Photo: Press
Producer Tony Visconti has called on the record industry to stop playing safe and to start backing “rule-breakers”.
And he should know what he’s talking about. In addition to producing some of David Bowie’s most successful albums – that’ll be Young Americans, Low and Blackstar among many, many others – Visconti has also worked with T-Rex, Thin Lizzy and Morrissey. And that’s just for starters.
Speaking to the BBC, Visconti advised the next generation of music makers saying: "Don't copy yesterday's hit, it's a losing battle. You might get a hit but it won't sell as much as the thing you copied. That's what's wrong with music today."
But his ire was targeted at a record industry that isn’t, in his view, taking advantage at the wealth of adventurous talent that’s trying to break through.
"Just break all the rules then music will always be fresh. David [Bowie] taught me that and we started doing it years ago," he said.
"At the top level some people are just chasing old hits. Everybody likes variation and some of the big labels are leaving out the variation.
"Some labels want these ready-made kids to write songs for, to groom, to almost train in a gym - that's ridiculous.
"There are thousands of young people making great music... give a young kid a chance."
He pointed examples of who he thought the current generation rule breakers are.
"I don't think I need to talk about people like Frank Ocean but Kendrick Lamar is the greatest of them all.
"His album To Pimp A Butterfly broke every rule in the book and he had a number one album glued to the top of the charts.
"You'd think certain labels would learn form that.
"But they take somebody who is out there and say, 'That's what people want.'
"No, people want that for one week. You don't want the same song every single day of your life."
