lardhelmet - the vast majority of people who listen to popular music and like what they like, without knowing if it is any good or not.
That's fine, that's exactly the way it's supposed to be, i would not have it any other way.
But, as a music writer, I have a passion for music that surpasses anything in my life, afmily excluded of course, and I know exactly what is good or not, as opposed to what is simply popular.
Whitney Houston had a magnificent voice. Unfortunately, she was a triumph of technique over emotion - and the 'soul' she was famous for was graded according to volume, gear changes, lip quivering, and amount of warbling sliding notes - which with a song like 'i Will Always Love You' which ticked every box half-a-dozen times, made her a superstar under entirely false pretences.
The song was written by Dolly Parton for the man who was the great love of her life apart from her husband Carl - Porter Waggoner who was her mentor in her early days, until they fell out professionally. her understated version, or better still the Linda Ronstadt version which bleeds into your ears with a bottomless sense of pain and loss, are what the song is actually about. For Ms. Houston, its a vocal exercise in histrionics, nothing more.
Adele has exactly that way of encapsulating the pain of relationships and she reaches into the souls of millions of people, mor by what she leaves out of her singing than what she puts in - that is what she is such a massive star - that's star as opposed to diva, or celebrity.
OK - enough for now.
Next week, tune in to read Andy ranting about Alexandra Burke crushing the delicate flower that is 'Hallelujah' under a juggernaught of foghorning and glitter, and the week after, assuming he has not succombed to a fatal stroke -'Westlife - the Difficult Years'.