Steel Notes Magazine | 49
Brodian ’ s Banter Negativity
There was a recent post going around facebook . The post showed the difference in song lyrics comparing something beautiful from a Led Zeppelin song , to something more modern where the girl is calling herself a “ stupid b * tch ”.
Funny ,... back in the day , people were accusing Zeppelin ’ s lyrics of being immoral , comparing it to songs from the 50 ’ s or , 1940 ’ s . Times change , people don ’ t .
The older set , when in a negative frame of mind , will always try to find the worst of present day songs and compare it to something more beautiful from their youth .
“ Leader Of The Pack ” didn ’ t have the nicest ending . It would fit in with some of today ’ s rap lyrics . “ Run For Your Life ” by The Beatles wouldn ’ t fit in with today ’ s political correctness .
“ Well I ’ d rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man - you better keep your head little girl or , I won ’ t know where I am - you better run for your life if you can little girl - hide your head in the sand little girl - catch you another man that ’ s the end ,.. little girl ”.
I ’ m still a little surprised by some of the scenes in rap videos that were still shown on MTV AFTER the election of Barack Obama .
Images of hands reaching into the air while money falls from above , funeral scenes , death scenes , jail scenes were all too common .
Whatever became of political correctness ? Some would say that there is a difference in black culture and white culture in this country and this is all an artistic reflection . I agree and disagree .
Back around 1990 , I remember seeing two music videos ; one from the black vocal group New Edition and one from the white rock band Journey . Both videos had the exact same script :
The video would open with the band members reading in either a library or bookstore .
All throughout the video , a girl would try to spend time with one of the band members but the guys would keep pulling him back to hang out with the band .
At the end of the video , when all seems lost for the girl , there she goes walking off hand in hand with the band member .
True , there are some differences in the majority of the cultures but , there ’ s nothing preventing both races as being seen as just human beings . Saying all blacks live in ‘ da hood ’ would be almost the same as saying all whites live in trailer parks .
There ’ s too much negativity out there .
On my cable TV show “ Brodian ’ s Basement ”, for example , I ’ ve played a music video by Troi Zee called “ Brooklyn Girl ” and there were no references to guns , drugs , gangs , graves , funerals or any of the negative images we see , even in non rap videos , by African American artists .
I ’ m not turning my eye away from reality . I ’ m just letting people realize that there is an alternative ! ♫
Steel Notes Magazine | 49