Loser – David Bowie – As Bob Lefsetz noted recently, Justin Timberlake and David Bowie released surprised albums simultaneously just about two months ago. Timberlake is at # 3 in the charts. Bowie? # 98. Absolutely, Bowie’s album was not as listener friendly but that notwithstanding, he did no publicity for it at all. No concerts, no interviews, an occasional quote and that’s it. A couple of videos and the story was over. We don’t, we never have, lived in a world where you could success without self-promotion and audience manipulation. Has anybody ever made more money out of claiming to be bi-sexual? Apparently, Bowie doesn’t have to play the game any longer, he just has to play the price.
Loser – Rihanna – “An epic fail’ was my friend Doreen Murphy’s assessment of the Rihanna concert I passed on Tuesday. After trashing Barclay center as a fire hazard with too steep an incline from the cheap seats, she started in on the performance. “Rihanna was singing to backing tapes, she’d sing “shine” and “diamond” and miss the middle words. There might have been a backing band but the music was piped.” You cn include in that much of the singing from wht I’ve heard, she made Britney Spears look like a barrel of laughs. And I haven’t even mentioned keep the audience waiting for hours.