Dupek:
You might be interested in a recent slate.com piece on Timberlake and the idea of music cred in pop music. Here's a sample:
"Few critics complain about the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back," but for every Motown encomium, there are a hundred complaints about the virus of "synthetic teen pop" and "bubblegum." Pop critics call it "rockism," and the (very) short version of the attack goes like this: Pop music isn't made by people, but by bands of hired guns on assembly lines, working to rationalized standards established by technocratic committees maximizing shareholder investment. The emphasis of pop songs is on transitory physical pleasures, instead of the eternal truths that rock protects. Pop is also consumed by lots of women and kids, and what do they know?
[...]
There's a real argument to be had about whether or not it matters who made a song, but let's accept for now that the number of people involved in making a pop record matters because this idea about the Individual Artist won't go away. Fine. Thing is, if you read the credits on records, the number of people involved in making big, shiny pop records is about the same as the number of people involved in making the records of high-cred bands like Radiohead or Wilco. The much-maligned Matrix, producers of Liz Phair and Avril Lavigne, are a three-person team. Add the artist and a stray lyricist or keyboard player, and that makes five credits. That's as many people as you've got on an Oasis or Radiohead album, not counting the producer.
Do we know exactly what Thom Yorke contributes to Radiohead songs, other than singing? Do we know what Jeff Tweedy does, exactly, in Wilco? When Pink Floyd takes a year to make a record, is that "spontaneous"? Wasn't Bob Fosse hyperchoreographed? It feels a bit tortured to avoid the most obvious explanation for Madonna and Justin's records: that Madonna's and Justin have a lot to do with their music, and how they make it up and get it done is no more important than it is for any other artists with their names on the marquee. (Quickâ??think of a single solo disc by a famous producer â?¦ that's any good. We'll wait.) Why punish Madonna for not being Pete Townshend? Why punish Justin Timberlake for not being Scriabin?"
And stop being a bully to Paige. I'm sure you're a lovely guy, but it sure makes you seem like a big dick.
