>Rick James & George Clinton didn't just
>come out as the characters we'd know them later as. Acts like
>that spent years working on and defining who they were
>musically and then dressed the product up image wise.

..UNTIL they created those characters.

And it's not as if today's artists don't also spend years toiling in the dark until they finally come into an image that clicks with the audience.

> Today
>the image is where the focus is right out of the box... that
>can't do anything but hurt them musically. It's like spending
>all your time planning your album cover and then finally
>getting around to recording the content.

This is a big assumption that is being offered as fact without much basis to support it.