If the thought of the Stones settling down on the sofa with a cuppa to watch Ronnie's ex-missus on Strictly wasn't bad enough, we now find Ozzy Eastbourne actually in the audience at the US version "Dancing with the Stars", cheering on his newly demure daughter Kelly.
Much as I applaud him putting aside his public image to offer fatherly support, this is just one more example of the insidious mainstreaming of what was once called alternative culture, which is happening under our very noses. Heavy metal rockers are falling over each other to "appear" on The Simpsons, which, although it is a very clever, amusing and self-deprecating show, goes out on the FOX Channel! That's Rupert Murdoch, people, the military-industrial complex personified!
I've just finished reading "Redemption", the first novel of Tariq Ali, that gorgeous old Trot, written in 1990, in which he cruelly mocks the anti-establishment movement of which he was once the shining light. He has hung up his megaphone for a comfortable house in Highgate (handy for Karl Marx's grave and a box at The Emirates Stadium) and has abandoned the rank and file to the ravages of post-Thatcher Britain. It's an appalling novel, to boot, with the most atrocious jokes (a leftie splinter group called PISPAW? A Sri Lankan called Abitmortoddy? Oh puhleeese ....) and should have been nominated for the Bad Sex Award. To paraphrase Malcolm Bradbury's advice to Arthur Smith: stick to politics, Ali.
And it's not just the old adage of "He who is not a communist at 20 ... " etc. Street Fighting Man has turned into Mondeo Man. The last serious demonstrations in Paris were by complacent students defending the status quo, and I don't mean the band. The once-feared CRS riot police didn't even give them the satisfaction of a good baton charge. Look at the demonstrations in London for the G20: how do you expect the crowd to put up a good fight when they can't even send out a proper riot squad to deal with them? Where were the Molotov cocktails? The cobblestones? Where is the respect, dude? The insurgents of May 1968 would have made mincemeat of that bunch of inexperienced muppets with tasers. Even the army has turned its back on the BNP. What the hell is the world coming to when the army is on the same side as the students? All this is stifling the natural rebellious urges of our young. In the absence of national service, how else are our young people supposed to learn the art of self-defence but in a good old riot?
The counterculture was a victim of its own success. What was once considered "underground" is now on the High Street. My teenage influences are now the daily playlist of Radio 2. We are witnessing a reverse upswing, with popular culture turning back to ballroom dancing, choirs, corny musicals, marriage (gay or straight), stricter parenting, locking up Polanski, a Tory government. We are fighting two wars in the Middle East, but is anyone marching against them? Nah. Can't be arsed.
"Train crash TV" is how they refer to such programmes as "World's Strictest Parents" - you don't want to watch it, but you can't help yourself. Just amazing how, round about the halfway mark on every programme, those evil teenagers crumple, have a good cry and decide to turn pussy. Am I alone in wondering if this is just for the television, or have they just picked kids that are easy to break? In the sixties the kids would see this as a challenge and go on the run, join a cult, hide up trees, mobilize the national guard. Anyone remember Jack Dee escaping from the Celebrity Big Brother house? That's the kind of Dunkirk spirit we want to see. I'm with the kids on this one. Let's have a bit more balance, and let the kids win one episode.
This will in the end provoke a backlash, if you are prepared to wait long enough. I predict in the short term a return to corsets, armbands and castor oil. Eventually things will get so straight laced that it will spark another wave of rebellion. It's just Lenin's theory of revolutionary socialism, stoopid. And round we go again ....
Much as I applaud him putting aside his public image to offer fatherly support, this is just one more example of the insidious mainstreaming of what was once called alternative culture, which is happening under our very noses. Heavy metal rockers are falling over each other to "appear" on The Simpsons, which, although it is a very clever, amusing and self-deprecating show, goes out on the FOX Channel! That's Rupert Murdoch, people, the military-industrial complex personified!
I've just finished reading "Redemption", the first novel of Tariq Ali, that gorgeous old Trot, written in 1990, in which he cruelly mocks the anti-establishment movement of which he was once the shining light. He has hung up his megaphone for a comfortable house in Highgate (handy for Karl Marx's grave and a box at The Emirates Stadium) and has abandoned the rank and file to the ravages of post-Thatcher Britain. It's an appalling novel, to boot, with the most atrocious jokes (a leftie splinter group called PISPAW? A Sri Lankan called Abitmortoddy? Oh puhleeese ....) and should have been nominated for the Bad Sex Award. To paraphrase Malcolm Bradbury's advice to Arthur Smith: stick to politics, Ali.
And it's not just the old adage of "He who is not a communist at 20 ... " etc. Street Fighting Man has turned into Mondeo Man. The last serious demonstrations in Paris were by complacent students defending the status quo, and I don't mean the band. The once-feared CRS riot police didn't even give them the satisfaction of a good baton charge. Look at the demonstrations in London for the G20: how do you expect the crowd to put up a good fight when they can't even send out a proper riot squad to deal with them? Where were the Molotov cocktails? The cobblestones? Where is the respect, dude? The insurgents of May 1968 would have made mincemeat of that bunch of inexperienced muppets with tasers. Even the army has turned its back on the BNP. What the hell is the world coming to when the army is on the same side as the students? All this is stifling the natural rebellious urges of our young. In the absence of national service, how else are our young people supposed to learn the art of self-defence but in a good old riot?
The counterculture was a victim of its own success. What was once considered "underground" is now on the High Street. My teenage influences are now the daily playlist of Radio 2. We are witnessing a reverse upswing, with popular culture turning back to ballroom dancing, choirs, corny musicals, marriage (gay or straight), stricter parenting, locking up Polanski, a Tory government. We are fighting two wars in the Middle East, but is anyone marching against them? Nah. Can't be arsed.
"Train crash TV" is how they refer to such programmes as "World's Strictest Parents" - you don't want to watch it, but you can't help yourself. Just amazing how, round about the halfway mark on every programme, those evil teenagers crumple, have a good cry and decide to turn pussy. Am I alone in wondering if this is just for the television, or have they just picked kids that are easy to break? In the sixties the kids would see this as a challenge and go on the run, join a cult, hide up trees, mobilize the national guard. Anyone remember Jack Dee escaping from the Celebrity Big Brother house? That's the kind of Dunkirk spirit we want to see. I'm with the kids on this one. Let's have a bit more balance, and let the kids win one episode.
This will in the end provoke a backlash, if you are prepared to wait long enough. I predict in the short term a return to corsets, armbands and castor oil. Eventually things will get so straight laced that it will spark another wave of rebellion. It's just Lenin's theory of revolutionary socialism, stoopid. And round we go again ....
P.S. The calendar will cost about 20 euros a pop here in Belgium. If you know of a cheaper supplier, pls spk. Also, high res photos will be required. Some of those on your blogs and Facebook pages are not good enough. Perhaps there's a way of doing an electronic version? Turn your minds to this if you are of a creative bent. Or just bent in any way.
