h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I suspect manufactured bands are just one example of consumerism reaching its logical conclusion. Corporations, with their extremely effective marketing methods, can "produce" a product for any identified market.

In the USA, I've read that the average reading level of the voting public is around the 6th grade (about 12 years old). So when a politician gives a speech, his text is evidently checked to be understandable at that level (there are objective ways of measuring, the Gunning Fog Index is one, I think). I find myself looking around to see if I'm in the elementary school audience by mistake.

Television is the same, even the news - attractive, perky airheads reading puff pieces about celebrities. And celebrities become experts (it used to be the other way around) - Oprah is now the literary critic of choice.

( Sorry, but now I feel better)

Oh yes, certainly! It is absolutely shocking just how low the literary capabilities of some segments of the population seem to be. No wonder the government has expressed concern about standards of education.

Hey, if Dubyah spoke English I wonder what his Fog Index would be?

Oh GOSH, yes! Dubya is the ultimate manufactured entity - he makes n'Sync look like genius. Take one mean-spirited oilman with a defective (or missing) heart to run things, then find a vacuous preppy in a state where the Governor is wisely granted no power, scrap his record of alcoholism and cocaine abuse, bury his record of illegal financial activities such as insider trading, remove the ability to speak a coherent sentence (lest too much be revealed) and use the remaining shell to give the aging oilman a front who looks like Dan Quayle without the brains and you have manufactured the Total Plastic President.

And how has this article gone so long without mentioning Milli Vanilli?

* mutters something rather on the uncomplimentary side *

I have to agree. But ist teh fault of teh unwashed masses. They hang on every word oprah says, they do geri halliwells diets. People are massacred in eastern eurpoe, we all care what david beckhams haircut is like. And tahts another thing, being able to do a BA in david beckham. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

And I hate them manufactured bands too.

Yes, just after the election one US pundit said that if anyone had wondered what a Dan Quayle presidency would have been like, they were about to find out.

*engages psychology mode*

People (most people) hate things that seem unreal or far off. They don't like to think of serious matters, preferring to concern themselves with the affairs of celebrities - just look at the sales of newspapers. The tabloids sell much more than broadsheets, and their front pages are held for stories about SClub7 and Big Brother. People don't like to hear about environmental disasters or war in the Middle East. If they do hear about such things, they'll say: "Oh my god, that's terrible."
And then do _nothing_ at all about it.

Amongst my peers, rational debate is very rare. Many people will say that they think President Bush is an idiot, but can't justify their opinions through analysis of his policies. I thankfully have a group of friends (and h2g2, of course), amongst whom justified debate is commonplace.

I think that what I'm trying to say is that most people will prefer to be told about trivial matters, or listen to music from a band with no originality whatsoever, because otherwise they feel threatened. It is a way of protecting themselves from the terrors of the world, and convincing themselves that there really are none to concern them.

Other people - myself (and, I suspect, most of you) included - are willing to give some rational, independent thought to important issues, and formulate their own opinions. That's what makes us individual.

Sorry for such a long (and serious) post...

I hope you enjoyed the article.

My music theory prof described originality in music as a cycle. First, somebody does something so different that listeners are confused, irritated, disgusted - the premier of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" in Paris, e.g., which started a riot. Then other composers start imitating, then it becomes a stadard, then it becomes a cliche.

It does remind me of the policy on oldies concerts - "No New Songs". And the great heckle I heard once, after a band played a song - "That sucked. Play one you know."

"Marketing" and "creating demand" only works when the target is unaware they are being manipulated. The human brain rejects control and so will not allow itself to be conciously manipulated.

Basically, if someone was to do a wide-ranging campaign demonstrating how marketing techniques work and why and what their intentions are, the effectiveness of advertising would plummet.

The best manufactured band in the world is, of ocurse, Spinal Tap.

I'll agree on Spinal Tap. Years ago, a good friend of mine drove all over town to find the CD-ROM version for my Christmas present, since he knew it matched my warped sense of humor. Lots of very clever stuff in there - and, of course, the volume goes to eleven.