I read this:

>The problem is that most teenagers latch on to what they're force >fed via commercial radio, TV, commercials, the record industry. >The industry has a proven record of success with marketing teen >singers to teenage audiences.

And then I wonder how much a 14- or 15-year-old me would have enjoyed having this said about me by my supposed elders.
This isn't to cast aspersion on Jamie (whom I believe was the original poster), but to caution all of us about casting too broad a net when it comes to the teen audience. I daresay that the indie kids we once were would have kicked adults like us in the shins for having said it.

Just a thought. 
As re: Ashleegate -- At first I was reveling in the schadenfreude of it all, and then I started feeling badly about it. She is quite young, after all. 
And despite the puppet/marionette argument, I wonder how any of us would have responded if someone came to us at a similar age (if we had popstar aspirations) and offered us the dream deal of a lifetime. 
If we had an influential authority figure pushing us to do it, quite some number (but not all) would have likely jumped at the chance for a little wish fulfillment without thinking about the full ramifications of what we'd done.
Thus, we find ourselves here.

just feeling a touch on the thoughtful side, is all.

john.

http://www.milkshakejones.com