Public Address | Cafe | Random Play: Life? In the Fast Lane https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/ en-us Copyright (c) 2026 Public Address Simon Grigg https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8284#post8284 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8284#post8284

I'd just say that some people's contrivances are feted while others' are pilloried, and I'm curious to know why that is. IMO the the disdainful orthodoxy about Britney Spears is getting in the way of basic human compassion, among other things.

And since we are in that mode...agreed. The entertainment…

]]> Sun, 25 Feb 2007 17:47:01 +1300 WH https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8281#post8281 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8281#post8281 Hey Simon,

I don't disagree with you. Its odd that a music critic should have to defend what they like to themselves.

I'd just say that some people's contrivances are feted while others' are pilloried, and I'm curious to know why that is. IMO the the disdainful orthodoxy about Britney…

]]> Sun, 25 Feb 2007 15:57:01 +1300 Stephen Judd https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8273#post8273 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8273#post8273 Apropos criticism: nothing is any good if other people like it

Apropos Britney:

A question: At what point will people notice that the Britney Spears story has become rapidly less funny?

]]> Sat, 24 Feb 2007 20:33:32 +1300 Simon Grigg https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8272#post8272 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8272#post8272 Weston,
it's an extension of the NME factor as it was called (when that magazine still actually mattered)..and was practiced across the UK's hip media extensively in the decades after 1976. Blame the likes of Birchill, Parsons, Morley, and the offensively self important Robert Elms..build em up, bash em down.…

]]> Sat, 24 Feb 2007 19:19:47 +1300 WH https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8260#post8260 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8260#post8260 http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/laurabarton/story/0,,2019061,00.html ]]> Sat, 24 Feb 2007 13:15:42 +1300 Simon Grigg https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8160#post8160 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8160#post8160

Lyrics like that are obviously orchestrated, but I don't think the rumoured post-shave suicide attempt was. Unless – OMG – are they tweaking Britney for the emo market? Oh, say it ain't so!

God, I don't know, I guess too many years in this industry makes one a tad cynical.…

]]> Thu, 22 Feb 2007 20:08:57 +1300 Robyn Gallagher https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8155#post8155 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8155#post8155 Pretty much every song Britney has release post "...Baby, one more time" has been about wanting to be taken seriously.

All you people look at me like I'm a little girl.
Well did you ever think it be okay for me to step into this world.

I'm not a girl,…

]]> Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:36:41 +1300 Simon Grigg https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8038#post8038 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8038#post8038

surely they would have tried really, really hard to talk her out of it, rather than make it public.

Not if they want to kill her teen princess image. Public is the whole point...

]]> Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:35:45 +1300 Robyn Gallagher https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8033#post8033 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=8033#post8033

To quote Max Clifford, the UK PR wizard, yesterday:

"Obviously they knew exactly what was going on otherwise they wouldn't have allowed it. The whole thing was publicly arranged and publicly carried out. She wouldn't have just turned up and done this. Her PR managers would have known,"

I've been…

]]> Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:03:46 +1300 Simon Grigg https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7958#post7958 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7958#post7958

Maybe its just the piling on I don't like.

and that's the crux of the matter. And what Graham's piece alludes to I think. I don't think that the poor girl (not in the fiscal sense.....she has had her compensations!) is not perhaps experiencing a meltdown (or at least having…

]]> Wed, 21 Feb 2007 12:47:26 +1300 Neil Morrison https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7902#post7902 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7902#post7902

it sounds like my niece

about the size of it, a bit on the spoilt side, and at least she doesn't have the raging narcissim of Jolie and Madonna. But if she hangs around with Paris much longer then who knows.

Mind you look, look at what a mess Lennon…

]]> Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:43:17 +1300 WH https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7900#post7900 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7900#post7900 Simon,

Not being in the music industry myself, I must admit to having drawn my own highly unfavourable conclusions about the people who advise Britney Spears. (Love the early power chords though.) I'm sorry for being snippy in my reply to you.

A few years back I read Neil Strauss'…

]]> Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:12:07 +1300 Zippy Gonzales https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7875#post7875 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7875#post7875 Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:31:22 +1300 Hugh Lilly https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7871#post7871 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7871#post7871 For your amusement: Eight Women Who Look Better Bald Than Britney (via BoingBoing.)

Robyn, you'll be pleased to note they included Ms. O'Connor. :)

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 20:24:45 +1300 Simon Grigg https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7862#post7862 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7862#post7862 Weston,
I'm not saying the music in her name doesn't have authenticity, you misunderstand. It's perfectly crafted pop music. That is largely irrelevant (and the credit for it needs to go elsewhere..amongst others here).

But having been in the music industry for close to 35 years I have a reasonable…

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:20:29 +1300 WH https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7856#post7856 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7856#post7856

Unless of course they want you to, and one would have to be naive to think that Britney did not assume that the world would do so.

I despise the process whereby people become objects of derision and the target of self-righteous criticism and cynicism. At some point such criticism…

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:39:14 +1300 Andrew Paul Wood https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7844#post7844 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7844#post7844 this completely changed my perspective of the universe. ]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:30:49 +1300 Joanna https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7832#post7832 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7832#post7832

Joan Jett, who wrote one of Britney's biggest songs.....

"I wanted to cover 'I Love Rock'n Roll' because I was a big fan of Pat Benetar growing up". Heh. Poor Britney. First 'Cry me a river' and now JT's new song. That's just cruel. All she wanted was [[http://gawker.com/assets/resources/2007/02/dickinabox.jpg |a…

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:53:06 +1300 Simon Grigg https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7829#post7829 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7829#post7829

It takes a certain lack of human empathy to delight in other people's tragedies.

Unless of course they want you to, and one would have to be naive to think that Britney did not assume that the world would do so.

Right now we have a girl with a lot…

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:44:36 +1300 WH https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7823#post7823 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7823#post7823 Totally agree David. Why do we feel entitled to make savage personal judgments about people we have only glimpsed at through the lens of the E channel? It takes a certain lack of human empathy to delight in other people's tragedies.

Without commenting in depth on our bizarre cultural hierachies,…

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:21:36 +1300 merc https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7817#post7817 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7817#post7817 Mawp. Wasn't Britney a Mouseketeer, along with Christine Aquilliera and Justin T. See it was all planned from wayback, poor sods, no wonder they want to...
"get loaded and be free." C U real soonnnnnnnnn.

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:04:21 +1300 Juha Saarinen https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7812#post7812 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7812#post7812 Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:46:15 +1300 Simon Grigg https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7811#post7811 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7811#post7811

Britney, however, debuted with a worldwide number one single, aged 17.

yes and they'd (the machinery that made that single) been working very hard towards that for a very long time. There is of course too, a vast gulf between Madonna's role in her own career and Britney's.

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:46:04 +1300 Robyn Gallagher https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7803#post7803 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7803#post7803

And she’s only 25.

For some perspective, when Madonna was 25, she had only just released her first album. She didn't turn into a megastar until, aged 26, her second album was released.

Britney, however, debuted with a worldwide number one single, aged 17.

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:26:52 +1300 Simon Grigg https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7800#post7800 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7800#post7800 Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:18:58 +1300 Robyn Gallagher https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7799#post7799 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7799#post7799 Thanks, Graham, for writing that. It was intelligent and thoughtful, and there's not a lot of that kind of writing surrounding Britney at the moment.

I've been thinking a bit about Britney and another famous baldy pop lady, Sinead O'Connor.

Sinead shaved her hair off when she was a young,…

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:17:38 +1300 Stephen Judd https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7781#post7781 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7781#post7781 Someone on another site I frequent pointed out that this is a very basic response to feelings of loss of control. You can control your body, so you shave your head, get tatooed, whatever, thereby reaffirming your autonomy.

/goes back to compassionate ignorance

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:43:18 +1300 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7773#post7773 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7773#post7773 is a call for help, Britney's head-shaving could also be seen as a rational way of shaking off all the people who have their grubby paws on her; of taking herself out of the game. No one can make her the pop… ]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:16:44 +1300 Stephen Judd https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7760#post7760 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7760#post7760 Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:08:06 +1300 Public Address https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7759#post7759 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-life-in-the-fast-lane/?p=7759#post7759 Discussion from blog post.

]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:08:06 +1300