Bring the Noise

[Ralph Dumain]

Malgosia revisited:

At 12:55 PM 8/7/97 -0400, malgosia askanas wrote:
>My understanding of Ralph's drift is that it has to do with the spiritual
>value of high-quality cultural things.  In this regard, the question of
>whether or not these things are distributed for profit becomes somewhat
>unimportant.  This, I think, is why he brought up the fact that Duke
>Ellington was commercially successful, and yet less obviously "complicitous"
>with the commercial establishment than, say, Springsteen.  The question is:
>does aesthetic quality constitute a value that is in and of itself, in some
>sense, revolutionary, progressive, visionary, in complicity with the forces 
>of Light rather than Darkness?  And if it does, why are we so feeble in
>championing it?

When I initially responded to the issue of aesthetic quality, I launched
into a discussion of jazz, which I said was in danger of finally gaining
acceptance into the country club of high culture.  But I forgot to mention
the first example that really popped into my head.  It was a climactic scene
from GHOSTBUSTERS--I or II--I can't remember which--but it was the scene in
which the Ghostbusters animate the Statue of Liberty and set her marching
through the New York Harbor en route to Manhattan to clobber the occult
forces of evil.  The Ghostbusters are up in Ms. Liberty's crown,
broadcasting a recording of Jackie Wilson's "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me
Higher and Higher" to all of New York, dispelling bad vibes and creating
waves of love and good will, weakening the accumulated psychic forces of
malevolence.  This scene depicts just what I feel and think.

Afterwards I rushed out to a record store in search of Jackie Wilson's
greatest hits.  When I got home, I played "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher
and Higher" over and over for two hours, and then "The Whispers Getting
Louder (Calling Your Name)" for another two hours, and then back to the
first song for a couple more.

I'm pretty sure the Ghostbusters movie is not classified as high culture.
Since we are speaking of music, I don't think Jackie Wilson has made it into
the pantheon of high culture as yet.  But what does it matter?  Your love
keeps lifting me higher and higher.  Higher and higher.  Higher and higher!