Brothers, Sisters…We don’t need this fascist, sexist, homophobic groove thang

Hello folks.

A somewhat disturbing story that I read on NME which can be read in a little more detail over at AllHipHop.

The man in the picture at the top is called Trick Trick. Trick Trick is a collaborator of Eminem, and Trick Trick has some serious issues. The man is homophobic to his core. I am not going to reprint what he said here -with freedom of speech comes responsibility, and his views on homosexuality are just offensive, not just to those who define themselves as non-heterosexual but any right thinking person. He has said, quite bluntly, that he doens’t want homosexuals buying his album. Don’t worry, I don’t think many people will, hater, bigotry has to stop somewhere.

I’m encouraged by most of the comments on the NME and AllHipHop posts that I read, it’s clear that the majority of people think he’s a sick, sick man in a very bad way. It’s time that society confronted this sort of hatred full on. There is no excuse. Period.

Oh, and anyone who tries to excuse themselves by quoting this passage from the Bible can go away. Stop hiding your prejudice behind religious teachings that you have distorted to promote your hatred.

Society is changing, and hopefully, not just with Barack Obama’s election as President, but people do seem to be realising that standing out against sexism, racism and homophobia isn’t about political correctness, it’s to do with human respect. Mrs. 17 Seconds and I have quite a few gay and lesbian friends; in fact, some of them – gosh! shock! HORROR! -are Christians as well. It is, as they say, not about where you’re from, it’s where you’re at.

As a teacher, I find many young people are becoming more enlightened. The school where I teach does deal with homophobic incidents, though in the previous school there was amazement that I’d reported one girl for making homophobic remarks about another girl. There has been the somewhat disquieting rise in the use of the word gay meaning ‘stupid.’ As a fellow teacher said to one child: ‘What do you mean, that chair’s gay? Are you saying it wants to have sex with other chairs?!’ tee hee…

There’s an interesting list here about songs that speak out about homophobia.

Bronski Beat -‘Smalltown Boy.’ mp3

…and that video

Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy – ‘ The Language Of Violence.’ mp3 [BTW excellent piece on this band over at Teenage Kicks

…and that video

Senseless Things -‘Homophobic Asshole.’ mp3

Chumbawumba -‘Homophobia.’ mp3

…and yes, the video for this too

‘All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.’ Edmund Burke.

Festive Fifty Stuff for a Friday

John Peel and his wife Sheila, affectionately known as The Pig

I’m glad that quite a few people have been enjoying these Peel posts. I won’t be doing these forever, or I may take a different approach to these, but for the time being, I will do a few more Festive Fifty posts (the only annoying thing about them is just how long they take to do!)

First up, a band who have evolved constantly over the last thirty years, even if they only released five studio albums and one compilation in that time. It’s hard to imagine it not being worth the wait, though. Green Gartside and his merry men:

Scritti Politti -‘Faithless.’ mp3 (1982 Festive Fifty no.13)

One of the most heartbreaking bands ever, with surprisingly their only festive fifty entry:

Trembling Blue Stars -’Abba On the Jukebox.’ mp3 (1996 Festive Fifty no.19)

Morrissey had many entries in the Festive Fifty with the Smiths and for the first few years of his solo career, quite a few too. This was the last of his:

Morrissey -’November Spawned A Monster.’ mp3 (1990 festive Fifty no.16)

Underworld only ever had two entries in the Festive Fifty, no surprise that this epic track was one of them.

Underworld -‘Born Slippy (NUXX).’ mp3 (1996 Festive Fifty no.5)

Another band I remember hearing on Peel and scrawling on my school bag…

Huggy Bear -‘Herjazz.’ mp3 (1993 Festive Fifty no.3)

Over the place of a decade, John Peel gave a lot of coverage to Cornershop. This was their final entry.

Cornershop featuring Bubbley Kaur -‘Topknot.’ mp3 (2004 Festive Fifty no.40)

An aching anthem about being an outsider…and this time, Morrissey wasn’t the singer

Bronski Beat -’Smalltown Boy.’ mp3 (1984 Festive Fifty no.48) (N.B. This is from my vinyl copy of the Age Of Consent and is a bit crackly in places)

As mentioned previously, The Wedding Present were up there with The Smiths and The Fall in terms of entries. This is my favourite song of theirs to make the Festive Fifty

Wedding Present -’My Favourite Dress.’ mp3 (1987 Festive Fifty no.6)

Rather like Blur, Radiohead actually seemed to do better on the Festive fifty further into their career than earlier on:

Radiohead -‘There, There.’ mp3 (20003 Festive Fifty no.37)

And finally, mad, and wonderful -Spizzenergi:

Spizzenergi -’Where’s Captain Kirk?’ mp3 (1980 Festive Fifty no.40)

Have a good Friday!

Edx