Artistic integrity Part ONE

Artistic integrity in the modern age

What does it mean and is it different from the past?

I have been having this discussion recently with a friend. It was a difficult question to answer and it started because I insulted The Parlotones.

It stands that I still think they are a bunch of sell out wankers with a penchant for 13 yr old girls and “ladies with cats”


An excerpt from a recent news site:

"Ending their year on a positive note, South African alternative rock band, The Parlotones has nabbed yet another lucrative deal. This time, the Johannesburg-based band has signed a deal that sees fast-food chain KFC funding the production of their new music video."

lets grab some words from that:

"positive note"
"ALTERNATIVE"
"Lucrative deal"
"Fast-food chain"

and a sentence

"funding the production of their new music video"

I refuse to be apologetic about this.

They are evil corporate shills, they are not artists and they and their fans deserve each other.

So they sold their souls to KFC for a the opportunity to film a music video... and I assume a great wad of cash. They have in the past sold their slutty souls to a number of different corporations. Fuji and Multichoice come to mind.

Now this friend said that it was not a problem and that I am just sensitive because I do not like their music. This is true, I do not like their brand of Pead-Oedipal Pop. However I think I would have had a little sympathy had they not been in a KFC ad.

There is little good to be said for artists in advertisements, as far as I am concerned. If you are in an advertisement, you lose your artistic licence. You have sold your image for a few bucks.
The difference between me (who has been in a few commercials as a “model”) and them is that they have sold “themselves” they have sold their identities to the highest fast-food bidder.

Why is it that they have aligned themselves with that brand of cultural barrenness? Couldnt they have pursued ... I dont know ... something with value to them as artists?

Maybe they could have gotten their manager (who I think is Kahn himself btw) to approach ... gosh this is difficult. There is almost nothing that they can go for considering their image. Maybe cat sellers.

The make Pead-Oedipal Pop and the Kahn wears fucking emo make-up. Its difficult to approach rolex isnt it.

That said, is it acceptable if the “artist” does a promo for a brand he/she considers appropriate to their “brand”? I dont know that it is. I am NOT an artist so I dont suffer from artistic driven poverty, but I think that if you sell your soul to the highest corporate bidder. Then you are no longer an artist, but a product aligned with that particular corporation.


According to “friend” and this was a spectacularly stupid statement . “That is like saying a sportsman is not a sportsman if they are in an advert”

Insanity, a sportsmans ethical code is on the field of their play. Not in the public realm. That statement is a no go.


... Next, Die Antwoord, Lady Gaga and Mozart