One of the things young people find irritating is listening to their parents going on and

on about how everything was less commercialized when they were kids. The complaint often heard from people over 35 refers to commercialization in the music industry.

Every time another girl band or boy band appears, this older generation criticizes the new group for being artificial, for not being genuine, dedicated musicians or singers. They claim that all pop groups in the 60's and the 70's were true artists, dedicated only to their music, and then suddenly big business took control.【65】.

Older people who get nostalgic about the good old days of music, before manufactured music groups in the 1990's, should be reminded of The Archies. The Archies made no pretense of being a real band in the first place.【66】But this didn't step them from having a number one hit with a song called "Sugar Sugar", which topped the charts for four weeks in 1969.【67】Four young men answered an ad for "four folk and rock musicians to appear in a TV series" and were then packaged as The Monkees. From the outset, it was made clear that The Monkees were hired to be television actors first and musicians second. The group wouldn't do much more than sing although the series would give the impression that they played their own instruments.

The Monkees were real and, to a certain extent, musical. They had a string of hits, some very" memorable.【68】The original material they would sing in the series was written mostly by professional songwriters. How different to a group of real, talented individuals like The Beatles !

Well, not entirely. It is often forgotten today that the manager of The Beatles, Brian Epstein, gave them the distinctive "Beatle look" (Beatle jackets and Beatle hairstyles) and cleverly marketed their songs. If he hadn't done so, the band might never have had those early hits.【69】.

Things have changed dramatically in the music industry. Managers play an important role in deciding what kind of music will appeal to specific target groups and then find singers and musicians able to produce it. For the last fifty years, pop singers and groups have had managers who shaped them in an attempt to make their records big hits.【70】.

A. It must be obvious that this is a complete exaggeration; the music industry has always acted this way.

B. Which is hardly surprising, since the music industry is just that: all industry, aiming like all industries to make a profit？

C. Their music was performed by animated TV cartoon characters.

D. And then they would not have become the most influential rock band of the 20th century.

E. That decade also saw an American group appear that was a blatant attempt to copy the success of The Beatles.

F. However, they didn't write any of their own material, and their manager created every aspect of their show.

G. However, it's not true that everyone in the music business in the old days was an amateur who simply loved music.

(60)