Of Freaks, Indies and Bubble Gum

WHETHER tuning up a pitch in the studio or making one at a sales meeting, any would-be operator in the pop record business must know the lingo. A brief primer:

ARTIST--Any performer, of whatever ability.

BOOGIE--To relax, kid around, do one's thing, take it easy.

BOP--To drink, smoke, pop pills, goof off or otherwise have a good time.

BREAK or BREAK OUT--To become a hit.

BUBBLE GUM--Rock for the preteeny-bopper set; the lowest common denominator in pop music.

DO ME A SOLID--Do me a favor.

FREAK--A rock performer with an attention-getting mannerism or physical handicap (e.g., albino Blues-Rocker Johnny Winter).

HYPE--False or exaggerated claims about a performer or record. GOOD HYPE --Promotion or advertising that is, astoundingly enough, true.

INDIE--Independent producer or record company.

MONSTER--A superhit; also, the creator of a superhit.

ON THE FARM--Woodshedding, or getting it all together; harks back to the not-so-distant days when rockers rented farms to do everything but farm on.

OUTRAGEOUS--Great.

PRODUCT--Records, as in "He puts out a lot of product."

RELEVANT--The kids will buy it.

STIFF--A record that does not sell.

STREET--The marketplace; also, the latest industry rumors, as in "The street says..."

TRIP--A cat's bag, style, anything he's got going down.

TURNTABLE HIT--A record that gets air play but does not sell.

UP FRONT--Having top priority.

WHIPPED--Drunk.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.