I got introduced to the world of celebrity gossip after the infamous Ashlee Simpson lipsync incident on Saturday Night Live, which coincidentally happened 20 years ago yesterday. So I don't dox myself too much (or the sites I still go to 20 years later), I'll just talk about my memories of this era. The best term to describe this time of celebrity gossip is ruthless. TMZ eventually became the go-to place for news on socialites and partying movie stars and musicians as they drunkenly stumbled out of the clubs and made fools of themselves, or for breaking news on celebrity deaths or hospitalizations as they paid off nurses and police officers for any tidbits they could get. A time where, if the contents of somebody's T-Mobile Sidekick got leaked, the public was far less sympathetic and responded with "that person is a stupid whore anyway, soooo". A time where countdown sites were made for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for when they officially turned 18, and you could find Ashton Kutcher in a Von Dutch hat saying this sort of fucked up shit out loud. Women were never skinny enough. Women were shamed for cellulite. Women were shamed for hip dips and large arms. Women were laughed at for their botched surgeries after trying to obtain the ideal body. Where Winona Ryder was shamed to hell and back for shoplifting, arrests and mugshots for Paris, Nicole, and Lindsay amplified them. I'll never forget the image of Britney Spears tied to a gurney in an ambulance. I'll never forget the image of Anna Nicole crying and holding her dead son, who had just passed away moments before. I'll never forget Vanessa Hudgens' nude photos leaking and people focusing less on how she was underage and more on how much of a stupid slut she was and mocking her. Upskirt photos. Brandon Davis' "firecrotch" rant recorded by an x17 paparazzo. Sex tapes. Perez Hilton. The rise of reality television. The mid-to-late 2000s were a hell of a time. I have a weird soft spot about that time period, because it was such a big part of my life and things felt more simple back then, but I also am fully aware of how truly fucked up that time was in celebrity gossip, and how much of that time negatively affected girls and women's self-esteem.
W.R.I.'s STORY OF MY A-LIST LIFE is a sound collage time capsule of everything I experienced in those days of being new to celebrity gossip, the nastiest time for being a celebrity, and being absolutely captivated. You'll hear Britney being swarmed by paparazzi, followed by a bitcrushed Black Eyed Peas song, followed by a block of makeup ads, followed by audio clips of Lindsay Lohan in the court room. I'm unsure of how old this person is, if this person is my age or if this person is much younger and looking at this time through rose-colored lenses. If you're reading this, W.R.I., this album is absolutely eerily spot on. The track I am posting below is a good summary of what this album sounds like, but I recommend listening to the entire album as you look through Pop Culture Died in 2009's Twitter page for the full experience.
You can find the full album digitally at the link below:
https://nu-apollo.bandcamp.com/album/story-of-my-a-list-life
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