Status: Fake Band
![image](https://hoaxes.org/images/hoaxblog/hopeaghope.jpg)
A new band called
Hope Against Hope managed to cultivate an enthusiastic online fanbase, and leveraged this popularity into an invitation from Alan McGee (a music industry exec famous for discovering Oasis) to play at the trendy Death Disco club.
What neither Hope Against Hope's fans nor Alan McGee knew was that the band was fake. It didn't exist. So how did they all get fooled? Simple. Because although the band wasn't real, it did have a myspace profile.
The Independent reports on the hoax:
The set-up was simple. Q magazine persuaded the office work experience student and two of his mates to pose as the ironically named Hope Against Hope. With their Fred Perry shirts and skinny jeans, the band certainly looked the part. A "rough" demo was supplied, courtesy of a musician friend, and the results downloaded on to the website. Within four weeks, Hope Against Hope had not only built a devoted fan base but convinced the music guru Alan McGee, one-time member of Tony Blair's Creative Industry Taskforce, discoverer of Oasis and manager of the Libertines, to sign them up for his ultra-trendy Death Disco club.
The Guardian also reports on the hoax, focusing on how the old practice of artificially creating "buzz" has now extended into cyberspace. (Well, people have been using the web to generate publicity for as long as it's been around, so it's really nothing new.) What I've concluded from this Hope Against Hope hoax is that
Hippo Eats Dwarf obviously needs a myspace profile. Or better yet, I should create a profile for Hilda, the hippo who swallowed the dwarf.
Comments
It would be different if the buzz had been built on word of mouth only--no songs at all. That would be proof that the machine was out of control. But there was music that people liked I guess.
Shit, people like the Shaggs.
I can see why Hope Against Hope went to the Top of the Pops. Just LOOK at that promotional photo. Three too-hip-to-be-happy young, reasonably attractive guys, staring off into space in that "we're FAR too cool to look at the camera or smile" way so popular with today's young pop idols. They couldn't NOT be a hit!
However, if the industry professionals were fooled, what does this say about them?
Oh, I can see Boo and Charyb play-backing "In the Navy!" so well!!!!
:lol:
http://hippoeatsdwarf.orcon.net.nz/news.htm
Zlad....