Nobody wants to be a rock star anymore.
Or rather, nobody wants to be just a rock star anymore.
Steven Tyler peddles “Brand Tyler” through his autobiography, iPhone app and the “American Idol” judges table. Justin Timberlake abandons A+ pop to star opposite Cameron Diaz and Mila Kunis in B movies. Now, Adam Levine has eclipsed his rock ’n’ roll life as a coach on NBC’s smash hit “The Voice.”
Tomorrow, Levine fronts Maroon 5 at the Comcast Center, but at this point, his band is half his career.
His new single “Moves Like Jagger” is good, and it’s getting some attention. But it mostly seems like a fun diversion to kill time before starting the second season of “The Voice” or landing a three-episode story arc on “CSI: Miami” or “How I Met Your Mother,” or some other entrance to Hollywood.
Singers from Frank Sinatra to Elvis and David Bowie to Madonna have wanted to act. Usually this was a cry to be taken seriously as an artist — we’re looking at you, Madge. But nobody cares about being taken seriously anymore (see Ozzy Osbourne wrestling with a vacuum cleaner on “The Osbournes”). Now singers only want to maintain, or bump up, their level of celebrity by any means necessary.
Formerly content with platinum albums, No. 1 hits and maybe a little mile-high sex with groupies in Learjets, rock stars are now in the “famous for being famous” arms race. Whether they want to, musicians such as Levine are competing with celebutantes, 13-year-olds and reality stars for our attention. They are mostly losing.
Snooki made the cover of Rolling Stone. The 2011 Grammys devoted more time to Jaden Smith and Gwyneth Paltrow than Bob Dylan. Former-and-future nobody Rebecca Black’s “Friday” tallied 167 million views on YouTube. Maroon 5’s biggest hit, “Misery,” has 39 million views.
Compound this with the realization that the music industry is falling apart — 2010 was the worst year for music sales since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking numbers in 1991 — and it’s no surprise Levine snapped up that steady, fat NBC paycheck.
If you’re a Maroon 5 die-hard, if you truly love the music, brace yourself.
Precedent dictates Levine will do everything he can to become a multimedia kingpin and merchandising powerhouse. There will be good times (more “Saturday Night Live” guest spots) and loads of bad (that “CSI” arc, tell-all book, branded fragrance, vanity liquor, reality show with gal-pal Russian supermodel Anne V). What there won’t be is much music.
Maybe Levine is different. Maybe this is a detour and his heart remains in rock ’n’ roll. But it appears as if Levine cannot resist keeping up with the Kardashians.
Maroon 5, with Train, tomorrow at the Comcast Center, Mansfield. Tickets: $17.50-$85.75; livenation.com.
