The Height of Musical Achievement
You're young. You're impressionable. You think your career path can only lead to music. So you spend your suburban life becoming what you think a suburban punk should be. Buying 20-dollar t-shirts, idolizing Greenday, using your allowance to get that fake nose ring.
You spend your whole life dedicated to making the music you love. You form a band. You sell a few albums. Then, you realize you've hit your peak. You've achieved the ultimate musical recognition. You're at the top of your industry, the pinnacle of success. You can look down at all the footstool peons underneath you. You turn to your fellow bandmates and say, "Dudes. This is it. We've finally made it. We're on a Garnier Fructis commercial."
Let that one sink in for a minute.
Now, it sounds strange but every time I hear that commercial I think to myself, "Is this what the guys in the Transplants talk about? Are they somehow excited about this?" The Transplants, if you didn't know, are a "supergroup" consisting of a few leftovers from Blink-182 and Rancid ("supergroup" intentionally left in quotation marks, since that's a fairly lavish MTV media designation, not an earned superlative). Rancid isn't all bad, but Blink-182 could easily be the absolute worst band of the last 20 years-- and that's being generous. So it's not all that surprising that they're more commercialized than Jessica Simpson, but still.
Maybe it's just me, but just once I'd like to see some billionaire musicians use their powers for good, not evil.
Oh, and in a related story, Gwen Stefani will be the new spokesperson for Downy fabric softener.
posted by BJC @ 11:49 AM
Your thoughts (3 so far)
3 Comments:
What qualifies as "good?"
I'm sure a sizeable portion of the music-loving populace would consider Bono's intrusion into every international cause as a "good" thing.
But to be honest, I wish he'd just shut up and go back to whining the words to his songs.
But it's our fault, because too many people actually listen to the drivel espoused by high school burnouts whose most intellectual accomplishment is the correct application of an F barre chord.
We have a whole new generation nearing the horizon of adulthood who actually believe that Jessica Simpson is Vishnu.
I actually appreciate the musicians who lend their work to insipid commercials, because it shows they don't take themselves or their music too seriously.
("Everybody have fun tonight...Everybody Wang Chung tonight..." Is this really a deep philosophical dogma worth worshipping?)
I'll admit, I'm jaded. It started when Beatles songs began appearing behind TV commercials...
*Morris Workman
www.morrisworkman.com
workmanchronicles.blogspot.com
dvtsports.blogspot.com
Okay, Alison, you busted me on that one. I'll concede that Bono is an educated and knowledgeable individual (although he somehow managed to misplace his surname).
And I actually like a lot U2's music, in spite of the fact that some of his vocals remind me of my younger sister's wailings after her favorite Barbie's head happened to come off in an unfortunate older sibling accident.
But getting back to Bono, that IS kind of the point...he excels at his day job. He should stick to it. ;)
(By the way...off topic, I really like your blog! I just haven't felt worthy of commenting as yet.)
*Morris Workman
www.morrisworkman.com
workmanchronicles.blogspot.com
dvtsports.blogspot.com
Know Hootie & the Blowfish. I hung with them backstage in Statesboro once before they were famous...
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