Stop doing that crime!

[vovat]

Last night, bethje and I watched a whole bunch of stuff she had taped over the course of the past few weeks. This stuff included:

• A special on skinheads. At one point, one of them claimed that Hitler said he would rise from the grave in spirit. Now, I'm no Hitler expert, but that really doesn't strike me as something he would have said. As incredibly distrubing as the devotion that so many people had toward him during his lifetime was, I don't think he was deified back then, was he? And speaking of deities, one of the skinheads was praying to Odin.
  
• A special on the KKK, which had some interesting information about the group's history. It's really messed up how accepted their ideas used to be, but that goes without saying, doesn't it? One thing they mentioned that I don't recall hearing much about in the past is how the Klan claims that they want to protect women.
  
• A special (notice a trend here?) on cocaine, including a fair amount on how Freud once saw it as a miracle cure.
  
• A clip of Bill O'Reilly discussing Rush Limbaugh's recent run-in with Customs, in which he was very careful not to say that the drug Rush had was Viagra. One of his guests spilled the beans about halfway through the segment, though.
  
• A preacher telling kids how, if Jesus could endure the crucifixion, they can endure being mocked for throwing out their secular CD's and refusing to watch movies with their friends. (The "God does not want you to have outside interests" philosophy has always baffled me, but I see mentions of it every once in a while.) During his sermon, key words (like "crucifixion," "endure," and "spit") flashed up on a screen behind him.
  
• An episode of Kids Against Crime, a public service program from the mid-nineties that they show on the religious station even though it doesn't mention God. (That preacher probably would have warned kids against watching it, due to its secular nature. :P) This is one of the most padded shows in existence. There was a brief clip of Hulk Hogan and Mr. T promoting it, which they played three times. And footage of kids in a classroom being directed by Meadowlark Lemon to say things like, "You guys don't have to do that crime" was played twice. Unique footage for this episode included a juvenile court judge who repeated himself a lot, and special guest appearances from Todd Bridges and Hammer (during the period after he'd dropped the "MC" from this stage name).
  

Comments

[travspence.livejournal.com]

Hitler did have a strong interest in the occult. I'm not sure that he really said he'd rise from the grave but it wouldn't surprise me.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3014581497309209211

[revme.livejournal.com]

Kids Against Crime is AWESOME.

Also, I like how Superman brought down the KKK. Did they have that story in there?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

No, no mention of Superman, as far as I can recall.

[revme.livejournal.com]

AH, it's AWESOME. I think it's recounted in Wikipedia, but basically, on the Superman Radio Show, the writers came into contact with some of the Sekrit KKK Meeting Jargon Stuff, which is basically all really really silly, as sekrit society jargon mumbo jumbo typically is. So, in a story arc, they had Superman infiltrate and bring down the KKK -- using all the REAL stuff that went on. People heard that, and were all "Bahahahh, that's the KKK?!" and the KKK went from being a big, forceful, powerful organization down to a few die hard loons.

Also, I got Hello Radio today.

Um, it sucks.

Pretty damn hard.

Frank Black's cut is good, though. But for most of the non FB folks, it seems the recurring theme is "Not actually really listening to the lyrics". There seems to be a lot of Lyrical Changes, but of the sort that really change/color the song differently than what it's about -- not _quite_ "Freedom Of Choice Is What You Got/Freedom Of Choice Is What You Want" levels, but enough to make me cringe. And the "Deputy Dawg Dawg A Ding Dang Depadepa" part is just embarrassing in the "This Radiant Boy" one.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

That Superman thing IS awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

They did mention in the documentary how the KKK basically started out as sort of a fraternity, and it wasn't until later that they started committing acts of terrorism.

That Superman thing is really cool, by the way. I'm going to have to look that up sometime.

Do you have examples of any of the lyrical changes on Hello Radio?

[revme.livejournal.com]

Going from memory, here, but in "Narrow Your Eyes", they change up the "Split the side off the bed" in a really weird way that makes it not really make sense, and in the first chorus, they change it from "and narrow your eyes" to "so narrow..." which, like I said, is sort of a minor change but it changes the intent of the lyrics a bit (and also, doesn't make much sense). Also, in Don't Let's Start, it's changed from "I could believe for all the world..." to "You believe..." (not to mention that the aforementioned "Deputy Dawg..." part is replaced by just gibberish, which COMPLETELY changes the meaning of the song....)

There's a few others -- it almost seems that most of the tracks have one or two of those tweaks that end up changing the meaning of the lyrics a bit (but it could just be that I'm too close to the source material and end up having analyzed the way the lyrics go together too much and whatnot). Though, in the Plus Column, Frank Black does re-add the Lost Verse of Road Movie. Also, his is one of the best cuts.

The main problem, though, is that 99% of the tracks turn them from TMBG songs into Bland, Generic Indie-Rock Songs That Sound Like About A Billion Other Bland, Generic Indie-Rock Songs, Only With Strangely Familiar Lyrics. It's sad.

...also, in the copyright notiice, as there are no liners, they misspell Flans' name.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, the Johns have frequently forgotten or replaced their own lyrics. I know there was at least one occasion where they replaced the "Deputy Dawg" part of "Don't Let's Start" with the alphabet pronounced as a word (from a Big Bird segment on Sesame Street. Then again, as far as I know, these were all temporary memory lapses or jokes in live performances, not actual studio cuts. Well, there IS the case of how the lyrics in "Au Contraire" were switched around for the studio recording in a way that doesn't make much sense (why would it be raining on FDR's parade to tell him that his tie and hat DON'T clash?), but for all we know that could have been done on purpose.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

--Well, there's nothing so impressive about rising from the grave IN SPIRIT, Herr Hitler, any common ghost can do that. Actually, though I know about Hitler's occult obsession, it doesn't sound like something he'd say, really. He'd more be inclined to want to find a way to STOP from dying in the first place. Although someone should have told him that suicide's bad for that.

--the real problem with throwing out all secular media is you'd be left with just well-meaning crap and Veggietales. Veggietales being that which is NOT crap. I don't know why the Veggietales people are the ONLY religious, um, mediamakers (for lack of a better title) who seem to have figured out that it takes more than a Positive Message to make quality entertainment. And yeah, then there's that point that just because something isn't overtly religious doesn't mean it hasn't GOT a positive message that complements religious teaching. :) Say, I wonder if these folks consider Narnia secular?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

And yeah, then there's that point that just because something isn't overtly religious doesn't mean it hasn't GOT a positive message that complements religious teaching.

There's also a fair amount of ambiguity when it comes to what, exactly, counts as "secular." I'm sure there are bands that consider themselves Christian, but not every song they do is about Jesus. On the other hand, there are musicians who don't seem to be particularly religious, but have been known to do songs with religious themes. And there are extremists like Jack Chick who think that ALL rock music, even Christian rock, is the work of the Devil. I think some of it comes down to my oft-repeated statement that LIKING a song (or other entertainment medium) doesn't mean you have to AGREE with it, with the corollary that, if your convictions and beliefs are turned upside down by a song or TV show, there's a good chance they weren't that strong in the first place.

[bethje.livejournal.com]

I don't know what cwime is.