Tower Records: Another Example of How the Mighty Fall

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It was one of the greatest tragedies of my life, to be honest with you, when it closed down. It really, really upset me. I miss it. I miss that routine, you know, of going to buy my records or my CDs, whatever.--Elton John

This month I've been reading How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins. The book is a powerful analysis of how successful companies decline and fail.

I'd read two of Jim Collins' other books and found them both useful and personally rewarding. Built to Last illustrates the difference between founders seeking to create a legacy vs. entrepreneurs simply seeking to make a quick buck. Built to Last is a stark contrast to creative thinkers whose aim is simply to build companies they can flip into a big personal gain.

Good to Great's subtitle is pointed: "Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't." How do mediocre companies become superior and dominant in their industries? I couldn't help but think of  the New England Patriots as a team that transcended the ordinary when they hired Bill Belicheck. Exceptional leadership is definitely one of the features of great companies, Collins notes. A second feature, Collins notes, is "a culture of discipline."

The documentary All Things Must Pass is the story of Tower Records, its ascendancy and eventual decline. At its height this was a billion dollar record company with branches in 30 countries. A few short years later it was defunct. By watching this documentary you will vividly see the five steps process outlined in Jim Collins' How the Mighty Fall. These steps are as follows.

1. Hubris Born of Success
2. Undisciplined Pursuit of More
3. Denial of Risk and Peril
4. Grasping for Salvation
5. Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death

It's almost startling how the history of Tower Records, as outlined in this documentary, so perfectly follows Jim Collins' outline.

Established in 1960, Tower Records became a retail powerhouse with two hundred stores, in 30 countries, on five continents. Its humble beginnings in a small town drugstore happened to take place at precisely the right time. As they say, timing is everything. In 1999, Tower Records made $1 billion. In 2006, the company filed for bankruptcy.

* * * *

"It wasn't a job. It was just a way of life."

The documentary puts a positive spin on the story, but the realities of how it went down are pretty apparent. It was a party, and eventually there were people who got hurt. But while the party was going on, no one seemed to mind, I suppose. There was enough drugs, sex and rock 'n roll to satisfy those involved.

* * * *

At the core of Tower Records was this motto, which captured the essence of a generation: No Music, No Life. The emergence of radio at that time was also a phenomenon. The music was on the airwaves everywhere. AM superstations like WABC out of New York and others from the Deep South helped whet the appetite, marketing the new sounds. In the 60s FM radio bumped it to a new level.

In the early 80s Michael Jackson's Thriller and MTV gave the record industry another adrenaline rush. At the core, though, it was the same theme: No Music, No Life.

* * * *

The title of this documentary was borrowed from George Harrison's triple album released after the Beatles broke. In my own personal career I've often used this expression, All Things Must Pass. When things are going well, cherish it, because "this too shall pass."

The meteoric rise of Tower Records must have been a heady experience. Those who were there in the beginning talk about those days the way some might talk about a memorable event like Woodstock, except that this event lasted four decades. The astute viewer will observe that the seeds of their success were also their undoing. Things change, and the culture they created didn't.

Tower Records was not a victim. Many great companies do succeed in making difficult transitions.

* * * *

Today is Bob Dylan's 79th Birthday. He himself made many transitions during his career. With the advent of his Never Ending Tour in the late 1980's he began doing nearly 100 shows a year. COVID-19 succeeded in disrupting his schedule but hasn't interfered with his continuing to be relevant. His newest album of original material is due to be released in mid-June.

As I am oft fond of saying, there's a Dylan lyric or song for every situation. If you've read this for the marketing message sub-text woven into this blog post, then the Dylan line you'll want as your takeaway is, "He not busy being born is busy dying."

Life is about re-invention. Times change. Are you being renewed?

Related Links
Duluth Dylan Fest culminates today with three live streaming events at noon, 5 and 7:30 CST. Here is the Facebook Link to links for these three events.
Trivia: How many cover versions of Bob Dylan songs were recorded by other artists and sold via Tower Records from 1961-2006? 

Throwback Thursday: How Literature Elevates Us

In light of Tuesday night's presentation on Picasso, Storytelling and The Unseen Masterpiece, this seemed a suitable follow-up while simultaneously being a nod to Throwback Thursday. This blog post originally appeared on August 19, five summers ago.

In addition to the philosophy club which we host, Susie has been for ten years involved with a Barnes & Noble classic books club in which each month the group reads and discusses some of the world's great literature. The group has seen its share of ebb and flow but one constant throughout has been the classics, literature that goes beyond its moment in time.

What's the difference between a good book and a classic? To illustrate, I'll point to the business book Built to Last by Jim Collins. In Collins' analysis, the great companies are those that have dedicated themselves to the long haul. They hang their shingle on the word excellence at every level of the game. By way of contrast, and this was the plight of the tech bubble, many companies were being built to flip. That is, from the outside they looked like good companies but the management disregarded strengthening the foundations for the sole aim of getting bought out at a very high price, bringing profits the stakeholders.

So it is that writers have different aims when they produce books. The Jonestown Massacre took place the year I worked in a bookstore in Puerto Rico, in 1978. The Peoples Temple tragedy occurred in November, and to my utter amazement two books appeared on this topic before the end of the year. These books, long forgotten now, would not be deemed literature. They were rushed to market with the intent of exploiting the moment and are examples of a "built to flip" style of writing.

Books written to exploit the moment are not necessarily bad books, and can be informative, often timely and have a measure of value, though many are clearly written with the hope of making a buck, its only aim quite transparent. On the other hand, classics aspire to something greater. Classic fiction strives to participate in the great dialogue, our human story, bringing additional light into the great battle of light verses darkness. Unlike books on how to make a killing on Wall Street or how to raise your son to be a doctor, the great stories wrestle with ethical issues, the problem of evil and questions like Why am I here? Where did I come from? Who am I and what is my life about?

In other words, the great books deal with great themes.

Another factor in the great books is the writing itself. The importance of the theme motivates the great writers to strive for a perfection of language that is effective for higher purposes, laboring over his selection of words and sentences to more eloquently convey the ideas and the story. Hence the phrase belles letres, beautiful letters. The aim is not only a worthy theme, but writing that is worthy of the theme.

My view on these matters has been significantly shaped by John Gardner, who wrote, "Thus the value of great fiction, we begin to suspect, is not just that it entertains us or distracts us from our troubles, not just that it broadens our knowledge of people and places, but also that it helps us to know what we believe, reinforces those qualities that are noblest in us, leads us to feel uneasy about our faults and limitations." (The Art of Fiction)

Gardner's high view of literature stems from a high view of humankind.

Leo Tolstoy had this to say about the writer's task: "The main purpose of art... is this, that it tell the truth about the soul, revealing and giving expression to all the secrets one cannot say in simple words.... Art is a microscope that the artist focuses on the secrets of his own soul, and that then reveals to men the secrets common to them all."

There are two metaphors I've frequently used regarding our personal stories, which help us not only understand our human condition but also help us to better understand God. The first is the image of a chandelier. Picture a large ball of cut glass (or jewels, diamonds, whatever) and in the middle is the light, which we cannot see, but which is reflected through each jewel. We are the jewels. Our stories, and transparency, make the light more vivid. We each make a contribution to the human story, and our role is to do it the best we are able, first in learning how to understand our stories and then fine tuning our ability to communicate the story.

The second image is that of a fly's eye. (Yes, I know flies are creepy to to people, but go with me on this.) The eye of a fly has two thousand faces, which enables it to see in multiple directions. These multiple images are then synthesized in the fly's brain into something coherent. So it is with our own manifold stories. Each contributes to the whole of our understanding of the human situation.

Remember growing up and thinking every family was like yours? Then you discover that not only families are different, lives are totally different based on where they are from, their station in life, etc.

I'm out of time and will have to leave off discussing Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country or Andre Gide's Two Symphonies, Melville's Moby Dick or Dickens, Conrad and Twain.

If you write, aim high. In the process you will not only achieve more for yourself, but might lift others as well. Let your light shine and your story be told.

AFTERWARD: At the end of Tuesday's Tweevenings lecture there was a Q&A period in which several interesting questions were asked. One person asked who I thought might be the Picasso of our generation might be, or something to that effect. At the time I had no clear answer,  but later recalled to mind Duchamp's statement that what is significant today will be more apparent in retrospect fifty years from now. 

Meantime, if you are local here to the Twin Ports, Ken Marunowski's opening tonight at the Red Mug, 5-7 tonight should be a rewarding experience. And With Sirens Blaring tomorrow night at the Prove.