NP - What rock star will be remembered? Compared to literary field.

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

Considering the relation of disco music and literature - somewhere in 
AtD the word "Disco" appears as a name -, I remembered the following 
Tarantino like dialogue from Thor Kunkel's debut novel "Das 
Schwarzlicht-Terrarium" (pp. 476-477). A guy is forced to do pop 
hermeneutics under the threat of being shot:

"He, Mann, was soll ich ihn fragen?"
"Scheiße. Wenn du ihn nichts fragst, leg ich ihn gleich um."
"Frag mich, bitte, frag mich was", bettelte Richter. Er war grau vor Angst.
"Okay." Rio dachte einen Moment nach. "Du kennst doch Patrick Hernandez?"
"Sicher, jeder kennt Patrick Hernandez."
"/Persönlich/?" Rio musste da einfach nachhaken.
"Das nicht ..."
Rio nickte erleichtert. "Okay. Jetzt hör gut zu. Es gibt da dieses Lied, 
das zur Zeit überall gespielt wird."
"Born to be alive?"
"Ganz richtig. Aber das ist nicht meine Frage. Ich will wissen, was es 
bedeutet, Mann."
"He, /die/ Frage ist gut!" meinte Kuhl.
"Geboren ... um zu leben", kam es stotternd vom Fußboden.
"Du willst mich wohl verscheißern!" Kuhl presste Richter die Knarre ins 
Ohr. "Er hat dich gefragt, was dahintersteckt ... Dahinter! Geboren, um 
zu leben --- so weit sind wir doch schon lange, du Arsch! Er will 
wissen, was es heißt ... die Bedeutung, du Klugscheißer! Der Sinn? Wenn 
einer geboren ist, dann lebt er doch automatisch, das ist doch 
scheißnormal. Das muss man doch nicht andauernd singen ..."
Richter wurde mit einem Mal klar, dass er es mit Psychopathen zu tun hatte.
"Okay. Ich habe mich in der Tat mal gefragt, was es heißen könnte", 
sagte er leise, beherrscht. "Stimmst's nicht, Jungs?"
In der Aufregung hatte er vergessen, dass er seine Kraftmeier gefeuert 
hatte.
"Und?"
Richter ahnte, wie brenzlig es wurde.
"Wenn du mich fragst, macht es keinen Sinn. Sieh mal all diese Popsongs ..."
"Oh, oh", sagte Kuhl.
"Sakrileg", sagte Rio.
"Aber ich weiß es doch nicht!" heulte Richter. "So wahr mir Gott helfe!"
Kuhl schob ihm die Waffe in den Mund.
"So helfe dir Gott", sagte er nur.
"Kuhl. Schluss jetzt!" Eddie hatte plötzlich die schnellgeschnittene 
Szene eines Mordes vor Augen. "Wegen dem Scheißkerl willst du sitzen? 
Ja? Fünf Jahre?"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDPculXrO50

The vinyl single was one of the first records I
bought for my pocket money when I was twelve.


On 30.05.2016 11:39, Kai Frederik Lorentzen wrote:
>
> > Yet virtually all pop historiographers elevate the importance of the 
> Pistols above that of the Bee Gees.
>
> But no pop historiographer would ever elevate the importance of the 
> Pistols above that of Chic!
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv744Ckqp5U
>
> "I want your love, I need your love,
> just like the birds the sky above"
>
>
>
> On 30.05.2016 10:17, matthew cissell wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>>    I came across this article about what rock musician/performer will 
>> be remembered in the future:
>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/magazine/which-rock-star-will-historians-of-the-future-remember.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&moduleDetail=inside-nyt-region-5&module=inside-nyt-region&region=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region&_r=0
>>
>> The author of the piece, Chuck Klosterman, starts off with John 
>> Philip Sousa and marches. He speculates that if asked most people 
>> could not name or could only name Sousa as a composer of marches. He 
>> then poses the question of who will be remembered from rock. He 
>> quotes Ted Gioia: “Over time, critics and historians will play a 
>> larger role in deciding whose fame endures,”
>> I think a good point is made when he compares Saturday Night Live and 
>> Never Mind the Bollocks. "In 1977, the disco soundtrack to “Saturday 
>> Night Fever” and the Sex Pistols’ “Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s 
>> the Sex Pistols” were both released. The soundtrack to “Saturday 
>> Night Fever” has sold more than 15 million copies; it took “Never 
>> Mind the Bollocks” 15 years to go platinum. Yet virtually all pop 
>> historiographers elevate the importance of the Pistols above that of 
>> the Bee Gees.
>>
>> Bourdieu might point out that the Bee Gees were clearly oriented 
>> toward the pole of heteronomous production that provides greater 
>> economic capital and that the Sex Pistols were oriented toward the 
>> autonomous pole of production (though not in a dominant position, 
>> rather a subversive avant garde one) that garners more symbolic 
>> capital than economic. The two prodcucts have different life cycles 
>> and thus age differently.
>>
>>     For me it is interesting to read this speculative study of the 
>> future status of rock stars (agents in the field of musical 
>> production) over and against the the literary field. What homologies 
>> of structure or strategy might we find? For Klosterman, Sousa and 
>> march are synonomous as (he suspects) might happen with Bob Marley 
>> and reggae. And in literature?
>>
>> If you're a Deadhead you think people will recognize the grateness of 
>> the Grateful Dead; if you're a Pynchon fan you likely think his 
>> writing will stand out a hundred years hence or more. But is this 
>> just our "ilusio" as Bourdeiu calls it? Vision fogged up by Fanboy 
>> feelings? Is this all hollow speculation of no import? Though the 
>> above is speculative in nature I do not think that the question is 
>> doomed to mere speculation.
>>
>> ciao
>> mc otis
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

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