Commercial – [kuh-mur-shuh]
Growing up a very popular rally cry of the disenfranchised youth was that their favorite band had “sold out” or “gone commercial”, in essence going from a small ‘cult’ fan base into the mainstream market. This was typical when the album that sold 200 copies to friends and family on the small independent label is followed by the “breakthrough” album on a major label [because they saw the potential of the band] selling hundreds of thousands of copies, making the band a household name, and making the fan base cry “I heard of them before “X” album came out!”... thus giving them more street credibility.
This is something that always amused me. You love the band, you worship the band, everything is about the band…but you don’t want anyone else to know? What sense did that make? Unless you’re holding the checkbook to finance the band and keep them eating, living, and supporting their family, there’s a really good chance they want some level of success to be able to continue what they are doing. The mathematical fact is that if they can’t afford to play, they have to quit, and then there’s no music. So given that trade off, does it make sense to begrudge a band for actually creating a greater audience for their music and thus sustaining any sort of lifestyle? I’m not saying that under the guidance of the record label things don’t change. They can and do. And again going back to making a financial stake in the band, they want to see a bottom line profit.
History has shown that there are some amazingly passionate people involved in making music. Berry Gordy from Motown. Clive Davis from Arista. Ahmet Ertegun from Atlantic. These are men who have guided the careers of some of the most successful artists on the planet. And the one thing that set them apart was that they knew what they heard, and more importantly they knew how to market it and get it out to the masses. Now not to bore you with the nuts and bolts of how a label makes money [they always get paid before the artist…] Lets just suffice to say that if a record label signs you, they want to make money off of you. And therein lies the challenge of a moderately successful band getting in bed with the big guys…sometimes they get better, sometimes they get worse…
I understand what it’s like to follow a band and love their music. Then once they found major label success they changed. There are probably too many to mention that have changed their sound, or their line-up, or their target audience, all at the insistence of the record label. Do they know better? Sometimes, sometimes not. Most of the time, the record labels are chasing the curve to sign the next big thing, and by the time they’re done grooming them for release the tide has changed. But the bottom line is the bottom line. On average, there are 50 new releases per week. So doing the math, that’s roughly 2600 per year. Of those, only a fraction are going to make money and only a smaller fraction are going to make it big. And of that small fraction…only a few bands can say they made the album completely their way. And if they did they certainly paid their dues.
Now, when you really break it down, how would you know if they wouldn’t have sounded that way anyway? You can’t know…but you know that in your mind, if they got better, it was because of the band’s talent, and if they got worse, the evil record label did it. And the phrase “sold out” goes from filling an arena, to being the death knell for the band. I guess the simplicity of it all is this…if you want to be in a band, and you want to be successful, there’s a really good chance unless you’re footing the bill, someone else is calling the shots. And that’s the math…
So…to all the fans out there who cry “sell out!”… to their favorite bands, I ask you to open up your wallets, put your money where your mouth is, and finance the next record and tour so that your favorite artists can continue to create and perform music the way you like it. [the band Marillion actually did this successfully, by the way, but that’s a later story] And…to all of the artists crying like whiny babies who abhor the attention and say things in the press that you blame the media for ruining your private life…grow a pair. Or, go back to playing in your garage for your friends and family, because the moment you signed on the dotted line you knew what you were getting into, and there are too many “Behind The Music” programs for you to claim you didn’t know… So suck it up…
And as for “Unskinny Bop”…do you know what it means? Well…nothing. When Poison wrote the song for their 1990 album “Flesh And Blood” they had the melody before the lyrics, and when they were recording they used the phrase unskinny bop to as a place holder for the 4 syllable phrase they hadn’t written yet. When they recorded the song, producer Bruce Fairbairn [R.I.P.] didn’t know what an “unskinny bop” was…but said the phrase was perfect, so it stuck…and from the musical world we’ve added it to our lexicon…
In other news… Jon Bon Jovi wants to buy a stake in the Atlanta Falcons for $150,000,000 [it looks even more impressive when written out….] Looks like Tommy and Gina did pretty well… To his credit he is founder and was primary owner of the Philadelphia Soul football team in the Arena Football League. I applaud his generosity and charitable work in his giving back to the community, as well as his ability to keep his family strong in the crazy world of rock and roll.
Christina Aguilera destroys the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLV… She’s not the only one, just the most recent to botch it. Michael Bolton screwed it up in Boston during the 2003 American League Championship series, and sadly…Stevie Ray Vaughn turned it into a god-awful mess at Houston Astros ’85 season opener [He supposedly confessed to Mickey Mantle that HE DIDN”T KNOW HOW TO PLAY IT!...] Is that really something you should be winging?...
And finally… Rihanna had the video for her new single “S&M” banned in 11 countries. Now I’ve seen the video. There is no nudity and no profanity. It is quite provocative, but I think in more of a tongue in cheek fashion [Perez Hilton walks on a leash like a dog..]. However the powers that be in these countries find it offensive. Even the lines “Sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me” are done for effect but it’s all show, and she’s an amazing performer. I think that in the end, it’s marketing genius. Remember “Justify My Love” by Madonna… when released as a single from her hits package The Immaculate Collection in 1990, the accompanying video single was banned by MTV for being sexually explicit. It went on to be the highest selling video single of all time [and was her ninth #1 single…] So…as long as there will be a Tipper Gore in the mix, they’ll always be controversy…and sales!...
Thanks for coming along for the ride…see you soon…
J.
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