>
>The problem for ME, BTW, is when pop/soul/rock/Hip-Hop artists
>who started out more-or-less unpretentious want to mature and
>prove themselves as intelligent, eclectic, mature and "arty",
>they often buy into a very stereotyped idea of "art" as this
>self-concious, difficult thing and the music often end up
>being far worse than their original, unpretentious sound and
>the thing about their music that was appealing in the first
>place.

i know some people who feel this way about the beatles so that is kind of subjective, but you can't expect an artist to stay in the same place forever, they may fail in their attempt but if they just stayed with the same formula people would criticize them for that also.