‘Happiness and peace

Is getting more and more out of my reach
Violence and revolution
Seems to be all that the people wanna preach
You’re gunning down your brothers
Molestin’ your sisters and your mothers in the streets
Whoa-oh the President’s talkin’ ‘bout change
But nobody’s got sense enough to come in out of the rain.’

– from the song ‘Come in Out of the Rain’,  (1970) a bonus track from the album ‘Osmium’ by  ‘Parliament’

April 29th, 2019

I am looking forward to getting my teeth sunk into my theories about certain types of modern pop music, or commercial folk music as I generally think of it. Rap, and Hip Hop music is looked down upon by many, but its roots come from Funk, Soul, Rock etc… A lot of the Rap albums that were made in the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990’s contain many looped samples of music mainly from records from the 1970s and 1960s, music the rappers mother or father or guardian would listen to, etc.

When looking at the liner notes, credit is given where credit is due, and whoever owns the rights for the song sampled, will get royalties etc..

There have been controversies before, for example a white rapper who calls himself ‘Vanilla Ice’ used a sample of a Queen/David Bowie song called ‘under pressure’, but claimed it wasn’t a sample of that song, I think he was taken to court and made to pay costs. He was guilty of the Pop music equivalent of plagiarism.

In the sixties and seventies, many bands such as the Rolling Stones would ‘cover’ songs from poor (mainly) black blues and folk singers who didn’t profit from their songs in the 1950’s etc, and royalties were paid to these musicians, that is if the companies who owned the rights to the music didn’t profit instead. I will have to read up about this, as it is very interesting and worth writing a few paragraphs about.

I will be sure to mention Led Zeppelin who were notorious for stealing songs from obscure bluesmen, and not giving credit or royalties where credit and royalties were due. I tend not to listen to them. The first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac were an excellent English blues band and I suspect they would have been a rightfully colossal name in music, if Peter Green and Danny Kirwinhad not become mentally ill because of drug taking (Mainly big amounts of LSD in Germany,) I think. Jeremy Spencer left the band to become part of some sort of strange cult, I imagine drugs probably had something to do with that too, and worse than drugs I fear.

I am not going to spend ages writing about Rap music itself, but more about its ancestry. It’ll probably take me at least a few weeks to gather notes and various memories and thoughts I may even correspond with a few childhood friends and get their thoughts on Rap music now compared to what they thought when we were brats.

I was, and still am to a certain extent, more into the forefathers of Rap. (Blues, Folk, Country etc). Weirdly, I would be less weary about a cannabis user listening to good vintage gangster rap than bubblegum pop ( I think art that does not provoke thoughts is not really art. .)

If done well,  the stories are dark and full of the sort or coarse language that one might expect, but amongst it all is a strong message. To read, go to the library, listen to your parents’ records (a lot of which might  happen to be gospel inspired music), it would surprise me if a lot of these kids, the primary targets for the music,  if they become regulars in libraries (libraries tend to be better than school), it won’t be long before they come across books by economists such as Thomas Sowell. The gangster rap I know is about being original, not following the crowd, thinking for yourself, not destroying your mind.. It’s about making money legally. Morals and Ethics, metaphor and simile. It’s crude and rude, but it does help people in ways that teachers, politicians, the police and absent parents fail to do, and have failed to do for at least the last 40 years.

This is an interesting interview clip with one of the not-so-awful ‘Gangster’ Rappers, ‘ICE-T:

…………..

May 15th, 2019

I have got a little ahead of myself in recent times. I suspect I had a case of the sudden rush of blood to the head after, speaking to two plainclothes girls in blue a few weeks back.

Trying to recall hazy times from nearly thirty years ago can lead to some interesting places. My blog has enough material contained in it to show that, when I do decide to concentrate on historical and current mental health practices, if the first few ripples of a big scandal or two start appearing in the media in the coming months and years, I am not just a surfer trying to ride the commercial wave.

My lack of trust for psychiatry is clear. It is time to make it clear where some of my other areas of distrust lie.

It’s a Brexit-free zone. there will be no ramblings about Jeremy Corbyn or the modern Tories etc.,

My blog appears to be getting read by young people from countries east of Germany. I’ve been receiving rather a lot of comments in recent days, and the handful of them that are not by spammers have given me very good ideas on how to improve my blog and an indication that many people from the Far East prefer to get information about the decline of the West  from blogs like mine rather than from regular news outlets.

I may be reading too much into their kind words (most of which are hidden), but I feel there is an audience out there which makes me realise that I need to slow down and read a lot more.

I have just spent my £20 summer book budget and have obtained an interesting mixture of books from the charity shops local to my workplace:

The Rise of Islamic State by Patrick Cockburn

The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat

Seized by Max Hardberger

To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey

The Hermitage in  your pocket, Illustrated Guidebook (Alfa-Colour Art Publishers, Saint Petersburg, 2003

JERSEY OCCUPATION DIARY by Nan Le Ruez

The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck

A text book that claims to be an introduction to Social Theory, I can’t remember who it is by, I bought it yesterday, but it has lots of names of social scientist within it etc., and ‘Frankfurt’ is mentioned quite a lot.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Also ‘The Times’  illustrated world history , it’s the sort of book my Grandfather would have got me for my birthday or Christmas when I was a child.

I think they, along with the several books I have on the go, will keep me occupied through the summer.

I also intend to regularly read Sherlock Holmes stories, A tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, The Rage against God, Short Breaks in Mordor. There are are a few big fat history books, and poetry to read, music to listen to. A private life to enjoy.

My opinions about Rap and the Rolling Stones can wait.

There are many more important things to learn.

And the foundations of my blog are far from being laid down just yet.

I think my blog might eventually be a helpful source of information, even if only for people of the near and far Easts,  various African countries and unfashionable States of the US,  then I can live with that.

I am a writer, the words will come.

It is time to read and keep on reading.