From the In Box: Faceless, but in Front of the Fans
I don't think that's all that new, though. There have been performers who are purely industry creations for ages. I guess the Monkees are the most famous, but if we could remember more, it would disprove the point that there have been faceless generitrons for as long as there's been a music industry.

Plus, isn't it a little early to credit Kurt Cobain with being old-school?

I think the nature of the world is that there will always be a lot more people than there are notable people. Replace the names Graham puts forth with the one or two hit wonders of yesteryear and I don't think she's got much of a thesis at all. Do you remember who the members of REO Speedwagon were? What about Toto? The Fixx?

I'm not saying that there's nothing different today, but just that at first blush, I'm not so sure she's framed the phenomena so well. None of the groups she named are today's "the Who", so of course none of them will be remembered like John Entwhistle. -- Joe Germuska