>>just appeal to a narrow demographic. The songs don't have
>the
>>"sophistication" to "spread out" to a more broad audience.
>
>i think this is a pretty romantic view. the two songs in
>question get played whether we want to hear them or not. they
>are played at the grocery store and on tv commercials. the
>demographic spreads because enough people genuinely think they
>are good pieces of music/catchy songs and keep playing them
>and to more and more people.


As a black person, I don't think "alabama" and "old time R&R" reach far beyond the "white" demographic. Yeah, those songs get played a lot in public because lot's of public places are geared towards white people.

I'm not saying appealing to white people is bad, but it seems narrow to me in many cases. There's enough white music that can and does appeal to various races that makes those widely appealing classics "stronger" to me than "alabama" and "old time R&R".




>
>>ex: the song "A hard day's night" is a "weak" Beatles
>classic
>>to me because that song just seems to me to be able to just
>>reach die hard Beatles fans.
>>
>>
>>"Strawberry Fields forever" is a "strong" Beatles classic to
>>me because it has the ability to reach a broader audience
>due
>>to the "more sophisticated" artistic qualities of that song.
>
>i would counter that by saying i disagree with your assessment
>that it reaches only a smaller faction of fans of the beatles
>specifically and that "hard day's night" does more in some
>ways than "strawberry fields forever" because it actually is
>more accessible and conventional and attached to the still
>very popular, beloved movie.


I knew this would be murkier because there is the argument that "simple" is "accessible" but to me there is stages where simplicity seems limited then more sophistication seems "impressive" then there seems to be a stage where the sophistication "blands out" and "works against" the artist.

I know the Beatles early hits have something (some definitely more than others) but by "Strawberry Fields" the sophistication was at a point of strength (far from "blanding out").

To me, I'll always give an artist the "edge" when the sophistication is strong (that seemingly usual middle stage). It's a fascinating topic but I'm sure it is recognizable in a lot of artists.