> I think the difference was that Milli Vanilli was marketed as a legit pop
> group, while the Partridge Family was marketed as a kid's TV show.

Makes sense.

> I wasn't aware that the Partridges ever did concerts.  Certainly nobody
> expected the Partridges to be a peer of Led Zeppelin, but Milli Vanilli was
> sold as being a peer of Michael Jackson.

I wasn't suyere about that one, myself, but it fit the narrative.

Funny thing -- KISS sold far more than the Beatklesmbut are they called kings  of rock & roll? ACDC, likewise, who are still touring, making 8 figures a year. . .

Rock & Roll ain't dead, but the labels are trying to convert everybody's  attention to the generic yhomogenous pablum they can churn out cheap & easy  (I'm prertyty sure there's an AI writing the lyrics of many of today's 'hits.')

Well, I for one, prefer real rock & I'll keep listening to it Sadly, no good new stuff, as the kids have no clue & only want to emulate  rappers. But not the reality, just the perception in their 'music' videos.

Pop is pablum for your ears.

Even churches are going pop, with their modern hymns/psalmns

Old: Upon the broad pastures doth hover the spirit of God Newer: God blesses the grass upon which the lambs, the pretty lambs, which we  all are, graze
New: The pastures, the green green pastures; green pastures, green, green, gre  pastures. Hallelujah, Amen! (Repeat 6X)

Give me the old lyrics, built from deeply felt/created poetry.

Give me a band of youjng pu8nks who hasve adream & have music & emotion  exploding in their veins, until thery can borrow a garage & go at it, with no  thought of becoming a business -- just to play, sing, & get girls(let's be  honest)

& just enough of any available psychedelics(LSD, 'shrooms, peyote, etc.) to 
boost their ability to write interesting lyrics.

More about sound than noise.

I especially like the ones who are classically trained, but their hearts &  spirits moved them  to use those learned skills in new & interesting ways.  (think Jethro Tull & Deep Purple, both of whom I have multiple original vinyl  LPs for, & love their output.)

Pat Benatar for voice, who was trained as a classical opera singer.

& others who likewise had voices that knew what they were doing -- like Freddie
Mercury -- I've no idea if he got classical training, but his voice still had  the greatest range of any singer before or since his time)

The youngsters try to say they like music -- I feel I need to correct them, in  that "music" means "the harmonious interplay of sound"; what they listen to is  technically best described as "noise."; They say, "Okay, Boomer" & I reply,  "That's GenX to you, Zoomer."

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6