Juri wrote:
> As one who was trying to keep a music discussion
going, I remember
> very well
> that Bill Denton told us not to have any.
But usually long after the thread(s) had gone on.
There is a point where all threads outstay their course (cf:
The Long Goodbye, post-modern this and post-modern that, what
"what" means, etc.), or wander off into the ozone, but as I
remember it, the music discussions we've had over the years
were usually quite savvy and interesting while they lasted.
It was only when they started getting silly (Billy Joel
songs, jazz is somehow inherently "hard-boiled" because there
was some in such and such a movie, blah blah blah) that Bill
usually urged us to pull the plug.
It could be argued, in fact, that the hard-boiled literary
genre was at least partially inspired (and its popularity
aided and abetted) by centuries of bloody, violent and
relentlessly nasty murder ballads -- most of which make
today's thuggier-than-thou gangsta rappers look rather tame
and unimaginative by comparison. After all, it's not like
suddenly people became interested in crime and punishment and
revenge and justice and violence and mayhem one sunny weekend
in 1922 or something.
In fact, I'd suggest that people like 50 Cent or Ice T aren't
so much the societal aberration (or sign of the Apocalypse)
that some may claim it is as merely a continuation of a
centuries-old folk tradition that has always existed and will
no doubt outlast all of us.
Hell, why is hard-boiled popular fiction worthy of respect
and even serious discussion, but a four-minute song dealing
with the same subject deemed somehow morally suspect or
culturally negligible? If anyone could talk the hell out of
this topic, it would be us, simply because we'd be
approaching it from a literary, not musical
perspective.
Obviously this thread won't be for everyone. But please don't
negate the interest a thread on crime songs might haver among
those who do pay attention to the words.
I'm not proposing music suddenly become the main thrust of
the list
(especially since I'm grooving so much on the missing authors
thread), but as long as a discussion of crime-related songs
stays within the boundaries of interest of this list (which
has ranged from discussions of Magnum P.I. and James Ellroy's
cult of personality to "blessings of the troops" or what's
new in crime comics), and remains respectful and intelligent
and proves entertaining to at least some members of the list,
let's not automatically clamp down on what some of us deem a
worthy -- and relevant -- topic.
Kevin Burton Smith www.thrillingdetective.com
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