Brett Anderson in Mr Poter Journal. October 18th, 2011 [www.mrporter.com]

Oh jesus. The picture is great but the jacket....lose it.



Misery Bear.

I loathe and detest fashion, but I do love that coat. I'm a fan of coats with big collars and the bigger the better. I'm happiest when I'm tucked snugly into my long black wool coat in the winter with the faux fur collars turned up.



Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~ T. S. Eliot

Very lovely coat. Looks like Brett is now being sold as a bit of a style icon, what with the GQ and I-d articles, and his postion as something of a muse for Spencer Hart. I don't know if I approve. I personally am ridiculously into fashion (not that you would know by looking at me) but Brett's obvious liking for the finer things in life does rub against his anti-consumerist position which he likes to put forward on a regular basis.

Sorry if this makes me sound a bit bitter, but it is easy to be anti-consumerist when you have a town house in Notting Hill, drive a fancy car and wear suits which probably cost more than most people's monthly salary.

Feeling a bit more narky than normal today as just back from London and got sick of looking at gorgeous stuff I couldn't afford.

The white parts ruin the jacket....they're quite feminine.



Misery Bear.

Well Brett's never been afraid to embrace his feminine side. Bet he can still be tempted by a nice blouse!

Having closely looked at these pics it is my considered opinion that brett has taken to colouring his hair. I have denied this to myself previously, but it's just not possible that a man of his age can have no grey at all. Very well done job though, I want his hairdresser.

Lots of people don't go grey until they're much much older. My dad didn't have a speck of grey until he was well into his 60s and my grandmother on his side finally got some grey hairs in her 70s. So, don't discount good genes!

I like to think I'm anti-consumerist too, but you can still appreciate the finer things in life if you are - and in fact, even more so when you think about it. A really nice piece of handmade antique furniture has more value to me than some mass machine-made atrocity that you'd find at a chain like John Lewis and it has history and true style which is sorely lacking in most things today. So you can quietly and discreetly acquire beautiful things in life without resorting to being a consumerist whore and dishing out the dough for some piece of junk made in some prison in China because some twisted advert told you to. I honestly think the finer things in life are things that aren't heavily marketed and are hard to find. Truly nice objects should always have mystery and be unique and they can never be so if they're marketed to the masses and heavily advertised.



Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~ T. S. Eliot

i liked the coat though id like it more if the blue were a darker hue or just black.



despair

Reading thru a few of the recent articles, from GQ...

'I have a real hatred of materialism but I do like beautiful things. I am aware of the contradiction.'

Personally I stopped buying 'stuff' for no particular reason when I left London a few years ago. Out in the middle of nowhere with no advertising and no shops to buy the stuff anyway on the odd occassion I do buy something its quality not quantity.

What a load of tosh.



This tweet is definitely product placement. That makes Brett part of the product marketing of those shoes as opposed to "just liking beautiful things". I don't have a problem with that but I do have a problem with Brett communicating stuff like this [www.youtube.com] at the same time. It makes him look stupid.


"If I could dedicate six months of my life to one thing, would it be somebody who's doing something that's interesting and totally new – or something that reflects what I did 15 years ago? You couldn't possibly be a human being and be motivated by that." /Bernard Butler

I saw that and thought about posting it, but it just made me too depressed.

sady Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I saw that and thought about posting it, but it
> just made me too depressed.

Same…

spank Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a load of tosh.
>
> [i436.photobucket.com]
> asswipe/bert_is_a_living_ad.jpg
>
I assume his management or someone else posted that? I agree, keep the talk about music and not the sale of shoes. This is why managers and people in the music business (read: non-artists) make me ill. I would sack whoever posted that little blurb of product placement.



Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~ T. S. Eliot

miss persephone Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I assume his management or someone else posted
> that? I agree, keep the talk about music and not
> the sale of shoes. This is why managers and people
> in the music business (read: non-artists) make me
> ill. I would sack whoever posted that little blurb
> of product placement.

Oh come on. Brett is not a victim here. That's Brett posing in an Alexander McQueen coat on this thread isn't it?


"If I could dedicate six months of my life to one thing, would it be somebody who's doing something that's interesting and totally new – or something that reflects what I did 15 years ago? You couldn't possibly be a human being and be motivated by that." /Bernard Butler

spank Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> miss persephone Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I assume his management or someone else posted
> > that? I agree, keep the talk about music and
> not
> > the sale of shoes. This is why managers and
> people
> > in the music business (read: non-artists) make
> me
> > ill. I would sack whoever posted that little
> blurb
> > of product placement.
>
> Oh come on. Brett is not a victim here. That's
> Brett posing in an Alexander McQueen coat on this
> thread isn't it?


I guess the way I view it is buy and wear what you want, but don't have details posted of what brand you're wearing and where to buy it. Keep the mystery and lose the product placement.



Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~ T. S. Eliot

'Depressed' is a strong word for this.
I'm not depressed over that...life's bigger than Brett Anderson advertising coats...

Erm...if it's hypocricy? might be. But it's really not that bad...and we don't know the reasons behind it.



Misery Bear.

miss persephone Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I guess the way I view it is buy and wear what you
> want, but don't have details posted of what brand
> you're wearing and where to buy it. Keep the
> mystery and lose the product placement.

I love advertising. It's great. Brett should use it properly to persuade people to buy his fantastic solo albums. I don't have a problem with posting the details of the product placement either as I find it more honest than accepting a new wardrobe (and perhaps being paid to wear certain clothes/brands) and pretending you haven't received those clothes.

Why not expand the Listening/reading/watching section with a Wearing section as well? Promoting clothes is bad but promoting books and records OK?


"If I could dedicate six months of my life to one thing, would it be somebody who's doing something that's interesting and totally new – or something that reflects what I did 15 years ago? You couldn't possibly be a human being and be motivated by that." /Bernard Butler

I'm not gonna go on and on about this. If Brett wants to look like a tit when it comes to advertising and marketing that's his business. We've already had a go at this in another thread not long ago anyways. [brettanderson.co.uk]


"If I could dedicate six months of my life to one thing, would it be somebody who's doing something that's interesting and totally new – or something that reflects what I did 15 years ago? You couldn't possibly be a human being and be motivated by that." /Bernard Butler

ok , i'm going to wade in here. first of all i've never said i have all the answers. that's not my job. we live in a hugely contradictory society and i've always completely admitted my complicity within it's wilderness of paradoxes. my very status as a British citizen is a kind of complicity and i suppose the only option to avoid hypocrisy is to 'opt out' which in itself is a merely gestural action.
i'm sorry if my involvement in fashion fluff comes across as 'stupid' but what 99percent of the people here don't realise is that i have limited options for promotion . Mojo and Q weren't banging on my door demanding interviews and cover-features, if they had been i probably wouldn't be writing this post. the fact is i have invested personal money into the making of a record for which i need to see a financial return. sorry to burst the romantic image but contradictory to most people's hazy suppositions i don't live in a chateau with fleets of staff feeding me grapes and wiping my arse and wads of fifty pound notes to use as post-it notes. i have a family to feed and making records and SELLING them is the only way i know how to do that.
for me personally, the important thing is awareness. like most of us i was drip-fed junk TV , advertising and materialist ephemera from an early age and ended up as a selfish , processed 'acquirer of goods', safely numbed within the fairytale that to be happy one must possess more and yet more crap. it's part of the same insidious mantra that has told us the west is 'good' and our society is 'free' and it is complete and utter 24 carat bollocks. for anyone that cares i suggest watching Adam Curtis' ' The Century of the Self' or ' The Power of Nightmares'. well, they made me think about it.
anyway, sorry about the rant. i too wish that i had the luxury of not always jumping through the hoops and like many other people am probably not particularly convinced that most of it really translates into sales anyway. i'd love to be the laconic, elusive artist who makes a hallowed and Christ-like appearance every few years to a fan-fare of music business acclaim but unfortunately as a solo artist i have to work very, very hard to get a foothold on the slippery ladder and doing stuff like this is part of that .
thanks

Hi Brett, thanks for your post. Q hasn't been a good magazine in ages now, but Mojo should certainly have been banging on your door in my personal opinion. I understand that you have to get publicity for your work and do whatever you can to sell records and I honestly wish you all the best of luck. Black Rainbows is a wonderful album in every way and you have to do whatever you can I guess to get your name out there so people will pay attention. For what it's worth, and I can only speak for myself here, I never thought you lived in a chateau being fed grapes all day. London is my favourite city in the world to live in, but compared to even the nicest cities in America it is bloody expensive...and those grapes would have to be imported anyway! :)



Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~ T. S. Eliot

I've always understood that divide and anyone who couldn't see through the fashion garb as record promotion is a bit naive.

The self released nature of the record, with or without EMI's 'label services' (which seems to amount to rather little) should make it fairly clear that Brett either doesn't want to be, or isn't, on the same page as Coldplay when it comes to budgets, sales and promotion.

Brett probably also feels a bit of loyalty towards the musicians involved in the record as well, or maybe not, but nonetheless there are co-writes from the initial 'jam sessions' to consider, and royalties, so it isn't just him who profits (and can be supported by) the sales of his current record.

Thanks for taking time out to clarify your position Brett.

I'm not saying you're stupid for embracing the "fashion fluff", rather the opposite. You look great in those clothes (most of us fast approaching 40 could only dream of looking like that when we reach our mid forties). Why not use it to your advantage?

Everything is commodified. The music magazines you mentioned are commodities too. What makes a feature in those magazines more "true to the art" than a feature in a fashion magazine if you get to talk about your music.

I just wish you'd lose the anti-consumerism facade when in fact your artistry is depending on flogging products. It is quite easy not to come across as hypocritical. Do not express zeal for those virtues which you neglect to practice.

I guess we just have different opinions about this. Still love your music.

Some tough love from spank


"If I could dedicate six months of my life to one thing, would it be somebody who's doing something that's interesting and totally new – or something that reflects what I did 15 years ago? You couldn't possibly be a human being and be motivated by that." /Bernard Butler

well Spank, my 'anti-consumerist facade' as you put it is actually born from honest, personal impulses about the subject and a belief that i am in a position to stimulate a debate. i suppose i just like to share opinions about things but maybe i should shut up and pretend that i don't have any.

anyway, enough. this is the last time anyone will ever hear me talk about this.

I loved the "tough love" line, Spanky. Hope he knows that this is what it's all about.



Misery Bear.

brett anderson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> well Spank, my 'anti-consumerist facade' as you
> put it is actually born from honest, personal
> impulses about the subject and a belief that i am
> in a position to stimulate a debate. i suppose i
> just like to share opinions about things but maybe
> i should shut up and pretend that i don't have
> any.
>
> anyway, enough. this is the last time anyone will
> ever hear me talk about this.

Please don't let one person put you off sharing your opinions. There are probably a lot of people reading this forum that hadn't heard of Century of the Self before you mentioned it and might have learned a lot from watching it. We welcome your thoughts and I honestly hope you're not so put off now that you never comment on anything again. It's perfectly reasonable to be against the consumerist machine but still promote your work as an artist which is how you make a living. If people want to bitch, they should be bitching about Monsanto and companies like that - organizations and people that have no soul, not someone like you who is actually honest and talks about how they feel and what they think. Nobody wants you to be some dumb pop artist with no thoughts or opinions. Please don't be offended.



Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~ T. S. Eliot

well, reading the above made me feel sorry, really...
I'd love to comment on this and explain what I feel and think, but I fear I won't be able to express what I really mean :(


if you follow me I will follow you to the unknown
I touched your hand but you drifted away

Look, Brett is a public figure and when he expresses his opinions upon a matter and act in conflict with that he has to be prepared to give some form of explanation. It comes with his position. There are a lot of fans who have been wondering about this for quite sometime. The discussion has been handled on other forums or rather unofficial chats (out of respect for Brett since this is his official communication channel). The fact that he comes on here and expresses his views with emotion and passion in reply to my post can only be a positive thing. I hope you understand that in retrospect Brett. We want you to express your opinions but we reserve the right to have a different opinion.


"If I could dedicate six months of my life to one thing, would it be somebody who's doing something that's interesting and totally new – or something that reflects what I did 15 years ago? You couldn't possibly be a human being and be motivated by that." /Bernard Butler

And in retrospect. My 'anti-consumerist facade' quote was a bit harsh. 'anti-consumerist stand' rather...sorry bout that Brett.


"If I could dedicate six months of my life to one thing, would it be somebody who's doing something that's interesting and totally new – or something that reflects what I did 15 years ago? You couldn't possibly be a human being and be motivated by that." /Bernard Butler

I'm a bit surprised Brett has actually felt the need to personally respond to something on here, but it shows he's quite touched by this subject.