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I, Libertine

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Re: I, Libertine

#11

Post by Cthulhu_ »

rippercushions wrote: post #9
mjklin wrote: post #3

See also: “Naked Came the Stranger” and “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”. Works that were intentionally, provocatively bad, yet successful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Came_the_Stranger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Valley_of_the_Dolls

Finnish rapper Petri Laurila started out as "NuEra", offering incisive social critique about societal problems. Critics loved him, sales were dismal. As a joke, he then released as album that was as crass and low brow as possible, rapping about getting drunk and having sex, with hilariously bad lyrics ("don't be so apathic [sic]/my mind is automatic/the first time I ate pussy it tasted tomatic"). It was a runaway suc…

Reminds me of Filthy Frank / Joji and the Pink Album, he seems to be doing alright these days with a lot less offensive music / caricatures.

(fun fact, he started the Harlem Shake thing from some time ago)

Re: I, Libertine

#12

Post by jccalhoun »

A modern version is "The Diamond Club" by 'Patricia Harkins-Bradley' but was group written by the fans of a podcast. They took advantage of how itunes and amazon rankings work to have all their fans buy them at once to put them on the top of the sales chart. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/234388-sur... https://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/fifty-shades-then-so...

Re: I, Libertine

#13

Post by aatd86 »

Wait til I ask ChatGPT to create a vacuous story about an AI bot that wasn't encoded with Asimov laws called phatGCT and publish on Amazon...

Re: I, Libertine

#14

Post by tastysandwich »

Gotta say I love these random Wikipedia articles that pop up. They're always something I didn't exactly need to know, but verge enough on the absurd that I just have to read.

Despite it being a big joke, I wonder what contemporary reviews of the book actually were, and how many copies ended up selling?

Re: I, Libertine

#15

Post by yamtaddle »

rippercushions wrote: post #9
mjklin wrote: post #3

See also: “Naked Came the Stranger” and “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”. Works that were intentionally, provocatively bad, yet successful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Came_the_Stranger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Valley_of_the_Dolls

Finnish rapper Petri Laurila started out as "NuEra", offering incisive social critique about societal problems. Critics loved him, sales were dismal. As a joke, he then released as album that was as crass and low brow as possible, rapping about getting drunk and having sex, with hilariously bad lyrics ("don't be so apathic [sic]/my mind is automatic/the first time I ate pussy it tasted tomatic"). It was a runaway suc…

I recall Lester Bangs (the character, but based on the real music critic of the same name) in Almost Famous complaining that rock was being ruined by seriousness, and claiming that rock music was at its best and purest when it was (paraphrasing, I think) "gloriously stupid".

Must admit, I like very-clever rap and intensely-stupid rap and not much in between, myself, and do probably find the latter more broadly appealing, in that it's less likely for such an album to completely miss for me.

Re: I, Libertine

#18

Post by pleasantpeasant »

rippercushions wrote: post #9
mjklin wrote: post #3

See also: “Naked Came the Stranger” and “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”. Works that were intentionally, provocatively bad, yet successful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Came_the_Stranger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Valley_of_the_Dolls

Finnish rapper Petri Laurila started out as "NuEra", offering incisive social critique about societal problems. Critics loved him, sales were dismal. As a joke, he then released as album that was as crass and low brow as possible, rapping about getting drunk and having sex, with hilariously bad lyrics ("don't be so apathic [sic]/my mind is automatic/the first time I ate pussy it tasted tomatic"). It was a runaway suc…

I believe that's how the guy from Die Antwoord started as well.

His first rap persona was a clean-cut, well put together lyrical genius with a flow and voice to back it up. It flopped.

Then he tries again covered in tattoos and a "ghetto" look and raps about sex, drugs, violence. Makes millions.

Appealing to the lowest common denominator is usually the best for profits.

Re: I, Libertine

#20

Post by justwndrerin »

pleasantpeasant wrote: post #18
rippercushions wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finnish rapper Petri Laurila started out as "NuEra", offering incisive social critique about societal problems. Critics loved him, sales were dismal. As a joke, he then released as album that was as crass and low brow as possible, rapping about getting drunk and having sex, with hilariously bad lyrics ("don't be so apathic [sic]/my mind is automatic/the first time I ate pussy it tasted tomatic"). It was a runaway suc…

I believe that's how the guy from Die Antwoord started as well. His first rap persona was a clean-cut, well put together lyrical genius with a flow and voice to back it up. It flopped. Then he tries again covered in tattoos and a "ghetto" look and raps about sex, drugs, violence. Makes millions. Appealing to the lowest common denominator is usually the best for profits.

A few rappers came out asking why their producers only want them to sing about those topics.

Reminds me of this old Onion headline: https://www.theonion.com/sale-of-bet-to-white-supremacist-gr...

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