I was going to start my post with something just like you see above, but then I came to the conclusion that that would be totally useless. Was anyone else disgusted by the video we watched in class? I found the fact that some morons have made a living off of claiming to capture some made-up "cool" and selling it to even bigger morons employed by large corporations funny, infuriating, and tragic. What those companies buy, what they ship out to our television screens, and what we consume with such passion is anything but cool. What a subjective and useless term. "Cool" is simply a person's individual tastes. When people sell an image of "cool", they are trying to force the public to like the same things. Sadly, many people fall into this trap. Just because someone likes something different than you, does that make them "uncool"? The "cool" hunters only find things that small groups like. That doesn't make it "cool". Yet, it is sad when they sell what they find to a large audience. The "cool" doesn't die, but genuine art or expression are often brutally murdered. Let us take a look at the case of the next big thing in music. Somewhere right now a band is playing their music in front of a small group of dedicated fans. The artist is expressing truth and emotion, which the audience relates to their own experiences, and a good time is had by all. Soon, other bands adopt similar styles, more people join the fan-base, and a scene is formed. This is the point in the story where our "cool" hunters come to the rescue. They sell this new scene to the corporate set. The company's rip out all of the soul and sell us the lifeless body. You and I buy the albums and we all live happily, mindlessly ever after.
I like how you mentioned the fact that bands become popular and becomes "souless." Do you think that it is better for these bands to remain "underground" and living from gig to gig and keep their "soul" rather than becoming rich and losing what makes them unique?
ReplyDeleteDo you wear label brands?
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of musicians who have stayed away from the overly corporate side of the music industry. In such cases, a majority of people may have never heard their names, but they still have a devoted group of fans and make a career out of doing what they love. So, I think there is a happy medium between being signed to a major label, promoted aggressively, becoming a millionaire or being an artist. Someone on the brink or a big breakout has to ask themselves the very question that you asked me. If the payday means changing something about your music then the choice would either be very easy or quite difficult.
ReplyDeleteI don't really wear branded clothing with any recognizable labels or logos. For the most part I wear solid-colored t-shirts with no logo, because I don't care who made my shirt, just that it's comfortable. The only thing that I'll have on that has a label is my shoes. I only bought those because I thought they looked cool and were on sale.