Resistance is Futile....

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Pop-Haytas always complain about the "manufactured" nature of tightly formatted "disposable" pop. While pondering this, I asked myself about pop that glories in the whole "manufactured" pop star thang. I mean reeeeeaaalllly manufactured...as in the singers pretend that they aren't even biologically human. And two names jumped out at me.
Devo and Kraftwerk were big into the whole "we are happy robots" shtick. Devo may declare "Robotize Me" but their lust for shutting off their meaty portions is clearly ironic. Their actual revulsion is obvious. Kraftewerk, on the other hand, doesn't (appear to) exude the same sarcastic air of suppresed anti-robotizing dread and desperation.
So, here's my questions:

1) Does Kraftwerk genuinely desire to be assimilated?
2) How long before computer animation, animatronics, expert systems (programmed with "formulas" for "perfect pop tunes") remove actual flesh and blood musicians from the process entirely?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 17 April 2003 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

1) This is 2003, who cares?
2) Not soon enough!

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 17 April 2003 14:27 (twenty-two years ago)

1) Does Kraftwerk genuinely desire to be assimilated?

I misread that initially as "Does Kraftwerk genuinely desire to be ASSASINATED?"

KRAFTWERK DEATH WISH SHOCKER!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 17 April 2003 14:31 (twenty-two years ago)

1) (real answer) Kraftwerk are method actors, Devo are satirists.
2) I would rather see animatronic rock bands any day of the week (as long as they know more songs besides "It's A Small World After All"). Robots are awesome.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 17 April 2003 14:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Unfortunately, the only song they know is "It's a Small World After All (Techno Remix)"

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 17 April 2003 14:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I said this on another thread but Kraftwerk were very influenced by Warhol and Gilbert & George, the latter especially.

― Dadaismus, Thursday, 17 April 2003 14:36 (twenty-two years ago)

expert systems (programmed with "formulas" for "perfect pop tunes")

kinda sounds like Daft Punk to me. (hint: they claim they're robots)

― pete b. (pete b.), Thursday, 17 April 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmmm. Right. I forgot about that.
French? Robots? Whats the difference?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 17 April 2003 16:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Robot cheese is shite

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 17 April 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

robots are effective in wartime.

― matthew james (matthew james), Thursday, 17 April 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Servotron to thread!

― hstencil, Thursday, 17 April 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

in the future, the job of the musician will be to build and maintain those music-making robots.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 17 April 2003 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

TS: Servotron vs Ladytron...to the death with the built in buzzsaws and particle beam weapons!

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 17 April 2003 16:32 (twenty-two years ago)

In the world of music, there's a difference between the assembly line and the laboratory.

The assembly line is a sterile place that has no heart and no soul in it. It also has no pride and no need for perfection, as well as no real drive. All of the teenypoppers of today and the teenypoppers of the '70s were/are cultivated from the assembly line. The people behind the scenes have a very negative view of their audience, expecting or demanding them to be mindless followers of whatever's been anointed as "cool".

The laboratory may be a sterile place and may be soulless as well, but it has heart in it and definitely has pride and a need for perfection, as well as some real drive. This is the category that Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Ladytron, etc., fall into. The people behind the scenes are futurists with a very positive view of their audience, hoping or expecting that their audience is intelligent and is only drawn to them because they have a similar POV, at least musically/aesthetically.

I can totally understand the laboratory people; in fact, that's some of my favorite music of all time. I will never understand the assembly line people because I've always chosen for myself and have been an individualist. I don't appreciate someone else molding me -- never have, never will, and I'm not talking about the parental type of molding that happens when you're younger, either.

― Dee the Lurker (Dee the Lurker), Thursday, 17 April 2003 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

There's an episode of ARTHUR where the most popular POP group was Binky, a band of super-attractive men & women who in the end are revealed to be holograms with music created by svengalis and sessions players. The show made two interesting preditctions for the future of pop musci:
1. Hotness is a key element to the popularity of a band and is best acheived by the magic of holograms.
2. The svengalis promoted the band by spraypainting the word Binky all over Arthur's elementary school. Vandalism of the demographic's property is essential to success!

― Fivvy (Fivvy), Thursday, 17 April 2003 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

The Rock-a-Fire Explosion owns this thread.

link

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 17 April 2003 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

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