05.24.07
Working class hero
It’s been kind of rough week in a lot of ways, but I saw something on television last night that made me pause. (This is long post, so if you read to the end, you are a patient soul).
I don’t watch reality TV and had never watched an episode of American Idol. Most of what I know from the show is from the parodys on Saturday Night Live. Last night, I figured out what the heck. Blake Lewis, the white dude who graduated from Bothell’s Inglemoor High, lost to Jordin Sparks, the 17-year old from Glendale, Ariz. who is the daughter of a black ex-NFL football player father and white mother. The hype borders on obsession and it takes away news time from what’s going on in the world (OK they did something Darfur-related), but maybe people need the diversion. Then again all we have going for us these days are diversions. Apply the cliche, “it is what it is,” here. Now Sanjaya is the latest Asian male minstrel show from Idol, replacing William Hung. I suppose that’s a step up. Thank you Jesus.
Or course, the drama aside, Idol is about making a buck for FOX and the record companies. It’s definitely a tried and true forumla.
What made me pause, though was the irony of the performance of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” by Green Day.
To some degree I had written Green Day off as a punk band who went pop, and they probably are, but I give them credit for performing that song.
Here are the lyrics:
As soon as your born they make you feel small,
By giving you no time instead of it all,
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
They hurt you at home and they hit you at school,
They hate you if you’re clever and they despise a fool,
Till you’re so fucking crazy you can’t follow their rules,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
When they’ve tortured and scared you for twenty odd years,
Then they expect you to pick a career,
When you can’t really function you’re so full of fear,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV,
And you think you’re so clever and classless and free,
But you’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
There’s room at the top they are telling you still,
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill,
A working class hero is something to be.
A working class hero is something to be.
If you want to be a hero well just follow me,
If you want to be a hero well just follow me.
This was only a few minutes out of two hours in a ratings extravaganza but, hey maybe it caught some teenager’s attention.
The irony is everyone no one on American Idol wants to be a working class hero. They want to be the Idol. They want fame and fortune. It’s all about getting on TV and getting a record deal even if you lose. Fox executives are quite good at keeping people doped up on a steady diet of conservative politics, sex and TV.
The concept, that some unknown will rise up to be a singing superstar, is mythical. Everyone’s got to have a dream. The ballot-box stuffing process by which the Idol is picked let’s the audience participate and creates a frenzy, with fan sites, the whole shebang. Truth is, few will rise up and be an American Idol. And the truth is, in today’s world, a lot of people will struggle to land a decent paying job. A head of household has to be pulling down at least $60,000 and realistically much more afford to own a home and raise a family in the city of Seattle. I am from a generation that is generally headed for a lower standard of living than its’ parents generation.
