Don�t don�t don�t don�t don�t believe the hype!

Music like many other interests (e.g. Football, Comedy, Literature etc)often generates obsessive tendencies. Whether it is through being a diehard follower of a particular group/artist or genre or a more serious form of obsession in the case of Mark David Chapman, I think it is fair to say that Music, at some point, has caused some irrational behaviour. Once again this also takes various forms, largely depending on the person, maybe simply walking around being miserable with the incomparable ‘Every Day Is Like Sunday’ in your head. Sending underwear to a favourite artist. Or even Hacking into your arm or blowing your head off because “that’s what Ritchie/Kurt would’ve wanted”. Of course this final example is extreme but sadly has happened.

Now of course I would never take the limited tabloid view that music corrupts the nation’s youth and must be banned. This is just sensationalism, however, what I would like to point out is that the music industry is exactly that – an industry, a business, solely with the purpose of making money. The artists do get some money from album sales and gigs, but there is a very sophisticated and manipulative organisation behind every band that gets a bigger slice of the pie. The Kings of Leon, for example, are apparently an Authentic Southern Country/Rock band. On the sleeve notes of their album a mysterious “Angelo” is credited with co-writing all the songs.

This “Angelo” is originally from Authentic Southern Country/Pop band The Mavericks. Suddenly The Kings of Leon don’t quite seem the real McCoy. Similarly Jimi Hendrix smashed up his guitars not because he was making an artistic statement about the nature of freedom but because he was told to do it by a record company executive.

Of course both Jimi Hendrix and The Kings of Leon both have (or had in the case of Jimi) a talent that is greater than the average person and this is why they make a living through playing music, but my point is that it is too easy to believe what you’re told in the music press. Everyone scoffs at Pop Idol and The Cheeky Girls for being superficial and vacuous but just spare a thought before becoming too obsessed in an artist/group that they too could merely be Pop Idols with longer hair and different clothes. In the words of Public Enemy “Don’t believe the hype.”