Barons of Suburbia

"Barons of Suburbia is taking on the behavior of the Barons, that they've taken on the patriarchy and their ideology. Whether you're looking at certain governments or certain relationships, we go back to the personal and the political always." [toriamos.com - March 2005]

"This song is about takers. We all know them, either as people we have to work with or friends we find out about eventually, and sometimes it's a real shock to realize that when push comes to shove, all these people really care about is what's in it for them. In the end they don't even pretend to care if you're okay. Not if you're okay, or if the friendship is okay, or anything else. Can somebody tell me what is wrong with the idea of a win-win? Why does somebody always have to bite the dust? Jeez. These days it seems as if it's getting harder and harder to get people on the team who really want to show that they value one another. People might say that they want to, but at the end of the day most of them care only about what they get out of it.

"I remember a couple of years ago when one of the musicians said to me, "I think music should be free." And I was just not in the mood to deal with yet another genius, but I did, and I said, "Well, you have made the question about where to send your check easy for me to answer." "Um," said the musician, "what do you mean?" I answered, "We weren't sure whether to send your check to your address or to your girlfriend's address, but now you've answered my question for me." "I'm not quite following you, Tor," he said. "Well, obviously since you believe that music should be free, then we won't need to send you your check." The musician looked at me incredulously, and with shock in his voice said, "But I've just played my heart out." I looked at him very calmly and said, "So you think you should get paid but music should be free?" "Well, yeah," he said. "And so who do you think is going to pay you if music is free?" I asked. And therein lies the problem -- everybody wants free stuff but nobody wants to work for free. The truth is, all the people who have ever told me that music should be free still believe that they should be paid for their job, whatever that job may be. They are completely insulted when I suggest that they work for free as well. People usually get quite defensive at this point and say, "If I don't get paid for a day's work, then basically I'm being cheated." And I look at them and say, "That is basically right." This musician sheepishly looked at me and said, "I guess I sound pretty hypocritical... but Tor, you're kidding, right?" And I said, "You mean about you not getting paid? Of course I'm going to pay you, because I value what you do. But do you want to know what scares me, and I mean really scares me?" And he looked at me completely baffled and said, "No, what really scares you?" "The fact," I said, "that you weren't kidding." [Tori Amos: Piece by Piece]