Pants on the Ground/Social Commentary

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Pants on the Ground/Social Commentary
Topic Started: Feb 2 2010, 03:55 PM (38 Views)
mouser	Feb 2 2010, 03:55 PM Post #1
Posts: 7,735 Group: Super Moderator Member #8 Joined: Feb 7, 2008	A Future Without Pants on the Ground? Written by B.J. BethelcloseAuthor: B.J. Bethel Name: B.J. Bethel Email: bjbethel@gmail.com Site: http://threedonia.com About: See Authors Posts (2) on February 2, 2010 One wonders how North Americans survive the middle of winter. Fall hits with its inevitable cooling, but reality doesn’t quite set in. We have the Holiday season ahead, Halloween, pro and college football, and enough planning and shopping to keep our busy minds occupied. Then Christmas is suddenly past, as is New Year’s, and it’s off to the doldrums of January and February. I lament these months as much as anyone. As a sports writer, it meant three months of nothing but the smell of basketball locker rooms – the only sunlight from the neon rod hanging above the office. In 2002, something came around to make me lament January even more. Every January, it starts simple enough. Downstairs, on the couch, deep in thought, in the middle of work, the call comes from my wife to come to the computer and she has something on YouTube to show me. This is how I know “American Idol” is back on the air. “You have to come see this.” The early weeks of American Idol are a drug to some people. Fools in endless procession march across the stage, belt out horrendous tones for 15 minutes of fame. The lucky ones go viral, the rest are escorted out by security or leave in tears after Simon Cowell tells them to go back to the register at Starbucks. As someone who played guitar for 15 years and has average ears, it’s like listening to cats fighting – hours upon hours of it, and it never fails to produce a headache. This is the freak show period, a time to buy viewers until the competition heats up and America chooses its next pop star. Sometimes, the choice is rather inspired and the folks at home show more knowledge of talent than the idiots who run the studios. We have a Bo Bice belting out his southern rock (he didn’t win, but placed second), or a gray-mopped Taylor Hicks spreading soul. Kelly Clarkson and her size 6 would have been deemed too fat by the marketing department. Some genius would have invented a problem with Carrie Underwood if they couldn’t find one. But most of the choices are overly-digested pop wannabees with their R and B affectations, voice fluttering and vocal gymnastics. One is picked and goes on to at least one heavily-marketed album from the only place left in pop music that can create any buzz amongst the general population. So given its place in the zeitgeist, how odd that the show’s penultimate cultural achievement came from it’s cutting room freak show. In comes Larry Platt, 60 years old, to sing his tune. “Pants on the ground, pants on the ground Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground With the gold in your mouth, and your hat turned sideways Pants hit the ground …” A week after it appeared on television, Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings were belting out “Pants on the Ground” in the locker room to a nationwide audience. A few days later, Scott Brown stole the hearts of Democrats everywhere. When he gave his victory speech, his stuffy Northeastern Republican supporters were screaming “Pants on the Ground” at the top of their lungs. So what is it about the song? “Pants on the ground?” Sounds kind of sexual, kind of goofy, kind of fun. But the real meat comes later. “With the gold in your mouth, and your hat turned sideways” – a rather large broadside at the hip-hop culture. Media has force-fed the hip-hop culture on America for a decade now. Once an indispensable outlet for urban youth, the whole movement was harangued in the late 90s and become a shadow of its former self. This isn’t your father’s rap. The days of N.W.A. in their matching Raiders get-up has been replaced by Kanye West, and what one person on television called “crop circles in his hair.” As with most clarion calls, the messenger is important. Platt is 60 years old and African-American. Call him an old fogey, but from my recollections of American culture, old black men invented cool in this country. Ike Turner showed more inspiration when he dropped his amp off the top of a station wagon and created guitar distortion than the entire industry has showed in 20 years. If anyone would drive a stake through the heart of hip-hop, it can’ come from no one better. But is hip-hop dead? When you become a target of derision from Senators, 40-year-old quarterbacks and men nearing Social Security age, the pulse is fading on your time in the culture. For that, Platt finally gave me one good reason for my wife to drag me off the couch. http://www.parcbench.com/2010/02/02/a-future-without-pants-on-the-ground/



Gr8fulheart	Feb 2 2010, 08:35 PM Post #2
Posts: 3,368 Group: charter member Member #106 Joined: Feb 9, 2008	And Everyone is still getting a charge from that audition.



mouser	Feb 3 2010, 02:42 PM Post #3
Posts: 7,735 Group: Super Moderator Member #8 Joined: Feb 7, 2008	Why would a 60 year old man be allowed to perform when the cut off age is 28.............. seems rather a unethical way of promoting the American Idol Show. The producers surely knew that this gentleman would create a media frenzy; especially when the judges hype the performance. While I understand this is all business and is cast for the entertainment value it supplies; I am still aghast at the conniving manner with which ALL REALITY SHOWS rope in audiences. There are some shows that rope me in more than others...........Idol is just not one of them.



Gr8fulheart	Feb 3 2010, 10:42 PM Post #4
Posts: 3,368 Group: charter member Member #106 Joined: Feb 9, 2008	Oh ~ They Knew how old he was & let him 'end' that day's auditions, because they Knew it would leave an impression with the viewers. In some fishing tournaments, 'chuming' is allowed, & they used this guy for bait. It will be interesting to see how others feel about this. I do feel he was serious about his performance.



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