The other thing I never wanted to do with this blog was write a run-on sentence with too many commas. As you can see, I’ve already done that. Now, here I go with the whole defending Nickelback thing. Of course, I understand if that means you’ll stop reading this post at the end of this sentence…

I should probably admit something else before I go on: I was a teenage Nickelback fan. I grew up in Red Deer, Alberta, a few hours drive from the band’s hometown of Hanna. Which meant I got to see the band live a lot before they hit it big, and was just another rock band playing around Central Alberta – although their stages and audiences seemed to be getting bigger all the time. They played hard rock songs like “Breathe” and Leader of Men,” and did a good job of entertaining the crowds at their gigs. Their set at the Stage 13 festival in Camrose in the summer of 2001 seemed especially well-received, as did the new songs they played from their upcoming album.

This was, by the way, taken a few years ago

Then came September 11 2001, when everything changed. People always ask each other where they were that day, and I, well, was at the record shop buying the new Nickelback album Silver Side Up. An album with songs like “How You Remind Me” and “Never Again” that helped the boys from a small country town sell out stadiums in the biggest cities around the world. I was at their show at the big hockey rink in Edmonton – I sat beside a girl who didn’t stop crying the entire show. Saying she was an old girlfriend of Chad Kroeger, she was beyond excited to see her friends living their dream. And…she also said the song “Old Enough” was written about her (and “Leader of Men” was about doing mushrooms).

With the success came the criticism, and over the years Nickelback has become the public enemy number 1 of rock music – the punchline for any joke about a band that isn’t really any good, or fans that don’t really know anything about music. And all the while, Nickelback continued to play stadiums around the world.

Why has Nickelback faced such a backlash? Yes, they’ve embraced their fame. Yes, they continue putting similar songs on the music assembly line which keeps them in the spotlight. But, they’re not the first rock ‘n’ roll band to do this by far. It’s kinda part of the whole rockstar attitude to celebrate being on top.

Maybe it’s because of all the bands that sound exactly like Nickelback, and are responsible for musical abominations like this: “The Bitch Came Back” - Theory of a Deadman (don’t watch the video if you’ve just eaten, or have any self-respect).

Or maybe it’s because people have gotten sick of them cashing in again and again, with this as the closest thing to guilt or criticism of their own celebrity:

Then again, maybe it’s because they’ve come after bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Nickelback’s “grunge-lite” approach of borrowing sonic characteristics from the genre, but none of its social awareness (except perhaps for “Never Again”), seems to irritate the heck out of people. They launched, for example, into fame through a song that celebrated self-hatred and angst, but without the authenticity that Kurt Cobain carried with him off stage. This diet version of grunge shamelessly taps into the same attitude, but only as far as the bank.

NO.

In the last few months, Nickelback has played the halftime shows of some pretty big football games in both the United States and Canada, and suffered outrage from people that didn’t think the band deserved to play some songs while some really big athletes took a short break from running into each other. Then, to top things off, the Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney singled them out as the reason “Rock & Roll is dying” in an interview with Rolling Stone (he also called them “the biggest band in the world”). This was followed by a facebook and twitter frenzy of people supporting Carney’s comments – and many of those people probably didn’t read the whole interview. Who knows? Maybe Carney went on to say, “…and by the way, I love Nickelback!” It’s the 21st century, and we might not have hoverboards yet, but we do have the ability to take a quote out of context and run with it on the internet.

In that moment, I knew I was going to have to forsake all my personal values and defend Nickelback in response to the remarks of a member of one of my favourite bands of all time ever. If rock ‘n’ roll is dying, it’s because things are becoming stale and cliched. What’s more cliched than singling out Nickelback as the enemy of good rock music? People have been doing that since (at least) punk in the 1970s, when musicians were fed up with the overblown corporate rock of the era, and tried to bring rock ‘n’ roll backs to its roots. All Carney was doing was voicing his opinion, however, and that band he’s in? The Black Keys’ music is a throwback to the perceived earlier and better times of rock ‘n’ roll…just like punk rock was.

But, the hype machine in which he was voicing his opinion can spin things any which way they want. Just ask that band from Almost Famous, or heck, even General Stanley A. McChrystal. It’s like how radio stations run “No Nickeback Guarantees,” but play all kinds of other terrible bands. It gets them attention and listeners – hating Nickelback has become marketable. And the same thing goes for a generalized attack against the band in a popular magazine. It’s the easiest means to an end. It sells copies of magazines.

Unfortunately, it didn't stop Harper from getting a majority.

So I guess I’m defending Nickelback not from the opinion of another musician, but the reaction to that view – and its commodification. Just like angst became a marketable commodity, so did hating Nickelback. It gets people to listen to radio stations, and it gets people to buy magazines. But then again, is that so bad, if it exposes people to the Black Keys?

It’s all relative anyways. Nickelback gets labeled post-grunge, but if I was gonna get all arrogant and put ‘em in a category, I’d place them alongside bands like Kiss and Mötley Crüe. Bands that are loud, stress style over substance, and offer their audiences an escape from the real world. That’s what Nickelback does – they entertain, they rock, and they make their listeners happy. As Nickelback was playing the halftime show at last year’s Grey Cup, I was busy making general snide comments about their performance just a bit louder than the television volume. Then I got a text from an Irish friend at the game that didn’t know  he was supposed to hate Nickelback – he said he loved it: there were lots of flames and it was lots of fun. So my cheeky remarks were stopped cold. How could I be sweepingly critical of a band that was making people happy?

At the end of the day, a fan of Nickelback is like a fan of pro-sports – you go to the stadium prepared to be entertained by people whose job it is to put on a show for you. You can argue all you want about artistic or athletic merit, but these are people who clock in everyday for a big pay cheque that depends completely on putting people in the seats. They are playing to an audience that has certain expectations, and if they keep creating what they want to see, then they keep cashing in.

And alternatively, having an opposition to these entertainers means profit as well. Think Edmonton Oilers versus the Calgary Flames, or Oasis versus Blur. A rival sports team, or a band that stands for something else, and appeals to different sensibilities – well that brings lots of cash into the same entertainment industry too. Right now, lots of people are critical of Nickelback, but the cultural tide could shift, and the enemy could be the Black Keys. Those that hopped off the Nickelback train 5 years ago could get back on again, asking why the Black Keys don’t write songs of social importance like “Never Again.” As things loop back around and liking the uncool becomes cool again, folks could decide that El Camino isn’t as good as they thought, and songs like “Lonely Boy” are just ripoffs of ’60s garage rock bands from the Pacific Northwest, like the Sonics, the Ventures, and the Wailers. Of course, it was really a matter of influence, not imitation.

The best way to be critical, I think, is to also be specific. So if you are going to tell people Nickelback sucks, say why. For instance, you could focus on the misogynistic lyrics of their song ”Figured You Out.” I know I have a problem with adolescent girls singing along to a song that’s centered on the sexual objectification of women and male dominance.

And not to go off on a tangent, but do the girls singing and dancing along with the terrible LMFAO song “Shots” have any idea what the lyrics are? I’m not sure if knowing or not knowing is worse.

As for the members of Nickelback, any publicity is good publicity, and they handle the attacks beautifully. In response to the Black Keys’ article in Rolling Stone, Nickelback had this to say over twitter:

Discussions on punk and race instantly brings to mind not only the Clash song “White Riot,” but also the Minor Threat song “Guilty of Being White.” The song was written by Ian MacKaye, who was frustrated by being mistreated, because of the color of his skin, by black youths in the community he grew up in. Highly contentious, debate and different interpretations continue to surround the song. As the book White Riot and the reactions to it show, this contention extends to the issue of race and punk as a whole.

The thing about punk is, as D. Boon said: “punk is whatever we made it to be.” From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, punk was a melange of not only different races, but also voices, messages, outlooks and ideas. Music scenes sprung up across the United States (and parts of Canada), forming an underground network where people could raise voices differing to the status quo of the mainstream.

In the following, I try to touch on the diversity that existed in the underground punk network in the United States. It is by no means comprehensive, but should provide a taste of what was happening, and how the varying elements of that diversity mixed together.

Well, except for Diversity being an old wooden ship from the Civil War era

The underground punk network was incredibly diverse. Each individual milieu in the network was unique, and comprised of participants with different beliefs and values. Often, these outlooks were at odds with mainstream beliefs or at the very least unnoticed or unaccepted. This ranged from not buying into the consumer culture that was embraced during the Reagan era to being a member of a marginalized group with society. Members’ beliefs spread across the entire spectrum; there were notable participants that were staunch Republicans, like Johnny Ramone, and many involved in various scenes were right wing and even fascist.

What each milieu in the network did was expose people to social and political views that were not well-known, For example, in the lyrics of songs and in pages of fanzines, matters such as gay rights, environmentalism, pacifism and anarchy were addressed.

Examining issues of the fanzine Factsheet Five from the early 1990s, dedicated to listing and reviewing other fanzines, the variance of voices within the publication community becomes apparent. The Madison Insurgent, for instance, was a fanzine dedicated to covering current events such as AIDS, the protest group Act-Up, and Women’s associations (FF#42, pg., 36). Traction, from Milwaukee, “[broke] boundaries in its choice of subjects in underground culture,” and focused primarily on music (FF#42, pg., 64). While the purpose of fanzines was to initiate exposure and discussion on a range of topics, this sometimes bordered on hatred, as with Smith’s Report, which called into question the existence of the Holocaust (FF#43, p 42), to sexual exploitation with the Nambla Bullietin, which tried to dissuade their audience from the idea that adult sexual relationships with minors was unacceptable  (FF#42, pg, 38).

The network acted to bring the likeminded together, and forge community bonds that enabled support for the individuals involved. Generally, a case can be made for many in the underground being Caucasian, but there were notable exceptions. Most significantly was the Washington D.C. band, the Bad Brains. An all African-American band that played their first show in 1979, the group transcended racial hurdles. As member Darryl Jenifer later reflected:

Here we were, Black homeboys checking out Rock & Roll and vice versa. It’s all just music now, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be, all about open-mindedness. There was a lot of separatism back in the day. By people checking each other’s cultures out, barriers and stereotypes are broken down. And that’s what we need.

While there were walls crumbling, however, there was conflict occurring. In the music community, where different attitudes mixed together with regularity, clashes often transpired. While at first the Bad Brains were bridging racial gaps with their inclusion and proficiency in the underground milieux, their interpretation of Rastafarianism caused a divergence from many other scene members. While on their first America-wide tour in April of 1982, they played and stayed with two bands in Austin Texas, Big Boys and MDC (Millions of Dead Cops). Members of the Bad Brains believed, at the time, that homosexuality was incongruent with the teachings of their religion. Members of the Big Boys were gay and this led to disagreement between the local musicians and the Bad Brains. Although the details of which are contended by both sides, the disagreement led to lines being drawn within the wider underground community.

While many still appreciated the Bad Brains’ music, for instance Joey Keithley, the band members and other network participants had irrevocable philosophical differences. Keithley, an atheist, believed that the very notion of Christianity, which Rastafarianism is a variant of, cannot be reconciled with punk, and so the idea of a Christian punk band was “an oxymoron.”

Different lifestyles were very much in the forefront of the underground network. Another groundbreaking band from D.C. and contemporaries of the Bad Brains was Minor Threat. Minor Threat’s front man Ian MacKaye was the originator of what was called “Straight-edge.” Mackaye had been disillusioned with his age cohort’s excessive lifestyle choices; in drinking alcohol, taking drugs, and having promiscuous sex. Going straight-edge, then, was to make different choices than what was usually associated with the usual glamour of the music lifestyle. Mackaye’s outlook can be expressed in the Minor Threat song, “Straight Edge:”

I’m a person just like you/ But I’ve got better things do to/ Than sit around and fuck my head/ Hang out with the living dead/ Snort white shit up my nose/ Pass out at the shows/ I don’t even think about speed/ That’s something I just don’t need/ I’ve got the straight edge

As well as the song “Out of Step (with the world):”

(I) Don’t Smoke/ Don’t drink/ Don’t fuck/ At least I can fucking think

As pointed out by sociologist Deena Weinstein, the ideas comprising straight-edge served to inspire and impact members of the network. Most popular in the early 1980s while Minor Threat was together, a straight-edge community formed, the membership of which recognized each other by the X they drew on their hands. MacKaye himself attested that he was very much advocating for thinking for oneself by raising the notions of straight-edge. The mass consumer culture of the 1980s was inhibiting creativity, and rather than going out and purchasing products promoted by the mainstream, Mackaye was asserting that people should “try and find a little more entertainment from [their] own resources.” Therefore, Minor Threat only played all-ages shows, did not sell merchandise, and kept the price of entry to a reasonable level. They removed themselves almost completely from the consumer culture associated with the music industry and the tendency for artists’ work becoming commodified.

Further to this, straight-edge was a reaction to not only mass culture’s restrictions on individuality, but also the outlook advocated in the mass media. With regards to sex, “On television kids see people every night going off with different people. And these characters never have any of the real-life problems that occur, like pregnancy, VD, et cetera. It’s always clean. It is a myth. It’s wrong. And a lot of people get caught up in the fantasy.”  In other words, the straight edge outlook was a backlash against commercial culture, and thereby a way for the young to remove themselves from its glittery and superficial attitude. Mackaye did not want people to simply mimic him; he wanted them to think for themselves.

Other songwriters support this assertion of it being up to the individual to decipher meaning in the music for themselves. Whether the listeners conclusion is the same as the musicians is not what is important. For example, the front man of the English band Radiohead, Thom Yorke, asserted that “I think that’s the nature of good art, it should be interpreted and misinterpreted.”

Of course, it was up to each individual to decide to what extent to embody these new values once introduced to them, if at all. That is to say that there were varying degrees of extremism within the underground network. First, people could simply go to a venue to enjoy the music being played. While it may have been difficult to ignore other participants’ political leanings, there is no reason why someone could not go to the show and then leave once the performance was over. Others, on the other hand, may have been looking to become exposed to new political ideas or connect with others that shared a like-mindedness on a range of issues. Even if someone had the intention of simply watching the performance, it is likely they would have at least noticed the unconventional styles and viewpoints of others at the show.

Very much in the spirit of DIY, Minor Threat and Ian Mackaye’s later band Fugazi saw the way the band acted on ever level stay outside the realm of mass consumer culture. Mackaye moved into Dischord house, the home of band members and safe haven for musicians travelling from elsewhere in the network and in need of respite. (Eddie Vedder stayed there with Mackaye upon learning of Cobain’s death).  This was also the base of operations for Dischord Records, the independent label formed by Mackaye and still in operation today. Much like shows had a price cap, so did records released by the label.

As had happened with the Rasta inspired beliefs of the Bad Brains, underground milieux became battlegrounds for differing ideas. Although Ian Mackaye did not intend for people to follow his ideas on straight-edge behavior as gospel, many did embrace the philosophy whole-heartedly and looked down on those that still lived the lifestyle of musical excess. In another example, many women were vital to the network’s development, participating by organizing and promoting shows, writing and publishing fanzines, and playing in bands. With regards to performing, there was still the perception that the groups were dominated by men, and when a band had a female member or was comprised of all women, this was usually stressed before any mention of the acts actual musicianship. Furthermore, the dancing at shows was at times violent, and fighting could break out as well.

Both inspired by the underground milieu’s ability to give voice to music and messages on the margins, and also in contention of its sometime overt masculinity, women banded together to form the Riot Grrrl milieu, which combined feminist thought with music and community action.

(Later, the Riot Grrrl movement suffered through a mainstream affixation that caused a lighter, or diet version of their expressions to be exhibited in popular culture. The marketing, stylized imagery, attitude, and musical presentation of the Spice Girls is a good example of this.)

One only has to open up a fanzine from any milieu to see the range of opinions within it. Readers would write to the fanzines to express their ideas, and these letters would be included in fanzines such as Maximum Rocknroll, which had a publication range that spanned the entire network. Although produced in Berkeley, writers and readers could communicate with each other from across the country. As shown in the section above, this was essential for the network to be able to function without the support of mainstream institutions.

In a letter titled “Optimistic, Sort of” in issue 10, December 1983, Jon Sanborne from the Long Island hardcore punk band Satan’s Cheerleaders (the name borrowed from the 1977 horror film starring John Carradine) wrote into Maximum Rocknroll, asserting:

I’ve read a lot of statements in MMR by people who feel it’s too late for any hopes of a revolution. That’s quite true; the bureaucracies of the world are too entrenched in happy consumerism to be upset by a bunch of disgruntled youth. That’s just reality. However, many people are realizing, and a lot more have to, is that there is an ideal that can function in killer reality: that of establishing a strong, alternative underground in America. Ok, it’s here already in the form of hardcore. But that is now; what should be shot for is an underground that will (to sound like a true traditionalist) be able to be passed from one generation to another, so that no matter what the changing state of music and attitudes, there will always be that alternative. The basic state of society makes its members accept certain concepts as reality, before they have developed the power to choose if they even want to accept those concepts. And those people spend their whole lives building on the confined structure of those concepts. You end up with this whole mass, controlled culture that you must accept and eat, because it too is built on the same concepts. When you confront people with the idea that these concepts are in fact not the only reality they can get scared. It does, after all, call for a total restructuring of their lives. But some people, on the other hand, spend their whole lives looking for an alternative. It must always be kept there, strong and readily available to those who want it. Otherwise, the internal logic of the bureaucracies may become too strong as to shut off those routes permanently. Instead of each generation having to start from scratch, it should be kept a vibrant [sic] living thing. I think hardcore has hit upon a very important concept, and it’s just that: the hardcore of music.

We are now part of the hardcore of punk, that encompasses art and thinking, as well as music. That intensity, that commitment to putting across honest thoughts and creative expression that are not wrapped up in the value system of the mass culture – that’s hardcore.

As with the analogy of the cave in Plato’s Republic, Sanborne likens those immersed in mass culture to staring at shadows on the wall their entire lives. There was the perception by participants such as Sanborne, then, that involvement in the underground alternative milieu gave one the ability to see past the shadows on the wall and process information as an individual.  Mackaye also stressed the individuality that the network made permissible, but at the same time, there were those in the milieux that were willing to latch on to another’s philosophy once it was introduced. Most likely, some did this simply to fit in; for others however, it matched up with principles they connected with, or already had. Just as milieux participants were reacting against the music of mass culture, they were also acting against the ideas it represented.

Indeed, if you were going to categorize the political mindset of the network with a sweeping generalization, it would be that it was considerably anti-establishment. The underground network consisted of local communities that banded together under a common trait, such as music or political leanings. Often, these traits overlapped. For example, anarchy was the driving force behind the fanzine Daily Impulse, from San Diego. The bi-monthly and anti-authoritarian publication often carried anti-war and anti-government slogans, such as Randolph Bourne’s “war is the health of the state.” The fanzine contained protests against censorship, corporate power and unethical business practices, for instance the perceived misuse of the Beatles song “Revolution” by Nike in a 1987 advertisement campaign.

These protests as well as efforts against political targets were usually done by using stylized images. For example, one picture shows a punk being impaled by the hammer and the sickle, with the accompanying slogan: “Don’t be fooled! Leninism = Red Fascism!” Furthermore, another page consisted of a picture of a fence with spotlights upon it, with the slogan “No Boarders! Let them come across!” Articles ranged from giving instructions on how to be a “Do it Yourself Punk” to the history and ideas behind anarchism. The information provided on being a punk was not simply what style to follow or what songs to listen to, but was rather a list of guidelines on how to become more open-minded and act according to your individual beliefs.

The Daily Impulse actively supported its audience’s community. The fanzine and bands hosted “hardcore picnics” where music, artists, politics, and community came together. These gatherings often faced police backlashes, and common themes were threats and arrests.” This tension with authority placed the community within a framework of dissent, where simply by gathering they faced repression. Debate over whether this police reaction was justified was debatable, but from the side of the anarchist community was perceived as authoritarianism by those with power.

The police were also a heavy presence at shows; one example detailed being the arrest of Social Distortion front man Mike Ness after a performance at the Adams Avenue Theatre on 27 October 1984. Ness had apparently thrown a bottle at a security guard and hence his detainment by the authorities. Details were also given, however, on how “some of the hardcore folk wound up in jail for simply hanging out at the event.” Obviously, the police would have a different opinion on why the arrests were made. Regardless, the perception in the underground community was that the police abused their authority and were at odds with milieu participants (Daily Impulse, Vol. 1, No. 1. April-May, 1985, pg, 1-2. , Daily Impulse, Vol. 1, No. 2, June-July, 1985, pg, 1-2).

Due to the diversity of the network, it did not bond together into one united voice. It was comprised of many individuals creating agency for themselves, and gave them the ability to express themselves in ways not permissible by mainstream institutions. Not everyone got along, however, and issues violence and gender discrimination were often at the forefront of participation in the network, especially in the hardcore and oi milieux. This abrasive contention did not go unnoticed, but instead led to the issues having to be dealt with, or at the very least cause contention as the Bad Brains homophobia did. Whereas in the mainstream such problems were dismissed or glossed over, that could not be done in a smaller, more insular environment.

That’s right. The release missing from all the Best of 2011 lists was inspired by the nearly Oscar winning Patrick Swayze film Roadhouse, also starring Sam Elliott and Jeff Healey. The reason you might not have heard of this release, from Edmonton musician Tyler Butler, is because you didn’t go to the Wunderbar Folkraiser back in November 2011.

Butler watched the film, wrote four songs about it, and then performed them at the Folkraiser – where you could also buy a copy of the Roadhouse EP to show off to your friends. If you weren’t at the show, don’t worry – you’ll never have another chance to hear the songs live, or buy the record. Take that, Pabst Blue Ribbon drinking hipsters!

Yup, you missed out on four great songs that delve deep into the heart of the Roadhouse story, and its characters. Here’s some examples:

Track 1: “Dalton”
Down in the roadhouse, violence is master/
Every night, there’s blood on the floor/
Men come standing, throw them out screaming/
Cross your arms, don’t feel the pain

It’s about doing what’s right. Sometimes that’s ripping out the throat of your opponent, and sometimes it’s releasing an interesting, creative, and unique four song EP that you can only buy at a fundraiser for a local music venue.

This was also on the cover of the EP, by the way

Oh, and if you do want to read a good list, here’s LA WEEKLY‘s number one musician from The Top Musicians EVER.

]]> http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/the-best-2011-list-youll-read-any-year/feed/ 0 the.past.is.unwritten RoadHouse Back at the Roadhouse http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/thesis-playlist/ http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/thesis-playlist/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:58:22 +0000 the.past.is.unwritten http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/?p=2633 ]]> So I thought if I was going to write a thesis, it might as well have a playlist. Give a click on any of the tracks listed below see what kinda stuff was having an impact on the music milieux of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, 1950s-1990s.

Charles Peterson is the best photographer ever.

Chapter One:

Scott Joplin “Maple Leaf Rag”
Grace Holden “All I Need”
Alan Freed “Radio Aircheck – WJW Cleveland 1954″
Louis Armstrong “When the Saints Go Marching In”
Freddie Keppard “Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man”
Jelly Roll Morton “Fat Meat and Greens”
Duke Ellington “It Don’t Mean a Thing”
Woody Guthrie “All You Fascists Bound to Lose”
Little Bill and the Bluenotes “Hallelujah I Love Her So”
Ray Charles “Rockin’ Chair Blues”
Quincy Jones “Evening in Paris”
Little Richard and the Upsetters “Every Night About this Time”
Sam Cooke “A Change is Gonna Come”
James Brown “Out of Sight (live in Olympia 1966)”
The Temptations “Get Ready”
Jimi Hendrix “Hey Joe”
Jimi Hendrix “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”
Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”
Robert Cray “Smoking Gun”
Ray Charles “Hit the Road Jack”

Chapter Two:

The Benny Goodman Orchestra “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)”
Richard Berry “Louie Louie”
The Sonics “Louie Louie”
Paul Revere and the Raiders “Louie Louie”
The Kingsmen “Louie Louie”
Elvis Presley “That’s All Right”
Little Willie John “Fever”
The Fleetwoods “Come Softly to Me”
Little Bill and the Bluenotes “I Love an Angel”
The Frantics “Werewolf”
The Wailers “Tall Cool One”
The Ventures “Walk Don’t Run”
Franklin D. Roosevelt “On the Bank Crisis - Sunday 13 March 1933”
Jimi Hendrix “Spanish Castle Magic”
The Wailers “Rosalie”
Paul Revere and the Raiders “Beatnik Sticks”
The Sonics “The Witch”
The Sonics “The Hustler”
The Sonics “Strychnine”
The Telepaths “Black”
The Dead Kennedys “California Über Alles”
Black Flag “Six Pack”
D.O.A. “World War 3”
The Fartz “Because This Fucking World Stinks”
The Germs “What We Do is Secret”
Guns N’ Roses “Welcome to the Jungle”

Chapter Three:

Mother Love Bone “Crown of Thorns”
Jane’s Addiction “Had a Dad”
Soundgarden “He Didn’t (Live from Seattle Bumbershoot Festival 1988)”
Mudhoney “Touch Me I’m Sick”
Ronald Reagan “Morning in America”
Fugazi “Waiting Room”
Hüsker Dü “Eight Miles High”
The Replacements “Unsatisfied”
Scream “Came Without Warning”
Martha Quinn “MTV VJ 1982”
Mötley Crüe “Girls, Girls, Girls”
The Dead Kennedys “Pull My Strings”
Mr. Epp and the Calculations “Of Course I’m Happy, Why?”
Rodney Bingenheimer “Rodney on the ROQ Theme”
Wipers “Doom Town”
Beat Happening “Black Candy (live on TCTV 1998)”
The U-Men “They”
The Melvins “Happy Grey or Black”
The Fastbacks “Swallow My Pride”
The Gits “Insecurities”
Skin Yard “Skins in My Closet”
Green River “This Town”
Malfunkshun “With Yo’ Heart (Not Yo’ Hands)”
The Posies “Ontario”
The Young Fresh Fellows “Amy Grant”
The Green Pajamas “Kim the Waitress”
Screaming Trees “You Tell Me All These Things”
Nirvana “Spank Thru (1/23/88)”
Tad “Loser”
Sonic Youth “Kill Yr. Idols”
Sonic Youth “Teenage Riot”
Alice in Chains “We Die Young”
Pearl Jam “Why Go”
7 Year Bitch “M.I.A.”
Bikini Kill “Double Dare Ya”
Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

And here’s a link to the youtube playlist with all the songs actually playing like a playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0BD33C1F6A4CAA62

]]> http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/thesis-playlist/feed/ 0 the.past.is.unwritten Charles-Peterson-Another-Nirvana-Stage-Diver http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/occupy-playlist/ http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/occupy-playlist/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:51:14 +0000 the.past.is.unwritten http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/?p=2622 ]]> So way back in mid-October of last year, I wrote a post on the role of music in social movements. At the time, it really seemed like musicians were going to be participating in the Occupy Movement, and I reckoned it would be good to show the tradition of music being used in earlier protests, activism, dissent, revolutions, and other words I looked up in my thesaurus.

Although it seemed like music was going to be a big part of Occupy, I was still a little worried things would turn out like they did after the United States shocked and awed Iraq – namely, that not much new protest music would appear. Sure old regulars like Pearl Jam wrote songs and spoke out against the war at concerts, but by and large protest music stayed out of the mainstream discourse – and those musicians that did use their voices, like the Dixie Chicks, suffered an immediate backlash for not being patriotic. Sure, punk bands that had been writing protest songs for years continued to write new ones that questioned America’s involvement in the Middle East…but there was a stark lack of new voices, ideas, and numbers.

Eddie Vedder's favorite president AND shirt

When it came to Occupy, however, my worries were quickly quashed. Musicians old and new, mainstream and underground, Capricorns and Pisces, all started to get involved at the grassroots level – playing in Occupy camps where there was literally no barriers between audience and performer. Here’s a few examples of music, participation, and voices being heard:

]]> http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/occupy-playlist/feed/ 0 the.past.is.unwritten Vedder + Bush = http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/2610/ http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/2610/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:22:53 +0000 the.past.is.unwritten http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/?p=2610 ]]> Writer, musician, and all around punk rocker David Gault has made a video. Produced for a class taught by Dr. Michael B. MacDonald at the University of Alberta, it explores the role of urban space in politics and music.

By focusing on a song written by Ben Sir from the Edmonton punk band Worst Days Down, Gault highlights the importa…actually, instead of me going on about it, just see for yourself:

Check out more from Worst Days Down at: http://www.myspace.com/worstdaysdown

]]> http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/2610/feed/ 1 the.past.is.unwritten http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/this-is-not-the-story-of-a-shining-city-on-a-hill/ http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/this-is-not-the-story-of-a-shining-city-on-a-hill/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:15:20 +0000 the.past.is.unwritten http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/?p=2584 ]]> Some think the Occupy movement is full of a bunch of no-good-lazy-bums that have decided they don’t want to work. Or shower. Or do anything. Quite fairly, these critics argue that if the protesters only had the same networks of support, opportunities to succeed, and luck that they had, there wouldn’t need to be a movement.

Oh wait, they don’t argue that at all! Disregarding their lucky breaks, these critics still reckon they got where they are solely because of hard work, and if the protesters just got out of their tent and rolled up their sleeves, they could have the same. Well, unfortunately, that’s not the case, and that’s why people are upset. There are some protesters that aren’t employed, but a lot of the Occupy protesters do have jobs. Either way, they’ve seen what can happen, and they aren’t happy about it. They are raising issues that people ignore until it suddenly becomes their problem.

As George Carlin said: “it’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

And these aren’t issues that have just popped out of the blue. There are some pretty deep historical roots to the movement, from their non-violent tactics, to grievances that have been building – not just since 2008, but for decades.

Let’s go back to a world called the 1980s, and see what was happening then…

Yup, this was happening

In the 1980s, the United States was in the hands of Ronald Reagan. Reagan was a former actor that had brought the glamour of Hollywood with him to Washington during his extravagant 16 million dollar inauguration. The narrative that Reagan was perpetuating, and indeed, what many now remember of the time, was a “Morning in America,” a time of rebirth for the country and a return to traditional American values. Historian Gil Troy described Morning in America as “the great party known as the 1980s, when the stock market soared, patriotism surged, the Soviet Union crumbled, and America thrived.”[1] Before a renaissance, however, must come a dark age, and Reagan often described the 1970s as “a decade of neglect” where the economy waned, foreign influence diminished, and the government became an overblown and inefficient leviathan.[2]

At the time of Reagan’s inauguration on 20 January 1981, both supporters and detractors of the man had already bought into the myth of Reagan as a cowboy from the American west, ready for a gunfight with big government and any other enemies of free enterprise and individual liberty. The frontier myth, an integral part of American folklore since the late 1800s, was stylized and fused with Reagan’s political image. In an interview published in the New York Times the day after Reagan took office, historian Ray Allen Billington related that although this myth was based on the frontier as “a land of unrestrained liberty, where the individual was supreme and law was dispensed out of a holster instead of a law book…[the American west] wasn’t really like that.”[3] Billington went on to say that “people believe the myth that was created…and Reagan has come to personify those things; they aren’t true, but it doesn’t matter because people think they are.”[4]

By April 1984, after several years of tax cuts to the wealthy and increases to defense spending, Reagan proclaimed that “America is safer and more secure today because the people of this great nation have restored the foundation of its strength.”[5]

Just as with the earlier political myth-making, Reagan’s speeches were often high on patriotic imagery and optimism, even when this portrayal came at the cost of facts or the truth. In 1982 Reagan posed the question of what a private organization like the Boy Scouts, which at that time operated for 187 million dollars annually, would cost if it was run by the government bureaucracy. Without providing a source, only explaining that “someone’s worked out what the answer to that would be,” Reagan projected that the Boy Scouts, “if run by the government, would cost about 5 ½ billion a year.”[6] In the same year, the president went as far to tell Chicago students that gun possession used to be a capital offence in Britain in order to make a point about gun control.[7]

Rather than backing up his statements with factual evidence or his political image with substance, Reagan influenced on a broader level by affecting people’s general attitudes on issues they cared about. If they resented government control, they could relate to the idea of too many regulations or too many workers filling out government paperwork. If they supported every American’s right to bear arms, they could connect the story of gun possession resulting in the death penalty in England to gun control as an infringement on personal liberty in the United States. Through this political style combined with American myths and traditional values, Reagan had an affect on the consciousness of the United States in the 1980s. Indeed, as Gil Troy points out, “Reagan’s all-American outlook defined his times.”[8]

This outlook culminated while president Reagan was on the campaign trail in Texas during the summer of 1984. On 6 July, Reagan made a speech to the Texas Bar Association arguing that his administration had been working hard to undo the neglect of the 1970s. In his remarks, Reagan invoked the sacrificial myth of the Alamo and the legend of a confederate soldier named Robert E. Lee that worked to heal the United States following the civil war. The president connected this imagery to a narrative of the 1980s that showed a “reduction in both unemployment and inflation,” a crackdown on “high spending and taxes and unnecessary Federal regulations” and an administration that “spoke candidly about the wrongs and dangers of totalitarianism; we rebuilt our defenses; we revitalized our alliances.”[9]

At the end of the speech, Reagan asked “how can anyone in the United States of America, in the world today, be scared of anything?” Then he finished by declaring America to be a “shining city on the hill.”[10] The idea of America as a glittering example to the rest of the world was nothing new. John Winthrop first invoked the “city on the hill” myth in a sermon he delivered shortly before landing on America’s shores with a group of wealthy English Puritans in 1630. It subsequently became a founding myth of American exceptionalism.The America that Reagan described was seen as an example set for the rest of the world to live up to.

Making the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention on 16 July 1984, ten days after Reagan’s declaration of America as a shining city on the hill, New York governor Mario Cuomo responded by saying that “this nation is more a ‘Tale of Two Cities’ than it is just a ‘Shining City on a Hill.’”[11] Before it could truly be an example to be followed, America had troubles that needed to be solved. Cuomo argued that despite Reagan’s apparent populist approach and ability to connect with the average American, he really had no understanding of what was really going on in the United States. Namely, that there was:

…another part to the shining city, the part where some people can’t afford to pay their mortgages and most young people can’t afford one, where students can’t afford the education they need and middle-class parents watch the dreams they hold for their children evaporate. In this part of the city there are more poor than ever, more families in trouble. More and more people who need help but can’t find it…and there are people in the gutter, where the glitter doesn’t show. There are ghettos where thousands of young people, without a job or an education, give their lives away to drug dealers every day.[12]

Cuomo then went on to say that:

Maybe Mr. President, if you visited some more places, maybe if you went to Appalachia where some people still live in sheds, maybe if you went to Lackawanna where thousands of unemployed steel workers wonder why we subside foreign steel; maybe,  Mr. President, if you stopped in at a shelter in Chicago and talked with some of the homeless there; maybe Mr. President, if you asked a woman who had been denied the help she needed to feed her children because you needed the money for a tax break for a millionaire or for a missile we couldn’t afford to use – maybe then you’d understand.[13]

The governor from the Democratic Party insisted that if their party was going to win the presidential election in November of 1984 then they “must get the American public to look past the glitter” that the Reagan administration had used to hide the United States’ second city.[14]

Where there was “Morning in America” there was also “mourning in America.”[15]As the economy grew, so did crime, drug problems, and the fear of a nuclear holocaust. As the Soviet Union was breaking down, so were many American families. Even with all the materialism and emphasis on consumption, a real concern for the environment was growing. For all the patriotism, there were many that saw America’s actions in the world as negative and harmful.

Nowadays, the USSR may be gone, but other problems remain. In a lot of ways, they’ve only gotten worse. The prevalent attitude on Wall Street now – the blind faith in materialism, greed and consumption – got a major jump-start in the Reagan Era, and the lack of regulation helped drive the recent problems.

Myth-making is distorting the truth about American capitalism. No longer is it the innovative entrepreneur that rises from rags to riches with the help of the market’s invisible hand. It’s corporations that win out, and anybody that can’t contribute to the profit margin is left by the way side. Or at least that’s the perception, and the gang at the top aren’t helping much to change it.

For instance, how did the fat cats act when the bailout money went to bonuses? Well, it was an example in arrogance; the impression that these Masters of the Universe and American Psychos somehow deserved such glittery rewards, built on the backs of hard-working people, didn’t go over so well. It caused division, and helped create the 99% versus the 1% dichotomy, and overshadowed the fact there’s a lot of good people in society’s elite too; folks that want to tackle the world’s problems as much as anybody. The paradigm of separation, however, only added fuel to the anger of the marginalized. As did debt. Losing their jobs. And feeling like they didn’t have a voice.

People are upset at the exclusion from having a say in a system that is:

-widening the gap between rich and poor
-ignoring the environmental damage worsening everyday
-turning universities into assembly lines
-spinning the truth into Reagan-esque propaganda

These issues and their consequences mean there is still, like in the ’80s, more than one city in America, and they are far apart from each other. The Occupy Movement is raising the voices from the other city, the one without the glitter. For doing so, they aren’t just getting a backlash from the 1%, but also the people they are protesting for: the ones in danger of being forgotten by the system when they suddenly find they are out of a job, can’t afford to finish school, pay their mortgage, or cover the cost of their kid’s hospital bill. They say they support the message, but not the means.

…But then they don’t offer any substantial ideas on how to make things better.

The problems dividing the haves and the have nots aren’t new. And trickle-down economics and blind faith in the free market  isn’t going to solve them.

---

[1] Gil Troy, Morning in America, p. 12.

[2] For examples, see “Remarks at the National Conference of the National Federation of Independent Business” 22 June 1983 http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1983/62283b.htm, and “Statement on Proposed Superfund Reauthorization Legislation” 22 February 1985. http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1985/22285b.htm.

[3] “A Cowboy Hero, Myth and Reality.” Robert Lindsey. New York Times. 21 January 1981.

[4] Ibid.

[5] “Remarks at the National Leadership Forum of the Center for International and Strategic Studies of Georgetown University” 6 April 1984 http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/40684a.htm.

[6] “Remarks on Private Sector Initiatives at a White House Breifing for National Service Organization Leaders.” 27 April 1982. http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1982/42782a.htm.

[7] Troy, Morning in America, p. 8.

[8] Ibid, p. 4.

[9] “Remarks at the Annual Convention of the Texas State Bar Association in San Antonio.” 6 July 1984 http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/70684a.htm.

[10] “President Says Social Security Faces a Squeeze.” Frances X. Clines New York Times 7 July 1984.

[11] “Transcript of Keynote Address by Cuomo to the Convention.” New York Times 17 July 1984.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Troy, Morning in America, p. 13.

]]> http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/this-is-not-the-story-of-a-shining-city-on-a-hill/feed/ 2 the.past.is.unwritten miamivice Cowboy Ronald Reagan and the flag America the Beautiful Having a Laugh 100_2597 http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/pull-yourself-up-and-go-out-again/ http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/pull-yourself-up-and-go-out-again/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:19:48 +0000 the.past.is.unwritten http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/?p=2556 ]]> In case you didn’t notice, the so-called “Super Committee” that’s supposedly “trying” to sort out the deficit problems in the United States could sure use some help.

the...not so super committee

So it’s really too bad they don’t have the Edmonton music community on their side. As shown during the last week, they actually get things done. Recently it came to light that the Wunderbar Hofbrauhaus is in danger of closing down. So local musicians, record labels, writers, and people that are skilled in the art of alcohol consumption rushed to the venue’s aid. After some great fundraising, the threat of the Wunderbar having to shut down has lessened, but they’re not out of the woods yet…it’s always good to have something stored up for winter anyways.

Luckily, that means unlike the super committee (which would just throw in the towel), the music community isn’t letting up. This Wednesday night, the Wunderbar is having a Folkraiser. F&M, Tyler Butler, Jim “Nowhere” Ralnyk, Troy Snaterse and Huckleberry are all playing.

Show starts at 8, so get there early and have one of them fancy beers they got.

Cover is by donation.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=274205559282984

]]> http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/pull-yourself-up-and-go-out-again/feed/ 1 the.past.is.unwritten no so super committee http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/yes-of-course-its-important-to-go-out-tonight/ http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/yes-of-course-its-important-to-go-out-tonight/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:20:26 +0000 the.past.is.unwritten http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/?p=2540 ]]> It’s a scientific fact that music scenes need good venues in order to thrive. While these spaces can be a parking lot, empty swimming pool, or your parent’s basement – it’s always nice to have something a little more…official. Liverpool had the Cavern Club. New York had CBGBs. Minneapolis had First Avenue. Berekeley had 924 Gilman Street. Los Angeles had Whisky a Go Go.  Those are just a few well-known ones, but if you look at any well-developed music milieu, from nowadays all the way back to the stone age, there’s at least one venue supporting that community – serving as a foundation for whatever the heck the scene’s participants are up to.

Mos Eisley had a great scene thanks to this catina

Anybody with half a brain and at least partial hearing can figure out that Edmonton has a heck of a music community these days. There’s heaps of talented musicians, and appreciative audiences ready to fill up seats at a show. And a venue that has quickly become one of the best in Edmonton for bands coming to town and local acts is the Wunderbar Hofbrauhaus on Whyte Ave and 101 street. A cozy, communal space, the venue plays host to great music nearly every night, while coincidentally having a really rad beer selection.

The problem with music venues here in Edmonton, and anywhere else, is sustainability. All too often, these places close down, or stop doing the things for the scene that made them great in the first place. For example, the Whisky a Go Go of today is not the same place the Doors or the Germs once played. Jim Morrison certainly never had to pay to play, and you wouldn’t be kicked out of a Germs’ show for a bit of moshing.

The Wunderbar, however, has only been getting better and better. Unfortunately though, it has run into financial trouble and is in danger of closing down. Unsurprisingly, local musicians have rallied around it, and are doing everything they can to help the place stay open.

Here’s a short list of what you can do to help:

1. Go there and try the great beer. Remember: Every pint counts!

2. Head over tonight and see the Old Ugly show. 8:00. $5:

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122534587855183

3. When you’re at the show tonight, buy a copy of Tyler Butler‘s new EP. He’s donating all the proceeds to the Wunderbar, AND it’s really good! Then congratulate yourself for helping out by having a pint.

4. Follow steps 1-3, and then head back to the Wunderbar on Saturday. The doors open at noon, music starts at 3:30, and then keeps going until close. The line-up is rocking, and entry is by donation:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=136809396425610

5. Bring your friends.

]]> http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/yes-of-course-its-important-to-go-out-tonight/feed/ 0 the.past.is.unwritten Mos Eisley Catina Wunderbar! http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/2534/ http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/2534/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:59:58 +0000 the.past.is.unwritten http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/?p=2534 ]]> So just in case you didn’t know – the lyrics sung by Paul Westerberg of the Minneapolis band the Replacements delve deeply into the theme of yearning. Now, maybe not as popular as the feelings “hungry,” “envy” or even “love,” this was a still a feeling many kids across the United States were feeling in the 1980s. And I’d bet that even GOB Bluth at some point in his life  has yearned for something too….probably.

For example, the chorus to the song “Unsatisifed” had Westerberg demanding the listener to “look me in the eye and tell me that I’m satisfied,” before asking “are you satisfied?” The song then ends with Westerberg repeatedly saying, “I’m so, I’m so, unsatisfied.” [Note- while these lyrics might seem a bit silly written in prose and added into my narrative, trust me, they ain't lame at all when you give the song a listen]

Listeners across the country related to Westerberg’s words. For example, Missy Roeback, a big fan of the Replacements, remembered upon hearing Westerberg,

he sounded raw and fragile and desperate and pissed. He sounded like I felt. I was twenty-three, two years out of college [in 1986], slowly suffocating in a conservative New England town, not sure of what I wanted to do with my life, but sure that I needed to get out of Hartford. I went to work at my soul-sucking insurance company job in my purple hair and black clothes. I was confused and angry and sad and not really sure why. At the time, I couldn’t even describe these feelings – I just knew that everything was wrong. ‘Unsatisfied’ made me feel like someone else got it. This is how it feels. This is how I feel. It took me a few more years to escape the suffocating town and quite a few more to start putting a name on my feelings. Songs like “Unsatisfied” and [other Replacements’ songs] ‘Answering Machine,’ and later on, ‘Aching to be,’ didn’t give me all the answers, but they helped me feel less alone in the world.

As mentioned before on this here blog, there was another Replacements’ song, “Bastards of Young,” that tapped into the self-deprecating mood of Generation X, exclaiming “we are the sons of no one/ bastards of young” as an anthem. Furthermore, their song “Kids Don’t Follow,” exemplifies the dichotomies between the baby-boomers and Generation X, as well as those with power and those without it.

The track begins with a recording of the Minneapolis police breaking up a concert the Replacements were performing at; despite the youths’ desire to continue the show, the authorities give the event participants a choice of packing up their belongings and leaving, or facing arrest. Although the show was broken up, with the Replacements leaving the warehouse venue with the audience, the participants were still defiant to some extent; Dave Pirner, a member of the contemporary Minneapolis band Soul Asylum, can be heard on the recording yelling expletives at the police.

The song (recorded separately in a studio) then details the opposition of the young to their elders, with the lyrics “kids won’t listen/ To what you’re sayin’/ Kids ain’t wondering/ Kids ain’t praying,” and “I need some attention/ No house of detention/ I’d love some attention/ Don’t start again/ Kids don’t need that/ Kids don’t want that/ Kids don’t need nothing of the kind/ Kids don’t follow/ What you’re doin’/ In my face out my ear.”

Numerous other examples of Replacements’ songs can be referenced, such as “I Hate Music.” The obvious irony and self-deprecation of the song was evident in its title, and its lyrics further support those  themes, and reveal the band was also earnestly self aware: “I hate music/  Its got too many notes/ I hate my high school/ Sometimes I went/ I hate music, man/ Never heaven sent/… so so what?/ I hate my father/ One day I won’t/ I hate my father/ Just get off my back/ I hate music/ Its got too many notes/ Are you listening?”

This attitude was conveyed by youth all throughout the country, and, as well all know this feeling of generational discontent finally hit the mainstream a little over twenty years ago, when people turned on MTV to see the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

]]> http://thepastisunwritten.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/2534/feed/ 1 the.past.is.unwritten gob bluth cries Replacements