Thuh Musik Industry Sux!

Interesting, there is so much stuff out there. I only knew Queen´s Death on Two Legs so far.

I do not know if Led Zeppelin did any kind of song like the above but they often mentioned (in interviews) that they weren´t interested in releasing any singles anymore due to pressure from the record company (before they founded their own label).

Tiresias wrote: Welcome to the Machine by Pink Floyd

Closely followed () by Have a Cigar.

Tinsel Town Rebellion     Frank Zappa

Edited by Velvetclown

Not prog, but I love these Lyrics from Morrissey, about both a fans adoration for a rock star, and also the record companies greedy tactics to cash in on the stars death...

Paint a Vulgar Picture - The Smiths

At the record company meeting
On their hands - a dead star
And oh, the plans they weave
And oh, the sickening greed

At the record company party
On their hands - a dead star
The sycophantic sl*gs all say :
"I knew him first, and I knew him well"


Re-issue ! Re-package ! Re-package !
Re-evaluate the songs
Double-pack with a photograph
Extra Track (and a tacky badge)


A-list, playlist
"Please them , please them !"
"Please them !"
(sadly, THIS was your life)


But you could have said no
If you'd wanted to
You could have said no
If you'd wanted to


BPI, MTV, BBC
"Please them ! Please them !"
(sadly this was your life)

 

But you could have said no
If you'd wanted to
You could have walked away
...Couldn't you ?


I touched you at the soundcheck
You had no real way of knowing
In my heart I begged "Take me with you ...
I don't care where you're going..."


But to you I was faceless
I was fawning, I was boring
Just a child from those ugly new houses
Who could never begin to know


Who could never really know
Oh ...


Best of ! Most of !
Satiate the need
Slip them into different sleeves !
Buy both, and feel deceived


Climber - new entry, re-entry
World tour ! ("media whore")
"Please the Press in Belgium !"
(THIS was your life...)


And when it fails to recoup ?
Well, maybe :
You just haven't earned it yet, baby


I walked a pace behind you at the soundcheck
You're just the same as I am
What makes most people feel happy
Leads us headlong into harm


So, in my bedroom in those 'ugly new houses'
I danced my legs down to the knees
But me and my 'true love'
Will never meet again ...


At the record company meeting
On their hands - at last ! - a dead star !
But they can never taint you in my eyes
No, they can never touch you now


No, they cannot hurt you, my darling
They cannot touch you now
But me and my 'true love'
Will never meet again

 

How about a band thumbing its nose at the people who listen to them?  To whit:

The Worst Band in the World (10CC)

It's one thing to know it, but another to admit
We're the worst band in the world, but we don't give a...

If Garbo played guitar with Valentino on the drums
Then we'd be nothing more than a bunch of darma bums, so
Tune up...........tune up.......

Well we've never done a day's work in our life, and our records sell in zillions
It irrigates my heart with greed...to know that you adore me
Up yours...up mine...but up everybody's?  That takes time!
But we're working on it!..........working on it

We've never seen the van (leave it to the roadies)
Never met the roadies (leave 'em in the van)
All because of circumstances way beyond control
We became the darlings of this thing called rock and roll

Oh, here I am a record on a juke box - a little piece of plastic with a hole
Oh, play me....Buy me and you play me and my plastic turns to gold

Here we are together on your hi-fi - a little piece of plastic with a hole
Fade me....fade me....fade me....fade me....

Lyrics for King Of Hollywood by Eagles

Well he sits up there on his leatherette
And looks through pictures of the ones
that he hasn't had yet
When he thinks he wants a closer look
He gets out his little black telephone book
(He's calling)
(He's calling)
(He's calling)
(He's calling)

Come sit down here beside me honey
Let's have a little heart to heart
Now look at me and tell me darlin'
How badly do you want this part?
Are you willing to sacrifice
And are you willing to be real nice
All that talent and my good taste
I'd hate to see it go to waste

We gon' get you an apartment, honey
We gon' get you a car
Yeah, we gon' take care of you, darlin'
We gon' make you a movie star
For years I've seen 'em come and go
He says, "I've had 'em all, ya know"
I handled everything in my own way
I made 'em what they are today

After 'while, nothing was pretty
After 'while, everything got lost
Still, his jacuzzi runneth over
Still, he just couldn't get off
He's just another power junky
Just another silk-scarf monkey
You'd know it if you saw his stuff
The man just isn't big enough

Spirit of Radio

Begin the day
With a friendly voice
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays that song that’s so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood

Off on your way
Hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact
In your happy solitude

Invisible airwaves
Crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle
With the energy
Emotional feedback
On a timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price ---
Almost free...

All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It’s really just a question
Of your honesty

One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity

For the words of the profits
Are written on the studio wall,
Concert hall ---
Echoes with the sounds...
Of salesmen.

 

My italics highlight the recent Sony payola exposure that few people seem to have even batted an eyelid about.

What can you do against the media moguls that all act illegally, and treat their customers as the criminals when you're addicted to their opium?

Edited by Certif1ed

Besides being an interesting Sci-Fi tale, the lyrics to the song "2112" also refers to the music industry and the fact that Rush was asked to make more radio-friendly music, after the poor showing of "Caress of Steel."  Thank God they did just the opposite.

Edited by Scrambled_Eggs

Here's another song from Gilbert's Shaming of the True:

.

.
.
It’s got tattoos, it’s got a pierced hood it’s got generation X
It’s got lesbians, and vitriol, and sadomasochistic latex sex
It’s got Mighty Morphin’ power brokers, and Tanya Harding nude
Macrobiotic lacto-vegen non-confrontational free range food
It’s got the handshake, peace talk, non-aggression pact
A multicultural interracial non-segregated historical fact
.
Say Amen. Hallelujah! Say Amen
It’s a certifiable number one smash
Hallelujah. Amen.
Certifiable undeniable solid platinum number one smash.
.
It’s got more hooks than a tackle box , it’s got really loud guitars
It’s got a blasting cap in the fertilizer, got the secret anguish of the network stars
It’s anti-fur, it’s unplugged, it’s got an OK from the Pope
Got art nails and a Wonderbra, and dread lock blunt rolled Buddha dope
Got the head nod, the finger pistol, the nose up in your crack
Montel, and Geraldo, and the women who hate the men that hate them back
.
Say Amen! Hallelujah! Say Amen
It’s a certifiable number one smash
Hallelujah! Amen!
Certifiable undeniable solid platinum number one smash.
.
Video Pitch:
.
Now I gotta tell ya about the video idea…your really gonna love this!
We start out in one of these rural churches in the middle of Alabama somewhere
and they’re havin’ this gigantic rave up gospel church festival
with fat women with their hands in the air yellin’ amen and hallelujah
and our boy, our hero, he’s right in the middle of it and religious fervor is just exploding off of his body
behind the alter of this church there’s this gigantic icon of a black Jesus Christ…who our boy later licks.
Smash cut to him on a hillside dancing wildly, half naked, with his undulating midriff sweating profusely in front of hundreds and hundreds of burning crosses
Smash cut back to the church only now it’s not a church right, it’s a courtroom
and the priest has become a judge and the choir’s become the Jury and black Jesus is on trial for raping our boy
So this really angry contingent of  fat trucker lookin’ guys sweeps up black Jesus beats him senseless and throws him in prison
where our boy takes pity on him, goes to him, weeps in front of the bars and then gives him a hand job through them.
but it’s all shot by Herb Ritz so it’s really beautiful and you feel sorry for both of them
All right, all right…so that we don’t offend everybody in the whole f**king world
at this point these two gigantic beautiful red velvet curtains close from either side of the screen and then reopen and the whole cast of the video takes a bow like it was a play or somethin’ right!…get it?
All right well, if you don’t get that you’ll get this…when those receipts start tearin’ in from all over the world you’re gonna kick the almighty god ass my friends because sixty billion flag waving fans in every stadium in the f**king planet are gonna be yellin’!…
.
Sequins, bell bottoms , peace and hope and love
OJ and VR and Elvis Jackson with a Blue Suede Glove
.
Say Amen! Hallelujah! Amen
Certifiable number one smash
Hallelujah! Amen!
Certifiable undeniable solid platinum number one smash.

Neil Young's "This Note's for you" was primarily a swipe at Michael Jackson's tour being sponsored by Pepsi:

"This Note's For You"

Don't want no cash
Don't need no money
Ain't got no stash
This note's for you.

Ain't singin' for Pepsi
Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you.

Ain't singin' for Miller
Don't sing for Bud
I won't sing for politicians
Ain't singin' for Spuds
This note's for you.

Don't need no cash
Don't want no money
Ain't got no stash
This note's for you.

I've got the real thing
I got the real thing, baby
I got the real thing
Yeah, alright.