Pop’s current malaise is that its missing vitality goes unnoticed rather than being mourned

Evidence

Even the most ardent devotees must sense something is missing — there’s just a hint in Doherty’s puppy dog junky eyes that even he recognises the sad fact that even if he dies, it won’t stop being pantomime. (Although one suspects that the current malaise can in large part be accounted for by the fact that “what is missing” is not even noticed, still less mourned or hankered for.) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1089

Categorization

• CANDY: The Pete Doherty line — ‘even if he dies, it won’t stop being pantomime’ — is a wry one-liner about rock-star self-destruction losing its cultural weight.
• XREF: connects to: Pop’s malaise is not MOR itself but its corruption by indie authenticity — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 488; Pop hedonism’s forced uplift masks a depression it cannot dissipate — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1305; Contemporary pop is trapped between a vacuous present and an unrecoverable past — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1314