POP ‘FLOPS’

Thank you so much, Robert Hilburn, for finally telling the world what matters (“ ‘Pop’ Flops to the Top,” July 6).

I am a huge fan of U2, but also enjoy R.E.M. and Pearl Jam. And it is terribly disheartening to see that their new albums, which actually didn’t do that poorly in sales overall, are getting “reamed” because they aren’t matching the super sales of previous albums.

But let’s toss sales aside. Hilburn is correct in stating that quantity is hardly quality. I have even heard some U2 fans comment on how “great” U2 is based on album sales. Rubbish! The Spice Girls have released possibly the worst album I have ever heard (and I own some Yoko Ono stuff!) and they are dominating the charts. When their next album flops (and you know it will; currently, groups have turned from “one-hit wonders” to “one-album wonders”), they will be cast aside. But years from now, people will still talk about “Pop.”

JOHN J. HLAVATY

South Bend, Ind.

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Someone needs to buy Bono a thesaurus. “Poop” has two o’s, not one.

ERNIE MAIWALD

Irvine

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It is refreshing to find someone in the media listening to the music instead of reading finance reports to decide what a great album really is.

MADELINE HILL

Modesto

Many of pop’s greatest works were poor sellers (such as the entire catalogs of Big Star and the Velvet Underground), proving that art has nothing whatsoever to do with commercial performance.

Hilburn failed to name the freshest, most exhilarating album so far this year: “Shapes and Patterns” by Swing Out Sister.

FREDRIC COOPER

Torrance