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“Over-the-Hill” Songwriters Top The Charts With Kid Pop

By Rand Bishop

In 1995, after 19 productive years working in the L.A. music scene (as a recording artist, songwriter, producer, and record company exec), I set up shop in Nashville. I was 46 (in Hollywood years, that’s 322). Stigmatized by my advancing age and the time that had passed since my last chart success (“What have you done lately?”) I felt like I was being ushered to the city limits and booted eastward with a stern kick in the rear end. Youth rules in Tinsel Town. And with hiphop and grunge dominating the mid-’90s airwaves, L.A. offered few opportunities for a “senior-citizen” songwriter like myself.

On the other hand, the decades of journeyman industry experience that had branded me “over-the-hill” on The Sunset Strip gave me real market value on Music Row. The move to Tennessee not only made it possible for me to extend my creative life, it opened the door to the biggest success of my entire career, so far (“My List,” a five-week Number One for country superstar, Toby Keith).

Flash forward a decade. A gaggle of fresh, teen starlets were appearing in a seemingly endless marathon of formulaic, laugh-tracked Disney and Nickelodeon sitcoms. It seemed that every one of these precocious, teenaged divas was crankin’ out squeaky-clean pop tunes for her legions of youthful fans. No radio play necessary. These kid acts were moving scads of units through a combination of high TVIQ and the savvy, muscular marketing machines of Disney and Nick. Every Children’s Section in every Borders displayed a life-sized cutout of Hillary Duff and/or The Cheetah Girls next to a rack of hot-selling CDs.

The last couple of years brought us the Miley Cyrus/Hanna Montana explosion, followed by Demi Lovato, and the Jonas Brothers, all selling oodles, and now even getting millions of spins on terrestrial and satellite radio. Ever wonder who helps these talented youngsters write many of their songs, produces their records, and guides these projects along? “Over–the-hill” 40-, 50-, and even 60-something songwriters, producers, and record company execs, that’s who: John Lind, Tim James and Lindy Robbins, to name a few. These are my peers, the ones who stuck it out in Smogtown after my extradition to the cozy environs of Middle Tennessee.

Would I love to score a big ol’ Miley Cyrus hit? You betcha! My friend, 40-ish Nashvillian, John Mabe (along with beautiful and gifted Jesse Alexander) accomplished just that with Miley’s biggest smash yet, “The Climb.” Would I be willing to dive back into the megalopo-swamp of Southern California for the chance? No-sirree! Not in a million Hollywood years. (Btw, that’s an average lifetime here in wholesome Tennessee.)

About the Author

Rand Bishop is a Grammy Nominated, BMI Award-winning songwriter, and the author of Grand Pop, a darkly comic novel/mock-memoir penned from the point of view an egocentric, aging rock star (Eloquent Books, 2010, ISBN 978-1-60860-629-0). Other Bishop books include Makin’ Stuff Up, “a songwriting course wrapped in a memoir” (Weightless Cargo Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-61523-165-5) and the forthcoming Absolute Essentials of Songwriting Success (Alfred Publishing, 2010). For information go to: http://www.randbishop.com