martial music (hup, two, a hup two three four)

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So probably in retrospect the pop music of this era is going to seem marked by a kind of muscular militarism, right? I'm listening to Daddy Yankee right now, and what he has in common with M.I.A. (for one example) is that harsh gunshot electro-snare. See also pretty much all of baile funk. See also the explosion (ha) of "soldier" references over the last few years (Eminem and Destiny's Child to name two, but there are others). Not that all of it is being put at the service of actual militarism, but the sound and sense of metaphorical militarism seem pretty widespread.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 24 June 2005 05:48 (twenty years ago)

And to connect it to actual politics, which I can never resist, I saw Howard Dean on Jon Stewart tonight -- and, you know, Howard isn't great, he's only OK, but I think he gets something about the times that most of the rest of his party's leadership is missing, which is the muscular militarism. Dude's built like a fireplug, and he always seems ready for a scrap. What the Democrats are struggling with is connecting the kind of openness and generosity of trad-liberalism with some kind of assertive no-bullshit ass-kicking confidence. Which is exactly what a lot of this pan-cultural hip-hop is doing -- it's open and global and also tough as shit. And at least as many people are listening to it as to Harry Reid, right? The next Democratic nominee needs to have Daddy Yankee on board.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 24 June 2005 05:54 (twenty years ago)

(sorry, I'm not sure if any of those things have anything to do with each other. but it seems like they should.)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 24 June 2005 05:56 (twenty years ago)

"Martial music, the beat goes on, dead down, down to the floor..."

― Ian Riese-Moraine eats nation-states for breakfast! (Eastern Mantra), Friday, 24 June 2005 11:51 (twenty years ago)

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