Look at the numbers from @Wendell_Wagner’s post #36. Springsteen is a bit better-known than Cox (91% vs. 87%), and a bit better-liked (62% vs. 54%), but it isn’t a huge gap.
Can anyone find the YouGov polling results for some really bad actor, like Tommy Wiseau perhaps?
Now, she is. Up to mid-run for Friends, she wasn’t. In a few years, she probably won’t be. (How many TV stars from the 1950s do you even know by name?). But for this brief window in time, she may (or may not) eclipse Springsteen’s fame.
It doesn’t look like Wiseau is in their surveys, but Steven Seagal (for one example) is: 90% awareness, 45% popularity.
Bruce Springsteen is a top-tier musician whose most famous works are from 1973 to 1995.
I’m an older Millennial. I didn’t really watch Friends. I know who both Bruce Springsteen and Courtney Cox are. I would recognize Courtney Cox on sight, but not Springsteen.
I know he did “Born in the USA” but I don’t really know his other music, and I often get him confused with Bob Dylan.
I just read upthread that he did “Streets of Philadelphia,” a song I only know from the movie Philadelphia, which I have neutral feelings about.
If you asked me who was the most important and influential, I’d say Springsteen.
Famous? Probably depends on the generation.
I’m right on the cusp between Gen X and a Millennial. I know who both people are, but I have a very low number of songs where I know who the singer is. I know of “Born in the USA,” but didn’t know it was by Springsteen. I don’t really have a good idea in my head of what he sounds like, and no idea what he looks like. I mostly just think “BRUUUUCE!!!” when I think of him.
I knew Courteney Cox was in Friends and I show I believe was called Cougar Town. I may have heard she was in the Scream franchise, but I forgot about it. And I know that she had plastic surgery that didn’t go so well, though I think she’s since gotten it fixed. I don’t know if I’d recognize her today.
Am I wrong or does this not include Gen Z? because I think that would make a significant swing in Courteney’s direction.
They don’t break out their results to show Gen Z (as I noted), and it’s not entirely clear to me that they include a significant number of Gen Z respondents (most of whom aren’t even adults yet) in their overall sample.
Compared to Boomers or Millennials, there are a lot fewer adult Gen Zs (most market research surveys, like these, only include adult respondents – and sometimes only 21+); the oldest Gen Zs are only about 26, and the youngest are about 11.
While it wouldn’t surprise me at all that Cox would have higher awareness than Springsteen among Gen Z, inclusion of them in that overall sample probably wouldn’t move the overall numbers more than a couple of percentage points.
[quote=“kenobi_65, post:49, topic:993586, full:true”]
While true, this is about pop culture, where the youth demographic is king. And, even if they don’t push the overall needle all that much, it would be good to see their results broken out, to see if the balance changes.
I actually wonder how many people know who sang Born in the USA, or have even really heard it as anything other than background music. I mean, a whole lot of adults in older generations apparently have never listened to the lyrics.
Completely agreed, on both counts.
According to this site:
The Most Famous People (Q3 2023)
where
Fame is defined by the % of people who have heard of a person.
Springsteen is 168 among all adults and 273 with millennials
Cox is 301 among all adults and 213 with millennials
Morgan Freeman is the most popular?
Huh.
I didn’t even know she was in that video. The only thing I can remember about it off the top of my head is close-ups of Bruce’s crotch and butt in tight jeans. And I’m a straight man who doesn’t find Bruce attractive in any kind of sexual sense.
I completely forgot about that show. What are the odds that the only two people that watched it are on the same message board?
Make it three.
Every once in a while I’ll have occasion to look at old TV listings from 30 or 40 years ago. Back then, the three networks each hyped their new lineup every fall. There’s probably not a series from that era that I didn’t hear the name of at least once. Still, when I see the old listings there are several “I haven’t thought of that in decades” and a few "I have no memory of that at all"s.
I don’t know their methodology, but I have a very, very hard time believing that more people have heard of Mike Pence than have heard of Donald Trump.
Heh, not sure if Bob or Bruce is being slighted here.
My point of view is that Springsteen is (was) an incredibly talented musician, while Cox is (was) a pretty woman who took acting lessons.
I’m 45 and can only name “Born in the USA” and “Philadelphia”. If there is another famous song I should know, I plead ignorance.
I’ve never seen Friends and know who Courtney Cox is. I have, however, seen the Scream movies.