American musicians in Europe

[smurff]

European audiences don't cast away good entertainers as soon as newer ones come along)

The implication being that American audiences do throw them away?

Often I've wondered what happened to a favorite artist or group, only to discover them still recording and touring in Europe, Africa, or parts of Asia.  We will bring them back for an achievement award ceremony, or play their music on tv commercials.  But no air play, no new album stateside, not even studio back-up gigs.

It's a known casualty of being a musical star in the USA, whose market for popular music is driven by novelty and "fresh" faces.  It's based on a "plantation" economic model that for decades relied on the unfamiliarity with business contracts and intellectual property rights by musicians and vocalists who are new in the industry. As they grow older and more sophisticated, they tend to insist on more rights and remuneration from their own work.  That's when they tend to disappear from the music scene, replaced by New faces.

The best managers help their artists develop a plan for when it happens.  Today the plan includes non-music activities such as getting a reality TV show, a clothing line, a fragrance, a basketball arena.  Some are actors on TV or in movies.  But in the USA they have to be quick as the expiration date is always in your face.

As I sit here and write, I can think of only one legendary American popular musical act who can still fill arenas with old and new music--Bruce Springsteen and his band.  Maybe Aerosmith, but their lead singer is doing other things.  All the others--Rolling Stones, McCartney, Madonna, Pink Floyd, survivors of Led Zeppelin and The Who--are from Europe or are Americans with a European connection. (If he had lived, Michael Jackson would have been part of this group, too.  If she had not retired again, Tina Turner also.)  Maybe the upcoming N-sync, Boys to Men, and (what's that other 1990s boy band?)  will pack the fans in. 

If I think hard enough I could probably think of others, but the trend would remain the same.

It's like they've died or fallen off the face of the earth, then they're found alive and working in Europe.

[MediumTex]

I go to concerts all the time featuring American musicians and entertainers from a different era.

Sometimes the venues are large and sometimes small, but I don't feel like there isn't a market for this older quality music.

Here are just a few shows I have seen in recent years from American (or near-American groups):

David Byrne (mostly Talking Heads set)
Steely Dan
Rush
Van Halen
Tool
The Beach Boys

If you look at any concert update for a major city you will see LOTS of older American acts that are still touring and drawing fans.

[dualstow]

If American fans were so fickle, I don't understand why it would matter whether the acts came from America, Europe or elsewhere.

When I was in college, Eric Clapton, Yes and the Rolling Stones were already dinosaurs, but I went to see them in concert because that's what I've always loved. There might be younger generations that never got into the sounds of the 70s or even 80s, but they will probably still feel nostalgia for the music the grew up with.

Doesn't, like, BB King still give concerts?

[Alanw]

If American fans were so fickle, I don't understand why it would matter whether the acts came from America, Europe or elsewhere.

When I was in college, Eric Clapton, Yes and the Rolling Stones were already dinosaurs, but I went to see them in concert because that's what I've always loved. There might be younger generations that never got into the sounds of the 70s or even 80s, but they will probably still feel nostalgia for the music the grew up with.

Doesn't, like, BB King still give concerts?

BB King is still touring.  He does Casinos and smaller venues.
I have three Casinos within 15 minutes of my home.  In the past couple of years we have seen John Fogerty, Lionel Richie, Chicago, and Joe Cocker (British).  Coming attractions include Bonnie Raitt, The Four Seasons with Frankie Valli, Willie Nelson, Stevie Nicks, and Matchbox Twenty.
The older American groups are still touring America.  And some not so old groups.

[smurff]

Yes, many of them are still touring, but in very small venues.

Yes, I forgot Clapton.  He's another one who can fill an arena (British/European) along with Fleetwood Mac (mostly Americans). 

The fact that someone referred to experienced musicians as "dinosaurs" is an example of what I was referring to.  Here there is a cultural attitude of them being obsolete, even though a few if us will line up to see them.  Over there, they are experienced musicians, with no aspersions cast on them by anyone.  Here, they are invisible to the rest of the media (unless one of them gets arrested for something), but I remember over there they and their work were still newsworthy.

[RuralEngineer]

I go to concerts all the time featuring American musicians and entertainers from a different era.

Sometimes the venues are large and sometimes small, but I don't feel like there isn't a market for this older quality music.

Here are just a few shows I have seen in recent years from American (or near-American groups):

David Byrne (mostly Talking Heads set)
Steely Dan
Rush
Van Halen
Tool
The Beach Boys

If you look at any concert update for a major city you will see LOTS of older American acts that are still touring and drawing fans.

Ok, one of these is not like the other....one of these is Tool.

I did not picture you as a Tool fan, MT.

[MediumTex]

I go to concerts all the time featuring American musicians and entertainers from a different era.

Sometimes the venues are large and sometimes small, but I don't feel like there isn't a market for this older quality music.

Here are just a few shows I have seen in recent years from American (or near-American groups):

David Byrne (mostly Talking Heads set)
Steely Dan
Rush
Van Halen
Tool
The Beach Boys

If you look at any concert update for a major city you will see LOTS of older American acts that are still touring and drawing fans.

Ok, one of these is not like the other....one of these is Tool.

I did not picture you as a Tool fan, MT.

I love Tool.  You have to see them live to really appreciate them.  They put on a tremendously entertaining and intense show.

Here is the last song from the last time I saw them:

http://youtu.be/ZLKWl_O9go4

Check out when the lasers start at 3:00 and the tempo change at 5:12.  Awesome.

[dualstow]

...
The fact that someone referred to experienced musicians as "dinosaurs" is an example of what I was referring to.  Here there is a cultural attitude of them being obsolete, even though a few if us will line up to see them.  Over there, they are experienced musicians, with no aspersions cast on them by anyone.  Here, they are invisible to the rest of the media (unless one of them gets arrested for something), but I remember over there they and their work were still newsworthy.

"Dinosaurs": a poor choice of words (word) on my part, perhaps. I only meant that they were already wrinkled.

My argument is that Americans who grew up loving the Rolling Stones never really stop loving the Rolling Stones. And, there are some younger people who will get into bands that had their heyday long before the fan was born, but the venues have to make room for new acts, too.
I just don't see any evidence of Americans "casting away" older acts. I'm not trying to be patriotic or nationalistic. I just don't see it.

Like MT, I've seen Steely Dan and David Byrne in the 2000s (David Byrne renounced U.S. citizenship, so I guess you could say he threw America away, not the other way around). I saw Dylan after he was long past his prime. Frankly, he sucked. He ended the gig after a single hour and then vanished. But, he's an American icon and I just had to see him since I had the opportunity.

About three years ago, I read an article stating that cheesy heavy metal bands of the 80s are still worshipped in South America. Does that mean that Americans and Europeans have turned their backs on them, or just that we've made room for new music alongside the old? Or maybe that those old & cheesy acts, e.g. Scorpions, didn't tour S. America often enough in the first place when they were in their prime. Perhaps some S. Americans who didn't have access to these bands before can now afford it?

If you're saying that very old bands no longer fill giant stadiums, I guess I can't refute that. But, that doesn't necessarily mean that American fans have lost their taste for their music. Does it?