The inimitable local crooner Jordan Caress and I were discussing the nature of the British Hip Barometer as compared to the American one last night. Our discussion began with our mutual disappointment in the respective performances we caught in Austin from Britain's latest potato-faced, over-hyped export, The xx. That got me thinking about how it sucks that a country whose most massive exports were once all Beatles, Zeppelins, Stones, Whos, Bowies and Costellos is now mostly about producing Keanes, Coldplays and Muses. Hey, sign of the times, I suppose. And it's not like America's currently churning out modern Beach Boys, Buddy Hollies and Johnny Cashes — at least no one of that groundbreaking/critically acclaimed/substantial an ilk who can sell like Elvis or Michael Jackson.
There's a point here — a British point. And it's all about how some pop-culture scientist says Music is now Religion, but that still doesn't mean that the readers of Q Magazine have good taste.
