THE CW ON TROPICALIA IS WRONG!....There’s a semi-interesting point buried deep somewhere in an article in the new Perfect Sound Forever online ‘zine called “The Dark Side of Tropicalia”. If the point is that the quintessential late 60s Brazilian contribution to rock and roll was mostly a bunch of hype, great – and to that end there’s a very promising lead sub-headline: “(Tropicalia) was less a countercultural act than a marketing coup and it would, by the years, retard the Brazilian cultural evolution”. Yet inside this first of two articles – an expose', no less! – is a cultural history lesson desperately searching for a connection to the thesis, not to mention an admirable struggle with English scholastic language. Hey, virtually all popularly recognized musical movements look far different on the ground then they do when the media celebrates them in hindsight, and unfortunately the historical record is usually defined by the latter. I’ll reserve final judgment until the big Part Two in a couple months – keep those eyes peeled! Hopefully Jason at Perfect Sound Forever will publish the big tell-all I’m working on, “The Hidden Secrets of Grunge”.

posted by Jay H. at 2:06 AM