If Wikipedia serves me right, election 2004 saw the birth of the ‘two Americas’ meme – blue state/red state, Democrat/Republican, Target/Walmart, patriot/commie, etc. It seems like so long ago… Joe Lieberman was a Democrat, Usher and Now! 16 (where are we today – Now! 42?) were topping the charts, and your house was worth more than it is now. In the past decade the two Americas have multiplied like Jon and Kate into multitudes of Americas. How do I know this? Witness the schizophrenia that is the Billboard 200 chart.
This week the top 10 albums in this great land of ours are from artists such as Kenny Chesney, Busta Rhymes, Lady GaGa and Hannah Montana. That’s at least four Americas right there (none of which I really care to live in). There’s another America that includes Kate Voegele who is apparently a fictional character on television and Myspace.
Is this really the schizo musically retarded demographic into which we’ve disintegrated? Or does this melting pot simply represent the 12 year old girls and knuckle-draggers who still purchase music in mall record stores? Let’s cross-reference the iTunes charts.
Lady GaGa. Check. Kenny Chesney. Check. Hannah Montana. Check.
Damn.
Digital music was supposed to herald the democratization of music. No more hegemony from the likes of major labels since even the most fringe artists can easily access the market. Maybe I should be encouraged by the fact that Grizzly Bear has debuted at #8 in the most recent Billboard chart. But then again, the #11 artist made it by selling CDs exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Perhaps we weren’t really oppressed by the evil major labels and controlled distribution. Perhaps many of us just have exceptionally poor taste in music. Or perhaps those of us with good taste in music tend to steal tunes rather than pony up at Sam Goody.
On second thought maybe not. Check out Pollstar which tracks concert ticket sales. Acts with average ticket prices over $100? Bette Midler ($142.48), Cher (148.72), Celine Dion ($114.30), The Eagles ($129.01), and Madonna ($153.88). Some people apparently haven’t been slapped hard enough by recession. And considering you can’t illegally download a concert for free, it’s not likely that the numbers are skewed by freeloading cool kids.
With all that said, I will say it’s refreshing to finally have a President who appears to appreciate music. Bush’s inauguration featured Wayne Newton, Brooks and Dunn, and Ricky Martin. Meanwhile, Obama gave us Kanye West, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and… Hannah Montana. Gotta throw a bone now and then to that other America.
MP3 :::
The Books – That Right Ain’t Shit
