From: kjm@buc.edu.au (Kevin Moore)
Newsgroups: aus.music
Subject: Re: Rap music
Date: 25 Jan 1993 23:58:05 GMT
Organization: Physics Department - Ballarat University College
NNTP-Posting-Host: 141.132.16.8

Apology: This article contains a preponderance of American cultural icons. 
My only excuse is that the object of discussion is of American origin.

In article <1993Jan25.041320.1303@freenet.carleton.ca> aa593@Freenet.carleton.ca (Iain Pidcock) writes:

>Oh oh.  Misunderstood again.  Please, no one is suggesting
>banning anything.  I am the last person to suggest censorship
>and such like.  I just thought that it would be useful if
>people stopped to think about what they are listening to.

Pop would finally eat itself.

	[deletia]

			  What do they really get
>from NWA talking about killing police? 

A vicarious thrill. Sort of like Bill Clinton wearing long hair, a beard and 
love beads in the '60s. Kids grow up and learn to like Barry Manilow. Hell, 
P.J O'Rourke ended up a Republican as soon as he had to pay tax! I worry 
more about kids who listen to Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell and their ilk. 
They don't grow out of it.

					 They seem to 
>enjoy the idea.  It is a fact that rap music has 
>been linked to the dissemination of gang values throughout
>society.  I mean, listen to the content! 

But nobody does! Except a desperate few, destined for the fringes of 
society, along with the middle aged punks, the white haired hippies who 
still wear flares, the dotty old ladies collecting Elvis memorabilia, and 
Jerry Falwell. For heaven's sake, there was a time when Louis Armstrong was 
seen as a threat to society! 

						 Now lets 
>not go thinking that I hold Ice Cube responsible for
>all the worlds ills, but I don't think that it is 
>socially productive to condone violence.  I guess it 
>is really up to the listener to exercise good 
>judgement, but I remind you, good judgement is not
>something adolescents are known for.

Indeed not. But they do grow up. (Most of them) And when they grow up, they 
will inwardly cringe whenever their parents drag out the photographs of them 
in their expensive basketball shoes, wearing a baseball cap backwards. 
Nobody likes being reminded of a time when they were a snot-nosed nerd who 
took pop music seriously. Except, of course, for the odd few who will be 
wearing the paraphernalia when they are sixty, to the intense embarrassment 
of their grandchildren.

The point is, Rap is a fad. Ignore it and it will go away. Any cultural 
relevance it had when Grandmaster Flash and James Brown were doing it died 
with mainstream popularity. Why? Because nobody will market anything which 
seriously threatens their ability to make money. ( Critics who accuse Noam 
Chomsky of conspiracy theories fail to address this point. A conspiracy is 
not necessary for self-censorship. Pure self-interest is enough ) 

23 skidoo

Kevin.

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Little by little we subtract            	*
Faith and fallacy from fact,            	*	Kevin Moore
The illusory from the true                      *     kjm@buc.edu.au
And then starve upon the residue.  Hoffenstein  *
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Newsgroups: aus.music