Dear Dave Grohl

 Dear Dave Grohl,

 This is the face I have right now while writing about you.

I think the time has come for me to say to you, that I need some space.

I remember the moment when I giggled like a 14 year old girl with a big secret, as I stripped off the celophane plastic covering on the Foo Fighters album with my teeth; anticipating the cranial massaging your music was about to provide as I slid the brand new CD into the Pioneer stereo, custom installed, into my Grand Prix back in the 'college years'.

I use to love you...but I feel that we have grown apart.

I read what you wrote this morning...READ IT HERE...and I am disappointed in you.

I was sipping on my cup I bought from the thrift store, filled with store-brand coffee when I opened the Rolling Stone Article page on my 7 year old computer. When I was able to adjust my eyes to the headline...I watched my cup fall to the floor in slow motion. The dark liquid followed the lines in the hardwood floor, flowing under the desk to where my feet sat. The coffee, moving slowly in time to the music I was listening to...I didn't even feel the heat ,as my socks absorbed the fluid.

I was numb.

Dave, I don't know what happened to you. At this point, as I reflect on what you just said...I'm not sure you do either.

We've had a solid relationship over the years. I've watched you grow...and while you don't know this, my husband (a fellow Rock Musician) bestowed the honor upon you to be the only legal "Crush" he allowed for me to have after we were married.

I purchased your music from brick-and-mortar stores, caught a few of your shows in college, and watched numerous performances from my living room. It was rad...I cheered for you.

It is with a heavy heart, that I say...It's over between you and I.

I have been in this game for almost a decade now. I've watched countless musicians as they rose above and came tumbling down, by no fault of their own. I've watched labels, management, and legal teams create glass ceilings in order to protect "The Big Ones".

So I ask, "Who got the Best Of You, Dave?"

Was it someone who approached you backstage after one of your shows in Wembly Stadium? Was it someone in your band speaking on record that U2 sounded like a "fart". Did you then decide that all the music but your own "sounds like a fart"? Was is just a complete and total disconnect from the local music scene?

WHAT?! WHO?!!

Do you really understand what the "Average" or "Mainstream" musician goes through?

Do you understand the term "Pay To Play"? Do you understand "Buy On Tours"? Do you understand "Buying Radio Spins"?

Or, are you just pretending? Pshhhh....RIIIIIGHT

So YOU'RE the pretender now.

I think every human on the face of the earth experiences their moment, enveloped with fear, as they watch their beliefs and admiration crumble when they witness their romanitc luminary fall back to earth, as they join the seas of mortals. 

I watched you fall...I was deeply saddened...and here you will remain.

I don't think you have any idea how hard the "current musician" works these days or the sacrifices they make in order to give their music to the world.  I've sat on their RV's and tour buses, had them crash my house, fed them, and held them as they cried on my shoulder as they missed their families.

The struggle to pay the bills is real Dave, and we are the ones in this business, who struggle every day, whom once looked up to you...We now look you in the eyes and say, "SCREW OFF, PRINCESS!"

I am not alone in this decision, as I have corresponded with other distraught rock-n-roll wives across the planet.

What you may have forgotten, is there is an element that connects the souls and the spirits of all of us in music. It is the RESPECT that transcends across the genres and levels of success that each individual musician has been gifted. It is all about supporting one another...to make music matter. 

It would be ideal for all of us to have access to all of the music at any time for free, but we all like to heat our homes in the winter.  We need to get paid for the music we make...or we are forced to give it all up and get jobs like...cleaning your house, detailing your cars, or screening Jack Black's pubic hairs out of your swimming pool.

I'm sorry Dave, but this is good bye. 

I have to do it for my own good. I say all of this as I stack your albums into a grey Rubbermaid tote and slide them on the shelf in the garage with hope that some day you will come to your senses.

I write this line as I wipe a single tear from my cheek, "It was good while it lasted."

God-Speed Dave, God-Speed.

From this point forward, you are just another person who doesn't care about Taylor Swift and I am a just Rock-Star wife.

I may be a metal-head at heart, but this time I choose Taylor Swift.

This is War...and I fight for the musician...not just the music.

And for the record, now that my "Crush" slot is open...It's Jared Leto until further notice.

Supporting music not egos,

Jillian Rock

Thank You Taylor Swift

The Rock and Roll Universe has been set on fire...and Taylor Swift did it.
(Please note that these are two sentences that I never believed would ever be written sequentially in my existence...and it was written by me, which makes it even more shocking...all things considered.)

Taylor Swift did it.

I watched the articles as they rolled through my Facebook news feed. All of  us in the music community are holding our breath as we wait for a Pop/Country Star to make their next move.

Read all about it here!

While I won't disclose who I am friends with on the facey-space (as I am militantly private when it comes to social media), I was blown away with WHO was posting in support of what Taylor Swift just did.

We are talking....MAJOR METAL, ACTIVE ROCK, and PROGRESSIVE ROCK ARTISTS!

Whoa...(Let that sink in)

Now, I personally don't have Taylor's phone number, but I know that a few of my "friends" do. And I hope they reach out to have have her read this little jem.

Let us all just sit down and read THIS before we go any further, shall we? Because we all need to understand why this is such an important topic.

If you actually took the time to read the article linked above, you would have the following paragraph etched in your mind.
"On August 28, 2014 it was reported that the sales tally for the week, was only 3.97 million. This was the smallest weekly sum for album sales since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991."

If you didn't read the Article from Billboard Magazine, go back and read it. (LINK FOR THE LAZY)
Seriously...Let's all do our homework people!

Can I get an "OH SHIT!" folks? 

Seriously...OH SHIT!

So...what Billboard Magazine is telling me is that in 1991 (when there were roughly 70 MILLION LESS US citizens) they sold more units of music than in 2014? 

Seriously...OH SHIT!

I vividly remember watching a commercial for "Beats Music" last year on our television then turning around to my husband and saying, "We are finished."
After receiving our most recent quarterly BMI payment that was 1/8th of what it was the previous year, which confirmed my eerily accurate prediction... "We are ALL finished"...and we were, up until this week.

Many will argue that the 'Instant Streaming Movement' is one that is beneficial to all in the music industry. I can't help but imagine the superhuman power of reaching through the screen of my 7 year old computer (the one where the letter V and space bar don't work correctly) and slap the shit out of them. But, alas...they have NO idea. And, it would be as effective as kicking my dog tomorrow for taking a dump in the garage last week.

Music used to mean something. It used to provide the soundtracks to our lives. It used to connect us all in ways I am currently learning about. If we continue to travel down this path while we devalue the most important form of art on the planet (music), well heck...let's just devalue ALL of the art! Someone better have the original Paul Cezanne 'The Card Players' (Recently sold for $250,000,000) delivered to my house (no shipping of course) for the total of $56.72. (Which is our actual account balance until the 15th)...It will look awesome in my bathroom.

Then there is this crap...

 

Suprematist Composition-Kazimir Malevich 1916 (Sold for $60,000,000 in 2008)

I understand that all art is subjective, but COME ON! You want shit like this, I'll go into my sons room and take a photo of his floor after the neighbor kids played Lego's for 4 hours. Seriously, same damned thing. This should be called, "Lego's on the Floor-The Art of Pain"

'The Card Players' actually took some skill. Paul Cezanne probably stressed every brush stroke on that painting, much like every musician stresses every lead-in and lyric.

Do you see where I am going here?

Some chump in Qatar will buy a FRIGGIN PAINTING for $250,000,000 (yeah, million) DOLLARS! But music fans won't spend $1.00 to download a song to their iPod.

This goes back to my demand of the $250 Million dollar painting delivered to my front door. I want it now, shipped to me for free, and for less than 1/6 of a penny on the dollar. (Well...to get technical, what I have in my account is FAR less than that equation)

You see what I did there?  I made an unreasonable assessment of the value of a piece of art and history, while not understanding the process of it's creation or the artist and their family whom they support, and demanded it NOW...while completely shredding the significance of the artist and quite frankly...making myself look like a total entitlement douche-bag.

"What is the point?" you ask "and what does Taylor Swift have to do with art that looks mysteriously like childhood toys?"

Well, my friends...everything.

With sobriety, I say, "The Golden Goose just laid an egg". It's Taylor Swift folks. The golden girl of music. She just took her razor sharp elbow and shattered the chessboard that we in the business call "The Game". Are you (as musicians and fans) going to try to piece it back together with your Mom's hot glue gun and floral tape or are you going to start acting like a real Rock Star and Bic wielding stadium super-fans and finish the damned job? *Not all Rock Stars destroy stuff...but let's hold on to this visual for educational purposes.

Taylor swift just threw the television of the balcony and she is waiting for the rest of you to join the after-show party. This girl is a Rock Star if I ever saw one. She had the balls to trash the "Green Room" at the Instant Streaming Headquarters. Now is the time to rise up and do the same. It's "go time" folks.

Music needs us. ALL OF US.

Think about it.

I made a silly little analogy about music and paintings earlier, but I did it for a reason.

When was the last time you walked by a painting and remembered your first kiss? When did you glance over to see a sculpture and remember the first dance at your wedding? When did you attend a play at the local theater and remember the car ride home as you brought your newborn son home from the hospital?

You didn't.

The most important moments in your life are brought back to you through the magical connection of music. Music IS the most important form of art, no matter the genre you decide plays your life story the best. We all need music to connect the dots from people, to places, to events. This art form is that important that it connects us all.

(For the record, it was Breaking Benjamin- Promise Me You'll Try, INXS - Never Tear Us Apart, and Fuel-Shimmer)

I have to be honest with all who read 'The Real Rock Star Wives' blog, I was never a "fan" of Miss Swift...until this week. I prefer the sound of a Pearl Eliminator Demon Drive Double Pedal as it sweetly dances in time with a beautifully polished Warwick Bass. 
(Gah! Just thinking about it makes me want to cuddle up with a 10,000 WATT sub woofer!)

Even though I aggrandize the sounds of heavy metal to that of mainstream pop, this doesn't mean that I can't reach out to a fellow musician to extend the elusive "Award of Respect". A lot of my metal-head brethren have done the same this week, as well. So, Taylor Swift...Thank you for taking a stand by saying "Music is worth it".

I can't agree more.
Oh, and Taylor....for the LOVE OF GOD. Tell them you're 'Never Getting Back Together'.

It doesn't sound half-bad while my husband plays his drum kit to 'Lamb Of God' in the basement; in synch.

Kinda fun actually...

 
I ask you all to pay your respects to Miss Swift and back her efforts along with personal messages of support. We are all in this freak show together.


Until we meet again,
Jillian