There is no doubt that the status quo of mainstream music has been reduced to a bubble-gum void, overpriced, overplayed and reliant on false imagery. Unfortunately, it has always been that way. As long as money-minded overlords have controlled the music, it has remained a lukewarm insult. Pop music, for instance. Although appearing sexier today than ever, the truth is performers like Britney Spears are just a mutated emulation of prior has-beens — puppets gyrating to a sloppy phonograph production for pennies and pity. There is nothing artistic about it. In fact, it is that lacking that has kept drunken freshman girls humiliating themselves since the 1950s. Tell me the difference between the bubble gum residue of Britney and that of Michel Polnareff and I will tell you a tale, my friend.

With Britney being a poster child for sleaze and the embodiment of false idolatry, it is easy for us all to cast stones. But do you think your genre of music is better? Let’s look at hard rock. Plenty of frat boys were probably laughing as they read that last bit and lifted a weight, listening to System of a Down. Uh oh! You have been hit by the Mook Patrol. It is easy for corporate big wigs to target budding young males with a watered-down aggressiveness. And regardless of the poor excuse of a political message they convey, their hard work funnels big bucks into George Bush’s coke dealer’s leopard-lined pockets. In the end, they will be as revolutionary as a stadium full of Clash fans or The Beatles with facial hair.

And the same goes for Eminem — a cartoon telling me to mosh and vote for John Kerry seems quite impressive. Let’s not forget the other Dr. Dre barnacles and their unique messages of money, women, drugs and alcohol — and Jesus, of course. I know Jesus is disappointed with rap music today; he whispers it to me in my prayers. I hope you haven’t misjudged me, I do pray for rap music. Isn’t it time someone came forward to point out that the only people who can afford rap music, the voice of the streets, are the parents of white suburban kids?

What we need is someone who is truly gangsta, a real rocker, a shining star in this desolate vacuum. Someone who is not afraid to inspire the listener by breaking through the walls of conformity and shoving a cream pie in the face of the old guy in the tuxedo. But the industry would never allow something like that to happen. And they have already got every other genre cornered. They suck the souls out of these otherwise seemingly normal people. They reduce them to nothing and leave the public to gobble it up. Not all mainstream music is totally lame. But what if some day there is nobody who has anything to say? What if artists are so caught up in their promo concerts and video shoots they just have their impotent lawyers write all their songs, like Ryan Cabrera? Unfortunately, there isn’t much any of us can do but turn a deaf ear and let the next generation of dancing swine swallow this tripe.

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