Hippity Hoppity

Lately, I've had trouble sleeping at night, and so on occasion I've found myself watching TV late at night, which usually means watching things I would never otherwise watch.  For example, the other night I wasted two hours of my life watching first an episode of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" and then "The Rachel Zoe Project."  Who the fuck are these people?  There is nothing at all real about any of them.  I did like how all the African-American housewives took care to note that there are just a lot more opportunities for African-Americans in Atlanta; I find that amusing since non-Southerners tend to associate the South with intractable racism.  And I've known some women vaguely like some of them, but really, if the focus of your day is how you look, you are not busy, you are not stressed, and you are very shallow and irritating to those of us who have things to do that do not involve makeup.  I don't mean disrespect to women who wear makeup, but seriously?  If that's your entire day?  You need to figure out something productive to do for society or else you need to stop wasting all that oxygen you insist on breathing.  I have to assume for the sake of my sanity that these are "reality" shows in name only and that nobody is actually like that...otherwise, my head will burst into flame.  Spontaneous combustion is so cool.

Anyway, then I also watched the final hour (thus, the final Top 20) of the Top 100 Hip Hop Songs of all time.  I think this was on VH1, which devotes large portions of its programming to such countdowns, apparently.  It was interesting viewing.  Several interesting things came to my attention during this hour:  1.  Whatever you might say or think about Kanye West and however much you might regret this, you can't really help but have a crush on him.  Or, I can't.  It isn't just the argyle, either, though I am a sucker for argyle.  2.  Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" was #1, as I think it should have been, but I thought this was interesting because I have been repeatedly told that liking Public Enemy is, like, so white.  OK, so I'm white, and I like Public Enemy because they're literate, articulate, and ferocious (I'm not trying to perpetuate the black-man-as-aggressive stereotype, but Public Enemy wrote some angry damn music, and with good reason).  I don't really get how that makes it "white" to like them.  Anyway, I was glad to see it at #1.

And the third thing, and I'm not entirely sure what to say about this, is that one of the songs (I think it was one by, um, Notorious BIG?  Maybe?  I was drowsy, and I wasn't familiar with the song, so I didn't pay it proper attention, I guess) led the commentators to make grandiose comments about how this rapper had worked his way into the national consciousness and how the song had, too.  Uhhhhhh...

It take a lot for something to work its way into the national consciousness.  I mean, you're talking about a pretty big, pretty diverse country here, in a lot of ways.  What does it even mean to say that a song or a performer is in our national consciousness?  I mean, there are clearly artists you can make that argument about, but Notorious BIG is probably not one of them.  Public Enemy, probably--there'd be a good argument for that.  Run-DMC, maybe.  Snoop and Dre, quite possibly; I know there were years there where they were at the very least entirely unavoidable.  Ice-T has in some way because of "Cop Killer" and the controversy that went with it. 

And I think to me, that's the point.  If something is truly a part of our national consciousness, then that thing is unavoidable in some way.  Familiarity with it (not to say enjoyment of it, which is a separate thing) crosses subcultural lines, crosses generational lines, and it sticks around.  I mean, "Gin and Juice" is still, all these years later, as present as it ever was (I don't like Snoop Dogg at all, but I find that song utterly infectious and impossible to ever really be free of--I'd even go so far as to say I like that song, but that would violate all my principles as an anti-Snoop).  None of Public Enemy's songs were really quite that catchy, but "Fight the Power" still carries a relevant message delivered in a powerful way; it hasn't diminshed over the years.  Ditto "Straight Outta Compton."  These are songs and performers that have in some way worked themselves into the national consciousness.

But, frankly, I only ever heard of Notorious BIG, just like I've only ever heard of this Fifty Cent character.  I find their music not only forgettable but avoidable.  Perhaps it would be less avoidable if I lived in an urban area, but out here in the boonies, man, it hasn't entered our consciousness at all.  I only listen to Kanye because I saw him in argyle once and was intrigued.  I lived in the boonies when some of the other Top 20 hip hop songs came out, though, and I can attest that when a song is really unavoidable, it's unavoidable out here, too.  There was no escaping "Push it Real Good" or "Baby Got Back" or Run-DMC's classics, especially "Walk this Way" of course.  There was no escaping "Parents Just Don't Understand" either, but, sadly, that didn't make the Top 20, even though Will Smith's career has far surpassed Flavor Flav's at this point (I feel so bad for Flav every time I see "Flavor of Love" is on...please, someone, find the man some love and get him off that shitty show...he's Flavor Flav, for fuck's sake, shouldn't he have some dignity???)

In fact, I would go so far as to say that MC Hammer is more a part of our national consciousness than Notorious BIG ever was or will be. 

Anyway, I was reading an online music review site a while ago, too, that suggested the same thing about Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl."  That it was a part of the national consciousness.  I'm not sure how that could possibly be true, since I don't think I've ever even heard it, and I'm quite certain most of the people I talk to on a daily basis don't know that song, either.

This is all just to say that I think some people get overly inflated ideas about the importance and relevance of the music (and movies...and books) that they like.  Country music is still the biggest selling genre overall in America, and there are still more country music radio stations than any other genre.  You may not like that, but that's a fact.  I suppose that's why everybody is making "country" albums these days--Jessica Simpson, Kid Rock, even Snoop Dogg himself, that bastard.  Yet you don't see most country stars on the covers of People and Us, even though arguably more people know and listen to Kenny Chesney than to almost any other working American musical artist.  We who listen to country music don't sit around pontificating about how Kenny Chesney has worked himself into the national consciousness, although judging by sheer numbers, he has.  Garth Brooks certainly did; so did Johnny Cash, though most people only jumped on the bandwagon once Rick Rubin entered the picture.  There are others, of course:  Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn (at least at one point--she was on The Muppet Show once, for example...oh, and then she did do a mindblowingly great album with that fella from The White Stripes), Willie Nelson, The Dixie Chicks though unfortunately more for their politics than for their music...yet country music is really the one kind of music that the kind of people who make pronouncements about our culture don't seem to feel a need to take seriously, certainly not to the point where they would suggest country artists who have entered the national consciousness. 

Meh, anyway, fight the power, people.  Also, don't watch after-midnight television because it will bruise and batter your soul.  For the record, I'm not a big Kenny Chesney fan.  I like some of his songs, though, like the newish one he has out with The Wailers.