bpollock1

As far as the factual errors alluded to above; further research has indicated that co-writer Myers may not have been the music supervisor on Blackboard Jungle. He may not have had anything to do with the writing of the song either–although he retains a credit. The fact that “Rock Around the Clock” exploded into public consciousness after its use in the movie remains unassailable.

Thanks for the comment. I’m presently working on a year by year account of the history of rock ‘n’ roll.

The only problem I have with Kanye is his persona. As far as his lyrics and songs go, the man is a genius.

I’ve noticed a few factual errors here. I wonder if anyone else will.

Although Destiny’s Child did some creditable work, I was never a follower of Beyonce’s solo career–seeing her as merely an update of Diana Ross (which is nothing to be sneezed at). Recently one of my students included “I Was Here” on a mixed CD and I was blown away. Much like the case of Angelina Jolie, it may take a while for people to accept Beyonce’s depth beyond her public persona and good looks. I also have trouble accepting the music video as a stand alone art form subject to critical appraisal apart from the vagaries of marketing. I’m not sure who represents the gate keeper as far as pre-release scrutiny. Songs often have multiple authors–how many cooks throw their ingredients into a high budget music video? Madonna mastered the art of controversy as a key to multi-platinum success. I don’t see Beyonce having that kind of clout at the moment.

I’ve only seen part of one of these films, but I suppose anyone reading this article could come up with their own just as viable and deserving list. Books, movies, songs–the advent of the internet has had the side effect of providing a glut of artistic endeavors all vying for the attention of the masses, only to wind up gaining tiny niche audiences, if that. As someone who has published 14 books, one of my pet phrases has been “all publishing is self publishing.” Meaning, even if your handsome book is put out by a nationally known publisher, it can just as easily get buried under the avalanche of product released at any given moment. By my informal tally, 1% of all artistic endeavors get 99% of the attention. For the rest of us there’s no mid-list, it’s either the jackpot or oblivion…or the presence in an article like this, and the tantalizing notion of a second chance.

Great last line. It really comes down to execution. There are some movies in which very stylized dialogue is used to great effect. I’m thinking of Little Murders, written by the cartoonist Jules Feiffer. It was entirely composed of insane soliloquies nobody in real life could ever be expected to say. And it was hilarious. On the other hand, I’d hate to think that just because our national discourse has descended to the level of Twitter (I remember when MTV was the definition of our short attention span; 30 years later our attention spans have dwindled to 36 characters of less) our movies have to follow suit.