SPECIAL REPORT: The idea that we all have to be "NORMAL"

BlueVino

Resist1776.info

5/10/2013

As any of us look at what’s in the spotlight of all our different societies, I think we can (for the most part) agree that is all pretty boring & banal.  Not much that should be important & noteworthy ever seems to make it to the center stage, so to speak.  Sure, there’s occasional spurts of genius that manage to make it into the “household name” notoriety, but even some of those are really not much compared to what used to matter.  Also, we see this all across the board, not in any one category or medium.

In film, we see a lot of political pandering.  Repetition of rhetoric of popular political points of view.  Especially in kids’ movies, like the Lorax.  Slandering capitalism indirectly the same way that’s prevalent in ignorant leftists.  (If you don’t know what I mean about slandering capitalism, please see this article).  Not much art in film anymore… well, at least not “popular” film.  There’s a large number of independent artists making films.  But my point with all of this article is about what becomes the most “popular.”

I’m not old by any means, so I never got to live in a time when popular things were also the most creative, artful, & passionate.  There was a time when artists refused to allow their works to be associated with products & advertisements.  Sure, not all of them.  Some of them sold out.  Some were jerks to begin with & that was their only intention in the first place.  Which wouldn’t be selling out, it’d just mean they driven by greed alone.  Aerosmith comes to mind in that regard, as they admitted early on that it was ONLY ever about “sex, drugs, & rock n’ roll.”  Which is shorthand for:  I don’t care about anything but the money, as it buys me all that I want.  What confuses me is that there were people who respected them, knowing that the music they were creating wasn’t about a message.  Wasn’t about their own feelings.  Wasn’t about getting in touch with humanity.  Heck, it wasn’t even about the listener enjoying what they were listening to.  Sure, they had to MAKE it enjoyable, but not because it mattered that it was enjoyed, but because it got them the money they so desired.  Knowing this should be enough for one to NOT respect the music & disregard it.  But it didn’t.

I feel that it was this discovery by record companies that has helped lead to our current state of affairs regarding, not just what we hear in popular music, but down to literally everything around us.  Advertisements.  Billboards.  Television.  Entertainment of various mediums.  Devices we use & why they’re made for us to use them.  Literally EVERYTHING.  It’s very sad & very disheartening.  It hurts & it also enrages me as a fellow human.

In films & documentaries about the music industry’s early years in America, it seems to be portrayed as a generally honest business.  That sort of “you scratch my back I scratch yours” kind of structure.  You’re a musician?  I’ll make your albums & distribute them because I believe they’ll sell, you just keep making that music & we’ll both profit.  Fair enough.  But somewhere that all got perverted.  I’m sure there were early examples, but obviously not like today where the perversion in business is standard practice.  Somewhere along the line, a formula was discovered.  There’s a lot of myth & rumor about that, so it’s not necessarily proven to exist.  But even the Doors’ producer came up with one, believing it’s how the Beatles kept making so many hits, & they made a song using it.  That song ended up being a hit (can’t remember which one it was off the top of my head).  To come up with the formula, producer Paul Rothschild listened to a lot of hit songs of the day & compared aspects in which they all were similar.  Part of what I remember being in the formula was the number of times the tag line or chorus was repeated.  There was a window of how many times you should say it at the least & how many times would be too much.

Fast forward:  Madonna.  Here was a girl that was basically created BY the record company.  After years of supporting bands that managed to fall into what record companies were looking for, they figured “what if we just design a pop star from the ground up?  All they need is the ability to sing, we’ll do the rest.”  Poof – Madonna.  That worked out SO well, it became the standard practice in the industry.  They still use the old “bands that fall into what record companies are looking for” method, as sometimes certain musicians aspire to be exactly whatever the record company wants them to be.

FULL ARTICLE HERE