So, I'm subscribed to an E-mail blog that receives writings from Bob Lefsetz who is a Music Industry guru, genius, and...well...often times...hater. But he's legit and has mad credibility as he has years of experience as an entertainment lawyer in the (music) biz. You can read his blogs here: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/.
Anyhow...below is an excerpt of one of his latest blogs. Read everything first and then go to the You Tube link he provides.
Does it rock?!?!
I have to tell you that when I watched the clip I felt something...I wanted to hear more..., but did I like it? I actually don't know! But what I do know is that it rendered an emotional response in me. It did what music is supposed to do!!!
I have to agree with Mr. Lefsetz' last two paragraphs and say that it indeed does rock!
SEE BELOW...
Someone e-mailed me about this act a couple of years back. I downloaded a few tracks. I didn't get it. But watching the clip, I was brought back to the sixties and Laura Nyro. Both sounded not quite like anybody else. You couldn't put your finger exactly on their talent. Neither was classically beautiful. But you were touched in a way Top Forty radio never reaches you, you felt the power of rock and roll.
Go to: http://youtube.com/watch?v=6kMIFDm7rS8
I know, you're asking yourself...is this guy gay? I mean what's up with his hair? Couldn't he go on a diet? Let go of your American preconceptions, just watch. This completely live performance.
This guy isn't doing it for the audience, he's doing it for himself. You believe he's been tortured his whole life, criticized for being himself, so he holed up in his bedroom and wrote this song and nervously, he's playing it for us live.
We didn't see the intro of this clip on the DVD. We had no idea of Antony's history. All we got was the music. And that was enough. Great music needs no context.
The business is tanking because everybody's playing it safe. They want surgically-enhanced stars, who don't write their own material. Who they can get commercials for, who they can get sponsored. What Fortune 500 company is going to go into business with Antony and the Johnsons? Public companies would run! Top Forty radio would laugh at the prospect of playing the music. The irrelevant rock formats are too caught up in oldies and formulaic hard stuff to take a chance. So greatness languishes. But greatness is out there, it exists.
Watch this clip in its entirety. It will render you speechless. If for no other reason than your brain will be unable to process it, will wonder what the fuck it is!
What this is is rock and roll. Music that tests the limits that touches your heart. Not pabulum. Not entertainment. Rather tuneage that demands your attention. That enriches your life.
You wonder why the U.K. music scene is healthier than that of the U.S? Because of shows like Jools Holland's. Where everybody plays live, where it's only about the music. Music still gets respect in the U.K. Here, it's just a tool of the man.
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4 comments:
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE!!!!
RAGE I SAY!
RAGE!
oh and i quite liked the performance but could have done without that hairdoo.
I couldn't open the link, but I wonder if it was anything like Souza 59 and I love Rock n Roll.
I can't say I really cared for the song, both for some shallow and less shallow reasons. I'm not too keen on his voice, and that's become important to me in lyrically driven songs. Jeni just bought an album by Over the Rhine that I have the same problem with. While some of the songs are good (some are not so good, too) the singer's voice just doesn't get to me. On a (hopefully) less shallow note, I didn't really like the form, or the structure of the song. It's actually pretty similar to much of the stuff I write, and I'm not a very big fan of my own music.
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