Your Fave is Problematic

I’m not so surprised at the maturity David handled this...


Recently a journalist pointed out something I did in a promo video skit in 1984 for the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense. In the piece I appear as a number of different characters interviewing myself, and some of the characters portrayed are people of color.

I’d just about forgotten about this skit and I’m grateful that it has been brought to my attention. To watch myself in the various characters, including black and brown face, I acknowledge it was a major mistake in judgement that showed a lack of real understanding. It’s like looking in a mirror and seeing someone else- you’re not, or were not, the person you thought you were.

We have huge blind spots about ourselves- well, I certainly do. I’d like to think I am beyond making mistakes like this, but clearly at the time I was not. Like I say at the end of our Broadway show American Utopia "I need to change too"...and I believe I have changed since then. One hopes that folks have the grace and understanding to allow that someone like me, anyone really, can grow and change, and that the past can be examined with honesty and accountability.

- David Byrne

It’s just surprising that more people haven’t learned to handle things this way.
 
Catching up on the convo about Ryan Adams + Morrissey over in the VMP thread got me thinking but it seems the conversation has largely shifted away from that and so I think it's best to post this here where less people will see it but where it will be more appropriate.

I feel very guilty and ashamed that I still find myself listening to Crystal Castles. I don't put them on nearly as much as I used to these days for obvious reasons, but their first two albums left a huge impact on me and I find it very difficult to cut them out completely. I try to justify it to myself by thinking about how just because one half of the duo is a massive shitbag doesn't mean the other half who deserves the support should be brought down with him. But then I realize Alice herself would probably tell me how full of shit that reasoning is. It's just tough for art that helped shape you to be sullied like that and it just leaves you feeling shitty and stupid for not being able to turn your back on it like you wish you could.

I just hope for the day Alice Glass puts out a debut album of her own, I will be the first in line to order it and support her without having to support the dickwad of a leech that terrorized her for years.
 
Funny this thread popped up on my feed today. I was looking up some Afrika Bambaataa vinyl records and found some disturbing info about him. I'm not into cancel-culture based solely on someone's actions, but it will make it harder for me to appreciate his music now.

www.rollingstone.com

Zulu Nation Apologizes to Alleged Bambaataa Abuse Victims

The Universal Zulu Nation has issued a new statement apologizing to the alleged victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by their founder Afrika Bambaataa.
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com
 
scotthilk said:
Funny this thread popped up on my feed today. I was looking up some Afrika Bambaataa vinyl records and found some disturbing info about him. I'm not into cancel-culture based solely on someone's actions, but it will make it harder for me to appreciate his music now.

www.rollingstone.com

Zulu Nation Apologizes to Alleged Bambaataa Abuse Victims

The Universal Zulu Nation has issued a new statement apologizing to the alleged victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by their founder Afrika Bambaataa.
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com
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Yeah, I remember this. When I saw your post I was thinking "uhh, does he know?" I haven't seen much more about this since it was initially reported a few years back, so wonder if he's just trying to lay low now in hopes it'll blow over and people will forget (they won't)
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
Yeah, I remember this. When I saw your post I was thinking "uhh, does he know?" I haven't seen much more about this since it was initially reported a few years back, so wonder if he's just trying to lay low now in hopes it'll blow over and people will forget (they won't)
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I did not know!
 
I have to be honest that there are times I really miss listening to Ryan Adams. Love Is Hell, Gold, 29 were all in constant rotation. Love Is Hell was the album I would listen to when I took long walks in my neighborhood. I had Easy Tiger as my standard CD in the pickup that I occasionally drove to run errands. My kids would always enjoy listening to it. I think it's extremely telling that nothing has happened since the reveal of what he did to Mandy Moore, Phoebe Bridger and others. No real apology. No real desire to get back out there and try to change. The underage stuff also hasn't been resolved. I know he's always been a problem but damn it's hard at times to not want listen to his stuff at times because it sort of fits perfectly with the mood of the present times. But then I think who else he hurt on the way to making these albums. Maybe it's better that he dug in so I didn't have a ready made excuse to start listening again.
 
And dammit, the anniversary of 9/11 always reminds me of New York, New York by Ryan Adams since he shot the video for it on September 7th and was across from Manhattan under the Brooklyn Bridge with the Twin Towers in the background the entire time.
 
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I always think "Why not just listen and apologize and learn? Why doesn't that cross their mind?" and then I remember that the thought process I'm employing is also one that would never output the thought "Me. I will be the one to speak on behalf of this community without much input from said community and I will do it through a highly commercial enterprise that I stand to profit greatly from."
 
gaporter said:
This whole Sia thing is disappointing, I've enjoyed a great deal of her work but her current Twitter tirade is really making her look awful. The whole situation sucks but this response specifically is just... wow (not my screenshot)
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I will never understand some folks' impulse, in the face of being told they're wrong, to simply tweet harder.
 
swamp jazz box set said:
I always think "Why not just listen and apologize and learn? Why doesn't that cross their mind?" and then I remember that the thought process I'm employing is also one that would never output the thought "Me. I will be the one to speak on behalf of this community without much input from said community and I will do it through a highly commercial enterprise that I stand to profit greatly from."
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One of our non-problematic faves laid this all out quite clearly a week ago.

 
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