2001-01-07

um, ok, the day is new years eve... again. this is what creative monkey had to say:

2000-12-31

i was thinking:

eminem is playing on a co - workers computer. now i listened to that album and was profoundly impressed. He is a damn fine improviser, amazingly clear and expressive. he is bending the form (rap)to his own experiences. with impunity. it's catchy and populist. he deserves the praise he's getting.

but, the message. what is the point? of ranting on about killing women, getting your dick sucked by everyone you 'hate', self-perpetuating, self-endless ego stroking? He is absorbed in his own world. Which i don't mind, because its so good. So polished and edited. The ranting is a result, a pressure valve going off. the artist as warning sign that something is askew in this modern fast-paced life. "till i'm ripping my hair and i'm tearing it out..." he reflects.

and i think about the greeks, and the golden era of sophocles and euripedes. and the decline that followed. I bet the plays that never made it to the printing press (that is the 95 % of them that the Roman Catholic Church decided to ignore and thus destroy forever in the libraries of Alexandria), the plays done after Sophocles' and Pericles' time, were something akin to this Wild ranting man Eminem. And post-punk Rock in general, if i may be so bold. What is the state of the artist in this post glory days, post man - on - the moon America?

S/he, succinctly put, is a burn-out. A rebel. (without much cause). Artists don't regularly flourish and reach maturity in the mid 30's any more, prepared to go on into a long life of well-paid and respected commisions. They don't have the longevity of Botticelli, Leonardo di Vinci, Michealangelo, Beethoven, or even Picasso (some say the last of the 'Old Masters').

there is a heavy connection, i'm convinced, between the so- called decline of the western civilization (this post-modern, post-punk, post-60's revolution, no-name period that we've been floundering in) and the burn out and fade away artist.

in a sense, we want the new, the instant gratification of the next best talent. In music, especially, so identifiable with the 'rebel' the 'rebellion', sex drugs and rocknroll. Nigger music, adopted and interpreted by the master whitie. (Indeed the first to do this well was declared 'the king'). I digress.

We use up our artists, have about as much respect for them as for the 'guests' on the Jerry Springer show. They are gone in a year or two. burnt up. the artistic talent that they displayed wasn't nurtured. We don't provide a nurturing, AGORA - type environment. (like the Greeks in their golden age)

To consider what i mean, think about the support and love we gave the beatles when they arrived in America. Now That, my friends, was love and acknowledgement of the artist. Not that that i'm saying it was good, or putting a value judgement of any kind on how we treat our artists. Our rebels. It all came out like it was supposed to. How else were it to happen? Could there have been a different 'result' of the 60's mini-revolution, somehow a way in which we were still a society bloomed and steeped in peace and love? I doubt it.

And any way, i guess the artists in the music biz (and any biz -- tv's for example), have the problem of how to create the new rebel. a Rebel that is well-skilled in irony, of course. Ready to recreate him or herself at every turn. Madonna comes to mind. Beck. The Beastie Boys. Whitney Houston. SaltnPeppa. Micheal Stipe.

Artists like eminem, while Certainly no less artists, seem to be destined to burn out on negative vibes. They are fighting the world, their record company, their fans. Such a struggle can only end a career early. Eminem knows it; too: "ill be the only one in the nursing home at 30 ...".

i give much respect for eminem, kurt cobain, (maybe even spice girls ...?) for their immediate and capable rise to artistic prowess. But the real question is; where do you go from there? Once you've found the world at your feet and your talents?

The calm and honesty with which the positive artist goes about perpetuating themselves, year after year, is an example to the rest of the Western world! Sure, 15 minutes of fame. Andy Warhol said we all deserve that. the point is to move on and not perpetuate that old, out-of-date, wonderfully romantic notion of the 'rebel'. I think it is something of an Eastern, zen approach. We all need to relax and think about the void!