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FW: Eminems success / labels future








-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Lawson [mailto:steve@steve-lawson.co.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2002 4:29 AM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: Eminems success / labels future


Arthur Lee wrote:
> At the risk of getting the wrath of the anti-Eminem folks...
> I've come to my own personal revelation that anyone who makes it in the
> music business
> doesn't suck, they have each worked hard in their own way to refine their
> God given talents and their karma and hard work has put them there. I
think
> it's a matter of taste and not a judgment on whether a particular artist
can
> play or not.

Arthur,

the point about taste is fair enough, but there are 'clearly' a LOT of
people who make it - usually for a short time - in the music biz who have 
no
'talent' as such, certainly not for music - the Milli Vanillis of this
world - it could be argued that even Milli Vanilli could dance, but you
don't win Grammies for dancing... 'Making it' on that kind of level is all
about money - the recent spate world-wide of shows like 'pop stars' and 
'pop
idol' following the manufacturing of bands, and also the prevalence of bad
singers who look good getting a 'pro-tools voice makeover' to pull their
sorry-assed singing in tune demonstrate that the real geniuses at that end
of the biz are the marketing people and the studio engineers who make silk
purses out of the most rotten of sow's ears.

I'm still not so sure about that. I saw some special on Milli Vanilli
(before I sent my TV bye bye) and they actually could sing and the question
was why didn't they. I think there are certainly levels of talent but I
think most of the people who make it still have talent and don't really
suck. They had to have some or they wouldn't have gotton the "marketing
people's" attention in the first place. Of course your ears are a bit more
critical but I've heard so many musicians bad mouth people who have "made
it" including myself, until I realized that you can't suck and actually 
make
it, that it's more a matter of taste. I could still be proven wrong but I
think it would be very rare. Art is all about taste isn't it?

Your sentiment is lovely, and I only wish that it were true. My only
consolation is that I don't even think of myself as being in the same
profession as that stuff, and as such can appreciate good pop from a
distance, disassociating it from the artists and listening to it for what 
it
is - disposable fluff that may or may not contain real nuggets (I speak as 
a
big Spice Girls fan... :o) There are people on that end of the market who
can both play and sing - Craig David comes to mind, as well as a few of the
poppier singer/songwriters around. The music buying masses don't really
care, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it...

I like the Spice Girls too...I didn't buy their CD but I saw them on MTV 
and
thought they were good.

As for Eminem, as I said, I still can't make out where he's coming from. I
love his sense of rhythm, and his control of words and rhyme is, IMHO,
mind-blowing - and the first time I heard 'Stan' on the radio, I had to 
pull
my car in to the side of the road in tears (me, not the car - she's not 
into
rap). Still, the 'message' that his stuff seems to carry a lot of the time
is appalling, and the thought that there are kids in the world who look up
to him is a scary one for the future of the planet, though arguably only
marginally more scary than the people who are currently in power...

It's like every generation needs to push the envelope lower and lower
it will be vey interesting to see how these kids/generation turns out.
I don't like to think too much about the people who are in power because
they are all about power and oil.


You 'can' be huge in the music biz without any hard work - unless breast
enhancement surgery or blowing a record company exec can be classed as hard
work.

I think that those are the exceptions.

However, the big question is why would anyone want to 'make it' in the 
music
biz? I've never met anyone who was measureably happier as a 'star' than
before, and I've met a lot who were distinctly uncomfortable - it's the pot
of gold at the end of the rainbow that turns out to be a dung-heap. Your 
own
loftier and more spiritual aims seem to be a much more enlightened and
healthy path to pursue, and I hope and pray that you manage to sell a
shed-load of records along the way... :o)

If you can make it on your own terms it could be worth it but for the most
part I think it would be a rather difficult challenge and not at all what
you expected it to be. I gave up the unconscious dream of making it big 
time
to just being able to make a living with my art, bringing more joy into
people's life and growing as an artist.
Thank you for your kind words.
-Arthur Lee
www.arthurleemusic.com

Steve
www.steve-lawson.co.uk