Wow du Jour.

Britney Spears has been famous for 15 years now. That's almost the amount of time between The Beatles landing in America and John Lennon getting shot. Does anyone remember the last time she put out a record? Does anybody care? (According to me, we haven't for many years now.)

As I wrote five years ago when I was flabbergasted she'd been famous then for ten years, our patience with celebrity is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more generous than when The Beatles were cranking out hit after ht after hit:

Matter of fact, look at the sub-headings on her Wikipedia entry:
1998–2000: ...Baby One More Time and Oops!... I Did It Again2001–2003: Britney, Crossroads, and In the Zone2004–2005: Marriages, first child and compilation albums2006–2007: Personal struggles, second child, divorce, and Blackout2008–present: Conservatorship, custody settlement and Circus 

Of the 5 eras, 3 of them are not highlighted by music at all, mostly her travails – any actual albums are afterthoughts. What does it take for our culture to think “well, so and so is not a viable artist anymore, let’s find somebody who is actually making music”? 

Meanwhile, from 1963 – mid 1966 the Beatles, while completely changing modern culture as we know it, put out 7 full-length albums, several EPs, 13 singles (6 of which the A side (and plenty of time both sides, actually) wasn't on albums at all) and, just for kicks, were in two movies (one of which is an actual classic.) I will not even bore you with blatherings about the amazing quality of all of this material. All that work in just about 3 years…and yet when several months passed after Revolver with no music coming out from the fellas, the public was ready to pack it in. “Oh well, they had their day, they’re over.” While there are many people that still would still love the old records, the general mood was “time to move on.” Of course the public was soon hit with Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane and then Sgt Pepper, and that was it for any “they’re done” talk.

No matter what I say, of course, she'll always be an all-time Mrs. Xmastime Hall of Famer, of course.