March 2005
Death, Money, Sex - What does it take?
From beyond the Grammys
By Greg Matusak
Queen City Forum Magazine music columnist
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This year Ray Charles and his various projects were nominated for 10 different Grammy awards. He won eight of those. He was up for everything from “Record of The Year” to “Album of the Year” to twice being nominated for “ Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals”.
His album Genius Loves Company even received a nomination for “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical” (in which I am pretty sure the nominees are picked from a hat). I half expected to see his name in the “Best New Artist” category. I bring this up because Ray Charles’ last album, 2002’s Ray Charles Sings For America received no Grammy notice, and the album before that, 1993’s My World received only one nomination. So what has changed in Ray’s life lately? Well, he died, and he wasn’t the only one. Warren Zevon died, and he had a hit record for the first time since the 70s. Rosemary Clooney died in 2002, and the next year she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammy Committee. It seems that every time an artist dies, there is a rush to give accolades and let everyone know that you have “been a HUGE fan for years”. |
In the old days it was much easier to gain commercial and critical success in the music business without losing your head (so to speak). They did things the old-fashioned way – they bought people off. In 1959, just as rock ‘n roll was making it’s mark, Congress held the famous “payola hearings”. Record labels were hiring promoters to pay radio stations to play songs, thus selling more albums. Careers were ruined at these hearings, including Alan Freed’s, the man who invented the term “rock ‘n roll”. He admitted to accepting money and was then blacklisted from broadcasting. He died penniless and bitter five years later. Payola still occurs today as was seen in 1998 when Interscope Records was charged by the FCC for paying a Seattle radio station $5,000 to air a Limp Bizkit song 50 times in one weekend . Personally I believe there should be criminal charges for any radio station that plays that much Limp Bizkit in the first place.
Another old way certain bands have found stardom is not through the music profession, but through the oldest profession. Sex. One of my favorite stories of Kiss’ Gene Simmons is when he went to MTV in the late 80s to get his band’s videos in rotation. He showed up to an executive’s office with a set of kneepads and said “Who do I have to blow around here to get my videos on air?” I don’t know if he ever got an answer, but I do know there were an awful lot of Kiss videos that year. Let’s take that vacuum of talent, Courtney Love, for example.
Gene Simmons-- C'mon, we've all thought about it...
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Before she was trying to find a clean vein to leech from on Kurt Cobain, Ms. Love was dating Smashing Pumpkins front man, Billy Corgan. Is it a coincidence that the only way she can get attention now is to be arrested – literally? The best example of all is Mariah Carey. Mariah had talent and looks to begin with, but I guess she felt that would only get her so far because in 1994 (when she wasn’t crazy) she married Tommy Mottola, president of Sony Music. Mr. Mottola, 20 years her senior, was not an attractive man, but he could give Mariah something no other man on this planet could – one of the largest recording contracts in the history of the world (my knees get weak thinking about it). They divorced four years later (call Ripley’s), and Mariah moved to Virgin Records for $80 million. I could go on and on in this section with people like Michelle Phillips, Yoko Ono, or Sonny and Cher (to this day I can’t tell who was the talented one), but I think you get the idea. Find someone with more money and/or talent and let them know you are soul mates just long enough that your record gets some recognition. |
So that just about sums it up – death, money and sex. In this reality TV-crazed world, these three things will guarantee you a successful career in music. I just feel like I left something out. Something that is important. Respect. Giving an award posthumously just to give an award is not respectful. It’s charity. Did you know that George C. Scott’s last movie was the awkward coming-of-age movie, Angus? Or that the great Puerto Rican actor Raul Julia’s last film was Street Fighter? Sad, but true. Yet you don’t see an Oscar nomination for Raul Julia’s staggering portrayal of video game villain M. Bison? We shouldn’t remember artists by their last work, but by their best work. Ray Charles will always mean “ Georgia on My Mind”, not a duet with Johnny Mathis.
Links
· History of Rock -- Allan Freed
· Gene Simmons
· Ray Charles
· The Grammys
· Warren Zevon
· Rosemary Clooney
· Mariah Carey
· Buy Mariah Carey's "Glitter"
Contact Information
· gregm@queencityforum.com
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