(This is fake, Tom works here/is not a twat.)
And so, the internet has started trolling itself over this “who the fuck is X musician?” trend — and rightfully so, until media outlets fall for it anyway. Just last week, a fake “who is Paul McCartney?” meme made the rounds on Twitter, after McCartney’s song with Kanye West premiered. The outrage-mocking efforts fooled mainstream media outlets, with BuzzFeed to Good Morning America pointing out that the youth of today may not know who The Beatles are (yeah, hokay). And Kanye’s stunning “Only One”? Well, West summoning his dead mother gets relegated to a footnote on fake controversy.
The culture of bullshit is eating real, crucial art on the internet. Which brings me to this week’s Coachella lineup. I’ll just say this: festival lineups are assembled to please a lot of different types of listeners, and are largely dependent on which groups are touring at that time. Hundreds of major artists play. Not everything is for everyone, even though most major music festivals end up ubiquitous. So if you don’t know who Steely Dan is, consider starting here. You just may recognize it from Kanye West’s “Champion.”