billyworld99
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If video really did kill the radio star, there’s only one man to blame
Read more: http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/arti...l-jackson-killed-the-radio-star#ixzz1Mu571Us3
Perhaps The Buggles were just trying to be funny. Perhaps they were too clever by half. Whatever the truth, looking back it’s remarkable how prescient they were, hard though it is to imagine them as musical prophets foreseeing a not-so-bright future – notwithstanding the delicious irony of them being the first thing ever broadcast on MTV. And if video really did kill the radio star, there’s only one man to blame; step forward the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
See, back in the early 80’s, record labels were in total control, the bona fide Keepers of the Castle. Studio time was expensive, and therefore precious, so before even getting as far as plugging in a guitar, they had to be sure you really had the tunes and the ability to pull it off. As a sort of built-in quality control, this system worked fairly well: good bands got to make lots of albums, bad ones didn’t. But then, in 1983, the game changed. Forever.
The advent of MTV meant that along with recording, marketing, touring and distribution, labels had a new expense to consider – the music video. With a few notable exceptions, early examples consisted of nothing more extravagant than grainy, stock footage of the band on tour, playing live, or maybe just larking around in the studio, a veritable montage of the mediocre. Clearly, this would never do for *****. Being the world’s biggest pop star, and having just released the best-selling album of all time, he decided to go for broke in the video stakes too, and by the time he and John Landis had finished scheming, they had a 14 minute, $500,000 ‘epic’, complete with plot, a script, and a cast and crew of 55.
Now, musicians have never needed encouragement for self-aggrandisement or wasting money, but this was a whole new ball game. Previously, at least excessive bills for studio time or full orchestras were in pursuit of sonic excellence, of getting the ‘music’ just so, but the video was, and is, nothing more than a promotional appendage, a medium created solely to pander to a TV station and to sell more records. With Pandora’s Box duly opened, it wasn’t long before having a statement video became essential to success, and as ‘proper’ film directors got involved, costs and run times went up, quality went down, and it got a whole lot harder for bands to get their foot in the door. Whilst people with genuine talent would struggle to get development time, airplay, or even a decent share of the money they did make, labels were spunking $2.5 million on MC Hammer’s 'Too Legit To Quit', $4 million on Guns N’ Roses 'Estranged', and, my personal favourite, $5 million on Madonna’s 'Express Yourself'. That these are the same people now suing kids in bedrooms for downloading one or two songs is frankly laughable.
All this has led to one obvious outcome – for the biggest acts, a 5 (or even 14) minute video simply won’t do anymore – now, you need your own film. So, whilst those with clout are free to indulge themselves and give us 'Runaway', the 35 minute avant-garde mess released (and directed) by Kanye West, or the more recent 'Fight For Your Right Revisited', the oh-so-cleverly ‘hilarious’ short by the Beastie Boys featuring a who’s who of Hollywood, the rest have to make do with one day, a camcorder, and a few of their mates as extras. Hardly seems fair, does it? What’s worse is that it could have been so, so different. Think of some of the most iconic videos of the last 20 years, such as 'Give It Away' by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, 'Here It Goes Again' by OK Go, 'Addicted To Love' by Robert Palmer, 'Sabotage' by the Beastie Boys, 'Fell In Love With A Girl' by The White Stripes, and 'Praise You' by Fatboy Slim. They all prove that necessity is the mother of invention and that limited funds are no barrier to cleverness or creativity.
But no, trust the man who built a fairground in his garden and had a pet chimp called Bubbles to ruin it for everyone. His was the first domino, and the next time you read about some record exec whining about copyright infringement, you’re witnessing the last pieces coming crashing down round his ears. Giving in to ***** was the beginning of star power, outrageous demands, £18.99 CDs, and the whole sorry mess of an industry we see before us. Futhermore, the channel they were so keen to mollify doesn’t even show videos anymore, stuffed to the gills as it is with celebrity wannabees, vacuous Americans and endless reality tat – that ‘M’ might as well stand for ‘money’. Lamenting this brave new future from the past, Trevor Horn suggested that the "Pictures came and broke your heart", but he got it all wrong – it was a man in tight red leather pretending to be a zombi
Read more: http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/arti...l-jackson-killed-the-radio-star#ixzz1Mu5yYDrs
Read more: http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/arti...l-jackson-killed-the-radio-star#ixzz1Mu571Us3
Perhaps The Buggles were just trying to be funny. Perhaps they were too clever by half. Whatever the truth, looking back it’s remarkable how prescient they were, hard though it is to imagine them as musical prophets foreseeing a not-so-bright future – notwithstanding the delicious irony of them being the first thing ever broadcast on MTV. And if video really did kill the radio star, there’s only one man to blame; step forward the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
See, back in the early 80’s, record labels were in total control, the bona fide Keepers of the Castle. Studio time was expensive, and therefore precious, so before even getting as far as plugging in a guitar, they had to be sure you really had the tunes and the ability to pull it off. As a sort of built-in quality control, this system worked fairly well: good bands got to make lots of albums, bad ones didn’t. But then, in 1983, the game changed. Forever.
The advent of MTV meant that along with recording, marketing, touring and distribution, labels had a new expense to consider – the music video. With a few notable exceptions, early examples consisted of nothing more extravagant than grainy, stock footage of the band on tour, playing live, or maybe just larking around in the studio, a veritable montage of the mediocre. Clearly, this would never do for *****. Being the world’s biggest pop star, and having just released the best-selling album of all time, he decided to go for broke in the video stakes too, and by the time he and John Landis had finished scheming, they had a 14 minute, $500,000 ‘epic’, complete with plot, a script, and a cast and crew of 55.
Now, musicians have never needed encouragement for self-aggrandisement or wasting money, but this was a whole new ball game. Previously, at least excessive bills for studio time or full orchestras were in pursuit of sonic excellence, of getting the ‘music’ just so, but the video was, and is, nothing more than a promotional appendage, a medium created solely to pander to a TV station and to sell more records. With Pandora’s Box duly opened, it wasn’t long before having a statement video became essential to success, and as ‘proper’ film directors got involved, costs and run times went up, quality went down, and it got a whole lot harder for bands to get their foot in the door. Whilst people with genuine talent would struggle to get development time, airplay, or even a decent share of the money they did make, labels were spunking $2.5 million on MC Hammer’s 'Too Legit To Quit', $4 million on Guns N’ Roses 'Estranged', and, my personal favourite, $5 million on Madonna’s 'Express Yourself'. That these are the same people now suing kids in bedrooms for downloading one or two songs is frankly laughable.
All this has led to one obvious outcome – for the biggest acts, a 5 (or even 14) minute video simply won’t do anymore – now, you need your own film. So, whilst those with clout are free to indulge themselves and give us 'Runaway', the 35 minute avant-garde mess released (and directed) by Kanye West, or the more recent 'Fight For Your Right Revisited', the oh-so-cleverly ‘hilarious’ short by the Beastie Boys featuring a who’s who of Hollywood, the rest have to make do with one day, a camcorder, and a few of their mates as extras. Hardly seems fair, does it? What’s worse is that it could have been so, so different. Think of some of the most iconic videos of the last 20 years, such as 'Give It Away' by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, 'Here It Goes Again' by OK Go, 'Addicted To Love' by Robert Palmer, 'Sabotage' by the Beastie Boys, 'Fell In Love With A Girl' by The White Stripes, and 'Praise You' by Fatboy Slim. They all prove that necessity is the mother of invention and that limited funds are no barrier to cleverness or creativity.
But no, trust the man who built a fairground in his garden and had a pet chimp called Bubbles to ruin it for everyone. His was the first domino, and the next time you read about some record exec whining about copyright infringement, you’re witnessing the last pieces coming crashing down round his ears. Giving in to ***** was the beginning of star power, outrageous demands, £18.99 CDs, and the whole sorry mess of an industry we see before us. Futhermore, the channel they were so keen to mollify doesn’t even show videos anymore, stuffed to the gills as it is with celebrity wannabees, vacuous Americans and endless reality tat – that ‘M’ might as well stand for ‘money’. Lamenting this brave new future from the past, Trevor Horn suggested that the "Pictures came and broke your heart", but he got it all wrong – it was a man in tight red leather pretending to be a zombi
Read more: http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/arti...l-jackson-killed-the-radio-star#ixzz1Mu5yYDrs
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