That’s well said and I totally understand. There definitely is a subset of the base like that, and to some degree even I with all of my unbridled enthusiasm / insufferableness am part of it.
I think my frustration is more derived from those outside of that set. I don’t think he’s ever going to get widespread praise from the fans or real critical acclaim unless he meets a very specific, very contradictory, rather impossible set of criteria (think the Simpsons’ focus group scene). And I don’t think other bands need to come anywhere close to meeting the same standards to receive a lot of praise, let alone any at all. Albums guilty of the criticisms lobbed at his work routinely make album of the year lists (many of which I like).
I guess this situation existing is kind of an accidental roundabout validation of Billy as the defining and most talented artist of his generation, so I should be happy. Kind of like how a typical player in the NBA can throw up a 25-10-8 and it’s a great game, whereas Lebron James can throw up a 30-12-10 and be met with “he doesn’t have heart, he should have willed himself to score 40.”
