In my last few posts, I was lamenting the fact that my generation seems to be missing writer voices. Well, I just picked up Rolling Stone issue 947, that included an interview with Chris Rock. I’ve always appreciated his comedy on a number of levels; but something he said in this interview struck a chord with me:
[RS Interviewer, Neil Strauss]: When you were doing the Janet Jackson bit in your show, you decided to come down against her. What’s the other side?
[Rock]: On one hand, you are crazy to whip out a titty on a Sunday afternoon. On the other hand, there are jet fighters flying over the stadium and people are cheering, “Hey, go murder more people.” This titty, we can’t have this — but murdering jets, now that’s all right.
[RS]: I’m surprised by the near-apathy of popular artists to what’s going on in the world right now.
[Rock]: Can you believe there’s no Rage Against the Machine? There is no Public Enemy? There’s no Arrested Development? No one is talking about anything. Nobody young gives a f**k. The only people that even mention that there is a f**king war are, like, me and Al Franken? It’s a f**king sad time for art. Art is dead, man.
[RS]: Especially since now the right song can make a difference before the election and maybe put a catchphrase in people’s heads.
[Rock]: There is not one record on the radio that reflects anything that is going on, except for the guy, what’s his name? McGraw? Chesnutt? Toby Keith, I mean. I don’t agree with those guys. But I respect them, because at least they’re f**king dealing with what’s going on — in their own crazy right-wing way.
We’ve got AIDS, SARS and all this s**t going on. All these dead dolphins rolled up on some beach the other day. We are at f**king war, people are f**king broke, mothers are killing their kids, and the welfare thing is going on. And everyone is singing, “Everybody in the club getting tipsy.” It’s f**king insane.
Props to Chris Rock. A voice from the 1962-1968 born generation worth listening to.
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