back together for a tour. “Everything isnperfectly in place. It’s our 25th anniversary.”nDoes Townshend actuallynbelieve that a generation that nownwields briefcases and Filofaxes willnstand on chairs in auditoriums and singnwith one bold voice, “We won’t getnfooled again”? Probably not. A Whonreunion would simply make good businessnsense, just as Jagger and KeithnRichards, who had been sniping at onenanother for months before the ceremony,nmade a financially prudent decisionnto play Bob Hope and Bing Crosby onnthe stage of the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom.nMusic journalism, at least that whichnseriously treats pop and rock, rarelyndiscusses who’s influencing whom anymore.nInstead, it’s becoming more likenthe pieces in Barron’s, Forbes, andnFortune. Is it relevant to know that thendivorce settlement between BrucenSpringsteen and Julianne Phillips supposedlynincludes $16 million for thenex-Mrs. Boss if she won’t write a booknabout the two who really weren’t bornnto run? That depends on one’s interest.nAnd the interest in rock is measuredntoday in the same manner asnT-Bills.nAdam Smith, writing in the Februarynissue of Esquire about trying tonearn a living as a writer, observes,n”Looking at the field from the Eightiesnpoint of view — optimum financialnreturn — you would have to advise thengraduating seniors to try investmentnbanking or to take a real long shot innrock music.” The 80’s: “optimum financialnreturn.”nSpeaking of returns, let’s look into anmagazine that’s read by a gang whonwill probably never bother with thenput-on gentility of Esquire — Thrashernmagazine, the book of skateboardersnwho spend most of their hours, wakingnand nodding, ripping. Here’s the leadnitem in the February “Notes” depart­n48/CHRONICLESnment: “Rumor of the Month: The SexnPistols are getting back together. Johnn’Rotten’ Lydon has allegedly been approachednwith a six million dollar offernto lead the original Pistols (minus one)non a six-date U.S. tour.” Note how thensix million isn’t meant to raise anneyebrow; only the oblique reference tonthe missing Mr. Sid Vicious is calculatednto get a rise. Six dates, six mil: that’snoptimum.nAn illuminating examination of thenbig money aspect of today’s pop/rocknmusic scene is Facing the Music (editednby Simon Frith; Pantheon Books),nwhich sheds light on the area that fewnfans would like to see, despite the factnthat it’s the predominant feature ofnwhat gets on the airwaves.nKen Barnes, writing in “Top 40nRadio: A Fragment of the Imagination,”none of the five essays in thencollection, makes several revealing observationsnabout what gets played,nheard, and, ideally, bought. He explainsnthat commercial radio stations,nwhich number about 10,000, competenfor about $7.7 billion in ad revenues,nwhich is a fraction of the $110 billionnspent for all advertising media. Thenstory is a simple one: “Really, it all boilsndown to economics.” Station ownersnwant to sell enough time to makenmoney or to make their stations takeoverntargets. Most of the businessesnbuying time to sell their wares areninterested in the twenty-five-to-fortynine-year-oldnage group, so the musicnto their collective ears is what programndirectors must schedule. According tonBarnes, “years of meticulous researchnreveals that people like familiar music.nIn fact, research tells radio today thatnmost people like familiar oWer musicnbetter than familiar-sounding new music.”nEver wonder why you can nevernseem to escape Led Zepplin, especiallyn”Stairway to Heaven,” no matternwhere in the US you tune in? There’snyour answer.nSimon Frith buttresses this in hisnscrutiny of who makes it to the top innthe pop/rock worid. It tends to be thatngroup or individual who can be packagednmost effectively for broad use, notnwhoever manages to scratch his way tonthe top from the lousy bar scene,nthrough cheap labels (often gettingnnicked by a manager or two), the hit,nthe road, and then easy street. Frithnobserves, “It has been calculated that annnmajor campaign in the United Statesnsurrounding a single track, which maynbe used to sell an album or to establishna star, is half-a-million dollars.” Considernwhat’s at issue here: return onninvestment. Sure things are where thenmoney goes. Frith says, “In materialnterms, the traditional rock consumer —nthe ‘rebellious’ teenager—is no longernthe central market figure; the mostnobvious teen musics, like heavy metalnand hard core punk, are thus nownmarginal to mainstream pop culture.”nEveryone into the water: meet you innthe mainstream.nMary Harron, in “McRock: Pop as anCommodity,” maintains, “The lust fornglory, the scheming for quick moneynand quick fame are all part of popnmusic’s vitality and have been evernsince Elvis Presley went after his firstngold suit.” Which is true, though thendifference today is that a gold suit isnbanal: the real trick is to have thenmillions of a Springsteen and to wear anpair of worn Levis and a T-shirt whilenpretending they are legit.nThe stock market crashes and picksnitself up and learns to run; the musicnindustry faltered at the start of the 80’s,nthen broke into a spirited moonwalk.nThe ones who suffer from this state ofnaffairs are both musicians and listeners.nGood, bad, or indifferent musicndoesn’t tend to get a hearing, despitenthe large number of outlets for music.nFor example, as Barnes points outnabout country music, “There is almostnno way for young listeners to becomenattracted to country unless they stumblenonto a country station and sticknaround long enough to hear somethingnthey like; they can’t hear the musicnanywhere else.” Unless a big labelnwants to pick up a k.d. lang or a RandynTravis. And the same holds true fornspeed metal, fusion jazz, and any numbernof different forms. Instead, wenbecome wrapped in cotton batting,nmusical memories, and blandness measurednto sell.nAnd there, on VH-1, during then”Rod Stewart Weekend” (remembernwhen he was “Rod the Mod”? Remembernwhat “mod” meant?), a Searsncommercial for its Kenmore appliancesnappears, and a cover version of Crosby,nStills and Nash’s “Our House” dronesnin the background.nGary S. Vasilash lives in Detroit.n