"the left" and culture

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this is the thread where we post things about culture from "the left" (in this case the further left) which make us cringe, and talk about crap political readings of culture.

I never wrote "Bruce is god." I think I had a few friends who did. But, man, I loved Bruce Springsteen's music and the stories he told. His people were the people I grew up with. My brother, my sisters, my cousins, my friends--they got union cards on their 18th birthday, they married Mary. They had hungry hearts and screamed down streets at night chasing dreams and searching for a way out. They got jobs in the Vertol plant right out of high school and built airplane parts. They got drafted and went to war. The ones who came back went to work at the plant only to be thrown out on the streets when the plant was shut down. Hell, the video Bruce made for his song "My Hometown" was shot in my hometown.

http://rwor.org/A/V24/1161-1170/1165/springsteen.htm

However, as a movie, 8 Mile ends up cutting against the materialism and homophobia in a lot of today’s rap music. It touches on class, race relations and fighting to achieve your dreams despite poverty. The audience ends up rallying behind Rabbit’s multiracial, working-class gang of troublemakers, as they hope to make it big in the hip-hop world, or at least just have a good time.

http://www.socialistworker.org/2002-2/431/431_09_8Mile.shtml

I sympathize with the comrade’s desire to find something uplifting in the cesspool of capitalist "culture." I did the same thing when I listened to Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan. But I don’t think that it is accidental that both Seeger and Dylan are recognized today as classic sellouts!! As Challenge has said many times: "Evil Yes, Lesser No"!!

http://www.plp.org/cd99/cd0303.html#Reform%20And%20Revolution%20In%20Music

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 25 November 2002 00:16 (twenty-two years ago)

is one of those by d.marsh? i'm afraid to look

― jones (actual), Monday, 25 November 2002 00:32 (twenty-two years ago)

sterl, "the revolutionary worker" is a bit beyond what i would call "the further left".

coming up next: "MIMnotes" unveils its new music section

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 25 November 2002 00:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Mark Thomas.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 25 November 2002 00:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Richard Goldstein to thread!

― James Blount (James Blount), Monday, 25 November 2002 00:50 (twenty-two years ago)

man, if I ever figure out why ilX0r thinks lefty-bashing is the ticket to enlightenment, I'm gonna pat myself on the back

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Monday, 25 November 2002 01:17 (twenty-two years ago)

coming up next: "MIMnotes" unveils its new music section

Almost: http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/movies/

One of the better passages:

When the woman Peter Parker was in love
with finally declared her love for him, he decided he could not be more
than friends with her. In order to devote his life to fighting evil in the
world he walked away from romance. This is the asexuality that MIM praises
as a superior romantic practice. It reflects a devotion to the people and
an understanding of responsibility to the people that supercedes romantic
cultural influence. Peter Parker said "With great power comes great
responsibility."

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 25 November 2002 06:48 (twenty-two years ago)

hah!! that's great!! there's gotta be some amerikkkan pop mu$ic review$ in that rag, too. if not, i volunteer to write 'em myself.

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 25 November 2002 07:07 (twenty-two years ago)

There was a Khmer Rouge announcement once saying "Western music is angular and alien to our natures"

― dave q, Monday, 25 November 2002 07:27 (twenty-two years ago)

dave that quote sounds like it's from a pfork review of a nu-postpunk album.

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 25 November 2002 07:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Would the cultural revolution have liked nu-pop? (away with the old forms in with the new and shiny, smash history begin anew!)

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 25 November 2002 07:31 (twenty-two years ago)

man, if I ever figure out why ilX0r thinks lefty-bashing is the ticket to enlightenment, I'm gonna pat myself on the back

I know! And don't forget right bashing too! And despising thought about the records we ruin by thinking about too much!

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 25 November 2002 10:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Is anyone else a fan of Killdozer's sleevenotes to the album 'Uncompromising War On Art In The Service Of The Proletariat'? Hardline Marxist explanations of every song, complete with footnotes and bibliography. Hilarious.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 25 November 2002 13:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, that was great. Further proof that they were underappreciated geniuses.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 25 November 2002 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Ronan you wound me greatly, I haff nevah anywhere suggested that there's anything that can be ruined by overthinking :(

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Monday, 25 November 2002 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

No I know John, I just think most of these accusations fail cos of the exact opposite accusations having been made elsewhere.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 25 November 2002 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

i think laughing at lousy thinking coming from one's own "side" is immensely helpful, provided you stop to identify what's lousy about it and why/how you might want to modify it or jettison it etc. (although i'm still afraid to see if that's marsh up there - there is no analytical tool lengthy enough)

― jones (actual), Monday, 25 November 2002 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

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