Watched the MTV awards that night

You don't hear much about Al Jolson anymore these days, but yes, he was the biggest star of his time as I recall.

Says a lot.

Pop music from 20s-50's had some very high level artists and music .
For a starter listen to Johnny Mercer, the greatest singer-song writer the USA has ever produced .

The thing is with modern technology/production, there is so much done to beef up a production technically, often with a single sound/style in mind that will appeal to the masses, that the individual talent of the actual performer matters less than ever. Its kinda like fast food, crank it out for the masses. All driven by marketing and metrics across an increasingly diverse demographic of consumers. The results are very lowest common denominator. Real individual unique talents will appeal to just a subset of the target audience.

So it is what it is. The smart thing to do is to maybe just accept pop culture for what it is and enjoy it or not, but seek your individual musical pleasures elsewhere. There is more of that out there to find and enjoy than ever. Some of it dating back to the earliest recordings made almost a century ago.

Mapman, you make an excellent comment that I had not thought of before. You said they gear towards having one sound so they can appeal to the masses. That is great insight on your part.

Mapman wrote:

> You don't hear much about Al Jolson anymore these days...

Jolson isn't considered "PC" because he often performed in BlackFace. This is a shame, as his contemporaries contended that Jolson, who was a Cantor's son, was not a racist but simply prone to the over dramatic.

I always thought that Jim Nabors was channeling Jolson's ghost, especially when Nabors performed "Back Home Again in Indiana."

But, times change... You never hear about Allan Sherman much either and he had 3 Number One Albums and a hit single that went to #2.

That, and fame is fleeting... I was in the electronic section at either KMart, Target, or Best Buy in Seattle, and had a conversation with a sales-drone that went something like the following:

Me: "Do you have the 'With the Lights Out' Box set?"
Drone (elderly female): "I can check. Who's that by?"
Me: "Nirvana"
Drone: "Who?"
Me: "NIRVANA... You're kidding, right?"
Drone: No; never heard of them... Pete (another drone) have you heard of 'Nirvana' ?"
Pete (Gen-Y male): "Yeah... you're kidding, right?"
Drone: "No; never hear of them..."
Me: "You live in Seattle and you've never heard of Nirvana?"
Drone: "Don't know them... Oh, and we do have the box set. You want it?"
Me: "Yes, please..."