The only format that Prince is releasing his new album on

I’m sure I don’t need to remind you but Prince is bat-shit crazy!  In a rare interview with a UK newspaper, he had the following pearls of wisdom: 

“The Internet is completely over,” Prince told the Mirror. “I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.” 

Riiiight, Mr. Symbol.  If Prince had his way, all modern technological advances would suddenly cease to exist.  So, the Internet is over like the airline industry is over.  He would prefer we travel to other regions of our expansive country via horse and buggy while panning for gold and trying to avoid being scalped by Indians.  Oh, and please make sure that you purchase his new album only on 78rpm vinyl record or reel-to-reel tape.  In order to listen to his new album ingeniously entitled “20Ten” you’ll need to scour ebay for a Gramaphone player or a rare Tascam tape player like the one picture here.  Better yet, you could always rev up your Model T and meet him in Minneapolis to hear him strum his lyre live. 

Or maybe the poor economy is effecting even Prince!  I understand he has demolished his lavish houses, so maybe he is just posturing for a big record company advance so he can move out of his purple car.  Someone should clue him in that dramatically limiting the distribution of your album by eliminating all electronic methods (the only way “the kids” buy music these days) will probably not make the most financial sense.  I’ll volunteer…. “Prince, gimme a call, we need to have a word or two about you’re career (or what’s left of it)!” 

Read the full article on Billboard Magazine’s site here.

The Slacker Factor Podcast, Episode 12:  Quality Otter Haircuts and the Pirated Music of Bjorkestra (not necessarily in that order)

Tune in to see just how the words in the title actually combine to form a coherent episode of The Slacker Factor.

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Links:

Meandering Rant: Business and Competition by Christian

Book Report: Music Piracy by Rob

Music Segment:  Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra

The Slacker Factor Podcast, Episode 11:  Crazy like Patty (or Snooki)

Your crack team of Slackers explores what’s real and what’s faux and Patty decides she’s cooler than Snooki in her “Reality is
Overrated” rant. Christian ponders the future of the suprising long-time coming electric car. And we feast our ears on the alt-pop of Draz. Now that’s a show! (or is it?)

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Meandering Rant: Reality Is Overrated by Patty

Book Report: Electric Cars by Christian

Music Segment:  Sunday Rain by Draz

The Slacker Factor Podcast, Episode 10:  Green Fairy Drink Drink

Absinthe, three ways. Oh, yeah, and there was also some ranting about something..um… Rob invents an economic theory on the fly and some music by Zero 7…the rest remains a bleary, blurred whirl.

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Links:

Meandering Rant:
Rob invents a new economic theory on the fly (slackernomics?)

Book Report:
Absinthe Tasting – the crew downs three different Absinthes: Lucid, Absente, and La Fee, and barely makes it through the rest of the episode.
The Little Green Book of Absinthe by Paul Owens and Paul Nathan

Music Segment:  Zero 7

No offense or disrespect to The Rolling Stones, Steely Dan, The Who, Chicago, Kenny Rodgers, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffet or Crosby, Still, Nash and whoever, but it is time.  You’ve had your heyday.  You’ve made your money.  Now, go away.

Still have the desire to perform?  That is why they invented Vegas.  Or Branson.

Otherwise, move out of the spotlight, and let someone else have a chance.

Oh, sure, I acknowledge that you have been contributors to the world of music.  As singers, and songwriters, and musicians, and rockers you brought your sound to the masses and influenced pop culture and ingrained our brains with your riffs and lyrics.  Your music will live in the hearts and minds of many generations.  Thank you and bye-bye.

Maybe you think I sound harsh, but think about it?  Imagine if the previous generation of musical talent kept trying to keep performing in a big way at major awards shows, sporting events, on tour, and on television.Oh yeah – they did.  Remember the late days of Elvis or Frank?  Sad, sad, ugly, and sad.  They worked past-their-prime, trying to hold on to their young musical glory, and it didn’t work.  Hello – It ain’t working for you anymore, either.

For that matter, go away “Play that Funky Music, White Boy”, “Celebration”, “We are Family”, “Mustang Sally”, “Freebird”, “Brick House” and “Sweet Home Alabama”.  It is time to stop you and all of your cover band and wedding reception over-played power.

It is my contention that the past stands in the way of the future.  It is too convenient to dance to the music you’ve been hearing forever and it is regressive to sing along at concerts of artists who had their heyday before you were born.

Sure, it is fine to reminisce once-in-a-while; even I sing along to The Beatles. And, maybe you qualify as  quirky-cool because your ringtone is an obscure Marvin Gaye B-side.  But, why spend hundreds of dollars to go to concerts performed by people who need to get themselves jacked up on anti-inflammatories just to take the stage?  And, why are those same people still making crazy money to sing songs about their sexy youth, when “sexy” and “youth” have been replaced with “wrinkled” and “old”?  If we fill our lives with only the songs we know, we are forced to look backwards and are missing the view ahead.

I know, I know – the past is comfortable.  It feels more real because you’ve already experienced it.  It is as grounding and familiar as those ratty sweatpants you refuse to throw away.  It is like making out with an old boyfriend or girlfriend again.  You know just what to do to make them feel good.  Play “American Pie” and everyone relaxes.

You are trampling the road more traveled, and it is making you soft.

What happened to established artists gracefully aging and mentoring the next generation’s creativity, instead of competing with it?  Why do we continue to demand the stuff we know, instead of striving to experience something new?  We should cry out for the future, instead of sentimentally weeping for the past.

It is time to put down your high-school facebook, I mean, yearbook and move forward. Rock stars prefer to burn out than fade away; it is time for the faded old burn-outs to go away.

Let’s advance things, shall we? Listen to a new song, a new band, or a new artist, today.  Dance to something you’ve never heard before, tonight.  Let’s change the demand for music, right now, and we’ll change the future of music, for the better.

~pp

< Be now in the now.  Listen to TSF9: We’re Next, We’re Now The Slacker Factor Podcast here, or on iTunes. >

The Slacker Factor Podcast, Episode 9:  We’re Next, We’re Now

The way things are today does not mean they need to stay that way. We can influence the future of music. Our interview with Tammy Erickson, author of Whats Next Gen X? confirms that we can upgrade the quality of professional lives. Listening to the music of Trixie Whitley brings us into the here, right now..

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Links:

Meandering Rant on How We Can Influence the Future of Music by Patty

Book Report: A Conversation with Tammy Erickson, the author of a new book about the challenges Generation X face in the workplace entitled, “What’s Next Gen X”

Music Segment: Trixie Whitley with Daniel Lanois in Black Dub

This is more of an observation… I had an interesting conversation over the weekend with my step father.  It was his birthday and he was saying he has another 3yrs to go before he can retire.  Of course, I am much further away, but it sparked my curiosity and wondered  how old I would have to be.  The answer is 67.  That is 27 years from now.  27 years is longer than the amount of time from  when I began “officially” working at 16 and today!  I don’t know what to say other than… shit.

The "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Single Artwork

Considering The Slacker Factor is a podcast and webspace targeted directly at Generation X, whose musical apex is squarely planted in early 90s grunge, what I’m about to say will no doubt offend some and may even be considered downright sacrilegious. So, let me just come right out and say it…

I never need to hear Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” again. That’s right, the GenX anthem that epitomizes all things slacker is not aging well in my eyes. In fact, the second I hear those opening power chords, I instinctually reach for the dial or digital preset button to find just about anything else (within reason, of course… I’m not about to choose any American Idol reject over the voice of our generation (I think, anyway).

It’s not really Kurt’s fault though. In 1991, when Nevermind was released unto the unsuspecting public, it was all I needed to puff out my chest and get all angsty. After all, this was the theme song to many a drunken slam dance, late night rally to plan our world domination, or solo introspective moment. But just three years later, after Kurt Cobain’s untimely death in 1994, the song sank into nostalgia. Hearing it then, we’d take a second to imagine what could of been, what still might be, and what contributions our generation was making (or not making) to the world. But now, it’s lost all that sense of nostalgia, emotional connection, and is just plain tired.

I blame radio. I’ve just heard it too many damn times. Back in the day when “alternative music” really started to affect the mainstream population, it felt like Generation X was poised to bring slacker culture to the whole world. You could tune into just about any radio station format – from “Modern Rock” to “Top 40″ and hear the evidence of how deep “Teen Spirit” had penetrated society. The video was aired every 10 minutes on MTV, which meant you couldn’t escape it no matter where you were. It was ubiquitous angst. But, there is a fixed limit on many times you can repeatedly feel those strong emotions when a song comes on. There are only so many times that that melody, those driving drums, that distorted guitar, and the gruff vocals can penetrate your heart.

Unfortunately, I think this fall from grace is inevitable. Just think of all that cutting edge rock and roll from the 60s and 70s – Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Hendrix, The Doors. They changed the face of music and lead a cultural revolution. But now, 40 years later, the whole genre is relegated to the dusty corners of the radio, ipods, and vinyl albums with not a record player in sight. And I’m sure that even our parents, who were there for the birth of “freedom rock”, aren’t going out and getting stoned, practicing free love and “imagining world peace”, when “Dazed and Confused” makes it’s 55 thousand, 227th appearance in their ears.

So, by no means am I debasing or marginalizing “Smells Like Teen Sprit.” I just don’t think there is any way to avoid this slide into staleness. Music should always evoke that same passion we all felt in 1991. And if the songs of our youth are no longer able to arouse those feelings, maybe we should move on and explore new music that sing about our current struggles like, I don’t know, the trappings of corporate America, the unending demands on our time from the kids and their all-encompassing social lives to the responsibilities of supporting household in a down economy, the unpaid bills and the fears of being trivialized as a generation. Actually that sounds like god-awful music. So barring that, maybe we can at least tap into some of Nirvana’s deeper album cuts or smaller hits yet still amazing songs like “All Apologies” or “Rape Me.” Or maybe I’ll just go listen to Pearl Jam instead – at least they’re still putting out new music.

- Robert LaFrance

There are a few times in your life when you suddenly feel “old”.

Finding your first grey hair is probably the first. It’s bad enough finding one on your head but when you find one “south of the border” it’s even more sobering. Followed, of course, by the first time you get pulled over and discover that when the police officer gets up to the car he is obviously younger than you are. And the aggravating thing is even though you’re older you call them “SIR”! Which is not as bad as saying ‘thank you’ for some reason when they hand you the ticket.

But for me the worst realization that I was suddenly “older” was when I realized I didn’t know what the hell was happening in music. At some point in the last few years, I had completely lost touch with what was considered “cool” and “happening” in the music business. And I was pretty upset.

I happened to speaking to someone younger than myself, who mentioned they were going to a concert that weekend. “Oh, who are you going to see?”, I asked. “The Passion Pit!”, he happily declared. The Passion Pit? Who the hell are The Passion Pit? Not only was I kind of upset that I didn’t recognize the name, but I totally felt out of touch when I discovered that they had sold out not one night in NYC that weekend but THREE nights! How could I have never heard of this group that was popular enough to sell out three nights in Manhattan plus have an album that was being raved about online and elsewhere?

Oh, that’s right. I got old.

So, last night as I watched the Grammy Awards sseing Lady GaGa parade about looking like something from a bad 1980’s video on acid and duetting with Elton John, I realized maybe it’s not just me. Back in the 70’s Elton was considered a freak by our parents. Each generation seems to feel the need to create someone or something to rattle the cages of the generations before them. To set them apart. To make them feel as if they are ahead of the curve and hipper than those who came before them.

Because I got a kick later that night on the Grammys seeing the legendary Leon Russell playing with country upstart and Best New Artist winner Zac Brown. I know that there wasn’t a single 20-something hipster doofus dancing down front who had a clue as to who that strange white haired guy playing piano was onstage. And I am sure a number of those same kids later watched Jeff Beck rip through an amazing tribute to the late great Les Paul and thought, “This guy is cool. I wonder if he is Beck’s father.”

Maybe it’s called “classic” rock because to us that’s what it is. Classic. Untouchable. Something from a golden age in our lives that keeps it as fresh and special to us today as it did the first time we heard it 30 years ago. Our music never sounds dated because we carry it with us in our heads and in our hearts all our lives. Which is why, I know deep inside that the first Boston album or even the first RUN-DMC record will make me feel at 90 the way it made me feel at 19.

Now whether or not Lady GaGa’s “Paparazzi” will stand the test of time like The Allman Brother’s “Whipping Post” is something we will have to wait and see. Though to be honest, I am having a hard time imagining GaGa in concert in 2050 , strutting around in her Hefty Bags From Space polyvinyl stage costume and thousands of fans holding up cigarette lighters screaming, “POKER FACE! POKER FACE!”.

—————————————————————————————————————-

Do yourselves a favor ….

Add some funk and rhythm to your life and pick up anything you can find by Trombone Shorty, Big Sam’s Funky Nation or Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings.

Do we stop appreciating new music after a certain age? AKA Why does all new music suck?  Recently re-titled as “Has the now effortless pursuit of new music changed music’s value aka why new music is almost free!”

I long for new music.  I easily fall into the media hype of some groundbreaking young band and seek out any and all of their recordings.  I have been known to incessantly fight the busy signal of a radio station’s request line in order to ask the DJ the name of the song that was played exactly 27.5 minutes ago.  I’ve then called the foreign-based record label to find a local retailer that might actually carry said music.  In my eternal quest for the new and different, I’ve canvassed my hip friends for suggestions, begrudgingly tuned in local college radio, combed the billboard charts, made purchases based solely on the esoteric words of a music journalist, I’ve dragged my classy, sophisticated girlfriend (now wife) through the rough and tubmble streets of Greenwich Village, New York City to seek out musty old music shops that carry used records and spend hours flipping through bins of dusty vinyl – only with the promise of returning the favor by agreeing to window shop at Tiffany’s on 5th Avenue, subscribed to new music CD services (remember CMJ?), provided false names to both the Columbia and BMG music clubs… even purchased random CDs based solely on the cover art or some annoyingly pretentious record store clerk.

But, that was a long time ago and much has changed in my life…

…- marriage, kids, responsibilities, and… the arrival of the internet.  While all those things are very positive (except the responsibilities of course), they’ve forced a sea change in my pursuit of, and perspective on, good music.

First, let’s talk about the pursuit…  It used to be a monumental task – almost a life mission.  With none of this newfangled super highway technology available, the search would be an exercise in persistence and patience (not my strong point) and eminently rewarding.  There was nothing like cracking the seal on a excessively expensive out-of-print LP or 12 inch record (yes, vinyl) that was meticulously shipped across oceans to my tender embrace.  Now it’s almost effortless – services like Pandora, Last.FM, and online radio take a direct feed from your heat and mind and occasionally spit out new tunes that you’ve never heard but can’t imagine you ever lived without.  Then, simply logon to iTunes, Walmart, or Beatport for underground dance music and instantaneously own the music of your dreams.  Sounds great right?  But, if something comes too easily its not valued.  And somehow, it all got kind of boring.

And that’s why I think my perspective has changed.  The new albums by American Idol reject Daughtry or the hipster band the Fray (and countless other modern “alternative” bands) just don’t hold the same charm, emotional bond, or depth.  Maybe I’m getting all old, bitter, and nostalgic but I just don’t seem to be able to find spanking new stuff that floats my boat.  And, I don’t like it one bit.  I don’t want to turn into one of those past-their-prime mullet-wearing aging classic rockers jonesing to hear that dumb Steve Miller song where the guitar line feigns a construction worker’s whistle at a scantily clad female.  Or worse, one of those hippies that’s balding on top but keeps his hair long on the sides and back so he can try to score some weed at the latest jam band summer festival.  But, I do often catch myself throwing on to my old Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and Radiohead CDs for lack of better options. And now that alternative is the new classic rock, I am frightened of becoming all that I’ve sworn off.  Maybe I’ll cut my bangs and stop wear black.  But better yet… maybe there’s hope in some heretofore unknown group of teenagers with sonic sensibilities that evoke the same passion, purity and pursuit of perfection that mirrors the bands of our youth.

So, new music, I’m beggin you… make yourself hard to find and worth the effort.  For the sake of all of mankind!

~ rl

<If you were listening to crappy music instead of TSF 3: Frustrated Pleasures, feel free to listen or download now or subscribe on iTunes.  Please?>