Lollapalooza cancelled
I touched on this in my idiotic first post down there. Lollapalooza has been cancelled because of poor ticket sales.
Sad, yes, but what the fuck did they expect? Hey, I'd pay good money to see PJ Harvey, Pixies, Sonic Youth, and even Morrissey, but who the hell else would? These are all good acts, and so are the others I'm sure, but in this stupid ass culture, who cares? There's no Britney, no Christina Aguilera, no Justin Timberlake, no American Idol finalist or winner, so they won't go.
Now here's where I get into post- or post-post-modernist cute and clever BS (bitching about others bitching). People on the sidelines--people like me--will say, how stupid were they for not booking a super big-name act? How did they expect to sell tickets if they didn't have a major drawer? Perhaps that's true, but these same assholes who say this--people like me again--would say, if they booked a big draw, that Lollapalooza has soldout, that Perry Farrell is just a whore in it for the money, and so on. I read message boards all the time and this is the cynical reactions people have about anything. They laugh and ridicule a band that alters its sound in the slightest or is on a small label and doesn't sell many albums. If a band sells a lot of albums, they call them sellouts. If a band doesn't change its sound, they say they're stagnant, behind the times, anachronistic. It's the fickle masses--never satisfied and always cynical, as if they have some high critical standard that no one can seem to live up to. The know-nothings who travel with hammers, ready to bash the shit out of anything crossing their paths.
[Sidebar--my only Lollapalooza experience was in 1992. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ministry were why I went and they all rocked. Ice Cube, Jesus & Mary Chain, Lush weren't bad either. I had diarrhea. There were seas of people. It was hot and humid and the food was overpriced. But I loved it. It felt like a generational moment to me. It was a few months before Clinton was elected, grunge was in, and you could feel change and possibility in the air. And the damn thing sold out. People were selling tickets on the side of the road, in the grass lawn parking lot, at the entry gates that were stacked with bottles of soda and juice and beer and other shit you weren't allowed to take in.]
For example, Metallica's last album, St. Anger. It's not their best album, for sure, but you would think based on the mass reaction that it was the most horrific load of crap ever recorded. Metallica, after changing their sound and going after Napster, are an easy target. But no matter what they put out, the masses were ready to pounce and rip them a new one. I say half the songs are good, the rest are so-so, which makes it sound like an okay album. Did anybody even give it a chance? Or is everybody pissed off still about having their line to free music assailed?
Anyway, I've ranted too far. It's just a damn shame that an original show like Lollapalooza can't sell enough tickets just so it doesn't get cancelled. This society sucks.
Sad, yes, but what the fuck did they expect? Hey, I'd pay good money to see PJ Harvey, Pixies, Sonic Youth, and even Morrissey, but who the hell else would? These are all good acts, and so are the others I'm sure, but in this stupid ass culture, who cares? There's no Britney, no Christina Aguilera, no Justin Timberlake, no American Idol finalist or winner, so they won't go.
Now here's where I get into post- or post-post-modernist cute and clever BS (bitching about others bitching). People on the sidelines--people like me--will say, how stupid were they for not booking a super big-name act? How did they expect to sell tickets if they didn't have a major drawer? Perhaps that's true, but these same assholes who say this--people like me again--would say, if they booked a big draw, that Lollapalooza has soldout, that Perry Farrell is just a whore in it for the money, and so on. I read message boards all the time and this is the cynical reactions people have about anything. They laugh and ridicule a band that alters its sound in the slightest or is on a small label and doesn't sell many albums. If a band sells a lot of albums, they call them sellouts. If a band doesn't change its sound, they say they're stagnant, behind the times, anachronistic. It's the fickle masses--never satisfied and always cynical, as if they have some high critical standard that no one can seem to live up to. The know-nothings who travel with hammers, ready to bash the shit out of anything crossing their paths.
[Sidebar--my only Lollapalooza experience was in 1992. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ministry were why I went and they all rocked. Ice Cube, Jesus & Mary Chain, Lush weren't bad either. I had diarrhea. There were seas of people. It was hot and humid and the food was overpriced. But I loved it. It felt like a generational moment to me. It was a few months before Clinton was elected, grunge was in, and you could feel change and possibility in the air. And the damn thing sold out. People were selling tickets on the side of the road, in the grass lawn parking lot, at the entry gates that were stacked with bottles of soda and juice and beer and other shit you weren't allowed to take in.]
For example, Metallica's last album, St. Anger. It's not their best album, for sure, but you would think based on the mass reaction that it was the most horrific load of crap ever recorded. Metallica, after changing their sound and going after Napster, are an easy target. But no matter what they put out, the masses were ready to pounce and rip them a new one. I say half the songs are good, the rest are so-so, which makes it sound like an okay album. Did anybody even give it a chance? Or is everybody pissed off still about having their line to free music assailed?
Anyway, I've ranted too far. It's just a damn shame that an original show like Lollapalooza can't sell enough tickets just so it doesn't get cancelled. This society sucks.
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