{"id":728,"date":"2007-03-19T17:22:46","date_gmt":"2007-03-20T01:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2007\/03\/19\/as-heard-on-xm-75hear-music\/"},"modified":"2007-03-19T17:24:04","modified_gmt":"2007-03-20T01:24:04","slug":"as-heard-on-xm-75hear-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/19\/as-heard-on-xm-75hear-music\/","title":{"rendered":"As Heard On XM 75\/Hear Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

"My Aeroplane"
John Mellencamp<\/strong><\/p>\n

How does the poster boy for Chevrolet get the public to take him seriously?<\/p>\n

I was driving down Bundy just as the sun was emerging from the sky and I heard a guitar.\u00c2\u00a0 We boomers, we love guitars.\u00c2\u00a0 This had a twang, a richness, that took me right back to the barnboarded bars of my youth.<\/p>\n

Johnny Cougar was kind of a joke.\u00c2\u00a0 Although he did pen one of Pat Benatar’s best hits.\u00c2\u00a0 And HIS version of "I Need A Lover" has such a soulful feeling, it SWINGS!<\/p>\n

Then he added his last name, and suddenly had hits.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not that huge a fan of "Hurt So Good", but I still love "Jack and Diane".\u00c2\u00a0 Admit it, you never switched the channel when that homemade-style video came on MTV.\u00c2\u00a0 He got the heartland sound right.\u00c2\u00a0 With the big guitars and then that acoustic twang, from loud to soft, and back again.<\/p>\n

And then, before he dropped the "Cougar", he put out a Springsteen album that may not have had quite the lyrical depth, but played better than most of Bruce’s discs.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, the big hits off "Scarecrow" were "Small Town" and "R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.", but have you listened to "Between A Laugh And A Tear"?\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a magic in the interplay of Mellencamp and Rickie Lee Jones’ vocals that the Boss has never gotten with his wife.\u00c2\u00a0 Bruce was east coast, complex.\u00c2\u00a0 Mellencamp was heartland, without artifice.\u00c2\u00a0 John’s music RESONATED!<\/p>\n

But then Mellencamp took a left turn.\u00c2\u00a0 He didn’t want to repeat himself.\u00c2\u00a0 He added additional instruments, he dropped his phony middle name and he coasted on all that early success.\u00c2\u00a0 His album sales might have dropped, but he continued to sell out arenas.\u00c2\u00a0 But then the generations changed and he was no longer moving tonnage, NONE of his contemporaries were moving tonnage.<\/p>\n

So here we’ve got a credible rock star past his time.\u00c2\u00a0 No one’s paying attention to him.\u00c2\u00a0 Frustrated, he makes a deal with Chevy.\u00c2\u00a0 His explanation?\u00c2\u00a0 He was forced to.\u00c2\u00a0 That radio froze him out.<\/p>\n

Well, it doesn’t look like it worked.\u00c2\u00a0 Although "Freedom’s Road" debuted with a sold number, it’s only moved 144,654 units.\u00c2\u00a0 And at number 129, with last week’s sales total of 6,554, it doesn’t appear it’ll ever go gold.<\/p>\n

Insiders say the album came out too long after the commercial.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure Mellencamp can reach his audience, that they’re motivated to buy new music, but I will say the Chevy commercial hurt his image\/credibility.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what he’s known for now.\u00c2\u00a0 As opposed to great music.\u00c2\u00a0 And "My Aeroplane" is great music.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day I heard Ryan Adams live on XM’s Loft.\u00c2\u00a0 He was working it out like the Grateful Dead, going on and on, experimenting, looking for that groove, that fulfillment.<\/p>\n

We baby boomers are looking for that fulfillment.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve just become so overwhelmed, we don’t know where to look for it.<\/p>\n

We’re certainly not looking for it on MySpace.\u00c2\u00a0 The plays on Mellencamp’s site are sorry.\u00c2\u00a0 None of the tracks have broken 100,000 plays.\u00c2\u00a0 "My Aeroplane" registers just over 13,000.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, John Mellencamp’s made a record and nobody’s heard it.<\/p>\n

What to do about this?<\/p>\n

He could retire.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s rich enough.<\/p>\n

Or he could just play the oldies.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s not very fulfilling.<\/p>\n

Mellencamp played to everybody but his fans.\u00c2\u00a0 His fans don’t trust what’s on TV, and they listen to NPR if they listen to new music on the radio at all.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than make a deal with the devil, Mellencamp would have been better off going on "Morning Becomes Eclectic".\u00c2\u00a0 Why not?\u00c2\u00a0 His multi-instrumentalist sound has elements of eclecticism.\u00c2\u00a0 And Mellencamp’s smart, he could spar with Nic Harcourt.\u00c2\u00a0 And Harcourt’s English, he should be challenged to understand the heartland sound.\u00c2\u00a0 As for the audience…if Nic plays it, they pay attention, they LOVE IT!\u00c2\u00a0 Go where the fans are.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, Mellencamp should be playing Nic’s show at the Gibson.<\/p>\n

But fuck all that.\u00c2\u00a0 Listen to this song.\u00c2\u00a0 If you love rock and roll, American heartland rock and roll, this will resonate.<\/p>\n

Imagine yourself driving down the street, window down, the music having you tapping your hand on the sill, setting your mind free.<\/p>\n

\n

"My Aeroplane" is the second song on Mellencamp’s MySpace page<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

"Back Together"
Citizen Cope<\/strong><\/p>\n

I heard this on Thursday night.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s almost reminiscent of "Helter Skelter".\u00c2\u00a0 The "oo-oos" sound like so many records of the sixties and seventies.\u00c2\u00a0 But the cascading chorus, that’s the Beach Boys on steroids!\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a celebration in this song, and you just want to be part of it.<\/p>\n

I think I’ve got a couple of Citizen Cope CDs somewhere.\u00c2\u00a0 But I didn’t know how to penetrate them.\u00c2\u00a0 But the deejay picked out this song and I couldn’t get it out of my head, I had to come home and download it.<\/p>\n

For everybody who thinks there’s no new good music out there, I recommend you listen to this.<\/p>\n

"Back Together" is not on Citizen Cope’s MySpace page.\u00c2\u00a0 But you can watch the video on his homepage.<\/p>\n

\n

Go to Citizen Cope<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and pick your favorite format and speed (yes, the video is right there in the middle of the homepage).\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You’ll be absolutely stunned how bad the video is.\u00c2\u00a0 Like this dude would rather be anywhere but here.\u00c2\u00a0 The guy can’t even pantomime his own lyrics, and he’s so awkward, it’s so AWFUL!\u00c2\u00a0 This will detract from your enjoyment.\u00c2\u00a0 Try to listen without looking.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll be enraptured.<\/p>\n

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