It's Not Spiritual And It's Not Hippie - It's American Music

I wouldn't call it this - because The Spiritual Danger of Being Bored to Death ain't been my problem - I'm an artist.

My issues are much more fundamental - To be or not to be? What does it mean to be? Will I be allowed to be? That kind of thing.

And by the way, doesn't Foreigner look good?

   

 I remember "Urgent," hilariously reframing the Dirty White Boys as a New Wave band without style, back-in-the-day.

They were, momentarily, traitors to the culture (as we were recently reminded) "the sort of thing we loathed at the time and called 'disco.'"

I wasn't part of the "we" in that quote, for various reasons, but mostly because I can't count how many times I was set upon (sometimes violently) for enjoying music's evolution back then. If you want to know what it was like, imagine the reaction Dylan got for going electric, but following you around for more than a decade. 

   

 The future had arrived without warning, in synthetic form - and finally featuring rhythm - and machines! But, by welcoming it, I was the bad guy.

   

 Like it was my fault Led Zeppelin had one of the only drummers in Rock who thought (what we now call) a Rap beat was actually important - and who didn't think he practiced to, either, play metronome or occasionally express how "crazy" he was.

   

The larger culture waited for Talking Heads' eventual invitation, to join in what David Byrne called "changing my shape," and the rest of us called a party. We'd have to wait a little while longer.

   

 Of course - once the party officially got kicked off - where the future was heading didn't make many folks happy, either, so there was conflict again. 

You could say, from 1977 to 1987, it was pretty much open warfare - with me in the middle - until my "side" brought the walls down.

Since then, I don't have to remind you, there's been a few times when we've all had reason to contemplate ending it.

   

 But, like I said - it was because of the unwarranted hostility to change - not because it stayed boring,...

 

Slavery Created A Very Warped Thing (And Freedom Means You Can Decide To Keep On Kicking It Or Not)

Dear P.J. Media, 

 Only the most stupid, naive, or evil white person could write this about a black life:

"To make it look like one person endured so many nightmare moments is a stretch."

One reason I love black people is because I know we - individually and collectively - have "endured so many nightmare moments". That's no "stretch". It's not your world. I was just reminded today how you and your friends loathed Disco, remember? How do you think that made black Americans feel? Especially when we were right? We were trying to do something and you stood in our way. That's part of it. Let me tell you guys something:

In good ol' sunny California, I saw my first fresh dead body before I'd reached the third grade. My foster sister was raped by 9 guys. My best friend's father was shot dead, by his brother-in-law, before our eyes during a 3 year-old's Birthday party (The brother-in-law got six years, and then moved in with his widowed sister, upon release.) I'll stop there, but my question is simple:

Was I just lucky?

I don't know many other black people who can say, as a lot of whites can, their childhoods were O.K.. My white friends had horses and planes (I was bussed to North Hollywood) and they had good jobs, if they had to work. My black friends were unemployed, in a "city" with only one supermarket, and forced to kneel for an hour in upside-down shoebox tops containing a layer of rice. One of my foster fathers sustained multiple blows to the head, in a ball-peen hammer attack. His head ended up with deep craters in it, he couldn't be left alone, and he called me "Henry" for the rest of his days. He had to be cared for. He was the breadwinner. His house took in kids like me. I once counted 13 kids in there. I know what American poverty is in the modern era.

I'm no racist. I'm a conservative atheist and I've been in a state of shock and amazement, pretty much, from the age of two. I've always been aware. What's happened to me, personally, is mind boggling. What's happened, and is happening, to black people is almost incomprehensible. The lack of understanding and empathy can be galling. Mayhem has been unleashed on this people and the best this country can do is scream, "What about us?" I can't fathom it. 

I'm just one black person, but I can tell you unequivocally, "nightmare moments" are mostly what this country's blessed black people with. The Indians, too - don't get me started on the Indians. FUCK.

 WE ARE MORE-THAN-FAMILIAR. 

I won't venture to say most, but most know the depths of Hell, that can constitute everyday American life, I'm talking about. That's why Tawana Brawley thought she could get away with her bullshit, and few blacks questioned O.J., or Trayvon's shooting. With or without white folks, it's still life in America, for us. Consider Rodney King's experience. I can tell you names you're familiar with all day. How many millions don't you know? A lot. Right here, right now. As I write this. Don't forget, many whites in the North and the South didn't see a problem with black life when slavery was in full effect.

I don't think enough can really grasp what it's like now,...

 

I Read The Althouse Blog Like Liberals Listen To Rush (Though It's Never As Smart, Charming, Or Credible,...)

Letting white people with no taste - or bad taste - write about music is some kind of a crime:

"'Got to Give It Up' is late 70s [Marvin] Gaye, the sort of thing we loathed at the time and called 'disco.' I listened to it today, and I probably would otherwise never have listened to it."

Why not?

Because you can't dance? Your innards are a pile of shit? No - you're tone deaf, you stupid whore! I mean, really, who's "we" Kemosabitch? All I've ever known is you and them:

THEY declared "Rap isn't music" (which shouldn't be construed as racism) but since then, despite their excellent credentials for assessing such things, Rap's taken over the business. Of course, it's importance never shows up on your blog - even when news that's got the world talking is happening right under your nose - but take my word for it, Rap's huge now.

THEY declared "Disco Sucked" - which, also, shouldn't be construed as racism. (Blacks just had to listen to this bullshit from the 80% of people known "at the time" to oppress them,...BTW - we "loathed" that.) Disco too, took over music. (Saturday Night Fever, anyone?) 

And check out the big, bad gay advocate, admitting she "loathed" what was "at the time" black gays' music of choice! 

But don't you dare think that's racism either.

Fucking losers!

And, Jesus Christ, who can forget the "the anguished bellyaching of soul music"?

Totally not racist. 

Face it:

Black people just make crap. Because we're black, see. It's the most vibrant, amazing, far-reaching, futuristic, and influential crap ever made - even The Beatles copied it - but it's still crap.

That shallow, "sexy" collection of holes, liking The Kinks - yes, I said The Kinks - or trying to make a god out of Bob Dylan, or who loves the $64,000 Jazz album (which looks like it was released by K-Tel instead of Columbia) she proves this is merely academic, as white musical forms have always been far superior, and more culturally important, than the influence of Rap, Disco, and Soul. And probably "real jazz", too.

Combined.

Personally, I've never disliked any genre of music in my life, so I'm interested how a now-classic song was "the sort of thing we loathed at the time and called 'disco.'" Because, um, Satan? Or maybe because "Got to Give It Up" was a Number One Hit on the Disco charts? Or, do you think, you and the other genius' in your Music Appreciation class made the name up? 

I don't know, I'm asking. Maybe you really don't like blacks.

Maybe you can get the anti-Disco haters who make up "we" or "them", together, and ask. If you do, you might want to start off with a question from me:

Are you fucking retarded?