Re: REM boring?

[Lkg <Lkg>]

I happen to like Shiny Happy People. Sure it seems silly,
but it takes big reproductive organs to sing such a fey and
bouncy little ditty about people laughing, holding hands
and loving each other in this ruff & tumble world.  And the
B-52's were on it!  (Rock Lobster - another great silly song.)
Shiny Happy People seems to me to be about innocence,
which indeed has had its day, and hopefully will again.

Let's not forget there was this very brief period some years
back (has it been a decade already?) before the word
"Alternative" became just another industry label, and radio
and video stations actually dared play music that wasn't
pre-approved by a gauntlet of focus groups.  Sort of like the
late '70's/early '80's, when for a year or so there was some
groovin rad stuff heard on the waves.  (I.e., Rock Lobster!)

What about the Clash?  And the (pre-Some Girls) Stones, for
gosh sake? Popular, yes.  Real good fuckin' shit, yes. This
argument that the masses are lumpen estupidos is something
I just can't get behind anyway.  It's continually proved
wrong when something outrageous becomes popular. The problem
is the process of institutionalization, not general populace
preferences: those are variegated and unpredictable, as every
institution *eventually* learns while it goes down in flames,
creating fertilizer for the next one...hopefully mine... :D

In today's immediate climate, I'm not sure REM or Nirvana,
even at their peak, would get much airplay now. Even the
so-called "Alternative" station(s) (only one in my
cosmopolis) now seem to mainly play what they see as
heavy, headbanging, beerdrinking, hooligan kind of stuff.
(Luckily they can't read lyrics, so some sensitive subtle
stuff sneaks past 'em if the music's turned up loud enough.)

Anyway,
 :} Lkg

Rob Baker wrote:
[...]

> OK, so REM have made a number of obvious singles (lest we forget the
> awful 'Shiny Happy People'), but EVERY artist has done that. Yes, even
> Sonic Youth. Even the Pixies. Even Nirvana.
> You cannot criticise a band for making songs that radio likes,
> especially when that claim does not even stand up next to the evidence.
>
> --
> Rob Baker
>
> * Innocence has had its day *
>         - Patti Smith