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Reading this post about a guitar solo got me thinking about how people interact with the world. Seems like a stretch doesn’t it? The guitarist in the video is technically very good. There’s no doubt about it. However to me he’s also quite soulless—kind of like an animitron. His playing reminded me of a couple of things that I’ve seen lately.

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I need a reality check here…

I’ve listened to Rage Against The Machine since they came out. I like their energy and their anger even though their leftist revolution schtick gets a little old to me. They’re great for 4 or 5 songs and then their formula starts to wear thin. Kind of a one trick pony I’d say, but they do their thing well.

I like the music more than I do the vocals. I’ve always found the singer Zack—or as I heard Kennedy call him once on MTV: "Mr-smarty-pants-I’m-so-cool-I-went-to-Harvard-revolutionary", has always kind of annoyed me. Part of it is his arrogance but mainly it’s his voice. I just find it too forced—like he’s a wuss trying to act like a bad-ass. Kind of like some smarty pants kid who went to Harvard trying to sound bad ass. Wait—deja vu. Oh never mind…

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More political and angry music. I just couldn’t resist laying out another does of Gil Scott-Heron. And again, just as with my post about "Whitey on the moon", the words written 30+ years ago are still poignant. And if you substitute a few cultural references here and there, it could have been written today. The more things change the more they stay the same. Lyrics here, audio/video below. Enjoy…

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A friend of mine made this post about John Lydon AKA Johnny Rotten. He was pretty spot-on about the whole punk movement. Punk was a huge influence on the world and in my life too, in almost every way possible–musically, politically, fashion-wise, socially, etc.

I remember back in ’76. I was 11 years old. The US was celebrating the bicentennial and patriotism was high and everything was painted red, white, and blue. It was the time of old hippie bands wearing their mother’s nightgowns and playing 15 minute guitar solos. Disco music was on the radio, there were bell bottom jeans, CB radios, truckers songs, custom vans, and lots of horribly ugly polyester leisure suits and lady’s pant suits. They weren’t at all ready for "She was a girl from Birmingham , she just had an abortion…"

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I was listening to some Gil Scott-Heron yesterday and his song/poem "Whitey on the Moon" came on. I’ve heard it many times before, but yesterday I heard it in a new way. It was written in (I think) 1970 so you can dig the context.

Whitey on the Moon

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