An interesting topic came up the other day at Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com regarding the evolution of “Rock & Roll, Part 2” by Gary Glitter (the “hey” song) at sporting events to include “YOU SUCK!” and “we’re gonna beat the shit outta you!”. Today, that turned into a question of if they should play the song at all at sporting events, considering that the child-loving Glitter earns royalty money every time it’s played, or at least from it being available for use.
Probably not enough of a royalty to make a real difference in arena owners’ minds, but it’s a topic that’s getting some notice. A quick Googling even pulled up another column about Glitter-free arenas.
It’s definitely something to think about, but if arenas pull Glitter’s music, where do they draw the line? Do they not play music written and performed by drug addicts, worried that the royalties would go right up their nose? Or artists that might make a clean arena-friendly song, but fill other CD’s with images of sex and violence? And just where does Michael Jackson fall in all this?
There’s another option. Arenas could go old school and ban all pre-recorded music alltogether. It would put the organ players back in business.
Organ grinders and their monkeys, however, would still be out of luck.
Just no “Lady of Spain.”