There were some wonderful perks to working at a record company— and particularly to being a top executive. Personally, I appreciated the ability to fly almost anywhere in the world to visit our affiliates. When I found the Warner Music affiliate in Cairo, they told me no one from the company had ever been to Egypt before, or at least not on company business. Most senior executives persuaded themselves that a trip abroad meant 2 or 3 days in London followed by a race to get back to L.A. or New York. I wasn’t the only exception, but aside from Seymour Stein, I was the most frequent one. And it wasn’t just Paris, Milan, Hamburg, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. I managed to visit our Indian company— which put on a big show of promoting Chris Isaak while I was there— only to see them caught up in a giant embezzlement scandal while I was in their office! I became a regular visitor to our Bangkok office, especially since one of my favorite Thai restaurants, the Blue Elephant, was on the bottom floor of their building.
Anyway, one perk I could have done without was tickets to the industry award ceremonies. After the first one, those were always a bother to go to and a bore to be at. The least painful, though, was the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame dinner. That one I actually liked; it wasn’t like you were a prop at someone’s TV show. I kind of liked the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame over all to begin with. One of those perks was that I was put on the nominating committee that decided which artists would appear on the ballots that went out to the thousands of voters who decided who would be inducted every year. Those meetings were fun— at least for a few years— and by the time I couldn’t stand them any more, I had retired anyway. Now I’m just one of those thousands of voters who gets the ballots each year. Here’s this years; it just came in the mail:
This year’s 14 nominees are Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, The Spinners, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes and Warren Zevon. We were asked to vote for no more than 5. I voted for 5: Joy Division/New Order, Iron Maiden, Rage Against the Machine, Willie Nelson and another that I’ll leave your imagination.
What surprised me about the booklet was the amount of politics that went into the lauding of some of the artists. That’s fine for me, but I wonder if it turned some people off. A couple of excerpts:
Rage Against The Machine were part of a musical tradition indebted to the MC5, The Clash, and Public Enemy. While plenty of 1990s rock bands supported social justice, Rage Against the Machines rebellious politics stood head and shoulders above. Onstage and off, the band members gave a voice to the powerless, calling out local and global inequities, and railing against censorship, corporate cronyism and government overreach. Their lyrics were smart and pointed; “Freedom” highlighted the plight of Leonard Peltier, an imprisoned Native American leader, while “People of the Sun” showed solidarity with tyrannized Mexican citizens. Even today, their lyrics remain relevant. “Killing in the Name,” a stark indictment of racism and police brutality, still resonates deeply in cities across America. Rage Against the Machine forged brazen protest music for the modern world.
Willie Nelson’s page kicked off with this sentence: “With over 60 years in the music business, Willie Nelson (b. 1933)— songwriter, performer, anti-establishment outlaw, political activist and philanthropist— is an American institution. The final sentence noted that “He is co-chair of NORML, which supports marijuana legalization, and he advocates for numerous causes including animal welfare and LGBTQIA+ rights.”
I’ve been a Willie fan even before I became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and before I spent a few years as a country music dj and the west coast editor of Country Music Magazine. Not familiar with Willie’s political songs? “We Don’t Run” (2015) is all about the need for social change. I suspect “Living in the Promiseland” doesn’t endear him to any MAGAts. He wrote it in 1986 and it speaks eloquently about the struggles of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Ditto for “Immigrant Eyes” (2019). “Vote ‘Em Out” (2018) is probably better known, a direct criticism of Trump’s family separation policy, debuted at the end of an Austin concert he did for Beto O’Rourke’s Senate campaign. And how about “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond Of Each Other)?” Ever hear that one? Pretty triggering... for homophobic bigots
Well, there's many a strange impulse out on the plains of West Texas
There's many a young boy who feels things he can't comprehend
And a small town don't like it when somebody falls between sexes
No, a small town don't like it when a cowboy has feelings for men
And I believe to my soul that inside every man, there's the feminine
And inside every lady, there's a deep manly voice loud and clear
Well, a cowboy may brag about things that he's done with his women
But the ones who brag loudest are the ones that are most likely queer
Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other
Say, what do you think all them saddles and boots was about?
And there's many a cowboy who don't understand the way that he feels for his brother
And inside every cowboy, there's a lady that'd love to slip out
And there's always somebody who says what the others just whisper
And mostly that someone's the first one to get shot down dead
So when you talk to a cowboy, don't treat him like he was a sister
You can't fuck with a lady that's sleepin' in each cowboy's head
Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other
What do you think all them saddles and boots was about?
And there's many a cowboy who don't understand the way that he feels for his brother
And inside every lady, there's a cowboy that wants to come out
And inside every cowboy, there's a lady that'd love to slip out