Lots of Sour Grapes!

Daarlings!


There are lots of sour grapes in Las Vegas today as evidenced by the explosion of my cell phone upon waking.  It seems quite a few local who's whos were positively disgruntled over the outcome of Round 3 of the Sin City Showcase Series at Tommy Rocker's last night.  From name calling to finger-pointing to downright slanderous allegations, the bottom line is, it all came down to the very unpopular decision of the judges.


Although there were quite a few extremely talented artists in the room, many of those in attendance believed the winners were not among them.  And while the words used may seem harsh, "out of tune, out of time and off key," they weren't entirely false.  On the other hand, the winning act offered up spectacle and in today's visually driven climate, this may have been their ace in the hole.


This brings to mind the words of a former A&R rep at Atlantic Records.  He told me,     

"We don't sign talent or greatness.  We sign marketability. A sixteen year old in a cheerleading outfit will beat out musical and artistic brilliance every time." 

And this quite possibly explains last night's upset.  Musical brilliance lost out to easy marketability.  But how could that happen in a battle of the bands?  Isn't it supposed to be about the music? The tightness?  The songwriting skills?


Well, first off, most of the grumblings came from musicians in the house (not those competing, mind you) whose ears are trained to hear when a singer is off key, a band is out of time or the tuning goes out.  They can hear and comprehend the complexity of a piece and judge talent accordingly.  For the most part, they listen more than they look.


Meanwhile you have a panel of judges, some who are not musicians or songwriters.  They judge purely on the entertainment and visual value of the artist. To them, if they like what they see and hear, it doesn't matter whether it's technically sound.  They have no idea about tunings, timings or complexity.  Basically they are just people who listen to music.  They like it and that's that. 


This takes me back to yet another statement from a large indie A&R rep I met at SXSW some years back.  He said,

"The consumer dictates trends."

So the question is, what truly qualifies a winning band?  Is it the ability to write and perform exceptional, complex music, displaying an undeniable skill at their craft?  Or is the spectacle of it all?  The image?  The marketability?


Unfortunately the answer to that is a matter of perspective.  The musicians songwriters and musically savvy will tell you it is the former -- the consumer will tell you it's the latter.  And in the end there will be lots of sour grapes in Las Vegas!