I was never a huge fan of his music, sharing some of the concerns about it that Henry Rollins puts forward in this letter: sharing also, however, Rollins' appreciation for his faith towards our military and veterans. There's nothing wrong with a playful drinking song, of course; but his was a living made on celebrating the weekend bacchanalia of workers whose lives are otherwise empty of joy.
Still, I will put up my favorite of his songs. It shows humility and the ability to laugh at himself, which are good traits.
Likewise, I trust -- based on his comments about his faith -- that death for him brings about only an end to what must have been significant suffering. It was surely nothing to fear.
UPDATE: I was reminded of this story of Keith stepping in to save Merle Haggard’s final concert, an act of honor for which he deserves remembrance.
5 comments:
Today was the first time I've actually heard "Red Solo Cup" thanks to your link. I knew about it, of course, but Toby Keith has never been the kind of country music I listen to. Having heard it, I'm surprised to say I rather like it. The music is fun with the plucky banjo and the tune is catchy. The lyrics are fairly clever despite the silly topic, and it's clearly done tongue-in-cheek. Plus, Craig Ferguson is in the video.
I get Henry Rollins' concerns, but I think his characterization that it's "elitist twaddle" is more on point than he realized. It suggests to me he thinks Keith's audience is full of mindless drones who need their favorite music stars to tell them how to live their lives. I don't think anyone who's going to make something of themselves is going to be put off by Toby Keith's winking celebration of the live to drink on the weekends lifestyle. I'm guessing most people get the joke.
I am not trying to bash on Rollins, either, I just think he's not giving Keith's fans enough credit. I probably would have been right there with him if I hadn't watched the "Red Solo Cup" video before his letter.
It’s hard for me to think of the frontman of Black Flag as an elitist, but I see your point.
His music wasn’t really my thing, but it had parallels with a lot of Hank Williams, Jr.’s work. I always liked Hank. Still do.
Rollins is a mixed bag. He’s done some great work, including a piece on transformational weightlifting and another one on his struggles with Iggy Pop. Of course he was one of the giants of the punk and hardcore era.
On the other hand I think he bought into some of the Hollywood crowd’s prejudices during his acting career, which may overlap with the letters you mentioned.
I don't know much about Rollins. I was never into those scenes. I guess we're all mixed bags in one way or another.
I see you've posted some other videos from him, so I'll check them out.
I could never get into Black Flag back in the day mostly because of Rollins. He really did hate you (and everyone else). The condescension was always real from him. He also seems to suffer a great deal from a failure to be able to look in the mirror. He recites this letter as he plays the part of a restaurant worker, but he sits at his mac (an elitist symbol- too expensive for me and many people, and probably for most diner dishwashers) and ironically congratulates Keith on his work with the troops. I don't for a second think that wasn't delivered sarcastically, knowing what I do about his anti war stance and opinions about American imperialism, despite his having toured with USO (but that was I think almost admittedly on his part an anti-propaganda effort by him).
Or maybe this rant says too much about me, I don't know. I guess I'm as skeptical about him as he is about everything.
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