Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Theory of Advancement in the Independent (or CK in the UK)

As most of you know, Chuck Klosterman wrote about the theory in Esquire, which was quite something. An unfortunate side effect of having someone way, way, way more popular than you write about something you've come up with is that people forget that the way, way, way more popular person didn't invent it. The latest example is in an interview Klosterman did with "MT" from the Independent:
MT: My favourite essay in your new collection is the one about people who are "advanced". [Klosterman argues that certain artists reach a point where they often lose their audience because they've advanced beyond normal comprehension.] I love what you write about Liz Phair heading towards "advancement" as her music becomes harder for an audience to cope with, or how Lou Reed became advanced with his album Animal Serenade. In that essay, you really seem to define something accurate and true about pop culture. What inspired this "theory of advancement"?
Fortunately CK set MT straight:
CK:It's not my theory. I just explained the theory as it was explained to me. I'm still trying to figure it out in totality. But it's essentially a way to understand the nature of genius, particularly in situations where that genius is not self-evident.
This kind of honesty is the only way we'll keep our Wikipedia pages separate. I wonder if people think that he just invented me. I guess if I didn't exist, he would have had to.

1 comment:

Philco Brothers said...

Unfortunate. Maybe. If the Independent knew someone else invented the theory they probably wouldn't ask Chuck Klosterman about it. He is just riding on your coattails now isn't he.