These days I often have to stop myself and remember again that I need to write about music and not just the incredibly weird situation in which today's music business is both dying and rising from the ashes simultaneously. This one though that I cannot resist, even if it's a sign that Armageddon is now surely approaching.
For their new Brendan O’Brien–produced record that's expected to come out this fall, AC/DC has signed an exclusive agreement with Wal–Mart `a la the recent Eagles deal. The reason for this is monumentally simple: MUN–NAY. In their deal with the retail Anti–Christ, the Eagles reportedly got to keep three quarters of each CD sale. And so far they've sold over three million at $11.98. Needless to say, the resulting figure is another world from the pittances that artists used to get from labels. Major record labels (AC/DC was last on Atlantic) were (notice the past tense) one mean business; adept at making money for themselves and sticking it to everyone else: the consumer, the artists, etc. All this calamity they're now mired in: they did it to themselves. As big businesses go, it's amazing that there's so little good will out there for the record industry. Other than their dwindling stock of employees, no one feels their pain. The problem is that some of the torched survivors of the business now seem to be more focused and willing to cheese out and get their last bite of the CD pie.
She kept her motor clean
She was the best damn woman I had ever seen
She had the sightless eyes
Telling me no lies
Knockin' me out with those American thighs
Taking more than her share
Had me fighting for air
She told me to COME but I was already there."
And there's my personal favorite: "She wanted it hard
And wanted it fast
She liked it done medium rare." (from "Touch Too Much")
