Fame and Fortune

We seem to live in a 'quick fix' society. Everyone wants something for nothing, or at least virtually nothing. They are not willing to put the effort in, to get what they want, they just want to get it.

Look at the obsession with wanting to be famous. This is seen as the hight of attainment, to simply be seen as famous, without effort put in. Examples of such 'quick fix' desires are strewn across the media. Fame junkies, turn up at 'pop idol' talent shows, mostly with no talent, even when they think they have, hoping they can get on the 'ladder of fortune'.

Can one blame individuals for wanting something for noting, or virtually nothing? ...I guess not. If you can have something for free, then why work for it. The trouble with such fame however, is that it often comes at a heavy price. How many wannabe pop starts go through 'pop idol' type shows around the globe, only to be 'ground-up' and 'spat-out' when the pop industry has had its pound of flesh. Pop stardom built on image, seems to be the 'name of the game'.

If you sound OK, but no great shakes, you may get away with having twinkly eyes and a nice smile, then you may keep up your pop career for a while. But even if you can keep it going, if your talent is hollow and trends change, then you will become one of yesterdays forgotten stars.

There are of course great talents in the music industry. Those that manage to have a lasting career, usually do it on at least a bit more than just image. The best of them compose their own songs. It is a case of supply and demand, they give the audience what the audience wants. But if they have a genuine talent, the audience usually goes for what they've got.

The image junkie, who is looking for fame, wants to be famous for fames sake. But, find a real raw talent in the music industry, someone who can compose a song that 'hits the spot' ...more often than not, you will find these individuals don't care 'two hoots' about fame. They compose music because they are creators, they love to create. They would compose music whether they became famous or not.

What goes for the music industry, goes for every other industry too. Someone who makes a living out of genuinely objective art, like David Shepard for example, doesn't do it for the fame ,or for the money, he does it for the love of the creation. Of course the money is important, it pays the bills. But as for the fame, well, many such creator, would quite happily rather be anonymous.

So much modern art today, is genuinely appallingly bad. The modern artist who thinks one brick on top of another, framed in a particular reference, is the aesthetic hight beyond which, one should not dare to reach, 'unmade beds' are easy to attain. Such individuals often make the front page of the glossy mags and become the rich playboys and playgirls, spending all their time at socialite parties, telling anyone who'll listen, how great and talented they are... ask the man or women on the street what they think and s**t is a favorite expletive.

But a genuine objective work of art, can really be a masterpiece, to admire as long as entropy will allow it. Find a great work of art and you will usually find a great mind behind. But if you want to see what art detached from an objective goal of the 'good' looks like, take a trip to the Tate Modern and look at what's passing for art nowadays.




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