kagablog

by dave chislett

A little while ago I wrote a rant about how what I perceive of as the spirit of rock ‘n roll has been subverted. Well, last Sunday I was asked the question if there was not a new place for rock n roll in South Africa, and in particular, for the rebellious spirit that it for so long personified and advocated. And yes, there is, as the asker of the question went on to point out. Which got me thinking…

Rock ‘n Roll has always been a working class phenomenon: The voice of the underprivileged, of the people who sweep streets and clean up after the rest of society. For that reason alone, rock in this country has long been treated with suspicion as here rock is mainly made by nice middle class boys who eventually will put their guitars away and go and take up Daddy’s offer of a job and get on with life. Right here and right now in South Africa, we are ripe for a voice of dissent; a voice that speaks of inequity not from a racial or gender or political point of view, but from a sense of outrage, from a sense of injustice, from a sense of very real anger.

Because fuck me, we have got a lot to be angry about right now. No matter what your colour, the rich are just getting richer, and the poor apparently poorer. More money is in fewer black hands now than it was after the ’94 elections. The middle class, as is always the case in these situations is being squeezed in a vice, and no-one seems to have a voice. The moment dissent is raised, racism, corruption and vested interests are cited as the reasons for the dissenters actions. And I don’t understand how we as a nation collectively are not more sick of it. Fuck it. We need a rock n roll band that is going to say what we are thinking. The Sex Pistols took pot shots at The Queen, the Beat took shots at Maggie Thatcher, The Dead Kennedys ridiculed anyone in power. Damn it, rock n roll is festooned with the annoyance of the people against their governments.

the finger

Frankly, I don’t give a damn what justifications Eskom is giving for the power situation. It should NEVER have got this far. I am sick of hearing about bread price fixing, now its milk apparently as well. A couple of years back it was cars. No-one ever did do anything about cell phone price collusion. But even simpler than that. I am sick of well fed yuppies in R700 000 cars parking badly, not indicating, sitting superciliously in expensive bars and restaurants pontificating about how much change in necessary as long as their lifestyle doesn’t change.

I am revolted to my stomach with a culture that sees brand names, conspicuous consumption and a lack of cultural appreciation as badges of honour. That sees the rapid growth of the economy as more important than raising the bar for everyone. I am sick and tired of angry young men taking to drugs and crime to assuage the greed that our country’s emphasis on material wealth ignites in their souls. I am sick and tired of otherwise sensible women insisting on C-section births to preserve their vagina’s when all they are really doing is preserving their doctor’s golf handicap. This country has got a fucked up world view and we are all only too happy to go along with the game. We know it’s wrong, we are all guilty. We all drink like fish after all. Apparently SA, with a population of 44 million, consumes 4 times as much beer as Nigeria with a population of 120 million. And they are the ones with the dangerous cities???

Anarchy-red

I want a Johnny Rotten to stand up here and yell into the microphone, “Wake Up You Dozy Bunch Of Cunts! You are all fiddling while Rome burns!” We need some rebels who are true to only one thing: that this system is broken and it is breaking us. Not a another gang of misinformed yahoos seeking only to enrich themselves, but a group of people who believe in the wrongs they see and are prepared to shout about it.

If I hear one more Pop Idol “doing it for the love of music” one more rock band saying, “We don’t really have a message”, one more hip hop artist rapping about his bitch or his bling I think I am going to spew up my internal organs. Fuck it! Wise up! Let’s look at what’s going on around us!

Bring back the old school rock and roll. Elvis may have died high on drugs eating a cheese burger on the crapper, but at least he got an entire generation to THINK, to break out of their central parental constraints. What’s going be on your fucking headstone punk?

this article was first published on the chiz