MUSIC DESERVES A PLACE...

I just finished watching a rerun of the show BEHIND THE MUSIC, this time about Hall & Oates and it got me thinking. Hall & Oates have been a big part of the lives in this household. I was a fan of their music and my wife was one of those giggly type fans of Daryl Hall for a while at one time. I enjoyed their hits, their videos and probably everything they ever wrote. But I never truly appreciated them until time had passed and I was able to sit back and listen to them all over again after some time apart. And that's something that all music has to offer.

Let me side step a bit and just talk music for a moment. We have a problem in this country where equal time and money is being offered to continue music programs in school but sports gets complete attention. I have nothing against sports getting support and money. It needs to happen. But music does as well. Using myself as an example I can tell you why. For sports, especially in high school, it was something I watched and enjoyed, rooting for the home team. But it wasn't me; it wasn't something I was involved in with the exception of cheering the team and playing in the band at each game. It wasn't something that I took forward with me and could involve me down the road. The same can't be said of music.

When you learn about music you take it forward with you. Twenty years after a music class you could take out an album/CD/mp3 of Bach, listen and then realize that amazing thing that was his music. The man has been dead well over 250 years and yet we still listen to his music. The same holds true with pop music. Songs that I listened to in high school are still around for me to enjoy. The same isn't true of those football or basketball games I went to. So why is it that they get more funding than music programs? I'm not saying cut them; I'm saying they both deserve attention and support.

So where do Hall & Oates come into this? A love of music is where. As I watched the program each note that played had memories attached to it. Not just memories but emotions as well. I know there were a number of people who made fun of the duo for various reasons. In high school the fear of being gay (keep in mind this was the 70s) had guys making fun of their album cover for DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES, referred to as the silver album. No truth behind rumors but teens can be stupid. Their fun loving videos had critics ridicule them during the 80s. And their never ending stream of hits made jealous people give them hell later on. Again the critics turned on them because they weren't edgy. No they weren't. Instead they were giving people something they enjoyed that they loved doing and that has held up much longer than the edgy people critics adored.

If you don't believe me pull out any issue of ROLLING STONE magazine from the earliest to most current editions. Look at the albums and artists that they hold in high esteem and praise unendingly. Then (if you chose something older than 5-10 years) notice how many of those highly praised critic darlings are still around or even listened to. I've often felt that by intended to present themselves as arbiters of tastes, critics often raise a snobbish nose in the air when something good is present to prove they are above the fray. All it ever did for me was show me what to avoid and what to enjoy.

Okay I got distracted again. Back to Hall & Oates. As I watched the show I kept marveling at the amount of music they had written and performed and how important it was to me. The memories and emotions came flooding back to me. Some were personal and others were nothing more than emotions that the music and lyrics elicited in me then and now. For someone to be able to do something like that is amazing. These two gentlemen, along with several other co-writers, had that ability then and now.

Music back then also did something that kids today may never get the chance to experience. Several things actually. First off they may never get the chance to hear actual music being played either on CD or live. Bands too often want canned music, in particular pop icons. Computerized and autoloaded vocals are abundant. That's sad. Secondly while music has always been a business there were tons of artists in the past who poured their hearts and soul into their music. Again, the creation of music as a product has led us to pop charts filled with performers who do little in the way of being honest and putting themselves into their music. That too is sad.

So what is someone to do? I would say to start with go back the basics. Go back and discover that great music of the past that is there for all to enjoy in so many ways. Youtube offers tons of those old classics. Mp3s aren't that expensive and can be downloaded. CDs have reduced in price and can be had for less than when they were initially released. When you find that music rejoice in it. Let it pour over you once again like it did the first time.

Looking back I've been thinking about Hall & Oates after that show. I thought back to each album they made. I've got all of them in one form or another, at least by the duo. I still have a few solo CDs to pick up. As I thought about those albums and looked through them I found another item that kids today will never experience. That's the joy of finding a great song located in the middle of the hits, songs that never played on the radio but were on the album and were sometimes better than the hits themselves. Almost every band had that but today? It's all about the hits, downloading single songs and missing out on the rest.

Using Hall & Oates think about it. You may remember ABANDONED LUNCHEONETTE and the hit single "She's Gone". But "When The Morning Comes" and "Las Vegas Turnaround" are great too. BIGGER THAN BOTH OF US had "Rich Girl" but it also had "Back Together Again" and "Do What You Want To Do...". VOICES had "Kiss On My List" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" but it also had "How Does It Feel To Be Back" and "Everytime You Go Away". Then there were the albums that didn't generate the number one hits but had great music as well. ALONG THE RED LEDGE featured "It's A Laugh", "Melody For A Memory" and "I Don't Wanna Lose You". X-STATIC had "Wait For Me" and "All You Want Is Heaven".

As for Hall & Oates they carry on, still touring. Daryll Hall has found a home with the internet crowd first with his show LIVE FROM DARYL'S HOUSE where he brings in current pop artists to his home to have fun playing his songs and theirs. He just had another show on the air called DARYL'S RESTORATION OVERHAUL which is about him restoring his new house from colonial times. John Oates records solo as well as touring with Hall. And all the albums that happened after their run at making history as the best selling duo of all time have been just as good as the early ones. 

Here's a suggestion. Go to your closet and find those old albums or CDs. Put them on and give them a listen, from start to finish not just searching for the hits. Choose someone not on the charts now. Some ideas? Alice Cooper "Under My Wheels". The Allman Brothers "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed". America "Riverside". Art Garfunkel "Traveling Boy". Atlanta Rhythm Section "Champagne Jam". Bachman Turner Overdrive "Gimmee Your Money Please". The Band "The Weight". Billy Joel "Summer Highland Falls" or "Miami 2017". Black Oak Arkansas "Lord Have Mercy On My Soul". Blood Sweat and Tears "Lucretia Mac Evil". Bloodrock "DOA". Blue Oyster Cult "Career Of Evil". Bob Seger "Nutbush City Limits". Boz Scaggs "What Can I Say". Buddy Miles "Them Changes". Burton Cummings "My Own Way To Rock". Carole King "So Far Away". The Cars "Moving In Stereo". Cat Stevens "Wild World". Chase "Handbags And Gladrags". Cheap Trick "Hello There". Chicago "Introduction", "South California Purples", "Loneliness Is Just A Word" and "Happy Cause I'm Going Home" (sorry I'm a huge Chicago fan). Cinderella "Shake Me". The Clash "Train In Vain". Climax Blues Band "Couldn't Get It Right". The Commodores "Machine Gun". Concrete Blonde "Bloodletting". Cream "I Feel Free" and "Strange Brew". CSNY "Carry On" and "4 + 20". Culture Club "I'll Tumble 4 Ya". Curtis Mayfield "Move On Up". That's just a partial list from my collection from A through C. Maybe I'll post more another time. Sure there are hits in the mix I shared but I bet it made you remember those songs and say to yourself "Oh yeah, that one. I haven't heard that in ages!"

There was a time when my stereo system meant the world to me. My record collection was huge. I still have a huge music collection but the stereo disappeared. I now listen from my computer. As I think about the music I spent time listening to in the past it makes me think that maybe I need to revamp my audible accessories once more and buy a nice stereo system that can tie into the whole entertainment realm here at home. Maybe it's time.

IS ROCK AND ROLL REALLY DEAD?

Recently Gene Simmons of KISS made the comment that rock n roll is dead and that is was murdered by digital downloading. I think he's half right but not correct in how it came to be. He blames downloaders for wanting something for nothing. The fact is before downloading became the norm those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s were making copies of our favorite music using cassette decks. That's how the whole mix tape concept got started. The artists at the time were ticked at anyone doing so and came out against it but it kept going.

The reason for recording wasn't really about wanting something for nothing, it had to do with the high costs of buying an album at that time. Most people who buy music are young people and always have been. That same demographic worked part time jobs and had no disposable income to spend on non-essential items like records. So what many did was buy an album, share it with a friend and record it. If a group of 5 friends bought 5 different albums and shared them they saved part of the money it would have cost to buy those other 4 albums (less the costs of a blank cassette). Had they not done so, they would not have bought the other 4 albums. By listening to that music, by becoming aware of it, they in turn bought tickets to see those acts live or to buy merchandise they otherwise might not have. Most always thought of recording music as expanding the music they listened to rather than killing it. If you found another group you liked then you might buy that next album the group/artist did. If the artwork was great then nearly everyone bought it.

So going back into that last paragraph what was it that killed rock n roll? It was the money record companies charged for the records they were selling. The same thing happened with CDs. Laws were enacted to try and insure that record companies weren't gouging customers. The idea was that when CD technology became universal that the costs for producing a CD would drop and so should the price of those CDs. The record companies never did what they were supposed to and left the prices at the expensive level making more profits as the costs to make a CD decreased. Eventually they were finally pressed on the issue. I remember clearly what happened. The CDs released by established bands remained at the high prices while up and coming or new bands had the prices for their CDs chopped dramatically. I remember when a hot band had a CD for $15 the day of release and on the same shelf was a CD by a new band for $7. Using this formula the record companies could show the average costs of a CD had dropped when in reality the hot band CDs were still the same price.

Now go and see what the artists were making off of those CDs at the time. Most made pennies on the dollar from each one sold. They made more from merchandise and touring (KISS is well known for merch). So if a band made say even $1 from the sale of a $15 CD where did the money go? The record company of course. They used it to promote other bands at times, used it to pay for fancy office space, used it for payola to get radio stations to play their music (note that radio has died somewhat like CDs with the internet; my take on that is the problem with stations playing only one style of music per station. So much for diversity.), they made sure they had plenty of drugs for their acts (a huge expense) and spent exorbitant amounts on promotion that wasn't really needed...then again many of them owned the promotional companies so they were basically shifting money from column A to column B.

What downloading did was make the record company nearly unnecessary. Today groups find their market via the internet. Word of mouth spreads about a group and everyone goes to their web site if they're good. They don't bother downloading an entire album because a number of times the entire album sucks with 1 or 2 good songs. I can name on my fingers the number of albums I bought years ago where the entire album was excellent. Most had half good, half bad songs. The thing is a new artists can reach his market without the record company. They can sell their CD online as downloads for about half of what the record company was charging and the majority of that money will actually go to the artist rather than the record company.

I really don't think rock n roll has died at all. Record companies have and will continue to do so until they realize the digital age is here. Make downloads affordable and people will flock to them. At 99 cents (even though that seems cheap) if someone bought an entire 15 song album we're still at $15. Did the cost of production reach that figure? I honestly don't know but doubt it. Again, the digital age has made it possible for people to build a recording studio in minutes using a computer and the right program and equipment. The old studios are closing up shop left and right (watch the movie SOUND CITY). How successful would an album be if the cost per song were 50 or 25 cents? We may never know.

So is rock n roll dead? No way. Look at any local club and you'll find all sorts of music being played, much of it rock n roll. You'll find metal, punk, pop and more every week locally. By checking out the clubs and buying the home made CDs of those bands you continue to support rock n roll. Maybe not to the tune of millions of dollars that many of those bands from Simmons time earned, but enough for them to do well.

In reading 3 autobiographies from the members of KISS (Simmon's was the only one I haven't read) I can tell you that the amount of money they were making was astronomical. In the end they lost an astronomical amount of money as well due to bad business decisions, poor management of their money and spending it on luxurious hotels, cars, women, drugs and more. While they basked in glory (that they did indeed earn) and become caught up in the excess that the music business was prone to, kids across the world were flipping burgers for several hours just to be able to buy that latest album.

So who is more responsible for the so called death of rock n roll? The kids who downloaded music? The record companies that wanted to charge more than was needed? The bands/performers who felt they deserved to be able to indulge in any and every thing available to them no matter what the costs? I tend to think it was the last two. The fact that a kid can still pick up a guitar, learn a few chords, get a few other friends together with him/her and play at a local night spot tells me that the music isn't dead but the business end of it that preached excess is.