Love's Not Time's Fool/Relying on the Pop Culture Annoyance of the Moment
I loved this vid posted by lolanoone, because it gave me a thought:
http://lolanoone.livejournal.com/27277.html?view=22157&style=mine#t22157
As someone who didn't even know TMBG existed until maybe 2002 or 2003, I had not gone back and placed them in the cultural cradle from which they emerged, the popular music context for their early work, and seeing Weird Al in 1981 frames it nicely. The whole performance prefigures the TMBG duo performances neatly - the accordion, the straight man drumming on the case.
Granted, I was around in 1981, and had suffered the agony of watching the band Queen, which had done varied, experimental, downright interesting albums in the 70's, fall into the blah commercial pit which was their hit "Another One Bites the Dust." It had a monotonous beat, one emotion (I'm wantin' revenge) and was a crappy little sell-out to the times. For those who don't remember, we had suffered a recession, a gas crisis, interest rates so high people couldn't buy houses, and damage to the national macho when the Iranians returned our hostages just after President Carter left office, as a final "fuck you" to him and to the U.S. - we were smarting, angry, and "Another One Bites the Dust," an anthem about shooting people down in the street, fit the national mood.
And it was ubiquitous, horribly there, so even if you weren't ticked off that Mr. Bulsara had sold out his intelligent band for a dumb hit, you were simply sick to death of the freakin' song. (Al's "My Baloney" poked goofy fun at another song of which the public was sick.) So, while "Another One Rides the Bus" is mildly amusing now, it was side-splitting back then, because it poked a hole in the pompous over-inflated machismo of the song it filked. Also, some of us were dead tired of the whole rock-n-roll fantasy, in which being a musician meant you had magical powers and were entitled to all the random sex, drugs, and non-green M&Ms you desired, that you were a superheros to whom the rules did not apply - the 1960's model had gotten irksome. I think it helped lay the groundwork for punk, this stupid hero worship of musicians.
So, folks like Weird Al and TMBG were refreshing. I assume, since I was only aware of Al at the time.
Anyway, the lone idea I had was that Another One Rides the Bus, because it is parody, fades rapidly, its punch is short-term because it relies on the pop culture annoyance of the moment for its entertainment value. So that music by TMBG which is direct parody, like XTC v Adam Ant, is only funny for a minute, and the same applies to Twistin in the Wind, wherein Flans has to keep changing the name of the band whose tape the girl doesn't want back - Young Fresh Fellas, DBs, etc.
It leaves me to wonder which TMBG songs, if any, will survive the next 30 years or so, because they transcended the flavor-of-the-month problem and touched on permanent human conditions and emotions?
For instance, I love Til My Head Falls Off. I think the music is interesting, and the poetry solid. But, in 50 years, will "Advil" sound like "laudanum" or "tonic for women's hysterical conditions" or so otherwise old fashioned that it ruins the meaning? Or "Lucky Ball and Chain" - drunk men have been burdening other drunk men in pubs with sad stories of love-gone-wrong from hundreds of years, so that has longevity, but it relies on the knowledge that "ball-n-chain" is a slang for "wife."
I just have this thought that TMBG, like Weird Al, are only contextually valuable, and it will be impossible to describe to someone in a few years what the hubbub was about, and I'll be wheeling myself through the old folks home looking for someone who remembers Them.
"So, how about that Spike Jones, wasn't he a hoot, better'n Fibber and Molly!"
http://lolanoone.livejournal.com/27277.html?view=22157&style=mine#t22157
As someone who didn't even know TMBG existed until maybe 2002 or 2003, I had not gone back and placed them in the cultural cradle from which they emerged, the popular music context for their early work, and seeing Weird Al in 1981 frames it nicely. The whole performance prefigures the TMBG duo performances neatly - the accordion, the straight man drumming on the case.
Granted, I was around in 1981, and had suffered the agony of watching the band Queen, which had done varied, experimental, downright interesting albums in the 70's, fall into the blah commercial pit which was their hit "Another One Bites the Dust." It had a monotonous beat, one emotion (I'm wantin' revenge) and was a crappy little sell-out to the times. For those who don't remember, we had suffered a recession, a gas crisis, interest rates so high people couldn't buy houses, and damage to the national macho when the Iranians returned our hostages just after President Carter left office, as a final "fuck you" to him and to the U.S. - we were smarting, angry, and "Another One Bites the Dust," an anthem about shooting people down in the street, fit the national mood.
And it was ubiquitous, horribly there, so even if you weren't ticked off that Mr. Bulsara had sold out his intelligent band for a dumb hit, you were simply sick to death of the freakin' song. (Al's "My Baloney" poked goofy fun at another song of which the public was sick.) So, while "Another One Rides the Bus" is mildly amusing now, it was side-splitting back then, because it poked a hole in the pompous over-inflated machismo of the song it filked. Also, some of us were dead tired of the whole rock-n-roll fantasy, in which being a musician meant you had magical powers and were entitled to all the random sex, drugs, and non-green M&Ms you desired, that you were a superheros to whom the rules did not apply - the 1960's model had gotten irksome. I think it helped lay the groundwork for punk, this stupid hero worship of musicians.
So, folks like Weird Al and TMBG were refreshing. I assume, since I was only aware of Al at the time.
Anyway, the lone idea I had was that Another One Rides the Bus, because it is parody, fades rapidly, its punch is short-term because it relies on the pop culture annoyance of the moment for its entertainment value. So that music by TMBG which is direct parody, like XTC v Adam Ant, is only funny for a minute, and the same applies to Twistin in the Wind, wherein Flans has to keep changing the name of the band whose tape the girl doesn't want back - Young Fresh Fellas, DBs, etc.
It leaves me to wonder which TMBG songs, if any, will survive the next 30 years or so, because they transcended the flavor-of-the-month problem and touched on permanent human conditions and emotions?
For instance, I love Til My Head Falls Off. I think the music is interesting, and the poetry solid. But, in 50 years, will "Advil" sound like "laudanum" or "tonic for women's hysterical conditions" or so otherwise old fashioned that it ruins the meaning? Or "Lucky Ball and Chain" - drunk men have been burdening other drunk men in pubs with sad stories of love-gone-wrong from hundreds of years, so that has longevity, but it relies on the knowledge that "ball-n-chain" is a slang for "wife."
I just have this thought that TMBG, like Weird Al, are only contextually valuable, and it will be impossible to describe to someone in a few years what the hubbub was about, and I'll be wheeling myself through the old folks home looking for someone who remembers Them.
"So, how about that Spike Jones, wasn't he a hoot, better'n Fibber and Molly!"