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Tuesday 9 February 2010

Music #753

Our senses have been completely saturated with mass-marketed talent, to the point where we don't really recognise what true talent is anymore. The very word 'talent' has been hijacked by a series of music and television execs who probably don't realise the devastating impact they're having upon the world as they're too busy counting their money, all of which they've made by exploiting said 'talent'. Yadda yadda yadda.

It would be all to easy to continue in this vein. To dissect the horrors of Jedward's return to the British public's consciousness through endless promotion of a Queen bastardisation set to send Freddie Mercury's long-deceased body in a spin. Or to analyse why Susan Boyle has been adulated and mocked to such extremes, despite being pretty average on all counts. I understand that the more examples I place here, the less my eventual point, (that we should ignore these Cowellistic visions of unstoppable fame, glory and musical purity), will actually mean. But I've started to realise how enjoyable it is to have a growing readership, and search engine optimisation is one way of improving my page-clicks. Additionally, I wanted to have a legitimate way of dropping into this post that life does have oddly recurring moments. In an interview with VH1 in the early 'noughties', Vanilla Ice retrospectively commented on his debut album: "I would have licked my own mother's asshole for a million bucks"

Maybe there's something to be said for biting one's tongue. No, seriously. As much as it's the gut reaction of many to counter the mainstream, isn't it quite graceful to hold back the venom? To instead appreciate good music? Having an opinion on the latest tabloid limpet will keep one relevant, but if it's just for the sake of relevance, then it's not going to help one be interesting. Similarly, liking music simply because it is contrary to the mainstream is the reason why I attended a Slipknot concert aged 14 and came face to face with a man in his mid-fifties who was dripping with blood which was pouring out of a hole where most people keep their noses. Here are some songs, all of which I've been enjoying a lot over the past week. They are neither very left-field or (too) overexposed. But I like them.

Simian Mobile Disco ft. Beth Ditto - Cruel Intentions (Joker Remix)



Honestly, I love this last one. It'll take approximately 27252342 years for this it to leave my mind.

Penultimately, I would like to add that if you listen to Christina Aguilera's 'Fighter' whilst watching the music video to Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' (the latter on mute), good and unexpected things will happen.

And finally, if you think the Helping Haiti song is good, buy it for £1.98. If you think it's shit, go to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and donate at least £3.96 to Haiti.

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