Madonna is the Tip of the Dump
by Paul McGoldrick
It seems that as the career of a Hollywood or music personality fades they
become more and more self-disillusioned about the level of his/her talent.
I cannot speak for the talent of Madonna - is that a first name, last name
or nickname? - having never heard her sing, but one has to understand from
the press that it is over-promoted and under-delivered. The same is certainly
true of that other mainstream star, Michael Jackson, who even Hollywood
seems to have given up on - and once the "protective screen" is
removed it seems that personal disaster is not far off.
I remember Master Jackson from his appearances with his family on the BBC's Top of the Pops in the mid 1960s which was, at the time, broadcast live (weekly) from a studio at Dickenson Road, Manchester ("Dicky Road" was a converted church hall, which seemed to be a favorite for regional television.) The few times that the whole family showed up it was clear that dad was a thug (quite audible outside the dressing room) and the appearance of the Greater Manchester Police with a search warrant for drugs was an embarrassment that the BBC didn't need. It is not surprising that his early issues have created a personality that is strange. But with the longevity of his career it is extraordinary that the manchild is not retired living off the fruits of his "labors" instead of being the laughingstock he is, and with all the innuendoes that surround him.
Madonna's career, on the other hand, seems to have been a marketing exercise - a method of promotion proven by the backers of the Monkees - and a person who appears, by her public utterances, to know what is best for the world. Her experience is not a result of living in the real world but maybe she is psychic? She has been particularly outspoken about how much electronic hackers of her music are costing her: especially her. (Perhaps her fans don't think her material is actually worth paying for?) The Smoking Gun reported that following her organization's (I would like to think that she is personally technology-challenged) distribution of fake MP3 files of her upcoming album (released April 22, 2003) - each of which actually had a looped recording of her saying, "What the xxxx do you think you're doing" - someone hacked her web site on April 19, 2003. The hacker left a message, "This is what the xxxx I am doing…" and posted MP3 files with the real contents of her album.
What a wonderful comeback to the stupid star behavior she exhibited. No, of course I don't condone illegitimate use of copyrighted materials... but if Madonna and crew think that they could possibly be the winners in a technology fight they really are in an IQ class of their own.
The motion picture and music industries have put themselves in the position they are in because they are dinosaurs. They want distribution and payment schemes for their IP that they want to dictate, and technology has made sure that they have been left way behind. One of the biggest problems, of course, is the ridiculous amounts of money involved in the businesses - which needs to be reversed if hacking is to really be discouraged - but the industries themselves need to change distribution in a way that shows they believe in their customers, not to be always "at" them as crooks and potential crooks. You know, maybe I can speak for Madonna's talent - her waning behavior tells all.
This Editorial was inspired by an e-mail from
a friend directing me to the Madonna item. He is a top-notch HF/RF engineer
in the Pacific Northwest with a talent for understanding the needs of our
industry, who suffered in a company where the top levels of management were
there to look out only for their own futures (my opinion, not his). Want
to talk with him about work? e-mail me at pjm@analogzone.com and I'll put
you in touch.