Monday, 8 November 2010

Modern day 'Music' Recipes:

Take some RnB and add some electro house/dubstep...

THEN... insert a 'rapper'/'singer' with a pinch of autotune and some cocaine (you may want to add to this pending on the said 'artists' ability) grab one of a few producers and constant repetition from radio payola and there you have it....Chart success!

Now...this may only be remembered for about 2-3 weeks so be warned as after being discarded you may be left with cravings for more and more with a hollow and confused feeling.

Friday, 19 March 2010

Good Day To You...

Welcome to my blog…..

Thats if your able to log on due to the numbers swamping the site……i know i know but come on…one at a time please people.

Ok so look, you may be the ONLY person reading this…But you can feel good about that. As to be honest im not too bothered about numbers (thats lucky then -Ed), its more that sometimes i want to either rant or get an opinion of mine off my chest. When recently i did so i have to say i felt slightly better afterwards.

So this is the reason ive created this. Dont worry i wont be telling you what i had for breakfast (Frosties) or what im doing during my days off work (playing xbox). Or what famous people i see in my general daily routine of life (Bradley from Eastenders on the tube..) No ..i wont.

I shall rabbit on no more and kick this off with a piece i wrote recently when hearing a Police song on the radio…
Sting was furious that Simon had also nicked his last razor.

Sting – Idiot?

Any 60 year old that calls himself Sting is an idiot.”

This was Simon Cowells response, when told of the singers comments about the X-Factor, to an amused Piers Morgan and crowd in the ITV ego massaging interview with Mr Cowell.

 Now I’m not the biggest Sting fan (no really) but after hearing one of his many songs on the radio I wanted to look into what’s behind this kind of comment a bit more as I feel its very apt to the ‘making up new history’ with a brash comment way of things that you see made by someone famous with young (and old) impressionable people taking on as there own thoughts.

I wont cut and paste all of Stings comments about the X factor as if you really want to read it then just look up sting on Wikipedia. What I will do I is take a couple of points he made that I feel relevant to this article.

Two of the comments that stood out was that the X-factor is ‘a soap opera which has nothing to do with music’. and "you have judges who have no recognisable talent apart from self-promotion."

Now that may sound a little harsh there from Sting (real name Gordon). However, with a peak audience of 20million of the British public, you have to ask who are they tuning in to see? Is it the acts themselves? Does the public remember who was in the 2006,2007 or 2008 series of X-Factor? With contestants that were constantly told would have a ‘promising future in the music industry’ or 'your a definite pop star in the making’.

I would be impressed if 10% of the audience, off the top of their head, could name someone other than the winner’s name (or even the winner) let alone most of those that take part in all the previous series.

So yeah who are they tuning in to see...Is it the judges? Simon with his blunt ‘your crap’ or ‘that was the best audition I’ve ever seen’ approach to crushing peoples dreams or escalating them to unsubstantial levels of euphoria which results in getting his rating boosting ‘boo’s’ or rapturous standing ovations like when HE does it it means something more.

Cheryl with her ‘I’m standing up for the real people Simon!!’ shtick. Crying a lot, all be it less than when she first appeared on the series (yes I do have a better memory than a goldfish.. slightly) and change of glamorous outfits every ‘episode’.

Danni Minogue’s there to make up the numbers and look pretty with some Australian ballsy ‘let’s get em’ attitude. Of course last but not least is Louis Walsh who, let’s face it, only knows what male singers will make ‘Stars’ going solely on looks. And this is by the fact that if he fancy’s them there in. (no pun intended).

Of course you also have Dermot O’Leary who after the collapse of Big brother’s popularity (and point) needed another way of staying in the mix with possibly the biggest presenters job on television. A likable chap and a good go between with the contestants and judges.

We get famous people on there doing there “this is how you really do it kid” lessons which to be honest look like they last about 5 minutes per person and in addition results with the star ‘showing them how to do it’ on the now Sunday night results show with a roll call, prior to them performing their new single, highlighting how much they’ve done and are still doing leading up to this performance.

I wonder if Sting were to agree to be on the show, as I’m sure in the past he has been asked to by Mr Cowell  i mean who hasn't? (you-Ed), then what his roll call would be…..?

Well with a sold out career spanning over 4 decades, selling over 45-50 million albums and an estimated worth of $362.8 million (£239.05 million) id say that Sting could be pretty pleased with his career and the longevity of it to say the least.

In addition, he has a huge worldwide fan base (which started from touring pubs) and with more sold out concerts planned this year (2010) you would have to ask that if he decided to advertise the dates under the name ‘Gordon’ then would anyone turn up? and if they didnt wouldn’t THAT make him more of an idiot?! in Simon Cowells ‘lets not be silly’ world in which nearly everything borders on ridiculous (have you seen American idol?) HE would have to say no.

The X-Factor it has to be said does find singing talent such as Leona Lewis, JLS (I guess), Alexandra Burke (maybe could of asked Sting for better name ideas) and of course the first (and unforgetable) winner …..Steve Brookstein.....(probably not to be asked back on the show to give tuition) to name but …well the only ones.

However hasn’t even Leona done better in the States for them not seeing her for 9 weeks in a row and also faced an early backlash in the UK due to the same reason?.

Its all very entertaining. So many characters (Jedward, Chico and other semi entertaining twats) so much self manipulated drama (judges quitting then coming back - oooh please come back!). You could say much like a soap opera. A lot of its scripted and done the way the scriptwriters want you to see it with the stories that are nearly instantly forgotten by the next week due to an over stimulating sequence of events on every episode.

So, is the now 60 year old Sting an idiot for still calling himself Sting? Or was Simon Cowell just adding another brick to the wall of dominance that is his vision of the music industry and summing up modern society in general.

By Mr B (my idiot name)