tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5911464913331967955.post6176935171518365140..comments2023-11-08T00:34:04.692-08:00Comments on Tropics of Meta: Rethinking the Replacements: The Production of Cultural Memory in the Aughtsblackpepperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16889926595548195987noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5911464913331967955.post-63628046243513508542010-02-19T19:33:14.184-08:002010-02-19T19:33:14.184-08:00I was asked to reprint this here from an email I s...I was asked to reprint this here from an email I sent on Wednesday night: <br /><br />"I mean Peter Frampton and Frampton Comes Alive sold millions and enjoyed a brief revival when VH1 featured Frampton in an episode of Behind the Music followed by an appearance on the Simpsons but NOBODY remembers the album today, even as a punchline."<br /><br />This is blatantly false, right? I heard "Baby I Love Your Way" in the grocery store just this week. The classic rock stations in Ottawa (http://www.chez106.com/onair/playlist.jsp) and Toronto (http://www.q107.com/BroadcastHistory.aspx) both played hits off the album today [Wednesday, though it's likely they've played them again since], going by a quick scan of their online playlists. (And I'm assuming outlets of this nature reach a wider audience in North America than either _Control_ or _24 Hour Party People_ do.) What interests me is how someone (who seems to be a fan of rock music, no less) could come to think of Peter Frampton as forgotten when I've been hearing his biggest hits on the radio for my entire life (and have heard the Replacements on maybe two occasions in my life): The answer to this question might shed some light on the questions of the production of cultural memory in the aughts. (Or maybe it would just yield predictable answers about fragmentation and the death of monoculture.)<br /><br />Re Ratt, the first question I have to ask is what you think would happen it had been Axl Rose or Eddie Van Halen or Jon Bon Jovi (Richie Sambora, even) who'd died instead of Robin Crosby. It seems evident to me that there would have been a great deal of press attention. So perhaps the issue is less "who likes what you do artistically and what liking that art is supposed to say about who you are" (assuming that these artists targeted a similar demographic as Ratt). Maybe the level of coverage given to these artists does in fact have something to do with "what you do artistically and how many people like what you create"? Who can name a Ratt song other than "Round and Round"? (The one named in the Klosterman quote doesn't count.) I'm not even that much of a fan but it is clear to me that there is something more distinctive musically about the Ramones' work than Ratt's. (I'm willing to argue this on technical musical grounds.) <br /><br /><br />(Obviously, also, Klosterman's New York Times article itself constitutes some major press coverage for Crosby's death.) <br /><br />SundarUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17354471593928117210noreply@blogger.com