No more drama

People in life become fixated on pursuing advantages and its basically the side to life I don't like dealing with. There's no real need for selfish behavior and damage to others to exist. It's how musicians end up getting the sh*t end of the stick.

It doesn't always have a lot to do with music. Sometimes it reveals the worse scenario for a band because of sexual promiscuity. Peter Banks revealed the damage in store for everyone. If musicians just came with a book of instructions. Like..."Leave this one be" "This one is anti social and as a filthy rich manager I am going to accommodate he or she.

Did a bell ever ring in a record executive's head telling them that they'd make one hell of a better profit if they just left the artist alone? Let the artist do their work. It's always the same old song and dance. They have to hang in the recording studio and make suggestions and many times ..( for decades)..it just didn't work. A talented artist would turn out a contrived album because of the record company.

Think about the pressure that Capitol Records put on Brian Wilson when he was recording SMILE ...back in 66' and 67'. Some of the music was odd..I get it. Capitol had invested in the band and now it's leader wanted to hire a poet and write strange songs. "Wind Chimes' and "Wonderful" or "Surf's Up" ...the Elements Suite which was more avant in areas and instead of having appreciation for an art they worried about money. IF they had left Wilson alone or IF they had been supportive of his ideas..or enthusiastic there would have been a good possibility that SMILE would have been received the Sgt. Pepper treatment by the youth....and they could have made a million by being honest instead of dishonest.

Jimi Hendrix wanted to make Purple Haze an album side. He wanted it to be like a mini opera. The record company wouldn't allow that. The song ended up being 3 or 4 minutes. He came close to what he wanted on "1983..A MERMAN I SHALL TURN TO BE..but he even complained about Electric Ladyland revealing how he was a bit restricted in places. Why? I mean...I don't trust the reasoning behind that.

The artist works really hard at becoming skilled at writing and playing. Possibly since childhood. They create innovative music on their own. That's what the fans want. That's what fans were willing to pay for and the record companies come along and completely screw it up. And as a result...the band's second and third album sounds too much like their first. Why? Because they left things out. New ideas which would have made them sound different or unique...but because the first album had success the record company wanted them to repeat that sequence instead of being honest.

Billy Joel and Laura Nyro were able to turn out hit records without trying to repeat their first album or a certain type of formula or style. Every one of their albums being different and not some cheap contrived idea to repeat the past. What they wrote was inspired not contrived. It's sad that the music business had to be this way. John Lennon and Paul McCartney seemed to write what they felt. Songs like "I'm A Loser", "Baby's In Black", "Help", "I've Just Seen A Face", "Norwegian Wood" all became internationally popular and the record company were beyond pleased. But the fact remains that those songs were unusual for the times. They were a little Dylan and Byrds influenced..but they were very original. With the exception of personal
assistance from the magnificent George Martin... no one in the industry seemed to be pressuring the Beatles to change their music.

Edited by Jacob Schoolcraft - May 29 2024 at 15:08

Atavachron wrote: Eminem is a genius, and he's correct that drama & negativity is integral to an artist's work.   Do you have to suffer to be a great artist?   Not necessarily, but it absolutely makes a difference.

Jacob Schoolcraft wrote: verslibre wrote: Tragicomic! Any time I catch a glimmer of anything CCR-related, I'm like {GIF} That's hilarious! 😃 😀 😄 I had to work for someone like that once. I kept thinking at rehearsal.."Why are you treating John Fogerty like he's Keith Emerson?" That's the night I bailed out. I went quietly. I should have said..."The Civil War called..they found your diary"

Atavachron wrote: Eminem is a genius, and he's correct that drama & negativity is integral to an artist's work.   Do you have to suffer to be a great artist?   Not necessarily, but it absolutely makes a difference.

Tragicomic! Any time I catch a glimmer of anything CCR-related, I'm like

[/QUOTE]

That's hilarious! 😃 😀 😄

I had to work for someone like that once. I kept thinking at rehearsal.."Why are you treating John Fogerty like he's Keith Emerson?" That's the night I bailed out. I went quietly. I should have said..."The Civil War called..they found your diary"

Logan wrote: "If there's not drama and negativity in my life, all my songs will be really wack and boring or something" (Eminem). One might uncharitably infer from that there is not nearly enough drama and negativity in his life.

That Marshall, what a diva.

I would argue that drama is a fundamental component of the universe, just like diapers and swirly straws.

verslibre wrote: ^ Hey, John! You'll no doubt be pleased to know I've actually been blocked on other sites by users because of Harlan. You know, the usual derision, my rebuttal, they throw out more crap about HE (while admitting they've never actually read him) and how he was a "troll," etc., etc. When I try to actually cultivate a narrative, they shut down. Bugf*ck! Art Zoyd = Richard Ramirez? What now?

Hahahahaha! Omg...that is insane! All over Harlan? But I guess I'm not surprised anymore...anything goes I suppose? Wow that is truly anal though not unlike Mayslanding, New Jersey where people act as if John Fogerty is the next messiah. Or that Swamp Rock should be practiced 10 hours a day..Its not Mozart or Paganini..its Swamp Rock... 😃

moshkito wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: Society has changed a lot - as I mentioned elsewhere, in the 90s there was more room for disagreement. The "corridor of allowable opinions", if you will, was much wider than it is today.  ... Hi, I think a lot of this had to do with the rise of the Internet. I was involved in the very early Fido threads about progressive music, and while there were a lot of folks there that knew their stuff, there were a lot of folks that also had never heard of a lot of things. In general, the Internet became the place to find and learn about any band, from anywhere, which is something that was not available before, and only a few magazines touched up a thing or two, and this made room for bad reviews, like in one specific magazine, it trashed Van der Graaf and Peter Hammill for not knowing how to sing ... let me tell you that I think that magazine went down to the pits in the next year or so ... and that folks that were on the fringe, all of a sudden woke up and spoke. The internet, has been massive, for the revelation of what "progressive" is, and has been. Things kinda died in the 80's because there was not a whole lot of publicity about any music, but the Internet around 1990, pretty much changed history right there.

Internet or not...there will always be a "Back In The Woods " mentality in the social environment where I live.

And that's Cumberland County. Vineland, Millville and Bridgeton, New Jersey

With music it all began in 1974 when Robin Trower Bridge Of Sighs was released. When Southern Rock went commercial unlike the Almann Brothers Band at the Fillmore East which had a Progressive edge to it.

Fiocchi...you're into Gong? Popol Vuh? Amon Duul II? That's why you're all F up in the head because you listen to Electronic Music and Prog. These were low life characters that Gary Busey often imitated. The world of CCR .

They were full of ignorant stupidity. If they noticed you read Harlan Ellison or Herman Hesse it usually meant that you were mentally challenged.

They couldn't understand my record collection.

"Yeah...Greenslade..is that a crayon company?"

"Yeah...Three Friends...wasn't that Newell, Williams & Sweikert at Menantico?"

"Yeah...Steve Hachett wasn't he an axe murderer?"

"Yeah..Art Zoyd..wasn't he Richard Ramirez?"

"Yeah...Pulsar ..is that your watch?"

"Yeah...Ange ..is that a fruit?"

Don't come here. Don't ever come here . Warning you. It's the most backwards place in America...Its an insult to the Southern United States where bands like Camel are respected and not thought to be the cigarettes..

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Society has changed a lot - as I mentioned elsewhere, in the 90s there was more room for disagreement. The "corridor of allowable opinions", if you will, was much wider than it is today.  ...