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WritingsHere's a bunch of articles/essays I've written - hope you like them!Ten worst pop stinkers ever Turning Rebellion Into Money? To what extent was punk rock an expression of dissent? Woodstock Movie Analysis Ten worst pop stinkers everI wrote this in response to a list published in a major New Zealand magazine. It was published, despite its unusual format, in February 2002. I was quite stoked. If you have any suggestions for other worthy additions, please send Feedback.Even though the enjoyment of a pop song is highly subjective, depending on the listener's age and cultural background, the list "Ten Worst Pop Music Stinkers" (February 16) is indefensible. A rough distinction between good and bad music can be made where good music is inspired and reflects genuine emotion, while bad music is formulated with one eye on the bottom line. As Ian Anderson states, "a lot of pop music is about stealing pocket money from children." Bemusingly your list ignores the 1990s, surely the source of more inane pop music than any other decade, and includes several songs which are genuinely inspired. Stevie Wonder's 'Isn't She Lovely' is a spontaneous expression of fatherly love; only a heartless listener would remain unmoved by the song's pure exuberance. It is difficult to deny the profundity of the lyric "the tyranny of distance" in Split Enz's 'Six Months In A Leaky Boat,' a concept reinforced by the poignant piano coda. It seems that your list is intended to provoke reader response, therefore here is my list of the ten worst pop stinkers ever. They are all awful, so there is no point in putting them in order. 'Lady in Red', by Chris de Burgh. If this song was an article of clothing, it would be a big girl's blouse. 'Have You Ever Loved a Woman', by Bryan Adams. Adams adds a country flavour, which only exacerbates his heinousness. 'You are the Sunshine of My Life', by Stevie Wonder. How can you single out 'Isn't She Lovely' for criticism over this piece of sentimental schmaltz? 'I'll Be There For You', by The Rembrandts. "It's like you're always stuck in second geeeeeeeeear/When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your yeeeeeeeeear." 'Dance All Around the World', by Blerta. A mediocre song is ruined by an awful poem in the middle. 'Michelle', by The Beatles. A mediocre song is ruined by an excursion into French. 'Silly Love Songs', by Wings. The elected representative for the electorate of inane love songs. 'Song Sung Blue', by Neil Diamond. An attempt at a singalong anthem that ends up forced and irrelevant. 'Song for a Future Generation', by The B-52s. A standout among legions of bad novelty songs: "let's meet and have a baby now." 'Barbie Girl', by Aqua. An even worse novelty song, featuring the profound lyrics "come on Barbie, let's go party." Yours Sincerely Graham Fyfe Turning Rebellion Into Money? To what extent was punk rock an expression of dissent?I wrote this for my history course in 2000: I think the word limit was a little restrictive, and I've listened to a lot more punk/new wave since I wrote it, but I still got an A for it. I haven't included sources because I don't want anyone stealing the whole essay, but if you're doing some research for a similar project and want to know some of the sources of information, feel free to contact me through the Feedback page.The popular image of punk is typified by the character Vyvyan, played by Adrian Edmondson, on the BBC television series The Young Ones. Vyvyan dresses in leather, has metal studs in his forehead and over the course of the series randomly destroys the flat that The Young Ones share. Vyvyan's actions appear to follow the manifesto communicated by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols in 'Anarchy in the UK'; "Get pissed, destroy.1" Yet punk music was not about meaningless destruction and chaos; although it did have violent elements associated with it, as well as theatricism derived from the art-school backgrounds of influential punks. Equally, and more significantly, punk was an echo of the failed counterculture of the late 1960s; it was idealistic, and sought to create a better environment, or at least create hope, for British young people who wanted to enter the workforce at a time when unemployment and pessimism were increasing. If Britain had been prosperous and successful in 1976 there would have been no punk, or at least punk would have had no resonance.2 Musically, the punk rock style originated in New York as a response to the failure of the counterculture. Groups played simple, raucous music, celebrating elements of popular culture that the counterculture along with sophisticated members of society rejected, such as junk food and B-movies. The originators of the style were the New York Dolls who played hard, nihilistic rock, which documented the change in mood from sixties naivety to seventies cynicism. By 1975 there were a number of musicians all following the do-it-yourself aesthetic derived from the New York Dolls and insecure, realist lyrics derived from Jonathan Richman. This diverse group included poet Patti Smith, Talking Heads and The Ramones. Punk, however, failed to gain more than cult acceptance, because America was too affluent at the time to relate to the anxiety expressed in the lyrics.3 In 1972 the New York Dolls toured Europe. While in London, they visited "Let It Rock," a clothing boutique managed by entrepreneur Malcolm McLaren. Impressed by their attitude, McLaren became besotted by the group and their "inverted aesthetic,4" which he perceived as being "so awful5" that it became "magnificent.6" McLaren had grown up in the fifties, obsessed by the evil image of London's Teddy Boy gangs and raw rock music. During the Paris protests of May 1968 McLaren was an art-school student and was involved in a parallel sit-in in London. Inspired, he joined a situationist gang, King Mob, based on a combination of French revolutionary theory and slogans, and popular culture. King Mob indulged in petty acts of situationist sensationalism such as an instore anti-Christmas protest where the members distributed toys straight from the shelves to children. The gang was disbanded, however, when it was outmoded by terrorist groups the Weathermen and Baader-Meinhof, who were provoking larger headlines in the late sixties. Instead McLaren began forming an ideology, based on his art-school background, that a musical group could use to impact on society. He first attempted to implement his strategy in 1975, when he briefly became manager of the disintegrating New York Dolls, giving them a provocative Communist image while the United States were still involved in Vietnam. "Not for the first time, Malcolm McLaren went too far.7" 8 While in New York, McLaren left behind a young rock band, tentatively named the Sex Pistols, that he was assisting with colleague Bernie Rhodes. This group originally consisted of Steve Jones, whom McLaren met while apprehending him for the theft of clothing from the shop, and his friend Paul Cook. The pair had been systematically stealing musical equipment with the intention of forming a band for several years, including a BBC studio drum-kit, guitars from Rod Stewart's mansion and the PA system and microphones from a David Bowie concert. McLaren had teamed Cook and Jones with his Saturday shop boy Glen Matlock, who came from an affluent suburban background and was a competent musician. Upon McLarens return to London the first public punk manifesto was issued, in the form of a T-shirt produced by the shop, which listed elements of society the ideology found acceptable (IRA terrorists, working class heroes) and those it did not (faded rebels, repressive institutions).9 The T-shirt summed up a feeling of discontent in England, particularly among youth. England was faced with a falling GDP, largely the effects of repayment of the loan incurred during the Second World War, a fall from the ranks of world super-powers, and high youth unemployment. Callaghan's socialist government lacked strong leadership, and by nature did not pre-dispose the IMF towards helping with the financial crisis. The language used in the media reflected a sense of apocalypse, as did the public feeling as evidenced in journalist Jon Savage's diary entry for 2/12/75; "London suburbia: sterility - cynicism, boredom ready to spill into violence; incipient right-wing backlash. Fuck London for its dullness, the English people for their pusillanimity and the weather for it's coldness and darkness.10" This environment was perfect for punk to develop; Bernie Rhodes states "I was listening to the radio in '75, and there was some expert blabbing on about how if things go on as they are there'll be 800 000 people unemployed in 1979, while another guy was saying if that happened there'd be chaos, there'd be actual anarchy in the streets. That was the root of punk. One knew that.11" An especial area of discontent was Notting Hill, a multi-racial suburb of London. Notting Hill became known for anarchist activity, racial protest and squatters.12 John Lydon, the oldest child of an immigrant Irish family, was squatting in Notting Hill in late 1975. Looking back on the situation in BBC documentary series "Dancing in the Street" Lydon comments "All my life I was told I would never amount to very much because of my social status.13" After leaving school, his jobs included rat poisoning in London's sewers and working part-time at a kindergarten. Rhodes met and recruited Lydon in August 1975 when he came into McLaren's shop with a Pink Floyd T-shirt "with the words "I hate..." added above the group's name.14" Lydon was auditioned by miming along to a jukebox in a pub, and was accepted into the group where he was renamed Johnny Rotten. The Sex Pistols played their first show on 6 November 1975, and their radical image and approach quickly attracted media attention. In February 1976, the New Musical Express ran an extended article entitled "Don't look over your shoulder, but the Sex Pistols are coming.15" The article included a defining comment from Steve Jones; "Actually, we're not into music. We're into chaos.16"17 From this auspicious beginning both McLaren and Rotten worked on developing the group's image further. Then music journalist Jonh (sic) Ingham, comments about McLaren "I admired him immensely because he'd seen how to package the frustration I'd been feeling for a couple of years.18" By this time, the influences that McLaren sought to weave into his group were late-sixties radical politics, sexual fetish material, pop history and youth socialism. Savage writes that McLaren had two intentions; to "act out his fantasies of conflict and revenge on a decaying culture,19" and to sell lots of bondage trousers. McLaren had named his group with the most ridiculously offensive name he could think of, which also served to promote his shop, now renamed 'Sex.' Later, in the film 'The Great Rock and Roll Swindle,' McLaren would claim that the Sex Pistols were a prank to show how easily the public could be manipulated. Salewicz comments that "what happened in London in 1977 can seem like an art-school version of May 1968, with events whipped up by an adept agent provacateur.20"21 However, as Marcus writes "the Sex Pistols were a commercial proposition and a cultural conspiracy, launched to change the music business and make money off the change - but Johnny Rotten sang to change the world.22" This began with writing lyrics for the songs the Sex Pistols were learning. In his autobiography, Rotten claims that he was solely responsible for the groups lyrical radicalism, and that the rest of the group did not agree with his stance. "Quirky little pop songs was what they wanted. You should have seen their faces when I slapped down the lyrics to "Anarchy in the UK." It was classic. I wish I had had a camera.23" The lyrics that he wrote were not intended to be destructive but to awake Britain from a stupor; "You don't destroy things offhand and flippantly. You've got to offer something in it's place.24" A clear utopian strand was inherent in Rotten: "We want chaos to come. Life's not going to get any better for the kids or the dole until it gets worse first.25" Disaffected youth related to Rotten's views and he found himself the figurehead of a new musical movement. McLaren may have created publicity, but Rotten's realism and charisma were the reasons for the Sex Pistol's resonance and therefore success.26 As the Sex Pistols gained notoriety, McLaren took more responsibility for them, leaving Bernie Rhodes in limbo. He decided to form a band to rival McLaren's, eventually with Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and singer Joe Strummer. Rhodes encouraged his group, the Clash, to write about reality. This was made possible on 30 August 1976, when Strummer and Simonon became involved in the Notting Hill riot. They joined in the brick-throwing at the policemen; Simonon still enthused about the event in an interview a decade later. The incident channelled the disparate energies of the Clash into a political whole; Jones' indoctrination of anti-authoritarian rock music, Strummer's experience in society's underbelly, Simonon's former football hooliganism, and Rhodes' situationist theories. The experience led to Strummer and Jones writing the group's first single 'White Riot.' Soon afterwards 'Career Opportunities' was written about Jones' coercion into opening suspicious mail for his employer British Mail during the IRA letter bombing campaign because he looked subversive.27 A number of other youths were following the example of the Sex Pistols and forming bands. Notable punk groups of the time included the Damned, the Jam and the Buzzcocks. The movement was abetted by fanzine Sniffin' Glue which worked to build solidarity between the groups and present a unified front. This was not effective; as Salewicz writes "everyone seemed to play this particularly petty game. The-Jam-slag-off-the-Clash-the-Clash-slag-off-the-Stranglers-John-Lydon-slags-off-anyone-he-can-think-of-everyone-slags-off-the-Police.28" The Police were the particular object of antagonism, consisting of three ageing pop musicians who pretended to be punks to secure a record deal. Similarly untrue to the perception of punk as rebellion were the Jam, who were managed by leader Paul Weller's father. Weller states that much of punk was similarly unrebellious, commenting that while Rotten was genuinely working-class and angry, the punk scene as a whole was actually elite and art-school based. However, he also states that there was a positive correlation between genuineness and success.29 A central tenet of punk was that it represented life as closely as possible; songs that were unrealistic were irrelevant. Freedom of the individual was another important tenet: the teenagers whose clothing mimicked Johnny Rotten did not realise that a central concept of punk was individuality. Strummer states that he became a punk after watching the Sex Pistols and admiring their stance; "We don't give a toss what you think......this is what we like to play and this is the way we're gonna play it.30" David Byrne of punk band Talking Heads, who sounded nothing like the Sex Pistols, comments that punk was not a musical style, but an attitude. Along with freedom of the individual was the belief that one only had to have ideas to communicate to become a musician; no virtuosity was required. Notable punk journalist Caroline Coon wrote in 1976; "When, for months, you've been feeling that it would take ten years to play as well as Hendrix, Clapton, Richard.....there's nothing more gratifying than the thought: Jesus, I could get a band together and blow this lot off the stage.31" Along with this came the rejection of apathy; youth had no reason to be bored when they could go out and form bands.32 In the freedom of the individual, punk can be seen as a continuation of the counterculture. In comparison punk was more energetic and violent, but this was largely shaped by environment rather than differences in inherent philosophy. The biggest influence on the form punk took was the drug of choice (or default, as it was cheap), speed, which kept users on edge and awake. In comparison, marijuana was a relaxant. Both the counterculture and punk aimed to bring a more utilitarian society as a response to the failure of material culture, although neither was pragmatic. Punk, however, seemed more willing to work within a capitalist structure than the counterculture. Accordingly, a strong leader could have saved England from punk in 1976; one of the themes of punk, especially the Clash, was the decline of England. "This is England?" questioned Strummer, "The land we're supposed to die for?33" Punk felt that the government had failed and that something needed to be done to wake England from stupor. Hence, punk was not rebellion for rebellions sake, although the rebelliousness attracted fans; Wellington media personality John Campbell explains his teenage punk obsession as "middle-class designer angst.34"35 Although punk was political it was not aligned to a particular party. By nature it was closest to anarchism due to art school origins. McLaren, however, is solitary in destructiveness; while his objective was simply to disrupt the current system, the younger punks were more idealistic and wished for a more utopian society, although they had no concept of how the utopia would be formed. Later, punk would become moulded into various political forms: most notably Rock Against Racism, which opposed the National Front. Hebdige argues that the involvement in Rock Against Racism steered punk from a degree of nihilism and racism to a healthier left-libertarian multiculturalism, although it was more the perception than the reality that was changed. Part of the perception that punk was fascist came from the practice adopted by punks such as Sid Vicious and Siouxsie of wearing swastikas. However, wearing swastikas had little to do with fascism: instead it was the erosion of meaning, a disgust with everything. It should also be remembered that many of the punks were straight out of school; Weller was 19 when he made a controversial statement about how he was bored with punks default left-wing stance, and would be voting Tory in the next election.36 In late 1976 Mick Jones commented to a journalist that the punk scene was exciting, but "when it gets popular it's going to get really stupid.37" This process occurred on 1 December 1976, when the Sex Pistols made an unscheduled appearance on Bill Grundy's Today show, which screened at 6pm. Grundy knew nothing about the group, and attempted to make the show interesting by encouraging the group to act outrageously, and flirting with a member of their entourage. When Steve Jones, assuming that he would be edited, responded with a stream of expletives, the Sex Pistols entered the nation's conscience as public enemy number one; "a mixture of Genghis Khan and Satan.38" The Daily Mirror headline the next morning read "The Filth and the Fury," and contained the story of how a 47 year old lorry driver kicked his television screen to maintain the innocence of his eight year old son. From that point, the Sex Pistols in particular and Punk Rock in general lost the focus and creative energy that it had, and become a show piece for the media to feed on. Steve Jones reminisces "The music went out the window. It was more like what outrageous thing are they going to do next?39" On the following Anarchy tour, Jones and Cook were approached by tabloids and encouraged to do some damage to the hotel they were staying at. The tabloids had compensated the hotel in advance. The pair uprooted one plant in the lobby. The next day the Daily Mirror reported "The four-man Punk Rock group wrecked the lobby of a luxury hotel, uprooting ornamental plants, hurling plant pots around the room and scattering soil over the carpets.40" The continuing scandals would be largely the responsibility of McLaren as he sought publicity for his group and his shop.41 Along with publicity came the dilemma of whether signing to major record companies contravened the punk ethic. Most of the major bands including the Sex Pistols and the Clash did, justifying themselves by statements such as "there's no point screaming to the converted....We wanna be heard, fuck being a cult.42" On the other hand independent punk band Crass, who operated similarly to a political party, issuing texts and with a clear "radical anarcho-pacifist, anarcha-feminist43" agenda, refused to sign to a major record company because their principles would be violated. The Clash would regret their decision as, among many disputes, CBS released a weak song as a single without their permission. In an attempt to be thrown off the label, the Clash retaliated with 'Complete Control': "They said we'd be artistically free when we signed that piece of paper/They meant let's make a lot of money and worry about it later.44" The Clash also felt that CBS were attempting to muffle their rawness; "They're training us to take a helicopter to the supermarket.45" The Sex Pistols were more successful in alienating labels. Their second, A&M, paid them 75 000 pounds to leave after a drunken meeting where Sid Vicious smashed a toilet bowl and Steve Jones propositioned secretaries in the women's toilets.46 Punk also faced communication barriers from censorship. The Sex Pistol's single "God Save The Queen" was released just before Jubilee week, when Queen and country celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of her ascension to the throne. Rotten's lyrics attacked the monarchy ("the fascist regime") as unnecessary, his view being that supporting the Monarchy made Britain inefficient. The song had already caused contention among the group, when Matlock protested against it on the grounds that his mother disapproved of it. Matlock was replaced by the late, and extraordinarily musically inept, Sid Vicious. The song was banned on almost every radio station but, due to the widespread publicity the Sex Pistols had received, was selling well. Worried that the song would reach number one during Jubilee weekend, the authorities changed the chart rules for the week so that the shops that were likely to be selling the most copies of the single were excluded. The Sex Pistols were present at number two as a blank space. The song was the rallying point for those who disagreed with the Monarchy, as there was otherwise unanimous support for the celebrations despite economic problems and growing nationalist movements in Wales and Scotland. Johnny Rotten was successful in expressing a collective thought; as he states "the record of course took off. It was bound to because so many people felt the same way.47" To add to the publicity, McLaren hired a riverboat to sail the Sex Pistols down the Thames two days before the Queen was due to. The river concert was forced to stop when police boats arrived.48 Jubilee weekend marked the high point for punk in terms of exposure. From this point on, punk faced added repression. Their continued media presence meant that the Sex Pistols were well known faces, while their notoriety meant they would rarely play concerts in England again. In the fortnight following Jubilee Weekend both Rotten and Cook were attacked by Monarchy supporters. Despite that the attacks were violent and unprovoked, police refused to press any charges against the attackers. Both the Sex Pistols and the Clash were arrested frequently between 1976 and 1978 and found themselves under constant police surveillance. During Clash rehearsals in early 1978, Simonon and new drummer Topper Headon tested an air rifle on some nearby pigeons. The police had already been warned that the Clash were present in the rehearsal rooms, and arrived in force with helicopters and the CID. The police had assumed that the "anti-establishment" band were indulging in terrorist activities and shooting at trains.49 At the end of 1977 the Sex Pistols were nominated as "Young Businessmen of the Year" by financial press in honour of McLaren's media manipulation and the sales that it had generated. The group, however, was losing unity and Sid Vicious was a heroin addict. Despite this, the group left for America to play a series of concerts in the deep south. The tour was a disaster, and Lydon left the Sex Pistols at the conclusion when McLaren announced his intention to take the group to Brazil to work with Ronnie Biggs who was part of the Great Train Robbery. By this point McLaren had lost touch with reality, still under the belief that he was the main impetus behind the group. Surprisingly, he was partially vindicated as he continued to milk money from inferior Sex Pistols recordings featuring Sid Vicious.50 Perhaps every punk group lost their impetus after one successful album, because that success took them away from the reality that punk attempted to describe. In addition to this, punk as an artform had a limited palette of sounds and subject material that the artists could work with: in his review of the Clash's inferior second album, Savage wrote "It's hard when you define a period so accurately.51" Strummer agreed, likening the Clash's live sound to "a mad seal barking over a mass of pneumatic drills.52" The symbolic death of punk was on February 2 1979, when Sid Vicious died of a drug overdose. The saga of Vicious had raised much moralising amongst conservative society about punk, although Vicious' problems were primarily due to an obsession with rock stardom, which most punks shunned. Vicious, a school friend of Rotten, had started as an ardent punk fan , but he developed a heroin habit, and was imprisoned after the death of his girlfriend. The death of Vicious was significant as a signal that failure was inherent in punk.53 Disillusioned with police harassment and aware that punk was in its last throes, the Clash launched their social protest in another direction. Simonon explained this in 1980: "we realised that if were a little more subtle...we might reach more people.54" The next single the Clash released was 'London Calling,' an apocalyptic vision inspired by the threatened nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island. In it the group disavowed any responsibility to lead the punk movement: "London calling, now don't look to us/Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust55." In the accompanying album of the same name and its follow up "Sandinista!" they explored many left-wing issues such as anarchic archaism in 'Spanish Bombs', pacifism in 'The Call Up', and loss of revolutionary fervour in 'Clampdown' and 'Death and Glory' ("Every cheap hood strikes a bargain with the world/And ends up making payments on a sofa or a girl56"); and pledged their support to the recent Nicaraguan revolution and hostility to US international intervention in 'Washington Bullets.' Other former punks such as Elvis Costello and The Jam were also successful for several years in expressing left wing dissent once outside the periphery of the narrow style of punk. In other words, many of the ideals of punk were left intact despite the demise of the musical style.57 At this point, however, Margaret Thatcher was elected as Prime Minister of Britain. Given rising unemployment, a controversial war in the Falklands and a government that actually was oppressive, in comparison to the socialist government, there should have been plenty of ammunition for punk to continue with strongly. Instead, it was as if Thatcher had too much authority for anyone to oppose. This was illustrated in 1985, when the Clash reformed without Mick Jones in an attempt to return to fundamental punk. Unemployment was still rising, and a 1984 miners strike ensured there was plenty of scope; indeed as Gray states "the Clash of '76 had managed to generate a righteous anger and capture the imagination of the nation's youth on less fuel than this.58" The resulting "Cut the Crap" found Strummer unable to recapture the edge that the Clash once had. The only song of quality, or of dissent, on the album is "This is England," where Strummer writes of himself as an outsider, unable to re-incite the riot and only able to contemplate the ruins. "This is England.....Land of one thousand stances.59" The artistic failure of "Cut the Crap" saw the Clash disintegrate. The only punk band to survive this period with dignity were the Crass who were unaffected by changing musical styles, and continued to produce aural dissent such as 1982's "Sheep Farming in the Falklands."60 The 1990s have only seen an even worse effort at maintaining the punk ethic by the Clash and the Sex Pistols. Both groups have unabashedly sought to make money from their groundbreaking efforts earlier. In 1991, Mick Jones agreed that the song 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' be used in a Levis jeans commercial, resulting in the first number one single for the Clash, and violating punk principles of creativity and idealism over commercial exploitation. Even more ironic given the Clash's anti-American intervention stance was when, during the Gulf War, the first song played on the Allied Forces radio network was the Clash's 'Rock the Casbah.' Meanwhile in 1996, John Lydon was again Johnny Rotten, and he, Matlock, Cook and Jones were on the 'Filthy Lucre' tour, with the sole aim of earning from nostalgia. The Sex Pistols now indulged in the activities Rotten had criticised twenty years earlier.61 Despite current failings, punk has had a significant impact on Western society, although not necessarily where it was intended. On a purely musical basis, punk injected new life into rock music, and many popular bands of the last twenty years such as REM, U2, Nirvana and Pearl Jam have been noticeably influenced by punk. Punk served to advance the acceptance of social equity; for possibly the first time in a cultural movement women were treated equally, although the most high profile punk musicians were male. Coon states that this was demonstrated by the fact that "Rotten had his safety pins holding his clothes together! No more women's work!62" Notable female punk musicians included Patti Smith, The Slits, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads. Punk also had an impact of racial tolerance, most notably in Rock Against Racism. Punk was in fact intertwined with black protest music: initially it derived radical influences from reggae as during the punk era, Jamaica was in the grasp of revolution. Many punk bands worked with Jamaican producers, most notably the Clash with Lee "Scratch" Perry, and the influence was reversed with Bob Marley's "Punky Reggae Party." The next wave of musical dissent was rap, which punk helped to promote: the Clash recorded rap songs and invited rap artists to open their concerts.63 Punk was a bizarre synthesis: an equal mix of art-school theatricism and genuine anger and dissent. This impurity of origin did not necessarily diminish the impact of punk; as Marcus states "for every third-hand pose, there was a fourth hand pose that turned into a real motive.64" For a brief moment punk threatened to have a revolutionary impact, just as the counterculture had in the previous decade. In 1977, a Clash supporter rang the group to invite them to join the opposition to the National Front march at Lewisham. The group refused because they were having their hair done, to the caller's dismay: "I can see now that it's ridiculous to expect a band to behave like a political party, but I think a lot of people did then.65" That the moment failed to succeed was not surprising; the death of Vicious indicated that punk did include self-destructive tendencies. Punk never expected to have a revolutionary impact, it was simply a forum for dissent, providing hope for young people where the system did not. Furthermore the movement was not unified, and Lydon, punk's most prominent spokesman accepts that the movement was misdirected. While the socialist government of the time was not functioning effectively (Lydon: "We were blaming the wrong people66"), the presence of the Sex Pistols and their contemporaries advocating an even more radical more form of left-wing politics, mixed with unsavoury elements such as violence and aesthetic unattractiveness served to scare the British public into restoring tighter control; "In our own way, I suppose, the punks absolutely guaranteed that Margaret Thatcher would take over.67" Despite its unconventional origins and unusual form, punk shares a trajectory in common with many other contemporary movements of dissent. Punk was responsive to outside influences: the oppressiveness of government and economic welfare. In the 1990s punk suddenly became popular in America, where it had failed to take root fifteen years earlier. As Lydon states "It's not a music for the over-privileged.........as their economy's going down the toilet they're turning a definite eye towards punk. Now they get it.68" Woodstock Movie AnalysisI wrote this for my history/film course in 2000 and I got an A-; my marker said it was good, except that I relied too heavily on Ebert. Again I haven't included sources because I don't want anyone stealing the whole essay, but if you're doing some research for a similar project and want to know some of the sources of information, feel free to contact me through the Feedback page.The documentary Woodstock1, released in 1970, portrays the music and arts festival of the same name which took place in upper New York State over four days during August 1969. The 1960s had been a tumultuous time for the United States. Significant events of the decade included the Civil Rights Movement, the assassination of President Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Less than a month before Woodstock Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Opposition to the Vietnam War had polarised much of the population, and was a large factor in the development of a counterculture, where young people rejected the way of life of their parents, and instead developed an alternative viewpoint where the values of their parents, such as the importance of attaining a respectable job and 2.4 children were not prioritised. Some of the impetus for the counterculture came from new societal developments such as the increasing availability of recreational drugs and contraception, and the growth of new types of music that were in touch with this change and often had lyrics inspired by the use of recreational drugs ("Semolina pilchard climbing up the Eiffel tower.2"). Inherent in the counterculture was a desire to return to a simpler way of life, less dependent on technology and more in touch with nature. The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival is often viewed as the culmination of the changes of the 1960s, a temporary return to Eden for three days. Woodstock was originally carefully planned with the intention to raise money for a new recording studio, with many of the famous musicians of the era paid to perform. When twice the number of people than was intended arrived at the festival, the small town of Bethel was stretched beyond capacity, and a disaster area was declared. The organisers were unable to control entry to the festival, and it made a substantial loss, but also gained symbolic status; as the event grew out of control, a spirit of peace and love was maintained. Woodstock was intended to help recoup the losses made by the festival, and original cinema audiences paid twice the ticket price of a usual first run film. (Although Woodstock is twice the length of a usual film.) Originally the movie came from more pure objectives: director Michael Wadleigh and producer Bob Maurice decided at the last minute that Woodstock would be a significant moment. A production team was rapidly hired on the basis that if the film was released they would receive double payment, while if the project did not go ahead they would receive nothing. The team came away from the festival with 120 miles of footage, which was edited into a three hour film by a team including chief editor Martin Scorcese. Given the circumstances, the precise organisation involved in the filming is impressive: the film crews do not appear in the movie at all.3 The film was part of several major trends in film-making at the time. It was part of a group of documentaries in the late 1960s and early 1970s that were commercially successful. Other documentaries of the same era include Blue Water, White Death and Salesman, as well as several documentaries focused on rock music, such as Monterey Pop, Don't Look Back and Gimme Shelter. At the same time movies were changing to convey different messages: since the 1920s, movies had generally carried simple, conventional and moral messages. By the late 1960s, movies such as The Graduate, Easy Rider and Woodstock were reflecting the values of the new counterculture, with explorations of violence, sex, and political and social issues.4 Because Woodstock was released shortly after the festival, there is no opportunity for Wadleigh to put the event into perspective. Many of those present at Woodstock genuinely believed that they were present at the most important event in American history, which would herald in a new spirit of fraternity: "Defense Attorney: "Where do you live?" Abbie Hoffman [sixties revolutionist]: "I live in Woodstock nation." Defense Attorney: "Will you tell the court and jury where it is?" Abbie Hoffman: "Yes, it is a nation of alienated young people. We carry it around with us as a state of mind, in the same way the Sioux Indians carry the Sioux nation with them...."5 While most of the people interviewed in Woodstock are not so forthright, it is clear that there is one unanimous perspective: that the young people can envisage a new, more humane society, and the festival is a microcosm of that society. For example, a group of swimmers are shown naked, and not self-conscious: "Man, a year ago I never would have believed this was the way to swim. But, man, this is the way to swim," a young man comments.6 Wadleigh had previously displayed his ideological viewpoint in his 1968 film No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger but the format of Woodstock does not allow for blatant propaganda. Woodstock does not have a narrative, but is constructed solely from footage from the festival. (Roger Ebert: "It gives us maybe sixty percent music and forty percent on the people who were there, and that is a good ratio I think.7") This format may seem as though it does not allow Wadleigh any opportunity to state his own ideological view, but the unanimous nature of the festival itself means that Wadleigh's viewpoint is conveyed: he shares, or at least admires, ideals of utopianism and pacifism with those at the festival. The festival was such a successful showcase for the counterculture that this is not surprising, although one critical view states that this was because the festival was so drug saturated: "it is hard to riot when you can't determine whether you're staring down at your own wiggling toes or a nest of vipers.8" Ebert writes that Woodstock was, in effect, a peace rally: "without the war to polarise American society, these 400 000 people might not have felt so much in common.9" Wadleigh may have felt that it was not commercially prudent to criticise Vietnam directly, and protest in the form of a music documentary would be much more effective.10 The absence of a narrative does mean that the film is more objective than it otherwise could have been ("in Woodstock he [Wadleigh] is a reporter, not a commentator11"), but Wadleigh's ideological view is clear: he supports "the kids." At several points in the movie the film crew are offered marijuana, and at one point they accept. Interviews are conducted with the townspeople, some of whom support the festival ("Kids are hungry, you gotta feed 'em," or "It's a big shot to Solomon county business-wise.") and some who justifiably do not. ("We lost all our milk....Our fields are cut up.") The interviews, however, are not conducted with neutrality. The farmer who is justifiably angry that festival participants are trespassing on his fields is shown in extreme close up so that he looks unpleasant. Barsam states that "they [the townspeople] are generally so predictable in their responses that they have little or no effect on the main idea behind the film.12" On the other hand it should be noted that the interviewers also mock some of the younger participants at the festival. When one young man, apparently with a female companion, expresses excitement at the carnal possibilities at the festival, he is asked "Isn't that like taking your own coals to Newcastle?" Sympathy and respect is shown towards the man who cleans the portable toilets ("Port-a-Sans"), who speaks about how one of his sons is at Woodstock, while the other is flying helicopters in Vietnam. The makers of Woodstock are also able to convey their ideology through the songs that they choose to incorporate into the film. This is supported by Michael Lang, the organiser of Woodstock, when he states near the beginning of the film "music has always been a major form of communication. Now the type of music and the lyric is a little bit more involved in society than it was." The scene for the festival is set by Canned Heat's Going' Up The Country. The music is upbeat and contains lyrics such as "where the water tastes like wine.13" At the same time crowds of people arrive happily: lots of children are shown, and a group of nuns give the peace sign. As the song ends, the crowd dance, silhouetted against the dusk. A feeling of innocence is evoked, to show the purity of the festival and those involved. Many of the songs are in response to Vietnam. Crosby, Stills and Nash's Wooden Ships contains a contrived dialogue between two soldiers of opposing sides who are reconciled : "I can see by your coat, my friend, you're from the other side14" Later, during the line "horror grips us as we watch you die,15" the camera pans from a prison to a picture of Jesus attached to a lamp post, a symbol of the martyrs in Vietnam. A more ironic view of Vietnam is expressed by Country Joe in his song "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die-Rag." The makers of the film obviously felt that the song was important, as it is the only time that sub-titles are used, to highlight the already blatant lyrics: "Come on all you big strong men Uncle Sam needs your help again He's got himself in a terrible jam Way down yonder in Vietnam Put down your books, and pick up a gun We're gonna have a whole lotta fun And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for Don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Vietnam And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates Ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die....... Come on mothers throughout the land Pack your boys off to Vietnam Come on fathers don't hesitate Send your sons off before it's too late And you can be the first ones on your block To have your boy come home in a box.16" One former GI noted "It gave me the ultimate vent to all those feelings of idiocy and lunacy about the whole war.17" The movie shows the crowd singing along in solidarity. Similarly as Richie Haven's anti-war set gains momentum the whole audience slowly rise to their feet and clap along. The penultimate song of Woodstock is Jimi Hendrix's version of the Star Spangled Banner. Due to rain delays, Hendrix performed his set the morning after Woodstock was scheduled to finish, so that only a small crowd remained to witness his performance. At the time his performance was attacked as a desecration of the national anthem, although it is hard to detect anything but concentration and perhaps reverence in his face. One writer comments that "Jimi Hendrix's screeching electric version of the "Star Spangled Banner"....constituted a radicalsubversion of an 'Amerikan' symbol, and numerous rock bands supported the demonstrations and radical dissent of the young by singing their approval in songs reflective of antiwar attitudes and violent action.18" Ebert, however, looking back at Woodstock twenty-five years later states that he considers Hendrix's version "the most stirring version of the song I have ever heard. Hendrix tortured his electric guitar to create the sounds of bombs bursting in air, as they were at that moment in Vietnam." As Hendrix concludes his set, the camera shows the last people sorting through the muddy remains of Woodstock as they leave the site: one couple tries on a pair of shoes. Then, as Hendrix leaves the stage, the editors insert a pan shot of Woodstock taken from a helicopter. The time flow is reversed so that the field fills with people again, possibly the largest crowd ever assembled. The crowd noise builds up, then suddenly stops as the shot ends. The shot is replaced by green fields, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's Woodstock is played on soundtrack, a celebration of the festival. The song reinforces the central themes of Woodstock: pacifism ("and I dreamed I saw the bombers flying shotgun in the sky, turning into butterflies above our nation19") and utopianism ("We are stardust...we are golden, caught in the devil's bargain, and we got to get ourselves back to the Garden.20") The makers of Woodstock employed editing techniques that had only recently been developed. Most significant was the flat bed editing table which allowed up to six separate visual and sound tracks to be edited together. Woodstock is almost the only documentary released that uses the technique of multiple images on 70mm film. This made it easier for the editors to compress 120 miles of film into three hours, but also enabled them to give a more intimate representation of the atmosphere at Woodstock. For example, during Santana's set, three different shots are shown in montage. The middle, largest shot, shows Santana playing a guitar solo. The two identical shots on either side show a bespectacled girl respond to Santana's playing. At the beginning of his solo her face has a woebegone expression, but as the music intensifies she breaks into a smile and her facial expressions mimic what Santana is playing. Later the camera returns to show the girl dance exuberantly. Images are often juxtaposed for effect: the crowd pass around joints of marijuana and a bottle of wine, while a policeman sucks an iceblock.21 Editing is also used to accentuate certain moods in Woodstock. When Joan Baez plays her simple heartfelt music alone with an acoustic guitar only single shots are used, with low key lighting. A lot of the time the shots are close up, and expose her as vulnerable and nervous. In comparison, her set is followed in the movie directly by hard rock band The Who. Their music is much more vigorous than Baez, and this is reflected in the editing techniques that are used. Montages of shots are used to show different members of the band at the same time, and the composition of the montages vary quickly between one, two or three different shots on screen at once. Mirror shots are also used to increase the impact of the performance. As Ebert states: "the thing about this movie, somehow, is that the people who made it were right there, right on top of what the performers were doing.22" It is also noticeable that the performers are not acting for the cameras, but play reasonably spontaneously and not altogether professionally. Havens stops to tune his guitar on film, while Baez spontaneously begins to sing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot during her performance. Even though the musicians were paid large amounts of money it seems that they feel that they are part of Woodstock Nation.23 Although Woodstock is divided into three days and a fourth morning like the festival itself, the order in which the events and acts appear in is quite different from the actual schedule. While Richie Havens was the first performer and Hendrix was the last as shown in the movie, the remaining acts and events are shown in a significantly different order. Instead of chronologically the bands are organised according to theme: the songs concerning drugs are placed together, the folk-singers are placed together, and the black performers are together at the end. The editing is done in order to provide a more logical progression to the movie and to give a sense of the scope of the festival, rather than to provide a strict chronological account. It is also interesting which musicians are selected to appear in the movie: prominent artists of the era such as the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and the Jefferson Airplane are omitted from the unedited version. This was due in part, however, to difficulties with record companies, and what remains gives a reasonable cross-section of who played at the festival. By genre, Woodstock is an event film, where the structure is dictated by the event which is being filmed. An interesting comparison can be made between Woodstock and Gimme Shelter, a film that was also released in 1970. Gimme Shelter documents the Rolling Stones' 1969 tour of America which culminated in the Altamont tragedy. The group decided to hold a free concert on December 6 as a publicity exercise. Twenty four hours before the concert was due to take place the group was forced to change venues to the Altamont speedway. The site was under provisioned, and the Hells Angels had been hired to take care of security in exchange for $500 of beer. The concert ended in tragedy when a young black man was beaten to death by the Hells Angels. As a result Gimme Shelter serves as a natural counterpoint to Woodstock: "Woodstock is a film about love, music and fun: Gimme Shelter records hate, music and horror.24" At the time of Woodstock it seemed that the peaceful spirit that had pervaded the festival might spread across the country. Altamont ended that hope.25 The counterculture faded after 1970. As the Vietnam War wound down there was less of a division between the old and the young, and less reason to protest. Furthermore, "economic recession signalled that affluence could no longer be assumed and induced a certain caution among the young.26" Altamont had also served to sour the dreams of the counterculture, as had the deaths of prominent members Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. Woodstock, therefore, serves as a unique capsule of a mind-set that, thirty years later, is difficult to comprehend. Wadleigh's ideological viewpoint on the festival does not seriously affect the movie: his viewpoint is aligned with those who were present, and the spirit of Woodstock is captured. The film is meant as a celebration of the festival, and as that it certainly succeeds. Actually, as one reporter comments, many of those who were at Woodstock would actually see the performers properly for the first time at the movies. The movie is a fascinating and accurate account of Woodstock, with amazing technical accomplishments in video, audio and editing. As Ebert states, "what other generation has so completely captured its youth on film, for better and worse, than the Woodstock nation?27"28 |
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Written 2001-2009, Graham Fyfe
