KAOS In The Music Industry
I'm just going to come out and say it: I've been dreading writing this column. Everyone here at Spare Bricks contributes because we want to, not because we're paid to. It's truly a labor of love for us all. So when it was decided that this issue's theme would be "Rog Against The Machine" (a campy phrase for which I gladly take credit), I looked at it with excitement, and then with trepidation. Pink Floyd has notoriously defied the music industry's pressures time and time again, and yet still soared in their success. So, how can I sit here and justify Pink Floyd's position of "f*ck off, we'll do it our way" while, since 1989, I've made my living in the music industry, and thus falling into the category that they've combated all these years?
I'd like to think that, in all the dealings I've had with Roger--and to a smaller extent Dave, Nick and Rick--over the years, I've come across to them as a bit of an oasis in the sea of music industry torrent they've so vehemently despised. Granted, I can assure you that Dave, Nick and Rick most likely wouldn't remember me at all. Heck, our professional paths last crossed in 1994. And even Roger, with whom I've had the good fortune to work with several times over the last few years, probably would need a bit of prompting to recall who I am and what I've done with him. That's okay, considering just how many people he must meet every day.
But, I'm getting away from myself. Let me state a few points to help me stay focused:
1) Not everyone in the music business is the "Hey, guys, great band! (Did their promotional check clear? OK, great.) Yeah, I love you guys! So, which one's Pink?" type of person that is the stereotype. While there are a lot of those out there who let their passion for money rise above their passion for music somewhere along the line, there are still plenty of people in the business that are good eggs.
2) If Pink Floyd were just starting out today, they wouldn't stand a chance.
3) Music is an art; business is a science (colleges know the difference, right?). The two should have never met, but at some point in time there was simply too much money involved for this collision not to happen.
4) As someone who still does make his living in the music industry, I have to choose my words wisely as I write this column.
'Round about the same time as the theme for this issue was being discussed, a Pink Floyd tribute CD was slowly being assembled by the Echoes internet community. Having been a recent victim of the music industry corporate downsizing, the song "Radio Waves" seemed an all-too-appropriate choice for me to cover. In 1987, Roger Waters made comment on the corporate invasion of the music industry with Radio KAOS, and although it was almost 15 years later, his commentary still applies with startling accuracy. In KAOS, one of the subplots is the plight of Jim, the veteran Los Angeles DJ who was still trying to maintain his style while the pressures of his station's corporate ownership were trying to squash him into what they thought was good radio.
At the time of KAOS, the corporate owners of Los Angeles' most popular rock station, KMET, saw there was more money to be made from a Smooth Jazz format. They changed KMET to THE WAVE, and to this day, 94.7 FM Los Angeles is the home to Kenny G, David Sandborn and Spyro Gyra. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not slogging on this music style--hell, I love Sade--but my point is that, when KMET was shut down, it was working. It was the hottest music station in town. Everyone listened to "the mighty MET." You'd get to school in the morning and the talk was "did you hear Jim Ladd last night when he..." or "dude, we gotta get to the Rush concert early because the KMET van's broadcasting from the parking lot!" And yet, for all its popularity, the number crunchers saw more dollar signs in the Smooth Jazz format, so without so much as a public opinion poll or anything, KMET was wiped out. Again, it's the passion for money beating the passion for the art.
And this, perhaps, is one reason why Pink Floyd has been so resistant to the music industry's pressures over the years. They have never been interested in music for the sake of money, and by taking the stalwart stand they have all these years, the business has not triumphed over their art. The business has triumphed because of their art. Granted, there are plenty of bands out there that welcome some levels of industry control, and some of them have proven to be quite successful for it. For that matter, some bands today have only made it because of industry control, but these bands are often more tools of a producer than genuine artists.
But let's remember for a minute that Pink Floyd wasn't always as staunch in their rage against the machine. Go back to the late 60s. They did the lip-synching on American Bandstand (well, were supposed to anyway). They did the promotional films (now called videos). And they did a lot of interviews. As a young band, eager for success, you have to. You see the music industry and want to take a bite of it. And if you're lucky, you get a nibble, then a snack, then a full course meal with all the trimmings.
But that's when the trouble starts because that's when the industry starts trying to bite back. Now the band has the meal and the industry wants a bite. Before The Dark Side Of The Moon, it was Floyd saying to the biz, "come on, just give us a piece of the action." After Dark Side the tables turned, and the industry was saying, "come on, just give us a piece of the action." And it was at that point that the brothers Pink said, "No, we got this far without your input. No need to fix what ain't broke."
Imagine Floyd's A&R guy being handed the first mixes of Wish You Were Here. He rushed to his cassette player to hear what he was certain was going to be Son Of Dark Side Of The Moon. I can see the notes now: "shorten intro, too long to first lyric, too slow, add more trippy sound effects, needs a single, too instrumental", etc.
Now, imagine that guy going back to Floyd, giving his suggestions, and thinking "okay, now they'll be on the right track." That kind of mentality would make any artist's stomach turn. How can you tell me what will make my art better? Fortunately for Pink Floyd (and for all of us), they were now in a position to say, "No, this is how we do it, period." Rarely is an artist or band in such a position these days.
That is not to say that bands can't make it with the "Floyd" mentality today, but it is a lot harder. Bands like Widespread Panic, Phish, and Tool all are enormously successful with very little music industry help. They may not enjoy radio popularity like their contemporaries do, but they're still able to sell out concerts wherever they play. Word of mouth, tape trading, and nowadays the Internet are powerful allies for bands that want to do it themselves.
Remember in the early 90's when bands like Blues Traveler, the Dave Matthews Band, and other HORDE tour alums were all getting signed? Why? Because they had been touring hard for many years before that, letting their audiences freely tape them, and the word of mouth spread like wild fire. The industry didn't pay much heed to them at first, dismissing most of them as Grateful Dead wannabe hippie bands. But sooner or later, the numbers spoke and the music industry had to take note. There was just too much money being made not to.
Nowadays, the Dave Matthews Band is one of the biggest bands in the world, and because of their grassroots ideals, they're still firmly in control of their product. I should also say that the Dave Matthews Band's people at RCA Records are some of the good eggs; some of the smart ones who understand the "don't fix it if it aint broke" concept. And I'm happy to report that the same could be said of Pink Floyd and Roger Waters' people at Sony.
Damn, I did it again. Where was I going with this? Back to Pink Floyd. How about The Wall era? During this period, the band categorically refused all interviews. I bet Pink Floyd's manager, Steve O'Rourke, didn't mind it too much. After all, the stance was simple: "no" to everything. No interviews, no photos, no TV appearances, just "no". There was always the rare exception, but this was Floyd's most notoriously resistant period. My suspicion is that part of this came from the aftermath of the Animals tour, when they were allowing the business side to affect the presentation of the art. They okayed playing stadiums, an idea that was prompted by money, not by artistic ideas.
Roger realized during the tour that somewhere art had given way to the business. So when it came time for The Wall, saying "no" to everyone went right along with the album's theme. This, of course, is where the rub comes because at this point Roger decided that you couldn't connect with an audience in a stadium; David Gilmour thought you could, and more fuel was added to their already fiery feud.
But don't think for a moment that the post-Waters Floyd has changed their stance in terms of embracing the music industry. I remember quite well, when I was involved with the world premiere of The Division Bell. I had the pleasure of engineering the interviews with each band member, and had the formidable task of holding on to the master tapes. I was given very specific instructions from their label's point guy: "Do not make a copy of any of these tapes for anyone under any circumstances whatsoever until you clear it with me, I don't care who is asking for it." I even had to make sure it was okay to make a cassette copy of each so that my boss and I could begin writing the show!
One morning, I got a call from a woman who said she was head of the publicity department at Columbia Records and needed a cassette copy so that she could pull some quotes for a press release. Since I hadn't met her before, I told her that I'd be happy to but I first needed to clear it with my point person there and would have to call her back. She put me on hold, and came back a moment later with him on the line. He said, "Johnny, that's fine, she can have one, but again, thank you for checking with me first." It was a bit awkward, but that's just the way Floyd does things, and I was relieved to learn that everybody at Columbia knew this. The woman was fine with this too, and when I apologized to her for the formality, she said, "Hey, it's Pink Floyd, I understand."
And then there was the time just last year when I was preparing to do a radio show around the release of Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd. Having met and worked with Steve O'Rourke on The Division Bell, I didn't think twice about sending him a fax with some requests for interviews. My memory of Steve O'Rourke from 1994 was that he was a wonderful man, very nice, and even a good sense of humor to him. But I had a momentary lapse of reason that day and forgot that this was Pink Floyd and to them, I'm really just another person in the music industry. I wasn't supposed to send these requests directly to him. I had to talk to my label contact at Capitol, who had to talk to her boss, who had to talk to Steve's assistant, who would talk to Steve, who would talk to the band. Then, follow the chain in reverse for the answers to get to me. Hey, it's Pink Floyd, no problem. This is how they've maintained their industry insulation, so I'm happy to play by their rules. Again, it had been since 1994 when last we worked together; there's no way they could have remembered me nor could they have known whether or not I was a "which one's Pink" type. But for me, being the hardcore fan as well as the industry guy, I sat there and thought "wow, even today they're still like that... bravo."
Sadly, the corporation that bought the corporation that bought the company that I was working for at the time closed down our department before I could finish the show. That stung. I mean, fine, lay us all off so you can save a buck, but just let me finish putting this Pink Floyd show together!
I hope that maybe I might have provided a little insight as to why Pink Floyd has taken the stand with the music industry that they have. As for me, well, although I'm not working for one of the corporations anymore, I'm still in the music business doing what I've always done: radio shows for nationwide syndication. I've recently started my own syndication company with a few of my fellow victims of corporate downsizing, and with any luck, you'll soon be hearing one of our shows. And hopefully the bands, managers, labels, publicists, agents, promoters, road crews and everyone else associated with the music industry will remember "Oh yeah, Johnny--he's one of the good eggs."