The Most Successful Rock Band of the Millennial
....and it's not Coldplay.
In a rare, “I didn’t expect cool news” surprise — the United Musicians and Allied Workers introduced yesterday the Living Wage for Musicians Act to Congress. Led by Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Jamaal Bowman, the act proposes to create a new streaming royalty that would bypass existing contracts and go direct from streaming platforms to artists.
Obviously, this is the kind of thing we talk about A LOT on this podcast with a fair amount of Wojak Stage 5.5 Doomer vibes.
So, it’s nice to see the UMAW and a couple high-profile members of Congress are attempting to push the needle on an issue important to countless independent artists.
You can learn more about the act on their website. Currently, the UMAW is looking for signatures from musicians and non-musicians alike. Stay tuned for more from us as we’ll be talking about this in a future episode.
The Most Popular Band of the Millennium?
Is rock dead? Not according to Imagine Dragons. You know… the band that’s sold 46 million records? The band with 10 songs reaching over a billion streams on Spot**y? (Drake and Taylor Swift have a mere five a-piece for comparison). You’ve definitely heard of Imagine Dragons, but....have you ever really HEARD them? Probably not. And that’s because despite being the most successful band of the past 25 years, Imagine Dragons has received next to no critical attention.
Okay, actually it’s probably also because you stopped listening to contemporary, mainstream rock (if you ever did) a long time ago. Either that, or if you’re like Saxon, you haven’t listened to a new “rock” band since riding around with your step-father in his Ford and puffing Marlboros while a local “Alternative Rock” station (rip) blasted Nickelback.
But no, seriously, Imagine Dragons have not even had the dubious honor of receiving a proper Pitchfork 0.6 irony-laden take-down…let alone a serious examination. The closest we found in doing research for this episode was a 2018 article from the USA Today being like, “dang, this band is like popular.”
And that’s too bad.
Because the group has a tremendous amount to tell us—about our changing musical tastes, the trajectory of rock in a post-genre future, the psychic landscape of modern America and how one band can somehow become the soundtrack from Marvel Movies, the NFL, the Women’s World Cup, and Jeep commercials.
LISTEN on iTunes, Spotify or Podbean.
Department of Actual Music
Saxon (The Cool Kids - Sour Apples feat. Travis Barker): Lol. Remember 2011? I heard this on the new Paris Texas NTS show. And was amused how well it slotted in the mix with the likes of Fao.Dee, Niontay and Playboy Carti. Also shoutout for the totally unnecessary feature of famous drummer.
Sam (Lyle Lovett - If I Had a Boat): Visiting Nashville gave me some time to think through how much you can do with a good narrative conceit, a few chords, and an iconically laconic delivery. Songwriting at its best.
LUV,
- Sam & Saxon