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One of the criticisms made of Mott the Hoople albums is the mixing that was undertaken after they were recorded. Back then it was a requirement to keep production ‘thin’ for radio and not to overdo things. The radio industry – particularly in America – made that very clear to musicians.
When mixing a song you focused on a single instrument and only brought that to the forefront. A good example is the Mott the Hoople song “All The Way From Memphis” where the saxophone was used. It has this catchy saxophone riff but isn’t backed up with other instruments. The song received enormous airplay on radio in America, and everyone remembers the saxophone, but there is no question they would’ve loved to have used other instruments as well.
Another rather obvious example back then was Elton John’s piano playing always being highlighted, with a very subtle string section kept firmly in the background. The only way around this – and it really only worked for Led Zeppelin – was to be an ‘album band’: eschew radio, get creative, bring several instruments to the forefront and let people purchase and listen to an entire album, because there was no way FM radio in America c.1974 was going to play any of your songs.
My point is that you thumb your nose at the customer at your peril. Radio stations got what they wanted, while a generation (or two) of radio listeners remember songs that ‘flowed’ rather than overwhelmed.
Today we are seeing the results of what happens when TVNZ ignores their customers. Many smartypants ‘journalists’ are for the highjump. How many 9am editorial meetings at TVNZ resembled the following –
Professional journalist: I want to do a story on a shyster conning people out of superannuation money.
*silence*
*silence*
Woke journalist: Let’s do a story on how everyone in Hamilton is a hate-filled racist bigot.
*cheers*
Editor: Yes! Perfect! Get to work on it!
And the next day the word Hamilton changed to…(pick anywhere in NZ outside of central Auckland). And so on it went…And the ratings imploded along with advertising revenue. Not a problem when you have a Labour Government which you’ve protected from day one, but when a Tory Government takes office – one that has endured your bias for years – the money to make up the losses is canned and suddenly changes are being made, very quickly.
The disconnect from reality, about which I’ve previously written, has been bizarre and irrational. Whether it is using the hated ‘Aotearoa’ and fake Maori words, endless propaganda for the Labour party, or unfair criticism of a new government most people voted for, it was one thing after another from people who foolishly thought they were protected from on high. It was akin to ’70s pop stars thinking they can tell radio networks to get knotted and demand they play their music, or else.
Oh and guess what? A little birdie tells me there’re going to be a few changes in the Press Gallery: that credentials are being cancelled in response to a Labour bias and journalists not getting with the programme. Who are you going to complain to now you’re on thin ice and expendable? Anyone who thinks David Seymour and the rest of the cabinet give a stuff about ‘media independence’ is dreaming. The good guys have won. Again.
