I am giggling with delight over all these charts and findings! Thank you for taking on my question FULL TILT, Chris. Of course, this leads me to many more questions: like how many artists get their first major record deal *after* age 30, and many more. But I won't ask you to go down more rabbit holes. And thanks for the Jane Remover recommendation. Digging her sound and now following :)
You (and Thea) might be interested in the work of David Galenson, an economist who looks at the question of human creativity. He divided artists into two groups: conceptualists, who make radical innovations in their field at a very early age; and experimentalists, whose innovations develop slowly over a long period of experimentation and refinement. Picasso's greatest work, for example, comes early in his life while Cezanne's most prized paintings are from his last decade. It's really fascinating stuff.
Galenson used two metrics to track when artists did their "best" work: he looked at auction prices and at scholarly discussion, and found a pretty high correlation between the works that scholars are most interested in and the ones that the market values the highest.
I wonder if it would be possible to similarly correlate critical assessment with charts and album sales, perhaps using Metacritic and Allmusic?
Nov 10, 2023·edited Nov 10, 2023Liked by Chris Dalla Riva
I am 69 and I Iisten to every genre and age of albums. I am definitely an album spinner, have always been, my first LP was Best of The Bee Gees. A full length collection of singles that I heard as an album. This morning I am listening to Give Em Enough Rope, and then sampling some new releases . Next up in the queue is Rick Ross and Meek Mill on their album Too Good To Be True. All of that rambling leads us to the conclusion that this old man listens to everything from top 100 to obscure, classical to rap, new music to old music to reissued music. I love it all.
‘Hackney Diamonds’ is the latest example of an album which proves your point that late efflorescence is more than possible after a youthful peak, Chris
I am giggling with delight over all these charts and findings! Thank you for taking on my question FULL TILT, Chris. Of course, this leads me to many more questions: like how many artists get their first major record deal *after* age 30, and many more. But I won't ask you to go down more rabbit holes. And thanks for the Jane Remover recommendation. Digging her sound and now following :)
You (and Thea) might be interested in the work of David Galenson, an economist who looks at the question of human creativity. He divided artists into two groups: conceptualists, who make radical innovations in their field at a very early age; and experimentalists, whose innovations develop slowly over a long period of experimentation and refinement. Picasso's greatest work, for example, comes early in his life while Cezanne's most prized paintings are from his last decade. It's really fascinating stuff.
Galenson used two metrics to track when artists did their "best" work: he looked at auction prices and at scholarly discussion, and found a pretty high correlation between the works that scholars are most interested in and the ones that the market values the highest.
I wonder if it would be possible to similarly correlate critical assessment with charts and album sales, perhaps using Metacritic and Allmusic?
I am 69 and I Iisten to every genre and age of albums. I am definitely an album spinner, have always been, my first LP was Best of The Bee Gees. A full length collection of singles that I heard as an album. This morning I am listening to Give Em Enough Rope, and then sampling some new releases . Next up in the queue is Rick Ross and Meek Mill on their album Too Good To Be True. All of that rambling leads us to the conclusion that this old man listens to everything from top 100 to obscure, classical to rap, new music to old music to reissued music. I love it all.
‘Hackney Diamonds’ is the latest example of an album which proves your point that late efflorescence is more than possible after a youthful peak, Chris
Talk to Paul McCartney about ageism and Pop music.