Original Source
What is it about abuse that we humans (some of us) find so irresistible? I mean, this is yet another story of an older, connected guy who thought he was untouchable and all-powerful; who tried to outdo himself in multiple ways with not just one boyband (Backstreet Boys) but two; (NSync).... Lou Pearlman, a slippery old fox who embezzled and swindled several powerful people in the United States, and who is now trending because YouTube is releasing a documentary about how one guy took advantage of fame, influence and power for his own benefit....
I'd like to think that these events that we all now know about are isolated.... I mean, they don't represent the vast majority of what we see within the international commercial music industry, but they don't.... Rather, it is yet another episode in what seems to be a trend that is too far from dying out.... If you look closely, you will find a clear pattern in almost everything that has been famous and notable in entertainment for decades: abuses, controversies, money scams and promises that were made but never kept?
Lou Pearlman, is yet another of those hustlers who resonated inside dressing rooms in the late 90‘s and early 2000’s at the height of the boom and proliferation of Boybands. A format of musical groups made up entirely of young, good looking guys and with very specific marketing to reach the female audience around the world but especially the teenagers and young adults who consumed that product? It is really sad to see how pop and music in general can be so corrupt and so full of hidden interests.
Think about it... It's always the same story. There are very few, if any, to put it bluntly, world stars who have been unscathed by exploitation at some point in their careers, million-dollar third party scams or abuses of any kind. One of the most notorious examples that has lingered in the air for decades is the case of the Jackson Five. A band of African-American kids, with a lot of talent and skills, as well as charisma and global reach, but behind all the glamour and the spotlight of the stage, they hid a father (and also manager) who was abusive and mistreated some young children for life...
Original Source
Does anything surprise you? I'm not... Maybe I'm wrong (although I highly doubt it) but in a few years we could be witnessing how some platform announces loudly and everywhere the new docuseries, movie or documentary about Taylor Swift and how she was used and exploited since her childhood? And I don't say this in an attempt to be unsympathetic or unsympathetic to pop artists or any other genre, no... It's just that there are so many cases of abuse, rape, scandal and cheating in music that it's simply not news.
Nickelodean, Disney Channel, the alleged child abuse case of Michael Jackson, what Justin Bieber himself has told in interviews and docuseries about his incises and how he was overexerted in extreme and in excesses being just a little boy starting out in a voracious, cruel industry that does not discriminate when it comes to exploiting and squeezing whoever, whenever and however... Let's be honest with each other, and while the documentary to be released on YouTube shows promise for the information it will provide and the unpublished details that will explain what was going on behind the scenes; honestly this seems more part of a vicious circle that seems to have no end, than anything else...
And he concluded with this: what seems really clear is the tendency towards a systematised explosion of human resources; which can be as varied as it is potentially deadly... It seems clear that the music industry, and the entertainment industry in general, has a clear objective: to drain to the last ‘drop’ those poor suckers who see in these ‘possibilities’ of fame and success the greatest of their dreams come true. .... From people being robbed of their belongings with false promises to paying with the lives of children everywhere for profit; one thing is more than clear; this is nowhere near over.... Judge for yourselves.
Original Source
