00a0 Come on, those green lights and the hearts in red?\u00c2\u00a0 It was a modern day version of a marching band.<\/p>\n
Did you see the moves?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like those lame rock stars of yore who practiced their instruments!\u00c2\u00a0 Now you’ve got to dance, you’ve got to move.<\/p>\n
Wait a minute, that was ten years ago on MTV…<\/p>\n
The BEP were entertainment.\u00c2\u00a0 They were watchable.\u00c2\u00a0 They fit the bill.<\/p>\n
But music, when done right, is cutting edge.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about questioning the status quo.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is how we know Springsteen and the Who and Petty were done when they were complicit with the NFL.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, they’ve got to sell tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 To all those old farts who remember the old hits and the young ‘uns who want to see you before you die.<\/p>\n
Wave goodbye to the Black Eyed Peas.\u00c2\u00a0 Bye-bye!\u00c2\u00a0 Fergie will have a solo career, with more peaks than Slash’s.\u00c2\u00a0 Will.i.am will always find a gig and I’d say the other two would be forgotten, but they were never known.<\/p>\n
Don’t go for the victory lap.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s hollow.\u00c2\u00a0 In an era where there’s no mainstream, why go for mainstream acknowledgement?<\/p>\n
We’re on the cusp of musical breakthroughs unseen since the late sixties.\u00c2\u00a0 Everything’s up for grabs.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re gonna be wowed, you’re gonna be moved by artists doing it their own way, following their own path, not worried about mainstream acknowledgement.<\/p>\n
And this new music is going to rain down money.\u00c2\u00a0 And these outside stars will be revered.\u00c2\u00a0 Because instead of playing along, they threw out the rule book and started over.<\/p>\n
Football is all about the rules.<\/p>\n
Music is not.<\/p>\n
I hope you enjoyed the spectacle.\u00c2\u00a0 I did.<\/p>\n
But it was meaningless.<\/p>\n
And when done right, music means everything in the world.<\/p>\n
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I’d like to say they were terrible, unwatchable, the end of the world as we know it. But they were not. They were a representation of America…yesterday. Have you noticed the new BEP album has stiffed?\u00c2\u00a0 That none of the singles has broken through?\u00c2\u00a0 Live by the hit, die by the hit. But I want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-YY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780","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=3780"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3782,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780\/revisions\/3782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}