These last 15-odd months have encompassed quite a year of concert-going for us. We have seen so many amazing bands and shows: Todd Rundgren twice, Mike Watt twice, PiL, Rev Horton Heat, Metallica, Slayer, Church, Cult, Tubes, Psychedelic Furs, The Cure, Dead Kennedy’s. There may be some I am forgetting at the moment. The latest show was just a couple weeks ago: X with Mike Watt opening.
Most of these artists have been around for at least 30-years. The music business being what it is, there has never been as much incentive for bands to reform and tour as there is now. Tickets and merch are where the money is. Some of these bands (Todd, PiL, Slayer) were touring new material. Some had released new music relatively recently (The Rev, Mike Watt, The Cult), and some (iirc) played exclusively older songs (The Cure, Tubes, DKs and X). X was perhaps the most extreme example of this: their set was entirely made up of songs from their first four albums. While I get the financial incentive of playing the songs that made a band noteworthy, if not exactly famous; at the time it seemed somewhat sad to see a band with the combined creative talent like X reduced to this. I also felt a little depressed considering the immensely talented Billy Zoom, obviously weakened from his bouts with cancer, has for years been playing the same songs at every gig when I know there is a larger creative drive. Exene and John Doe have at least done some solo albums and tours.
However, as I think on this more, it is rather sanctimonious of me to criticize them for playing the meat of their repertoire now given the fact that they made very little money from those albums when they were originally released. Further, Exene has stated that they make nothing from current sales, and encourages folks to trade and download those albums. Likewise Zoom has said that it is only now that they are actually making decent money as a band. The truly sad part of the story is that they and bands like them were essentially blacklisted from radio back in the late 70s-early 80s. This state of affairs is what eventually caused their breakup back in the late 80s.
All that said, we as fans tend to over-romanticize the lives and motivations of the artists we admire. It’s easy for me to say that what I write and perform springs purely from inspiration without regard to the dreaded marketplace. Of course, I am not feeding and housing myself from my music. If I were, I would do what I had to in order to make sure I had a moderately comfortable life. A composer like Mozart is often viewed as the ultimate purely inspirational composer. And while he certainly chafed at the strictures laid upon him by the Archduke, he needed cash and he was willing to compose for those who paid him, a la The Magic Flute. It was still inspirational music of the highest order, but done for a price. All artists want to be able to live well. Not all want to be ostentatious wealthy, but they want and deserve to be fairly compensated for what they give to their fans. Who am I or anyone to begrudge them.
And as a final note: X kicked serious ass. Their playing was razor sharp and full of energy. As were all the bands we have seen this year. So who cares that they were exclusively playing 30-plus year-old songs. The fact is, they wrote and recorded four great albums in a style very much their own, drawing to them a loyal cadre of fans. Very few of us can claim to have done anything close to that. Go support the bands you love either through attending gigs or buying their albums (hopefully others actually make some money from those sales). It’s a wonderful time for music. New and old.
