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06-19-09 Footnotes
Show 186: Trent Reznor and a review of the Jonas Brothers
Listen to the MP3 Stream of this show: (link)
Download the Podcast: (Download the MP3)
1 In true punk fashion DC concert promoter Seth Hurwitz is rising up against the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Hurwitz and his company It’s My Party filed an 11-count lawsuit seeking to block the merger and charged that Live Nation has been acting like a monopoly. Or in laymen’s terms—they’re bullies. In an attempt to improve their current PR status, Live Nation has created “No Service Wednesdays.” On those days consumers can purchase tickets without the service fees. It’s only one day a week, but it’s a start.
2 A recent examination of ticket sales from Bruce Springsteen’s Meadowlands concerts showed that The Boss held back 2200 tickets from being sold. 90% of the best seats were reserved for friends and family of the band, venue employees, record-label executives and their guests. Jim and Greg point out that this is not news and does not make Springsteen complicit with scalping. But, he’s helping those scalpers to mark up prices by making the tickets themselves so rare.
3 Vinyl sales continue to soar. There was a 50% increase this year, and SoundScan predicts sales will hit almost 3 million this year. That’s just a blip compared to the 120 million CDs that will be sold, but any good news is welcome for the music industry.
4 Jim and Greg are joined by Trent Reznor this week. The Nine Inch Nails front man is one of the most innovative and inventive musicians out there. He not only created his own “sonic palette,” but his ideas about business are equally unique. In 2007 he released Year Zero, a multimedia experience that was more than just an album. He followed that up with a slew of free and almost-free web releases. He shares with Jim and Greg his frank thoughts about how the record industry is digging its own grave. He explains that this current Nine Inch Nails tour will be his last, and shares what he thinks about the career choices of his former alternative peer Chris Cornell.
5 Only in the Sound Opinions universe can we move from Nine Inch Nails to the Jonas Brothers. But the sibling trio has hypnotized young listeners and will no doubt be a major presence on the chart this summer. Lines, Vines and Trying Times is the sibling trio’s 4th album, and as Jim points out those teen fans have graduated from Harry Potter to the Twilight series. The Jonas Brothers are trying to mature as well, but Greg hears clearly that they aren’t ready for adulthood. He didn’t mind their juvenile power pop, but thinks they’ve lost their pep and are trying too hard. Jim goes further and states that he hates the Jo Bros. Despite public vows of chastity, they present contradictory messages about women in the songs. And what was once just annoying is now annoying and pretentious. Lines, Vines and Trying Times gets a double Trash It.
Songs Featured in Show #186
Minor Threat, "Cashing In," Out of Step, 1984
Bruce Springsteen, "One Step Up," Tunnel of Love, 1987
Pearl Jam, "Spin the Black Circle," Vitalogy, 1994
Nine Inch Nails, "The Beginning of the End," Year Zero, 2007
Nine Inch Nails, "Only," With Teeth, 2005
Nine Inch Nails, "Me I'm Not," Year Zero, 2007
Nine Inch Nails, "The Warning," Year Zero, 2007
Nine Inch Nails, "Meet Your Master," Year Zero, 2007
Nine Inch Nails, "03 Ghosts I," Ghosts I-IV, 2008
Nine Inch Nails, "Head Like A Hole," Pretty Hate Machine, 1989
Chris Cornell, "Sweet Revenge," Scream, 2009
Nine Inch Nails, "Pilgrimage," The Fragile, 1999
Nine Inch Nails, "Terrible Lie," Pretty Hate Machine, 1989
Ministry, "Stigmata," The Land of Rape and Honey, 1988
Johnny Cash, "Hurt," American IV: The Man Comes Around, 2002
The Jonas Brothers, “Paranoid,” Lines, Vines and Trying Times, 2009
The Jonas Brothers, “World War III,” Lines, Vines and Trying Times, 2009
Patten, “Version (Test Mixxx),” 2009
Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz, “The Telephone Song,” Getz Au Go Go Featuring Astrud Gilberto, 1964
Steve Earle, “To Live is to Fly,” Townes, 2009
Dave Matthews Band, “Alligator Pie,” Big Whiskey & the Groo Grux King, 2009
Eddie Murphy, “Party All the Time,” How Could It Be, 1985
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