I wouldn't exactly call it FOMO.
I haven't watched the past four seasons, I was boycotting the show and to a great degree the sport ever since Lewis Hamilton's championship was stolen by Red Bull at the end of 2021. Actually, it's funny, this year Christian Horner asks Netflix whether he's going to be portrayed as a villain like he was in the previous six seasons and...he's only got himself to blame. Lobbying the ultimately fired race director Michael Masi in Abu Dhabi. But now that McLaren is dominating and the unappealing Verstappen is losing, I've been reeled back in.
So I'm watching the series and the feeling starts to build, I'D LIKE TO BE THERE!
And at this late date, there are very few places I'd like to be.
But I used to get this feeling with rock concerts. And despite the fantastic grosses, the truth is music is no match for Formula 1 today. Music needs its own documentary on Netflix. A year's review, detail by detail, with a focus not only on the acts, but the behind the scenes business people who wrestle and try to achieve success.
As for the acts...
They tend to be mercenary nincompoops. In the old days, the stars weren't above the rest, they were aside, living in their own world, marching to the beat of their own drummer, unconcerned what anybody other than their fans felt about them, in many cases not even worried about the fans. All this made them icons. Made them desirable. They were thinkers who in most cases were rejecting conventional wisdom, living by their own rules, they were beacons to their audience, who only needed to get closer. Do I need to get closer to an act that dances on stage to prerecorded music amidst tons of production? That's a show. But that's not what drove me to be an addict back in the day.
As for the acts...
They're almost always uneducated nitwits. Who don't know the issues, never mind opine on them. They're tools of the machine. They do what they're told and their goal is to cash in with sponsorship/endorsements, but whatever money they make it pales in respect to the income of the Kardashians, who are famous for nothing. In other words, they're losing the economic battle, if they were smart they'd realize their power was speaking truth to the system, but they can't do that with their paint-by-number songs written by committee.
Not that the F1 drivers are a whole lot better. Then again, Lewis Hamilton has stood up for the rights of not only Black people, but the LGBTQ community, and he's bigger with more reach than almost any musician. He's not worried about pissing off sponsors.
But the drivers work for the man, the team. They're cogs in the machine. But the machine...
The F1 cars are so sophisticated... Little tweaks make all the difference. Even the floor counts. When they show footage of teams' HQs and you see all the people involved, WHEW!
And when you see all the people in the paddock on race day and you start adding up the numbers, the cost, you get an idea of how much money is involved.
And intelligence counts. Without it you can't win. Sure, the drivers may be school dropouts, but usually not those who run the teams. And there are ten teams with twenty drivers in all, unlike the music business where there are only three major labels. The teams fight for talent, there's no fighting in the music business anymore, the majors can't break an act, never mind find talent. They've given up, whereas F1 teams are constantly in the trenches.
So they show the crowd at races... They far exceed the number at almost all rock shows. And when I was a young 'un, I'd gladly pay to be one of the teeming masses. But once you get older, it's all about access. To a degree you can pay for it, but then you get no respect. No, what you want to do is earn your place in the firmament, EARN your respect. And I've done that in the music business, but I'd be starting all over in Formula 1.
But the dirty little secret of Formula 1 is the races themselves are the most boring part. Usually dominated by one or two drivers, who pull away and leave everyone else behind. But the penumbra? It's FASCINATING! The personalities, the drama, the choices...
And it happens all over the globe. I mean I saw the footage of Slovenia and it made me want to go, and I was stunned at the modern buildings in Azerbaijan. And marveled that I'd been to Singapore.
Meanwhile, the drivers all have babealicious girlfriends, even children, they're stars. But the team principals?
Toto Wolff of Mercedes? You can't help but like him. He's not always complaining and shaving the edges like Christian Horner. He's intelligent and rich. And Vasseur of Ferrari...is he lovable or an untrustworthy devil, he speaks primarily in French, I'm not sure. As for Flavio over at Alpine... He seems to be living a life beyond the status of rock star. The people he hangs with, the lifestyle he lives...also he's got the intensity, wisdom and confidence of the rock stars of yore. He's much closer to David Crosby than Katy Perry.
Now what Netflix and F1 should do is have a weekly show like "Inside the NFL" to recap the previous week's race. The way they construct the annual series keeps you on the edge of your seat, keeps you riveted. And that's what we're all looking for, to be so into something that we concentrate on it and are taken away. The story is packaged for consumption, but there's a lot of story, a lot of drama, the elements are there.
But in music we're supposed to care about a rap beef. Too many bad actors displaying inane behavior, evidencing their lack of smarts.
As for going from zero to hero...
F1 drivers know you've got to pay your dues, work your way up the ladder, whereas musicians pronounce themselves as such at age ten or twelve or seventeen and spam everybody to pay attention on social media when there is very little there, because they have not paid their dues.
To create great lyrics, you need wisdom. To play music you need experience. But today everybody wants a shortcut. They believe they're entitled to it.
Now F1 has an owner, a dominant presence who could arrange this Netflix series, we do not have such a thing in music. But we do have endless music shows parading wannabes who deserve no traction in front of our eyes, whether it be "Making the Band" or "The Voice" or... That's entertainment at best, it's not artistry, and it frequently isn't even talent.
Would I like to be prey to a manager/agent phone call deciding on what venues to play, what ticket prices should be for big acts, like Dave Matthews or Kenny Chesney or Kendrick Lamar or... There are a lot of moving parts and the public would be fascinated by them. Did you price the tickets too low so the scalpers captured the uplift? How did tickets move on the on-sale date? What about crew issues/accidents, unforeseen costs. Did you gross as much as you did on the last tour, did you gross as much as your competitors? Music isn't exactly a competition, but it's laden with charts, we are constantly measuring one act against another.
But don't expect any innovative thinking from the record labels. These are the same outfits who were disrupted by Napster. They ABHOR innovation, they love the status quo.
Relationships are key in F1 and they're key in the music business, but most people don't know that. Music is a people business, and it's the people who make "Drive to Survive" so interesting.
As for the show... If you haven't watched already, you should try, even if you know nothing about Formula 1 and believe you don't care. It's good drama, good television. And we want to be entertained and stimulated. Music used to have a lock on this, but not anymore, it's abdicated its power whilst being self-congratulatory all the while.
It's only the best in F1. There's tons of dreck in music, a lot of what's hyped and is even in the Spotify Top 50 is dreck. Why do you expect smart people to get involved, on either the artistic or business side. In F1 everybody knows dems da breaks. Drivers get fired if they don't produce, as do those who run the teams. We've all got to serve somebody.
The show makes you want to get closer, makes you want to get involved, it makes you a fan of the sport.
This is what we need in music.
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