Regular readers must be pretty sick and tired of the constant arguing between the writers at Rock NYC as to the importance of sales in forms of popular music The lines are drawn thus:
Me: Important
Everyone Else: Unimportant
I am not saying it is the only criteria but I am saying it is an important criteria.
Nessing’s example of Judee Sill is a case in point. Popularity, sales, would insure Sill not merely with a comfortable life when she was alive, but a continue and growing audience after her death. Now, sure I would never argue that the latter matters to Judee NOW but it sure woulda THEN for a woman so obsessed with concepts of immortaility.
A better example is the Beatles. The Beatles music CHANGED because of a wide audience. “She Loves You” did not become “She Loves You” till millions of teenagers sang “yeah, yeah, yeah”. Through massive participation the Beatles earliest songs took on a life completely outside the realm of what was written. And though it may well be, indeed self-evidently was, written to be popular. The Beatles had the first five positions on the US Hot 100. An unprecedented and an important achievement that changed the face of modern popular (that is always the word) music.
I read a think piece about Sgt. Pepper once about this guy walking in the village when it was first released and hearing the album wafting out of every window. The audience changed how even an artistic statement is heard. It forced us to hear it as a POPULAR MUSIC STATEMENT.
I am not saying this is good or this is bad. I am saying THIS IS. I am saying an audience improves the music you hear. I am certainly saying I will like Ke$ha LESS if she fails to sell a million or so copies. I am saying I like Black Eyed Peas MORE because it is popular and hearing it in so many different settings and in so many different ways (they didn’t even play Jingle Ball 2009 and I heard em more than any other act) added to my pleasure of the music.
Ask Love Va, ask Dear Submarines, ask Four Years Strong, how important the charts are. I might respect both Nessing and Bach’s passion, but to not grasp that the whole purpose of even the purest of pop bands, even the Clash, is to connect to a large audience.