Ahh, doesn’t it just remind of you 4-5 AM,when you can’t go to sleep and there’s nothing on TV, but infomericals trying to sell you shit you don’t need and you have bopped your bishop far more than necessary to the point that your shooting blanks into your invisible mistress of the night. No, just Me?
Chris
Why is “pop” music today so depressing? I just saw a Rihanna music video and it’s so damn stale that I can’t take it seriously. It’s a joke. Nobody gives a shit about music or music videos that much to actually take interest in watching this piece of crap. Do they? Same with Lady Gaga. I’m sure her music videos are over the top filled with craziness. Are these videos for real?
Not too long ago somebody recommended that I learn about the historical roots of the music that I presently enjoy. You know what? Old time “garage rock” of the 60s just doesn’t have the same appeal to me as newer stuff. I tried Count Five’s Psychotic Reaction and Iggy Pop’s Raw Power and while there are some gems on those records, they just aren’t as fun through and through as say Black Lips! or Blood Visions.
Full Title: Anarchism In America
Director(s): Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher
Year: 1983
Grade: B
Comments:AIA is a good starting point for those that want to learn about Anarchsim, because (as displayed in the documentary) most people have little to no idea of what it really is. The doc does a good job of explaining to viewers that anarchism is a strong social, political, economic, and spiritual philosophy and/or movement built on individualist principles and the belief that society would be better off without the state. The filmmakers distinguish this from the narrow minded view that anarchists are just about chaos and throwing bombs, which unfortunately most folks believe. The film features various anarchsits including, Emma Goldman, returning to America after having been deported for years in rare video footage, veteran Murray Bookchin, tax resisting, “market” anarchist, Karl Hess, the Dead Kennedys (interview and performance), amongst other famous and unknown anarchists. The film also shows various implicit anarchists including American workers committed to the rugged individual ideals of America and they associate this with anarchism, or at least the filmmakers do as well as a sowing company in which the workers run the show a la Chomsky! Speaking of Noam, he is nowhere to be seen and other prominent anarchists and related groups/organizations like the trailblazing paper, Fifth Estate>. I suppose they can’t document everything, but still they focused too much on the implicit Americanism rather than the explicit characteristics; albeit a nice feature. In addition, we see footage of the Liberatarian Party and how this connects to the anti-government (or anti-state power) stance of anarchism, historical events such as the Spanish Civil War, Russian Revolution, and the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti. Lastly, my only other complaint is the fact that they didn’t include any anarchists that used violence or force as a political means, justified or not. Granted, this might reenforce the negative connotations of the philosophy that naive viewers have, but at the same time, it would be nice to provide a balanced picture, considering some anarchists are violent. Overall, it was worth a watch and I would recommend it, not for those who want an in depth history of anarchism, but rather for those who are curious or unaware of it and want to learn about the philosophy/movement, at least the American aspects up to the early 1980s.
The following site has a lot of information on this documentary as well the film itself, which can also be viewed on Youtube as seen below.
http://alexpeak.com/art/films/aia/
Here are some cool quotes from the movie, which also appear on the above site.
“Almost anyone, I suppose, can call himself or herself an anarchist, if he or she believed that the society could be managed without the state. And by the state—I don’t mean the absence of any institutions, the absence of any form of social organisation—the state really refers to a professional apparatus of people who are set aside to manage society, to preempt the control of society from the people. So that would include the military, judges, politicians, representatives who are paid for the express purpose of legislating, and then an executive body that is also set aside from society. So anarchists generally believe that, whether as groups or individuals, people should directly run society,” Murray Bookchin
“My understanding of anarchism has as part of its element a connection between ends and means. To me, if one is an anarchist, then, from my point of view, one also must be nonviolent, and if one is nonviolent, one must be an anarchist—I see the linkages very clear[ly]. A person who believes in nonviolence is a person who believes that the sort of society we want to achieve is a society without violence, without wars, and without injustice; and to use wars, violence, and injustice to achieve that society is to be counterproductive,” Ed Hedaman
“Well, it’s hard to tell on the basis of the Party’s rhetoric, after all they’re running for state office, but my experience is that most people who are in the Libertarian Party have pretty decent anarchist impulses, even if they do not say they are anarchists—most of them will say they are libertarians, at any rate. And one thing that is useful is that they have a fairly well-refined analysis of why they aren’t conservative. It took the New Left to do a proper analysis on American liberals, it seems to me, and I suspect that the libertarians are doing the best analysis of American conservatives. I think that they are quite good people, and that the Party contains within it probably more people of an anarchist tendency than any other organisation in the country,” Karl Hess
Here’s Part I
Chris
Very Hicksian here. Ahh what a better world it would be if beautiful women flocked to bands like Ween (and their fans :) instead of puerile, corporate cocksuckers.
Chris
The “Fall of the Roman Empire.”: I saw one documentary on the history of Rock and Roll in which Pete Townshend was asked about the music of the 70s and he commented that it was the “Fall of the Roman Empire.” My interpretation is that he was saying that Rock and Roll was the equivalent of the Roman Empire in its own way and that by the 70s it had completely plummeted. It began in the 50s as rebellious, black music with strong black roots that crossed over into white america and broke down the color barrier, to an extent. It was something that belonged to kids and not their parents. This continued in the 60s as the music progressed and expanded, which I won’t get into here. Much of popular music matured, sonically and lyrically, with artists developing a social consciousness and often expressing such sentiments through their songs. I suppose one could point to Woodstock, being the pinacle of this era. The early 70s served simultaneously as the leftover of the 60s as well as the precursor for what would come next. By this time Rock was losing its soul, slowly becoming a big business game. Technically, it had corporate backing most of the time since it’s creation, but the word “corporate” began to come up in association with Rock music more and more. Cameron Crowe’s film, Almost Famous (2000) takes place in 1973 and nicely chronicles these final days of the orignal empire of Rock and Roll, as it was dying. Then it was recessitated via Punk and what have you, but that’s a whole other story…
More Chris ONs a comin….
Chris
Regarding Stephen Deusner’s review of Mark Sultan’s $:
Nice scarf, btw.
“He’s been fashioning harsh psych, rangey country, dreamy doo-wop, 50s juvie punk, and anarchic noise into strange, catchy, jubilant, occasionally jokey pop songs.“—> Good job of throwing in adjectives before every genre. Make no mistake about that. Your description really provides us an adequate look at Mark Sultan’s discography. Not.
“Sultan also resumed his role as BBQ Show for another album (and a coloring book!) with friend and longtime cohort King Khan.” –> You had me, Stephen. You really did. From your meaty words to start, I thought you may have actually listened to Sultan before. But “BBQ Show”? You can’t make a rookie mistake like that. Not at this stage in your professional career.
“Whatever banner he’s flying, however, the sound remains the same, and his latest effort– which isn’t titled so much as branded with a dollar sign– snaps and crackles with a familiar, flailing energy, as if any of these songs might fall apart at any moment.” –> The sound remains the same? This offering from Sultan is more musically diverse than most of what he’s put out in the past. You want the songs to fall apart. You are rooting against Sultan to start with. You want them to fall apart so you can listen to more Broken Social Scene.
“Ten of Hearts” may be one of his best doo-wop retreads, cutting through a lot of the revivalism to express something sincere and bittersweet, but there’s no reason for it to be five minutes long.” –> Why is there no reason for it to five minutes long? You make no attempt to explain why. And it’s not until the end of your review that you actually mention songs off of this record. Thanks for pointing out only what’s wrong with the album.
This is a bit old, but I’m using it for Poli Sci debate, so I figured I’d post it here for the hell of it. I like Dennis Kucinich a lot and really admire him for his integrity, but I always hate the way him and others like Ron Paul treat these conflicts as “issues” when they discuss them. Don’t get me wrong, they are extremely rare for their comparitively radical views as Congressmen, but comments such as “I like Obama…” blows my mind. HE’S A WAR CRIMINAL, MASS MURDERER! Perhaps they can’t speak out in that manner because they are public officals. I mean they have the right ideas with the knowledge and evidence to back up their platforms, but it’s as if they treat the president’s policies as poor political moves rather than crimes against humanity. Then again, Kucinich valiantly proposed impeachement of Bush as a War Criminal, so kudos to him. I also dig O’Reilly’s line about Obama being closer to Bill on the War, which is absolutely true. Oboma cheerleaders should take note. If you’re Antiwar and support Obama, then that’s fine for you, but it ain’t my cup of tea. I think y’all better choose a side soon.
Chris
Rock and Roll Immortality! Rock and Roll emerged as a way for kids to rebel against their parents and their beliefs. As time went on, Rock died a slow corporate death. In the ashes of this tragedy, the rebellion was revived with Punk Rock. The Ramones, the greatest practicioners of the uprsing, brought Rock and Roll back to the youngsters and pretty soon they had something of their own, something that existed outside of the mainstream. Thus, without the constraint of corporate control, the fun and rebel rousing of the initial Rock boom can live forever through independent music. Thank God for Punk!
Chris
…For the most part. About 80-90% of the music I listen to I consider catchy, pop numbers, one way or another. I agree with Jay, the pop master, that when you get away from the basic pop song, you lose people. I dig primitive, guerrila sounds, like the Black Lips and King Khan. Usually, most of my modern favorites are lo-fi to some extent or another and quite noisy, at that. Basically, it boils down to what are you going to do with pop music that makes you stand out to me. I suppose I have a few favorites here and there that lack this quality, but most are cutting edge, even if they’re not the most original cats around, try and wrap that around your dome. Quality doesn’t equal clean production. Far more often than not, it means some slick shits are doing the devil’s work and doing a fine job. The public overwhelmingly has been conditioned to eat up pounds of sugar coated mindless,souless,balless, garbage from the biggest corporate cocksuckers known to mankind. Some seriously sick motherfuckers that I’m surprised haven’t become extinct yet- due to overload of the stomach, having been pumped too much santanic sperm. I don’t know, what happened when, but it’s been decades, long before this radical nerd was even considered for existence, of horseshit ramming down our throats, perhaps they’re slipping roofies in the kids meals at Micky Dees? Anyway, if one were to take a quick paroozle (yeah, idk the spelling Glen!) of my album collection, mainstreamers if any readin’, would probably think I’m crazy, totally mad, fucked in the head, when I say I like pop music… with the likes of The Stooges, Ween, No Age, Big Black, etc present. I’ve streamed and screamed for too long, I’ll leave y’all with a poppy favorite of mine.
Chris
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 