Right after I woke up today I read through a couple weeks’ worth of the Lefsetz Letter that had backed up in my RSS feed. Usually I only read Bob Lefsetz for the bizarro logic he flings about seemingly at random as he mixes strange proclamations about how hip-hop doesn’t matter as a cultural or economic force with nostalgic odes to ski seasons and Eagles shows 30 years past. He’s like the crazy uncle of the music industry, and I know several other people who read him regularly for that fact alone.
But the other day he wrote something that I not only fully agree with but actually sort of respect. In a post decrying Clapton and Steve Winwood charging $250 for tickets to a sort-of Blind Faith reunion, Lefsetz writes:
What’s next? Reunions of bands that didn’t exist in the first place? Is Eric Clapton going to go out with David Gilmour? Is Ozzy going to tour with Alice Cooper as part of the same band? We are really scraping the barrel here.
But that’s rock history for you. Everybody’s cleaned up. And now cleaning up. That old soul, that’s gone, been long eviscerated, and the only people who won’t admit this is those on the take.
Pretty good, right? And right on the money, too? But 10 AM is far too early to be having unsettling experiences like agreeing with Bob Lefsetz. Only now, and with the help of some coffee, am I feeling OK about things.