Something I Learned Today
For some reason FT's is doing these Turner black & white colorizations of Ukraine photos:
Had to do a double take:
This is Husker Du's 1984 Zen Arcade and that's Saint Paul, Minneapolis not 2022 Russian bombed Ukraine.
A very, very fine collection of late 20th century pop sounds is Zen Arcade. I can't remember why, but sadly missed them long ago, for no good reason, when they were playing this music at a small club in Chicago, up at Armitage and Sheffield. With 30 other people, I did see Bob Mould a few years later at San Diego State, he was great.
But Saint Paul, 1984 and Kiev, 2022? Well, I guess a lot of Norse immigrants in Saint Paul, and the Rus were supposedly from that neck of the Scandinavian woods. And Kievian Rus, some say that's literally Mother Russia, and later, Kiev was part of Tzarist Russia over two and half centuries. That's twice as long as Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona et al were militarily extracted from Mexico. And remember what US Grant, the sword of Lincoln, said about the Mexican War, “One of the most unjust wars ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."
Maybe in this era of the politics of the oppressed, blood soaked Dictator Putin just can't forget the long ago Kievian Yoke? Certainly his victim speeches point to that. This 21st century world needs no dictators or strongmen, probably be better off without presidents either.
Newest Industry, Husker Du, 1984:
“We been through mass destruction once but once was not enough
We said "We want a second chance" and all they say is “Tough”A world where science went too far, there's no way to survive
Why can't we get this thing straightened out cause I wanna stay aliveThey burned and bombed the east and north and there's no place left to go
The Sun Belt's overcrowded so let's annex MexicoThe peso's only worth a dime but they've got all that land
There's no need for a civil war, we know they'll understand, Right?Is that how you like it?
Factories left unattended, crumbling to the ground
We tried to keep them running but there's no more oil aroundWe used it all to fight a war that neither side could win
Vietnam was Little League compared to where we've beenNow we live in caves and huts and we don't have pay TV
And everyone is signing up for the newest industryStandard Oil goes solar power, all try to make a buck
I'll sit around, smoke cigarettes and babble, "What the fuck?"That's how we like it
Sign up – Newest industry
The newest industry
We'll sign up for the newest industry”