As you may have noticed, I am a student of artistic categories no one else knows anything about. In celebration of The Incumbent’s jump into the big game, where it has no one but itself to blame for its consistently abysmal “investment” results, here is a very sparse but very fun musical category:

Pop acts telling their record companies to go to hell.

First is Graham Parker, whose career was essentially ruined by “Mercury Poisoning.” Out of all the New Wave rockers, he’s the rockingest, and he should have been a stadium act in those first few years.

Next up is Cracker, and this is definitely not safe for anywhere:

Listen carefully. Shaggy-dog stories typically don’t hold up well in songs, but this one really works.

But this is a category of only two exemplars, as far as I’m aware. If you know of others, speak up.