We’re Back

ClassicRockForever has returned after a long, lazy holiday. Hasn’t been much in the Classic Rock News department lately - except obituaries - and enough is enough already.  On the up side - we’ve been discovering some incredibly good music lately from local - often unknown - independent artists.   Yes there’s plenty of familiar feeling - yet fresh - new rock, blues and funky stuff out there. You just won’t find it on the radio.  However, you’ll hear about it here in the near future.  More to come.

Twitter Is For Geezers?

I was just learning to use the Facebook account that I activated two years ago when I read that “Twitter Is For Old People” according to this How Teenagers Consume Media report. This concerned me because Twitter is next on my Social Networking To-Do List - right after “learn to manage my privacy settings”.  It should work out though …because since I started using Facebook “oh, I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”

From Times Online UK News: Twitter Is For Old People -Work Experience Whiz Kid Tells Banker

(Re-posted from 7/20)

Watching Radio’s Image Transition From Hero - To Bully - To Fuddy-Duddy

It took about thirty years to get here and it only took thirty seconds for Apple to summarize and illustrate the current perception of the business to millions. Maybe the scariest part is the number of people in the radio business – and broadcasting “vets” – who nod their heads and chuckle along as Mac pokes fun at PC by comparing it to radio.

Think about it. This isn’t about whether Mac is better than PC. The creative team at a major ad agency sat around racking their brains trying to come up with role models who are fuddy-duddies and comically out of touch with their own industry …and radio got the booby prize.

As I was writing this I felt compelled to look up “fuddy-duddy” online to see if it was a real word. I confirmed that it meant “old-fashioned, unimaginative or conservative” while being informed that I could “save on Fuddy-Duddy” on Amazon and get free shipping. Who knew?

It seems that most of what I read or hear about the radio business these days revolves around two things: Misery and jealousy.

To an outside observer, radio looks like a miserable business to be in because “the man” has completely taken over …employees are paid not to think but, to do …while they wait for the axe to fall. It also sounds like a business that has taken its toys and gone home. New kids with newer, shinier toys have moved into the neighborhood. They’ve taken over the playground and now they get to have all the fun. Not fair.

Not exactly a business that would seem like an incubator for future programming or sales leaders.

From Saving A Radio Band To Saving Radio

A couple of weeks ago I ran into a fellow broadcast veteran that I worked with in the late seventies. We proceeded to tell my 26 year old son how “awesome” the radio and record business was when we were young bucks trying to work our way up. Everything from stunts we pulled on the competition to how once-upon-a-time even the station Program Directors (occasionally) got excited when a new record was released …especially when they beat the competition to the turntable.

I recalled the day that hundreds of WPLR listeners lined up to buy FM Converters at $19.99 each so they could listen to their music as the station crushed the AM competition. “Future Music” was overcoming “Antiquated Modulation”. Every radio armchair general had a different prediction about which band - AM or FM - would emerge victorious and which would not be saved. Ahh, war stories.

Whoah! Suddenly I’m sounding like my father talking about the Battle of the Bulge in WWII.

Every ten or fifteen years something would always come along to save radio whether it needed saving or not. In the seventies it was the FM Band. Then Talk supposedly saved the AM Band from FM. New technology and formats weren’t the only things that made a difference. AM Stereo and “QUAD” didn’t save the day. (And it’s not going to be HD) People did. Role models did. Heroes did.

Maybe it helped that there was always a great fight going on and that people (including the audience) actually took sides. The new FM against the legendary AM… the local AOR against the CHR …the AM Talker battling it out with the AM News station for dial supremacy …and everyone against the newspaper! It seemed everyone fought to win. The winners didn’t always start with the biggest war chest and very often, the good guys won.

What set the winners apart? Inspiration and empowerment. Loyalty and passion.

Talented, creative and motivated programming teams - and salespeople - backed by management that would take a bullet for the staff …or management that was good enough to make the staff want to believe that.

Hey, sometimes we believed our own BS – and that was a good thing.

If they weren’t there already, most folks in the business knew of a set of call letters, a GM, PD, Sales Manager or Group they admired and wanted to work with some day… regardless of market size. We each had our own personal vision of radio heroes, good guys and/or winners. The ownership and management were regularly one and the same – and it often helped their “cred” with the staff when they’d put their house and life savings on the line. At the end of the day, all of this seemed to lead to ratings and revenue …eventually building an industry that the consolidators would deem worthy of consolidating.

Transitioning From Kicking Ass to Covering It

Imagine the kid reading a radio trade or blog today as he or she contemplates a career in broadcasting. What impression do they get about the type of people that actually control the industry?

“The world needs ditch diggers too.” - Judge Smails:  Caddyshack

It must look pretty obvious from the press who the bad guys are but these kids must wonder:

“Who are the heroes of broadcast radio? You know, like the Twitter guys or the Google kids.”

“Who are the “players” trying to outfox each other? You know, like Gates vs. Jobs?”

Whether I’m talking about radio with former colleagues or reading about it, too often it sounds like a business completely dominated by bullies and bad guys. Most of the risk-taking, “go to” management types and employees who once fueled the business are now just trying to survive and “stay under the radar.”

Can’t blame most of them. Ya gotta eat.

GETTING RADIO’S SWAGGER BACK

In order not to sound too much like a bitter, old, unemployed radio geezer – I decided to take one more lap around the radio industry news sites (along with a memorial lap like they do at the racetrack - to honor Radio & Records magazine). I wanted to get pumped up on the medium again. Whoops.

The top headlines in most of the radio trades seemed to have a similar theme.

Sirius/XM on the iPhone (!)

No FM on the iPhone (!)

The Webcaster Settlement Act (!)

Illegal Downloading (!)

OMG! (If I had finished setting up my account, that’s what I would have Tweeted to both of my followers.)

There was also a fascinating story announcing how no “radio station produced” commercials won any prizes for, um, radio commercials at the Radio Mercury Awards. I would think that’s a pretty big deal because it clearly states on the official awards website that Radio Mercury is “the only kick-ass awards show for radio.” Maybe the station contestants took the “Break All The Rules” slogan on the home page seriously.

In search of more uplifting radio industry news I decided to check out an old copy of Radio & Records I had hanging around. Actually, it’s just a cover from the summer of ’85 hanging on the wall in my office. I dusted it off to check out the headline topics. Most of the front page was about industry movers and shakers being “upped” …plus a story about the National Radio Broadcasters Association:

“…‘Super’ Radio Group Gets Cold Shoulder: NRBA picked up no support for a radio-only “super “ association.” (It continued on about the NRBA’s bid for industry unity.)

Everything else mentioned on the front page of this issue seemed to head in an “onward and upward” direction:

- “Five PDs tell Donna their early warning signs for records that aren’t happening.”

- “Charles provides some practical hints on how to cut down employee turnover.”

- “Harvey outlines the preparation steps for radio stations to get their fourth quarter plans together.”

- Lon, Jhan & Steve analyze the ratings for us.

And my personal favorite:

“GUNFIGHT AT THE BIG D CORRAL: A trio of CHR big guns are fighting it out in Dallas, and Joel Denver hears what they’ve got in their holsters.”

That was 1985 B.C.*.

By 2009 the big guns would all have the same Daddy and have to take turns using the holster.

(*Before Consolidation)

Ok enough nostalgia. Back to 21^st century radio…

I thought for a second that I might find the remedy for my broadcast based depression on one of the official “radio industry” sites. Nope. The lead story on the RAB site was about the Radio Mercury Awards.

I also noticed the “Radio Heard Here” logo. I had read a little about the campaign in the past but this was my first peek at the visuals aids.

My bad attitude produced immediate Rorschach test results of “I see a double-edged razor blade that’s been stuck in a light socket… no, no, I see a radio wave – maybe Short-Wave? CB – ham?” I was so busy being cynical that I forgot to click on the link to remind myself what the campaign was all about. So I Googled it instead:

“Radio Heard Here - Radio is Heard Everywhere - Listen to Radio Online …We need your help…” topped the search results.

Well, gee. That’s pretty sad. I assumed they really didn’t need MY help, so I thought I’d try and find someone who could. I wanted to give back.

I started Googling again. My key word combo of “Charity work, Rock Stars, and Radio” produced the name I was looking for in 0.16 seconds.

“Bono” topped the list of 1,490,000 results. Duh. I slapped my forehead and looked for news stories about “Bono” and “Radio.”

Uh-Oh…

“Top musician (Bono?) banned over royalties, complaint says”

“…several stations within a major radio broadcast group notified the artist’s label that they would no longer play his single on the air.”

Well, that was a fine how-do-you-do. I should have left it to the experts.

I’m not quite sure if the campaign to “reinvigorate the medium” is over or not. I no longer work in broadcast radio so it wasn’t targeted at me. I’m with the audience now. Either way, it’s nice to know that radio doesn’t need to be saved any more – just reinvigorated.

Well, at least I know the NAB’s got radio’s back.

Hmmm. This year’s NAB Radio Show theme seems to be “The Dial And Beyond …Profit From What’s Now and What’s Next”.

Unfortunately my radio doesn’t have a dial and I’m afraid that by the time the Radio Show convenes in September, now will be then …so I really need to focus on what’s next.

“I Don’t Have A #%!&*$ Dial On My Radio!”

So tell me. Pullleeeeeeezzze. What is next?????

Not much I suppose …unless radio gets its swagger back.

All this reinvigoration talk within the industry combined with the fuddy-duddy imaging makes the business sound like it has entered the silver years. (Not to be confused with the golden age of broadcasting.)

It seems like “swagger” was the buzzword of the season on American Idol, so it must be a key element of success. It didn’t seem like a week would go by without one of the contestants getting the critical advice: “ya gotta get your swagger back” while another would be praised “you’ve got the look, you can really sing –and on top of that — you’ve got swagger.”

Swagger. I’m not exactly sure what it is but I know it when I see it – or hear it.

“You’re sounding a little pitchy.”

I’ve been lucky enough to work at stations with swagger. I’ve worked for great managers who had swagger. Even some of the radio trades had swagger. Almost all of the broadcast types who are blessed with this swagger thing – including the trade magazines – have transitioned from an on-air sensibility to online. Many seem to have cashed out long ago.

Topics like “positioning” and “stationality” were hot topics for radio convention speakers in the past. Maybe Simon Cowell will present a keynote address at a future radio seminar – or webinar - about How Radio Can Get Its Swagger Back.

By then it will be considered a minor detail that he told Oprah that Adam Lambert would win American Idol …because Adam had, you know, swagger.

Satellite Radio: A Rest Area On The Road To The Future

For a minute, some of us thought Satellite Radio had a decent shot at being the new home of the heroes and not the elephant graveyard. However, as I ridiculed the naysayers, that “internet/broadband” thing was always nagging away in the back of my mind. I tried to bury the notion that I was sounding just like the “AM Top 40” guys who once insisted that AM Stereo would be the next frontier.

The U.S.S. Future of Radio was sailing and I was on the wrong boat – and I knew better.

Deep down, I really believed that the Internet and cell phones would play much bigger roles in radio’s future. But, that was easily rationalized - because I could hear all about it on the brand new Delphi SkyFi XM Radio Receiver in my car! I even installed it myself — just like the time I ripped out the 8-Track player in my Camaro Z-28 and replaced it with an FM Converter. Fast-forward thirty years and I found myself tangled up in wires all over again. After finally locking on to the beam from outer space, what do I get? Freebird.

I wanted to believe in Satellite Radio – I really wanted to believe. After years of watching consolidation seem to completely suck the life out of the radio business - along with the passion and creativity - I actually let myself start to believe.

I knew about all the other new technologies falling into place but they weren’t happening fast enough. Satellite radio was already taking off. No, blasting off!

Radio heroes with rocket ships. Hot Damn. Broadcast radio was being positioned like 70’s AM or worse yet - the newspaper.

Unlike most people I knew in broadcast or network radio, the “satellite people” actually seemed like they were on a mission they believed in. Both camps were backed by incredible facilities, loads of money and piloted by brilliant, creative talent and management. Better yet, they were out to kick each other’s ass.

Radio for fun – and profit — protected by a security blanket. I assumed no one in their right mind would ever let these two companies merge. All they had to do was look at how consolidation took the fight out of traditional radio.

Thirty-something years in radio and I’m still naïve. I’m the guy who in the 80’s stood dumbfounded at ABC Radio Networks when they told us “Cap Cities” was buying the company. Who? Don’t they own some AM’s affiliated with the ABC Information Network? What? They’re buying the whole company? Barbara Walters, Monday Night Football, Who’s The Boss? Everything? You don’t sell ABC!

Just when satellite radio started to get interesting – it was over. At least for me.

One minute, each team was trying to set the world on fire. The next minute they seemed pre-occupied with getting fired. The same folks who once talked with such bravado and passion about “winning” (whatever that meant to them), suddenly switched to talking about “protecting the investment“ and “not wanting to screw up the merger.”

For many of them, this was possibly their last shot in the business. Too many of them are gone all together.

What a freaking shame.

About two years ago, I took my satellite radio out of the car temporarily so a musician friend of mine could borrow it. He was a former rocker who had gone country – partly because he believed it was the only genre left for guitarists. He was blown away by the variety of country music channels and thrilled to discover new music almost daily.

He gave it back to me when it stopped working. Not the radio …my credit card.

I renewed the subscription at a lower rate. Even got a few free months. But, I was too lazy to hook it back up in the car. Plus the satellite antenna wire had to be untangled – and that was way too much work because the roof magnet thing was stuck to the spare tire rim in the trunk.

My subscription expired sometime during the Sirius/XM merger process. Between hearing about many of my former colleagues leaving and reading negative comments daily in the blogs …I was convinced that satellite radio was behaving just like “regular radio.”

Who knows? Maybe the blogger comments were wrong. I just wasn’t in the mood to do the consumer research to find out the truth. I was also a little confused about the new pricing and the potential need for a new receiver and the last thing in the world I wanted to do was call the 800 number. I did that once or twice before and it was like calling the cable company:

“I’d like to get a HD cable box. “

“OK Sir, but I’d like to tell you about our phone service first.”

“No thanks, I just need the HD Box.”

“No problem sir. How much are you paying for your phone service now?”

Bottom line: I just didn’t want to be hammered to get subscriptions for my family and friends. I just wanted to listen to the radio.

I attached Do Not Resuscitate instructions to my SkyFi.

First There Was AM, Then There Was FM and Now — AUX!

I haven’t listened to traditional radio in years, at least not like I used to.

It feels like the medium I once pitched as “one to one” isn’t speaking to me any more. It left me for some other “one” – and took our record collection with it.

Just three years ago I was starting to enjoy AM Talk Radio. Most of the top national hosts could actually get me to smile or even laugh out loud in the car. I could get past the politics and agendas – and appreciate them as “entertainers.”

Two years ago I started to engage in audience participation. The entertainers weren’t entertaining any more. Suddenly they were preaching instead. Like I was going to burn in hell if I didn’t go to their church. So in my own sophisticated way I began to respond to talk radio.

I’d turn on the car radio for two minutes, mutter “What an ___hole” and then look for some music.

Things have changed since the election though. Regardless of whether some driver is passing me at 100 mph in the breakdown lane or I’m simply listening to one of the nationally famous personalities, I often have the same reaction:

“Geez - this is dangerous”

No, I’m not attacking conservative hosts or listeners as a group. There are plenty of arrogant, egomaniac liberals out there. I’m sure some of them are on the radio – somewhere. I just don’t know who they are, where they are or when they’re on. I’m not a big enough “fan boy” to hunt them down. Maybe most of them need to polish their showbiz skills before they can share the ring.

Recently, I tried FM again and I found — Talk Radio. I think there’s supposed to be a difference these days between ”Talk Radio” and FM Talk. The way I figure it, a blowhard on AM is a blowhard on FM but maybe with better audio.

Being older and stuck in my ways, I still think of FM as more of a music medium… so I thought I’d hunt down some Rock radio.

Whoomp! There it was. Like the Energizer Bunny of Rock:

“And this bird you’ll never change.

And this bird you cannot change.

Lord knows, I can’t change.

Lord help me, I can’t chay-ee-ay-ee-ay-ee-ay-ee-ay-ee-ain-juh.

Lord I can’t change.

Won’t you fly high…Freeeeeee-bird?”

I immediately thought of calling the NAB or the RAB. Maybe they could use the lyrics for a slogan – or next year’s convention theme? Instead, once again, I found myself talking back to the radio:

“Lord, THIS bird is gonna change. Maybe the radio industry can’t – but I can!”

I knew that it wouldn’t help to change the station. I’d have to change cars. My 2005 mid-life crisis vehicle had a killer “Shaker 500” sound system. Unfortunately, it only had a decorative plastic panel where (as the car salesman told me) “the high tech stuff” was supposed to hook up.

Then, last month I got a more “practical” car …more suitable for someone my age… a 2009 all-wheel-drive Enabler. It has an AUX input where the high tech stuff is supposed to go. I didn’t even know it was there until I went to stash a few CD’s in the console.

I had finally been enabled. I could now get some use out of the iPOD that had been gathering dust for three years.

The transition took about a week. I had to go find a little wire so I could plug the iPOD into THE AUX. Then I had to buy a car charger for the iPOD because I still hadn’t figured out how turn it off and keep it off. Or so I thought. Then it turned out that the little wire wasn’t a STEREO wire.

Ultimately, my warped mind found it amusing that I ended up driving to Radio Shack to get the connector I needed to disconnect from radio.

OK, so I’m a few years behind the times – and I’m not an engineer. However, I am not alone. I know this because I did research*. I asked about a dozen people in the past week about their AUX. All of them had one. None of them knew what it was for. Same response, every time – regardless of age:

“You mean I don’t have to carry around CD’s anymore?”

No mention of the “R” word from any of them. Not AM, not FM or SAT.

(It’s great being on the other side. I understand how it can to be infuriating when someone substitutes real research with off-the-cuff surveys of their families and friends …but this is kind of fun. Plus, my family and friends are always right.)

”What’s All This Fuss About HD Radio?” *

It’s not just clutter on the radio we’re dealing with. It’s a clutter of devices that can do “radio stuff.”

For every satellite radio receiver in someone’s trunk waiting to be connected, there are probably five iPODS sitting in a drawer waiting for their owners to get cars with AUX Inputs.

Three of the five owners have already bought and returned a “Listen To Your iPOD through your FM Radio” kit to the local Best Buy.

Two of them are just learning about Podcasts.

One has daydreamed about starting an Internet Radio station.

** (“Oh well, never mind”)

Radio: The Change We Need

So whaddya gonna do about it? To, you know, save the radio industry.

I got so dazed and confused thinking about it during the past few days … I became convinced that my MacBook was talking to me. Proof once again that Apple is light-years ahead of PC. My bad. Turns out, it was Microsoft. (Word!)

Every time I’d add a sentence or two to these radio ramblings, a message would pop up on the screen as I attempted to save the document:

“Do You Want To Replace The Existing Normal?”

I just kept hollering back at the screen: “Hell, Yeah! That’s why I’m writing this!”

You see, I don’t want to be a Fuddy-Duddy. Call me old. Call me uninformed. Tell me I’m too slow to adapt. Just don’t tell me I’m not cool. I think it’s a BabyBoomer hang-up. However, whining Boomers like me have programs and organizations to help us deal. Since there’s no AARP for Radio we have to come up with our own solutions.

So what would you do? If you could just do it.

Gimme three steps.

If you could make sweeping changes in the radio industry, what would be the first three action-items on your to-do list? No vendettas. No personal potshots.

Humor and sarcasm are always welcome but only if accompanied by heartfelt steps forward. Oh, and they don’t have to be NEW ideas. Retreads can work, as long they would actually be put to use.

OK, I’ll try my luck first:

1. Hold A Wake For Traditional Radio – accept the fact that the medium as we knew it is dead. Pay your respects, celebrate the triumphs.

You’re allowed to reminisce one more time while you flip cable channels between FOX NEWS and MSNBC. The two networks sure seem to have that stationality (networkality?) thing going on. Forget about your personal politics for one minute. Suspend disbelief.

Watch Keith Olbermann poke fun at O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh and the like. See Rachel Maddow attempt to position them all like a bunch of, well, Fuddy-Duddies.

It sure feels like it did when FM attempted to reposition AM in the seventies.

Note: If you’ve ever taken pride in saying, “we’re a conservative radio station” as you described a talker that you program or manage, please take a moment to look in the mirror and ask yourself:

“Self, do I really believe my own BS when you say I don’t personally care about the politics and that it’s only about ratings and revenue?”

“You Talkin’ To Me”?

If you’d like to unscientifically and unfairly compare radio to cable like I just did, try some name-only searches and see what shows up at the top of the list for “Video Results” when you Google…

Bill O’Reilly: “Bill O’Reilly Flips Out” is #1

Sean Hannity: “Obama Spokesman Crushes Sean Hannity” is #1

Keith Olbermann: “”Keith Olbermann Neuters Bill O’Reilly” is #1

Rachel Maddow: “Insani-tea: Conservatives Rally Around Teabagging - Rachel Maddow and Ana Marie Cox have a bit of fun at the teabaggers’ expense” is #1

I’m just sayin’. Not saying better or worse. Left or right. AM or FM or XM. I’m just saying that there’s something to this. I’ll leave it up to the research people to figure it out.

Now, stop reminiscing (which I’m much too guilty of) about the good old days.

Move on.

2. Hunt Down The Nincompoops – the ones who convinced you that content wasn’t king anymore. They should be easy to find. They’re probably hosting a seminar entitled “radio as a visual medium.“ Do with them what you will, then revisit the concepts of audio content, talent and personality. It seems like announcers and/or hosts are encouraged to be either over-the-top PERSONALITIES or robots. Maybe loosen the reigns on the air staff a little and let them present the content in a more personable way?

In the U.K. they have “presenters” instead of “jocks” or “announcers”. Now there’s something an iPOD playlist can’t do. It can play music but it can’t present it. I’m not suggesting that things work any better across the pond. It’s the thought that counts.

3. Hire The Obama Kids – Picture hundreds of overworked, underpaid staffers and interns applying their smarts, passion and creativity to a field that is controlled by a relatively small group of powerbrokers and special interest groups. Imagine if they exploited all forms of new media and technologies to make it easy - and even fun (!) - for fans to have access to their content.

This reminds some of us of FM Music Radio 35 years ago – or what we thought was happening in Satellite Radio 5 years ago. This was one year ago.

Once again, forget the politics – which just might be impossible for many broadcasters – and focus on the process. If radio had one last shot to change its image, I’d think about betting the farm on the crew that worked on the Obama campaign. There must be a few interns out there still looking for work. Give them the keys to kingdom.

I never thought I’d see the day when Senior White House Advisors might be perceived as having more swagger than your average media mogul. Not too long ago, many young people looked at the political and government career fields and thought “Fuddy-Duddy”. Not anymore.

“GOT SWAGGER?”

Suddenly I know college students who think it might be cool to work for the State Department. Actually, they say, “yo, that would be sick.”

It would be way-sick to me if more of them would think that positively about a career in radio.

Fuggedaboudit?

It turns out that I all my angsting about the future of radio may have been totally unnecessary. I wish I had seen this recent headline before I got all carried away:

““Teens still listen to radio… Study Shows Teens Not Totally Lost.”

Phew. That was close.

As they say in the world of Poker – “…as long as you’ve got a chip and a chair, you’re still in the game.”

OK, your turn. What would Geezer do?

Good Morning America Shreds American Idol With Live Green Day Concert

Rock lives …on GMA (!)  I’m supposed too be too old to like Green Day.  Hell, when “Dookie” came out in the 90’s I thought  it was kind of annoying - especially when it blasted out of my 13 year old’s boom box while the younger kids were bombarding me with the audio from Raffi videos.  Now, fifteen years later, I’m watching them (the ones that sing “American Idiot” not “Baby Beluga”) at 8:45 in the morning as they breathe life back into a whole genre of music.  You can tag them punk, you can call them rock, you don’t need to understand the words or second guess them — you don’t need to “get it” — it really doesn’t matter.  Green Day had me digging for the remote to “crank it up”.

I kind of remember being pressured not to like or respect Green Day as artists when they first exploded on the music scene.  Not really punk.  A bunch of posers.  Oh yeah, something about guy-liner.  Or was that later on? Anyway, some of that sounds a bit too familiar lately.  Bottom line:  they deliver the goods.

After watching the last few episodes American Idol this season I wondered if Rock, particularly on network television, was nearing its “Help I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up” moment.

Thanks to GMA (who knew?) for coming to the table.  Ok, so the jury is still out about whether the Jonas Brothers are the next Beatles and some of  the bands might not be your preferred genre but, somehow this crew pulls it off every time.  I also think it’s fascinating that Chris Cuomo can go from interviewing Liz Cheney to being on stage with Green Day in same show.   At the end of the day, or at least at the end of the morning, it’s refreshing to see live music - particularly rock - presented the way it’s supposed to be - simply for a good time.  No snarky commentary.

Alternatively, I never did  turn up the volume on American Idol’s Rock Night - or during the finale.   I really wanted a reason to though …especially  the night Slash played coach.   I just kept thinking “somethin’ ain’t right”.  This is probably because I had recently been thinking about the “is rock dead?” question… and if so, who were the last great rock bands & rock stars with “cred” to emerge toward the end of the rock era.   Hmm, certainly U2.  Hey!  They were on the GMA concert series recently and I turned up the volume then too.  Guns N’ Roses and Slash were also near the top of the list.  Maybe I was missing something but, seeing Slash on American Idol, I kept thinking “what’s wrong with this picture”.  Quite simply, Slash and “slick”.. just don’t mix for me.

It’s more than talent that counts, it’s at least the perception of being the “real thing” vs. the “slick package”. Guns N’ Roses with Slash & Axl feels right.  Velvet Revolver with Slash & Scott Weiland - that works.  Velvet Revolver with Slash and Adam?  You-gotta-be-kiddin’- me.  But, that was the buzz. Also according to one of the legendary, Voice-Of-God music mags: Adam Lambert was leading American Idol to “Rock Glory”.  Oh, give me a freakin’ break.  C’mon, the kid is great  - he’s “technically proficient” - he’s an original, creative.  However,  when he covers Aerosmith or Led Zeppelin, etc. - I’m hearing what I’m supposed to be hearing - but, I’m not feelin’ what I’m supposed to be feelin’.

I had the same problem with Carrie Underwood last year when she toured with Keith Urban.  She’s got the whole package.  The voice, the songs, the look, the clothes, the loyal fan base, the marketing… the “swagger”.  Bigger, better …the ultimate modern day country music commercial success.  That’s precisely what I saw and heard during her performance.  She did every thing right …she was perfect.  Too perfect.  I heard it but, I didn’t feel it.  The Keith Urban performance that followed seemed to put it all in perspective. It was one of the best (rock?) concerts I’ve seen in the past decade.  It was the real thing.  It didn’t feel like the Keith Urban “brand” had been concocted in some music research lab.  The music, the connection with the audience, the “package” all seemed genuine… and just plain fun.  Just like Green Day.

Yeah I know it’s ALL showbiz, and that includes Robin, Diane, Chris and Sam.  They’re not music experts like Simon, Paula, Randy & Kara.  And maybe that’s a great thing.  One of the most creative media geniuses I knew worked for NBC back in the early eighties.  My friend John McGhan has long passed away.  Somehow the GMA cast and crew seem to be practicing what he used to preach almost daily to “the suits” at corporate - at least when it came to connecting with the music loving audience:

“Think like a fan and make everybody a star”

More ramblings later.  In the meantime, check out Green Day on GMA here.

U.K. Commentary Has A Party - Ridiculing The Way Americans - Particularly BabyBoomer Women - “Par-tay”

I’m still steamin’ a month after reading this one.   What  I thought was going to be to be a “witty” article about the Obama Inauguration/Celebration snipes at everything from the way Americans “par-tay” to Prince (the funky one, not one of theirs) to Hershey’s chocolate. Hershey’s chocolate?

Wow.  I thought Obama’s message of “We Are One” was somewhat about unity and finding the best in others.  And that maybe, just maybe, a new positive spirit was being felt around the world - partly because of a bit less stereotyping.  Obviously it hasn’t reached across the pond yet.

Imagine reading this commentary immediately after seeing “Last Chance Harvey”.  You come home all Kumbaya after seeing Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson bring out the best in each other. Then, feeling all warm and fuzzy about your friends in the U.K., you read this gem:  Barack’n'roll! America finally gets the chance to prove it can throw a par-tay.  

ClassicRockForever has just two words for ya:  lighten up.

 

 

I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore… So Quit It!!!

Once upon a time, there were actually live bands at high school dances instead of DJ’s… and if you were a kid in a cover band, you had to know your Rascals tunes. Here’s the original “Young Rascals” as seen on TV in 1965 (gotta love Dino Danelli on the drums) along with some “next-generation covers”. The Divinyls perform their version from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie soundtrack. From the hair today-gone tomorrow files, check out “Angel” glammin’ it up. More versions and plenty of commentary on the way.

The Young Rascals -

The Divinyls (Video)

Angel -

The Divinyls (LIVE - at 8:45 in the morning!)

We Thought We Were SOOOOO Cool!

(J.D. Stetson) I remember (vaguely) my late teens and early twenties.  I was beyond cool.  At least that’s how I remember it sometimes.  I was on my own, living in a time and place where I basically had a license to do anything I wanted.  My life was cool; my music was cool; my friends were cool; even my ’65 Dodge Dart was pretty cool – well it DID have an eight track!  It was a time of peace marches; of REV-O-LU-TION; mind-altering parties; incredible fashion (can anyone say tie-dyed T-shirts and bell bottoms?); incredibly progressive music (in the real sense of the word); and burgeoning political power to the young.

I remember:  John and Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., H. Rap Brown, Abbie Hoffman, and the Berrigan Brothers.  I remember Jimi, Jim, Janis, the Beatles and all the others that made our music new, exciting and relevant. 

This all started kicking around in my mind as I watched the various clips that have been loaded onto “CRF-TV” at CLASSICROCKFOREVER.  I’ve gotta tellya that I had to laugh at the costumes, the frenetic antics while the bands pretended to play and the audiences tried to look cool while go-go dancing away on little mini-stages or stairways.  The music is still as good as ever or at least a lot of it, but the rest failed to live up to my memories.  Failed completely.

 

Being twenty-something is a very cool time of life.  We are growing, trying to “find ourselves” and trying to understand our place in this great big world.  We are stepping beyond the controlled world that we’ve always known as “home” and trying to define what will become the home of our future.  It is a time of successes and failures.  It is a time of trial and error and experimentation and finding out our limitations and our willingness to push out beyond those limitations.  It is a time before all the responsibilities of maintaining a home, supporting a family, striving for promotions and looking toward retirement tend to wear us down and out.  So we look back at our youth with nostalgia, and the memories become somehow more and better than the reality.

 

Yes, we are older now, but we can still push at the limits.  We have experience now to add to our energy and imagination.  Many of us now have the resources to help define what will become of this “home of our future”, this planet earth.  As I listen to some of this music that still reveals such great composition, encouraging lyrics and musical virtuosity I realize it can either bring me back to a past that I remember fondly, but that is more imagination than reality, or I can continue to push at the limits of what I can do.

 

You and I can still make a difference.  In fact, we now have experience to add to our energy, imagination and purpose.  It is just a matter of choosing to keep on being really cool.  What’s your choice?

We Built This Site On Rock And Roll - Welcome To The ClassicRockForever Community

Do You Feel Like We Do?

While you’re never too old – or too young – to rock, if you are part of our ClassicRockForever community there’s good chance that you are a Baby Boomer.

You believe that “The Wonder Years of Rock” started in the 60’s with the Beatles and started fading away in the early 80’s.  After that, fewer bands and artists kept your attention - maybe U2, Tom Petty & Heartbreakers or Guns & Roses. 

You know that music can’t be formatted and packaged as neatly as “the biz’ would like it to be.  Yes, the same person can handle The Who, Earth Wind & Fire, Loggins & Messina, Elvin Bishop, The Ramones… and all in one day.

You might have checked out of the music scene for a decade or two while you pursued a career and/or raised a family.   You knew there was probably some great new music happening out there… in fact, even today… but, sorting through the media clutter makes finding it a chore.

You know there are killer tunes that have disappeared from the radio.  Contrary to what your kid (or local Classic Rock station) might think, J. Geils existed before “Centerfold”; “Can’t You See” isn’t the only great Marshall Tucker Band tune. The James Gang did “Funk #49” AND “Funk #48”.

Back In The Day

Music was an important part of your life. You went to every concert you could, you bought every album you could afford.  However, you weren’t what they now call a “fanboy”.   Close To The Edge might have been the last Yes album you bought.  Van Halen may have been the last band where you knew the lead singer’s name — and then they had to go mess with that.   Basically, you didn’t cross the line from Star Trek fan to Trekkie.

You stood in line (or you would have if you were a kid back then) to see a Hard Days Night and HELP!   You were blown away by the “triple split screen” effect in Woodstock.  And, if you didn’t actually go, you seriously considered attending the midnight shows for “The Song Remains The Same” and/or “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Beyond the music there were certain movies, TV shows, comedians and entertainment events that, well, there was something about them that stuck with you.  Some of them seem pretty goofy to you as an adult but, they still make you smile (or wince) a little inside.

Goldfinger, Thunderball, Love Story, Billy Jack, Walking Tall, Shindig, Hullaballoo, Vanishing Point, That Girl, All In The Family, George Carlin, Second City, Cheech & Chong, the first seasons of Saturday Night Live, Don Kirshner, Sam Kinison, Mod Squad…

The warped bottom line - whether it’s legitimate or not – you believe there are huge cultural differences in how you perceive the entertainment picks you have made over the years.  In fact, they’re part of who you are:

-  You’d rather be a Monkee – or heaven forbid – a Cowsill… before you’d become a member of the Partridge Family or the Brady Bunch.

-   You’d take a bit part in a Looney Toon before you’d take a lead role as a Disney character.

-  You actually wanted to know “Who Shot J.R.?”  but, you weren’t that concerned about Dynasty.

-  You “totally got” SOAP.  You really wanted to like Mary Hartmann, Mary Hartmann more than you did.

 

To be continued.

Where Have All The Lyrics Gone? Long Time Ago.

 

“There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear”. *  Having lived and grown up (or maybe just aged a bit) in the late 60s and early 70s, I rarely listen to FM radio any more.  Most often the play list is significantly older than my kids (my oldest is going to be 27).  Then I look at the concert listings, and it seems that all the bands who are selling out the big arenas are in their 60s! The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen or the Fab Faux.  Ian Anderson just turned 61 the other night!  ABBA is the background for a hit movie and Hair is making a comeback in NYC.  Yikes!

 

Don’t get me wrong, there were a LOT of crappy songs back in the day (remember “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies?) but there were plenty of songs that were substantial, or genuinely clever, or both.  But even the good ones… I mean, how can I still get excited over “Stairway to Heaven” or “Dust in the Wind” or… well, you get the idea.  Where is the Bob Dylan for THIS decade?  Or even Roger McGuinn?   Or Grace Slick?  Steven Stills?   Yeah, I know, they’re all still around, but they’re doing the same songs they did forty years ago.

I have always loved “Revolution” by the Beatles.  I love (and am convicted by) the interplay between the strong lyrics and the laid back tune.  Yeah, “we’d all love to change the world” along with the little “bop she do wop” background vocal.  It seems to be asking, “Can you be a revolutionary AND a cool dude at the same time?”  We seem to be a generation that started out to be revolutionaries but got lost in the “don’t you know it’s gonna be alright”.  Perhaps, while we are looking back and enjoying the music of our youth we can look into that music and find those elements that made it important to us in the first place.  What were the messages in the music that stirred our hearts and souls?  Why does so much of the music (and TV, and movies, and etc.) of today seem so insipid?

We seem to have set aside the revolution of our teens and twenties to build homes and businesses, to raise families, to enjoy the good life (Livin’ in the USA).  Maybe as we approach, or are already in, our 60s we could reassess where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going.

“No reason to get excited,
The thief, he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we’ve been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late”**

Maybe this could be a time to refocus on the messages that stirred our hearts in our youth, yet have become background music as we stir our specialty martinis here in 2008.  Why was Rock ‘n’ Roll so significant to us?

J.D. Stetson

*Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth

** Bob Dylan – All Along the Watchtower

Sing Along With Mitch: Gimme Shelter

Did Mitch Ryder’s shortlived band DETROIT deliver the World’s Greatest “Gimme Shelter” Cover– ever? Hmmm, could be. You be the judge and check it out right here.  It’s amazing how this tune and the entire album slipped through the cracks in the 70’s.  It shoulda-been-a-contender.  Luckily for some of us… before their playlists became as prepackaged as Kraft Mac & Cheese…a few FM rock stations introduced us to tracks from this gem.  There was a time you could hear smokers from this record like “Long Neck Goose” and the Powered by Steve Hunter cover of Lou Reed’s “Rock & Roll” on the radio.  (Thanks Whistler… whoever you are… for putting this one out there for us).  We’ll definitely be checking in with Mitch again soon.

 

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