Interview: BTS Look at 'Songs for the Deaf' by Queens of the Stone Age (VIDEO)

My guest this week is one of my oldest and closest friends. Matt Larsen and I became friends in middle school in the mid 80s, and have remained friends to this day. We were musically obsessed teens, and we both worked in the music business after leaving Omaha.

 

Matt moved to Chicago and worked for Interscope Records doing retail marketing. He worked closely with artists like No Doubt, Marilyn Manson, Limp Bizkit, Rocket From the Crypt, Queens of the Stone Age, and many others. The label moved him to Los Angeles in the early 2000s to be a product manager. That is where we pick up the story in this video. 

One of the first projects Matt worked on was the album 'Songs For the Deaf' by Queens of the Stone Age. The 2002 album was the band's breakthrough. Dave Grohl, on hiatus from Foo Fighters, played drums on the album and appeared in the first video. 

After sharing his experiences working with QOTSA, Matt and I discuss album, the era, and its lasting impact on music.

The Dark Stuff Podcast 118: Rick Galusha

For episode 118, I interview Rick Galusha. Rick has been a fixture in the Omaha music community for decades. For around 25 years, Rick worked for the Homer's Record Store chain. He began as a clerk behind the counter at the chain's first store, and worked his way up to being president of the company. 

Homer's began in Omaha with one store in 1971. By the 1990s, Homer's had 17 locations in Nebraska and Iowa, and had bought out its two local competitors. As the fate of the music industry began to turn in the late 90s, so did that of Homer's. As of the time of this posting, Homer's is down to one location in downtown Omaha. Rick Galusha saw it all firsthand. 

In the interview, we discuss the origins of Homer's and how Rick first became consumed by music. The conversation then veers into a general discussion about the decline of the music industry and of the record store. 

Somewhere around 2005, Rick said goodbye to the record business and moved on to a different career. He still keeps one toe in the musical waters, if you will, by hosting a weekly radio show called Pacific Street Blues and Americana. The show airs Sunday mornings from 9am-noon (Central Standard Time) on KIWR, 89.7 The River. The station streams at 897theriver.com, and Rick archives the show at kiwrblues.podomatic.com. 

Thanks for listening. Enjoy.

©2014 The Dark Stuff Podcast

Listen/subscribe with itunes

Listen/subscribe with Stitcher

Listen/subscribe with TuneIn Radio

R.I.P. Dick Clark

Television legend Dick Clark has died today at age 82. It is impossible to overstate the importance of Clark to the popular culture of the 20th century. His television dance show, American Bandstand, introduced rock 'n' roll music to millions of new people from all across the country. 

I have always believed that popular culture - mainly music, but also television, movies, and sports - had more to do with social change and progress in this country than any set of laws. It was kids of the "rock 'n' roll generation," who came of age in the late 1950s and early 1960s, who embraced what was essentially black music at a time when whites and blacks rarely inter-mingled. It became increasingly more difficult to hate someone when you listen to the same music or like the same athletes. Racists and opponents of change always understood this, which is why they were so opposed to rock music in the first place.

But this is not a sociology lecture, this is a blog post about the death of Dick Clark. By the time I came on the scene in the 1970s, American Bandstand was already an institution. Every major artist from the 1950s to the 1980s performed on the show, and countless records became hits after the AB audience said they liked it.

Looking back, the show seems so old fashioned and almost quaint. But, it was actually quite cutting edge in its day. I'm glad that I was able to grow up in the AB era. So long, Dick.

A Sad Day For Rock Music: Touch and Go Records Is Closing

Without a doubt, Chicago's Touch and Go Records is one of the most important record labels of the rock era. The label began in the early 80s and, over the years, has released albums by Butthole Surfers, Die Kreuzen, The Jesus Lizard, The Dirty Three, TV On the Radio, Pinback, Slint, Big Black, Rapeman, Shellac, Killdozer, Girls Against Boys, Brainiac, Silkworm, and many many more. The label announced today that they will stop releasing new music and they will shut down their distribution business as well.

Touch and Go will still be releasing some Jesus Lizard re-issues later this year, but will shut down for good after that. What a sad day for music.

UPDATE: Touch and Go owner Corey Rusk issued the following statement, and left the impression that T&G will still exist in some form:

It is with great sadness that we are reporting some major changes here at Touch and Go Records. Many of you may not be aware, but for nearly 2 decades, Touch and Go has provided manufacturing and distribution services for a select yet diverse group of other important independent record labels. Titles from these other labels populate the shelves of our warehouse alongside the titles on our own two labels, Touch and Go Records, and Quarterstick Records.

Unfortunately, as much as we love all of these labels, the current state of the economy has reached the point where we can no longer afford to continue this lesser known, yet important part of Touch and Go's operations. Over the years, these labels have become part of our family, and it pains us to see them go. We wish them all the very best and we will be doing everything we can to help make the transition as easy as possible.

Touch and Go will be returning to its roots and focusing solely on being an independent record label. We'll be busy for a few months working closely with the departing labels and scaling our company to an appropriate smaller size after their departure. It is the end of a grand chapter in Touch and Go's history, but we also know that good things can come from new beginnings.
--------------------
Despite the opening Mr. Rusk left himself, music blog The Daily Swarm is reporting that the entire staff of 20 people was let go.

Only Four More Days of Cheap Radiohead

Radiohead has announced that the "pay what you want" downloads of their new album, In Rainbows, will be suspended on December 10. The CD versions of the album will be released at that time. If you don't have it yet, and don't want to wait for the CD, click here.

Music Industry to Artists: You Need To Work Harder

This is rich. The new president of EMI Music claims the problem with the music industry is that the artists don't work hard enough. He even said the following, "Some [artists] unfortunately simply focus on negotiating for the maximum advance." Hmmm, an artist looking to get the best deal for him or herself is a problem? Has anyone ever read a major label contract? The entire thing is a way for the label to make money at the expense of the artist. This guy is unbelievable.

EMI 'artists need to work harder'

(BBC) The new owner of the music group EMI has said some of its artists are not working hard enough and its labels will become more picky in future.

EMI was bought by Guy Hands' Terra Firma private equity house in August for £2.4bn.

In an internal memo obtained by the Financial Times, Mr Hands set out his plans for the future of EMI.

"Some [artists] unfortunately simply focus on negotiating for the maximum advance," he said.

Unlike the investment banking world that Mr Hands is more used to in which bonuses are linked to performance, advances are paid to artists regardless of the success of their albums - "advances which are often never repaid", the memo bemoaned.

Mr Hands said that eventually it would "be open to us to choose which artists we wish to work with and promote".

No specific artists were named in the memo and it added that "many spend huge amounts of time working with their label to promote, perfect and endorse their music".

Mr Hands also plans to find better ways to reward executives and encourage them to work together.

He blamed the current situation on "a compensation and management system put in place over the last 20 years which does not encourage the right behaviours or reward the right actions".

One of the low points for EMI came in 2001 when it paid £19m to get out of a contract with Mariah Carey, one album into a five album deal.

Ms Carey went on to have one of the top-selling albums of 2005 with EMI's rival, Universal.

Reason #4325 Why Major Record Companies Are Killing Themselves Off

According to the top lawyer for Sony/BMG Music, if you make a copy for yourself of a CD you purchased, you are stealing that music and breaking the law. "When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song. Making 'a copy' of a purchased song is just 'a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy'," she said.

She then went on to suggest "that consumers have no right to make backups of the music that they have purchased in CD form or even in download form."

Uh huh. So, according to the music business (emphasis on business), if you rip a purchased CD onto your ipod or desktop, you have just committed theft, could be prosecuted, and are responsible for countless record label executives being unable to feed their families. Feel bad? I didn't think so.

My Spiel on the Problems of the Music Industry

I have held for a long time that the reasons the music industry is suffering such a massive decline have little to do with piracy and illegal downloading. Inside "the industry" that idea is considered blasphemy. They are convinced that they are releasing quality product at a reasonable price, and that if it weren't for those damn P2P sites, they would still be able to wipe their asses with one hundred dollar bills and bathe in Dom Perignion. My theory has always been that the decline is due to the death of the single. With CDs retailing between $15-20, many people are reluctant to shell out that much dough when they have only heard one song. In the old days, you could try out a band with a 45 (that's a record for those under 30 years old) for a buck or two. If you liked that single, you might consider buying the whole record. Even if you didn't, the record company still made money -- just not as much. People nowadays feel ripped off when they buy a disc for $20 and it has only one or two good songs. It is driving otherwise honest people to find a way to get that one good song in another way.

The music business was slow to embrace the concept of legal downloads, and they fought for years to block or de-legitimize the concept. I admit that I am not a fan of purchasing a digital track. I prefer to have something tangible in my hand (a CD) if I purchase something. I understand, however, that it is a generational thing. Younger people don't seem to care about having the booklet or whatever, and until recently have not had a way to legally download popular music. The quality of the music being released by the major labels is a whole other issue, and one that says the most about the decline of the industry. But the industry's "blame the consumer" attitude, and their refusal to pare down their spending, and their lack of artist development (i.e. giving an artist more than six weeks to "make it") are the real problem. They do not want to change their revenue structure to allow for what is obviously coming in the future.

The internet really has been the great equalizer between "major" artists and independent ones. For no cost at all a band can set up a MySpace page which allows for up to four songs to be streamed on the page. They can also link to their website or online store or even link to a place like iTunes so fans can purchase their music. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred these artists are selling their music significantly cheaper than if it were purchased in a store. And with the near monopoly of the "Big 5" in traditional retail distribution, it is unlikely that you could even find independent music inside a record store anyway.

For the past few years, internet radio has become an alternative to traditional radio which is essentially bought and paid for by the major labels. Have you tried listening to a new music station on terrestrial radio? It's the same 20 "artists" over and over. Fall Out Boy? Daughtry? Panic at the Disco? Hinder? This is what qualifies as new rock n roll? I don't think so. But the recording industry has just dealt a major blow to internet radio by increasing the fees required to legally operate. The costs associated with having an internet station begin around $150K. That, obviously, does not include actually paying anyone to operate the station or buying any music to play! Therefore, only a large company like Clear Channel can afford to do it. Once again, the declining music industry is desperately trying to hold on to something that they have had total control over. It is really sad, and it is the music fan that suffers.

This article goes further in depth on the problem. It shows how legal downloads increased 54% last year, while CD sales continued to decline by more than 20%. The author correctly points out that it is precisely because consumers want to buy songs they like, and are willing to pay a buck for them. What they resent is funding the extravagant lifestyles of record company executives and the bribing of radio program directors to play music that sucks.

Agree? Disagree? Discuss....