guy and i have a discussion on Pink. guy says, I like her. i say, I don't. I say I don't like her because she seems so contrived. guy says, She's manufactured coolness. Like Lenny Kravitz. he says this because he knows i secretly like lenny kravitz. No way, I say. Lenny's style matches his music. Pink seems insincere because her pink mohawk is completely inconsistent with her beyonce sound. the only conclusion you can draw is that both styles are totally fake making her way more fake than Lenny.guy says, Ok. You have a point there.
12 comments:
I vote fake! She is as Punk Rock as Madonna!
I think it's wrong to demonize pop singers as fake. Of course pop is fake -- that's what we love about pop. It's right there in the name: pop -- a tiny burst of flash that's gone as soon as it happens.
The difference between Lenny Kravitz and Pink is that Lenny plays like 10 different instruments and writes all his songs, and Pink is a pop singer who has barely begun writing lyrics. It has nothing to do with clothes or hair.
Both of these people are employees of mega-corporations (record labels) who have professional stylists designing their looks with the help of big-budget marketing departments and lucrative product-placement promotional contracts.
That being said, I probably like as many Lenny songs as Pink songs. At least Pink is using the corporate machine to give an alternative message to young girls (her chief market) about body image and self esteem. Ani Difranco did the same thing with "Not a Pretty Girl" more than a decade ago but in a totally different way for a totally different market. Plus there are overtly political songs on Pink's latest album, dissing the Iraq war and George Bush along with Paris Hilton and push-up bras.
Lenny just wants it to be 1970 all over again. And his hair stylist is very happy to comply.
hey punk-ass! i'm not saying anyone's a demon!
you've helped me prove my point that pink is a bigger faker, a bigger liar and a bigger nuisance than lenny by bringing up the stronger point (than hair/sound inconsistency) that she preaches to her audience and attempts to project sincerity while working for the corporate machine and hiring a professional stylist.
DOUBLE FAKE. DOUBLE EW!
Pink also aims for Benatar/Jett territory, but way more cynically than either. I suspect she'd actually be a pretty convincing rock singer if she didn't worry so much about costume changes and dancing. As it is, I'm generally not convinced.
Are we starting a thread about whether tis nobler to effect change/present alternatives via the machine, or to dwell freely outside of it and pretend it doesn't exist? (Dull/broad vs. sharp/narrow. The path through the machine, however blunting, seems much more difficult.) Or are we content to suffer cognitive dissonance while observing Pink, and leave it at that?
I can get with a few Lenny songs but I have no opinion of him as a personality/figure. I imagine he has a lot of sex, though.
I think Pink has a valuable message for young girls, and that message is sincere. And she has a handful of songs that rock (as does Lenny).
I'm not sure what exactly defines her "fakeness" and Lenny's "genuineness" except for the fact that Lenny probably does more creative work on each track than she does (based on liner notes). Fakeness cannot be determined by personal style when that style is most likely determined by hired professionals.
Why we hating on Pink, yo? Is it because of the ??-year-old mohawk picture?
i never said Lenny was genuine. In fact, I said he was fake. I said Pink is more fake. the truth is, i haven't been a lenny kravitz fan since Let Love Rule came out over 10 years ago.
i never meant pink any harm yo. i just wrote about a funny conversation that guy and i had. i didn't put a lot of thought or research into it. it was a passing idea.
i saw the picture of her in a mohawk after i thought what i thought, said what i said, and wrote what i wrote.
i love giving guy a hard time about his love for fluffy pop goodness. that's what spurred the conversation on. not any real conviction.
Oh, but your passing thought was just the tip of a very large iceberg that chills the very core of my being!
Watch, and imagine how much more convincing she might be if she were standing at the front of the stage, holding a microphone stand, dressed in clothing she might actually be wearing while drunk in a bar at midnight, and singing the shit out of this song, instead of posing on top of the motorcycle and allowing the backup singers to carry the ball.
well she would be courtney love!
and that's a show that'll tear you out of your pants, it's so rockin'.
nice call paul.
ps. i really liked the beginning of that song, but like so many songs with potential, the "bigness" of a classic chorus f-ed it all up. that and that she was sitting on a motorcycle. and all the lights. and dancers...
Killer chorus:
"I'm not here for your entertainment/You don't really want to mess with me tonight"
People spend their lives trying to write hooks like that. This is the sound of cash registers ringing.
"Just stop and take a second"
Obvious filler line. Mechanical. Clumsy.
"I was fine before you walked into my life"
I thought this song was about some asshole manhandling her in a bar. This line walked in from another song, maybe about a bad relationship. They might've gone with "walked into my night," but that's almost too poetic for this song. And it's not really poetic.
"Cause you know it's over before it began"
Another line that was probably jotted down somewhere else and flown into this song. Useful cliche that could've gone into any number of songs. Teenage girls (target market) write that line in their diaries every single day.
"Keep your drink, just give me the money/It's just you and your hand tonight"
Pretty inspired, in its way. No wonder these guys write so many hits.
Harlan Howard used to sit in bars in Nashville, listening to people's conversations until they said something he could use. A lot of other writers did the same thing. There's a story about some woman leaving the bar one evening and loudly telling her boyfriend, "Just pick me up on your way down," and a bunch of songwriters all scribbling on napkins at the same time.
Also, the talking section reminds me of that Shania Twain song where she's unimpressed by consecutive men.
And so it goes.
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