My wife and I have a travel rule. It's a golden rule we've come up with through our travels around Australia and overseas. The golden rule is, "When coming off a plane, starving, you need to eat some food. Don't gamble on the local restaurant or Fish n' Chip shop. Go to McDonald's."
Why? Why would I tell people that I want to eat craptastic burgers and fries when I can get a nice, real burger with chips from a good, local, corner take away shop?
The answer is, through travelling so much, my wife and I would arrive in a country and usually felt quite hungry. We'd try the local shops for food only to always ben disappointed. Once we stopped at a place that touted itself as the best rated Fish n' Chips place in Tasmania. The food was greasy, and their oil had not been changed in quite a while. I didn't even finish my meal.... which never happens. We wasted the food by throwing the rest that we didn't eat in the bin. I felt bad because I don't like wasting food.
Once my wife broke the rule. We were at the airport getting on our plane when she mentioned food and it reminded me that my stomach was growling. So I lined up at the Maccas (McDonald's) at the airport terminal. She decided she wanted something else. I warned her. She said "It'll be fine". Her famous last words. Her meal was ordinary. However, my meal was fine. I went to Maccas. She tried the place next door and got herself a Turkish Gozleme.
Why was my Maccas breakfast better than her Golzeme, which I like more than Maccas?
Because McDonald's is familiar. I can travel anywhere in the world and I know when I see the golden arches, I know what I'm getting. Sure the menus change slightly from nation to nation, but generally it's all the same. It's comforting to know that I can go anywhere and get the meal I expect for, really, when you think about it, a pretty cheap price.
After all that, I can tell you why AC/DC is the McDonald's of music. It's because you know what you're getting. They've been playing the same songs over and over again. And I'm not talking about the exact same songs. I'm saying that their latest album sounds pretty much like their first album, or their second one, or their third for that matter. And people lap it up. They love it. They can't wait to hear more AC/DC. When's their next album coming out? I duno, but if you put on their last album, you'll know what the new one is going to sound like. Hahaha.
It's funny but it's true.
And the reason is simple. People buy it because they are buying that Big Mac. You know what it tastes like. You know that if it's any different to what you normally know, taste, hear or smell then it's not the same.
You've changed!
AC/DC use a brilliant formula to sell as many albums as possible. Give the people what they love. Don't change it unless it's broken. They rocked out with simple beats, rhythms, solos and basic notes. There is absolutely nothing special about what they do at all, musically.
But what they do, they do really well. They're solid, they rock and you know the next album will rock too. Because you've placed your order for that McChicken burger, you know that's what you're getting. If you end up with a whopper from Hungry Jacks (Burger King), then you know somethings gone wrong.
They can't change their sound. Especially in such a fickle industry where cutting your hair can break you. And it will. If AC/DC turned up one day and played like Metallica, I think the fans would like it, but I also think their album sales would drop, if any are purchased at all, and it's all because you're no longer lining up at Maccas anymore. You're at KFC now, buying the next Beyonce album. WTF? How did I get here? I wanted Jack Black, and you've given me Lady Gaga.
Tune in next week as I might compare Bono to Oprah, or Mozart to Kurt Cobain.
4 comments:
So true in the case of Mcdonalds, the reason for their success is consistantly doing it right. I stopped going to Burger King when they changed their fries.
I was never a rocker, but you might catch me some day head banging to hells bells or black is back.
Angus is better that Slash anyday of the week.
I stopped going to Burger King (Hungry Jack's here in Australia), when I found out their microwave their burgers for your enjoyment.
I try not to eat any fast food anymore. Just whole foods now, with no preservatives
Hey, You should comment on my new blog and leave a link to your blog in the comment people should come over here and see what you have to say.
Okay, will do.
Yeah, I'm a big fan of NO preservatives. The other day my mate made a comment, "The bread I buy doesn't last as long as it use to".
I said "Good."
He looked at me like I'm weird, so I said "It means there's less, or no preservative in it. It means your body can process the food instead of sitting in your guts, rotting away slowly. Anyway, I won't go into those details.
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