Looking back at some of our recent class discussions, one sticks out in my mind. The day we talked about race and rap music, something came up when we were talking about Eminem that really stuck in my mind. Someone made the point that Eminem sold out and started making silly rap songs that just made fun of celebrities. What some people may not realize is that a lot of the stuff artists put out is chosen by their label, not them.
This was brought to my attention one night after I attended a Breaking Benjamin concert and was hanging out with some of the band members afterward. We were talking about bands we liked and Nickelback came up. I said that I used to really like their music, but lately I haven’t been listening to them very much because their songs seem to just be rock/ pop hits released just to make money. When I said this, they guys corrected me. They told me that they have toured with Nickelback before and know them personally. They said that Chad, their lead singer, writes a lot of really thoughtful, well-written songs but their label will never release them because they might not gain commercial success and they do not fit the image that they want Nickelback to have. This saddens me because a lot of people hate on Nickelback, or Eminem, but they do not realize that these artists are merely pawns in the hands of record label execs who are worried about a big paycheck and not about letting the artist fully express themselves creatively. So while artists like these may write very intelligent songs, the ones that the masses see are the catchy singles and their commercial image overrides their artistic one and they get judged accordingly.
No comments:
Post a Comment