I don't expect any of you to like or even finish listening to that video. It radiates raw anger which is what the punk movement was all about back in the day. I had a roommate then who actually threw fits and started throwing things whenever I'd play Husker Du. Seeing you guys turn on each other is heartbreaking and sort of predictable. I'd rather talk about several women who seem to care about me--none romantically--well maybe one--but she's back in California.
Here are the lyrics for "Divide And Conquer." I boldfaced the parts I thought were prescient for 1984 which is when the album came out.
Oh and Spinelli, they were a Minneapolis band.
Lyrics after the jump.
And we've got states and cities
Cities have their neighborhoods
And more subdivisions
There's countries divided by walls
Oceans and latitudes
And longitude, longing to find out
Just what they're missing, whoa
They're lots of area codes
And nine digit zip codes
Secret decoder ring codes
Arteries, shopping nodes
We'll invent some new computers
Link up the global village
And get AP, UPI, and Reuters
To tell everybody, news news
We'll be one happy neighborhood
Spread out across the world
Who's going to stop that burglar
From breaking in my house
If he lives that far away, wha
We'll be just like old friends
No means to your ends
The police state is too busy
The neighborhood's getting out of hand
Big Brother on every wall
Muzak plays in all the halls
Empires see the rise and fall
They divide, conquer
It's not about my politics
Something happened way too quick
A bunch of men who played it sick
They divide, conquer
It's all here before your eyes
Safety is a big disguise
That hides among the other lies
They divide, conquer, what oh oh, oh oh
Well I expect I won't be heard
'Cause my silence is assured
Never a discouraging word
They divide and conquer
They divide and conquer
Divide and conquer
They divide and conquer
Divide and conquer, listen
Na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na
Na na na na, whoa
Divide and conquer
Divide and conquer
And conquer
Divide and conquer
And conquer
Divide and conquer
And conquer, listen
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la
La la la, whoa, yeh
11 comments:
Loudest band I ever heard, period.
Wow that IS prescient. I totally forgot that song. Makes me wonder about time travelers.
Okay. Nah.
But on the subject of deja vu, I read recently that the government dirtbags tried a pandemic dry run in the 70s that fizzled out because everyone ignored it because it was clearly stupid. Now everyone has to have a specific position on everything. Probably we feel an obligation due to the plethora of information available literally right at our fingertips. But maybe all that specific information blinds us to our basic instincts.
chick, I am not a music guy like you and others here. I have misophonia and this music is like a nightmare to me. My old man had it and my 6 year old granddaughter has it as well. Not only loud sounds, but an array of sounds can frighten enrage me. The backup beeps of trucks is torture.
Minneapolis is very proud of their rock history. Prince is the King.
Nick, these days I listen almost exclusively to classical--mostly a station called KUSC which I live stream. A couple friends have asked me to try Minnesota Public Radio but I can't stand their politics.
Spread out across the world
Who's going to stop that burglar
From breaking in my house
If he lives that far away, wha
Online identity theft?
My only recall of Husker Du goes back to a game from childhood, given to us by my mom who made it a point to buy the family a new game every Christmas. I don't remember what it was about, while Google says the name means "Do you remember?" in Danish.
Curiously enough, according to the wiki, the band name goes back to that game. The new name originated during a rehearsal of the Talking Heads's "Psycho Killer." Unable to recall the French portions sung in the original (e.g., Qu'est-ce que c'est?), they instead started shouting any foreign-language words they could remember, including the title of the popular 1970s memory board game Hūsker Dū? (the phrase without diacritics meaning "do you remember?" in Danish and Norwegian). The name stuck, and they added heavy metal umlauts to it. Mould said that they liked the somewhat mysterious qualities of the name and that it set them apart from other hardcore punk groups with names like "Social Red Youth Dynasty Brigade Distortion." Mould also said that, while Hüsker Dü enjoyed hardcore punk in general, they never thought of themselves as exclusively a hardcore group and that their name was an attempt to avoid being pigeonholed as such.
No pigeonholing! Yet it looks like a suicide, a heroin habit, an attempt to recover from a lifelong alcohol addiction, and managerial frustrations played a part in the band's breakup in 88, nine years after they formed. This makes me wonder if their loud expressions weren't coming from a centered place, but their way of giving voice to held emotion and inner angst?
As for "seeing you guys turn on each other", I encourage anyone with that impression to take a second look at what went down. Reason, accountability, respect, and compassion were present in responses made to comments that inappropriately involved the unmusical offloading of anger, disappointment, and angst as disparagement and contempt. From my perspective, those responses represent a turning toward,rather than on another, reinforcing the value of free and civil (per the directive atop the comment box) expression here at Levity.
chick, I probably listen to classical music more than any. I get it on Sirius radio. I'm no expert, but just like it. Except for high note violins.
I also like opera in small doses. My favorites are all in German or Italian. Wagner's "Der Ring" uses a lot of archaic German which is fascinating from a vocabulary perspective. And then there's this Mozart aria Voi Che Sapete. I love everything about it.
Dueter and Bekker are my favorites for painting, along with Michael Hoppe, with Sonicaid's Music to Inspire Positive Thinking as a recent fave. Seeking out and listening to music that invites neural connectivity and flow is another way to bring order to our minds--as the first finger to lift before taking on the dissonance and disregard transpiring in the world around us.
chick, As I've said, my grandparents, who were poor immigrants, were opera lovers. Opera played in their home almost constantly[if Perry Mason or soap operas weren't on]. Opera is for all classes in Italy. Is it the same in Germany?
Opera is drama, another form of emotional expression. Valued for its beauty as well as for the story and emotions it conveys and invites.
When life is hard, music often serves as a means of release and expression for people who feel trapped or frustrated by life's difficulties, with poverty, adolescence, abandonment, and loss of home/homeland being some of them.
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