I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but since the release of SOL, I've seen the N-word used less and less in serious context with Al.like_im_27again @ Aug 18 2008, 05:58 PM wrote: I'd love to smack the person who commented, though, and said Al is a novelty. How can you be a novelty with such a successful career spanning almost 30 years?
Now, that could be because modern music journalists simply aren't aware of the term or what the "genre" amounted to, or it could mean that the label just doesn't have any meaning anymore (I mean, after all, is what Al does any more of a "novelty" in a pop music world where a singer can embark on an entire tour as her TV character?), or it might just be that Al is at a point in his career where the word just doesn't apply anymore, even in an unfair light.
As for the "his fifteen minutes should have been over with Doctor Demento" part, well, the commentator is certainly entitled to his opinion, but I'm not interested in merits in alternate universes. The fact is that Al has been around this long, despite however long he "should have" lasted, and each new release keeps topping the previous one either commercially or critically. This is not the mark of a "novelty" artist or one whose fame is only tenuous. The fact remains that mainstream rock and roll has nobody else like Al right now (nor for the last three decades, for that matter), and it's high time he be recognized for that.
