Been A Long Time, Been A Long Time...
I did not watch the Superbowl. Mostly because I like my sleep and also because to me, it's like the 6 Nations but with more make-up and bigger shoulder pads. Like the cast of Dynasty on a very camp school sports day. If you did watch this make-up and Spandex-fest, though, you can't help but have noticed an apparently important game of football being overshadowed by the return of Destiny's Child. They're back, screamed the press. THEY'RE BACK!!! As if it's supposed to be important. Those of us of a certain age who remember life before manufactured pop groups were the norm tend to be singularly unimpressed when manufactured pop groups reform. Mostly because it only feels like about 20 minutes since they split up and primarily because we viewed them as an irrelevance in the first place. It's Destiny's Child, for goodness sake: followers of a well-trodden path that was beaten down by The Supremes and many dozens of other groups since. It's not The Who playing Won't Get Fooled Again, is it? It doesn't, you know, like, matter...
It's an old cliché but it's really true. Sooner or later, you will start to compare music on the radio to the bands you grew up with; bands who were themselves doing it 2nd, 3rd of 4th time around. The pioneers are now few and far between. I recently bought the Led Zeppelin 2007 live album and was astonished at how fresh, vibrant and remarkably un-lip-synched it sounded. Suck on that, Ms. Knowles. Right to the end of the flag pole.