Discussion: having a voice and how it has affected the quality of things over the years

[Ryan]

This is something that I have thought about for a long time but don’t really talk about. I would be interested to see what you guys think about this from your own observations.

Remember the days before Facebook and Twitter (I would say around the time that MySpace was the big platform, as that did not seem to put a big dent in things, at least in terms of what I'm talking about), when Presidents, artists and people with some degree of elevated status did not have an online, everyman voice? How much do you think artists like Morrissey, who now regularly make blog posts on their own websites, et al, have suffered for it, and their musical quality and/or credibility (or both?) has suffered from it?

I'd say 2009 was the last release that came before this time, and if you look at it, the release had professional artwork and singles (whether you like it or not is a matter of taste), and everything largely still felt... "normal," for lack of a better term. Everything from 2014 when everyone was more vocal has seemed to go downhill: artwork, quality of singles, attitude in general (f*** Harvest), quality of singles with the adoption of digital singles, quality of music videos, and so on.

It isn’t really a single question. Just a discussion I wanted to initiate to see where it leads.

 

[Ask Jeeves]

The worst of the worst is vapid, constant social media churning. An occasional on-site blog can be bad, but it is still leagues better than daily social posts.

I thank God that Morrissey doesn't have personal social media accounts. I've lost a lot of respect for other artists I've loved from that. I can handle a dodgy blog post once in a while, but I cannot handle constant, ongoing social media churning.

 

[Ryan]

This thread took off.

 

[theprivilegeismine]

I think it has gone downhill since 2014. But whether it is associated with mental health issues is another question entirely. It seems to have affected him greatly - being crucified by the MSM, despite the hard front he puts on.

The bottom line is people don't like hearing the unvarnished truth so he is treated like crap because most of society simply cannot handle the truth he speaks.

 

[Redacted]

I think for nostalgia acts, having an online voice has been great for them. They can personally connect with their fans and a lot of have revived their careers to some degree, being able to tour again, etc. Whereas before, it would be very unlikely that a magazine would be interested in helping promote them, with interviews. etc.
For Morrissey, I think a lot of his problems came from or started with magazine interviews and then he made them worse with social media. I know I say this over and over, but I think people would respect him a lot more if he just stood behind what he said instead of lying or backpedaling after he's gotten some push back.

 

[Ryan]

I think for nostalgia acts, having an online voice has been great for them. They can personally connect with their fans and a lot of have revived their careers to some degree, being able to tour again, etc. Whereas before, it would be very unlikely that a magazine would be interested in helping promote them, with interviews. etc.
For Morrissey, I think a lot of his problems came from or started with magazine interviews and then he made them worse with social media. I know I say this over and over, but I think people would respect him a lot more if he just stood behind what he said instead of lying or backpedaling after he's gotten some push back.

That reminds me of this bit: