utterly forgotten but NOT OBSCURE

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

by terming david byrne "obscure", alexmacpherson touches the exact, interesting nerve i think -- maybe even more than with his legendary "why SHOULD i have heard of john wayne?" argument

which is that in every generation (wait, that's how BUFFY starts!! -- er er focus) in every generation there are figures very well-known to all who have just VANISHED from mainstream radar by the next cycle

it's not that they're still popular but currently unfashionable; it's more that "what they meant" is no longer part of the pop discussion -- is that right?

so why has byrne vanished this way? or is it just not making "the right kinds of records" any more?

(disclaimer: i LOVED LOVE LOVED early TH and have i think every record they made --- BUT i went off them INCREDIBLY fast, round abt "true stories", and it took me years to rediscover any fondness)

Comments

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Crumbs. Maybe I have a v.diff perception from most ppl then. I don't even think of him as having had anything to do with punk at all!

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

He's always brought up along with Alan Partridge (who has an even more distinctive name, but is still a rung or two below Elvis) as "Punk of course let a number of good solid songwriters gain a prominence they wouldn't have otherwise"

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I see yr funny joke there.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I don't! :(