Monday, September 10, 2007

In Praise of Britney Spears

The public lynching of a minor singer/dancer whose flesh has been mythified since adolescence by managers, producers, record companies and a leering public is underway following a performance by Britney Spears on MTV last night.

I give her credit for all but standing on stage and pronouncing how fake and non-musical Music Television has become. What I saw was a person clearly announcing she is sick of it all. Even her ex-boyfriend Timberlake begged the network last night to actually show some music videos. You can only find them on MTV spinoff networks, while the parent network airs vapid accounts of vapid people engaged in vapid behavior.

Is she biting the hand that feeds her? I'd say she was chewing off the hand, arm and shoulder with intense glee. Who could blame her?

MTV's celebs of the moment - Kanye West, 50 Cent, Fergie, all of them - blow chunks as performers, musicians, writers, and producers. Few of those garnering awards could make a note without the help of hijacked samples of other, better songs.

When karaoke singing, a la American Idol, rules the day, who needs MTV's lip-synching or the endless parade of faux-angry rappers who plaster gold and diamonds on cups and fake teeth?

So yes, yer fave MTV act sucks. No news there.

'Twas video killed the video star.

Music will be found most any place other than MTV.

NOTE: Please take in the video and another song from a real singer instead.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:09 PM

    Joe, I think you're giving Brit way too much credit for, you know, not being a total train wreck in general. While I'd like to think she's sticking it to the system, I doubt she has that sort of coherence. She's giving off a major Anna Nicole vibe.

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  2. Ron - perhaps you are right and she is in utter freefall. it's just that i have read a few accounts how she has been seeking to leave the Fame Train, and maybe wrecking it is a choice she made.

    the disdain and despair in her performance, i hope, was not an act of helplessness. anyone connected to her career with a milligram of humanity would surely help her step away and not push her to just do more ....

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  3. Anonymous12:43 PM

    Didn't see it, but the fervor over this spectacle reminds me of the scenes around the guillotine cheering as the head rolls into the basket.
    MTV truly sucks. Lewis Black has a rant that wraps it all up with his description of a Super Bowl Halftime show.
    "It was the sound of pigs being slaughtered."

    Thank God for WNCW

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  4. Oxy -

    If nothing else, that debacle/infomercial for the Palms Casino is the call to seek music ANYWHERE except MTV. (aka Mediocre TV.)

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  5. Well... let me just say that I am not in the camp of folks who think she looked out of shape. She looked great, especially for a mother of two. On the other hand, her act was a series of strip club dancer moves--and not even the difficult strip club dancer moves. There were pole dancers on the table for Gee sake. She was sleep walking (and sleep mouthing) through her performance.

    Whether or not she wants to get out of the biz, it was a crappy performance. If she does want to get out of the biz, than don't take on the gig. She's just really sad all around.

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  6. Anonymous12:57 PM

    For the sake of her kids, I hope you're right, Joe.

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  7. Editor -

    it's ravenously obscene for anyone to deride her looks. and indicative of the perverse fascination with childhood sexuality rampant in media. being a minutely observed object in that nefarious world, it would be no wonder to me that Spears is an a chaotic state.

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  8. Anonymous2:18 PM

    Didn't see the latest music faux pas but I wonder that anyone is surprised by the antics of the latest child star turned human wreck. I haven't watched MTV in so many years that it has become irrelevant & forgotten in my world. But CD's, download your faves, but don't expect to see any music videos...until 20 years from now when they will be featured on VH1C on "We love the '00's".

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