[kj] [OT] Cover Versions

Alex Smith vassifer at earthlink.net
Mon Dec 27 17:02:11 EST 2004



I didn't bring your faith/ethnicity into this, so you can bring that up with uppity FluwTod. 

In any event, we've had this discussion before. I don't begrudge your right to enjoy certain art without necessarily delving into the circumstances behind its creation, but it strikes me that Killing Joke's music and its accompanying message are so interwoven that I can't quite fathom how you could listen to one aspect of it, yet completely ignore (or oppose, whathaveyou) the other. It's like liking Picasso's "Guernica" because you like pictures of horsies and bulls and ignoring the horrific events that inspired it.  To these ears, Killing Joke is AGENDA-driven music.  Both the force and delicacy of their playing seve to AMPLIFY the message. And the message of Killing Joke is *ENTIRELY* at odds with the tenets, beliefs and practices of the Bush Administration.

It's for this same reason I don't listen to Ted Nugent. Sure, he's a great guitar player, but his message and his AGENDA are inescapable. I can't separate the riffs of "Cat Scratch Fever" from the hatefully idiotic persona behind it. Thus, I am not a fan.

The quote of mine you cited ("Killing Joke owe me nothing. My fanaticism for their music is wholly my own doing and my own projection") has to do with the phenomenon wherein people incorporate certain bits of art/cultural ephemera into their life to such an extent that it consumes them (for an extreme example of this, take a look at the late Nathan Gale --- Pantera meant so much to him that he felt that he had a right to go murder someone he considered at fault for breaking them up). In this instance, Killing Joke's art (and I mean it in its entirety: music, message, image, artwork, aesthetic, the whole nine yards) plays a major role in my life, but by no means am I of the opinion that they "owe" me this or "owe" me that. I'm thankful for everything they've done. That said, they have reversed themselves at certain points (invariably prompting lyrical quotations from "Money is Not Our God" from the faithful). In those instances, they are contradicting the very values they normally so furiously espouse....but then again, if you're not listening to their message, that probably doesn't bother you either.

Alex in NYC....not mad at all. This is a discussion, not an inquisition nor a fight (or at least as far as I'm concerned). I stood drunkenly shoulder to shoulder with Yossy the Exorcist at the very barricades beneath Jaz in Ocotber 2003 and we communally had a spledid time despite our already acknowledged differences of opinion.






-----Original Message-----
From: The Exorcist <killingjoke at speakeasy.net>
Sent: Dec 27, 2004 1:35 PM
To: gathering at misera.net
Subject: Re: [kj] [OT] Cover Versions

I think you misunderstood me Dear Alex.
#1 I LOVE the Cocteau Twins and have most of their albums.
I have the 3 This mortal coil cd's. Plus most of the original versions.
Song to the Siren happens to be a beautiful song and one of my favorite.
But alas my "sort of humorous josh" remark did not seem to be clear enough.

And May I quote you as saying:
"So, to hear them pulling disingenuous, ill-considered stunts like these is 
something I find rather hugely depressing.
Killing Joke owe me nothing. My fanaticism for their music is wholly my own 
doing and my own projection.
But, at the very least, Killing Joke should live up to their own 
loftily-preached standards."

I love their Music as I do for many other bands. I am a fan of music and 
enjoy it immensely (all genre's).
Most of the bands that I like, they and their fans have many views and 
ideologies about life that I never have
or will agree with. However that has absolutely NO impact what so ever on 
me liking their music.
Because I like their music does not mean I have to like THEM or anything 
else that carry on their flagpole.
(Do I also need to mention how many Arabic cd's 
(Lebanese/Iranian/Turkish/Kurd etc...) and songs I have as well?


I must run off to work for now. But I'll get back to you about the Bush 
thing later
if you so choose to make it a focal point whenever you will find yourself 
upset
with something that I say.

(Mind you most of the orthodox Jews voted for Bush as well.)

Cheers!

And still not mad or angry or hating,

Adult TV Network Official Evangelical Minister
Preacher Yos
(we give a whole new meaning to the term "laying of the hands!")


At 11:11 AM 12/27/2004, you wrote:

>Which is more incongruous --- a fan of Killing Joke expressing admiration 
>for well-crafted, viscerally emotional music perfromed by members of 
>fellow post-punk godheads, the Cocteau Twins or a fan of Killing Joke 
>voting for George W. Bush?
>
>Alex in NYC



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