70s crap

[Sherwood, Harrison]

>From: 	Mark Smith
>
>(quoting me):

>> This also conjures questions about the nature of boredom and the
>> rebellion it engenders: Britain's arose out of deprivation; America's
>> out of superabundance. Fair summary?
>> 
>> "Here we are now, entertain us..."
>
>Yeah.  Pretty fair summary.  It's hard for an American kid to relate to
>the Punk ethos when his idea of deprivation is not being able to afford
>the latest version of whatever electronic gadget he sees advertised in
>magazines.  It's just about impossible for an American to understand the
>extent to which we are bound up in a consumerist society, in a way that
>Britain is not - yet.

Oh, I dunno... Im pretty sure thinking folks on both sides of the
Atlantic (and, certainly, elsewhere) have a very good line of critique
on the Cycle of Desiring and Acquiring. I'm not at all sure we've
sufficiently wallowed in (as Artists or as Politicians) in the countless
reflected meta-ironies inherent in the Consumerist Nostalgia Cycle we're
talking about in the other thread that split off from this one. (See
Sojourner's heartfelt "Living on the Detritus" post from this morning.)

> The original Punk sentiments arose out of a class
>consciousness that does not and will never exist in America.  Urban
>deprivation, poverty and hopelessness are not perceived as class issues
>here, but as race issues.  Maybe rap is our Punk movement.

A-MEN. Which is why I giggle hysterically when I hear the kneejerk "Rap
Sux" line coming from my contemporaries: I remember the big brother of a
pal of mine beating said pal around the head and saying, of (it may have
been) the Ramones: "How can you _listen_ to that crap?"

>  By the way,
>and this one's for Andrew and anyone else who remembers:  whatever
>happened to John Cooper Clarke, the Manchester (I believe) punk
>poet/rapper?  I saw him in Edinburgh in 1978 or so, and was blown away.
>He did a song called "Cycle Sluts".  Remember? 

Jesus, _yeah!_ He was great! Wasn't he in the movie "Urgh! A Music War"?

Harrison 
>