In the 1980’s Irish folk singer Kieran Goss had a line of stage patter about his ostensible popularity abroad. “Have you ever noticed that lots of singers claim to be popular in places that hardly anyone here has visited? So you seem exotic and no-one can tell if it is true”.Â
I was reminded of this by an NPR piece about a Mexican-American singer from Detroit last week. Rodriguez made an album in 1969 called Cold Fact that was expected to be a huge hit in the US but instead fizzled out. So for the next 25 odd years he worked construction in Detroit, oblivious to the album achieving meteoric success in South Africa and Australia. After being unearthed by a journalist in 1996, he spent several years alternating short tours abroad as a superstar with hammering nails in Michigan.
It’s just another reminder that commercial success can be virtually independent of talent, that the person next door may be miles above the constant stream of overexposed Disney brats, or most of the petulant narcissists you see on TV. The Wisdom Of Crowds may be real but it is easily manipulated by the hurricane of spin doctors we live among. Think for yourself…. and tell everyone you’re an icon in Gabon!