Who needs bathrooms? ([email protected])
Sun, 23 Aug 1998 22:52:51 -0600
You wrote:
>3) Selfrighteousness (sp?). (Example: People telling one another what jokes
>are appropriate, and why).
I reply:
Selfrighteousness? I hardly think so. What BonoMLK wrote, was
a) extremely insensitive to the people from that part of the world,
b) insenstive to those who may hold the beliefs of bin Laden, and
c) in poor taste.
I'll ask you the same question(to which no one has replied) that I've
been asking others who have disagreed with my comments:
What is the difference between his "joke" and this one?
Q: What do you call the 28 dead Irish at Omagh?
A: A good start.
(I must admit, I took that infamous "What do you call a dead Lawyer" joke and
twisted it around...)
Anyhoo, beyond that, I'd like to also comment on your point #1. I wonder
if the question should be rephrased into "Can another band ever achieve
'Superband' status. That is, can a band be recognized along the lines of
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, or U2?"
(I'm sure there's another band/bands that someone is going to want to stick
in that list...SuperTramp come to mind ;) )
Please note, Bop, that this isn't a comment on the "divine hights" of U2 as
you put it, but a comment on the percieved nature of U2 in the recording
industry. (I remember before "POP" was released, how the music gurus were
predicting that this album was the one that was going to "save the music
industry" from its slide.)
I've wondered about the above at some length, and the result of my idle
ponderings is 'No'. Simply because we live in a society where disposability
is the norm. And disposable music is the norm of our society -- that is,
disposable songs/albums are now making an impact on album sales.
We have disposable diapers, disposable marriages(50% end up in divorce),
disposable hankerchiefs, disposable everything. So why is it surprising we
have disposable music in the form of one hit wonders?
True, every generation has its one hit wonders, but I seem to recall reading
somewhere(BillBoard?...no....I can't remember exactly where) where someone
had done a brief comparison of bands from the 70s, 80s, and into the 90s to
count the number of one hit wonders(and expected one hit wonders -- although
no one can predict where the music industry is going...)...
Through 1990-1995, there were more albums produced by different bands than
ever before. And there were more one hit groups/performers than ever before.
And then, in 1995-1996, CD sales fell, _FELL_, from the year before. Which
makes me wonder -- is the music any good, or are we(music afficianodos(sp?))
just bored with what is on the radio. (Others claim that the fall is due to
people no longer replacing their LP collection with a CD collection...)
I'll argue that it's the latter. That is, the music _is_ good, but there's
so little _good_ music, that the vast amount of one hit wonders seem to
outweigh any impact that a potential "classic" album might have.
In the past year, I've found it harder and harder to convince myself to buy
an album -- if forced to, I could probably tell you the names of the albums
that I've bought. However, I probably couldn't tell you the number of
individual songs that I've recorded off the radio(Doh! Here come the RIAA!),
from these one hit bands.
I wonder if we'll ever see the impact of another album like "Thriller" or
"The Joshua Tree" from the 1980s...An album that _eclipses_ any other album
sales.
We've yet to see one in the 1990s.
In other words, my long rambling post means that there won't be another U2 --
the quantity of bands and record sales prohibit it.
Also, as Pirate Bob said,
> 3. Michael Duane Ford is obviously a child who feels the need to subject
> the world to his outbursts. In his short postings on Wire we have had a
> call to start a war with another mailing list, a free tape hoax, and now
> another anti-gay flame war. Simply ignore him. He can only post three
> times a day, simply scroll past him and in time he will get bored and
> either wise up or move on.
Well said Bob.
As Nikki( [email protected] ) wrote(and this is my smart-ass
comment of the week):
> It's very scary, and I have every right to not entirely agree with
> America's decisions. We're messing with some very psychotic, dangerous
> people,
Uhm..are you talking about the terrorists, or the CIA/US Government? :D
(Sorry, I couldn't resist. It was set up way to well to let that one go.
I was also thinking about using the joke, "Are you talking about the
Republicans or Democrats?")
Most of this post should be replied to on private email, except the
middle part on "The Next U2"...
Waiting for the new Willie Nelson album(produced by Daniel Lanois!),
-- Prarit....[email protected] U2 news: http://www.cableregina.com/users/u2news/u2.html
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