Jim the cowboy wrote: "You all know I love Norma and all, but, this is gibberish. The pop world hasn't shut her out any more than the jazz world hated Mingus. People haven't stopped buying her titles."
It depends on what you consider to be "the pop world." Joni made the comments in reference to radio play, of which she gets none. In that sense, the pop world has indeed shunned her. Where is she on the dial? Nowhere. If you're a current radio junkie Joni Mitchell may as well be dead and burried. She certainly doesn't pander to the radio formula and never has. She is rich because she's earned her stripes simply by being true to her muse for decades and because, after years of being ignored (80s) it suddenly became cool to like Joni Mitchell again. "Why are Jewel and Alanis so popular?" the little ones asked and some bright individuals told them about Joni, heaping awards on her in the process. "Oh yeah, Joni Mitchell. She still around? Give her an award." Joni is now an industry and she can do whatever the hell she wants regardless of record sales, which I would argue are not really that strong compared to the megastars of our time who are far less talented. I think I read somewhere that she averages about 500,000 copies per album. Not a grand slam by today's pop standards. She can pay for Herbie and Wayne and the London Symphony Orchestra because some of the biggest names in music adore her work and are vocal about it. If the record company didn't give her the money today they'd look like total idiots: squanderlust fools! Celine Dion, on the other hand, can pay for her $95 million stage at Caesar's Palace and her 60 dancers because she has an ad for Dodge/Chrysler in her new CD along with a sampler of her self-titled upcoming perfume. Frankly I like it when Joni whines. I know she knows herself well enough to know that her instincts are probably accurate - so I trust her laments. She's the one collecting the pay stubs, so ultimately only she knows whether there is room for complaint or not. Of late it seems there has been. I trust her. -Andrew Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more http://platinum.yahoo.com
