By any measure—particularly financial ones—General Electric is a big company. It employs over 300,000 people in some 100 countries. Its 2002 revenues were $131.7 billion. It places number 5 on the Fortune 500 list. Its total 2002 assets are $575 billion. We’re not talking a small company here. It is huge. General Electric consists of 13 business units. There are Aircraft Engines and Plastics; Consumer Finance and Power Systems; Industrial Systems and Transportation Systems; Medical Systems and Specialty Materials. And all of these (and more) are sizeable in and of themselves.
So, what does this have to do with music?
Well, there is one part of GE that’s of particular interest. NBC. You know, the network that brings you Friends.
Now, by any stretch of the imagination, this, America’s first broadcast network, is not the sort of thing that one might picture as being independent, edgy, or otherwise non-status quo. To think otherwise is simply silly. GE is all about making a solid return for its shareholders. And those four million shareholders have been doing pretty well, all things considered. In a news release announcing the record $15.1-billion earnings for 2002, GE chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt is quoted, “Power Systems, NBC, Commercial Finance, Consumer Finance, and Medical Systems all had record years.” You don’t have record years by annoying people or otherwise pissing them off. At least not those who are buying your stuff. And the stuff that NBC has to sell is advertising time.
Among the shows in NBC’s stable is Late Night With Conan O’Brien. Called by no less than People magazine “one of TV’s hottest properties,” O’Brien, who also leads a production company, Conaco, which produced the “reality” show Lost for NBC, for which he should be soundly beaten around the head and shoulders for, is a man who has parlayed a seeming sense of independence, edginess and comparative avant-gardeness to, well, People-dom. Don’t get me wrong. I find him certainly more amusing than, say, Tom Brokaw and Matt Lauer put together, and that’s saying a lot.
So, what do we have so far?
Item: GE is a big company.
Item: GE is a big company that makes lots of things.
Item: GE is a big company that makes lots of money.
Item: GE owns NBC.
Item: As part of GE, NBC is meant to make lots of money.
Item: GE, through NBC, broadcasts Late Night With Conan O’Brien.
Item: Late Night With Conan O’Brien, as a program on NBC, which his owned by GE, is meant to make lots of money.
Item: You don’t make lots of money on commercial television by pissing anyone off. In order to make lots of money, one must appeal to lots of people. In order to appeal to lots of people, one cannot be too extreme in any way, shape or form.
Got all that? OK, now the point:
It is reported that during the week of April 22-25, the White Stripes will be on Late Night every night. That’s right. The band, out in support of “Elephant,” will be working their brother-and-sister, er, former-husband-and-wife, er, whatever act on Conan.
Go back to the Items listed above. And then wonder what sort of adjectives can be used to describe the White Stripes. Those that are found in a thesaurus under “Independent” sure as hell don’t ascribe.
Be sure to read Jeff Sabatini’s review of Elephant.
What follows is an exchange between a writer and editor regarding this post.
PO Box 118185 Chicago, IL 60611
To: Jake
Fm: Mac
Re: Stripes post
There’s one in Drafts. Probably an unpopular one.
Mac.
PO Box 118185 Chicago, IL 60611
Fm: Jake
To: Mac
Re: Stripes post
Excellent. I like it. The issue of “what is mainstream?” is an interesting question. Isn’t it funny how “independent” has replaced “underground” even though neither term really made literal sense? I just read a thing about Jefferson Airplane in the latest issue of MOJO and the whole San Francisco scene was so fucked by the mainstream attention it brought. The fastest way to kill a “scene” is to popularize it. Weird. But what’s the solution? All I know for sure is that it would be a good thing to be able to turn on the radio and hear good music.
Jake
PO Box 118185 Chicago, IL 60611
To: Jake
Fm: Mac
Re: Stripes post
What I’m moderately puzzled by is the whole notion of people being treated as though they are “outsiders,” even though they are completely part of the dominant culture from the point of view of being permitted by those who are in charge of budgets to become known. Gee, Eminem, for example, must be a huge rebel, Academy Award notwithstanding. The scenes get killed, I think, mainly when those who coordinate the mass markets have something to replace it with, such that another scene is created. What’s happened, say, to someone like Britney? She doesn’t have any less talent than she had to begin with; but now there are alternatives who can move more product. When I see that Target has a special on “Elephant,” I’ve got to wonder how “alternative” that band can be. No, I don’t know what the alternative is. Theodore Adorno and his crew of the Frankfurt School did reams of marxist analysis of the whole situation (at least back in the early to mid-20th century); they didn’t come up with answers either. But I think the question has to be repeatedly asked.
Mac.
PO Box 118185 Chicago, IL 60611
To: Mac
Fm: Jake
Re: Stripes post
> What I’m moderately puzzled by is the whole notion of people being treated as though they are “outsiders,” even though they are completely part of the dominant culture from the point of view of being permitted by those who are in charge of budgets to become known.
While I totally agree with that, it’s got to be about the most cynical sentence ever written!
> The scenes get killed, I think, mainly when those who coordinate the mass markets have something to replace it with, such that another scene is created.
I can see that killing a “trend.” My idea is that trends kill the scenes on which they are based. I’m thinking of the Detroit garage rock scene. That’s going to get killed (if it isn’t dead already) when the majors swoop in and sign all the Detroit garage bands and everybody starts moving to Detroit (yeah, right) to get in on the scene. And before you know it, all the original scenesters have moved to LA to complete their recording projects, and tour buses are driving tourists through Detroit pointing out the Hotel Yorba. That’s what happened to San Francisco in the 60s. Right?
> When I see that Target has a special on “Elephant,” I’ve got to wonder how “alternative” that band can be.
They’re an alternative to the shitty music that predominates the airwaves at least.
Jake
PO Box 118185 Chicago, IL 60611
To: Jake
Fm: Mac
Re: Stripes post
>They’re an alternative to the shitty music that predominates the airwaves at least!
The problem is that the alternative isn’t an alternative, yet the fact that it seems to be an alternative, it is taken to be acceptable. That, my friend, is a problem.
Mac.
PO Box 118185 Chicago, IL 60611
To: Mac.
Fm: Jake
Re: Stripes post
I don’t get what you’re saying. Are you suggesting that the White Stripes’ music is not good? I think it is good. I think most of the stuff I hear on the radio is not good. Therefore, the White Stripes’ music is a good alternative to the bad music on the radio.
Once in a while the Man decides to sell something good. When He does, we should celebrate. When He’s selling crap, we should ignore it or berate it.
Or am I missing your point? I just like good rock and roll, whether it’s coming from the Man or from the gutter. If it’s good, it’s good.
Jake
PO Box 118185 Chicago, IL 60611
To: Jake
Fm: Mac
Re: Stripes post
No, I’m not suggesting anything of the sort. I’m talking about socioeconomic perception, not music at all.
What I am saying is that whereas the White Stripes might seem to somehow be more, say, renegade than the music of, oh, I don’t know, that lanky kid who won a Grammy sounding like a bad imitation of Dave Matthews (which is not to say that there could be a good imitation), it isn’t. From the point of view of economics, it’s all the same. The Man doesn’t decide to sell things that are “good” or “bad.” Just simply things that can and do sell. And when they don’t sell, they don’t get sold (i.e., the discs are no longer pressed).
In other words, some people might feel as though there is a certain “righteousness” because of the “independent” status of performers who are as bought and sold as O-Town.
Damn. Soon I’ll start quoting from Das Kapital or something.
Mac.
PO Box 118185 Chicago, IL 60611
To: Mac
Fm: Jake
Re: Stripes post
Okay, I gotcha. Economics!
Jake
Doesn’t Mort Crim work for NBC in Detroit? I see a conspiracy here.
You guys are weird.
Indeed you guys are, in fact, most likely, weird.
All this over the White Stripes?
Why didn’t Glorious Noise do the right thing and ignore the Whites’ tripe in the first place? You only pay attention to artists who already have the OK of some gatekeeper you’ve heard of. So you draw the line somewhere before GE. You have my undying respect.
Hey, I’ve met Mort Crim. This may surprise some of you, but he’s actually kind of corny and not that cutting-edge hilarious as he appeared as an anchor. Er, I mean, he’s actually just as dull and antiquated as he appeared as an anchor. But he does have the one quality which my dad (who hired him) said every good anchor has: A big head. I swear to god. My own father hires people on the size of their head. Anyone out there with a big head need a job? I’ll see what I can do…
i can’t wait for the hot hot heat expose two years from now!
for some reason i’ve got some dick the bruiser song rambling around in my head about mort crim hairspray (i believe as sung to the tune of the mac and jack classic “say, say, say”. did anybody who grew up around detroit ever hear that one among the many bruiser band classics?
I understand that you are trying to debase or rather explore what the term independent is, but this just sounds like a “six degrees of seperation” game that Godspeed You! Black Emperor did with Yanqui U.X.O. as well. Is everyone catching this bug but me?
Well, I’ve never mistaken them for “independent” since they moved to V2. Then, after they played the MTV Awards, I was pretty sure they were mainstream.
If you don’t like their music, then just say so. Sleater-Kinney played on Conan a few months ago. It’s something bands do to promote new albums. I don’t think they lost any independent credit because of it. What does it matter? Besides: The Clash (you know, the band in the picture this site uses as a background) was/is on Epic. Epic is owned by Sony. Sony. I still own Clash CDs, as I’m sure a good portion of this site’s readers have. …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead signed to Interscope (owned by Vivendi Universal) and released their best album yet. My point? I hate corporations, but I love Sleater-Kinney, The Clash, Trail of Dead and yes, the White Stripes. If that ruins my indy credibility, at least I compensate by having a better music collection.
What a silly assertion, that majors vs. indies = good or bad music. I can only imagine that 95% of the GloNo posters can tell you that there’s no difference. I mean, the ‘Mats were just as great on Tim as they were on Hootenanny, and that’s on (gasp) SIRE records!! Same with Urge Overkill; Supersonic Storybook to Saturation, Touch & Go to Geffen, no loss of quality. (Shrug). I think that it’s odd when something that we all think is kickass gets signed to the majors, and gets mainstream acceptance. This is novel simply because it seems to be the exception, not the rule. But then again, isn’t that better? I mean, if all of our favorite bands got an automatically got a ticket to the majors, we’d constantly be having to find a new underground.
And Indie Credibility???? Gawd, what the hell is that? I mean, I know some concept of it unfortunately exists, but ultimately, I think that sometimes it can do more harm than good. If someone can provide me a good argument that they can derive some sort of visceral response from their Justin TimberFlake records and they feel it will last the test of time and fashion, then those emotions are just as credible to him as my feelings are. More power to that person, even if I’m snobby enough to think said record is a piece of shit as I crank New Day Rising even louder to drown it out.
P.S.: That wasn’t meant to be maliciously directed at any of the above posts, in case that was read out of my comments.