tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830563225783203492.post7688848951187688057..comments2023-04-29T06:37:18.856-04:00Comments on Our God is Speed: AfterwordGreyhooshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14161781141733273715noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830563225783203492.post-55763348287934727242011-09-19T10:27:12.063-04:002011-09-19T10:27:12.063-04:00And in that context, that why that Residents' ...And in that context, that why that Residents' album always struck me as odd -- seems to have been a little early for anyone to be looking back on the decade in question in either fashion -- either with irony or nostalgia. Which is why the thing seems to have such a "blank" quality about it, in some respects; like they were merely using the music as raw material. Yet still, some listeners were bound to take it as an act of audio vandalism.Greyhooshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14161781141733273715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830563225783203492.post-47741321107459916792011-09-19T10:09:53.317-04:002011-09-19T10:09:53.317-04:00Some really good points, actually.
Yeah, when you...Some really good points, actually.<br /><br />Yeah, when you read accounts from the big "come-down" of the early '70s, and it's usually a litany of the same things: acid casualties & burn-outs, "alternative spirituality" devolving into any number of freakish cults, etc. Which I suppose is why Manson became such a iconic figure, because he eventually became a signifier (to the point of cliché) for all that.<br /><br />But those looking back in later years could also see other things that weren't so apparent right off -- mainly the economic and political aftermath of that whole pivotal era. Which (I suspect) is where all that ambivalence enters the picture -- a sort of fatalism and resignation, and being unable to engage the matter except through some variety "pomo" distantiating irony or gallows humor.Greyhooshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14161781141733273715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830563225783203492.post-77867401576312364522011-09-18T19:47:02.608-04:002011-09-18T19:47:02.608-04:00Although I never particularly enjoyed listening to...Although I never particularly enjoyed listening to the Residents, you brought to mind how they paved the way for a more 'streamlined' ambiguity about the 60s. Namely the SST/Sonic Youth/Raymond Pettibon indie scene of the 80s - all those songs/images about Little Red Riding Hood types getting lost in madness, looking for a new Eden (half of SY's songs seem to have that theme, or Husker Du's concept albums). Manson looms large over it all, of course - but the smirky satire of Residents, Zappa etc was (a)toned down in the face of Reaganism (note also how 80s indie preferred to use the more mournful, druggy sci-fi of PK Dick, Pynchon, Vonnegut etc, rather than the b-movie kitsch of the previous decade). <br /><br />That's my pet theory anyway - 70s art-rock was largely a reaction against the 60s. In the 80s, it became a deeply ambivalent requiem. They couldn't sneer with as much conviction by then.David K Waynehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10756535951359716522noreply@blogger.com