Tag: music

I’ve been a fan of Tom Petty for a long time, both because of his music and because of his image as a rebel willing to flaunt the current rock conventions.

So, when the announcement came out the other day that Petty would be playing the Rock and Madison Square Garden, I was intrigued.

But the announcement came with something a bit surprising. Petty would be selling $40 memberships to his fan club that would allow members access to a presale.

This isn’t an unusual strategy – U2 did the same thing on the Vertigo tour – but it struck me as a bit hypocritical of Petty because he’d written a pretty pointed lyrics on The Last DJ that left me believing that Petty was different than the other big bands out there. The song, “Money Becomes King,” tells the story of a rocker (Johnny) who is distanced from his audience through the corporate marketing machine, a story of an industry that had lost its soul. It is both a romantic and angry song, one that mourns for a lost time of innocence, “a time when everything / Wasn’t up for sale.”

Johnny was a pure rocker, in Petty’s telling, who excited the passions of his young fans, who always could scrape the necessary cash together for some tickets.

But then money became king and “everything got bigger” and “they’d double the price of tickets.” Johnny now “lip-synched / His new lite-beer commercial” to a new corporate crowd.

They sat in golden circles
And waiters served them wine
And talked through all the music
And to John paid little mind

Petty was singing of the evils of corporate sponsorship and the new paradigm that created a special class of ticket buyers. Petty was a man who was a friend of the kids in the “nosebleeds,” who identified with them.

Five years ago, you could still get Petty tickets for a modest $50. Two years later, his tickets in Atlantic City were going for more than $150. Now he wants us to buy $40 so we can get a shot at decent seats. Why doesn’t that sit well with me?

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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Tris McCall’s annual Pop Music Abstract is worth checking out, music fans. Find it here.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

E-mail me by clicking here.

The Recording Industry Association of America doesn’t seem to understand the ways in which technology is changing the ways in which music fans are listening to music. Not only is the industry targeting people who use file-sharing software to download music free of charge — not exactly smart, but certainly within their rights — the industry says that listeners cannot rip discs that they’ve bought legally for use on their computer or portable players. That means that nearly everyone is in violation of copyright.

Consider: You buy the latest disc by Mariah Carey. You take the disc and copy it onto your computer so that you can do the foloowing: playing it on your iPod; listen to your music while working; make a mix disc for the car or for a party. You have no intention of giving the files to anyone else. You’re making use solely for your own enjoyment.

The record industry, however, says you are breaking copyright law and should be fined.

It’s an absurd position, as Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA, points out in The Washington Post.

“The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation.”

The industry offers this logic (from the Post):

“If you make unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings, you’re stealing. You’re breaking the law and you could be held legally liable for thousands of dollars in damages.”

The record companies seem to be saying that I can listen to the disc copy of Lyle Lovett’s It’s Not Big, It’s Large on my disc players — whether in my office, my car, at home or wherever. But if I want to listen to some of the songs on my iPod or mix some of the songs in with songs from other discs I’ve purchased, I have to go out and buy the music again. That’s just ridiculous — and destined to further alienate an already alienated music-buying public. Why buy discs, after all, if you have to rebuy the music to make use of your iPod?

The RIAA’s legal crusade against its customers is a classic example of an old media company clinging to a business model that has collapsed. Four years of a failed strategy has only “created a whole market of people who specifically look to buy independent goods so as not to deal with the big record companies,” Beckerman says. “Every problem they’re trying to solve is worse now than when they started.”

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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As promised, here is my musical overview of the year that is fast coming to a close.

The year in music: A to Z

A: The Arctic Monkeys and Art Brut release outstanding sophomore discs.

B: Mary J. Blige tears it up on the Grammys with a performance of “Be Without You” and ends the year with a great new disc (Growing Pains).

C: Cover albums by Dwight Yoakum (Dwight Sings Buck) and the Smithereens (a song-by-song remake of Meet the Beatles)

D: Dylan, more specifically, the new movie based on Bob Dylan’s life, “I’m Not There,” and its brilliant soundtrack.

E: Steve Earle moves to New York City and records a wonderful album about it

F: John Fogerty’s Revival torches the Bush administration

G: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon

H: “Hate on Me” by Jill Scott

I: The White Stripes explode on Icky Thump.

J: Justin Timberlake’s single, “What Goes Around … Comes Around,” is sexy and danceable — and would have been song of the year had Alicia Keys not issued an album..

K: Kala by M.I.A.

L: Lyle Lovett, It’s Not Big, It’s Large

M: Magic, by Bruce Springsteen, is the best political album of the year

N: “No One” by Alicia Keys is the song of the year

O: Old-guard rockers — along with Springsteen, Fogerty, Robert Plant and Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Paul McCartney issue solid discs.

P: Robert Plant and Allison Kraus make an unlikely pair, but great music on Raising Sand

Q: Queasy, as in, “Tweener pop stars (Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, etc.) self destructing make me a bit queasy.”

R: Rilo Kiley’s Under the Blacklight, which produced one of the year’s best songs — “Silver Lining.”

S: Son Volt’s The Search — both the album and its title song

T: Joss Stone says “Tell Me ‘Bout It”

U: “Umbrella,” by Rihanna — a song that is both funky and sweet.

V: Vintage — as in Amy Winehouse channels Motown and Stax-Volt on Back to Black, offering a legitimate reason to ignore her baggage.

W: Wilco and Lucinda Williams both release great discs and put on great live shows.

X: XPN is now the only broadcast radio station worth listening to, as the rest of the music world grows more and more formatted and satellite radio becomes more popular.

Y: Neil Young issues a live album of a 36-year-old concert and a new disc, Chrome Dreams II

Z: Zeppelin – that’s Led Zeppelin – reunites for a benefit concert and issues a new compilation.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
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I wanted to pass along a couple of song lyrics that sum up the season for me, a Jewish pacifist:

“Someday at Christmas,” recorded by Stevie Wonder and Remy Zero

someday at christmas men won’t be boys
playing with bombs like kids play with toys
one warm december our hearts will see
a world where men are free
someday at christmas there’ll be no wars
when we have learned what christmas is for
when we have found what life’s really worth
there’ll be peace on earth
someday all our dreams will come to be
someday in a world where men are free
maybe not in time for you and me
but someday at christmastime
someday at christmas we’ll see a man
no hungry children, no empty hand
one happy morning people will share
our world where people care
someday at christmas there’ll be no tears
all men are equal and no men have fears
one shining moment my heart ran away
from our world today
someday all our dreams will come to be
someday in a world where men are free
maybe not in time for you and me
but someday at christmastime
someday at christmas man will not fail
take hope because your love will prevail
someday a new world that we can start
with hope in every heart
someday all our dreams will come to be
someday in a world where men are free
maybe not in time for you and me
but someday at christmastime
someday at christmastime

“The Rebel Jesus,” by Jackson Browne

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
Theyll be gathering around the hearths and tales
Giving thanks for all gods graces
And the birth of the rebel jesus
Well they call him by the prince of peace
And they call him by the savior
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
As they fill his churches with their pride and gold
And their faith in him increases
But they’ve turned the nature that I worshipped in
From a temple to a robbers den
In the words of the rebel jesus
We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why they are poor
They get the same as the rebel jesus
But please forgive me if I seem
To take the tone of judgement
For I’ve no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In this life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel jesus.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
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