And Awaayy We Go!! said:
It's not difficult to spell my name correctly, is it? If you don't read carefully then perhaps you're not understanding what I write, either. I don't mean to sound snarky about this, but it happens often that people fail to see the entirety of what I write, choosing only to take those bits and pieces they disagree with and paint everything with a broad brush. The last name is Kaye. I like to honor my dad, so I prefer the name to be spelled correctly.
I think you may have contrdicted yourself. You mention that being an "artist" and being "commercially successful" are "opposites" in a previous post. Then you mention Michael Savage as being an artist. Michael Savage is also commercially successful.
I'm said that artists seldom have a mass audience. I
also said that there are accidents of time and circumstance that can cause artists to become popular. I think I pointed out the Beatles. Had it not been for the Baby Boom generation getting into their prime record-buying years and their teenage rebellion taking hold and the assassination of JFK casting a pall over America, the Beatles might not have become popular at all.
Michael Savage was the most radical thing to come to KGO/KSFO in ages, probably forever. I remember when he began. His stuff totally blew me away. He appealed to the Howard Beale in us, the "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" sentiment. But in the past past dozen years, the audience has come around and has embraced the Michael Savage style.
There has been a remarkable shift in American sensibilities in this past dozen years. People are no longer lauded for their civil discourse; it's now considered proper to blow up at anyone and everyone. People don't talk about road rage anymore; they simply accept it. People don't get outraged at witnessing a shooting (like the kid who was killed in front of hundreds of people at the Metreon in SF the other day). They just accept that you don't dis someone in line, or you'll suffer the consequences. Michael Savage's style plays right into that road rage mentality, but I don't think his style would have worked 20 years ago, when America was a more civilized place. Accidents of time and circumstance.