Justin Timberlake = The new Chet Baker

Note: This isn't a slant at either Chet Baker (my personal hero) or Justin Timberlake. Both rule at what they did/do and this is more aimed at the people behind them. Also, some who know me may be surprised Mr.Damnation-AD-Fanboy can come out with this but then you obviously have no real clue about me.

The music industry, prodominently white as it is, has a history of wanting to take things that are cool and hip and strip away any cultural obstacles that might impede full market saturation.

Elvis Presley and rhythm and blues is a prime example.

Another is Chet Baker - poster boy for the cool jazz scene of the 1950s. Chet was perfect for the music industry at the time. A pretty, white, Oklahoma boy who could actually blow a bit* and had a voice to back it up. He was the perfect vehicle for the music industry of the time to sell jazz music, a quintessentially black culture, to the wasp-ish listening public of pre-civil rights America.

Spin on a few years and while segregation is gone and rascism isn't tolerated anywhere near as much as it was in the 1950s, there still exists a notion within certain big business industries, that it's better to sell something to someone in a cultural uniform they can recognise and feel comfortable absorbing into their lives.

Obviously, for myself and most people I know, this is absolute tosh and experiencing new culture is outlet for growth and better understanding. Unfortunately though, there still exists a sizeable proportion of people who are loathe to take in that which they find unfamiliar or which they refuse to accept for what it is for fear that it might lead to an reduction of their culture. These people are an easy target for the marketing people of big businesses such as the music industry and with cynicism firmly tucked away in their back pocket, they produce an angle on a product so as to best procure finance from this particular demographic.

Step forward the Trousersnake - a pretty, white, tennessee guy who, while not playing an instrument(unless we assume hisfeet are his trumpet), has broken into the charts fronting songs that might otherwise have ended up in the hands of another, maybe black, r'n'b star. To boot, the androgenous energy that was one of Chet Baker's greatest strengths, is fully present in Justin Timberlake and he has the voice as well.

How history repeats itself or rather, how the music industry continue to use the same old tired marketing schemes, will never cease to amaze me.

Now, go listen to Chet Baker Sings and FutureSex/LoveSounds.

Next week - Were Aqua an attempt to re-hash the 2Unlimited template?


* - That said, Miles Davis was once quoted on Chet's best efforts as saying it was "worse than me when I was on heroin".