Was it unfortunate that looking good became more important than being talented musically? You bet. I think of all the bands like the Doobie Brothers or Boston who never would have been signed in the 80s because they weren’t good-looking enough to present well in a video. There was probably a lot of good music missed from bands popping up since that never had a chance.
But is that MTV’s fault? Or is it our fault for letting that happen? Maybe if we taught music in school we wouldn’t get caught up in the visuals so much while listening to the utter crap that passes for music nowadays.
What Jon Bon Jovi is complaining about is not being able to sell 11 crappy songs along with his one hit. That’s what iTunes is all about. The track, not the album. It forces musicians to give it their all on every single song, instead of packaging that one good song along with an hour’s worth of stinkers.
I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. And that sea change from album to individual track had already happened long before iTunes came around. All Jobs did for the industry was give it a way to collect at least the $.99 for that one track. Prior to that, everyone was just stealing it, Jon.
The album’s fate, and the fate of your local Tower Records, was written in stone the second the first CD was printed, with digital tracks that could easily be separated from each other and transported across the Internet.
And as far as “taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like.” Am I the only one who thinks it’s good that you no longer have to do that? Are you so afraid of what people will think when they hear your crappy lyrics, Jon?
