r.mutt's blog

7/31/06 CAPITALISM AESTHETICISES POLITICS from my generous web hosting benefactor herr michael liebermensch: > i knew it was only a > matter of time > before you wrote a song involving that > truck/mosque incident. okay, we all know i hate protest songs. but has the time finally come? or have i just become unable to stop recording jeff tweedy parodies? either way, here it is, almost five years in the making: "song for balbir singh sodhi." background info: here and here. bits of this song have been incubating in my head since the racist acts of reprisal after september 11, 2001 and, now that i've finally finished writing it, it seems that it might be relevant again. the dogs won't hunt my dear they've got nothing to fear but fear and the deer are nowhere to be seen this year i heard his pick-up truck i turned my head, said, "what the fuck" he drove into a mosque to bag a buck so grab yr rifle, grab yr hat but know that i won't have yr back this time i didn't vote for this prime minister vicious mob reprisal's gone too far and though the deer do start to fall you won't hear anything at all except skyscrapers that were tall and hunters blowing on their calls. i can't remember where i heard it the other day — i think it was some sort of cable news channel talking about the inevitability of military conflict — but it was the oft-repeated line, "history has a way of repeating itself." maybe, though, history repeats itself not because of "human nature" or some sort of abstract teleological trajectory, but because the conditions remain the same and, so, encourage the same bullshit to reoccur. or maybe history repeating isn't even at issue here. maybe if you write a protest song vaguely enough, it can apply to any atrocity. but, being that i've already made one big unoriginal political statement, let's not think so hard and just say "balls to ehud olmert." 7/28/06 MASS CULTURE AS VAGINA DENTATA, or: REMEMBER IF YOU GO TO A PARTY DRESSED AS ANTICHRIST okay, i've been totally slacking on my conference paper on nico, vergangenheitsbewältigung, and the medusa because the gender issues i've been dealing with have led me to go back to something i've been working on for a long time. i should also acknowledge ritchey's blog and her discussion of andreas huyssen's famous essay "mass culture as woman: modernism's other" for getting me back to thinking about this. by "this" i mean an investigation of the autonomy claims of the punk rock or indie rock or used-to-be-indie-rock world. i'll cite steve albini's much quoted "the problem with music: some of your friends are already this fucked" as an exemplar of what i'm talking about. dependence on the corporate media ogre is whoredom. you'll get "fucked" by The Man. i'll call this the mass culture as vagina dentata argument. let's dig a little deeper into what albini thinks. when asked in punk planet what he thinks of sample-based music, he sounds a hell of a lot like clement greenberg. albini replied that sample-based music is only acceptable to him as art (read: the product of "genius") when it doesn't rely on the familiarity of the sources that it samples. negativland, he says, doesn't really create anything but, rather, manipulates other people's art. in his essay "collage," t. s. eliot disciple and mass culture as woman argument hall of famer clement greenberg (cf. also his landmark essay "avant-garde and kitsch") once argued of cubist collage, to which albini compares "acceptable" sample-based music, that it properly decontextualises (read: colonises) its mass produced sources in order to create something new. for the sake of precision, i should note that greenberg and albini's positions are not completely compatible. we must account for the passage from the mass culture as woman argument to the mass culture as vagina dentata. greenberg spoke from the position of a modernist defender of high culture. mass culture was, for him, a woman, but it wasn't a whore; it was merely less than high culture (art). while mass culture (or kitsch, as he called it) is incomplete, it doesn't possess The Lack, at least not the psychoanalytic Lack. greenberg's conception of cubist collage is helpful here because it illustrates that the feminine (mass culture) is nothing to be feared; it needs only to be filled, dominated, and colonised. braque and picasso turned kitsch into avant-garde. albini, on the other hand, conceives of mass culture as the feminine figure of death, the unrepresentable and uncolonisable Other, the monstrous displayer of The Lack. The Lack, as we all know from freud, is the origin of castration anxiety. mass culture, which possesses The Lack, is, like the sirens, seductive and deadly. like the medusa, it will turn you into stone. death, petrification, and castration here are metaphors for the immobilisation of artistic "genius," like what happened to this unnamed band albini writes of in "the problem with music": One of my favorite bands was held hostage for the better part of two years by a slick young "He's not like a label guy at all,' A&R rep [...]. He had failed to come through on any of his promises (something he did with similar effect to another well-known band), and so the band wanted out. Another label expressed interest, but when the A&R man was asked to release the band, he said he would need money or points, or possibly both, before he would consider it. The new label was afraid the price would be too dear, and they said no thanks. On the cusp of making their signature album, an excellent band, humiliated, broke up from the stress and the many months of inactivity. clearly, albini is calling for something originary. but true uncorrupted originality, for albini, can only occur under a condition of hermetic independence from the culture industry. the independent punk rocker is, then, a heroic defender of artistic "genius" against mass culture. when he argues against sampling that plays with the familiarity of other people's work, he is taking aim at two things: "inauthentic" mainstream pop music manufactured by the culture industry (whores), and good "genius" guitar rock bands like the clash who have been appropriated or who have allowed themselves to be appropriated by the culture industry (those among our friends who "are already this fucked," who have been turned into whores, whose works of "genius" have been metamorphosed by the culture industry into something merely "familiar," i.e. seductive). in both cases, the culture industry is the pimp. how does this relate to The Lack and the monstrous feminine? if you are a whore, to invoke albini's sexualised rhetoric, you "are" "fucked," as opposed to being the active male fucker/pygmalion "genius." the culture industry (pimp) castrated albini's favourite band. but what about institutional critique? what about situationist aesthetics? what about the krzysztof wodiczko quote i keep citing ("the manipulation of popular culture against mass culture")? is negativland's work not détournement? is it a priori impossible to criticise the institution through the institution? come on dude, it's not even really paradoxical. the battle to be waged, it seems to me, is the reclamation of popular culture from the corporate media ogre. don't get me wrong, i'm all for independent punk rock. but its autonomy qua authenticity claims seem to me a conflation of real political struggle and the sexist rhetoric that abstracts it. this is not to say that a situationist intervention within the culture industry is desirable because punk rock's autonomy claims are sexist. but i think we all forget that independent punk rock should itself be situationist in spirit. i began working on these ideas in an academic setting about a year ago and, though i thought i had worked through a conception of independence in punk rock that didn't rely on authenticity claims, it was brought to my attention that there remained in my argument "a sense that there once was or ever could be a fully and 'authentically' resistant popular music form." it is important to remember that the d.i.y. productive and distributive apparatus is not normative. it is not "natural" to release albums, even home recorded cassettes, nor is it "natural" to distribute them via mailorder, even those of the pen pal variety. furthermore, these activities do not precede the recording industry. d.i.y., then, is not a reclamation but, rather, a situationist reaction, a détourning of mass cultural products into what cultural critics used to call "praxis" or "primary activity" and what marx called "unalienated labour." popular culture has not been reclaimed from mass culture; mass culture has been appropriated and turned into popular culture. the appropriation of mass culture for popular culture, however, is not sufficient, at least not definitively so. as peter bürger once argued, any sublation of art into the praxis of life is necessarily an illusory one until the economic base has been overturned. this, of course, is not foreseeable, though what i call the d.i.y. punk rock avant-garde continually mounts interventions toward such a resolution. in turn, the culture industry continually reappropriates the critical strategies of the d.i.y. punk rock avant-garde and liquidates them of their political meaning — that "indie rock" is now a musical genre as opposed to a relationship to the means of production is but one example. perhaps, then, it is not enough to merely be independent, even in a situationist d.i.y. way. in this unending struggle, nothing will ever be enough, but i think maybe i might just have come around to thinking that we could possibly consider a full-on institutional media critique the likes of which we haven't seen since the sex pistols. which is, lest i be misunderstood, not to say that i've come around on kathleen's decision to sign to universal. let us never forget that, when dealing with the devil, there's a difference between dressing up like one of them while remaining with us and our struggle, and dressing like one of us while becoming one of them. 7/20/06 FIRST OF THE GANG WITH A GUN IN HIS HAND congratulations to dr. michael j. nicolls, Ph.D. for successfully defending his dissertation. at the age of 25. the rest of us who will be in grad school into our thirties would like to express our sincerest respect and profoundest admiration, even if we're all feeling extremely humbled right now. 7/18/06 ONLY BUILT 4 THA CUBAN LINX zshare.net is being screwy, so i rehosted the files on yousendit.com and fixed the links here (the songs written for boys playlist) and here (an mp3 blog where my editing privileges apply only to my own posts and no one else's). 7/17/06 DEUTSCHLAND IM SOMMER i'm not trying to be the new c.l.r. james or anything, but here's some more stuff about nationalism and football. deutsche welle I deutsche welle II the guardian on english nationalism also, boo to frankfurter allgemeine zeitung for no longer having a mirror site with all the articles translated into english. 7/16/06 SHE LIKES TO SING SONGS WRITTEN FOR BOYS so i'm writing this paper about nico's rendition of "das lied der deutschen" that deals in part with gender politics and pop music. this is the part of the paper i haven't worked through yet, but i'm thinking of the history of male pop songwriters writing songs for girls to sing, from leiber and stoller, berry gordy, and the brill building dudes to lou reed to burt bacharach to hazlewood and gainsbourg to, well, me. to what degree is this ventriloquism? what do we make of the power politics of this arrangement? and why do people always privilege the songwriter, and not the chanteuse, with "genius"? so today, to help me work through some of this, i created an iTunes playlist of girls singing songs written, for the most part, for boys. there are three exceptions: boyracer's cover of the primitives' "crash," the go! team's cover of kim gordon's "bull in the heather," and, most importantly, the softies' cover of talulah gosh's "i can't get no satisfaction, thank god." the latter is the most important because... well click on the link above to download the song and read the lyrics: you burn with a fiery passion of you (i can't be satisfied) you read it in literature so it must be the truth you certainly know how to have a good time (i can't be satisfied) i had some fun about it but i was alright by night obviously you've got something i lack get out and don't back did you know i'm a pessimist have you ever wanted to die have you no decency it's a hard world that's no lie all the experiences you have had (i can't be satisfied) someday you must let me know how you tell the good from the bad i just don't care if i get out of bed (i can't be satisfied) the first sign of apathy and you check to see if you're dead some of my best friends are bastards like you at least they're not neurotics too did you know that i'm a pessimist have you ever wanted to die have you no decency it's a hard world that's no lie. this talulah gosh song, along with dear nora's "when the wind blows," is a dear favourite of mine because of its détourning of male rock tropes — "i can't get no satisfaction, thank god":"(i can't get no) satisfaction"::"when the wind blows":"blowin' in the wind." and the line "obviously you've got something i lack" makes me laugh every time. isobel campbell said of her recent work with eugene kelly and mark lanegan that she inverts the gainsbourg/birkin and hazlewood/nancy dynamic because she's writing songs for men to sing. i'm not sure whether such a simple act is really all that subversive. but some of the tracks on my playlist do a lot to détourn the original songs merely by covering them. for example, tuscadero add their own parting shot to the end of "boys don't cry": "i make boys cry." julianne shepherd makes a good case about finally punk's version of "negative creep." but my playlist's first track, discount's cover of billy bragg's "waiting for the great leap forward," always disappointed me because it doesn't do anything with a line that bugs the hell out of me: "someone's asking questions and basking in the light/of the fifteen fame-filled minutes of the fanzine writer." isn't billy bragg presumptuous. the sexual division of labour within punk rock being what it is, with things like wheat pasting and writing zines and running distros and promos and merch tables and other mechanic's guide and administrative/secretary type stuff being considered "women's work," i would have liked to see the line changed to "someone's asking questions and someone's basking in the light/of fifteen fame-filled minutes with a fanzine writer." because, in the end, it's the indie rocker getting his ego fellated by the interviewer, not vice versa. the yeastie girlz' take on "orgasm addict" completely changes the song by the mere fact that it's three women singing. and, on this note, i want to urge everyone to listen to dear nora's more or less faithful cover of bob dylan's "girl from the north country." being that i've long considered dear nora's oeuvre a conscious reaction to the problematic representations of women in dylan's lyrics, this song takes on significance for me beyond the reversal of a woman singing the song. it's not that a woman singing the song changes it all that much; the representation of the girl from the north country is still problematic on many levels. but, because it's katy singing — katy davdison, who once sang "i know when the wind blows, it goes, 'la la la la la'" — i picture her eyes rolling when i hear the song. and, you know, a lot of people miss the point of twee. yes, some bands are only in it to be cute, but the good ones are making a point. what makes bob dylan and the rolling stones authentic? that's the question dear nora and talulah gosh ask. it's not that these two bands are cute; it's that the cuteness of these bands, like that of television personalities, calls into question the seriousness, substance, and authenticity of boy guitar music. i should also say that the playlist was sequenced to fit neatly on an 80 minute cd-r and that you can download it in an archived file here. (if you want it and it's no longer available on zshare yousendit.com, contact me.) here is the tracklist: 1. discount "waiting for the great leap forward" (billy bragg) 2. kirsty mac coll "a new england" [12" mix] (billy bragg) 3. boyracer (jen singing) "crash" (the primitives) 4. bunny grunt "silly girl" (the descendents) 5. tuscadero "boys don't cry" (the cure) 6. gloworm "friday i'm in love" (the cure) 7. yo la tengo (georgie singing) "tom courtenay" [acoustic version] (yo la tengo — ira singing) 8. watoo watoo "when will you come home" (galaxie 500) 9. the thermals (kathy singing) "ballad of big nothing" (elliott smith) 10. thee headcoatees "swallow my pride" (the ramones) 11. thee headcoatees "money" (barrett strong/the beatles/the flying lizards) 12. the go! team "bull in the heather" (sonic youth) 13. mike watt (carla bozulich singing) "tuff gnarl" (sonic youth) 14. new grenada "eric's trip" (sonic youth) 15. finally punk "negative creep" (nirvana) 16. the yeastie girlz "orgasm addict" (the buzzcocks) 17. nouvelle vague "the guns of brixton" (the clash) 18. stormclouds "hearing voices" (galaxie 500) 19. the softies "i can't get no satisfaction, thank god" (talulah gosh) 20. the lucksmiths (donald duets with karen morcombe) "there is a light that never goes out" (the smiths) 21. dear nora "the girl from the north country" (bob dylan) 22. petra haden and bill frisell "i don't want to grow up" (tom waits) 7/12/06 BEWÄLT MY VERGANGENHEIT thank you to mein deutscher Freund daniel for pointing this out. i mean, i woke up just in time to catch the end of the final game, seeing zinédine zidane headbutt some italian dude and laughing every time the camera caught the back of fabien barthez's jersey, but this escaped my attention. actually, i'd forgotten that the world cup was even in germany. an american article entitled "cup offered europeans closure" puts it thusly: Germans put an end to their lack of patriotism, a carryover from the shame of their Nazi past. Germany ranked last among 33 countries this year in a University of Chicago study of national pride, but for the month of the World Cup, Germans covered themselves and their country in the black, red and gold of their flag. A year ago, few Germans knew the words to their national anthem, and pop singers botched the lyrics at two major sports events, including the opening of the World Cup stadium in Munich. But in the past month, as their team marched to a third-place finish, fans sang the anthem before and during matches. The tune is the same as it was in World War II, but the "Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles" verse was dropped after the war. Since 1952, the third verse, about "unity and justice and freedom," has been used, at least by those who know it. "In the past, there were perhaps three or four people in the VIP section who knew the words and sang along," Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, president of the German soccer association, said at a news conference last week. "We used to have to put the words to the anthem on the scoreboard for people to read. We don't have to do that anymore. The people are singing it. It's a normal relationship to patriotism without any exaggerated nationalism." the indian express has a somewhat different take: Nationalism in the 21st century, in the shadow of 9/11, inevitably highlights divisions within: native or ethnic nationals against immigrants, white against non-white. In Germany itself the recent displays of passion have provoked some concern, notably among the Left, in the former East. Indeed, the atmosphere at matches involving Germany could have been interpreted in any way: whenever Germany were in the lead, the crowd would enact a five-clap sequence, then stick out their right hand and chant “Sieg” (victory). Add “Heil” and you could be transported back in time 60 years. The national anthem, too, is largely the same as the old one, though the words “Deutschland Uber Alles” have been replaced. the same article, however, did end [...] fierce, positive national pride [...] was great to see. So, too, was the joy of Germans, notwithstanding Leftist concerns. It is not a short hop from today’s flag-waving to anything more ominous [...] what are germans saying? günter grass had this to say: Chubby elderly women found a new style of makeup: painting their cheeks with the black-red-gold. The flag became all manner of clothing. The unorganized and spontaneous manner of it all was persuasive, I think also for many foreigners who experienced it firsthand. furthermore, a german academic issued this apologia, while angela merkel was tickled pink: They have never been seen wearing their colors in such a demonstrative manner, and that includes when the country was reunified in 1990. We have never heard them chant the German national anthem with so much spirit. (sidenote: see this and this for historical background on the anthem controversy.) why am i telling you all of this? well, for one, i'm working on a paper based on some of these ideas. but, more to the point, i'm wary about these appeals to nationalism. german nationalism, i think, is not the issue here; it's a huge red flag. are we not here using world cup football as an excuse to further the nationalistic balkanisation of the world? is nationalism not all too often invoked as an excuse for engaging in many of today's major political conflicts and wars? and has nationalism not in recent years enjoyed a resurgence in the first world, particularly on this continent, for the purpose of forwarding untoward foreign policies? which is, of course, not to say that the ideas of nationhood and national identity are politically regressive a priori, at least not certainly so. i don't have an adequate opinion on this matter, but i do know well enough to be scared at what i've been hearing of late. i mean, germans didn't know the anthem for a reason. and it was a damn good reason. r.mutt's diaryland profile tradition and the individual talents' friendster profile r.mutt's shopping list r.mutt blog archives