28 June 2008
More George (& Bill)
Thanks to Joe for the tip about George Carlin very recently talking about human rights. For selfish reasons, I wish Bill "The Prophet" Hicks would've stuck around to age 71 ("As long as we're making shit up, go hog wild"). Regarding heckler management, George and Bill certainly had a similar approach.
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3 comments:
Bill Hicks was funny, but his hatred of successful comedians is something I never understood. Sort of went down the path of "I've not been accepted by most of the main stream, so f*ck off if you have been!" self wallowing. Social criticism and commentary, I get, entiendo, j'ai entendu. Ich verstehe. But saying that once someone makes a commercial, they've "sold their soul" and anything they say "is like a turd in my beer"... it's something I USED to think, until a few years ago. It's very anti-establishment, and very cool to be against "the man", sure, but I heard Henry Rollins once rant, that he also used to think that way until one day, he began to realize, 'Hey, these guys have finally found success... they can put food on their table... that the people who had long hair and were rebels and were against the establishment, are Now part of the fabric of corporate America, and if you see their face, or hear their music in an advertisement, that shows you that the face of corporate America is changing. Just because The Clash or Iggy Pop are being used to sell products doesn't mean they've sold out, it means that people who enjoy their music and creative outputs are now the ones making decisions about what goes into the content of the advertisement'.
I heard that one Saturday night, at home with a delicious bottle of French red, and had sort of an epiphany moment. It "made sense" on a fundamental level, to me at least. So now, when I hear someone attacking, criticizing, mocking another artist or comedian or person who is successful, or who is making a few dollars from lending their image to a product or promotion, I don't get all negative and disgusted as Bill Hicks often did, mocking them for their success... I just start to think instead... "oh, ok, that's what you're making money on?"
I'd rather hear a tune I like, or images that I enjoy in an ad, that might catch my eye, than to be subjected to inane or obnoxious or unpleasant songs or images that grab the reptilian part of my brain and make me go "ewww" or wince. It's not going to make me purchase that product, but it is going to not make my life worse that day.
Sometimes, it can be slightly prophetic... like when "Rage Against the Machine" had a tour that was 'sponsored by Budweiser' ... hmmm... that was the last time "Rage" went on tour... kinda hard to sustain "raging against oneself" I guess.
as a followup on my comment about Bill Hick's visceral hatred of those who have made money from their work, I offer this quote:
"Where did it fail? I don't know that it failed, I think it kind of just got absorbed into popular mainstream. When you hear a Stooges track or a Buzzcocks track or a Ramones track or a track by the Fall, or what have you, in a car ad, some people, whenever that happens, I get a letter saying "What a sellout." And I say "no man, we've arrived." The person making that ad grew up on that music. You're no longer confined to interstitial, instrumental music, you're gonna get Iggy Pop and the Teddy Bears singing I'm a punk rocker to sell a car. What would you rather hear? Some wanky keyboard or Iggy and the Teddy Bears? I know which one I'd rather hear, and I just hope they get paid quickly and double scale, because it's about time. I don't so much see the failure in as much as that anything that has been around for 30 years or more."
http://www.motherjones.com/interview/2007/07/henry_rollins.html
I'll shut up now. Bill was / is a funny comedian... I just can't embrace his ideology fully.
Bill Hicks died quite a while ago. His point is valid that if your message is anti-establishment, you subvert your message by being part of the establishment. Beyond that, you may be taking that very small aspect of his routine a bit too seriously. Give a listen to him squeegying his third eye sometime.
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