In the June 12, 2012 edition of the Los Angeles Times in the For The Record column which seeks to correct typos and inaccurate information previously published was mentioned that in the obituary for Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch the Times had misspelled band mate Christine McVie’s name and the title of their biggest selling album, Rumours. In a separate article about Neil Young they misspelled former Buffalo Springfield band mate Richie Furay’s name.
The L.A. Times misspelling the names and titles of pop culture superstars and mega successful works of art shows a lack of respect for the “counterculture” of Rock & Roll that has been going on since its inception in the mid-1950s. I would have thought the Classic Rock era had proven itself enough by now to be shown at least a small amount of respect, at least by getting the names right in an obituary. All the editors at the Times had to do was Google the names and titles or ask their resident Pop critic. How hard would it have been to get the title right of one of the largest selling albums of the decade?
My mother always mispronounced the names of rock stars such as John Lennon whom she always called John Lemon. She claimed to confuse him with the actor Jack Lemon. The band Van Halen, for whom her son was employed, was always Van Alden, the street where her sister lived. The funny thing was once a rock star, even one I didn’t think she had ever heard of, died, she pronounced his name perfectly. You don’t have to show respect for those whose music you don’t like but you should show respect for the dead.
The L.A. Times misspelling the names and titles of pop culture superstars and mega successful works of art shows a lack of respect for the “counterculture” of Rock & Roll that has been going on since its inception in the mid-1950s. I would have thought the Classic Rock era had proven itself enough by now to be shown at least a small amount of respect, at least by getting the names right in an obituary. All the editors at the Times had to do was Google the names and titles or ask their resident Pop critic. How hard would it have been to get the title right of one of the largest selling albums of the decade?
My mother always mispronounced the names of rock stars such as John Lennon whom she always called John Lemon. She claimed to confuse him with the actor Jack Lemon. The band Van Halen, for whom her son was employed, was always Van Alden, the street where her sister lived. The funny thing was once a rock star, even one I didn’t think she had ever heard of, died, she pronounced his name perfectly. You don’t have to show respect for those whose music you don’t like but you should show respect for the dead.
BTW. If I happened to have misspelled any names in this article remember it's for a BLOG not the L.A. Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment