a funny thing happened on the way to myspace

This was originally posted as a blog entry on myspace sometime in 2006CE - applies equally to facebook, really...

Well, here we all are at last. I've finally caved in. It's all over - I love Big Brother.

I've objected to MySpace quite vociferously in the past. This is not least because I put a shitload of work into setting up a real website - at http://www.mirrorkill.co.uk - but also... well, blech. Look at it. Pre-packaged shrink-wrapped cookie-cutter websites, little boxes into which you're supposed to squeeze yourself. Look at the top of our profile page here, where we've *had* to define our sound. Progressive Industrial Folk-Rock. Pick three of our pre-defined genres.

We've always (as so many bands do) resisted defining our sound. We've been describing ourselves as "Mutant Industrial Jazz-Punk Monkeys" for some years now (& only been approximately 50% joking), but it seemed obviously humourous enough that no one was likely to take it too seriously. But now we're Progressive Industrial Folk-Rock. That's not funny, it's shit. It sounds pompous. If I didn't know how good we were I'd hate us.

Thing is, it's more pernicious than that. Anyone who posts a blog entry can show you their current mood - by selecting from a dropdown list of predefined moods that you're allowed to express. Where's the entry for "delirious & want to buy a speed boat"? Or "kind of like a radiator, man"? Or "massively annoyed with the limitations of MySpace"? How many people actually use "None, or other"?

The fact that it's all ultimately owned by Rupert Murdoch is the icing on the turd, it really is.

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So anyway, as humanity continues its downward spiral towards extinction & flatulent irrelevance, it seems like the Web, perhaps the single most intuitive user interface since the nipple, is actually *too complicated for many people*. When I talk to people about the band, & mention that we've released our album as a completely free download from our website, they wipe the trail of drool from their slack jaws & ask "er... have you got a MySpace page?". Really, I've succumbed to pressure from idiot redneck goons.

Amusingly enough, it turns out that Dan "The Bass" Rathbone had, some while ago, signed us up with a MySpace page behind my back & uploaded one, relatively obscure, track of ours. "Great!" I thought "I'll get the password off Dan & sort the page out as I want it". Unfortunately, it turns out that Dan has no clue - not one - what the password might have been. Or which email account he might have used to set it up. So www.myspace.com/mirrorkill is there, but dead (apart from one song). [Edit, 2014CE - actually no, some guy's managed to grab it for himself. Fair dos, I've got all the important domain name variations, & it's not like anyone cares about myspace any more anyway...] At some point we should probably make ourselves known to the powers that be & wrest back control, but for the time being it can be a monument to Mr Rathbone's occasional moments of extreme daftness. Ah well, what are passwords for but to be forgotten?

I have no idea how often I'm likely to update this blog, so don't go holding your breath. Check out the www.mirrorkill.co.uk homepage for lots & lots & lots of other stuff. It's prettier too.

That's all,
MK.