Access.\u00c2\u00a0 Colonel Tom Parker and Peter Grant limited it.\u00c2\u00a0 They realized that
rock and roll wasn’t only the music, it was also the myth.<\/p>\n
That’s what MTV destroyed.\u00c2\u00a0 The myth.\u00c2\u00a0 We found out rock stars were just like
us.\u00c2\u00a0 And this was completely disillusioning.\u00c2\u00a0 Because we want to BELIEVE!\u00c2\u00a0 We
NEED to believe.\u00c2\u00a0 In something larger than ourselves.<\/p>\n
But it’s tough for the people in control today to restrict access.\u00c2\u00a0 In this
era it’s about INSTANT!\u00c2\u00a0 Get it, use it up and throw it away.<\/p>\n
But that’s not how love is.\u00c2\u00a0 Love is slow.\u00c2\u00a0 It develops.\u00c2\u00a0 First you kick the
tires, you check each other out.\u00c2\u00a0 Then you experiment, you learn.\u00c2\u00a0 And then,
without even realizing it, you’re hooked.\u00c2\u00a0 Breaking up is hard to do.\u00c2\u00a0 Because
you’re connected.<\/p>\n
And this is the way it used to be with bands.\u00c2\u00a0 They weren’t thrust upon us.\u00c2\u00a0
They appeared in the record store.\u00c2\u00a0 As the opening act.\u00c2\u00a0 They were featured in
your friend’s collection.<\/p>\n
First you learned their name.\u00c2\u00a0 Then you heard some of their music.\u00c2\u00a0 If it
penetrated you, you purchased an album.\u00c2\u00a0 And you listened to it, having made the
investment.\u00c2\u00a0 Occasionally you bought a stinker, but usually the record started
to grow on you.\u00c2\u00a0 You found yourself singing its tracks at odd moments, on the
way to school, walking the halls.<\/p>\n
And then you went to see them.\u00c2\u00a0 Going to the show wasn’t much more of a
decision than going to a movie.\u00c2\u00a0 $3.50.\u00c2\u00a0 By time 1970 rolled around, five bucks,
six for superstars.\u00c2\u00a0 With no handling charge, no TicketMaster fee.<\/p>\n
And the gig wasn’t a party.\u00c2\u00a0 Somewhere you went to get high and hang with
your friends.\u00c2\u00a0 And it wasn’t about the merchandise.\u00c2\u00a0 For a long time there barely
WAS any merchandise.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe tour books, but not even t-shirts.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather the
gig was about the music.\u00c2\u00a0 And if the band delivered live, you embraced them,
they were yours, you’d buy the next two or three albums without hearing them
first.<\/p>\n
The mainstream press ignored the scene.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only did network TV not air
performances, the newspaper didn’t cover your favorite band either.\u00c2\u00a0 It was solely
yours.\u00c2\u00a0 And a group of like-minded listeners throughout the world.<\/p>\n
And then, suddenly, one of your bands blew up.<\/p>\n
That’s what happened with Pink Floyd.\u00c2\u00a0 From art rock obscurity they became
positively mainstream.\u00c2\u00a0 Not because they moved to the center, but because the
center moved to them.\u00c2\u00a0 "Money" sounded like nothing else on the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 But
stations adopted it.\u00c2\u00a0 And played it.\u00c2\u00a0 Again and again.<\/p>\n
By time "The Wall" was released, everybody was primed.<\/p>\n
But it wasn’t like today.\u00c2\u00a0 The key back then was to make a statement.\u00c2\u00a0 Not to
TELL THE PRESS you’re making a statement, hyping your latest project as your
best, like an actor hyping a lame movie, but to throw all your energies into
making a record that was one leap BEYOND!\u00c2\u00a0 You wondered where the act was going to go next.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody was trying to top each other.\u00c2\u00a0 And "The Wall"
resonated.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only because of the sound, but because of the open wound lyrics.\u00c2\u00a0
It wasn’t like driving by a traffic accident, rather we were intrigued to know
what went on in the artist’s mind, what he THOUGHT!<\/p>\n
Pink Floyd is doing no press.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not on MTV.\u00c2\u00a0 Not on the "Today Show".\u00c2\u00a0
They’re breaking all the twenty first century rules.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re supposed to
SELL!\u00c2\u00a0 In all possible venues.<\/p>\n
And since Pink Floyd is not doing this, the media is flummoxed.\u00c2\u00a0 They believe
there’s no story.<\/p>\n
But Pink Floyd’s performance at Live 8 is the biggest story of the year.\u00c2\u00a0
Everywhere you go people are talking about it.\u00c2\u00a0 People with no knowledge of P2P
e-mail me to ask how to download it.\u00c2\u00a0 People want ACCESS!\u00c2\u00a0 They just can’t get
close enough.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s driving them wild.<\/p>\n
Roger Waters has made no statement.\u00c2\u00a0 Gilmour’s not on TV.\u00c2\u00a0 The band has
DISAPPEARED!\u00c2\u00a0 Stating they don’t want to tour.\u00c2\u00a0 We believe them.\u00c2\u00a0 We hope the
opposite is true, that they WILL go on the road, but we don’t believe their refusal
is a stunt.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, they’re musicians, and if it’s only about money,
they’re not interested.<\/p>\n
So, MTV has gone back to the "Real World".\u00c2\u00a0 INXS is whoring themselves out on
CBS.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody is looking to make another buck.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t realize that
paradigm is dead.\u00c2\u00a0 That some rules of show business never change.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve not
only got to have a stellar act, you’ve got to leave the public wanting more.\u00c2\u00a0
More music, more honesty, more art directly from the heart.<\/p>\n
The formula’s simple.\u00c2\u00a0 But you’ve got to resist temptation.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t settle
for the easy way out.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to put money over bucks.\u00c2\u00a0 And, there are no
shortcuts.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to have talent.\u00c2\u00a0 And perseverance.\u00c2\u00a0 But once you hook
your audience, people won’t let go.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t need the media to tell them to
hold on, they just do so naturally, on instinct, they want to be CLOSER!<\/p>\n
Maybe someday there will be a CD of Pink Floyd’s performance at Live 8.\u00c2\u00a0 Or a
DVD.\u00c2\u00a0 And, it will sell.\u00c2\u00a0 But it will be secondary to this period.\u00c2\u00a0 When
everybody is just blown away.\u00c2\u00a0 When the band’s performance is ours.\u00c2\u00a0 The true fans. <\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Access.\u00c2\u00a0 Colonel Tom Parker and Peter Grant limited it.\u00c2\u00a0 They realized that rock and roll wasn’t only the music, it was also the myth. That’s what MTV destroyed.\u00c2\u00a0 The myth.\u00c2\u00a0 We found out rock stars were just like us.\u00c2\u00a0 And this was completely disillusioning.\u00c2\u00a0 Because we want to BELIEVE!\u00c2\u00a0 We NEED to believe.\u00c2\u00a0 In something […]<\/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":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-1p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","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=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}