penningtron wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 1:27 pm

zorg wrote: that said (and no, I don't expect some idiot musician to think this hard)......

I've read more eye opening stuff in Maximumrocknroll..

Yeah, that diagram is mega-stupid, more than any idiot musician.

Unless you live on some hippy farm off the grid, or in a hovel in the middle of the mountains like Ted Kaczynski, you can play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with almost anything you touch and it will tie back to the MIC like this. It's not some evil cabal, it's simply how technological supply chains work. If you travel through an airport, ride mass-transit, drive a car or use a cell phone you are fewer steps tied to the MIC than that dumb chart.

Gaga? All her songs sound the same to me. Boring navel-gazing pop. None of the outlandish style or fashion makes it any more interesting to me.

zorg wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 12:48 pm

InMySoul77 wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 11:39 am she's a real musician who cares about music.

and money, she cares about money.....not the 13 year old. Unless the 13 year old has a lot of money.

Point taken. I tend to believe that people in general should oppose the pursuit of massive wealth. Especially in the context of the sick pop music industry.

But by your logic you'd also have to throw out those DGC Nirvana records as well as Dirty and any Bowie albums because I bet those artists had popularity and success every bit as much in mind as Gaga did/does. I tend to not judge artists that strictly and give them the benefit of the doubt when I feel like they have genuine creative material to share with us. But their ethics are still noted.

What I would also say is that caring for your audience doesn't necessarily mean you can't also care about them spending money on cds/records/streams. I'd imagine it's a balance for any artist. When you're just clearly shilling with every move, like Katy Perry, that's when I check out. With others it's more of a challenge to figure out how to respond. Where do you draw the line? Can John Lennon not be a peace activist because he was interested in selling records thru a big corporation? Saying Gaga doesn't care about kids seems harsh.

Okay, for clarity, that diagram is a bit of silliness from the back of a Godspeed You Black Emperor! record from 20 years ago recorded by FM Steve. I enjoy this kind of rabble rousing for entertainment, and its obviously meant to stir conversation from a "political" band.

And while being a band on a major label has a certain degree of guilt associated with it for various reasons, no, I am not seriously trying to extend my argument to include that John Tesh is complicit in the industrial military complex.

BUT....It's bad enough when celebrities are selling junk food or alcoholic beverages, but a celebrity selling prescription medication is beyond distasteful...it's ignorant and dangerous, again bordering on unethical. The US and NZ are the only countries in the world that allow such advertising, so I'm not some kind of nutter raving on a street corner here.

zorg wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 3:37 pm BUT....It's bad enough when celebrities are selling junk food or alcoholic beverages, but a celebrity selling prescription medication is beyond distasteful...it's ignorant and dangerous, again bordering on unethical.

Again.. multiple things don't cancel each other out. The pharma industry can be horrible, and sometimes make life saving medication. Someone can be a blatantly commercial pop star, enjoy being rich and famous, and also do philanthropic good. A migraine sufferer doing a commercial for migraine medication at worse falls somewhere in the middle of that ethical dilemma.

I'm not gonna argue against Everything Gets Destroyed By Capitalism Eventually but this seems like a weirdly specific bone to pick.

I’ll tell you what, if I had reccuring debilitating headaches, maybe I would not pursue a career in oontz music.

zorg wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 10:49 pm I’ll tell you what, if I had reccuring debilitating headaches, maybe I would not pursue a career in oontz music.

I dunno why I still care, but she ditched the oontz thing a while ago. More singer songwriter-y in recent years, at least the last time I checked. It's not good either, unfortunately.

how is this even close, audio diarrhea

I would never claim that any of these pop stars were as bad as Mother Theresa, not even Katy Perry.

Anthony Flack wrote: Sat Dec 23, 2023 2:03 pm I would never claim that any of these pop stars were as bad as Mother Theresa, not even Katy Perry.

Someone's been reading Christopher Hitchens!

InMySoul77 wrote: Tue Dec 26, 2023 10:41 pm

Anthony Flack wrote: Sat Dec 23, 2023 2:03 pm I would never claim that any of these pop stars were as bad as Mother Theresa, not even Katy Perry.

Someone's been reading Christopher Hitchens!

Good! The Missionary Position is compelling.