What the hell has happened to people's standards??

[Brooks]

I was just browsing my little BBC RSS feeder in my Firefox and clicked on a headline "Unpredictable Singer Amy Winehouse Lashes Out At Fan."

First off, that's not news.

I understand; Glastonbury is one of the UK's biggest and most revered festivals, and Winehouse is a troubled celebrity in the news. BBC is going to cover it.

That's not what shocked me.

It was the quality of the performances in the little videos on that news page. Winehouse, Jay-Z, and some pop-tart singer named Duffy are all featured in clips from Gastonbury, and all three are absolutely horrible.

Not just horrible by my picky standards, but what really should be OFFENSIVE to all people with any sense of decency in art! So gut-wrenchingly bad that I feel for the future of HUMANITY because of it! I'm choking up....

See for yourself:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7479092.stm



Now I have to leave.

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

I don't know about the other two but Jay Z is a very shitty rapper with very shitty beats.

 

[salisbury veal]

Lighten up, buddy.

 

[Altitudes]

Peoples have standards?? NOOO!!

Seriously though- Amy Winehouse is a talentless cokewhore, Jay-Z is fuckin' SHITTY, and Duffy, what kind of name is Duffy? Sounds like some turd that needs to be flushed down the toilet.

 

[Anvil]

I've accepted the fact that anything in the news regarding music celebrities is pure stupidity. Any artist whom has no respectable coming of popularity (Virtually non-existent to find someone respectable nowadays whom the news reports on) usually isn't talented whatsoever.

 

[Brooks]

It's not the NEWS, it's the PERFORMANCE itself. Listen to the music in those videos! Amy Winehouse sounds like a bumbling drunken whore, and Jay-Z can't even sing in key!

And they're HEADLINING a music festival? If it gets worse than this, then I'm checking out.

 

[Captain Beard]

I didn't know modern (c)rap had a key you can sing in.

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

I really fucking hate Jay Z. He's such a horrible rapper. It's pretty sad when you suck more than Lil Wayne, but at least he gets good beats.

And he's fucking Beyonce. That gigantic-lipped fucker!

Was it appropriate to use a - there? Can you guys start correcting me on that?

 

[Altitudes]

I actually don't know when the dash is appropriate Maybe when it is two words that seem like they should be one word, like gigantic-lipped fucker, then I believe the dash is appropriate.

Do rappers sing in key? I thought they just blurt out words at the mic

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

You should listen to some good Houston chopped and screwed. There is good singing to be had in rap, and not that r and b crap you see metrosexual black men doing either.

Just as you don't hear good metal on the radio or tv, the same goes for rap in most cases.

 

[Altitudes]

I suppose. I do like some rap, only if the beat is real good... and if marijuana is involved.

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

If you're ever in the hood, I'd like to introduce you to purple drank, broham. It's like discovering music all over again, just not as good as metal or folk. Unless you're in the car in the city at night.

 

[Altitudes]

Nor-Cal has some dank, skunky shit. Some serious stuff that will put you out of it, haha. Neal can back this claim up.

I'm hittin' the sack now. Get sleep man!

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

Drank not dank! A friend of mine is in North Carolina right now though, I hear the bud was nice.

 

[Corsnor]

Duffy is actually pretty good. I even listen to Antony and the Johnsons and Rufus Wainwright next to Meshuggah and Dillinger Escape plan. Good for me.

 

[derek]

Wow. You're so eclectic.

...


News is not so much objective but rather what people want to know. Winehouse is a walking car crash and people love to be angered by her antics, ergo it's in the news. The BBC has a taken a slide in recent years. It has a mandate to provide what licence payers want, so that it attempts to reflect the tastes of the country at large, and frankly the tastes of the majority in this country are bland.

 

[antiface]

Couple of things here, from my perspective:

Duffy is, at least, TRYING to bring singing back. Not that caterwauling histrionic nonsense that the pop community has been subjected to since Mariah Carey thought that what made Whitney Houston good was to overdo it, but actual singing. Duffy isn't THAT bad, and considering her childhood in Wales, what do you really expect? Of the 3, she's the one that shouldn't catch so much flak.

Jay Z is an entrepreneur. Don't think otherwise, because any thought of attributing "artist" to the man is a huge waste of effort. He is a commodity. He sells. That's it. That's why he has albums. Tours are just a means of diversifying his product exposure. To think he would have any TALENT is to not think.

Amy Winehouse. <sigh> Where to even begin? She's Sid Vicious, GG Allin and Mama Cass rolled into one, as far as self-destructive personalities go. However, the media loves to paint her in the Janis Joplin/Jimi Hendrix/Jim Morrison sense of things, in that she's some pained artist who lashes out at the throngs of fans who adore her, because her life is in such turmoil. Well, no. She can't hold a candle to the artistry of Jimi or Jim or Janis. She's a woman with a decent voice and a fucked up life. A life she's made, not one that happened around her and she got caught up in it. She'll probably die someday, and be martyred for it.

Does this mean that people's standards have fallen? Oh, I think that this fact has been established ever since the early 90's when boy bands took over. I am referring to the mass machine turnout of subpar, inferior music processed for mass consumption for the dead-ear generation. But, if it is what sells, what can you do? Lament the passing of real music? The upsurgence of great records and musicians sneaking into the top 100 (Opeth, anyone?) is cause to celebrate. Support the good bands, and keep spreading the word. That's all you can do. The stupid, ugly monster that is "public opinion" isn't going to be easily slayed. So, might as well enjoy the good stuff while you can, and support it as best you can.

 

[derek]

Nice essay.

...

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

tl;dr, amirite?

 

[derek]

I actually read it thinking: Hang on, this is probably what everyone was thinking/aware of, yet here we are with Capt. Obvious writing an essay about it.

URSEXYMAX.