Discuss

I discovered this quote today... I found it quite interesting.

"When artists today are asked to Twitter their every thought, their every action, to record on video their every breath, their every performance, I believe they're diluting their creative powers, their creative potency and the durability of their work. And in the long run I believe they're also diluting the magical power and the magnetic attraction that they can or will ever have over their audience."

What made it more interesting was then discovering who said it.

Here's a few clues:

1. He shares a birthday with me.

2. He's a bit of a lad.

3. He played bass in one of the most successful British bands of the 80s.

4. He's dabbled in a bit of acting.

5. He also said the following, far less profound quote:

"Of course we slept with the models in our videos. So did the managers, so did the director. Everybody sleeps with everybody in this game."


Oh dear. Down a point in my admiration there, spunky-bass-boy.

So have you worked it out?


?


No, he's not Martin Kemp.

[Although it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Martin Kemp had slept with the models in their videos. The Spandau boys were well known for their party antics. Hell, Steve Norman apparently even had to be stretchered out of a bar the night before Band Aid was recorded because he was rat-arsed from trying to drink our subject and his band-mates under the bar.]

So who is he?

Well, he's this man.

As we know, he's been a favourite of mine for years. I didn't realise he was so wise, however. I think he's made a very valid point. Have today's artists lost the ability to create magic and mystery with the over-saturation of intimate details of their not-so-private lives? Are we missing out because we soak it all up like a sponge so we feel like we're privy to a lifestyle we'll never have?

Or are spunky-bass-boy and I just a bit old and jaded and hankering for the days when artists were actually just that. Artists. Creators. Innovators. Trend-setters. Artists who were all about the work and not about tweeting how they just ate two-minute noodles for dinner and doesn't-that-make-them-just-like-you. Artists you could actually admire and aspire to be like (apart from the drinking-yourself-stretchered antics... silly boy Steve).

Aside from Lady Gaga, I can not think of a single performer of the current generation who would fall into any of those categories.

But I'm happy to be corrected. Anyone got any suggestions?

Jay-Z was the only other one I could think of. But a lot of his stuff is sampled from earlier artists.

So anyway, as the title of the blog directs...

DISCUSS.