Nirvana broke through in the early nineties and so did Mariah Carey.

But there is no one on the TV singing shows who wanted to be like Cobain. Hell no one even wanted to be like Halford, Jovi, Tyler or Coverdale and if they did, they didn’t last long except for James Durbin.

Everybody wanted to be Carey, Sheeran and for the ones who had the guts, to be their own self. And hard rock music never translated well to the TV screen. Everything sounds distant and small. And you don’t feel the energy, the thumping of the bass drum in your heart.

MTV cashed up the labels and the labels finally had the power. They could make or break a career in the same way Harvey Weinstein could. It used to pissed the labels off, how the artists would withhold music or not go in the studio when the label head requested it.

Artists signed deals, got the advance money, blew it on things, and then realised that they had to use that advance money for the recording. So the label gave them a little bit more, controlled the process, told them to keep on writing, racked up the bills and suddenly the artist is a million in debt before the first album is released and when a song became a hit, they also realised how they signed away their rights, when the signed on the dotted line.

All in the name of putting out a TEN INCH RECORD.

And I am thinking of Aerosmith right now.

If you got into the band in the 80’s because of the songs written with outside writers, then you would hate this little 12 bar bluesy and jazzy cut from “Toys In The Attic”. This is a track that diehard fans would know.

And the band kicked off their Grammy MusicCares performance with this song and the industry people thought Tyler was singing “suck on my big 10 inch”. That’s why I love rock and roll. The middle finger attitude.

Off to Spotify and I’m calling up “Toys In The Attic”.