In two albums and an EP, Justin Vernon has gone from unknown Wisconsinite indie musician that eschews the Mainstream to a guy participating in product placement and being nominated for four Grammy awards. The remarkable thing is that his music is seeming to just go up in quality.
There is scarcely a top of 2011 list that lacks Bon Iver’s self titled masterpiece. “Holocene” has been nominated for the record of the year Grammy alongside Katy Perry. Ignoring the blatant oddness of these two artists even being mentioned in the same category this is indicative of, dare I say it, the decreasing relevance of top 40 radio. Watered down pop music will always have a place in the industry, but what we are starting to see is the evening of the playing field. This leveling continues with the recent annoucement that Bon Iver will be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this coming February 4th, 2012.
Product placement? Explain yourself.
I was referring to his participation in the Bushmill’s Whiskey ad campaign (link: https://www.pitchfork.com/news/44210-bon-iver-joins-bushmills-ad-campaign/ ). Product placement might have been a poor choice of words. Reading this again it seems like maybe I’m being cynical – just using Vernon as an example of music of substance becoming more a part of pop culture, especially given that Bon Iver is an artist that came across as hipster-esque to me for a while.