Hear’Say - Pure And Simple
30 Day Song Challenge - Your Least Favourite Song
I wouldn’t say that this song itself is one that I hate, as it’s merely a fairly bland pop tune, but it’s the wider concept that it represents which makes me dislike it so much.
Hear’Say were the first musical act to become famous as the result of winning a talent contest on TV in the UK. They were formed of the five winners of Popstars, with the five runners-up also forming a pop group: Liberty X (who had more success as a group, although the individual members of Hear’Say have probably had more subsequent success).
This, their first single, was a massive hit, becoming the quickest-selling single in history and topping the charts. Obviously, this made an absolute fortune, and it wasn’t long before two Simons copied the format in the following years: Fuller and Cowell.
As each series and rejigging of the format resulted in ever more viewers, and an almost certain Christmas Number One single (until the groundswell of support for Rage Against The Machine last year), the genre grew and grew, until the point where you can’t move for celebrity judging panels and talent contests.
Yes, it’s Popstars that we have to blame for such monstrosities as Britain’s Got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing, and all manner of other crap. It’s to blame for middle-of-the-road, bland pop that seems only to be capable of producing ballads and not much else. It’s to blame for Simon Cowell’s smug fucking face being in the newspapers for weeks on end, and it’s to blame for a convicted thug being venerated as the nation’s new sweetheart.
Hear’Say never were the problem. It’s what they spawned that I dislike.
Pure and simple.
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