The theory that is bandying about is an old one and almost entirely worthless one when it comes to rock and roll. It has been put into vogue by Gladwell and the great example is the Beatles playing for two years in Hamburg. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it takes years of hard work to learn your craft.
This is the opposite of the spirit of rock and roll. The whole point of rock is IT DOESN'T take hours, years, of hard slog: that what is missed in technical efficiency is made up for with youthful energy. And that is one of the primary reasons why it is a blast.
At the heart of the rock star/fan alchemy is a an id/super id going on: in worshipping rock stars we are worshipping ourselves. Neither punk nor rap built the DIY ideal. From day one, from the Sun Sessions this was an everyman pursuit and to claim it for the experts is to claim it for the enemy. I READ Bob Lefsetz blog all the time, like him on business (though he is repetitive) but I hate him on rock and roll. He doesn't see that, for all the caviling, Wavves and Fidlar have more to do with great music than the Eagles EVER EVER HAVE.
Does Lefsetz read John Lennon? Lennon claimed the Beatles were at their best in Hamburg, the place Lefsetz claims they were rehearsing for their big break. I've heard some of that Hamburg stuff, the sound sucked but the spirit was awesome. Lennon was right. At least in a live setting, even the cavern didn't come close.
So what is all this about people not being able to play because they haven't paid their dues? What dues? Presley wasn't yet 20 years old. He HADN'T HAD TIME TO PAY DUES WHEN HE INVENTED ROCK AND ROLL.
How is this being missed?
When people whine about the kids today, about how the producers have the experience but the kids don't know what they are doing, I don't know what they are talking about. Of course the kids know what they are doing. The kids ALWAYS KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!! Fuck work, who wants to work? They wanna play rock and roll, and if they have to pay their dues for a decade, like, say Spoon, what is there at the end? To hell with the protestant work ethic, to dues, to studied impulses. Rock puts the fire to the lot of it.
Why pay your dues? Why not start at the top?