A long, long time ago — I can still remember how that music used to make me smile...
The
past several years have seen a reassessment of our country’s many
mythologies — from the legends of the generals of the Confederacy to the
historical glossing over of slaveholding founding fathers. But as we
take another look at the sins of our historical figures, we’ve also had
to take a hard look at our more immediate past and present, including
the behavior of the creators of pop culture.
That reassessment extends
now to the people who wrote some of our best-loved songs. But what to do
with the art left behind? Can I still love their music if I’m appalled
by various events in the lives of Johnny Cash or Elvis or Jerry Lee Lewis? Or by Eric Clapton’s racist rants and anti-vaccination activism?
Or various events in the life of R. Kelly and Michael Jackson too, then? I wonder if theys just listens to White Male artists, or those are the only artists -- the white ones -- with seemingly unforgiveable sins that offend the delicate author's female sensibilities. I imagine artificial estrogen's a bitch on the system, and growing up male, with money, has a way of distorting the guilt you feel too, listening to songs that mean something to others, but that offend you personally...
"Girls will be boys and boys will be girls, it's a mixed-up muddled-up shook-up world, except for Lola... lo-la, lola, lalalala lola..." Good song by the Kinks. Don't stop playing it because some media nanny looking for copy got her panties in a bunch about what kids today can and can't listen to, based on his troubled adolescent past. (PS. What ever happened to his sister? A year older, and infinitely more cool, you wonder... did she die? Did his transition -- like Kate Hepburn wrote about her brother's death -- have anything to do with the loss of her presence? Nevermind sharing your musical opinions, that's perhaps the missing element of his sex-change story right there...)
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