MARTYRS OF ELITISM
Rock's quarter-century is littered with the glittering martyrs of elitism. Onetime shooting stars of individual sound, thought, or attitude, each served as pilot on some trajectory which aborted, mutated or just plain petered out. Yet the martyr of elitism is not an unsung hero of rock 'n' roll. No, he has his hearing; it's just that, willfully or unwittingly on his part, stardom toys with him and then passes by. And the problem isn't sex, race or charisma.
Elitism. Dictionaries call it �the sense of being part of a superior or privileged group.� On the street, it�s more familiar as hipnitude, or novelty. But the fact of it—cult status—is a definite form of past tense.
Rock's quarter-century is littered with the glittering martyrs of elitism. Onetime shooting stars of individual sound, thought, or attitude, each served as pilot on some trajectory which aborted, mutated or just plain petered out. Yet the martyr of elitism is not an unsung hero of rock 'n' roll. No, he has his hearing; it�s just that, willfully or unwittingly on his part, stardom toys with him and then passes by. And the problem isn�t sex, race or �charisma.� Usually, it�s just that the performer�s conviction—or pretense—of artistic individuality happens to founder on a particular moment in time.
And those are the moments when rock�s "history� begins to be rewritten, which is the truly fascinating side to such Martyrs Of Elitism (or MOEs). Any flutter through pop�s
Rolodex of MOEs uncovers a glut of lost facts, obscured origins, misapprehensions and missed boats,