Frontmen and Twitter

Nathan Williams is the bratty, pot-head, used-to-live-in-his-mom’s-basement-until-his-macbook-recordings-were-deemed-“rad”-by-the-hipster-blogs frontman of his now esteemed beachy, punk-pop band, WAVVES.  Regardless of being brilliant or just being uncreative and lucky at the same time, Williams is an excellent writer in terms of catchy, simple lyrics that swept him up out of his mom’s basement and into MTV and celebrity-hood.  In this age of social networking, Nathan turns out to be some sort of pioneer, in that he has always been constantly tweeting.  At 44,806 followers, the kid has his audience well informed on his drunkenness, his drug usage, his drunken drug use at the VMA’s (read this: http://www.thefader.com/2011/08/29/wavves-wins-the-vmas/), etc.

As a fan of his, as well as many other tweeting frontmen (the excellent lyricist Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand got drunk two days ago and answered an infinite amount of questions from his followers: http://www.nme.com/news/franz-ferdinand/63686?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fanpage-nmenews-franz#5), I love that fact that the audience can now be so close to the artists.  The mystique of these talented people leaves and soon the follower is left only to their glamorously intoxicated lifestyles, allowing for more “nobodies” to feel more confident in their own abilities.  Not to mention, it’s a blast to get to see a glimpse of the exact person a popular musician is.

Literary culture to me is simply any form of writing that delivers entertainment and worth.  As far as this specific post goes, I would say that guys like the previously mentioned Alex Kapranos or Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys are all to be considered masterful in the literature field seeing as they write fantastic melodic poems that connect with many people who listen to the music daily.  Even so, on the other end of the spectrum you have somebody like Nathan Williams or Jake Orrall of JEFF the Brotherhood who write explicitly “punk” lyrics that may not be the most intelligent (baby please/can’t you see/I think you are so sexy/won’t you mellow out with me?), it’s still considered impressive because it’s simply relatable, albeit in a low-IQ fashion.  Literature, like art, is subjective. It all depends on the spectator.

These literary figures do not make any attempt to state that they are in fact literary figures or that they write well or anything like that.  Instead, they just explain their lifestyles, their thoughts, and what they do, which is interesting because you can have their every day average joe dialogue and then see their works post-facto and make links between the two.  Before these social networks, there was no such capability.  David Bowie was actually Ziggy Stardust, Jimi Hendrix was insanely mystical and enchanted, Jim Morrison was on a different level mentally and spiritually.  If the people of those writers times had access to Twitter, then maybe more songwriters would’ve popped up once they realize that Bowie, Hendrix, and Morrison aren’t gods or extra terrestrial beings.  They’re just people (with different tolerance levels for different drugs).

To answer the question about the digital age being a red herring: Facebook friends are not real friends at all.  Everybody’s a creep, and Facebook is a haven where everyone can stare at everyone else without bothering anyone.  All the same with Twitter, except you hang on words rather than images.  I would not consider any of the before mentioned musicians as my friend just because I follow them on Twitter and know what they’re up to.  Even as some artists follow me, that’s not a real life friend.  It’s just a network.

 -Jon @JonnMac