The Handsome Beast

Films, TV, Music and Comics
@taylorpithers

Like a salmon swimming up stream

It is becoming readily apparent that there are two record industries with very little cross over between them. The first being the style over substance, MTV powered mainstream where the priorities are, first and foremost, image, and then everything else. This is a part of the industry where the fans seem to care more about whom the artists are, what there videos are like, who they’re dating and what skulduggery they are getting up to rather than what their actual music sounds like. This is why Lady Gaga wears a dress made from the sweat and tears of illegal African copper miners, this is why Rihanna was seen smoking a suspicious looking hand rolled cigarette, and this is why a video of Tulisa’s shocking display of performing oral sex is leaked conveniently just before her debut solo single is released. All things that have nothing to do with the actual music but have everything to do with the public perception of the artists involved, and subsequently the financial margins of their parent record company.

This is an incredibly cut-throat world for an artist; one where you are only as hot as your last release, and if your next one is a dud? Well, your chances of recovery are getting slimmer by the minute. The common curse of your second album being not as good as your first are slowly becoming redundant as artists are becoming increasingly aware that their first poor album is more than likely going to be their last record entirely. We live in a world of both abundance and expectance and the fan base know full well that if ‘Artist X’ releases a poor album there will be tens, if not hundreds more ready to step into the breach. Take a look at Christina Aguilera; it wasn’t that long ago that a new record from her was virtually a license to print money. All it took were a couple of poor releases, and well publicised weight gain, (weight gain isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in the image conscious world of entertainment it can be seen as a disaster,) and now she is almost toxic to the industry that built her. This was an artist who was selling multi-platinum albums not all that long ago, and more importantly, her voice hasn’t changed whatsoever. What has changed is the public perception of her, and the major labels are quick to pass judgement. There’s an early TI track named ‘I’m Serious’ where TI spits one of my favourite lyrics of all time. ‘To play me / baby, hey he / gon’ need a track from God, featuring Jesus and Jay-Z.’ Not even that divine collaboration could save Britney Spears career now. You see the fan base want their music artists to be wild, but not too wild. Also there’s nothing human beings love more than a spectacular fall from grace and we all love building artists up to watch them subsequently crash. Looking back at the ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ video is an incredibly melancholic experience when you know what the success that the song garnered for Britney ultimately also led to her fragile mental and emotional state. How long do you think that the same will be said for Rihanna?

Some artists do manage to weather the storm. The ones that end up standing the test of time are few and far between but all have certain things in common. Firstly, they all seem to manage to shy away from the limelight as much as possible, something that at the start of your career is a risky prospect. Tabloids and the news media in general are more interested in car crashes than they are respectable musicians as; frankly, respectable normal people are just not news worthy. If you music is good enough the media will follow you anyway, regardless if you’re a wild child or are in bed for ten ‘o clock. Secondly, the artists who have longevity also have a certain creative control over their music, giving them the ability to make albums they way they want to and more importantly, allowing them to reinvent themselves, potentially becoming trend setters in the process and also negating the risk of becoming stale. Two pop stars that are masters at doing this are Usher and Beyonce. But even they prove that dues are needed to be paid before you get into a position where a major label will allow these artists to make the record they actually want to. 2003 Beyonce would never have been allowed to get Diplo to produce for her but 2011/2012 hqas enough clout in the industry to do as she pleases.

What does this have to do with the music? Fuck all and everything, depending on your stance towards mainstream music. Just take a look at the people who have had the most success during this talent show era that we are stuck in. The ones that looked the part, not necessarily the ones with the best voices are the artists that are given the chance to succeed, regardless of whether they win or not. In fact, my advice for anyone who has a good voice yet lacks in the looks department would be don’t even bother entering these shows, go and start a band or find a good producer instead and make your own way. I can guarantee you have more chance seeing your album released doing it by yourself than through these kinds of shows, even if you do win. Why? Because the major record labels are not looking for musicians, they are looking for clothes horses.

This brings us to the other music industry. The one where the music actually matters, not the image. This is where we can see that there is hope; where a blind, Malian husband and wife duo in Amadou and Mariam can be considered artists of massive cultural influence. A world where Danny Brown, a gap toothed rapper who sounds like a Canadian from South Park can be considered the most important MC in years. A world where a overweight, yet pretty rude girl from North London can turn into the biggest selling female artist alive at the moment. A world that we should all be happy to live in.

The comics game (no different from the crack game)

Having seen first hand, including within my family, how addiction can destroy lives I promise you there is no flippancy within the title of this post. I genuinely believe there is a large portion of comic fandom that are addicted to buying comics, not for enjoyment you understand, but because there is this ‘have to buy everything’ mentality regardless of enjoyment of said such product. It’s baffling how people can buy a product they do not enjoy until you think about it; junkies do not enjoy being junkies either, and that’s what this subset of the comics community are, junkies trying to chase that high of when they first saw Byrne’s X-Men, or McFarlane’s Spidey, or Perez’ Teen Titans. As such, they feel they need to take to the streets (the internet) and complain when the red tops they just bought aren’t the same as the blue tops that they bought last month, meanwhile knowing full well that that frankly it’s all the same stuff.

The main complaints can be down to three sections; artistic choices, character motivations that don’t jive with your preconceived notions, and overexposure.

First up; artistic choices. This is the one I (slightly) sympathise with the most. It is pretty annoying when a book you are enjoying has a guest artist shoehorned in for no good reason other than keeping the book on time. As a collection buyer, yes I have empathy for your complaints. Also, if the art is truly terrible rather than not to your tastes, sure, have a go. Where the empathy stops is when the complaints are ‘ugh, artist x draw character y stupid/not the way artist z did.’ This is art people! I for one think it’s healthy to let artists, within reason, draw the way they want to. Marvel’s talent stable is the strongest it’s ever been because of this. If we were still in that mode of ‘a character must look a certain way’ we wouldn’t have such wonderful artists like Chris Bachalo, or Tony Moore, or Travel Foreman. Being daring and bold pushes the medium forward. Surely that’s a good thing?

Secondly; character motivations. What you are reading is not a characters words but a writer putting words into a fictional constructs mouth. Get over it or don’t read it; it really is that simple.

Lastly; overexposure. This is the easiest to overcome. You think there are too many Wolverine books on the stands, well don’t buy them. The big two are in the business of making money, not pushing a Batman/Wolverine agenda. The only reason there are loads of Wolverine books out there is because they sell like hotcakes. The moment they stop selling, the big two will change their tact. Even if they don’t, just stop buying the ones you don’t enjoy. I like Batman; it doesn’t mean I’m going to buy every bat book in the market, just the ones I like.

This is not a ‘the books I buy are better than yours’ post, although undoubtedly they are as all I hear about the books you buy is ‘this sucks,’ or ‘Artist A has butchered Storm’s hair,’ or ‘Wolverine is in too many books.’ No, YOU are buying too many books that you are not enjoying, somewhat akin to the albino in that doofus Dan Brown’s book who attaches the barbed wire to his thigh to get closer to God. Honestly guys, Dan Buckley or Dan Didio aren’t going to come to your house to pat you on the back for buying all these books nor are they going to shank you in a dark alley for not doing so. Neither is this a people have no right to complain post. You bought the product so yes, in my eyes you do have a right to complain. (And as the internet proves, complain you do.) Having said that if you complain about a product and still continue to buy it and then still complain about it? Well, more fool you then. And don’t even say that you might miss something important, because comic books are entertainment and are only as important as how much you are willing to get yourself worked up about them. The increasingly worrying right wing attitude that the western world is adopting is important, the forthcoming droughts in Africa are important, reducing child poverty is important. The size of Batman’s ears is not. Fucking. Important.