Rolling Stone Italy has reached new levels of hipsterdom by celebrating their 10th anniversary with a video advertisement entitled “Rocker Vs DJ”. Directed by Frederico Brugia of Filmmaster Productions, Rocker Vs DJ is either a contrived attempt by Rolling Stone to shock and awe in order to remain relevant, or the honest opinion of the magazine, represented visually in what seems like an elongated perfume ad. The video is littered with shocking images such as maggots crawling out of an ear or an audio chord tied into a noose. Naked women clamor over the “DJ” while the ominous narrating voice asks the DJ some rhetorical questions, notifies him (EDM) of his inevitable demise, and claims rock & roll will take its rightful place in the limelight, once again. I’m not a superstar DJ, but this is how I imagine a superstar DJ would respond to the questions asked and claims made in the video.
“What the hell are you doing?” Right now, I’m trying not to gag on my sandwich while watching your ad, but on most days, I’m just trying to help people get their daily cardio and groove on.
“Electronic noises you’re trying to pass off as music.” That’s cute. What’s this?
“This is what gives you a buzz when you’re up at the mixer right?” A bottomless Grey Goose bottle and a crowd of 50,000 people going crazy in front of you would give anyone a buzz or am I just a total newb?
“Third class whores that give it away to the first bidder” So, does this make you an even bigger whore for jumping on the bandwagon?
“You feel like superstars, huh?” OMG, how did you know?! It’s like you’re in my mind reading my DJ thoughts.
“Heroes of the stage” You’re too kind, but I like to think of myself as an artist of electronica, a licensed feels facilitator, an expert party thrower, a part time musical director for soundtracks of many around the world.
Through everything bad I’ve been given in life, ever since this experience… I really believe things get better. I believe that for everything bad you are given, life will return to you a beautiful experience. You can’t give up, you can’t not try. I got to go on stage at the best Electric Daisy Carnival yet, and drop a song for my favorite Dj’s for a crowd of 80,000. And yet, a few months before that, I was experiencing things that no one should have to experience… Now, I know that life has so many wonderful things to give. So much beauty lies everywhere. I think that anything I want to achieve will be mine.
(Read Sadie’s full story here.)
“No audience will ever chant your name.” Oh, really?
“They’ll never know your songs by heart.” Congratulations, you’re really great at being wrong.
“Because you are anonymity.” I guess I sell out shows and festivals because people like to wait in lines and pay for over-priced drinks. Again, this is such a blatantly incorrect statement, it is hard to fathom how it made it past an editor.
“We’ll see a return to guitar, bass, and drums.” Sorry bros, but you’re late to the party.
“Bring the real music back to life” Go home Rolling Stone, you’re drunker than a Snookie clubbing in Vegas. This statement is particularly amusing, considering that Rolling Stone has a ton of dance music-related material all over their publications, all the time. Furthermore, you’d think a “music” magazine would be able to quickly discern that dance music production generally takes as much skill as more traditional forms of music composition. Yes, mainstream “EDM” has definitely watered this down some; however, as any rational adult should know, just because some producers take part in copy cat production doesn’t mean that all producers do. Apparently the editors of Rolling Stone aren’t rational adults, though.
All jokes and sarcasm aside, everyone is entitled to an opinion just like everyone enjoys different sounds. To point out the pitfalls of a genre that’s been rapidly commercialized over the past few years in an objective manner should be welcomed as it offers a different perspective. But, to completely dismiss an entire genre and alienate a huge demographic of readers especially if you’re considered a “leading” publication in all things music, politics, and culture is one more chess move that will leave you hearing “check mate”.
Rolling Stone Italy may consider electronic music as “shit” being shot into their eardrums and subliminally suggest that the genre is perpetuated by drugs. But, it doesn’t change the fact that people in the millions love their dance music, and
Rolling Stone Italy’s opinion holds no weight in that discussion. Furthermore, their argument is so poorly delivered, it is almost hard to believe that a powerhouse like Rolling Stone would even think to publish this. How this campaign made it out of editing is completely beyond us.
