European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 2, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Everyone had something to say a but wha was listening by . Considine the Baltimore Sun considering that it began with the inauguration of a Man deemed to be the United states first Rock v Roll president 1993 should have been a Banner year for popular music. Finally it. Seemed Rock and its relatives would escape the Ignominy of the pop culture ghetto and move into positions of influence and respectability. Instead what followed Over the next 11 months was the usual carnival of scandal outrage and recrimination. By year s end it hardly mattered that Tommy won a Tony that Sal Mari Rushdie jammed with u2, or that Elvis Presley appeared on a postage stamp. The really big pop music stories had to do with a guns n roses Charlie Manson song gangsta rap gunplay and Michael Jackson s boy trouble. So much for upward mobility. But even if popular music did t significantly improve its image in 93, it made Progress on a fronts. Granted these shifts were a Tad too Subtle to Garner headlines the Way pop s big scandals did but rest assured a this stuff is far More important to the future of pop music than what Jackson might have done on those sleepovers. For instance everybody knows about Susan Faludi and Naomi Wolf s work to redefine women s issues for the 90s. What s often missed though is that some of the most interesting second generation feminist thought is coming not from essayists like Faludi and Wolf but from pop acts like a. Harvey Liz Phair Tori Amos and l7. Unlike the much publicized and largely misrepresented riot grrr movement these artists Aren t interested in finding a room of their own from which to rail at Patriarchi oppression or priggish Guys in the mosh Calvin Broadus known As Snoop Doggy dog gets his Day in court. Pit. Nor Are they asking simply to be treated with the same respect men in the Industry enjoy. What they want is both parity with men and the right to remain feminine. A a Madonna set some of the groundwork Here proving that it was possible for a woman in pop to draw Power from sexuality in the same Way male stars like Mick Jagger had. But these other singers have taken that breakthrough a step further arguing that if male rockers Don t have to be As virile As Jagger to play the stud on stage then women can invoke desire without acting As Sampish As Madonna. A equally interesting was the Way the notions of Quot mainstream Quot and Quot underground Quot were redefined in 93. A lot of attention was Given to the fact that alternative Rock acts like Pearl Jam u2, smashing pumpkins and the cranberries have dominated the album charts slowly squeezing out old line rockers like Daryl Hall Donald Fagen Coverdale Page and Elton John. Can there be any Krueler Fate than being exiled to vh-1? yep a not making rotation at All. Just ask the scorpions strangely the artists most upset by stories proclaiming alternative Rock As the new mainstream were alternative a. Rockers Kurt Cobain of nirvana gave. Numerous interviews in which he ranted against the intrusive attention of the press White Eddie Vedier of Pearl Jam celebrated being on the cover of time by sulking publicly. A but that s the problem with being once you be defined yourself As the opposite of adj it at everyone else listens to it gets harder to Deal with the consequences of having a Good sound and something to say. So rather than come to terms with Rock n Roll remaining populist Ench ailment some alternative fans have reacted to the news that their music is the new mainstream by snobbish by seeking even less accessible sounds. Perhaps they should take a cues from the heavy Metal crowd which has quietly redefined its entire musical a universe. Where Metal once meant a vey specific musical style a one marked by loud guitars thudding rhythm and testosterone Al posturing it has since splintered almost As completely As the rest of Rock n Roll. Though today s headbanger looks much the same As previous generations he or she is As Likely to listen to Primus or the Rollins band As Metallica. Moreover rather than fret Over genre distinctions All contemporary headbangers care about is a band s sound. It hardly matters to them that helmet has a Punk background or that Bio Hazard did a duet with Onyx a if it rocks it rocks. That s one of the reasons that when Beavis and butt head by far the Best thing on mtg these Days cheer for White Zombie or ministry it rings True with their viewers. Metal Heads Are Lucky though. Apart from Beavis and butt head who seem to have replaced Bart Simpson As the cartoon most feared by clueless adults Metal culture raised hackles in 93. Even the fact that guns n roses recorded a Charles Manson song generated Only the faintest rumble of Media outrage. A amps Michael Abrams Axl Rose models his Charles Manson to shirt in Germany. Not so rap. It was t just that several rap stars had run ins with the Law or that Snoop Doggy Dogg became the first Star in pop music history to be at the top of the charts and under indictment for accessory to murder at the same time. What really made rap a hot potato was the Way preachers politicians and pundits decided that rap was somehow emblematic of the problems besetting Urban America and that if rappers would clean up their act somehow All would be right with the world. Of course a cynic might suggest that the real reason these a forces of goodness Are lining up against rap is that it s easier to get a musicians to rewrite lyrics than it is to get actual criminals to put Down their weapons and give up their drug dealing. Blit then who takes cynics seriously never mind that making gangsta rap sexism and violence a taboo it that much More interesting to thrill seekers or that the most successful rap albums sell on the strength of their beats not their rhymes which is Why or. Dre is a bigger Star than eazy e or ice t. Details like that Are lost on anti rap crusaders who seem to feel that anyone Yho actually likes rap can t be trusted in the first place. But then that s the kind of year 1993 was. A a a a a a a Hope and anger continued from Page 17 embargo and occasional . Airstrikes. Libya s Moa mar Qadhafi ignored . Sanctions As he 1 defied . And British demands to turn Over suspects in the december 1986 bombing of a pan am Airliner Over Scotland. The world s last communist dictators Hung on. Fidel Castro resisted democratic reforms As the cuban Economy crumbled. Clinton warned North Korea s aging Kim ii Sung that his country would not be allowed to build a nuclear bomb. Warlord Mohamed Farrah aided bloodied peacekeeping troops from the United states and other countries in Somalia where a successful .-led famine Relief operation turned into a nation building debacle for the United nations. The United nations enjoyed More Success m bringing peace to the killing Fields of Cambodia. Prince Norodom Sihanouk after a 23-year struggle to recapture Power was reinstated As head of state after .-organized multiparty elections. There were other notable political comebacks Binazir Bhutto reclaimed the prime minister s Post in Pakistan socialist Andreas Papandreou returned As greek Premier after voters rejected the conservative government s painful austerity measures. A turkish Premier Tansu filler became the third woman to head a predominantly Muslim country after Bhutto and prime minister Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh corruption scandals led to the impeachment of two south1qq3a look Back i american presidents a Venezuela s Carlos Andres Perez and Brazil s Fernando Collo Demello. Carlo Ciampi the first italian Premier to be unaffiliated with a political party in 40 years took office As More than 3,000 politicians businessmen and Public officials were implicated in corruption cases. Japanese prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa led a new coalition government that pledged to end scandals Over kickbacks and other corruption that brought Down the Liberal democratic party after 38 years in Power. Kim Young Sam a longtime dissident was sworn in As South Korea s first civilian president in 32 years. But Nigeria s generals nullified the results of elections that would have returned Africa s most populous nation to civilian Rule after a decade of military dictatorship. Voters in Canada and France a discontented with economic woes a booted out the governing parties. Conservative edouard Balladur became France s Premier after a right Wing coalition crushed the socialist party at the polls. In Canada Kim Campbell who became Canada s first woman prime minister when Brian Mulroney stepped Down suffered a humiliating defeat when her progressive conservatives were routed by Jean Chretien s left of Center liberals. A Nelson Mandela and . De Klerk worked together to end apartheid in South Africa. 20 the stars and stripes saturday sunday january 1/2, 1994
