Your most controversial Glastonbury opinions

[Bradders]

3 hours ago, diningroomchairstorage said:

The line-up is a lot less musically diverse than people say it is. By my count, and obviously its not perfect coz I don't know everyone that's playing, there's a lot of indie, pop, rock, techno, d&b and house. There's always bit of psytrance, some breaks, a bit of breakcore if i'm lucky, various other microgenres of generally UK-centric dance. Obviously this is not an exhaustive list. But overall some absolute behemoths of musical genres are badly represented - US hip hop, dancehall, metal, jazz, punk. There are bits and pieces of these around, but not a lot, and without going into detail the stuff they do book in these genres often fits into a particular mold. Some more niche genres are also overlooked - ambient, experimental, noise, everything covered in The Wire. Looking this year I see almost no drill, as in previous years there was never any road rap, and no amapiano either, though for all of that I might just not know the artists on the bill who play it.

In general Glastonbury isn't that interested in pushing musical boundaries and tends to play it a bit safe. No-one ever agrees with me about this, but I still think I'm right. It's very rare that I'm wandering around glasto and hear something that feels new to me. I'd love it if it was different, but the reason they tend to be a bit conservative is probably that they know what their audience likes, which is fair enough. It works. 

I think this could be improved by the areas that have autonomy being more adventurous. Glastonbury only book the Pyramid, Other, JP and Park. Those stages have to book the biggest artists.

The other areas could branch out more but they just do their own thing that they do every year. I’m not sure what Glasto could do aside from kicking out old favourite areas and creating new ones every year. I think they’d be going down a bad route if they started imposing bookings on areas of the festival that others are responsible for.

[henry bear]

33 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

My opinion is that quotas have a negative impact in general. It's my belief that if artists are chosen on gender, race, sexuality, etc, then art becomes a secondary thought due to a need to fulfill quotas, rather than the art, merits or character of a performer. The link I added was of Emily saying that she thinks there should be a 50/50 split of genders, regardless of their merit. 

Ok, how would you feel then if Emily said they were no longer aiming for a 50/50 gender split, and then announced a line up that was 80% women?

[Ingobernable]

2 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Why not go all out and achieve balance of all physical or socio-economic attributes? Why even stop at gender? Why not book more disabled acts? More acts from broken homes? More acts based on their sexuality? More acts based on their class status?

This isn’t a bad idea you know. Glastonbury is secure enough in its identity to offer its platform to people who need it and who don’t get it anywhere else. 
 

Most sensible thing you’ve said. 

[diningroomchairstorage]

2 hours ago, Bradders said:

I think this could be improved by the areas that have autonomy being more adventurous. Glastonbury only book the Pyramid, Other, JP and Park. Those stages have to book the biggest artists.

The other areas could branch out more but they just do their own thing that they do every year. I’m not sure what Glasto could do aside from kicking out old favourite areas and creating new ones every year. I think they’d be going down a bad route if they started imposing bookings on areas of the festival that others are responsible for.

i didn't know that about how stages are booked. It makes sense though that that's how it works.

i would say that the JP and Park in particular strike me as stages where there is a bit of money to be spent which i find play it incredibly safe to my ears.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

8 hours ago, henry bear said:

Ok, how would you feel then if Emily said they were no longer aiming for a 50/50 gender split, and then announced a line up that was 80% women?

If the festival was 80% women, but not done so intentionally based on physical attributes or chromosomes, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

8 hours ago, Punksnotdead said:

OK - tiny sample size. How about, the last 7 Glastonbury pyramid headliners - male artists 18 (maybe 17 1/2 if you count Arcade Fire as a half), female artists 3 (and one of them was a late replacement for Foo Fighters). 

Is that a fair representation of the state of the music industry? Maybe it is, but I'm not the one arguing there's too many women represented!

No, I'm not arguing that there's too many women. I'm arguing decisions shouldn't be made on sex or other physical attributes like race.

If I was to hire a white woman in my company because she was a white woman - never mind if she was less qualified or even as equally qualified, wouldn't that be called sexism/racism?

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

7 hours ago, Ingobernable said:

This isn’t a bad idea you know. Glastonbury is secure enough in its identity to offer its platform to people who need it and who don’t get it anywhere else. 
 

Most sensible thing you’ve said. 

The most sensible thing I have said is to reduce people's hiring potential to their physical attributes? Jesus Christ.

Let's not even stop there, let's make sure the crowd is as representative of people in the UK in general. When you buy a ticket, you have to let SeeTickets know if you're white, black, brown, or a man, a woman, gay or lesbian, from a broken home, adopted, disabled or transsexual. Then the algorithm can just choose people who deserve tickets based on those parts of identity people can't change.

If I was to hire people in my company, based on a person's sexuality, race, gender, I would be taken to court for homophobia (or straightphobia?!), racism, or sexism. And rightly so, btw. Luckily, most people disagree with reducing a person's worth to their gender or race. 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

8 hours ago, Bradders said:

Another argument kicked off by an account I long ago used the ignore function on.

Anyway, ignoring the pricks, here’s a controversial opinion that isn’t based in misogyny.

Radiohead 2017 was the best of their 3 headline sets, by a distance.

Haha, these kind of comments always make me chuckle. "I'm ignoring so and so, but I'm gonna comment how angry I am about it anyway, without forming any kind of reasonable counter argument"

Let me point you to the pyramid of argumentation. You're quite the basement dweller.

[Fred Zepplin]

12 hours ago, Punksnotdead said:

Kendrick Lamar sounds like a duck laying a dozen eggs. Yeah, his lyrics are interesting and some of the music is good, but, man how do you get over that voice?

I know this opinion will be unpopular on here, especially today, but that's what this thread is for, right?

Agree. I've tried a few times to get into him and gave his new album a listen but his voice just grates me. 

[mcshed]

17 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Haha, these kind of comments always make me chuckle. "I'm ignoring so and so, but I'm gonna comment how angry I am about it anyway, without forming any kind of reasonable counter argument"

Let me point you to the pyramid of argumentation. You're quite the basement dweller.

"You're quite the basement dweller." 

Where does that sit on your pyramid of winding people up on the internet?

But to aim for the top and to refute your central point.

You think acts are being booked due to their gender and not due to their quality.

You provide evidence that Emily wants to improve the gender balance of the line-up and would ideally like it to be 50-50, however she does not book a festival that is 50-50 so she obviously is trying to increase the gender balance of the line up without damaging the quality of the festival.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

1 minute ago, mcshed said:

"You're quite the basement dweller." 

Where does that sit on your pyramid of winding people up on the internet?

But to aim for the top and to refute your central point.

You think acts are being booked due to their gender and not due to their quality.

You provide evidence that Emily wants to improve the gender balance of the line-up and would ideally like it to be 50-50, however she does not book a festival that is 50-50 so she obviously is trying to increase the gender balance of the line up without damaging the quality of the festival.

I think I'm allowed to throw out a tame insult after being called a prick, a moron, a misogynist, etc etc. I've had much worse thrown at me, yet no one wants to jump in and save me. Why are you choosing to protect someone else who insulted me out of the blue and for no reason, yet when I reply with my own, milder, insult, you call me out on it?

That being aside, I don't think any of that about EE and the booking process; she came out and said that is what she was going to do. There's no thinking to be done, because she just outright confirmed it. I'm just not comfortable with people being hired based on their genitalia, reproductive organs, and chromosomes. Sure, she's aiming for 50/50 rep between men and women, but why is that the largest determining factor in getting into music? Where's the evidence for that? You're far more likely to succeed at something if your parents stay together, or if you finish your GCSEs and A-Levels, and if you don't have children too early or outside of being with a partner. Why not base the line-up on people who come from broken homes or from people who never had further education? That'd be far more helpful to people than basing problems on physical attributes that can't ever be changed.

Martin Luther King wanted to base decisions on character (personality, ability, talent) and I believe that also.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Aye, he was famously opposed to affirmative action.

[blutarsky]

 

35 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

I think I'm allowed to throw out a tame insult after being called a prick, a moron, a misogynist, etc etc. I've had much worse thrown at me, yet no one wants to jump in and save me. Why are you choosing to protect someone else who insulted me out of the blue and for no reason, yet when I reply with my own, milder, insult, you call me out on it?

That being aside, I don't think any of that about EE and the booking process; she came out and said that is what she was going to do. There's no thinking to be done, because she just outright confirmed it. I'm just not comfortable with people being hired based on their genitalia, reproductive organs, and chromosomes. Sure, she's aiming for 50/50 rep between men and women, but why is that the largest determining factor in getting into music? Where's the evidence for that? You're far more likely to succeed at something if your parents stay together, or if you finish your GCSEs and A-Levels, and if you don't have children too early or outside of being with a partner. Why not base the line-up on people who come from broken homes or from people who never had further education? That'd be far more helpful to people than basing problems on physical attributes that can't ever be changed.

Martin Luther King wanted to base decisions on character (personality, ability, talent) and I believe that also.

Own up, who told their gran about eFests? Boomers shouldn’t be allowed to communicate via the internet for their own well-being. I’m concerned about your blood pressure.  

Seriously though, I’d stake a fair bit that you’re white, male and born pre-1980. 

Question for you: aren’t you bored of typing “chromosomes” by now? 

Ultimately, I think you’ve fundamentally misunderstood Emily’s point. She’d like to see complete balance, and is aiming for it, but as @mcshed has pointed out, she isn’t booking a fully balanced festival therefore your argument she’s excluding bands on the basis of sex or gender is nonsense.

If a band is good enough, their ethos fits the festival, they want to play, are available to play, and the festival can afford them, they’ll play at some point. 

If you don’t like it you can go to Beautiful  Days and watch Hobo Jones and the Levellers every third Sunday in August (not intended as a dig at the Levellers). 

[mcshed]

57 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

I think I'm allowed to throw out a tame insult after being called a prick, a moron, a misogynist, etc etc. I've had much worse thrown at me, yet no one wants to jump in and save me. Why are you choosing to protect someone else who insulted me out of the blue and for no reason, yet when I reply with my own, milder, insult, you call me out on it?

You are allowed to call everyone on here a massive c**t if you so please, I only "called you out on it" because you were posting telling people not to throw insults whilst also insulting them this struck me as worth noting.

 

1 hour ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

That being aside, I don't think any of that about EE and the booking process; she came out and said that is what she was going to do. There's no thinking to be done, because she just outright confirmed it. I'm just not comfortable with people being hired based on their genitalia, reproductive organs, and chromosomes. Sure, she's aiming for 50/50 rep between men and women, but why is that the largest determining factor in getting into music?

You seem to be missing the point, if she is aiming for a 50-50 balance but not booking a 50-50 balance then she is not putting the gender balance that she is aiming for at the top of booking criteria.

[Jay Pee]

I actually honestly don't give a fuck who plays. It's just being there. I would go to the opening of an envelope on the Park Stage at Sunset and it would be the best gig I have been to.

Don't even look at the line up poster's. Will make a plan on clashfinder the week before but only because I am a bit OCD in that way.

 

[Lakey91]

18 minutes ago, Jay Pee said:

I actually honestly don't give a fuck who plays. It's just being there. I would go to the opening of an envelope on the Park Stage at Sunset and it would be the best gig I have been to.

Love this 😂 I'm the same. Last festival I only went to the Pyramid late on the sunday just to say I'd been, other than that I just bimble round until I find something I like the sound of. When I get home and people ask who I saw and I struggle to tell them, they assume I was just in a pickle the whole week and can't remember but actually, I just didn't bother to check the names of who I saw.

[Jay Pee]

4 minutes ago, Lakey91 said:

Love this 😂 I'm the same. Last festival I only went to the Pyramid late on the sunday just to say I'd been, other than that I just bimble round until I find something I like the sound of. When I get home and people ask who I saw and I struggle to tell them, they assume I was just in a pickle the whole week and can't remember but actually, I just didn't bother to check the names of who I saw.

Pond in the John Peel. Never heard of them. Couldn't point them out in an ID Parade. Loved it in 2019. Next!!

[Crazyfool01]

Does it honestly matter … plenty of stages an incredible number of acts loads to choose from even an option to Chuck ticket back in based on a lineup you don’t like ? Some amazing diverse talent …. Some bands people call shit that are male fronted … just use your feet and watch what you enjoy rather than get pissed off 

[Jay Pee]

I don't really want to get drawn into the arguement further up the page but would add that we are working through some training at work around race and it's the first time I have really "unpacked" (sorry) the term white privilege. It's been interesting and has made me self analyse and reflect in a way I have not before.

I am white and middle aged and up until a few weeks ago would not have considered myself privileged.

 

[clarkete]

12 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

The link I added was of Emily saying that she thinks there should be a 50/50 split of genders, regardless of their merit. 

Just to point out, she didn't actually say that. In the link you posted she said "the acts are there" 

 

[Twiggy553]

The insinuation that achieving a 50:50 split requires booking lower quality acts does strike me as being sexist.

[Obiginnaw]

I can't Lie, i'd have more women bookings over a 50/50 because right now they're all fucking killing it, from bands to DJ's . from Wet Leg and Haim, to Haai, TSHA, Jaguar and Sherelle, the quality of women artists across the board is second to none 

[Matt42]

3 minutes ago, Obiginnaw said:

I can't Lie, i'd have more women bookings over a 50/50 because right now they're all fucking killing it, from bands to DJ's . from Wet Leg and Haim, to Haai, TSHA, Jaguar and Sherelle, the quality of women artists across the board is second to none 

I think this is the great thing. Glastonbury doesn’t need a quota because there’s so many female acts that Glastonbury can book.

[Janaka]

On 5/13/2022 at 2:14 PM, kalifire said:

DP are a USB stick act as well, aren’t they? Nowt going on but gesticulating theatrics.

Still better than Bob Vylan though. 

Once the helmets, stylising and over-discofication came in ... then yes.

Got to see them a few times in the 90s before this happened - including Dance Tent at Glasto 97 and that was utterly, mentally, immense.   The big pyramid thing was impressive though.

[e_p]

I’m still aiming to see a main stage painter release where I don’t want to see any of the bands on it.  Only 2 this year so getting close now.  Was a bit disappointed to not achieve 0