Gods of Rock
So what of the latest cult of rock stars entering into the likes of celebrity reality television shows? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Is it a case of “shock and awe” or “bling and crap”?
I think the jury is out on this one. Though many rock fans might take the line that it’s a sell out and cheapens the music and what it stands for, I kinda feel it may well have it’s advantages.
Who could forget when John Lydon (ex. Sex Pistols & PIL) appeared in “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” and used the occasion to air his various views on life, people and just about everything else and then proceeded to disband his fellow campers when he felt he had enough of them or perhaps our most recent example of such behaviour with Donny Toureette from “Towers of London” who appeared in “Celebrity Big Brother” and took his escape over the wall after only 48 hours being incarcerated in the house with his other wannabe celebrity housemates! Or what about Swedish metal monster band Lordi winning Eurovision (a television reality show if ever there was one!)
Our world of music, television and media in general has changed dramatically in the last 20 years and as the saying goes “any media interest is better than no media interest” and I suppose our musical heroes need to find any way they can to self publicise and get noticed if they stand any chance of competing with made-up studio produced pop idols.
Though the number of ways in which we can self publicise ourselves has increased dramatically with the dawn of the internet and it’s subsequent demand for your attention, there has also been a marked decline in album sales.
Rather than being musically fed with what the studio bosses and music moguls want us to buy and listen to there is now a slow emergence of radical rebellious bands and musicians who will send out their material via the electronic super highway via sites such as You Tube and MySpace instead.
In a sense there is a musical war going on in Cyberspace and to be quite honest I kinda like the tune. Eventually of course the media barons will win but in the mean time why not just enjoy the freedom and innovation of it all and relish this new 21st Century bloom of post microchip anarchy and chaos?
Because out of it all will and is coming some real gems of rock music talent and who cares how such bands and artists self promote themselves. You need to fight fire with fire these days and if like me you are fed up to the back teeth with the endless boy and girl pop groups singing tired, lame and pointless pop ditties to the masses who swallow whatever happens to be fed to them, then join in this mass rebellion and fill your ipods & MP3 players with new fresh music that sits kinder on the ears and actually has something worth saying. You never know, you might even buy the CD one day.
Perhaps rather than slating our musical chums from appearing in these TV shows, let us rejoice and be glad and proud that they come out and shake it all up with true rock n roll attitude and overall coolness. Be scared, be very scared! (And why not?) Afterall, it’s about time someone new came along and did the rock world a favour so our more senior and slowly aging and now sedate rock gods such as the likes of Alice Cooper and Ozzy can take a break and play a round of golf or two or perhaps do a spot of keep fit or fishing instead. Afterall they deserve it and have done their time and service to the wide world of rock and done us proud!
Now bring on the new gods of rock, who will dazzle and amaze us with their power chords, skinny jeans, big hair and blood curdling screams, the rock world really needs ya! Grrrrrrr!!
So anyone up for a go in “Strictly Ballroom” or perhaps “Celebrity Love Island”?
Gaby