who is Bob Lefsetz?

Nobody likes me

incredible

whomst among us is not, in a certain sense, bob lefsetz?

He's always defending Ticketmaster and asserting big artists can tell them to do things differently

I’d even proffer at this late date if Kim Carnes appeared on the Super Bowl more people would know her big hit song than those of Rihanna.

industry-adjacent boomers

the only audience that matters

KIM CARNES?

idk why i'm still surprised at this doofus, but what an odd reference.

also yeah, i'm playing the race card: of course ol leffy would prefer a nice h`white lady.

I’ll expose you, when I snow you
Offer feed with the crumbs I throw you
I’m ferocious and I sell just what it
Takes to make your cheeks blush
Bitch better have my money

I'm def of the Lefsetz school of "No one knows what's going on in music anymore" but "Umbrella" is a huge, omnipresent fucking song

Like, in the Kim Carnes era there was like one of those songs every week. In the Rihanna era there's maybe two a year if you're lucky. But "Umbrella" is assuredly one of them!

rihanna has enough hits that anyone who has been to a bar or restaurant or grocery store in the past fifteen years will have heard a few of them

> but what an odd reference.

Really odd! But now I'm noticing a mild resemblance between Rhianna and Bette Davis.

Tommy Tutone is more popular than Rhianna it's science

He says he doesn’t listen to pop radio, just his fave Sirius XM stations; he says he doesn’t surf for new music; and apparently must just get his groceries delivered.

if he wanted to be topical, should've gone with Nena

xp and of course he assumes that everyone else in the world is just like him

jt’s not like 1981’s 70-year-olds would have been familiar with “Bette Davis Eyes”

In 1981 they had Helen O’connell in the halftime show, so maybe Lefs has a point

I know I can’t say “rape and pillage” anymore

The Lefsetz letter--that's where I'm a Viking!

Talk to a millennial, ask them what is hot. Chances are they'll mention a TikTokker or YouTube influencer you've never heard of.

sir, millennials are pushing 40

"hey youngster, what's hot?"

Millennial: "I'll ask my kid."

the funny thing is a lot of the "boring suburban parents" i know are more plugged into youth culture than a lot of cool culture writers just because they have multiple teens in their house

lefsetz makes more sense once you realize he's writing for people pushing 70

(thinks of people i know pushing 70)

no, this doesn't help i'm still struggling =/

It's for 70 year olds who keep up with the new bands--you know, like R.E.M.

people who genuinely think kim carnes is more famous in 2022 than rihanna

or whatever year this is

we're getting infected by lefsetz brain

it's better than righsetz brain

righsetz fred

no way I'm disco dancing

Stephanie Setz

It's not your father's music business anymore. And we're the fathers, if not the grandfathers! As great as Giraldo and Benatar are, they appeared quaint compared to the rest of the acts. They were a blast from the past. Today image is key. And dancing. The trappings. Once again, it's not the seventies anymore. Not even the eighties!

Once, it wasn’t the seventies any more. Now, it isn’t the seventies again!

This still ain‘t no summer of love

ah yes the '80s when pop stars didn't care about their image or dancing or...trappings

Can we return to the image-free 1970s musics of glam rock, P-funk, punk, hippies, disco, Bowie and Kraftwerk

Lol

Should have just said Psst! Come over here!

sic i would ultimately like to return to the image-free 1960s musics of motown, ed sullivan, and also hippies

perhaps the image-free 1950s of elvis and little richard will provide a safe space for all of us.

tbfttl The Lef did not make any claims about those decades in his current assertion

Seymour loved not only Chinese, but other cuisines

Clearly Stein died so he would never have to encounter a Lefsetz letter again.

OMG

Believe me, unless you were living in NYC you didn’t know about CBGB’s. And the Ramones… Even aficionados didn’t know the band had released records until the second, “Leave Home.” It was only by time the third, “Rocket to Russia” with “Rockaway Beach,” was released, that people realized this was a real act, committed to success, much more talented than they’d originally perceived. You see the Ramones were seen as a novelty, a curio, a one and done. I mean when were they gonna give up on the joke?

yes the first Ramones record, famously didn't have much of an influence.