Come on, at least he sold products that people wanted (unlike Michael Jackson). Even though his yelling could short circuit a smart equalizer on a Magnavox. [8-|]
Unlike Michael Jackson? Speak for yourself. The market demanded more Jackson albums than any other musical artist. Can’t really say the same for What Smell?. I do respect Billy Mays though, and he also had immeasurably more value to society than any politician.
lol
Sweet beard.
Ehhh, I would disagree.
Michael Jackson became an artistic absurdity after the 90’s (not unwarrented charges of pedophilia would do that at the very least, if not outright ruin your reputation), regardless of how much the “market” (i.e. his fans) supposedly clamored for more of his albums (his last one was Invincible, how well did that do with say, Dangerous, or Bad?).
Admitelly, the man had very devout fans, probably more than enough world wide to ensure whatever he released at a certain point, would probaby do well enough to warrant more products (er, music), but saying stuff like “the market has spoken” regarding MJ’s albums is assumptious towards all market actors involved, me being one of the many who just frnakly did not care about MJ to buy , let alone any, of his albums.
MJ is the eptimoe result of beginning as an artist, & selling music to remain an “artist”, as well as one of the last mega-stars that wer possible under a now broken & ancient system of distrubtion, intellectual property, etc.
I actually was about to jump on thebandwagon & nod along: “Yes of course, the market did this & that!” but then I realize I would sound like an idiot for speaking of the market as if it were an entity, when it isn’t.
I’m not sure you could objectivley say that the “market” did this or that since MJ was subject & even a benefactor of intellectual property laws, RIAA marketing, & all sorts of other things that existed in restrained (limited; non-free) market, that if they didn’t exist, would probably make the massive sucess of MJ much harder to achieve and/or sustain.
There is no guarentee MJ would’ve been as big of a sucess, if at all, if he had to compete in a different, unrestrained market setting, especially after the early 90’s, where the quality of his work began to slip.
(Take it with a grain of salt, though; I’m too anoyyed at the everyday attention this has-been is getting because he died partially due to his own addiction to painkillers, & partially because the doctor that tried reviving him was an incompetent idiot).
As rich as Michael Jackson was, I didn’t exactly hear about all of his entepernurial feats, aside from token celebrity donations.
Billy Mays, on the other hand, was a consistiently hard working entrepreneur who used a very clever trademark / gimmick (his vocal delivery) to work his way up from the streets (I think it might’ve been Philidelphia, or Pittsburg, I forget which) until he eventually became the most sucessful in recent history, if I remember correctly.
He even just started a show called “Pitchmen” which helped create more jobs, as well attempting to find the next big product, which meant giving exposure to younger entrepreneurs in his related field.
His sudden death not only gives everyone a reminded to check up on their health more often (to catch signs of latent heart problems), but is also a bit of an ironic omen, imo, considering the state of the economy (wobbly, although no one knows for absolute sure what’s going to happen aside from the proverbial blowback hitting the fan).
Eh, my 2cents. This will be the only MJ rant I go on about, because even counter-ranting on MJ is becoming narcissitic & emo.
RIP, Billy Mays. He will live on many years on the Internet as a sucessful & funny meme, wheras MJ will eventually die out when CNN stops covering the appearence of his “ghost”.
he made it look really easy. anyone who has tried sales knows how difficult it is to put yourself out there, it takes a lot of courage and people skills
The point of my thread is that partly valuation of another’s exploits in life have a degree of personal reflection as to what we value most in ourselves and in the world. As much as I hated Billy Mays gimmicky loud voice, the fact that he turned it into something that worked is what amazes me, and shows to me not everyone has to be a dancing-singer-performer like MJ or Madonna to have some mind share and market share at the same time. Sometimes, selling crap makes people happier than being serenaded by someone. And in many ways, Billy Mays reflects at the heart of society; the freedom to exchange goods and services. Which in my personal opinion is the most significant ‘invention’ of the human species for probably many reasons that could launch thousands of articles of their own (so I won’t expound on any one of them…).
This reminds me of when Howard Zinn talks about how the Indians traded “valuable tools” to the Europeans for “useless trinkets”? If the Indians saw no value in the trinckets, why did they trade for them? Likewise, Billy Mays sold “junk” to people who really wanted that “junk”. If people saw no value in those products, then why did they buy them?
Agreed. That’s why I say, people feel better buying things. Mays filled a role that others wouldn’t, and in a manner that didn’t steal or deprive others of their own time.
If I’m awake at 1:30 in the morning and there is nothing good on TV, who am I going to watch: CSPAN, or Billy Mays?
I rest my case.
His show “Pitchmen” is pretty great to watch late-night as well. It’s sad to see one of the few useful “reality” shows (useful as in covering material in an exploratory manner, like TopGear, Mythbusters, etc.) won’t continue without it’s main inspiration / creator, as I think it would’ve been a great vehicle to show the opportunities becoming an entrepreneur presents.
This also would’ve been useful for the coming economic crisis, as far as self-employment could become a slight respite for the recently laid off, but also showing that in a recession / depression, counter-economics is nothing but entrepreneurial, even if it’s relatively benign (or covertly) counter-econ such as introducing a community based currency.
I wonder what the positions of RevLeft would be on the prospects of workers & laborers becoming counter-economical entrepreneurs, hmm…