who is Bob Lefsetz?

But I've got to warn you. There are SEA CUCUMBERS!

Oh, you wear reef shoes. But littered on the bottom of the ocean are these...well, CUCUMBERS! But they're alive. And squishy. And they urinate. And it's almost so gross you don't want to go in. You CERTAINLY don't want to step on one.

...

"Dvorak-style amalgam of ex-ATN writers taking the piss" is the FUNNIEST PHRASE I HAVE READ ALL DAY though i don't know why.

He also turns up on the Rhino podcast with hystronic tirades about The State Of Things and endless flashbacks to his life in the 70s when things were So Much Better. In short, he's one of the Ghost World record collectors only with an income.

You know what brings you back, again and again, to Bob Lefsetz? It's the PASSION. Oh, you can try to stay away. You can subscribe to a million other blogs. You can tell yourself that music's changed, or that you've changed, or that you don't understand anymore. But you know what? It's not that you've got older - it's that your generation has lost touch! They've SOLD OUT. And it's the KIDS on the INTERNET with thei iPods and their Blackberries who are reminding you why you got into this WHOLE CRAZY FUCKING BUSINESS IN THE FIRST PLACE. It's the MUSIC! Oh, you can tell yourself it isn't. BUT IT IS. And if you don't listen, you and every other exec LEECHING off the hindquarters of a MEMORY is going to BITE THE FUCKING DUST!

Heheh.
I unsubscribed offa the Lef'Letter again awhile ago.

Seriously though his blog is my fave industry read and has been for a while now.

omg somebody's gotta imagebomb this dude and his ridiculous opinions

Another thread on him. Also, Chuck mentioned and quoted a recent Lefsetz country music and Sirius radio thing on the Rolling Country thread.

His most recent column begins 'I was at the psychiatrist today...'. Magnificent. We are Lefsetz FANATICS at our house. Oh, you can laugh. But that's because you're HISTORY.

How about that T.I. diatribe...Is he right about touring rock bands having more sustained longevity than rappers or pop acts?

But I'll take T.I. over Rory Gallagher and many of the washed-up blooz-rockers and classic-rock dudes he loves.

Is he right about touring rock bands having more sustained longevity than rappers or pop acts?...YES

...he must have a lot of time on his hands and he reminds me of mixerman

Who's mixerman? I think Lefsetz is a retired music biz attorney.

One of his pet themes is that only individuals whom he says audiences perceive as 'real' will have lasting careers. He says this does not include American Idol performers and most rappers and pop acts.

Nelly Furtado Thursday 6/7/07 The WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY Gross: $316,400 4,992/4,992 (100% Ticket prices: $65.00/$45.00 That was her best gig. In Boston, she did 3,644 out of 6,500 (56.1%). In Sayreville, NJ, she did 1,165 out of 2,050 (56.8%). In Detroit, she did 1,761 out of 2,585 (68.1%). In Grand Prairie, TX, she did 2,375 out of 2,503 (94.9%). In other words, she did SHITTY! And these weren't big halls to begin with, positively small, THEATRES! Her album has sold 1,873,719 copies, it's still number 50 on the chart A YEAR LATER! In other words, record sales don't mean shit. Work with Timbaland all you want. Have a hit on Top Forty radio that fewer people are listening to every day. Most people are not paying attention. They don't think you're REAL! Real acts don't conspire with a multitude of people, the usual suspects, to create their of the moment music. No one's even going to REMEMBER her tracks half a decade from now. No one's even going to PLAY them! (Have you heard Eminem recently?) It's not about music being stolen, that's not the big story in the music business today. It's about the bifurcation in its soul. Touring used to reflect record sales. No longer is this the case. And the real acts, the lasting acts, can all do good live business. The public got the memo, the press has not. As for the major labels? If they want a taste of every piece of the pie they've got to be trustworthy, have the act's best interests at heart. Ain't that a laugh.

so bob thinks the PUBLIC wants REAL, but it's hard to notice that said public has responded to THE REAL BOB himself by leaving ZERO COMMENTS so far on his latest blog post. ZERO COMMENTS on the post before that. ZERO COMMENTS on his LAST FOUR POSTS, in fact. the one before that elicited ONE COMMENT. so maybe everyone's talking about him but NO ONE CARES. most people are not paying attention. in other words, capital-letter posts about THE REAL don't mean shit. on the other hand, matthew fluxblog, champion of the pop, the artificial, the unreal, got 14 COMMENTS on his most recent posts. and 20 COMMENTS on the one before that. and 12 comments for his thoughts on KELLY CLARKSON. take that, bob!

So who's READING these blogs? The Arizona girl you met at UCLA you secretly wanted to fuck? NO! That aging A&R rep with the combover whose ass you wanted to kick cos he thought he was DOWN with the kids? NO-ONE who CARES about MUSIC reads BLOGS! They're too busy LIVING! And what do they want as their soundtrack to life? Music about LOVE - love gained, love lost, love refrigerated briefly prior to baking. LOVE is what keeps us coming back to music. NOT blogs. NOT UCLA postgrad programs. NOT even Arizona girls. And especially not Matthew fucking PERPETUA.

Who's mixerman?

http://www.mixerman.net/diaries_main.php

With just a few changes to the word lists, Lefsetz could pass for a SubGenius spewbot.

ctrl-f HITS not found

Bob always quotes 2 types of e-mail responses he gets (as many folks receive his stuff via e-mail rather than looking at his site)--from retired or current folks in the biz, or from ordinary folks who tell him how much they love 'real' music and then proceed to enthuse about the most bland middlebrow rock. The tone in both types of responses are often pretty amusing.

But I'll take T.I. over Rory Gallagher

Any sane person would. (Which says it all.)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=laBpl0TPaNg

I never heard of this guy until yesterday, but his old timer shtick is kind of entertaining, I read it hearing the voice of Bob "The Kid Stays In The Picture" Evans, and then think of the Martin Landau character from Entourage.

Subscribed a couple of weeks ago after someone mentioned him on the Radiohead thread, I tried, but I just don't get it, unsubscribed again.

Random thoughts that go nowhere, boasting about scoring a tour jacket from a 70's Clapton tour, comments from people who apparently do get what he means, irrelevant grumpy old man stuff, nothing I want to read about several times a day.

Am I missing something or is that it?

His rants against the music biz, while largely predictable at this point, are often entertaining reading. Same goes for his stories of his life and his nostalgia.

omg somebody's gotta imagebomb this dude and his ridiculous opinions

Article on Lefsetz in the Washington Post

The fact that he is "one of the music industry's most influential analysts" speaks volumes. If you pretend you're reading an Onion editorial his pieces are entertaining though.

When I worked at Rhino, I'd hear stories about Bob's refusals to edit his histrionic rants. Consequently, most 'casts were 90 percent wall-bouncing froth over Spirit's Dr. Sardonicus and tear-soaked Aspen weekends in '75 when MUSIC and LOVE were REAL and YOUNG, 10 percent contributions from actual Rhino employees.

He's like Lsetz, the Dean of Music Analysis.

Oh not that guy again. There was also this interesting take on Feist.

ugh.

he reminds me of ben gazzara as jackie treehorn: "we used to have a little thing called production values... FEELINGS..."

That and the Onion editorial comment both made me roffle.

howard_beale.jpg

I kinda like reading his rants as SubGenius devival art but the guy can't be bothered to put the full text of his posts in his RSS feed so screw it.

LOL at his anti-Ticketmaster rant. Welcome to 1994 Bob!

oh man is he ever happy about the new Tom Petty

Mudcrutch vs. Tin Machine

I'm officially starting the trend of calling them The Crutch.

dudes don't harsh The Crutch

dude, The Crutch killed it last nite at the cow palace

Pure seventies. Pure magic.

dude the crutch don't know any other way to rock.

Pure seventies. Pure magic.

this was totally my favorite line

Kind of sums it all up, doesn't it?

White Room

by Bob Lefsetz

The sixties were different. They were light, and dark, and nothing in between. Today we live in the gray. In the onslaught of media, nothing sticks out, nothing is in relief, we're all hiding in our bunkers, trying to figure it all out. But, in the sixties, we ventured out, we wanted to experience IT ALL!

In the sixties there was context. It wasn't like today, where without a major hype campaign nobody knows the story. We only had three TV networks. "Rolling Stone" didn't come on the scene until the end of the decade. There were limited media outlets, and we paid attention. The big breakthrough was FM underground radio, and you were lucky if you had an outlet in your community, where you could hear Cream.

Cream was something you heard about from your friends. You went over to somebody's house and they played you "Sunshine Of Your Love". Pete Townshend eventually sang about one note, pure and easy, playing so free, but really it was one RIFF that people lined up behind. And that riff, the one that got it all started, was the one from "Sunshine Of Your Love".

Listen to "Sunshine Of Your Love" today, you'll be STUNNED how little is on the record. God, it sounds like there were NO overdubs, just a power trio laying it down. Still, it wasn't just the notes Clapton was playing, it was the SOUND of those notes. There was a RICHNESS in this hard rock, a SWEETNESS! This wasn't music for boys only, this was music for EVERYBODY with genitals. It had such a weird effect on you, hearing this sound, you felt it in different parts of your body, your brain, your lower abdomen and your groin. Right after the set-up, after the richness, there's this bit of distortion in the guitar, you feel like you're in it for the long haul, to climax, four minutes hence.

Hearing "Sunshine Of Your Love" you had to buy "Disraeli Gears". And that's when you discovered it, the essence, opening side two.

Today the label picks the track, and what's left of radio takes instruction, it's all a CAMPAIGN, which you're AWARE OF! But listening to FM back then was like listening to XM today. Your relationship is with the DEEJAY! Not his voice, not his inane rap like on Sirius, but his CHOICES! That's why we love people, because of who they ARE! And when you heard "Tales Of Brave Ulysses" on the radio your life was made, the same way when Mike Marrone plays some obscure cut that only I thought I knew it makes my day.

One can argue quite strongly the first Cream album is the best. The sound isn't as good as "Disraeli Gears", but overall the songs are BETTER!

But after "Disraeli Gears", the songs got worse. Except for the unexpected "Badge", NOTHING was the caliber of what came before. Still, there was a huge hit on "Wheels Of Fire", a simple song, but one with a monster riff so exquisite that we were touched once again. It was just the SOUND of Clapton's guitar, it sounded like he was WEEPING! But then Ginger hit the drum, and Jack sang richly. Yes, as great as Clapton was, Jack's vocals were a key element of the band.

The dude who made available the MP3s of the Royal Albert Hall show left three out, the last three numbers of the concert. He hopped to, posted them on the site, and I just downloaded them, and heard "White Room".

I don't understand flying around the world to see a band. That's not what rock and roll is about. Rock and roll is about scraping up every dollar you've got, eating the equivalent of dog food just so you can AFFORD to go to the gig. The gig isn't an afterthought, ONE thing you can acquire, experience, but the ONLY thing!

While we were experiencing flower power in the U.S., the Brits were experiencing rain. The music from across the pond was different from ours. It wasn't sunny, it was dark. Made in the U.K., it was America's dark underbelly. It coexisted with Monkees hits. It was necessary, for balance.

Flying across the pond forty years later has NO darkness. Unless you saved up every last dollar you had and slept on the street in order to go.

And, going was SO much different then. You went ALL THE TIME! Because the tickets were CHEAP! Under five bucks. The concert experience wasn't about preferred parking and alcohol, it was about the MUSIC!

And that music can be heard in Cream's rendition of "White Room" on May 5th.

Eric gets that unique guitar sound. But really, it's Ginger's drums. You can hear the FEROCITY!

And then, on top of it all, in comes Jack.

Oh, he's singing along, all those words you remember. And then you hear it...

"I'll wait in this place where the sun never shines Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves"

I'm waiting for this place to return. Where business trumps art. Where creativity is revered over music. Where the messiah returns.

Religious zealots think the messiah is going to come from heaven. Down to save us.

But I don't believe that. I don't believe in a higher power. I believe in people. Their ability to triumph, do the right thing, against incredible odds.

Here, just before the show is over, almost two hours into it, having deliv ered upon expectations, Cream FINALLY throws off the limitations and just RIPS! THIS is music-making. When you're no longer going by the rehearsal, when you're just WINGING IT! When you stop concentrating on being together, do your own thing and it all FALLS INTO PLACE!

And a little over halfway through the number, Eric finally takes center stage, he finally WAILS! Not in the way he has for the past thirty years, but the way he did with John Mayall, as a SIDEMAN! In the tradition of great bluesmen, he's taking his LICKS! He's just part of the club.

And all these years later, it's still a championship team.

How many of his letters start out with something about the sixties or the classic era being "different"?

Lefzetz meets Pitchfork, world implodes.

The POWER of the LEF!

That sure was writing

I have an acquaintance that for awhile--like ten or so years ago--used to follow Lord Huron around on tour.

i'm more upset learning about this horrible band than anything the Lef wrote

Every time someone bumps this thread I am reminded that I have forgotten that this guy exists, and then I click on the thread, and then I wonder why I did that.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, July 9, 2025 9:11 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I am mesmerized by his complete and total inability to distinguish between the slightest emotional whims or impulses that pass through his brain, and grand important pronouncements about the state of the world/the music industry/human nature.

I really loved the movie Grizzly Man, and generally love character studies of people who are so deep into their own reality that they have no conception of how far afield it is from the realities of other people, or, uh, actual objective reality. I think following this thread hits those particular pleasure centers of my brain.

eagles man: the lefsetz story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4-e4nlfdRI
(iykyk)

Wow, that's about as dad as rock gets.

that Eagleman ad just totally warped my brain, many thanks

I'm loath to tell people about Libby, the same way I'm loath to tell them the models of coffee yogurt I eat. Twice I've said what kind of coffee yogurt I prefer and then found it unavailable at my local market while my inbox was filled with testimonials from readers on how much they loved this brand and flavor.

The coffee achievers

i'm loath to tell people about [your local library]

the models of coffee yogurt I eat

The Dannon coffee yogurt is obviously the ideal, and it's already impossible to find anywhere near me *shrug*

Lefsetz is always defending Spotify, as if he was an executive there, even when their stock price goes down. He also loves to take shots at musicians especially ones who criticize Spotify..

If you read the music business press yesterday's Spotify numbers are a step in the wrong direction, if not a veritable disaster, a wake-up call. But if you read the business press...

"Spotify’s Crown Lies Heavy, but It’s Still the Streaming King - Latest results trip up expensive stock, but the company still has growth opportunities to tap"

Here are the money quotes:

"The Swedish company is on top of the streaming world, with 696 million monthly active users at the end of the second quarter, compared with 310.5 million people subscribing to Netflix’s various tiers of service."

And:

"The same survey highlighted Spotify’s stickiness, with the lowest percentage of customers saying a $1-a-month price hike would compel them to cancel their subscriptions."

Spotify won the war, it's only disgruntled musicians and their poorly informed fans who don't acknowledge this.

The labels LOVE Spotify. It's their number one account...

Lef hoarding the gulp-on-the-run coffee GoGurt sleeves

Oh never did post Lefsetz latest defense of Spotify post where he also said he didn’t understand why people don’t like that company. He claims they pay enough money, and if musicians think they’re not getting enough from Spotify they should just figure out how to get Taylor Swift number of streams.

Now he has moved on to Jack White’s criticism of Trump and he addressed it in a Lefsetz kind of way:

Jack White is doing the work you won't. He's got a profile, you don't, but you're afraid to go on the record.

As for music... The only hope is a single song, like "We Are the World." Radio will refuse to play it, but radio is no longer in control, the audience is. And the track can be driven to number one on streaming services instantly. And then you've got a news story and...

You've got to stand up at some point.

Or else you'll be shut up.

Don't lose your voice.

Now I'm imagining him releasing a terrible song called "Don't Lose Your Voice" in which he demonstrates vocally why he doubtless should immediately lose his.

The only hope is a single song, like "We Are the World." Radio will refuse to play it, but radio is no longer in control, the audience is. And the track can be driven to number one on streaming services instantly. And then you've got a news story and...

love when he imagines a thing in his head, then outlines how the rest of the world is gonna react to the thing he imagined that's not gonna happen

Remember when that song fixed all global ills? Bob remembers.

So if you don't know what you're talking about, STFU!

otm

I’d say many more are aware of Taylor Swift’s new album, but…where is the heart of today’s music world, is it pop or…

Or to quote Don Henley, “we haven’t had that spirit here since 1969.”

but…where is the heart of today’s music world

In Cleveland? Detroit?

Huey Lewis (Huey Lefsetz?) to thread

Lefsetz in response to Rolling Stone magazine list of their top songs of 21st century goes on and on

Clickbait.

The only thing all these songs have in common is they were listened to by the arbiters of this list, and probably ONLY by the arbiters of this list.

Let's be clear here, I'm taking the bait, by commenting. Yet I'm not going to quibble with the choices, BUT THE ENTIRE CONCEPT!

Which is rooted in a paradigm that's long gone.

Hell, I'd find it more interesting if it was a list of the 250 most listened songs from the 20th century! Seeing what survives!

….
Anyway, in the sixties, AM radio ruled. A hit was a hit, and if you were a fan of popular music, you knew them all, they were all on your local AM Top Forty station.….

Morgan Wallen plays stadiums... What has he got in common with Taylor Swift or Beyoncé who plays the same places? NOTHING! Other than hit records in their formats. Sure, there are some people who like them all, but they're more like the brain dead fans listening to AM hits in the late sixties and seventies when all the action was over on the FM dial.

Let's go one step further... Today's music market is INCOMPREHENSIBLE!

In the old, pre-internet days, those in the industry knew every record on the chart. Now that's impossible, there's just too much. And sure, a lot of it is crap, but not all of it.

The only thing all these songs have in common is they were listened to by the arbiters of this list, and probably ONLY by the arbiters of this list.

ok I just checked out the bottom of the list and there are obscuro songs on there like "Sunflower" "Drops of Jupiter" and "Teenage Dirtbag."

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSLqkevPUqzPj70cNTmISlWvFG3IGzg94YPamoZXrjE3Q&s=10

"INCOMPREHENSIBLE!"

what could be more obscure than the literal most-played song in spotify history ("sunflower")?

Is Bob supposed to be up on animated superhero movie soundtracks? Who has the time?

old man raging at the fact he couldn't bother to even listen to the top ten charts for a third of his life

In the old, pre-internet days, those in the industry knew every record on the chart. Now that's impossible, there's just too much.

It used to be the Hot 100. Now it's the Hot INFINITE SCROLL!

Nowadays EVERYTHING is bubbling under. "Flirtin' with Disaster" at number 351,456...WITH A BULLET!

He always has to throw in his defense of Spotify and Ticketmaster and his criticism of anyone who doesn't like them. He's got the following in his Rolling Stone magazine best of 2021 article-

Since we live in a Tower of Babel society, with all of us listening to different music, overriding enemies who touch everybody become the focus. Like Ticketmaster. Like Daniel Ek. As for those complaining that ticket prices are too high...only because everybody wants to pay the freight to go to the show! As for Daniel Ek... I'm still waiting for an explanation why those whose music isn't listened to should make a living as a result of streaming. That's a nonstarter... That's like saying you make bespoke, overpriced potholders and you want to make as much as the mass producer. That doesn't work in any other industry.

But I don't want to lose the plot here.

yeah that's a big thing for him, standing by Spotify

That's like saying you make bespoke, overpriced potholders and you want to make as much as the mass producer. That doesn't work in any other industry.

Ahh. Finally a metaphor that explains it all.

who is going to stand for the most moneyed interests in the music industry if not for Bob?

I feel like his head is perpetually stuck in the stadium rock dinosaur world and he just doesn’t get why everything is not centered around that idea?

his latest post on Bondi Beach, Australia is full of crazed, right wing Jewish American accusations and his usual mix of confidence in his opinions and fear

https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/

Its a shame comments are closed because I really want to post "So does the new ATMOS mix of Morrison Hotel sound good or not?"

ATMOS is just a phonetic anagram for MOSAD.

Haven't had that spirit here since 1967

And now to his email list, he has posted responses to his insane take. Some take him to task, while others like record exec Lyor Cohen agree with him

Elroy Cohen gets the gas face

But one thing I heard was the big thump.

This was what is now called, has been called for nearly two decades, EDM.

Now if you're a classic rocker, you probably don't get it.

Sophie danced and sang and Tucker Halpern was responsible for the beat, the music, the sound. And everybody in the audience was…

Dancing. Not wildly, like this was the end of the world. And not spinning like people do at Dead shows, but hypnotically, locked into the beat.

Were they on drugs?

thought he was writing about Sophie Tucker for a second

Now investigating further, going deeper into Sofi Tukker’s story, I read about the “hits,” the songs they were famous for, and I started to play them.

One is entitled “Drinkee.”

Now the lyrics are in Portuguese so…if you think the track had traction because of the lyrics, you’re sorely mistaken.

Lefsetz on films —

There have been reams of pages utilizing "One Battle After Another" as an illustration of a failure of the audience, that people just won't come out to see a great movie. Having now watched it on HBO...

I was hipped by Harold that it was a disappointment. He went to see it in the theatre. Something I choose not to do. Not only do I find the experience passé, how do you expect me to sit for two hours and forty two minutes without getting up to pee? If you want to make a series, do so, but don't give us these lengthy, extended films that are a chore to watch in one sitting.

The cinematography was rich. But I watched it on an iPad and I didn’t feel that I was missing anything.

that one belongs in the lefsetz hall of fame