Posts
BOB: IT SUCKS BEING A MEDIA PLAYER
If you have tears, prepare to shed them for Bob Geldof - for he is sad and downcast. He really just wants to make a living from music, see.
Instead, he has to scrape together the tens of thousands where he can - sitting on boards of media companies here, doing lucrative after-dinner speeches there; producing coffee-table books of picturesque Africans instead of making CDs. It must be terrible for the poor lamb.
“I would dearly love to be able to make a living out of music, but I can’t. It doesn’t make me sad or anything. Also if I just did music it wouldn’t occupy me enough, that’s the truth. Even though I find it without question the only thing I truly enjoy doing.”
Well... here's a thought: why not stop running media companies and driving to after dinner speech engagements and make music?
On a related point: we can't help noticing the poster campaign and the TV ad campaign for the Live8 DVD doesn't mention Make Poverty History at all - surely if the idea was to raise awareness, all this media buying should be used just a little to put a message (other than "Buy this DVD and help EMI") across? It seems a little bit like an opportunity wasted, and at worst an exploitation of the few artists who went into the event in order to try and raise awareness that all these prime poster sites and TV slots are being used for nothing other than flogging some music.
4 comments:
Everyone knows what Live8 was about.
Bit of a crap piece of Geldof baiting, that.
I think you're being a bit harsh here. Most musicians actually do want to be musicians. That's why the Stones, McCartney etc keep touring and making albums when they never need to work again. The other stuff has to be done though. Whatever criticisms can be aimed at Geldof at least he tried to make a difference to the lives of people who can't be heard through their own voices and that's more than you can say for a lot of people.
Most musicians actually do want to be musicians.
But did Geldof ever really want to be a musician? If offered the choice between being an unknown Springsteen-copier or a well-known non-musician, media figure, random hero type, which do you think he'd choose?
Three things are certain:
1. Time is running out to address this objection:
"Two months have not elapsed since the G8 summit, and already almost everything has turned to ashes. Even the crustiest sceptics have been shocked by the speed with which its promises have been broken."
2. "Everyone knows what Live8 was about." -- well, was it about tariffs? fair trade? actually opening up the markets? subsidising them? tomatoes? taxes? cartels? What was Live8 about?
3. Geldof stole a packet of crisps from me once, so his reputation is on hold until I get them back.
"Everyone knows what Live8 was about" was referring to the comment that there should have been a Make Poverty History tag on the DVD. Bloody pedant! Bah.
Post a Comment
As a general rule, posts will only be deleted if they reek of spam.