January 20, 2005
the joke's on us
If you've spent any time with me over the past year or so you've probably heard me rant and rave about Jet. And not in a good way.
I've charged them with sounding like original music twice removed (doing Oasis doing The Beatles, or The Black Crowes doing The Rolling Stones) or generally just started foaming at the mouth for some reason or other to do with their existence.
But recently I've had this revelation: What if Jet are really having a laugh? What if they're these crazy postmodern pranksters who are pulling this grand stunt by dominating global pop music and then one day they jump out from behind a tree, screaming hysterically, rolling on the ground, in tears of laughter and bellow about how funny it is that none of us got the joke. That really they've been pulling the wool over our eyes all this time as they orchestrated this grand commentary on the infinite facsimile that is contemporary pop culture. That by managing to sell millions of records just by playing dress ups and doing poor cover versions they had single handedly illuminated the central organising principle of postmodern culture: empty reproductions.
So I've been entertaining this fantasy that Jet are not in fact just terrible, clueless rip-offs but actually the greatest cultural commentators of our time.
It's possible right?
Comments
that guy on the right sure looks like he could be having a joke with us.
unfortunately, i think this grand fantasy will remain as such. it's a nice thought though, isn't it?
wow. am now filled with new-found (or *is* it?) admiration for the pomo-ness of Jet, as-elucidated-by-kaytee (TM).
any contradictory evidence will be...uh, eaten.
I think you're being much too generous. Occam's razor says that they're most likely just clueless twats in leather jackets with not much in the way of understanding of music and the history of music.
I suspected I was far too great a dreamer :D
No, but seriously. I detest them so much, and I *hate* to be a negative person so weaving this rich tapestry was a way to spin it positively I suppose.
I still have my theories about Paris Hilton...
Well they're definately having a laugh as they get to travel the world, bed babes, get trashed and play music.
sorry to break it to you, mate, but i don't think so. friend of mine is related to half of them, and there's very little self-reflexivity/having-a-laugh action going down...
hi, katy, btw.
lol, we should be so lucky!
The fantasy is indeed an exciting one...maybe one day someone really will stand up and laugh it up at the stupid dog shit pile of a music industry we have right now.