Head of A&M's A&R: "Don't give us any more [rock] bands"

Off course.

Why are all rock concerts and festivals still sold out? Bands like Muse, Snow Patrol, Coldplay, Keane, Editors, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs,... have a very strong fanbase. At the moment many US-bands are breaking through in Europe: Fleet Foxes did in 2008, at the moment Band Of Horses and Gaslight Anthem are introduced to a broader audience. Avi Buffalo is gaining many fans as well.

And the fans are definately not all old and retired

Even if the American labels drop their own "American rock-acts", they will still be very welcome in Europe. I'm 100% sure of that!

It's that kind of bands we are looking for, not pre-programmed bands as Bon Jovi and Nickelback. They were good once, but always that same "formula" gets boring after some time. It's sad because I think both bands are (still) very talented musicians and performers.

One thing that I find very "strange", that these days all the hip hop and R&B stars want to be friends with European danceproducers. Even Snoop Dogg and Pharell Williams I've heard contacted many of them to collaborate ....

Will.I.Am (or how do you write it) was filming Electronic and Hip Hop acts from Europe at some European festivals.
But P Diddy started the hype off course a few years ago (DJ Hell & Felix Da Housecat)
Sadly, it will destroy that what house music stood for "one happy family". That will be changed for more bling bling and gangsta talk I'm afraid.

 

Woah...the RRHOF is gonna be bursting at the seems.

 

I would never say that rock's possibilities had been exhausted—people were probably saying that in 1962, and they were wrong then. But, fifty-five years on, the number of people out there who can find something original and grabbing to say in the form is probably diminishing. Add to that the fact that there have become so many RULES about how rock bands look/act/pose that the whole thing is just getting tired and not as captivating. The constant re-discovery by each new generation of the sixties icons indicates that there was something more compelling about the inventors of the genre than the latest round of groups who are trying to sound Beatlesque, Stonesy, Brian Wilson-esque, or whatever.

 

That's for the birth of musical every genre and its inventors.

Electronic and Hip Hop in the 80s was very inventive. Now it's all commercialised and in the hand of the "majors" (no creativity allowed). Even if the equipment was very basic, their creativity made their sounds timeless.

Same counts for classical music ... Everybody keeps talking about Mozart, Bach,...

And for jazz, blues,....

 

Grunge had nothing to do with it ending. Grunge just happened to be the last big thing before non musical factors changed everything. Filesharing, which, despite arguments to the contrary, is what killed the music industry, is one.

The other outside factor is John McCain's 1996 Telecommunications Act that allowed corporate ownership of more than one radio station within a local market caused a mass extinction of locally owned radio stations, and rapidly accelerated trends toward standardized, heavily market researched playlists.

Rock has been segregated off the top 40 because, research shows, people who liked Limp Bizkit would immediately change stations if a Celine Dion song came on, and visa vera.

 

Yup. And how many jazz, blues, or classical artists are being signed to major labels these days?

Pop is where it's at. It has elements of rap and hip-hop because those are still "young" genres, but it bears about as much resemblance to the 80s versions of those forms as "MMMBop" bears to "Jumpin Jack Flash."

 

These A&R droids change direction every few months anyway. I remember a time a few years ago when every major label was on fire to sign as many Slipknot-like shock-metal clones as they could find. Wonder what ever happened to all those bands?

 

Sounds like heaven to me.

 

Back in the 70s Ron Fields said the next big thing would be Whaling Music!

Ron Fields: "...no more classical music here at the station. Only Whaling Music! It'll be fantastic. No more Country. No more Rock and Roll, thank you."

Mel Brewer: "What about Rock Opera?"

Ron Fields: "Dumper. In the Dumper. Flush it. Stop. Check, please. That's it."

 

Interesting segue...I never listened to it, but I heard that Chris Cornell decided to go electronic with a solo album a few years ago. I heard about it in an interview with Trent Reznor on Sound Opinions. I've heard its just absolutely terrible. Didn't know that Soundgarden was reforming, though.

 

Actually Vivendi sold 80% of their controlling interest in Universal to General Electric in 2004. Since then the company has been known as NBC Universal.

 

Sad but true... if the look is right, and the marketing's right, they think they can sell it, no matter how badly it sucks. And of course, when, instead of just being a record label, you're part of a conglomerate that owns magazines, tv stations, movie studios, etc., it's easier to try and operate that way. And it worked, up to a point... but they didn't see the ditch they were digging for themselves.

 

Pfft. Guy probably think's he's the star of the label, not the artists...

 

What is "Whaling Music"?

 

An A&R man at work in the 80s - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWoztYNojCI

 

"Groups with guitars are on the way out."
Hmmm, I seem to have heard that before...

 

What does MTV have to do with music?

 

I remember A&M for Hair Of The Dog, and for Frampton Comes Alive.

 

In the late 80's and 90's (except Grunge and a few bands) they were "out", because people "had seen it all before" and wanted electronic music

Now rock is gaining popularity again, beause the people that grew up with electronic music in 80s, 90s and early '00s have seen it al before for electronic music.

Many electronic artists are now signed to majors that killed their creativity (they have to copy the same sound over and over again).

While alternative bands have now "more freedom" because most of them are signed to independents. So, more creativity.

And that's what people like about music! (except 6 yo - 16 yo, but that's just temporary). Those 6 yo till 16 yo are even not an interesting market, because they download everything illegal. Or why is it you think, you can hardly find any Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus records in the charts? Because they download everything!

 

Great, no guitar players. You must not play, then. Let's see you play like those guys you don't like.

 

Oh yeah, that's the A&M I love and remember too. A&M in the 90s had some great acts as well, like Suzanne Vege, Del Amitri, Gin Blossoms, and Innocence Mission...to name a few.

They've been dead to me since Uni merged them with...ugh...Interscope and closed their cool office and studio (the old Charlie Chaplin studio). :thumbsdn:

Whatever they're doing now means nothing to me...which goes for pretty much all of the majors.

dan c

 

Sorry. I should have been clearer.

It was a skit from the 70s National Lampoon Radio Hour with Bill Murray and Christopher Guest. I think it was showing how fragmented music styles had become at the time. Also how far A&R people would go to have their label's music played by DJs.

 

Hair metal bands were awfully big in the late 1980s - I thought they were awful, but they did thrust guitars to the forefront...

 

And to me, we lost that about guitars. I am sorry to say it, but I think commercial rock music is dead.

 

I do play guitar, badly, but even if I could play like any of the ones you listed, I wouldn't. I'm not interested in that style, and disliking '80s hair metal is not tantamount to disliking guitar music.

To me, "good guitar music" is more like Richard Thompson or Neil Young, not Mick Mars or EVH. But then we've all got opinions, mine's no better than yours.