Charlie Brooker: Supposing… Sandi Thom is the musical antichrist
I’ve not heard that Sandi Thom single all the way through yet, but I’ve seen the TV ad about six billion times, and the short, poxy burst on that is more than enough to convince me that if her sudden rise to stardom WASN’T the end result of a shrewd marketing campaign, the implications are terrifying. Because to believe the official story - that thousands of people voluntarily subjected themselves to this shit online, then recommended it to their friends - is to lose your faith in mankind completely.
Posted on June 9th, 2006 at 8:13 am
Thanks for posting this, great editorial. Yep - give the man a pay rise (and a medal).
I can’t begin to say how much I loathe Sandi Thom - but I’ve had a go here.
At least the myspace/internet networking community is bypassing your local friendly record company fascist…well those who do not market through these networks anyway. You cannot be snobbish towards popular culture just be cause you don’t like it….that is the philistine answer. I love Iggy and the Stooges, I don’t expect every one else to….
Porkbeast
Snort!
myspace.com/porkbeast
So we shouldn’t bring qualitative judgements into anything, is that what you’re saying?
I’m not sure what your point is. Who’s been snobbish? What’s wrong with calling a cynical, insulting, uninformed, culturally ignorant piece of shit a cynical, insulting, uninformed, culturally ignorant piece of shit? And what’s this got to do with Iggy Pop?
After a little googling, I find that MySpace is a Rupert Murdoch owned trojan horse with iffy attitudes towards free speech which he bought as part of his plan to exploit the internet. Not exactly bypassing the suits, I’d say. Wasn’t our youth supposed to rebel against this kind of thing? I’m getting old.
You cannot be snobbish towards popular culture just be cause you don’t like it….that is the philistine answer.
I’m not trashing Sandi Thom’s music because of snobbery about popular culture, I’m trashing it because it’s puerile crap and because she’s a fake. The whole ‘internet basement girl’ thing was a carefully planned PR stunt - as has her whole career been so far. She hasn’t come out of nowhere, she’s been recording and had a PR company pushing her name out for the last few years.
Time was when bands were genuinely DIY. Great labels and music came out of that - Factory, Stiff, Two-Tone, you name it.
I must be getting old too.
“Taste” in any art form is a class issue. Qualitative judgements operate within a context - Blimpish old philistines in this case it seems.
Porkbeast
Snort!
http://www.myspace.com/porkbeast
http://www.myspace.com/crazyheaduk
http://www.myspace.com/stressbitch
Porkbeast, you’re also making a faulty assumption that disliking someone like Thom is disliking ‘popular culture’, period.
Being a bona fide music fan, I’l give anything from Gnarls Barkley to Frank Zappa a spin. I was around for new wave and loved punk, for God’s sake. These days I’m into experimental and DIY as well - I don’t even mind too much if some bands sound like others that have carried the torch before them (think The Editors and Joy Division), so long as they’re good.
Justin’s right - we’re not judging Sandi Thom as a symbol of popular culture, we’re judging her on her output. Which is indeed a ‘cynical, insulting, uninformed, culturally ignorant piece of shit’.