Now I’m not even going to try and posit myself as some sort of soothsayer on this particular post, but I have a few thoughts for today as I have been spending time surveying the landscape of music in popular culture. The reason behind the title (besides who doesn’t need a reason to post Sam Cooke’s Tour de Force) and impetus for writing is quite simple: I (like probably a few of you out there) am simply tired of where the über-corporate nature of specifically music and celebrity in general has taken many of us a society.

There hasn’t been in event in particular over the last few weeks, months or years that has spurred this on, it’s more of a culmination of questions and observations. First and foremost I firmly believe that what a lot of media is built on today is silly. Sometimes I refer to it as the Secresting or Perezing of media, where the media acts like that kid in middle school who goes from table to table at lunch whispering in ears to get something going between frenemies. I’m not a journalist, but some of the stuff that passes for “journalism” these days…

On the other side of the coin I’m beyond tired of the “What I got as compared to what you got” celebrity entitlement virus. You get paid money to sing, rap, write/play music, dance, act, tell jokes or whatever you do. Be grateful for that. You know what I mean? I mean:

1. Some people are not working at all.
2. Some people shovel shinola 12 hours a day for little pay

So it should come as no surprise that some people could care less what you drive, where you live or what type of sweaters you get your dogs for their birthday.

I’m not bitter, nor do I have an ax to grind, I just want to state for the record that I really feel a change in the air. I can’t predict when it’s going to happen, but something keeps telling me that people, the populace, the fans, the majority are going to get tired because they are going to wake up one day and see some of this for the absurdity that it really is…

For 99.9999% of the world’s population what you see on the latest video or in-depth at home interview with the flavor of the moment celeb will more than likely never be your reality and you know what? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. Ask yourself a question: Would you really like to spend a portion of your life as a walking, talking, breathing billboard for companies who if you weren’t making them money they might ask you to come around the side door to enter?

Why would a $35,000 tab at a club be something to aspire to? Isn’t that a distraction? I mean wouldn’t the ruffle to the status quo be if you had a spare $35,000 send someone to school who can’t afford to go? There are artists out here doing that very thing with their money but unfortunately you don’t get to hear that much about it because that doesn’t get page views.

I say all this to say that I believe the new artist is going to look and live a whole lot more like you and I instead of Louis XIV. I think sooner or later the majority is going to get tired of underwriting stupidity, gluttony, consumerism, greed etc., etc., That new artist is going to look a lot like some of the older artists where they lived in the community, without need of gates because their existence was in line with the majority. I believe in paying an artist their just wages, but take the music or entertainment business out of the equation and look at how some of these lifestyles are being underwritten by the pennies and dollars of the majority and sooner or later when folks really come to know the truth you may see a crack in the edifice.

This post is dedicated to the working musicians(at any level of success) of the world who truly represent the working people of this word in not only word but deed also. Those who advocate on the behalf of opulence need not apply, you have made enough of a mockery of the muse.

Sam Cooke