Here’s another I hesitated to share in the early period of this thing, even though I love it. Again, I have no particular interest in Joplin, and I was genuinely confused that Etheridge didn’t emerge from her version a bigger star. In fact the opposite seemed to happen. But by that point a lot of cultural observers seemed intent to downplay anything that could compete, at the very least, with earlier memories. Which I don’t get. In the longterm you hurt all of it. Later generations (now) are robbed of the lineage. It’s kind of why we currently have a much less rich and celebrated music scene now. You can’t stand out if your predecessors were downplayed. You can’t build on a foundation somebody removed. I get that some of this is jealousy, that so many of the icons of yesteryear died young, that they never had a chance to take victory laps. And maybe in a lot of minds that actually somehow became preferable, since we now have the tendency to punish longevity. Doesn’t make it any less screwed up.
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