Where we leave art for tart
I just posted this massively off-topic rant on a mailing list I'm on. It's a variation on something I've been banging on about for ages; the deification of celebrity. I doubt it'll be the last time you hear from me on this topic.
I considered since it was a largley off-topic ramble that I should repost it elsewhere as people in the original mailing list will probably just sigh and skip to the next post.
On 26/03/2008, xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> i recall the amount of new recording labels erupting at the time,
> releasing 12" with moronic music and a "hot" girl doing "vocals".
> Anyone with a girl that wasn't too afraid to come on a microphone had
> a record out then.
Hasn't it always been like that? Someone does something interesting/novelty and makes a few quid, suddenly everyone is onto it and a craze starts. If there was anything artistic in what started it, it's trampled underfoot in the rush for quick profits.
Everyone wants to be a star, you see all these kids in schools now who's main goal in life is to be a star, and they get convinced of it because "people just like them" "made it".
Most of them have no real talent, at least in the area they are heading in. I watched a TV show last week with this local girl in it who was going to be a huge famous singer. She kinda looked cute which was the only reason, I think, that the two bit record producer took her on board I feel. She sings, therefore she has talent... seems to be the belief. She might be shocked to find that a lot of her school-friends could sing as well as she can with a bit of coaching. It's just that singing is no longer a passtime for most people. It's seen as the reserve of "pop stars" and wannabees, rather than an ancient form of expression that is open to all.
This girl won't make it because she's not an exceptional singer. The market for teen hotties who can sing is stale and I can't see there being room for anyone new until she's too old to be accepted. She'll fail, and she'll have put al her hopes in this and will see herself as a failure for the rest of her life because of it. Any taken she had in any other field will likely be overlooked.
I'm off topic now, but this is something that really bothers me. I think the internet and the craze of these fucking Pop Idols-type programs have given a lot of kids false hopes and wrong directions in life which will leads to lots of young people with no hope and shattered dreams and a worse future for all of us.
Why would a young person struggle to be a "normal" person, in a "normal" job like shoe sales, plumbing, design, PC maintenence, car repair etc etc... when there is a chance you could be a star?
For many being a star is all that matters in life, anything else is deemed as a second rate life.
Here the road to the downfall of humanity begins, or at least turns from a meandering lane into a highway.
I know that most of them time I'd rather have a good plumber than another Britney Spears.
Because at the end of the day stars are of no practical use, they just sit in the sky looking pretty and distract us from the real issues on the ground.
Labels: music biz, rants, repost
Written by PRAEst76 on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 
Reactions
Post a Comment
Special Offer
Press Release Relief
The Officially Unnofficial THROBBING GRISTLE DVD
(recording session paperdoll stick puppet recreation)
Following serious email interest from a couple of people since my post on the grief list on the subject I should elaborate on my TGDVD recording session stick-puppet theatre video offer:
This video will feature the FULL TGDVD session as it appears on the bootleg mp3s I downloaded and the full concert film played out imaginitively by myself using handmade paper-dollies of the band mounted on lolly-pop sticks, augmented by choice FX from some old BBC Radiophonic Workshop LPs. This will be filmed in traditional SVHS handicam format lovingly distorted by bad focus and over-caffinated operation. The video itself will come specially wrapped in black dyed surgical stocking with the TG logo hand-drawn on it in red crayon, this will be contained in an old seventies style ladies shopping bag bought in the local branch of WarOnWant (the style of the individual bags may differ according to supply) along with a certificate of ownership and five glossy printed cards showing screenshots of random websites about riverside wildlife. Each package will be individually numbered from 1 to... whatever number it goes up to.
Each set will be hand-crafted to order and may contain individual quirks that will add unique charm to this special piece of historical importance.
I'm offering this video free of charge to all of those who wanted to see TG over the past year but couldn't because they wanted to wait to see if anyone else they knew was going or for their tax rebate to come through. There will be a modest administration/handling charge of £400 payable in used notes in a brown paper bag left in the back-seat of an abandoned Ford Fiesta beside the line coming into Norwich train station. Please remember to leave your address and phone number along with the names of your children and what school they go to.
This is a once in a lifetime offer (unless it comes up again later).
Look out for my forthcoming Genesis P-Orridge paperdoll. Recreate Genesis P-Orridge in the comfort of your own home (or somebody elses). The first in my Put Some Bloody Clothes On! series of paperdolls for shameless exhibitionists with poor taste.
This notice is intended for satirical purposes only and is not to be taken anyway other than lightly.
Labels: music biz, rants, satire