SOUNDTRACK: BILLY IDOL
Billy Idol plagues my existence. Ever since he popped up on the scene (my first exposure was “White Wedding”) I thought he was kind of goofy. He has some kind of claim to cred and fame from being in Generation X, and yet I have never heard a song by Generation X and I never hear them mentioned anywhere except as being the band that spawned Billy Idol.
And yet, through the 80s he proliferated with a series of increasingly stupid singles: “White Wedding” (Everyone mocked the lip thing. And that scream at the end–come on!). Then came “Dancing with Myself” (This guy is a punk legend? And that “sweat sweat sweat sweat” chant–come on!). Then we get “Eyes Without a Face,” (A ballad that is apparently be profound, but really? “Eyes without a face got no human grace”–come on!).
So, basically I can’t stand Billy Idol. Which would be fine. I don’t have to hear him right? I mean it’s been 27 years since these songs came out. But no! I was working in the garden, which means listening to the radio. Between 101.9 WRXP (my new favorite station) and Radio 104.5 WRFF (my even newer favorite station) I heard TWO Billy Idol songs in three hours. And this was in the midst of an otherwise awesome collection of tunes. And then, just to add insult to injury, TiVo had recorded a VH1 morning music block, and as I was fast forwarding through it “Eyes Without a Face” came on.
Three Billy Idols in the span of a day. Good grief.
I can only hope that by writing this, I can purge my Idol dismay and break the curse. And I had to include a picture of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer just to take away the stigma of a Billy Idol photo on one of my posts.
[READ: March 25, 2009] “The Quarrel in the Strong-Box”
I’m surprised at how much Mark Twain has been coming up lately. This piece is a fable, (written in 1897), about two pages long, and is very Twain-ian.
The basic gist is that all of the money in a strongbox is vying for most important coin or bill. It begins with a simple argument between a nickle and a penny. The nickle argues (in a not-so-subtly racist manner) that the copper coin is second class, since the nickle is worth so much more. Then various denominations chime in, all arguing that they are more valuable.
It is taken to a court, where the penny argues that all coins are created equal. The judge determines that all of the coins get the same amount of interest (at the time 5%) regardless of their actual value. And in that regard they are all created equal. What happens after that is up to them to determine.
A good and pertinent fable, even if it is 112 years old.
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