Sleep would have been smarter
I can’t believe I stayed up late to watch Britney Spears perform at the VMAs. I forgot to turn it on when it aired the first time, so I stayed up because it reran afterwards.
What a total waste of time. Although I have to give her props for looking as good as she does after having two kids (blogs I’ve been reading criticizing her body can shut up—we should all be so flabby), her performance was complete crap. She was obviously lip-synching (poorly), and her usual strengths (dancing and facial expressions) were half-assed. I think the production staff must have digitally added clapping and cheering after she finished, because audience shots showed people either not clapping at all or just doing it in a small, polite way.
A bit after she finished, the shot changed to a guy doing Michael Jackson-esque moves to “Billie Jean.” That got me to wondering why Michael Jackson (the performer, not the Beer Hunter, que en paz descanse) is still influential even though nobody wants to get anywhere near him. Denny decided that it’s because Michael Jackson is recognized as being legitimately talented, even though he was ruined by fame. Britney just got ruined by fame without developing any kind of legacy to redeem her historically.
Then that got me wondering why the surviving Beatles seem basically okay. Denny replied that it’s because they weren’t child stars like MJ and Britney. But really, they were, in a way—they were very young when they got as wildly rich and famous as they did. Maybe the difference lies in the fact that they were self-motivated. There’s something about Michael Jackson and Britney Spears that smells like greedy adults taking advantage of kids with potential.
When I was a kid, my mom considered taking me to commercial auditions and stuff because I was melodramatic and good at memorizing things. My dad talked her out of it (not that I’m sure she really would have). Who knows if it would have gone anywhere or not, but in retrospect, my brain is probably all the healthier for having bypassed such a way of life.
The music biz has changed so much even since MJ hit the scene that it’s an exercise in futility to compare someone like Britney with anyone who came before her. Britney couldn’t even out-Madonna Madonna, for crying out loud. Well, maybe the business itself hasn’t changed so much as the way it’s conducted has changed.
I don’t know about the legacy thing. Has anyone outside of the porn industry flashed her ladyparts in public more than Brit Brit (now including last night, according to wwtdd.com)? Maybe not the kind of thing you brag about at PTO, but a claim to fame nonetheless.
Brittney Spears has definitely jumped the shark. She no longer appeals to the giggly bubble-gum teens due to her more “mature” presentation, she no longer appeals to the 20-something women due to her going completely off her nut, and she no longer appeals to men because a) she’s gone from slutty to trampy and b) every guy knows a girl who’s gone off the deep end, and they’re Just Bad News. She’d be best to invest her fortune wisely and drop out of the scene entirely.
Jackson is still a revered figure, I think, because once upon a time he was THE iconic figure in entertainment. His talent was real, it was finely honed, and he could wow audiences all the time, every time. The fact that he, like Spears, has now jumped the shark and gone from crazy to creepy doesn’t abate the fact that during the 80s, he was The Man. That much influence will carry through until you and I are both in the nursing home eating pudding through a straw, I think.