The Record Of the Month

03/10/2003 English German

Edition # 43
San Francisco, 03-10-2003

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The Record Of the Month

Michael Anyone who follows the music scene closely will not be surprised by this month's choice: Of course, "Mary Star of the Sea" by "Zwan". What, who?

Figure [1]: Mary Star of the Sea

Oh well, "Zwan" is indeed the reincarnation of Billy Corgan, the head of the "Smashing Pumpkins." I was very sad when they broke up and even went to one of their last concerts in Berkeley (a certain Mr. Speck was there and can testify!). Really a great band. This guy Corgan, of course, is a genius, perhaps, and I am not afraid to say it, of the caliber of John Lennon.

The new record needs to be listened to about 20 times, then not only the chart hit "Honestly" fascinates, but every other song on it as well, when you dive into the Corgan universe. A milestone! I hope the man never stops writing music. By the way, the next single to be released will be "Baby, let's rock," and as always, you'll read about it first in the newsletter.

The most embarrassing favorite song of mine this month, by the way, is "In da Club" by "50 Cents". I've watched the video at least 100 times on MTV. Of course, on TiVo, which records the daily "MTV Wakeup" so that I can stay in touch with the youth even as an old geezer. Angelika always freaks out when hip-hop sounds echo through the living room: "When I pull up out front, You'll see the Benz on Dubz, When I roll 20 deep it's always drama in the club ..." -- but it's really good, no kidding!

Figure [2]: Bad Uncle '50 Cents.

When I bought the record, I was surprised to find that the corresponding line is quite different: "When I pull up out front, you see the Benz on Dubz, When I roll 20 deep, it's 20 nines in the club," which means that the Mercedes driver and all the other gang members are illegally bringing 9-millimeter guns into the club! For those interested, here is an excellent translation of the not entirely family-friendly song (for which you also need to understand American slang well to avoid misunderstandings): www.citay.de.

Also, the word 'nigga' is constantly used. I need to elaborate a bit on this: About 150 years ago, when slavery was still practiced in the USA, it was common to contemptuously refer to black people as 'niggers.' Nowadays, this is a slur so severe that it cannot even be said in jest or when quoting someone else. As a white person, in such a situation, you would say: 'He said the N-word.' Make no mistake: In the USA, there is no shortage of vulgar expressions, the caliber of which would cause sheer horror in Germany. As I have mentioned before in Rundbrief 07/2001, it's explosively funny to call someone a 'Nazi' when they strictly adhere to stupid rules.

And typically, people from lower social classes pepper every other sentence with a bad word for which there is no proper German translation. However, calling someone a "nigger" is absolutely taboo for everyone--racists are not well-regarded in the USA either. While Americans tend to be quite indifferent and deliberately look the other way when someone is shouting or otherwise losing it, there is suddenly a reaction from otherwise lethargic people when a racist remark is made. On the "Caltrain," I once witnessed an entire train car full of people booing a drunk person because he said "Go back to China" to an Asian woman.

On the other hand, it has become common in the last 15 years or so for black people to refer to each other as "niggas." It's not refined; this word would not be uttered by anyone in a high position. However, you encounter it frequently in street or gang dialects. As a white person, though, you can't use it.

It is common practice for record companies to release toned-down versions of songs with offensive content or lyrics with bad words, so that "clean" channels like MTV can play them. If there is no cleaned-up version, the songs, as previously explained in Rundbrief 12/2000, are edited with masking bleep tones before broadcasting, or certain parts have been muted while the music track continues to play. The record with the original songs then carries a small sticker with the inscription "PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPLICIT CONTENT" ("We alert parents to explicit lyrics"), as you can see in Figure 2 at the bottom left.

In America, the First Amendment with "free speech" does apply, but radio and television stations are censored due to an agency called the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), which has full government support.

From gangsta rappers to the Gulf War to the likely next bombardment in Iraq: Mr. and Mrs. America are shown a Disneyworld parody of reality on television. Clean green-blue flashes in the night sky to eliminate the "axis of evil," and polished videos of rappers who are actually incompatible with the government for mass entertainment. The circle closes.

Greetings from the glued-together country

Angelika & Michael