A Sound of Sheer Silence

We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all That you can't trust freedom When it's not in your hands When everybody's fightin' For their promised land -- Civil War , Guns N' Roses It always starts with something small.  On July 30, 1419, a rock thrown from a window by some person unknown to history led to the Hussite wars, a terribly bloody conflict in central Europe that set the stage for the Protestant Reformation.  The seeds of the American Revolution began when the British government decided, not to raise taxes on the American colonies (that came later), but to actually collect  taxes on sugar and molasses that had been on the books for a long time but had never been enforced. The reason, I think, that it always starts with something small is tied up in the power of marginal changes.  The mind-bogglingly complex system that is human culture works because of a nested series of equilibria.  These equilibria can be stable for a long time, but ...

My brother's birthday is today.  In his honor, here are two videos from one of his favorite bands, who also played what were probably their last shows together this weekend in Atlanta.  Plus, there is never a bad time for Outkast. Happy Birthday, Jim.  Love you, brother. Bonus content:  My favorite Outkast song.

Unpopular opinion alert--I think Michael Jackson's seventh album Bad is better than the more famous Thriller .  To be clear, I am not denying the awesomeness of  Thriller.  Thriller is a tremendous album, but I like the songs on Bad better.  "Bad," "Man in the Mirror," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Dirty Diana," "Smooth Criminal"--all of these are really fantastic.  Put aside whatever negative thoughts you might have about Jackson's later life and his improprieties and take a listen to this album. I went back and forth on which video to include.  My two favorite songs on the album are probably "Dirty Diana" and "The Way You Make Me Feel."  However, the video for "Dirty Diana" is a concert video, and so not that interesting.  "The Way You Make Me Feel" is a great video, and would have been a good choice to include.  Still, it really has nothing on "Smooth Criminal," which migh...

Would you be interested in a mid-80s Rick Springfield video directed by David Fincher?  Of course you would. It needs to be said up front--this song is beyond terrible.  The video, however, is predictably fascinating.  Here's what I really want to know--did Fincher have this concept primed and ready to go before he was approached about doing a Rick Springfield video?  In other words, did he come up with the idea of a musician leading a revolt of human slaves against their lizard masters on some distant planet, and then waited around until someone approached him with enough money to actually make the video? It kind of has to be that, because I cannot fathom how Fincher listened to this song and came up with this concept.  I suppose the line "gotta keep working day and night" could lead to the idea of slaves, but where did the lizard aliens come from?  It had to be something Fincher had in the can. It's worth pointing out how ridiculous the special ...

T This video probably represents the high water mark of the music video as a thing of cultural importance.  Guns and Roses was the biggest band in the world, and they release this nine minute opus, complete with strings, choir, and unnecessary waste of wedding cake.  It's absurdly over-the-top in every conceivable way. And yet, I love this video.  OK, so the allegory of rain as representing sadness/loss is not exactly subtle, but it kind of works, and it fits into the words of the song (something that many videos fail to do).  The video tells a (mostly) coherent story.  There is not one but two awesome Slash guitar solos.  Axl gets to scream and do Axl things, plus he plays piano (?!?). Bottom line--embrace the grandiosity, and enjoy an awesome video.

Sorry for the delay on Friday Fun--an expected work trip brought me out of town. I think everyone has a special place in their heart for the music that was popular during their "formative years"--let's say from 14 to 22.  For me, that means the music of 1993 to 2000.  There are worse eras to be linked with, I guess, but it does mean that I find myself in the position of defending some bands that probably can't be reasonably defended.  For me, one of those bands is Live. Live had some great songs (at least, I think they are great) but they were burdened with the need to show that their music was not just 90s alt-rock, but was about Big Ideas and Spirituality and other weighty topics.  I liked that as a 20 year old, but now it just seems ridiculous.  Still, Live takes it to a level that makes it fun, because it is so over the top. The Live at its most Live-y can be seen in this video.  The song is called Lakini's Juice  off their third album Secret...

The original idea behind restarting this blog was to talk about a bunch of stuff, not simply things related to religion.  So far, all of the content has had something to do with religion, so I would like to broaden things up a little bit.  Since it's Friday, I figured it's also time to lighten the mood a bit.  Thus, the first of our Friday Fun posts.  The topic (until I get tired of it)?  Classic music videos of the 80s and 90s, and how weird many of them were. We'll start with one of my favorites-- Heaven is a Place on Earth  by Belinda Carlisle (1987).