X-Factor Christmas Number One Shocker / The Changing Face of Consumerism (2009 Remix)
‘What goes around comes around’ is a phrase I use often, although I find myself using it far more frequently in writing than in speech. Perhaps that’s because I wrote more than I talk. Who knows? Anyway, as my last two blogs detailed, I’m quite acutely attuned to the cyclical nature of the seasons, and of life, and seasonal (mal)adjustments are an inevitable part of my biological and psychological calendars. To take a line from a song by Love Spit Love (Richard Butler is, in my opinion, one of the greatest – and possibly most underrated – lyricists to have emerged from the post-punk era), ‘the only thing that’s gonna stay the same is change.’
And so it is that this time last year I was complaining that 2008 had been a crap year in so many ways, not least of all culturally. The same is true of 2009. The recession continues, more shops are closing, job losses and crap culture mean 2009 has been very much like 2008, only shitter. This year there are no independent record shops to lose, so we’re waving farewell to Borders and Threshers instead. And seeing as we’re a month away from Christmas and the remaining shops are filling up with the same old tat and the television stations are hyping the same old films and the record labels churn out more of the usual fodder, it’s perhaps fitting that I should revisit the blogs I posted a year ago, and also the year before. If nothing else, it saves me having to come up with anything new, and perfectly proves, by means of illustration, just how sickeningly tiresome such repetition is, and just how predictably what goes around comes around...
The 2008 introduction
I'm a pretty forward-thinking kind of guy. After all, it certainly pays to be forward thinking, and there's little to be gained by living, or wallowing, in the past. But having said that, I do find myself making frequent recourse to the past. There's a lot of it, and as such, there's really no escaping it and no point in denying it. And of course, we can learn a lot from the past, if we're so willing. Could many disasters, mishaps, accidents, wars and the current financial situation have been avoided if people had just looked back as well as forward? Quite possibly.
So, right now I'm like Janus, simultaneously casting my eye both back and forth. And all the while keeping an eye on the present: yes, the mystical third eye. So, in the present, we have yet another year of X-factor under way. No, I’m not watching it. It’s simply nigh on impossible to completely avoid it. From the past, I happened upon a blog I posted late last December, entitled ‘X-Factor Christmas Number One Shocker / The Changing Face of Consumerism IV.’ I ran a number of occasional blogs in the ‘changing face of consumerism’ series, and it’s something I may return to in 2009. Anyway, looking to the future, I realised that it was, conceivably, possible to predict what may come by drawing on my knowledge of past events. So this is no crystal-ball gazing, this is an education prediction. Let’s see if I’m right in a couple of months time. It’ll be a grim satisfaction if I am.
X-Factor Christmas Number One Shocker / The Changing Face of Consumerism
I suppose it was inevitable really. Despite the efforts of [INSERT SOMEONE WHO THINKS THEY’RE CLEVER HERE] to outmanoeuvre the hype machine with some tongue-in-cheek alternative hype, there weren’t really any other contenders for the supposedly coveted UK Christmas Number 1 slot. And so, for the fourth year in succession, the winner of X factor, the ITV ‘talent’ content that runs for what seems like about 50 weeks of the year, has had the best selling single at Christmas.
Congratulations to [INSERT NAME OF X-FACTOR WINNER HERE]. No, really: I don’t have any real issues with him/her, other than that s/he was compelled to audition for such a credibility-free contest, and [INSERT NAME OF SOME SMUG GOBSHITE CELERITY] was backing him/her from the off (well s/he has to do something to keep themselves hip with the kids, right?). But I do have serious issues with the process.
I’m not saying that the whole audition / rehearsal / live performance / public voting / etc. process isn’t hard work or nerve-wracking for contestants, but really, when it comes down to it, what we’re watching is a glorified and overhyped karaoke competition. And the public fucking love it. They get to vote for their favourite, and the lucky winner, who’s already done all of the necessary marketing and promotion for the last few months on prime-time television, gets to put out a record that half the nation are going to buy because they voted for it. Yes, the public gets what the public wants. And once again, the public wants mediocre slop. I can cope with that: it was ever thus. But what’s the alternative?
Aye, there’s the rub: there is no alternative, at least not that’s readily available or easily accessible. And this is where I return to a point I’ve made on various occasions throughout the year on this (and other people’s) blogs: the marketplace is becoming less competitive, not more. Consumer choice is practically a myth. While the large corporations (in all industries, not just music) are so fixated on finding the Next Big Thing – and fast – the idea of the next medium-sized thing and the slow-burning long-term investment thing ceases to be of interest. They want success and they want it NOW! The shareholders want to see a return – NOW – and in order to achieve these things, there’s no scope for taking a gamble. If an executive makes one wrong decision, they’re out of a job (although probably liven a substantial golden handshake for their royal fuck-up because that’s how it works these days. There are rewards for failure if you’re high enough up the corporate ladder. But I digress...)
Long-time readers of my blog may recall my bemoaning the closure of York’s last independent record store in the summer, and may also remember, more recently, my griping about the fact that neither of the remaining two stores, HMV and Zavvi (formerly Virgin) were stocking singles any more, on any format. Well, I dropped into HMV earlier this week to find that HMV were actually stocking singles again. That is to say, a single, and they had literally hundreds of it on special display stands around the store. Yup, [INSERT NAME OF X-FACTOR WINNER]’s single, [INSERT CORNY TITLE HERE]. At £3.99 a copy. Four fucking quid! So what if I wanted to buy a different single? Tough shit. If I wanted a single, it was ‘[INSERT CORNY TITLE HERE] or nowt. Suffice it to say I left with nowt.
My local Sainsbury’s is tiny and poorly stocked, but it’s within reasonable walking distance (quite important for someone who doesn’t drive). It doesn’t really stock many CDs – a few greatest hits and various artists compilations and perhaps the top ten chart albums. Again, this doesn’t exactly represent a great choice. But no matter. My local Sainsbury’s doesn’t stock singles. But wait, what’s this? I strolled in yesterday evening for a few groceries and was stunned to see, by the entrance, a huge display stand of black cardboard with a huge red X on top. The plague? Yes and no: row upon row of Leon Jackson singles. At £3.99 apiece. Four fucking quid! Etc, etc.
Like CCTV springing up on every street corner, within a matter of days there’s been a viral explosion of these CD displays. It’s remarkable how quickly they’ve managed to record it, get the artwork done, the CD pressed and distributed. Anyone would think the record company had known all along. Makes one wonder just how much of the million-pound recording contract that is the X Factor prize goes into subliminal messaging during the series... especially amid the outcry from fans of [INSERT CONTENDER HERE] who said they couldn’t get through (although I can’t say that bother me too much, because [INSERT CONTENDER HERE] is a cock anyway and we all know these things are rigged).
So what’s my point? It’s hard to say any more. I’ve never been lethargic in seeking out the things I like, however underground, esoteric or unobtainable via the more obvious commercial channels. But I’m growing increasingly frustrated by the evermore obvious squeeze being placed on choice. Most people won’t go to the lengths I’m willing to, and the casual buyer simply won’t purchase something they can’t find. Put simply, artistic merit and even the idea of quality is being shunned in favour of a quick buck. I’m convinced it’s not sustainable, but right now I can’t see where it will end.