Interscope Records to Create a New Country Rock Star

[NashVegas]

It'll be like the Monkees, but worse.

Interscope Records is seeking a male or female singer or singer/songwriter, 18-25, whose influences include; Tom Petty, Ryan Adams, Fleetwood Mac, Keith Urban, Sugarland, 3 Doors Down, Wilco, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, and John Cougar Mellencamp.

Interscope Records A&R staff representatives from Los Angeles will hold auditions on October 6th, 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee at the Hotel Indigo Ballroom (1719 West End Avenue, Nashville TN 37203) beginning at 10am all day until 6pm.

At this moment, I'm listening to the new Vampire Weekend song; Kings of Leon are on top of the chart; M. Ward is selling albums, Fleet Foxes are selling albums, Passion Pit is selling albums, the Twilight soundtrack, which owed exactly fucking ZERO to 1970s rock, was fracking HUGE ... music lovers want to move forward. And the music industry white guys insist on dragging people back to what they understood in the 1970s.

Enough, already.

[bbernardini]

1. I'll say this much for that ad...

I may hate Sugarland's music, but they've appeared on "Sesame Street" and "Yo Gabba Gabba". I'll let them live. :)

[Taverner]

2. I f'ing HATE Modern Country

I'm not a big fan of the Country genre as a whole, but I can at least Appreciate Willie Nelson, Hank Williams SENIOR, Patsy Cline and Don Willis.

BUT Modern country - its like the Eagles, but not as talented, or inspired, with a twangy voice, and lots of references to God and America.

Oh yeah, and WAL-MART

[NashVegas]

4. It's Where Classic Rock-Oriented Industry Vets Go

In order to collect a paycheck in the music industry. Unfortunately, they're trashing country. Rosanne Cash's new one sounds nice, though.

[mac56]

15. "New country" is a caricature of what country once was.

Somebody once said "new country" is the Special Olympics of the music industry.

[tridim]

3. Didn't Garth Brooks already try that?

And fail miserably?

[NashVegas]

5. Garth Had a Huge Hit

Or two, though.

[vi5]

6. Not for nothing....

..I love most of the bands/artists you listed that you are currently listening to or are selling well. But every one of them is retro in some way or another. I mean Fleet Foxes and M Ward could be transplanted back to the 70's AOR and would not be the slightest bit out of place. That Passion Pit album is one of my favorite of the year but it's little more than 80's electro pop.

There is very little original or new any more even in the underground. Doesn't mean it's bad, I just wouldn't expect the mainstream to be original when there's just not much of that to go around.

[NashVegas]

7. Oh, I Know .. To Some Extent

Fleet Foxes could be the second coming of the Grateful Dead if they want to be. Arcade Fire is Echo & the Bunnymen by another name.

The bother is that of Interscope's list, few of the influences they want were exactly, really brilliant in the first place. Dylan's one thing. The rest are all solid, but that's all they are, for the most part. It couldn't get any safer.

[vi5]

9. True....

Honestly though, that's surprising to me since among major labels Interscope has (or at least had) a somewhat decent rep for being forward thinking and artist friendly. At least in comparison to some of the other biggies.

[NashVegas]

10. Yeah, That's the Thing

This, from the people who brought us Primus.

[mitchum]

17. I agree with you; it is pretty much just mainstream vs mannerists

[Mopar151]

8. I hope they find "it"

And "it" turns out to be the next Gram Parsons or Townes Van Zandt.

Oh, wait, here's an audition vid!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0saf-DKQoM8
Ooops, it's from 1985.... fits the criteria, tho - even mentions the right icons - and its a good song. These bozos are hoping for another Susan Boyle, with a Nashville twang.

[awnobles]

11. Interscope in Nashville

There you go, an alternative label attempting to find talent in Nashville. Nashville does not now nor have they seldom ever had anything to do with good country music. It is a business venture that promotes whomever they can make the most money from and consider the music only an obstacle to selling. Notice that Nashville is one of the final vestiges of power in the music business. Country fans still buy cd's. Everyone has really suffered from illegal downloads.

[NashVegas]

12. There's Plenty Good Music In Nashville

Country and otherwise.

Elizabeth Cook, Those Darlins, Lambchop, Bobby Bare Jr., Eric Brace & Peter Cooper, Kevin Gordon, Legendary Shack Shakers, Harrison Hudson, and on. It just happens that, as you've noted, the people who surround artists in order to profit by promoting them, here, are all drawn to the lowest common denominator. Then you've got someone like Erin McCarley who made a fine album, but allowed the marketing department to image her as a fucktoy, and no one can understand why the it bombed.

[awnobles]

13. Granted there is some

But the industry ignores them for the most part. I live in Austin where the talent pool is just as deep as Nashville. Our best country artists don't get Nashville record deals: Ray Wylie Hubbard, Dale Watson, etc. Its not just Nashville but the record companies in general. Everyone has to get alternative income streams because record companies spend the money promoting new artists who have bad deals. They make more money that way and we get poor music. Its a lot like political lobbying.

[Crowman1979]

14. Let me know when they finally release a country album with a parental advisory sticker.

Then I'll buy it! :D

[onager]

18. Here ya go, from way back in 1976...

Chinga Chavin's classic Country Porn.

Track list:

Talkin' Matamoros First Piece O'Ass Blues
Asshole From El Paso
Cum Stains On The Pillow
Head Boogie
Sit, Sit, Sit (Sit On My Face)
Dry Humping In The Back Of A Fifty-Five Ford
Get It On The Run
Tit Stop Rock
4:00 A.M. Jump
Cum Unto Jesus (A Sacred Tune)
Bennies An' Beer
No Sell-Out Too small
Jailbait
Scum Floats

http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Country%20Porn:1921026766

[mitchum]

16. Didn't Outpost and Lost Highway already try that with Ryan Adams?

They spent millions and millions hyping The Sweetheart of Rodeo Drive and it didn't pay off