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Notes -
What are great examples of "X is your favorite Y's favorite Y." The idea being that while your favorite Y finds great mainstream success and produces palatable hits, X is the fountainhead from which the real genius flows, the inside baseball avant-garde or the raw authentic source material, that your favorite Y translates for the public.
For example, Howlin' Wolf is, for many classic rock fans, your favorite musicians favorite musician. His music wasn't nearly as big as the Stones or Zeppelin, but the Stones and Zeppelin were listening to his records and that's where their hits came from. A lot of Wolf's later career was shows cosigned by white rock artists who loved his stuff.
Who is your favorite writers' favorite writer? Our favorite lifting coach's favorite lifting coach? Favorite chef's favorite chef? Favorite politician's favorite politician?
Taking this somewhat literally: Raymond Carver is my favorite writer's favorite writer. (Haruki Murakami talks about his admiration for Carver in many of his nonfiction pieces.)
In another area: Agnieszka Radwanska played a style of tennis that connoisseurs really appreciated, despite her lack of success at the absolute highest level. See also Fabrice Santoro.
To go completely afield: the Red Devil 4050 is your favorite pry bar user's favorite pry bar. Possessing especially the original version of this is a mark of taste and distinction in certain building trades.
Where do you get an original version of these? Amazon has 4050 and 4050CL, the latter having a mill finish so there’s risk of rust. The former apparently manufactured in China.
Well, the real story behind this: the 4050CL that you can get online is as good as it gets these days, and it's a good pry bar that will meet any typical need.
But - my dad has been a glazier for right on 40 years, and I used to go help him on jobs sometimes, and when we'd meet other glaziers, builders, etc., it happened unusually frequently that they'd comment on his ancient RD4050 from before they discontinued it in the 2000s. And lots of times these old farts would pull out their own old banged-up 4050s, and start telling stories about how they'd bought this one in 1993, etc., etc. It was the damnedest thing. Old glaziers are like that about all kinds of tools, but the Red Devil 4050 is the one that stands out in my mind by name. Even now, I'll go back home and stand around in his workshop, and he'll pull out the 4050 and say, "Bet you ain't got one of these." I'll say, "Give me one then!" and he'll say, "I can't, you can't get 'em no more. The new ones ain't as good."
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