Please Can We PLEASE Declare A Moratorium On 60s Nostalgia? PLEASE

Feeling easy on the outside
But not so funny on the inside
Feel the sound, pray for rain
For this is the night we ride
This ain't the garden of Eden
There ain't no angels above
And things ain't like what they used to be
And this ain't the summer of love
Lock all your doors from the outside
The key will dangle by the inside
You may begin to understand
That this is the night we ride
This ain't the garden of eden
There ain't no angels above
And things ain't like what they used to be
And this ain't the summer of love
On the night we ride...this ain't the summer of love.
This ain't the garden of eden
There ain't no angels above
And things ain't like what they used to be
And this ain't the summer of love
This ain't the summer, this ain't, this ain't
This ain't the summer of love

Holland Cotter's New York Times piece from a few weeks ago on the Whitney exhibit kind of says it all.

Seriously - this 60s nostalgia is what, for people in their 60s and 70s now? c'moOOoOOONNNNnnnnOOO N N NO N O OOOONNnnnnnn, let it die. this whole "NEW RAVE" (aka, regular dance music) probably fits in, too ... they were all about that peace love and/or understanding crap.

So what new can happen???

u guyses need 2 mello out. get awesome and throw on some quicksilver messanger service.

yes pleaze lets have more 80s nostalgia, no wait 90s nostalgia I luv grunge!!!

remember those 00s, those were awesome maaaaaaan

great idea, grandpa

_\|/_ </////>~~~~ oaaaaah maaan i got the muncheies. better get the polydent ~~~~<\\\\\> _\|/_

I was actually thinking about this issue a bit last night, partially because of the band I saw at the Arthur benefit, Entrance. On the one hand, they were great performers, played damn well together, kicked up a hell of a noise, easily won the crowd over. On the other hand, the whole presentation -- heavy riffages from two guys and a woman with a dress sense straight out of '69 that only wanted to sound like a band from '69 -- was more than a little frustrating. It felt more like a tribute band than an actual tribute band, something I didn't feel with anyone else on the bill.

The comparison I drew in my head was to seeing the (very good) electronic/trance/industrial etc. act VNV Nation a few days beforehand, who are equally beholden to their own antecedents of course. But those antecedents are generally far more recent and there's a sense of embracing and engaging with the future by being more committed to the here and now -- no joke, their song "The Farthest Star" has reenergized me on a particular mental and philosophical level than almost anything else in recent years. I didn't expect that, honestly.

Yet their futurism is still as mentioned also beholden to a past, and there's been plenty in the world of dance and hip-hop that has taken things to further levels yet. Perhaps it's a matter of what one wants to mainline and always ride off of even as time passes -- an obvious lesson to learn. Yet the fact is that the authenticity factor ties down 'the sixties' like a horrible dead weight still, where something like electronic music feels still like that weight lifted off the shoulders.

(And it's all the weirder because full-on electric guitar abuse and mechanistic heavy beats provided via improved recording/production processes just aren't that far removed in time from each other, and are part of a general context of new groundrules being established. But it's the difference, I guess, between wanting your instruments to only sound of a certain place and context and using them to their fullest and finding something new, and that of course applies to both those elements and nearly everything else I can think of. Perhaps it's just all down to presentation in the end.)

listen son,

unless you've mowed a quart of ben and jerrys w/THE wavy gravy while doing bong rips and spinning the dead Europe 72, u can't knock the hustle.

80s nostalgia seems way more prevalent these days than 60s nostalgia.

See, whether or not present-day recording/production processes are indeed an "improvement" on outdated methods...well, that's a matter of opinion, Ned.

Actual remark I overheard tour docent make at the Whitney exhibition: "These posters were also meant to go along with a psychedelic drug experience. So if you think they look cool now, imagine how cool they would look on acid."

My boys, i'm afraid to say early 90s nostalgia is also starting to emerge. haw haw. every 10 years we think "no way that shit 10 years ago will ever coem back into fashion"

Fashion Tip: watch old episodes of A Different World for outfit ideas, especially if the episode deals with black history or exploring racial tension

British psychedelic poster art > American psychedelic poster art

you crazy

don't get me wrong I like Haphash and all

See, whether or not present-day recording/production processes are indeed an "improvement" on outdated methods...well, that's a matter of opinion, Ned.

Fair enough. Then let reword it to say that I like the fact very much that the possibilities are much, much more numerous and broader before than they were, and presumably will continue to be so.

http://m1.freeshare.us/154fs727476.jpghttp://m1.freeshare.us/154fs727476.jpghttp://m1.freeshare.us/154fs727476.jpg

I don't remember the 60s, ergo, I must have been there

British psychedelic poster art > American psychedelic poster art

-- Tim Ellison, Friday, June 29, 2007 1:22 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Linkp

otm but true of brit design in general.

experimentation >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>nostalgia

haha, gareth + 600 posts to thread

i'll shut up now

"experimentation" is really a modernist value, tho

rockism = nostalgia for "experimentation"

(...as if experimenting with old forms is not experimenting, gotta love that)

you know, in science, you never hear about the experiments that were inconclusive or outright failed, do you

sorry I'm just being confusing aren't I... anyway Tim otm about the entire concept of experimentation being central to music and that that idea itself is outdated and conservative; it doesn't really apply to the current state of musical culture. Experimentation requires that there be limits to be experimented with - there are no such limits anymore, the sonic pallette is now totally infinite, there are no genre rules, no industry of purists restricting what can be made, etc.

That being said, what is happening a lot is self-conscious experimenting with pre-established forms. Tim and I went into this on some other thread I started and had some useful things to say in this regard.

ARGGH should be

Tim otm about the entire concept of experimentation being central to music is itself outdated and conservative

also I like how in the 60s experimentation often meant cribbing/referencing previous generations - blues, music hall, jazz and folk ad infinitum

in the 00s "experimentation" = biting G04, PiL, dub, Detroit techno, etc.

there are no such limits anymore, the sonic pallette is now totally infinite, there are no genre rules, no industry of purists restricting what can be made, etc.

i wish all this were true, but it ISN'T. there are still taboos and barriers to be broken; we must continue to strive for higher things. maybe 'experimentation' was a bad word; ideally, the best music isn't experimented upon but brilliantly conceived, composed and executed. 'experimentation' implies some accident, some chance of failure.

what are these taboos and barriers?

Part of what I meant was that sonically we can now produce every conceivable wavelength detectable by the human ear. In this respect there is no longer any kind of "new" sound.

btw I'm all for striving for higher things, I just think criticizing stuff for having obvious references to the past is sorta counter-productive.

sonically we can now produce every conceivable wavelength detectable by the human ear

but to choose and isolate the ideal sound is a very lengthy progress, and i'm not sure it can be done conveniently at the moment. more importantly, very few people are actually doing so.

and if you don't think there are genre rules, you clearly haven't heard the chart stuff i've been forced to undergo of late. ugh.

an obvious reference to the past is no bad thing if the reference fits the musical ambition perfectly. people have previously stumbled across musical genius, of that i have no doubt.

sure there's genre rules for chart pop - the charts need compartmentalization for all kinds of reasons. But AESTHETICALLY, anything can be produced now, there's no censors - if you want to make something horribly offensive or abrasive-sounding, no problem you can do it and someone will probably listen to it. Conversely, you can make the wimpiest, twee-ist sounding mellow pop in the world, someone will listen to that too...

but nobody is doing away with genre limitations altogether and creating truly liberated, unpredictable, wholly exciting music. i mean, there's awesome stuff out there, sure, but there ain't much that's completely mindblowing.

nobody is doing away with genre limitations altogether and creating truly liberated, unpredictable, wholly exciting music.

i don't really see that there's much interest in doing this, though, and i think that's because modernism ended up in a state of exhaustion about this possibility

oh come on there's all kinds of genre-mashup folks out there. Beck and Bjork have made entire careers out of it (hey so did Bowie), Outkast certainly tries hard... I'm not repping these guys as "mind-blowing" or "liberated" (cuz I don't really know what those mean) but certainly they've taken a "must mash-together every single genre I can think of" approach.

anyway Tim OTM

always different, always the same

"must mash-together every single genre I can think of"

and THIS IS WHY THEY HAVEN'T SUCCEEDED in blowing my top (well, the odd Beck song aside). try "must mash together no genres at all" and you're getting somewhere. just make music, fuck 'convention'!

well i will agree that a lot of the postmodernist use of style is too arbitrarily wrapped up in limited ideas of what the people want to do. but given the modernist/postmodernist trajectory, i'd have to be shown an example of this to see how it could even work as something genuinely new and not stylistically referential to this or that.

again, i am speaking in near-unattainable ideals. to succeed, my plan would have to be put into action by someone with access to the complete range of sounds and instruments, having complete proficiency in all of them, who had never heard a note of anyone else's music in their life, and who could yet conceive of perfect, complex, sophisticated compositions. of course there's going to be a certain prior influence. the key is to at least attempt to transcend these influences, to make something you've never heard the like of before.

add point(s) of view

not "new" objects, but "new" ways of "seeing"

THIS IS WHY THEY HAVEN'T SUCCEEDED in blowing my top

dude mebbe they don't want to blow your top

only coz they haven't met me yet

majorly postmodernist records from the last couple of years like ys, the dividing island, in stormy nights, hissing fauna, are you the destroyer?, and the midnight room are things that, i think, blow tops.

"British psychedelic poster art > American psychedelic poster art"

same with british psych music!

I love love love In Stormy Nights

Hissing Fauna kinda hurts my brane for some reason

Louie tell me you've heard Hissing Fauna. Talk about blowin tops. Your top'll be good 'n blowed.

Weirdly, when I think about music that sounds like nothing else, that has no clear antecedents or obvious references, knowing or otherwise, what I imagine is something a lot like Autechre's LP5. Which probably only shows a) the limits of my own sonic imagination, and b) that I simply don't recognize the references Autechre are making, because my own listening history and theirs diverge widely.

yep, surprise requires ignorance

honestly this idea that music can exist completely independent of other music is sorta goofy and impossible.

maybe something really isolated to a certain ethnic group that was never exposed to any other cultures...Tuvan Throat Singing is one that might possibly exist w/no other influences, or not, i don't really know the history of it.

Actually, they were ripping off the Dream Syndicate.

crunk, throat singing, grindcore, free jazz: the paisley underground did it first and best

i don't know about best but they really were the first to really do it

actually a grindcore band that dressed like dudes from moby grape would be pretty awesome

i was in a grindcore band where we dressed in drag. we were called the dragons.

/not really.

m coleman's first ost otm. i have succesfuly managed to avoid all the media/guff about sgt.pepper ec. and feel all the better for it. HOWEVER
i wathed john fogerty's glasto set last weekend and just felt so happy.
and that was pretty much revelling in the creativity of the past in that there was nothing new there. i don't even remember him dipping into his solo catalogue (?), to bamboozle the crowd. but you know, it was a great show.

I don't understand the classifying of current bands as "postmodernist" - I don't see how they're any moreso than a lot of bands from the 60s anyway.

more about referential stylistic signifiers. these signifiers serving as significant CONTENT in the overall aesthetic of the music.

well, all style is significant content in the aesthetics of the music, but i mean the prioritizing of stylistic signifiers over other kinds of traditional content (meaning in lyrics, musical progress, etc.).

all the media/guff about sgt.pepper ec

yeah that's what inspired this thread, it's like there's an alternate reality 1967 that's been created: the sgt pepper/haight-ashbury myth.

the music of the period is great, I still enjoy the dead, moby grape, quicksilver, blue cheer and even the beatles but I hate the way hippiedom has been enshrined and sentimentalized over the years.

i can't really remember a time without 60's nostalgia! i mean, even before beatlemania hit broadway i was buying big beatles poster magazines and paul is dead expose tabloids. and then there was stigwood and on and on till forever. when was there ever a lack of it? i just take whatever good stuff i need and leave the rest alone. i've been sick of boomer talk for years, but it will never end. ever. and it's always been glossed over and soundbyted to death. but that's what books are for.

http://www.danablankenhorn.com/images/grace_slick.jpghttp://www.godsdirectcontact.or.kr/gods/data/vg_vip/grace_old.jpgDear ILX haters: fuck you. Love, Grace

WHERE THE TITS AT

sorry, I mean WHERE THE TITTIES AT?

TITTAYS surely

No, "titties" is the correct nomenclature:

There isn't a picture on the web that can't be captioned with the phrase "WHERE THE TITTIES AT???" (picture thread)

I stand corrected.

grace slick always reminded me of my cousin, mary edna, in augusta, georgia. big titties on both! which is sexist and horrible, right, but funny. I actually did sort of hold hands with this other cousin of mine, somewhere in a car in south carolina. donna kaye, and she recently got out of jail so they's still hope. mary edna had albums--rubber soul, the who sing my generation, sgt. pepper's, and it was during a trip down there to augusta I bought a copy of inagaddadavida, and discovered, as do most lovers of '60s music, that the other side with the songs was actually better. later on, my uncle raymond in north augusta was perturbed when I played the line, "health food faggot, blah blah blah"

that line was in the king crimson album that had the blue letters and the white cover, with the song about the painting in amsterdam that robert fripp saw one day and asked his lyricist, rodney cramwell-jones, to write a song about. so raymond turned out to be gay, as I suspected when he looked at me funny when I asked him play basketball with me. but he was great, and really funny--my mom's brother, now they're both dead and they were both sweet people. so I have nostalgia, and I think it's good nostalgia.

probably, people get nostalgic for the wrong things. personally I think about how the '60s, when I was a mere kid, felt like perpetual summer, the music felt like that to me. spanky and our gang, I still quite like them, and wonder how spanky is these days. gale garnett was sexier than grace slick, sang like her, and her hit was "we'll sing in the sunshine," which I loved as a kid. later, the episode of the robert wagner series "it takes a thief" where the fifth dimension starred was influential on me, and this was probably around '69 or '70, the era of "love, american style." a good era if hard to pin down these days. anyway, I realized it was all right to be attracted to black women once I got a glimpse of marilyn mccoo, and I still like "blowin' away" and that jimmy webb song they did, "carpet man." it had sitar in it, just like the move's "lightning never strikes twice (in the same place)," all some of my favorites from the era. their harmonies, in "takes a thief," were the key to an insidious plot someone hatched to blow up things, the certain way they would hit those notes was gonna trigger an explosion. so, that's my '60s.

yep, surprise requires ignorance

-- Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 28 June 2007 22:30 (3 days ago) Bookmark Link

one of the single most depressing statements i've ever seen on ilm

I'm sorry I missed this thread a couple of days ago, and that was cuz I only saw the infamous Rolling Stone issue today, which is as vile and expensively-packaged as expected.

Would be better to declare a Moratorium on the slightly arriving wave of 90s nostalgia. The 90s - with the exception of Britpop (which was mainly about longing back to previous decades) - are better best forgotten.

July 1, 2007
Ideas & Trends
Pop Life ’97: Tunes Were Empty, but the Coffers Were Full
By DAVID BROWNE
FORTY years ago today, “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane cracked the Top 40. With it, and hits like “Light My Fire” by the Doors, 1967’s Summer of Love blossomed. And 40 years later, the media is still commemorating it.

From Rolling Stone to VH1 to an exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the summer of Summer of Love nostalgia is again upon us, complete with the obligatory images of dancing flower children.

By comparison, hardly anyone seems sentimental for the summer of 1997. Tastemakers recall the album “OK Computer” by Radiohead, and head-spinning techno singles by the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers. But for most people, it was the summer that established the Spice Girls and boy bands, which only the most hard-core Justin Timberlake fan would recall fondly.

Yet the time has come for a look back at those disreputable months of a decade ago, and not simply because some of its biggest hits have held up better than expected. For anyone who cares about music and its current chaotic state, the summer of 1997 was the start of the last golden era of pop (if not its final one) and, more important, the beginning of the end of the music business as we knew it.

“It was when things peaked,” said Jeff Price, an industry veteran and currently head of TuneCore, a digital-music service, “and it’s when things began to go to hell.”

Pop’s winds of change were instantly apparent 10 summers ago. With grunge on the wane, music took an unexpected turn toward zesty cheer. The first major hit of the heat-soaked months of ’97 was “MMMBop” by the under-age trio Hanson, followed by two smashes by the Spice Girls and the breakthrough single, “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart),” by a new group called the Backstreet Boys. The music — slick, fizzy, buoyant — was a perfect counterpart to the dot-com boom of the time.

With the instant success of those acts — and Britney Spears, ’N Sync, Eminem and Christina Aguilera over the next two years — the music business entered what amounted to its own Roaring ’20s.

Blockbuster albums would sell as many as two million copies out of the gate; record stores reported double-digit growth. The industry was so bullish that the Recording Industry Association of America soon instituted a “diamond” certification, for albums selling 10 million copies. Money was everywhere. Music videos became more elaborate and expensive, and executives were rewarded with increasingly large bonuses.

“It was like a party where everyone was ordering more drinks and inviting even more friends over,” said Taylor Hanson of Hanson. “But the stilts under the house were crumbling.”

Indeed, even those who don’t work for a music business conglomerate know what came next — the industry’s current Great Depression. Today, hit albums barely sell a quarter of what they did in 1997. Ten years ago, it was unthinkable that huge chains like Tower Records and Virgin Megastore would close some or all of their stores, but that has indeed happened.

All of those problems took root that summer 10 years ago. Spurred by pell-mell technological change, the corporate mergers of the ’90s meant record companies focused even more on instant hits to boost quarterly reports. Developing long-term careers became less imperative; other than Mr. Timberlake and Ms. Aguilera, few from that time have survived and prospered.

The arrival of the MP3, compressed music files that could be traded over the Internet, coupled with the eruption of illegal file-sharing spelled the inexorable decline of the CD and the industry that relied on it. (It didn’t help that record companies were unwilling for years to adapt to the new technology.) Some 753 million discs were shipped in 1997, compared with 614 million in 2006.

For better or worse, the musical fallout of that summer is still with us, too. Because of those teen-pop acts, lip-synching became more commonplace (and more accepted) at concerts. Simon Fuller, the manager of the Spice Girls back then, went on to bring “American Idol” TV show to the United States.

“Nineteen-ninety-seven was a repudiation of all that 1967 San Francisco rock credibility,” said James Barber, an executive at Geffen Records in the 1990s. “Show biz reclaimed pop music in 1997. It became more of a Vegas cruise ship thing. And people were happy to pay for it.”

Also, the way pop, R & Band hip-hop have come to dominate the charts — reducing rock to a niche genre — had its genesis 10 summers back. After Hanson, the next No. 1 hits were “I’ll Be Missing You,” by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans, and the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Mo Money Mo Problems,” which dominated the airwaves that summer. Garth Brooks drew a million people to a free concert in Central Park in New York, setting the stage for the way in which country music would become, in essence, the rock of this decade (the place many fans had to go to hear anthemic choruses and power chords).

For most any consumer of recorded music, many things have changed for the better since that year. Downloading and burning music on computers is much easier and far less time consuming than on cumbersome tape decks. The Internet has made even the rarest no-wave B-side instantly available.

The major labels no longer have a stranglehold on the market, so bands that would have been shut out in 1997 now have a chance, via the Internet, to get their music heard. And even though “MMMBop” and “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” still sound fresh, there were at least as many horrible boy-band songs as there were good ones.

As Generations X and Y mature, it’s only a matter of time before nostalgia for 1997 kicks in. In fact, it’s already begun, with the announcement last week of a Spice Girls reunion tour. Yet the music industry itself will likely never return to those heady days. “It seemed like the party was never going to end,” Mr. Barber said. But it did, and the music business is still dealing with the prolonged hangover that followed all the carousing.

“Nineteen-ninety-seven was a repudiation of all that 1967 San Francisco rock credibility,” said James Barber, an executive at Geffen Records in the 1990s. “Show biz reclaimed pop music in 1997. It became more of a Vegas cruise ship thing. And people were happy to pay for it.”

FUCK YOU

Mark, can you post the link for that article?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/weekinreview/01browne.html?_r=1&ref=weekinreview&oref=slogin

The tone of this article is really schizophrenic. The title claims that the tunes of 1997 were empty and the first few 'graphs seem to confirm this assertion. Then the tone shifts slightly with "some of its biggest hits have held up better than expected," hardly a fizzy, buoyant proclamation but a shift nonetheless.

But if "the summer of 1997 was the start of the last golden era of pop," then when did it end? 1998? Never? and after this point, 1997 is couched in the negative:

1. "Developing long-term careers became less imperative."

Oh yeah and The 1910 Fruitgum Company just released their 29th album.

2. "For better or worse, the musical fallout of that summer is still with us, too."

Wait a minute. I thought we were looking back at how some of 1997's "biggest hits have held up better than expected."

3. "Because of those teen-pop acts, lip-synching became more commonplace (and more accepted) at concerts."

The Archies were smarter in this respect. Being cartoons, they couldn't tour. I hope that makes Grace Slick proud of her precious decade. P. S. If you care about lip-synching at concerts, then you are a fucking moron.

4. “'Nineteen-ninety-seven was a repudiation of all that 1967 San Francisco rock credibility,” said James Barber, an executive at Geffen Records in the 1990s. “Show biz reclaimed pop music in 1997. It became more of a Vegas cruise ship thing. And people were happy to pay for it.'”

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a fucking moron.

5. "Simon Fuller, the manager of the Spice Girls back then, went on to bring “American Idol” TV show to the United States."

Love or loathe The Spice Girls and/or American Idol, you need to EXPLAIN why they constitute examples of musical fallout rather than just stating your opinion as natural fact, David.

6. "Also, the way pop, R & B and hip-hop have come to dominate the charts — reducing rock to a niche genre — had its genesis 10 summers back. "

Ah, THAT'S what all this is about! Aw, poor rock. You want a band aid for your lil baby boo boo? And yo - maybe there's a connection between the putative domination of the charts by R&B and hip-hop and the ascendancy of file sharing. Oh sorry, that's illegal file sharing. P. S. When DIDN'T pop dominate the charts?

7. "country music would become, in essence, the rock of this decade (the place many fans had to go to hear anthemic choruses and power chords)."

Because Linkin Park was too far away?

8. "For most any consumer of recorded music, many things have changed for the better since that year."

Except, apparently, recorded music.

9. "The major labels no longer have a stranglehold on the market, so bands that would have been shut out in 1997 now have a chance, via the Internet, to get their music heard."

Browne's editor cut out the last phrase from this sentence which read "while working at Wendy's."

10. "And even though “MMMBop” and “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” still sound fresh..."

More like rotting vegetables after reading this article.

11. "there were at least as many horrible boy-band songs as there were good ones."

But every psych album released in the 1960s was the equal of Forever Changes.

12. "“It seemed like the party was never going to end,” Mr. Barber said."

Guess the "Vegas cruise ship thing" wasn't a downer after all, eh, Jimmy?

P. S. FUCK YOU!!!

If you care about lip-synching at concerts, then you are a fucking moron.
Not to sound like a fucking moron, but I don't get this.

i haven't read any reviews of that Whitney exhibition (re: the original subject of thread), but i must say, it was THE CRAPPIEST show i've ever seen at the whitney. to have Matta-Clark in the same building as that garbage is a fucking crime.

Get used to the '60s nostalgia folks: the baby boomers will be filling the info-waves with rah-rah econiums of how fucking great they were for the next 30 years until they're all dead and gone. I cringe every time I see the trailer for that Julie Taymor Beatles movie "Across the Universe." "We shook the world man." Yeah, then why ain't the world all that fooking different than it was? Wankers.

Oh and speaking of nostalgia, anyone watching that concert for Diana? There's some weird nostalgia there: '80s nostalgia mixed with nostalgia from last summer. And now Bryan Ferry's performing live to a fashion show at Wembley. Say what?!?!

not to mention the appearance of thread leader Dennis Hopper.
WTF was all that about !

and yet this David Browne piece is still not as embarrassing as the one he wrote for Spin last year where he actually said that he'd met so many music writers "that Rockcritics.com should provide a link to my brain."

All right that seals it: one of the princes has to be gay. Not only do we get the ballet, but we get an Andrew Lloyd Weber medley??? And now Bocelli?! This is craptacular. Why is no one live-blogging this mess?

and then going on to talk about how writing about A-Ha shattered his illusions about how music was made and ergo how the music industry operated generally etc. as a friend put it, "That was the dumbest thing I've ever read in my life." (xpost)

Wow, that is dumb.

I didn't have the stomach for his "where have all the rock stars gone?" piece in last month's Spin, so someone else will have to tell me how it fares on the embarrass-o-meter.

Please Can We PLEASE Declare A Moratorium On 70s Nostalgia? PLEASE
Why I don't "get" Chic

sorry that article isn't up to your (coughs) high standards.

http://www.t-mobilepictures.com/photo/photo26/c8/c7/2250c7655aab.jpeg?tw=305&th=228&_rh=dtm59p76uqolrb9pt4zojkqom

Please can we PLEASE declare a moratorium on the phrase "if not."

... the summer of 1997 was the start of the last golden era of pop (if not its final one) ...

sorry that article isn't up to your (coughs) high standards.

If this comment was directed at me, then you should know that I'm not pissed at you for posting it. In fact, I'm glad you did. Thanks!

If it was directed at my comments, then I'm confused. Judging from your posts to this thread, it seems as if you would agree with my assessments.

And yo - it obviously didn't meet Matos' standards either (no coughing necessary).

If you care about lip-synching at concerts, then you are a fucking moron.
Not to sound like a fucking moron, but I don't get this.

Well, first of all, most of the acts that indulge in lip-synching do not traffic in the kind of authenticity that requires live singing (e.g. Madonna, R. Kelly, Britney Spears, um, Milli Vanilli [and I just heard that The Vengaboys caused a scandal cuz the pretty people up front didn't sing on the records. Who CARES?!?!?!!?]).

But second, singing live into a microphone is already a mediation and thus should not be counted as some sort of direct communication with an audience.

In fact, if you were to sing to me right in front of my face, the sound of your voice would still be contingent upon the space surrounding it.

Here's James Lastra on the matter: "If we recognize that all realities are constructed realities, this need not open us to the abyss of absolute indeterminacy or relativism…We do, however, open up the possibility of explaining specific effects of ‘authenticity,’ or of ‘immediacy’ precisely as effects of a general possibility of ‘writing,’ and we can relinquish misty assumptions of the ineffable, unattainable, but for some reason all-defining original.” Lastra, James. “Reading, Writing, and Representing Sound.” Altman, Rick, ed., Sound Theory Sound Practice. New York and London: Routledge, 1992, p. 85.

Love your Donnie Darko reference!

A microphone is not a direct means of communication with an audience?

I don't care about lipsynching either, but why the fuck would we "recognize that all realities are constructed realities"? Whatever that is supposed to mean. Lipsynch-haters are not the only morons out there (and they're not always morons.)

if james lastra says it, it must be true.

it's really a consumer choice issue, not one to work up 'metaphysics of presence' bullshit about.

I don't care about lipsynching either, but why the fuck would we "recognize that all realities are constructed realities"? Whatever that is supposed to mean.

This is the second time you've gone this anti-intellectual route with me. First time out it was "gestalt." You knew what gestalt meant then, and you know what "recognize that all realities are constructed realities" means now, else you wouldn't have used the vitriolic phrase "why the fuck."

it's really a consumer choice issue

Talk about whatever that is supposed to mean. WHAT exactly is a consumer choice?

A microphone is not a direct means of communication with an audience?

No it's not. The sound doesn't end at the mic, ya know. It gets amplified so that everyone in a space can hear it. So how could it possibly directed at, say, just you?

Objecting to the turning of an interesting argument into a boring argument =/ "anti-intellectual". Jeez.

Not sure what/when you're reffering to re: gestalt.

In a thread about disco. I said most disco albums have no gestalt.

Yeah, you're right. That made no sense.

Anyway--and I say this as a fan of Milli Vanilli andAshlee Simpson and the Vengaboys, for crissakes--it's a gross and dogmatic oversimpilification to pretend that the only reason someone would object to lip-synching would be because that person happens to be a "moron." I can think of plenty of non-morons in my life who aren't entirely enlightened re: the lipsyching issue. I just had beers with a couple of them last week (they also overrate Pearl Jam, yet they seem smart about plenty of other things, crazy huh?), and it might be useful to explore what might actually get them to such a line of thinking. Which I don't have time to atempt here, but either way, to back up the moron claim with somebody talking bullshit in circles doesn't do much to support the pro-lipsynch case.

The Rolling Stone 1967 nostalgia issue seems to boil down to the thesis that doing acid was awesome, man.

Yeah, you're right. That made no sense.

Gestalt! I learned that word in freakin' high school. And no, it wasn't in an advanced placement class. It was in Psychology 101. VERY 101. And no, it wasn't at some fancy private institution. It was at a public school.

And aren't you saying the same thing about lip-synching objecters as I am when you call them "(not) entirely enlightened?" You're just being more polite. But if it makes you feel better, how does "If you care about lip-synching at concerts, then you are a fucking moron ON THE ISSUE OF LIP-SYNCHING AT CONCERTS" sound? Kinda redundant, huh?

it might be useful to explore what might actually get them to such a line of thinking.

Oh Prunella! Like I've never done this. And every time I do, I hear some variation on "it makes for a more direct communication with the audience" which then (and this brings it back to the thread title) VERY QUICKLY devolves into "and that is why music was so much better before..." well, fill in the blank:

1. January 1, 1970
2. I lost my virginity
3. I got a real job and had kids
4. synthesizers, drum machines, stereo sound, close microphone placement, microphones, recording technology, etc.
5. it was all about the money, man (ask Mozart about that one)

But hey, man, if you got the time, I'd love to hear counterexamples.

Finally, while I still think you know perfectly well what "gestalt" means, it's now clear that you didn't understand that Lastra quote if you're using words like "dogmatic" and "pro-lipsynch." I'm not "pro-lipsynch" assuming that were even possible. I wouldn't dream of heading to a Pearl Jam concert and saying "Eddie BETTER be lip-synching or boy will my postmodern self be pissed!!' That's absurd. But it's just as absurd to claim that Eddie had a more direct communication with his audience than lip-synching Milli Vanilli did simply because he sang "live" into a microphone.

what if certain members of the audience are interested in the direct communication between Eddie and the song at this very moment, using his primary sound instrument?
Not that he owes it to anyone per se, but I mean if we do concede that we're trafficking in illusion what makes you automatically privilege some aspects of the illusion as more compelling/worthy of attention than others for all non-morons everywhere?

why music was so much better before

I think it's because the albums had more gestalt then.

Even a cursory reading of Jacques Attali would have told us that.

Hopelessly in-joke reference aside:

and then going on to talk about how writing about A-Ha shattered his illusions about how music was made and ergo how the music industry operated generally etc. as a friend put it, "That was the dumbest thing I've ever read in my life."

Wow, between Browne and Mitch Albom I've discovered my own two personal Antichrists (in that a-ha are absolute genius and the means by which they came to greater attention etc. are not good or evil but procedural).

I don't understand how the act of writing about A-Ha shattered his illusions -- was he aggrieved to learn that they were Norweigan?

"I thought Rush was lying about the illusion of integrity in that spirit of radio song...BUT I WAS THE FOOL." *does bong hit*

Acid hit, Ned. To keep it in the spirit of 60s nostalgia.

Acid damage:

http://www.sonymusicstore.com/coverimages/SME_0101_282876_R61123.70Q_200x200_72dpi_RGB.jpg

if we do concede that we're trafficking in illusion what makes you automatically privilege some aspects of the illusion as more compelling/worthy of attention than others for all non-morons everywhere?

Am I writing in Sanskrit? (No, Xhuxk, I'm not.) Where do I privilege one apsect of the illusion, by which I assume you mean lip-synching? Did I not EXPLICITLY state that I hold no "pro-lipsynching" stance?

I think it's because the albums had more gestalt then.

Fine. I'm a soulless academic who uses $2 words like "gestalt." So is "wholeness" prole enough for ya? "Integrity?"

P.S. I bet Jacques Attali rocks out harder than you.

Dude, chill out. It's all groovy.

Does weed work on people in a rage over 1960s nostalgia?

xpost dude I didn't say and didn't mean and didn't think you argued 'pro-lip-synching' ; asserting that "caring" about lip-synching is moronic suggests(I hope?) that there are aspects of a concert that it's more acceptable to "care" about. Is this fair?

Man, if you can remember the 60s, you weren't there. Oh wait, I forgot I wasn't there.

Does weed work on people in a rage over 1960s nostalgia?

i am so glad i focus on the tunes and how they make me groove, man

I care about lip syncing. There's really no sense of me paying to see a live act if they're just going to go up there and wiggle around.

John Lennon never lip-synched!

Let's be honest-- that wasn't always a great thing.

I prefer bad singing to lipsynching. I paid to see the troof.

You can't handle the troof.

Lennon lip-synched when he did "Instant Karma" on TOTP in 1970.

jesus christ what happened to this thread.

I didn't expect a round of "OTM" after posting that times article but the vituperation and sputtering "fuck you" repsonses are mystifying. the anger is wildly inappropriate. some record company guy says pop music went all showbiz in 1997 -- which I can just about see at least from his POV and isn't necessarily pejorative in mine -- and some people react like he insulted their sister or something. as for the ad hominem attacks on the journalist responsible for the piece, I haven't read the spin articles matos alludes to but you armchair editors out there might want to take a look at david browne's books. get back to me when you write something halfway as insightful and well-reported as Dream Brothers. frankly I think he's a threatening presence because he dares to write about music and DOES IT WELL while keeping his own counsel, i.e. not part of the rockcrit consensus & sewing circle.

This is more than just some silly little bizzer ripping on 1997. It's about an entire oppressive mindset that refuses to die.

And I don't recall anyone disparaging Browne's entire oeuvre.

P. S. For what it's worth, I may be an armchair editor but I'm certainly not part of "the rockcrit consensus & sewing circle" (that I know of).

Kevin OTM, Mark. I've been reading Browne since '93 and like some of his work, but this essay is a perfect encapsulation of not just a mindset but how the NYT regards its readers: it can't help patronizing them when it thinks it's educating them.

Also: maybe if he was part of or at least engaged the "sewing circle" his crabby ideas would get tested once in a while.

any journalists ideas get tested by readers -- the only circle that matters IMHO.

It's about an entire oppressive mindset that refuses to die.

but isn't the rockist mindset dying off along with the big record companies? and how oppressive can it be since we all agree that rock hasn't dominated the charts since the late 90s or even earlier.

yeah I find a lot of the NYT's cultural coverage to be a bit patronizing too. one of the grim realities of writing for newspapers and magazines is the way -- both conscious and unconscious -- the overall tone and stance of a publication can subtly overwhelm even the most distinctive writer. then you get branded (in the traditonal meaning of the word.) bottom line: let's not blame the messenger.

"Integrity?"

That'd work for Britney, maybe. (Though again, Kevin, my problem is with your idea, not your word choice. When I said I didn't know what you meant when you said disco albums lacked gestalt, I wasn't saying I don't know what the word means -- I was saying I don't understand how it applies to disco albums. And I still don't....Seems as much a hippie-rock holdover as objecting to lip-synching. Though I wouldn't call anybody a moron for partaking in it.)

(As for "pro-lipsych," learn to take a joke, guy.)(I was making fun of myself as much as of you there.)

country music would become, i essence, the rock of this decade (the place many fans had to go to hear anthemic choruses and power chords).

My only big problem with this statement, which rings fairly true (Miranda Lambert has more rock in her than Linkin Park, for crissakes), is the bet-hedging chickenshit word "many" (which could just as well've been left understood, and which I'll theorize came not from Browne, but from whoever edited the piece.)

(Then again, maybe wanting rock music to rock is a hippie-rock holdover, too! In which case I stand accused, and will stop throwing stones from my glass house.)

Browne also hedges his bets with "in essence" (and I dunno, that "many" is fine, I guess -- somehow it interrupts the rhythm of the argument, but big deal, not sure why it bugs me so much.) But yeah, I'm sure acts like Linkin Park (or Nickelback or Hinder or Evanesence or U2 or Coldplay or Arcade Fire or Opeth or White Stripes or ??) are why he hedged, which makes sense. He's still making a pretty good point.

Nothing wrong with lip-syncing as long as it is your own singing voice youa re lip-syncing.

As in, I mean, not someone else's voice or the voice of Autotune.

"Miranda Lambert has more rock in her than Linkin Park, for crissakes"

I can't stand Linkin Park, but no, this is wrong.

Is this thread interesting? I mean, geir's talking about Autotune, it's GOTTA be interesting, right?

Seems as much a hippie-rock holdover as objecting to lip-synching. Though I wouldn't call anybody a moron for partaking in it.

The ginormous difference being that I don't care that disco albums have no gestalt. I'm doing jumping jacks RIGHT NOW about disco albums' lack of gestalt because I still think disco is the greatest music of all-time. So you'd never find me marshalling said lack as evidence that music was so much better in the 1960s or before drummers attached metronomes to their heads or before I lost my virginity or any other bullshit idea that fuels 1960s (or ANY) nostalgia.

As for "pro-lipsych," learn to take a joke, guy.

I'll have to learn how to detect one first, sugar britches.

P. S. I don't get Browne's point re: country music. It reads like this: "Collective Soul (or whoever) just weren't cutting it for rock fans so many of them began listening to Garth Brooks (or whoever)." That just doesn't sound right no matter how much you love/hate either act nor no matter how much a Brooks rocked harder than a Collective Soul. But maybe I'm naive here. Have there been any studies showing rock fans moving en masse towards country c. 1997?

and how oppressive can it be since we all agree that rock hasn't dominated the charts since the late 90s or even earlier.

I think it's dangerous to gauge dominant ideologies by the charts, esp. in the era of file sharing.

the overall tone and stance of a publication can subtly overwhelm even the most distinctive writer

I know this quite well. However, I find it difficult to believe that the faults with the piece can be laid entirely at the editor's door.

Come on - Browne's book wasn't about The Backstreet Boys or Pavement; it was about a 1960s avatar and his very 1960s son. I am NOT saying that Browne should have written about The Backstreet Boys or Pavement (or anyone). But judging from the subjects on whom he reported so well, it's hardly a shock that he came up with the above NYT piece.

I think it's because the albums had more gestalt then.

I did laught at this, btw.

laught = laugh

as for the ad hominem attacks on the journalist responsible for the piece, I haven't read the spin articles matos alludes to

that's interesting--the criticism isn't of specific pieces but are "ad hominem attacks" . . . about specific pieces.

but maybe I should read Dream Brother to find out how distinctive Browne can be (books can display that better than mag/paper pieces, sure), though I'm not exactly hot on the subject matter.

perhaps I will feel even more threatened by his presence after reading it!

The Summer of Drugs
By TED NUGENT
July 3, 2007; Page A17

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the so-called Summer of Love. Honest and intelligent people will remember it for what it really was: the Summer of Drugs.

Forty years ago hordes of stoned, dirty, stinky hippies converged on San Francisco to "turn on, tune in, and drop out," which was the calling card of LSD proponent Timothy Leary. Turned off by the work ethic and productive American Dream values of their parents, hippies instead opted for a cowardly, irresponsible lifestyle of random sex, life-destroying drugs and mostly soulless rock music that flourished in San Francisco.

Jimi Hendrix: Wasted talent.
The Summer of Drugs climaxed with the Monterey Pop Festival which included some truly virtuoso musical talents such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, both of whom would be dead a couple of years later due to drug abuse. Other musical geniuses such as Jim Morrison and Mama Cass would also be dead due to drugs within a few short years. The bodies of chemical-infested, braindead liberal deniers continue to stack up like cordwood.

As a diehard musician, I terribly miss these very talented people who squandered God's gifts in favor of poison and the joke of hipness. I often wonder what musical peaks they could have climbed had they not gagged to death on their own vomit. Their choice of dope over quality of life, musical talent and meaningful relationships with loved ones can only be categorized as despicably selfish.

I literally had to step over stoned, drooling fans, band mates, concert promoters and staff to pursue my musical American Dream throughout the 1960s and 1970s. I flushed more dope and cocaine down backstage toilets than I care to remember. In utter frustration I was even forced to punch my way through violent dopers on occasion. So much for peace and love. The DEA should make me an honorary officer.

I was forced to fire band members and business associates due to mindless, dangerous, illegal drug use. Clean and sober for 59 years, I am still rocking my brains out and approaching my 6,000th concert. Clean and sober is the real party.

Young people make mistakes. I've made my share, but none that involved placing my life or the lives of others at risk because of dope. I saw first-hand too many destroyed lives and wrecked families to ever want to drool and vomit on myself and call that a good time. I put my heart and soul into creating the best music I possibly could and I went hunting instead. My dream continues with ferocity, thank you.

The 1960s, a generation that wanted to hold hands, give peace a chance, smoke dope and change the world, changed it all right: for the worse. America is still suffering the horrible consequences of hippies who thought utopia could be found in joints and intentional disconnect.

A quick study of social statistics before and after the 1960s is quite telling. The rising rates of divorce, high school drop outs, drug use, abortion, sexual diseases and crime, not to mention the exponential expansion of government and taxes, is dramatic. The "if it feels good, do it" lifestyle born of the 1960s has proved to be destructive and deadly.

So now, 40 years later, there are actually people who want to celebrate the anniversary of the Summer of Drugs. Hippies are once again descending on ultra-liberal San Francisco -- a city that once wanted to give shopping carts to the homeless -- to celebrate and try to remember their dopey days of youth when so many of their musical heroes and friends long ago assumed room temperature by "partying" themselves to death. Nice.

While I salute and commend the political and cultural activism of the 1960s that fueled the civil rights movement, other than that, the decade is barren of any positive cultural or social impact. Honest people will remember 1967 for what is truly was.

There is a saying that if you can remember the 1960s, you were not there. I was there and remember the decade in vivid, ugly detail. I remember its toxic underbelly excess because I was caught in the vortex of the music revolution that was sweeping the country, and because my radar was fine-tuned thanks to a clean and sober lifestyle.

Death due to drugs and the social carnage heaped upon America by hippies is nothing to celebrate. That is a fool's game, but it is quite apparent some burned-out hippies never learn.

Mr. Nugent is a rock star releasing his 35th album, "Love Grenade," this summer.

I flushed more dope and cocaine down backstage toilets than I care to remember

Bastard

I've got a great Sun Ra album at home that has Ted Nugent playing on it. About 1968 I think. He sounds like he's trying to drown out the rest of the Arkestra single-handedly and nearly succeeds.

Wow, what album's that?

Can't remember the name offhand but I bought it out of the original Fopp stall in the Savoy Market (when it was still called A-One Sounds) but it came from under the counter if you know what I mean...

Oh, Monseur le Fopp, you have really spoiled Marcello...

Yeah, hold on here, Ted Nugent and Sun Ra together? The mind reels.

http://makemyday.free.fr/69/69poster32.jpg

I imagine they played on the same bills a lot, late 60s

Funkadelic certainly did

sun ra played around detroit forever. though there is this from one of those discography pages:

[Track listing from Webber, personnel from Geerken, corrected by rlc; commenting on the T74.12.11 concert, Curtis Fukuda says the guitarist was "a medium height Afro-American of lean build", putting the quietus on intriguing rumors about Ted Nugent, who told Melody Maker that he once made a session with The Ra. John Gilmore says that Dale Williams used his wa-wa pedal a lot but thinks 1974 is too early for him; he recalls a guitarist named Sly around this time. Thanks to Mark Webber for a tape]

Has Ted ever smelled the air at one of his shows? He's made a lot of dough off the wasters he criticizes. And I'd kill him if he flushed my shit down a toilet.

Rock hasn't dominated the charts since the late 50s. However, pop has, and the pop of the 60s, 70s and 80s was a lot more similar to rock's values than the pop of today.

British psychedelic poster art > American psychedelic poster art

-- Tim Ellison, Friday, June 29, 2007 1:22 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Linkp

otm but true of brit design in general.

This last bit is an opinion held mainly by British people, I have found (and in any event is far from fact).

Also, Canadian psychedelic posters were really awesome too!

All opinions are by definition far from fact.

That's only your opinion.

And that's a fact.

Jack.

It wasn't posited as an opinion, I was a sucker to use it in my response.

anti-drug stances aside, I really can't see Ra allowing someone like Nugent anywhere near his music

Why not?

Yeah-- if there's one guy in rock n roll who's got PRECISION & DISCIPLINE, it's THE NUGE.

he's pretty precise with his aim when he hits the stuffed buffalo with the arrow...top that fripp!

No wonder Ted Nugent regret being part of the hippie movement. Today he is a lot more interested in blowing up Muslims and blacks and making the wealthy ones even wealthier.

Judging by the article, that Ted Nugent seems a decent man. I pretty much share his opinion on the sixties: those hippies were amongst the most embarrassing people ever to walk this earth.

Why not?

ego

Best news out of that Nugent article: new album this year! Gorge is the only ILMer who'll agree with me (except maybe for Scott), but Craveman was the Nuge's best album since about 1980. So seriously, if he's got fresh product on the way, I am excited. Now I wish I hadn't skipped his NYC show.

Didn't Mama Cass choke on a ham sandwich?

I saw a Nuge show about 5, 6 years ago in Milwaukee that was excruciatingly dull. Maybe a snort of coke would've helped that one.

All I wanna know is when his cartoon is coming out.

I salute you, Mr. Nugent. I mean, I don't really agree with his political views, but man -- that Rolling Stone commemoration just makes me hate hippies even more, even though I realize it's supposed to do the opposite.

Gorge is the only ILMer who'll agree with me (except maybe for Scott), but Craveman was the Nuge's best album since about 1980

Scream Dream was 1980 exactly, right? So yeah, I'd go with Spirit Of The Wild, I think. But I have nothing against Craveman.

how did the nuge hijack this thread?

It could be that Nugent failed the Buddy Rich audition by breaking the "No Fucken Beards" rule.

Nugent hates hippies because of their political views. Musically, he was part of the same movement himself.

yeah srsly Nuge hates hippies for all the wrong reasons, the stuff he dislikes about them are the parts that one wanted to like if it weren't for the dippiness and bad hair

haha oops followed a link from another thread and didn't notice thread is old! old! old!

So old it will be in Rolling Stone soon.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1023/930726526_58e0c0a425_o.jpg

full page ad in today's New York Times:

ABC RUG SALE FESTIVAL
celebrating
THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SUMMER OF LOVE
up tp 75% off ABC's regular low prices
ABC Carpet & Home

;_;
;
;

http://futility.typepad.com/futility/images/00sf.jpg

i'm actually thinking of setting up a concert to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the concert that commemorated the thirtieth anniversary of the summer of love:

http://www.summeroflove.org/main.html

You should get Tribute to Nothing to play.

i think the nuge hijack is perfect in that dudeman is emblematic of how the the right [dems incl.] continue to blame the johnson administration for all of society's ills. nuge perverts nostalgia for total bum trips. has he no feeling for romantic idylls? [oh yeah sure he does. it's just that he has them for the jacksonian era.]

nugent did his best work in the 60s, his playing on those amboy dukes record is tight & inventive, before the caveman shtick took over.

back in michigan during the late 70s one of the nuge's musical peers told me he tripped w/teddy...sour grapes? take it w/a grain hahaha.

from november 18 2008 new york times

WHOLE FOODS CELEBRATES THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF JONESTOWN

all grape-flavored vitamin water and energy drinks half price

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/07/28/us/29letter_190.jpg

“Since Xmas vacation, I’ve gone through three and a half metamorphoses and am beginning to feel as though there is a smorgasbord of personalities spread before me,” Ms. Rodham wrote to Mr. Peavoy in April 1967. “So far, I’ve used alienated academic, involved pseudo-hippie, educational and social reformer and one-half of withdrawn simplicity.”

Befitting college students of any era, the letters are also self-absorbed and revelatory, missives from an unformed and vulnerable striver who had, in her own words, “not yet reconciled myself to the fate of not being the star.”

“Sunday was lethargic from the beginning as I wallowed in a morass of general and specific dislike and pity for most people but me especially,” Ms. Rodham reported in a letter postmarked Oct. 3, 1967.

In other letters, she would convey a mounting exasperation with her rigid conservative father and disdain for both “debutante” dormmates and an acid-dropping friend. She would issue a blanket condemnation of the “boys” she had met (“who know a lot about ‘self’ and nothing about ‘man’ ”) and also tell of an encounter she had with “a Dartmouth boy” the previous weekend.

“It always seems as though I write you when I’ve been thinking too much again,” Ms. Rodham wrote in one of her first notes to Mr. Peavoy, postmarked Nov. 15, 1965. She later joked that she planned to keep his letters and “make a million” when he became famous. “Don’t begrudge me my mercenary interest,” she wrote.

She reports in one letter from October of her sophomore year that she spent a “miserable weekend” arguing with a friend who believed that “acid is the way and what did I have against expanding my conscience.”

Ms. Rodham skates earnestly on the surface of life, raising more questions than answers. “Last week I decided that even if life is absurd why couldn’t I spend it absurdly happy?” she wrote in November of her junior year. She then challenges herself to “define ‘happiness’ Hillary Rodham, acknowledged agnostic intellectual liberal, emotional conservative.”

From there, she deems the process of self-definition to be “too depressing” and asserts that “the easiest way out is to stop any thought approaching introspection and to advise others whenever possible.”

The letters to Mr. Peavoy taper off considerably after the first half of Ms. Rodham’s junior year; there are just two from 1968 and one from 1969.

“I’m sitting here at a stolen table in a pair of dirty denim bell-bottoms, a never-ironed work shirt and a beautiful purple felt hat with a purple polka-dotted scarf streaming off it,” she writes in her final correspondence, March 25, 1969. A senior bound for law school, she betrays exhaustion with the times, a country at war and a culture in tumult. “I’m really tired of people slamming doors and screaming obscenities at poor old life,” she says, and describes the sound of chirping birds amid the “soulless academia” that she will inhabit for just a few more weeks as an undergraduate.

No More Hippie Regurgitation