Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Sometimes I Wonder

This week is the Paul McCartney show at the opening of the new arena in Pittsburgh. Some people are getting their panties in a twist because Paul made some comments about a former republican who happened to be president for 8 years. He happened to say that it was nice that there was a president that knew what a library was.

Not exactly the smart thing to say, Sir Paulie especially as this man's wife was a librarian. So yeah, Paulie, he knows what a library is, he just doesn't know how to us it!!

~cough cough~

But that isn't what I was wondering about.

I got to thinking, how has Paul stayed on top of his game, when a good deal of the artists that were hitmakers at the same time, struggle with their careers.

Let's take Davy Jones as an example. For several years in the 60s, he was the heartthrob to end all heartthrobs. Now? He's playing tiny little venues and releasing music independently and marrying women half his age..Oh wait, that last part, Paul did that too.

But the thing is...when Paul comes through any area, it is news. When Davy makes a showing, no one cares.

What makes the public stop caring about some artists while they forever love another?

5 comments:

Janelle said...

Maybe because Paul's a Beatle? Not that Davy Jones wasn't huge, but The Beatles are still everywhere. Maybe it's because of the nature of The Beatles & how huge they got, but the public has still latched on to them, & it's all ages. You'd have a hard time finding someone my age who knows a lot about Davy Jones, & yet my peers all know about The Beatles - partly because we're still surrounded by them.

The Mistress of the Dark said...

I was using Paul as an example..mind you there were loads of other artists that were huge in the 60s..and now you won't find anyone jumping up to see them

But if we move to the 80s more people are going to know Bono then Simon LeBon...and yet Duran Duran was huge in the 80s...and both groups have put out equal amounts of crap...so has Paulie...for that matter, but why do people latch on to one artist but dismiss another after a certain amount of time?

Janelle said...

It's a weird thing, with clearly no easy answer. U2's semi-recent releases get more attention than Duran Duran's, possibly because they're better. Or it's a genre thing - maybe Duran Duran's looked at as more of a passing 80s thing, where U2 has more of a timeless sound? I'm just throwing ideas out there. Maybe it's the artists' luck.

The Mistress of the Dark said...

I think I'm apt to go with luck and the fact that Bono keeps himself in the news, because U2s recent albums have been pretty hard on the ears. Not that Duran Duran's have been much better.

Or we could blame record companies that refuse to promote you unless you are twentysomething.

Janelle said...

Actually, blaming labels is probably pretty valid.