memorial day: reznor is a weenie, but gets some points
Music: Love and Rockets: Love and Rockets I know this is unfashionable, but Andy Rooney's editorial on Memorial Day totally rocked. I love that old grumpy guy. I regret I fall prey to CBS sentimentality every now and again (but never ever ever Touched by an Angel.
Speaking of CBS: Viacom, (who owns MTV as well as CBS and a litany of other stations) partly controls the illusion of choice. I was surprised to learn, then, that executives at MTV "expressed discomfort" with Reznor's plan to play "The Hand That Feeds" (a critique of U.S. imperialism in the middle east) in front of an image of George W. Bush. Apparently, after MTV expressed their concern Reznor pulled out of his band's appearance at MTV's "Movie Awards" program. Regardless, not two hours ago I saw a commercial on MTV advertising NIN's appearance on the show.
A brief aside: Reznor's new buffness annoys me. I recall, fondly, picking Jay Hamm up for school in my pearl-colored Volkswagen beetle at the age of 17, and I had a "Die Yuppie Scum" bumper sticker. I remember it was a cold morning in January and the engine had not heated up well enough. "Dude, this shit rocks," Jay said, and he crammed NIN's Pretty Hate Machine into the tape player (CDs were just catching hold). On the ride to school I fell in love with NIN, feeling every adolescent thought on that album deeply-that Reznor was my brother. I remember (with some fondness and some guilty) taking someone's virginity to that soundtrack. Pretty Hate Machine is not the best album, but I cannot hear it without hearing me-at 17. Us skinny suburban white boys who were not athletically inclined and sort of dug wearing eyeliner and skirts ate it up. And Reznor was "like us." Now he's all beefcake and shit. Eww. And his music is, well, progressively beefy like that too. Homology: it's pernicious, no?
Ok, so, enough of the nostalgia. Anyway, I'm surprised that Viacom and MTV balked at the apparent political polemic of "The Hand that Feeds." Really. Marketing choice is owning BET as well as SHOWTIME and CBS. What's wrong with airing something Lefty? It's still an illusion statements can be made; you'd think MTV would be all over it.
With Teeth is not a great album. Reznor is a one trick pony, and I think he finally played it to death with The Fragile. He really needs to do something unpredictable and less safe (track eight on the new album tempts it-it's quite gay and 80s and totally the sort of thing he needs to let loose on). The album has grown on me, admittedly, but his lyrics really CRY for sophistication. I'm not 17 anymore (neither is he, though his recent recourse to the bench press makes me wonder). Nevertheless, the decision to "pull out" of this gig is perhaps the best political statement he could have made. It's certainly much better than going through with the gig; had that happened, it's just another flavor among Vicom's roll of lifesavers.