JAIMIE VERNON – TOM HOOPER & THE UNEXPLORED COSMOS

excerpted from the forthcoming book Bullsography: The Bullseye Records Story 1985-2010

JAIMIE VERNON – TIDAL WAVE

During the 50 years preceding the collapse of the music industry – i.e. Before Napster – the music we knew and loved was carefully spooned out and fed to us proportionally by record companies who knew how much we’d consume and for how long. This was done via a sifting process controlled by radio.

Roxanne Tellier – The Eye of the BeHearer

MTV, and then Canada’s own Much Music, changed the musical playing field. Whether you loved it or hated it, suddenly being able to SEE musicians, actually playing, dancing, emoting, in living  colour or sepia and in unfortunate eighties fashion choices, and all in the comfort of your own home, impacted on the decades to follow.

JAIMIE VERNON – THIS IS 1984

George Orwell references aside, 1984 marked a substantial turning point for pop music in Canada. The most significant of those was the launch of our answer to MTV – which we lovingly, un-ironically, called Much Music.

JAIMIE VERNON – YOUTUBE KILLED THE VIDEO STAR

A week ago Bell Media Megolithic Oligarchy Inc. gutted many of their TV channel networks including CTV, E!, Space, and the formerly music oriented MTV Canada, MuchMoreMusic and MuchMusic by laying off 91 people.

Segarini: More Obscure Bob – Risky Business

One of the greatest pieces of advice I ever got was from a nefarious character I used to buy drugs from. You would never guess that was what he did for a living. He was always impeccably dressed and well turned out, drove a beautifully kept, unpretentious Cadillac sedan, and, though he sold a great deal of product to a wide variety of people, did not partake in said product at all.

As I got to know him over the years, I was surprised to find out that he did not have to sell drugs to make a living…in fact, he didn’t have to earn a living at all. He was wealthy. I never pried, and did not know exactly how he had become so well off, but I believe, due mostly to his demeanor, overall brightness, and well-informed outlook on life, that his financial situation was either inherited or earned through shrewd investments. It was old money.

JAIMIE VERNON – RADIO KILLED THE VIDEO STAR

I know it’s out of fashion and a trifle uncool but the 1980s are back. Not only was I not notified in advance, but no one asked my permission; After all, I am the Ambassador of Alphabet Town…the White Wedding Crasher…the Duke of Stratosphear. Its return was subtle and subversive but it was inevitable.

There was a window of about five years at the end of the 1990s/early 2000s where the 1970s returned in full force – Classic Rock became the clarion call of adults whose kids were old enough to wipe their own asses/noses and allowed disenfranchised parents of 1980s children to finally leave the nest, hit a night club and get their Frampton on.

Segarini: When Radio and Records Ruled the World Part 15…Much Music, Rap, Hip Hop and Grunge, The End is Near

Part 14 can be found here

You want me to do what?

When I asked John (Martin) what a television producer did, I expected an answer. You know, words strung together in such a fashion as to deliver pertinent information explaining what it was a person had to do that would result in television being produced in a timely and acceptable manner. “You’ll find out”, was not an acceptable answer.

I said, “Seriously, what does a television producer do.”

Segarini: When Radio and Records Ruled the World Part 14…Video Kills the Radio Star and Radio jumps on the Bandwagon….

Part 13 can be found here

Going into the ‘80’s radio was still the first place anyone who loved music would turn to when they needed a fix, but thanks to an innovation developed by the SONY Corporation, people started spending a lot more time listening to a music delivery system that started out as a dictation storage device in the early ‘60’s, grew into a music delivery system in the ‘70’s, and with the introduction of a good quality portable device began to outsell albums for a time all the way through the ‘80’s. The device was called a Walkman, and it played something called a ‘Compact Cassette’.