Scottish Sunday: Business: Business News

I like it when politicians get involved in pop music

Sometimes it’s terribly funny, like Tony Blair trying to piggyback on Britain’s youth culture in the hilarious Cool Britannia embarrassment, leaving him looking about as cool as a bearded vicar wearing a wooden pendant cross and clapping along to a Christian rock band. On the other hand, sometimes it’s actually quite sweet.

The journalistic sneering at Jack McConnell and his culture minister Frank McAveety standing in the ear-splitting, white noise of the MTV Europe awards, wearing shiny new suits and swaying awkwardly like dads come to pick up the kids from the youth club disco, was of course mostly born out of jealously that said journalists couldn’t get a ticket for the event even if they’d auctioned Andrew Neil’s toupee. They conveniently missed the point that, unlike Blair trying to hijack a culture he had nothing to do with, the politicians and assorted officials attending Scotland’s most globally prestigious event for years, albeit rather incongruously, were all hugely instrumental in persuading MTV Europe executives that Scotland was worthy of their big night.

So damn it if they didn’t deserve one evening in close proximity to Kylie’s (admittedly rather attractive) little bottom if it means that Scotland’s image around the world climbs a few notches higher, and brings us more similarly scaled events, the accompanying tourists and all their lovely money. If we could only persuade MTV to host their next film awards in Scotland I’d personally endure the sight of the entire Scottish Executive dressed up as Neo from The Matrix if it helped close the deal.

But deserving of admiration last week was a quite different group of politicians who dared to enter that terrifying world of popular music and youth, with all its variant possibilities and potential for political humiliation, in order to formally criticise the show Pop Idol. Jim Sheridan and another nine bold MPs tabled an early day motion condemning the “so-called music experts” of the ITV entertainment show for making derogatory comments about contestants who didn’t match a conformist image, specifically with reference to their weight and physical appearance. They were particularly worried about the remarks made by the panel to a largish girl called Michelle McManus, even though the girl made it into the final along with another relatively big contestant, Kim McGee.

The MPs deemed the judges’ comments “irresponsible” and, more importantly, suggested that the whole tone of the panel’s comments sent out the wrong message to young people, who should in the MPs’ view, “be judged solely on their unique singing talents and not on preconceived image”.

There naturally ensued a hail of counterattacks on these politicians, accusations that included the suggestion that on account of their age and their self-evident lack of cool, these men and women couldn’t possibly understand the culture they were criticising. This particular attack is wrong for a reason that merely helps shore up and clarify the worries expressed by the MPs in the first place. The reason it’s wrong is that Pop Idol is not part of popular music or youth culture, but part of television culture. This is not a show that reflects the way youth expresses itself and experiments with boundaries, creative expression and rebellion. Pop Idol is a creaking, old, end-of-the-pier talent contest, one that appeals to grannies and couch-constrained mums and dads as much as pre-teens, who like to watch well-scrubbed youngsters belt out middle-of-the-road tunes the way similar acts do every Friday and Saturday night down at the social club. It could not be further away from the volatile and explosive world of real youth culture if it tried, and the reason is that the Identikit crop-topped Barbies and bland boy band clones that fast-track through to the finals of Pop Idol are manufactured, conceived and controlled by a bunch of old people.

When youth is left to its own devices to create a look, a sound or a fashion, it cares little for convention or stereotype. It encompasses the fat, the thin, the ugly the gorgeous, the anything-you-like as long as it attempts to express an abstract that resonates with others of the same generation. And despite the inevitability that at some stage any successful manifestation of this creativity will be seized upon by hoary, old, coke-sniffing, Ferrari-driving exploiters who will mould it to their own commercial purposes, the origins of the art will have been genuine and therefore remain of some intrinsic value.

Pop Idol is the very antithesis of this process. The winning acts are empty, vapid phantoms, created by dreary, old pop vaudevillians like Simon Cowell to entertain a largely female, demographically down-market, middle-aged television audience who like their youth to be presented pre-packaged, unintelligent, malleable, frightened and therefore safe. Despite this being the core audience, millions of young people also watch by default and this is where the accusation of irresponsibility on behalf of the programme-makers must be taken seriously.

Real pop culture has no case to answer in how it discriminates, offends, misrepresents or even corrupts, since its very purpose is to be aggressively subversive. Television, in sharp contrast, has enormous responsibility both morally and legally to do none of the above and so the criticisms levelled at Pop Idol are valid. A show that presents such a phoney vision of youthful talent must also accept that it has an absolute duty to be equally phoney in pretending that we don’t care about how people look as long as they can sing cabaret versions of Take My Breath Away, in tune. It’s all complete invention, and so the unnecessary emotional wounding of overweight or unattractive youngsters, both at home and on the programme, who mistakenly believe there’s anything genuine going on in the Pop Idol studio, is an unforgivable crime. Hooray for the grown-up politicians in suits that aren’t interested in looking cool or being seen to be in touch with youth culture, but simply had the courage to stand up for the weak and vulnerable.

The Impact on Hotels

The relationship between politics, pop music, and youth culture can have indirect consequences for the hotel industry. When politicians support events or initiatives within the music industry, it can boost the image and reputation of the host country or city. This increased positive perception may attract more tourists, including music enthusiasts who are interested in attending live concerts, festivals, or awards shows.

If MTV were to host their next film awards in Scotland, for example, it could lead to an influx of visitors from around the world, resulting in increased demand for accommodation. Hotels in the host city would benefit from the additional bookings and revenue generated by the surge in tourism. The economic impact of such events extends beyond the music industry itself.

Furthermore, when a country or city is associated with popular music and youth culture, it can contribute to the development of a vibrant nightlife scene. This, in turn, creates a demand for various entertainment venues, including bars, clubs, and performance spaces. Hotels located in areas known for their nightlife may experience increased demand as tourists seek convenient accommodation options.

It is crucial for the hotel industry to stay informed about the relationship between politics, pop music, and youth culture as it can have a direct impact on the number of visitors and tourism-related activities. Embracing and supporting these cultural intersections can bring positive economic outcomes for hotels and the overall hospitality sector.