LOL Hardwell – Price You Pay When You Do Sh!t For Money
Cringing, embarrassing or plain deserving?
Navigating the barrage of stories that come at you in the 24-hour information cycle that is social media, often sends me spiraling in emotion. Maybe it’s a sign that I should shut it down but I keep scrolling. Still I pride myself on the fact while I may spend (waste?) countless hours staring at glowing screen, I don’t spend much of that time proclaiming my opinions from a top proverbial soap box. I don’t troll, I don’t argue on Facebook and I manage to keep my opinions to myself, however for some reason I can’t stop myself for throwing in my two-cents on this matter. I know ragging on Hardwell is easy and at this point his music is reason enough for him to be EDM’s punching bag. However, a cringe worthy…no fucking embarrassing performance in Poland this weekend may encapsulate everything that is wrong with commodifying dance music.
If you are a fan of shitty music, you may have felt a little sorry for Hardwell’s lame attempt at using every EDM DJ cliché in the book to get a completely disinterested crowd hyped up at the IEM Katowice gaming convention. Or maybe you had a good laugh at his expense. Either way most websites severely understated the obvious by calling his performance awkward. With his narcissism on full display as he strode on stage
with the confidence of a bull fighter, you really have to wonder how anyone takes this joker seriously. It was pretty clear most of the crowd didn’t give a shit who he was. I guess he didn’t get the memo – gamers don’t dance and could care less who the fuck is up there.
What Hardwell experienced wasn’t just a failure, it was a well deserved kick in the nuts. He’s spent the better part of the last decade making a complete mockery of dance music and cashing out in the process, so excuse me if I think he could stand to be knocked down a few pegs.
Just like everything else that used to be fun and cool, corporate greed has turned dance music into a complete shit show and for someone who has seen the culture evolve since the 90’s, it’s a turn off. This debacle goes to show the lengths people will go for money. It’s embarrassing and shameful, and the likely reason why EDM isn’t taken seriously as an art form.
I do not feel sorry for Hardwell one bit. He ultimately decides on his gigs. And after all the damage he’s caused to dance music, he deserves to be embarrassed. That’s the price you pay for being a music industry whore.
-Jawn Gee
