Science & Tech Quote by James Young

Young is taking aim at the increasingly normalized lie of “live” music: the sleek, arena-sized illusion where spontaneity is flattened into a pre-timed file. His language is pointedly unglamorous - “some computerized thing,” “runs along in time” - as if to demystify the tech and, more importantly, the choice behind it. This isn’t a Luddite rant. It’s a veteran musician’s grievance about accountability. When he says the vocals are “only partly the guys on stage,” he’s drawing a bright ethical line: the audience is paying for risk, not just polish.

The subtext is a defense of human variance. Backing tracks don’t just patch weak singers; they scrub away the tiny imperfections that signal presence: breath, strain, the occasional missed note that proves a performance is actually happening. Young frames the trend as “a lot of people,” a strategic widening that suggests a systemic shift rather than a few bad actors. It’s also a quiet flex - an older-school credibility claim from someone who came up when touring meant reproducing the record with muscle, not software.

Context matters: rock culture has long treated authenticity as currency, while pop’s mainstream has grown comfortable with hybrid shows that blend live elements and programmed support. Young isn’t naïve about how expensive modern touring is, or how audiences demand record-perfect sound. He’s arguing that perfection is starting to sound like fraud, and that the industry is training listeners to prefer a simulation over a real night that can still surprise you.