As we hurdle perilously like a burning meteorite of hysteria towards April 29th, things at my office have reached a virtual frenzy in terms of covering the impending royal wedding of Prince William and his blushing bride-to-be, Kate Middleton. Personally speaking, while I indeed still vividly remember the hoopla that accompanied the nuptials of Prince Charles and Lady Diana back in the day, here in the busy-bodied age of the 24-hour news cycle and social media, I'm firmly of the belief that one should be forgiven for giving in to a crippling bout of Windsor Fatigue at this stage of the proceedings.
But seeking to add to the avalanche of news items that is currently threatening to consume every aspect of the media in the next week or so, I pithily whipped up a quick post yesterday for possible inclusion on my job's blog dedicated to same. While some quarters hailed it as a refreshing detour from the norm, certain others justifiably suggested that it was a trifle "off brand." As such, the prospect of publishing it on the site limped meekly to an early, shallow grave.
Not wanting to let my own floridly overwritten prose go to waste, I thought I'd exhume it from said premature tomb and present it here. If possible, enjoy. Bear in mind, this was never edited by anyone other than its own slavishly opinionated author....
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While royal wedding hysteria is ramping up to a fever pitch here in the States, it seems not everyone is particularly enthused about the impending royal nuptials and their accompanying, media-saturating hoopla. As an exclamation of same, some enterprising Britons have launched a new Facebook campaign to express their ire and mount a movement to vault “God Save the Queen,” the notoriously provocative 1977 single by the Sex Pistols, back to the top of the British pop charts during the weekend of the royal wedding.
There’s a crucial flaw in this particular campaign, however. While “God Save The Queen” is largely perceived as a slap in the face of the Windsor family, the Sex Pistols’ own Johnny Rotten (neé John Lydon) has long since attempted to clarify the intended target of the fabled punk anthem, decrying British society’s class division as opposed to the actual personages involved. Taking that a step further, Lydon was even quoted at some length in The Sun last November as having nothing but the best of wishes and happiest of hopes for the union of Prince William and Kate Middleton. “It will put England back on the map and we’ll be given a voice for the first time in ages,” Lydon told The Sun. “They get my backing to have a happy marriage. As people there’s nothing wrong with them.” Could the preeminent voice of British punk be a big softie after all?
Stunts like these are not uncommon in the U.K. Each December, there are grass-roots movements to launch certain pop singles to the top of the pop charts for Christmas (this was a crucial sub-plot in the 2003 romantic comedy, “Love Actually”). In an effort to combat Simon Cowell’s arguable stranglehold on the charts in 2009, a groundswell of British rock fans endeavored – and succeeded – to usurp the top slot from “The Climb” by Cowell’s artist Joe McElderry’s by elevating Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 single, “Killing in the Name” to the top of the charts … no small feat, given that the single had already been out for seventeen years.
In other news of princes and punk rock, the royal family took a gentle ribbing in a sketch earlier this month on ‘SNL,’ wherein venerable rocker -- and royal wedding guest -- Sir Elton John enjoyed a surreal audience with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip (played with alarming zeal by Fred Armisen and Bill Hader). After a stiff discussion about what music Sir Elton should play at the reception, the confrontation swiftly devolves into a high-volume bash worthy of late 70’s punk, albeit in an endearingly cartoony manner. Nice to see that Sir Elton can laugh at himself.
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