Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Vinyl Love...Denied!



So I called SST and wondered what the dilly-yo was up with my January order. The guy was really helpful, but it turns out the Bad Brains LP is STILL out of stock. So I said "Just ship me the Black Flag CD and be done with it." I'll check on it again in a month or five, but in the meantime, I still need to review the Rites of Spring album. For the moment, all I can say is WOW. I can also say, oh, looky, I've got a new source of RIAA-free music.

Thursday, March 04, 2004

IIIIIII WANT TO BEEEEEEEE.....a registered Democrat, Part Deux



Dave Weigel of Reason Magazine questions the notion that pop culture is inherently leftist in a review of Dispatches From the Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen Spirit (link via Instapundit). I read the Post's review of this book months ago when it was released, based on that, I found the premise shallow at best, at worst a pretentious example of the navel-gazing that those in the pop industry are given to, the surety that they possess cosmic truth. Weigel leans more toward the "shallow" end, dinging author Danny Goldberg for never considering that maybe Democratic policies have something to do with whether the young respond to them. More to the point, Goldberg ignores the glaringly obvious fact that fans don't necessarily look to musicians for their politics:
Not every fan of Rage Against the Machine or the Dead Kennedys is against globalization and free trade. Marilyn Manson -- yes -- guardedly endorsed George W. Bush during the 2000 election, telling the defunct Talk magazine, "If I had to pick, I?d pick Bush and not necessarily by default. I know I don?t support what the other team is about." In the end, very few Dixie Chicks fans, judging by ticket and album sales, care all that much about the band?s stance on presidential IQ or geopolitics.

As someone who often grooves to the MC5's Kick Out the Jams while ignoring or skipping the album's stereotypical hippie rants, I can only say "duh." Who says that the young (or anyone else for that matter) is only interested in overthrowing authority or establishing national medical insurance (cause that's so badass)? Who says that music can only be a conveyer of the will to change? For that matter, why must the change only be the kind of change the DNC approves of?

I could also ask if the kind of arguments a three-muinute pop song contains will necessarily translate to public policy. But I suppose even asking that question marks me as a dull wanker, uncool enough for school and smart enough to get a job. How my soul chafes at its bourgeois confinement.

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Music Update



Yesterday's post has inspired a bit of a retreat from the politics of the minute to something more personal. I haven't devoted as much of this blog to music as I would like, for a couple of reasons:


1) Haven't really found the format that I like. I can write a review and post it, but there hasn't been a regular rythmn of things. Reviewing music takes time, thought, and repeated listens, and I don't always have those things available. Plus, they'll get lost amid the rest of my screeds. This is all a subset to my larger concerns about the design for the site. I've been pondering a switch to BloggerPro.

2)I haven't really had new stuff coming in. SST's usual pokiness has been compounded by the fact that the Bad Brains LP I ordered is out of stock, so my January purchase is on backorder. Financial considerations led me to abstain on new purchases for February.

3)I've been trying to make the switch from an amateur critic to an amateur creator. I've got a brand name, an aesthetic, and some songs. What I don't really have is a band or again, the time to devote to it. Mayhaps that will change come summer.


Today, after thinkng on yesterday's post and reading old reviews at Punk Fix, I surfed over to eBay and bought the Rites of Spring album on vinyl. Reading Dance of Days made me consider the value of Dischord products. I've been meaning to start buying as soon as my last SST record arrived. Now I'm done waiting. I'm making the plunge into emo. I'm thinking that early emo will be more substantial and authoritative than modern practitioners like Dashboard Confessional. Here's hoping I'm right.