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#Post#: 506--------------------------------------------------
PROJECT OF THE WEEK (15th of November): THE THIRD REICH 'N ROLL
By: Meisekimiu Date: November 15, 2017, 9:35 pm
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It seems like Nazis are popping up more and more in the news
lately, so it seems like the perfect time to listen to some 60's
music! Or something.
[sub]Hang on, I'm not moleshow, what is going on?![/sub]
#Post#: 508--------------------------------------------------
Re: PROJECT OF THE WEEK (15th of November): THE THIRD REICH 'N R
OLL
By: moleshow Date: December 4, 2017, 11:17 am
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(Jumping off from a discussion of MTR...)
Their methods of using blunt and easily misinterpreted concepts
continue on here for The Third Reich ‘n’ Roll. Due to the
globally upsetting nature of Nazi imagery, it’s not outlandish
to say that while they may not be addressing a specific
audience, they were looking to shock them. At this point in
their discography, their main focus, visually speaking, was on
the use and distortion of topics and imagery that hold great
emotional power for a large number of people.
Dressing the still-relevant radio host Dick Clark as Hitler
allowed for reactions on two levels, depending on the audience.
The first, a reaction of shock and perhaps repulsion at the
abundance of Nazi imagery displayed on the cover. The second,
though, contextualizes that imagery. Since the album consists of
blended covers of the hooks of hits from the 1960s, the
assumption could be made that they were referring to the music
industry as being fascist in nature, lead by charming hosts.
Like Dick Clark. These individuals take up positions akin to
those of prophets or preachers- mouthpieces for the God-figure
that is the music industry. They bring these figures down from
their elevated positions and strip them of their seemingly
untouchable identities. As they are a creation of the culture,
The Residents treat them as they would anything else created by
it while paying no mind to the social boundaries it has set.
The liner notes contain a cheeky note from The Residents’
managing entity that would seem to confirm this assumption,
describing the album as a “tribute to the thousands of little
power-mad minds in the music industry who have helped make us
what we are today, with an open eye on what we can make them
tomorrow.” This gives us access to a more in-depth view of what
goes on beneath the music.
In this case, The Residents use themselves as a filter through
which the music of the previous decade passes. They
recontextualize the music by exposing it to the scrutiny of
their own inclinations and their own artistic drive, but also by
packaging it in a shocking (yet lighthearted, and perhaps even
humorous) manner. The music being covered gains a more serious,
critical air to it when its creators (and its creation) is
equated with the mindsets and creations of the Nazis.
But they use this idea as a point from which they can jump off-
seeing the true ugliness of a thing, a manifestation and
execution of that which is exceptionally and horrifically
twisted within us- one can only go so far down before you hit
the bottom. And they seem to paint the musical crimes of the
past as a standard of what must be avoided. They look to it and
seem to ask “what can we do better?” The music they create is a
critique of the culture that produced it as much as it is an
example of what stands to grow from it.
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