feeling listless

Music Has sex appeal gone out of rock and pop music? Rob Harvilla of the East Bay Express thinks so. At first he says that the reason the Janet Jackson incident didn't work was because she wasn't sexy enough and then goes on to say:

"We don't know how to be sexy anymore. Rock culture has irreparably split into two completely polarized halves: You're either a deadly serious 'artist' with Important Things to Say and all the sex appeal of a large-mouth bass, or you're teen-pop jailbait whose 'songs' unfold like acid-hit lap-dance routines that slap you across the face with all the subtlety of, well, a large-mouth bass. The hallowed middle ground no longer exists; you can have actual musical talent or you can have sex appeal. Not both."

Now I wouldn't want to offend my predominantly female readership, but my gohd is he wrong, but then I don't think he knows what he thinks his point actually is. He seems to be suggesting that you can't look like Beyonce and make a serious statement about life. Yes, and? Is talent based on what the music is about or how it makes you feel? He offers the suggestion of Liz Phair; I would have raised him a Jewel who after years of being folksy released a pop album. And it was great and she looked great but there was something rather subversive going on while she was trying something new. Sheryl Crow is a fabulous looking woman who released really good records. Doesn't she count? Can we have a follow up piece which explains what you actually mean in this one. What was so deep about Prince anyway?