From his column on Wednesday, July 26,2005:
In 2002, Ms. (Jennifer) Lopez released an album titled, "This Is Me...Then."
That's one of the worst titles in the history of pop music -- and the music wasn't much better either.
This is not to say "This Is Me...Then" wasn't memorable. The album included "Dear Ben," Jen's tribute to then-lover Ben Affleck, with lyrics such as, "I write this song to let you know that you will always be to me my lust, my love, my man, my child, my friend and my king. ... There's no way I'd leave you, it's just not a reality..."
Or maybe it is. In any case, future generations will always have a musical time capsule detailing that moment in time when Jen and Ben danced together and launched the combo-name craze (Bennifer begat Brangelina begat TomKat), before twirling off to other partners.
"This Is Me...Then" also included such hits as "I'm Glad" and "Jenny From the Block," in which Ms. Lopez told us, "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got, I'm still Jenny from the block."
I guess that's the block where grammar died. This is me...then, saying that.
Now comes word that Lopez's chart success might have been fueled in part by payola.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has released a mountain of documents detailing alleged communications between executives at Sony BMG Music Entertainment and radio programmers, including e-mails in which the executives offered cash and goodies in exchange for more spins of singles by Lopez, Good Charlotte, Jessica Simpson and other pop acts.
In one alleged infraction cited by the Los Angeles Times, execs at Sony BMG called the program director of a San Diego radio station in 2002 and said they'd give her a 32-inch plasma TV if they pushed "This Is Me...Then. "'
The Times also reported that in 2003, a Sony BMG exec e-mailed a radio station programmer, saying, "What do I have to do to get Audioslave on WKSS this week?!!? Whatever you can dream up, I can make it happen!!!"
Then there's the payola-happy program director who allegedly e-mailed Sony, saying, "I'm a (BLEEP) this week, what can I say?"
There are also reports of Sony BMG and radio stations using interns to pose as listeners who would call in and "win" big prizes, and radio station employees receiving DVD players, airline tickets, vacations, laptops and cash in exchange for playing songs by certain acts.
Sony has agreed to a $10 million settlement. A Sony VP has been fired, and no doubt some radio station employees will wind up losing their jobs in this scandal.
For some reason, though, I'm not getting the vibe that people are all that worked up about this story -- certainly not on the level of the payola scandals of the late 1950s.
Can you imagine the outcry in the 1970s if we had learned that this sort of thing was going on? So it would have explained Leo Sayer's success, but still. (Not that I'm even suggesting that "Long Tall Glasses" rose to No. 4 for any nefarious reasons.)
Maybe it's because nothing surprises us any more. Maybe it's because in this era of music videos and 8 million cable channels and iTunes, radio airplay isn't quite as important as it once was.
Or maybe we just figured there had to be a deeper explanation for Jessica Simpson getting airplay. What that girl does to "These Boots Are Made For Walkin' " should be declared a felony.
In 2002, Ms. (Jennifer) Lopez released an album titled, "This Is Me...Then."
That's one of the worst titles in the history of pop music -- and the music wasn't much better either.
This is not to say "This Is Me...Then" wasn't memorable. The album included "Dear Ben," Jen's tribute to then-lover Ben Affleck, with lyrics such as, "I write this song to let you know that you will always be to me my lust, my love, my man, my child, my friend and my king. ... There's no way I'd leave you, it's just not a reality..."
Or maybe it is. In any case, future generations will always have a musical time capsule detailing that moment in time when Jen and Ben danced together and launched the combo-name craze (Bennifer begat Brangelina begat TomKat), before twirling off to other partners.
"This Is Me...Then" also included such hits as "I'm Glad" and "Jenny From the Block," in which Ms. Lopez told us, "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got, I'm still Jenny from the block."
I guess that's the block where grammar died. This is me...then, saying that.
Now comes word that Lopez's chart success might have been fueled in part by payola.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has released a mountain of documents detailing alleged communications between executives at Sony BMG Music Entertainment and radio programmers, including e-mails in which the executives offered cash and goodies in exchange for more spins of singles by Lopez, Good Charlotte, Jessica Simpson and other pop acts.
In one alleged infraction cited by the Los Angeles Times, execs at Sony BMG called the program director of a San Diego radio station in 2002 and said they'd give her a 32-inch plasma TV if they pushed "This Is Me...Then. "'
The Times also reported that in 2003, a Sony BMG exec e-mailed a radio station programmer, saying, "What do I have to do to get Audioslave on WKSS this week?!!? Whatever you can dream up, I can make it happen!!!"
Then there's the payola-happy program director who allegedly e-mailed Sony, saying, "I'm a (BLEEP) this week, what can I say?"
There are also reports of Sony BMG and radio stations using interns to pose as listeners who would call in and "win" big prizes, and radio station employees receiving DVD players, airline tickets, vacations, laptops and cash in exchange for playing songs by certain acts.
Sony has agreed to a $10 million settlement. A Sony VP has been fired, and no doubt some radio station employees will wind up losing their jobs in this scandal.
For some reason, though, I'm not getting the vibe that people are all that worked up about this story -- certainly not on the level of the payola scandals of the late 1950s.
Can you imagine the outcry in the 1970s if we had learned that this sort of thing was going on? So it would have explained Leo Sayer's success, but still. (Not that I'm even suggesting that "Long Tall Glasses" rose to No. 4 for any nefarious reasons.)
Maybe it's because nothing surprises us any more. Maybe it's because in this era of music videos and 8 million cable channels and iTunes, radio airplay isn't quite as important as it once was.
Or maybe we just figured there had to be a deeper explanation for Jessica Simpson getting airplay. What that girl does to "These Boots Are Made For Walkin' " should be declared a felony.