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Box 22113 ,OFTEN Iil ERROR . NEVER IN DOUBTN cA 94122
Rocktober, L987 Happy Ha
SELLOUTS OR SAVIOURS?:WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT PEACE, LOVE AND POP MUSIC ENDORSEMENTS?
You say you want a revolution? WelI, what could be more revolt ing thanusing Beat les mus j -c to seLI Taj -wanese running shoes? I t 's making me so s ickI don ' t th ink I can f in iBh my Ringo Starr endorsed bot t le of Sun CountryC o o l e r .But ho ld on to your Heineken! What 's so ter r ib le about us ing pop music andpop music ians to push products? Why's everybody so upt ight when David Bowiese1ls sugar-water cola? Nobody blows a gasket when Joe Pj-scopo pushes canso f su l f i t e l i t e b rew. Wha t rs so p rec ious abou t pop mus ic tha t i t can r t beused to unload Pepsi or Chevro lets? Just because the s j -x t ies generat ion hada semi-sp i r i tua l pseudo-metaphysica l re la t ionship wi th the i r pop ido lsdoesnr t mean every other generatJ-on has to suf fer wi th the same "hol ier thanthou" at t i tude."The sad fact is that those outspokenendorsements are ei ther mislead rock
Continued on page 4
voices against pop music Productl i terat i or duped conned-sumers
FROM the Ed.itorWal l St reet 's nosedive may have come, . ' as asurprise to some investors but readers of TheA&R Report were tipped to the big plunge LastFebruary (see Ls}a 22, ' tBears Bu11s and theBiLlboard 100" ) . Even the WaIl Street Journalhas hopped on our correlative finding that #increased Heavy metal and metal- I i te sales are indicaEive of a comingrecessj .on. Whi le Whitesnake, Cinderel la, Poison, Mot ley Crue, Bon Jovi , andEurope climb the charts, the Dow Jones continues to plunge.tnd speaking- of warnings our lobbying against acid-washed jeans hasf inal ly sparked legis lat ion to end this potent ia l ly d isastrous trend. Notonly_ is the treatment a crueL and inhumane means of dying the skin of thenear ly ext inct denimus ( the animal f rom which denim is obtained), but theacid residue in the jeans has resul ted in ser ious th igh and inner 1eg burnsfor many fashion conscious teenagers.Last month'strDead Elv is ' r commentary prompted such an outpour ing of let tersthat we're st i l l recover lng f rom the backlash. Besides the usui l haranguefrom the "Elv is Uber Al les" cont ingent, there was a surpr is ing number ofreaders who maintain that Elv is is not dead. As a resul t we * i11 begffer l r_tg a special $20 pr ize to any read.er wi th i r refutable proof that BigEl st , i l l waLks among us ! t i l next ish - ed.
(c) A&R ]-987
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flay be he shoutlJu.tt pull ortCnrn, Bobbv,Qrmrnt- A ., l '\''
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Girnrne Q BREAKf fl+zDee Dee Ramone will release a solo album
on Rock Hotel Records this fall' However'
it won't be his standard Ramones-ish ef-
fort. 'l'his one will be a rap albun'r! lt will
be called A-rnky Man' and will be released
under the name Dee Dee King'
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"Endorsements" (cont inued f rom page 1_)
unknowingly suppor t ing the c lass ic master-s lave re la t ionship of the musicbus iness . Sen t imen ta l b l i nde rs p reven t t hese con fused "mus ic - l ove rs " f romreal iz ing that pop music product endorsement is the most revolut ionary wi ldcard thrown in to the music-maker /music-marketer re la t ionship s ince Br ianEps te in d i scove red t - sh i r t l i cens j -ng .For the f i rs t t ime s ince humankind dropped a needle onto v iny l , w€ have thepower to end the outdated concept of a "generat ion gap" . Wi th the help ofadver t isers we can skewer musica l demographics l ike one b ig cu l tura l sh ishkebab - sex , commerc ia l c rassness and pop mus ic ' s endear ing super f i c i a l i t ycan f ina l ly be forged j -n to someth ing that is b igger than the sum of i tspa r t s . W i th the he lp o f S t r i dex , ' 8e11 Te lephone and Ken tucky F r ied Ch icken ,$Ie can crash through the insLant nosta lg ia barr ier and br ing Dad and Juniortogether wi th one common Top-40 denominator .Not on ly that , but product-endorsements of fer ar t is ts a power they rare lyencounter - the abi l i ty to shape the wor ld in the product image of the i rchoice. Despi te the drug- induced delus j -on that pop music wi l l change thewor ld , the real i ty is that the heaviest o f rock/pop statements are quick lyco -op ted by Mad ison Avenue . (See i sh 31 , "Be A11 Tha t You Can Buy : Po l i t l - cs ,Fashion and the Fami l iar i ty Factor Implos ion" ) The only in f luence thatmus lc ians have i s i n t he marke tp lace and i t ' s t ime they s ta r ted f l ex ingthe i r musc l -es fo r t he good o f a l l consumers . Wh ich i s be t te r f o rAmer ica? Lou Reed promot ing morphine der ivat ives or Lou Reed sel l ingtwo-wheeled motor vehic les whj -ch emphasize fue l economy and a heal th ierecology?Most impor tant , the I j -censing of pop tunes and the presence of product toursuppor t is leadi -ng to a t rue revolut j -on in per f ormance r ights . For a l l o fthe b i tch ing about the Nike ads, the real resul t o f the Beat les-MichaelJackson f racas is that Ringo, George and Paul wi lL s imply get a b igger p ieceof the p ie. When the smoke c lears f rom the Nike tegal bat t le , Af i rer ica couldbe on the verge ( for the f i rs t t ime in our h is tory) o f compensat ingper fo rmers fo r t he i r s t y le ! Sudden ly those mus j - c -sLaves whose i n f l ec t i onand personal i ty made the tune a h i t wi l l p ick up a paycheck a long wi th thesongwr i ters - and that f r ightening concept wi l l shake the music bus lnessdown to i t s ro t t i ng i nden tu red -se rv i t ude roo ts .So nex t t i ne someone c rabs abou t Ph i l Co l l i ns se l l i ng suds , don ' t r each fo rthe ba r f bag . Remind 'em tha t i f j - t we ren ' t f o r p ioneers l i ke B r ian"Sunk is t " W j - l son , t he on l y p lace you 'd hea r pop mus ic wou ld be on the rad lo .
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REPORTTOFTEN f/V ERROR - NEVER IN DOILBT,
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I city sraret -a AAIL THIS COUPON TO:. The A&R Reporta P.O. Box 22113 sbI Srnser Sra. S.F. CA 94122 -. I I - I . I I I I T I T . T I T I I I I I I I ' I I
f$*-r;ffimuw- 4\u f _.***_ffiLast year the number one requegted ltem on our annual radershlp
survey uas the A&R T-sltlrt. After dellberatlons with_several major
, I t i;i:i;:,:;lii::;i::*";;i'!*ii::aft;iaii:iil!.'i;:."H.t:$re po^/ p0d0qe : ,::ili**l?l:!iii"rrlFili,llilli:"ir"*-l!'!,ii:*i!l"ili.llLi.'"
oEf€_l! ' .h gflgoR E H::ili"*:i"i:tl:'li!l"riii:'i*i":fu"1ff":i':lF:iil:iiii"::",,"""there's no need to waste tlme chooslng colors and sizes. The onlydecision you have to nake is how many to order.NEVER r; Doucf
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