Muxtaposition July 4, 2008

I met a really fantastic senior music business guy at work yesterday who, on noticing my new Liverpool shirt, told me stories about the great days back in the 70s when he and a few other fans of the game helped bring the likes of Pele and – particularly – George Best to America to compete in the old NASL. I was just stood there thinking “I can’t believe I’m hearing this!”

I’d love to be able to live a day of what the business was like back then, the halcyon days of vinyl when you had tried and true hitmakers, people who were really in on the ground with several platinum acts. Maybe it wasn’t really like that all around, perhaps it’s more just romantic thinking on my part, but I’d like to think it was a bit like the wild west… all of these record business cowboys cutting deals, putting out great (well, maybe not so much in the 70s) albums with fantastic and ridiculous artwork and stockpiling plaques on the wall for young up-and-comers to gawk at as soon as they set foot in the office. Incredible!

That being said, I think there’s something terribly exciting about the turbulent times we’re in now. There are so many ways people want to consume music and so many different things to get involved in that the possibilities really are endless. That’s the positive spin. The negative side of things is that sometimes you do feel like you’re fighting a war… you win the odd individual battle here and there but you have no idea what the landscape is going to look like when it’s all said and done. How is the world going to work?

I always try to put these things into context. No one should feel any degree of pressure because those things aren’t good for creativity, and that’s what these times require most. As much as I tend to resist quoting Jose Mourinho, he said:

“Pressure? Pressure of what? Pressure is millions of people in the world having no money to buy food for their children. That is pressure.”

The same is true here, and that always lends some perspective. I loathe complacency with every fibre of my being but at the same time you have to take a step back sometimes and think how fortunate you are to walk through a door every day and get to hear stories about back when they brought the great George Best to America and filled up the LA Coliseum. Especially while on the other hand I come home and watch a documentary on how kids in Africa are affected by HIV when either they have to live with it themselves or have lost parents and have to look after their own lives.

Watching that documentary made me reflect on the earlier story because so many of these kids have dreams of being that next Pele, Best or Beckham (or on a local level, Kanu, Eto’o or Essien). On the face of it there is little to no connection between the music business and the football pitch but it made me think that if we can ever figure out how to be successful again maybe we might be able to have some part inspiring sporting legends and a whole new generation of icons and heroes for kids – around the world – who have nothing but dreams. And if we’re not, at least I know something I’ll want to work on next.

On a somewhat related tangent, check out this remarkable ad campaign for AIDS awareness in France (link).