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Saturday, July 30, 2005
My husband, the fatalist, was optimistic when George W. Bush came into office in 2000 for one reason alone. Punk rock. Music, art, and even comedy lost its edge as Clinton fattened us up with a strong economy and a juicy scandal. Chris was certain that the return of an ultra-conservative, power-hungry warmonger to power would spark some new underground movement driven by rage and righteousness. Instead, we get an inspired yelp from Howard Dean and a generation of youth lulled into safe, suburban rebellion in the forms of text messaging, hip hop, and incredibly unflattering low-cut jeans.
The emergence of an antithesis to the conservative culture in this country isn't readily apparent to me - at least not in the behavior of my fellow Americans. Sure, I live in San Francisco where you can't dodge a homeless person without bumping into some hipster who despises the Republican Party, but...so what? Materialism may be an easy pitfal, but it's also recognizable. Intellectual decadance may not be as obvious. We have the luxury to say whatever we want about anything. We have the convenience of posting it on the internet for everyone to see. We have the power to spread opinions and misinformation that have the same weight as facts and truth. And so we do. Are we changing the economic and political landscape? Eh, maybe.
My own latest mission intersects both materialism and intellectual self-indulgence. I've been filling my new iPod Mini with all kinds of my favorite music - including some punk rock. I'm really pleased with what listening to hours and hours of my favorite songs randomly shuffled does to my brain. It appeases that part of me that becomes agitated and restless without spontaneous stimulation and inspires me to think about things I wouldn't otherwise waste much time with.
Just this week I found myself fascinated with some Dead Kennedys lyrics that appear to have maintained some relevance. California Uber Alles is fascinating to me because of the perspective it provides on California liberal culture in the 80s. The tongue-in-cheek scifi premise of the song pokes fun at left-wing paranoia that only overbearing conservatives are bent on taking over the world:
I am Governor Jerry Brown
My aura smiles
And never frowns
Soon I will be president ...
Carter power will soon go away
I will be Fuhrer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will meditate in school
Jello Biafra later revises his lyrics in a song called We Have a Bigger Problem Now.... The tongue is removed from the cheek in this rendition as he addresses the reality of the current situation:
I am Emperor Ronald Reagan
Born again with fascist cravings
Still, you made me president
Human rights will soon go 'way
I am now your Shah today
Now I command all of you
Now you're going to pray in school
I'll make sure they're Christian too
If you check out the full lyrics to this song and replace a name or two - while actually keeping references to many of the same ideas and, well, countries - you'll find that not much has changed.
Maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe the blogs of today are as powerful as the punk rock of two decades ago...just a lot more boring. Or maybe punk rock of two decades ago was as powerless as blogs today. If we're in the same boat now as we were then, than I'd say Jello didn't really get the word out as effectively as he would've liked. But the tools are in more hands now. The internet is not only empowering teens to whine about their math classes online but also enabling international terrorists to recruit rational people to blow themselves up in crowded public places. Perhaps if Mr. Biafra had inspired as extreme a self-sacrifice from his own converts, we would be in a different reality right now. Maybe meditating in school...
Labels: music, politics
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