BEHIND THE BLOG
There’s no denying it: it’s not always about the music. Only look at the endless parade of musician/artist blogs to see for yourself. Blogs have become our new best friend performing any handful of duties, all for the sole purpose to get any agenda/product/stream of consciousness out to the masses. Though that all depends whether or not, anyone really wants to hear what plain ole’ Joe or Jane has to say. If put against a post on the Internet on my thoughts on Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin to the thoughts by one Sean “P Diddy” Combs ("Sarah Palin Scares Me") , chances are Diddy got me beat. Not because of his ingenious Blair Witch style acting sheet but also because he’s celebrity, an artist built on not just his music but his notoriety. And judging by the views on Combs video blog alone: 519,486 and counting, musician blogs are extremely popular no matter what the content may be. It’s all good really, as long as it can be digested, spit out and still spread virally to the next available consumer. For the most part musician blogs can be seen as the new personal press release transmitted in a subsequent flash to an audience of millions around the world, submitted for a supposed immediate personal connection. Under a mash up of pop culture, politics and a favorite foods list is the quick shill. That’s not to say all musician blogs are terrible... but we’ll save that for a later time.
Really, the most interesting thing about a musician blog is that ever so important step: delineating just a few hours of one day to focus strictly on writing a cohesive (at times) statement about any topic. For someone that has a blog and is not a musician (i.e. me) the amount of effort to put into a blog can surprisingly be... a lot. The creative juices may not be there or other priorities become increasingly apparent.
The amount of hours on the road touring, in hotel rooms, in the studio, doing hundreds of phoners and oh yeah your everyday life... and after all that to then spend a few hours on a computer typing any number of thoughts to who knows who will read it... yeah... it truly is the last thing on the agenda. Sure enough artists still have the time. Look no further than Mr. Kanye West, whose blog is arguably one of the elite blogs on the Internet. Posting several entries on any given day, a majority of which delve deep into fashion models (NSFW) and stuff we couldn’t buy in our lifetime, West welcomes us to his hyper realized dream world of his and opens up when he wants to. Though there have been skeptics as to who really writes/posts on his blog (staff, interns, a paid ghost writer?), when time comes from a Mr. West rant, you know it’s him. Whether he’s defending himself for his performance at this year’s Bonnaroo Music Festival, typing so hard he might break his Mac Book Air or totally brushing off his recent run in with the paparazzi at a Los Angeles airport, West is who he is and because of that it might be too difficult to fault him because we’ve come to expect this type of behavior from him. Like Mr. Combs before him the notoriety and built in reputation has already been put firmly on the table, thus electronic diatribes from these two hip hop heavyweights can often be harmless and in reality truly hilarious and strangely endearing because of how open they can be.
It’s been said repeatedly that blogs can be seen as a business tool in today’s day and age. Even with that fact, it still won’t stop a musician to unleash some “business” on their blog if you know what I mean. If blogs were as simple and convenient to unfurl any number of thoughts, MySpace is a breeze. Simply log in and vent and in the case of artists such as M.I.A and Lily Allen vent they did. Now if only the outcomes were as similar. While MIA put the terrorist rumors aside and squashed them with a single click of the “post blog” button, Lily has made her personal matters with the press a constant boxing match between her and the press all seen via her blog. All of which is a back and forth, they said, she said war where blog entries dubbed as being just a boring post is still filled with loads of fresh ammunition: references to her public drunkenness/topless photos and unfortunately, unnecessary [especially in a blog] side comments (one referencing Allen’s miscarriage).
Should we agree with fellow U.K. artist Mike Skinner aka The Streets that Allen needs the attention of the media? Are musicians prone to use their blogs not only to just connect to their fans but also became such a dead target for media fodder, essentially telling them “hey look at me!” Currently, Allen’s MySpace photo sees her casually in the studio and blogs have more of a direct focus on her music though she still can’t help but be critical of the press. It still continues...
So it’s true: you can blog whatever you like. Why? It’s the Internet! For musicians blogs can be considered an extension of their art, this time processed in a quick and easy way in the largest playground in the world. We [meaning us normal folk] blog because we want to blog, musicians blog because for one it can help sell records (duh) and two it gives them the ability to just be like everyone else. The problem is they’re not and they know that. Their blogs will still be put on a pedestal for everyone to see and unfortunately they’ll be met with an unending wave of critical anonymous comments. You can always turn off those comments mind you but the disparagement will still be there. The Internet is a big and scary place at times and out there is some critic waiting to pounce. It still won’t stop the blog. Artists will still keep posting and will continue to do so as long as there’s an audience interested to read. So it goes without saying if you can’t beat them, why not enjoy them. Blogs can be enjoyable as long as you find the right one (I know I have my favorites). The Internet is still tough to crack but I do know that it allows the user to do things and say things they normally can’t do/say anywhere else. Call it a fully embodied almost super empowerment feeling. Maybe that’s why we blog. Hmn...
I leave you with this: blogs work in wonderful/mysterious ways: it can allow rapper Charles Hamilton to proclaim that he’s the best blogger alive and give Lil Wayne undoubtedly the best rapper alive to opportunity to be the best sports blogger alive. WEEZY~!
