Back in the day when the Smashing Pumpkins were producing trippy guitar rock that took you through the clouds, they were one of my favorite bands. I did not get into them until Siamese Dream, which came out in 1993 in the middle of my high school years. By the time I hit college in 1995, Mellon Collie became a rather permanent fixture in my CD player. A lot of the music that came out around that time - Under the Table and Dreaming (DMB), Odelay (Beck), New Miserable Experience (Gin Blossoms), and Deluxe (Better Than Ezra), to name a few, have come to be the soundtrack of college for me. That was back when it was still ok to like mainstream bands and when rock bands weren't forced to go to indie labels because they aren't deemed marketable enough for the masses.
I actually went to the record store to pick up Interpol's new album Our Love to Admire without realizing the Pumpkins' album was out, too. I knew one was to come out some time this summer and had planned on picking it up only because they had been one of my favorite bands. I expected it to be pretty bad, but wow, I am surprised. I've listened to it a few times now and with each listen it gets better. Like the Pumpkins' albums that defined my time in college, I believe this album might come to define Summer 2007 for me.
I only hope that something happens this summer to make it something I actually want to remember.
Arcade Fire put on a show last night that had everyone leaving with looks of awe on their faces. Next record comes out and these guys (and gals) are going to be selling out stadiums. It was incredible to watch ten people on stage playing violins, french horns, hurdy gurdy, upright bass, accordian, and of course, your good old rock and roll guitars, bass, and drums. I enjoyed watching them switch instruments - those guys are incredibly versatile musicians.
Win Butler, the main lead singer who stands at an impressive 6'4", easily stole the show from his bandmates. The guy has that rock star quality that makes me wonder how long his six bandmates (three who were on stage with them are not technically part of the band) will stick together. They seem to love playing with each other now, but it's only their second record after being together four years, and they have yet to suffer from the blinding lights of international superstardom, to which they are rapidly ascending.
The band's album Neon Bible is beautifully orchestrated social commentary about the state of the world today with America as its center. Win and his brother William are expats, born and raised in Texas but living in Canada where the rest of the band are from, so the album is kind of looking at America from the outside. Neon Bible debuted at Number 2 on the US and UK charts last month and Number 1 on the Candian and Irish charts. Considering Arcade Fire releases their records on Merge Records, an independent label, such high chart positions is quite a feat. Hurray for indie labels giving the corporations a run for their money!
The show began with a video of some evangelical crackhead ranting Jesus this, Jesus that, women should not wear high heels but combat boots to fight the fight for the Lord, and other nonsense before the band launched into Black Mirror. They proceeded to play nearly every song from Neon Bible and most of the songs from their debut Funeral.
The most poignant part of the night for me was during the song Windowsill, when the crowd seemed to shout the line "I don't want to live in America no more" a bit louder than the rest of the lines. It seems a lot of US citizens are looking to fill that America-shaped hole in their hearts left there by the destructive policies of this admininstration. Arcade Fire may be one of those bands that will help to vocalize what many of my generation are thinking these days.
I don't want to hear the noises on tv I don't want the salesmen coming after me I don't want to live in my father's house no more
I don't want it fast, I don't want it free I don't wanna show you what they done to me I don't want to live in my father's house no more
I don't want to choose black or blue I don't wanna see what they done to you I don't want to live in my father's house no more
because the tide is high and it's rising still and I don't want fear at my windowsill
I don't want to give 'em my name and address I don't want to see what happens next I don't want to live in my father's house no more
I don't want to live with my father's debt You can't forgive what you can't forget I don't want to live in my father's house no more
I don't want to fight in a holy war I don't want the salesmen knocking at my door I don't want to live in America no more
Because the tide is high And it's rising still And I don't want fear at my windowsill
I don't want to see it at my windowsill Don't want to see it at my windowsill Don't want to see it at my windowsill
MTV what have you done to me? Save my soul, set me free Set me free, what have you done to me? I can't breathe, I can't sleep World war three, when are you coming for me? Been kicking up sparks to set the flames free The windows are locked now, so what'll it be? A house on fire or rising sea?
Why is the night so still? Why did I take the pill? Because I don't want to see it at my windowsill I don't want to see it at my windowsill
Of course, without the music for which they are known, you can't get the full effect of the song. You can't really get it here, either, because the quality is piss poor:
They ended with the song I was hoping they would end with - Wake Up.
The show was easily worth the double face value I paid for the ticket. In fact, I would pay double that to see them again. Although I hope it doesn't happen for many years, I envision one day when U2 hands their instruments over to Arcade Fire like the Police did to U2 all of those years ago when they became the Biggest Band in the World. I guess, though, U2 doesn't have enough instruments to hand over!
They already have U2 connections, as Wake Up was the song U2 played right before they came on stage for the Vertigo Tour, and Arcade Fire opened three shows for them. And then there was this beautiful number:
The opening band, The National, was great, too. Good stuff.
One of the most vivid memories of videos on MTV from my childhood is the Genesis video for Land of Confusion. A Phil Collins led Genesis was one of the great political bands of the eighties and early nineties, and Land of Confusion is the greatest of all of their political songs.
The video, as you will see, starts with puppets of Ronald and Nancy Reagan going to bed. Ronnie begins to dream, first of marching boots, then of heads of famous people, including his own. Nancy opens the curtains and starts dancing with a monkey in front of a window. Outside, a bird suddenly blows up and turns into a cooked bird with a price tag. The dream then switches to Reagan pulling on a Superman suit. He goes outside and a dinosaur steps on his cape, and the two of them go to a movie theater and watch television, which Reagan channel surfs. At the end, a bunch of celebrity puppets - Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, and Dolly Parton among them - are singing, apparently in the spirit of We Are the World. It ends with Reagan hitting the nuke button instead of the nurse button, and the most poignant part of the whole video is when he makes a joke about it, like oops!
The President may have changed, but American political culture has not, unless you say it has gotten worse under the nasty, swinish behavior of Karl Rove. Bush certainly is a puppet in the sphere of neocons that has made a mess of the world. This song is still very relevant to today, given the same dinosaurs from the Cold War era are still running this country, television still dominates, and celebrity worship is a full time hobby for many. Truly one of the great videos - and great songs - of the eighties. Disturbed did a cover of the song in 2005 with an interesting video depicting materialism as a black dollar sign in a white circle on a red banner.
It's really too bad Phil Collins doesn't produce good quality music anymore, though he did in the nineties. As a solo artist, he has never really produced political songs, though songs such as Another Day in Paradise and Take Me Home are of the same topical vein as Genesis songs. Genesis is touring Europe this summer - I wouldn't mind seeing them if they come to the U.S. and don't charge a month's salary for tickets. And it'd be great if they can put out an Iraq-inspired album before Bush leaves office.
I was sitting at my desk this morning daydreaming about baseball and looking out at the brilliant blue sky and the church steeple that reaches to the clouds not too far from where I live, when Revolution 9 comes on. Normally I'd just skip to the next song, but for some reason, I wanted to listen to it.
It took me awhile to understand the significance of the Beatles. Growing up, when I heard a Beatles song on a watered down classic rock station, it was usually the bubble gum pop stuff from the early days, like Do You Want to Know a Secret? and P.S. I Love You. I later came to appreciate those songs, but it wasn't until I understood that the reason those songs sounded like pop songs is because the Beatles were the first ones to make songs sound like that.
As I was only three years old when John Lennon was killed, a sort of mystique had always enshrouded the band in my mind. Who was this guy John Lennon? Why was he worshiped as some sort of god? Why was his assassination considered to be on the same level of JFK, RFK, or MLK?
The evolution of my knowledge about music was pretty slow and really did not start to develop until U2 released Achtung Baby!, which was about the strangest music I had ever heard at the time. I was in 8th grade. I bought the cassette tape, but it took me about a year before something clicked and I began to understand the significance of rock music. I still didn't get the significance of the Beatles until I was out of college. Then again, I've always been sort of slow to understand how the world works. I don't know if that is a result of bad schooling or being sheltered from the real world while growing up in Southwest Ohio or simply my tendency to produce tangent thoughts instead of focusing on the task at hand, but it really wasn't until I went to Europe during my junior year of college that I woke up and began to notice that the Earth is rather wobbly on its axis and that a lot of people just plain suck. I've been trying to catch up on all that missed knowledge ever since.
With Revolution 9 playing, I did some googling of the song. I found a breakdown by minutes of each part and was amazed to discover the intricate structure of the song - the noise was actually organized! And yeah, it really is a good soundtrack for a violent revolution - it is what I imagine Iraq to sound like right now.
That being said, next time it comes up in the scramble, I'll probably skip it.
Justice through Music just released its "Rock Your Rights 2" DVD. It is a 60 minute "Rockumentary" featuring 21 bands and musicians urging people to vote and get involved. They also discuss issues such as war, the death penalty, and privacy; that tends to get very interesting.
This release features full concert performances by some of the bands, with the song in its entirety. Some of the bands include Dar Williams, Indigo Girls, Ministry, and many others.
That's my cup o'tea - I have a blog on each of the topics (Church of Baseball and washingtonrox). John Mellencamp's performance of the anti-Bush song "Our Country" before Game 2 on Sunday was a pleasant surprise and a welcome change from the corporate censorship that we've seen over the past six years on television.
It's too bad the song is used for Chevy ads (and is played every commercial break!) It's a good song. Verses:
I can stand beside Things I think are right (Remember, Mellencamp was harshly criticized by middle America for taking a stance against Bush, especially after he put out his protest song To Washington.) And I can stand beside The idea to stand and fight (When it is necessary. He is against the Iraq War.) And I do believe There’s a dream for everyone (Not just for elites. He's always believed this - just listen to his songs like Little Pink Houses.) This is our country
There's room enough here For science to live (Obvious slap at the religious right.) And there's room enough here For religion to forgive (Another slap.) And try to understand The other people of this world (This one's blatant, too.) This is our country
That poverty could be Just another ugly thing And bigotry could be Seen only as obscene And the ones that run this land Will help the poor and common man (Amen!) This is our country
The dream will never leave And some day it will come true And it’s up to me and you To do the best that we can do And let the voice of freedom Sing out through this land (Free at last, free at last, God Almighty, we are free at last!) This is our country
When do I get paid for all the money you made Selling souls on Capitol Hill Another law's been passed designed to break your ass And keep the middle class quiet and still You talk a lot about justice and then go and bust us Except for a chosen few I've got a God-given right to smoke whatever I like So tell me how it got given to you...Motherfuckers The monkey looks back at his foot in the trap And it's the boogie man coming for you He sells you a spade to dig out your own grave And you can cover yourself when you're through I never just say no so take your slogans and go I'm gonna spell it so there ain't no doubt 'Cause I'm the one with the other I'm a bad motherfucker And my bullet's gonna find you out Four billion people all strung out of their minds On power trips and slaving ships Not seeing that they're blind One day I'll be in front of you One day I'll be in front of you Put up your hands, give me all your money Don't think, don't blink, 'cause I can't rely on you I sold myself, and I'll sell you with me Don't blink, don't think, that I can rely on you Mothers and fathers, it's your sons and daughters That they're selling to the prison cells Why so afraid of the flesh you've made And the lies that the preachers tell Well I was born to run on the light of the sun And the smell of the woman's wrist I'm out of things to say, so here's a raw display And the power of the silent truth Four billion people all strung out of their minds On power trips and slaving ships Not seeing that they're blind One day I'll be in front of you One day I'll be in front of you Put up your hands, give me all your money Don't think, don't blink, 'cause I can't rely on you I sold myself, and I'll sell you with me Don't blink, don't think, that I can rely on you Put up your hands, give me all your money Don't think, don't blink, 'cause I can't rely on you I sold myself, and I'll sell you with me Don't blink, don't think, that I can rely on you Put up your hands, give me all your money Don't think, don't blink, 'cause I can't rely on you I sold myself, and I'll sell you with me Don't blink, don't think, that I can rely on you Put up your hands...Put up your hands...Put up your hands...
Wow. That performance was intense. I actually watched Monday Night Football last night, and I'm pretty indifferent about football. This wasn't about football though, it was about symbols. We as humans are dependent on symbols as tangible reminders of intangible concepts like memory, emotion, ideology, and god. It's why we build memorials and monuments and statues.
The Superdome had come to symbolize the tragedy of the storm that swallowed an American city. Last night, that stadium came to symbolize the resilience of the human spirit, hope, and rebirth. I cried to my daddy on the telephone, How long now, Until the clouds unroll and you come home the line went, But the shadows still remain since your descent. The song I tuned into watch, a cover of The Skids' The Saints Are Coming, performed by U2 and Green Day, could not have been more fitting. Not only did the title work for the football team and the lyrics fit the flood, but the underlying darkness and anger that was driven by The Edge's guitar and Tres Cool's drums spoke of loss, human suffering, and the mess that was made by those we've elected to protect the general welfare. The darkness behind the music was countered by Bono's ever-present message of hope and redemption.
A drowning sorrow floods the deepest grief, How long now, Until a weather change condemns belief, The stone says this paternal guide once had his day. The two bands performed together to benefit Music Rising, a charity to help New Orleans musicians acquire new instruments and reestablish the musical tradition of the birthplace of jazz. The Edge and producer Bob Erzin wanted to bring the music back to New Orelans, so they and Gibson Guitars formed the organization.
From the few criticisms I've seen of the show, the comment seems to be "what does U2 have to do with New Orleans?" The haters never cease to find something to bitch about, do they? Musicians and other artists share a common bond; I pity the soulless creatures who don't understand music, who cannot be moved by the mathematics of sound, who find nothing but contempt in their hearts.
See Gentilly and Lakeview Crescent City right in front of you Birds sing in broken trees They're coming home to New Orleans Lower 9th will rise again Above the waters of Lake Pontchartrain See the bird with the leaf in her mouth After the flood all the colors came out.
How is it that more than a year later, New Orleans is still a disaster? Why are we spending billions of dollars a year on a war in a foreign land when mother nature has fought a war with us on our own soil? Why can't we spend money on problems in our own country? The saints are coming, the saints are coming, I say no matter how I try, I realise there's no reply.
It's too bad it was a mere football game, for those who felt something last night probably forgot it this morning (Never Forget!™ echo, echo, echo...) Still, being able to play a football game in that wreck of the stadium was a giant step forward in rebuilding the great American city of New Orleans. Oh yeah, the Saints have come back, come hell and high water. Here's to hoping the rest of the city comes back, too. How long now?
You can download the song here - proceeds go to Music Rising. The video of the entire performance of Wake Me Up When September Ends/The Saints Are Coming/Beautiful Day can also be found there for a limited time.
Music for Troops™ Inc. is a nonprofit, charitable organization founded by performer / songwriter, Cat Hughes. Cat has sent over 200,000 copies of her songs to the USA troops around the world. The mission of Music for Troops is to send music to the members of the USA armed forces at home and away from home.
Music is donated from the entertainment industry at large and sent to our troops free of charge in a secured multimedia transfer method. All copyright and other lawful obligations are strictly adhered to.
"I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.'' ~ Voltaire (the real quote, not the misquote.)
Great. I haven't even been to work a half hour and I've already been upset by a rather un-American email message, one about Madonna, nonetheless. No stranger to controversy, Madonna has challenged her Catholic upbringing time and time again. Everyone knows by now about her "crucifixion" on the current Confessions Tour, as everyone from the Pope to the Russian Orthodox Church has condemned it. The ironic part about it is that people are calling it anti-Christian and a mockery of Christ when the purpose is
"to bring attention to the millions of children in Africa who are dying every day (or) are living without care, without medicine and without hope. I am asking people to open their hearts and minds to get involved in whatever way they can."
That isn't anti-Christian, it's the definition of Christianity!
Yes, it's called a "mock" crucifixion because it is not real. That is what mock means; it is not "mocking" the crucifixion, and it sure as hell isn't mocking Christ! Every Easter, Catholics across the world perform "mock" crucifixions when they go through the stations of the cross. It's a simple imitation. Are you making fun of turtlenecks when you wear a "mock" turtleneck? This is a lack of understanding of the English language!
Since the summer, Clear Channel Communications, the company responsible for ruining radio and the owner of a majority of radio stations in this country, has not regularly played songs from her latest album Confessions on a Dance Floor, despite a demand for them, including an online petition that was delivered to the company. They claimed the music wasn't right for top 40, but Madonna had no problems getting her songs on the radio in the rest of the world.
Now, NBC is pondering pulling the broadcast of her concert special Live to Tell, recorded during the latest leg of her hugely popular and equally controversial Confessions tour, because some people WHO HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN IT are "offended." How do you know it's offensive if you haven't seen it? This isn't judging a book by it's cover; it's judging a book by hearing the title spoken!
Remember when people screamed "freedom of speech!" when Muslims were upset over the cartoon of Mohammed with a bomb on his head? (According to their religion, it is a grave sin to depict the Prophet at all.) Madonna may have no taste, but she is no bigot, and she is entitled to express herself (no pun intended.) See, the great thing about America is that we have this thing called "freedom of speech."
To those who may sign the petition to NBC to get the show pulled: If you're offended, please don't watch it. It really is that simple. Don't take something from other people just because you don't like it. If you are worried about your children seeing it, maybe you need to have more control over them - don't let them watch so much television, or let them watch it and explain to them that she is pleading for help for African children who don't have enough to eat. Once you start taking away one person's right to speak, others will follow, and then one day, you may find yourself in a position where you no longer have a voice. Don't give your freedom to the corporations. Please show your support for free speech - tell NBC not to cave into pressure from religious extremists and people who disrespect the United States Constitution. Sign my petition to NBC in support of broadcasting the show (even if you don't plan to watch it.)
The rumors are flying about Guns N Roses' Chinese Democracy coming out at the end of the year, including in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. If it resembles anything close to Use Your Illusion, it should be a good one. Of course, without Slash...who knows? It better be good - it's taken nine years to make it. (A forum has been up for five years on the album.) Hell, the album has taken so long it better cause a revolution somewhere!
The vastly changed and Slashless band is touring throughout autumn, though it remains to be seen if Axl will bother to show up.
I'm listening to Civil War right now, a song I've always thought incredible, maybe the best on both of the Illusion albums. This one goes out to the troops who are out fighting for our country when Bushie and his cronies will get the spoils:
Look at your young men fighting Look at your women crying Look at your young men dying The way they've always done before
Look at the hate we're breeding Look at the fear we're feeding Look at the lives we're leading The way we've always done before
My hands are tied The billions shift from side to side And the wars go on with brainwashed pride For the love of God and our human rights And all these things are swept aside By bloody hands time can't deny And are washed away by your genocide And history hides the lies of our civil wars
D'you wear a black armband When they shot the man Who said "Peace could last forever" And in my first memories They shot Kennedy I went numb when I learned to see So I never fell for Vietnam We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all That you can't trust freedom When it's not in your hands When everybody's fightin' For their promised land
I don't need your civil war It feeds the rich while it buries the poor Your power hungry sellin' soldiers In a human grocery store Ain't that fresh I don't need your civil war
Look at the shoes your filling Look at the blood we're spilling Look at the world we're killing The way we've always done before Look in the doubt we've wallowed Look at the leaders we've followed Look at the lies we've swallowed And I don't want to hear no more
My hands are tied For all I've seen has changed my mind But still the wars go on as the years go by With no love of God or human rights 'Cause all these dreams are swept aside By bloody hands of the hypnotized Who carry the cross of homicide And history bears the scars of our civil wars
I really am excited for the new album and will be picking it up on the day it comes out, whenever that may be.
The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin A nuclear error, but I have no fear Cause London is drowning and I live by the river ~The Clash, 1979
Aren't you glad we don't have to worry about getting nuked anymore?
U2 and Green Day will perform live, together, to mark the opening of Louisiana Superdome later this month. Before the football game between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints, the two bands will perform a cover of The Skids track ‘The Saints Are Coming’ and a download will raise funds for Music Rising.
Oh, how awesome this will be! If it weren't on U2's official site, I wouldn't believe it to be true. Additionally, the two bands are currently recording the song at Abbey Road Studio. Read about it on Green Day's site.
Go check out Music Rising for more information on how you can bring the music back to New Orleans.
I hope the Saints come back in full force this year and bring some comfort to those who still suffer in New Orleans.
And in related news: U2 are in the studio recording new songs!
Vice President Cheney offered a veiled attack yesterday on critics of the administration's Iraq policy, saying the domestic debate over the war is emboldening adversaries who believe they can undermine the resolve of the American people.
This is the second member of this administration in the past couple of weeks who has made it clear that he does not tolerate debate in this country, as Rumsfeld made the same statements during a speech in Colorado last week, which were condemned in brilliant, incisive commentary by Keith Olbermann on MSNBC:
This kind of no dissent speech coming from this administration is rather frightening, given the fact that we don't know the extent to which the NSA is spying on people and the fact that no Supreme Court decision seems to stop these people from doing whatever the hell they want. The infallibility perception of this country is astounding. History repeats itself because of human nature, because greed and power are lusted after time and time again, because our all too short existence means humans believe "it won't happen to me." Who does it happen to, then? Do you fools who blindly support this administration honestly believe that Germans in the thirties were evil, stupid people? Supressing dissent is the behavior of fascists and dictators.
A timeless classic from Midnight Oil, My Country, sums it all up:
was it just a dream, were you so confused was it just a giant leap of logic was it the time of year, that makes a state of fear methods, were their motives for the action
and did i hear you say my country right or wrong
did you save your face did you breach your faith women, there were children at the shelter now who can stop the hail when human senses fail there was never any warning, no escape
did i hear you say my country right or wrong my country oh so strong my country going wrong my country right or wrong
i hear you say the truth must take a beating the flag a camouflage for your deceiving i know we all make mistakes
Toad the Wet Sprocket was one of my favorite bands of the nineties. I still listen to them quite often. They did a tour this summer, but unfortunately I didn't get to see them.
Glen Phillips has an awesome voice. I hope Toad makes a big comeback.
I was born when the punk movement was in full swing, which is a shame, because I know I could have identified with it had I been cognizant of the world back then. Even flow the nineties produced some great music during what was horribly titled the grunge period, when I look in the rearview mirror, I see how the music was strangled by the tragedies of corporate rock, how even Pearl Jam, arguably the best band of the period (although U2 wins the decade hands down - Achtung Baby! and Zooropa, well, I could write about Zoo TV and Berlin all day long), suffered from the totalitarianism of record companies.
From an outsider's perspective, a person too young to experience punk but who has an appreciation of rock enough to understand it, the rawness and the angst and the anger made punk the epitome of socially conscious rock, true political music, and a movement that will forever hold a prominent place in the history of rock and roll. I randomly stumbled into an Avengers show last Thursday, and the music was still relevant, still raw, still full of energy. The American in Me could have been written for the Bush administration; indeed, Penelope Houston sang the song at a Dean rally in San Francisco back in 2003. Any friend of Howard is a friend of mine.
It's the American in me says it an honor to die in a war that's just a politician's lie It's the American in me that makes me watch TV see how they burn the SLA
If I close my eyes, I can conjure up the images of seeing bands like the Avengers at the Old Waldorf in 1979 (it helps that I now have a CD to listen to), but I'll never know what it was like to live through the time. If we ever needed a rock movement, now is the time, with perpetual war, a whole continent dying, greed and materialism running rampant, etc, etc, etc. Fortunately, punk isn't dead. Its spirit lives on in bands like Green Day, Arctic Monkeys, Libertines/Dirty Pretty Things/Babyshambles, and Franz Ferdinand. Green Day put out a brilliant album in American Idiot, but it remains to be seen if the momentum from that album (still going strong after three years!) can carry over.
Oh yeah, and even at 50, Penelope Houston kicks ass. It was a good show.
If Gwen Stefani had any credibility left, it's gone now:
Gwen Stefani is no longer just a girl. Now she's a doll, too. The singer, actress and fashion designer announced Tuesday that she will bring her trademark rock 'n' roll style to the toy industry with a series of limited-edition dolls.
There are eight dolls in all, and Stefani has dubbed the line Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Fashion Dolls. Each wears one of the colorful looks Stefani sported on her latest world tour.
The dolls will be available for $24.95 at Target.com and other retailers.
Chinese punk rock sounds about as ridiculous as Hasidic Jew reggae rappers, doesn't it? Today's WaPo takes a look at punk in China. Punk, though it brings visions of white boy angst to mind, is the perfect anti-Commie music, a music of rebellion against authority, and it works well in the Chinese situation.
A few parts of the article were thought-provoking, thoughts colored in red, white, and blue:
The obstacles to China's music, filmmaking and painting are not always from government censors. China's pressure-cooker university system has been criticized for destroying creativity and preparing students only for exams. Much of the most interesting art is found underground. Often, it is society that is unsupportive.
A single chill falls down my spine. My own country comes to mind, a land where society has no appreciation for art, where artists are called "weird," where hicks like Britney Spears sell albums, where the more explosions in a movie, the more tickets are sold. One part of the population labels artists as "hippies" or "leftists" because they dare to make statements against government or society. Our own education system produces a lot of nothing, people who come away with a university degree without critical thinking or analytical skills, mere pieces of paper they got because they paid the money to do so.
"The government told people you should live for money, a house, a car, a bigger house. So more people get rich and more people get poor."
Here, again, we see harrowing similarities in the United States. Bush and his business cronies live for money. They talk about the "American Dream" of home ownership. The income gap in this country has become a chasm, and you have Freeper-types who chant "mine, mine, mine!" everytime some mentions the word "poor."
China has their morality police who make sure Chinese can't see anything sexual, especially homosexual. America has its own morality police trying to ban everything they don't like. Indeed, an evangelical crackhead just defeated incumbent John Schwartz in Michigan.
Lei Jun, lead singer of the punk band Misando, pretty much sums it up: "Of course the government tells you what to do. It tells Americans what to do," he said. "The politics everywhere are ugly. It looks different here, but the nature of it is the same."
What do you get when the Son of the Gods of Rock buys a large chunk of a leading business magazine? Hope. Here you have a guy who thinks of people before profits owning information about investment.
The Forbes family, children of Malcolm Forbes whose father B.C. Forbes founded Forbes magazine and ensuing empire, has sold a minority stake in the company to private equity group Elevation Partners which includes mono-monikered U2 frontman Bono.
The numbers aren't public but NYT writer David Carr reports hearing that the Elevation stake is over 40% at a price tag of $250 - $300 million.
According to Steve Forbes, Elevation was a natural partner for Forbes because of their technology and new-media savvy: "They are not just a source of capital; they are a source of insight." Forbes said that Forbes had taken a hit in the digital age. Carr has written previously about Bono and U2's marketing savvy and ability to adapt to changing times. Carr reports that Elevation was clearly "buying into a Web site with a magazine attached, as opposed to the other way around." Forbes.com reported 10 million unique visitors in June.
What does this mean? Well, on the surface, not much. But when you give the most powerful figure in rock, indeed, one of the most powerful guys on the planet when it comes to influence on and persuasion of policymakers across the globe, a voice in the direction the business magazine goes, you are definitely giving business an injection of morality.
Control the media, control the world. This step may seem like a small one, but it may just turn out to be a giant leap towards a more moral global business environment. God knows big business certainly needs it.
TV on the Radio is one of my favorite "new" bands out there. Not only is their sound amazingly cool, but their lyrics are overtly political and have a high intellectual quality to them, something always appreciated in the mindnumbing density of today's music business. Apparently David Bowie loves this band, which is funny, because some of their songs are downright Bowiesque, not to mention he sings on Province, the third track of their latest album, Return to Cookie Mountain, which was released a couple of weeks ago. TV's lead singer, Tunde Adebimpe, reminds me a lot of Peter Gabriel, a sweet, melodious voice with a hint of anger and a flood of passion.
I have visions of a family eating processed food in front of Faux News when I hear the lyrics to Bomb Your Country:
Bomb your country Oh shed no tears TV dinner overfed your fears So make your money And spread your seed Better lap up luxuries But acknowledge need You've made a family Now kill 'em dead Oh it's not me Ma It's what the TV said Your final fantasy for your Final days Oh baby it's the infancy In so many ways Bomb your country Then sit and smile Why don't you lay back easy Just wait a while Just wait a while
So baby bomb your country And sit and smile Oh baby lay back easy Just wait a while Just wait a while
As I sit under the glowing residue of a thunderous sky, the air thick with humidity that has nowhere to go, my thoughts are on the violence of the storms we've witnessed this year. When I was growing up in the swampy summer air of Southwest Ohio, afternoon thunderstorms were a given. Sure, they'd knock the power out of our country house long enough to make us have to reset our clocks, but we never thought the house was going to blow over or that pieces of the sky would come crashing through the roof.
With each passing year bringing about weather that feels like the sky has been ripped open and the wound is bleeding storms, the evidence of climate change is undeniable to everyone but a neocon with an agenda. We can see it. We can feel it. We watch its destructive force. It kills. The agony of those who lose their houses, their livelihoods, or their lives is seen far too often on television or in newspaper photos. You've seen the pictures of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods. You know what? Those people that suffered those storms, they didn't piss off some divine force to cause their misery. No, these are normal people. You could pass them on the street, buy a coffee from them, perhaps sell something to them yourself in your job. And guess what? It can happen to you, too. (And U2, too.)
In 2003, Pearl Jam joined forces with Conservation International to fight the good fight. Their efforts continue, and earlier this year, they developed the Carbon Portfolio Strategy.
The Carbon Portfolio Strategy is the newest component of our ongoing efforts to advance clean renewable energy and carbon mitigation. Through this Strategy, we will donate a total of $100,000 to nine organizations doing innovative work around climate change, renewable energy, and the environment.
Once in awhile you discover something about an old song that you never knew, something that inspires you to think about it a little more, or perhaps a lot more. I really like Dave Matthews' Some Devil album, but I don't listen to it all that often, as it can be rather depressing. Today, though, I got it out. As I put the CD into my computer, I noticed some jacket notes under the spot where the CD goes. One of the notes discusses the source of inspiration for the first track, Dodo:
Some years ago I was visiting a friend of mine on the coast of Maine. In his house, there was a collection of old National Geographic magazines, some as old as the nineteen-thirties. It was interesting to see how popular American culture viewed Adolf Hitler before the full fury of World War II. The view was quite favorable. It's strange how things change.
Germans have had to deal with the shame of Hitler's legacy for more than sixty years, while the rest of the world, partially thanks to the Hollywood obsession with the Nazis, equated Germany with the swastika, even as another brutal form of government oppressed many of the German people. However, like Dave says, we forget, either conveniently or shamefully, that Adolf Hitler was a popular person during his rise to power, not only in Germany, but across the world. He was especially favored by the global business community; indeed, his policies toward business were so favored by some businessmen that many continued to do business with German companies throughout the entire war, businessmen like Prescott Bush, Dubya's granddaddy, and Henry Ford. Now that's treason.
If you mention these truths to a certain type of American, they look at you in horror, like you support the Nazis yourself. Somehow in American popular culture, facts have become subjective, and the quest for knowledge has become something only "elitists" do. Our system of education has fallen into decay, our schools are crumbling, our playgrounds are war zones. University has become a place where you go to drink beer and get a job rather than an education, and if a fact contradicts your belief system, well then, that fact is simply wrong.
Dave sums it up well in Dodo:
Once upon a time When the world was just a pancake Fears would arise That if you went too far you’d fall But with the passage of time It all became more of a ball. We’re as sure of that As we all once were when the world was flat
So I wonder this As life billows smoke inside my head This little game where nothing is sure, oh Why would you play by the rules? Who did, you did, you Who did, you did, you
When was she killed The very last dodo bird And was she aware She was the very last one
If all the things that you are saying love Were true enough but still What is all the worrying about When you can work it out When you can work it
Veteran rocker Neil Young's new political CD, "Living with War," is one of the hottest sellers in the nation -- number three on Amazon's list today...The CD, which includes several antiwar songs and "Let's Impeach the President," was recorded hastily this spring...The two CDs ahead of it on Amazon this afternoon were by fellow "antiwar activists" -- the Dixie Chicks and Bruce Springsteen.
Recently we passed the three year anniversary of "shock and awe," when bombs rained down on Baghdad like human life doesn't mean a thing. Unlike Vietnam in the good old hippy-laden sixties, not many people seemed to give a damn about dead Iraqis and US soldiers. They were too afraid that some "turist" was gonna destroy their property to care if limbs were being ripped from bodies and widows were becoming a growing demographic.
Some people have cared. There have been some great anti-war songs put out in the past few years, but our self-absorbed driven population is out of touch with their souls and their brains and have lost their capacity for feeling and thought, so these songs don't get as much air time as they should, and they don't incite action against our nation's own version of terrorism. Maybe they are stuck somewhere in TV Land, maybe their souls died in their pharmaceutical comas. Whatever it is, the utter lack of social awareness and concern for other people is a shameful tumble towards societal disintegration. Country music isn't getting it done, that's for sure. Sure, there are a couple country musicians who seem to have thoughts in their heads, like Tim McGraw, for example, who played Live 8 last year to a crowd of apathetic Italians, but for the most part, singing about how you are proud to be a redneck is just another sign that America is in decline. The sad thing is that the people who scream "Proud to be an American!" the loudest and who wave their flags the fastest are the ones most contributing to our nation's downfall.
By no means am I saying that all country music is bad, but for the most part, today's popular country music has no soul. All but gone are the stories of Johnny Cash and the lyrics of justice by Willie Nelson. Instead, the country is left with some sappy, simple, made-for-profit studio pop with a slide guitar and twang in the vocals.
Rock music was born as a social movement, which is, of course, the theme of this blog. In rock lives a rage towards injustice, a spiritual awareness that strives to save this world from its own destruction.
With that said, I present my favorite anti-war songs (or references to the war) of the last couple of years.
Green Day - Holiday Favorite lines: This whole song is good, can't pick favorites.
Hear the sound of the falling rain Coming down like an Armageddon flame The shame The ones who died without a name
Hear the dogs howling out of key To a hymn called "Faith and Misery" And bleed, the company lost the war today
Hear the drum pounding out of time Another protestor has crossed the line To find, the money's on the other side
Can I get another Amen? There's a flag wrapped around a score of men A gag, a plastic bag on a monument
Sieg Heil to the president gasman Bombs away is your punishment Pulverize the Eiffel towers Who criticize your government Bang bang goes the broken glass and Kill all the fags that don't agree Trials by fire, setting fire Is not a way that's meant for me Just cause, just cause, because we're outlaws yeah! REM - Final Straw Favorite lines:
If hatred makes a play on me tomorrow And forgiveness takes a back seat to revenge There's a hurt down deep that has not been corrected. There's a voice in me that says you will not win.
REM - I Wanted to Be Wrong Favorite lines:
The rodeo is staged, gold circle goat-ropers and clowns. A rumble in the third act, tie 'em up and burn 'em down. We're armed to the teeth, born a little breech; Blue-plate special analysts, cells and SUV's
We can't approach the Allies 'cause they seem a little peeved And speak a language we don't understand. Franz Ferdinand - Walk Away Favorite lines: Whole song
I swapped my innocence for pride Crushed the end within my stride Said 'I'm strong now I know that I'm a leaver" I love the sound of you walking away Mascara bleeds a blackened tear And I am cold Yes I'm cold But not as cold as you are I love the sound of you walking away
Why don't you walk away? No buildings will fall down No quake will split the ground The sun won't swallow the sky Statues will not cry
I cannot turn to see those eyes As apologies may rise I must be strong and stay an unbeliever And love the sound of you walking away Mascara bleeds into my eye I'm not cold<
Back in the day when the Smashing Pumpkins were producing trippy guitar rock that took you through the clouds, they were one of my favorite bands. I did not get into them until Siamese Dream, which came out in 1993 in the middle of my high school years. By the time I hit college in 1995, Mellon Collie became a rather permanent fixture in my CD player. A lot of the music that came out around that time - Under the Table and Dreaming (DMB), Odelay (Beck), New Miserable Experience (Gin Blossoms), and Deluxe (Better Than Ezra), to name a few, have come to be the soundtrack of college for me. That was back when it was still ok to like mainstream bands and when rock bands weren't forced to go to indie labels because they aren't deemed marketable enough for the masses.
