But comparing these girls to the women who were in the charts even 12 years ago - PJ Harvey, Courtney Love, Tori Amos, Björk, Beth Gibbons - they don't even begin to compare
Talk about romanticising an era! 1996 was the year Spice Girls launched, an act a billion times more over-intellectualised and derided than the ones you write about but whom it suddenly became okay to like (then not okay again, but whatever). The biggest selling single was The Fugees' cover of Roberta Flack. You can bet that if any of these post-Amy women released a cover akin to that they'd be crucified for it (It REALLY irks me how smug journalists keep making casual references to the race of these singers and compare them to people like Estelle. It's a very serious point and doesn't deserve a trite, idiotic finger wagging in one sentence of an article).
There is so much I could write about this. It's irritating when journos pick up on the latest record company trend and attack it as if it's never happened before, when it is exactly what happens. ALL THE TIME. It's how it works. It is also bizarre but fascinating how it's only the women who seem to come in for stick regarding their 'authenticity' or whatever (perhaps to do with Amy's status as big tabloid fodder now). And any 'this wave is a triumph for feminism' shtick, which I have not seen myself, would clearly be something foisted upon them by journos looking for an angle and nothing they have claimed for themselves. I find the debate boring, to be honest. I don't care how 'authentic' they are. It should be utterly irrelevant. If you're bothered by such things then a hefty % of Poptimist acts would be out the door.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-02-18 03:53 pm (UTC)Talk about romanticising an era! 1996 was the year Spice Girls launched, an act a billion times more over-intellectualised and derided than the ones you write about but whom it suddenly became okay to like (then not okay again, but whatever). The biggest selling single was The Fugees' cover of Roberta Flack. You can bet that if any of these post-Amy women released a cover akin to that they'd be crucified for it (It REALLY irks me how smug journalists keep making casual references to the race of these singers and compare them to people like Estelle. It's a very serious point and doesn't deserve a trite, idiotic finger wagging in one sentence of an article).
There is so much I could write about this. It's irritating when journos pick up on the latest record company trend and attack it as if it's never happened before, when it is exactly what happens. ALL THE TIME. It's how it works. It is also bizarre but fascinating how it's only the women who seem to come in for stick regarding their 'authenticity' or whatever (perhaps to do with Amy's status as big tabloid fodder now). And any 'this wave is a triumph for feminism' shtick, which I have not seen myself, would clearly be something foisted upon them by journos looking for an angle and nothing they have claimed for themselves. I find the debate boring, to be honest. I don't care how 'authentic' they are. It should be utterly irrelevant. If you're bothered by such things then a hefty % of Poptimist acts would be out the door.