Our sound

     I wasn't planning on getting into this, but well, I've come to the conclusion that it's necessary.
     You've lost your way, America. And I don't mean in a cute way, like the ones they talk about on Fox News, with all the God and Fear stuff they hock (I like when Glenn Beck cries those tears of righteous frustration. Lets me know he cares.), but in a much more serious, sanity threatening way. Two of them, in fact:
     Justin Beiber and Lady Gaga.
     First, I know that this isn't a new thing, on either front. "The Beib" (I think they call him that) is just another incarnation of those Jonas kids, and those Hansen ones, and on and on. And "The Gag" (I call her that) is our newest whatever you call that. I know it's all been done before, and soon enough they'll be gone and I'll have to put up with some other steaming pile of pop in their stead.
    Because Americans keep listening to it. How dare you? We gave the world The Blues (musically; I'm not referring to all the other crap we do.), Rock 'n' Roll, even good pop, like Michael Jackson. And now we're doing this? Again, I know this isn't the first time we forgot to flush, but come on, let's practice some corrective behavior, please.
     But wait. Maybe I'm not thinking about this logically. Let's take a step back and look at the big picture. You know what's going to make all of this worthwhile? I bet you do, but just in case: Scandals! Downfalls! Public Embarrassment and Shame!
     I'm telling you, when the music industry does to them what it did to people like Britney Spears, it's gonna be epic. Remember that? When she married that K-Pax* guy and had two more mouths to stuff Starbucks and chili fries into? Then she shaved her head** and beat up that SUV with an umbrella? Who wouldn't want to see that happen again, this time to a 16 year old boy from Canada? We've got to have something to keep the gossip magazines in publication. Brad and Angie can only do so much. Although, as noted, The Beib is from Canada. He may take a bit more prodding before he really Winehouses out.
     The Gag I'm not as worried about. Her first album is called "The Fame." Can't get much more obvious than that. Personally, I think she should start charging more for her tickets, because when she bursts into plastic fueled flames and crashes into the Earth, the fireworks we'll all get to see for free will totally make up for it. From what I've seen, people are going to pay at least as much attention to that as they did to her meat dress.
    So maybe this isn't about the music at all. Maybe it's about the spectacle. Not the vinyl dress and funny hair spectacle, but the one that comes after. That sounds like us.
-John

*The "rapper." Not Kevin Spacey
** That was cool. Like Vin Diesel.