Chris Camden's End Rant

[trodden]

Years ago I read an interview with some big record company honcho in Gig magazine. The thing he said that really stuck out was something like, "The first thing I ask potential new talent is, 'What will you do to be successful?' If they don't answer 'Anything' I refuse to work with them."

Funny, if I asked potential talent what they'd do to be successful and they answered "anything," I'd likely refuse to work with them. I'd want to hear at least something like, "What do you mean by success -- commercial, artistic, or what?" If their yardstick of success is implicitly commercial without further elaboration or qualification, then it's hard to imagine I'd want to spend much time with them. But that's just me -- drawn to work with artists who live by some version of the maxim "money follows vision." Hmm, now I know why I'm not some big record company honcho.

Hoagie Hill

My feelings exactly.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

mine too.

[RefD]

AMEN!

[joelpatterson]

Whoa, not so fast, everybody...

[andrewfoshee]

I think the rant was entertaining and made a few good points. But I also think that some of it is bullshit. If you're going to be a 'hater', at least keep the 'hating' on a level playing field. And lets keep in mind 'talent' is relative. Do we really need more elitist rants telling us what 'real talent' is and informing us of how shitty the talent pool of pop, i.e. popular music has become?

The Beatles could never have put together a live show that would even begin to grasp what they accomplished sonically on their records - records that included several key players, tedious editing, and pre auto-tune pitch correction/manipulation (adjusting tape speeds to hit high harmonies). Albeit none of this was done on a computer, it was still done, just in a different way with the technology that was available. And don't try to tell me they 'nailed' things on the first take. (I think it took Paul 92 takes to hit Blackbird?) And lets not even start with Ringo's drumming in those early days. So I guess the Beatles are a bunch of hacks then?

Or how about Kevin Barnes and his project 'Of Montreal'? He practically writes songs constructing loops on his computer. Beautiful songs that he could never produce in a live setting without the help of his touring band. So does Kevin Barnes and the hundreds of other amazingly talented musicians that play this sort of music suck too?

Or are we just talking about Super Corporate Radio Rock Band 5000? Oh I get it, you just hate THOSE guys. Because it's easy to hate them and because they are totally ruining rock and roll and taking over the radio and destroying popular music as we know it. ENOUGH ALREADY!

[JGriffin]

I think the rant was entertaining and made a few good points. But I also think that some of it is bullshit. If you're going to be a 'hater', at least keep the 'hating' on a level playing field. And lets keep in mind 'talent' is relative. Do we really need more elitist rants telling us what 'real talent' is and informing us of how shitty the talent pool of pop, i.e. popular music has become?

The Beatles could never have put together a live show that would even begin to grasp what they accomplished sonically on their records - records that included several key players, tedious editing, and pre auto-tune pitch correction/manipulation (adjusting tape speeds to hit high harmonies). Albeit none of this was done on a computer, it was still done, just in a different way with the technology that was available. And don't try to tell me they 'nailed' things on the first take. (I think it took Paul 92 takes to hit Blackbird?) And lets not even start with Ringo's drumming in those early days. So I guess the Beatles are a bunch of hacks then?

Or how about Kevin Barnes and his project 'Of Montreal'? He practically writes songs constructing loops on his computer. Beautiful songs that he could never produce in a live setting without the help of his touring band. So does Kevin Barnes and the hundreds of other amazingly talented musicians that play this sort of music suck too?

Or are we just talking about Super Corporate Radio Rock Band 5000? Oh I get it, you just hate THOSE guys. Because it's easy to hate them and because they are totally ruining rock and roll and taking over the radio and destroying popular music as we know it. ENOUGH ALREADY!

Excellent post.

[chris harris]

hell yeah!

+1

look up people! the sky is definitely NOT falling!

[TapeOpLarry]

Don't take a guest opinion as the thrust of the magazine's existence. I like to examine all the thoughts that are out there on making records. Every time someone says, "This is how you do it" they are 180 degrees wrong about how at least one of my favorite records was made...

[ampguy]

no compression or editing was done on my Neil Diamond tune.

Okay, okay! I confess to doing a bit of comping and (hopefully tasteful) editing on my contribution to the TOMB Neil Diamond tribute.

That shit was edited?

Wellll ... Not prolly as much as ampguy edited his contribution, but ...

[RefD]

no compression or editing was done on my Neil Diamond tune.

Okay, okay! I confess to doing a bit of comping and (hopefully tasteful) editing on my contribution to the TOMB Neil Diamond tribute.

That shit was edited?

Wellll ... Not prolly as much as ampguy edited his contribution, but ...