And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
The style and class this generation had - unforgettable!
At one time, blacks were a significant source of music--blues, gospel, rhythm and blues, jazz. Now all that talent has disappeared, and blacks have devolved into rap.
How did that happen? There is a theory (from the Romantics?) that art requires suffering as its base and source. Did the Civil Rights movement and the welfare state end black suffering? Did they just free blacks to be themselves?
What happened is that "rock and roll" succeeded in its project of Revering the Holy Primitive, starting with Elvis Presley, promoted as "The white boy who sings like a Negro." You can be sure they didn't mean he sang like Paul Robeson (although he probably could've, he was a great artist in his own right.)
What happened is that Elvis, and all rock "music" since, has been marketed like soap as "anti-establishment" and "courageous" for "standing up to The Man." This was in the middle '50s; less than a decade earlier blacks had aspired to write symphonies and jazz was music for intellectuals of whatever color. Rock has encouraged generations of middle-class white kids to present themselves as ghetto trash, to my endless mystification. Glorification of ghetto trash is the only representation of black folks to be had in popular culture.
Believe me, I've known lots of older black men who reached out to this fatherless boy in an attempt to teach him how to handle himself, and how to have self-respect in a hostile world. I'm 74 now but I well remember them shaking their heads at the garbage that was taking over the music world. I'm sure they would be heartened, as I am, to see intelligent young black folks like Rhiannon Giddons reclaiming their own musical heritage.
Last night I watched "Broadway Melody of 1940" with the incomparable Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire; today this wonderful song with its unforgettable singers.
It's painful to wake up each morning in 2019, realizing how much of our once-great American culture we have lost forever.
At one time, blacks were a significant source of music--blues, gospel, rhythm and blues, jazz. Now all that talent has disappeared, and blacks have devolved into rap.
ReplyDeleteHow did that happen? There is a theory (from the Romantics?) that art requires suffering as its base and source. Did the Civil Rights movement and the welfare state end black suffering? Did they just free blacks to be themselves?
Glad you asked.
DeleteWhat happened is that "rock and roll" succeeded in its project of Revering the Holy Primitive, starting with Elvis Presley, promoted as "The white boy who sings like a Negro." You can be sure they didn't mean he sang like Paul Robeson (although he probably could've, he was a great artist in his own right.)
What happened is that Elvis, and all rock "music" since, has been marketed like soap as "anti-establishment" and "courageous" for "standing up to The Man." This was in the middle '50s; less than a decade earlier blacks had aspired to write symphonies and jazz was music for intellectuals of whatever color. Rock has encouraged generations of middle-class white kids to present themselves as ghetto trash, to my endless mystification. Glorification of ghetto trash is the only representation of black folks to be had in popular culture.
Believe me, I've known lots of older black men who reached out to this fatherless boy in an attempt to teach him how to handle himself, and how to have self-respect in a hostile world. I'm 74 now but I well remember them shaking their heads at the garbage that was taking over the music world. I'm sure they would be heartened, as I am, to see intelligent young black folks like Rhiannon Giddons reclaiming their own musical heritage.
That duet brought tears to my eyes.
ReplyDeleteLast night I watched "Broadway Melody of 1940" with the incomparable Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire; today this wonderful song with its unforgettable singers.
It's painful to wake up each morning in 2019, realizing how much of our once-great American culture we have lost forever.