Cato

I think we're moved away from the OPs original point about being uncomfortable about playing a specific song rather than an issue of whether or not whole genres should be taboo. Having looked at the lyrics of that song I would say that the casual listener is very unlikely to have a clue about the real events it's referring to so I probably wouldn't be worried on that score. It does however appear to be in a dialect or patois which is likely going to sound very odd if sung in an English accent and probably even more ridiculous if said English person tries to 'do' the correct accent, so I'd probably be out on that score.

Only going to get worse with AI. Even in it's current imperfect state there are people creating fake images of real events and tragedies purely to farm engagement on social media. If the tech keeps inproving at it's current rate it won't be long before anyone with access to a smartphone can instruct AI to create entirely convincing video imagery of anything they want and claim that it's a real event.

You can over think these things. Some of the best songs tell a story, you don't have to have a connection or even empathy for that story in order to retell it. Indeed sharing stories is one of the ways that people learn about each other. Having said that I'd feel pretty silly if I had to sing Redemption Song in front of an audience, so there's definitely a 'Partridge' line somewhere, but it's probably very much an individual decision rather than a blanket rule you can apply to all situations

It's a nice enough looking intrument, I'm sure it sounds decent too. Absolutely nothing outstanding or even particularly 'metal' about it though, just seems to be another black P shaped bass. Click on any guitar shop webiste and there will likely be multiple 'stealth' looking instruments with similar specs from various manufacturers.

Loose string tree or maybe a loose screw in the bridge somewhere?

That's a fine looking thing, even by ACG standards.

Yep I'm not sure what kind of technique you need to make good use of the half fretless thing, but I definitely don't have it.

I like that a lot. I wonder if they might do a limited lower specced MiM or USA production run if this generates enough interest.

That Ibanez is a welcome reminder of a less tasteful age. I remember going into Musical Exchanges in Brum in the late 80s and lusting after the crackle finished BC Riches, I think Washburn & Kramer did something similar as well. Hot neon guitars and basses in almost painfully bright pinks and yellows were definitely a thing at around the same time as well. I don't remember seeing any animal print guitars, but they wouldn't have been out of place. Then, as mentioned above, grunge pretty much killed all the flamboyant finishes and it feels a bit like fashion wise guitars have been doing the same sensible retro/vintage finish thing for the last 30 years or so.

I suspect we're about to be hit by a tidal wave of AI generated music. The idea you can potentially get an AI to write a hit song for you in minutes despite having zero musical ability has all the makings of a classic 'get rich quick' scheme. Of course most of the resulting music won't get any commercial traction at all, but that won't stop large numbers of people churning the stuff out in the hope of getting that one track that hits the jackpot.

If AI video generation keeps advancing at the current rate in a year or so the scandal won't be that influencers are decieving their followers, it'll be that they never existed in the first place.

Once you get beyond promoting your next gig or your mates mates posting their holiday snaps most social media is fakery to some extent. Whether it's lifestyle influencers faking an idyllic, carefree existence or the fitness fanatics who enthuse about a healthy lifestyle while neglecting to mention their own heroic steroid intake, or the straight up thieves trying to steal your money with crypto scams. Even most of the funny animal clips are clearly staged. Add in that posting content can also be highly lucrative and it's not that suprising that a lot of content creators don't seem to know or much care where the moral boundary is between presenting the best version of yourself and outright deception. I'm not sure a lot of the audience it's aimed at is that bothered either, right up to the moment the outrage bandwagon starts rolling.

Even someone who's never played must be able to see that when she's hitting the strings has no correlation with the timing of the notes in the background music. Seems daft to get annoyed at someone who doesn't seem to be trying very hard to deceive anyone. Unless there's a previously unknown massive audience for 1980s Spanish package holiday hotel bar background music I imagine most of her followers probably aren't that interested in her musical skills anyway.

I saw the other day Bax were advertising Fazely guitars again on Instagram. Glad they finally came through for you, that's a lovely colour, in fact a nice looking instrument all round.

The Fender Custom shop stuff at Andertons is a bit like the DFS sale in that I'm not sure I've ever seen it advertised without at least a grand knocked off the 'official' price. It's certainly discounted (allegedly) often enough that you'd likely be in for an unpleasant suprise a few months down the line if you paid the official price for one.