What was it that made pub rock one of the most reviled fads in rock history - well it certainl wasn’t Dr Feelgood…
“Reality TV gives a voice to a sector of society that wouldn’t otherwise have one”
No. It doesn’t. It might be argued that Big Brother, with it’s 24/7 coverage once gave somebody a voice, but the increasingly freakish selection of contestants soon undermined that. Any other reality show, ‘Wife Swap’ for example is edited to follow an agenda set by the program makers, not the participants.
DJs are musicians.
No, they are not, mash ups, cut ups etc are not musical compositions. This is like saying editors are novelists. DJs (and editors) take other people’s ideas, arranging them into occasionally interesting combinations. So does the randomiser on the iPod.
So the received wisdom from the media czars in control of ITV is that “TV companies are becoming more oriented towards what customers really want. It is a rebalancing from an old system where it was ‘hey, we make great programmes and the rest will just follow’. That was fine when there were only a few TV channels and viewing - and revenue was a cornered market”
I’m sure they’re right, only I suspect that a diet consisting entirely of format and reality TV will demonstrate the other side of the coin - that if the industry continues to make really poor programmes, shored up by B list celebrities, the audiences will continue to dwindle. I wonder, if there is a lesson to be learned from the music industry - the cult of the amateur, enthusiastically embraced by the industry in the 90’s, ushering in two decades of “oh so cheap to produce” club music has led to the virtual collapse of the industry. It couldn’t happen with Telly…could it?
Bankers bonuses. This is not just irksome, it is deeply shameful. These children of Thatcher are taking the public’s money and trousering the lot. It’s a stain on the reputation of the current government, but under Conservative rule - this will be the norm. Stephen Hester excuses his multi million pound pay packet on the basis ‘it’s the market rate’. How much money is enough for these people?
There is something richly satisfying in watching someone who is behaving like an absolute twat, sit unsuspectingly in chewing gum…
Received a letter from Talk Talk Direct this morning, a company I have had no dealings with since 2001. Slightly surprised to find them setting up a direct debit in my current account - phoning the customer sevice number, I’m held in limbo to the dreadful and inappropriate accompaniment of some dirge by Primal Scream for 45 minutes before giving up in disgust. Needless to say, this is one company I will be doing no business with whatsoever in the future.
