Is it just me or do all the musician pull-quotes coming out of NME’s new 10 Special Edition Covers issue make the artists sound a bit irritable? Between Jack White’s rant against the internet, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy’s take on TV talent competitions, and M.I.A.’s epic Lady Gaga diss, it sounds like they all woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. Either way, it’s hard to disagree with what was said (save for Jack’s generalization that the web is “in direct opposition to the art of music being treated with respect.” Easy, tiger.)
“In one way [American Idol, et al. are] grotesquely honest,” said Murphy, “which makes me sad we’re so numb that we’re ok with it – with Simon [Cowell] being a piece of shit and ‘this is how the business is’. That makes me sad that people accept it.” This.
As for M.I.A.’s scathing quote about Lady Gaga, we’ll stay out of that fight. Suffice to say, however, Ms. Arulpragasam and Michel Gondry could have a great conversation on the subject.