GOSSIP – music for men
(CD, Sony)
No,
I am not actually gonna review a record released on Sony which has been
covered all over the frontpages of hipster magazines and made its way into
all kinds of lifestyle rags because it seems to be oh so fashionable to shed
some light on female fat feminist singers and then say, oooh, we are so
tolerant and enlightened, we even look at and talk to fff’s and their
queer friends for a minute or so (then back to selling cosmetics and bulimic
models to you). I wouldn’t even comment on that because it is so obvious
and has been mentioned so much, I don’t care to rehash this.
I
have no idea how the ideals that Gossip stood for when they released their
first two albums – which I really liked – are kept up these days. With
the money, the luxury and the fame shine lights rolling in globally (and I
wonder how much of that is a product of perfect promotion by Sony and how
much is just bandwagonjumping and if there is a difference, after all.) But
I liked those first two records and Beth Ditto offered some energetic,
powerful singing on them. They were a mix of Sixties Soul and Nineties Punk
Rock with a disco edge – so danceable and powerful and political at the
same time. I have no time for bashing political musicians, who have sold or
lost their edge to fame and money (except if it is selfrightous assholes
such as U2) because I have no idea how I would stand up to this. Moreover, I
admit, I haven’t yet listened to the music. I know that in the world of
major magazines and real pop journalisms this is not a necessity, but then I
hate pop journalism at large anyway.
Why
I write this, is because I read a tiny interview with Beth Ditto in a major
German news magazine and of the three questions (wow! Three questions in all
– sounds like Hemingway) one was: “You are a singer – why do you care
so little for your body?” What? Or better: what the fuck? What has that to
do with something? Did anybody ever ask Barry White that? Or Iggy Pop, who
was praised on a full page in the same issue of the same magazine? Of
course, in the world of mainstream pop a singer has to look like a
supermodel – or actually even better, because they have to shine with the
eternal promise of endless sex and never ending youth, whereas real models
have to look bored as hell and dumb as a retarded clam.
Ditto
answered in the line of, there are more important things to be worried about
in this day and age. Obviously journalistic ignorance is not one of them,
but basically she is right. Yes, health is a major concern to anybody and
fat kids are on the cover of any real tabloid every other day. My main
question is not, what do looks have to do with artistic quality? (Did
anybody ever ask Mick Jagger why he is such an ugly fart?) My main question
is, what does it say about the journalist who asked the question? Apart from
being a goddamn ignorant asshole.
Finally, the guy on the cover of the CD is the female drummer of the band. The queer issues of the band have been lost in all the glossy stuff I glanced at, but maybe this and the ironic title is a way to keep it all alive. I’ll buy that CD when it ends up in the cheapo racks after the summer. If not, then not. There is a lot of interesting music out there that you can be interested in. On the other hand: Sometimes all it sparks is a little ranting, then that is okay, too.
