2007 -- Year of Living Ludicrously by George Ziemann -- December 29, 2007 If 2007 was anything, it was the year that America looked around, finally noticed that the current administration has far overstepped its legal boundaries -- more than any other administration in U.S. history, as far as we know. Nixon spied on the Democrats and got impeached. Clinton lied about a blowjob. Bush spies on whoever he wants to, lied to us about a thousand things, not to mention all of the other things I'm not going to mention. After this information finally came to light, the new Democrat-controlled Congress reacted with swift and decisive action, choosing to do nothing because they would have to get rid of both Bush and Cheney, which would put Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office and, in addition to the fact that it would make her the first woman President, it might look, you know, politically motivated. Besides, there's an election next year and how much more damage can he do? Over in the music industry, the year offered even less in the way of rational thought. Disney's Hollywood Records is the only label that is visibly nurturing acts and artists, giving them the chance to act, sing, perform, and letting everyone watch it (Disney Channel) or listen to it (Disney Radio) repeatedly, for free. Disney is apparently the only one that remembers the value of repeated listenings. There is not a thing on the High School Musical 2 movie soundtrack CD, or the latest Hannah Montana CD that hasn't already been etched into the average tweener's conscience, which is why they feel the need to buy a copy. So Disney is giving these acts a career opportunity, not just record deals. It's the last vestige of the old Hollywood star machine. Without naming any names, we saw several examples of what happens to products of the machine when they outgrow Disney. In fact, there seems to be a press subculture that concentrates on tracking pop tarts with too much time and money and not too much sense. Or underwear. ---- A month or two ago, a New York Times article offered the following definition: indie rock - rock music that deliberately avoids the traditional pop-song structures, widely accessible themes and smooth production of classic radio fare. Indie rock is not a fucking genre. It's anything not shackled to The System. Paul McCartney is now indie. He still embraces the traditional pop-song structures, widely accessible themes and smooth production of classic radio fare because he and a few of his pals helped define what "classic radio fare" was in the first damn place. McCartney has his own studio. His last album would sound exactly the same if he had let EMI distribute it instead of Starbucks. Same for Radiohead's "pay what you want" approach and The Eagles decision to go with WalMart. They all turned indie this year, but it's not a categorization or representation of their musical style, sound, structures, themes, or production values. To even suggest such a thing shows the phrase has been co-opted and turned into a meaningless genre, blurring the very distinction it was supposed to represent. The definition above allows inclusion of some works released by the major labels (which is probably the point), which are decidedly not independent. So here's a better definition: indie rock - 1) rock music that deliberately avoids the traditional music industry, with the artists retaining ownership of their own work; 2) Music that the RIAA has no control over. ---- When the final numbers come in, the RIAA is going to discover that, at least in the U.S., their business in 2007 has dwindled to half of what it was the day they filed a a lawsuit against Napster, much less the thousands of witless music fans they've sued in the meantime. EMI was bought by a company called Terra Firma that claims to want to connect with reality but refuses to give up a deduction from artist royalties for nonexistent packaging on digital copies. Universal's CEO stepped up and gave an interview illustrating how little he could possibly wrap his mind around, leaving many of us to wonder how the hell this nutbag got to be the head of the world's largest record company. Warner Music's CEO, tried to tell us the whole war with consumers thing was a big accident and the consumers won, so let's start over. Sony/BMG tried to stay quiet most of the year because even they were surprised at how bad the whole rootkit thing turned out. Everyone but Sony is now selling plain ol' mp3 files. The RIAA is still suing people. They're going to keep suing people. Now they say that ripping an mp3 from a CD that you own a physical copy of is, in and of itself, copyright infringement. Was this for personal, noncommercial use? Was it shared or given away? Doesn't matter, they say. Pretty soon they'll just start stopping anyone on the street with an iPod, because one "illegal" song from a CD you bought five years ago is an infringement that the Justice Dept. thinks is worth at least $9200 each, if not more. Pull over everyone with white ear buds and book 'em, Danno.