So they’re people you don’t like, many with good reason. However you must be able to understand why they have successful careers? Notably all of those musicians who’ve sold many many millions of records… I think that negates the inexplicable bit.
So their success isn’t inexplicable because it’s explained by their being successful? Right…. maybe people find that success inexplicable, hence the premise of the the thread?
There’s loads of bands that I despise with a passion but I can understand why millions disagree with me and buy the records / concert tickets. Off the top of my head Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Take That and McBusted all fall into that category.
My nomination of Coldplay is based entirely on the premise of the thread i.e. when I’ve seen or heard Coldplay’s offer, I really, really cannot work out how on earth it has connected with so many people that they are one of the biggest bands on the planet (and ditto for the Stereophonics, as stated earlier). In response to your post, yes I understand that their success is explained by the fact that they have sold tons of records. But I find it inexplicable that they have sold tons of records (and are, hence, very successful). Apologies if that wasn’t clear in my original post.
For the person nominating Jarvis Cocker, my explanation is that, after quite some time plugging away in obscurity, JP and Pulp, by luck as much as anything, found themselves at the centre of the pop zeitgeist just as Britpop broke and managed to capitalise on it very well, perhaps partly because they were one of a few long-established bands who knew what they were doing surrounded by bands that had been going for ten minutes and were already desperately chasing the coat tails of their betters.
