Musicians faking it is a tale as old as Top of the Pops. But with AI generated music the crisis of authenticity is striking at the core of what it means to be human
Great piece! I missed that Nirvana "performance," somehow, but your reference has inspired some poetry:
Nirvana on Top of the Pops
forbidden from playing
their instruments
three free-spirited
kids from Seattle
burlesque the motions
of being rock stars
pretend to perform
their biggest hit
but in the wrong voice
in open protest
before a hyped-up audience
who only ask
for a pretext to dance
and clap in rhythm
for the cameras
as the singer misremembers
his no longer
subversive words
“load up on drugs
and kill your friends
it’s fun to lose
and to defend”
is now the message
behind the madness
that this methodical
falseness demands
he threatens to swallow
the microphone
the only one live
on the phony stage
in the phony BBC studio
in the crooning tone
of a different icon
to show them all
how low
the business of music
has sunk
the once-spontaneous
communion
between poet
and expectant world
Brad you are now the official poet of Generation X
It's time we had one...
Great piece! I missed that Nirvana "performance," somehow, but your reference has inspired some poetry:
Nirvana on Top of the Pops
forbidden from playing
their instruments
three free-spirited
kids from Seattle
burlesque the motions
of being rock stars
pretend to perform
their biggest hit
but in the wrong voice
in open protest
before a hyped-up audience
who only ask
for a pretext to dance
and clap in rhythm
for the cameras
as the singer misremembers
his no longer
subversive words
“load up on drugs
and kill your friends
it’s fun to lose
and to defend”
is now the message
behind the madness
that this methodical
falseness demands
he threatens to swallow
the microphone
the only one live
on the phony stage
in the phony BBC studio
in the crooning tone
of a different icon
to show them all
how low
the business of music
has sunk
how low
the once-spontaneous
communion
between poet
and expectant world
Brad you are now the official poet of Generation X
It's time we had one...