Duran Duran and courage
Lots of good, thought-provoking articles in Slate recently...
In this article, Michael Kinsley takes a closer look at those who defied authority during the crises on 9/11 in order to save their lives or others'. He puts his finger on what I was fumbling with in my earlier post about United 93 (the movie). I quote: "The defiance of authority is a big reason the United 93 story is so thrilling. This was heroism, American-style. Dissing the Man on your way out the door. These folks were cowboys. John Wayne and Clint Eastwood don't have time for the rules, and neither did they." I never really thought about it that way before. Interesting, because the film portays them as anything BUT John Wayne/Clint Eastwood types. But that just makes their actions that much more impressive.
What's just as interesting, however, is Kinsley's assertion that the people in the World Trade Towers who obeyed orders to return to their offices also showed true courage. Kinsley suggests that those who ignored directions to return their offices only survived because they were the exception to the rule. If *everyone* had decided to leave the building, chances are the stairways would have become congested and impassable. The survivors, in essence, survived because of everyone who decided to heed the (bad) advice to return to work. Kinsley concludes: "And sometimes obeying authority is the counsel of courage while defying it is the counsel of cowardice. It probably took more courage to climb back up to your office in the World Trade Center than it did to proceed down and out of the building. Foolish courage, as it turns out, but you never know." How scary is that? I know myself well enough to believe that I would have most likely obeyed authority if I was in either of those situations. What would you have done?
The other article I enjoyed was by Jody Rosen, Slate's music critic. He describes the current state of music criticism as a pendulum which is swinging towards favor with pop music, by which I mean Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, or whoever is dominating the Billboard charts at the time. He suggests that this is a backlash against an earlier generation of critics who held popular music, including metal, rap, and R&B in disdain. He describes a writer/critic who recently reviewed a 1986 Rolling Stone Record Guide. The result? The guide either ignored or dissed rap and metal - "the two genres that within a few years would dominate the pop charts," he says with a smile. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but needless to say, every top 20 list or record guide will have its own bias, no matter how much they lay claim to objectivity.
The article is remarkably even-handed, and I agree with his ultimate conclusion that the dichotomy between professional rock critics and those who love Top 40 is false, more often than not. I have a special place in my heart for Top 40 and make no bones about enjoying musicians who can write (or perform) a catchy hook (although Rosen doesn't spend any time talking about musicians who don't actually *write* their own songs). In high school my good friend Tony often ridiculed and disparaged Top 40 acts that I really liked - Duran Duran and Wham! come to mind. In those early days I found it hard to defend my appreciation for "The Reflex," although in retrospect I am not embarassed to admit that I *still* enjoy several songs by both those bands, even as I also grew to love bands on the other side of the aesthetic spectrum like Sonic Youth. What's the lesson? Just that music criticism is subject to whims, fashion, and politics, just like everything else. No surprise there, I suppose. But it's sure fun to read a music critic admit as much!
Speaking of Top 40, have I mentioned what a godsend iTunes is for recovering lost fragments of my youth? I thought I'd long ago downloaded or bought all the songs from my childhood that I loved. But each week, it seems, I hear a snippet of a song on the radio that I'd forgotten about. This week it was "Thunder Island" by Jay Ferguson. You may not recognize the song title, but believe me - you know the song. It's an awesome slice of seventies pop/rock, and I'm digging it big time.
This weekend LeAnn and I somehow started identifying bands whose names repeat themselves. Like Duran Duran. There's more than one would think! To wit:
Duran Duran
Gus Gus
Oingo Boingo
The Horror The Horror
I'm sure there are more...can't think of 'em right now, though. Feel free to add your favorites!
Finally, here's a funny modest proposal outlining the reasons why a PS3 would make a better "life partner" than a spouse, by Reihan Salam and Will Wilkinson.
In this article, Michael Kinsley takes a closer look at those who defied authority during the crises on 9/11 in order to save their lives or others'. He puts his finger on what I was fumbling with in my earlier post about United 93 (the movie). I quote: "The defiance of authority is a big reason the United 93 story is so thrilling. This was heroism, American-style. Dissing the Man on your way out the door. These folks were cowboys. John Wayne and Clint Eastwood don't have time for the rules, and neither did they." I never really thought about it that way before. Interesting, because the film portays them as anything BUT John Wayne/Clint Eastwood types. But that just makes their actions that much more impressive.
What's just as interesting, however, is Kinsley's assertion that the people in the World Trade Towers who obeyed orders to return to their offices also showed true courage. Kinsley suggests that those who ignored directions to return their offices only survived because they were the exception to the rule. If *everyone* had decided to leave the building, chances are the stairways would have become congested and impassable. The survivors, in essence, survived because of everyone who decided to heed the (bad) advice to return to work. Kinsley concludes: "And sometimes obeying authority is the counsel of courage while defying it is the counsel of cowardice. It probably took more courage to climb back up to your office in the World Trade Center than it did to proceed down and out of the building. Foolish courage, as it turns out, but you never know." How scary is that? I know myself well enough to believe that I would have most likely obeyed authority if I was in either of those situations. What would you have done?
The other article I enjoyed was by Jody Rosen, Slate's music critic. He describes the current state of music criticism as a pendulum which is swinging towards favor with pop music, by which I mean Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, or whoever is dominating the Billboard charts at the time. He suggests that this is a backlash against an earlier generation of critics who held popular music, including metal, rap, and R&B in disdain. He describes a writer/critic who recently reviewed a 1986 Rolling Stone Record Guide. The result? The guide either ignored or dissed rap and metal - "the two genres that within a few years would dominate the pop charts," he says with a smile. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but needless to say, every top 20 list or record guide will have its own bias, no matter how much they lay claim to objectivity.
The article is remarkably even-handed, and I agree with his ultimate conclusion that the dichotomy between professional rock critics and those who love Top 40 is false, more often than not. I have a special place in my heart for Top 40 and make no bones about enjoying musicians who can write (or perform) a catchy hook (although Rosen doesn't spend any time talking about musicians who don't actually *write* their own songs). In high school my good friend Tony often ridiculed and disparaged Top 40 acts that I really liked - Duran Duran and Wham! come to mind. In those early days I found it hard to defend my appreciation for "The Reflex," although in retrospect I am not embarassed to admit that I *still* enjoy several songs by both those bands, even as I also grew to love bands on the other side of the aesthetic spectrum like Sonic Youth. What's the lesson? Just that music criticism is subject to whims, fashion, and politics, just like everything else. No surprise there, I suppose. But it's sure fun to read a music critic admit as much!
Speaking of Top 40, have I mentioned what a godsend iTunes is for recovering lost fragments of my youth? I thought I'd long ago downloaded or bought all the songs from my childhood that I loved. But each week, it seems, I hear a snippet of a song on the radio that I'd forgotten about. This week it was "Thunder Island" by Jay Ferguson. You may not recognize the song title, but believe me - you know the song. It's an awesome slice of seventies pop/rock, and I'm digging it big time.
This weekend LeAnn and I somehow started identifying bands whose names repeat themselves. Like Duran Duran. There's more than one would think! To wit:
Duran Duran
Gus Gus
Oingo Boingo
The Horror The Horror
I'm sure there are more...can't think of 'em right now, though. Feel free to add your favorites!
Finally, here's a funny modest proposal outlining the reasons why a PS3 would make a better "life partner" than a spouse, by Reihan Salam and Will Wilkinson.
posted by Mike Willis @ 8:38 PM
1 Comments:
At 4:49 PM,
LeAnn said…
The The
Talk Talk
Ix-Nay on the PS3 for you, young man!!! :-)
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