Monthly Archives: November 2019

A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

What Does A Number 1 Album Really Buy You?

Artists who really want a number 1 album play the bundle game, where the artists have to pay money from their concert ticket sales to get to number one.

This process just ends up putting more money in the label’s bank accounts, and these album bundle sales only count if the fan clicks for the digital album, and less than 50% do it because they either already have it or they don’t want it in a digital download, because they are still physical purchasers or have moved to streaming.

If your goal is to impress people in the media who matter less, then a number 1 album works because i see it every day, how the normal music news sites write about it and other websites repeat it.

And how many times an album debuts at number one and then drops off the chart within a month to two months. Goes to show how important those charts really are these days.

And then you have the streaming kerfuffle of artists asking kids to play certain tracks a million plus times so old records from artists who are one hit wonders start to re-enter the chart. Vanilla Ice did this recently.

This system has built careers in the past but a new act can’t even play that game and if you have aspirations to be in Spotify’s Top 50, don’t. It’s irrelevant and a manipulated niche with a young audience listening, who moves on as quickly as you can say the word “what the”.

But if you top the streaming chart, you can make real money.

But (x2), if you get there with the devil (major label) backing you, well that deal at the crossroads means you need to pay.

But (x3), if you go your own way the same way Fleetwood Mac told ya and own everything, well you can make all that money every musician is complaining they haven’t got.

But (x4), the barrier to enter the music market is low and anybody can make a record. There are over 20 million plus songs on Spotify that still haven’t even been heard.

And people will pay attention when they want to. You just need to be in the game to capitalize on it.

P.S. Remember that Black Sabbath never had their 70s albums or Dio led albums go to number 1.

P.S.S. And a lot of other bands fall into that category as well.

P.S.S.S. Like Whitesnake, who never had an album go to Number 1 in the large US market or Twisted Sister or RATT or KISS or RUSH or Iron Maiden.

P.S.S.S.S. But they all had massive careers.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Record Vault – The Black Crowes

Prior to “Three Snakes And One Charm”, my only other Black Crowes purchase that I had in my possession was the “Remedy” single. And I still don’t know what happened to the debut album LP I had. 

Three Snakes And One Charm

Released in 1996, but I picked this one up recently at a music record fair. In saying that, I do have the pre 2000’s Black Crowes albums on mp3, obtained via TPB.

And sometimes depending on moods and feel and how your life is, certain tracks appeal more than others. On this album, it’s the more mellow tracks that connected with me.

“Girl From A Pawnshop” stood out, about a long lost love affair and it’s got some great musical movements and lead breaks which makes me want to pick up the guitar and learn.

“I never lost your number I never lost your address and if we remain friends at best sometime later no, no not yet, we’ll smile and remember it like this”

Let it be and remember it for what it was.

“How Much For Your Wings?” has a Led Zep acoustic feel from their “III” album.

And they put on one of the best jam driven rock and roll shows I have ever seen when they toured Australia in 2008. Rich Robinson was the sheriff in town that night, as he directed the band into extended jams of certain songs with a nod of his head and he directed them out of these jams with another nod of his head and a dropped shoulder. So cool to watch and experience.

And that’s my Black Crowes collection. A single, an album, a concert ticket and an awesome memory of them jamming and commanding the stage.

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Music, Stupidity

The Irishman

This is why organisations fade away.

At first, organisations ignore the new threat, then they try to kill the new threat and eventually they accept the new threat or join it or get overtaken by it.

Martin Scorsese’s new flick, “The Irishman” is a passion project. Rejected by all the big movie studios, Netflix came to the rescue with funding and allowed Scorsese to do the movie however he wanted. And Scorsese wanted a film 3.5 hours long. This is how a filmmaker wants to operate.

But in order to show the movie in the large cinema chains, which could lead to Academy Awards and what not, the corporate bodies who represent the major cinema chains want a 90 day window, while Netflix really didn’t want any window but would have agreed with 45 days.

All of this is old world stuff.

The new world is different.

I would happily avoid a cinema experience, to watch a movie in the comforts of my own home. But the Cinema chains and the movie studios have a cabal set up, which exploits a family for multiple tickets instead of the one month streaming premium.  

And if anyone is facing a challenge to their business model it is the cinema chains.

Once upon a time, when the control of the distribution was in the hands of the movie studios, a film’s commercial potential was judged by its cinema box office receipts. It’s a viewpoint which is still carried to this day and it only pleases the people in the media and the websites that re-report box office takings.

There’s no reason why the cinema experience cannot be an event, but it’s got a long way to go to become a concert like experience.

And “The Irishman” is trending on Twitter highlighting the stupid move from the cinema chains to not screen it. Here are some screenshots from Twitter highlighting the idiocy of the cinema chains and how independent cinemas are winning.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Record Vault – Bush

I was a bit late to the Bush party. It took the single “Comedown” to get me to pay attention and then “Glycerine” came out and I was “yep I like it and I will purchase the album on my next outing”, but that didn’t transpire as I kept pushing the album out of my purchase list in lieu of hard rock and metal bands. Then “Machinehead” came out as a single and I committed financially.

Sixteen Stone

The album came out towards the end of 1994, but it was in 1995 that it started to get people’s attention and for me, it was around May/June 1996 that I committed financially.

The picture you see is not the original. I gave the CD to a friend circa 2001, who then claimed that he lost it, and then gave me back a copy, with the cover printed on an inkjet printer and the CD burned onto a blank disc. I gave him the benefit of the doubt until many years later, other friends told me, he did the same to them, so the prick was scamming us.

As soon as the “Rockin In A Free World” vibe of “Everything Zen” kicked in, I was very interested. And then a bit lost with “Swim” and “Bomb” and “Little Things” brought it back into focus with its “Smell Like Teens Spirit” vibe merged with a Tom Petty “Free Fallin” vibe.

But the piece d resistance is “Comedown” with its bass riff which reminds me of the “You Give Love A Bad Name” verse riff. And Grunge purists are probably gagging at the thought of this, but yes, the riffs are very similar.

And there is no escaping the power of “Machinehead”. The intro riff octaves, along with the power chords crashing all over the place is perfect.

“Breathe in, breathe out” and the way its sung, with a loudspeaker/telephone vibe, captures the frenetic pace of life, and how we don’t have enough time to take a breath.

And I realised that the accessible singles of the album, got me interested, sort of like how the accessible singles of hard rock bands got people interested who would otherwise enjoy other musical styles.

And with this debut, Gavin Rossdale showed he is a force to be reckoned with as a songwriter.

Razorblade Suitcase

The cassette was in a 3 for $10 bin, so it was a no brainer. I didn’t get it when it came out in 1996, but circa 1998.

“Swallowed” is the lead single, and it followed a “Live (band) vibe”. “Greedy Fly” is basically an artist writing a song, without a thought of it being a hit. And somehow it gets released as a single and it’s seen as a hit.

“Cold Contagious” has a cool drum groove, with the guitars decorating the song in a nice way, as Rossdale is singing, “you will get yours” with the volume and intensity increasing. And at six minutes long, it’s the anti-single, but it still got released as a single.

And like “Sixteen Stone”, it was the accessible singles of the album that got me interested again. Then the band lost me with an electronic remix album and I’ve never really checked out anything afterwards, however friends have told me that “The Science Of Things” is worthy.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

Personality Era

Its the era of the personality, those who’ve been in the game for decades seem to have the perfect forum to broadcast.

To spread their viewpoints or criticisms.

So many play it safe and try hard to be liked by all. Others have handlers or social media teams to run their accounts.

But the ones who have control of their accounts, the ones who are true to themselves and their beliefs, and stand by what they say, will be the ones we talk about.

Because these personalities can enact change. Only if they are willing to be uncomfortable and put themselves out there.

“We are all just actors trying to control and manage our public image, we act based on how others might see us.”

Erving Goffman, a Canadian sociologist came up with the above quote from one of his studies, and he’s been dead since 1982. So the social conditioning of being liked in the pre-Internet era existed and got amplified with social media.

It’s not about likes, it’s about having a voice.

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Copyright, Music, My Stories

How Valuable Are Things?

I just helped my in laws move a lot of stuff out of a storage facility and into their new house. They’ve had their stuff in storage since Feb, 2013. Over 6 years.

And guess what happened when we started to move their stuff out of storage.

Most of it went to the rubbish tip. I threw a tonne out for $390 in tipping fees

So I was curious as to how much my in-laws would have paid for storage over these six years and I almost drowned on the water I was drinking when they told me $33K.

$33K to store things which they thought as valuable years ago and it ended up in the tip.

I said to em, “you know how nice you could have fitted out your house with new furniture for $33K.”

Would you pay $33K to store stuff?

I wouldn’t.

I’m either a seller or a giver to the local charity or a tipper. The only thing I’ve moved from each house move has been my record collection.

And it got me thinking about my record collection (Vinyl, CD and Cassettes). I saw them once as valuable. I had all of it under lock and key in an alarmed room, once upon a time.

These days, I don’t have them secure at all. While I still love listening to the music, having the record in hand doesn’t have the same feeling as it once did. Maybe because my eyes can’t see the lyrics anymore, especially when they are tiny. I still collect them because I am a collector, but in the end what’s the point, I’m thinking.

My Dad has a pretty massive record collection and after he got his stroke and faced death in the face, his priorities became very different.

In the end, value is in the eye of the beholder. What I see as valuable, another person won’t. And I remember reading an article about how Elvis memorabilia has gone down in value because people who normally buy it, are dead or they have enough of it, which they are also trying to sell.

So how valuable will our collections and the artists works be in 40 years time?

That’s why the Copyright Corporations like the record labels are trying to lock up the rights of creators works for their whole life plus 70 years after death (and they are trying to get laws passed to make it 90 years after death).

Because there will be value to some.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

1978 – Part 3 – Power To The Rock N Roll Outlaws

Australian artists had a certain sound which seemed to connect with the world.

Being oceans apart from the many other continents aided this sound as music didn’t travel that fast to get to the land down under, which meant we had to listen to our albums with the same songs a bit more longer, or listen to the same songs on radio a little bit more longer or watch the live pub shows with the same songs a little bit more longer.

And when you went to a pub show and heard a certain sound/style rocking the joint and getting people into it, well it was a no brainer that if you formed a band, your style would have some of those elements.

And here my folks is Rose Tattoo.

Rose Tattoo – Rose Tattoo

The real Bad Boys of Rock N Roll, cut from the cloth of Heavy Metal Thunder and various pub brawls in Australia. And they had a singer called Angry Anderson, who didn’t mind spilling blood on stage either. At their Reading performance, he kept banging his head against the amp head until he spilt blood.

I saw a picture of the band once and I thought they would motor in on their Harley’s and bash everyone they saw.

Rose Tattoo is tied to biker culture the same way “Born To Be Wild” is. Maybe it’s got to do with Angry’s up bringing and how his Uncle was a biker.

Motley Crue and the Gunners have nothing on these guys. And Gunners covered “Nice Boys” on their live EP, which Rose Tattoo introduced as a Gunners song when they opened up for them on the “Use Your Illusion” tour down under in the early 90s.

“Rock N Roll Outlaw” starts off with the opening lyrics of “I don’t need lots of people telling me what to do”. Defiance and rebellion encapsulated in just a few words.

“Nice Boys”  don’t play rock and roll and “Remedy”is “Long Way To The Top” on steroids. 

AC/DC – Powerage

The ascendancy to world domination is almost there.

Who would have thought that in almost 2 years time, Bon Scott would be dead?

“Rock N Roll Damnation” is a great opening track. Musically, its typically AC/DC and Bon Scott lyrically, is growing into a beast of a writer.

Especially in the section when he sings; “Damnation, left a happy home, Damnation, to live on your own”.

And it continues in that vein, with Bon Scott singing “Damnation” and then something else after it, like “you got dollars in your eyes” or “chasin’ that pie in the sky”.

Life is about taking risks. You can stay at home and be comfortable or you can live.

“Down Payment Blues” has some of the best lyrics about life.

“Living on a shoestring, a fifty cent millionaire, open to charity, rock n roller welfare”

Life is not easy trying to make end meets as a rock and roller.

“I’ve got holes in my shoes and im way overdue, down payment blues”

One thing you can’t escape in Australia is repayments. Miss one and you get a letter. Miss two and you are on notice. Miss three and the whole world is coming down.

“Get myself a steady job, some responsibility, cant even feed my cat on social security”

Government welfare payments, which are less than the minimum wage are there, but if you can’t find a job in time, these payments are not really there. It’s spent on day one and then you have to wait 13 days for the next payment.

“Gimme A Bullet” has this awesome guitar groove which just gets your head nodding and foot tapping. And to my ears, it’s the embryo to what would become “You Shook Me All Night Long”.

“Riff Raff” and “Sin City”  make it a perfect five-0.

“Riff Raff’ is basically a re-write of “Let There Be Rock” and it has riff that Motley Crue used in “Rattlesnake Shake”, a decade later. And the lyrics,  man, Bon Scott was onto climate change.

“See it on television every day, hear it on the radio, it aint humid but it sure is hot, down in Mexico, boss man tryin to tell me, beginning of the end.”

Is there a better song that “Sin City” and that verse riff?

“Ladders and snakes, ladders give, ssssnakes take, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief”.

The sin city always win, its why it has survived and everyone who has ventured there has turned to dust.

“Kicked In The Teeth” is another re-write of “Let There Be Rock” and I love the lyric, “kicked in the teeth again, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”

Relationships are try and try again.

Songs like “What’s Next To The Moon”, “Gone Shootin’” and “Up To My Neck In You” are good songs, but the ones mentioned above are my go to songs.

UFO – Obsession

If only the band spent the same amount of time creating as they did partying and taking narcotics, who knows how big they would have been.

Because while a lot of the 70’s bands got a second chance in the 80’s on the back of MTV, UFO didn’t and neither did Michael Schenker, although the label tried and ex-partners and managers did their best bankrupting them.

There are no hits on this album, but a band following their muse and creating.

“Only You Can Rock” is rooted within the Free/Bad Company/ELO roots.

“Pack It Up (And Go) is heavily influenced by “Immigrant Song” and a perfect UFO song which gets no attention.

“Arbory Hill” should have been made into a song instead of a short minute instrumental. It sounds like something from a Genesis album with Peter Gabriel singing.

“Cherry” has a bass riff in the verses, that I swear appeared on a “Joy Division” or “New Order” album a few years later. It’s like the seed of the New Wave movement.

“Hot N Ready”, “You Don’t Fool Me” and “One More For The Rodeo” are songs from UFO we know and they would have served the existing fanbase well, but for me, it’s those songs that had a few things just a little bit different that really connected with me.

Doobie Brothers – Minute By Minute

I have to admit, I dig the song “What A Fool Believes” and those ball squeezing falsettos in the Pre-Chorus and Chorus.

The Police – Outlandos d’Amour

As soon as they appropriated the reggae and put it into the mix, it was a different ballgame.

Because while the opening track “Next To You” is rooted in blues rock and roll, the second track “So Lonely” is a cross between reggae and rock and roll.

So when “Roxanne” kicks in as the third track, its mix of reggae guitars over a flamenco bass guitar riff in the verses, and a pop rock Chorus, well, you can hear something special was in the air.

So it’s no surprise that the biggest songs on the album had that reggae feel, like “Can’t Stand Losing You”, “Roxanne” and “So Lonely”.

But “Truth Hits Everybody” is my favourite. It’s a melodic rock song.

Joe Walsh – But Seriously Folks

“Tomorrow” and “Shandi”.

What came first?

And with the Kiss reference to close of Part 3, Part 4 will begin with a Kiss-a-ganza.

Part 1 can be found here.

Part 2 can be found here.

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Music, My Stories, Stupidity

Surveillance

Tom Morello posted the following on Twitter on the 24 October 2019;

Surveillance breeds conformity and obedience. Fuck that Shit.

There is a link to a buzzfeednews article which covers how musicians and activists stopped creepy, racist facial recognition technology from ruining live music events, and why we have to stop it everywhere.

It’s important, even more so today than ever before.

With the exponential rise in technology and our take up of devices to be connected, we are under surveillance more than ever before. Our text messages and mobile phone calls are stored for years. Our search histories are stored and any key words that law enforcement are on the lookout for, are immediately sent to the right department. Our purchases go through a database to see if dangerous stuff purchased separately end up at the same address.

Criminals once they get access to our devices or computers put us under surveillance, tracking our clicks and cyber movements until they have enough information to take our identity and empty our bank accounts. And there is no one there to help with the trauma that comes from this.

We have more surveillance in democracy than totalitarian regimes have.

The Electric Eye in the sky is really watching.

Computer algorithms can scan your face and decide if you are drunk or if you look suspicious. Once you make it through the screening, facial recognition tech can then track you the whole time you are in the area, like a concert venue, a spirting stadium or an airport. Ever been pulled out of a line for a desperate pat down or scan at airport security. Well it was your face that did caused the problem, because it had something the algorithm didn’t like.

And businesses who stand to profit will lie to any investors or government officials, just to protect their business models.

If we thought the nuclear arms race was a threat, well I guess we ain’t seen nothing yet. The clock is ticking and it’s two minutes to midnight.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories

The Pirate Vault #3

Motley Crue – Raw Tracks/Painkillers

“Raw Tracks” is a Japanese release and “Painkillers” is a bootleg of a live recording and studio outtakes from the “Too Fast For Love” sessions.

It was the first time I heard “Stick To Your Guns”. I wasn’t a fan of the song overall, but the lyrics resonated, about sticking to your guns because what is right for you, ain’t right for everyone.

On the “Raw Tracks” tape side, I added the tracks from the 12 inch “Without You” single as well. No point in wasting the precious blank tape reel.

And it’s the first time I heard the term “Original Leathur Mix”, which meant I was on a quest to acquire this legendary self funded independent album.

King Diamond – The Eye/Conspiracy

I had a King Diamond spell because of guitarist Andy LaRocque.

When I heard his riffs and solos, it was at a time in my life circa 1990, which had a lot of the hard rock bands delivering stock standard bubblegum music, like Brinty Fox, Roxx Gang and Skin N Bones and LaRocque was very different.

He combined hard rock influences with this feel that I call Euro Rock. And King Diamond has a unique voice between Rob Halford/Pavarotti like falsetto highs and a low gravelly tone like Lenny.

And both albums are concept records.

Listen to “Eye Of The Witch” for it’s groove or “Sleepless Nights” for its technical riffs.

Twisted Sister – Under The Blade and King Diamond – Them

I needed some music for my Walkman and I remember dubbing these from my cousin Mega.

This is the Secret Records release of “Under The Blade” which has a mix I prefer over the Atlantic re-issue.

Kiss – Alive III

It’s my favourite Kiss live album. A casual pop friend picked it up on CD, told me about it and I was over there in a flash with a blank cassette to copy it.

And somehow I had room on side A, so I included a Jovi cut, so I don’t waste the tape reel.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Surroundings

There is a billion dollar industry telling people that the only way to get better is to surround yourself with better people.

As author and motivational speaker Jim Roth once said, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” And in that small five person group, there will be family members and friends known as “Locusts” (great song from Machine Head by the way) who sap your strength and undermine your efforts to improve.

It’s why it’s important to take the midnight train out of your small town or small circle and arrive into a bigger town or bigger circle, and find people who share your values, and push you and inspire you to be your best self. You can even do it today without leaving your bedroom, but sometimes, behind the blue screen, you don’t know what kind of person is really there.

Even “Spotify for Artists” has a whole team devoted to surrounding writers and composers with some of the best talent, so they can either write a song from scratch, have people play on their song, have people mix and master their song or just give them feedback.

And we used to get upset when our favourite bands used to lose band members, for musical differences or some other bs line. But sometimes, members left our favorite bands to surround themselves with better musicians and sometimes those band members got booted so a more talented musician could be brought in.

But talent doesn’t make a great band. We all know that talent without effort and grit and resilience and a quest of self-development means nothing.

And the glue that binds it all is trust. So surround yourselves with talented people that you trust.

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