What makes something popular, revisited ( part 4 )

This isn't a series, by the way.  Or maybe it is, in an informal way.

On this subject, as well as just about any other, have you ever wondered why a thing was the way it was?  The same is true about popularity.

I think that people don't care about principles.  They don't care about being right or correct about anything.  This must be true.  I know there are people who I'll lose with that statement, but screw it!  People just don't give a shit.  ( excuse my French )  That's the dirty rotten truth.

There was this girl that caught my eye.  She was with the pop group ABBA.

So, I studied this pop group ABBA.  There was someone who stated on a video about them that very few can make it on their talent alone.  In other words, it's about gimmicks.  They showed all the gimmicks that ABBA used to make themselves successful.  Not that they lacked talent, but their talent wasn't overwhelming nor would just stand out on its own.  They needed something extra.

As I mentioned, I got interested in ABBA today because I noticed one of the girls who fronted the group.  Actually, the thing that got said about her ( Frida ) was that she was a "natural", and it was the other girl ( Agnetha, I think, the blonde ) who was a bit shy and reserved and needed to be boosted up a bit.  Anyway, I thought about this and how Frida seemed to be shunted to the back, and the other girl boosted up front.  Why?  I think it was because Frida would dominate too much if this wasn't done.  By equalizing them a bit, this helped the group work better than it would have if Frida had dominated it the way that she could have.  I think Frida could have been sensational, but she was held back.

They spent a lot of time on their costumes and presentation, too.  This is the kind of thing that I would totally ignore.  I think of it as irrelevant, but no.  For some people, this matters more than the content itself.

This reminds me of what Terry Knight, manager of the 70's rock group Grand Funk Railroad, once said.  He said that there's no such thing as bad publicity.  Bad publicity can get you out there and known.  If you relied solely on your talent alone, you'd never make it.  Grand Funk made it for being a "bad" band.  Supposedly, they lacked talent.  The critics hated them.  Parents hated them.  I know my Dad did.  Terry Knight didn't care about stuff like this.  He used this to help propel them to the top.  The bad publicity didn't hurt Grand Funk.  It might even had made them.

I think I'm learning, albeit at a very slow pace.  But it won't likely do me much good.  I care about principles and truth.  Not necessarily a thing that can be made "cool", unless somehow something changed.  Don't bet on it.  You will need the gimmicks.