For The Record- 09. March. 2024

All I want to do is to thank you, even though I don't know who you are

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Welcome to another edition of For The Record, the weekly newsletter that brings the world of music news straight to your inbox. Part essay, part good old-fashioned link drop, this is a benefit for paid supporters of On Repeat.

On Repeat is 100% reader-funded. And as always, there are 7-day trials for anyone looking to test the waters.

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This week, we’ve got news on Bruce Springsteen, Miley Cyrus, TIDAL, and Taylor Swift.

All that and a LOT more, including Talking Heads, Paramore, The Doobie Brothers, and Def Leppard

Let’s get to it!

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So I'm a rugby dad now.

In my younger son's quest to knock me out of my comfort zone try new things, he recently signed up to try the sport. As a parent, this means you've signed up for it too. I did this last fall when, after ten years of soccer, he switched things up and tried out for American football. New parents, new teammates, new rules. And to be honest, rules I don't know that much about. I know when a play works or is broken up, but I can't dissect the plays as I can with soccer. I know even less about rugby.

There are a lot of life lessons to be learned on the field, and soccer is the common ground I've always used to try to impart those to my boys. It's always been a relatively straight line between things like a 3-5-2 formation and concepts like leadership, grit, etc.

I use the game to teach the importance of things like team and community while also using it as a cautionary tale against tribal identity and binary assumptions. There is more to someone than just the jersey they wear, right? In the age of social media, nuance and critical thinking have taken a back seat to rage bait and hot takes. In the age of social media, teaching these is a more challenging job than ever and one that's never been more necessary.

This came up recently in one of our group chats. They've taken a sociopolitical turn lately, which, while a nice change from the usual memes, means there's now a level of gravity that didn’t previously exist. With the war in Ukraine and Israel (and really, everywhere), I want to make sure my kids know the whole story before reaching any conclusion—not to be confused with BS like "just asking questions," "both sides," or my personal favorite "whataboutism." I mean genuine critical thinking- the kind that can make your brain burn and demolish conditioned opinions.

And the best example I have comes from…the soccer field.

You may be asking yourself what this has to do with music. That's a good question. The Cars' Heartbeat City turns 40 this week, and I could've sworn I'd written about it before, and I wanted to again. So, after watching Thursday night's State of the Union address, I went looking. It turns out that while I had written about the band a couple of times—and Ric Ocasek at least once—I hadn't covered the record.

But the archives did offer up a clip I'd written about in the early days of this project—not about the band, but about a car—the loveable, consistently unreliable Lada.

The short film I shared features dozens of Russian people going about their lives—not of Putin, not of empire building or invasion: things like running errands, going to bars, and local police on patrol—just regular people doing everyday things.

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If you are of a certain age and grew up in the US, you remember the nonstop coverage and vilification of Libya in the mid-80s. It was fed into our collective veins nonstop. It was easy to conflate the despicable actions of their leader (TK SPELLIN) and the actions of a few with the greater population. At some point, it became easy just to assume anyone with a Libyan passport was automatically suspect—even when you knew not to paint with such a brave brush.

In the early '00s, before the Great Financial Crash and the ensuing wave of airline bankruptcies, there were interline tournaments. Simply put, employees of various airlines put together soccer teams and would meet at different places around the globe to play. They were fun and an excellent way to see how the other half lives. No matter where you came from or who signed your checks, soccer is a lingua franca.

In early 2002, the Northwest team entered a tournament held in Malta. Air Malta was still state-run and had its own "sport and social division." We met up in Valetta, flying from all corners of our network. Over a few drinks, we caught up with old friends and introduced ourselves to new ones. We also received our group draw and game schedule. 

One of the teams we'd face: Libyan Arab Airlines.