One thing that really pisses me off is when Tom Evans and Peter Ham don’t get the credit for writing “Without You.” Sure, the far less “hysterical” version of THEIR song was never the hit it was for Mariah Carey or the brilliant Harry Nilsson, but it deserves its rightful place in music history. So, when someone like Jimmy Iovine didn’t even mention Ham and Evans- both of whom were to later commit suicide- I was disappointed until I reminded myself that this was a television show for the masses and dawned on the sad fact that no one in that audience or “at home watching” would have given a fuck about these two very underrated songwriters who were signed up by the Beatles to their Apple Records. For a short while, they were “the new Lennon and McCartney” and Badfinger were “the new Beatles.”
So it came to pass that Iovine with guest mentor Stevie Nicks- could she ever sing and didn’t guitarist Lindsay Buckingham have to “shape” her meandering and nasally mutterings? – gave “Idol” front-runner Joshua a few token tips about “breathing” and he came out and gave a typically hysterical version of the song which the kiddies and middle-aged folks in the audience plus the middle-aged judges stood up and cheered on and everyone got teary-eyed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTx5Hz89Ado
Wake up, people: Have you ever listened to Harry Nilsson’s version of the song? It’s so achingly lonely and beautiful and will make you weep for that right one you no longer have. It is an amazing song and an amazing version. It’s what flows through all good music- passion, emotion, guilt, innocence, truth, honesty; love lost, love found again, and love never to return. Folklore has it that Nilsson “gave” so MUCH to that version of the song that he was coughing up blood. Have you heard his work with John Lennon- and despite going off the tracks together produced one crazily good record? Yep, they crossed many rivers today and even managed to get thrown outta the Troubador in LA when Lennon heckled the Smothers Brothers and wore a tampon on his head. Right, May? You were there!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBemzu1Fchk
Spend some time and listen to a few Nilsson recordings. The man was a fucking genius and his album “Pussycats” which John Lennon produced during his “Lost Weekend” remains a much-neglected classic, all of which leads me to music today and the pretty dire music “scene”- I know, what “scene”?- in Asia. Is DIY more like DOA and what if you don’t sing in Korean and look like an air-brushed version of Korea’s Rain and happen to be older than 22? Where’s your “scene”, dude- and how are you gonna DIY when you have nada bucks?
Going to see International acts is not a scene: That’s just living vicariously and, perhaps, feeling good for a few hours. But where’s the beef, where’s the bee rending, where are the noodles and where’s the music? Soon, many will come to Singapore and talk about the music industry- I know, what “industry”?- and looking at the list of “speakers”, how I wished they would have attended Music Matters- but were not going to “share” and turn everything into an AA Meeting where after taking Step Nine, you slip. A few who will “share” are friends and, sorry, guys, but, seriously, what NEWNESS can you bring to a region where the only big thing is K-Pop? And now what?
Sure, it’s great to have a Producer the caliber and “pedigree” of Bob Ezrin present, but what’s the end game? Is there even one?
Surely, there must be an objective and all these players are part of some strategy to advance music and creativity and overall entertainment in this region? Yes? No? But it’s the same old- and now even older- fucking names. Who really cares what [lawyer] John McClellan has to say? Lovely guy, a long-time friend, but what does he bring to the party? What do many of those names who we have all heard before bring to any party except excruciating boredom?
I had dinner with some music industry “veterans” last week and know what? I wanted to fucking SCREAM! When the subject came to the “music industry”, it was so boring, so expected, so utterly useless: Who was going to get the EMI licensing deal for the region? When was the UMG acquisition of EMI going to go through? “Is Lachie still hanging in there?” “No one knows China except me.” Guys, guys, start changing the tune and start singing another song- but, then again, perhaps you don’t know any new songs? The record is broken but no one knows how to fix it.
More to the point- and more to do with today- what do all these “industry folk” have to do with musicians? Or creating music? Or understanding music? Or understanding consumers? Not yesterday’s consumers and not what’s “on the charts”, but what’s NOT on the charts- good shit and good artists who are “not on the charts” and not even getting any support from this “industry” which feigns being so supportive and how we are all “one.” It’s all bullshit and, seriously, the bullshit must stop, the businessmen go to one side of the room and make money and have the artists on the other side of the room go to the businessmen if they have ways to make them money while the others can be “Indie” and hang about and be 40-year-old “hipsters” and wonder where the time went and why they never made it.
Bottom line: Stop the bullshit. It’s become boring and is of no interest to anyone except for those who were part of a sliver of financial pie which is now a crumb. There is NO MONEY in music and it’s fine for those who were there when there was money to be made of this one-time industry to swan around the world pontificating. Having said this, it does bugger all for those who never took back-handers and all those newbies out there trying to make their dreams come true and trying hard to get their music heard over the din of, yes, the same old pontificators pontificating more bullshit. Time would be far better spent listening to the music of Badfinger and Harry Nilsson and being inspired enough to get up and DO something. You know what they say about Action.
Comments