SEPTEMBER 21,1990 — THE DECREE — PAGE 3
Censorship affected summer music
By MARK BRETT
The summer of 1990 will be
remembered for censorship.
Record labeling, a subtle and
deceptive censorship device, be
came even more insidious as it
was standardized throughout the
music industry. More overtly, rap
group 2 Live Crew was arrested
on stage for public obscenity and
their record was subsequently
banned in cities across the country
(while the album was garbage, it
Old relationships
remain familiar
at class reunion
(Continued from Page 2)
time,” and proceeded to outdo me
by detailing several escapades. 1
laughed so much I almost fell into
the video camera. Far too soon
these moments also became
memories.
Here’s my favorite moment: I
am heatedly arguing with a friend
about the cultural stereotypes
being perpetuated in the movie
“Pretty Woman” when she says,
“Oh, Steve, it’s just a movie.”
The radiating waves of my
indignation draw others into the
turmoil until someone breaks the
tension by saying, “This is just
like high school. Everyone’s hav
ing a good time and then Ferebee
gets on his soap box.”
Ah, yes, I think as we laugh, we
are indeed family, and this may
not be the beach, but we’re home.
(Continued from Page 2)
• You avoid all social activities,
wishing to be alone most of the
time.
You may have a friend or know
of someone who is in the midst of
this grief process and they might
come to you for advice. How are
you going to respond?
The first thing is to be natural.
Be yourself. They have come to
you because they feel comfort
able in talking to you. Your inter
est should be genuine and sincere
so that they know you care.
Secondly, do not try too hard to
help. In most cases what the per
son really needs and is seeking is
someone to listen to them as they
sort out their feelings. Do not try
to force them to “open up.” They
will share what they are feeling at
a time that is right for them.
Review
doesn’tdeservetobebanned; what
does?).
Heavy metal band Judas Priest
found itself in court on the ludi
crous charge that they were re
sponsible for the suicide death of
a teenage boy who listened to their
music (if we’re placing blame here,
let’s look at the parents, who were
so out of touch with their child
that they nothing was wrong).
The list of First Amendment
casualties lengthens, and 1 have to
wonder how ttie spirit of rock and
roll rebellion got in its current sad
shape. Let’s face it: Elvis is dead,
and the rest of us aren’t feeling
very well, either.
On that somber note, let’s prog
ress on to some of the bright spots
of the summer of 1990. (Note: the
New Kids on the Block “Step by
Step” tour will not be discussed,
except perhaps in lip-sync).
First up was Metaphysical
Graffiti, the newest release from
the Dead Milkmen, masters of
Tabloid Rock. The Milkmen do
their usual perverse job on this
one, from “Beige Sunshine,” a
sort of absurdist expression of the
Milkman world-view, to “Meth
odist Coloring Book,” asong about
the repressive qualities of organ
ized religion that I’m sure would
be very popular around here.
Next comes GWAR’s
Scumdogs of the Universe.
Try to avoid cliches like “I
know how you are feeling” and
“You are doing so well.” If you
don’t know what to say, don’t say
anything; just listen! Words are
sometimes meaningless and just
your presence and caring will be
enough.
Finally, accept their moods and
their feelings and try not to pass
judgment. No one responds to
death or a crisis in the same way.
If they are angry, let them be angry.
It will be more helpful to them if
they can express how they are
feeling.
The grieving and healing proc
ess takes some time. It will not
happen overnight. But, with a little
understanding and some help, the
pieces will eventually come to
gether and you will find that peace
once again.
GWAR claims to be a group of
outer space warriors who have
been banished to Earth, where they
formed a thrash metal band to take
control of our population. No one
seems to know who they really
are, but as long as they write up
roariously funny thrash parody like
“Maggots are Falling Like Rain,”
“Slaughterama,” and “Horror of
Yig” (which contains a bagpipe
solo), who cares?
The one pleasant surprise of
the summer is the success of Faith
No More, whose album ‘The Real
Thing” is a genuinely brilliant look
at the daricer side of humanity.
“Epic,” their much-played hittune,
is actually about the desire of and
the quest for the things you can’t
have. Try explaining that one to
Casey Kasem.
The conflicting legacies of
Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, and
Bob Marley were finally recon
ciled this summer on Un-led-Ed,
the debut fi'om Dread Zeppelin.
Fronted by a Rastafarian and an
By TERESA PITTS
As I was walking through the
halls of the administrative build
ing, I made an interesting obser
vation: the effects from last
semester’s symposium, “Our Is
land Earth,” are virtually disap
pearing.
Remains from the symposium
exist, such a recycling bins for
paper and aluminum. However,
the farther we get from Earth Day,
the less concerned this college
seems to be about environmental
issues.
Maybe many new students are
unaware of these small efforts and
returning students have forgotten
or are unconcerned. Whatever the
reason, Wesleyan needs to respond
as an educational institution and
show some environmental con
cern.
For those who don’t know or
have forgotten, large recycling
bins for office and computer pa
per are placed throughout most of
the buildings on campus, and
smaller recycling baskets are lo
cated in most classrooms. How
ever, the baskets along with the
larger paper bins appear to have
been converted to trash cans.
Hooked inside several andmost
contained snack food wrappers,
aluminum cans, organic matter.
Elvis impersonator. Dread Zep
pelin somehow weaves reggae
melodies and Elvis into the hard
rock crunch of Led Zeppelin with
an ease that defies description.
This mix produces songs like
“Heartbreaker (At the End of
Lonely Street),” which puts
“Heartbreak Hotel” to the tune of
“Heartbreaker” and then re-cre-
ates it all in a reggae style. Dread
Zeppelin is an amazingly refresh
ing band, in a retro kind of way.
Human Radio’s self-titled
debut was released this summer to
nearly overwhelming indifference,
which is too bad. They are one of
those rare bands that can combine
pop-style rhythms with intelligent,
thought-provoking lyrics to pro
duce music that should apped to
both undergroundandTop4G fans.
Unfortunately, they missed
both groups entirely, the former
probably turned off by the way
they sound like Squeeze and the
latter not understanding the refer
ences to Nietzsche and Jesus the
and some paper — mainly note
book paper. Sound like a trash can
to you? I saw one basket among
the classrooms which contained
only the requested office and
computer paper.
I also found a similar situation
concerning the aluminum can bins.
These can be found near the drink
machines in the administrative
building as well as in the dorms,
and the cans put there will be
recycled. However, aluminum
cans share their space with trash,
changing these bins, too, into trash
cans. Also, cans that should be
discarded in the recycling bins
seldom make it there, but instead
are thrown into regular trash cans.
Recycling is not the only im
portant environmental issue that
the Wesleyan community is over
looking. Another significant one
is energy conservation.
Many times lights are never
turned off after class; if the class
ends at three or four in the after
noon, then the lights bum use
lessly until 6:30 night class.
However, if no class meets, then
the lights continue to bum until
security turns them off about 10
p.m.
The same is tme for the class
room air conditioners, which use
even more energy. I can under
travel agent. “Me and Elvis,” at
least, got some aiiplay as a kind of
novelty song, which is a waste but
better than nothing.
In addition. Summer 1990
produced the The Cramps,
everyone’s favorite transvestite
shockabilly band, which released
their firstnew album in ages, “Stay
Sick,” which did just that (if you
don’t believe me, check out their
version of “Shortnin’ Bread”).
In the realm of less extreme
shockabilly (which, by the way is
punk rockabilly). Social Distor
tion put out a self-titled album,
nice grungy rock and roll of a type
they don’t make any more.
Suicidal Tendencies released
the typically political “Lights,
Camera, Revolution,” which in
cludes a song with the provoca
tive title of “Disco’s Out, Murder’s
In.”
Finally, the Pixies were their
characteristically disturbing selves
on “Bossanova,” which is just
plain weird. And on that note....
stand leavmg them on after the
day classes in order to cool the
room for the night classes, but
usually the doors are left open and
the cold air that is generated es
capes.
Speaking of wasting energy,
while walking through the class
room building at approximately
9:45 at night, I heard a fan in a
professor’s office. It was proba
bly going to be operating all night.
What a waste.
A college community should
be environmentally focused and
set the standard for other institu
tions. As an educational institu
tion, we should react to current
issues affecting the world, such as
the environmental crisis. How
ever, Wesleyan tends to dismiss
the problem.
Each person should take some
responsibility and play a role in
environmental preservation, by
recycling or conserving energy.
You only have to exert minimal
effort to throw paper and alumi
num in the proper recycling con
tainers and to turn a light switch or
air conditioner off when not in
use.
These are small tasks with
enormous benefits. Let’s try to be
environmentally conscious not
only during Earth Week, but on a
daily basis.
Responding to any death
takes diflicult adjustment
Effects of symposium on earth
seem to have worn off this year