Stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap:

January 21st –The Kingston Trio’s version of ‘Tom Dooley’ was certified as a U.S.A. ‘gold record’ this day in 1959 and, back then, that really counted as summat. Gold record status was only doled out in the U.S. to those recording stars that shifted 1,000,000 units. Much like the stars of Hollywood circa 1930/40/50’s who really knew how to be a diva and how a diva should act whilst the modern-day diva is just an unpleasant little shit, the bands and solo artists of the 50/60’s knew they had to shift the million units, pull in the money to get their oftentimes fleeting reward of fame, stardom and future; and it was no good throwing a tantrum if you just fell short; 9,999 discs just wouldn't cut it; get over it and do better next time!

As an aside (here he goes again) in modern culture, pop star behaviour is, in the main, so bloody trite. TV’s out the windows, hotel rooms trashed, Rolls-Royce's in swimming pools...oh, OK, I'll give you that one, but the rest...?…all very violent stuff and so lacking in charisma. Those film divas mentioned above? However bad their behaviour they could only expect to get away with it if they did it with style…

Back then they had to manage and sustain a level of wit if they wanted to throw their toys out the pram but continue to get work. What they had to do in the first place was prove they were of value, so they worked like dogs and learnt the trade, much like the bands of the 40’s thro’ 70’s had to do; flog the circuit (for years) learn your chops, become a tight unit then, and only then, when those who could make you had an idea of your commitment, only then would someone take notice and offer you the possible, faint, distant chance of cutting a demo-disc. Like these bands, the film stars of the same era and before did the walk-ons, the studio-contract stiffs and the unsuitable roles until, eventually, they became a half-way bankable commodity; then and only then were they tolerated when they flexed their hissy-fit muscles. But these things weren't done in isolation or just because you felt out of sorts, anything you did that was this career threatening had to have greater purpose, had to serve the dual-purpose of gaining the pancake-ripper a reputation as a working actor not to be trifled with whilst, at the same time, endearing themselves to their fans and fellow workers as someone prepared to stand up to the financial/misogynistic antics of the big studios; in short, become a role model with chutzpah. When Tallulah Bankhead stormed onto the film set and shouted out, 

“Who do I have to sleep with to get off this picture?”

my guess is she elicited a good number of smiles on set from both techs and co-actors alike.

When Bette Davies gained her reputation as ‘an actress who walks’ it was tempered by the fact that she only got that epithet after she’d proved her worth by giving a performance like the one she gave in ‘All About Eve’ going on to cement her reputation by securing 10 Academy Award nominations for acting. In other words Davies, Bankhead, Crawford…? They really could hack it.

Today’s entertainment divas pale into insignificance against such giants. Nowadays they gain their notoriety of being a diva just by chucking a ’phone at a helper (wow, there’s original) or by getting pissed and calling the Jews out for a fight on just about everything that’s happened in the world since AD 01; childish, spoilt behaviour that is sorely lacking in originality and has a quotability factor of sub-zero (that was some ‘aside’, Peter).

Yeah, yeah, OK, but, you see, what comes out of all that for me is the ease with which reputation and ability is built in the entertainment industry today. ‘Stars’ are deemed ‘stars’ even before they've done anything. The build-up, tour and worldwide reputation is in place before the disc is cut (thanks Cowell, owe you so much) – oh, how petty was that? After I’d typed in ‘Cowell’ the spell-checker underlined it in red as an unrecognised word, gave me a list of word options followed by a list of operation options two of which were ‘Add to Dictionary’ and ‘Ignore’…guess which one I selected?) 

It’s like authors you've never heard of producing their first book and strapping the top of the front cover with the banner, “His/Her New Best Seller”. Superlatives are oft repeated and come cheap these days, so-much-so we've forgotten what truly is amazing…and another thing; why does everyone have to be the ‘new’ somebody or other? Why is it they can’t be recognised for being original? (Jeeeze, I could write a whole thesis on that…) Much the same can be said when comparing the pop industries ‘million sellers’ of yesteryear and today…see, back on topic again.

Up until the 70’s you had to sell 1000,000 copies to qualify for gold disc status, then it became 500,000 and then someone said, "but what about downloads, and advert plays, and film hire...?" My guess is the qualities required to achieve a level of artistic greatness will continue to shrink, become more and more a thing of distant memory, more and more everyday and the performer become less and less ‘amazing’ until we get to the point where, providing you have the right backing, if your gran buys a copy of your bedroom-produced caterwaul or goes to see your latest flick where you give a third-rate performance but have a look and cat similar to George Clooney, then you've got yourself a star on the Walk of Fame.

Certainly, as far as selling records goes, the advent of the CD (digital recording) has turned the industry on its head, and the elongation and inclusion into ‘sales’ of MP3 and iTunes downloads looks set to continue the trend…I mean, they even count the number of ring tones in the sales figures now..