Genius, Icon, Or Legend? Or, Not?

I am a legend in my own mind. Who are the real geniuses, icons, and legends? The pop culture critic for the Austin fishwrap makes his own nominations. If this is (fair & balanced) anti-hagiology, so be it.


[x Austin Fishwrap]
Genius, icon, or legend? Most are faces in the crowd
They might be artful, but many don't merit being put on pedestal
By Michael Corcoran

Have any three words been so devalued by overuse as legend, genius and icon? These days, those words get tossed around like peanuts at a ballpark. Legendary status used to be the domain of folk heroes such as Paul Bunyan or nascent blues great Robert Johnson.

Nowadays, a legend is someone who's been around for a long time or someone or something no longer with us that people still talk about. Hence, local blues fixture W.C. Clark is a legend. The Black Cat Lounge is a legendary live music club. I've even seen James McMurtry described as a legend, which makes as much sense as putting Britney Spears on the cover of Parenting magazine. You have to earn it. There are only a handful of people still living who could correctly be called legends.

A genius used to describe an Albert Einstein, a Thomas Edison; someone of supernatural intellect who was able to change the world with their mind and vision. In 2007, a genius is a baseball manager who tugs his ear to call a hit and run at the right time or a TV producer with three shows on the air or a hip-hop producer who knows which bass lines to steal. Everything is "genius" these days; if they did truly modernize the dictionary, as to the way words are really used, "genius" would mean anything that took some thought.

And then there's the word "icon," which used to designate an important and enduring symbol — an idol — but has been so watered down that it's often handed out to just about anyone of note. Isaac Mizrahi is a fashion icon. Bob Costas is a sports TV icon. Lindsay Lohan is a pop culture icon. That guy who glues little figurines to the roof of his cab is a local transportation icon.

There are almost more legendary iconic geniuses out there as there are former reality show cast members.

It's time to take back what were once three of the most powerful words one could attach to another. We can't let "legend," "genius" and "icon" become rendered as meaningless as "excellent" and "awesome" have in recent years. Let's restore them to their former glory and return to when a legend was a legend, a genius was a genius and an icon was not just something you clicked on. Below is a guide to who earns those titles and who doesn't. Click on the image to enlarge.


Michael Corcoran moved to Austin in 1984, from Honolulu, a town he loathed while growing up, but can't stop writing about. Corcoran, who most closely resembles the token white bouncer on Soul Train, has written for the Austin American-Statesman since 1995. When in need of an ego deflation, he checks out the Amazon ranking of his book "All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music," which came out in October. (No. 794,622, eat my dust!) He knew as early as sixth grade that he wanted to be a music critic, All the other kids used to pretend to be Mick Jagger; he used to fantasize that he knew Mick Jagger. Corcoran never gets tired of that joke.

Copyright © 2007 Austin American-Statesman

Get an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Reader at no cost from Google at Google Reader. Another free Reader is available at RSS Reader.