Curfew time, hippie scum!"I think about Crosby doing his thing in the 60's and 70's and then I think about the musicians out there today. It's depressing. We have gone from musicians like Dave Crosby, Curtis Mayfield, & Marvin Gaye, (regardless of genre) to Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Snoop Dog and the gangster rap culture."
Sometimes my Dad gets this way, though he knows what's up for the most part. Still, I really don't like this sentiment, and I think it's a complaint that doesn't stand to reason or facts. I also don't like this guy's shot at Snoop Dogg. All the guy sings about is sex and smoking weed--how much more anti-war can you get, dude??? People who think this way are not looking hard enough, not listening closely enough to make these kinds of grand, sweeping statements. Even Crosby, who is one of my heroes for sure, kept repeating in the interview that young people weren't standing up to Bush and the Iraq war.
I disagree with the idea that, because there are no good (or popular) protest songs that shit isn't getting done in this field. I mean, seriously--looking to Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears for consciousness-expansion and sociopolitical conscience is a waste of time, and you should know that. The 60's and 70's (two of my favorite eras in music, by the way) had plenty of super popular fluff acts who couldn't be bothered with people suffering, too. And besides, good dance music is a really strong force against suffering. So lighten up a little, peepz.
Things are certainly different now. But just look at some of the stuff I've talked about on this blog: Animal Collective, The Flaming Lips, Devendra Banhart, Wino, Flying Lotus...they're not saying "Give peace a chance" or "Four dead in Ohio," but all of these people definitely constitute a counterculture. Actually, listen to Banhart's Cripple Crow for some pure psychedelic Crosby-ish music that's good for your war-sick conscience as well.
Cripple Crow, Modern Masterpiece
I'm tired of older people saying shit like "Young people today aren't as good as we were, they don't do enough to change things." Fuck that. You're not looking hard enough. We're more subtle, but maybe that's because cryptofascist robocops have been breathing down our necks since we were 14. We learned to express ourselves INCREDIBLY well but still survive and not have to go to jail. We're trying to move beyond politics and mass movements and shit like that, because it's obvious to us that that stuff doesn't work anymore. We're not interested in re-doing the 60's, but so much music and culture today is definitely propelled by the same spirit. And that's what's important. Besides, we've been doing plenty of good old anti-state shit--you just won't read about it in a newspaper or see it on CNN.
So take a listen, everybody, before you judge.
3 comments:
I hope you are right. I think there is something to the notion that the business of resistance is conducted differently now.
But I think about myself... and I never did a single thing to try and stop the Iraq war. I don't think it makes me complicit, but I feel lazy.
There ws no stopping that train anyways. Cheney has outright said he didn't give a fuck what the american people thought. I totally agree that the business of change has, well, changed.
Furthermore, those who perpetuate this all-too-common/really-fucking-irritating sentiment that young people aren't voicing dissent are the same fuckers who dismiss modern experssions of dissent like, say, cattle decapitation as unlistenable. Much as the social mode of dissent has changed, so has the artistic mode.
Art reflects life. Life is gnarly. Therefore lip-service paying campfire singalongs just arent cutting it anymore. Sorry, David.
true. i mean, i probably wouldn't have gotten all defensive and written this post if i didn't feel a little lazy myself...but i still think i'm right!
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