"It used to be about the music. Now what is it about, marketing? Marketing to a ten year old girl or tying the album to the latest Vin Diesel flop. Anyone can sign the latest lip syncing Ashlee Simpson. Right? I mean... Hansen. Remember Hansen? Where are the new classics? Where are the things that we'll be talking about thirty years from now? Dylan, Clash, Stones, Pistols, Run DMC, Aretha, Smokey. Where are those things? You know? So what if we're not some giant chart topping lable. That shouldn't be our goal. Money shouldn't be our goal. You know what our goal should be? Find the music and putting out the music out there that would change people's lives. Because THAT is the power and the beauty of music. And that is what I believe. If we focus on that, believe me people, the rest will take care of itself."
The above rant was taken from a new CBS comedy Love Monkey. I watched the debut episode today, I know it debuted on Tuesday, DVR's are a wonderful thing.
Love Monkey may not be the greatest show ever, but it is entertaining. And I can relate to the main character. He's a A&R rep for a major label, music obsessive, and wants to start his own record lable. Granted, I am not employed as a A&R rep but I would probably excel as one. I am however music obsessive and would love to have my own record lable.
The above speech garnered a standing ovation and got the main character fired. But I wholeheartedly agree with him. We need music that will change lives. Growing up in the Seattle suburbs during the grunge revolution, I remember the impact of songs like Evenflow and Smells Like Teen Spirit. I remember listening to Alice in Chains during a junior high math class and thinking the world is changing.
I felt the same way when hearing Steve Taylor's Jim Morrison's Grave and Smashing Pumpkins' Bullet With Butterfly Wings for the first time.
One of my passions is sharing music with others. Whether that is in a Jack in the Box parking lot at two a.m. or passing a guitar around with friends in my living room, I love sharing that power and that beauty of music.
I also lament the loss of talent. The music industry is a horrible place, and I could write a thesis about its dark heart. As much as I want to bring people to music, I don't want to see anyone repeat the mistakes of the industry's fallen victims.
Elvis, Morrison, Hendrix, Keith Moon, Randy Rhodes, Hillel Slovac (RHCP), Shannon Hoon (Blind Melon), Kurt Cobain, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, Layne Staley. It's a long, list and I'm barely scratching the suface. They changed the way we look at music and wrote some of the most enduring athems of the last fifty years. Then their lives tragically ended, some at the peak of their carreer, some had yet to reach their full potential.
You may not care, but I do. The idustry can't afford to lose any more innovators. It's too late to save past heroes, but what can we do to reach those that are following in their footsteps?
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