I am not a religious person but to me it is very hard not to see that perhaps the biggest problem facing our country and indeed the world is a deep spiritual rot. People without any faith or belief in a purpose greater than themselves seek out all sorts of remedies to fill the gaping holes in their souls. With no belief in objective truth, they believe that a boy can be a girl and vice versa merely by wishing it so, they believe that they can recapture their lost youth with injections and surgeries that turn their faces into grotesque masks. These seem to me all signs of a culture teetering on the edge of collapse.
Perhaps the most important indicator of a society in deep trouble is the decline in life expectancy in the past few years. COVID has played a part in the decline, but we have also witnessed large increases in overdose deaths and deaths related to alcohol abuse, in other words deaths of despair. I never thought I would see this in my lifetime.
So much has gone wrong in the last few years politically and economically but at least with those issues, I can at least imagine a solution even though it seems very far away. I don't know what it takes for a culture to get its moral compass back once it has been lost.
What we are witnessing is the unraveling, the self-destruction of the collective Western world. No civilization has ever survived this level of depravity, this level of mental confusion and survived intact. The mirror of illusion is going to shatter. And as the shards scatter, reality will reassert itself.
Below is what Solzhenitsyn said of his time. And I submit that Woke is even more insanely nuts than ever were the Soviets under a similar set of assumptions:
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
1918 – 2008
Solzhenitsyn on Atheism:
Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened."
Edward E. Ericson, Jr., "Solzhenitsyn – Voice from the Gulag," Eternity, October 1985,
Not to mention high suicide rates. Perhaps surprisingly, they are twice as high for young 'whites' as for young "Black" adults. Then again, not surprising if one considers that despite having on average, more financial security, 'white' people are told the most negative things about themselves, are told they need to change how they think, speak and relate to society in order to make themselves acceptable. We should be amazed if that is not contributing to rates of mental depression.
The CDC is, of course, heavily racist against whiteness, in keeping with political trends embraced by Biden and Co. Here their study shows that while the suicide rate for 'white people' is still twice that for 'people of color' they obviously think the thing to be most concerned about is something like a 19% per cent increase, which of course should be considered concerning, but the problem is still much much worse for 'whites' while the CDC appears to have little concern over that fact, or perhaps feels that it would be risky to call any attention to it.
My opinion is that they are fat and lazy until it gets personal and their ox gets gored. When it hits home and they personally feel it. By then it may be too late. Sigh.........
I think this essay is timely, accurate, relevant, clear and compelling. Thank-you for courageously sharing your talent. Reminds me of No Country For Old Men; good people are going to suffer for being kind and caring; and the outcome of the battle is in doubt. Lucky for me I’m Catholic and this world is just an el stop to the final destination.
The life of Jesus Christ is a historical fact. As is that he was crucified and rose from the dead. These are facts that any honest, atheistic historian will acknowledge. EVERYTHING we are seeing is prophesied. We are not in a contest of left vs right, or R vs D, we are in a battle of good versus evil. The good news is in the end God wins, but the years ahead will be full of pain unlike anything in human history. I was an "intellectual" Christian all my life. I believed intellectually, but was not all in. Watching the events of the last few years, the absolute evil at work and the Godless elites working feverishly to entrap every human in totalitarian digital slavery while these elites envision themselves as future immortals, it has become crystal clear to me the bible is the word of God, that evil and Satan are real, and that we are living through that which is prophesied in Revelations. Again, the good news is God wins.. but I certainly fear terribly for my children.
The Bible says that 'Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.' And the source of wisdom is grounded first and foremost in the ability to distinguish between Good and Evil. That is, the wise know the difference between the twain.
Bearing a false witness is a violation of the 9th Commandment which was what Radical Woke Marxism routinely does. And how ironic is it that the current president of the state which emerged out of the ashes of the fallen Soviet Empire conferred upon the American Empire the sobriquet, The Empire of Lies. And who is the Father of Lies? I think you said it rather well!
Thanks Steersman. I agree with you that to say the evil on display these past years "PROVES" the bible is the word of God will seem a stretch to many..... but for me *personally* in my faith journey it has. For me personally - seeing everything unfolding - has lit a fire under my faith and moved me from a lukewarm "intellectual believer" to believing in my heart and yearning to be in action. I'm still figuring the action part out for sure....
This: "You know it’s a cult when they try to separate children from parents, which is exactly what much of the Left is doing now."
As far as the whole gender fluidity thing: It's a free country - adults can call themselves what they want. But you know what else? It's a free country - I don't have to play along. Or at least I shouldn't, and when the government starts attempting to force unbelievers to profess the new faith, we have a huge problem.
I was waiting for a piece after the "Grammy's" and you didn't disappoint. Trans: going to take a hard line here - If you are in support of transitioning a minor I think you should be in jail as you neglected to tell them the truth and then didn't mentor them. If you are an adult and want to mutilate yourself, have at it as long as my tax dollars aren't a part of it.
Madonna: In the 90's Heather Locklear was on that show with Michael J Fox and, in her mid forties, was still one of the most breathtakingly beautiful women around, precisely because of her 'it' or personality. And then she mutilated herself into her own silo. Madonna would have 'weathered the storm' very well too and then mutilated herself as well. My wife of 29 years is still quite beautiful at 52; her friends are botoxing themselves and it is making them look older. Don't do it, ladies, just be your wonderful selves.
"Give me four years to teach your children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted." Vladimir Lenin. Communist.
Yes, on Lenin. And ... Plus les choses changent, plus elles restent les mêmes.
Essentially with sex identification confusion, the child becomes the parent and the parents become the child. And I suppose the REAL PARENT is the god-state which facilitates all this stuff. Talk about an inverted world!
And as in Florida, it's time to bring back the term 'child abuse' back into vogue. Child mutilation should be serious jail time at the very minimum. Maybe a capital crime?
My husband and I had pizza tonight at a neighborhood pizza joint. Among the songs we heard: Gimme Shelter, RESPECT, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. My husband said, “We sure did win with our music”. So glad to have grown up with the music of the 60’s and 70’s as the soundtrack of my life. Haven’t paid any attention to the Grammy’s in years. That's not real music. Although we do like Adele.
My brother and I, both born in the early 1940s, recognize that we're fortunate to have lived through the span of time that encompassed music from the big band era through the dawn and evolution of rock 'n' roll to today. As programmer of my own online eclectic radio station, I know that there's much to like about what's being created outside of the mainstream and not tailored for mass consumption.
Thanks, Lamont...hear what you are saying about there being "much to like" outside of the mainstream today. But tell me true: as someone who grew up with the music of the 50s-70s, do you really think that the "hidden" good music of today is anywhere near the level of the good ol' days? And don't forget: much of the music of that era was indeed "tailored for mass consumption." And it was still great.
I respect the fact that many (most?) people favor the music that represents times in their lives that created indelible good memories. Also, judging music is so subjective and the definition of "good" is so broad that I wouldn't think of offering my opinion. I can only say that any span of time you choose certainly had its share of dreck. What I see hear of now is product that is essentially the work of a producer who takes full advantage of the sophisticated recording and mixing tools available in this era. The quality of lyrics often seems secondary, and vocals can be "improved" in a way that wasn't possible in years past. I hear an awful lot of dance music with the same 120 beats per minute. At the same time, I can find stuff that appeals to me even at my advanced age. So the short answer, I guess, would be that better quality's always been available. You just have to look outside the mainstream.
Lamont, thanks for your thoughtful reply. Certainly there is a tendency to favor the music from one's youth (the music you threw up to, as the saying goes) but I think there is more to it than that. I would suggest that the overall decline in musical quality began in the mid-late '70s, when I was still young. Perhaps this decline was the result of the advent of the "sophisticated recoding and mixing tools" you mention, but also other things as well. In other words, this is a trend that I have perceived since I was young--it's not just a nostalgic yearning that arose recently, at least not in my case.
And yes, every era has its share of "dreck," but it's the greatness we are talking about--not ashamed to use that term. Music appreciation may indeed be somewhat subjective, but it's not completely that way...in no universe is me singing in the shower better than Ella Fitzgerald...and to me, all too many modern groups sound little better than me belting one out while in the shower. And yes, modern "dance" music--speaking of cultural train wrecks.
In other words: who, today, are the Billies, the Ellas, the Franks, the Bobby Ds, etc etc etc? I've had this conversation before, and the names suggested to me as "people you may not have heard of but are great" in every case seem little more than recycled imitations of past greatness--Michael Buble, for example. Their work lacks originality and--crucially--authenticity. I recall the time when I nearly spit my coffee out upon hearing John Legend described as "the new Marvin Gaye."
In a larger sense, I believe that the decline in American musical quality over the last 40 years or so is a key barometer of the larger cultural collapse that Sasha writes about in this article, and which so many lament. But I guess Pfizer and the satanists among us love it.
That said, I would be interested to hear who you might suggest as a little-known but talented modern performers worth checking out. Thanks for engaging with me.
I may have inadvertently conveyed a level of knowledge and expertise that I don't possess. As I curate (too fancy a word?) the music for my internet radio station, my choices are made on the basis of whether the track will blend well with my eclectic format. Genre doesn't matter. If I like it and believe that it won't turn off the listeners I'm trying to attract, it's in. After a while, if it starts to grate on me, I'll assume I've made the wrong decision and pull it from the playlist. But the vast majority of what I started with is still there.
Now, to answer your question, I must say that none of the performers stands out in terms of talent compared to the greats you listed. In fact, I think many are the vocal equivalent of studio musicians - very good at what they do but not likely to become concert-level artists. I have to comb through a lot of mundane work to find the relative few that appeal to me, but they are out there. That's not to say that they're going to be your cup of tea. But I'm thinking in terms of creating a blend, with the idea in mind that if a listener doesn't particularly care for one thing I program into the mix, what comes next may be a different story. I like to create pleasant surprises.
Someone whose mindset may be "I don't like country" might not process what he or she just heard as being part of that genre. I don't listen to rap, but one of the tracks that I liked right from the start has an urban-style young female rapping over an infectious music background highlighted by Spanish-style guitar. If you throw in an instrument where I don't expect to hear it and do it well, I'm hooked.
I see a lot of music credited to group names but "featuring" a particular singer. That same singer will appear on other tracks with other "groups". It leads me to believe that in this era of recorded music, the producer has taken center stage and the vocalist, in many cases, is simply the final piece of the puzzle.
The thing about the satanic performance that offended the most was it’s complete lack of any semblance of talent. The lyrics are crappy and predicable, Sam Smith sounds like garbage and the choreography consisted of a bunch of devilish imps rubbing their asses against the devil.
I was offended by the fact the only point of the performance was to make a spectacle of themselves.
So true...the satanic theme was bad enough,but the absolute lack of any real talent, creativity, or originality attached to it made it all the more ominous....it's like the Powers that Be are saying, we're not even pretending to really entertain you anymore--we're going to shit on you, and you're going to like it. And many do, seemingly.
I'm gay and I find the term "hetero-normative" to be be one of the most patently offensive and sanctimonious slurs in the vast opus of the woke catechism. FFS, gays are something like 2 - 2.5 percent of the population -- of course hetero is "normal". That doesn't have to mean that gay is wrong.
BradK, you and other homosexuals are not wrong. You were born that way, as much as I or any of the other 95% were born heterosexual. We can see this occurs in nature, of which all humankind is part of. LGB is not a choice. The trans topic is something different though, IMHO. I can’t wrap my head around how this is innate/born with. Its emergence to my simple mind seems a cultural conditioning
"The trans topic is something different though, IMHO. I can’t wrap my head around how this is innate/born with. Its emergence to my simple mind seems a cultural conditioning"
It helps to separate the terms "gender dysphoria" and "transgender". The first is innate and immutable, and no one knows for sure why it occurs. It also varies in intensity, and here we enter the world of "transgender". Understand that not every gender dysphoric person needs or wants to change his or her gender presentation or "identity". One may feel an overwhelming pressure to "do" something and find relief by experimenting with the "other" role. It's at this stage that a young person may become depressed and/or suicidal because he or she sees no solution in sight and is receiving no support or acceptance. But in the end, it sometimes happens that a medically-supervised adjustment of the hormone balance can get the condition under control before the individual makes any permanent changes. There's no one-size-fits-all approach, but I know from personal experience that - for example - prescribing a simple anti-androgen to reduce testosterone and DHT in a male adult can reduce gender dysphoria to a level that's quite easily manageable. Now in my eighth decade of life and with 30 years of research and consultation with medical professionals behind me, I still can't understand how beginning at age six I was certain I was female. And I in no way support the radical transgender ideology that's led to such widespread hormonal and surgical treatment of minors.
As to BradK's comment, the Creator made everyone special and we are to be respected as the creations that we are. As to Matt L.'s comment: There hasn't been any research showing an "inborn" homosexual gene, etc. that makes someone be "born that way" (that being said, I think a number of things can cause it in humans). And there isn't any heterosexual species out in the wild that consistenly, day to day, as their normal sexual activity or expression, act as homosexual. The only case is with monkeys in captivity. So it's not "natural" in that respect. In fact, the word "homosexual" has only been in language for the last 150 years of so, because in the past, it would been thought of as saying a human being (homo sapien) was marsupial- i.e. crazy talk. Yes, there was sexual acts that were same-sex involved, but they were not referred to as "homosexuals". In Roman times, they had legal sex slaves but they didn't have "homosexual marriage" and in fact, you can't find a society or civilization that had "homosexual marriage" as routine until now. Some how, the billions and billions and billions of humans who came before were stupid (I'm being sarcastic, as I think we're the ones who are stupid - marriage rates have fallen every year since "homosexual marriage" first was made law).
Abnormal means ab (away from) * (the norm); thus ... deviating from the normal or average.
It may be pointed out that 2 to 2.5 percent of the population is decidedly not the norm, and not even close to the median. Furthermore, no viable society bases it social and moral organization upon 'the few exceptions to the rule' with the rule being male and female, heterosexual ... and mindful of the propagation of the species. Also, Christians may accede to your use of 'special' but not in a favorable way.
According to Christian orthodoxy sodomy is sin and therefore evil. The story of Lot but one example. Islam, as well, does not countenance sodomite behavior as per the below.
1. Homosexuals go against the natural disposition (fitrah) which Allah has created in mankind. 2. The spread of homosexuality and lesbianism has caused man diseases which neither the east nor the west can deny exist because of them. 3. Homosexuality and lesbianism cause the breakup of the family and lead people to give up their work and study because they are preoccupied with these perversions.
You've now officially become my favorite Substack. What a great piece. I have nothing at all against the LGBTQ-WKRP-KFC crowd. Just don't make me twist into a pretzel and play every new silly game you come up with. Every new outrage you manufacture to show us how much better you are then we are and every chapter of recent history that ends with you being dead wrong and having lied and played with the facts without a shred of remorse comes closer and closer to the moment I truly stop caring, needing, or wanting your approval, consent, business, or even kindness. Just let's all agree that the next time they try and lock us down, or change the way we vote or make us believe up is down and North is South we're gonna just fart in their faces which is what they do to us now,
I had to go find the video of "Unholy." Doesn't anyone understand how "transphobic" it is? We're told day in and day out that "trans women" just want to be treated like women. They want to be indistinguishable from "cis" women. And the moment Sam Smith and whoever handles him gets a chance to do something featuring "trans women" and "drag," he gives into every ugly stereotype about both that there is. They are a highly sexualized sideshow act, a freak show. They're not mainstream. They don't want to be women. They want to be men posing as strippers and street walkers, and bad versions at that, that depend on us understanding that they are in fact men. Babylon Bee couldn't have made a satire video any more disparaging of "trans women" and "drag queens" than Sam Smith did.
This is not Satanism. This is an absolutely loss of humanity. I don't want to cancel it, or outlaw it. I want people to see it for what it is, a destruction of beauty and creativity and shared experience in exchange for self-degradation and extreme selfishness. We can't survive as a society like this.
Over the past few years I have repeated the phrase, “The Emperor has No Clothes,” too many damn times. To quote Lizzo, “It’s About Damn Time,” someone told him he is N A K E D!!
There remain many independent music voices out there, despite the increasingly ugly Corporate ‘Product’ the Grammy’s continue to try and sell us.
If you have 18 min, this Nina Blackwood (MTV VJ original) 1984 interview of Frank Zappa is quite prophetic of the Sam Smith, Styles and Swifts we had then, and have today
I celebrated the Grammy’s by watching a new 4K drop of the classic 1983 ‘Stop Making Sense’. I give you the great David Byrne and Tina Weymouth with no commercial breaks!
I’m not anti-trans either. But yeah, the wedges resulting from their addition to the LGB movement isn’t something I can bring myself to celebrate. Recently I became a little miffed when the 3 trans individuals in my daughters HS choir made a somewhat big stink at start of year, wanting all choir members to ditch the dress and everyone must instead wear tuxes to all events. Dresses won out for those that wanted, but this is bit of the cultural creep on that front, on my slice of mainstreet.
Hey Matt - Thanks for the 'Stop Making Sense' link. I bought the original DVD the week it came out - and it is a true classic. Can't wait to watch the 4K version.
"There remain many independent music voices out there, despite the increasingly ugly Corporate ‘Product’ the Grammy’s continue to try and sell us."
I program my own online radio station with an eclectic format, and I completely agree with you on this point. Nothing we play is familiar, but it's no less entertaining than what's being produced for the mass market. The carefully curated and sequence of music is actually quite good, and I say that as someone who has heard it countless times already and will turn 82 in July.
I am not a religious person but to me it is very hard not to see that perhaps the biggest problem facing our country and indeed the world is a deep spiritual rot. People without any faith or belief in a purpose greater than themselves seek out all sorts of remedies to fill the gaping holes in their souls. With no belief in objective truth, they believe that a boy can be a girl and vice versa merely by wishing it so, they believe that they can recapture their lost youth with injections and surgeries that turn their faces into grotesque masks. These seem to me all signs of a culture teetering on the edge of collapse.
Perhaps the most important indicator of a society in deep trouble is the decline in life expectancy in the past few years. COVID has played a part in the decline, but we have also witnessed large increases in overdose deaths and deaths related to alcohol abuse, in other words deaths of despair. I never thought I would see this in my lifetime.
So much has gone wrong in the last few years politically and economically but at least with those issues, I can at least imagine a solution even though it seems very far away. I don't know what it takes for a culture to get its moral compass back once it has been lost.
What we are witnessing is the unraveling, the self-destruction of the collective Western world. No civilization has ever survived this level of depravity, this level of mental confusion and survived intact. The mirror of illusion is going to shatter. And as the shards scatter, reality will reassert itself.
Below is what Solzhenitsyn said of his time. And I submit that Woke is even more insanely nuts than ever were the Soviets under a similar set of assumptions:
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
1918 – 2008
Solzhenitsyn on Atheism:
Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened."
Edward E. Ericson, Jr., "Solzhenitsyn – Voice from the Gulag," Eternity, October 1985,
pp. 23, 24.
Excellent and on point. You can see this happen over and over again dating back centuries.
Not to mention high suicide rates. Perhaps surprisingly, they are twice as high for young 'whites' as for young "Black" adults. Then again, not surprising if one considers that despite having on average, more financial security, 'white' people are told the most negative things about themselves, are told they need to change how they think, speak and relate to society in order to make themselves acceptable. We should be amazed if that is not contributing to rates of mental depression.
The CDC is, of course, heavily racist against whiteness, in keeping with political trends embraced by Biden and Co. Here their study shows that while the suicide rate for 'white people' is still twice that for 'people of color' they obviously think the thing to be most concerned about is something like a 19% per cent increase, which of course should be considered concerning, but the problem is still much much worse for 'whites' while the CDC appears to have little concern over that fact, or perhaps feels that it would be risky to call any attention to it.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7206a4.htm?s_cid=mm7206a4_w?ftag=YHF4eb9d17
Well said and another relevant angle.
So very well said.
What does it take "for a culture to get its moral compass back" Crisis. Emergency. War. Figurative slaps in the face. Culture is fat and lazy.
My opinion is that they are fat and lazy until it gets personal and their ox gets gored. When it hits home and they personally feel it. By then it may be too late. Sigh.........
I think this essay is timely, accurate, relevant, clear and compelling. Thank-you for courageously sharing your talent. Reminds me of No Country For Old Men; good people are going to suffer for being kind and caring; and the outcome of the battle is in doubt. Lucky for me I’m Catholic and this world is just an el stop to the final destination.
" just an el stop to the final destination" -- you hope ... 😉🙂
https://imgflip.com/i/5heuxk
Though still a good essay; quite liked this passage:
"By now, it all feels like the debauchery that captures a society just before the world changes, you know, like Berlin in the early 1930s?"
Well I pray too! 😳
🙂 And hope there's someone there to take your calls ... 😉🙂
Though I can sympathize -- as my father used to say, gawd rest his soul, there are no atheists in foxholes ...
The life of Jesus Christ is a historical fact. As is that he was crucified and rose from the dead. These are facts that any honest, atheistic historian will acknowledge. EVERYTHING we are seeing is prophesied. We are not in a contest of left vs right, or R vs D, we are in a battle of good versus evil. The good news is in the end God wins, but the years ahead will be full of pain unlike anything in human history. I was an "intellectual" Christian all my life. I believed intellectually, but was not all in. Watching the events of the last few years, the absolute evil at work and the Godless elites working feverishly to entrap every human in totalitarian digital slavery while these elites envision themselves as future immortals, it has become crystal clear to me the bible is the word of God, that evil and Satan are real, and that we are living through that which is prophesied in Revelations. Again, the good news is God wins.. but I certainly fear terribly for my children.
WOW very well put Mark - you expressed my thoughts and beliefs so elegantly!
The Bible says that 'Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.' And the source of wisdom is grounded first and foremost in the ability to distinguish between Good and Evil. That is, the wise know the difference between the twain.
Bearing a false witness is a violation of the 9th Commandment which was what Radical Woke Marxism routinely does. And how ironic is it that the current president of the state which emerged out of the ashes of the fallen Soviet Empire conferred upon the American Empire the sobriquet, The Empire of Lies. And who is the Father of Lies? I think you said it rather well!
Maybe some merit in the concept of "absolute evil". And in thinking that the world is going to hell in a handbasket.
Bit of a stretch, an unwarranted inference, that that proves "the bible is the word of God".
Thanks Steersman. I agree with you that to say the evil on display these past years "PROVES" the bible is the word of God will seem a stretch to many..... but for me *personally* in my faith journey it has. For me personally - seeing everything unfolding - has lit a fire under my faith and moved me from a lukewarm "intellectual believer" to believing in my heart and yearning to be in action. I'm still figuring the action part out for sure....
We "all" meet our maker in the end.
Focus on the corporal works of mercy as well as prayer/fasting/etc. People will need more mercy as everything falls apart.
This: "You know it’s a cult when they try to separate children from parents, which is exactly what much of the Left is doing now."
As far as the whole gender fluidity thing: It's a free country - adults can call themselves what they want. But you know what else? It's a free country - I don't have to play along. Or at least I shouldn't, and when the government starts attempting to force unbelievers to profess the new faith, we have a huge problem.
We have a huge problem, then...
I was waiting for a piece after the "Grammy's" and you didn't disappoint. Trans: going to take a hard line here - If you are in support of transitioning a minor I think you should be in jail as you neglected to tell them the truth and then didn't mentor them. If you are an adult and want to mutilate yourself, have at it as long as my tax dollars aren't a part of it.
Madonna: In the 90's Heather Locklear was on that show with Michael J Fox and, in her mid forties, was still one of the most breathtakingly beautiful women around, precisely because of her 'it' or personality. And then she mutilated herself into her own silo. Madonna would have 'weathered the storm' very well too and then mutilated herself as well. My wife of 29 years is still quite beautiful at 52; her friends are botoxing themselves and it is making them look older. Don't do it, ladies, just be your wonderful selves.
"Give me four years to teach your children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted." Vladimir Lenin. Communist.
Right. Mutilation of both children and adults is a primary tenant of the Cult.
Yes, on Lenin. And ... Plus les choses changent, plus elles restent les mêmes.
Essentially with sex identification confusion, the child becomes the parent and the parents become the child. And I suppose the REAL PARENT is the god-state which facilitates all this stuff. Talk about an inverted world!
And as in Florida, it's time to bring back the term 'child abuse' back into vogue. Child mutilation should be serious jail time at the very minimum. Maybe a capital crime?
Yes. Agreed.
My husband and I had pizza tonight at a neighborhood pizza joint. Among the songs we heard: Gimme Shelter, RESPECT, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. My husband said, “We sure did win with our music”. So glad to have grown up with the music of the 60’s and 70’s as the soundtrack of my life. Haven’t paid any attention to the Grammy’s in years. That's not real music. Although we do like Adele.
My brother and I, both born in the early 1940s, recognize that we're fortunate to have lived through the span of time that encompassed music from the big band era through the dawn and evolution of rock 'n' roll to today. As programmer of my own online eclectic radio station, I know that there's much to like about what's being created outside of the mainstream and not tailored for mass consumption.
Thanks, Lamont...hear what you are saying about there being "much to like" outside of the mainstream today. But tell me true: as someone who grew up with the music of the 50s-70s, do you really think that the "hidden" good music of today is anywhere near the level of the good ol' days? And don't forget: much of the music of that era was indeed "tailored for mass consumption." And it was still great.
I respect the fact that many (most?) people favor the music that represents times in their lives that created indelible good memories. Also, judging music is so subjective and the definition of "good" is so broad that I wouldn't think of offering my opinion. I can only say that any span of time you choose certainly had its share of dreck. What I see hear of now is product that is essentially the work of a producer who takes full advantage of the sophisticated recording and mixing tools available in this era. The quality of lyrics often seems secondary, and vocals can be "improved" in a way that wasn't possible in years past. I hear an awful lot of dance music with the same 120 beats per minute. At the same time, I can find stuff that appeals to me even at my advanced age. So the short answer, I guess, would be that better quality's always been available. You just have to look outside the mainstream.
Lamont, thanks for your thoughtful reply. Certainly there is a tendency to favor the music from one's youth (the music you threw up to, as the saying goes) but I think there is more to it than that. I would suggest that the overall decline in musical quality began in the mid-late '70s, when I was still young. Perhaps this decline was the result of the advent of the "sophisticated recoding and mixing tools" you mention, but also other things as well. In other words, this is a trend that I have perceived since I was young--it's not just a nostalgic yearning that arose recently, at least not in my case.
And yes, every era has its share of "dreck," but it's the greatness we are talking about--not ashamed to use that term. Music appreciation may indeed be somewhat subjective, but it's not completely that way...in no universe is me singing in the shower better than Ella Fitzgerald...and to me, all too many modern groups sound little better than me belting one out while in the shower. And yes, modern "dance" music--speaking of cultural train wrecks.
In other words: who, today, are the Billies, the Ellas, the Franks, the Bobby Ds, etc etc etc? I've had this conversation before, and the names suggested to me as "people you may not have heard of but are great" in every case seem little more than recycled imitations of past greatness--Michael Buble, for example. Their work lacks originality and--crucially--authenticity. I recall the time when I nearly spit my coffee out upon hearing John Legend described as "the new Marvin Gaye."
In a larger sense, I believe that the decline in American musical quality over the last 40 years or so is a key barometer of the larger cultural collapse that Sasha writes about in this article, and which so many lament. But I guess Pfizer and the satanists among us love it.
That said, I would be interested to hear who you might suggest as a little-known but talented modern performers worth checking out. Thanks for engaging with me.
I may have inadvertently conveyed a level of knowledge and expertise that I don't possess. As I curate (too fancy a word?) the music for my internet radio station, my choices are made on the basis of whether the track will blend well with my eclectic format. Genre doesn't matter. If I like it and believe that it won't turn off the listeners I'm trying to attract, it's in. After a while, if it starts to grate on me, I'll assume I've made the wrong decision and pull it from the playlist. But the vast majority of what I started with is still there.
Now, to answer your question, I must say that none of the performers stands out in terms of talent compared to the greats you listed. In fact, I think many are the vocal equivalent of studio musicians - very good at what they do but not likely to become concert-level artists. I have to comb through a lot of mundane work to find the relative few that appeal to me, but they are out there. That's not to say that they're going to be your cup of tea. But I'm thinking in terms of creating a blend, with the idea in mind that if a listener doesn't particularly care for one thing I program into the mix, what comes next may be a different story. I like to create pleasant surprises.
Someone whose mindset may be "I don't like country" might not process what he or she just heard as being part of that genre. I don't listen to rap, but one of the tracks that I liked right from the start has an urban-style young female rapping over an infectious music background highlighted by Spanish-style guitar. If you throw in an instrument where I don't expect to hear it and do it well, I'm hooked.
I see a lot of music credited to group names but "featuring" a particular singer. That same singer will appear on other tracks with other "groups". It leads me to believe that in this era of recorded music, the producer has taken center stage and the vocalist, in many cases, is simply the final piece of the puzzle.
https://kendixoncreative.wixsite.com/wdix-db
That's where it started.
The thing about the satanic performance that offended the most was it’s complete lack of any semblance of talent. The lyrics are crappy and predicable, Sam Smith sounds like garbage and the choreography consisted of a bunch of devilish imps rubbing their asses against the devil.
I was offended by the fact the only point of the performance was to make a spectacle of themselves.
So true...the satanic theme was bad enough,but the absolute lack of any real talent, creativity, or originality attached to it made it all the more ominous....it's like the Powers that Be are saying, we're not even pretending to really entertain you anymore--we're going to shit on you, and you're going to like it. And many do, seemingly.
I'm gay and I find the term "hetero-normative" to be be one of the most patently offensive and sanctimonious slurs in the vast opus of the woke catechism. FFS, gays are something like 2 - 2.5 percent of the population -- of course hetero is "normal". That doesn't have to mean that gay is wrong.
We're just special, that's all.
BradK, you and other homosexuals are not wrong. You were born that way, as much as I or any of the other 95% were born heterosexual. We can see this occurs in nature, of which all humankind is part of. LGB is not a choice. The trans topic is something different though, IMHO. I can’t wrap my head around how this is innate/born with. Its emergence to my simple mind seems a cultural conditioning
"The trans topic is something different though, IMHO. I can’t wrap my head around how this is innate/born with. Its emergence to my simple mind seems a cultural conditioning"
It helps to separate the terms "gender dysphoria" and "transgender". The first is innate and immutable, and no one knows for sure why it occurs. It also varies in intensity, and here we enter the world of "transgender". Understand that not every gender dysphoric person needs or wants to change his or her gender presentation or "identity". One may feel an overwhelming pressure to "do" something and find relief by experimenting with the "other" role. It's at this stage that a young person may become depressed and/or suicidal because he or she sees no solution in sight and is receiving no support or acceptance. But in the end, it sometimes happens that a medically-supervised adjustment of the hormone balance can get the condition under control before the individual makes any permanent changes. There's no one-size-fits-all approach, but I know from personal experience that - for example - prescribing a simple anti-androgen to reduce testosterone and DHT in a male adult can reduce gender dysphoria to a level that's quite easily manageable. Now in my eighth decade of life and with 30 years of research and consultation with medical professionals behind me, I still can't understand how beginning at age six I was certain I was female. And I in no way support the radical transgender ideology that's led to such widespread hormonal and surgical treatment of minors.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Lamont...something to think about.
As to BradK's comment, the Creator made everyone special and we are to be respected as the creations that we are. As to Matt L.'s comment: There hasn't been any research showing an "inborn" homosexual gene, etc. that makes someone be "born that way" (that being said, I think a number of things can cause it in humans). And there isn't any heterosexual species out in the wild that consistenly, day to day, as their normal sexual activity or expression, act as homosexual. The only case is with monkeys in captivity. So it's not "natural" in that respect. In fact, the word "homosexual" has only been in language for the last 150 years of so, because in the past, it would been thought of as saying a human being (homo sapien) was marsupial- i.e. crazy talk. Yes, there was sexual acts that were same-sex involved, but they were not referred to as "homosexuals". In Roman times, they had legal sex slaves but they didn't have "homosexual marriage" and in fact, you can't find a society or civilization that had "homosexual marriage" as routine until now. Some how, the billions and billions and billions of humans who came before were stupid (I'm being sarcastic, as I think we're the ones who are stupid - marriage rates have fallen every year since "homosexual marriage" first was made law).
Abnormal means ab (away from) * (the norm); thus ... deviating from the normal or average.
It may be pointed out that 2 to 2.5 percent of the population is decidedly not the norm, and not even close to the median. Furthermore, no viable society bases it social and moral organization upon 'the few exceptions to the rule' with the rule being male and female, heterosexual ... and mindful of the propagation of the species. Also, Christians may accede to your use of 'special' but not in a favorable way.
According to Christian orthodoxy sodomy is sin and therefore evil. The story of Lot but one example. Islam, as well, does not countenance sodomite behavior as per the below.
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/10050/why-does-islam-forbid-lesbianism-and-homosexuality
1. Homosexuals go against the natural disposition (fitrah) which Allah has created in mankind. 2. The spread of homosexuality and lesbianism has caused man diseases which neither the east nor the west can deny exist because of them. 3. Homosexuality and lesbianism cause the breakup of the family and lead people to give up their work and study because they are preoccupied with these perversions.
I just can’t help feeling that the culture and cult the Grammy’s represented has definitely jumped the shark.
Eons ago.
Sam Smith’s performance was banal. It’s been done before. He’s a sad person.
On the positive side a lot more conservatives are against Pfizer.
"Fear of age. Fear of no one caring about you. Fear of being normal. Fear of being ignored. Fear of being old."
Wow; worth reading the rest of your post later ... 😉🙂
Reminds me of:
"No memory of having starred,
Atones for later,
Total disregard ...."
https://www.poetryverse.com/robert-frost-poems/provide-provide
You've now officially become my favorite Substack. What a great piece. I have nothing at all against the LGBTQ-WKRP-KFC crowd. Just don't make me twist into a pretzel and play every new silly game you come up with. Every new outrage you manufacture to show us how much better you are then we are and every chapter of recent history that ends with you being dead wrong and having lied and played with the facts without a shred of remorse comes closer and closer to the moment I truly stop caring, needing, or wanting your approval, consent, business, or even kindness. Just let's all agree that the next time they try and lock us down, or change the way we vote or make us believe up is down and North is South we're gonna just fart in their faces which is what they do to us now,
I had to go find the video of "Unholy." Doesn't anyone understand how "transphobic" it is? We're told day in and day out that "trans women" just want to be treated like women. They want to be indistinguishable from "cis" women. And the moment Sam Smith and whoever handles him gets a chance to do something featuring "trans women" and "drag," he gives into every ugly stereotype about both that there is. They are a highly sexualized sideshow act, a freak show. They're not mainstream. They don't want to be women. They want to be men posing as strippers and street walkers, and bad versions at that, that depend on us understanding that they are in fact men. Babylon Bee couldn't have made a satire video any more disparaging of "trans women" and "drag queens" than Sam Smith did.
This is not Satanism. This is an absolutely loss of humanity. I don't want to cancel it, or outlaw it. I want people to see it for what it is, a destruction of beauty and creativity and shared experience in exchange for self-degradation and extreme selfishness. We can't survive as a society like this.
Over the past few years I have repeated the phrase, “The Emperor has No Clothes,” too many damn times. To quote Lizzo, “It’s About Damn Time,” someone told him he is N A K E D!!
Excellent piece. Thank you!
There remain many independent music voices out there, despite the increasingly ugly Corporate ‘Product’ the Grammy’s continue to try and sell us.
If you have 18 min, this Nina Blackwood (MTV VJ original) 1984 interview of Frank Zappa is quite prophetic of the Sam Smith, Styles and Swifts we had then, and have today
https://youtu.be/Eln3J6BxWN0
I celebrated the Grammy’s by watching a new 4K drop of the classic 1983 ‘Stop Making Sense’. I give you the great David Byrne and Tina Weymouth with no commercial breaks!
https://youtu.be/-oVami1uT7Q
I’m not anti-trans either. But yeah, the wedges resulting from their addition to the LGB movement isn’t something I can bring myself to celebrate. Recently I became a little miffed when the 3 trans individuals in my daughters HS choir made a somewhat big stink at start of year, wanting all choir members to ditch the dress and everyone must instead wear tuxes to all events. Dresses won out for those that wanted, but this is bit of the cultural creep on that front, on my slice of mainstreet.
Be well all
Hey Matt - Thanks for the 'Stop Making Sense' link. I bought the original DVD the week it came out - and it is a true classic. Can't wait to watch the 4K version.
"There remain many independent music voices out there, despite the increasingly ugly Corporate ‘Product’ the Grammy’s continue to try and sell us."
I program my own online radio station with an eclectic format, and I completely agree with you on this point. Nothing we play is familiar, but it's no less entertaining than what's being produced for the mass market. The carefully curated and sequence of music is actually quite good, and I say that as someone who has heard it countless times already and will turn 82 in July.