Blatantly racist songs that have managed to pass under the prejudice-radar

He's an actor. A cracked actor.

Sorry to derail: Bowie video description says "HQ Vid & Excel sound." Luddite that I am, I'm not sure what Excel sound means, but googling leads me mainly to Bowie videos. I'm watching him do "Stay" from that same 2002 Paris show and it's kicking my ass.

Carry on...

the Bowie accent in that live video is so out of place and stupid that i'm surprised no one told him to, uh, just croon the part

― mc souleye (brownie), Friday, November 19, 2010 7:55 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

he did on the album, I seem to recall.

really? I don't remember the orignal song. the live version is so screechy and ridic

"do I really need to repeat "that line doesn't matter when you are the one getting hurt""

If you can't tell the difference between seeing David Bowie doing a daft but offensive accent 25 years ago on a you tube clip and a neo-Nazi group playing in your area, for example, then you're the one who needs to nice up his thinking.

What you're talking about is comparing various levels of intent, which would be totally fine if all forms of racism were equal in their effect.

No one on this thread has said that Bowie is cool for being casually racist, so why don't you take that stick out of your ass and read what's being said.

bowie doesn't do that silly chinese accent on the studio version, no. without the accent there's nothing really racist that i can spot, unless talking about inter-racial relationships is racist. besides isn't the "china girl" a metaphor for heroin?

I didn't know that 2002 was 25 years ago

wow, the future is a total dumbass

what I am objecting to is the bullshit rationalization of "oh he/she is just being ignorant and doesn't mean any harm" that is rampant on this thread and happens a lot on this board (and in life, really)

if you're completely unwilling to listen to someone who HAS been targeted directly and incidentally by racial bullshit and can point out that the line you are so desperate to preserve is some horseshit that the privileged always pull, fuck off

someone mentioned eric clapton...this is so much worse than anything in this thread:

Originally conceived as a one-off concert with a message against racism, Rock Against Racism was founded in 1976 by Red Saunders, Roger Huddle and others. According to Huddle, "it remained just an idea until August 1976" when Eric Clapton made a drunken declaration of support for former Conservative minister Enoch Powell (known for his anti-immigration Rivers of Blood speech) at a concert in Birmingham.[2] Clapton told the crowd that England had "become overcrowded" and that they should vote for Powell to stop Britain from becoming "a black colony." Clapton told the audience that Britain should "get the foreigners out, get the wogs out, get the coons out" and then repeatedly shouted the National Front slogan "Keep Britain White."[3][4]

dunno have the Chinese ever colonized Great Britain and forced drugs on their general populace, degraded them as subhuman, etc.

― you can sub out "bipartisan solutions" for "some of my dick" (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, November 19, 2010 2:21 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

So by this great reasoning it's racist to do an Irish accent.

seriously, you don't get the racism in bowie's old school stereotypical chinky accent? are you that tone def to history?

lol "def" too much rap for this guy

The difference is that Clapton is hated by ILM, so his racism is inexcusable. Siouxie Soux or whatever her name is is some sort of idol around here so her racism is just youthful irreverence. Makes sense.

xxpost

I was just pointing out that racism is about power relationships

that being the case I'm sure there are some circumstances where a Brit doing an Irish accent could be justifiably construed as racist, sure.

xp

Siouxie Soux or whatever her name is is some sort of idol around here so her racism is just youthful irreverence.

that's not how she's been responded to on this thread...? I think yr misreading people.

altho no in general for what it's worth I don't have a problem with contrition/apologies being reciprocated with forgiveness. (Siouxsie is hardly contrite either, as I pointed out by linking that interview from 05)

I always thought Siouxsie was jewish.

Im not jewish, but seeing someone wearing a swastika as a fashion statement like that dumbass is in the picture above makes me want to puke. As does gasbag Clapton's comments. But i think Soux is getting some sort of pass here, or at least she was until someone dug up that interview from '05 where she made an utter ass of herself.

that being the case I'm sure there are some circumstances where a Brit doing an Irish accent could be justifiably construed as racist, sure.

More usually, in the case of British actors, ballclenchingly embarrassing.

"oh he/she is just being ignorant and doesn't mean any harm" - this is not my position.

My position is that there has to be a recognition of different levels of racism in terms of severity - rather like murder is treated by the US legal system. This has nothing to do with intent. I agree that intent is not as important as some people make out. But that's not what I'm talking about.

You're not in a position to judge whether I'm 'privileged' or not. You're bringing a lot of personal baggage to this discussion, which you'd better explain if you want me to be able to factor it into a debate. What with me not being psychic and everything.

Not that i'm defending her wearing a swastika or anything

xps

I haven't defended any racism from her or Bowie on this thread.

I just happen to think that Eric Clapton is in an altogether different league.

Now that I have seriously considered the lyrics to "Wig Wam Bam" it does contain risque references to American Indians.

Hiya watha didn't bother to much
About Minnie ha ha and her tender touch.
Till she took him to the silver stream
There she whispered words
like he'd neva heard
and made him all shiver inside when she said

Wigwam bam gonna make you my man
Wam bam bam gonna catch you if i can
Wig wam bam wanna make you understand
Try a little touch,try a little too much
Just try a little wig wam bam

Brother bear never cared enough
Bout little white dove and her tender love
Till she took him to the silver stream
She told him all about
What he couldn't live with out
And made him all weak in side when she said

What does Clapton say about his rant now?

Hiawatha
Minehaha

are actual Native American names fyi

dude doran dude don't argue with that dude. he'll ban you forever. best to leave it alone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiawatha

Wig Wam Bam is pretty tame imho - sure it's a none-too-subtle exploitation of Native American references, but it isn't overtly racist or packed with slurs or crude stereotypes really

found this by googling:

Like Enoch Powell, Clapton has never taken back his comments or compromised his position. As recently as December 2007 he appeared on the South Bank Show and told Melvyn Bragg that he wasn't a racist but still believed Powell's comments were relevant. Unlike Powell, however, Eric Clapton's career has enjoyed a resurgence - he was given a CBE in 2004, reunited with Cream in 2005 and will be headlining this year's Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park. Like David Bowie, who once told an interviewer that Britain would benefit from a Fascist dictator, "Slowhand" Clapton has managed to emerge from the allegations of racism seemingly unharmed.

Read more: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/people,756,how-clapton-sparked-an-anti-racist-revolution,20473#ixzz15lebXjoz

is a white guy in a native American headress automatically racist? I dunno

Hiawatha
Minehaha

are actual Native American names fyi

― you can sub out "bipartisan solutions" for "some of my dick" (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, November 19, 2010 3:49 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

and streets in minneapolis!

Clapton, amazingly, refuses to apologize and even hints that you only have to look around now to see that he was right.

This is the guy who permed his hair to look like Hendrix and made a million covering Hard Times by Ray Charles.

can we all just agree that Clapton should be shot

by the sheriff?

*rimshot*

No one is arguing that Eric Clapton = Siouxsie Sioux = David Bowie in terms of how much of an actual asshole they are (although you could likely make a case for Siouxsie being close to Clapton) (aside: lol why is this list Britcentric). What is being argued is that the degree of offense you are talking about is way more important to the people likely to do the offending than it is to the people likely to be offended.

re: my baggage: I grew up as the only black male in my peer group in a town that was about 50% well-meaning ignoramuses who would regularly do things like expressing amazement that at 5'7" I couldn't dunk a basketball, because well of course all black people can dunk a basketball, or think that it was okay for the track team to shout "Nigger!" at the opposing team while I was standing right next to them because of COURSE I was a special one and they didn't mean me when they used that word. Varying degrees of racial insensitivity fueled mostly by ignorance and they all fucking hurt. There's only so much of your adolescence you can spend as The Ambassador For Black People before you basically just start saying "you know what, fuck this and fuck you, I have a life to lead".

If I am going to apply that standard to the people I am forced by circumstance to associate with, I don't think it's a particular stretch to apply it to the people I choose to listen to. Rereading that Siouxsie article, which honestly I'd never finished because of eye strain, is seriously making me reconsider the place her various musical projects have in my library even though "Night Shift" is one of my favorite songs.

agree about the white on black text thing ugh why do people do that

it is kinda odd how UK-centric this thread has been - but race relations in the US are profoundly different

. have any american artists emerged from such racist debacles as unscathed.

I'm trying to think of any post-60s that even really got INTO one. an American making a speech similar to the one Clapton made would have been banned, picketed, boycotted, etc.

What about someone like Lemmy, who lives in an apartment filled to the ceiling with Nazi memorabilia?

Lemmy: "It was quite funny, because I brought (the journalist) around to my house, which looks like a shrine to Nazism. But it's just my collection. I mean, you can't put it all in the cupboard; it won't fit.

"I only collect the stuff. I didn't collect the ideas."

Ok, even taking this at his word, who wants to live in an apt full of Nazi stuff? I'd have nightmares.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/reviewpics/lemmyhat.jpg

This is probably off topic since it's not about a particular song, but it seems at least a bit apropos . . . .

what about sub-radar anti-Arab racism in US music - been much recently?

one of the stooges dudes was into that memoribilia shit too, can't remember which one

Ron.

Lemmy is a funny case.

Clapton continued:

"I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fucking Jamaicans and fucking (indecipherable) don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don’t want fucking wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fuck's sake? We need to vote for Enoch Powell, he’s a great man, speaking truth. Vote for Enoch, he’s our man, he’s on our side, he’ll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he’s on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!"[70]

I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.
I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.
I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.
I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.
I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.

is a white guy in a native American headress automatically racist? I dunno

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/images/2008/06/13/calvincoolidge.jpg

agree about the white on black text thing ugh why do people do that

Racist.

Funny that: Elvis Costello's Ray Charles remark fatally stalled his career in the US, while not really harming him much at home. Nor did anyone in the UK/Ireland ever think he was a racist - his explanation - that he was trying to wind up an annoying yank - was pretty much accepted.

Shoulda just gone with the ol' "tampon on the head" routine.

hang on what the actual fuck @ clapton

yeah LJ, he's much more than just the most boring ass soloist of all time

I think this song's subtly racist, the "Don't know the difference between Iraq and Iran" part, subtext being, "and I don't care/need/want to, because I love me some Jeebus."

"Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)"

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Out in the yard with your wife and children
Working on some stage in LA
Did you stand there in shock at the site of
That black smoke rising against that blue sky
Did you shout out in anger
In fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry

Did you weep for the children
Who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don't know
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below

Did you burst out in pride
For the red white and blue
The heroes who died just doing what they do
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself to what really matters

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Teaching a class full of innocent children
Driving down some cold interstate
Did you feel guilty cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her
Did you dust off that bible at home
Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Speak with some stranger on the street
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Go out and buy you a gun
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watching
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns
Did you go to a church and hold hands with some stranger
Stand in line and give your own blood
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

The greatest is love
The greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day