As 2008 drew to an end I figured one of my new year resolutions could be to get on this here blog and post more! So what better way to start '09 then to go back into time with a song from 1990. I've been playing this song for a good 15 or more years and just today saw the music video for the first time. Realizing now that maybe it was a blessing not growing up with cable tv for the majority of my life because now I get to go back in time and watch what I was listening to back then and really be able to understand it. "Banned In The U.SA." was written in response to the court decision that 2 Live Crew's album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" was too obscene (later being overturned on an appeal). Record store owners and group members were actually arrested on obscenity charges. 19 years later things have definitely changed! P.S. The music being sampled in this song is Bruce Springsteen's song "Born In The U.S.A".
1 comment:
Great way to kick off the new year!
It sounds faster than I remember. I'll have to dig up my cassette of this and compare it.
Joe Strummer of The Clash summed it up in the song Know Your Rights -- "You have the right to free speech, as long as you're not dumb enough to actually try it."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Your_Rights
This bigoted, racist, classist nation is only able to open it's mind to "free speech" when capitalists (record company executives, bankers, Wall Street)see that there's money to be made.
Hey, and the propaganda is, now that Obama's president you can hope to be something other than a rapper, an artist, or a baller. How insulting is that? You got a problem with free thinkers? You can't respect divine talent?
Hey Jess. Thanks for making me think and keeping me on my toes!
xoxo
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