The urge to hurl a projectile at a pane of glass is an interesting and evocative way to put it. Honestly, as someone who lobbed a few bricks herself back in the late 70s and 80s, I think it is correct that this urge, and the symbolic enactment of it, primarily comes to those with at least a *baseline* degree of privilege that tells them there will always be new panes that can be acquired. The more marginalized you are, the more hesitant you are to destroy your own protective edifices.
I was a teenager living in as podunk town when I first heard Big Black's "Kerosene". It was the first song that really spoke to how I felt at the time.
It's been about fifteen years since I last heard of Jim Goad. I'm not surprised in the least that he turned out the way he did, a quasi-Nazi. His face definitely reflects his soul. Good for Steve Albini for continuing to grow as a human being. I said and did a lot of rude shit myself when I was younger that I deeply regret nowadays.
The comparison with a Jim Goad is on target. There were a lot of us swimming in those waters in the 80s-90s. Myself included. And just like today, a lot of assholes hiding behind the "it's all a joke" or "it's about free speech" dodges.
Never heard of Goad (and is that the perfect name for a Nazi-adjacent asshole or what?) until today. Then I read the article linked above. And now I wish my ignorance was intact.
I read it too. My takeaway is that Goad was always a performative bigoted asshole, but some liberals tolerated him because they thought he was funny for some reason. They also felt guilty about making "white trash" jokes; never mind that Goad seemed bent on confirming the worst "racist, wife-beating hillbilly" stereotypes. Even when the article was published in 2017, some people who should have known better (Oswalt, Palahniuk) were still saying nice things about Goad; I hope they've come around since then.
I think it all relates to the Edgelord ethos, in which being a little bit racist (but not TOO much) and misogynist (but not TOO much) was considered transgressive, and the sign of a free thinker who wasn't bound by your rules, man. Nowadays, of course, the racism and misogyny and transphobia are all out front and center.
The thats-not-funny-because-its-offensive nerve is the most sensitive one all comedians have. They push back because they see that movement leading them all to careers telling mother-in-law jokes at casinos for the rest of their lives.
Well, this rage-clown Goad has no interests in sweet spots, and isn't a stand-up comic, just a stand-up white supremacist. You can condemn people whose work you enjoy for not casting Goad into the Fiery Pit, but in the back of their minds they all worry about being next.
I’d never heard of Portnoy or Barstool and, now that I’ve read that linked piece, in which he and his fans appear as mini-Trump and -Trumpettes, I’ll be forgetting all about him in 3…2…1…
Good for Albini. Maybe I'll follow up some of his later writing. The chapter on Big Black in "Our Band Could Be Your Life" left a bad taste in my mouth, no matter how "ironic" Albini's observations. But if I can continue to enjoy Reed, Bowie, The Stones etc, despite all the shitty things they did, I can give Albini a second chance.
Then there's Mr. Goad. A friend sent me a couple issues of his "Answer Me" magazine back in the early '90s. I had to admit he was a hell of a writer, but potentially bad news. When I learned of his latter career, I was less than shocked. Goad made me understand the oft used cliche, "Why don't you use your powers for good instead of evil?" God help us all if Goad gets the world he dreams of.
BIg Black is not a frequent spin on my virtual jukebox these days, but when it pops up, I am still impressed by how those three made each instrument cut like a power tool, but a different one, totally distinct in sound. Loves
Does he mean reactionary, or reactive? He mentions it in the context of "The main thing that I was reacting against was an impulse that I saw in my peers to soften their art and their music so that it would be acceptable within the existing conventions of art and music."
I see people saying reactionary when they mean reactive, and the two are entirely dissimilar. To me there's nothing *reactionary* about wanting to create art for art's sake, the public's acceptance (and giving pleasure) be damned.
I read that as that being reactive can lead one to be quite reactionary, in that you end up not giving a fuck about other people. "Art for art's sake" is great if you're not one of the marginalized who can't even see where their next meal is coming from. Not sure if that's what he meant, or if he was confusing the words, but you I see it in those former counterculture heroes of the '60s and '70s (like Van Morrison and Eric Clapton) ending up as wealthy, racist, sexist right-wingers.
I wasn't there for it, but everyone I've met who was around back then was either an unrepentant asshole or a repentant former asshole. Even the dudes who were laudably, actively anti-Nazi.
The older you trying to explain why the younger you said and did a bunch of stupid shit is always a tightrope act, whether you take responsibility or not, because it has to include a justification for stupid shit. Being a human should be enough, but it's not satisfactory to our monkey brains and need for scapegoats. I for one am ready to cut a lot of slack for people who says "I did this, it was wrong, I'm sorry, and will try to make up for it going forward", because like most people I can identify, having been on the giving and receiving ends.
I've liked Albini since I read his essay about the Music Industry, the standard diatribe, but delivered with some insight from lived experience rather than the usual resentment from not getting a key to the Executive washroom (you kids ask your grandparents what that refers to, or go watch How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying).
I've long held that youth is prone to circa-innocent cruelty because young people have a lot of energy and heal pretty well—youth usually has no idea how much you can hurt and for how long. Add being in the dominant racial group—so you get second chances—and it's even easier; add some money early on and you easily get monsters, and I am thinking not only of an ex-President but of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
With age you learn that you can (e.g.) break one smalbone in your foot in 1994 and have it quarter-cripple you periodically for the rest of your life; you don't jump on the bathroom sink because it is attached to an hangar and that to the wall, and each have their finite limits of attachment. Taken to an extreme, you become a reactionary and won't want to see anyone do anything new ever again lest it break _everything_ and hurt _everyone_. Be more reasonable, and you might end-up both rational and reasonable, human and humane….
(Oh, and Albini's piece about what every recording engineer ought to know is not disposative, but _is_ a beautiful piece of writing that doesn't bother explaining much but makes its points, only one of which is 'Hire Steve Albini.'.)
He did that more than anyone else this side of Kim Fowley; I also gather that he was an out-of-control drunk frequently cruel to his band-mates. I never liked Led Zeppelin much, so I'm both biassed [sic] and maybe didn't look into this carefully enough.
Yes, I put it in short was "when you're young you're immortal". Every year you're bigger, stronger, more experienced. When you injure yourself you heal quickly, hangovers only last a few hours at most, etc. Guys like Clapton and Page were surrounded by people telling them they were geniuses when they were teenagers, and then the world showered them with money, love, and groupies. Trump was born into the privilege those guys lucked into, but it's rare for people to come out of that with empathy or humility.
The urge to hurl a projectile at a pane of glass is an interesting and evocative way to put it. Honestly, as someone who lobbed a few bricks herself back in the late 70s and 80s, I think it is correct that this urge, and the symbolic enactment of it, primarily comes to those with at least a *baseline* degree of privilege that tells them there will always be new panes that can be acquired. The more marginalized you are, the more hesitant you are to destroy your own protective edifices.
Thank you for this; sums it up perfectly.
So people can mature and evolve from infantile urges to break things when upset or frustrated?
Thought that ability was now extinct...
"Greil Marcus has probably said it somewhere;"
And well.
Honestly, you don't seem that bad. "Curmudgeon "
comes to mind.
I was a teenager living in as podunk town when I first heard Big Black's "Kerosene". It was the first song that really spoke to how I felt at the time.
Transplanted to small town of smaller souls in junior high: this song was the ugly grinding soundtrack of my angry "Ya Basta"
It's been about fifteen years since I last heard of Jim Goad. I'm not surprised in the least that he turned out the way he did, a quasi-Nazi. His face definitely reflects his soul. Good for Steve Albini for continuing to grow as a human being. I said and did a lot of rude shit myself when I was younger that I deeply regret nowadays.
The comparison with a Jim Goad is on target. There were a lot of us swimming in those waters in the 80s-90s. Myself included. And just like today, a lot of assholes hiding behind the "it's all a joke" or "it's about free speech" dodges.
Never heard of Goad (and is that the perfect name for a Nazi-adjacent asshole or what?) until today. Then I read the article linked above. And now I wish my ignorance was intact.
I read it too. My takeaway is that Goad was always a performative bigoted asshole, but some liberals tolerated him because they thought he was funny for some reason. They also felt guilty about making "white trash" jokes; never mind that Goad seemed bent on confirming the worst "racist, wife-beating hillbilly" stereotypes. Even when the article was published in 2017, some people who should have known better (Oswalt, Palahniuk) were still saying nice things about Goad; I hope they've come around since then.
I think it all relates to the Edgelord ethos, in which being a little bit racist (but not TOO much) and misogynist (but not TOO much) was considered transgressive, and the sign of a free thinker who wasn't bound by your rules, man. Nowadays, of course, the racism and misogyny and transphobia are all out front and center.
The thats-not-funny-because-its-offensive nerve is the most sensitive one all comedians have. They push back because they see that movement leading them all to careers telling mother-in-law jokes at casinos for the rest of their lives.
Understandable, but the best approach is to find the "just right" sweet spot between bland & boring and Andrew "Dice" Clay.
Well, this rage-clown Goad has no interests in sweet spots, and isn't a stand-up comic, just a stand-up white supremacist. You can condemn people whose work you enjoy for not casting Goad into the Fiery Pit, but in the back of their minds they all worry about being next.
Literally the same, and literally the same reaction.
"Answer Me!" --> "Address my points, libs!"
Yep, you debate, they win.
I’d never heard of Portnoy or Barstool and, now that I’ve read that linked piece, in which he and his fans appear as mini-Trump and -Trumpettes, I’ll be forgetting all about him in 3…2…1…
A. Good luck with that. There’s a sexual harassment/#MeToo thing against him so it’s going to be harder than normal to ignore him.
B. This is pretty much how I feel every time I see a comrade commenting on the Taibbi, Greenwald, Weiss, et al.
Good for Albini. Maybe I'll follow up some of his later writing. The chapter on Big Black in "Our Band Could Be Your Life" left a bad taste in my mouth, no matter how "ironic" Albini's observations. But if I can continue to enjoy Reed, Bowie, The Stones etc, despite all the shitty things they did, I can give Albini a second chance.
Then there's Mr. Goad. A friend sent me a couple issues of his "Answer Me" magazine back in the early '90s. I had to admit he was a hell of a writer, but potentially bad news. When I learned of his latter career, I was less than shocked. Goad made me understand the oft used cliche, "Why don't you use your powers for good instead of evil?" God help us all if Goad gets the world he dreams of.
BIg Black is not a frequent spin on my virtual jukebox these days, but when it pops up, I am still impressed by how those three made each instrument cut like a power tool, but a different one, totally distinct in sound. Loves
Does he mean reactionary, or reactive? He mentions it in the context of "The main thing that I was reacting against was an impulse that I saw in my peers to soften their art and their music so that it would be acceptable within the existing conventions of art and music."
I see people saying reactionary when they mean reactive, and the two are entirely dissimilar. To me there's nothing *reactionary* about wanting to create art for art's sake, the public's acceptance (and giving pleasure) be damned.
I read that as that being reactive can lead one to be quite reactionary, in that you end up not giving a fuck about other people. "Art for art's sake" is great if you're not one of the marginalized who can't even see where their next meal is coming from. Not sure if that's what he meant, or if he was confusing the words, but you I see it in those former counterculture heroes of the '60s and '70s (like Van Morrison and Eric Clapton) ending up as wealthy, racist, sexist right-wingers.
And now that I've read the other comments, I see that SundayStyle already said that, much better than I did.
Thanks so much, but I think you said it very well.
That's just an erudite way of saying they were all selling out, man, back when selling out was considered a bad thing.
Fuck Portland’s ‘90s “scene,” it is definitely more about asshole dude bros than anything else.
What 1990's scene wasn't?
I wasn't there for it, but everyone I've met who was around back then was either an unrepentant asshole or a repentant former asshole. Even the dudes who were laudably, actively anti-Nazi.
Here's a great article by Albini himself about his continuing moral evolution: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-i-havent-had-a-conventional-christmas-in-20-years_b_8614568?utm_hp_ref=impact&ir=Impact
The older you trying to explain why the younger you said and did a bunch of stupid shit is always a tightrope act, whether you take responsibility or not, because it has to include a justification for stupid shit. Being a human should be enough, but it's not satisfactory to our monkey brains and need for scapegoats. I for one am ready to cut a lot of slack for people who says "I did this, it was wrong, I'm sorry, and will try to make up for it going forward", because like most people I can identify, having been on the giving and receiving ends.
I've liked Albini since I read his essay about the Music Industry, the standard diatribe, but delivered with some insight from lived experience rather than the usual resentment from not getting a key to the Executive washroom (you kids ask your grandparents what that refers to, or go watch How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying).
This was good
I've long held that youth is prone to circa-innocent cruelty because young people have a lot of energy and heal pretty well—youth usually has no idea how much you can hurt and for how long. Add being in the dominant racial group—so you get second chances—and it's even easier; add some money early on and you easily get monsters, and I am thinking not only of an ex-President but of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
With age you learn that you can (e.g.) break one smalbone in your foot in 1994 and have it quarter-cripple you periodically for the rest of your life; you don't jump on the bathroom sink because it is attached to an hangar and that to the wall, and each have their finite limits of attachment. Taken to an extreme, you become a reactionary and won't want to see anyone do anything new ever again lest it break _everything_ and hurt _everyone_. Be more reasonable, and you might end-up both rational and reasonable, human and humane….
(Oh, and Albini's piece about what every recording engineer ought to know is not disposative, but _is_ a beautiful piece of writing that doesn't bother explaining much but makes its points, only one of which is 'Hire Steve Albini.'.)
What did Jimmy Page say/do? Besides sleep with underage girls, I mean.
He did that more than anyone else this side of Kim Fowley; I also gather that he was an out-of-control drunk frequently cruel to his band-mates. I never liked Led Zeppelin much, so I'm both biassed [sic] and maybe didn't look into this carefully enough.
Yes, I put it in short was "when you're young you're immortal". Every year you're bigger, stronger, more experienced. When you injure yourself you heal quickly, hangovers only last a few hours at most, etc. Guys like Clapton and Page were surrounded by people telling them they were geniuses when they were teenagers, and then the world showered them with money, love, and groupies. Trump was born into the privilege those guys lucked into, but it's rare for people to come out of that with empathy or humility.
'Eliminate the MIDIs and the twits!'