“I was hesitant to send you this email due to the fact that by doing so I would be agreeing with your postings of the past that the business that we all knew as the Record business was dead..Sadly today after visiting 3 locations hoping to see some excitement at retail about The Beatles Remasters and trying to buy the Stereo Box , I returned home dejected and utterly in disbelief that not only Retail but EMI let this opportunity pass by without fully realizing the sales opportunities that existed here today...
There will never be a time again where the largest selling group in music history will be releasing their entire catalog plus one of the most eagerly anticipated video games on the same day...The excitement level out there was non existent..There were no end caps in the front of the stores heralding the releases, there were no radio stations doing remotes creating excitement like in the old days, there were no midnight sales to whip up excitement, there were no special promotions running to get you to make multiple purchases..
What there was however was lack of product (no box sets available for purchase in any of the 3 stores I went to), scattered units of all releases but in at least 2 of the stores Revolver and Help were not available as well as Abbey Road.and a bunch of kids playing the Rock band game was all I saw...
I cannot believe that EMI was not all over this like flies on Flypaper due to the fact that THIS MUSIC IS NOT AVAILABLE ON ITUNES OR ANY DIGITAL PROVIDER YET..Best Buy, FYE, Barnes & Noble, Borders are all street date destinations for baby Boomer customers..That is who The Beatles appeal to as well as every other demo on the planet...It was like these cds did not exist
I have been in the record business since my first job at Sam Goody Valley Stream in 1964 and what I realized today was that my dream was over and I needed to wake up..You just happened to wake up a little earlier than I did...”

Just a little something from the Lefsetz mailbag.

“Courtney Love may be insane, but whether she signed the contract or not, I'm sure there was no agreement that Kurt could sing "You Give Love A Bad Name".  Bon Jovi is everything Kurt stood against.  "Smells Like Teen Spirit" killed hair metal, now you've got him singing this pop tripe in a video game?
You might say it's only a video game, but that's disrespectful.  We must honor our heroes.  And you may not care, but Kurt Cobain is still a hero to millions, the icon of a generation.  Why not have an animatronic JFK spewing Richard Nixon lines?
Activision should destroy each and every copy of Guitar Hero 5.  And only release it when this footage/game play has been eviscerated.
This is a crime against the history of rock and roll.  What were they thinking?
Rust never sleeps and commerce is always ready to dishonor the past.
If they don't destroy and redo, we should boycott their profitmaking, gluttonous product.
Money might change everything, but it doesn't EXPLAIN everything!”

Yeah seriously WTH, Kurt Cobain singing Bon Jovi? Kurt Cobain, THE icon of the 90s, singing the crap he would have been more likely to insult than declare his love for? Nirvana killed the existence of hair bands ie. Bon Jovi. No friggin way he should be singing Bon Jovi.

I have nothing against Bon Jovi, I just think they can’t compare to Nirvana. I know Bon Jovi is one of the oldest bands around and all, but they didn’t change the face of music. Nirvana brought grunge rock to the forefront of music and made it cool. And they’re still cool, even in this music generation of synthesizers and people who can’t sing or write good songs.