Caesarean Rhapsody

Just when you thought the western music industry was all about money, Trent Reznor (lead singer for Nine Inch Nails) comes out and does something worth noticing. He recently launched an album called Year Zero with Universal Music and is currently on tour promoting the same. Appalled by the $35 price of the album in an Australian store, he has now decided to sever all ties with the label and start selling music directly from the band’s website. Here’s what he said,

“Year Zero is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars ($29.10 US). No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne’s record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US). By the way, when I asked a label rep about this, his response was: “It’s because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out – you know, true fans. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.” So, I guess as a reward for being a “true fan” you get ripped off. We will put out one last album for Universal and after that we will sell albums directly to fans from our website at (say) $4 an album”.

Way to go, Trent. Power to the true music fan.

I hate fakes. I hate people who crib about the status quo without any knowledge or concern about it. Let me tell you where I come from to make such statements.

Last night I heard Thermal and a Quarter live at Legends of Rock. And quite frankly, I was blown away by the showmanship and clinical perfection shown by the band. After the gig we met up at a friend’s place and during one of our disconnected conversations someone said, “Why can’t India produce quality bands like the western countries?”

Let me ask you. Don’t we have enough talent? Aren’t the bands we eagerly listen to at local events good enough? Don’t they switch chords as easily as your western gods? Does a drummer in an Indian band play Moby Dick any different than Bonzo did some 3 decades back?

Then what exactly is missing from the scene that the music industry in our country isn’t as promising as that outside of here? Look inside yourself. It’s you, the fan, who’s responsible for the poor sales and the lack of recognition for bands.

Simple logic. Demand more (i.e spend on titles made by Indian bands) and there will be supply. Support local talent people.

Just when you think no one in this world cares about your existence other than the cold caller at the credit card company, you get a call, out of the blue, from a friend from across seven seas. You talk about stuff, laugh over an inside joke, get stuff you’ve been carrying around off your chest, crib about life, mope about the past, poke fun at each other’s pet peeves, and hang up feeling like you’ve gobbled up a truck load of Ben & Jerry’s.

There is a god after all!

Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself!

We all know it’s difficult being a man. Come on, even women know on the inside, that us men have it served on a dirty plate lined with potassium cyanide compared to them. But here is a small list of things that we as Indian males have to face in our youth:

1. you get called racist names by foreigners with IQ the size of your toenail in centimeters
2. people assume that you have no social life
3. you are supposed to fix people’s computers even if you are a botanist
4. you are supposed to be average in every possible way
5. nobody looks up to you for anything … not even if you’re standing one level up
6. customer service won’t talk politely to you
7. no one lets you cut into a queue for anything … absolutely anything
8. no shop will ever refund you any money no matter how much you pout
9. you can’t sleep your way up the corporate ladder
10. no one buys you a drink without consequences … believe me!

I was reading through the day’s news and came across a news about Jerry Lewis making an anti-gay slur. The American alliance for queers (I seriously wouldn’t want to come up on tops for the wrong search query) spent no time in making Lewis’ life hell.

That’s all our world has become, hasn’t it? One big system of people who think they have a God-given duty to police a particular section of society. I think, and I have no fear in saying, that this has led people to become A-grade wusses. There may be tribulations involved with being gay or belong to a minority, but shielding people has just resulted in them running to some entity that’s gained so much popularity that going against it is next to suicide.

Everything today has gone so politically correct that it’s difficult not to slip up. Imagine the tension and stress people live in just so they don’t say “fag”, “homo”, “indian” or “arab” around someone who’s simply too sensitive to such language. We were talking about office stuff the other day, and the topic of harassment came up. There just seems to be no space left for people to crack a simple joke in an office without ruffling a few feathers.

If you ask me, I’d chuck this life and settle sometime back in the 70s when things were much less “correct”. A bit hazy from all the weed, but definitely much better.