Folks, I’m slackin’ on you this week. Truth be told, I’m neck-deep in writing a business model and let’s just say that crunching numbers: not my favorite.

So instead of the usual musings, I’ll be following my own advice. Here goes:

“Before any of you start a band, or join a band, or aid or abet a band, it is better by far that you pump gas for sub-sub-minimum wage, fish pennies out of port-a-pots at NASCAR hoedown’s, change the deep fat at White Castle, go back to school for a degree in pus forming, or poke an ice pick through your tongue.”

— Richard Meltzer from I Hate New Music, the Classic Rock Manifesto by Dave Thompson.

And that’s just the Preface!

He had me at “I Hate.”

Of course, there’s plenty of new music that I, for one, unabashedly LOVE. And certainly, I’ve been known to aid and abet. That said, one can be reasonably sure that talent the likes of Joplin, Hendrix, Lennon, etc. won’t exist again, let alone en masse. Ever.

Now more than ever, what we’ve gained in quantity overall, we’ve lost in quality exponentially. At least that’s the general gist of Thompson’s book so far.

Kind of depressing although, admittedly, quite true. When you get down to the genuine nitty-gritty, the music since then? since back in the day? Nothing measures up. Not even Radiohead.

It’s a tall order: music that stands the test of time… eternally great rock ‘n roll. Greater than great. Can it happen again? Even I’m dubious.

Perhaps it’s all this spreadsheet-ing that’s got me down. Or maybe Sarah Palin.