Music Business and Revolution

On the bright side, we went to see the movie Full Frontal tonight. Great great movie. Different, unique, fresh, Deep. Art created by an artist. Indie films have really upped the ante now in the movie world. Music is going through the same revolution now. It’s just that the music biz doesn’t know it yet—or maybe they do but they just don't want to admit it to anyone.

On the darker side, taped the video music awards a few days ago and had a chance to fast forward through it tonight. Look at what happened to TLC—they tried to honor them at the awards show—the same fucking record company who raped them and robbed from them—they talked about their millions of records they sold and awards they won and two years ago they filed for bankruptcy and sued their record company. Now that Lisa is dead they are trying to pretend like everything is alright. But what happened to those girls is a symptom of how insidious a lot of the biz is right now and has been since it's inception. The brave ones bail out on their own like Prince and Aimee Mann. But most of them stay in, even if they have to file for bankruptcy, or sing insipid crap like Hey Baby like No Doubt did. Poor schmuks. They may have gained some more twelve-year-old fans, but they lost their street cred with every righteous music lover in America overnight. I hope it was worth it.

Strange… but it's only a matter of time. Things are changing. Indie is coming.

Seeing Diamond Dave and Sammy together was weird. Dave has lost his mind truly. They gave Michael Jackson some artist of the millennium award. For what??? No one was really sure. Even host Jimmy Fallon commented. I wonder how much he had to pay for that… no sign of the real artist of the millennium, Prince. Eventually he is going to get his. After they kill him or bankrupt him they will turn around and honor him. Fucking Bastards. Over three fucking hours of contrived over worked over played prefabricated absolute non-art. A real testament to how fucking foul the current music biz is right now. But luckily there is tons of great music being made all over the world—really more than any other time in history. In fact the rock and roll revolution is swinging full tilt right now. Music is just coming out of everywhere and real rock and roll is coming back. It just wasn't apparent from this year’s video music awards show. It looked more like a bad Vegas nightmare. But there was a hint of real music at the show, The Vines, Linkin Park, System of a Down, Hives, Coldplay, Cake, White Stripes, and The Mighty Mighty Strokes all got a mention or an award. Axl played. That was cool. But that was about it. But in general it was such a trashy event. Every chick selling sex every moment they could. As if that's all they have to offer. No girls with enough intelligence or courage to stand up and not slut themselves and sell something else, you know, like their brains or their talents. Sheryl Crow did though.

But things are changing. Indie is taking over just like it did in film. The key is to make sure the people know that they/we are the revolution. Don't listen to regular radio—only college or very cool stations. Stop shopping the big record store chains, only the mom and pops again. Stop buying music shoved down your throat from the major record labels just because they tell you to. And stop getting robbed for sky-high ticket prices. Concert attendance continues to drop every year and they can’t figure it out. They blame it on the economy. Just don't pay those ticket prices. Ever. Eventually they will get it. Just start to boycott all this mundane bullshit that is contemporary popular music. Just because someone’s face and name is plastered all over the fucking place doesn’t mean they’re good and worthy of your attention. In fact it usually means the opposite. I believe in the revolution that was started in the sixties by our parents. Just because they got a little sidetracked in the seventies and eighties doesn’t mean that it isn't still going on. I think our generation feels it. Maybe we just don't know what to do about it. I think a lot of people are scared. So they hypnotize themselves by shopping and booze and too much TV and movies. When you see your government kill anyone who opens their mouth against them, you’re going to be scared. That makes sense. But it's still no excuse not to keep up the good fight. The music business, most major religions, and most of the world’s major governments need complete overhauls by the people for the people. The entire world needs a fucking revolution.

Current Spin: Frank Sinatra, Songs for Swinging Lovers. Classic. Aimee Mann’s new one. Coldplay’s new one, A Rush of Blood to the Head.