Here's one of my weird, curmugeonly little fascinations: Who are those people in the audience at award shows who are always screaming? It's a trend that seemed to start in the 1980s, when high-tech glitz started taking over these sorts of televised entertainments.
Are they the children of invited guests who are REALLY REALLY excited by every lighting change that hits the stage or every cheap celebrity who mounts the podium? Or are they hired screamers--thirteen-year-old girls who belong to some sort of talent agency that specializes in renting out crowds for events. Do they take lessons in scream production? Are they paid per hour or per event? Are they paid by the artists' management to scream for their clients? (During the opening credits the biggest screams were for the newer artists; the scream level would go way down for anyone whose career peaked two years ago.) Are these screamers so knowledgeable about music that they have a shriek scale: a 10 for N Sync, a 2 for (well, Joni, if she were to show up)? I notice these screamers on TV shows that don't even have much built-in excitement: "Rock n Roll Jeopardy," for instance. What is there about Jeff Probst that would make one tear one's vocal cords? Just wondering. You can go back to what you were doing now. NP: Nick Drake, Pink Moon; Eva Cassidy, Time after Time (yes, it was her version of Woodstock I was asking about a few weeks ago); Jeff Buckley, Grace. (Three artists who died in their prime. A coincidence? A subconscious purchase?)
