Freddie Mercury also knew he was dying and still made music. I think he wrote ‘who wants to live forever’ in this period.
wasn’t that on the Highlander soundtrack?
ie, several years before he got ill.
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Wrong song, sorry.
nah I think that’s excessive. I think in the modern age only two things really matter:
is this artist alive to monetarily profit off of me engaging with their art?
is their art itself morally reprehensible? (i.e. with Nazi imagery and ideology for the convenient example)
otherwise it’s way too complicated. I know people who love Burzum’s work but hate the fuckin guy (as we all should he’s a massive piece of shit!), so they pirate his music to appreciate the art itself without giving him any benefit for it, cause again, he SUCKS. one of the most absurdly racist people i’ve ever heard of.
the man hates cats and guitars cause they originated in africa!! not even mentioning the murder… but his early work is absolutely foundational to 1st and 2nd wave black metal (and iirc his music itself isn’t problematic which is weird for the genre)
humanity is complex and so is our art. my only argument is that we be conscious of what we consume and who it benefits, it’s just an unfortunate side effect of the consumer-driven world we live in.
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Sensible. I think it feeds into the wider question of whether someone’s political (in its widest sense) views should be taken into account just because they are adept at a mass-appeal skill set.
Would you appoint a great violinist president?
hell no! unless they’re just a well-educated and experienced person in the field they’re entering and also just happen to be an excellent violinist. experiential authority imo is the best option for public service. you shouldn’t work in a public office concerning city sewage management if you’ve never been around that field before, and I’d really rather it be someone who knows the subject like the back of their hand as they’re the most qualified to be in that position.
meritocracy as a concept isn’t bad unless abused, and for certain fields I think meritocratic authority is inherent. like I want the board of surgical advisors to, ya know, be surgeons.
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(Thomas Jefferson raises hand…)
[Okay, perhaps only “good violinist”, and also highly problematic…!]
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Yo-Yo Ma 2024!
Jefferson also invehted the swivel chair.
Glad I re-read your post before replying. Probably best to leave it at “problematic” and let anyone who finds that surprising do a minuscule amount of digging.
Not American but yes, I did a bit of educated guess digging. Nero wasn’t so hot either, so I’m told.
I think that was my point.
A talent in one area doesn’t automatically make you an enlightened person.
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Then we are probably largely in agreement. Politics is a dirty business: either you need to make difficult compromises with disgusting people or you need to find some way to eliminate them. Many of the worst genocidal dictators considered themselves artists of some sort. And then there was also that early 20th century guy who was a failed artist (and an utter failure of a human being).
I think Nero gets a worse rap than he deserves, but it is difficult to fully comprehend the cruelty of the classical Roman State so I’ll pass on defending Nero. 
Also presidents are not appointed unless the role is ceremonial, in which case, yes, a great violinist might be appointed. The great pianist Oscar Peterson was offered the role of Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, the equivalent of a head of state but for a province rather than the whole country. He turned it down because of ill health.
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I think every country has their own Punk origin story.
In Australia it was the Saints. It’s bollocks tho innit? From Wikipedia…
The Saints were an Australian rock band, originating in Brisbane, Queensland in 1973. The band was founded by Chris Bailey (singer-songwriter, later guitarist), Ivor Hay (drummer), and Ed Kuepper (guitarist-songwriter). They were initially labeled a punk band because, like American punk rock band the Ramones, the Saints were employing the fast tempos, raucous vocals and “buzzsaw” guitar that characterised early punk rock – although this only reflects a portion of their overall sound. With their debut single “(I’m) Stranded” in September 1976, they became the first punk band outside the US to release a record, ahead of better-known acts the Damned, the Sex Pistols and the Clash.
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Johnny depp/ sample worthy
This is great…
“NOTON IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF SUBTERRANEANS , A COLLABORATIVE EP FEATURING ALVA NOTO, DEPECHE MODE’S MARTIN L. GORE AND WILLIAN BASINSKI’S COVER OF DAVID BOWIE’S HOMONYMOUS SONG.“
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Actually
I don’t know what humans see when they watch this, but to me this is a fight to awaken listeners that all popular culture music stems from black soul.
And anything borrowed / stolen / inspired from a culture that obviously inspired Bowie is not only subjected to white washing, but any credit to the culture that created the art is being diluted, made “whiter” so that it is more easily digested.
There is nothing right winged in what is presented here, peace …
LOL! Bowie was NEVER a white supremecist. When he was trolling as the Thin White Duke he was HEAVILY involved in Kaballah Witchcraft w/ a coven in L.A., and doing excessive amounts of drugs. All his characters are theatre, but his actual behavior he was engaging in during Station to Station had to do with another group, of which, well… Angie talked openly about it, David did very obtusely.
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I agree and Low is one of my favorite albums, but it’s more of an Eno and Visconti album IMHO. He blatantly copied what was going on in Krautrock back then. David even tried to reach out to Michael Rother to be on the album, but there was an agent/record company intermediary that prevented that. You can here his homage (or ripoff) of Neu on Iggy Pop’s ‘Fun Time’. People wouldn’t see how much of an imitator and trend follower he was until the 90s when he was trying to ripoff Drum and Bass. I do think Bowie, Eno, and Visconti (and Carlos Alomar) did amazing work during the Berlin years though.
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This is a bizarre thread.
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Forums would be boring w/o bizarre threads once in awhile.
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