Turns out, for me anyway, the bridge between style and substance is a long one, too long. I mean, I just don't get it. Rarely do we see anymore, an extremely talented and gifted artist sitting down, writing some songs, recording them, and sharing them with the world...not because it made them millions, not because they had a marketing deal with Ray Ban or whatever, but, because they had to....it was their gift, and the only way to exercise it was to play...purely for the love of playing and it was genuine, it was real. Now don't get me wrong, these type of artists still emerge...Jack White, John Mayer, Norah Jones, Taylor Swift and Kings of Leon, to name a few...but sadly, the overwhelming and very disturbing trend in the industry of "inventing" pop/rock/country stars has reached epic proportions.
As I scan the latest top 40 album charts in the recent issue of Rolling Stone, I am dumbstruck by the fact that Lady Gag Ga (not a typo) has not one, but two albums (not singles) in the top 25 and The Fame is #6...really? Lady Gaga? This is a gender neutral freak show better known for her outrageously stupid outfits and over the top pre-packaged dance routines set to motion by some synthetically manufactured house beat than any actual songs....she actually said it herself "were plastic, but we still have fun". Just as disturbing, the following "artists" also made the top forty list....Justin Beiber, Ke$ha, and Miley Cyrus. In it's own review Rolling Stone said of Cyrus's Can't be Tamed album "Cyrus is indeed part of the big machine. Tamed was mostly cooked up by the pros who helped make her a Disney princess, packed with electro-pop hooks and big Kelly Clarkson-style shout-along choruses", and don't even get me started on Beiber or Ke$ha..it's all crap, manufactured, distributed, marketed, and sold to 12 year old kids and idiots who don't know anything better. Kid Rock said at the CMA's when he hosted earlier this summer, "if it looks good you'll see it. If it sounds good, you'll hear it. If it's marketed right, you'll buy it, but if it's real, you'll feel it." He's absolutely right, I've listened to Hulk Hogan's daughters album...all I felt was the bile rising up in the back of my throat. This is not necessarily a new trend, anyone remember Tiffany's "mall" tour?
Trust me, I understand, like all art, everybody has different tastes and appreciations, but grouping some of these "stars" in the same category with true artists is like comparing Claude Monet to Bob Ross. There is a vast and distinguishable difference between Hillary Duff and Bob Dylan, isn't there?
Natalie Merchant, whom I respect and admire for her unwillingness to compromise, and total sincerity, said in an interview with the British paper The Gaurdian, "the mega pop culture realm is pathetic", and was taken aback by the video for the song Telephone from the album The Fame, in which Lady Gaga dances around a women's prison and organises a mass poisoning. "I think the women's prison motif is just beyond the pale," says Merchant. "I don't think women's prisons are environments for dance routines, and I don't think mass murder is humorous. I just think it's really offensive and I'm embarrassed for them", Natalie got it mostly right...the real embarrassment is that Lady Gaga's album The Fame has sold over 4 million copies.
alas, I am encouraged, after reading an article in Spin describing how young people today are "discovering" the genius of Jimi Hendrix...and by the fact that Tom Petty, after 30 plus years of doing what he loves and selling over 60 million albums in the process, released Mojo in June and it debut at #2 on Billboards top 200 with over 125,00 units moved. Its some of his best work and was cut using the old school method of putting everybody in a room and playing until they got it right...recorded live in the studio...he even included in the credits the make and vintage of every instument and the exact tracking date of each song,I think this is called stressing authenticity. 
My point is,maybe just maybe, this will be the new trend, people all over the world clamouring for the last copy of The Beatles Revolver while The Jonas Brothers latest release sits collecting dust in the bargain bin at WalMart. I can dream can't I?
Peace
