Or to put it another way, we haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
Yes, in the sixties, there was a youthquake, and who did you look to for answers? MUSICIANS! Even the Beatles sang about revolution, and the Jefferson Airplane asked for volunteers and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sang about Ohio (although that was 1970...)
In other words, music doesn't hold the same place in society. Doesn't have the same meaning, the same power.
Even though everybody in the industry will claim otherwise, just like the press could not see the massive wave of support for Trump.
Sure, the "New York Times" could get rid of Biden, but it's got no cultural impact. If anything, it's more powerful in gaming! Then again, there's a greater thrill in Wordle and Connections than there is in today's music. And games are inherently participatory, the essence of today's society. And give the "Times" credit for diversifying, people are even purchasing subscriptions to Cooking... Then again, food is so exciting that people shoot pictures of it.
How come nobody can admit things have changed?
Oh that Taylor Swift, she's going to endorse Harris and it's gonna be over, Trump is toast!
No, Taylor Swift is a niche act. A large niche, but she doesn't reach everyone, not even close. But we keep being plied with story after story about her in the media. Then again, most of them are about money. Are you really going to take instruction from a billionaire? She's going to be fine no matter who is president.
Ditto Bruce Springsteen. You sell your rights for in excess of $500 million and you want to be seen as a man of the people, shilling for Harris by playing a song that was a hit forty years ago, that had no meaning back then either? "Dancing in the Dark"? That's where Democrats are today. Even Kamala couldn't accept any responsibility today. Just hope and believe and put your head down and work, to quote Joni Mitchell, "where's that at, if you want me I'll be in the bar."
Taylor Swift is not Joni Mitchell. Nor is Gracie Abrams. But if you pay attention to the media, you'd think otherwise. And you're really going to believe that Swift has your best interests at heart when she releases dozens of versions of the same damn album just so she can say she's number one? This isn't a woman of the people, this is a NARCISSIST!
As for Beyonce... Don't they call her "Queen Bey"? Maybe that's all you've got to know.
One after another musician came out in support of Kamala and it didn't move the needle whatsoever.
Then again, the middle class has been hollowed out. Those running the DNC ended up on the right side of the financial divide, and forgot about everybody on the wrong side.
Now you can take a stand in your songs, in your life, but chances are you're going to forgo a good percentage of your possible audience if you do so. Almost no one will take this risk today, even though everybody is not going to like you anyway. Acts are behaving like business people, Bezos and Soon-Shiong, instead of telling those who disagree with them to stay home.
And back in the day, musicians were as rich as anybody in America.
Then again, nobody was that rich back then. Then Reagan unleashed greed and tax rates were lowered and one thing is for sure in today's America, no one can take anything from anybody, rich or poor, so don't expect any change. Hell, they can't even get rid of the carried interest rule!
And if you don't know that is... It shows you don't know where the real money is. Which you aren't required to be aware of, but if you want to foment change, go deep into business as opposed to listening to the non-speak of Kamala Harris, who is afraid of alienating anybody who is not a dyed-in-the-wool Trumper. Meanwhile, Trump has an edge and he emerges victorious. Doesn't this tell you all you need to know?
Trump is more edgy, more out there, more in your face, MORE ENTERTAINING, than any musical act. So Taylor Swift sings and dances for hours, believe me, listening to Trump, however inane he might be, has more entertainment value.
Back in the sixties successful musicians were us. The hoi polloi. They even wore their jeans on stage, just like us. They didn't demand coronation, we gave it to them because we believed they deserved it.
Musical acts haven't had that power since the internet. Because their true identities have been revealed, and most have turned out to be uneducated nitwits. The rockers of yore quoted Hesse and Kafka, today's acts just keep talking about the extensions of their brand, trying you to buy more crap so they can get richer. What has this got to do with politics, belief? NOTHING!
We only care what you say if you're living that life 24/7. If you later just tell us to do what I say... Why? You can't even understand ticketing! That's what I loved about the Oasis kerfuffle, they didn't even understand the landscape they were operating in, do you expect me, or anyone, to take political advice from the Gallagher brothers? OF COURSE NOT!
But all we heard in left wing media was adulation for people who can sell tickets but can't sell their ideas.
People see today's music as entertainment.
And what is purveyed by the majors is anything but new and edgy.
And all the wankers believing Spotify's the problem. Do you think Trump voters believe if you declare yourself a musician you're entitled to earn a living playing music? Where is truth, where is reality?
The musicians abdicated their power long ago. The same media telling you to put down your smartphone is telling you musicians can move the needle, when they can't.
Then again, if you're Elon Musk or Joe Rogan... Their fans BELIEVE IN THEM! And it's all about who they are and what they stand for, and their impact and financial success!
Whereas all musicians can do is whine. It's always somebody's else's fault.
God, the entire Democratic party is made up of whiners.
It's always somebody else's fault. The system is rigged against them.
And the funny thing is the bleeding heart liberals standing up for minorities who ultimately disagree with them. Latin people? They don't like Latinx. The most feminist blowback I get is from white males. We live in a no offense world. God, that school in New York taking a day off so its students could cope with the election results? Jerry Seinfeld stood up to that. We can't get a musician to stand up for anything unless everybody in the industry signs their name, which almost never happens anyway.
The musicians are complaining about Spotify and AI and meanwhile, I don't know where my next meal is coming from, my car was repossessed and I can't get to work. You say you understand but then you keep telling me I'm wrong. You'll tell me the economy is booming and maybe give me a handout, but address the underlying issues? OF COURSE NOT!
It's simple but the Democrats make it complicated.
And the musicians will only show up if it makes them look good, burnishes their image. Take a stand outside the norm? Then again, we live in an industry rife with sexual abuse and no one will take a stand against it, companies just pay and have the abused sign an NDA.
I don't want to be one of those right wing bloviators telling you not to pay attention to mainstream media. Then again, I'm separating fact from opinion. Only the big time media has boots on the ground. But their heads are up their ass. Reporters think they're doing god's work and they can't be wrong. After all, they're underpaid! But the right is not sympathetic, they'd tell the writers to go where the money is, just like Sam Kinison told starving Africans to go where the food is!
So let's recap. The music industry lost control of the hearts and minds of the public decades ago. And put the knife in its own heart with Napster. It not only wouldn't give the public what it wanted, IT SUED THEM!
Then labels would only sign acts that sounded just like the ones already successful, in fewer genres than ever before. You're not giving me what I want and I should pay attention? This is why Netflix is so successful. Sure, they've got some brain dead shows appealing to many, but I keep up my subscription because of the quality niche shows, which have a fraction of the viewership.
And the acts... Anybody with money and a brain doesn't become a musician. Odds of success are too low. So we're left with the lower classes, who'll do anything their handlers want them to, unlike the acts of yore who needed to do it their way.
So let's get off our high horse and admit that Taylor Swift, BTS, even BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, do not represent what once was. It's apples and oranges. Don't tell me about chart positions and Grammy awards, there's no ubiquity, certainly for almost all twenty first century acts.
What do you stand for?
I can't even tell you who Kamala Harris is, and most people agreed with me, and that's why she lost.
If you stand for something that means you're willing to leave money on the table...in an era where no one leaves money on the table. The musicians used to be different, now they're just like all the rest of America, money-grubbers.
So, I'm not a Republican, I'm not switching sides, I don't endorse Trump or sexual abuse, I believe everybody is entitled to a roof over their head and food on their plate, and health care too!
But to succeed in life you have to take your lumps, lose sometimes. Today's coddled progeny of the upper middle class and beyond can't handle the truth. There are trigger warnings, if you get their pronouns wrong they lose their sh*t. Yes, I believe you should be entitled to your abortion, but that does not mean everything you believe is true, that you can't look yourself in the mirror and see your flaws. And if you can't admit your flaws, you can't improve. And improvement leads to success.
Life in America is hard. The road to the top in music is longer with worse odds than ever before. So most people don't even get started.
It takes a special kind of person to change the world, and Taylor Swift is not it.
And I dare say at this point Bruce Springsteen is not it either.
And most people in Nashville are afraid to choose sides, won't venture an opinion in public, but at least they make the most honest music, that is palatable to and understood by many.
And to bring it up one more time...
The biggest act in recorded music is not Taylor Swift, but Morgan Wallen. But seemingly every Democrat cannot forgive him for uttering a word that's in so many rap records that were sold to him by the industry. Furthermore, HE WAS DRUINK! Whenever I write about him...
People bring up this incident. Call Morgan a dumb hick.
There's some evidence right there why Trump won. Do you think all the people paying good bread to see Wallen in stadiums think they're ignorant? I'm sure not. But the Democrats keep telling so many Americans over and over again how they're wrong and have their heads up their rear ends.
Then there are the people making fun of the Trump voters all over my computer today. Seems like even in the wake of this loss Democrats can't learn anything.
Things are not the same as they always were.
Time to wake up.
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