Since I was 14 years old I’ve been watching the YouTuber The Amazing Atheist, also known as TJ, now known as Into The Fray on YouTube. I consider him to be one of my influences politically and as a writer. I loved his rants on politics and I like that he’s a leftist who isn’t always the most politically correct. I don’t really care so much about optics or language. What matters most to me is what someone’s heart, character, and opinions on social justice issues are. Some people talk the talk, but they don’t walk the walk. I’ll always pick the politically incorrect jokester who sincerely supports human rights over the person who knows the de rigeur language but is completely performative and doesn’t care about human rights.
It’s the same reason I love the classic rock era so much, especially the 60s and 70s. It was a time when anything goes and artists were renegades and pushed the envelope. Song lyrics, movies, and comedy were raw and real and weren’t afraid to go against the grain and challenge the status quo. I love movies like The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Taxi Driver, Pink Flamingos, A Clockwork Orange, and anything by directors like Ken Russell and Russ Meyer. Heck, even after that, I loved Tropic Thunder, Ace Ventura, Harold and Kumar, Anchorman Austin Powers, Zoolander, White Chicks, 40 Year Old Virgin, Borat, Ali G, Beavis and Butthead, South Park, Family Guy, Chappelle’s Show. Growing up in the early 2000s, I remember the sense of humour still had that 70s edginess and these days you see OG YouTubers getting called out for bad taste jokes. I love comedians like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and Richard Pryor. People may complain about songs like “Lola” (*cough* *cough* Moby, who isn’t even trans getting offended on behalf of trans people) or “Walk on the Wild Side”, but people change and a lot of progress has been made in the last 50+ years, so of course language is going to evolve and change. There are elder trans people from that generation who appreciated those songs and movies like Rocky Horror Picture Show because even if they were imperfect, they finally felt seen. Trans punk rocker and friend of The Kinks Jayne County has said that she liked the song “Lola”. Ginger Coyote, another trans friend of The Kinks has said that she liked “Lola”. Mind you, both of those songs were written by bisexual men. If there wasn’t any social progress, then I’d be concerned!
Lately, TJ’s rants have been spot on and I especially loved his rants on “degeneracy” and “problematic art” and the ethics of supporting it. I think these videos are ones you should watch consecutively because the topics go hand in hand and you can relate both to classic rock.
Throughout human history there have been generational divides with the older generation criticising the youth, calling their interests and subcultures vapid and blaming them for societal problems. Those with their brains still stuck in the Victorian/Edwardian eras made fun of the Flappers. In the 1940s people made fun of bobby soxers, calling the phenomenon “a mass sexual delirium”. In 1958, Elvis famously stepped away from the spotlight to enlist in the Army. All of these things were considered degenerate by the conservative minded older generations, who often hypocritically are okay with the pop culture and subcultures of their youth. I mean, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley had a beef and Sinatra said this of Elvis:
“My only deep sorrow is the unrelenting insistence of recording and motion picture companies upon purveying the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear. Naturally, I refer to the bulk of rock and roll.”
Elvis clapped back:
“If I remember correctly, he was also part of a trend. I don’t see how he can call the youth of today immoral and delinquent. It’s the greatest music ever, and it will continue to be so. I like it, and I’m sure many other people feel the same way.”
If you watched the 2022 Baz Luhrmann biopic Elvis, you’ll remember the scene where he does his “suggestive” dance moves and almost gets into legal trouble, until Colonel Tom Parker asks the government to draft him into the Army instead of any legal action. He gets stationed in Germany and that’s how he met a 14-year-old Priscilla, whom he married in 1967 when she was almost 22 and he was 32. And we’ve got a problematic fave, oof!
While Elvis didn’t really do much songwriting or playing an instrument, he had a great voice and was an incredible performer and style icon. Even if you’re like me and you prefer other rockers of the 50s like Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Buddy Holly, you have to respect and appreciate the influence Elvis Presley had on rock and roll. He was a music video pioneer. Before everyone wanted to be The Beatles, everyone wanted to be Elvis. Around the world, you have different countries’ answer to Elvis. The French had Johnny Hallyday. The British have Cliff Richard. Part of that reason is Elvis didn’t play in other countries all thanks to The Colonel, who kept making excuse after excuse and kicking the can down the road. He was just afraid of losing Elvis and him “getting ideas” since he couldn’t leave the country because he was an illegal Dutch immigrant. Still, Elvis Presley was loved all over the world, influencing musicians everywhere and brightening people’s days.
For decades Elvis Presley was beloved. In more modern years, his legacy has become tarnished because of the big controversy: the age gap between him and Priscilla. It’s like that one meme goes with the elephant in the room, address me. Now I see people calling Elvis a groomer and dismissing his music. A 24-year-old Elvis befriending a 14-year-old Priscilla is straight up wrong, it’s creepy. No way around it. Priscilla says that she and Elvis did not have sex until their wedding night. She’s never seen herself as a victim. I think we need to centre her voice and her perspective in this situation, that was her life. I can imagine it’s complicated and she is actively involved in Elvis Presley Enterprises, of course she’s going to have an interest in maintaining his reputation. She’s still alive and it’s not right for us to project our views onto her or try to act like saviours. Unless you’re the one in the situation yourself, you don’t know everything, and it’s a different perspective. I’m saying all this as someone who has been groomed online and for years I didn’t see myself as a victim and I used to see the person who had done that to me as a friend.
If you’re not comfortable listening to Elvis for that reason, fine, you do you. But I don’t think that people who listen to Elvis endorse every single thing he’s done. If you listen to Eric Clapton, does that mean you’re racist? If you like Morrissey, does that mean you share all of his views? Of course not! It’s ahistorical to pretend like these musicians didn’t exist and their music was no good and had no positive impact on people.
Think about it. Of all the products you’ve bought, books you’ve read, movies you’ve watched, plays/musicals you’ve seen, and music you’ve liked, can you really say that every person involved (and there’s a lot of them in things like movies and plays) in the creation of those things is squeaky clean and totally wholesome? Very unlikely. Even Disney movies have had problematic people working on them. I mean, I’ve literally written a book called Crime of the Century: Classic Rock & True Crime where half the chapters are about musicians who have killed people. I’ll admit it. I like a lot of those musicians. Joe Meek and Phil Spector were brilliant, pioneering producers. Little Willie John (probably framed) made some amazing music, like I love “Fever” and The Beatles have covered “Leave My Kitten Alone”. I love Rick Stevens’ vocals on Tower of Power’s “You’re Still a Young Man”. Marcus Malone had a lot of influence on the improvisational approach of Santana songs like their cover of Babatunde Olatunji’s “Jingo” and their original instrumental “Soul Sacrifice”. Chances are you’ve probably heard and liked a song Jim Gordon’s drummed on.
If you want to get into musicians who got into car accidents where there was a fatality, Keith Moon, in my opinion is still the best rock drummer of all time. Without Keith Moon, we wouldn’t have Neil Peart. Every good drummer respects Keith Moon. That tragic accident in Hatfield, where Keith Moon accidentally ran over Neil Boland started a spiral that led to Moon’s death at 32. He felt so guilty after that night out gone wrong and his drinking would become more and more out of control. He blamed himself every day and even offered the Boland family money to look after them. Keith felt even worse after they rejected his offer. A few years later, Les McKeown was in a rush to get to Edinburgh Airport to catch a flight to Bristol to play a concert. His visit home was just a flying visit because the Bay City Rollers’ touring schedule was packed to the brim. He was speeding and got to a tricky bend in the road and hit an elderly woman, who happened to be his neighbour. The concert was cancelled as a result, but svengali manager Tam Paton insisted that the show must go on and the Bay City Rollers concerts after that went on as planned. He had no time off to get therapy and unpack trauma. He was only 19 and he was worried about a potential jail sentence. Like Keith Moon he abused substances. Les was taking heavier and heavier drugs and he left the band when he was 23. Still though, I like some of the Bay City Rollers’ songs, they’re fun! Do we cancel all of these musicians? Shoot, for Keith Moon, there were other controversies like how he had treated his ex-wife Kim, the impact of his destruction of hotel rooms on the housekeepers, or the time he dressed up as a Nazi as a joke. Keith Moon had his flaws, but I don’t think he deserved to die young. As someone who was born Jewish and is a descendant of a Holocaust victim, I don’t think he was an antisemite (get your priorities straight because there’s way worse out there). I think he was an edgelord and a prankster, and of course the Nazi uniform stuff was in bad taste (he certainly wasn’t the only classic rocker to have worn a Nazi costume. There’s a picture of Brian Jones in one and Jimmy Page wore a Nazi hat on stage). He was a product of his time. The humour back then was edgy and all about shock value.
Jimmy Page said that he wore the stormtrooper hat to be provocative, to get people talking. In response to an interviewer from Creem saying “Didn’t Mae West once say, ‘If people are shocked, then they need to be?’” He said:
“You want to know something? When I was in art college, I came to one definite conclusion. Art had to shock – not just you either hate it or love it, that’s that. That’s art…”
For better or worse, the shock value of 60s and 70s music and fashion, got people talking and it got people thinking. Jimmy Page is also controversial for his relationship with Lori Maddox. If we had to go through the whole groupie scene in classic rock, well nearly every band would be cancelled. You can’t listen to anything anymore. Shoot, everyone has their idea of what’s immoral. How many musicians have not been so nice to their bandmates or families? Some people think cheating makes you evil and irredeemable. If you had to stop listening to every musician who’s a cheater, well you won’t have a lot to listen to. Some people believe eating meat is immoral. The list of vegetarian and vegan rock stars is not large enough, in my humble opinion.
TJ makes a lot of great points in his video about problematic art. One of them is that art is what makes life worth living, and I don’t think we need to go into a lecture about that since if you read this blog you know how magical music is. He goes on to say that when you create a work of art, you’re creating something that is bigger than yourself and it can live forever. We’re still talking about Shakespeare and Leonardo da Vinci hundreds of years later. There’s something powerful about creating something that will live on way longer than you do. I think it’s one of the greatest achievements there is. Especially because time is a filter and there are so many great songs, movies, books, and works of art that come out every year, but only a handful truly remain relevant and remembered. I firmly believe that people will be talking about The Beatles 500 years later.
The big example of problematic art he uses in the video is the millennial cultural touchstone Harry Potter. To say that franchise has had no impact on my generation would be a lie. I think once again, it will be something that will continue to be remembered long after the millennials are gone. It’s a part of history, whether or not we like it.
You couldn’t escape Harry Potter in the late 90s and early 2000s. If your parents didn’t allow you to watch it, you were culturally kinda held back. The books and movies were everywhere and there were big events around them in every bookstore and cinema (there were midnight screenings and launch parties for the book). You had to be there! There were spinoffs and fan made creations all over the place. There are Harry Potter classes in university. Harry Potter has definitely had an impact on tourism here in England, creating jobs at places like the Harry Potter studio tour in Watford (I went there back in 2014) and there are Harry Potter themed walking tours in London and Oxford and shops themed around Harry Potter. Even outside of these places, Potterheads have places like The Shambles in York and Elephant House in Edinburgh as places to visit on their bucket list.
I know so many people of my generation who got into reading and writing all because of Harry Potter. I was one of them. My husband won a giveaway at the local bookstore and got the Harry Potter books for free and was over the moon! Harry Potter is a series that has positive messages about loyalty, friendship, good vs evil, and having courage and facing your fears. Aesthetically, the movies are beautiful and that’s how a lot of people my age got into Dark Academia. There’s really good world building in the book series.
At this point, it’s very well known that JK Rowling holds views that are prejudiced against trans people. You don’t have to be terminally online to know that anymore. That has tainted the legacy of the book series and many people who once considered themselves fans have disavowed the series and no longer read the books or watch the movies. Some who still get comfort from them may read them, but only on the down low. Now do I think if you like Harry Potter, you must be a transphobe? No, of course not. Do I think it’s a good idea to financially support Harry Potter? No, especially given how JK Rowling will rub in our faces that she uses her money to support transphobia. However, I am not going to finger wag if you still watch the movies or play the video games or watch the new HBO series. Do you. I don’t pay your bills. I’m not your babysitter. I’m happy to explain why I won’t support Harry Potter anymore, but I’m not going to whine when we can focus our energies on other sources of transphobia. Also, no matter what we do, she’ll never be in the poorhouse. She is so rich, that not only is she set for life, but so will her children (if she hasn’t disowned them) and any future grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Let’s stop giving JK Rowling so much credit. She’s not the first transphobe. She didn’t invent transphobia. She’s definitely a big benefactor, but let’s not miss the forest for the trees. It’s a whole system, with religious zealots all over the place and hateful politicians too.
I think once a problematic creator dies, well that’s totally different. Like TJ said, there are plenty of problematic authors in the Victorian Era, but I don’t see English teachers being like let’s throw the baby out with the bathwater! They’re all dead and all those books are in the public domain so their descendants do not make money off of them. I think things should go into the public domain way sooner, but that’s another discussion for another time.
I agree with TJ that the art has the artist’s essence in it. It’s kind of a peek inside their mind. I’ve had people tell me that when they read my work they hear it in my voice, as if I am talking to them and telling them these things over a cup of tea. People contain multitudes and if there’s anything that true crime has taught me, it’s that two things can be true at once. Someone can be a brilliant musician, writer, photographer, playwright, filmmaker, whatever. But they also can be a not so nice person and they could have done some not so wholesome things. Acting like someone can’t do bad things because they’ve made such great art is stupid because it allows the exoneration of people just because you like something they’ve made. This world is messy. The truth is messy. The brain doesn’t like that. We don’t like discomfort, but it’s necessary and it’s a part of life.
Another point that I liked that TJ has made is that for the most part, the greatest artists are a bit twisted, a bit crazy, a bit different. Who do I think is brilliant and a bit different and had their issues? Brian Wilson comes to mind. Ray Davies comes to mind. Syd Barrett comes to mind. Nick Drake comes to mind. Peter Green comes to mind. I think their challenges they’ve faced on the inside is part of what makes/made them geniuses. I don’t think a normal person could write “God Only Knows”, “Waterloo Sunset”, “Black Magic Woman”, “Hazey Jane” or make a song as trippy as “Interstellar Overdrive”. I’m an atheist, but I think that’s a gift that comes from something higher than us, somewhere divine, like the universe or the stars.
How many rock stars have mental health issues like depression, bipolar, OCD, ADHD, or anxiety? There are musicians with autism. I have autism and while I’m not proud of it, it’s true that it gives you a different perspective and it can be a strength when writing or creating something, and good art challenges you. Writing lyrics or music can be a good outlet and it’s cathartic and constructive. Art is therapy, in my opinion. It’s beneficial for all of us to create something and everyone can do art and should do a little art. Try it! It’s good for the mind and soul.
I don’t like my music or my movies to be “safe” and “boring”. I like art that’s made by people who are a bit odd, a bit weird. “Weird people” are my favourite kind of people. If we didn’t consume art by people who were a bit weird or problematic, well we’d just be stuck with stuff approved by Corporate HR™️ and that’s boring! Besides, I feel like cancel culture is authoritarian and a rebranding of evangelical, puritan attitudes. Freddie deBoer said it well in his Planet of Cops essay.
If you’re reading, you know the power of music and art. I think we all can name a work of art that’s changed our lives, rearranged our brain cells, enriched us psychologically, or even saved your life in a dark time.
Well, that’s just my take. Until next time!
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