Walt wrote: "and you know what? i think joni may have slipped when she said she hated madonna probably meant to say that awful britney spears or christine aguilera! "
I believe the quote was not quite that (the report stated that Joni can't stand Madonna - (you said 'hate', which is itself an exaggerated paraphrasing) - but that was not part of Joni's quote, which was: "Madonna has knocked the importance of talent out of the arena," Mitchell tells W magazine. "She's manufactured. She's made a lot of money and become the biggest star in the world by hiring the right people." See - "Joni Mitchell calls Madonna the 'biggest star in the world' ". Anyway, my take on this is that your point is consonant with Joni's point - without Madonna having paved the way, there might have been more 'new Jonis' in the world of pop today, and fewer Britneys and Christinas. That is obvious today, but was less obvious when Madonna was breaking ground 10 and 15 years ago. So, Reuben's criticism in that regard may have missed the point - yes, the news about Madonna is very very old, but the distaste for its 'success' in having led to the current sad state of affairs had to wait for the present to play out (give or take a few years). That said, Joni did not even really come out and say that Madonna is not talented. Let's face it - in the area of song writing, Madonna is no Joni Mitchell. In the area of singing, Madonna is no Joni or Judy or a lot of people. In the area of dancing, Joni is no Madonna. In the area of self-promotion, Madonna is a genius, and Joni is a dunce, a zero in Madonna's class. And why was Madonna ultimately so successful in selling her wares ? Because most people are willing to buy the product she was willing to sell, and willing to sell hardest and firstest and longest. Really, Joni's distaste is with the taste of the buying public. As I have said several times on this list, "The average American is a scary thing". Come on out and say it Joni - that way you can alienate absolutely everyone (except us listers, of course - we know we've got good taste) ;-) Bob S
