Tonight Clive Davis will appear on American Idol and one half-way expects his entrance to be heralded by men in tights blowing on yard-long trumpets and young maidens strewing his path with rose petals.
Such is the reverence with which Mr. Davis, a man whose middle name is "The American Dream" (okay, actually his middle initial is "J.," which last year was enshrined as the name of his new company, J. Records), is held.
Which gets one to thinking. If a 67-year-old man who lives in a penthouse overlooking New York City can conceive---literally, be solely responsible for the collaborative concept---of Supernatural, Santana's disc that is so beyond a "comeback" that it constitutes an exponential genre invention, whose music is it anyway?
I've said previously that the truly beautiful thing about American Idol is that:
It is the loving gift of one generation’s music to the next and the next.
Madonna once said that a song was like a tatoo: it represents a particular time in your life.
When Nadia Turner sang “Try A Little Tenderness,” some people had Bing Crosby in the room with them. Some had Otis Redding. Some had Three Dog Night. And some people had only Nadia, doing her best to hand down to them a piece of our collective music history.
Today a grandmother is just as likely to be knowledgeable about pop and rock-n-roll and all their permutations as a Radio Disney grad. In fact, she’s likely to be more knowledgeable and, therefore, to have the potential to buy a wider variety of music.
In spite of these facts, industry experts---such as Randy Jackson, who continually refers to Clay Aiken's fan base as a "niche" market---continue to proceed as though "real" pop music is a product sold only to "kids."
But think about it: people who used to blast themselves, say, with Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane are not going to have some freakish, out-of-body experience if they tune in to a Kelly Clarkson disc. They may or may not like a particular offering, but they are not going to rip off the headphones and start running around in circles screaming, “What was that? Oh, what was that?”
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Eric Olsen
super observations Sticker - it is very easy to forget that "pop" is not necessarily a dirty word.
Tonight's show should be pretty hot - Clive can fuck off hard, btw
2 - Sticker
yep, pop is big biz and why not?
btw, we're still getting that unwarranted "satire" designation
3 - Eric Olsen
I will be calling them again when they wake up - it's been 6 days and I am in a zero tolerance frame of mind
4 - Muggy
You are so right. I love Clay Aiken but I listen to all types of music. I listen to the Beatles, Atlantis Morrisette, Enya and Yanni. I even listen to Contemporary Christian music. It all depends on my mood and what I am doing at the time.
I dont listen to the radio anymore. They play the same songs over and over and play to many comercials. My cd player works just fine. Oh by the way I am soon to be 40 years old.
5 - Eric Olsen
Clay's fans seem to transcend age
6 - Sticker
You've brought up another important point---there's a significant potential market for pop etc. music that DOES NOT LISTEN TO RADIO
So TPTB need to rethink their emphasis on radio play - it's not always the be all and end all
Of course, radio as we know it is going the way of snail mail anyway
7 - molly rogers
This was a really fantastically intelligent and insightful article. How nice to read a writer who does his homework and know what he is talking about!
8 - Ashley
I love ALL kinds of music but when I heard Clay Aiken I decided not to listen to the radio as much (they hardly play Clay ) And play my CDs, especially Clay. And I am in my 20s.
9 - d.
I loved your article.It is high time for the music industry and the radio industry to start to listen to their listeners and play what they want to hear or the radio as we know it will disappear. Clay Aiken's voice is fantastic and I am not surprised that his appeal transcends generations,he is the one to watch !
10 - Sticker
thank you, molly rogers
11 - Sticker
Ashley,
As you know, Clay Aiken has lots of fans in your age group as well. And more and more of them are not going to be listening to traditional radio as time goes on.
I think the music industry has not always understood the diversity of tastes and views in the young-20's listeners.
I'll bet you are psyched about a new cd coming out by Mr. Aiken.
12 - Sticker
thank you, d, for your kind words
I agree with you that Clay Aiken is "the one to watch." I think the industry could learn a lot from his marketing arc.
13 - Josh
Great article. My friends and I don't listen to radio either. They have their set playlist and forcefeed us what they think we should like. My ipod is great. I download all my favorites including Clay Aiken.
14 - Nicolette Rivers
I really enjoyed this. Isn't it weird how people expect us all to morph into Mama (as played by Vicky Lawrence) at some point?
15 - Fran
Very good article! I have tickets to 3 concerts in August to see Clay Aiken and I'm 65 years young...BUT, the last CD I bought (3 weeks ago) was Rob Thomas, which by the way, it very good. The one before that was Joe Cocker, love that man too. Went to his concert couple of months ago and really enjoyed it. However, I love Clay as much as I loved Elvis.
16 - jakey1953
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!! YOU ARE STATING WHAT ALL CLAY FANS ALREADY KNOW, AND ALL NON CLAY FANS DON'T GET......
17 - Aaman
I do not think that the music industry is changed in the slightest because of American Idol - apart from providing an audition forum for the unbelievable disasters, and a few rarities who probably would've made it anyway in this age of podcasting and GarageBand
The subjectivity of the voting process and the judges makes the actual event a non-starter in terms of crowning the best of the pack.
18 - mir
Another great article and nice insight, Sticker! Its great to see that information floating around in cyberspace!
Keep up the good work!
:)
Can't wait for tonight's show!
19 - Carrie
Hey Sticker, Thanks for the great article. I too am planning to see Clay in concert this summer, but not before seeing Maroon5, and Jack Johnson. My 15 year old daughter and I are both huge Clay fans, but also love to listen to Green Day, Rob Thomas, Anna Nalick, Howie Day, the Dixie Chicks and many more. I don't listen to radio much, because I am tired of hearing the same 5 songs all day long.
20 - shirley
im a grandmother and i love the music of clay aiken. in fact, there are 4 generations of clay fans in my family, including my mother, myself, my sisters, my daughters and my grandaughters! we attend clay concerts together as a family. american idol brought this outlet of music and fun to us!!!
21 - pat
Thanks for a great article! I don't listen to the radio anymore, either; not enough Clay on the air waves - so I just popped his CD in the player and listened only to him during a 7 hour drive yesterday.
If radio WOULD play his music even once in awhile, I would tune in.
22 - GAPEACH
Thank you for a extremely perfect article. I can't seem to get some people to understand that it doesn't matter how old you are when it comes to music. I have a 16 year old son that loves music but he calls me a MUSIC FREAK because of my wide range CD collection (Aerosmith, Bon jovi, Velvet Revolver, Ben Jelen ,Clay Aiken,The Eagles, Howie Day) Music is an International Lanuage and there are no limits,
23 - BRICKLAYER
I don't have an iPod, but if I did, it would house Britney, Roky, Kelly, and Cattle Decapitation.
24 - Aaman
Some mashup that would be
25 - Marti
I am a 52 year old grandma, with 4 generations living in the same house. We are all fans of Clay. Through my many years of living, I have seen many concerts,(Madonna,INXS,VanHalen,Scorpions,BonJOvi,Cinderella etc).
Seeing Clay Aiken in concert has been the best I have ever seen. It is the first time in my life that when the concert ended, I wanted it to start all over again. His stage presence, and warmth transcends to all of his audience.
Radio??? What is that?? Clay is making the sales,and fans, despite radio!!