HYPES AND ANTI-HYPES
Most Americans have fallen into the trap of being controlled by the media in their musical tastes. Often a name can sell a million albums even though quality is non-existent. An example of this is the (ouch) Monkees. Before one note of new music was sounded, hundreds of thousands of kids were ready for the “New Beatles”.
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HYPES AND ANTI-HYPES
Roy Feldman
Most Americans have fallen into the trap of being controlled by the media in their musical tastes. Often a name can sell a million albums even though quality is non-existent.
An example of this is the (ouch) Monkees. Before one note of new music was sounded, hundreds of thousands of kids were ready for the “New Beatles”. Although quality
was absent, so many kids were brain-washed by a multi-million dollar advertising campaign that the name “Monkees” was synonymous with good, and the group sold millions (one of the worst musical abortions of the century).
The “Underground” is not immune. What I feel must be one of the biggest riffs on the American people of all time is the audacity of Columbia to combine some of the worst musicians of all time, calling it blues, pumping a million dollars worth of advertising into it, and passing it off as “Big Brother and the Holding Company”.
The list is endless, the point being, music is to be listened to as an art, not to be treated as a prpduct. Of course, a company will tell you it has the best album to come out in years, but after analysing the lyrical and rhythmic qualities yourself, do you agree?
In England, rock gets practically no air play or media coverage. All groups are either made or broken on personal appearances. By this system, each group is judged by the individual, not by the amount of advertising behind them. Get the point?
