The world needs more music critics like Charles Shaar Murray. Looking forward to the release of Jimi Hendrix's
Valleys of Neptune (yes, a new Hendrix album!), I've been reading Murray's
Crosstown Traffic. It's brilliant writing. Hendrix is the book's centerpiece, but there's a load to learn here for anyone who likes books about music. The subtitle of its best chapter yet asks, "So was Jimi Hendrix a sexist pig or what?"
Murray argues that "
the sexuality expressed through the blues gradually mutated into the penile dementia of heavy-metal rock." And with what fervor. He exemplifies the point by comparing
Muddy Waters' "You Need Love" -- warm, avuncular, intimate, relaxed, utterly sensual -- with
Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love":
"Led Zeppelin, by contrast, come on like thermonuclear gang rape. The woman -- who, in Muddy Waters' song, is evoked as a real person with real emotions in a real situation -- is here reduced to a mere receptacle; an entirely passive presence whose sole function is to receive the Great Zeppelin (as depicted on the group's first two album covers: lumbering facetiousness posing as irony) with a suitable degree of veneration and gratitude. Even her response is superfluous: Zeppelin's vocalist Robert Plant virtually has her orgasm for her. After all, the satisfaction of the woman in the case is not intended for her benefit, but for his: it is the validation of his masculine prowess and the price of his admission to the alpha-male society. The stud-strut of heavy metal is a ritual by which men celebrate each other; it is not primarily intended for women, who -- at British metals shows, if not at their American counterparts -- demonstrate their understanding of the nature of the event by not showing up."As Murray goes on to say, "
The technical term for this stuff is 'cock rock'."
Read it and weep.
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Jason Kirk
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Jason Kirk on January 25, 2010 at 09:23 AM
You're right, Marc, on both counts. If the argument's moldy, well, understand that the book was published in 1989. However, you're right again that it's not as simple or cliched as all that either, and I stand by my recommendation of the book as a whole. It's understanding of blues, soul, jazz, and Jimi's place among them all remains nuanced, thorough, and utterly readable.
Marc on January 24, 2010 at 02:31 PM
That is a cute passage, but the basic argument seems pretty moldy. Rock 'n Roll as a blunt expression of sexual potency? Stop the presses! I'd like to hear what Murray has to say about this dangerously lustful young singer named Elvis Presley.
I realize I'm being a little unfair, especially since I haven't read the book. Jason, I assume it's not actually as simple or cliched as I'm painting it?
Ally on January 22, 2010 at 07:08 AM
I love Led Zep but... there's not much arguing with that. Charles Shaar Murray's taste is a little locked in the past for my liking, but that's a brilliant passage.