Tom Parkin - 'The Blue Man Group'
The Blue Man group is an organisation which was formed in 1987. All members wear a blue skin and keep their identities hidden. The act perform many different types of talents but mainly create their pieces as pastiches. This is evident as their tour is named 'The Rock Concert Instruction Manual' and they use satire in their pieces of work regarding rock music. They use hyper-reality because they create other worldly characters with the blue skin which the audience see and keep their true identity hidden. This allows the audience to look into their strange world and when they think of 'The Blue Man Group' they won't think of human beings, they will think of these bald, blue characters which exaggerate their movements to create a mockery of the rock scene in today's society.
Jemma Reading - Mumford & Sons
Mumford & Sons are a British folk rock band which originated in 2007. The band pay great homage to folk style music with no hint of irony. They largely use the work of Shakespeare in their work such as: 'Sigh No More' using quotes from 'Much Ado About Nothing', showing their respect for British culture. They made quick success, as they have only been formed for five years and have headlined several festivals and I think that this may be down to the Niche market which Folk Rock appeals to and because they are so specialised within their genre, there are no other bands of our era which can compare to them.
Harry Tibbles - 2 Many DJs
2 Many DJs are a Bulgarian alternative rock/electronic band who originated in 1992. The duo produce many official and unofficial remixes of other people's music and have sets at festivals of non-stop remixing for hours on end. Their sets include a large television screen where the visuals amplify their remixing. In one case, the set showed two records being melted and then being remoulded as one, showing that a remix is literally combining two pieces of work, which is very postmodern. They are currently in the process of making 'Radio Soulwax' which will be a continuous mix lasting all day. It will feature 24 hour mixes with visuals similar to those in their live performances and will include music from many different decades, after this project, they have said they will start to work on their next studio recorded album.
Max Hallam - Hurts
Hurts are a British Synthpop duo formed in 2009. The duo pay homage to their predecessors by creating similar music to that of the 1980s sythpop era such as: Human League and Soft Cell. Hurts did not release their album in full, they released it in six singles so that they were not judged by their album as a whole, as 'The Horrors' did and only managed to release three from their album 'Skying'. Hurts embraces contradictions as the frontman Theo Hutchcraft says the song 'Wonderful Life' is "basically based on two extremes: the first being a man who wants to kill himself and the second being in love at first sight." This also shows how the band uses mulitple meanings.
Meg Rhodes - DJ Dangermouse
DJ Dangermouse is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He pays homage in his works as his first album he made when he was prominent was called 'The Grey Album' which was a mix of The Beatles' 'White Album' and Jay-Z's 'Black Album'. This had to go through courts as there were many issues with copyrighting and people claiming it was not entirely his works. In order to get around the problem, Dangermouse sold blank CDs in stores and told people they could download his songs from the internet, therefore they weren't purchasing his music, but his blank CD, creating a hyper-reality as people were buying nothing effectively.
George Hextall - Eminem
Eminem is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. His albums contain mockery of many kinds and are mainly works of pastiche. His first three albums he released when prominent were all about himself and his alter ego: 'The Slim Shady LP', 'The Marshall Mathers LP' and 'The Eminem Show' which shows mockery to society. He also uses many samples in his music in order to make his pastiche's sucessful but also to pay homage to other artists. For example, he creates remixes of Dr. Dre's songs to pay homage and re-release his track.
Jacob Boswell - Tenacious D
Tenacious D are an American rock duo who begun their works in 1994. The duo record parody songs with a linear narrative such as 'The Best Song In The World Tribute' which is a song dedicated to a song they claimed they made in the heat of the moment which was the best song in the world. But that song never existed, creating a hyper reality. The duo have even released a film which includes many of their songs and throughout the film they make satire of the society they live in and the over-exaggerate the importance of rock.
Jack Ludford - Gorillaz
Gorillaz are an English music and visual project created in 1998 who mainly feature in alternative hip hop and alternative rock. The band have created animated caricatures of themselves which they use to represent themselves on their music videos and on stage. Gorillaz play heavily on the postmodern feature of hyper-reality by using these animations of themselves. At their concerts they have large television screens which they project the miming animations on to as the band play live behind the screens so that the audience cannot see them. So, in theory, people are paying to watch television at the concert.
Eleanor Watson - Queen
Queen are an English rock band formed in 1971. The band were massively popular with their music, despite the fact it embraced many contradictions. For example, the song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' has, what seems to be, 3 completely different songs all in one song, but this song is one of the most successful songs of all time. Another contradiction was the fact that Mercury explicitly pointed out no synths were used in the early albums, but them used them later as the band developed. Bricolage was another feature of Postmodernism which Queen used massively as Freddy Mercury told the press: "My mission is to bring ballet to the masses" yet they were a rock band, therefore putting these two unconnected things together, but yet it somehow worked.
Ella Patrick - David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger who first began his works in 1964. He had a nickname 'The Thin White Duke' and dabbled in MANY areas of music to a point where none of his albums are in any way similar and they show no continuity. An example of this is his song 'Love you till Tuesday' which is very happy and then this is completely contrasted by his other single 'Future legend' which is really dark and mysterious, but this may be down to the influence of drugs. He also constantly changed his appearance. He helped Queen to record their album 'Under Pressure' and he lived and performed through the 70s, which were considered to be the breakthrough of Postmodern ideas.
Jess Pardoe - Devo
Devo is an American synth pop band formed in 1972. They performed a song called 'Whip It' and in the video they mocked American country people and they made their lyrics very basic to show to the world how easy it was to make a song and become famous and showing it requires no talent anymore. Another way in which they convey this message is in their video to the song 'Time out for fun' where they are all potatoes with the band's heads on - this shows how they all dress the same and practically are the same underneath - this is satirical of conventional boy bands.
Alex Wilson - Kanye West
Kanye West is an American rapper, singer and record producer who has been active since 1996. Kanye uses heavy amount of sampling within his work but not for a pastiche purpose - he pays complete homage to the artists he samples. Before he became an artist himself, his style of production was recognised for using pitched-up samples of soul songs. Examples of this in his own work are: 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone and 'All falls down'. Kanye's lyrics out to make a point such as "You can buy money, but you can't buy freedom". Kanye West also once said on live television "George Bush doesn't care about black people".
Bank Chue - Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga is an American singer and songwriter who became active in 2005. Gaga is a very popular entertainer and wears outrageous clothing in order to meet the demands of her fans 'Little Monsters'. She uses very little sampling but mainly features in the pop genre. However, she did do some work with Tony Bennett in his latest album where they have recorded a swing record together - giving evidence how she can both be popular and niche. Gaga did not have many interviews until 2011 where she had her own Paul O'Grady show dedicated to just her. She performed many songs and told the British TV watchers all about her life and where she started. Her songs contain diverse meanings but the main feature throughout is to believe in yourself and love your neighbour as you love yourself.
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