Music is dead, Sinead says, and Rolling Stone killed it. Well, I say, if you're turning to Rolling Stone to understand what's going on in the music world then I think we have a problem, Houston. I, like, about, say, 98% of the rest of the world am not a fan of Kim Kardashian. But Rolling Stone putting her on the cover of their mag is hardly the end of the world or the end of music. I mean, they've done this kind of thing a million times already, and getting the cover is not really a prestigious thing anymore, like it perhaps was back in Sinead's heyday. This new KK cover is no different to them putting Megan Fox or the girls from The Hills on their cover (or the Gossip Girls or Buffy or anyone else from TV land). Usually they just put hoary old rockers on the cover: people who off stage would be well and truly into their retirement, and only occasionally, one of the big profile pop girls might also get a cover. Perhaps they do it to appease the people in the news stands. A bit of rampant, T and A sexism gives the people that work in the stores a little respite from their month in month out geriatric care even if the bums and boobs make for PC challenging moments. Music isn't dead though. What is dead is journalism because Sinead's thinly veiled attack on KK, while I can applaud it on some level, doesn't really deserve front page status or the amount of clicks that it seems to be generating. The sad part is that what passes for journalism these days is simply trawling through someone's Facebook or Twitter account, adding a screenshot and, bang, story made. Like that Wendy Williams always trying to brew up a storm and usually failing. It's just everyone trying to keep up with the tide. But what I will give Sinead is that she's a master headline maker herself. She was right on the money last year or whenever it was when she used her social media platform to reach out to Miley Cyrus. Didn't go quite to plan though, because it's a new generation with new rules and new attitudes to things that aren't in step, but I think it was another case of her heart being in the right place (wrong time). And then it just got downright nasty... Very few people can court controversy like Sinead still can, but we don't have to worry: these outbursts have done nothing to overshadow her actual musical output over the years... oh wait. Perhaps at this point she might consider her own career in journalism. Hell, she could just create her own storm in a tea cup every time someone in the world pisses her off. She could call it Nobody Cares Bout U. People will lap that shit up and I'm sure KK's agent will even approach her at some point to get her on the cover or whatever. So while I could give a flying rat's about KK being on the cover of RS, I feel for Sinead, because she doesn't get that people under the age of 40 are already boycotting RS because that angle of music journalism is already dead to them. The kids ain't got no time for that. They're too busy on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, reading and understanding the world 140 characters at a time. They're not interested in a six page spread in Rolling Stone or NME for anything else but the bragging rights. This might be one of the few RS issues of the year that someone under the age of 60 actually buys. And I'm sure that there is just so much more to learn about KK that they'll get over the fact that music or journalism or whatever is dead or maybe just wait for someone to scan the pages, upload them onto some fansite and just read it from there.
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Dave
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Dave Di Vito is a writer, teacher and former curator.He's also the author of the Vinyl Tiger series and Replace The Sky.
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