The Album Review Club - Week #147 - (page 1942) - Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan

[GoatersLeftShin]

Having four granddaughters from 10 - 17 I have a little insight into the world of young people and it scares the bejesus out of me. Not just the future threats which their generation have to face but the here and now of the world they live in.The consequences of covid on their mental health, the impact of social media on their lives, the average behaviour of males in their age group, the standard of education they are provided.

I look back at my own teenage years and though they were far from idyllic, bloody hell I wouldn't swap them for the here and now. On the plus side, I do get a thorough education in all things Taylor, Billie.........

I'm a bit younger than you I think but I agree. The pressure to "succeed" and the general way society, the economy etc work is stacked against young people. Housing, education, pensions and transport are for many unaffordable. I would hate to be young today and life doesn't seem as hopeful and fun as it was in my day (old fucker alert!) but really I am not that old.

Musically I wonder who is railing against this? Is there anyone around, or any movements, protesting about it? In the 60s/70s there were plenty of major artists protesting about Vietnam, Civil Rights, the Environment and the rest. Dylan, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, James Brown were all big names and stood up for "something".

In the 80s the Specials, Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, U2, Elvis Costello etc had something to say although I'd argue they weren't as big as the decades before.

I'm not saying every song in these eras was protesting, most weren't but the big names had something to say. If you'd been in a coma since 1970 you'd have little idea what issues of the day we're bothering young people. Who stands up now?

Or am I just being a grumpy (not so) old man?!? :)

 

[Saddleworth2]

I'm a bit younger than you I think but I agree. The pressure to "succeed" and the general way society, the economy etc work is stacked against young people. Housing, education, pensions and transport are for many unaffordable. I would hate to be young today and life doesn't seem as hopeful and fun as it was in my day (old fucker alert!) but really I am not that old.

Musically I wonder who is railing against this? Is there anyone around, or any movements, protesting about it? In the 60s/70s there were plenty of major artists protesting about Vietnam, Civil Rights, the Environment and the rest. Dylan, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, James Brown were all big names and stood up for "something".

In the 80s the Specials, Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, U2, Elvis Costello etc had something to say although I'd argue they weren't as big as the decades before.

I'm not saying every song in these eras was protesting, most weren't but the big names had something to say. If you'd been in a coma since 1970 you'd have little idea what issues of the day we're bothering young people. Who stands up now?

Or am I just being a grumpy (not so) old man?!? :)

No you aren’t just a nsgom . And to answer your question nobody is railing against the issues.

I'm not sure folk really comprehend what the issues young teens face are. For example, two year waiting lists for mental health support for young girls who are dealing with adhd or autism and are already playing truant and self harming? A foot on the housing ladder is not on the horizon for them. I don’t want to go on. That’s not what this thread is for.

 

[Coatigan]

I'm a bit younger than you I think but I agree. The pressure to "succeed" and the general way society, the economy etc work is stacked against young people. Housing, education, pensions and transport are for many unaffordable. I would hate to be young today and life doesn't seem as hopeful and fun as it was in my day (old fucker alert!) but really I am not that old.

Musically I wonder who is railing against this? Is there anyone around, or any movements, protesting about it? In the 60s/70s there were plenty of major artists protesting about Vietnam, Civil Rights, the Environment and the rest. Dylan, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, James Brown were all big names and stood up for "something".

In the 80s the Specials, Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, U2, Elvis Costello etc had something to say although I'd argue they weren't as big as the decades before.

I'm not saying every song in these eras was protesting, most weren't but the big names had something to say. If you'd been in a coma since 1970 you'd have little idea what issues of the day we're bothering young people. Who stands up now?

Or am I just being a grumpy (not so) old man?!? :)

Interesting whole topic in itself. On the other thread,was going to put forward a 'songs with social commentary' theme, but thought it might veer into politics a bit. Perhaps I should, but restrict it to post 2000s.

Do you mean something to say through music, or as personalities just out of interest.

 

[threespires]

Depends how you're framing 'protest'. I think there is 'political' music out there but both music channels and political debate has atomised a lot partly through technology and partly through the rise of various forms of identity politics. You still get big artists like Kendrick making political statements but maybe not in the traditional sense. Was Swift's You Need To Calm Down a protest song? I didn't think it qualified but I know people who do. Pearl Jam do a good job of highlighting issues like homelessness. There are bands like Anti-Flag who were pretty political too but as I write I realise that I'm only referencing Americans and now I'm struggling to think of a big UK artist who would qualify. Maybe it's like the demise of the band in favour of the individual, a rubbish trend?

Actually there are some UK pockets, Idles are political I would argue, as clearly are Sleaford, Polly Harvey occasionally. There's others too but often the politics of the personal, I don't follow the charts these days but I suspect there's not too many songs like Eton Rifles getting into the top 10. Maybe some of the more political grime acts ?

Btw - I agree with your underlying sentiment. I think the model of our kids 'doing better' than us has gone into reverse.

 

[threespires]

Lots of interesting people on this site

I think the vast majority of people are interesting, my wife says it's just simply that I'm a nosey git.

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

Do you mean something to say through music, or as personalities just out of interest.

Very much musical. I just wonder if there is anyone who is making the equivalent of a The Times they are a changing, Big Yellow Taxi, Mercy Mercy Me, Inner City Blues Give peace a chance etc etc.

Might be one for another thread but some of the best music has been a "reaction" to something or a protest about something. I don't generally remember hearing anything maybe since the early 2000s. It might be an age thing if course, but I think if you listened to the majority of "chart songs" in the last 20 years would you have any idea about the problems of the era?

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

Depends how you're framing 'protest'. I think there is 'political' music out there but both music channels and political debate has atomised a lot partly through technology and partly through the rise of various forms of identity politics. You still get big artists like Kendrick making political statements but maybe not in the traditional sense. Was Swift's You Need To Calm Down a protest song? I didn't think it qualified but I know people who do. Pearl Jam do a good job of highlighting issues like homelessness. There are bands like Anti-Flag who were pretty political too but as I write I realise that I'm only referencing Americans and now I'm struggling to think of a big UK artist who would qualify. Maybe it's like the demise of the band in favour of the individual, a rubbish trend?

Actually there are some UK pockets, Idles are political I would argue, as clearly are Sleaford, Polly Harvey occasionally. There's others too but often the politics of the personal, I don't follow the charts these days but I suspect there's not too many songs like Eton Rifles getting into the top 10. Maybe some of the more political grime acts ?

Btw - I agree with your underlying sentiment. I think the model of our kids 'doing better' than us has gone into reverse.

It's a good point about some of the grime artists and while I like some of it, I can't listen to say an album of it just as I can't generally listen to a full rap album.

 

[Coatigan]

Very much musical. I just wonder if there is anyone who is making the equivalent of a The Times they are a changing, Big Yellow Taxi, Mercy Mercy Me, Inner City Blues Give peace a chance etc etc.

Might be one for another thread but some of the best music has been a "reaction" to something or a protest about something. I don't generally remember hearing anything maybe since the early 2000s. It might be an age thing if course, but I think if you listened to the majority of "chart songs" in the last 20 years would you have any idea about the problems of the era?

Don't really want to derail the album at hand.

But here are couple imo worth a mention.

Justin Currie - No, Surrender
Big Mac's for the fat
Low cal wraps for the call center battery hens,
Japanese snacks for the choice-spoilt citizens,
Caviar kickbacks for the citadel denizens.
Airport shoeshines servicing the suits among the little silver stereos and hand-rolled cheroots,
First class passengers file on last
After the scum are packed in with their tax-free loot.
Checkout calamity, you're cheated out of loyalty points,
Ten more years at this joint you'd be home and dry.
Beggars beat 'round the cash machines
But you just slip between them with the usual lie.
Terrible tales of kidnapped kids keep you focused on the family and filling up the fridge.
Neighborhood watchers shop dole dodgers, stick their semis on the market and start racking up the bids

Should you stand and fight?
Should you die for what you think is right
So your useless contribution will be remembered?
If you're asking me I say no, surrender.

Constant growth, the cancerous cure
A swarming race of profiteers ensure
cheap cars for the rich, cheap lives for the poor, cheap weeks in the sun, free drinks at the door.
Puerile propaganda plugs up the TV
Keep folk following the money so they'll never be free
Keep them swallowing the swill, the celebrities, the pedophiles,
the immigrants invading from the camp over the hill.
War talk, the big debate, foot soldiers in the capital, liberating new kinds of hate.
Cum-shots of human dots caught in the spotlight's glare, he dies who dares.
Fatuous fast-trackers sneering at the shelf-stackers, little Middle-Englanders can't stand the backpackers.
Fortress freedom, come on in
Take your chances, you might win

Should you stand and fight?
Should you die for what you think is right
So your useless contribution will be remembered?
If you're asking me I say no, surrender
Surrender, surrender

Sunset beaches, security patrolled
Keep out the undesirables who don't accept the code.
Equal opportunity to live in total poverty
Execute the ignorant, incarcerate the slow.
Car caressing managers choking up the avenues,
Brain-dead patriots standing in salute
Paperwork raining again and again
So that billionaires can claim there's an enemy to shoot.
Pill pushers, door steppers, personal goal shoppers, lifestyle trend setters, meditating mind benders
Hare-brained share sellers pumping out stocks, itil you're choking on a chain-letter avalanche of dross.
God squads crawling through every country, tracking down fools who are bullshit hungry.
Blinded by divinity, followers fall into the man-traps set along the Wailing Wall.
Athletes compete in grand charades
While tanks flatten streets and a nation laughs.
Visa holders gape at the changing guards
And creeps bribe bums to take their photographs.
Film fans flock to the latest schlock
Blockbusters block out even the vaguest thought.
Bankrupt schools grind out fool after fool
Then feed them to a system where idiots rule.
Polling booths, phone votes, bogus questionnaires, you get a say as if anybody cares.
Joe Public doesn't wanna play
So liquidate his life as he looks the other way.
Don't get sick, don't get wise
Or they'll gut you with a justice where everything is lies
March down Main Street, complain if you want, but it's twenty years straight for the losers at the front.

If you're asking me I say no, surrender
If you're asking me I say no, surrender, surrender
Just surrender, just surrender, surrender
Just surrender, just surrender
Surrender, surrender, surrender.

2007 or 8 I think, still as relevant today.


Frightened Rabbit - Fields of Wheat
Fields of wheat
Bread and butter, on our knees.
Pretty soon, apart from the love we give and get back from our families,
Nothing will be free.
This isn't about me.

It's about the avenues
Crescents, streets and lanes we've not been to,
Windows we've not peeked through,
Scuppered lives way out of sight.
It isn't always about you.

Fields of wheat
Fast forgetting basic needs
Becoming selfish through our scrolling thumbs
Dismissive, scared, uncomfortably numb
Depressive reveries
This bit is about me

Because I'm culpable, you see
In a bubble crying into food I bought so I could fill my face,
Not because of need.
What a fucking waste of wheat

Fields of wheat
Are you ready to be reaped?
Are you ready for the pinch you'll feel in fractured homes that will not heal?
Oh, please believe
This isn't about me.

Based on a theresa may throwaway line, a bit more focus on self reflection than just purely describing the times.

If you can take the noise, the post-punk bands have a bit going on. Spires mentioned Idles, the obvious songs being Great, and Danny Nedelko. We had a couple lines on the last album here. Bob Vylan do a fair bit, Soft Play had a couple relevant songs. Including Everything and Nothing, which is a really good song. Less specific, but very of the times imo. Prophets of Rage have a few over in the states.

Back to this album for me.

 

[threespires]

Very much musical. I just wonder if there is anyone who is making the equivalent of a The Times they are a changing, Big Yellow Taxi, Mercy Mercy Me, Inner City Blues Give peace a chance etc etc.

Might be one for another thread but some of the best music has been a "reaction" to something or a protest about something. I don't generally remember hearing anything maybe since the early 2000s. It might be an age thing if course, but I think if you listened to the majority of "chart songs" in the last 20 years would you have any idea about the problems of the era?

Foc banging on about the 80s alert...

Maybe not in the US but in the UK the 80s were probably the high watermark for protest songs no doubt fueled by the then occupant of No10.

There were lots of bands who were frequently political UB40, The Beat, The Specials, in fact half of Coventry, The Jam, early H17, Peter Gabriel, The Clash, Bronski Beat, Billy Bragg to name just a few and across various genres.

Even bands who weren't thought of as political would chuck songs in like Enola Gay, Forgotten Sons, Invisible Sun etc.

Think too many artists these days are worried about damaging their brands by saying what they think. Little Mix might have made crap music but at least they had the bottle to make their political views known.

A few years back Los Compesinos called out modern bands for posturing as progressive but then keeping their gobs shut when push came to shove. Think they were probably right.

 

[GornikDaze]

Anyone listened to this weeks offering yet? ;)