Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘music’

Just got home from an amazing Our Lady Peace concert at the Bell Centre. My ears are still ringing. What a show!

But then Raine Maida had to interject a comment about how he wishes our prime minister “would get some balls and tell the US to stay the fuck out of Iraq!” The band then proceeded to play a cover tune (Drive, by the Cars – which seems to have no relation whatsoever to Raine’s political commentary). I’m not sure if all the people who cheered at that comment agreed with him or were just cheering because they’d scream at anything he said. Not that it matters.

Of course, he’s entitled to his opinion. And I guess I’ve known for a while that he and his wife (Chantal Kreviazuk, whose music I also love) have been involved in organizations to end the sanctions on Iraq, and other related activities. But I filed that away someplace at the back of my mind, figuring it shouldn’t affect my enjoyment of OLP’s music.

As it well shouldn’t. Except that I was really enjoying tonight’s concert as a form of escapism from everything. And just at a point when I was most into the music, this threw a bucket of wet sand on everything. Suddenly, it was an in-your-face challenge: how to scream and cheer for music sung by someone who just lost all my respect from a political point of view.

This is what’s wrong with celebrity politics, in a nutshell. I can’t stop listening to all music or watching all movies by musicians and actors with whom I disagree politically . . . or else I’d have nothing left to listen to or watch. But it does present a challenge.

FOX is starting a new season of American Idol. Could the music industry sink any lower?

What ever happened to the days when fame was based on talent, rather than the other way around? When artists were expected to be able to sing, write music, and play instruments? When image was a consequence, not a cause, of fame? When music had depth?

For those unaware souls, packaged music is a pet peeve of mine. But, combined with another pet peeve (reality television), it’s all that much worse.

I know it sounds strange for me, as a marketing person, to complain about this. But come on, American Idol is nothing but a glorified karaoke contest. We’re already so close to the point where creativity and art stop mattering in music. The “day the music died” doesn’t seem so far off anymore, and it’s a really dismal prospect to think what music will sound like in another ten years.

The Grammy nominations are out, and are serving as just another reminder of why I make a point of NEVER watching them. With nominees like Eminem and Nelly, they should just rename the show the “Worst music to ever grate your eardrums” Awards.