Don’t believe a word I say with Bob Segarini

The Weekend Roundup

Were any of us ever that young?

…and does anyone still remember the lame suits, schoolboy foppishness, and Charlie with hair?

Ah, the Stones. Actually, these are the Rolling Stones. I’ve always sort of felt that the Rolling Stones became the Stones after Brian left. They just weren’t the same band.

We could all argue Brian’s role in the band, and why he left, and how he died, for years. It is one of those stories that begs debate, like JFK’s assassination, and the moon landing.

The best theory I’ve ever heard was a mish-mash of several different takes on the matter, and basically posited this scenario:

Mick was jealous of Brian for his musical ability and success with the ladies, pushed him further into the background, leading to Brian’s accelerated nosedive into drugs, finally forcing him out of the band, so that Mick could take control and become bigger than Paul McCartney, leaving Brian confused, broken, and, finally, tragically, reduced to a footnote and losing his life through a combination of drugs, misadventure, and hopelessness.

Looking at the photograph above, it doesn’t seem possible that they were capable of doing anything remotely dark or edgy, rather, they looked like the cast of a British, “That ’60′s Show”. Mick looks like the lamest guy you knew in high school. Well off, smug, and not quite sure of his sexual orientation. Brian looks like he wants to slug him.

Whatever the truth, The Rolling Stones are still with us, still performing and recording, and though their shows sell out tour after tour, their recordings do not fare as well.

Why is that?

Well, for one thing, you have to buy their CD’s to hear the music. Radio won’t play them anymore. Well, that’s not entirely true. Like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and Jimmy Hendrix, their records are all over the radio.

Classic Rock radio.

Now, what makes a song a classic rock song? It can only be because of its place in the audiences memories. I believe people flock to these shows not to hear the band, but to relive their youth. If a classic act plays any new material in concert most of the audience seems to see it as a signal to go to the can, grab a beer or a hot dog, or go out for a smoke. Ironically, younger converts to classic rock acts stay to hear everything they play. For them, it’s not about their youth. It’s about the music. If it were because of the artists, wouldn’t the older fans still be buying their latest recordings, and wouldn’t the younger ones be buying them if they heard them on the radio?

Say what you want about the releases that aren’t considered classic, but the Allman Brothers, for example, have released amazing records in the last 15 years that nobody heard on the radio…except maybe the first week it was released, and then only a track or two which disappeared quickly.

And this practice begs the question, why don’t classic rock radio stations play new releases by classic artists? And further, why don’t they play classic sounding music by new artists?

Your guess is as good as mine.

In another 5 or 10 years, will classic rock stations go the way of the oldies format? If they don’t start building classic sounding bands careers by playing them, if they don’t start playing current releases by classic rock artists that are still recording, my guess is that yes, the format is doomed.

Tragic, considering there is so much local, regional, and international, classic rock that goes un-played, and so much great ‘classic’ sounding music being made by new artists, it seems like suicide, limiting your appeal to your existing, declining audience, and not drawing the young listeners with new music by their peers, that fits the bill.

One more thing. The Rolling Stones/Stones have recorded over 400 songs in their career, Led Zeppelin, over 80, Pink Floyd, over 130, Hendrix released over 40 when he was alive, and The Beatles…over 200 while they were a group.

How many of those do we hear on the radio even now?

I’d hate to think that the popularity of classic rock is driven by nothing more than nostalgia, because that music, and those artists were, and are, great. The inspiration that classic rock music has given countless bands, singers, and songwriters has resulted in tons of new music being made by young artists that respect what has gone before, and want to contribute new music for the millions of people that love the genre.

It’s a shame we don’t hear more of it.

All of which leads us to the first track in today’s A&R Online.

They don’t look French to me…and wait until you hear them!

A&R Online Volume 12

As always, you can hear the tracks as you read about them. Just go here:

www.radiothatdoesntsuck.com/myWimpy.html

…and click on “A&R Online Volume 12″ to listen.

Rock on Dudes and Dudettes…Rock on!

1. The Respectables-Sweet Mama

Even though these guys have been together over 15 years, this is their first album…in English.

Yep. They’re from Quebec and have been playing this kind of stuff and singing in French for a long time. I don’t know whose idea it was, but they went into Willie Nelson’s Texas studio with Gordie Johnson producing, and Ian McLagan sitting in, and came up with a great album, and a killer single. This has the Faces and the Stones written all over it, and Rod Stewart should be ashamed of himself for turning his back on this kind of music and reinventing himself as a crooner. If this track ain’t a classic, I’ll kiss Courtney Love on the LIPS!

1. Dave Borins-Whiskey Women(Nothing but Trouble)

Great track from Dave’s new EP. I don’t know about you, but this strikes me as a song I want to hear when I’m half cut in a bar with a table full of friends singing along at the top of our voices. We all know women like this.

1. Sara Dell- Where You’re Going

Like Dave Borins and the two tracks coming up, I can’t get enough of some of our newest Canadian artists. Here’s another track from the impressive Ms. Dell. A fine musician and singer, but Oh Brother, can this girl write!

1. Isle of Thieves-String Theory

Saw these guys Wednesday night along with Dave Borins and a couple of other new acts at a cool little place called Central in Mirvish Village. They rocked the house with a tight, energetic, and entertaining set. The club was packed, inside and out. Two floors and a patio and it was standing room only. Music has never been healthier, the clubs that have good music are packing them in, and yet the radio and record industries seem to be in trouble. Could it be that good music might save them? Damned if I know…

1. The Free Press-The Only Way Home

Like The Respectables, Dave, Sara, and the Isle of Thieves, I think these guys have ‘career’ in their future. Make it so, people…make it so.

1. Groove Kings-Chore

Take a great, transplanted musician from Mussel Shoals, an amazingly smooth singer from Quebec, throw them together at a jam in Montreal, and you get this. Howard Forman and Irene Marc make some mighty fine smooth R&B here. The album is called Blood Red, and this track is a fine example of how it’s done. Anybody having trouble finding good Canadian content these days is just not paying attention.

Fail of the Week

General Motors

I wonder how much the new Kia Korvette is going to cost…

Win of the week

Toronto

Did you go outside this week? Did you feel the weather? See the sun, sit on a patio without ear muffs, toque, and scarf?  Did you see the beautiful women in summer dresses, or shorts and tank tops? Did you have an ice cold beer on the deck when it hit a perfect, slight breeze, non humid, 30 degrees?

Me too!

Cheap Shots

Dick Cheney

Hey, Dick…

Shut up.

American Idle

Proving, against all odds, and everything that has gone before, that America likes it’s Idols straight, married, and non-threatening. That said, Adam Lambert will always have work as long as there’s a revival of ‘Rent’ onstage somewhere, Broadway keeps popping out musicals, or one of the Village People quits the group…not that there’s anything wrong with that.

That’s enough for now. Email me at segarini@fyimusic.ca with your comments, complaints, and thoughts…and remember…don’t believe a word I say.

Bob “The Iceman” Segarini was in the bands The Family Tree, Roxy, The Wackers, The Dudes, and The Segarini Band and nominated for a Juno for production in 1978. He also hosted “Late Great Movies” on CITY TV, was a producer of Much Music, and an on-air personality on CHUM FM, Q107, SIRIUS Sat/Rad’s Iceberg 95, (now 85), and now provides content for radiothatdoesntsuck.com with RadioZombie, The Iceage, and PsychShack. Along with the love of his life, Jade (Pie) Dunlop, (who hosts and writes “I’ve Heard That Song Before” on RTDS), continues to write, make music, and record.