Friday, January 10, 2003

 

Awrighty, kids... gather round the stage lights and lets listen to ole Hog give you an ear tug, cuz today is one'a them days when I seent or heard enough about marketing and commercialism and I read enough bad record reviews to have to say something about it... so, if you know any of the names that have not been changed to protect shit, well let em know ole Hog aint such a bad guy, he's just incensed. Besides, any publicity no matter how bad or how unimportant the writer is.... is good publicity.

Have you pulled in close enough? are you wrapped up ina big blanket to hear Uncle Foji tell you the tales that make yer heart stutter, make your ears hot, and make yer asshole itch? I'd like to begin with a few things about ideas.

Good ideas come once and a while, but bad ideas are everywhere. Take for example, canned vanilla coke. Mass-produced for your drinking enthusiasm, and curosity as the ads have made you believe. But I'm not so curious. No, I'm not curious about it at all, for I know you can't create a coke and vanilla mixture with just enough of each syrupy flavor without the help of an honest to goodness soda jerk. Can you remember the soda jerk? Had you the leisure of such a thing? He was the guy at the soda fountain who had a number of levers and spritzes and whips and canisters, and tricks up his sleeves, that were eloquently rolled up to about his elbow....

Coca-Cola has attempted to buy into the Americana that is the soda jerk, canning it into a marketable proposition, even going so far as changing the identity of what it is to enjoy a vanilla coke. I can remember the fizzey softness of the first sip of it, biting at my nose. It was better than sneezey Vernor's. And a cherry coke was just too sweet. But, this charade... this facade... this foolish mimicry of the original is outlandish.

Augh. Coke makes so much money anyhow, they kinda rule the world. Dont they?

So, I guess in ruling the world they can do what they please.

Are you still with me, here? I know... I know... I aint makin much sense, but bear with me, cuz I'll tell ya something....

This coke phenomenon's affect on culture trickles down to the fringes of society. It trickles into the parts of our culture that seem to be counter culture, but it aint and dont let any hippy, punk rock bullshit fool ya...
For example... This new rock thing that is going around with the kids today... Hot Hot Heat, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Rapture, The Hives,Interpol.... These are all great bands... well, they aint all great, but you get my point that each has talent of some kind, or at the least, something redeemingly entertaining. Each also has a flash in the pan image. That is, they have images.... branding, so as to create a connection to their listeners. Okay, maybe I'm losing you, but dig..... here is a correlation with the way that the "counter culture" seeps into our mainstream and by doing so invalidates said "counter culture."

The Hives wear skinny ties. Avril Lavigne wears skinny ties.
The White Stripes use specific colors to differentiate themselves. Stryper used colors to differentiate themselves.
( Stryper was a hair metal christian band in the 80's)

SEE? Do you see? Cant you? Please say you do.

These examples are few, sure... but it goes without saying that this commodification of culture even affects the Bay area indie scene. There are bands out t here that wish to capitalize upon the new rock thing as much as the major record labels want to capitalize upon Justin Timberlake's taut tummy. As much as they want to get Ben and J-Lo on camera together do we want to see the cameras pointed at San Francisco. Take a look at the cover of a magazine one-time... it says "San Francisco Rocks."

It does, really, San Francisco rocks so I cant deny that part of it..... but do the bands they've featured rock? Or do they only look good in vintage clothes and pouty poses. Rock and roll is volatile, and rebellious. It looks like the only thing SOME local rock bands are rebelling against is cold and foggy weather, talkin' about keepin it real but wearin' shorts on the ocean front.



Its great exposure and all the magazines want to talk about is how cool the sounds are and that the fog is inspirational and The Rolling Stones are SO influential. And Pink Floyd were misunderstood. Who the fuck cares if anything rocks if it dont mean shit? Sure, I'll shake my ass to it, or I'll bang my head cuz heavy metal drives you mad, but who the fuck cares? I think San Francisco bands need to de-construct themselves to fully access the potential of this moment in time. Break it down to build it up again. And we need to create noise that makes more of a ruckus...

Wars, unemployment, pollution, crimes against children, crimes against the elderly, gunplay in the ghetto, business folks screwing the public, political luminaries trying to control the world....
I guess we could argue the state of fashion...
I guess we could deliberate the importance of the mullet...
I guess we could play disco...
I guess we could paint our faces like injuns...
I guess we could eliminate the bass player...
I guess we could learn the dance moves...
I guess we could add a deejay to the mix and have him scratch ill beats....


fuck, I dunno.
I guess I'll listen to Sam Cooke.

posted by Hog 10:08 AM