"Twisted Business: Lessons from My Life in Rock 'n Roll":
amzn.to/3yxz8x3 Jay Jay French is a hustler. A New York hustler. The top of the heap. A survivor. A human cockroach who cannot be ignored and cannot be killed. And that's why he made it.
Every band needs a hustler. Sure, some bands become big and can the initial hustling manager for the big, established one, but the established ones started out as hustlers too, that's how you make it in this business.
That's why I'm against music business education. You can't teach someone to hustle, they're born to it, it's the environment, their family, their parentage. They didn't start hustling when they formed a band, they were always hustling, like Mr. French, he started out as a dope dealer. How else could he afford equipment and tickets?
Scratch the back of music industry icons and you'll find a plethora started by dealing drugs. Most notably Doc McGhee, who used the skills he developed to turn Bon Jovi into a monster act. But it's not only McGhee... It's a good background. It's sleazy, it's a cash business, and you never know when you'll be ripped off. Just like rock and roll. And neither side of the trade trusts each other, i.e. the band and the label. The label is not your friend, never ever ever, remember that as they wine and dine you, they end up billing you for the cost anyway.
So Jay Jay dropped out of high school. It was impinging on his lifestyle. This is after getting kicked out a few times for his revolutionary behavior. Yes, this was the sixties. If you're not a limit-tester, if you're not questioning authority, if you're not pushing the envelope, good luck trying to make it.
So Jay Jay joins a band that goes through umpteen formulations before it finally gets a record deal, ten years later, and it's like Spinal Tap, one label folds, an exec dies on a flight back to the U.K... Your one big break is never one, not in the music world. Your failures far outweigh your successes, it's only the superstars who get to say no, and they're always worried they're going to fall out of favor with the fans. Yes, the manager, and hopefully someone in the act, is paying attention to ticket counts, you want to catch the dip in the bud, try to turn it around. As for Twisted Sister... They had mega success and blew up the band.
French blames it on the single, a cover of "Leader of the Pack." But it's more than that, the perception of the band had morphed, from heavy metal to cartoon, and their hard core audience became wary of them, they moved on, leaving Twisted Sister bankrupt, truly.
Also there were personality conflicts. It was an equal partnership but the focus was on Dee Snider, who eventually failed as a solo act anyway. You can count the number of front people who've left their band and gone on to greater success on one hand. Phil Collins is the exception, not the rule, and he continued to keep his day job, in Genesis.
So everybody knows the band, but Jay Jay is broke. He ends up selling stereo equipment while he regroups. He owns the band's name, he shares the revenue with members equally, but he's the one with the head for business, and he cares more than all the outsiders they employed before, Jay Jay also became the manager.
So his love life... God, just surviving that would be tough. The two-timing women. The wife who leaves him when Twisted implodes. You may want to be rich and famous, but significant others may be drawn to you because of those qualities, as opposed to your personality, and if those edifices crumble, they oftentimes leave.
So there you have it, classic music business story.
Well, not completely. TWISTED SISTER WAS COMPLETELY SOBER! Drugs and alcohol may be cool, but they're a huge impediment to success. You want to be clear-headed. Furthermore, everybody lies to look cool. They talk about their hard time in high school, but they graduated, but like I said, Jay Jay truly did not. And then you have the wannabes imitating the legend, the perception, not the reality, and then they exhibit bad behavior and O.D. and... It's called music BUSINESS, focus on BUSINESS, it's about the money, don't ever forget that.
And everybody needs some.
So now Jay Jay has reinvented himself as a motivational speaker. I kid you not. Every convention needs one, even though they make no difference to the assembled multitude, because you're not them. Their rules might have worked for them, but you have to find your own rules. Actually, Jay Jay eventually says this. But towards the end of chapters for every letter of TWISTED.
Are you laughing?
Jay Jay is not. He's serious. This is no laughing matter. This is about survival, this is about money, there is no safety net.
So most of what he says is obvious, except for one chapter, the second "T," trust. Do what you say you're going to. Your credibility is key. Deliver on promises. Contracts are irrelevant, the lighting and sound companies that provided gear for Twisted Sister in the beginning did it on a handshake, they wanted the band to survive, you've got to support the up and comers, just as long as the band came through, paid every week.
You'd be stunned how many people can't do the basics. Show up on time straight and do what they're supposed to do. I know, I know, it sounds basic, but there's a crisis in America, maybe in the rest of the world too, I don't know, but here... Then again, you deliver at your job and don't make more money and don't get promoted and there's no trust between you and your employer anymore. There's a divide in America, and it's not only between Democrats and Republicans, it's also between the haves and the have-nots, the rich and the poor. The rich repeat the myth that they're geniuses, not lucky (and if they're such geniuses, how come they can't repeat the success, almost none can), and that their wealth will trickle down to the little people. Yeah, right. That's statistically been proven wrong, but few are listening. The dream of striking it rich and paying low taxes is the only one the hoi polloi have got.
So, used to be being a rock star meant you were rich and famous. Well, Twisted Sister never got rich, but they were certainly famous. But today there are easier ways to be rich and famous than becoming a musician. But a musician, or people who call themselves that, need no training, no education, there is no barrier to entry, now, more than ever, whereas most professions have high hurdles.
But a guy like Jay Jay will always find his way.
Will you?
Probably not. Because you don't need it that bad, you didn't grow up in poverty. Those with the least have the biggest desire. And desire is just as important as talent. You've got to keep on chooglin', and most people give up. Although Jay Jay says when your dreams far outstrip your pocketbook, when you can't make ends meet, change your dream. Which is good advice. I hear from too many starving musicians who tell me they've put in their 10,000 hours, the system is against them, they're gonna make it. Hmm...no. The world has spoken, it doesn't need you. Maybe if you had a hustling manager, a better agent...but it's incumbent on you to build the relationships, being able to play is just one element. And players are a dime a dozen, what makes you special? Twisted Sister was special.
So really, this book needed to come out in the eighties. Back then Twisted Sister was still in the public consciousness, buyers would have been plentiful, books by working musicians were relatively rare. But now? Every person who had success once has or is writing a book. But the public cannot digest all of them, almost all of them fail.
And almost all of them are done the same way. The act dictates and then a third party transcribes and oftentimes the end result is barely readable. The Frampton autobiography? Worst written major book I've ever read, it's atrocious. Books have to flow. And readers know when you repeat yourself... I mean does anybody proofread these tomes? Jay Jay's is better than most, but there are times he repeats what he already said, like telling the story of his brother being a teacher. There's so little money involved that the worker bees do a shoddy job of cutting and pasting and...if you really care, you could do a better job, right?
But Jay Jay's is better than most. It's highly readable. You'll get hooked. It does bog down a bit somewhere in the middle, where it's business sans anecdote, but the story and anecdotes are great. Yes, Jay Jay is busy taking credit, for things like the first heavy metal Christmas album, and licensing heavy metal songs, but really, who cares? This is just stuff you say to make yourself feel good. Jay Jay does it less than most, but it's still in there.
But Jay Jay is not warm and fuzzy. He's not laid back. His book is unlike those of the classic rockers. It's not a tale, it's in-your-face. Hard core. No B.S.
Does Jay Jay really do two motivational speeches a month?
Who knows? That's the main purpose of this book, to get more speaking gigs. And it's probably serves that purpose pretty well.
But for me... It was that indelible track "I Wanna Rock." Sure, "We're Not Gonna Take It" is more famous, but "I Wanna Rock" is an anthem. Pure. Gut-busting. That's rock and roll. That's what drove the business. That's what had us buying the records and the tickets. Jay Jay was there, on both sides of the equation, as a fan and a performer.
And if you were there too, you'll identify.
But those times are dead and gone. Spending 300k on your new video? No way. Then again, rock is now a fringe genre. At this point the players in that world have lowered expectations. But for a while there, you could play any kind of music and make it to the top, be world famous. And that's what Twisted Sister was, world famous, you cannot take it away from them, and achieving that? Nearly impossible!
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