Random Thoughts Part 2

I'll admit it -- I can be pretty slow on the uptake sometimes. Here's a recent example:

I read "Nile-ism" about the band The Blue Nile a few weeks back (oh, great pun in the title), mostly because I was curious -- how does a band that only releases albums every seven or eight years make enough to eat? I love The Blue Nile (as I mentioned in an earlier post, oh faithful reader) so I was naturally curious. Turns out that some of the band members (of which there are usually 3) eke out a living performing film scores, (and with the band apparently on permanent hiatus, I guess that's how it will stay.) But songwriter/singer Paul Buchanan said he survives because some big names have recorded his songs. Clue #1.

A friend of my wife is in a band, a band you'd probably recognize if I told you their name. She's recently had to stop performing for a while, and she revealed what a hardship it was. "People think because I'm in a successful band that I'm rich. But I have no health insurance, touring is expensive and I have to pay for it, and if I don't perform, I don't get paid. We don't write our own material ---THAT'S where the money is." Hmm, and she's recorded a song by the above-mentioned Paul Buchanan. Clue #2.

Finally I was reading an article about the late Levon Helm, former drummer/vocalist with The Band. This article focused on his post-Band work, his cancer, his recovery and lastly, his final bout with a return of his illness. I recalled earlier interview with Levon where her took Robbie Robertson (The Band's guitarist and main songwriter) to task. There was some deep bitterness there, and finally things began to line up for me.

Put the case, as the Beedle said in "Great Expectations" (I'm merely suggesting, I admit nothing) -- put the case that you're in a band. Another band member comes to rehearsal with a song they've sketched out. You work it over, tease it out, the bass player comes up with a killer lick, the piano player suggests a different spin on the chorus, and after a few hours, with a lot of hard work, a hit is born. Put the case that later an album is released, and all of the songwriting credits list 1 band member. Would you be pissed? And as it continues from album to album, do you think you might become bitter? And when the publishing royalties make the 'songwriter' very wealthy but you're basically paid as a musician for hire, what then? Do you think the remnants of bands now performing state and county fairs are doing it because they love touring?

Some bands credit the whole band for songwriting to deal with this problem, and then if you're not carrying your weight (drugs, whatever), you get booted, Fair enough, at least you have a portion of the song publishing to keep you somewhat solvent.

I know this is a gross simplification, and I don't know 90% of what's really going on, but I'm a little closer to understanding how bandmates can turn into enemies. Money's at the root; 'twas ever thus. 

Random Thoughts, Part 1

Listening to the radio on the way to work Saturday, heard one of my favorite shows - "The Big Bandstand" on KSER (90.7). Music of the '20s, '30s, and '40s. (Then I find that it's on the same time as the reggae show on another station. Curse you, programming gods!) So I bounce back and forth, and let me tell you, THAT'S a mash-up you won't believe!

I wondered, why does big band music still have the ability to keep me entertained? It's rhythmically stilted, sentimental, and completely out of sync with our current time. I mean, there's so much junk on the airwaves now, and yet the big band era shines -- what's up with that?

I think it boils down to math and history, two of my worst subjects. Nobody knows what's going to be a hit, so the record companies throw as much as they can against the wall to see what sticks. Working at record stores I'd see so many new releases that couldn't possibly make it onto the charts, a mixture of mimicry (sounds like another band that's a hit!) and test-tube experimentation (let's mix hip-hop with metal and see what happens...) and sometimes it works. Who knows? (I ignored the cynical American Idol machine.)

History (mostly) sifts through the chaff and leaves us with the wheat. I think the reason why big band music sounds so good is because time has let the crap fall by the wayside. I mean, the radio show covers the '20s, '30s and '40s -- 30 years and we usually draw from, what, 300 or so tunes?

"Not so fast, smartypants", you're thinking, "following your line of reasoning, that would mean that classical music would now be boiled down to the best of the best of the best." Well, yes, you might think so, but composers relied on selling their music to publishers, who then sold the sheet music to performers. Let's just say, they wrote more than they sold, they wrote like machines to give the public more of what they liked, and earnest scholars dig through dusty libraries to unearth hidden "gems", as yet unrecorded. Well buddy, there's a reason they should remain unrecorded....

More on publishing and why many of your favorite bands members hate each other next time!