My Plea.

Time and time again it has been made apparent to me that the major label music industry is steadily ruining popular music. Maybe it's always been this way, but I never had the chance to see it first hand. In a time with political and corporate corruption at an all time high, it seems natural that one of the shadiest industries be tainted with it as well. Am I bitter? Of course I am. But my bitterness has sparked passion in my pursuits to bring this issue to the public. Will you care? Probably not, our president lied us into a war and nearly half of this country thinks its ok. But I digress. If you think Ashlee Simpson is a good songwriter, or that J-Lo can really sing good you are greatly mistaken. If you believed the "written by Avril Lavine" credit with full assertion you are not seeing the full picture. If you keep reading, it has a page of credits for writers, producers, musicians, vocalists in very fine print. Its like that on most pop records. They are just the pretty face that sells their product. Brittney Spears is basically the model for the Pepsi commercials... Oh wait, she IS, or was before she got handed the TV role she was born to play. Herself. Pop singers, are basically actors. Pretending to be something singing heartfelt songs written by a 45 year old man. You're being lied to. And whets worse, if you know it but still buy this shit and think its good. Your a fool.

Wake up people, everything you hear on the radio or see on MTV was manufactured from the ground up with the sole intention to be sold. To you. But not everything is completely manufactured. Most of the rock bands are real rock bands that probably wrote all their songs. But the unfortunate thing is, the reason they are on the radio isn't because they are good, or unique for that matter. Its because they fit some kind of trend that was probably stolen from kids trying to not follow a trend, then reproduced for mass-consumption. Its all a big marketing scam. Nothing is sacred to them. That's why when you cant keep up with the 18 yr old airbrushed pop star who had million dollar songwriters writing super formula hits, with 110% label backing, you get dropped and the money they spent on you gets to be a tax write off.

Some of the bands, more than you think, get studio musicians to lay down tracks and do backing vocals. They also utilize new technology that will basically make anyone sound good. A lot of bands even take this "studio magic" on tour with them. Remember Ashlee's SNL goof. Yea, she wasn't lipsyncing in the pure sense, well maybe, but her defense was back up tracks. Which probably included her autotuned voice, 3 other back up singers voices, percussion and additional guitar and keyboard tracks. This arrangement is almost standard for many live acts. I saw it first hand on a couple tours I was on. This doesn't necessarily mean the band cant pull it off live. I'm just saying don't always believe what you hear live.

Sometimes these are choices by the artists, but most of the time, and especially in cases like Ashlee and the like, they are forced too by the labels. If they've spent millions putting you up on a pedestal, they cant take a chance fucking it all up by showing the world you really suck. Stupid 14yr old girls and their parents don't want to find out that the star they saw on TV and just paid $150 a ticket to see in concert is really a 2 bit hack with nice boobs, or hard pecs.

So I'm here, hoping that you will think about what I've said next time you listen to the radio or watch MTV or say "wow this song is really good". There is a world of independent music out there that is just waiting to be discovered by you. Music that still has artistic integrity and meaning. Music that still retains the heart and soul of the person performing it. Dare I say REAL music. If we get enough people to stop feeding the beast and find new music that hasn't been homogenized for public consumption then maybe all of this real music will bubble to the surface and the general music buying public will get just a little bit smarter for it.