June 24, 2011
A song by men in knickers, searched out because Meade just said "Quit It" like that.
"I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" — the first single by the Young Rascals. That clip is their first TV appearance (in 1965). I remember when their 2d single — "Good Lovin'" — came out: the radio DJ expressed relief that the band had improved the moral level of their music, as if "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" was rather smutty. I was 14 at the time, and it was only much later that I was able to imagine that the DJ had disaggregated the words "eat out" from the idiomatic expression "eat your heart out."
The lyric at 1:11 prompts a search for that Prince song... what is it? It's one of the "Purple Rain" songs. Ah! Here.
Was Prince influenced by The Rascals? Did Prince misconstrue the 1965 lyric like that DJ maybe did? We all know Prince got terribly smutty. It upset Tipper Gore so much:
MORE: On the great lyrics scare of 1984:
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29 comments:
I remember seeing Dee Synder all the time at Mothers on Route 46.
I am just surprised Cyndi Laupner was on that list.
Oh well, Tipper Gore should have spent more time at home keeping her man happy. Then Al might not have gone crazy and she might still be married.
I have no idea what the Professor is getting at.
A stupid DJ who doesn't understand language and Prince, who obviously never needed any help from The Rascals to produce his highly-sexualized music.
I am intriqued by the idea that Tipper Gore has a dirty mind.
Oh yes, Tipper is a furbiephile.
"Prince, who obviously never needed any help..."
How do you know what help Prince had in getting to the point where you view him as not needing any help seeming extremely sexy?
This tiny little man is about 5'2". He was 8 years old when that Rascals song came out. His childhood nickname was "Skipper." From his Wikipedia entry: "In a PBS interview Prince told Tavis Smiley that he was "born epileptic" and "used to have seizures" when he was young. During the interview Prince also said that "my mother told me one day I walked in to her and said, 'Mom, I'm not going to be sick anymore,' and she said 'Why?' and I said 'Because an angel told me so.' "[16]"
I'm sorry, but Prince was not born sexy. What did he listen to on the radio when he was struggling with tininess and disability?
Stephen Crane
In the Desert
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter – bitter", he answered,
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."
Also, listen to that point in "Eat Out" -- 1:11 -- where the line is "Is it him or me?" and then listen to "The Beautiful Ones" (at the link). It might be a deliberate allusion.
Remember when life was so simple that people got worked up over Tipper Gore?
I miss those days.
It's at 0:40 in the Prince song. (It's not that close, really.)
"Remember when life was so simple that people got worked up over Tipper Gore?"
It was a lot of fun reviling Tipper Gore back them. I wish that clip with her had more of Al Gore. The voiceover tells us that he got upset, but we don't see him getting upset. The edit is all about Dee Snider triumphing... mainly because he turned out not to be an idiot, defining "Under the Blade" as being about surgery, but it was written ambiguously so the listeners could project their own "dreams" onto the lyrics. Were the Senators really to dumb to say that was the point, then, to inspire violent ideation? You can't tell from the edit.
Yes, look at the vintage Democrats trying to restrict free speech.
Everybody's influenced by the Rascals.
Every New Jersey band has to play a couple of Rascal's tunes.
I know, I've played them about a million times.
Good Lovin' and
Ride Sally Ride
Are bar standards.
The only song requested more than Ride Sally Ride is Brown Eyed Girl.
Ride Sally Ride has a pretty risque message, too.
A long way to go to learn Prince was a spaz that might have listened to a bunch of white guys with ridiculously short neck ties in 1965.
I wonder if Althouse has a rule about short neck ties on men?
Speaking of a spaz with a short neck tie (or is it just tucked in his shirt because he's doing science experiments?).
Drew said...
Remember when life was so simple that people got worked up over Tipper Gore?
I miss those days.
6/24/11 9:54 AM
I find it revealing. Remember this was just not Tipper, Al was completely into this too. What it shows was how pathetically Al Gore was looking for something to champion. And then he hit pay dirt with Global Warming.
Haha. Tipper WANTS it Al. She WANTS you to beat her.
Classic.
Within a decade, Al Gore was the darling of liberals in the music industry, quoting REM lyrics on the campaign trail with Bill Clinton. All the old sins had been forgotten. How can one make any sense of it?
Dee Snyder certainly isn't an idiot, and I'm sure they underestimated him, but his testimony wasn't nearly as effective as he imagines it was.
Don't get me wrong, I loved Twisted Sister when I was a kid growing up listening to metal (along with nearly all the metal bands on the filthy fifteen list), but it was no stretch to think the song was at least partly referencing sadomasochism. Sure, they lyrics could be interpreted a lot of ways, but it seems obvious that that's where the song was going. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. Snyder would have been more effective to just say, "Sure, that's what I'm singing about. So what?" rather than trying to elide the point.
Two things:
The Rascals are best friends with my sister, going waaay back.
And forget Dee Snyder - Frank Zappa was where the PMRC action was.
The funny thing about Dee Snyder's testimony is what has happened since.
Specifically, Gore's family has been plagued by divorce and drug abuse, while Snyder's has been healthy and stable.
The drummer's a little extra twirly with those sticks.
That's a funky fro your sister's got, Crack.
You shoulda been here yesterday. We need you to speak out on Boomers and New Age shit.
Snyder sure is impressed with himself, and admits that he voted for Gore because he thought Al was smart. And Revenant's point is great about the outcome of Snyder's vs The Gores' stated disparate values.
Time sure can clear out the bullshit all around.
If Tipper Gore today listened to even a song or two off of any of my death metal albums from bands like Bolt Thrower, Decapitated, Behemoth, Ahab, or any other litany of this genre of music, she would have exploded. She in essence gave credence and validity to the artistic nature of lyrics that have objectionable content from the 80's until now, but lyrics throughout modern music have always had objectionable content. Hell, the entirety of the meaning of rock and roll is about objectionable sexual content.
This is what leftards did in the 80's. Control, control, control. Even Nancy Reagan didn't stoop that far with her just say no program. Tipper wanted content controlled. She just made it worse as they all do. Whenever we say no, they just hear it as yes. Instead, the tact should have been, You can listen to whatever you want, but the consequences of doing such are x,y,z and spell it out for them, so kids have a choice in the matter. Parents can regulate what their children listen to in terms of questionable content, but once they leave your eyesight, they are doing things you might like or want them to do, so give them the tools to think at their age level on how to express their behavior in a way that will hopefully let them do good when no one is looking.
"The Rascals are best friends with my sister, going waaay back."
Cool.
"And forget Dee Snyder - Frank Zappa was where the PMRC action was."
I know. I just got sidetracked into the first clip I found. I remember Zappa circa 1969 on the Joe Pine Show or the Alan Burke Show -- one of those old right-wing TV talk shows -- talking about his lyrics and the insinuation that they were dirty, explaining "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body" and -- it was mind blowing at the time -- this girl from our high school was in the audience, came up to the microphone, and got into a big argument with Zappa. Zappa made the cheap move of assuming she was an uptight, prissy, puritanical girl, which she didn't think was true. How did she know? He asked. Her answer was -- I remember it verbatim, I think -- "Because of my friends."
Anyway, she stood her ground and he stood his. It was great TV. If it's on YouTube, I'd love to see it.
Crack, the Zappa video doesn't play anymore.
Dee Snyder did a respectable job at that hearing. Zappa blew them away. I recall that Frank mentioned his early musical training - which included instruction from Artie Shaw. That registered with some of the old codger Senators on the panel and they actually listened to what Zappa had to say, and I think he won the day. Then, several years later he released a track which had as lyrics the edited amalgam of Tipper Gore. Mrs. Baker and the rest of the PRMG (PRMC?) strung together. It was very funny.
I loved the Dee Snyder video. Unfortunately, now everytime I see Dee Snyder, all I can think of is him shaking has ass in his acid wash jeans on the "Ask a Gay Guy" clip from Chappelle's Show. Terrible image. Terrible.
Speaking of 1:11, "Good Lovin'" is #111 on List-a-Beefy's top 200 #1 songs of all time:
"I have a coworker who contends that Good Lovin' is the purest, most straightforward rock and roll song ever. With this much energy, it is easy to see why. The guitar is alternately soaring and gritty. The organ is a little sloppy but not in an amateurish way. Good Lovin' is basically polished garage rock ne plus ultra."
The real killer testimony at the 1985 PMRC hearings was from John Denver, who simply buried these folks. It got a little idealistic at the end, but that only reinforced John Denver's views.
(I do love the start of Frank Zappa's testimony, but it was a little too sophisticated and sarcastic for idiot senators. Unfortunately, Zappa's proposal was idiotic; the solution is for parents to be parents.)
And, BTW, wasn't it weird to see Senator Exon smoking a pipe during the hearings!
I fixed the clip.
That song by the Young Rascal is truly awful. What a great country we live in, when even those who have not a shred of talent can attain riches and fame.
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