Literati don’t just read, like all labels it’s best not to take it literally and just understand the grouping. The same guys that read a lot of Joyce also tend to go to the symphony and art openings. And call things “high art” and talk about “aesthetic designation”.
Hamlet gets taught in high school. Being mandatory reading for a significant chunk of the population helps sales. But I bet in 2004, when the mini-series came out, Salems Lot did really well.
I’m talking about the general populace, the people that make things popular. There are more top 40 listeners than classical listeners, just gotta look at the radio dial to see that. Thus top 40 acts have more listeners than classical, which is why there’s more competition to reach their ears. I never said it wasn’t a lot of people, actually I said DIRECTLY that thanks to the large number of people on the planet you can be unpopular and still have MANY listeners, but you won’t as big an audience as somebody popular. Michael Jackson died right before he was going to do a 50 date stand in London, and he was a has been, has Lang Lang ever done a 50 date stand? Not more popular than any pop band.
I don’t understand why you’re so worked about about this. It’s frankly beneath you. You KNOW full well these things aren’t that popular, you’ve POSTED articles discussing the situation. Stop taking it personally, and stop making this foolish stand against simple obvious facts that you know are true. None of the classics are more poplar than the current tops, and it’s been that way for ages, and it’s going to stay that way for the foreseeable future, and saying otherwise is quite simply BSing. You’re smarter than that, I’m done with this stupid discussion. If you want to get back to something where you get to show your intellect great, but if you insist on continuing this display that makes you look stupid do it alone.
Radio stations aren’t a fair comparison as there aren’t any Classical stations in most places. I think there are only about a half dozen left in North America. Classical radio declined as radio itself has become relegated primarily to drive time when people only listen for a brief period while they’re in the car (enough for a hit or two but not a symphony). When the whole family gathered around the radio in the living room there were a lot of Classical on the radio.
I’m not worked up just making what seems like fairly straightforward points. That being that worldwide Beethoven is more popular than anything in the Top 40 right now.