Politically Aware Songs Go Missing in 2000s?

So say Reed Johnson and Deborah Vankin, at the Los Angeles Times, "For politically aware songs, the '00s were all for naught":

The '60s gave us "Blowin' in the Wind," folk-poet Bob Dylan's challenge to the brutal status quo. The '70s served up Neil Young's "Ohio," an anthem of generational rage against the military-industrial machine. The '80s laid down "The Message," Grandmaster Flash's hip-hop jeremiad about the vicious cycle of race-based poverty. The '90s broke loose with Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls on Parade," a rap-rock rant targeting corporate greed and cultural imperialism.

And the '00s? It's produced some memorably sardonic screeds (Green Day's "American Idiot"), patriotic hell-yeah's out of Nashville like Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)," and dirges of quiet desperation emanating from "The Suburbs," courtesy of Arcade Fire.

But much of the music that has topped the Billboard charts in the new millennium — Britney, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga — might suggest that America has been one big party since 2001, despite the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, two major wars, a wobbly economy and a bitterly divided government. Likewise, the recent popular manifestations of that unrest, the tea party and Occupy Wall Street movements, so far seem to have been largely lost on popular music.

That has left some artists, music industry professionals and listeners pondering how well today's music is serving the restless masses and capturing the essence of times that indeed are a-changin'.

Look, not everyone can be the Bob Dylan of the age, but I'm not buying the lack of "politically aware" songs for an entire decade. And the authors are mostly shilling for #OWS, which is too bad, since it's a really lame movement. Besides, Keith Morris is still jamming. Amazing that the Los Angeles Times overlooked Off! in their own backyard:

Your high social caste
Privileged friends
You lure me in
But I can't be your friend
Hit on Miss Liberty
Under the cherry tree
Drunk on hypocrisy
I'm standing in the shadows
And I'm pissing in the punchbowl
I don't belong
Cocktail party
Pin the tail on the donkey
Icing on my face
But I don't like the taste
Right wing mentality
God and democracy
Red carpet royalty
I'm standing in the shadows
And I'm pissing in the punchbowl
I don't belong

Southland Punk Bands Help Goldenvoice Celebrate Its 30th Anniversary

At Los Angeles Times, "Live review: X, Social Distortion at GV30."

I'll look for some X clips later. Meanwhile, here's Mike Ness and Social Distortion with some "Lude Boy" for all my drug decrim readers:

I'm on the 714, cause I got a brand new jar, 
Lemons put some light in my life, keep me happy through the night 
I'm a lude boy, I don't care if I ever get home. 

Getting ready to jump on the train, give me more to rack my brain. Sudden alteration in my point of view, tables turn when I got the ludes. 

I'm a lude boy, I don't care if I ever get home.

'Police Oppression'

More Angelic Upstarts:

I just cant take much more of this oppression
I’m going out of my head and its getting that impression
I’m gunna go out for a walk
I’m gunna sit down and have talk
There asking me how, and they’re asking me why, have you ever seen grown men cry?

police police police oppression, police police police oppression

really find it hard even walking round the streets
hey i know u son ill knock u off ur feet
same number a million times before,
shut ur mouth son or ill knock u on the floor

police police police oppression, police police police oppression

I just cant take much more of this oppression
I’m going out of my head and its getting that impression
I’m gunna go out for a walk
I’m gunna sit down and have talk
There asking me how, and they’re asking me why, have you ever seen grown men cry?

police police oppression police police oppression

Lying in the cells is really no fun
Cutting the bricks learning some tricks
Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies
Is being different really a crime?

police police police oppression
police police police oppression
police police police police police...

'I Understand'

From Angelic Upstarts:

Nineteen years old
What an age to die
Ashford is a prison
where they hide a lie

Richard Campbell
Were you mad?
Or just a bit insane?

Was it being a Rasta
cause you so much pain

white nigger
black nigger

Bleed the same

white nigger
black nigger

Rasta boy in prison

white nigger
black nigger

they made sure,
He'd never
see his twentieth year

when you're a number
you're never a name

they took away his faith
...a candle
...without a flame

the law of animals
destroy what you don't understand...

Richard Campbell's death is discussed by Richard Smith, "The State of the Prisons," British Medical Journal (January 1984):

Campbell's family were unhappy with this verdict ["dehydration due to schizophrenia"] and arranged for the Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Council to hold a public inquiry. Many individuals and groups, but not the Home Office, gave evidence to this two day inquiry, which concluded: (a) that there had been no good evidence that Campbell was schizophrenic; (b) that he had been failed by the legal profession, by the probation service, and by the authorities at Ashford Remand Centre; and (c) that he died "because of the negligence of the authorities."

Red Hot Chili Peppers Inducted Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

At Los Angeles Times, "Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers among Rock Hall inductees."

The unfortunate thing is how many great artists aren't in the Hall of Fame. See "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees: Where's Rush, KISS?"

John Lennon's Death 31 Years Ago Today

At Vancouver Sun, "John Lennon’s spirit still soars, Yoko Ono declares." And Telegraph UK, "Yoko Ono pays tribute to John Lennon on the 31st annivesary of his death."

And notes Sherri Donovan at The Sound L.A.:

John Lennon was killed 31 years ago today and, shortly afterwards, Roxy Music added his song "Jealous Guy" to their set while on tour in Germany, as a tribute. They recorded and released it a few months later... just a beautiful remembrance of John.

'Listening to the Doors'

From Camille Paglia, at New York Times, a review of Greil Marcus', The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years:

Within an electrifying few years during the 1960s, rock ’n’ roll was transformed from a brash diversion of antsy teenagers into a serious genre that threatened to rival the traditional fine arts. Instrumental in this swift development was a Los Angeles band, the Doors, whose charismatic but tormented and self-­destructive lead singer, Jim Morrison, attained cultlike status after his mysterious death at age 27 in Paris in 1971, only four years after the release of their first album.

Whether rock ever completely fulfilled its early promise is arguable. What seems incontrovertible, however, is that rock’s fabulous commercial success could be ruin­ous to young bands, which were pushed by record companies into the artificial environment of punishing tours in cavernous arenas designed for sports. The gifted Doors were among the first victims of this still near-universal corporate strategy.

Continue reading.

HAT TIP: Kathy Shaidle.

'Misty Mountain Hop'

Led Zeppelin:

Walkin' in the park just the other day, baby,
What do you, what do you think I saw?
Crowds of people sittin' on the grass with flowers in their hair said,
"Hey, Boy, do you wanna score?"
And you know how it is.
I really don't know what time it was, woh, oh,oh
so I asked them if I could stay a while.

I didn't notice but it had got very dark and I was really
Really out of my mind.
Just then a policeman stepped up to me and asked us, said, "Please,hey,
would we care to all get in line, Get in line."
Well, you know, they asked us to stay for tea and have some fun; Oh, oh,oh.
he said that his friends would all drop by, ooh.

Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see,
and baby, baby, baby, do you like it?
There you sit, sitting spare like a book on a shelf rustin',
ah, not trying to fight it.
You really don't care if they're comin'; oh, oh,
I know that it's all a state of mind.

If you go down in the streets today, baby, you better,
you better open your eyes. WOAH WOAH YEAH
Folk down there really don't care, really don't care, don't care , really don't , which, which way the pressure lies,
so I've decided what I'm gonna do now.
So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains
where the spirits go now,
over the hills where the spirits fly.
I really don't know.

'Love The Way You Lie'

And, ICYMI, the interview with Eminem, at GQ's, "Survivors Music Portfolio":

The current Mathers narrative revolves around his triumph over a nasty addiction to prescription meds. It's not a touchy subject: Within minutes, he introduces the topic, explaining how he used to drink and pop pills to get through his concerts. "I'm very much a creature of habit," he says, picking up his Red Bull. "If I'm used to waking up in the morning and having one of these, I could do it every morning for the next ten years straight until I find something else to move on to. So if I'm used to taking a Vicodin when I wake up in the morning because I'm hungover from ­drinking or taking pills..." He trails off. "The bigger the crowd, the bigger my habit got."

Mathers says you can trace the arc of his addiction by listening to his albums: He was more or less sober writing the white-trash party that was The Slim Shady LP (1999); he credits experimentation with drugs for taking his music to unexpected places on The Marshall Mathers LP (2000); with The Eminem Show (2002), he struck the perfect balance—a potent mix of punch-line raps and intensely biographical material. Then the balance tipped: His fourth album, Encore, was his weakest, and it took him two years to complete because of his addiction to pills. "Five or six songs leaked from the original version of Encore," he says. "So I had to go in and make new songs to replace them. In my head I was pissed off: 'Oh well. Songs leaked. Fuck it. I'm just going to take a bunch of fucking pills and go in there and have a party with myself.' I'm sure the more pills I took, the goofier I got."

He's a little hazy about that time, when he was taking, by his own account, somewhere between sixty and ninety pills a day, including Valium, Vicodin, Ambien, and Seroquel (used to treat schizophrenia). "Ambien," he says, "ate a hole through my brain." He thinks he went to rehab in 2005, but don't hold him to that. Like I said, it's a little hazy.

Rehab was not a safe space for Eminem. "Look," he says, "every addict in rehab feels like everyone's staring at them. With me? Everyone was staring at me. I could never be comfortable. There were people there that treated me normal. Then there were a bunch of fucking idiots who aren't even concentrating on their own sobriety because they're so worried about mine. They're stealing my hats, my books—it was chaos. Everything was drama in there. And at the time, I didn't really want to get clean. Everybody else wanted me to. And anyone will tell you: If you're not ready, nothing is going to change you. Love, nothing."

He left rehab pissed off and heavily burdened with what he calls "woe is me"—and started popping pills again. It nearly killed him. "I came to in the hospital and I didn't know what the fuck happened," he says. "Tubes in me and shit, fuckin' needles in my arms. I didn't realize I had [overdosed]. I wanted my drugs—get me the fuck outta there! I think I was clean for two weeks. I was trying so hard—I was trying to do it for my kids—but I just wasn't ready."

What finally got him clean after a second relapse wasn't his kids or his coma or even hip-hop. This time he really thought he was going to die. "I had a feeling in my arm that was weird, man," he says. "Like, it really freaked me out. So I went to some people I trust and said, 'Look, I know I need help. I'm ready now.' I got a room in the same hospital where I overdosed, and I detoxed."

More here: "The Survivors: Eminem."

The Rolling Stones at 50

At LAT, "The Rolling Stones' Ageless Rock":

'Round Here'

Amazing how time flies. I saw these dudes in Santa Barbara in the 1990s, when they hit the big time:

'Push'

Well, since I'm on the music, here's Rob Thomas and friends. Thomas' solo outfit played at Harrah's Rincon earlier this year. Looking for an encore in 2012 and I'll check 'em out:

'Nights in White Satin'

Check out Jonathan Sanders piece at PJ Media, "So You Think You Hate Punk Rock: The Five Bands That Will Change Your Mind." It's interesting, and a bit strange. Punk was indeed unusual at the time (1970s) but's it's mainstream now --- looked back on today as a period of innovation and rejuvenation in the history of rock and roll. I don't know if you can find folks who truly "hate" punk, since if they like The Clash or Green Day they're punked out. The other thing is that Sanders lists five bands for those new to the genre, but he doesn't mention any Los Angeles bands. I used to hang out with musicians back in the day --- like Annette Zilinskas, the original bassist with The Bangles --- who pretty much refused to accord any superiority to British punk bands, to say nothing of bands from New York.

In any case, may I suggest The Dickies, a Los Angeles mainstay, formed in 1977. They routinely opened for The Ramones and it looks like they're still going strong. Enjoy: