The Train Wreck Formerly Known As Google and The Art Of Staying Famous

Does anyone else notice the very slight stench in the air?

Do you know what it is?

What you are feeling are the first tremors of the downfall of Google.

Really.

No one is actually talking about it.

But really everyone is talking about it.

Even the cool kids are saying things.

Now here’s what went wrong.

Everything starts with your core fans. Smart companies, like smart bands, know that the way to last is to first make your core audience true believers.

For Google it worked.

Google was so simple.

Clean.

“Don’t Be Evil.” 

They created a vibe.

If you were using Google you felt kinda cool.

For a freaking seach engine to give you that feeling is amazing.

And the folks at Google capitalized on it. Like a talented band that gets a good buzz they kept putting out hits likes Maps with cool little balloons on them and Email which kept conversations.

Then…they became the biggest band in the world.

It’s at this point in your career where you really have to think. 

Some people can’t take it.

It literally drove Dave Chappelle out of the country. It caused John Lennon to go into hiding. It made Bono into a philantropist and made Kurt Cobain kill himself.

But some bands get the idea that they can do anything because they really are the greatest band in the world.

Prince, my generation’s greatest musician,did that. He figured, after Purple Rain, he could put out anything. 

So he did.

It was said at his peak that Prince was so popular that he could put out a record of himself coughing and it would sell. To see if it was true Prince coughed at the beginning of the official Raspberry Beret video. The record and video were hits.

“Around The World In A Day” is a decent album. Fans like me thought it was great. But others looked at like it was…GoogleBase.

Now people still love you and will give you leeway. Just like Prince, Google has a lot of goodwill stored.

Maybe I don’t see the full vision be behind Google Sets or Google Page Creator. But I think they are really Google’s version of …”Under The Cherry Moon” and I just don’t feel it.

But here’s the deal. Again.

We have to feel it.

We have to get it.

The songs and/or software applications gotta give off that vibe that made us love the company in the first place.

If the vibe didn’t matter I might as well use MSN. It is just a search engine.

If you keep putting out crap I might just think you lost it and move on.

If the cool kids decide to find a better search engine, search for a new religion, then all bets are off. It won’t matter what the stock price is.

The fall from greatest band in the world to obscurity is a quick one these days.

Just ask Oasis.

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