Artistic expression has always been an important aspect of human culture and creativity, but with the advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning, the boundaries of what we consider to be art are being redefined. AI art generators like DALL-E 2 and Midjourney are examples of this trend, where machines are used to create art, removing the need for human artists. While these AI art generators have their pros and cons, it’s worth noting that the debate surrounding their use is similar to the one that surrounded electronic music production when it first became popular.
Erasing Tolkien? What’s that about? Well, the showrunners and actors of Amazon Prime Video’s Rings of Power series have declared that their series is a version of Tolkien’s work that reflects modernity – “To be part of creating accessibility for generations to come. For new generations this is their version of Tolkien, this is what my daughter will see of Tolkien’s works.” That is a direct quote from actress Sophia Nomvete, who plays Disa, the wife of Dwarf king Durin.
Social media is an integral marketing tool for blogs such as ours. Or at least that’s the conventional way of approaching the issue. But the fact is, most of the platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter suppress any opportunity for our posts being viewed by our followers unless we pay them money to advertise said post.
Since I rebooted Power of Pop in late July, I have been moved to focus on movie and TV reviews with hardly any music reviews featured. This change in direction might be somewhat bewildering to anyone who has followed Power of Pop in the decades that it has been around.
Global pandemic aside, the last 20 years have been horrendous for music and the music industry. The music culture that I have grown with from the 60s to the 90s has been utterly devastated for reasons I have enumerated in two articles viz. music is dead and the music industry is dead. However, despite all this, I can still defiantly proclaim : LONG LIVE ROCK!
Regular visitors to the Power of Pop would have noticed a shift in content focus, from music to film and TV. Bottom line, I really believe that the music industry is dead and it gets really depressing to write about music nowadays. So I try not to.
“We can’t rewind, we’ve gone too far” is a lyric from “Video Killed the Radio Star” and perfectly encapsulates my opinion that music is dead. But music is everywhere you protest, how can music be dead? Let me explain.
Growing up in Singapore in the 60s/70s, we were cautioned against getting involved in politics or even be seen talking about politicians in public. While – like most folks around the world with access to radios, cinemas and TVs – we were besotted with U.S. pop culture, the same cannot be said about U.S. politics.
Thank you, kind visitor for reading this post about Crawling From the Wreckage. If you’re observant enough, you would notice that the last time I posted here was in April – around the time Singapore went into a partial lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I had even posted a CLOSED advisory, which reflected my depressed state of mind. It did seem to me that the pandemic signalled the final death knell of Power of Pop.
