Chris from Do You Feel Loved? sent me a link to this great introduction-to-Serge-Gainsbourg article from the New York Times (registration required).
Apparently, Gainsbourg is gaining all sorts of popularity in non-francophone countries. But, of course, imitators be damned!
Beck and his ilk try to emulate Gainsbourg -- get bad haircuts, strike ridiculous lothario poses -- but they can't resist winking at the audience: "Don't worry, I get the joke." Gainsbourg never flinched; he was authentically cool, and he reveled in tackiness with gusto and confidence. Listening to his tuneful, obscene, witty records, we encounter an original: a musician with the nerve, and the chops, to make great art out of bad taste.
The timing of this article is right: another Serge biography is coming out in September.
