Australian TV Show Puts The Heavy Metal Influence To The Test
July 22, 2003Frances Grant of the New Zealand Herald reports that "some of society's assumptions don't stand up to rigorous scrutiny. It's easy, for example, to lay the blame for youth suicides on heavy metal rock lyrics. But do Ozzy Osbourne and the like really have the morbid effect on young people that some believe?
"Tonight, Australian John Safran puts the heavy metal influence to the test in his show 'John Safran's Music Jamboree' (TV One, 10.05pm).
"He conducts an interview with Osbourne in front of an audience of young people controlling a 'worm' that rates the Osbourne suicide effect. The worm shows viewers whether the youths feel more or less like killing themselves as the befuddled Osbourne exposes his inner soul: 'I'm a lovable loony, I'm not satanic.'
"You get the picture. 'John Safran's Music Jamboree' is satirical, guerrilla TV in the tradition of American Michael Moore ('Bowling For Columbine', 'The Awful Truth', 'TV Nation').
"But where Moore goes for broader targets and serious social issues, Safran centres his activities on the music business, an industry he has a personal interest in through the tragic failure of his hip-hop ambitions.
"The show is set in a High Fidelity-style record shop, and includes general rants on topics such as album cover art and surreptitious meetings with the Music Mole, who exposes a music industry scandal each week." Read more.
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