You want over-intellectualisation?
You want over-intellectualisation? I’ll give you over-intellectualisation: “Top of the Pops made radical, filled with fury against exploitation and injustice would not transform Britain but a Top of the Pops filled with disco, the empty heart of Pop music, misses the opportunity to spread passion, thought and creative energy and thus to enhance the quality of life.” Disco, huh? There oughtta be a law against it. Oh wait, there is. Still it’s obviously apolitical because of the lyrics.
People like John Robertson, professor of something at Paisley, read a shitload of Marcuse and Barthes but apparently read very little pop criticism. Still, that’s OK, because Barthes tells you all you need to know about “the crushing impact of media institutions such as television, film and advertising on individual capacity to make critical responses”. Unless you’re John Robinson or someone similarly well-read, obviously: he makes a good few stabs at ‘critical responses’ over the course of this article, including a hilarious reviewlet of U2’s unspeakable “Discotheque”, which he of course likes, the smug old fuck.
This is simply an irritation-blog. My apologies.
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