It’s really a little bit pathetic how Bob Lefsetz keeps writing about music and the music industry in his own time as if it were his own time. Bob and the gang were ‘current’ for about five years 25 years ago. I mean how dated did Buddy Holly become almost immediately when Led Zeppelin II came out? The DJs then were scrambling to sound informed and ‘with it’ when that bomb dropped. But they were very ‘without it’ and rock went on to cut the music business a new asshole at every level. And yeah the guys playing catch up did good, but then the Business pissed on them again with the Punk bomb, then the Grunge bomb and Garage and Emo and next please!
Yet today, the A&R and marketing dudes who ruled the roost for two or three years tops back when, think they still have a handle on the business today and are spinning on their Gucci toes trying to work out where the business is first of all, and where it’s going.
Ask Trent – it’s his five minutes RIGHT NOW so he might just know something. Ask anyone who was born after the MP3 was introduced. Ask anyone who has a game machine and wi-fi. Music is as important to them as soccer was to U.S. audiences 20 years ago – not important at all!
Music is a distraction that is today considered a cool feature on games and for doing homework to in your ears. Do you think that watching ‘pop stars’, hip hop fakes and rap disasters flaunt their cash and diamonds and cribs hasn’t turned off the kids with more than half a brain who think the music business and what it produces is a crock of shit not worthy of their time or effort or creativity. Yeah they think old rock is cool – but they don’t want to buy it. They just want it for free on their games. Kids love to rebel. Love music that is ‘subversive’. Love to rock and burnish the latest cool ‘anti’ attitude. Too much hip hop and rap has sent them to the screens and they have to unlearn the habit before it’s too late.
