It's Only Rock & Roll....

"Exile On Main Street"

So many of you have not agreed with my assessment of "Exile On Main Street". Many have written very nasty posts and sent insulting e-mails. These people remind me on the New Kids On The Block goon squad who would write en mass to any publication who dared suggest they wern't that good are original.

I don't need to prove I am a "true" Stones fan by professing to love "Exile". The truth is, while there is some very raw and real things going on in this album, it is disjointed and unfocused. I do listen to other bands besides the Stones. I can tell you that "Exile" is more of a chore than a pleasure.

Why isn't "Jamming With Edward" heaped with the same fever? Because it sucked. If you don't like "Voo Doo" or "Bridges" I don't care. It's like Viet Nam. If you wasn't there I can't explain it to you. I have been around since the begining. I don't need to read past reviews to tell me how great The Stones are. I bought the albums when they came out. ("Exile" came with a bunch of post cards that I sent to my girlfriend while I was overseas in the Marine Corps.)

I don't do drugs anymore, perhaps that is why "Exile" just doesn't spark me like it used to. So grow up and quit acting like Metalica fans.

"Aerosmith"

Don't ask why but, I saw SNL this week. Aerosmith was on. I was thinking to myself. "Aerosmith owes so much to the Stones". Look at 'em. Don't get me wrong, I love Aerosmith. It wasn't always so. I saw them in the late seventies, right after some guy threw a fire cracker or something at them in Philadelphia. They were behind this big sheet of plexiglass. I can safely say it was the worst concert I had ever seen. Along with the Stones, Aerosmith got us rockers through the "disco" years. I remember playing "Walk This Way" for my black friends to try and win them over. I digress. We all knew what Aerosmith went through and the big comeback.

Flash forward to this years Superbowl. Did Aerosmith "sell out"? Yeah they did, so what? What a thrill it was to see them and all those new acts singing "Walk This Way". It was incredible! I sometimes wonder why this term "sell out" is such a pariah. I was informed by one of my teenagers that she laughs at Limp Bizcut fans now because, Limp Bizkit had "sold out". I mentioned that Limp Bizkit sucked as much as ever. (I got the eye roll) Of course carrying around a pager, cell phone, driving a SUV, and wearing Amcrombie & Finch everyday isn't "selling out". (or wearing $45.00 Limp Bizkit t-shirts before they sold out.)

Aerosmith has carried the Rock & Roll torch over twenty years and they are still going strong. I suppose they have lost a little edge. So what? Don't we all get tired of the high drama of todays world? I am back in college after many years. The majority of the kids are in good shape. The rest had better find out who "the man" is. Aerosmith found out long ago who he was. They cleaned up and got sober and just won't go away. You will notice they are billed as America's Greatest Rock & Roll band. We know who is the World's Greatest Rock & Roll band is.

last week

With all the commotion over Napster, one wonders how it all got started. When I was younger, we could go out and by 45's with our meager allowances. When cd's came out, it was said they would eventually cost less than lp's. I have no "issue" with cd's. I love them. They don't wear out like the lp's used to. My problem is this, I can't buy singles anymore! Well, that's not totaly true, I could drive thirty miles to the next town and pay $5.99 if it just happends to be there. Single cd's have largely been a joke. What the record companies don't seem to understand is that people want to buy singles. We are tired of paying $13.00 for a cd with two good songs on it.

The kids aren't so lucky as we Stones fans are. We can buy a Stones cd and be assured that the whole cd is good. Music today largely sucks. Don't get me wrong. There are many good songs today. I just don't want to buy the whole cd to get the one song I like. "One hit wonders" have always been around, and they sold singles in the old days. In the old days, the major groups put out singles that weren't on albums. It wasn't a marketing gimmick. The singles were a viable market.

The emergence of Napster proves the single market is still there. Most of the country is on dial-up connections. None of us would pass up a chance to pay a dollor or so for a song we here on the radio, rather than wait twenty or so minutes it takes to down load it. The record companies invented the need for Napster, now they are going to pay.

I am not saying anything the whole digital music community has not already figured out. When the rest of the country gets wired for high speed, nobody will pay any amount for a song they can download in two or tree minutes. Napster had what "they" call name recognition and the record companies squashed it. Digital music is not going away. Napster could have been the portal for all digital music.

Now the "record companies" are patting each other on the back for killing Napster. Boys, I can tell you this, you ain't seen nothing yet.