Ryan's Gig Guide - October 2018

How exactly do some musicians become household names when many households rarely listen to music and consider going out to a gig as something they did only once during their adolescence? Older relatives, sport fans, overworked labourers, conserva- tive cake decorators, goldfish and relatively thick people can surprisingly remember and churn out alleged facts about mainstream music artists with great ease; you may be for- given for mistaking them for avid music enthusiasts but this is often never the case. Karaoke This interactive entertainment is a very deceptive form of mind control. Instrumental renditions of popular songs are played at bars and restaurants to drunks whilst the original song lyrics are visually projected on to large video screens; encouraging naive individuals with no singing ability to spread the words to others like an airborne virus.A hybrid version of this known as Carpool Karaoke has become a trend on US tele- vision; programs such as The Late Late Show force their famous guests to sit in a car driven by James Corden and sing at him in order to avoid being eaten by the comedian.Whilst this unique hostage situation is in effect the viewer is slowly condi- tioned to suffer and remember simple lyrics and melodies. Quiz Show Questions The Television Quiz show format is not just a vehicle for bombarding armchair intellectuals with pointless trivia but also a sneaky way to promote mainstream musicians. Questions for music categories on these shows have to be accurately researched and approved; normally they com- prise of cemented facts difficult to dispute such as naming all the Taylor Swift songs that have reached UK top ten chart positions or made people vomit blood. For example; September 11th 2001 is the correct answer to "What date did Mariah Carey release the Glitter album?"; this question combines both music and general knowledge by advertising two things; the first being one of the worst disasters ever to hit NewYork and the second being the coordinated attacks that also took place on that day. BRAINWASHING AND PROPAGANDA IN POPULAR MUSIC CULTURE BY NICK J TOWNSEND www.ryansgigguide.com 16 rgg Oct 2018