IT'S indie music's most abused four-letter word. As inevitably as Pete Doherty will spend another night in police custody before this year is out, "hype" is that little word which trails behind every successful new band like a bad smell.
If a band's new single is getting played on a few different radio stations, being written about in a couple of publications and receiving word-of-mouth recommendations from a growing fanbase, many indie-schmindie observers firmly believe that "hype" has struck yet again and they'll fume on various internet forums about how unfair it all is.
Getting accused of using hype is just one of the rites of passage new bands face, like getting compared to some act you've never heard of before or suspecting you have gout after a round of dinners with A&R men. If you're getting the hype word thrown in your face, you know you must be doing something right.
Most who wield the word as a weapon really don't know what they're talking about. To them, hype means a new band that they don't particularly like getting tons of media attention. It's begrudgery by another name.
These folks are always on full alert in case hype strikes. They suspect that some cute hoor is going around pulling stunts, bribing radio DJs and whispering sweet nothings to journalists to entice them to write about the band. In their mind, there is always "someone" doing these dastardly deeds. They carry around more suspicions, chips on shoulders and smouldering resentments than you'll find at a Sinn Féin dinner dance.
The dictionary contains several definitions of hype, both as a noun and verb, but it doesn't contain one which reads: "I'm in a band and I never got that kind of attention when I released a single". Many who suspect hype when a band like the Arctic Monkeys emerge from nowhere rarely bother to listen to the music for fear of upsetting their prepacked prejudices.
If they actually listened, they would probably realise that the most exciting sound in these parts at the moment is the debut album from the Arctic Monkeys. Hence the attention it is receiving from the hack-pack.
Hence, too, the pole position it will take up in the charts this weekend. In fact, it's so good that it may well be the album of the year and we're still trying to get January out of the way. Did I hear someone saying "hype"? I probably did.
Those ladies and gentlemen whose job it is to get press and radio attention for acts often guffaw loudly when the hype word raises its head. They know only too well that absolutely no amount of hype can turn a truly dreadful act into the hottest sound on the block. Lord knows, they have tried and they still have the CDs lying around the office to prove it.
Having toiled for a spell on the other side of the PR/journalist fence in the press department of a record label in London, I attempted to turn many sow's ears into silk purses - to no avail. Trying to get people interested in acts that you know in your heart of hearts are not very good is a lot more difficult than working with an act who have a truly great song or magnificent debut album on their side.
Of course, even lousy acts will get their share of press space, but they have to buy that. Regardless of how many pages you can acquire when you have the budget to take out adverts, it doesn't follow that you'll get good reviews as a result.
There's an almost church and state divide at most publications between advertising and editorial. It would have to be a pretty rubbish, inconsequential and desperate magazine that would trade putting a band on its front cover for a few full-page adverts.
But such a fact is lost on those who see hype at every turn. To these conspiracy theorists, popular bands are always hyped bands. You do have to feel a little bit sorry for them and their delusions.
