Disclaimer: An unabashed Radiohead fanatic writes this blog. The views expressed in this blog may be sensationalist, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Charles Mingus is still heard in the world of popular music, I can hear him recklessly going through life in Radiohead’s chaotic brass section. A section that is reminiscent of the ones seen in many of Mingus’ songs.
A book like Beneath the Underdog has so many different topics possible of covering that if I tried to do it all in one blog the Internetz would explode! Therefore, I have decided to focus on further impact in music and culture, using Radiohead as my main specimen, this will probably only lead to the explosion of Blogspot. Before I begin I must point out that Thom inspired this. While trying to go to sleep one night I gave up and decided I would listen to Kid A maybe look over Thom Yorke’s wikipedia page (again) see if something new was added. To my pleasant surprise I saw that ol’ Thom listed Charles Mingus as one of his influences. “Great news,” I thought and from then on I’ve been mapping out the web of ideas written on this blog.
Charles Mingus was always getting into trouble, never felt comfortable with his own skin, his own culture; he didn’t fit in anywhere. Mingus grew up feeling hated and not accepted by anyone so he had to use music to get away from it all. Mingus did so by being the best, by being the leader by controlling the only thing he felt he could control. In “Original Faubus Fables” Mingus speaks out against the government, directly addressing his adversary by name, declaring war. “Knives Out,” Thom Yorke would retort. Professor Kun stated that Mingus represents a crucial figure in the idea that politics and music have something to do with one another (He next said specifically racial politics, but that ruins the fun comparison). Racial politics or not, they were politics; Mingus was using his music to revolt, to make music and protest synonymous. He certainly wasn’t the last artist to do this: John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and Thom Yorke would follow, just to name a few. And what do those guys have in common? Oh yeah! They’re all incredibly popular. Without Mingus, popular music may have never taken that next step, the protest in music may not have been brought to the forefront, remaining a genre for small musicians and small audiences to hear. Mingus made sure this was no longer an issue, and musicians have been using music as a sound of revolt ever since.
Mingus uses music constantly as an outlet, he doesn’t know how to say what he means—but he knows how to play it. Mingus wasn’t like most popular figures of that time, doing music for the fame and the attention. Mingus did more with his music, Mingus was his music and he certainly needed his music. Professor Kun asked what was Mingus enslaved by in class Tuesday and I was hesitant to say what was on my mind because slavery seems like a dissatisfactory word to describe the relationship Mingus shared with music. Although the relationship almost seems slave like, music was Mingus’ holder, Mingus needed music to express himself, and Mingus needed to express himself. Did Mingus control the music? Or did the music control Mingus? In the book it seems like a beautiful relationship, two forces combining to help each other. Mingus was certainly helped by the control he was able to exert over music, ironically, not knowing that he needed the music, too, and without his bass he would be devastated, lost. This has become a theme in music, the musicians need the music just as much as music needs them. Thom Yorke is crazy, probably not Mingus status, but certainly would prefer to be a recluse, just knowing it’s not viable if he wants to continue making music. As a child in Oxford his family had to move around a lot because classmates teased Thom for his droopy eyelid, only finding solace in his weekly band practices. In Radiohead’s documentary Meeting People is Easy the viewer sees Thom battle depression, watching the startling correlation of rise in fame and plunge in happiness. Most striking about this is that Thom is a charismatic performer, an excellent dancer and a master of letting loose in shows.
Mingus wrote, “I’m trying to play the truth of what I am. The difficulty is because I’m changing all the time.” Mingus didn’t even know who he was, how was music going to remain the same? It was impossible; he had 3 different personalities at any given time, probably why his songs sound schizophrenic. Many start one way, smooth or chaotic or somewhere in the middle and the next section will be a different tempo, and different theme. We see Mingus switching personalities mid-composition. Without knowing it Mingus created a successful style that every artist strives for—the mobile self. Mingus reinvented himself on every album, something artists are always looking to do in present day. The most successful bands don’t sound the same every album, the two prime examples are the Beatles, who released a large amount of CD’s in a short amount of years and managed to reinvent themselves every time. Fans now have a short attention span and if the band can’t keep up they move to something else—the key being to keep the sound that became popular initially but change it a little to grow fans and keep it interesting. Radiohead’s Pablo Honey and The Bends sound nothing like Kid A, which sounds quite different from In Rainbows. This is what success looks like nowadays and Mingus was doing it at a time where change was risk, and people at the top weren’t willing to take that risk. But Mingus needed to take that risk, to remain sane, to try and get out of the body that he felt everyone hated.
“I’m trapped in this body and can’t get out”—Radiohead, “Bodysnatchers,” In Rainbows
No comments:
Post a Comment