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The Vaccines Have A Go At Rihanna
Indie | Wednesday 29th August 2012 | Osh
And they’re actually making some sense
Vaccines’ guitarist Freddie Cowan has taken a shot at the superstar for not writing her own music and relying on a team of writers and producers to produce her work.
He told Digital Spy: “Rihanna isn't an artist - she has 15 writers, 15 songwriters and 15 producers all fighting for space on her albums and she's the face of it. I have nothing against it, but I don't want to be associated with it.”
He then targeted Coldplay for their collaboration piece ‘Princess of China’ with the singer, stating that it is lacking in artistic merit and adding that “it’s Coldplay – they’ll do whatever they can to be the biggest band on the earth, to be bigger than U2”
Whilst in my mind The Vaccines are too young a band, and probably even not a credible enough band, to be having a pop at the superstars of music, and ignoring the fairly eminent question of ‘who the fuck does Freddie Cowan think he is?’, these guys are actually raising a fair point. When you are merely the face of a piece of work that has been created by a team of people, you don’t really warrant being considered as an artist. Really you’re just there to soak up the credibility and praise from the listeners. You’re just there for the money and attention. You’re not an artist …you’re a businessman.
Unfortunately it’s the sad tale of popular music today: no longer is it about putting out quality music; it’s about self-promotion and how much you can gain from it.
But not wanting to end on a sour note or turn this piece into a hate fuelled rant, I will praise The Vaccines for voicing their oppression about the ways of the music industry and hopefully will light the fuse for a number of other bands to follow in their steps. The Vaccines are touring the UK in November after playing Leeds and Reading, tickets are available now.
