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| From | "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Robbie Williams |
| Date | Wed, 16 May 2007 16:05:48 -0400 |
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At Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 15:03:33 Stewart wrote:
>I think Williams' persona hasn't really translated to the states. The
>closest comparison I can think of is...remember back when Craig Kilborn was
>the host of the Daily Show before Jon Stewart, and his whole thing was "I'm
>playacting at being a smug, sexist creep so thoroughly that you can't tell
>if I'm REALLY a smug, sexist creep or just pretending to be one"? Robbie's
>persona is very similar: he's playing at being an arrogant, vain egotist,
>but there's a kind of a nod and a wink behind it. And I think that twist
>has been overlooked by a lot of folks over here because he's not so
>omnipresent in the media that it's clear that it's an act.
That may have answered the initial question....is it a "British" thing? I
haven't been following Williams too closely but if his persona is how you
say then it may be that he doesn't translate culturally. I find that with a
lot of British stuff gets the cold shoulder in the US (and occasionally
Canada too) because that snide, wink, wink, nudge nudge thing (like Monty
Python itself) is either embraced or leaves people scratching their heads.
Why did Tears For Fears become huge in the states but The Fixx didn't? Why
the Spice Girls and not Girls Aloud? And why George Michael but not Robbie
Williams?
I find it interesting that this conversation came up right now. My wife had
a friend up from Pennsylvannia last week and we mentioned Robbie Williams to
her and she just blanked. Never heard of him. We played all these songs for
her and suddenly he is her new God.
Maybe it's a matter of having a team to promote him properly in the States.
>Also, I just don't think he's done much that's as good as "Millennium"
>recently.
Agreed.
>Another UK import that I'm surprised didn't translate: Atomic Kitten, whose
>Svengali was Andy McCluskey of OMD.
Atomic Kitten did okay here....but not gangbusters.
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