“You don’t know what’s going on
You’ve been away for far too long
You can’t come back and think you are still mine
You’re out of touch, my baby
My poor discarded baby
I said, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time” — “Out of Time”, The Rolling Stones (1966)

Phew! talk about a GREAT song. My favorite Stones song by far.

National Review Online‘s Victor David Hanson and The Great White Shank are on the same page. Oh sure, our particular likes and dislikes may be different, but our view of 21st century American culture in all of its manifestations is most certainly not. While reading Hanson’s article, I was trying to think of:

…the last new CD release by a current artist I ever bought. That has to be Enya’s “A Day Without Rain” (a great CD, BTW). Nowadays, I’d rather listen to my own MP3 surf music mix, or my magical “tropical breezes” MP3 mix that combines steel drum music, personal favorites, and a bunch of mellow Jimmy Buffett tunes. I guarantee Jana would like it.

…that last real network TV show I ever watched? I honestly don’t even remember. I did watch “The X Files” when it was on Fox. Does that count? I also remember watching the delightful “Anything But Love” when it was on ABC, but that was a very long time ago. Funny thing, I remember that show’s purple and green logo as much as anything else. That’s my my favorite color combination – put anything in purple and green, and The Great White Shank is like putty in your hands.

…the last movie I ever went to a theater to see? That’s really tough. Might have been “Troy”, but don’t ask me why we would have gone to see that to begin with. But we did.

The whole point is, everything about 21st century American culture, Hollywood, the music business, and TV seems so utterly vile and vacuous to me that, frankly, it’s not worth either my time or dime. And that bothers me to some degree. I used to love going to movies for their pure escapist quality, but now I get my movie reviews from Rob.

And that rap and hip-hop crap I hear blasting from cars driven and ridden in by young people too young to have as many tatoos as they have? It’s shit spelled N-O-I-S-E. I make no bones about it. I have a passionate love for music, and I believe in its ability to inspire, unite, and heal. And, truth be told, I do enjoy a wide range of music, including Indian, South American, and Middle Eastern. But I believe rap and hip-hop is evil, disgusting, without any redeeming quality, and the absolute epitome of 21st century American culture. It’s angry, negative, demeaning to women, and everything I try to avoid at all cost.

And while I’m at it, I hate the gross politicization and penisization of everything. You go into a Walgreens and see stupid Obama “Hope and Change” baseball caps. What’s up with that? And you can’t watch a sporting event without having to see couples who can’t freakin’ wait for their college-aged kids to leave the house so they can jump each others’ bones in a Viagra-induced stupor.

OK, I may sound like a grumpy old bastard, but I can’t help but go back to Bill Marlowe, a Boston DJ legend who so many times would bemoan modern American culture and its lack of taste, class, and appreciation.

Think about those words: Taste. Class. Appreciation. I challenge anyone to find that in their day-to-day travels.

But that’s all OK. Me, I’m glad to have been born when I was. During my downtime, I’ll be more than happy to pop some corn and watch DVD documentaries on The First World War or World War II, or the “All Creatures Great And Small” series, or one of the movies we have assembled in our own humble DVD collection.

It’s not perhaps the best way to respond to 21st century culture, but my soul is at risk.