col_tom
01-30-2009, 04:29 PM
http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
By Bob Lefsetz
What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where this innovative act's new album "The Crying Light" can enter the European chart at number one, notching a #2 in Spain and Sweden, #3 in Denmark, #4 in France, Holland and Norway, #9 in Italy and #18 in the United Kingdom, selling 10,000 copies in this island nation with one-fifth the population of the United States, and debuts in the U.S. at number 65 with a measly 7,837 copies sold?
Are Europeans just that more sophisticated, or does radio suck just that badly in the U.S? We have a black President, why can't we have a transgendered musical act on TV? For the self-professed "greatest country in the world", we certainly seem to be backward when it comes to the arts. Only interested in what is lowest common denominator, that which can be easily sold, we've eviscerated our cultural institutions, we're an international laughingstock. In America, Interscope is tying in with a candy company to sell a barely pubescent act (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/arts/music/28cliq.html), whereas in Europe Antony & the Johnsons are on TV and are embraced for their originality.
Maybe out of today's disarray a new world order will emerge where how talented you are, how original you can be, are more important factors than how good-looking you are, how many times you appear in the gossip media.
By Bob Lefsetz
What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where this innovative act's new album "The Crying Light" can enter the European chart at number one, notching a #2 in Spain and Sweden, #3 in Denmark, #4 in France, Holland and Norway, #9 in Italy and #18 in the United Kingdom, selling 10,000 copies in this island nation with one-fifth the population of the United States, and debuts in the U.S. at number 65 with a measly 7,837 copies sold?
Are Europeans just that more sophisticated, or does radio suck just that badly in the U.S? We have a black President, why can't we have a transgendered musical act on TV? For the self-professed "greatest country in the world", we certainly seem to be backward when it comes to the arts. Only interested in what is lowest common denominator, that which can be easily sold, we've eviscerated our cultural institutions, we're an international laughingstock. In America, Interscope is tying in with a candy company to sell a barely pubescent act (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/arts/music/28cliq.html), whereas in Europe Antony & the Johnsons are on TV and are embraced for their originality.
Maybe out of today's disarray a new world order will emerge where how talented you are, how original you can be, are more important factors than how good-looking you are, how many times you appear in the gossip media.