Many commentators are making much of Taylor Swift concerts drawing massive crowds– likening it to past phenomena such as the Beatles and Elvis Presley.

Can we put Taylor Swift in that category?

What Elvis and the Beatles both presented when they broke on the scene was the Robert Hughes term, “Shock of the New.” The entire aesthetic package they hit audiences with was unlike anything before seen.

Elvis Presley looked like a Greek god dressed as a combination pimp, carnival barker, and clown. His high-energy musical style was a synthesis of everyone from Ike Turner, Roy Brown, and Arthur Crudup, to Mario Lanza and Dean Martin.

The Beatles at the start were nothing so much as a male girl group in close-fitting suits, whose look surprised people as much as their sound.

Taylor Swift? She’s pretty enough, with a nice-enough voice. I’d classify her with Karen Carpenter and Olivia Newton-John. In presentation and music she breaks no new ground. Her safe familiarity, if anything, accounts for her appeal. Compare her with past iconic female singers– Tina Turner (Ike’s ex); Janis Joplin and Grace Slick with their megaphone-sized voices; Blondie’s quirky focal point Deborah Harry; sexy Janet Jackson (whose brother Michael was also a huge phenomenon); ultra-aggressive hyper-edgy Courtney Love; among others, and Taylor Swift underwhelms.

Which may say much about where we are as a culture now.

-K.W.