Sunday, October 19, 2008

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Who's laughing now

Confusing times we live in: Leon Jackson releases a single at the same time as Peter Kay launches a spoof single in character from last week's leaden X Factor spoof. Kay beats Jackson. Who can explain it?

Well, yes, there's the obvious detail that people like Peter Kay and nobody much can even remember which one Leon Jackson was. But beyond that, who can explain it?

Step forward, HMV's Gennaro Castaldo, pop music's answer to ever-present Independent Travel Editor Simon Calder:

Commenting on Kay’s latest hit, Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesman for HMV, said: “It’s actually not a bad pop tune . . . Millions watched his [TV] show and are obviously playing along with the spoof.”

What does that mean, Gennaro? That people are buying the record in character as the sort of easily-swayed saps who buy a record because they've seen it on the television? Because that starts to sound almost as if they're making a cameo appearance rather than playing a character.


1 comment:

Simon said...

It is of course very funny that Kay, doing something original (if co-written by Gary Barlow) having had number ones by appending himself to other people's work, still ended up some distance short of a Pink record nobody can quote any of despite it having been number one for quite some time. Seems the nation still loves him, just not really that much.

An actual X Factor winner's song beaten by a song deliberately copying an X Factor winner's song. There's a very fine line of irony at work here.

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