So, last week, I posted a blustery little entry about how Ke$ha's sporting of an apparent vintage Void shirt (and her inexplicable list of surprisingly eclectic "influences" on MySpace) ruined my admittedly-easily-ruined day. This, in turn, led my friend, learned musicologist, fellow-writer and estimable Punk Heavy Metal Karaoke bass player, Rob K, to eloquently tear me a new one on Facebook for being arrogant, judgmental and "conservative" (ouch!) I would like to point out, though, that it seems that Rob may have been initially reacting to my insertion of a purposefully over-the-top blurb I posted seven years ago on the ILM discussion boards about Shania Twain wearing a Ramones t-shirt. I'd included that snippet as a means of precisely demonstrating how excitably elitist I'm capable of being about these things. Evidently, Rob more than agreed and the end results weren't pretty.
Like I unsuccessfully tried to say, I'm not happy about being judgmental about these things (nor do I think these things need to be taken so dreadfully seriously), but they do stir me in a certain direction (as they likewise stir Rob, albeit in a different direction). I don't believe I'm as narrow as Rob painted me to be (hey, you maybe have missed the post, but I actually like Lady Gaga). And while, yes, a lot – if not most -- of the music I write about here dates back a couple decades, I don't think that makes me a "cultural cop" ruled by "imperious, trapped-in-amber, doctrinaire-to-the-dead-end attitudes about the once 'underground' music [I] identified with in [my] youth" (Rob doesn't mince words). Who knows? Maybe he's absolutely right. That all said, irrespective of whether or not I'm living in the past and regardless of whether or not droves of people like it, buy it and are influenced by it, I continue to think Shania Twain's (and, even more so, Ke$ha's) music is abjectly insipid, so I chose my words accordingly. Don't agree with my opinion? That's totally fine. Stop reading, then, and start your own equally meaningless blog.
Anyway, blah blah blah….I'm not trying to re-drudge it all up. I just noticed today that evidently I'm not the only one who's getting uppity about these things, as this blog entry points out Lady Gaga's allusions to GISM & Doom, Kristen Stewart's Minor Threat t-shirt and, yes, Ke$ha's now-belabored Void t-shirt which – evidently -- can similarly be yours (be you a fan of vintage D.C. hardcore or just another poseur) for the princely sum of $75 -- for a t-shirt !!! Oh, and for you Ke$haplogists out there, here's a shot of her wearing another shirt produced by that same company, arguably proving that it ain't really about Void at all...as suspected.
Just as revolting was the recent discovery that Urban Outfitters is now selling t-shirts with vintage Iron Maiden designs on them as -- wait for it -- 'classic rock boyfriend tees' (thanks & much fervent goat-throwing to my pal Jeanne Fury for pointing this one out). Listen, I'll admit it – I've a very old and very silly person who desperately clings to the vanishing vestiges of my ill-spent youth, slavishly prone to brow-beating innocent bystanders for allegedly appropriating things that I still hold sacred, but seriously – I'd like to think I didn't get mercilessly ridiculed throughout my high school years for being the hapless heavy metal dork that I was just so some hateful waif could parade around with Eddie's fanged visage adorning her fashionably malnourished torso. In a nutshell, if you're not a fan of the band then you shouldn't be wearing their goddamn shirt.
Moreover, isn't there something kinda tragic and offensive about Urban Outfitters marketing these things? It smacks of, "since you don't have a cool boyfriend of your own, here's a helping hand!" Also, the suggestion that only boys like metal strikes me as pointedly wrong-headed. I know a couple of metalhead girls who'd happily punch someone in the mouth for the implication that they're only sporting the colors because their " boyfriends like it, tee hee!" Now, am I contradicting myself regarding my earlier points? No, because I sincerely don't believe that Shania gives a crap about the Ramones or, once again, that Ke$ha is a genuine fan of Void.
But, y'know, I've certainly been wrong before. Just ask Rob.
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