The Illiterate

Since I’m a great believer in cultural cycles, I often find myself looking for the historical parallels in current pop music, but this one came upon me unbidden, while I was listening to last week’s Hot 100: DJ/Producers like David Guetta or Calvin Harris or RedOne or any number of others, are the big band leaders of our time, putting out dance records with featured vocalists, just like Paul Whiteman or Harry James or Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey in the 30s. Sometimes the vocalists are already established, sometimes they’re unknowns (and sometimes, these days, they’re samples). The same worries re cultural imperialism apply, as well. Maybe not that important a point, but interesting all the same.