The Greatest Year in Music: 1982

MTV Rollings Stones I Want My MTV

My Grandmother once told me the best year for music is, or was, whatever year you turned fourteen years old. She was not an expert on modern popular music or entertainment media or targeted market research. But she did know a lot about people (especially kids!).

I thought about this theory often while I was working in music promotion and radio programming. It seemed to be true across generations and decades for all demographics.

Recently I shared this notion with my colleague Dave Whalen, who is on my short list of smart dudes. Dave concurred with Grandma’s “Age 14” theory, so I’m pretty much now calling it law: The greatest year for music was whatever year you turned fourteen.

So, for me, the greatest year for music was 1982.

That’s right, 1982: The Crossroads between classic rock, pop, new wave, punk, and heavy metal. But remember, that’s just for me…your experience will vary…

Not About Michael Jackson

A quick note here – 1982 brought us the best-selling album of all time, Thriller. However, I am not, nor was I ever, a fan. The only part of it in which I find any value is the Eddie Van Halen guitar solo in Beat It (oh, and the Vincent Price voice-over bit in Thriller). But if you really want to catch some great Eddie work from ’82, see the Diver Down album on the list below.

MTV

The video music channel launched in August 1 1981, but it was 1982 where the number of homes in the US (including mine) with access to MTV exploded. And then, everything changed!

MTV Bumper Sticker "jack monson"

The List

The best way to adequately explain how BIG 1982 was to Generation X is to list some of the albums of the year that were huge sellers, influential, or important milestones. See if you agree with me about 1982 and/or the “Age 14” rule…

Peter Gabriel – Security

The Clash – Combat Rock

XTC – English Settlement

The Jam – The Gift

Talking Heads – The Name of the Band Is…

Asia – Asia

Genesis – Three Sides Live

Men At Work – Business As Usual

Frank Zappa – Ship Arriving Too Late To Save the Drowning Witch

Sonic Youth – Sonic Youth

Split Enz – Time and Tide

Squeeze – Sweets From a Stranger

Madness – Complete Madness

INXS – Shabooh Soobah

The Fixx – Shuttered Room

Devo – Oh, No!

Men Without Hats – Rhythm of Youth

Thomas Dolby – Golden Age of Wireless

The Motels – All Four One

Dexys Midnight Runners – Too-Rye-Ay

Flock of Seagulls – Flock of Seagulls

Duran Duran – Rio

Go-Go’s – Vacation

Pat Benatar – Get Nervous

Adam Ant – Friend or Foe

Robert Plant – Pictures at Eleven

Pete Townsend – All The Best Cowboys

The Who – It’s Hard

The Beatles – Reel Music

Toto – IV

John Cougar – American Fool

Tom Petty – Long After Dark

Queen – Hot Space

Kansas – Vinyl Confessions

Rolling Stones – Still Life

Crosby Still & Nash – Daylight Again

Steve Miller – Abracadabra

Golden Earing – Cut

Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska

Phil Collins – Hello, I Must Be Going

Led Zeppelin – Coda

Scorpions – Blackout

Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast

Rainbow – Straight Between the Eyes

Ozzy Osbourne – Speak of the Devil

Sammy Hagar – 3 Lock Box

Van Halen – Diver Down

Van Halen Diver Down "jack monson"

What great albums are missing on this list? Let me know via comments!

Post-Olympics Blues

Every two years after the Olympics, we should declare a Post-Olympics Withdrawal Stress Disorder Day. After 2 weeks of constant updates and events filling our TVs, tablets, and phones, it feels like not much is happening out there this morning. I predict speaking with a lot of grumpy people over the next couple of days.

We’ll be missing the events, pre-packaged stories of inspiration, cheesy NBC montages, musical cues, and drama that dwarfs any scripted television programming.

My wife and I get pulled in to this sports-opera more than most. Since the ’92 games, we have gotten caught up in the big events as well as the stuff that you can only see during an Olympics. Trampoline, badminton, and the equestrian events were tough to catch this year.

I didn’t see nearly as much coverage on TV this year as in years past due to travel, work, and other real-life events infringing on our TV time this summer. But with the ample updates via social channels, online video, and mobile apps, it was easy to get a quick fix.

2012 Olympic iPhone App — While I’m no fan of NBC, GE, or Adobe, these guys got it together for a great Olympic iPhone app in 2012.

It also marks the last time until the next Olympics that the once-great NBC will have any content of value. Case in point: the preview clips from the new Matthew Perry show, “Go On”, looked dreadful. From the people who brought you “Joey”, indeed!

The media geek in me will soon fill the entertainment / sports / news void with the NFL season (#GoBears!) and a big political storm about to hit. We’ve got two conventions, 4 debates, and an election night on the horizon people!

So there’s lots of good media content to look forward to this fall. And, if that’s not enough to cheer us up, note that the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi is only 543 days away.

The Biggest Band of 1986: The Monkees???

Who ruled the radio airwaves, record charts and most importantly, video music channel programming of 1986? Genesis? Phil Collins? Bon Jovi? Madonna? How about The Monkees!

Somewhere between audio and video in 1986, there was a huge revival of The Monkees. The comeback was as planned, pre-packaged and targeted as the original Monkees show. And, our friends at MTV are to thank!

This wasn’t geared toward the Boomers who first made “The Pre-Fab Four” one of the top ten acts in the 1960’s. This was targeted at the Generation X’ers who grew up watching the Monkees as a syndicated show (always in the summertime here in Chicago!) in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was brilliant programming move. The kitsch of the Monkees, campy visual comedy, and most of all, pre-made music videos (typically 2 per 30 minute episode) were a perfect match for The MTV Generation.

It started with a series of Monkees Marathons in early 1986 on MTV. The show ran and ran and ran that spring.

I saw the commercial for Eric Lefcowitz’s Monkees Tale book so many times that I can recite the PO box number in my sleep 26 years later!

The popularity of these reruns of reruns resulted lots of records and tapes from Rhino’s catalog being sold. This lead to a new greatest hits release with a new song (“That Was Then, This Is Now”), a tour, and a Christmas video (of which is dreadfully hard to a good copy!). Those enterprises included a brief reunion with Mike Nesmith, The Monkee who didn’t really need the money.

Monkees

Late ‘86 brought a new album of all new material (“Pool It”) which lead to 2 decades of on again / off again reunions, recording and tours. These reunions and comeback seem to now be over with through 2012 and the passing of Davy Jones. Though his death itself lead to a jump in sales of a recent Greatest Hits album on iTunes and Amazon and a third generation of Monkeemania!

Dodge Challenger Review

dodge challenger, car review — Filler ‘er up and let’s go!

Welcome to the first of a series of weekly posts reviewing cars. As a frequent business traveller, I rent a lot of cars. Sometimes, they are your typical boring car rental fleet cars: Dodges, Nissans, Kias, and the other uninspired small sedans, compacts, hatchbacks that rental companies are using in place of the once-omnipresent Pontiac Grand Prix. But occasionally, I can score a nice upgrade to something more interesting.

Case in point: The 2012 Dodge Challenger. This car was not what I expected. Maybe it’s the resemblance to the Chargers of 5 years ago or the original Challengers and Barracudas of 40 years ago. All were a bit sparse on features.

I found the ’12 Challenger to be just the opposite. The standard 3.6L V6 was peppy but not the monster you would expect by looking at her. She was quiet, polite, and adequate. Too bad I didn’t have access to the 6.4L HEMI V8!

windmills, northern iowa, top of iowa — What are they harvesting in Northern Iowa these days? Wind!

Meanwhile, the creature comforts also surprised me. Again, I was expecting the no-frills interior of the Challenger’s pony car ancestors but found it to be more like a fully-loaded Chrysler 300. It was a comfortable ride even after 800 miles across the Midwest in one week! But that was only for one person. Two people would also be fine as the front seats are spacious with plenty of leg room. But forget bringing a third person. The backseat could barely fit my laptop bag and small suitcase.

Overall, the Challenger is a fun and interesting car for one traveller, or maybe two.

Bottom Line

Car: Dodge Challenger

Area traveled: Illinois, Iowa (Interstates, US Highways, and Great River Roads)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Would I rent again? Traveling with others: no. Traveling solo: Hell yeah!

Summer 1982 – MTV Launches (For the Rest of Us)

MTV Man on The Moon
Every August 1, fans of 80s music, Classic Rock, New Wave, etc note that it is the anniversary of MTV launching. Last year, we saw several media stories about the 30^th Anniversary and were treated to seeing some 30-year-old content via places like the awesome YouTube Channels MTVClassic1 and MTVTheFirst24.

But the real 30th anniversary for most of the US is happening right now. It was the summer of 1982 – not 1981 – when most cable customers got MTV.

On MTV’s Day One, very few cable operators actually offered MTV. I don’t trust anyone who says that they remember watching MTV’s first hour of broadcast. If anyone says this to you, ask them how the liked living in Oklahoma City, as that’s one of the few larger markets that had it on day one!

It was nearly a year later that most of America got the world’s first music channel. I can remember coming home from camp in June of 1982 and seeing “Who Can It Be Now” by Men At Work. The phones in my little town in Northern Illinois were on fire with high school and junior high school students spreading the word about what was going on Warner Amex Cable channel 12!

Stop Driving Your Traffic to Facebook

Originally posted at Engage121 Blog

You see it everyday in retail stores, coffee shops, and pizza places:

Like us on Facebook!

Here’s the issue for the owners and managers of these stores: the people reading that sign are already in your store!

And instead of engaging them in real life, having a conversation, or selling them stuff (!), some retailers are pushing them over to Facebook or some other online presence to Like them, take a survey, etc. Don’t fall into this hole! Again, these people are ALREADY in your store! And, don’t worry about Facebook; Zuckerberg’s traffic will be just fine.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s extremely valuable to have your current customers join your online community. Engaging those folks on Facebook or other social channels is key in cementing your relationship, offering customer service, and perhaps creating a returning customer. Also, I think many people are drawn to the Facebook logo and would read anything on that sign!

But please don’t let your engagement in social marketing end there! So far, you’ve preached to the choir. Now you need to find a congregation.

Focus your resources on attracting people who are not currently in your store to come to your Facebook Page. Find consumers who are not already customers and invite them to learn about your business. Use Facebook to drive store traffic, not the other way around.

Remember the progression you want:

Person living in your community —> Person interested enough to go to your Fan Page —> Person interested enough to go to your shop —> Person who buys a product or service

PRSA Midwest District Conference

I am honored to be on a panel with my two favorite PR Measurement professionals next week at the PRSA Midwest District Conference in Chicago.

Please check out the full agenda here and be sure to join our breakout session:

Thursday, 7/19, 2:30 -3pm: “Measurement: The Evolution of Listening”

~ Johna Burke, Senior Vice President, BurrellesLuce
~ Pauline Draper Watts, Executive Vice President, StrategyOne
~ Jack Monson, Senior Vice President, Engage121

Andy Griffith and The 3 Stages of Social Media Engagement

Note: here is a republished post from November of 2011 I wanted to share as we remember Andy Griffith today.

As we begin to wrap up a year of explosive growth in Social Media usage and engagement, I’m seeing many Social Media Marketers moving into new stages of their own involvement. It reminds me of similar changes of audience engagement by one of the all-time great story tellers.

I speak, of course, of Andy Griffith’s portrayal of Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry!

Stage 1: Over the top and finding our way

At the start of The Andy Griffith Show, Andy’s depiction was the same as the characters he had been playing on stage and screen and in his popular monologues and comedy records for the previous few years. Andy was over-the-top, absurd, and loud. It’s what Andy knew how to do to get attention and laughs.

We dig into our own history of past success and use those same tactics when launching our social media engagement. Sometimes it fits, but more often than not, marketers need to tweak their voice and role, leading to…

Stage 2: Getting down to business and finding our role

After the first season or so, Andy realized that it would be best for the show if he played the straight man and let those around him get the laughs. His decision to pay it forward catapulted the show into legendary status.

The character of Andy as the normal and wise hub for the crazy Mayberry citizens’ shenanigans is a great role model for how Social Media Marketers should carry themselves within their online communities. Be the Andy by helping solve your connections’ business problems, mediating different point of views, and most of all promoting others before yourself.

Note, many so-called Social Media “Experts” or “Gurus” are the equivalent of Deputy Barney Fife. They take credit for others’ heroics, crow about their own expertise, and obsess on the tools of the trade rather than the message. Barneys don’t really make a community worse; in fact, they can be funny. But in the end, we’re just laughing at them.

Stage 3: Getting annoyed by and tired of those around us

It would be best if you as a Social Media Marketer could stay in a perpetual stage two. Toward the end of The Andy Griffith Show’s original run, Andy’s character further developed into a role that you don’t want to be. These episodes are easy to identify as they are in color and “Angry Andy” is constantly irritated by the dimwits around him.

Andy and Aunt Bee — Stage 3 Andy: Annoyed

If you feel yourself getting easily agitated by the day to day engagement with the Goobers and Aunt Bees in your online communities, it may be time to stop and to move on to new challenges.

Déjà vu Launches

We’re all competing for your attention. Your friends are competing for your attention on your newsfeed. Brands are competing for your attention on all social channels. And social channels are competing for real estate on your phone.

Déjà vu is a new location-based app that is smart enough to stay out of that last competition. Instead of creating a yet another place for your friends / contacts / consumers to see your check-ins and comments, Déjà vu utilizes Facebook as the place where you connect.

Think of Déjà vu also as a location-based app for places that you haven’t checked into yet. It allows users to share places where they may want to go and tap their friends for a review, comment, or advice on the location.

Déjà vu CEO Keith Murphy also emphasizes the deals users can find at or near any location. “There are daily deals around you from over 80 different sources – Groupon, Living Social, Gilt City, and more – with a click of the Daily Deals tab.” Again, Déjà vu is not jumping into the deals fray, but aggregating the best that are already available for Déjà vu users.

Murphy also emphasizes the ability to pre-screen places as a differentiator. “You can see where other users have said they want to go in our Trending Section and sort through those locations by age and gender to find the perfect place to go right now.” I think this part of the app has the biggest potential for those looking to connect in real life with friends (and perhaps for marketers!).

Déjà vu is currently in Beta, and just became available via iTunes – check it out now and let me know your feedback via comments below.

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