Why the music industry is doomed

I saw this chart/article today http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-music-industry-sales-2011-2 and it kinda woke me up on why music sales are truly down, and it is because of downloading music... But not for the typical reason every industry person uses.

What the digital downloads has done, be it legal or illegal (But especially legal) is kill the LP. It is now a singles format. Do you remember the last time singles out sold LPs? The 50s. It took bands like The Beatles to kick in LP sales thus really boosting the industry, this was even further boosted by bands like Pink Floyd and The Who, bands that regularly made concept albums, albums that you felt you had to hear from front to back. This also encouraged bands like Led Zeppelin and Guns n' Roses to put out ambitious records that had 5-10 great songs. You just don't see that today because people don't buy full albums, they buy songs.

There seems to be no reason for an artist to put together more then a good song or two, maybe they just don't have the talent... Or maybe (and more likely) they are being told that they won't get pushed past a 2nd single unless the first two songs blow up. It is a very destructive way to run a business, but it is what is happening. When is the last time you bought an album that had more then 2 singles? And the few major new stars today have that. Look at Lady Gaga... Not my cup of tea, however she put out an album with 3 singles and then quickly put out a 2nd album with another 3 singles, my guess would be all 6 were ready for the first record but the record company cut them because they didn't think it would last beyond a 2nd single...ooops...

The more I see of the way the industry runs things the more I think "Good riddance". They are like any other company that runs its self into the ground, kind of hard to feel any sympathy.

My suggestion? Bookmark the websites of all your must hear bands and visit them often. Get updates on tours and new music, show them through web traffic that you care and they will survive, music always will. It's the record company executive who shouldn't.

The Grammys 2011

Well both Russ and Greg have shared their opinion. I share some of the same. Here are my thoughts:

The Grammys are now a performance show. I think only 10 out of the dozens of awards are actually awarded on the show. It's too bad because some of the awards I would like to see are handed out "off-air".

I enjoyed most of the performances; however I think Gaga was upstaged a little. I enjoyed her performance but I think she's starting to lose me a little in the spectacle of her performace. Cee Lo was very entertaining, and Mick... Ah Mick. The guy can still move with the swagger of his youth, and I only hope I'm half that at his age. Bob Dylan isn't holding up nearly as well. Neither in John Mayer for that matter (he looked pretty lost throughout the performace).

Eminem... He is the most intense performer to come along in a long time. He was one of my highlights and also a reason to attend Lollapalooza this summer! I thought he stood a chance at Album of the Year, and The Suburbs album Arcade Fire surprised me when they were awarded it. The tribute to Aretha was pretty weak, and it proved to me that Christina really CANNOT sing when she's surrounded by more talented female vocalists, plus I heard she tripped. Tack that on to the Superbowl fiasco and I'm no longer interested (not that I was before).

As Greg pointed out Need You Now should not have been nominated - but I do like the song. I have a fond memory of that song, hearing it in a Vegas casino at 3am, a little buzzed, and watching the hookers in the lobby... I thought they (Lady Antebellum) were going to win Album of the Year as well because sometimes the Grammys likes to give all the awards to the same person or group (Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, and Santana to name a few).

Overall, I would give the show a B. I too would like to see a little more awards too, but the performances were solid, and I even got exposed to some artists that I wasn't that familiar with. You have Aretha, Mick, and Babs on the show as Bieber, Arcade Fire, and Katy Perry. That covers a little something for everybody.

I wish the nomination period would make more sense...

Mike

The Big 4 : Live from Sofia, Bulgaria

I finally got the chance to check out this great show on Blu-ray and for any fan of metal this is a must have! The sound in 5.1 the picture quality and the documentary all make this worth the price, it is a 2 disc set with one disc dedicated to the "opening acts" and the 2nd dedicated to Metallica and the extras. I have seen all 4 of these bands at one time or another over the years, a couple of them multiple times, so seeing them again years later in front of such a big crowd was interesting also.

The show starts with Anthrax. Personally I thought they should have played later, but it wasn't up to me (maybe I should have shuffled the playlist, lol). The band put on an excellent show for being about 4pm. The set was kind of short in my opinion missing well known songs like "I'm the man" plus I am a fan of the Bush led era of the band, which the do cover with one song ("Only") but I'd like to hear more. Overall a great set by the most unappreciated band of the 4. They open with "Caught in a mosh" and keep up the energy all the way through to the closer "I am the law", they even included a tribute to Dio by playing "Heaven and hell" in the end of "Indians". Great set.

Next was Megadeth. How they were not 3rd on the bill amazes me, they are the 2nd most recognizable of the genre and still sell very well. Another great set though as the band has been doing this a long time and put out a good energy. Also much like Anthrax's set, it just flew by. Dave Mustaine sounded great and the playing was solid as usual. They opened with "Holy wars' and ripped through a 12 song set that included all their hits. The crowd explosion for }Symphony of destruction was amazing. The set closes with "Peace sells" as always and as always it was great.

Next is Slayer. I have never seen the appeal of this band, they have a rabid following but they don't do much that stands out, there is zero groove to their music it is all just bashing speed metal without the heart of the other 3 bands. They also looked like they were a little bored and stand offish, but that seems to be their M.O. even during the documentary on the disc. Another 12 song set that opens with "World painted blood" and ended with "Raining blood". Lots of blood and death in their lyrics, not imaginative at all. Should have been the opener in my opinion.

Then we get the headliners Metallica. And make no mistake, this is their show at the end of the day. Metallica gets a lot of crap for the napster thing and being kind of douchey in general, but when they hit the stage they are still one of the best live bands going. They open with "Creeping death" and their 18 song set had all the typical explosions, both musically and in fireworks that Metallica shows always have the only soft spot was playing 2 straight songs from "Death magnetic" which probably should have been broken up, but they were still on tour for that record, so I guess they figured they had to promote it some more. The hi-light of the set was when all the bands (Minus Slayer, which I'll explain later) get together to play "Am I evil", which looked like a blast! After that we get a 2 song encore that ends with "Seek and destroy"

After this I watched the documentary of what led up to the show and what was going on backstage while the show was going on. We get arrivals, tent city where the bands go over last minute changes and clothing malfunctions (Nice sewing kit Frank Bello, lol) we see some practice before going on stage, and a Metallica meet and greet, really cool stuff. As I said earlier, there was no sign of Slayer during the big band get together... Well that is kind of explained later as the other 3 bands practiced the song during Slayers set. Of course I think they still should have made an appearance on stage if for no reason then because of this:

The bands turned away from the crowd to face the cameras so the image cold be easily put up on the big screen with the fans in the background. Cool pic that Slayer is not part of, seems kind of jerk like.

Overall this is am awesome disc, one of the best I've seen and heard. I really felt I was there. Now if we can only talk them into doing more then 1 show in the states.....

My take on the 2011 Grammys

I was going to leave this comment in Russ' blog, but it got a little long so I figured it'd be better as it's own post.

I was at a birthday party and didn't get to listen that night, however I have you tubed a few of the performances since and have been listening to people comment also and it's been interesting.

I like that the performances are as much of the show as the awards themselves, watching statues handed out all night gets a little tedious and probably why I don't care for the oscars. I did like Mick Jagger and Gaga was interesting though not to my particular liking, and Fuck You was fun even though there was no need for Gwyneth, and of course Eminem tore it up. The interesting one for me was Arcade Fire... How do you have so much going on with so many band members and still sound so...Meh?

Which brings me to the actual awards. First off the Lady Antebellum song is a year and a half old and was released a week before the deadline starts, meaning it wasn't eligible. Way to legitimize yourself Grammy.

Best new artist Esperanza Spalding? Over Drake and Bieber?? I guess they should be grateful since this award seems to be a curse. I should also say this here: I am one of the few (I think) that think that Milli Vanilli should have kept the award when they won it. Not because they were any good but because the award is for the album, not the videos and concerts, so the actual musicians deserved the award.

As far as the big award... I have been hearing all day in Detroit about how Eminem got jobbed and how the Arcade Fire did not deserve the award because nobody knows who they are, I even saw some twitter arguments on whether the band was named Arcade Fire (It is) or The Suburbs (The album name), that's how unknown these guys are... People can't tell the difference between the band name and the album name. The album has actually gotten a lot of positive reviews landing on a lot of critics top 10 albums of 2010, so maybe they do deserve the award, I can't say because I haven't listened to the album but may check it out soon. Having said that... I have heard them both from the Grammys and a few months back on SNL and I was not impressed, in fact I thought they were rather crappy, but hey... Maybe they sound better on record, somehow I doubt it. The other thing that struck me is that they were ready to play out the show after they won. Seemed peculiar as I have never seen that before and to me it made the award look rigged as if the acts were told "If you play us out we will let you win".

Over all the most impressive things were the older more established acts which is not what this show was pushing. I do give the show credit for trying to push newer bands, but these bands kinda missed the mark for me and for a lot of people I see commenting.

The Grammys

It's taken me 2 whole days the put together some thoughts on this years Grammy Awards, that's a problem.

Out of the gate I only had negative thoughts on the show. And by "the show" I mean exactly that. It was more of a showcase than it's been in recent memory. I found myself sitting through musical "performances" one after the next, wondering when they would get around to actually handing out another Grammy award.

As far as actual awards go, I never put much stock into them. After the much talked about Great Metallica Botch of 1988, I honestly haven't had too big of an opinion on who wins against who deserves to win. I am wrong or was the show just too packed with forgettable performances? I enjoyed GaGa even in the face of Born This Way being a much talked about re-work of Madonna's classic Express Yourself. I also enjoyed Cee-Lo's odd ball performance of Fuck You in spite of Gwyneth Paltrow being involved for no reason whatsoever. But the rest was beyond forgettable.

Lip-synching or not, I'd like to see any effort put forth by the performers. The tribute to the Queen of Soul lacked any sort of heart or soul for that matter. Florence Welch stood alone as the one person who seemed to be honoring someone else. She sang her ass off but in tribute to an obvious influence, not in a "LOOK AT MY VOCAL RANGE!" type way.

In short, the Grammy Awards were an utter disappointment. Let's get back to the days where the performers were a true potpourri of what's out there musically. That would at least raise the bar from a performance standpoint even if there's no recovering the credibility of the awards themselves.

A Comment On The Break Up Of A Fantastic Band:

"The White Stripes would like to announce that today, February 2nd, 2011,
their band has officially ended and will make no further new recordings or perform live.

The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any
health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health.

It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve What is beautiful and special about
the band and have it stay that way.

Meg and Jack want to thank every one of their fans and admirers for the incredible
support they have given throughout the 13 plus years of the White Stripes’ intense and
incredible career.

Third Man Records will continue to put out unreleased live and studio recordings from
The White Stripes in their Vault Subscription record club, as well as through regular
channels.

Both Meg and Jack hope this decision isn’t met with sorrow by their fans but that it is
seen as a positive move done out of respect for the art and music that the band has
created. It is also done with the utmost respect to those fans who’ve shared in those
creations, with their feelings considered greatly.

With that in mind the band have this to say:

“The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong
to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is
that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your
involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful.”

Sincerely,
Meg and Jack White
The White Stripes"

The above text showed up on The White Stripes website this past Wednesday. While I admire the way the statement is worded and I understand the argument some have made of it being good to "go out on top", I can't help but be in a state of mourning of this. In the relatively short time the The White Stripes were in the mainstream, they broke all the rules. All the while gaining critical and commercial success. I realize that Jack White has many projects and I do look forward to hearing other music from him (and hopefully Meg at some point too). But none of that changes the fact that it's a giant loss to the music community to not have these two work together, record and tour under the moniker of The White Stripes. 

I will end on a positive note by providing a suggested playlist to enjoy sampling some of my favorite songs by The White Stripes:


Hotel Yorba (White Blood Cells)
I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (Elephant)
Icky Thump (Icky Thump) 
The Denial Twist (Get Behind Me Satan)
Seven Nation Army (Elephant)
In The Cold, Cold Night (Elephant)
We're Going To Be Friends (White Blood Cells)
You Don't Know What Love Is (Icky Thump)
I Want To Be The Boy To Warm Your Mothers Heart (Elephant) 
Catch Hell Blues (Icky Thump)
My Doorbell (Get Behind Me Satan) 
Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground (White Blood Cells)
Ball And  Biscuit (Elephant)
Effect & Cause (Icky Thump)

5 Most underrated acts

OK, I said I would post this then immediately became conflicted on what to list, lol. I could come up with hundreds of acts that could be on here. There are those acts that never got the press that others got, so they were never rated in the first place and those that were pigeon holed incorrectly because of one song or a stage act that they never recovered from in the press. I will be looking more at the latter just because you need to be rated to become underrated in my opinion. I may do posts on those undiscovered bands some time later.

So here we go.......

5. Warrant

When I first found these guys I didn't like them at all. They were opening for everyone and they were so very the typical formula band with the ultra formula "Heaven" as their big hit. I got sick of them real fast. Then they released "Cherry Pie" and the first single was cheesy but catchy, but if you listened farther you heard "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "I Saw Red" and I heard something different. The story in "Uncle Tom" was highly unusual for the time and "Red" was written in a schizophrenic way were the author goes from remembering good times then back to the horror of walking in and catching her cheating, very different for the time.

Then Came Nirvana... And if you were considered a hair band you were pretty much done. Only two bands really survived (Bon Jovi & Motley Crue) That is when Warrant released a very ambitious and hard record called "Dog Eat Dog" This record was very good from top (Machine Gun, a hard driving opening track) to bottom (Sad Theresa, a sweet ballad) and it just died. What should have put the band into super stardom was released two years too late.

After that was "Ultraphobic" and "Belly To Belly" both great records on indie labels (Belly To Belly having my favorite song by them "Letter To A Friend") and both being very ambitious again, especially for indie releases.

Since then of course we have seen Jani Lane spin out of control with DUI and celebrity fit club/ rehab appearances. The band isn't who we remember now (as happens often). It is a shame that their best work came too late.

4. The Monkees

I think most people know their basic story, 2 actors and 2 musicians are put together for a Beatles like band for a TV show. They start off just mimicking songs for TV and end up playing and writing some good music. Yeah the show was wacky and corny and they did not play on their first few records, but starting with "Headquarters" they played all the instruments and started writing more and more. Of course once the show was done, so were they. Radio never tool them serious because of the show and wouldn't play them. Of course looking back now, a TV show is no worse then videos or lip synced performances to promote music, but back then everyone was so much more serious about "integrity"

3. Night Ranger

I put Night Ranger on here because they are incorrectly classified as a "one hit wonder" band for "Sister Christian", yet they had several hits in their career being one of the first big bands when "glam rock" first started in the 80s. They had hits with "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" & "You Can Still Rock In America" before "Christian" was released, both top 100 songs. And after with "Four In The Morning" , "When You Close Your Eyes" & "Sentimental Street" with "Street" placing only 3 spots lower on the charts then "Christian" did and all being top 20. They ended up with 6 top 40 songs, not bad for a "one hit wonder".

But they never were the crazy band. You never heard stories of boozing, drugs and women, just the music. And in the end it is the reason that people forget. They always say there is no such thing as bad press and in Night Ranger's case that is not true because no press is bad press and that will get you forgotten.

2. Anthrax

Anthrax was the first of the big name speed metal bands that had a national following, they actually took Metallica under their wing to help them, so you could say they were responsible for Metallica and Megadeth, yet they are never mentioned with them as far as being as important. These bands are not about hits so until Metallica's black album they were all underground and underrated. Unfortunately for Anthrax they never had the hits that their contemporaries had, mostly because they were on labels that did not know how to promote that style of music. Their albums on Island records were muddy sounding or really bright sounding depending on the song and their videos were grainy & very low rent. But then they signed for a bigger label (Elektra) and things looked like they would finally change! Then their singer quit.

Their first record on Elektra "Sounds Of White Noise" did well with the single "Only" doing very well, but the change split the fan base much like Sammy Hagar in Van Halen did. Soon after Elektra dropped all its metal acts and Anthrax went the indie way. They have put out a lot of great music since but with no label push it has gone nowhere. They did recently pay shows with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer as "The Big 4" and it is rumored to be coming to America soon, but even then they are the opener when they should be closer to the top of the bill in my opinion.

1. Extreme

The ultimate in misunderstood bands. Pigeon holed as "glam rock acoustic band" by everyone because of their hit "More Than Words" but they were so much more.

They first hit with "Kid Ego" and had the song "Play With Me" all over the place as it was featured in the first "Bill & Ted" movie. After this they released "Pornograffitti" a concept record which contained "Words" but actually had to hits before with "Decadence Dance" and "Get The Funk Out", neither being glammy or acoustic. I remember working in a record store at the time and remember all the old ladies trying to return the cassette because the record was nothing like the single, they later released a proper single and made the old ladies happy.

After that they released another concept album called "III Sides To Every Story" which is my favorite of theirs. They had three singles off this album including "Rest In Peace" which was #1 on the mainstream rock chart, hardly a one hit wonder. Soon after came "Waiting For The Punchline" and then the break up and the infamous Gary Cherone to Van Halen debacle. They have since reformed and toured (When Nuno isn't playing with Rhianna)

So there is my list, I'd like to hear some of the acts you think were underrated and I hope some of you check deeper into these bands. Pick up a greatest hits and discover something you may have over looked.

-G