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Bad Habits
Gary Duncan reflects on the essential shallowness of the Ed Sheeran phenomenon.

Apparently, more people went to see Ed Sheeran in Sunderland last night than any other gig in the North East.

Ever.

That’s a tragic indictment on the cultural period we are living through.

In the future, absolutely no-one will hail Ed Sheeran as a great influence on their music.
He may be very popular, but he’s not musically groundbreaking.

He may sell lots of tickets and albums, but he’s not saying anything important.

He may appeal to a broad section of the populace, but he’s not reaching anyone with a radical mindset.

No-one will remember Sheeran twenty or thirty years down the line.

No-one will say they were inspired to make great music by an Ed Sheeran concert.

Instead people will go, “Remember when we went to that gig because we had nothing else to do and everyone else was going? Who was it again? Bloke with ginger hair and a guitar I think. Ah, doesn’t matter. Pass the remote.”



So, how did we get to this juncture? Why are so many people enamoured of this bland and boring celebrity?

Music used to be unsafe and threatening and intellectually stimulating and socially progressive.

Ed Sheeran is none of that. In fact he exemplifies perfectly the staleness of a society that is lost and directionless.

Hey, let’s go pay far too much money to watch a bloke with far too much money sing songs that make us think nothing and feel nothing and do nothing.


Great. Think I’ll stick to nostalgia and dream of a time when music might be wild again.


Fuck off, Sheeran, you pointless cultural glimpse into a meaningless abyss.

Gary Duncan


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