For Your Listening Pleasure
OutKast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Just got it, and I’m almost ready to believe the hype… there’s some fun isht on this double-disk, and the only things that could make it funkier would be adding George Clinton or maybe Prince to some of these tracks. Definitely enjoyable. Oh, and if you’ve been enjoying this “segment” of these columns, stay tuned, because in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be adding my two cents to 411mania.com’s Essentials feature, trying to figure out which ten albums I’d want with me if I were stranded on a des… Oh, you know how it goes.
News to You
Some good, bad and ugly this week, from inside and outside the world of music news. I’ll let you figure out which is which:
— According to Billboard.com, Mos Def is at it again, adding movie role after movie role. Damn, watch this man – he’s not going away ANY time soon. (Oh, and a quick apology to the person who wrote, reaming me out for leaving Prince out of my “musicians in the movies” column a few weeks ago. I guess I picked the wrong week to quit taking ginkgo biloba.)
— If you live or work in New York City, you may find this one a bit sad… It looks like the “Redbird” subways have made their last run, so unless you’re deep-sea diving off the coast of Delaware sometime soon, you’ve most likely taken your last ride on one of the famous trains.
— Finally, according to Nielsen Soundscan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s debut CD, Be A Man, has sold a mere 3,703 copies through its first three weeks on the shelves. Damn. Only 996,297 away from going platinum!
Easier Said Than Done
So, I just installed Napster 2.0. While I’ve downloaded a song here or there in the past, and even though I’m not a super-geek, I’ve been pretty tech-savvy throughout the past decade, yet never really jumped on the MP3 bandwagon. Let’s face it, it’s about time that I started figuring this stuff out – especially with Napster and iTunes now available for Windows users, and by all accounts ready to explode.
One of the first things I noticed about Napster 2.0 is a feature that recommends artists to you, based on the musician you search for. For example, if I search for The Strokes, a frame on the top-right gives me links to Interpol, The Hives, and other bands that Strokes fans like.
This feature reminded me of a system CMJ uses in its album reviews called “RIYL” for “recommended if you like”… and it also reminded me of the fact that new music is – despite all of the new technology and media developed to make music more accessible – so difficult to find, especially the older you get.
You know, when I was 18, each year was only 1/18 of my life… now each year is 1/27. Time really DOES go by faster when you’re older!
The difficulty in finding “good” music amongst all the noise seems to be a trend that’s common throughout most of pop culture these days. Think about the state of Broadway… or television… or even pro wrestling. Audiences are trained to have very short attention spans, as each industry throws a bunch of shit against the wall to see what will stick. I know it sounds crude, but it’s true. NO ONE has any patience anymore; no one sticks with things longer than a New York Minute. What happened to Broadway institutions like Cats, A Chorus Line and Les Miserables? They’re all gone or on their way out, and what do we have? A bunch of short-run, trendy shows that are great fun, don’t get me wrong, but nothing that’s going to be around for years. Once Cabaret closes this month, and Phantom, Chicago and Rent eventually phase out, it’ll be interesting to see where major theatre goes.
And don’t even get me started on television. I watched some of Sunday night’s 75th Anniversary Special on CBS, and it struck me: “M*A*S*H” was perhaps the best TV series EVER, and it took about three years before it really grew legs (and an audience). In fact, how long did it take the show’s producers to realize that a comedy/drama about the Korean War should NOT have a laugh track? But tweaks were made, the audience realized that the show was something special, and it’s legacy lives on in rerun after rerun (and, more recently, full-season DVD sets) for everyone to enjoy.
Fast-forward back to the present, and you don’t have to look any farther than this week’s news that NBC is most likely canning “Coupling” and “Lyon’s Den” after a little over a month of being on the air. Now, am I saying that these two shows would have been the next “M*A*S*H”? Of course not. But the more the networks push this “Hit and Run Entertainment”, the deeper the hole gets. If you train the audience to expect good shows (see “Freaks & Geeks”, “My So Called Life ” and all of the shows I mentioned in my last column as examples) to be cancelled after a few episodes, what reason does it have to invest time in watching new shows? Instead, fans stick with what they know, and when that’s no longer an option, they’ll simply go elsewhere for entertainment.
That’s why I think reality shows are doing so well. For now. There’s no regular cast, no characters to get invested in, and if the show offers enough twists (i.e., the way “Survivor” seems to reinvent itself every year), touches on a new concept (i.e., “The Restaurant), or does a little of both (i.e, “The Joe Schmo Show”), it will likely meet critical AND mainstream approval.
Let’s look at some other areas of pop culture. This theory absolutely applies to sports – players are constantly changing teams, making it that much harder to have fan loyalty, even if you’re born into a “Yankee Family” or “Cowboy Family”. Pro wrestling? Wow, I could write a whole other column on how wrestling (especially WWE) is constantly in “hit-and-run” mode. Outside of the main players (the McMahons, Steve Austin, HHH, Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, the Rock (when he’s around), and for now, Bill Goldberg), it is very rare for “new blood” to be put in starring roles on pro wrestling TV and Pay Per View programming for a long period of time. One month, one person gets pushed into the main event picture, the next month it’s someone else. The fans get trained not to get behind anyone, because in a few weeks their favorites will be relegated to the secondary weekend shows that are essentially the “minor leagues” for “not ready for prime time” talent.
Of course, there’s always a chance someone will break through to the top despite the industries’ lack of the balls to push them there. Calling the Dave Matthews Band successful is an understatement, but these guys weren’t even supposed to be putting out an album until the growing fan base and live show attendance made it necessary. Want a wrestling analogy? Let’s talk Rob Van Dam, shall we?
Similarly, there are also the rare occasions that an industry thinks they have the “next big thing”, and puts the marketing machine into overdrive to make sure this success is achieved. Wrestling had Brock Lesnar. One could argue that the music biz thought they had lightening in a bottle with The Strokes. But instead of ushering in new revolutions in their respective industries, and changing the rules, they have (so far) simply been exceptions to the rule.
What about movies? There’s an aspect of pop culture I haven’t really talked about (and I’ll leave any opinions on this theory that relate to video games, comics, and other topics that I don’t know much about to the experts in the respective sections on 411mania). Movies may be the hardest one to explain, but while certain institutions like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and seemingly anything by Quentin Tarantino or based on a comic book character seem to be instant hits, doesn’t it also seem odd how many films debut at #1 at the box office, only to drop down to #10 or lower after merely a week? We go see whatever movie has the most hype or critical acclaim on opening weekend, but if we don’t make it then, will we ever go see it? I couldn’t even begin to list for you the movies that I meant to see since the summer, and have simply forgotten about.
Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. That’s the way pop culture and entertainment seems to be right now.
Of course, since this is a music column and all, it’s only right that I get back to the music. And yes, the same theory applies. A radio station or record label pushes something hard, its sales peak, and then it’s done. NEXT SONG. There’s absolutely NO artist development anymore and it’s the masses that are being hurt here. Sure, you can argue that there’s so much music out there – online, especially – and you just have to take the time to seek it out. And that’s fine for the young, big-time fans of “good” music that have the time and energy to do so. I said it before: the older you get, the less time you have to be a hardcore fan, and the easier it is to just stick with what you know. Right now if I didn’t make a concerted effort to learn about new music and hear as much as I can, I’d be approaching the “Oh, I donno, just get me that new Jane’s Addiction or Tom Petty album” stage of my music life. And the older I get, the closer I’ll be to the “Oh, I donno, I heard that Clay Aiken fella’s pretty harmless and easy to sing along with, I’ll just listen to WPLJ” stage. Help us all if I get to that point.
What it comes down to is this: the state of the music (and perhaps every other pop culture/entertainment) industry is getting to the point where it is really hurting people that don’t have the time, energy, and/or access that they used to. Will things change? Eventually – as we grow into new technologies, and the industries and consumers evolve a bit. Hey, that’s why I downloaded Napster 2.0. I’m sure there’s some great new music out there, and I can’t let myself miss out on it.
Until next time…
peace. love. moe.
– Matt
Till My Head Falls Off can be found weekly on 411 Music (old columns are archived in the pull-down menu below). Already hit everything on 411? You can find more from Matthew Michaels at moodspins and 1-42.
