read this and wonder if there aren't some parallels in skateboarding...

[skategeezer]

Bob Leftsetz...this guy gets it!


Last night I was prevented from falling asleep by the book "Strange Brew: Eric Clapton & The British Blues Boom 1965-1970". It had a day by day recounting of the travails of not only E.C., but John Mayall and Peter Green, with an interweaving of every other British blues musician of the era. And I'm frantically looking through the book, to see if the Cream date I attended in Wallingford, Connecticut is there, at the Oakdale tent. Problem is, I can't remember exactly what month it was. But I eventually found it, on June 15, 1968. And I also found the gig at the New Haven Arena the following fall, where I stood fewer than ten feet away as Cream played with the ferocity I anticipated the previous spring but had not experienced, and I recorded the entire proceedings on the Norelco cassette deck I snuck inside.

It's not the same.

Or maybe it is, maybe that's why I'm writing this.

You see music was the Internet of the sixties. People got the bug and couldn't get enough. Both players and listeners, both coders and surfers. There was a pulse, a heartbeat that was ignored at first by the mainstream. Eric and Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck didn't do it to get rich, they followed the music. Sure, their playing spoke for them, allowed them to attract the opposite sex, but the music itself was the driver. And the music infected the public at large.

You'd be stunned how much Cream played in America. And not every gig was a success. It was impossible to get noticed. And as their career grew it was like video games in the first era of Nintendo, the cultists were intrigued, their parents pooh-poohed.

We wanted to know everything about our bands. The family trees led us to other acts. There was no TMZ, no PerezHilton, we only found out how famous these musicians truly were when Woodstock happened and it turned out EVERYBODY was into the music.

But not everybody's into the music anymore.

Never forget that popular music was in a trough, an incredible downturn prior to MTV. People were tired of the shenanigans, corporate rock, mindless disco, everything the music stood for in the sixties was gone. Now it was only about making money, and the public moved on.

But MTV had a vibrancy akin to the underground FM radio stations. It was run by the lunatics, not the guards. And although musical experimentation was limited, visual risks were taken daily, to the point where all movies and television were affected by the MTV style.

But then we hit an artistic nadir. Rather than innovation, we got slickness. We had the Web as an alternative, and the golden era died.

People still want to bring the golden era back.

Let me tell you how this Web works. Millions are surfing every day, and they're linking to and e-mailing what they think is good. And when I get the same story ten times, I take notice. Be sure to read the following: Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable « Clay Shirky I know it's long, but this is the story of the music business too. The goal was to bring the old world into the new, preserving all its elements. This is impossible. And what we've got now is cultural chaos.

So U2 can open the Grammys, play Letterman for a week and fly for quick gigs to multiple cities and not only are their first week sales about half of those for their 2004 album, in the second week there's a dramatic drop. Yes, according to hitsdailydouble.com, this week U2's "No Line On The Horizon" is number 3, having sold 124,958 copies, a drop of 74%!

Nobody wants it. It's not about quality, people are just interested in something different, they don't want to spend the time with U2's album. They're interested in other things, other bands, they believe they've got enough U2 music.

Tour demand will be great. That's a different animal. It's a celebration of the CAREER of U2. Yet, despite the gross, not that many people will go, not when you compare the number of attendees with the number of people living in America.

In other words, music is narrowcasting once again. Rail about piracy, but that's not the issue, that only has to do with monetization. We had those gargantuan sales in the eighties and nineties because everyone was paying attention to the same outlet, MTV. Hell, radio aligned its playlists with what the television giant was airing. But we no longer have one dictator. We have a plethora of outlets and a plethora of bands. If you're about the sell, your words are falling on deaf ears, people just don't care. They've got to be infected by the music, which is extremely difficult to do. You've got to record great stuff and hope your audience spreads the word.

But U2's audience has stopped talking about the music. U2's audience is as calcified as the one for the dinosaur acts touring the sheds, from Chicago to Earth, Wind & Fire to even Styx and Def Leppard. U2's audience is fortysomethings wanting to relive their college days. And if you're not in your forties yourself, not only do you not care, you're turned off by the ravings of these lumpy parents.

As opposed to Bob Dylan. People care about his new album because not only did they not have to wait for it forever, not only was there no extreme advance hype, but Dylan is known for taking chances. Like his shows. They're cheap, but you never know what you'll get. Dylan's still alive, too many bands are perceived as dead.

Will Dylan's album be a blockbuster?

Probably not.

But Dylan's a musician, not a star. He's not trying to preserve his status so much as doing his job, making music, taking chances all the way.

It's your chances that endear us to you.

Or else it's Britney or Madonna or... And we're only going for the spectacle, it's got nothing to do with music. The Spice Girls proved no one cares about the spectacle ten years out. The Allman Brothers are proving people still care about the music, how it lives and breathes and changes every night, at their stand at the Beacon right now.

If you want to be a star, be my guest. E-mail Perez, compliment him and give him an exclusive.

If you want to be a musician, take chances. Worry less about hits than aural adventures. Create something new, and different, that's intriguing, with rough edges that can hook listeners.

That's what you do with music, listen.

We didn't need pyrotechnics to draw people to see Cream. The music was enough. It still is. If you're good and you see yourself practicing an honest profession, one that feeds your family, but doesn't buy you a private jet. We need bankers. But when they ruin our economy and believe they're entitled to millions, we're turned off. We need musicians. But when they believe they're entitled to live like princes, trading on decades-old laurels, we're disgusted and look for something new. Something vibrant. Which may not even be music. But we're always susceptible to something aural. If it tickles our ears, makes us feel all warm and fuzzy, removes us from this dreary life and makes us believe we live in one that's better.

That's what Eric Clapton and the great British axemen did. They took us away. And it wasn't about their looks, or the production, but the music. It's got to be that way in order for music to drive the culture once again.

[a_speck_of_dust]

ok, lets see if i can get this right

back then music was all music. nothing but music. everybody loved it, even the musicians loved it. music was music, and the good jolly ol' things came along with it. until music was commercialized and nobody cared about it. music became money, and greed, and a popularity contest instead of music like it was supposed to be. but there was still people that made music because music is what they really loved, not the money greed or popularity.

skateboarding...

used to be fun. like music, it was just skateboarding. people skated because they loved skateboarding for skateboarding. and everything came along with it, fun, smiles, broken bones, but most importantly stoke. but the commercializing of skateboarding turned it into, like music, money, greed and popularity. nobody cares about how that pro skates, and vert is "gay." the new pros that are in the magazine are pros that wear the newest clothes, or the newest pair of shoes, of did this trick and that trick. and it is all good until nobody cares about them anymore

but there are people out there who skate because skateboarding is skateboarding. they skate because they love skateboarding. they skate because they dont care about landing this trick or that trick, and if they really wanted to they would - because they loved it. there are the few who skate because it brings them fun, smiles, broken bones, and stoke. they dont care about what they wear, as long is it works. they skate because its fun, and to those few it doesnt matter how good they are at it, they just skate because they love to skate.

amirite?

[enemy combatant]

Originally Posted by skategeezer

Bob Leftsetz...
You'd be stunned how much Cream played in America. And not every gig was a success. It was impossible to get noticed. And it wasn't about their looks, or the production, but the music. It's got to be that way in order for music to drive the culture once again.

What an utter and complete crock of sh*t. This guy doesn't know WTF he is talking about!

Cream was one of the first "supergroups", heavily promoted by the record labels and a HUGE commercial success with massive record sales and concert attendance right from the start. The Yardbirds might have started in obscurity but by the time Cream was formed most of these guys were already rich and famous.

BTW, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, ad infinitum... had it all over the British blues imitators.

Butterfield Blues Band > Cream.

Buddy Guy > Eric Clapton.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd > Eric Clapton.
Junior Brown > Eric Clapton.

[sk8norcal]

kids, fashion, skateboard, music...
and old farts complaining...
some things never change...

LiveLeak.com - Henry Rollins on "Selling...

[Barf]

Well, he got ONE thing right... U2 is the Rolling Stones of our generation. People go, not because the latest album is any good, but because "They're U2!!"

Bono go home!

[rawls]

Originally Posted by a_speck_of_dust

...ok, lets see if i can get this right.....amirite?....

thats the way I see it. Plus, I didn't have to type!

the biggest thing in there that I enjoyed was about noone caring about the pros. They have a false sense of importance, all 65,394 of them, that they are "skateboarding"; they aren't. They are simply the tool that enables the skateboard market to maintain a $5B industry without actually focusing on skateboarding, but rather on support of a market appearing to be skateboarding.

"it is all good until nobody cares about them anymore". Yep, because thats when the $5B industry begins to crumble.

Its all good till the consumer begins to make up there own mind, then the ones that are in it for the wrong reasons begin to cry. The IASC cries, THEREFORE the IASC is in it for the wrong reasons (period)

[Mile_High_Mark]

Eric Clapton wishes he was poor and black.

U2 sued one of my best friends from high school.

I like skateboarding.

[Pandemonium]

Originally Posted by a_speck_of_dust

ok, lets see if i can get this right

back then music was all music. nothing but music. everybody loved it, even the musicians loved it. music was music, and the good jolly ol' things came along with it. until music was commercialized and nobody cared about it. music became money, and greed, and a popularity contest instead of music like it was supposed to be. but there was still people that made music because music is what they really loved, not the money greed or popularity.

skateboarding...

used to be fun. like music, it was just skateboarding. people skated because they loved skateboarding for skateboarding. and everything came along with it, fun, smiles, broken bones, but most importantly stoke. but the commercializing of skateboarding turned it into, like music, money, greed and popularity. nobody cares about how that pro skates, and vert is "gay." the new pros that are in the magazine are pros that wear the newest clothes, or the newest pair of shoes, of did this trick and that trick. and it is all good until nobody cares about them anymore

but there are people out there who skate because skateboarding is skateboarding. they skate because they love skateboarding. they skate because they dont care about landing this trick or that trick, and if they really wanted to they would - because they loved it. there are the few who skate because it brings them fun, smiles, broken bones, and stoke. they dont care about what they wear, as long is it works. they skate because its fun, and to those few it doesnt matter how good they are at it, they just skate because they love to skate.

amirite?

thanks for that, you posted a tl;dr for him. but i still fail to see a point. longboarding is fun, yeah!

[rawls]

Originally Posted by Pandemonium

thanks for that, you posted a tl;dr for him. but i still fail to see a point. longboarding is fun, yeah!

the skaters (regardless of the discipline) that simply ride for the sake of enjoyment and stoke (regardless of their skate ability, pros or joes) are like the Dylan and Allman bros example. the mainstream "jump on the wagon" skaters are more like the spice girl variety; its here, its now, its what all the cool people are into; next year it will be cowboy hats. It can be applied to the artists as well as the market following, and even the market.

SPEAKING OF COWBOY HATS! guess what. My teenage daughter got some cowboy boots. Stating that they are the rage at her school. You know it wont be long----- cowboy hats will hit. And the urban cowboy theme will leave the mall boarders jumping ship faster than you scream poser at a crowded skatepark.

[kenofseattle]

Originally Posted by enemy combatant

...BTW, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Albert King...

What a lineup! All of these guys are gods to me.