Curiouser and Curiouser

Just below, Mike2.0 has posted about that lovely Staygold awards show video that's been circling around net lately. As much as I like the song, the thing that's been bothering me for the last few days is the idea that that falsetto-voiced lead singer with the moustache is none other than this puffy haired Scandinavian:



a mental leap that is confusing to say the least. Of course, this puffy haired Norwegian seems to shift, oh so quickly, into this well groomed young man roaming amongst the body builders of Venice Beach, California



One of the best things about foreign pop music is how foreign it seems; how it allows us to jump into the middle of a long running cultural conversation without knowing any of the context whatsoever. A thought experiment, just imagine being able to watch some random piece of pop culture without any explanation or assumptions; everything would be so much more exciting, with so little effort expended on the shift.

Sure, there would be troubling implications, wouldn't there; I think we can all follow them well enough, or at least imagine our own. But still, one can dream, a little bit, about a world where the only thing authentic in pop culture is the reaction of surprise upon a new encounter.



If our preferences towards pop culture (and music in general) shift, then that may be so much for the better. Right?