Not only are the bills going to be financial & political weights around the necks of future generations, but the unintentional socio-emotional prices will be high as well.
Look at this sad, likely leftover human detritus from our war in Vietnam.
Meet Lam Luong, he's a 37 year old immigrant from Vietnam whose been here since 1984.
A quick glance at his features though, and my bet is that his daddy was a G.I drafted and serving in Vietnam circa 1971 at the time he was conceived. I'm guessing that this messed up multi-cultural moron possibly never met his G.I Joe daddy...he certainly didn't get rights to his Pop's last name.
If our bloated bully nation had never spent so much time while shedding so much blood in Vietnam, this guy never would have been conceived.
Which in turn means he also never would
- a.) have ended up in the U.S working for low wages as a shrimper,
- b.) become a loser crackhead
or best of all possible worlds: - c.) never thrown his own kids off a bridge in Alabama.
It's as easy as A - B - C my friends:
Anyhow...
The American dream has been pretty much a nightmare for many years ...
Growing up in the post Vietnam , Cold War Era shaped my warped perspectives...
And I became a nasty lil' psychedelicized punk rock rebel dropout... which seemed like a fitting idea at the time...
Not so great for the ol' bank account, credit rating or your slick social standing... but at least ya save money on all those golf lessons & country club memberships...
Plus the perks are plentiful... no job to waste your time at, and plenty shows & substances to keep ya spinnin' for years until ya realize ya only have a fraction of yer hearing & liver left.
Here's some of that good ol' rebel music that got me through the sickening haze of watching my country turn fat, stupid & lazy...
These are simple songs that say more in their attitude than they do in their production value...
We'll start with one of my all time fave political pranksters...
He levitated the Pentagon, created a panic on Wall Street when he threw money on the trading floor, riled up Daley's pigs in Chicago, fled the Feds & lived on the lam, grabbed protest headlines with former first daughter Amy Carter and is now 20 years gone after dying in a far too sad fashion for such a feisty figure...
Abbie Hoffman - God Bless America
I was of course a big fan of DEVO, and a lot of folks of my generation were duly impressed with their approach.
Formed in the wake of Kent State in the industrially f*cked environs of the once pastoral rubber city of Akron Ohio, these guys ascended to an unlikely artistic greatness, and are really not to be ignored. They were a near perfect execution of a late 20th century pop cultural statement. Everything from the quirky tunes, to the costumes, production, merchandising, videos and the whole shebang were amazingly well constructed purposeful parodies in an age that was beyond my teenage comprehension...
(They are still chiseling away at the youth culture, with Mark Mothersbaugh working behind the scenes on children's music projects for clients like Nickelodeon & Disney.)
My pals in Lagwagon were apparently also in the same camp, and along with our mutual love for the ponderous pomp & satanic sword play of vintage Iron Maiden, they also had time for Devo...
You can look up Devo in yer own time I suppose...
Here are Lagwagon doing the title cut from a 1981 Devo LP
Lagwagon - Freedom Of Choice
I saw an interview with our next draft dodging contestant, who mentioned how important it was for his bandmates to avoid the draft. Imagine if the Stooges hadn't perfected their 4F status and the world was forced to endure another decade of crap like The Association and Dino, Desi & Billy.
Thank gawd that this peanut butter & blood smearing freak lived through Vietnam, and can continue to entertain us all today...
Gawd forbid, he had gone to 'Nam and started making babies...
Where would aging boomer targeted companies like Cadillac and Carnival Cruiselines get music for their wack tv commercial ad campaigns ?
Iggy Pop and The Stooges - Cock In My Pocket
Iggy And The Stooges
"Cock In My Pocket" (mp3)from "Metallic K.O. - The Original 1976 Album"
(Jungle Records)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This AlbumIn the wake of Vietnam, with the petrol addicted 1st world empires in repose, we ended up with Britain huffing a whiff of the Stooges & NY Dolls. Soon bands like The Clash, Ian Dury & the Blockheads and Eddie & The Hot Rods arose out of the pubs & shook up the scene.
Ian Dury wrote an enduring punky 70's sort of anthem, that still holds plenty resonance today with a certain fringe devout following...
Ian Dury - Sex & Drugs & Rock n Roll
Here's a midwestern U.S based band known as Soul Asylum doing a live Eddie & the Hot Rods cover a decade or two later, showing that the wasted U.K pub pop scene had legs, if not a legacy. (At the end you can hear Dan Murphy dedicate the track to Articles of Faith singer Vic Bondi, a fixture on the 80's hardcore scene in Chicago and featured in the documentary "American Hardcore".)
Soul Asylum - Do Anything You Wanna do( Eddie & The Hot Rods Cover)
In the late 70's UK trend spotter Malcolm McLaren smelled blood & lots of bloody money, and suddenly we had the Sex Pistols, and even solo Sid Vicious attempting his best Eddie Cochran impersonation before stabbing the shit out of some whiny junkie broad from New Jersey. 
from the recent dbl CD release "Sid Lives".
Incidentally, this track was recorded live with with itinerant scenster Steve Dior on guitar backed by Jerry Nolan and Arthur "Killer" Kane of the NY Dolls as the rhythm section upstairs at Max's Kansas City.
On 9/28/1978 these junkie bashers in NYC banged away two sets ruthlessly in oblivion, while their 70's contemporaries like prog rockers Yes performed in the round at the Checkerdome in St.Louis. Hee Haw banjo man Roy Clark guested on the Muppet Show, and in Austin TX, at Armadillo World HQ, future American Idol judge Randy Jackson played jazz fusion as part of Billy Cobham's band, the same venue where months earlier an ill-fated Sex Pistols performance had been held.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic in the Vatican, it was announced that Pope John Paul the 1st died mysteriously 33 days after he was named Pope. It was also just 2 weeks before Sid would reportedly find himself covered in blood at the Chelsea hotel and be charged with Nancy Spungen's murder.
(Jungle Records)
Eventually, like in any good war, the Canadians get involved and one of the greatest hardcore punk bands of all time would have to be Vancouver's D.O.A, whose War on 45 record is amongst the best punk releases ever...
Joey Shithead & Co.'s take on Edwin Starr's hit War written by Norman Whitfield is the definitive version if ya ask me...
Here's a couple more from that classic, and links to get it yer bad self...
D.O.A - War In The East
D.O.A - America The Beautiful
War On 45
D.O.A
Sudden Death Records
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at RealNetworks / Rhapsody
Buy at eMusic
Anyhow
gotta go pay some bills here... and plan my happy hour.
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