Pynchon & Pop Music

[Brian D. McCary]

----- Begin Included Message -----

Date: Tue, 20 Jun 1995 11:53:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Bonnie Surfus (ENG)" <surfus at chuma.cas.usf.edu>

I also wondered--and this is horrible, especially since long ago I'd 
chastised Chris Stoltz (was it him?) for suggesting that Kurt Cobain 
couldn't have read GR cause it was beyond his mental abilities to do 
so--was the title an expression of Benatar's admiration for the novel, or 
mere chance?  

----- End Included Message -----

Interesting question, but there may be another explination: The system.

First, I think we have to be careful about confusing intelligence with 
creative ability.  There are plenty of intelligent people with no creative
ability, and plenty of creative people who appear to be fairly stupid.
Stupidity does not take away from thier creative endevours any more than
commonness takes away from the efforts of the intelligent.

Seems to me that Pat Benatar does not have to be dumb to put out her brand
of pop music.  She is simply a singer with strong vocal chords and a
weak, (but not non-existant) creative instinct.  Record companies can use
her to get money from the pockets of a certain segment of the population.
Some producer who read parts of the book in collage and knew that there was
a cult following for it could have suggested it as one of the possible titles.
Perhaps she then read parts of it, perhaps not.  The people in the pop music
business are probably less interested in making intelligent statements about
literature than they are in seeing their bank statements grow.  To take
this one step further, perhaps this was some cynical attempt to improve
her image?

I must guiltily admit, I feel a bit the same way about "Gravity's Rainbow".
I have plenty of faith that Laurie and Peter read the book and "understood"
it.  Plus, it's a great song. Still, I have been unable to draw a satisfactory
connection between it and TRP.  Anyone got a useful suggestion?