A Schizophrenic Debate on a Sex Pistols Documentary.
By Robbie Schneider - 10/14/2002
In response to the film The Filth and the Fury which is a documentary on The Sex Pistols: My initial reaction was to take sides because I've come to love the music, and movement of that era. What was being done is as true now as it was then, if not more so. We're being fed these images and ideas that the majority of us cannot live up to and fulfill for ourselves, and the aspiration of this dream is a futile rat race. The idea of rock'n'roll had been capitalized on and the power it had was gone. What was being done with rock'n'roll in America during the mid-70s, specifically in NYC, was exciting and fresh. To me, it still is. To me it represents the "last gasp" before the 80s rolled-in with absolute rubbish that was pop-culture and the MTV generation.
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Youth empowerment through rock'n'roll was gone forever because of skillful marketing. The youth began buying into these images. We were tricked, and today we're all lost. I'm an adult now, and am completely separated from the youth today. They wear uniforms and sing along to trash that isn't any more dangerous than a saturday morning cartoon. What happend then, in the UK of the Sex Pistols, was unrest, unhappiness, discontent, "we've been lied to and fooled...", or "we're mad as hell and we're not gonna take it anymore!" Now, if the Sex Pistols were to appear today, there'd been Sid Vicious action figures by the end of the week, and your parents would buy you one for Christmas. The world has become small, a "global community", but to what benefit except to the marketeers and corporations who see us as little more than statistics and prospective customers? Yeah, this is the Apocalypse. This is the end, er, was... but who really gives a shit enough to care?
In response to my response: What I mean by "take sides" is that I've read, yes I know I've read a lot about stuff, a bit into the history of "punk music" and it irritates me that the bands that I've come to love don't ever get any credit. I hate to argue it because what does it really matter, you know? I'm me and I never lived in NYC and I wasn't in one of those bands and I was hardly a sentient being when all this went on. It's the same thing with sports fans, though. You put a lot of stock into an idea or image or something out there, and it almost becomes part of you, like a child of your own. And, you want it to get the respect it deserves.
The point is that I think The Sex Pistols get way too much credit for all that went on in rock'n'roll in the mid to late 70s. The film The Filth and the Fury very briefly even mentions The New York Dolls and was introduced in order to introduce Nancy Spungen, who ultimately caused the downfall of The Sex Pistols.
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The end of the movie was what turned me because one of the main points made by band members was how the image that they created in the UK and their sound were ripped-off and imitated by everyone. The rich kids were running around in ripped up clothing with safety pins in their noses, etc. It was a prime example of the whole identification process we have with our images and idols and ideas and all that horseshit. Yeah, we're all products of our influences, but there's a difference between that and being a spineless tool.
So, my final message here is to end your amibition to be someone else. If you are a musician, stop aspiring to be the next Lou Reed or Iggy Pop. If you're an artist, stop aspiring to be the next Egon Schiele or Salvador Dali. If you're a writer, stop aspiring to be the next Charles Bukowski or Ernest Hemingway. And for "heaven's sake" stop imitating the lifestyles your idols lived. They'd hate you for it!
