1 of 1- GrimsbyFan
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How Do You Compare The Taylor Swift Phenomenon With Others?
Living near Toronto, I am experiencing the Taylot Swift Phenomenon in all its wonder as her tour incldes 6 shows in Toronto over two weekends. It is all over the media. The excitement and passion is truly amazing. Got me to thinking about 3 other musical acts and how they might compare to The Swift Craze: Elvis Presley. The Beatles, and Michael Jackson.
How would you compare them?
In terms of marketing and merchandising, I don't think there is any comparison. Taylor Swift wins hands down. Maybe it's because of the time we live in, but you would be hard-pressed to find anything that comes close to the spending frenzy for merch (not to mention the cost of tickets to the concerts) that we are seeing today.
In terms of fans, the mania that all these performers evoked seems pretty similar. One thing I do notice is that while the earlier acts were popular mainly among teens - think of parents' reactions to Presley and the Beatles - Swifties seem to be spread out over a much wider age range.
In terms of the music, while Elvis was not a writer, all the others have written many of their hit songs.
When it comes to having an influence on music "The King Of Rock and Roll" brought a new form of music into popularity. It could be argued that the Beatles had the biggest influence on music ever, responsible for the British Invasion, as well as the many different directions they took their music (and the music of others - Brian Wilson's inspiration for Pet Sounds was Rubber Soul) in the mid to late 60s. Taylor Swift, to her credit, has turned out music in many different genres, but has not really been am innovator and influencer as the others were.
Your thoughts?
- Lorne
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Re: How Do You Compare The Taylor Swift Phenomenon With Others?
Because I don't really follow current music, I wasn't sure about weighing in here -- but here goes. First, I agree with the way that you've compared the three artists, and everything you've said makes sense to me. The one thing I'll add is that I think Swift has had sustained success going back to her first album in 2006 and that it has kept growing over the years. I consider that to be a more impressive career arc than Elvis, given the downturn that he had from 1964 to 1968 and the fact that his last big hit came in 1972. As for The Beatles, the most comparable member would be Paul McCartney, who continued to consistently have major hits throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s. But to compare this with Swift at the same point in their careers, I think that she's having even greater success than he was having when he was 18 years into his career. And with her still only being 34, she also has the potential to continue to be a huge star for many years to come.