Most love songs are complaints, I think. | | | | Happy Valentine's Day from Ashford and Simpson.
(Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) | | | | | | “Most love songs are complaints, I think.”
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| | rantnrave:// Cards-on-the-table time. BOB LEFSETZ, whose LEFSETZ LETTER has become the unlikely safe space for women to share their tales of harassment and assault in the music biz, stepped up and emailed the headline "NEIL PORTNOW Must Go" to his subscribers on Tuesday (no online link yet). "And he needs to be replaced by a woman," this Lefsetz Letter began. Before we go any further, we should point out that no one is accusing Neil Portnow of harassment or assault. Just questionable and tone-deaf stewardship of a major institution that's currently seen by a lot of people as a hindrance to women in music. But not all people. On the other side of the room, BILLBOARD was publishing former RECORDING ACADEMY trustee GAIL MITCHELL's lengthy explanation of why the Academy has no incentive to let Portnow go and is more likely to continue actively embracing him. Mitchell describes Portnow as a rainmaker and dealmaker who can not be blamed for women's lack of nominations, wins and performance slots at this year's GRAMMY AWARDS because the Academy "can only work with the content it’s given" and any real solution "starts with label and A&R executives hiring and signing more female executives, artists, songwriters, producers and engineers." So fire all those guys instead, maybe? (No, I am not suggesting that. But if one is to pass the blame, someone else must receive the blame, no? Otherwise, you end up with a lot of dropped balls.) There is a third, middle way, JEM ASWAD suggests in a VARIETY op-ed piece that calls for nonpartisan, industry-wide cooperation: "What if everyone worked together to make the change that all agree is needed?" What if the executives behind the three harsh open letters aimed at Portnow in the past week were invited to join the Academy's new task force on "female advancement"? What if the task force didn't have to be what Lefsetz labels "ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS AND DO NOTHING"? What if everyone could agree to acknowledge all the good Portnow and the Academy have done in the past 16 years while also acknowledging their very real shortcomings, and then "stop typing and start acting"?... To do that, everyone will have to agree on some basic facts. Every year, Billboard publishes a POWER 100 with a conspicuous lack of women, and either the magazine or its surrogates inevitably explains that it can only work with what the industry gives it. Well, here's the new print cover of HITS MAGAZINE, featuring the faces of 208 female movers and shakers. A "not...exhaustive" list, the mag notes. Sometimes, you have to open your eyes and look. The LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC, which lives about 12 miles east of the Recording Academy in downtown LA, has commissioned 50 new works for its centennial season, "nearly half by women and more than half by composers of color." Sometimes, you just have to be proactive. If you don't like what you've been given to work with, be the agent of change... Birds do it, bees do it, even KENDRICK and DRAKE do it. And like love itself, it isn't as easy as it looks. A VALENTINE'S DAY salute to the artists who have tried, and keep trying, to capture that certain feeling. MusicSET: "The Complicated Art of the Love Song"... Classical love... Hip-hop love... Metal love... Neuroscience love... Oh, and someone give the SMASHING PUMPKINS a reality show, stat... RIP TOM RAPP of PEARLS BEFORE SWINE.
| | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| Lefsetz Letter, a newsletter by veteran music writer Bob Lefsetz, has become the go-to place for music industry women (and some men) to share their horror stories. | | |
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| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pat Riley, Magic, Dr. J and more on the pride and heartbreak of witnessing Gaye’s rendition of the national anthem. | | |
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| A radical pastor and a very disgruntled flock. | | |
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| Here’s a crazy idea: What if everyone worked together to make the change that all agree is needed? | | |
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| Despite the backlash over the president/CEO's "step up" comments, it looks like he will continue to lead the Grammys for some time. | | |
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| How the English graphic designer set the course for contemporary visual culture. | | |
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| Birds do it, bees do it, even Kendrick and Drake do it. And like love itself, it isn't as easy as it looks. A Valentine's Day salute to the artists who have tried, and keep trying, to capture that certain feeling. | | |
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| I feel cheap to suggest that a commercial holiday like Valentine’s Day might mean something to Smith, the godmother of punk. As it turns out, she quite likes the idea of something so sweet and considers her opportunity to read from "Devotion" on Valentine’s Day in Detroit as serendipitous and poetic. | | |
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| This ain't your grandma's Finnish metal horror band. | | |
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| D'arcy gives first in-depth interview in 20 years exclusively with Alternative Nation and discusses Billy Corgan exploding at her, narrowly avoiding death, and much more. | | |
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| Like most large orchestras, the Philharmonic is a sluggish institution. President and CEO Deborah Borda is nudging it forward, but it’s unfair to expect an immediate Errol Flynn leap into the future. | | |
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| The Pyeongchang Olympics will include five routines set to ‘Moulin Rouge!’ and three to Barbra Streisand’s ‘Papa, Can You Hear Me?’ What is with all the overlap? | | |
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| The Odd Future ringleader has moved on from Eminem's old, outdated playbook. | | |
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| "Please don’t sell the company." | | |
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| Read this list with a candle burning and you will see your entire future. | | |
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| Glam metal might be as fashionable as rickets but, argues Justin Quirk, it's outré style and bombastic sonics can be heard anywhere from EDM to modern pop. | | |
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| Why are disruptions of the pattern so rare? | | |
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| Bandcamp’s success challenges the ideas that people aren’t buying physical media anymore, or that people refuse to pay for music as a whole. On its face, the news is inspiring—for anyone who’s concerned about the decline of music ownership, or the devaluation of music as a whole. | | |
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| Country vocalist who died this week at 46 wouldn't bend to trends and fans loved him for it. | | |
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| Migos, Rae Sremmurd, and Quincy Jones have all recently undermined the ironclad standing of music’s most influential band. | | |
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