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Post by Kapitan on Apr 10, 2023 14:25:33 GMT
Here is a very interesting and nuanced article about no less a subject than the history of the music industry, roughly spanning from 1900 to the present. It talks about format changes and the relevant cultural and economic aspects involved throughout the century+ of the industry. The author is jazz pianist and composer Ethan Iverson, but the article discusses and is relevant to other genres as well. www.thenation.com/article/society/music-industry-ipod/
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 27, 2023 17:27:36 GMT
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on May 5, 2023 12:50:37 GMT
What happened the night Stevie Ray Vaughan died:
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Post by Kapitan on May 5, 2023 13:18:04 GMT
This is a pretty interesting little interview with Heart's Ann Wilson about their mega successes in the '80s, and her mixed feelings about it all. Among her quotes: “It took Nancy and I a couple of bangs over the head with a sledgehammer to really understand that [using outside songwriters] was a good thing for us, because we had previously written everything. The type of stuff we were writing was not the type of stuff that was being accepted by radio. So we kept giving our songs to the pile that were under consideration for the Heart record. Maybe, sixty per cent of them were songs that Nance and I wrote, but the forty per cent were the ones that were getting used. That sounds funny, cos you’d think Nance and I would be in the driver’s seat on that, but at that time we were not. “It was hard, because we really liked the success that it brought – a lot. But we really felt uncomfortable about the fact that we’d worked all those years and written all those songs and it took other people’s songs to get us Number Ones. So it was sort of a devil’s bargain. But I’m not going to lie to you and say that someone else tied our hands and made us do it. We did it of our own free will. It’s just that later on when it became expected of us, that’s when we really went, okay, this is enough."
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Post by kds on May 8, 2023 16:58:56 GMT
This is a pretty interesting little interview with Heart's Ann Wilson about their mega successes in the '80s, and her mixed feelings about it all. Among her quotes: “It took Nancy and I a couple of bangs over the head with a sledgehammer to really understand that [using outside songwriters] was a good thing for us, because we had previously written everything. The type of stuff we were writing was not the type of stuff that was being accepted by radio. So we kept giving our songs to the pile that were under consideration for the Heart record. Maybe, sixty per cent of them were songs that Nance and I wrote, but the forty per cent were the ones that were getting used. That sounds funny, cos you’d think Nance and I would be in the driver’s seat on that, but at that time we were not. “It was hard, because we really liked the success that it brought – a lot. But we really felt uncomfortable about the fact that we’d worked all those years and written all those songs and it took other people’s songs to get us Number Ones. So it was sort of a devil’s bargain. But I’m not going to lie to you and say that someone else tied our hands and made us do it. We did it of our own free will. It’s just that later on when it became expected of us, that’s when we really went, okay, this is enough." I've read a lot of interviews over the years where Ann in particular has a bit of a complicated relationship with the Heart of the mid 1980s. That age old art vs commerce argument. But, they seemed to have been more conflicted about it then some of their peers, like Whitesnake and Aerosmith who benefitted from 80s makeovers.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 3, 2023 23:04:35 GMT
Not writing, but a radio show/podcast I heard on my drive home today about studying success in artistic professions. Hidden Brain discussed for the first half, film directors (and specifically Bob Zemeckis), and then for the second, music. What struck and stuck with me was this set of apparent facts, based on the researcher interviewed, who studied more than 70,000 artists: - Obviously the vast, vast majority of musicians are never signed to any label, much less a major label. - Of the ones signed to a major label, 93% never have even one hit (defined as Top 100, I believe). - Of the remaining 7%, about half have one hit. - The remaining 3.5% (again, of those artists signed to major labels) have more than one hit ... and most of those have just two hits. They also discussed that according to this guy's research, what often gets you ONE hit is having music that fits into the contemporary music scene in your genre; but what gets you multiple hits over time is being an innovator, not quite fitting into any one scene (as scenes come and go quickly). So as he explained it, being your best bet for continued success--novelty--is precisely what will prevent you from having a single hit (which of course means you're less likely to even have a chance at multiple albums, much less continued success). It was very interesting. Spoiler alert: the sweet spot was apparently having your debut include something innovative across a variety of styles or specific innovations, while also having something to hang your hat on. Tough business! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/success-2-0-getting-to-the-top-and-staying-there/id1028908750?i=1000614885692
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 13, 2023 23:57:01 GMT
David Letterman interviews a thoughtful and funny Paul Simon in 1982:
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 15, 2023 14:21:04 GMT
David Letterman interviews Sly Stone who also performs:
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 22, 2023 23:43:45 GMT
Any Clapton fans out there? Here is a good - and recent - interview with Slowhand:
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 29, 2023 12:39:48 GMT
Interviewer David Hartman isn't afraid to get personal with Keith and Pete...
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 21, 2023 12:56:00 GMT
Keith Richards on Jimmy Fallon 10/20/23:
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 25, 2023 13:27:25 GMT
An interesting review in Book Forum of the new autobiography by Sly Stone with Ben Greenman. The latter name might look familiar: he also helped the similarly difficult Brian Wilson with his (second) autobiography. It seems he had some similar problems with Stone that he and especially Todd Gold had, requiring a lot of reliance on other sources beyond just a notoriously unreliable purported primary author. Like Wilson, Stone was fading from the music scene not long after seeming to dominate it; and like Wilson, mental illness and drug abuse were central to the devolvement. So maybe it's fitting that Greenman took the job. Oh, and the review was written by someone named Carl Wilson. That's fitting, too!
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 24, 2024 15:17:17 GMT
While it's not entirely obvious to me why the piece was written and published now--there is nothing I can discern that serves as spurring the topic--music journalist Sasha Frere-Jones wrote a somewhat interesting profile of Lou Reed, particularly as told through several previously (but not necessarily recently) published biographies of Reed. One interesting contention that Frere-Jones mentions, though so do several of the biographers quoted and referenced, is that a certain amount of Reed's disdain for rock journalists wasn't just Reed being Reed, but rather was a reasonable response to how they treated him and his work. For example: - The Village Voice's William Gurvitch said in a published review of the storyline of Reed's album Berlin, “It is heterosexual, but about a druggy bi slut who gets her children taken away.” How sensitive... - And far worse, because it involves real life rather than an album's storyline, the legendary Lester Bangs wrote a 1975 feature on Reed in Creem. In it, he referenced Reed's long-term 1970s romantic partner Rachel Humphreys, saying, “Not only grotesque, it was abject, like something that might have grovelingly scampered in when Lou opened the door to get the milk and papers in the morning, and just stayed around.” Grotesque? It?! Humphreys was what we'd now call a trans woman. That kind of treatment of someone's partner in such a public forum is hard to stomach, much less justify. Those published pieces are certainly offensive. But having watched or read many, many Reed interviews, I have to say it's not sufficient. In fact, I'd say it's akin to collective punishment, treating badly totally innocent journalists because of what a few assholes may have said--sometimes decades earlier. It's like hating all women because you had a bad girlfriend, or all members of some race because a member of it once robbed you. Even if it's understandable to some degree, it's neither rational nor acceptable. But then again, Reed has never been accused of being particularly rational or acceptable.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 24, 2024 12:51:01 GMT
Music journalist Joel Selvin has coming out this week a new book about the late drummer Jim Gordon, "Drums & Demons." Gordon was one of the greatest session drummers of the '60s and early '70s, working with the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Ike & Tina Turner, Frank Zappa, Carly Simon, Derek & the Dominoes, and Glen Campbell. But his schizophrenia and drug abuse caused him tremendous difficulties, and eventually he attacked and killed his mother. He was imprisoned for life. He died last year. www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/22/jim-gordon-drummer-book
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 24, 2024 14:46:23 GMT
Music journalist Joel Selvin has coming out this week a new book about the late drummer Jim Gordon, "Drums & Demons." Gordon was one of the greatest session drummers of the '60s and early '70s, working with the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Ike & Tina Turner, Frank Zappa, Carly Simon, Derek & the Dominoes, and Glen Campbell. But his schizophrenia and drug abuse caused him tremendous difficulties, and eventually he attacked and killed his mother. He was imprisoned for life. He died last year. www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/22/jim-gordon-drummer-bookThis book or story could be a fascinating read in so many ways - the unbelievable musical resume' that Jim Gordon compiled, a look into the rock & roll lifestyle, the ravages and ultimate undoing by mental illness, and finally, Jim's demise after resigning himself to incarceration. Rock & roll is full of tragedies and horror stories, but not many as sad as Jim Gordon's.
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