Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Only rock 'n' roll

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  • Robyn Gallagher,

    I can't work out how these guys decide which bands are in competition for the world's best.

    From the Wikipedia entry:

    The World Music Awards (founded in 1989) is an international awards show that annually honors recording artists based on their popularity, and worldwide sales figures

    So that pretty much explains it. Lowest common denominator.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Tomorrowpeople,

    I had a few issues with timing out but they seem ok.

    Sound quality varies.

    The Duran Duran NYC 1982 New Years Eve gig is a goodie.

    The Craps tables at the B… • Since Nov 2006 • 188 posts Report Reply

  • Yamis,

    Chili Peppers will be the Rolling Stones of our generation.

    They'll be touring when they are 60 and we will be filling Mt Smart (or the waterfront stadium) with waving lighters (if smoking and fireworks haven't been banned).

    Their stuff now is getting fairly repetitive but it's still better singalong stuff than most. IMHO.

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    No I think its all too fragmented now to produce another Stones or Beatles. These were cross generational/ cross genre acts who had a vaguely revolutionary aspect about themselves and their music. It's almost impossible now to get beyond a very large niche.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Yamis,

    I dunno. They are energetic, have a huge number of hits which a lot of people know the words to and they are well known around the world and to different generations. Kids today listen to them and they have been going strong for over 20 years. I saw them in concert in Korea a couple of years ago playing one of their newer albums to 15,000 Koreans. They have more than enough hits to live off right now but if they put out a few more big selling albums in the next decade and are in the mood to keep on going I don't see what would stop them from becoming something from my generation to cling to and show off to our kids in the same way that Elvis, the Beatles and Rolling Stones have been shoved down our throats and ears our whole lives when I'm not the least bit interested.

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    Maybe you are right about the generational thing. But the difference is that whilst, like them or not, The Beatles, Dylan (and to a lesser degree..much lesser) Stones and Elvis created the very thing that made the RHCP possible, they wrote the book that the Peppers, as popular as they might be, are still re-writing, even down to silly little things like bands writing their own songs and having some real say in the way they are presented. It reasonable to say that these guys, over that period, invented the thing we call rock music. I would hazard that the Chilli Peppers would happily agree with that.

    These acts, in their day, had global dominance in a way that no artist has now. The release of a Beatles album was a major musical landmark event, not just the release of a record, and each one changed the way that music would henceforth be made. Listen to Please Please Me and Sgt Pepper..these records were only 4 years apart but the difference is monumental, as if from another differing planets.

    The Stones were not at the same level but they still broke down barriers. I would imagine that without the British blues boom and the way it influenced the US market the Chilli Pepper's early funk based stuff would've sounded a hell of a lot different.

    That said, I wish the Stones had stopped doing what they are doing a long time ago, like The Who, its sad.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Yamis,

    Conversation amongst ourselves here but who cares. They certainly won't ever be 'as big' as the groups mentioned but with the music market place being many, many times larger than it was back in the day I think they would be able to do the odd world tour playing to decent sized soldout venues well after they have stopped writing decent songs. To an extent it will depend on how they handle themselves in the media and their will to even carry on. I've tried thinking of other groups from the past 15-20 years who could soldier on to large live audiences in the coming decades and I'm not sure there are any. Nirvana is an obvious no, Pearl Jam?, any suggestions?

    But I really don't know a hell of a lot about the music industry so I should really stick to sport.

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    Funnily enough, one band that continues to pull massive live crowds around the world, especially in the non English speaking part, is Oasis. Then again, their last album was a UK number one so I guess their star hasn't fallen as far as it may seem to us watching from the other side of the world.

    Talking of Korea, we get some Korean musical variety shows on the Korean language channel here in Bali..damn they're funny.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • stephen walker,

    Simon,

    do you have a web site, or are you going to do a guest post on PA?
    i'm intrigued to learn what you are doing in Bali...

    nagano • Since Nov 2006 • 646 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    Hi Stephen...click on the link below my name for my site..rough as it is. I have a blog at ww.opdiner.blogspot.com too which is really just a bunch of unconnected thoughts.

    Bali is just a very pleasant change of pace, rather more "in the world" for a change if you know what I mean (and I guess you do since you are in Tokyo) andI find that I can do pretty much everything I need to do in NZ right now via broadband and getting on a plane when I need to.

    There are far worse places in the world to be than Bali.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Yamis,

    Yeah those Korean music variety shows are generally shockers. All K-Pop shite. There is actually a fair amount of decent music in Korea but it just isn't mainstream over there. It's still able to exist fine because of the size of the market but the stuff that gets pushed on TV and the record stores tends to be diabolical ballads and girl and boy bands.

    I'm wondering when we will actually get more non-english speaking music on TV and radio here if ever. We get more and more radio stations and music channels so there could be a little niche opening up for it. Some of my favourite groups are Korean and I can barely understand a word of what they are saying. They have a lot of good hip hop groups and I would say that that scene is at least as good as hip hop in NZ right now.

    I'm back there for a few weeks in January and if I don't spend all my spending money on booze catching up with mates I'll spend the rest on cds.

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    We in the west (and I count NZ in that) tend to forget there are several billion in the East buying and creating music. I agree there are some amazing things. I saw an incredible band from Jogja (Yogyakarta) on the beach the other day that merged an Indonesian pop sound (batak) with a ska-ish kind of reggae. Tight, no noodles, no nonsense and a killer version of Brian Wilson's I Get Around.

    And a cloud of ganja smoke too. I guess there was a market for all that stuff that Schapelle tried to bring in..

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Compie,

    What I find really interesting about all of the threads about music is how it changes my itunes.

    What I'm surrently listening to is a result of Russell mentioning the Checks, who to my mind are more mod than most things that have come out of Britian over the last decade (excusing the mod father himself sad old Paul Weller).

    So new on the playlist and subsequently on the shuffle is my collection of fav mod tunes. But related to this talk of rock survivors and influences, interestingly The Who only get 2 songs on the mod playlist. I know the mod thing was fleeting for them and Roger Daltry had to gel his hair down to look mod, but there is no doubting their influence over the music scene. Saw them at Hollywood Bowl just after John had died, what a show.

    Anyway, slipping nicely in there are the Checks.

    Mind you what caliber of bands do we have coming from NZ these days. Never mind that they have fleeting dances with major labels and move on, they are moulding and influenceing the music scene here and overseas.

    Some of the funniest TV I ever saw was a French Canadian game show. My wife was doing her best to keep up, but for some reason after the music stopped and somewhere in the laughing clothes kept being discarded. No one ever got nude, and nobody seemed to win, to that was there even a point to the show, but it was funny.

    Dunedin/Vancouver • Since Nov 2006 • 114 posts Report Reply

  • Compie,

    Yikes sorry about the messy spelling, bloody dyslexia.

    Dunedin/Vancouver • Since Nov 2006 • 114 posts Report Reply

  • Yamis,

    Have to bring this thread back up after the Chili Peppers soldout both concerts in about 20 minutes. 24,000 tickets?

    What do people reckon they could have sold if the venue was big enough? 50,000?? 80,000???

    I have a lot of kids at school who were desperate to go but have struggled like hell to get tickets.

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    What do people reckon they could have sold if the venue was big enough? 50,000?? 80,000???

    There was an interestingly thread on another forum I hang out on, a US music industry one, about who, in 60s / 70s /80s terms could be considered contemporary "rock stars" in the traffic stopping Keith Richard sense, and the general consensus was that only the RHCP and Prince (and perhaps Noel Gallagher) would fit the bill..really there are no other contenders.....

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Have to bring this thread back up after the Chili Peppers soldout both concerts in about 20 minutes. 24,000 tickets?

    I was vaguely considering going, mainly because I saw them when they played at the Supertop 15 years ago.

    But then I realised that back then, the Chili Peppers were a popular band, but mainly one that was liked by teenz and 20-somethings.

    However now something magic has happened and they're now this good-time family fun funk 'n' roll extravaganza.

    Do they still play I Want to Party on Your Pussy?

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Nobody Important,

    "From the Wikipedia entry:
    The World Music Awards (founded in 1989) is an international awards show that annually honors recording artists based on their popularity, and worldwide sales figures
    So that pretty much explains it. Lowest common denominator."

    Nah! The WMA's were first held in Monaco as a tourist/convention builder. The key statement is "based on their popularity, and worldwide sales figures" ie we decide who gets them based on deals we've done with the Recording Industry Conglomerates.

    It's a crock. One artist might sell more records than another artist, but they miss out cos the other artist is deemed 'more popular'. All appearances on these shows/awards are determined by who their agent/record company is ...

    expat • Since Mar 2007 • 319 posts Report Reply

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