Big Brother Likes Music Too

In 1949, George Orwell published 1984 , one of the most popular books in history. He painted its pages with harsh predictions of a future society in which the government holds total power and plagues its citizens with constant surveillance and the threat that “Big Brother is watching.” Though Orwell’s predictions have not proven to be entirely correct, his suggestion that voyeuristic interests would focus in on the general public have indeed become a part of mainstream culture. With reality television the most popular genre currently on the tube, our love of watching others has in turn simultaneously morphed into an intense desire to be watched, thereby quickly turning internet sites such as YouTube into household names. While it might not be Big Brother who is watching, the knowledge that someone is always watching us has become an integral part of the modern music scene.

In the past, celebrities often shied away from the public eye after constant bombardment by paparazzi, but, more recently, some celebrities have become less timid, and have, in fact, earned their fame directly through surveillance-styled media antics. Musician Tila Tequila originally earned recognition and acclaim through the internet friend forum MySpace. Her online success ballooned into her own reality television show with a controversial premise that shoved her persona and her music even further into the public mainstream. She is now one of the most popular celebrities amongst teens.

Some artist have used Youtube in the same way that Tequila used MySpace, and others Facebook. When Tay Zonday, a twenty-five-year-old from Minnesota, released some of his unique music on YouTube mid-last year, his single “Chocolate Rain” became a hit, and some critics are now comparing his distinctive voice to that of Barry White. He has since won a first annual YouTube award, and been featured in several television interviews and talk shows.

Members of the older generation have started tapping into the new craze too. In 1973, the rock band Journey was formed, releasing such popular songs as “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Wheel in the Sky.” Like any other band that has been around for over three decades, Journey has had its ups and downs, and several band members have come and gone. With several lead singers already behind them, the band was on the search yet again, in June 2007, for that popular Journey voice. Arnel Pineda, lead singer of a cover band called The Zoo, released some of his songs on YouTube. Journey band members saw the videos, liked what they heard, and he can now forget about cover bands, because he’s in the real deal.

Whether it's Tila Tequila, Journey, The Get Out Clause, or that band practicing in the garage next door, it seems that everyone is on YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. We are a voyeuristic culture that loves to watch and be watched. Despite George Orwell’s warnings, Big Brother’s surveillance technology has most certainly infiltrated our lives, and we have exuberantly accepted it. The Big Brother effect has, however, not produced the totalitarian regime Orwell predicted, but rather an egalitarian realm in which anyone (yes, even you) can be the next cultural sensation.

© 2008 Christine Seabrook; licensee (Cult)ure Magazine.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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