They claim in a paper that the PCE can be plotted in an N-shaped graph, with each phase lasting about ten years. In the case of Collins, 70, this tracks his ascent in popularity as a top solo artist in the Eighties, his fall from grace in the Britpop era before the period from 2001, when his work was “critically elevated to an even higher status than during its commercial peak”.
The researchers identify the PCE, a pattern of “cultural death followed by cultural resurrection”, as dependent on three groups over successive generations — fellow musicians, critics and fans. They said that it was fuelled, partly, by the natural contrarianism that encourages new generations to cast off the cultural baggage of their elders.
