The Rock 'n' Roll company you now keep

You are among some serious talents and surprising movers-and-shakers and don't even know it — and neither did I until recently

Hello, everyone, and welcome to all of you new subscribers and followers.

I’m currently working on a summary of what we’ve learned from the protest song series, and those posts will start coming out next week.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share some quick information on who you are.

You thought you knew that already?

OK, as a psychologist, I have to ask, do any of us really know who we are?

And can we really claim to know who we’re keeping company with?

I mean, don’t family and friends sometimes behave like incomprehensible and bewildering strangers? Or have secrets we discover years too late?

One thing I can tell you, my friends, and you can take it to the bank. You are in one very interesting, involved, and impactful group of subscribers on this substack.¹

It’s a real testament to this platform and the support it offers to writers and artists in being able to attract and engage easily with a curious and committed group of readers.

Where do you come from?

Photo by Mehmet Ali Eroglu on Unsplash

The rock ’n’ roll lovers gathered here come from a wide range of countries — 24, to be exact — and six continents.

Of course, that begs the obvious question: where are you, Antarcticans? Are you not rock ’n’ rolling down there?

Apparently the Chilean and Russian bros like to get down (below), but beyond that, who knows what music Antarcticans blast when they want to let loose. (It could be Los Tres or Сплин. Or maybe they’re all Swifties. Thoughts? Suspicions?)

As we might expect given my severe lack of fluency in anything other than English — although my brother would dispute my fluency in even that, as he can’t read a single sentence from one of my posts without offering a correction² — the countries where English is the official language make up the bulk of my subscribers:

69% - US

10% - Great Britain (UK and Ireland)

6% - Canada

1% - Australia

Surprising and also gratifying to me are the multiple subscribers from Brazil, Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Spain, Romania, and Switzerland.

I’m also very pleased to have subscribers from the following countries (in alphabetical order):

Belgium

Czech Republic

Finland

France

Greece

Hungary

Netherlands

Portugal

Slovakia

Sweden

Taiwan

Turkey

Welcome, people of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas!

Cool to know there are rock ’n’ roll lovers everywhere, right? Although Antarctica is still in dispute at this time. At least we know they get down and boogie.

Well, actually, we know that they did that at least once. (Thoughts? Suspicions? Cynical musings about the penguin dance and staying sane in those season 4 of True Detective bleak and claustrophobic conditions?)

Some of you are music industry professionals

Did you ever wonder why I research the things I write about so avidly and thoroughly? Or why I quote so much and use all those annoying footnotes?

It’s because there are subscribers here who are music and music industry experts.

Not only are there professional and amateur musicians here, there are also people who have been involved in various aspects of the music industry production and distribution process, as well as in professions that support and promote it, including:

• people who commission, manage, or produce the making of music

• people who play a part in the distribution and promotion of music

• people who write articles and books about music (including music critics)

• people who research music.

That’s downright daunting for a music lover like me who has no music industry credentials and has failed at learning the guitar, clarinet, and trombone.

Don’t tell anyone, but I recently tried to learn music theory and notation from a book that claimed to make it “simple,” and I got bogged down right away with eight-note triplets.

Who designed this crazy system? Why oh why are they torturing all those poor artists like this?

Is it any wonder that a preponderance of rock stars³ claim to have never learned how to read music?

The answer is a definitive NO!

You’re probably wondering right about now what I bring to the party. In other words, what credentials lend me any kind of credibility or gravitas in writing about rock ’n’ roll?

Don’t worry, you’re in somewhat safe hands.⁴ I’ll be going into that very topic in a future post on my plans for 2025.

So stay tuned for some fancy verbal footwork and another romantic proposal regarding why you should stay in this sometimes satisfying, sometimes “huh?” relationship.

Some of you are Substack bestsellers

Besides having subscribers from around the world and from the music industry and professions, it’s also an honor to have subscribers who are among Substack’s bestselling authors⁵ — and who actually read my posts on a regular basis.

I recommend checking out these talented and hardworking authors:

Ted Hope at Hope for Film - “A producer on over 70 films, studio exec on over 60, Ted launched Amazon’s foray into feature film production. His memoir/handbook HopeForFilm is available for your reading pleasure.”

Wayne Robins at Critical Conditions - “A longtime music journalist and critic. Creem, the Village Voice, and Newsday have been main stops on the journey… [he was] named to the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2020.”

Dan Epstein at Jagged Time Lapse. “Professional slinger of words and spinner of yarns for over 30 years… Writing about Music and Pop Culture that spans the decades.” Check out his latest book written with Jeff and Steven McDonald of Redd Kross.

Robert C. Gilbert at Listening Sessions. “Toronto-born and now Oshawa-based record collector, music writer and critic… mixing musical analysis with historical background in an engaging way. My tastes are wide-ranging and while I primarily focus on the music from the sixties and seventies, I occasionally write a round-up on new and upcoming releases that I think are worth hearing.”

S.W. Lauden at Remember the Lightning. “S.W. Lauden edited the essay collections 'Go All The Way' (Power Pop) and 'Forbidden Beat' (Punk Drumming). Drums: The Brothers Steve, Tsar, Ridel High.” He also writes fiction — check out one of his short stories set in the 80s music scene in Fast Women and Neon Lights.

Jami Smith at Songs that Saved Your Life. “A celebration of rock n roll history from a queer lens… I am a music writer and radio host. I’ve written professionally for outlets including OUT Magazine, The Advocate, Kill Rock Stars, and PBS. Tune in to WKNY Radio Kingston to listen to Songs That Saved Your Life Radio.”

Brad Kyle at Front Row & Backstage. “‘The best music history writing online!’ says Mike Degen of ‘Deeg's Poems’ on Substack. It's rock, records, and radio, as we go behind the scenes of my years in FM rock radio and the record biz in the '70s & '80s!”

Thank you to Ted, Wayne, Dan, Robert, Steve, Jami, and Brad for their attention to my humble “little engine that could” substack.

Many of you are highly engaged

Now you’re going to see how nerdy I am, and get a taste of what I do in my regular work.

Pie charts, baby!

What does this nifty pie chart I just created tell us?

It’s actually great news, because 70% of you are rated by Substack as engaged subscribers, with most of you four ⭐⭐⭐⭐ to five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.

That’s thrilling news for a writer. It doesn’t mean you’re reading everything, or hanging off my every word, or recalling anything you read five minutes later. But given that I sometimes wonder if I should keep doing this, I’m taking it as encouragement to keep on keeping on with the writing. (Laments at the thought of my stopping, and pleadings for me to continue, including hanging on to my virtual leg and begging me not to go, are warmly welcomed in the comments.)

The other 30% who signed up for this substack are not engaged at all, mostly zero stars. My guess is that these are folks who thought they’d read the posts, but either through lack of interest, a shortage of time, or other distractions, have ended up not opening the emails.

I don’t blame them at all, as I’ve done that with a few substacks myself. My advice to myself and to them is — unsubscribe already.

Sure, your subscription bulks up the numbers, but do I want to look like I can benchpress two times my body weight when, really, I can only benchpress one?⁶

I may be about the numbers like the next dude, but not the lying numbers. No one hires me to do pie charts just to make them look good; they hire me to show where they shine and identify areas where they might improve.

Them’s the healthy and GMO-free apples sold in this fruit and vegetable market.⁷

A handful of you are regular commenters

Likes and comments are another area where we can see if readers are truly engaged, and in what way.

A huge bouquet of gratitude and a virtual hug to my more frequent commenters— David P, Brad, Nick, David D, Dan, Hugh, Daniel, Charles, Beth, Michael M, Steve, Al, Nic, Michael, Wayne, Greg, and Richard.

This writer loves ‘likes’ and comments, from all and sundry, and I don’t mind being challenged.⁸ So keep ‘em coming.

As one of my mentors, a famous psychologist, said, “The worst fate is not criticism or a bad review. It’s indifference.”

Please know that I aim to be welcoming in responding to comments, following in the footsteps of my role model in this regard, Brad Kyle of Front Row & Backstage. You can see his deft handling of one of my wackier comments with his usual good-natured aplomb here.

As inspiration to ‘go for it’ in comments and in life, I offer the example of Toronto girls’ band, Mad Carrot, doing Guns & Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” The 8 year-old drummer Olivia, 10 year-old bassist Rebecca, and 11 year-old guitarist Charlotte don’t hold back. If they continue on like this and stay together, you are looking at a future stadium rock band here, ladies and gentlemen.

So, dear readers, thanks so much for being here and I hope you will continue to rock ’n’ roll with me. The water’s warm, and splashing and having fun are wholeheartedly encouraged.

1. Substack only gives me detailed information on subscribers, not followers. So the information in this post is focused on subscribers.

2. You think I’m kidding, don’t you? He would have told me not to use ‘even’ twice in that sentence. My brother has a doctorate in creative writing and is — quelle surprise — the family authority on the mystical rite of Writing. (He’s a great brother, but I have to say it. Brothers!)

3. I know this from reading a zillion rock star autobiographies. The ‘boys’ are proud to admit to learning on their own, playing along to their worn-out favorite records in their sad little teenage bedrooms where they’ve been grounded by their worn-out and out-of-patience parents who don’t know what to do with them anymore, and who don’t think they have a real job even when they succeed in becoming rich and famous, and continue to hound them about becoming mechanical engineers or dermatologists because it’s never too late to grow up and join the dead-inside 9-to-5 crowd of fools and short-hairs. (Yes, I’m making fun. It’s called ‘envy.’ But there is some truth.)

4. You might want to ask, what do you mean by ‘safe,’ Ellen from Endwell?

5. This information is provided by Substack to authors in their subscriber list download. You have no idea what they tell us about you, do you? [Mad cackle and rubbing of hands.]

6. Actually, it would be a shocker if I looked like I could benchpress even a fraction of my body weight. It’s a bad metaphor. I shouldn’t have used it.

7. Am I overdoing the metaphors?

8. Although please keep it respectful and assume the best of intentions.