The Cowbell of Communications

We all want to be rockstars, right?

(wait, I didn’t say that correctly…)

YOU ALL WANNA BE ROCKSTARS, RIGHT?!?!

Well, there’s a little something you need to know about music before you break into the music industry. For instance, there’s a difference between being in the band and being with the band. There’s also a difference between the actual music and the accent percussion.

You don’t want to be Gene Frenkle, do you? You want to be this guy?

I didn’t think so. That’s why I want to warn you about the true nature of Social Media, which thanks to the endless beat of a thousand drummers has become the Cowbell of Communications.

It can be part of a great song.

It can be a great part of a song.

It can be memorable and inspirational.

But it’s not the song, people!

It is VERY hard to carry a melody.

You hit the cowbell, and the vibrations emit a tone at a frequency that is determined by the size and shape of the cowbell, as well as the materials from which it is made. (Temperature and humidity can also affect the tone.) However, once you hit a cowbell, you can be reasonably sure what is going to come out of it. You can hold it in a different way to muffle the effect, but it’s still a one-note wonder.

Now, if you want, you can get a row of cowbells and pretend they are a glockenspiel. But the cowbell in and of itself cannot carry the tune. Much in the same way that Social Media efforts can only carry you so far.

It’s a great “entry-level” instrument

Want to know why that Gene Frenkle SNL sketch was so popular? (Besides Will Ferrell’s shirt-that-was-too-short?) Because we’ve all been there – in our bedrooms and behind the wheel – air drumming away. And heck, the cowbell is a great instrument for air drumming because you don’t even have to pretend you’re moving to hit other drums.

The cowbell is the perfect instrument for people to pretend like they are in the band, because they ultimately have so little to do with the outcome of the song or its effectiveness on the audience. It’s a great place to stick your little brother, when your mom tells you that you can’t practice in the garage unless he’s “in the band” too. (See also: Brady or Partridge kids who play tambourines in unrealistic musical numbers.)

What can go wrong with an instrument that everyone thinks they can play?

Knowing when NOT to play is just as important

See those things between the Notes that you play? They are called Rests. They tell you when not to play anything. Which is important, if you want to have any semblance of order, and want to rise above cacophony. Heck, there might be entire verses or solos within the song where the cowbell needs to hang gloriously in the air, NOT being struck.

Just like there are times in any marketing or public relations effort where the subject matter or the audience or the timing or something is just not quite right – and you need to just not play.

There ARE no famous Cowbell artists

How many famous violinists are there in Rock? Well, there is that guy in the Dave Matthews Band. And the flute? Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull has that one nailed (and even he knows that he can’t play it while he’s singing.)

The Cowbell? Well, we have Gene Frenkle. Who, oddly enough, is a completely fictional character made up for the SNL sketch (which also got the name of the producer wrong). The cowbell in “Don’t Fear the Reaper” was even added in through dubbing and mixing. It was an afterthought!

The reason there are no renowned Cowbell artists is related to the same reason there are no famous painters who only work in yellow. It takes more than a rhythm to carry a song – it takes more than a single color to carry useful information – and it takes more than a tool (Social Media) to make your marketing program successful.

The people who are telling you that you can gain fans and groupie love through the employ of just a Cowbell just happen to be the same people who have a Cowbell they’d like to sell you. (Or maybe, just maybe, they’ll offer to play the Cowbell for you, for a price!) When shopping for a musician or a band, you want someone who brings more than a one-note wonder. If you’re hiring a band or a DJ for a party, you want someone who can take requests, who can go with the flow, and who knows how and when to wake up the audience from wallflower doldrums.

They might even have a Cowbell. But more than likely they will bring an array of instruments, and will be able to answer with clarity their familiarity with each of them. They ought to be able to show you a sample set list, or a directory of all they songs at their disposal.

And if they show up with just a Cowbell, they’re no Heroes. They are pretenders. (and not even the really-awesome-at-a-party Chrissie Hynde Pretenders.) Don’t get me wrong.