作譜

The Chinese government doesn’t think all-girl punk band Hang on the Box is an appropriate representation of Chinese culture. So the government denied the band members visas to travel. As a result, Hang on the Box had to cancel its dates on the New World Disorder Tour in the UK.

Although Hang on the Box writes songs with such titles as “For Some Stupid Cunt at BBS” and “Ass Hole, I’m Not Your Baby”, the set they played at SXSW 2003, well, bored me. They’re actually pretty tame in that Shonen Knife-Mummy the Peepshow way.

The December issue of ICE Magazine lists Dec. 8 as the release date for the soundtrack to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

Excuse me. What fucking soundtrack?

Damn show has only three sequences of music it uses in every episode. What are they going to do? Put out some remixes?

And then there were three.

Sony and BMG merge. Then Warner and EMI.

Should I bother going into some tirade about how media consolidation is evil, blah blah blah? The major labels are beholden to their shareholders, and bottom lines are muy importante. How much business sense does it make to wait for artists to “develop”? Not much if today’s climate is any indication.

Aw hell — artist development was already an antiquated idea when I was barely out of grade school feeding the Duran Duran frenzy.

And further consolidation? Only makes that bottom line longer.

This merger might make good business sense to the labels, but it’s going to do little — if anything — for music.

(Editor’s note: entry expanded after Tim left his comment.)