The inspiration for this one came from observations of online activity that I have made over the past couple of years.  I am an avid reader of music and music-related blogs and although I read many different kinds, I started to notice a pattern.  This should be an age when the technology of "Web 2.0" allows for what I consider to be true freedom of the press, i.e. anyone can start a blog or news site and publish whatever they want as long as it is factual and not slanderous.  So after years of mags like Rolling Stone, Billboard, NME etc. basically monopolizing the music press we should be optimistic that this new age will allow a "level playing field" and bands, stories, music etc. that once would have been ignored (most likely because they don't have enough marketing money behind them) can now get the word out to this new form of alternative press and get some kind of attention at least. 

After all, do we really need another Pitchfork Media?  Or any of these other big "alternative music" blogs that really only handle the "mainstream alternative"?  Of course the obvious anwser is NO.  But upon closer inspection of what is actually going on online you quickly find out that there are actually very few bloggers out there who are actually thinking for themselves and developing their own opinions.  Almost everywhere you look it's the same old thing, same bands, same hype same opinions give or take a few choice adjectives.  Actually a pretty sad situation considering the opportunity that is there.

The "flock" in this case is not a flock of birds, but a flock of sheep (see picture above).  Kind of an obvious choice when referring to the "follower" mentality but I looked at it a bit more closely and I am actually describing a particular kind of sheep that considers itself above the rest even though it is equally susceptible to being led and herded but more by external forces, i.e. the shepherd a.k.a. expensive marketing strategies and pr people.

An interesting little anecdote about the lyrics comes from a spelling error I made while writing out a verse with the word "bleet" - I actually meant to write "bleat" which is the word for the sound a sheep makes.  I actually wasn't sure of the correct spelling, probably because it is not a word I use very often (if at all) so I did a quick web search for the spelling "bleet" and came across a very interesting coincidence.  As it turns out, the word "bleet" is a newly formed word for an online entry that is longer than a "tweet" but shorter than a normal blog entry.  Fantastic!  Without even knowing it I had actually found the exact word I was looking for!  I guess it was just meant to be...