88. The Load Out/Stay &...

Lyrics

Now the seats are all empty 
Let the roadies take the stage 
Pack it up and tear it down 
They're the first to come and last to leave 
Working for that minimum wage 
They'll set it up in another town 
Tonight the people were so fine 
They waited there in line 
And when they got up on their feet they made the show 
And that was sweet-- 
But I can hear the sound 
Of slamming doors and folding chairs 
And that's a sound they'll never know 

Now roll them cases out and lift them amps 
Haul them trusses down and get'em up them ramps 
'Cause when it comes to moving me 
You guys are the champs 
But when that last guitar's been packed away 
You know that I still want to play 
So just make sure you got it all set to go 
Before you come for my piano 

But the band's on the bus 
And they're waiting to go 
We've got to drive all night and do a show in Chicago 
or Detroit, I don't know 
We do so many shows in a row 
And these towns all look the same 
We just pass the time in our hotel rooms 
And wander 'round backstage 
Till those lights come up and we hear that crowd 
And we remember why we came 

Now we got country and western on the bus 
R and B, we got disco in eight tracks and cassettes in stereo 
We've got rural scenes & magazines 
We've got truckers on the CB 
We've got Richard Pryor on the video 
We got time to think of the ones we love 
While the miles roll away 
But the only time that seems too short 
Is the time that we get to play 

People you've got the power over what we do 
You can sit there and wait 
Or you can pull us through 
Come along, sing the song 
You know you can't go wrong 
'Cause when that morning sun comes beating down 
You're going to wake up in your town 
But we'll be scheduled to appear 
A thousand miles away from here 
People stay just a little bit longer 
We want to play -- just a little bit longer 
Now the promoter don't mind 
And the union don't mind 
If we take a little time 
And we leave it all behind and sing 
One more song--

These are two songs which Jackson Browne recorded for a live-album, and although they are always listed as two separate songs he always sings both both of them in one go. It's therefore quite irrelevant to treat them as two separate songs, but I must say that I think Stay is far better than The Load Out. These are obviously not some great insights; in fact what I wrote in the first sentence here, I basically copied straight out of Wikipedia. That's because I don't really know anything about Jackson Browne, and what I do know of him, is because of his collaborations with Warren Zevon. 

As you may have guessed by now my taste in, and knowledge of, music doesn't go much farther than the mainstream, so I am quite surprised that very few people I know, with far greater knowledge of music, have never heard of Warren Zevon, who is a slightly overlooked singer-songwriter, who performed from the 70's until his death in 2003. He is one of the sharpest lyricist I know. His lyrics have very dark humor, they be satiric, biting and cynical, while at the same time being incredibly humane. My favorite song of his may be Genius, which among other gems contains these lyrics: Albert Einstein was a ladies' man/while he was working on his universal plan/he was making out like Charlie Sheen/He was a genius. Zevon's best lines though may be in his song Desperadoes under the Eaves: And if California slides into the ocean/like all the mystics and statistics say it will/I predict this hotel will be standing/until I pay my bill. I hope to write more about Zevon some other day, but for now I'll mention the following great songs: Lawyers, Guns and Money, Mohammed's Radio, Roland the Headless Thompson Gunnner, Hit Somebody, My Shit's Fucked Up and Let Nothing Come Between You.

Now, it's time to return to The Load Out/Stay which I linked to a movie I saw a long time ago and remembered liking because it was a movie about rock artists that paid a lot of attention to the hard, unglamorous labor that has to be done to be a successful rock star.  

The Movie: Rock Star (Stephen Herek, 2001)

Rock Star is not a great, or even really good, movie and it does not pay as much attention to the unglamorous labor as I remembered. Still, this is an underrated, odd movie that is much more interesting than it seems to be at first sight. And I also don't know whether the filmmakers are always conscious of how interesting, and sometimes downright subversive their movie is. It's actually quite a shame that David Cronenberg did not direct this movie, as it would fit right into his wheelhouse. This at times plays like the most Marxist movie a Hollywood studio can make about the political economy of a rock band. It also deals with questions of (sexual) identity and authenticity, and it has a main protagonist whose obsessions impact his mental and physical stability.

The main protagonist Izzy Cole, by the way, is played by Mark Wahlberg. Izzy is a super fan of the band Steel Dragon, who is also the lead singer in a cover band (or as Izzy calls it a tribute band) of Steel Dragon. Izzy is not the brightest light in the universe, but he is presented as basically a nice guy who loves his friends, family and girlfriend (played by Jennifer Anniston, whose presence in this movie is a total mystery. Izzy has one main problem though. He wants his band to be an exact copy of Steel Dragon, meaning that when the lead singer of Steel Dragon pierces his nipple Izzy does the same. Even more problematically Izzy throws a tantrum any time one of his band members changes a cover even slightly. His band members eventually tire of him, and throw him out of the band. Than, in a scene that nicely mirrors the previous one, Steel Dragon throws their lead singer out of the band, so now they have to search for a new lead singer. Of course it's Izzy who becomes it. And now the movie really starts getting interesting. 

The movie posits that the Steel Dragon tribute band may offer a more 'authentic' experience than the 'real' Steel Dragon. Izzy may imitate Steel Dragon lead singer Bobby Beers, but that's actually a true representation of Izzy's personality and his emotions. He most importantly defines himself as a super fan of Bobby Beers, and his shows are a direct expression of that. His songs may not be 'personal' or 'authentic', but the love he has for Steel Dragon and Bobby is deeply personal and authentic. And that's basically what his shows are about. On the other hand Bobby is a closeted homosexual, who performs songs in which he sings about all the girls he has loved and conquered. That's basically why he leaves Steel Dragon. That Steel Dragon is entirely uninterested in authenticity becomes even clearer later on in the movie, when the now successful Izzy is reprimanded by his fellow band members for having the tenacity to write his own songs that have a new, slightly different sound. They basically claim Steel Dragon to be a brand with its own distinct sound from one which cannot deviate. There is no space for personal expression in their music. The only purpose of the music they record is to sell it and to make money. 

The movie also entirely deglamorizes the debauchery of the rock stars. They sure have wild parties, full of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, but these parties are all fabricated. Steel Dragon actually has a specially employed person whose sole function basically is to direct the debauchery. This is made explicit in a speech by Steel Dragon's manager (Timothy Spall) to Izzy in which he basically says that Izzy's main function is to sell a fantasy to his male fans. His female fans/groupies are basically commodities, which leads to the conclusion that even Izzy's sex life was basically more authentic (and interesting) when he was in the cover band than when he was in the 'real' band. There are throughout the movie many other similar insights. Therefore this is quite a strange Hollywood movie that should not be easily dismissed. The movie basically presents the whole experience of rock as a commodity. It then goes to analyze how that commodity is created and sold, who its producers and consumers are, and how these consumers are created. It furthermore exposes the power relations that make this process possible and shows that (and how) those in power exploit the powerless. This may be the only mainstream movie I know that makes the audience aware of audience labor