Journal: News & Comment

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Hindsight

Stardom is an odd thing. Back in the early 1980s, if forced to choose, most people would probably have guessed that Cyndi Lauper would outlast Madonna. Similarly, which celtic-guitar rock band would still be around in twenty years: U2 or Big Country? (For instance, before I knew her, my wife, like many teenagers, was part of Big Country's fan club in high school, but not U2's.)

Today I learned that a maid at his hotel in Hawaii found Big Country singer Stuart Adamson hanged in his room, after he had been missing for some time. I hadn't thought about his band in a long time.

U2 continues to appear at every benefit concert you can think of -- and still inspires high-school-like adulation. Still famous two decades on, the band has its detractors too.

Who, on the other hand, would bother criticizing Big Country today?

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