My inbox fills up daily with story after story about said artist who was “rude” and/or “mean” to someone and is only out for themselves. I get these emails because of the many Biz pieces I have written for antiMusic. They come from an assortment of people; fans, producers, record company employees, studio musicians who helped write a song but “Mr. Rock Star” wouldn’t give them a piece of the publishing even thought they have millions in the bank. I don’t write about 99% of these emails because the person writing will not go on the record or there is a lack of information and writing about it would be unprofessional. But I’d be lying to you if I said it didn’t grate my soul. Most popular artists are megalomaniacs. Let’s face it, to make it as big as some of these acts do, they have to do a lot of shady and back door deals to get where they are. It’s the same thing I see in the corporate world. Many of the truly good people I meet never make the big bucks, but those whose moral compass is broken, the floodgates always appear to be flowing. Don’t get me wrong, there is often a lot of hard work there, but they also seem to lack perspective on family, life and the overall meaning of what it’s like to be happy.
But I’m getting sidetracked here. Where was I…oh yes, the fan. With a legion of followers one will always have a career. Granted, you might not play stadiums, but who cares. I’m seeing U2 next week at Soldier Field and in all honesty, I’m not psyched or pumped. In fact, there’s a part of me that does not want to go. Why? I hate stadiums. I’ve seen great shows in stadiums by U2, Springsteen, Kenny Chesney, the Rolling Stones and Bon Jovi. However, all of the aforementioned acts have been better in arenas. That’s something people never discuss. Sure, they throw figures and stats around, but the truth is that the stadium experience, no matter how great the show, is never as good as the arena, theater or club and a stadium show will never be the ultimate show by that act as much as you want to believe it is (probably to make you feel better about paying $50 for parking). Not to mention the amount of press one needs to do to hype up and fill a stadium. I’m in information overload and the truth is, I wish I could go back to being a teen alone in my room with no information whatsoever about these acts
In the background I have Metal Mania on VH-1 Classic and they’re playing the Cinderella song, “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)” and one line hit me; “Now know what I’ve got, it’s just this song”. “Just this song”. I wish I could live in a time where we only had the music. In a world where eight pre-sales didn’t exist, partnerships with Major League Baseball were nonexistent, where artists were forbidden to give interviews and all we had was the music. Because all that other stuff…it’s gets in the way and in truth, makes me think less of the music because I often wonder is it really genuine…or just hype?
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
