Friday, January 9, 2009

7 comments:

davyh said...

But weren't Fleetwood Mac brilliant in 1968??

Jon said...

EVERYTHING was brilliant in '68.

Mick said...

I want that 6 minutes of my life back!!

Jon said...

Really? I think that's an important thing to get...the notion that a band needs to develop and mature as opposed to mere bedsit brilliance.

But that's just me, I reckon'.

9,999:54 minutes to go...

Jon said...

"Gladwell states that in the modern era, most creators are experimental. They've got to go down blind alleys to get to the crunchy goodness. But today a label will can you after the first single, never mind a whole album. Labels believe that only kids buy records and go to gigs and that youngsters don't want to see old fucks perform, so they latch on to young 'uns with desire, but very little else. And you wonder why the public no longer cares. Because the public can't relate! The music just isn't good enough! Or it satiates someone truly into the scene, but a casual listener is left cold. A great track crosses boundaries, it doesn't matter if you're a fan of the genre. I can't say I love hip-hop, but "Can I Get A..." is one of my absolute favorite downloads. The groove, when the chicks come in and answer, putting Jay down, asking him how he's gonna get around on his bus pass... Kind of like the Beatles. They sounded like nothing that came before, but we were instantly
converted.

Watching this video gives me hope. Because like Leonard Cohen sings, everybody knows. That the music business is decrepit, run by fat cats who just want to hold on to their money, purveying evanescent shit that slides right off your back.

You want to make it today?

Be able to sing. Put in a melody. Have a catchy chorus. A bridge would be nice. It's not about revolution so much as evolution. What I've just described is the music of the greatest group of all time, the Beatles. There's nothing wrong with being able to sing on key and being able to play your instrument. And once you've got the basics down, you can truly experiment.

The Beatles didn't create those classics overnight. I've got tons of demos and false starts from the band. They honed their chops and experimented. They had to get it right. And when they did, we responded."

3-Pin said...

I think the interesting thing is that the record company stayed invested with the band over that duration. I had Fleetwood Mac albums from the Peter Green era (1971-74) and there was good stuff on it. It was more blues and not the FM pap that the band made their money on. But these days the record conglomerates don't make the A&R investment and market to the lowest common denominator for audience and radio play. If they don't realize their return on investment within two albums you're gone. They'll throw spaghetti against the wall to see if it sticks, rather than teaching the audience that there are other types of pasta out there and it doesn't have to be round and skinny.

Mick said...

What I meant was he took 6 minutes to state the obvious. Hey, in 10 years I might have a half decent blog.