Being Marginalized Is a Blessing: An Interview with Author Dan Kennedy

Don’t let Ice T see you crying.

Dan Kennedy: There are six books I really want to grab right now, and I probably will walk down to St. Mark’s and buy them before the day is over. Am I going to get them on a Sony e-Book reader? That thought doesn’t even cross my mind. Do I want them as a PDF on my laptop? No. I need these books, they need to be on my coffee table, and I’ll get through them in the next month.

But whatever, I’m old, too. (laughs) I could be wrong. You know, I called the Internet a fad and I called cell phones glorified CB radios or something. So you’re totally talking to the wrong guy.

Popshifter: In the book, you talked about your Motown commercial and I can only imagine the nightmarish pressure of that. [At age 29, Dan was working as a freelance writer when he got a job referral from a friend at Atlantic Records who was too busy to take the job himself: George Jackson, president of Motown Records, wanted to make a TV commercial commemorating the 40th anniversary of the label and Dan got the job.—Ed.]

Dan Kennedy: Yeah! Weird, right? The pressure was. . . insane. Like, I remember being in the elevator [on the way to show the commercial to George Jackson] and just thinking, “I know something is going totally fucking cellularly wrong in my body right now.”

Popshifter: (cracks up)

Dan Kennedy: (laughs) I remember when I brought the first cut of that commercial in, the marketing executive below George Jackson freaked out. He watched it and was like, “WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!?!” And I was like, “It’s kinda cool! It’s on target for what we talked about.” And he was like, “It isn’t! No, it isn’t! And he’s gonna hate it!”

Popshifter: Oh my god, are you serious?

Dan Kennedy: Total fucking meltdown.

Popshifter: I would’ve probably started crying. (laughs)

Dan Kennedy: And he was like, “Oh, I don’t know what to do! How did you put me in this position!?!” And I was like, “I think it’s good! Let’s just show it.” I don’t know where I summoned that confidence. So we went up and showed it, and of course, George Jackson’s reaction—and Ice-T’s—was really positive. And then that guy literally turned to me and went, “Dan, I don’t know how you did it but you’ve done it. Great!”

And I was like, “You were almost crying like 11 minutes ago!” I didn’t have the guts to say that, but (laughs) I was literally like, “Whaaat could this guy possibly be talking about? I’m great, he thinks?”

Popshifter: When you were preparing for the Motown commercial, you said you were looking at pictures of bands “from a time when singing soul meant you had some,” which I thought was a great quote, and very true. Are there bands now who you think have that authenticity, or do you think that’s gone by the wayside?

Dan Kennedy: Well, I think that hip hop has gotten really corny; oddly enough it used to be the most authentic of all, but it’s turned into hair metal. It’s all about, “I do this to women and I’ve got this much dough.”

I think that it’s a really exciting time for music. You can’t confuse these guys in skyscrapers having difficulty making millions of dollars with a bad time for rock and roll. Radiohead is doing amazing things; Trent Reznor is doing amazing things. Ghosts is amazing—that thing he just put out on the website. It’s a time when artists are afforded the tremendous luxury of being completely authentic. There’s no way Reznor could have put that record out ten years ago. Period. You just wouldn’t have heard it.

Click to read more from Dan Kennedy on. . .

Cruel Shoes by Steve Martin
The alienation of the “college years”
The death of print media?
The Motown commercial and music now
Being in the slow lane
Definition for mayhem
What’s next?

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