Since the first chapter of Local City Soundtrack, I got a chance to sit down and watch the Superbowl just like many of you did, and the stark contrast in two things really made me curious to ask:
Which performance did you like the most – The Who’s Halftime performance…or the remake of “We Are the World” that made its debut at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics?
My experience with both instances are as follows:
Sure, The Who aren’t in their 20’s anymore. Sure, they were a little rough around the edges. But I was happy to hear an actual human being SING a note that wasn’t “corrected” by the dreaded auto-tune that seems to be the standard in virtually every single song ever produced or sang at a live performance since 2008. Actually knowing that the last song they sang is called “We Won’t Get Fooled Again” instead of “the CSI song” made me feel slightly smarter than 90% of people talked to in the days and weeks that followed. I liked their performance.
Listening to “We Are the World” during the Olympics, however, literally made me gag and then throw up Doritos on myself. First of all, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion can sing. They don’t EVER need auto-tune. EVER. EVER. Second of all, when Hannah Montana, Lady GaGa and T-Pain made an appearance on the track, I looked around just to check and make sure I was still on the same planet. Do you REALLY expect me to NOT be absolutely furious that this song was remade and literally every single solitary person that “sang” on it was auto-tuned? How can you put Streisand and T-Friggin-Pain on the same track, let alone ROOM, as eachother? Completely uninspiring, bubblegum robo garbage. I’d never even use the corrupted iPod it played on as a coaster.
I really don’t know if it’s auto-tune or just plain ignorance that’s killing commercial music, but if that’s what good music is supposed to resemble in 2010, please dont update my contact lens prescription. I’d rather not see the oceanliner full of flaming landfill materials barreling towards me. The assault on my eardrum is torture enough.