Bob Lefsetz on Widespread Panic vs. Britney Spears

For those who don’t know, Bob Lefsetz (@lefsetz) is a somewhat “outspoken” music-industry figure.  He can tend to rant in many of his articles, but his ultimate redeeming trait is calling bullshit where it stands.  He’s a voice for those among us, old and young, who believe the current state of the pop music industry is a joke, and that there are possibilities beyond the Ticketbastard/LiveNation existence we currently live in.  Fitting with those beliefs, he’s had some mostly-complimentary things to say about the live Phish scene in the past, and just tonight he had some interesting comments on Widespread Panic and the state of the music industry:

“Let me ask you…

If I told you you could wear whatever you wanted, your jeans, your favorite shirt, hit the stage to adoring fans whenever you played and get all the dope and sex you wanted, would you say yes?

This was the equation back in the golden era of classic rock.  And it was all centered on the music.  If you were good enough, you could rape and pillage across the world, for years, in the case of Robert Plant and Mick Jagger, FOREVER!  Just by being yourself, you earned the keys to the kingdom, you lived in an alternative universe, even better than the real one.

Widespread Panic lives in an alternative universe.  One where everything the dying media says is important is irrelevant.  They hold the record for sell-outs at Red Rocks (with 32). They’ve been at it for twenty plus years, and they’re bigger than ever…“