Covidiots in music

Chuck D was posting conspiracy-flavored stuff a few months back; don’t know what his current line is.

Wiley

Yes Ivan, let’s bring back all those audiences that you clearly relish playing for any other time

Van Morrison has always had a few screws loose, unfortunately

Timely:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/entertainment-arts-54194498"> https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/entertainment-arts-54194498

Sir Van Morrison has accused the government of "taking our freedom" in three new songs that protest against the coronavirus lockdown.

In the lyrics, he claims scientists are "making up crooked facts" to justify measures that "enslave" the population.

"The new normal, is not normal," he sings. "We were born to be free".

Oops, fucked up that link:

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54194498"> https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54194498

Boomers gonna boomer

got nothing to do with being a boomer

yeah, almost all of these people are Generation X, not boomers

The list has a lot of people who have been known to be kind of gullible fools for some time, or people who generally have a reputation for ~not being very bright~ (Gallagher and Brown in particular) - but I've been struggling with my inner fanboy over the RDJ thing for some time, since he resurfaced around the time of Syro and started up with various truther discourse - so the covid stuff is not a surprise, but it's still v v depressing.

There are people where it kinda goes with their schtick, but with RDJ, I really wanna grab him by the shoulders and go "you are actually *smarter* than this?" He's bright, he's sciencey, he was educated, in that he got halfway to a degree in electrical engineering, this man is not a fool?

But I guess that's sometimes the thing with conspiracy thinking, that conspiracies can *be* especially flattering to people who have experienced being brighter than most people around them, (not hard in the music industry!) and this is one of those stereotypes I hate reinforcing, but Autists, especially ones with Aspergers, like RDJ, in particular are very susceptible to it - that if you are constantly noticing weird shit that neurotypicals just *don't*, that it leaves you very susceptible to believing that you have access to special truths that neurotypicals don't or can't see.

And for a conspiracy brainloop to really take hold, it's like it has to piggyback on something you already care a LOT about. (Like how anti-trans ideology can canibalise both feminist activism AND virulently anti-feminist activism, because these are issues that people care about very deeply!)

RDJ has always had a very serious anti-authoritarian streak. And this idea that 'Britain is a police state' - the thing is, there are many ways in which Britain already *is* very like a police state. All the jokes about 'rainy fascism island' are getting at something - the abuse of Stop and Search, the suppression of protest, the absolute impunity of the police to murder citizens with no repercussions, the wholesale deportation of the Windrush generation, etc. etc. etc. - but his established anti-authoritarian special interest doesn't seem to fixate on those genuine abuses. It leaps sideways onto something tangential which affects him (he can't leave his house) and instead of landing on something with a basis in fact (the Tory government is absolutely mishandling the epidemic) it leaps into 'being quarantined = oh noes here is the police state'.

Sorry to bring politics into ILM, if this was intended to just be a list thread. 'Why do people get caught up in weird conspiracy theories' is one of my long-term special interests, for obvious reasons.

you'd think maybe the group of absolute foolish poltroons (who most of you'd cross a road to avoid) who make up th C-19 truther gang might make RJD pause for thought somewhat? I find it unforgivable that ppl who are otherwise silent about genuine human rights abuses committed by the British state are jumping on the Icke bandwagon ffs!

Wiley's rep is so done in now he could become the official PIE spokesperson and it wouldn't be newsworthy!

Van Morrison already was affiliated with PIE as evidenced in his passive pedophilia song, Cypress Avenue!

maybe one for the PaedIdiots in Music thread where lots of legends of the delta blues who otherwise are treated with upmost reverence get brutally cancelled!

Is wealth and age the main factor (for musicians)?

I think maybe isolation from people who would expose them to better ideas if a factor? There's definitely a bubble factor going on.

I don't know! It's speculation.

I think that maybe ~having a self image as a rebel and anti-authority figure~ is an inclination. Mistrust of official sources, etc.

if they knew people who would ridicule/rip the piss out of them, or even calmly reason with them it might just make them dig in deeper.

Is wealth and age the main factor (for musicians)?

List seems pretty multi-generational to me, tho I don't think I've seen any new/relevant artists take this stance yet.

feel like there are a lot of people out there who are like this, it's just that musicians are asked their opinions more often, or have a wider audience when expressing them on twitter

I only skimmed it but Aphex's take seemed more nuanced that the usual shit (I think a member of his family actually died of covid?) It was more 'this is serious but we are also at risk of stumbling into even more of an authoritarian police state'.

OTOH Aphex has regularly been full of shit and I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be here as well.

Noel Gallagher is the amusing one because his every pronouncement these days reveals him to be less intelligent than his brother (whose approach has been basically 'ffs just wear a mask').

Aphex is a notorious wind up merchant and a massive stoner, which might be a factor.

RDJ's father died recently (apparently not from Covid) so he is probably in a weird place.

I think your description of his take is pretty (overly) charitable, compared with what was screengrabbed and posted on Reddit (after being removed) but this is what is still up on his Soundcloud:

https://off-guardian.org/2020/08/15/the-reaction-of-the-left-to-lockdown/

John Squire (as opposed to Brown) seems to also be pro-mask.

he passed the eleven-plus and attended a grammar school, so probably a bit brighter than the gang of chimpanzees he hung out with!

Yeah OK I only read an RA report on what Aphex posted, the original is pretty much what you'd expect and yeah I was definitely being charitable.

I’d run a mile in case he coughed on me ooooohhhhh

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) September 18, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOHn6KurHE0

He wears masks he’s a proper little hypercondreact prob got a fancy designer 1 he’s just trying to get in on the argument he’s prob bored I would be if I was him

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) September 18, 2020

proper little hypercondreact is the name of my dog

this is one of those stereotypes I hate reinforcing, but Autists, especially ones with Aspergers, like RDJ, in particular are very susceptible to it - that if you are constantly noticing weird shit that neurotypicals just *don't*, that it leaves you very susceptible to believing that you have access to special truths that neurotypicals don't or can't see.

All good stuff on RDJ. Sorry to pick this one bit out of a well reasoned post but it's amusing because my 'aspergers' means that when I get hold of rules like "2m distance" or "masks in shops" I can tend to be extremely diligent about them. Which in itself may look like authoritarianism fandom. But my acceptance of them is based on my own heuristics for determining truth and value, so at that point I don't feel it's acquiescence to a top-down dictum at all but rather personal responsibility.

No, my statement that you picked up on there was about Autists and our specific vulnerability to 'systematically comprehensive, completely logically consistent but warped worldviews' even when they're wrong or incomplete (e.g. things like incel ideology.) We are susceptible to those systems of thinking, precisely because we *do* tend to develop our own heuristics, rather than relying on social pressure and convention and all the other weird things neurotypicals seem to go by.

I wasn't saying 'autists love authoritarian fandom!' - I was saying more 'autists love to march to our own drumbeats' (but this does leave us susceptible to some really odd drums, and I think this is what's happened to RDJ, who used the word Asperger's to self-describe, hence why I used it.)

(Personally, as an Autist, the idea that I never have to go closer than 2m to another human being ever again is my idea of heaven!)

I totally got what you were saying there btw, which is why I apologized for taking a bit out of context.

I think a tendency or ability to embrace rules can be (generally very wrongly) equated with authoritarianism random.

I feel there's a responsibility to cultivate good heuristics but maybe that's not entirely fair as it depends tonquite a large extent on your environmental inputs.

I feel like Van takes the crown here by not just spouting off bullshit in interviews, but by actively recordings songs about his dumbassery.

tbh these songs will be hilarious and I'm looking forward to them

Hold my beer

Lyrics from the new Ian Brown single

“A sonic lockdown in your home town / A sonic lockdown, can you feel me now? / A sonic lockdown, state shakedown, a mass breakdown / Put your muzzle on, get back in your basket / Get behind your doors cos living here is drastic.”

Oh wait, already mentioned nvm

Holy fuck at that Ian Brown song.

Even ignoring the hilariously awful lyrics, it's atrocious on every level.

I'm afraid to ask, but -- what does "sonic" lockdown mean?

Sonic lockdown:

https://pm1.narvii.com/7472/532adba41481986b677ea945c96d32fb206ae64er1-512-278v2_uhq.jpg

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/bc2820ef08e27bb265b65640f17bd6c51d462486/0_0_3635_5589/master/3635.jpg?width=700&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=d36b4531528296afc93aac71835d8c28

ok uh who is RDJ? wasted 5 min already searching.

aphex twin

ah, ok. thanks!

Richard D James

the D now stands for dumbass

Just listened to that Ian Brown song and it's definitely "masonic lockdown" imo which is straight-up David Icke conspiracy nonsense. Fucking cretin.

Dr Evil, and his needle

I'm sorry but that is hilarious and I am having that.

Ian Brown was trotting out gay mafia-type conspiracy theories 20 years ago, he's got form for this sort of thing.

Sorry to bring politics into ILM

LOL

List seems pretty multi-generational to me, tho I don't think I've seen any new/relevant artists take this stance yet.

I do wonder why this is. Could it be that the RJDs, Noels, and Vans have far less to lose at this stage of their careers? Tough to imagine a younger, up and coming artist potentially committing career suicide by expressing these opinions (though maybe Kaityln Aurelia Smith fits the bill? I don't know, haven't seen the evidence she is a Covidiot))

my acceptance of them is based on my own heuristics for determining truth and value, so at that point I don't feel it's acquiescence to a top-down dictum at all but rather personal responsibility.

this is pretty much my position and the objectively sanest approach imo

Angel Olsen shared a link to Plandemic on her instagram stories

(The main thing she rails against here is cymbals…)

mo otm about cymbals

although of course i end up ring a ding dingin on them all the time when i play

No kidding about cymbals. I'm not fussy at all about mixes or arrangements, but too much cymbal will ruin a song for me. Why put so much "SHHHHHHHHHH" in there? First Snail Mail album is very guilty of this.

Don’t tell Moe about mid- to late-80s Grateful Dead soundboard recordings

Yeah she's suffered enough

“Maureen, dear, there’s something I need to tell you about. You’re not going to like it.”

lol

Scout Niblett’s Twitter started retweeting anti-vax stuff yesterday. Possibly hacked though, lasts post before it was November 2021. OTOH she is an astrologist.

Howard Donald off the deep end …

FYI, Howard from Take That is headlining this while these are in his likes https://t.co/JWZIrVzJB6 pic.twitter.com/6BU4rhn2Gy

— dylan (@ohlookitsdylan) June 16, 2023

fucking pod people

Dropped

Pride event drops Howard Donald over Twitter likes

not from a big enough height

In a surprise to no one, Clapton's playing a benefit for RFK Jr. at someone's private home - he also recently tried to donate $5000 to his dumpster fire of a presidential campaign, but the money was returned because he legally can't donate as a non-U.S. citizen (and it's also over the limit for any individual to personally donate).