Having spent my first two entries writing about the past and how I ended up working in music, I think I should write a bit about the present this time. I may annoy a couple of people (if anyone reads this) but that is not my intention.
The state of popular music (and in that I include contemporary rock, "R & B" and other genres) today is shockingly bad - not that there aren't lots of talented, creative and musical people around. Quite obviously there are. But more than ever the system is stacked against them. There are lots of reasons for this and I would be sitting here typing all day and all night if I tried to give a comprehensive break down. Today I am just going to concentrate on one aspect of this. TV talent shows such as The X Factor and Britain's got Talent are anti-creativity, anti-integrity, anti-originality and, to a great extent, anti-anyone who is over 25. This isn't new - that tendency has always existed - but the TV shows have intensified the effect because they command a huge audience and they grab a disproportionate piece of the action. The kind of control that someone like Simon Cowell has over popular music is comparable to the control Murdoch exercised over the media and, indirectly, the political and social climate of this country. "What about Susan Boyle?" I hear you ask. No harm to her. She has a genuine talent for singing and it's good to have someone succeeding who doesn't conform to the expected norm but I'm afraid Susan just represents those in control venturing into a different but still lucrative market. In a way she is the exception that proves the rule. The main objection I have to the way these shows are run is that they always have the acts singing very well known (not to say well-worn) songs. The advice and control that "mentors" give is always away from creativity and towards commercialism and safety. Can you imagine John Martyn or PJ Harvey on X Factor! You would never see them on TV as they would be weeded out right away. Anything original or edgy or iconoclastic never gets through the selection process. Of course if some contestants are unbalanced or so untalented that they are liable to make a colossal fool of themselves they may get through to be mocked and sneered at and (if they're lucky) patronised. That's entertainment - of a kind, though not a kind to be proud of.
The business has become a parody of itself and a very self-serving, narrow branch of capitalism with an ever-shrinking connection to music. Why on earth anyone wants to listen to people like Simon Cowell or Louis Walsh talking about music is beyond me. They bring nothing but a knowledge of shallow commercialism to it and they have a vested interest in perpetuating a non-creative music business. They haven't won yet but they have made a huge dent in music and I am genuinely worried about its future if the popularity of this phenomenon continues.
Birds sing because they love it. Nothing can keep people from expressing themselves. Unfortunately social "norms" are drummed into us constantly. Some of us are lucky enough to wake up and just keep doing what we do.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. People will always express themselves. My worry is that the tendency of the business is to filter out innovation in order to keep music bland, repetitive and unthreatening. Real self-expression is marginalised and made-to-measure, sung-to-order, professional blandness rules.
ReplyDeleteI have three boys, 31, 28 and 21. They listen to some "modern" music but by and large their music libraries are filled with the music of my youth. I cannot comment on the reality shows as I tend not to watch shite. To say I am an an old fart is an understatement. I think the last Album I bought was the Travelling Wilburys. My wife who has more eclectic tastes that me, has introduced me to some, what might be called, country/folk/rock stuff that I quite like but not as much as enjoy the music of my generation.
ReplyDeleteLighten up Tony xxx
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should lighten up. Trouble is I have a bit of a worry about this. I am reminded of a sketch in "Goodness Gracious Me" where the Indian cast parody the white drunken excursion to the Indian restaurant. After a display of ignorance which owes NOTHING to fiction, Sanjeev says, "Bring me the blandest thing on the menu." I'm just worried that, as far as mainstream goes, in music, the blandest thing on the menu may end up BEING the menu.
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