Oh, Good Grief!

I’d switched on the television yesterday and was waiting for the various bits of kit to load up. In the meantime, the BBC came on. I was completely unaware that there was some sort of fundraiser going on.

Anyway, I was unwittingly treated to Sam Smith caterwauling. Until he hit the headlines with his childish meltdown the other week, I’d never heard of this vacuous twat and was none the worse for my ignorance, frankly.

Anyway, my ears were assaulted by this creature singing. Never have I heard such histrionic, tuneless wailing. It wasn’t singing at all – not unless you count the two tom cats wailing at each other outside my gate this morning as singing. Well, at least the tom cats sounded good in comparison. Might see if I can get them a record deal.

Jesus, what pompous, self-aggrandising, talentless, tuneless crap being peddled in the name of virtue signalling.

And people buy this jerk’s music? And I use music in a very loose sense here. He is typical of the vacuous celebrity who is feted by the likes of the BBC and no one will tell him the truth – he cannot sing and he cannot write a decent tune. It was dire, it was awful. It was dreadful. Instead of assaulting our eardrums and television screens with their turgid dirges why don’t these vacuous, talentless celebrities just put their hands in their pockets and divvy up to whatever charity it is they are claiming to support – apart, that is, from the one pushing their own mediocrity and calling it stardom.

Save us all a lot of bother. Save us having to listen to the kind of crap Sam Smith calls music.

26 Comments

  1. I’ve never heard the offerings of this diva, but I have read of his emotional incontinence and non-binary self-identifying: never sure if this is, these days, a cynical attempt to appear “woke” or an admission of mental illness.

    • So sue me…

      On a serious note here, if a transwoman presenting as female asks me to refer to them using female pronouns, I will do so, because it is polite. Sam Smith, however, is not only biologically male, but presents as male. I will not bend the English language to breaking point in order to massage his fragile ego. Ain’t happening. There are only two sexes – male and female, despite what the lgbqwerty crowd might try to claim. If someone wants to transition from one sex to the other, fine. If they want to play silly buggers, then they can fuck off.

  2. I grew up with vocalists like Robert Plant, Joe Cocker, Ian Gillan, Steve Winwood, Roger Daltry and many more very talented singers with unique and sonorous voices.
    I find it sad that the youngsters of today have no idea of talent. Until they stumble onto a video of an earlier generation of musicians because the authors of the game they are playing have utilised their music because the latest efforts aren’t worth a damn.

  3. Good Grief! You are being extraordinarily generous with your critique. He is much worse. I had never heard of him, so thanks for letting me know who to avoid.

        • You don’t have to actually listen.

          There is an awfullness and total absence of talent that is like second (or is it third, fourth, fifth…..) hand smoke. It has infinite power and permeates the aether and any other transmitting medium the human mind can imagine.

          If this is “talent” we truly are approaching end times.

  4. Disagree, Sam Smith and Normani’s ‘ Alone tonight’ is a work of art, superb production of both video and sound. Opinions are like a-holes;- everyone has got one, have a great weekend)

    • Singing, like any craft, has a technique associated with it. A good singer will project using the diaphragm. A poor one will use his throat, which is bad for the vocal chords. I detected some vocal fry in Smith’s singing, suggesting throat projection.

      The song was just appalling. A good song needs a hook and a decent melody that makes it catchy and memorable. Not all will need to follow the verse/chorus/verse form – Freebird for example doesn’t and Kris Kristofferson’s work often doesn’t – but most need something to catch the ear and carry it. This was a dirge that didn’t go anywhere.

      So objectively, it was poor. But, yes, you are right, taste is individual. Some people like rap for some unfathomable reason.

  5. I too find Sam Smith to be pretty awful. His best known song is a rip off of the Tom Petty song ‘I wont back down’.

    • Apologies for the aside, but Stonyground: if you like Petty’s “I won’t back down”, try to find the CD “Fireproof” by Dawn Landes, which has a gorgeous version of that song as a hidden final track. Sorta country, sorta folk, sorta singer-songwriter, just a fabulous album.

  6. @LR

    my ears were assaulted by this creature [Allegedly] singing. Never have I heard such histrionic, tuneless wailing. It wasn’t singing at all – not unless you count the two tom cats wailing at each other outside my gate this morning as singing. Well, at least the tom cats sounded good in comparison

    This tuneless shouting seems to be “singing” today, all ‘singer’ guests – mostly female – I’ve heard on TV/Radio last few years can’t sing yet presenter bigs them up

    Don’t get me started on the “music/singing” of rap, grime, grunge…. techno etc

    1980s Singing from vocalists and not caterwauling from ‘stars’
    BT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6hknFigMSI
    ML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSTIsZULYmY

    I want to go back to 1980s. More Freedom, life good, TV good and KE175D2, RM250, GPz550H1, GPz900RA2 and Mk1 Sirocco were good enough

  7. Someone also needs to gently break it to Lenny Henry that he hasn’t been funny since around 1987

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