I agree that the video age has made a lot of changes, but I think simply time has been the most dramatic factor. Remember, back in the 60s The Beatles for instance......they HAD the look. They started the whole shaggy-haired mop-top thing. They started the popularity of several fashion styles, and above all they were considered the ultimate sex objects by women (and some men!) Then there's The Doors.....Jim Morrison had the sexy spaced-out hippie guy thing going. Yes their music was incredible, but the fact that he was totally hot did not hurt his popularity.
Interestingly, I think that our standards for "talent" have been the most seriously affected by the video age. If a person has the "look" it takes them a long way. And most of it is not even of their own invention, but that of professional stylists. Would Britney Spears have had a snowball's chance in hell of making it in 1969??? Uh.....NO. How about some of these "constructed" groups like Dream or A-Teens or O-Town or Eden's Crush? Never. Nowadays it seems that these so-called singers are measured more by their dancing talent than anything, which would be fine if they could do both.
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