Fake Internet Points
As the primary commodity for trade, how has information hindered our societal advancement and created a polarizing nightmare? The advent of the printing press, the internet, social media, and media companies have served as advancements for humanity, making it infinitely easier to communicate and engage with others across the globe, but is this a good thing? Now, society’s obsession with social media has made it easier than ever to be cast as “other” if you hold an unpopular opinion. This new song by Blindboss tackles the challenges of modern society and the hypocrisy of social media.
On a surface level, “Fake Internet Points” comes from a place of comedy. On the platform Reddit, it is said that one is simply looking for fake internet points when someone posts a reply that is guaranteed to get “upvotes” or when someone posts a cute animal that everyone will like for the same purpose — something like that. Just for the “karma.” I always laughed at this idea and started to run with it. Ironically, I’ve had this obsession with everyone else’s obsession of social media. They’re wired in because it just reflects themselves and their ideals right back to them. Of course, I’m guilty of it, too. The song “Ego Echo” off of the debut Blindboss album jumped into this a bit.
Before I knew it, the lyrics for FIP became more sinister. Media companies harvesting your likes (read: attention) into dollars, and you starving for likes to validate your mediocrity. Our society has shifted vastly in a short time — while agriculture used to be the primary commodity for trade, more advanced technology began to take agriculture’s place, and soon, with the advent of the printing press and the internet, information replaced technology. Now, it’s attention: your eyeballs. Artists of all kinds will know this, but the conglomerates that own your ass definitely do. If you’re unknown, it’s like pulling teeth to get people to pay any attention to what you’ve worked so hard on. If you’re already known, or check a certain box, you might get picked up a little more quickly. Everyone else is just in the way (instead of giving Blindboss lots of adulation and money!).
When I started, I wrote this song out of frustration with the convergence of DJ culture in music and social media. I was pissed that instead of music improving and raising the bar (a la Aphex Twin, Frank Zappa, or The Locust), we became stagnant and repetitive, for the most part. The song became more about our newfound addiction to always knowing what is happening, who is thinking what, and, perhaps most importantly currently, what you “should” be thinking, based on how others will judge your opinions. The internet was a promise of freedom when invented, and now it’s evolved (or devolved) into a polarizing nightmare that facilitates minimal choice on a given issue, and then you’re cast as an “other” if your opinion is viewed negatively. “We sold ourselves out” — i.e. discourse is under siege.
The only solution offered here is awareness. I can’t suggest a way to fix these problems when I’m complicit.
“Fake Internet Points” Lyrics
Once we got ’em
We don’t let em get away
Points, we got ’em and how
Hard days as I sing
Hard days as the crow flies
Feel my passion bleeding
Ignored, only seen through your eyes
Show off social bling
Double tap is what I’m like
All my time spent “liking”
Fake internet points are my life
Lowered bar, over-saturation
Ignite my indignation
Overdose on recognition
We sold ourselves far down
Hard days as I sing
Hard days as a tweet flies
See reason fleeting
Reduced to a point in a hive
Lowered bar, over-saturation
Ignite my indignation
Overdose on recognition
We sold ourselves out
Once we got ’em
We don’t let ’em get away
Points, we got ’em and how
Lowered bar, over-saturation
Ignite my indignation
Overdose on recognition
Ensuring my division
Foolhardy execution
Accruing mass delusion
Who to blame for this devolution
We sold ourselves far down the river
Blindboss is the effort of lone musician, Max Gomez. Beginning in 2016, Blindboss started producing and performing a multimedia stage show where Gomez uses pre-recorded bass guitar and drums synced with live action video of himself projected onto a large screen. He then plays guitar and sings, forming the illusion of a band on stage.
As of 2020, Blindboss has pivoted from electric guitars to synthesizers, blending electronic instrumentation with dark pop vocals & punk rock aesthetic.
rooted in punk | inspired by the future
Official Site: http://blindboss.net
EP Purchase Link: https://blindboss.bandcamp.com/album/monster-ep
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/album/7pZHj0M2t39M7of3euoPBC?si=Zjvw4M3vQ1OPve-9hJhcfA
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