The views expressed are the opinions of the participants.
In this episode, my friend Jim Barber and I unravel the tangled web of policy, corruption, and greed that led to the collapse of the music business in the late 1990s.
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Great interview! The instrument rental thing explains why all rock music sounds so homogenous since about 1988. I can't imagine Steve Vai, Andy Summer, or Eddie Van Halen using someone else's gear! As a Gen-Xer, it feels that rock really died after grunge hit the radio. I cannot think of a band that made much of an impact on rock that came out after around 1993/94. Even the grunge bands were kind of lame, IMO. Guns-n-Roses were the last of the true rock bands to have the kind of cultural impact that is missing now. Also, technology played a huge role, with so much music now being made with computers. Same drum machine loop and, the same sample of the bass. Cumulus and Clear Channel came along and finished off what was left of rock music. Tom Petty sang about it in his "Last DJ" song.
TL;DR – capitalism killed rock music 🙁
Anything that becomes sufficiently popular will inevitably be ruined by corporate greed. I want ugly musicians back, that don't give a fk about a music video or playing a stadium for "fans"
Saw drivinncryin several times. One time at a little bar in Monroe louisiana ,me and my brother were broke and Kevin Kinney (lead singer/guitar) bought us both a beer and gave each of us a cd.
well, corruption and greed ultimately lead to the downfall of everything, n'est pas ?
Every good corruption story starts with government intervention lol
If a company could only own a few stations, then those stations would inevitably be top 40 or C&W. There would be no rock stations.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this discussion. And, they don't necessarily pertain to the rock music and radio industries.
"started back in the mid-nineties"?!?
“One thing that did happen in the 60s was some music of an unusual and experimental nature did get recorded, did get released. The executives of the day were “cigar-chomping old guys who looked at the product and said, ‘I don’t know. Who knows what it is? Record it, stick it out. If it sells, alright! We were better off with those guys than we are with the hip, young executives making decisions about what people should hear." – Frank Zappa, 1987
That's right – 1987!
1980s – major record labels, conglomeratetize, and become corrupt screwing over musicians
1990s – So called “Indy rock” becomes a thing to circumvent the large labels but they never really pay enough and so a lot of smaller bands end up getting smothered – and large bands like Nirvana – end up getting overplayed and overrated.
2000 and beyond – Napster happens (torrenting) and music is stolen online. Apple Music legalizes thievery by putting everything into iTunes without DRM protection.
And we are still here today with Apple charging way too little for their music service forcing the other large record companies to do the same.
What needs to happen is music services need to be $20-$150 a month depending on what type of tiered plan you want of music packages.
That’s the solution and people need to listen, and we need to implement that and force Apple to do that.
WLS-Chicago certainly helped to break Styx in the 70s.
Every industry is corrupt! Guess why. Human beings invented and gain from corruption better than most anything else. The only alternatives are theft and fraud…
Sevendust, Alter Bridge, Foo Fighters are still creating new music that I will always purchase and listen to. Music will remain part of my life till the end. 😊
Have never heard a Taylor Swift song. Could not even name one of of her songs. I'm sure she's talented. But pop music offers nothing of interest to me. Particularly because all of it is grossly sanitized. Even "live" stuff.
Thank god for Napster in 1999 help killing off $19 cds
Thank You
Bittersweet Symphony by the verve a masterpiece!!
The Devil really came out when EVILS……I MEAN ELVIS came out👹 Songs were written for Elvis when his career was LAUNCHED! He did not write them for the Agenda they were written for him.His contract was offered by RCA Victor October 28 1955 (The day Bill Gates was born)Oct 28 1955)via Western Union the Colonel Tom Parker((his real was Andreas Cornelius Van Juijk) name who was not a Colonel he was in the Circus busdiness. The contract was finalized Nov.20 1955 which was Biden 13th 👈 bday. Exactly one year after Oct 28 1955 on Oct 28 1956 Elvis go the Polio shot on National TV, funny how Space and vaccines relate to Bill Gates who was born in Seattle home of the SPACE NEEDLE
Given the frequency with which this happens, one might be tempted to surmise that the de facto purpose of government regulation is exclusively to shut down small businesses, transferring all that money and control to corporate political donors. But surely I’m just overthinking it.
Ok, Corporate America undid music as we knew it. The only creative part was finding new ways to screw the musicians and the buying/listening public. But… years ago I thought rockism was another PC whining tune but not anymore. See what Wenner, a.k.a. the Guardian of Rock Truth did. He singlehandedly make the RNR Hall of Fame a complete joke by indirectly admitted he was completely biased and prejudiced in his Rolling Stone tenure: "John Lennon, a genius. Any Disco artist? They collectively suck." Yeah, Napster was a huge blow to the industry but so is the USB memory. Why wait forever for your favorite song to play on the radio when you can have ALL your favorite music in your phone? It's inevitable that music genres fall out of favor with the buying public. Witness jazz. It had to happen to rock. Salsa, the other huge phenomenon of the 60's and 70's is also dead. There are still people recording songs that don't resemble at all the greatness of the Salsa genre, whose decadence started in the early 80's. It's difficult to imagine how and why a genre like Rock could be producing new, relevant and popular songs after 60 years.
Surely a DJ playing the (overplayed) hit song by commercially successful band The Verve 8 times in a row in the late 90s was not a good thing for diversity in Rock. It's like if they played an Oasis or Nickelback, etc. song 8 times in a row
Short version: DEMOCRATS signed a MONOPOLY ACT allowing one big company to control everything.
So insightful! Great conversation
I feel that Rick neglects the impact of Rap and negativity which overtook the industry and moved it in a negative direction.
Great video Rick. You definitely are a team player with the people who matter, the bands.