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The Cody Blog: Apples and Dylans -- They Don't Mix

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Apples and Dylans -- They Don't Mix

Now I love Apple, as most people know. I've owned the stock since the dawn of their foray into the music business and continue to hold it.

And I have come to truly love the mind, lyrics, music and performances by Bob Dylan since I finally dove into his full, original non-greatest-hits albums. He's truly a genius, a legend, and I can gush about him for hours.

But I am sickened by his endorsing Apple, the iPod and iTunes with their new campaign. What happened to artist integrity? What happened to not selling out? What happened to fighting the damn system? Is Dylan even human anymore or is he a cyborg now since he's been fully assimulated into the system?


What's next -- The Who singing for the intro to Friends and the Rembrandts singing the intro for CSI? Er, somethign like that, right?

And then what -- maybe Jimmy Page can play for the opening on of the New York Stock Exchange. Wouldn't that really be the ultimate sell-out? Oh, wait, that already happened too didn't it?

Only Neil Young and his "This Note's for You" mentality remains pure, no?

Sad, really. But rock n roll will never die, even if these fallen stars' principles already have.

posted by Cody Willard at 9/05/2006 04:59:00 PM

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm so glad the codyblog is being updated. Keep it up cody willard. not yet blogmaverick status, but you are creeping. If NBR stock ever comes back over 40, I'll get a realmoney subscription.

9/05/2006 07:23:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

what about neil young's film at sundance? main streams have a way of romancing even the most discreet of streams.

9/05/2006 08:08:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cody, Cody, Cody! What happened to you, man? Did the outdoors and fresh Colorado air open new doors of perception? I’m really like the last entry. I knew something was horribly wrong with Dylan doing those shameful Apple ipod endorsements, but nothing surprises me anymore. This is stuff out of a Thomas Frank book. He called a few years ago in “The Conquest of Cool” (a book about how rock 'n roll became the soundtrack of acquisition, and counterculture became cultural orthodoxy). I’m sure you’re very familiar with the book. Franks “One Market Under god” also touches the topic of corporations comparing themselves to rock stars and the French Revolution. I always hated Apple, and this feeling goes back to my days as an IDG Research Analyst. To me Apple represents everything that is wrong and arrogant with the modern corporation. Creating objects of worship is a really ridiculous notion, particularly when you have Darfur, Aids, Iraq, and Malaria (thousands of kids die each year from Malaria). But that’s another issue. I find the ipod and absolute waste of time—wasted collective energy in an era when engineers are a dying breed in this country. Where are the great homegrown minds? What great achievement in the sciences have we accomplished lately? Why don’t we build great bridges? Where are the great public works? What about useful products? How about an alternative to the combustion engine? I hate to bring New Orleans into this, but how about doing something about those Levees? The Dutch did it…and with far less resources. To have Steve Jobs announced the number of hours devoted to the design and marketing of this cute little gadget is really pathetic. Jobs is sounding more and more like a political commissar from Orwell’s “1984”.The ipod is simply an object. Yes, it brings momentary pleasure and it doesn’t harm anyone, but it does distract our consciousness from more pressing issues such as the ones you mentioned in your latest entry. Our very own stock market reflects the ineptitude of the network age. We have gotten quite good about creating virtual worlds, but in the real world we amount to nothing more than apologists. Certainly the vast majority of ipod users are really good people who love music, but I don’t think they think too much about the politics of design and engineering and cost benefit analysis. It’s too academic really or perhaps too real, and as you know, in America we like the movie version of reality. The real thing is too depressing. What I love about you’re blog is that you point out the shortcoming of the open market system, but you believe in the system. I too believe in the system and aim to improve not to disrupt. You understand economics and you know that not everything in life can be explained quantitatively…there are some things that cannot be measured…the imagination for example. Imagination exerts a great deal of political and cultural influence when given the opportunity to flourish, not when it comes in a white box via Fed Ex.

9/06/2006 01:58:00 AM  

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