Hi,
Back in the day, groups like the Beatles and the Beach Boys had some leeway to do this because they already topped the charts and had huge name recognition. They didn't start with Revolver or Pet Sounds but they were able to get there thanks in large part to the previous success that they enjoyed.
On the other hand, such practices were somehow risky for chart-toppers like them, which even adds more value to their musical exploration. They could have sticked with "Surfin' Safari" and "She Loves You" respectively and live happy (and wealthy) everafter. The fact that a guy like Lou Reed records "Metal Machine Music" doesn't incarnate as much danger as The Beatles putting out "The White Album". As McArtney himself put it, "we played well from the very beginning", which is probably one of the reasons they got bored of the verse-chorus-verse format and went on for something else (besides refusing to do more touring of course). I don't feel there's something strictly new or specially exciting nowadays in popular music. When I mentioned Beck or Radiohed I was probably thinking of in "best of the worse" terms. I bang my head against the wall when I read about The Strokes or Sigur Ros being the hype of the year. It's awful. Best, Efrén del Valle ___________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - Nueva versión GRATIS Super Webcam, voz, caritas animadas, y más... http://messenger.yahoo.es