Saturday, September 1, 2012

Stairway To Hell

It appears that I couldn't get away from the Republican National Convention entirely.  I picked up on vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan's comment, made in an effort to portray himself as a regular guy, that his iPod is filled with classic rock tunes, everything from "AC/DC to Zeppelin."  (A to Z, get it? Not really all that clever.)  My fellow Drew University alumnus Karen Hunter scoffed at that line, responding on her Facebook fan page, "AC/DC (too easy to go there) and Zeppelin? Figures . . .."
This all led me to come to three conclusions.  First, Karen's comment confirmed my suspicion that black people are indifferent to classic rock.  Second, blacks are not only indifferent to it, they're hostile to it.  Not only did Karen dismiss classic rock in such a cavalier fashion, she put me in the uncomfortable position of defending Ryan for his musical tastes, if only partially.  (I'm not an AC/DC fan.)  And if that weren't bad enough, another black woman responded on Karen's Facebook page in kind, writing, "My president loves Al Green and his wife dances like Beyoncé, since we are throwing pop culture references in there to validate how cool and current he is."  Okay, I get the Beyoncé Knowles reference, since she's a current entertainer, but how is Al Green any more current than Jimmy Page and Robert Plant?  How can Al Green be current when Al Green Gets Next To You came out in 1971, the same year as Led Zeppelin IV? Riddle me that, Riddler!
But the third, and most troubling, conclusion I came to is this: Republican politicians will always stoop to ripping off a worthy genre of popular music just to get white people to vote for them . . . even if it means debasing its legacy and making it even more of a joke for black people to laugh at.
Classic rock radio is often dismissed as the Baby Boomer equivalent of those AM radio stations that kept playing big-band jazz long after it ceased to be relevant.  Classic rock radio plays the songs of revered rock artists from the sixties, seventies, and eighties over and over for middle-aged white people who refuse to accept the fact that hip-hop has long since taken over the charts.  But there's a reason it's called "classic" rock - it's stood the test of time.  It's great music.  But here's what drives me crazy about Republicans who use classic rock as a campaign strategy.  They're using songs from artists who espoused a mostly liberal, or even anarchic, world view to get people to vote for their conservative agenda.  The Beatles sang about peace and love (which can get in the way of waging wars in the Middle East).  So have Crosby, Stills and Nash.  The Rolling Stones have sung about overthrowing the system.    Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger sing about the working man and his plight.  Jackson Browne is against nuclear power.  And Elton John - who admittedly hasn't put out a rock and roll record since about 1989 - is gay!  How the hell can Republicans relate to artists who are against everything they stand for?  And yet the Republicans keep playing songs from Tom Petty and John Mellencamp at their campaign rallies, until they're told to cut it out by Petty and Mellencamp themselves.  Chris Christie keeps trying to get Springsteen to play at his own events, and the Boss won't return his calls. Can't these people take a hint?  And by the way, it's possible to be musically conservative, unbending to current trends, and still be far to the left politically. Look at John Fogerty. Hell, look at Streisand! 
As for Paul Ryan . . . well, leaving aside the fact that AC/DC and Led Zeppelin drew inspiration from Delta bluesmen (and Zep was inspired by Joni Mitchell and reggae), I have a problem understanding how his fondness for "Stairway To Heaven" is going to get classic rock fans to vote for an agenda that will put them through four years of hell.  And regarding AC/DC . . . even if "Highway To Hell" is about the rigors of touring and not literally about going to hell, what does it say about a member of Congress when he likes a band known for a song about a hit man? "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" would make a great title for the Ryan budget!
Look, I understand that black people will forever laugh at classic rock - even Hendrix - for offering piercing guitar solos you can't dance to unless you mime to them . . . "air guitar," the white man's dance. They will always sneer at any band whose leader plays the flute and writes songs with esoteric titles like "The Witch's Promise."  They will never get the appeal of legendary soundscape albums like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or The Dark Side Of the Moon.  I get all that.  But can we please stop conservatives from capitalizing on classic rock and making it even more of an object of amusement and ridicule for people of color than it already is?  Especially when the message of all those classic rock records is the opposite of the smarmy, reactionary politics that righties preach?  Geez, even the Stones were never as misogynistic or as greedy as the Republicans! And the Stones love to play the blues!    
Nevertheless, look for more pandering to classic rock fans from the GOP.  They can't win the election with just the votes of country fans, and they're hoping that some classic rock listeners are conservatives who like the beat (or the melody, if you're talking about the Eagles) but don't hear the message in the lyrics.  Alas, their hopes are actually well-founded; such people exist.  Some of them are even Deadheads.
This is so embarrassing . . ..          

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