SUPERMEGATREND

Blind hype.

Dr Schlomo & The GI Clinic, Shorty Jizzle & The Plumbercracks, The Chelsea Clintons, you up on these bands yet? It’s unlikely, not because they’re too underground but simply because they don’t exist. This fictional list of acts had unsuspecting Coachella audience members raving in a recent Jimmy Kimmel segment. From behind the keyboard of a music blog it’s easy to see the humour in this false band admiration. As a general rule it’s best to avoid commenting on topics you’re unfamiliar with, particularly on camera. Common sense breaches aside, in their defence you could argue that this blind fandom is a by-product of the current state of online music blogging. With minimal barriers to entry for both aspiring musicians and bloggers, the world of online music has degenerated into a never-ending race to find the next ‘it’ artist. A once advantageous trait of the online medium, accessibility has created an oversaturated blogosphere and increasingly fickle music fans. Attention is in deficit but music is not.

Music blogging has evolved into an interconnected drip feeder more concerned with being first than objective. Pick three music blogs on the day of an anticipated release. Now compare their opinions on the same release from first to last to post. Overwhelmingly the first post dictates the tone and general opinion for the posts that follow on other sites. Not surprising when there’s an expectation to post in a timespan shorter than the duration of the music being reviewed. The same sentiment reworded and reposted as it trickles down from blog to blog - a pack mentality that positions prominent blogs as music hype gatekeepers. 

So is popularity still based on musical substance or is it merely a product of hype and marketing? Prime example – Daft Punk (continue reading before you start chugging your Haterade). Daft Punk’s contribution to electronic music and wider pop culture cannot be downplayed, that is not in question here. Mysterioso French guys with robot heads? That’s about as SUPERMEGATREND as you can get. However it’s tough to argue their latest single Get Lucky would’ve received the same level of adulation had Daft Punk’s name not been attached. It’s doubtful Get Lucky by Pharrell Williams (alone) would top the charts in 46 countries. Granted it is a decent track, but it doesn’t warrant the incessant dribbling and life changing status many have awarded it. At this point the enigma that is Daft Punk and the sharply executed marketing hype that surrounds them is just as important, if not more so, than their music. The duo’s history does grant them some leeway, but they could effectively release 3 minutes of anything and blogs would still attest to its artistic merit.

The Facebookification of blogging through Tumblr and other similar platforms has distorted the online space. Hype bubbles emerging and bursting in an instant off the back infinitely repeated co-signs or disapprovals. As ludicrous as the blind fandom in Kimmel’s Coachella video is, it is essentially the same behaviour that happens on music blogs daily. The bands are real, but the hype is illusionary.  Those unable to substantiate or sustain the praise overshadowed by the next upcoming artist and an audience willing to believe the furore that surrounds them.