Chay Vang, America's Got Talent

nyarlothothep

Came across this and found the reaction of the judges and audience to be most interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wilzKdV5rbs

Now what I found bemusing was the absolute lack of patience they displayed as he was setting up. They were already passing judgement before he had begun to play. This was just an audition as such rather than a fully prepared stage performance and with performances in classical guitar or rock, its not unusual for a band/artist to take a minute to prepare, both mentally and acoustically. Granted the sounds coming from the dodgy connection in his guitar wasn't exactly promising but the immediate reaction was utterly premature. And as soon as he started playing immediate condemnation, without even listening to the music being played (it wasn't spectacular, just riffage, but you could barely hear it as it was). I don't want to go down the confirmation bias route but I am so I'll put it up as a question for debate. Is this reflective of the ignorance of the masses, or better yet the ignorance borne from mob/group think. You have the pied pipers ie the judges and the audience follow suit in their heckling and the reinforcement of belief reaches higher and higher levels of noise/fervour. Does this reflect a general ignorance and indifference to the effort and creativity involved in artistic creation ie building your own guitar (no matter that it doesn't look great, its look ok imo) and playing music which isn't naturally pop lite and easily consummable, eg metal? Remember these are questions, not messages.

Malice

Why couldn't he have muted his guitar or his amp before plugging stuff in so people weren't getting their ears assaulted too early? Something else I noticed is that someone's maths is off. He's 32 according to the video and said he'd been working on the guitar since he was ten and yet Jerry Springer says he's been working on it for ten years.

nyarlothothep wrote: »

Is this reflective of the ignorance of the masses, or better yet the ignorance borne from mob/group think. You have the pied pipers ie the judges and the audience follow suit in their heckling and the reinforcement of belief reaches higher and higher levels of noise/fervour. Does this reflect a general ignorance and indifference to the effort and creativity involved in artistic creation ie building your own guitar (no matter that it doesn't look great, its look ok imo) and playing music which isn't naturally pop lite and easily consummable, eg metal?

Given the forum that you've posted the questions in, I think you already know the answers you're going to get .

nyarlothothep

Malice wrote: »

Why couldn't he have muted his guitar or his amp before plugging stuff in so people weren't getting their ears assaulted too early? Something else I noticed is that someone's maths is off. He's 32 according to the video and said he'd been working on the guitar since he was ten and yet Jerry Springer says he's been working on it for ten years.
Given the forum that you've posted the questions in, I think you already know the answers you're going to get .

Oh well I actually was hoping people would point out that its just one particular show which is going to attract a specific type of audience who aren't representative of the general masses, that the term general masses is problemmatic because the masses are made up of lots of different types of people and sub cultures, and that they would provide convincing evidence for this. I was just completely disgusted at the reaction and behaviour, it was just wanton cruelty for its own sake and pure ignorance, they didn't even give him a chance to play, they were screaming over him because the next person was doing it, not because there was any attempt to listen and then give a general response, and even if he did turn out to be sh1t I still don't think it would have been fair or right to engage in this kind of behaviour.

Yeah he did seem a bit green in terms of stage performance, you're right there, I wouldn't count it as a major mistake though as you hear lots of musicians tuning up between songs or whatever. Ffs, the real jeering began when he was just setting up his pedal sound, I don't get it and I'm glad I don't, their reaction was reflective of instant gratification culture to the extreme which is a toxic culture to have.

LH Pathe

They seem to have a loathing of rock n certainly metal musicianship those shows, the title is ironic as the latter tend to possess the most talent that puts the rest of the roster to shame. maybe that's why

I recall The All Ireland Talent show or some shìt this ponytailed guy had a massive drumkit and he was improvising on some classical piece; feeling out the rythm he was astounding. obvious metal background the judges sullenly looked at their feet when the came to the crunch like oops who let someone with actual musical talent in here. Caroline poxy Morahan braved it and told him he wasn't quite what they were looking for. A la these times divas with mouths they just want fat ladies to sing ultimately

nyarlothothep

LH Pathe wrote: »

They seem to have a loathing of rock n certainly metal musicianship those shows, the title is ironic as the latter tend to possess the most talent that puts the rest of the roster to shame. maybe that's why

I recall The All Ireland Talent show or some shìt this ponytailed guy had a massive drumkit and he was improvising on some classical piece; feeling out the rythm he was astounding. obvious metal background the judges sullenly looked at their feet when the came to the crunch like oops who let someone with actual musical talent in here. Caroline poxy Morahan braved it and told him he wasn't quite what they were looking for. A la these times divas with mouths they just want fat ladies to sing ultimately

I'm not surprised, I'd say they were genuinely threatened by his musical ability, they were being shown up for the frauds they were and they hated it. Typical human response, they feel insecure so they lash out at the truly talented. Its happened before in human history. Envy can lead to feeling inferior so the reaction is typically aggressive. The audience probably didn't get and wrote it off as "high falutin" stuff, give us some trad/pop whatever. There isn't much respect for culture in Ireland or America, yeah big generalisation statement but seriously there's no fcking scene or general appreciation for these types of musicians, prog is the ugly duck, ditto for metal, for the amount of time and effort that goes into getting to that level. So I think the response we should give judges and people/media who write it off is "fck you!" delivered like that guy in Mayhem.

LH Pathe

The shows are misleading and setting the wrong example as to what 'talent' is. I know the word tends to lean on the sexual side nowadays, some sort of physical endeavor else fall back on 'the voice' as is the case with said sunday slot but if talent in music generally means mere voice now.. as has been confirmed with the tweaking then the need to be guided simpleton majority will never know

I see a dope like this adele scoop 6 grammies to her busom in one night and recall how slayer's grammy was for a video, not the song so ultimately a director and those guys would never claim musical talent anyhow more degeneracy n i just think well **** it anyhow back to the 'golden age' of the diva we go. and the majority of guys aren't helping with their disco rap, same mouth for an outlet combined with nothing of genuine musical graft.. Hard to come down in the age of disco n divas, flanked by rapping 'men' propping them up metal, punk, general rock was once so influential and dominant at once even the gritty stuff would influence the charts in some abstract way if not charting itself but I can see what's influencing the charts now, nice one it seems to me all genres have been played out. All had respectability in their roots, some would inevitably retain a worthwhile productivity anyhow in a musical sense and our general childs development and intelligence and some would inevitably just give leeway to criminality and idiocy and you can bet these 'talent' shows reflect that

adox

LH Pathe wrote: »

The shows are misleading and setting the wrong example as to what 'talent' is. I know the word tends to lean on the sexual side nowadays, some sort of physical endeavor else fall back on 'the voice' as is the case with said sunday slot but if talent in music generally means mere voice now.. as has been confirmed with the tweaking then the need to be guided simpleton majority will never know

I see a dope like this adele scoop 6 grammies to her busom in one night and recall how slayer's grammy was for a video, not the song so ultimately a director and those guys would never claim musical talent anyhow more degeneracy n i just think well **** it anyhow back to the 'golden age' of the diva we go. and the majority of guys aren't helping with their disco rap, same mouth for an outlet combined with nothing of genuine musical graft.. Hard to come down in the age of disco n divas, flanked by rapping 'men' propping them up metal, punk, general rock was once so influential and dominant at once even the gritty stuff would influence the charts in some abstract way if not charting itself but I can see what's influencing the charts now, nice one it seems to me all genres have been played out. All had respectability in their roots, some would inevitably retain a worthwhile productivity anyhow in a musical sense and our general childs development and intelligence and some would inevitably just give leeway to criminality and idiocy and you can bet these 'talent' shows reflect that

I've no idea what you said there apart from not liking Adele. :pac:

Chevolution

People are so used to being constantly fed overproduced, manufactured pop "music" that they have no patience to sit and wait for the guy to set up his guitar.

LH Pathe

adox wrote: »

I've no idea what you said there apart from not liking Adele. :pac:

her name the only part you seemingly understood? How different are you to the rest of the little girls when you just light up for that. Contribute, else p*ss off and don't act the maggot

Cherry_Cola

LH Pathe wrote: »

her name the only part you seemingly understood? How different are you to the rest of the little girls when you just light up for that. Contribute, else p*ss off and don't act the maggot

In fairness to him, I think he's just referring to your inability to construct a coherent sentence.

LH Pathe

Cherry_Cola wrote: »

In fairness to him, I think he's just referring to your inability to construct a coherent sentence.

snide personal digs need to be a prosecutable offence because the more they are not the more I feel the freedom to retort with your input being nothing more than that of another lurking cünt with nothing. Who probably looks like adele

lord lucan

Attack the Post,Not the Poster lads

Personally i've no idea why someone like that guy would go for a show like this. It's just another cog in the Cowell et al production line. Even American Idol do a 'Rock Week' which usually consists of dressing up young starlets in leathers and giving them guitars as props. They then proceed to butcher classic rock tunes and make a mockery of the genre. The judges wouldn't know Rock if it hit them in the face.

Motley Crue

Shows like this aren't a vehicle for talent, unless you're extremely lucky to be talented in the Pop music genre (someone like Kelly Clarkson, for example) whereas Rock and Metal acts, and anyone who plays heavier music...they might appear as guests on the programme, but would never show up in the auditions...I suppose they simply can't be commercially marketed en masse alongside those who would actively watch and (more importantly) those who would actively vote.

nyarlothothep

lord lucan wrote: »

Attack the Post,Not the Poster lads

Personally i've no idea why someone like that guy would go for a show like this. It's just another cog in the Cowell et al production line. Even American Idol do a 'Rock Week' which usually consists of dressing up young starlets in leathers and giving them guitars as props. They then proceed to butcher classic rock tunes and make a mockery of the genre. The judges wouldn't know Rock if it hit them in the face.

But...Sharon Osbourne? Although I don't think she has a clue what rock/metal music is beyond the cartoon stereotype variety.

By marginalising an already marginalised genre, relative to other genres, you just breed further indifference, contempt or incomprehension towards it. There needs to be more of a diversity of music on tv.

lord lucan

Tbh unless Rock & Metal see's a resurgence similar to the early 90's you won't see any R & M acts on these shows as they're not commercially popular. Talent doesn't come into it imo,it's all about how they can be molded to be a Billboard topping act.

It's like all these dance shows. Big street dance troupes are the in thing the last couple of years and that's all these shows are looking for,the next big thing that can be flogged to death. As you may gather,i detest these shows with a passion but sadly Mrs. Lucan loves them and i struggle to avoid them sometimes.

As for Sharon,she's turned Ozzy into a caricature of himself and did nothing to help the perceived image of R & M to those not familiar with it.

Joe_Dull

I know exactly what happened to this dude...

The stage setup on those programmes isn't conducive to live instruments, and I'd imagine the poor guy wasn't given much of a soundcheck beforehand. He probably was just expected to "get out there and play", whereas those of us who play guitar know that it's never that simple. You have to make sure the levels are right, no channels are giving feedback, you're in tune, all the jacks are working OK, leads are tidy, etc. As other posters have pointed out, when the audience and judges weren't given instant gratification they immediately turned sour. The muddy distortion was most likely him rushing the settings due to a combination of no soundcheck and the pressure of thousands already booing him. I mean, for f*ck's sake he didn't even get a chance to show off the bass part of his guitar. And then when he finally started, they immediately cut to a shot of a sweet innocent girl with her fingers in her ears. God help her, having to put of with that racket. This kind of sh1t turns my stomach.

/rant.

LH Pathe

Yeap.. and if the lad on all Ireland talent show had to setup his own kit he'd have bn there all night but also, what was touched on, the wrong environment which the likes should have been aware of n thus only appearing the veritable condescending professionals they can tend to be anyhow. Where talent translates as cheap entertainment, featuring performing monkeys and maybe some singing, for the musically uninitiated 'music fans' aka no hands-on experience or whatever it takes to reach an adequate level of appreciation that actual musical talent is not going to be recieved particularly well they should know better on entering such shows.

But there's a loophole in the word talent and maybe theyre just exploiting it to show up the show regardless, fully expecting such a response

120_Minutes

TBH the guy in the OP did himself no favours. soundcheck or not, he took chances with his gear and it backfired. couldnt he have had a wireless setup? used powers supplies other than batteries? had decent leads? then when he did get going its straight into the chugga chugga. any guitarist with his head screwed on would have been ready to flip a switch and play and go straight in with his most impressive lick. IMO this guy did everything wrong given the situation he was in. had i'd been a judge i'd be hitting the red x too, maybe not as quick as the judges....but fairly sharpish.

nyarlothothep

Tbh I think the concepts of shooting from the hip decision making and snap judgements are highly over valued in Western society, ditto for extroversion. I would have given him at least 30 seconds playing time before I arrived at a conclusion. For example, some guitarists warm up with rhythm playing before launching into the shred guitar soloing and that depends on the guitarist, you could say an amazing guitarist doesn't need to do that but then you're just conforming all guitarists to one standard. Again not that you could hear anything over the ignorant baying of the audience. Joe Dull points out that these shows may not really accomodate actual musicians, you know the ones that can play, in terms of set up. That said, he's auditioning, he's not a pro yet. There's any number of arguments one could throw out, for example people expect nothing less than absolutely professional in every aspect of music, image, sound set up etc. But that's a very narrow view, one which I personally have become tired and bored of reading across fora. Judgement should initially be focused on what you play and how well you play it. The other elements can come later. Of course thats out of step with the current ideologies/fads surrounding music these days, and that's precisely what they are, opinions masquerading as received wisdom and by implication, facts of life, which they're patently not. But then historically people have a love affair with this process.

120_Minutes

I'd have to disagree, if I were "auditioning" on national tv I'd have my **** together. Do you think he'd get away with that in a band situation when the drummers counting off the first song? I've been in and around bands long enough to know that once your onstage, audience patience is thin. Axl didn't get away with it in the point did he?

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

Cherry_Cola

120_Minutes wrote: »

I'd have to disagree, if I were "auditioning" on national tv I'd have my **** together. Do you think he'd get away with that in a band situation when the drummers counting off the first song? I've been in and around bands long enough to know that once your onstage, audience patience is thin. Axl didn't get away with it in the point did he?

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

This sums it up in one line really. These shows have quite a few acts to get through in a day and obviously it's expected that you have your **** together when you get on the stage with minimal preparation time required. Depending on the time the audition occurred then the audience and judges are gonna be a little restless also due to the sheer number of acts.

If I was a judge, I would have rejected it too as he looked totally unprepared for the whole thing.

That said, I did enjoy the Battle For Ozzfest show a few years back, some great bands were on it and got decent exposure.

Either way though, this guy has gotten more attention because of this whole thing and that can hardly be bad as it's obviously what he was looking for.