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When Did Pop Music Turn into the WWF?


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I was watching the VMAs on Sunday (don't judge me) and came to the conclusion that pop music has now morphed into the WWF.

 

Almost every performer and presenter that showed his or her face at the VMAs had some sort of gimmick. Most wore crazy outfits, cut over the top interviews, and acted like a baffoon. Almost every performance was light on actual musical talent, but high on dancing, flying around and other activities that required a physical skill. And did anyone else see how Lady Gaga refused to leave the stage while Brittney Spears accepted her lifetime achievement award? If that's not the perfect setup to a wrestling angle, I don't know what is.

 

I lost interest in the current version of the WWF (WWE) a while ago, but have started paying attention again thanks to the CM Punk angle. The Punk angle represents almost everything I enjoyed about wrestling: Larger than life, but somewhat believeable characters, promos and interactions with a certain level of tension and spontanaity in the air, and solid work in the ring. The Punk angle doesn't require overproduction and outrageousness to get over. It gets over because the people involved are talented and allowed to shine.

 

Adelle was the CM Punk of the VMAs on Sunday. She didn't wear a silly outfit, have 100 dancers flopping around while she performed, or say anything after her performance that made her sound like a 10 year old. She went out there with a microphone and some dude playing the piano and just killed. Most people that sat through that entire debacle of a show agree that Adelle was by far the best performance of the evening.

 

I know that part of being a pop star and a pro wrestler is to stand out, to one-up your competition and make sure people remember YOU when the night is done. But if everyone is trying to one-up each other with gimmicks and stupidity, why not try to steal the show with talent? Lady Gaga can sing. So can Neo and some of these other artists I can't remember at the moment. I wonder if they focused more on featuring their musical talents instead of their flair for the dramatic if a few more poeple would start buying albums again.

 

That strategy seemed to work for CM Punk and the WWE. Since pop music is apparently trying to replicate the WWE, maybe it would work for the music industry too.

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Hell, you could even throw in Chris Brown's face turn. The dude was a despised heel just a couple of years ago, now everyone's cheering him and loving his performance. He's kind of Randy Orton.

Jay-Z wasn't. If Chris Brown is HHH, Jay-Z is Punk. He knows something is up.

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  • 1 month later...

Ooh I remember watching this. Pretty dull show although I don't quite see the wrestling connection being made here.

The phonograph record was invented in the 1870s. It's been over a hundred years since pop music went from being something that you bought sheet music to and sat around the living room piano singing with family and friends and turned into something that was performed by "profesional entertainers".

 

And I'm enough of a wrestling fan to think Adele's black tights and black boots gimmick is as much of a gimmick as Nikki Minaj's Max Moon costume.

 

That said I remember thinking that Katy Perry's acceptance speech for Fireworks was one of the most amazing carny things.

 

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/685468/katy...ml#id%3d1668980

 

She somehow pats herself on the back for having the courage to take the right stand on an important issue in the song without being brave enough to say what that issue is. I'm not doing it justice but it is awesome.

 

"Self congratulating for taking a stand whithout saying what that stand is"---is I think a pretty standard pop music trick and on some level more carny than even a wrestling memorial show. It is a carny move that I think wrestling promoters should study and could learn from.

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Really? Self esteem?

Self esteem in the face of anything in particular? In the face of body issues? homophobia? racism? poverty?Just self esteem?

That's awesome.

 

Still instead of coming out and saying "encouraging self esteem is very important and I'm really proud to do that" she just pats herself on the back for "doing something that is right".

 

Like I said wrestling promoter should borrow from this and throw a memorial show without announcing who died.

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