The circle is complete. As the baby boomers fade into the sunset, everything they experienced, from the sixties even into the eighties, has been scraped from history. Music is no longer about meaning, but pure entertainment. In the pre-Beatle era we had Fabian, Bobby Rydell... Now we anoint pop stars whose songs are written by committee with fake gravitas, believing that if the industry and its media compatriots pump up the volume enough the public will care.
But it doesn't.
Oh, don't get me wrong... People are fans of music. Especially youngsters. But what said music represents is very different from what it represented to the boomers. It's background, or else it's a culture to invest yourself in in a vapid economy. You can love BTS, but don't try and convince me they're a landmark group making music for the ages. It's for you, fine, but it's not for everybody.
And that's the case with so much of what is purveyed these days.
Actually, we'd be better off having an awards show trumpeting touring. Because that's where the rubber meets the road, can you sell tickets?
Then again, seemingly the worst of the acts have brain dead fans.
Everybody has thrown their hands up in the air. Saying they're powerless. The labels admit they can't break an act, so they don't sign any, unless they've broken themselves. As far as searching the nation for viable talent that can grow, ultimately creating meaningful, lasting work...they've completely abdicated this responsibility. It's too heavy a lift. The odds are too long. It's too expensive. All we hear from labels is how they're diversifying. Their core competency, signing and breaking music, has been abdicated.
Now in the old days, music fans would know all the nominees. No longer. But it's even worse, if you're driven to check out the nominated work...you're not impressed, you don't want to hear it again.
As for the endless categories... It's akin to the scene at large, endless cottage industry, when this is a business that has always been built on stars. But today a star is is a brand. An enterprise. The music is just a starting point, it's not enough by its lonesome. And mistakes are anathema. A show has tons of production and a lot of the music is on hard drive.
And the joke is on the industry itself. Because it has relinquished all of its power. Music is not supposed to run alongside society, it's supposed to poke it, make it nervous, make people question preconceptions, engender change.
And that does not mean dressing up in costume and speaking to the frustrations of the audience. That's a part of it, but even if you do that...those who did so in the past lived outside the system, these acts just want to profit in the usual ways.
Never mind the complaints about streaming compensation and ticket fees...
Have you seen the grosses for less than superstar acts recently? This is not an industry that likes to air its dirty laundry, but when you look at the blue Ticketmaster dots for a lot of these shows...people just don't want to go.
As for anthems, perennials, music that will stand the test of time... That ship sailed long ago. Everything is about today, and today only. And if it makes bank it can't be criticized.
The biggest new act is made up of cartoon characters. Think about that. But the Academy refuses to recognize this. It's the year of "KPop Demon Hunters" and Morgan Wallen, period. No one else had purchase on a huge swath of the American public. To give the nominated acts awards is to participate in a circle jerk. There's no there there with most of these acts. Other than their grosses.
It could change.
But one thing is for sure, we need change for the business to be healthy once again.
And it all comes from the acts themselves, who have the tools at their fingertips. But their beliefs are out of whack. Not only do they aspire to be pop stars, many make music with substandard vocals and complain they don't break through. God, when you formed a band in the garage back in the day, finding a lead singer was key to success. The person had to be able to SING! And the songs had to have melodies, changes...the basics were paramount, but not anymore.
You can tell how cynical these nominations are by the number of acts in the categories. We want winners to command the lion's share of the votes. But with eight or nine nominees you can win with less than 20% of the vote, there's no consensus there. But if someone is excluded someone bitches...the label and you've got to be fearful some minority or afflicted group will complain you're being biased.
Now awards shows have been tanking for years. The Oscars are nearly irrelevant, at most a fashion show, but fashion influencers online have more power than these two-dimensional actresses.
The Grammy organization can point to its new CBS deal and suddenly better ratings and say it is winning. But money isn't everything and the ratings are anemic when you consider the number of potential viewers.
It's a sideshow. When music used to be the main show.
We can debate all day long how we got here. Did MTV make image paramount? Did the promotion of Mariah Carey and other popsters, along with TV singing shows, create a paradigm youngsters imitated, despite it having the nutritious value of cotton candy?
Now if you're in the business today, you're a believer, that's how you get paid. But if you're outside it...
Bernie Sanders is a bigger star than any nominated act. Maybe you hate him, but that's just the point. He's got beliefs different from his compatriots and he's sticking to them, and money is not his personal goal. He stands for something. And even in his eighties people believe in him.
Really, you're going to believe in these two-dimensional often frauds nominated for these awards?
Things change. Television used to be a wasteland, now it's the primary artistic force.
Movies used to engender public discussion, they were part of the national debate. Despite all the press hoopla for "One Battle After Another," the public isn't talking about it, not even as much as it did "Kramer vs. Kramer," never mind "Apocalypse Now."
But you can't say this. You're labeled lowbrow as the powers of yesteryear keep telling us we've got to go to the theatre, that's the only way to experience movies...talk about disconnected.
And if you criticize the recording industry and its music the pushback is intense, after all, this is how people are making their living.
Nothing can change. Even though it already has, and we're all paying the price.
Music triumphs when it's artistry. And being able to sing and write music goes part of the way, but for that je ne sais quoi...we need outsiders changing it up. We need more than a pretty ditty. We need culture.
And there's more culture in "KPop Demon Hunters" than there is in almost all of the big time nominees.
Then again, it was created by outsiders given money by a renegade outfit, i.e. Netflix. Our hit music was driven by outsiders. Not anymore.
How can we inspire youngsters to greatness?
By stopping promoting this tripe and helping then along the way with education like you get in the BRIT School. By investing in that which has merit but is not obviously commercial.
But really it all comes down to spontaneous generation.
But there must be influences.
With influences like these, expect a long, dark tunnel ahead.
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