Snap, Crackle, and Popular Culture

Twelve year olds are hiding their piggy banks because of a scary story their parents told them about a poor uncle named Sam. These children don’t know who this long lost uncle is, but they know they owe him money and at the same time they don’t know why. 

This is the danger of listening to sensationalist parents and this is the same problem that caused the red scare. Tea Party Protests are the new trend and these protesters consist of several categories of people.

First there is a category of people who are for the implementation of the Fair Tax. The Fair Tax is a radical tax renovation that completely eliminates Federal Income tax, Estate tax, and Inheritance tax, and replaces it with a system that disenfranchises the poor by creating a Federal Sales tax. 

Next are the people who just don’t like anything Obama does. We will call them the “Bandwagoneers.”

Then there are the pseudo intellectuals who for “historical, social, political, and economic” reasons are protesting the current tax system. We can call these people the “Beck’s” after their pseudo intellectual founder, radio talk show host, and television personality, Glen Beck.

Additionally there is the group of college students who think they are making an “important social statement for their generation.” They aren’t. We will include 12 year olds in this category. Because both 12 year olds, and college students don’t pay any tax other than sales tax (which is regulated by the states, and not by the Federal Government). We will call this group, well- fuck it, we don’t need to call this group anything because they don’t belong at any protest unless it has to do with some liberal agenda. The protest de jour. These are the victims of Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy.

Finally, there is the group of people who have the most legitimate reason to protest- these are the people who are just simply fed up with our class structure. This is because their money is being used as toilet paper in lavish bathrooms in the houses of CEO’s who not only don’t have a grasp on reality, but they don’t have a job either. And this is probably the only thing the protesters and former CEO’s have in common, they are both jobless.

But, the one thing all of these groups have in common is that none of them appear to understand anything about a modern tax system and all of them are quick to believe anything they hear which seems to be “intellectual” and simultaneously “subversive.” Do the research, the contemporary tax structure is represented by historically low figures. 

There is no end to this post, because there is no end to this mind-set. The Fair Tax will never work, and coincidently neither will anyone who earns over Fifty million dollars per year.

Tomato, Tomata… du Plenty and how history tells the story of, well… history in ‘Population: 1.’ Rotten Eggs found as Easter Sunday corresponds with escalated incidents of domestic violence but this can be taken care of by preparing for spring with neon fashion. 

You don’t know jack about Punk Rock and Roll. I can tell you this with certainty because I just recently found out that I know absolutely nothing about Punk Rock and Roll. Tomata du Plenty is dead, but he knew everything there was to know about the nothingness that is Punk Rock. This is evidenced by his role as lead vocals in The Screamers. 

 Population: 1 is a film that came about as a reaction to a fall out that Malcolm McLaren had with the director, Rene Daalder. Du Plenty took advantage of the situation, seized the moment, donated his apartment for a little over a year as the prop set, and became a star of a movie that no one was going to see, or hear of for over twenty years, which is almost ten years after du Plenty’s death.  

I didn’t like this movie, as a movie, and there is no reason why you should like it either. But, you should respect this film not for its dead-end cinematography, but because it is one of the few video memorials of a guy who was able to condense one hundred years of American history in less than eighty minutes, and tell it with style. [Oh, it is also the precursor to MTv.]

Style!? As it would seem, fashionistas have run out of new ways to puppet people so they reinvented the next best thing. Between 1983 and 1993, what I can only refer to as the “Totally Neon Craze” swept youthfulness, decreased accidents in the evenings involving pedestrians and anything motorized, and allowed parents to find their children with ease. Well, now it’s back- and it is being sold to you at a mark-up. I digress… Back to the movie.

The movie, as a movie, is encapsulated in that hideous cliché term: “experimental.” And while, yes, this is true, Population: 1 tells the story of an individual who is the “sole” survivor of nuclear fall-out (ok, now I understand the fluorescent craze). This individual, du Plenty, retells American history through 80’s iconography, transient music, and an interpersonal love story.  Our narrator/singer covers inexplicitly: Manifest Destiny, the advent of literary icons who captured the “American Dream” such as Mark Twain and John Steinbeck, the great depression, prohibition, taxi dancers, and more.

Du Plenty knew what he was doing even if the director’s didn’t. Critics have likened the style of the cinematography to the cult favorite Dr. Caligari (1989) staring Madeleine Reynal. Though the only problem is Population: 1 was finished about two years before Dr. Caligari and thus inspired prehistoric MTv design.

For our purposes all can be avoided (including nuclear catastrophe) by wearing scrunch socks and watching Population: 1. 

Candace Kucsulain can probably beat you up. Don’t be upset, because despite her beauty, she can probably beat up most men, or this is how it seems after listening to her scream her heart out in Walls of Jericho’s newest album, The American Dream.

Although the title lacks some originality, Walls of Jericho makes it up with twelve tracks of heart stomping hardcore. The vocals are androgynously powerful, and Chris Rawson & Mike Hasty’s guitar riffs are beautifully in sync.  If you listen carefully enough, Dustin Schoenhofer’s drums perfectly buttress the power that comes out of this band.

But back to the title, because that’s what really is irking the fuck out of me- The American Dream. What about it? I am unsure of the purpose of the title of this album (and that’s a lot of of’s). To raise awareness? Agitate people? Make a historical statement? My uncertainty led me to investigate the names of the songs on this album as well as the cover art:

1. “The New Ministry”- Is this a political statement in reference to the Obama administration? Was WOJ Pro-Bush? And if they were, I will be the first to say that is not only commendable, but it is the second most important reason why you should purchase any CD this band releases. But this track in and of itself is more of an overture, or an exposition into the rest of the album.

2. “The Prey”- Are they referring to people as sheep? Consumers as sheep? Fans, sheep? Who is the prey, and why are we preying on them, or them on us?

8. “III. Shock of the Century”- “…Your time is up nowhere to run, nowhere to hide…” Ok, I think I get it, they just might be referring to former President Bush, which means they are probably not Pro-Bush, and this is a big disappointment. This is a big disappointment for the following reasons: 1. It is at this point where Hardcore now has become a movement for masses, and no longer a counter-culture because hating Bush is consistent with majoritarian views. And 2. It makes WOJ just like all the rest. FUCK- WHERE IS THE UNIQUITY? In their Music.

I am not going to analyze the title of each song, because taken together, I still don’t get it- but if you do, please let me in on the secret. Maybe the key is in their lyrics… I think that is like looking for a needle in a haystack. This is the problem with a lot of contemporary hardcore bands who plausibly try to make a sociopolitical statement. The problem being, there is too much convolution in the music and unless you attend a show where the artist openly preaches to the audience, their message seldom gets the point across. And by chance if it does get the point across, it is because of one of two reasons: 1. The band was actually successful in sending the message and recipients were successful in receiving it, or 2. Listeners already had a preconceived notion of what message they were supposed to get by listening to the music which was coincidently synonymous with the collective intent of the band. I find that I fall somewhere in the middle. That is, I think I understand what they are trying to get across, and I think I understand their preconceived notions about political and social reality. Furthermore, this means I am either the biggest moron, or a genius.

The album art is grim, just as you would expect on almost every hardcore album. Traditional doyles which appear on American paper money, stars, and uncharismatically, they eye of providence appears. It is an unfortunate statement to make, and it is contrary to Candice’s lyrics from Revival Never Goes Out of Style off of their 2004 album All Hail The Dead- “now we finally have a voice and no one fucking says a word.”  I just can’t agree with that statement, because you are saying something, I just don’t know what.

But, rhetoric aside, WOJ’s music is the pinnacle of their success, not their message- whatever that message may be.  Often times it is hard to distinguish one hardcore band from another and WOJ has set themselves leagues apart from the rest. I know what to expect when I listen to a WOJ record and that is because they have a unique style. Most hardcore band’s don’t. WOJ is for hardcore what The Voids did for punk rock in the early 80’s.

WOJ says something more about hardcore than their lyrics will lead you to believe. WOJ says that hardcore has become all too common, hardcore has become a trend, and that trend has a lot of followers that don’t belong. I don’t care if this is an arrogant comment for me to make- because in the scheme of things, Hardcore is arrogant, and now hardcore is bourgeois.

Purchase The American Dream Here - Via Trustkill Records

Thank you to Trustkill Records for asking me to write this review.