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Hipster Beaux-Arts Bing Crosby

by DougJarvus Green-Ellis

Although I don’t think I’ll read the new Keith Richards biography, I am enjoying reading about it, especially this piece by Tom Watson (via), which describes Keef as looking like a “hipster Beaux-Arts Bing Crosby”.

Everyone seems to want to write about this, and it makes me sad that the book came out so close to the election, because otherwise Bobo or Ruth Marcus or some other conservative culture scold might write a “this is everything that sucks about 60s liberalism” type column. The best part would be the “I hitch-hiked to see the Stones back when I had more hair and less disposable income” part. (It’s also possible that someone at NRO has already written a “Keith Richards: Conservative?” column or that Bobo will ultimately do so.)

The strange Village hatred of the Colbert/Stewart rally comes from the same place: pundits desperately want to be seen as hip, so they’re not going to like a rally devoted to making fun of the media.

All of this gets me thinking…at some point, is there going to be another attempt soon to make conservatism “cool again”? We’ve seen a few tentative steps: Meghan McCain’s tweets, Nick Gillespies attempts to look good in leather, Peter Suderman’s desire to tell the world he’s meh about Gorillaz, this strange piece in The American Scene, but it seems kind of directionless to me. Is John Thune going to go on SNL and say “sock it to me” to capture the youth vote in 2012?

Update. Nobody does it like an English conservative (via):

The guitarist Keith Richards is perhaps most famous for having constructed a short and very simple rhythmic musical phrase, over the top of which his colleague Mick Jagger expressed an increasing irritation at being unable to acquire, in both general and specific terms, any kind of ‘satisfaction’ — despite, as he proceeded to explain, repeatedly attempting to do so. Or, at least, that’s what he should be most famous for. That almost insultingly simple ‘riff’, plus a slightly more complex one a few years later, over the top of which Mr Jagger, in a more ebullient frame of mind, expounded upon the pleasures of whipping black women at midnight. Both of these songs were perceived as being ‘counter-cultural’ and therefore, de facto, of the left. I suppose you might argue that ‘Satisfaction’ was in essence a plea for more stringent regulation of the advertising industry, perhaps via a quango rather than direct legislation — which is a slightly leftish position. But it is hard to stretch the lyrics of ‘Brown Sugar’ to resemble something which approaches those of the ‘Internationale’.

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October 31, 2010 9:14 pm Posted in: Blogospheric Navel-Gazing, Hoot-Smalley, Other  119 Comments

119 Responses

  1. MikeJ - October 31, 2010 | 9:17 pm · Link

    How weird. This post shows up on the front page, but not as a next story link on the steelers thread. Of course as soon as I post this comment, I’ll bet it shows up. Just a cache that needs flushing I’d bet.

  2. Redshirt - October 31, 2010 | 9:20 pm · Link

    Abramoff did his best to bring back the fedora. He did look good!

  3. DougJ - October 31, 2010 | 9:21 pm · Link

    @Redshirt:

    You’re right, that’s a pretty good example. He worked a lot and rode motorcylces too.

  4. Linda Featheringill - October 31, 2010 | 9:24 pm · Link

    I realize that the 1960s happened a long time ago but as I remember it, The Stones played only a minor prat of the scene. They became bigger as time wore on.

    Regardless of when they became A Big Deal, I never thought that Keith Richards was cool.

    This is not to say I didn’t like rockers.

    Did I every tell you about the time . . . . .

  5. MikeJ - October 31, 2010 | 9:25 pm · Link

    @Linda Featheringill: Is there a mud shark in this story?

  6. Bnut - October 31, 2010 | 9:27 pm · Link

    I hate to say it, but Meghan McCain has been treated BRUTALLY by the right wing. Not only for being a bit “overweight”(I think she’s pretty cute), but also, obviously, for her RINO status. She’s been pretty pro-gay legislation so far.

  7. sturunner - October 31, 2010 | 9:28 pm · Link

    When you absolutely, positively MUST avoid reality™.com, everything (& any THING) will do.

  8. Maude - October 31, 2010 | 9:29 pm · Link

    Someone please tell me how you could ever make McCain cool.
    King Tut yes, cool, no.

  9. Redshirt - October 31, 2010 | 9:32 pm · Link

    @DougJ: In fact, Abramoff was rockin’ a whole “Godfather going to Court” look. I must confess to finding it dashing, though I’d never dream of trying to pull it off myself. Not corrupt enough.

  10. John - A Motley Moose - October 31, 2010 | 9:32 pm · Link

    Is John Thune going to go on SNL and say “sock it to me” to capture the youth vote in 2012?

    Yes. Bank on it.

  11. gbear - October 31, 2010 | 9:35 pm · Link

    Keef submitted himself to an interview with Terry Gross last week. I usually like Terry, but she was asking way too many questions that allowed Keef to tear her to shreds.

  12. Linda Featheringill - October 31, 2010 | 9:36 pm · Link

    @MikeJ:

    Mud shark:

    Okay. I had to google that. [Point for you!]

    I did hear some stories floating around once upon a time but thought they might just be stories.

  13. gbear - October 31, 2010 | 9:37 pm · Link

    is there going to be another attempt soon to make conservatism “cool again”?

    It’s called Dancing With The Stars. That’s where they’re at.

  14. Linda Featheringill - October 31, 2010 | 9:42 pm · Link

    @Bnut:

    being a bit “overweight”(I think she’s pretty cute)

    She is cute.

    Can you imagine having sweet dreams about Ann Coulter?

  15. Loneoak - October 31, 2010 | 9:42 pm · Link

    Is John Thune going to go on SNL and say “sock it to me” to capture the youth vote in 2012?

    This is a good game.

    Is Mitch Daniels going to go on Leno and ride a vintage motorcycle on stage in leather chaps to capture the Log Cabin vote?

  16. change - October 31, 2010 | 9:42 pm · Link

    Grim Democrats Await HUGE Losses:

    http://www.politico.com/news/s.....44448.html

  17. DougJ - October 31, 2010 | 9:44 pm · Link

    @Bnut:

    I agree with you. They’ve been awful to her.

  18. mvr - October 31, 2010 | 9:45 pm · Link

    @MikeJ:
    Wrong band.

  19. Linda Featheringill - October 31, 2010 | 9:45 pm · Link

    @change:

    Grim Democrats Await HUGE Losses:

    Isn’t is a good thing that Politico doesn’t hold the Keys to Heaven [by whatever definition]?

    Edited for spelling.

  20. mvr - October 31, 2010 | 9:49 pm · Link

    Finished the book last night. It is actually well-written. Of course I would have read it if it were badly written as well. Some good stuff on how he thinks about music, and of course he’s led an interesting life. Someone put a lot of work in on this one and it seems to be Keith himself, though I’m sure the coauthor, James Fox helped out a good bit.

  21. jwb - October 31, 2010 | 9:50 pm · Link

    @change: Your pie’s not selling any better on this thread than on the others you’ve worked. I think the strawberry rhubarb is well past its sell date.

  22. PeakVT - October 31, 2010 | 9:50 pm · Link

    Wait, are people actually saying “sock it to me” again? Or was that a reference to an internet tradition of which I am unaware?

  23. Bnut - October 31, 2010 | 9:53 pm · Link

    @jwb:
    I thought rhubarb was a winter fruit? Lol.

  24. gbear - October 31, 2010 | 9:56 pm · Link

    @mvr: If you want to read a really badly written book about the Stones, take a look at Ron Wood’s autobiography. An incredible mess that makes Ron look like a complete dope.

  25. MikeJ - October 31, 2010 | 9:57 pm · Link

    @Linda Featheringill: I hope you got “shark episode” from wikipedia or “shark rumor” from snopes, and not anything idiots would say about women they didn’t like. I was referencing the apocryphal Led Zep story, not trying to be an ass. I’d never heard the urban dictionary definition, and would never say anything like that about anyone.

    The hotel Led Zep was at was right here in Seattle, the Edgewater Inn, where you can in theory, fish from your window.

  26. Amanda in the South Bay - October 31, 2010 | 9:57 pm · Link

    All of this gets me thinking…at some point, is there going to be another attempt soon to make conservatism “cool again”?

    You forgot about Rod Dreher’s Crunchy Cons.

    I’ve spent a fair amount of time around both Orthodox and Catholic converts (having been one of both at various times in my life myself) and know a fair bit about religious whack jobs who masquerade as counter-counter cultural gurus.

  27. Mark S. - October 31, 2010 | 9:58 pm · Link

    And in that context, Richards was at his most generous to Jagger. “Ain’t nobody else could sing Midnight Rambler,” he said, remembering conscious efforts to write for “the best front man in the business.”

    That’s probably true. Almost anyone else would sound ridiculous singing that song.

    And everyone knows rock n roll is a very conservative art form (you guys probably forgot this piece of shit).

  28. Belvoir - October 31, 2010 | 9:59 pm · Link

    Conservatism can never be “cool” because at heart it is about restriction, resentment, it stands against things and people rather than for them. Status quo plus, hammering down the nail that sticks up, supressing the individual in favor of the system. This is why they suck and fail at comedy, art, literature, music and film-making if their conservatism is the point of their endeavor. There certainly have been excellent artists and writers who could be described as conservative in their personal beliefs, but it was never the point of their art. The word has been mangled by today’s right-wing into something they would not recognize.

    “Liberal arts and humanities” is the vast long history of appreciating people who did not conform, who challenged the prevailing system and ideas through their art. Novelty, creativity, iconoclasm shaped Western art and thought for centuries, and those things are decidedly not appreciated by conservatism. It would be oxymoronic to say so. Humanism, individuality, rebellion, love, and the tempest of passionate emotions are the root of the Arts that have described them for centuries. They are inherently “liberal” in that they cast a kind eye on humanity, for all its foibles and failures and ecstasies. The conservative counterpart in the arts would be punitive, punishing, resentful in spirit. Which is why there’s really no such thing.

    They have Ayn Rand, I guess? We have Michelangelo.

  29. Calouste - October 31, 2010 | 10:04 pm · Link

    Modern medicine puzzled by one of life’s great mysteries:

    Who, What, Why: How is Keith Richards still alive?

  30. Mark S. - October 31, 2010 | 10:04 pm · Link

    @gbear:

    I didn’t know he ever wrote a book. I tried reading Bill Wyman’s book a long time ago. According to Bill, he was the creative genius of the band and got more girls than the rest of the band combined.

  31. asiangrrlMN - October 31, 2010 | 10:07 pm · Link

    @jwb: Them’s fighting words. I love strawberry rhubarb pie. I get it homemade from a local place, and it’s heavenly.

    @MikeJ: I got the Urban Dictionary definition, too, and I was a bit taken aback. I didn’t think that was what you were trying to say.

  32. C Nelson Reilly - October 31, 2010 | 10:09 pm · Link

    @mvr:
    I finished the book yesterday too. The guy doesn’t sleep much.

  33. Linda Featheringill - October 31, 2010 | 10:10 pm · Link

    @MikeJ:

    Mud shark:

    Actually, I poked around a bit and threw out everything that didn’t fit the context.

    We’re good. :-)

    [I did learn some stuff on the way to the proper explanation, though.]

  34. MikeJ - October 31, 2010 | 10:14 pm · Link

    @asiangrrlMN: I thought that most here would be charitable enough with me to assume that’s not what I meant (thanks guys!), but I wanted to be on the record and make sure that I didn’t inadvertently say something awful to somebody.

  35. Bnut - October 31, 2010 | 10:14 pm · Link

    @DougJ:
    I read HotAir all the time, and the commentators there make it seem like they have only slept with supermodels. They should be lucky that the “overweight” chick even looks in their direction.

  36. asiangrrlMN - October 31, 2010 | 10:16 pm · Link

    @MikeJ: It didn’t fit with what I have read from you, so I assumed you meant something else. That seemed like the sensible explanation.

  37. Linda Featheringill - October 31, 2010 | 10:17 pm · Link

    @Belvoir:
    Lovely essay. And you are absolutely correct, of course.

    Deviating from the norm is what creates art and what creates inventions and what creates progress.

  38. Linda Featheringill - October 31, 2010 | 10:18 pm · Link

    @Calouste:

    Keith is still alilve because he is a vampire. Didn’t you know that?

  39. Comrade Luke - October 31, 2010 | 10:18 pm · Link

    Most of the guys on Mad Men are conservative…

  40. Omnes Omnibus - October 31, 2010 | 10:19 pm · Link

    @Linda Featheringill: Needs more blood.

  41. gbear - October 31, 2010 | 10:20 pm · Link

    @Mark S.: Here’s a link to Ron’s book. It’s a jaw-droppingly awful read.

  42. Omnes Omnibus - October 31, 2010 | 10:21 pm · Link

    @Comrade Luke: Are any of them cool? Stylish, sure. Cool, I don’t think so.

  43. Comrade Luke - October 31, 2010 | 10:22 pm · Link

    @Omnes Omnibus: Roger Sterling kicks ass. Other than that, not really cool. But stylish is an aspect of cool isn’t it?

  44. beltane - October 31, 2010 | 10:23 pm · Link

    @Linda Featheringill: I think we have to change our strategy dealing with Change. While it is fun to laugh at him, I think we’d be better off ignoring him as his trolling tends to dominate every thread he appears in.

  45. Mark S. - October 31, 2010 | 10:27 pm · Link

    @beltane:

    Yes.

  46. Omnes Omnibus - October 31, 2010 | 10:28 pm · Link

    @Comrade Luke: Stylish can be an aspect of cool, but there is more. People of Mad Man seem to miss much of the rest of it. Their job is to be in touch with mass culture in order to sell to it. That almost makes it impossible to take the chances and push the envelope in a way that would make them cool.

  47. SiubhanDuinne - October 31, 2010 | 10:29 pm · Link

    I know it’s not an open thread, and sorry for the O/T, but
    This is pretty rich. According to Newshounds, foxnews.com has, or had, a story up that identified Obama as “former President.”

    http://www.newshounds.us/2010/.....sident.php

    Zero tolerance for errors my ass.

  48. Bnut - October 31, 2010 | 10:31 pm · Link

    I will say this, there are not many better things than sitting next to a warm radiator with a cat in the lap, a dog on the bed, and Bit of Fry and Laurie on the Netflix. I’m 26. It’s Halloween. I love life.

  49. Linda Featheringill - October 31, 2010 | 10:33 pm · Link

    @SiubhanDuinne

    According to Newshounds, foxnews.com has, or had, a story up that identified Obama as “former President.”

    Fox News has mastered time travel? Wow!

  50. dr. luba - October 31, 2010 | 10:37 pm · Link

    @PeakVT: An update of a historical reference. Nixon tried to woo the youth vote in 1968 by going on to Laugh-In.

  51. Linda Featheringill - October 31, 2010 | 10:37 pm · Link

    @Bnut:

    there are not many better things than sitting next to a warm radiator with a cat in the lap, a dog on the bed, and Bit of Fry and Laurie on the Netflix

    I have four napping cats scattered around the room and a lazy dog at my feet. And Pandora on a Blues Channel that I have developed. Life is good.

    [And I am at least 26. :-)]

  52. beltane - October 31, 2010 | 10:41 pm · Link

    @SiubhanDuinne: If I were into CTs I’d have a field day with an error like that.

  53. asiangrrlMN - October 31, 2010 | 10:45 pm · Link

    @Bnut: I love A Bit of Fry and Laurie. I own all the DVDs.

  54. shoutingattherain - October 31, 2010 | 10:49 pm · Link

    @MikeJ:

    And the Edgewater Inn. Got it w/out looking it up.

    Call on every vegetable. Call it by name.

    Go Frank!

  55. gbear - October 31, 2010 | 10:50 pm · Link

    Have to post this before the day ends:

    It’s Halloween! by The Shaggs

    Totally hipster.

  56. The Republic of Stupidity - October 31, 2010 | 10:55 pm · Link

    Oh Gaaaaaaaaaaaawd…

    Back mebbe 6, or even 7 or 8 years ago, the local radio station that carried Michael Savage ran an ad campaign featuring a big picture of a smiling Michael, in sunglasses, overcoat, and scarf, w/ the words…

    “It’s the new counter culture, baby!”

    Very appealing, if you were into KGB chic at the time…

  57. Dennis SGMM - October 31, 2010 | 10:55 pm · Link

    Conservatism cool? Sure, it could happen. Conservatism will be cool when young people start getting chin grafts and dyeing their skin orange.

  58. DougJ - October 31, 2010 | 10:56 pm · Link

    @gbear:

    I do like the Shaggs.

  59. DougJ - October 31, 2010 | 10:57 pm · Link

    @The Republic of Stupidity:

    That’s what I’m talking about.

  60. Bnut - October 31, 2010 | 10:57 pm · Link

    @asiangrrlMN:
    Sometimes I hate myself. Like how I love Hugh Laurie, but can’t stand watching House. Such a waste of talent.

  61. The Republic of Stupidity - October 31, 2010 | 10:58 pm · Link

    @Mark S.:

    And everyone knows rock n roll is a very conservative art form (you guys probably forgot this piece of shit).

    Noooooooooope…

    And it STILL cracks me up…

  62. The Republic of Stupidity - October 31, 2010 | 11:00 pm · Link

    @DougJ:

    I figgered as much…

    For reasons I’ll never understand, and much to my chagrin, Michael Savage did start out in the Bay Area…

    ***head meets keyboard…***

  63. Omnes Omnibus - October 31, 2010 | 11:00 pm · Link

    @DougJ: Big deal, everyone likes to shag.

  64. Violet - October 31, 2010 | 11:00 pm · Link

    DougJ at top:

    at some point, is there going to be another attempt soon to make conservatism “cool again”? We’ve seen a few tentative steps: Meghan McCain’s tweets, Nick Gillespies attempts to look good in leather, Peter Suderman’s desire to tell the world he’s meh about Gorillaz, this strange piece in The American Scene, but it seems kind of directionless to me. Is John Thune going to go on SNL and say “sock it to me” to capture the youth vote in 2012?

    Of course they’ll try. But their voters get older and whiter every year. They’re less concerned with coolness than they are with making sure their Social Security and Medicare are still there.

    But yeah, they’ll send someone to SNL. Who it will be is anyone’s guess right now. Would you have predicted, in 2006, that the breakout Republican SNL impersonation would be Sarah Palin?

  65. VixenStrangely - October 31, 2010 | 11:08 pm · Link

    I think think the hipstering of the right is going on this minute: I know I have seen a few “Young conservatives” profiles in magazines, and then there was that CNN piece that O’Keefe screwed up by making himself the story (and frankly, he couldn’t be cool on Pluto.) There’s SE Cupp going on Real Time (What is with Maher and the “hot” conservababes? Seriously? Coulter, O’Donnell, this woman—but I like her glasses.) There’s always something a little “forced” to me about the “GOP” is cool stuff. It’s always Nixon on Laugh-In or Bob Dole or Steve Forbes doing something on SNL. You know—awkward, forced, funny because it shouldn’t work.

    (I do have a soft spot for Meghan McCain, because of the fat jokes and because of that one extra bosom-y picture she took crap for—I feel that. And she always strikes me as someone who might come out more liberal one day because she does seem to care about people.)

  66. asiangrrlMN - October 31, 2010 | 11:09 pm · Link

    @Bnut: Dude! I am so with you. I tried to watch House—I really did. I adore Hugh Laurie (and I think he’s hot), but I just couldn’t stand the show. Sigh.

  67. mvr - October 31, 2010 | 11:11 pm · Link

    @gbear:
    Thanks, haven’t read that, though I have read many bad books on the Stones, and there are many more I haven’t read. Haven’t read the Wyman one either, though I’m even less motivated to read that than to read Wood’s. There are of course the innumerable hanger on books, the number of which is only exceeded by the Elvis hanger-on books. Probably a few of each of these are good, but I forget which ones.

  68. gbear - October 31, 2010 | 11:12 pm · Link

    doug@58: They’re pretty amazing at what they do but you have to forget everything you know about how a band typically works. I could never play drums in this band.

  69. russell - October 31, 2010 | 11:14 pm · Link

    Mud shark’s cool, but there’s a circular motion that’s destined to take it’s place in your mythology.

    Bill Wyman’s cool, if only because he’s his own grandpa by marriage.

    Keef will be the first human to bypass death altogether and go directly to zombie. Could be he’s already done it.

    No matter what, though, the man is, in a way of his own making, one of the great guitar players of the ages.

  70. Omnes Omnibus - October 31, 2010 | 11:14 pm · Link

    @gbear: Neither could I.

  71. The Republic of Stupidity - October 31, 2010 | 11:16 pm · Link

    @Violet:

    Of course they’ll try. But their voters get older and whiter every year.

    Not to mention chubbier, balder, and angrier…

  72. gbear - October 31, 2010 | 11:18 pm · Link

    @mvr: I recently finished reading ‘The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones’ by Stanley Booth, about the tour that ended with the Altamont show. I really enjoyed the book.

  73. mvr - October 31, 2010 | 11:30 pm · Link

    @gbear: That is one of the good ones as I recall, though I’m not sure if Booth counts fully as a hanger on.

  74. jl - October 31, 2010 | 11:33 pm · Link

    I read someplace that Keith Richards was a Dickens fanatic, and names his guitars after Dickens characters.

    Not sure how conservative being cool again relates to Richards. Is he politically conservative? And if so, who would care? He is probably a tax refugee, does that count?

    And I don’t think conservatism was every really cool or hip. I kind of sophomoric and cynical libertarianism was popular with some aging hippies, the tail end boomers and whatever generation came right after them.

    Makes sense in a way. Some people spent their youth fighting against social convention, celebrating their own free expression and FREEDOM to do what they want, and, never gained the inner resources to think things through a little and put them in perspective when they got older. Then once they got a little dough, a mortgage and a family, libertarianism of certain species fits in nicely.

    So I would say a certain kind of adolescent libertarianism was cool, but not conservatism.

    Aw damn, did the game just end while I was typing this?

    Edit: AWRITE! I want to see some evidence that Cole pays homage to the SF Giants, the World Champions of Baseball when he comes to this here left coast crazy town by the bay. My attention drifted off towards the end of the game, but I wanted to see the end. I am undisciplined sometimes.

  75. Suck It Up! - October 31, 2010 | 11:35 pm · Link

    Off Topic: AMC’s Walking Dead? Good stuff. Scary. Lots of blood. Zombies eating a horse. yum.

  76. jl - October 31, 2010 | 11:38 pm · Link

    I for one, welcome Meghan McCain as our new conservative overlord.

    The GOP should try and run her for something instead of making fun of her. But in the grand scheme of things, unjust as it is, probably for the best right now.

    But think about it, who would do better as House leader, Meghan McCain or a certain dim, chain smoking boozer barfly who looks like he uses shoe polish for his fake tan?

  77. reality-based - October 31, 2010 | 11:39 pm · Link

    I hate to bring it up – but did anybody see Maureen Dowd’s heavy-breathing epiphany about Keith Richards last week?

    When a Pirate is the Voice of Chivalry

    Summary:

    1. Tea Party is full of thugs who curb-stomp women. (Good lead, and true. )

    2. Keith Richards is a MUCH nicer guy than those Tea Party thugs – he bought his Mum a house even after she killed all his pets, he had all of Mick’s girls crying on his shoulder. and he’s really nice to groupies. (Really? )

    “I want to hug you and kiss you and make you feel good and protect you. And get a nice note the next day, stay in touch.”

    again – REALLY? Well, what good is HAVING a Prince of Darkness, if he’s really just a skinnier Rhett Butler?

    the whole thing was weird.

  78. MikeJ - October 31, 2010 | 11:40 pm · Link

    @jl:

    Not sure how conservative being cool again relates to Richards. Is he politically conservative? And if so, who would care? He is probably a tax refugee, does that count?

    Mick is very conservative. Degree in econ I think?

    Anyway, nothing the least bit unusual about rich white guys being conservative.

  79. mclaren - October 31, 2010 | 11:41 pm · Link

    The Colbert persona is a direct satire of ignorant sociopathic fools like Bobo, so the hatred isn’t surprising at all.

  80. Bnut - October 31, 2010 | 11:44 pm · Link

    @Suck It Up!:
    Was one of the better graphic novels I’ve read in awhile. Glad to hear it’s been adapted well to the screen.

  81. jl - October 31, 2010 | 11:46 pm · Link

    @MikeJ: I remember reading that Mick Jagger went to the London School of Economics for at least awhile and majored in political science or sociology, or social theory or some such thing. Not sure how long or whether he graduated. Tried to check in Wikipedia and didn’t find anything.

    I remember hearing an interview with him from awhile back when he was thinking about getting into politics. He sounded like a Arnold Schwarzenegger conservative, rather than a neanderthal Ted Nugent style conservative. But maybe his views have devolved since then.

    But, what about Richards. Or maybe his apolitical (except for taxation of millionaires).

  82. Superluminar - October 31, 2010 | 11:48 pm · Link

    @DougJ
    Sadly, someone’salready done the Richards as Conservative article, if you really must read it.

  83. MikeJ - October 31, 2010 | 11:49 pm · Link

    @jl: That would be my guess too, no real political philosophy except low taxes on rich people.

  84. jl - October 31, 2010 | 11:49 pm · Link

    @Mark S.: thanks for that list. Brilliant music criticism, and literary analysis. Who woulda thunk that U2 and the Clash wrote conservative songs? But of course, Danny Elfman is a big fan of Sarah Palin, we all knew that.

    I hope he rights an update. Probably add something by Public Enemy to the list (Mabye Night of the Living Baseheads?)

  85. Omnes Omnibus - October 31, 2010 | 11:54 pm · Link

    @jl: I can’t find the link right now, but I remember seeing articles from back when Jagger was knighted in which Richards was pissed off because he did not believe in the Honours system. The implication of the articles were that Richards was an unreconstructed Old Labour type.

  86. jl - October 31, 2010 | 11:54 pm · Link

    @MikeJ: I don’t care particularly, just have gotten a bit curious to learn more since I heard about some unexpected quirks about some rockers. Richards a big Dickens fan, and other English literature too. And then I remember reading how Hendrix was in love with English Baroque music.

    I find it puzzling when people worry about artists’ political philosophy, and expect to find something coherent, or in line with their own arbitrary expectations. I don’t see why they should be expected to be deeper thinkers or have any interesting insight than anyone else.

  87. WyldPirate - October 31, 2010 | 11:54 pm · Link

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @DougJ: Big deal, everyone likes to shag.

    This is an interesting double entendre in my neck of the woods—at least for me. However, most folks in my neck of the woods don’t get—or aren’t well-traveled enough—to know the meaning of the British use of “shag”. A lot of folks outside of the Southern US Coastal region under50 or so don’t know that shag refers to a type of swing dance, mostly to East Coast beach music.

    I knew and was around a small number of British exchange students for a number of yerars when i first moved to this area (NC) about 20 years ago. We got a new crop of them every summer. They thought the verb form of the dual meaning was hilarious.

    Good times and good people, those British kids. Loved to drink (sometimes to near dangerous excess) but were the most responsible kids in the world about not driving under the influence—they were doing the designated driver thing long before it was cool here. Funny, optimistic and full of life and worked their butts off, too. Much better prepared than academically than the American students as well.

  88. jl - October 31, 2010 | 11:56 pm · Link

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    “unreconstructed Old Labour type”

    Interesting. Richards can clearly hit a pub like one.

  89. Odie Hugh Manatee - October 31, 2010 | 11:56 pm · Link

    @Linda Featheringill:

    One thing that helps her is the fact that she doesn’t have the usual Repub face; she doesn’t have the thin cruel lips on a face that is creased by the lifelong wearing of a bitter frown, nor the usual nasty thin, cruel eyes that dart around looking for the closest liebrul or brown person to show disgust and disdain for.

    I can spot a conservative from the moment they walk into view. They wear their anger and hatred like a badge of honor.

    While Palin and O’Donnell are exceptions to this, the only reason why they side with the conservatives is that they are both gold diggers and attention whores. They are in this for the attention and money, that’s all. They are bought and paid for cheerleaders for the right. Their looks couldn’t get them anywhere (or anything) with smart people because they can see through their bullshit in a second.

    They’re just mean and stupid, that’s all.

  90. kindness - November 1, 2010 | 12:02 am · Link

    Nice…the SF Giants are now 3 – 1….It’d be sweet to beat ‘em in Dallas.

  91. jl - November 1, 2010 | 12:05 am · Link

    @Superluminar: Thanks for that link to the hilarious Spectator column on how conservative Rock n Roll is.

    Richards was gung ho for war with Iraq in 2003. Therefore, he is conservative.

    And wuz I right about Public Enemy:

    “and it’s no use looking to black music for succour either; by and large hip hop and rap was the same blue-collar aggressiveness, misogyny, hedonism, homophobia and the glorification of ill-gotten wealth, with an added spurt of anti-white and anti-Semitic racism from those groups most adored by the liberal music press as being ‘radical’.”

    Chuck D is a Republican! Probably a Teabagger by now.

    Of course, it no news that a lot of rockers are conservative politically. How much of rock music has much of anything to do with politics? Not much.

  92. morzer - November 1, 2010 | 12:06 am · Link

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....t-walk-out

    Possible good news:

    Israel’s Labour party will walk out of the rightwing-dominated coalition government unless serious negotiations with the Palestinians get under way in the coming weeks, according to cabinet minister Avishay Braverman, an expected challenger to Ehud Barak for his party’s leadership.
    “We need to move as soon as possible. The only way to guarantee the state of the Jewish people is to move boldly after the US election,” Braverman, the minister for minorities, said in an interview. If Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu missed the opportunity, “Labor will not be in the coalition government. If there are the beginnings of serious negotiations, Labor stays; if not, Labor leaves.”

  93. gbear - November 1, 2010 | 12:07 am · Link

    The Stones are so rich, so removed from real life and so used to unrestricted access to everything, they’ve got to be libertarian. To them, common people are ‘staff’. I doubt they’re concerned whether their tour t-shirts are made in sweatshops or not.

  94. Mark S. - November 1, 2010 | 12:07 am · Link

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    Give Palin a few years. O’Donnell, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be driven by the resentment as much. She seems more driven by the desire to not work for living. She may have hit the big time in that respect.

  95. The Republic of Stupidity - November 1, 2010 | 12:10 am · Link

    @jl:

    And then I remember reading how Hendrix was in love with English Baroque music.

    Awwww geez… isn’t that pretty obvious from the intro of “Burning of the Midnight Lamp“?

  96. DougJ - November 1, 2010 | 12:10 am · Link

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think Mick votes soshulist.

  97. Mark S. - November 1, 2010 | 12:10 am · Link

    @morzer:

    Hmm, that could be big.

  98. morzer - November 1, 2010 | 12:14 am · Link

    @Mark S.:

    We can always hope. It’s certainly more promising than anything I can remember in the last couple of years.

  99. Omnes Omnibus - November 1, 2010 | 12:16 am · Link

    @DougJ: I think so as well.

  100. Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle - November 1, 2010 | 12:17 am · Link

    @jl: Don’t forget, despite his DFH leanings, Neil Young voted for Ray-gun(or at least voiced support for him. And yeah, he’s since admitted that it wasn’t the best idea even though he gave some reason why he kind of admired Ray-gun. Of course, NY has been very anti-Dubya from the beginning. You do know that NY’s fleet of vehicles(including some interesting classics .. and his tour bus) all run on biodiesel or cooking grease, right?

  101. jl - November 1, 2010 | 12:17 am · Link

    @The Republic of Stupidity: No, not really. There were so many bands ripping off Baroque stuff for intros, some critics tried to create a genre of Baroque rock. Maybe everyone who wrote that stuff was seriously into Baroque like Hendrix, or maybe not. I don’t know.

  102. Villago Delenda Est - November 1, 2010 | 12:18 am · Link

    Cyndi Lauper got it right with “Money Changes Everything”. The “conservatism” of the Stones has to do with preserving their pile.

  103. Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle - November 1, 2010 | 12:20 am · Link

    @The Republic of Stupidity: Did you see that kid that was afraid of the camera, about half way through the video?

  104. jl - November 1, 2010 | 12:22 am · Link

    From Richards’ Wikipedia entry:

    “It recently came to light that Richards yearns to be a librarian.”

    From the the reference:

    ” In his autobiography, Life, due to be published in October, Richards will reveal how, as a child growing up in the post-war-austerity of 1950s London, he found refuge in books before he discovered the blues.

    [Richards] has declared: “When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser.”

    Richards has signed up to the Little, Brown Book Group and will share writing duties with James Fox, the author of White Mischief, which charted aristocratic excess in pre-war Kenya. ”

    The Sunday Times April 4, 2010
    It’s only books ’n’ shelves but I like it

    http://entertainment.timesonli.....086815.ece

    I guess I will end up looking at his biography. Sounds like some surprises in there.

  105. gbear - November 1, 2010 | 12:24 am · Link

    @jl: Baroque rock.

    Pretty Ballerina by The Left Banke.

    The anti-Shaggs.

  106. JWL - November 1, 2010 | 12:25 am · Link

    I’m definitely going to read it.

    In (say) 1970, the odds of KR living until 2010 would have been pegged at about 50,000 to one (conservatively speaking).

    The man’s got some stories to tell.

  107. Omnes Omnibus - November 1, 2010 | 12:28 am · Link

    @Omnes Omnibus: John Mortimer of Rumpole fame did a series of interviews with British notables in the 1980s that were published in the book In Character. Jagger was one. Mortimer tried to pin Jagger down on his politics. Jagger ducked a lot of the questions. The closest he came to answering was when Mortimer asked if he would ever do a concert for a politician. Jagger said it had been suggested in the past. Mortimer asked it he would do one for Reagan. Answer: “’Not Mr. Reagan. Naaow.’ The last word was a long-drawn-out murmur of incredulity and derision.” When asked about Thatcher in the same context the response was “Let’s say she wouldn’t ask.”

    FWIW

  108. Omnes Omnibus - November 1, 2010 | 12:31 am · Link

    @Villago Delenda Est: That song is by the Brains.

  109. Redshift - November 1, 2010 | 12:34 am · Link

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: Yeah, I know what you mean. A few weeks ago, we were at my wife’s college reunion, and out of nowhere (no one else was talking politics) this one guy who we barely knew declared that he was conservative and he’d been at the anti-mosque protest, and people said it was about hate, but the only people being hateful were the counter-protesters. Then he tagged along on the college radio station tour (even though he hadn’t worked on it when he was there) and told them that talk radio was really popular, and that’s what they ought to do if they wanted to get students to listen.

    And yet he seemed completely clueless when we did our best to avoid him the rest of the weekend…

  110. Mark S. - November 1, 2010 | 12:44 am · Link

    Just noticed the update: What the fuck was that? Is whipping black women conservative? Is the author aware that the Stones had more than two songs? The Who were Tories? Punk was Thatcherite?

    I think that was the only article I’ve ever read where every single sentence was insane.

  111. JWL - November 1, 2010 | 12:58 am · Link

    Richards was reportedly incensed when Jagger accepted his knighthood (or whatever it’s called when he became a “Sir”). He only cooled off when Charlie Watts told him to forget it, “that a lot of terrible people have been given the award”.

    Or so I read….

  112. Origuy - November 1, 2010 | 1:30 am · Link

    @PeakVT:
    In the 60s, there was a comedy show called Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In. They had a lot of celebrities appearing briefly to say “Sock it to me.” During the 1968 election, one of them was Richard Nixon.

  113. Amir_Khalid - November 1, 2010 | 2:00 am · Link

    I was asking about Keef’s book in an open thread the other day. Now I’m definitely going to get it.

    As for rockers’ politics, it sounds absolutely nuts to assign Brown Sugar or Won’t Get Fooled Again or Taxman — or any song, really — a place on the ideological spectrum. A body of work like Springsteen’s might; but look at Youngstown, where he sings of “the tanks and bombs that won this country’s wars”. Does that make him, or the song, rightwing?

    Rockers are all over the political, ideological and spiritual spectrums, just like everybody else. Rod Liddle is a notoriously reactionary git, and I wouldn’t take him seriously at all.

  114. Cheryl from Maryland - November 1, 2010 | 7:14 am · Link

    Mr. Richards impresses with his wide knowledge of music and his deep understanding of his art. The rest is window dressing.

  115. grumpy realist - November 1, 2010 | 7:36 am · Link

    Talking about the MSM Not Getting It, there’s a long extended whine in the NYTimes this morning about the Stewart/Colbert rally and how irrelevant it is because “nobody knows who Stewart is.” (I also note that they’re not allowing comments on the article.)

    God, they are so clueless….

  116. bjacques - November 1, 2010 | 7:50 am · Link

    @91 jl: I gotta speak up for Chuck D. He is definitely not a Teabagger, or even a firebagger. And he’s still very busy.

    And Sturgeon’s Law applies to rap as it does to just about everything else.

  117. jinxtigr - November 1, 2010 | 10:34 am · Link

    Heh. Springsteen was sort of vaguely libertarian rock and roll transcendence up to Born In The USA, which got hijacked by rightwingers. He tried to avoid taking a position for a while, but called the Reagan Revolution ‘terrifying’ on stage, and as he got leaned on more heavily by rightwingers, took to endorsing union food banks and veteran organizations, which he was very good at. His organization would gather and direct a great deal of attention and support, and onstage he would hammer home the point (even to writing songs) that it wasn’t really a good economy with families starving and out of work- and this is in the 1980s.

    Ahead of the curve. I guess now it’s becoming more obvious to everybody.

    Roger Waters said an interesting thing in a Classic Albums video once- he said everyone’s all socia1ist and stuff until they make a few million dollars, and once you have done that you must understand that that money WILL BE INVESTED no matter what you do with it- and you become a capitalist to try and direct what will happen to it.

    Very intelligent point I thought.

  118. Nellcote - November 1, 2010 | 11:46 am · Link

    circa 2005:

    SWEET NEO CON
    (M. Jagger/K. Richards)

    You call yourself a Christian
    I think that you’re a hypocrite
    You say you are a patriot
    I think that you’re a crock of shit

    And listen, I love gasoline
    I drink it every day
    But it’s getting very pricey
    And who is going to pay

    How come you’re so wrong
    My sweet neo con…. Yeah

    It’s liberty for all
    ‘Cause democracy’s our style
    Unless you are against us
    Then it’s prison without trial

    But one thing that is certain
    Life is good at Haliburton
    If you’re really so astute
    You should invest at Brown & Root…. Yeah

    How come you’re so wrong
    My sweet neo con
    If you turn out right
    I’ll eat my hat tonight

    Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah….

    It’s getting very scary
    Yes, I’m frightened out of my wits
    There’s bombers in my bedroom
    Yeah and it’s giving me the shits

    We must have loads more bases
    To protect us from our foes
    Who needs these foolish friendships
    We’re going it alone

    How come you’re so wrong
    My sweet neo con
    Where’s the money gone
    In the Pentagon

    Yeah ha ha ha
    Yeah, well, well

  119. jl - November 1, 2010 | 1:12 pm · Link

    @bjacques:

    “He is definitely not a Teabagger, or even a firebagger. And he’s still very busy.”

    I know. I was making a joke.


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