In HOLLYWOOD
In Hollywood, there are about a dozen people who write every song you hear on the radio.
Most of them know the songs they write are terrible. Most of them hate what they do. But, they know how it’s done, and they do it well.
There’s a reason they call it “selling out”. There is a big paycheck to this formula.
This is not to say that there are not beacons of light who shine through this mess. YES, there are still people who write their own songs. They’re out there, somewhere. You just don’t hear them on the radio all that often.
If you do hear them on the radio, chances are it’s because they gave a song they wrote to someone else. Maybe they planned to release it themselves, maybe they thought it didn’t sound enough like “them” (even though they wrote it). So, you give it away, cause if the person with the biggest machine behind them if singing the song you wrote, you’ll be richer than if you sing it yourself.
Why is the radio such a big deal? Why do you even listen to it? It’s like watching a spreadsheet on T.V. or a listening to a sonic math equation. It’s all so…calculated.
All over, every where, there are kids in bands, like me, complaining about the radio. It’s been this way since the beginning. Maybe you think the radio is awesome. Maybe you listen to it every day. Maybe you love American Idol and Hannah Montana and every Disney Brat and Pop Tart the machine can spew out. I know there are people like you out there, there has to be.
The thing for me is, even if I can admit the song is good (I loved “Since You Been Gone”…it’s a truly well written song) I just can’t get past the fact that the person singing it didn’t write it, produce it, chose the album cover, write the melody, pick the arrangement…nothing. They had nothing to do with it. Sometimes, they’ll have something to do with it, like the spelling of the title. but it’s too dangerous to mess with the formula. There are millions of dollars on the line…
If you want to make a million bucks in a week, you gotta have a radio “single”.
I, for one, can’t WAIT until people stop using the word “single”.
See, my favourite songs, will never be played on the radio. My favourite songs do not sound like “Singles”. If you want a song on your album to be played on the radio, it has to be the “Single” and the “Single” has to sound like all the other “Singles” out there on the radio, even if it sounds nothing like anything else on your album.
And this is the formula. And this is the way it has been going for years. And I just hope it ends one day.
That is all.
I couldn't agree more!
Johnny little rocket star flashing the label's credit card
His name is at the door but no one knew what for
Says he's got a strategy
I'm a test of his sanity
Wire cars and whiskey
Bad debts and dirty laundry
You can't even make up my mind
One more song the radio won't like
Reel it in and shut your mouth
Reputations are in doubt
Write a hit so I can talk you up
No one likes a girl who won't sober up
You can't even make up my mind
One more song radio won't like
So brush your hair and straighten up
Put down the drink you just got
Johnny little rocket star
Picked up a girl at the bar
So I keep my sanity
Wire cars and everything
I guess that we are through
The bad advice from you
You can't even make up my mind
One more song the radio won't like
Freakin LOVE Kathleen 🙂