Bob Dylan Is Not A Protest Singer…
...yet Maureen Dowd is still angry that he "sold out" while playing two shows in China by allowing government officials to pre-approve his set list. Oddly enough, Dowd then goes on to explain how Dylan hasn't really been a protest singer anyway since 1964 or so, and that he has spend the rest of his career defying critics who attempt to pigeonhole him as such. So why the outrage?
(via Jeremiah, who attended the show in Beijing and was similarly irked by Dowd's column)
Debating John Lennon’s Legacy
Years ending in '0 are always big ones for John Lennon fans, as they mark both the anniversary of his birth and that of his death. Two months ago Lennon would have turned 70, and next week it will have been 30 years since his untimely murder in New York. This Newsweek piece talks about why Lennon still matters, and for an odd few paragraphs links him to contemporary reality TV stars:
Lennon was hardly the Paris Hilton of his era, but by showing that stars could mine their fame for inspiration and bend it to their will, he may have helped, in some small way, to make Paris Hilton possible. When he and Yoko posed nude on the cover of Two Virgins, or released Film No. 5, a 52-minute slow-motion shot of Lennon’s face, or held a press conference in Vienna concealed inside a large bag, they were basically doing what Hilton did on The Simple Life: co-opting their renown as both a promotional tool and a topic of their work. Their savviest stunt—inviting a bunch of salivating reporters into their honeymoon suites in Amsterdam and Montreal, where they did nothing but talk about peace for two weeks—instantly set the standard for celebrity activism in the mass-media age. “We knew our honeymoon was going to be public anyway, so we decided to use it to make a statement,” Lennon said in 1980. When Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt lured the paparazzi to Namibia for the birth of their daughter Shiloh, then donated the proceeds from the sale of her baby pictures to a local charity, they were pulling a John and Yoko.
The author's point is that Lennon's celebrity entwined with his musical output- he was the first person to use his celebrity consciously rather than simply embrace or evade it. The comparison between Lennon and Jolie/Pitt is somewhat apt, but I don't buy the connection to Paris Hilton or to the stars of The Hills (whom the author alludes to earlier). The latter category have fame without any commensurate accomplishment- they are simply famous because somebody decided to make them famous. Paris Hilton is famous because at some point a television executive thought people would be amused to follow around a ditzy rich girl who partied a lot and occasionally did something naughty. Fifty years from now, nobody will be listening to her music or watch her movies and she will essentially disappear like trinkets in a time capsule.
I think critics often exaggerate the extent of Lennon's activist celebrity era- this period really only lasted a few years, from say the bed-ins with Yoko to the release of Imagine. As the Newsweek piece notes Lennon retreated to an extraordinary degree in the mid to late 70s, living an almost mundane, ordinary life in New York. Lennon's accessibility during this time unfortunately enabled his assassination.
There's a tendency for people to judge the Beatles by their iconography rather than their musical and cultural output- every sentient creature in the Western world is familiar with their smiling early appearances on TV even if they aren't familiar with most of the Beatles' music. Yet the Beatles were such a good band due to the years they toiled in obscurity, playing all-night saloons in Hamburg's red-light district or in musty little clubs in Liverpool. The real cousin to Hilton and the rest would be the Monkees, not the Beatles.
Lennon's actual legacy is his music. When I listen to the White Album on my Ipod, sitting in my apartment in New York and reading the newspaper, it feels as fresh and timeless as any great work of art. To me, listening to the Beatles is akin to reading great literature or gazing at a great painting- it is an endlessly enriching experience. To others, the Beatles doesn't do it for them, but to argue that the key legacy of Lennon is his relationship to fame misses the point.
Stay Bobby Stay
According to the Guardian, Bob Dylan will not be permitted to play concerts in Beijing and Shanghai, thus scuttling his proposed East Asia tour:
China's ministry of culture, which vets planned concerts by overseas artists, appeared wary of Dylan's past as an icon of the counterculture movement, said Jeffrey Wu, of the Taiwan-based promoters Brokers Brothers Herald.
Dylan fans denied the chance to see their hero might also blame Björk, who caused consternation among Chinese officials two years ago byshouting pro-Tibet slogans at a concert in Shanghai, Wu told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.
The verdict scuppers Dylan's plans to play his first dates in mainland China. The singer, who plays around 100 concerts a year on his Never Ending Tour, had hoped to extend a multi-city Japanese leg with concerts in Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. All these would now be called off, Wu told the newspaper.
I think I own or have listened to most of Bob Dylan's music, and I'm struggling to remember if China, Tibet, Taiwan received any mention at all in his lyrics. Dylan also hasn't been a counter-cultural icon since the early '60s. When the hippie movement blossomed in the latter part of that decade, Dylan was living on a farm in Woodstock, New York and making folk/country albums like John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline. In other words, he hasn't raged against the machine since before the Cultural Revolution was in full swing.
I also find the Bjork connection dubious. Ministry of Culture apparatchiks are understandably not paid to keep up with Western pop music, but had they seen just one of her videos they'd have realized that the Icelandic ice queen isn't exactly a bellwether of mainstream Western culture. If anything, her embrace of Tibetan rights would almost be enough to discredit the movement.
Once again, the Chinese government reveals its inept approach to international public relations regarding the Tibet issue. Moreover I doubt even the most rabid fenqing would have been riled up by a near-septuagenarian folk singer entertaining a few thousand nostalgic boomer laowai.
Michael Jackson
By the time I started listening to music, roughly 20 years ago, Michael Jackson was already past his prime. He was still a major star and a darling of MTV, but he had already begun his transition from the 'King of Pop' to 'Wacko Jacko'. Within a few years would come the first charges of child molestation. Not long thereafter he seemed to fall off the music radar altogether and became better known for his bizarre antics; the marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, dangling his baby child out of the window, the move to Bahrain.
Plastic surgery so warped his appearance that it became difficult to even look at his face. He looked grotesque and inhuman. His death almost seems a relief as the long lacuna of his career was difficult to bear for his fans who so loved the man's music.
The Michael Jackson his fans choose to remember--the man whose dancing and singing once dazzled the world- died long ago.
Lists
There's few things I love more than completely arbitrary rankings intended to spur argument. Someone, bless his cotton socks, has ranked Beatles songs- all 185 of them- from best to worst. This is like crack for me.
The list itself isn't too bad, though the reviewer seems to like McCartney-penned ballads a bit more than I do. I do believe that "Revolution" is ranked too low. Perhaps the song is significant to me in some way because it is the only Beatles song containing a reference to China, but the lyrics are wise and timeless.
Out of the Music Loop
Every time I go back to the US, about once a year or so, I realize how much further I'm out of the loop. One way is in money; a lot of my old friends are doing well financially. About a year ago, I went to dinner with three friends from high school, two of whom were attorneys and one a fairly well-paid software developer. When the bill came, the per-person amount left me near-speechless while the others said, "Oh, that's pretty reasonable!"
A second way is in gadgets, a particularly acute issue when you come from the doorstep of Silicon Valley. People can talk for hours about their latest smart phone or little computer toy, and allＩcan do is nod and smile.
Neither of these bother me all that much. But what does get to me is my total ignorance of modern popular music. Recently, my friend Dan posted his Top Ten albums of 2008. I scanned through and identified exactly four of the artists (Billy Bragg, The Roots, Nas, and of course R.E.M). I was aware of none of these albums, and not a single one of these songs.
For some reason, this depresses me. I used to be a huge modern music fan. I remember being able to turn on a local rock radio station and identify every song that came on within the first two or three notes. I once had a subscription to Rolling Stone. I watched MTV. I went to as many concerts as I could afford.
I was even the sort of guy who alphabetized his CDs, something I did painstakingly every time I bought a new one. I completely identified with the John Cusack character in High Fidelity. I became obsessed with musical minutiate, mostly gleaned from reading liner notes of the CDs I bought.
And now I pretty much know nothing about what's happening now. Someone asked me who my favorite current band was, and all I could think of was The White Stripes, who have been around for at least a decade.
I have an Italian friend in Kunming who sometimes DJs at a bar called Halfway House. One night, he started playing songs from my time. Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Garbage, Beck, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc. I got up and danced around like an idiot; it was fun. At one point, when he played something I didn't recognize, I shouted, "Dude, play some '90s!"
Later I realized that I've become that guy. You know, the guy who thinks all the music released since he was 21 years old is garbage, and when he goes out all he wants to hear are the classics. The problem is, I'm not really old enough to be that guy. I'm the same age as Dan, who apparently still can speak authoritatively about music released in the past year. Is it possible to be that guy when you're not even 30?
I'm still current with books and movies. But music...nah. And this, friends, is what living in a place as removed as China will do to you after awhile.
Chinese Democracy and “Chinese Democracy”
In 1989, the Chinese government opened fire on groups of protesting students in a large square in Beijing, killing thousands. That same year, Guns'n'Roses was the most popular rock band in the United States after releasing their classic album, Appetite for Destruction. Two years later, the Soviet Union collapsed and several ex-Communist states established nominal democracies. Observers wondered whether China would follow suit.
Guns'n'Roses that year completed a double album ("Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II", released separately) and began work on an album titled "Chinese Democracy".
Years passed. The Chinese state grew stronger as more people escaped poverty. Guns'n'Roses eventually split up. Axl Rose, the iconic vocalist of the group, resumed work on the album alone.
Political scientists debated whether there would ever be Chinese democracy. Some pointed to factors such as the growth of the middle-class, the rise in international travel, and the increased use of the Internet as reasons to expect China to democratize. Others were skeptical.
Music critics, simultaneously, debated whether there would ever be "Chinese Democracy". Some pointed to factors such as Axl Rose's television appearances, concerts, and the ever-revolving door of studio musicians as signs that the album would soon appear. Others were skeptical.
Now it is November 2008. Chinese democracy still hasn't arrived. Most now believe it won't for awhile. But "Chinese Democracy" has. So far, critical reaction has been tepid; the album doesn't appear to be worth the 17-year wait.
Ones hopes that when Chinese democracy arrives, it'll be better received than "Chinese Democracy".
Lost Laowai Profiles NeoCha
Direct your browsers to Ryan's interview with NeoCha CEO Sean Leow over at Lost Laowai. NeoCha is a site that serves as a platform for independent musicians in China, ones who slip under the radar screen of the country's radio stations. For those who scoff that nobody produces good original music in the Middle Kingdom, NeoCha is a welcome antidote. Browse away.
Full disclosure: Sean and I were high school classmates in Atherton, California in the late 1990s. But forget all that- the site is well worth checking out.
Even in China, The Beatles Rock
During my podcast interview, I recounted my first day as a teacher in China. I had arrived in Lianyungang the night before in a jet-lagged daze and ambled to my school the following morning to meet my students and observe my colleague's lesson. I walked into the classroom and faced my students- thirty Chinese teenagers sitting behind tiny wooden desks staring at me as if I had traveled to the school via spaceship.
I started introducing myself, but before long I had a request to deal with: "sing a song!" I had been told sometime before that Chinese students often ask their foreign teachers to sing but I had hoped I'd get at least a short grace period. In a moment, not knowing what to sing, I settled on "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles. Looking back, the choice was obvious: "Yellow Submarine" is easy to sing (hell, Ringo sang it), the lyrics are relatively simple, and most importantly The Beatles were a band I reckoned my students knew and liked and whose songs I could sing without gagging.
I sang one verse and then stopped, and my students politely applauded. There- the ice was broken.
If there was ever a country The Beatles juggernaut couldn't penetrate, it would be China. After all, while Beatlemania swept the Western world, the Chinese were carrying pictures of Chairman Mao (to paraphrase John Lennon). The Beatles might have outraged Japanese traditionalists by playing the Budokan and nearly sparked a riot in the Philippines by snubbing Imelda Marcos, but they got nowhere near the Forbidden City.
Secondly, the Chinese, shall we say, are not the world's biggest rock aficionados. To be fair, there is a burgeoning indie scene (tracked by my friend Sean's site, Neocha) here on the mainland and rock is becoming more popular by the day. But as recently as three years ago my teenage students were convinced The Carpenters' "Yesterday Once More" was the West's greatest contribution to pop music. I heard myself once in Fuzhou telling a student that he was "too cool" to listen to the Backstreet Boys. A colleague, at around that time, played a Led Zeppelin song to his students and remarked that they were horrified, as if he had played a three-minute tape of jackhammering and car alarm loops.
But The Beatles, somehow, are liked in China. As they are in Mexico, Israel, Italy, Africa, India, and virtually everywhere else on the planet. Very few artists have managed this distinction without compromising their artistic integrity, and that truly is one reason why the Beatles remain so relevant nearly forty years after they broke up.
While we're on the subject of the Fab Four, here's an article about how dissing the Beatles has become fashionable among the Gen X set, a dubious thesis only partially explained. Far more interesting is the resulting comments thread, featuring amusing bickering between Baby Boomers claiming that no good music has been released since 1969 and whippersnappers defending our generation's appreciation of classic rock.