Hello Kitty in the Music Business

Martin Pavion

When thinking of the music industry it is hard to imagine Hello Kitty being involved.

39-year-old Lisa Loeb is now endorsing Hello Kitty guitars for Fender ®. When one thinks of the rock stylizing of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Queen, the Police and early David Bowie ( none who have sported a Hello Kitty guitar), who are artists that have influenced Lisa Loeb’s music, Hello Kitty just doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. If  Fender ® is marketing to seven-year-old rock stars, then using Hello Kitty is a different story, but this author has yet to find a seven-year-old ‘Rock Star’.

Imagine… You took a day off work to stand in the sun with no place to sit ( unless you packed in Hello Kitty folding chairs) in a Ticket Master line with all the street people (God love ‘em) trying to scrounge a buck for who knows what. Then….’Whew’ relief sets in, after 2 hours, you’ve finally reached the sales window. Now you have paid your 40 hard-earned dollars to attend a rock concert featuring a sexy 39-year-old artist who is supposed to deliver a ‘Rock Experience’. As you pack up the  Hello Kitty folding chairs, the  Hello Kitty cooler, the  Hello Kitty umbrella, round up all the kids you had to bring along because you couldn’t find a sitter who are wearing Hello Kitty tee-shirts, your imagination transports you to the concert. The smells of the vendor food, beer, smog machines, cheap perfume, and other concert smells that hard-core concert people recognize, take over your senses. You can’t wait!!!

Finally…..show day is here, three months later ( you have to but tickets in advance if you want to get a seat where you don’t get a nose bleed) and you ready yourself with your best AC/DC shirt ( not the copy of the Hello Kitty tee-shirt Paris Hilton wears) ,worn out jeans and biker boots (or heels ladies). You jump in the car, crank up the tunes and off you go. With every mile and every song you’re singing along to, anticipation heightens.

Now at the arena, you pay your parking fee (not included in the ticket price), are directed to park about 5 miles from the entrance even though you have just passed fifty open parking slots, park the car…..and you’re ready to ROCK!

When you finally enter the venue after standing in line once again, you gather your refreshments, memorabilia ( no Hello Kitty sold here…thank goodness) and a $5.00 program. Now that all the money is spent…….You can enter the real sights and smells that were conjured up by your imagination after you purchased your tickets for the show.

Excited, pumped up and ready to rock, you enter the auditorium. The lights are low, anticipation is heavy, and excited fans are crowding forward to get close to the stage and no one seems to know where their seat is. The air is electric, the crowd is loud  with anticipation of the rock event that is about to begin. Beach balls and Frisbees are whizzing past your head. A totally excited (maybe a little out of it) fan, stage dives just out of your reach and is passed to the back to have to fight his way back to the front of the stage.

All lights go out….you know it’s finally time. All the anticipation is about to be fulfilled. Slowly the lights come up, the faint sound of the opening song is now coming through the crowd noise. The announcer moves to the center mic and begins to introduce Miss Loeb over whistles and screaming fans. The music is gradually becoming louder and you see a faint shadow entering the stage. ‘Is it her?’ ….’It is her’…. The fog machine fills the stage…..the guitarist strikes a chord, the stage lights blast on and finally Lisa Loeb is at the mic ready to rock you.

But wait….you look, rub your eyes and look again….”Can this be real or did I have one too many?” She has arrived on stage with a Hello Kitty guitar slung around her neck……’What,what,what?’….. A Hello Kitty guitar? “Who made Hello Kitty a rock essential?” Now you’re confused at this point. Are you going to hear ‘Mary had a little lamb’ or some real rock music?

As a regular concert attendee myself, I would think I had been transported somehow to ‘Romper Room’. A Hello Kitty guitar is certainly not what I’m expecting, even though Fender ® makes a great guitar…… I’m here to see a rock show not an episode of Sesame Street.

This author’s personal opinion is that Lisa needs to re-think the image and say ‘Goodbye Kitty’. When the image doesn’t fit….the excitement level drops and after all one has gone through to get excited I feel it’s a let down. Now instead of Frisbees, beach balls and stage diving…….I feel like playing patty cake………

Lose the Hello Kitty, say ‘Goodbye Kitty’