Imus firing a mistake.
Double standards abound in the media.

By Ryan Murray

Turn on the news this evening, and you’ll most likely see a story similar to this:

Nationally-syndicated radio host Don Imus has been fired by CBS Radio for comments made over the air about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

What a surprise. A “shock jock” shocked people last week by making what could be perceived as racially-offensive remarks. And since then, there has been a barrage of media coverage towards the incident. Not only have sports media outlets picked up the story, but CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC (who, until Wednesday, had simulcast Imus’ show on television.) But, with this extra media coverage, there has been something missing: extra scrutiny of the situation. And, after watching much of this coverage (and generally being disgusted by most of it), I have come to a sad realization.

There is a double-standard in play. Imus was fired because he was white, and used words that, according to generally accepted social norms, are reserved for African-Americans to use.

Keep that in mind for a second.

Let me take you back to last spring, and the 2006 Academy Awards. The rap group Three 6 Mafia took home an Oscar for Best Original Song for their song “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp.” If you’re not familiar with it, here’s a brief sampling of the lyrics:

In my eyes I done seen some crazy thangs in the streets
Gotta couple hoes workin on the changes for me…
Man it seems like I'm duckin dodgin bullets everyday
Niggaz hatin on me cause I got hoes on the tray
But I gotta stay paid, gotta stay above water
Couldn't keep up with my hoes, that's when shit got harder.

Imus used the term “Ho” twice. Not only did Three 6 Mafia use the same term three times in that short sample, but they also used the term commonly referred to as “the n-word.” In fact, the song itself contains “ho” three times, “niggaz” twice, “bitches” six times, AND (get this) uses the term “snow bunny”, which could be considered an offensive term to Caucasian-Americans. All this, plus the traditional smattering of other profanity often found in modern rap music…

…And this song won an award. Not just any award, an Oscar; an award traditionally seen as the pinnacle of the entertainment business. So, while the African-American members of Three 6 Mafia won an award for using this sort of language, Don Imus was fired.

This song is merely one example. One need only look to much of the music that makes up the Top-40 radio playlist, and one will see much music that is eerily similar in content. Look at, for example, KBKS-FM in Seattle, Washington. According to their website, nine songs out of their top thirty-played songs are by artists whose songs contain similar language to the language used in the song above.

Why did I choose KBKS? KBKS, or Kiss 106.1, as it is branded publicly, is owned by CBS Radio. Yes, the same CBS that just fired Don Imus for using the word “ho.”

So, what have we learned? It’s perfectly acceptable for a company to profit from African-Americans using the word “ho”, but it’s not acceptable for a company to profit from a Caucasian-American using it.

Welcome to America, where double-standards abound.

Anton Corbjin is a HACK.

Ok, not really. But I can safely say that at least _two_ of the videos he shot for Depeche Mode are not nearly as good as he (or the rest of the world, for that matter) would have you think. Those videos? Enjoy The Silence and Strangelove.

Enjoy The Silence is a hell of a song. In fact, it's one of the best singles Depeche Mode has released, period. But the video? Boring. It features "king" Dave Gahan wandering around mountains and hillsides with a folding chair, so he can "enjoy the silence." Um...ok? And this is visually stimulating...how? (In defense of the video, there are occasional black and white shots of the band and a rose. But they're sparse.)

Strangelove....one of the first videos banned from MTV. Corbijn gets credit for letting his girlfriend dance around the stage in her underwear. And, yes, a video featuring scantily-clad models would seem to fit damn well with a song about sexual fetishes. Except for one thing...the Strangelove '88 video, which is simply much better done. And who cares if it completely rips off Fritz Lang's Metropolis? It wouldn't be the first time.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Depeche Mode. And, most of their videos are excellent. But give me Clive Richardson's Blasphemous Rumours or D.A. Pennebaker's Everything Counts (101) over anything Corbjin's done any day.

United Artists to be revived...
...by Tom Cruise??

(Cross-posted to my JMC-262 class blog.)

Sometime last week, it was reported that Tom Cruise and MGM had come to an agreement to revive United Artists, the studio originally founded by Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, and Charles Chaplin.

My original reaction to this? Well, my original comments aren't suitable for print. However, after curling up (or in this case sitting in a rather uncomfortable chair in the basement of the UWM library) with the latest issue of Variety, I've come to a rather odd comclusion for me:

This may actually work. And, it may not suck too badly.

Don't get me wrong, I still hate Tom Cruise with all the loathing I can muster up from the darkest regions of my soul. But, as bad as some of his more recent films have been ("War Of The Worlds," anyone?), as a producer, Cruise does have a somewhat-impressive track record of success. Take for example, a small snippit of his work (as a producer) between 1996 and today:

• Elizabethtown
• The Last Samurai
• Shattered Glass
• Narc
• Vanilla Sky

Not a shabby lineup, by any means.

Also, Variety has brought to my attention a fact that I was previously unaware of. Apparently, Cruise is not contractually obligated to star in any of these films, only to produce them. This lessens my disgust greatly, as I am generally opposed to much of what Cruise has starred in during the past 5-6 years. Not only that, without Cruise starring in these films, they may be more likely to live up to the legacy of United Artists and what the studio stood for so many years ago in Hollywood.

So, I'll wait to reserve judgement. Until I see UA release Battlefield Earth II.

At that point, all bets are off.

Radio Singles Suck.
Labels simply can not pick them anymore.

I've just about had it with record labels.

Now, this isn't one of those generic "OMG THE RECORD LABELS SUCK CUZ THEY RIP OFF ARTIST" rants. No, my reason for hating the labels is much more simple and basic than that.

Labels these days simply can not select "good" radio singles. This summer has definitely proved that.

Let's look at three examples of poorly picked singles, shall we?

• Panic! At The Disco - I Write Sins, Not Tragedies.
• Cobra Starship - Bring It (Snakes On A Plane)
• Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disko

First, Panic! At The Disco. Everyone remembers that song, right? The song that you simply could not escape this summer, P!ATD took the radio wave by storm and got stuck in everyone's head. But, many people won't even know that there was a single out before I Write Sins, Not Tragedies. Unfortunately, Decaydance screwed up, and released a video for I Write Sins while at the same time promoting an entirely different single for radio air (that single being The Only Difference Between Suicide and Martyrdom is Press Coverage...by all accounts a much better song to promote the album with.) They then realized their mistake, and...poof. Gone is the current radio single, replaced by I Write Sins overnight.

Cobra Starship...everyone here remembers Snakes On A Plane, right? Well, the single (Bring It (Snakes On A Plane) from the soundtrack album was released to radio at the same time. There's one small issue with this, however:

No one played it and the song was...pretty bad.

Has Decaydance released a followup? No. Should they have? Yes. It's Amateur Night At The Appollo Creed! not only better reflects the sound of the album, but it's much better, as well.

[update-january, 2006: The follow-up single has been released. And, again, it ("The Church of Hot Addiction") is a fairly irritating single. Apparently, Decaydance doesn't learn from its mistakes.]

Shiny Toy Guns. Heard the new single? It's irritating. In fact, it's so irritating that I almost didn't buy the album. But, it was on sale for seven bucks, so I tried it. Know what I found?

It's pretty good. In fact, it's very good. Except for that single.

Hey, Universal: Shut up and release Don't Cry Out. If you have the hottest new-wave band since Devo, why not release a single that actually reflects what they sound like?

Labels: You are terrible at picking singles. Start doing a better job...for your own sake. You'll sell more albums, and anger less radio employees.

..Uncensored, my A**!

I've got a bone to pick with some television producers, specifically MTV.

When you have a television show that you release to DVD (aka Jackass), and you have a disclaimer stating that it's for "Mature Audiences Only"...why do you keep the bad language bleeped out? And, if you're going to consistently bleep out any occurrance of the F-Word on your commentary track, WHY do you insist on labeling it as an "uncensored" commentary track? Why do you tease me with wonderous promises and then promptly proceed to pull them away like an old man teasing a young kid with candy?

What, exactly, DOES the word "Uncensored" mean these days? Because, if "Uncensored" now means "We bleep the F-word", then I must have missed the memo. And, it pisses me off.