In Chicago in the 1990s on lowly public access TV there was a sketch comedy show starring Dale Chapman called "We're Geniuses in France," the joke being that they were nobodies at home.
Everybody knows that Jerry Lewis is more popular/respected in France than in America. Another example of this phenomenon is the popularity of Morrissey, formerly lead singer of the English 1980s art mope band The Smiths, among East L.A. Chicanos.
Morrissey is #3 on Stuff Chicanos Like, ahead of the Dodgers and Pretending to Hate Thanksgiving, and behind only the Virgin Mary and Art Laboe. Art is an octogenarian Armenian disk jockey who may have invented the phrase "oldies but goodies." Chicanos traditionally love pre-British Invasion r&b and rock 'n' roll, especially doo-wop.
They cannot, and I repeat, cannot, get enough of their “Oldies but Goodies”, or their “Memories of El Monte”. Art Laboe, a syndicated radio personality, gets to the core of Chicano culture with his dedication show where you can hear a plethora of Chicano callers from all over the United States call in and say things like “I’d like to dedicate ‘Angel Baby’ to my baby Angel who is locked up, baby, I love you” or “Yeah, I’d like to dedicate ‘These Arms of Mine’ to my hyna Rosie, hope you visit this weekend” or Art Laboe himself will send the dedications, “Little Puppet from Cypress sends his love to Babygirl, says he misses you and can’t wait to be home”.
I think the last time I listened to Art Laboe's dedication show was driving back from Mt. Whitney in 1977 when nothing else was coming in on the AM radio in my dad's Buick. "Angel Baby" was one of the songs dedicated (or maybe it was "Earth Angel," or, now that I think about it, probably both). So, some things never change.
Doo-wop started out as an African-American vocal harmonizing style, and then spread to Puerto Ricans and Italians in Eastern cities. There were black L.A. doo-wop groups like The Penguins. On the charts, it peaked around 1961, but Mexican-Americans in East L.A. kept the faith. So, loving doo-wop in the 1970s in East L.A. was kind of like loving Morrissey in the 2000s in East L.A.
Anyway, what are some other examples of this phenomenon of individuals being more popular in some other culture than in their own, like Jerry Lewis in France or Morrissey in East. L.A.? Which blacks are more popular with whites than with other blacks? Which whites are more popular with blacks than with whites?
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«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 218 of 218"Jesus is big among gentiles."
"We have a winner."
HIs Jewish mother, "Virgin Mary", may be even more popular. People have seen her everywhere.
shonen knife (Japanese indie band) had a following with 90s US hipsters.
add Bad Brains to list by nooffensebut
The love Mexican-Americans have for Morrissey is not only true, but awesome. If you ever find yourself at a karaoke bar in Catalina with an urge to drunkenly sing, and if you can belt out some Moz halfway decently, you might end up trading beers for sexual favors and making new friends.
Well, here is Austin, there are HUNDREDS of rock groups that play in fron of tiny, indifferent crowds, but who'll smugly tell reporters, "We're HUGE in Norway," or "In Belgium where they really APPRECIATE good music, we're gods."
I'm never sure if they're telling the truth!
Could be true; you never know.
One of my law school roommates was adrummer, and his band's manager sent them on a tour of Europe before I had a chance to see them at Liberty Lunch and Deep Ellum Live on their first US tour.
Also, I don't know if Steve has noticed the number of young Mexican-American teens and early 20s people in LA with shirts that celebrate white heavy metal/punk pands from 20 years ago-- Pantera, Metallica, and Danzig, mainly. Does anyone know what that's about?
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This is also true regarding Saudi Arabians (and people in Gulf States in general, like Bahrain). I don't know why though.
Male blacks in their 20s have a grudging respect and admiration for Justin Bieber, almost as if he's "one of them", and swagged out...
He's one of only three honorary white males who is allowed to perform/show up at the BET awards (along with Justin Timberlake and Eminem)
whereas any white male of similar
age has an almost pathological hatred of the kid
If this thread isn't dead yet, this is too rich to pass up:
Art Laboe's ID on the 60's era lps was "A disc jockey from Los Angeles who digs Oldies But Goodies".
His ID on this century's cds is "A disc jockey who shares your memories".
As a Brit Ive got a suspicion that singer/actor Meatloaf has higher recognition factor over here these days than in the US, he regularly pops up on TV here. Can anyone throw any light on that?
Meatloaf performed during the halftime show of one of the biggest sporting events in Australia this year.
The reaction was mostly 'WTF? Meatloaf?' though.
Silver
"Male blacks in their 20s have a grudging respect and admiration for Justin Bieber, almost as if he's "one of them", and swagged out..."
I wouldn't call it respect. More like freakshow appeal and the satisfaction that white males have been reduced to this pathetic creature: the pussyboy. Justin Bieber should be called Bustin Beaver.
"The love Mexican-Americans have for Morrissey is not only true, but awesome."
But the question... how and why did Mexican-Americans come to like Morrisey?
I've heard Mexican soap operas are/were enormously popular in Russia.
Dean Reed, an American folk singer unknown at home, but popular in the USSR;
Freddie Frinton, a comedian unknown to this day in Britain, was (is?) apparently popular in (West) Germany.
Moz, at least early after he went solo, was a bit rockabilly. So maybe that explains it. Maybe Mexican-Americans relate to something like this.
Here's Hope Sandoval. Good song, and :40 looks really good.
P.S. I used to be linked from vdare's blogroll, but not anymore. What sin did I commit?
Black women love George Michael.
@Cult!Cause:
Justin Bieber is a catamite. There's no polite way to say it.
astorian said...
Well, here is Austin, there are HUNDREDS of rock groups that play in fron of tiny, indifferent crowds, but who'll smugly tell reporters, "We're HUGE in Norway," or "In Belgium where they really APPRECIATE good music, we're gods."
I'm never sure if they're telling the truth! Regardless, this kind of boast is common enough to have become a cliche.
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There are a lot of metal bands in Sweden who claim to be "great in Japan".
I wonder if the quality of the French translations might have something to do with both cases. Some writers seem to translate naturally and well into other languages. There are those who claim that the English translations of Borges read better than the original Spanish.
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The Swedish translation of Lord of the Rings is at least as good as the original, and in places - among them the poetry - decidedly better.
Someone wrote that Ingmar Bergman is not big in Sweden.
Utter hogwash. I just googled, and got 6.4 million googlehits in the .se domain. #1 is a museum dedicated to the man, partly funded by taxes.
There are a lot of good track&field athletes from USA that are nonentities back home during non-olympic years, but are big names around Europe. OTOH, *real* football players that are not in the top-1000 get more press than any player of american football - local or from the NFL - get over here. Strictly a curiosity thing in our media.
Over here, many people have never met a person who is christian and open about it. Yes, we are one of the most irreligious countries in the world. Over here, politicians can make brutal fun of christians, and expect to gain votes for it. 20 years ago, the new leader of the liberal party stated in his first TV interview that he was an atheist. This caused a quick flow of votes from the moderate party (the former conservative party had renamed itself so, so as to better get votes), and its party leader had to get on air fast and state his nonreligiousness, in order to stanch the voter hemorrage.
Against this backdrop, local papers have reported on Fred Phelps and his gang. Given that most people over have no point of comparison, they generally concluded that american christians were like that in general.
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