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

Re: I find this discussion confusing

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha I had no idea Janis Joplin was in a band at all!

I agree and am heartened by all of your post. I also still think the fact that DAVID BYRNE is a really ordinary name is a factor! If an article or person mentions Elvis Costello or Green Gartside or Ari Up or Exene Cervenka in passing these are names which will stick in my mind even if I don't have a particular interest in them. David Byrne is, like, one step up from John Smith. There are CURRENT bands I love whose singers' names I forget because they're boring!