I am the living dead. I see in infra-red. I take what I don't need. I crush, you bleed...
I found a stack of CDs I have yet to listen to. They include George Michael albums, as well as a couple from '90s industrialish band Bile. Haven't listened to the former. The later sounds like gurgling over dirty electronic sounds. So, they are great. Lyrics are very simple ("you're a f*cking loser/you're a f*cking loser" over and over again.)
Remember that explicit content sticker? I don't see it much any more. Has it fallen out of use? Are artists allowed to use profanity more? Can't PG-13 movies now get away with a certain number of F-words before getting the R rating?
My theory is that people just don't swear as much musically. Why not? Well, we are in more conservative times. That stuff trickles over into the music biz. Radio stations will play what they are told and if the trend is folky innocuous music, that is what the people will hear.
Another reason I think the swearing is less is because back in the '90s, being able to cuss in music was a new thing. With the advent of the explicit lyrics label, artists who were usually criticized for content could now work with a freedom they hadn't experienced. By getting that label, which many had fought against for several good reasons, they could make "adult content" without the worry of getting into trouble when some suburban mom caught snatches of dirty lyrics. The children have been warned!
Listening to music before this, like, say, Misfits describing babies being murdered or what have you, is almost laughable because one can tell, if they could, their music would have sounded more like Soilent Green or something.
Now, does this mean that being able to swear made music "better"? Going back to those Bile lyrics, probably not. Nice to have that option, but the shock value was used over and over again for an entire decade, actually, probably closer to two, though there was ebbing in the "2000s". Finally, those bad, bad words lost their meaning, that edge. To quote Mindless Self Indulgence (and why not?) "'Fuck you, man' don't mean nothin' anymore/I've played it out".
-----
I've started reading this in the spirit of the season:
S'ok so far. There are 42 stories in a book all of 156 pages long, so I am not expecting much. A little disappointed that the "graphic" illustrations have nothing to do with the stories but are just random images that look like they were taken from old woodcuts of people with animal heads, demon torment, and old men with babies in their mouths running naked away from a farmhouse. (Okay, that last one was sorta awesome in its randomness.)
The brain gets tired reading short stories, though. The constant interruption to restart a story lets the mind wander. So I went to the back of the book and found amazing gems to consider reading in the future.
"If You Enjoyed Reading This Book, You Will Want to Read These Other Belmont Books," I am assured by the top of the third to last page. The books are listed with little check boxes next to them. Here is what I would check off, if I were so inclined.
I AM DESIRE, by anonymous
Varieties of if love--from a woman's point of view. The daring story of three intimate affairs
GET OFF OF MY WORLD! Muriel Leinster
Warning: This book contains alien planets, superhuman intelligence: all that's curious and terrifying
THE COSMOZIODS, by Robert Tralins
When is a man not a man? When his body and mind have been invaded by The Cosmoziods.
THE SCHEME OF THINGS, by Lester del Ray
Can a man really live--and die--more than once????
(the 4 question marks really do it for me.)
BLACK HAZARD, by Mary Reisner
A forbidden passion brought them together--a diabolical killer marked them for death!
GUNSLAMMER, by Charles Alden Seltzer
A man lies, a gun is drawn--death...
NYMPH IN SUBURBIA, by Kay Martin
Love is like a drug to Nadie...the more she consumes, the more she wants.
THE LAW OF THE GUN, by Charles Alden Seltzer
Bullets and death were part of his life...the law was his trigger finger on a deadly .38.
(What does this even mean?)
HIGHFLIGHT TO HELL, by C. H. Wallace
Steve Ramsay, skybum, finds trouble with one beautiful blonde junkie and a million dollars in heroin.
(The word "skybum" is used in a few descriptions. I can't but feel that a shabby pilot is a bad idea.)
SQUARESVILLE JAG, by Robert Tralins
A chick is a chick, but on a houseboat she really swings!
THE CHIC CHICK SPY, by Bob Tralins (you can't fool me, Robert, I know it's you from the last book!)
This is the most absurd book you will ever read this year. Absolutely nothing in it is true, realistic or possible (well, maybe possible) but for sheer fun, excitement, sex, intrigue, you couldn't spend a better 50¢.
Remember that explicit content sticker? I don't see it much any more. Has it fallen out of use? Are artists allowed to use profanity more? Can't PG-13 movies now get away with a certain number of F-words before getting the R rating?
My theory is that people just don't swear as much musically. Why not? Well, we are in more conservative times. That stuff trickles over into the music biz. Radio stations will play what they are told and if the trend is folky innocuous music, that is what the people will hear.
Another reason I think the swearing is less is because back in the '90s, being able to cuss in music was a new thing. With the advent of the explicit lyrics label, artists who were usually criticized for content could now work with a freedom they hadn't experienced. By getting that label, which many had fought against for several good reasons, they could make "adult content" without the worry of getting into trouble when some suburban mom caught snatches of dirty lyrics. The children have been warned!
Listening to music before this, like, say, Misfits describing babies being murdered or what have you, is almost laughable because one can tell, if they could, their music would have sounded more like Soilent Green or something.
Now, does this mean that being able to swear made music "better"? Going back to those Bile lyrics, probably not. Nice to have that option, but the shock value was used over and over again for an entire decade, actually, probably closer to two, though there was ebbing in the "2000s". Finally, those bad, bad words lost their meaning, that edge. To quote Mindless Self Indulgence (and why not?) "'Fuck you, man' don't mean nothin' anymore/I've played it out".
-----
I've started reading this in the spirit of the season:
S'ok so far. There are 42 stories in a book all of 156 pages long, so I am not expecting much. A little disappointed that the "graphic" illustrations have nothing to do with the stories but are just random images that look like they were taken from old woodcuts of people with animal heads, demon torment, and old men with babies in their mouths running naked away from a farmhouse. (Okay, that last one was sorta awesome in its randomness.)
The brain gets tired reading short stories, though. The constant interruption to restart a story lets the mind wander. So I went to the back of the book and found amazing gems to consider reading in the future.
"If You Enjoyed Reading This Book, You Will Want to Read These Other Belmont Books," I am assured by the top of the third to last page. The books are listed with little check boxes next to them. Here is what I would check off, if I were so inclined.
I AM DESIRE, by anonymous
Varieties of if love--from a woman's point of view. The daring story of three intimate affairs
GET OFF OF MY WORLD! Muriel Leinster
Warning: This book contains alien planets, superhuman intelligence: all that's curious and terrifying
THE COSMOZIODS, by Robert Tralins
When is a man not a man? When his body and mind have been invaded by The Cosmoziods.
THE SCHEME OF THINGS, by Lester del Ray
Can a man really live--and die--more than once????
(the 4 question marks really do it for me.)
BLACK HAZARD, by Mary Reisner
A forbidden passion brought them together--a diabolical killer marked them for death!
GUNSLAMMER, by Charles Alden Seltzer
A man lies, a gun is drawn--death...
NYMPH IN SUBURBIA, by Kay Martin
Love is like a drug to Nadie...the more she consumes, the more she wants.
THE LAW OF THE GUN, by Charles Alden Seltzer
Bullets and death were part of his life...the law was his trigger finger on a deadly .38.
(What does this even mean?)
HIGHFLIGHT TO HELL, by C. H. Wallace
Steve Ramsay, skybum, finds trouble with one beautiful blonde junkie and a million dollars in heroin.
(The word "skybum" is used in a few descriptions. I can't but feel that a shabby pilot is a bad idea.)
SQUARESVILLE JAG, by Robert Tralins
A chick is a chick, but on a houseboat she really swings!
THE CHIC CHICK SPY, by Bob Tralins (you can't fool me, Robert, I know it's you from the last book!)
This is the most absurd book you will ever read this year. Absolutely nothing in it is true, realistic or possible (well, maybe possible) but for sheer fun, excitement, sex, intrigue, you couldn't spend a better 50¢.