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

[juror8.livejournal.com]

Out of interest, and Lex's claim that Byrne's press is easily outweight by Bush's, here's some old musician results from GoogleNews. News stories from the world's 4,500 major news sources mentioning the following in the last month:

Bono: 2,510
David Bowie: 630
Elvis Costello: 549
David Byrne: 191
KRS-One: 126
Michael Stipe: 111
Kate Bush: 105
Rick James: 70
Nick Lowe: 35
John Lydon: 13

[juror8.livejournal.com]

And inevitably:

John Wayne: 914