#starsofstageandscreen — Public Fediverse posts
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The Stars of Stage and Screen…Song #75/250: The Trooper by Iron Maiden from the Original Soundtrack of the Television Series Stranger Things
If there was a “Mount Rushmore” for Heavy Metal bands then I propose that Iron Maiden be one of the four bands preserved there in stone. *(Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and Motorhead being the others). Iron Maiden has been making some of the genre’s most epic songs for well over a half century now and yet, unlike many bands that teeter on the edge of aging out into irrelevance, Iron Maiden remain as cool and hip and current as almost any band around due to their connection with the popular television show Stranger Things. The band, in general, and today’s song “The Trooper” specifically, both play an important role in the storyline of this show about misfits and monsters that had so captured the attention of fans over the last decade or so as it appeared on Netflix. This song ties in perfectly with the closing finale of the show because of a true historical event that actually inspired the members of Iron Maiden to write “The Trooper” in the 1980s. That event in question was the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade from the Crimean War made famous, originally, in a poem of the same name by one of the Victorian eras greatest poets Alfred, Lord Tennyson. So, what does a famous poem about a catastrophic British war battle against Russia have to do with Iron Maiden and, in time, with the finale of one of the hottest television shows in recent entertainment history? In order to find out, we have to start with an understanding of what it means to be a social misfit in a world of social conformity, which is something that many people (teenagers and adults) feel, as well as many fans who call themselves metalheads.
Iron MaidenOne of the overriding story elements at play in Stranger Things was that it was populated with characters who didn’t quite fit in with the normal social scene, for one reason or another but who found strength and a sense of community in each other’s company. One of the characters that was introduced as the seasons went by was a Dungeons & Dragons hosting metalhead named Eddie Munson. In addition to hosting the Hellfire D & D club, Eddie was always championing the idea that heavy metal music is a valid music genre, even though that belief is not shared so readily by his peers. One of the bands that Eddie champions was Iron Maiden. The makers of Stranger Things had a good sense of what it means to be a metalhead, based on how they had written Eddie Munson into the show. In real life, metalheads tend to be a fairly close knit community. Many are drawn to the genre because they don’t see themselves, their ideals or values reflected in other forms of music but they do with Metal. Because they come together as a band of misfits and outcasts from their own world, metalheads tend to be very invested in the bands that they follow and very loyal to them throughout the years. Iron Maiden has stayed true to their origins as a loud, fast, muscular rock band over the years and, as such, their fans have grown with them in a mutli-generational fashion. Because fans of Iron Maiden are now entering their third generation, it made perfect sense for there to be a young fan in the throes of fresh obsession with this legendary band. Eddie Munson has the hair and the uniform of a metalhead but he also has the name that links him inextricably with Iron Maiden. You see, for those unaware, way back in Iron Maiden’s earliest of days, they introduced a hellish looking onstage mascot named….wait for it….Eddie! If you ever wore an Iron Maiden t-shirt then, in all likelihood, you had Eddie’s undead countenance on it. Along with those giant lips from the Rolling Stones, Eddie from Iron maiden is universally recognized as one of the most iconic rock n’ roll symbols ever created. And now, we have an important Heavy Metal loving character named Eddie appear in Stranger Things. Coincidence? I think not.
A screenshot of a tweet by Iron Maiden Official that endorses a screenshot of Eddie Munson holding up a cassette of Iron Maiden and proclaiming loudly that “This is music!”While the fate of Eddie’s character on the show is not a happy one, his legacy lives on in one of the more memorable scenes as the series finale approached. Eddie Munson and the principal of the high school in which all of the characters attend, didn’t often see eye to eye. Eddie frequently stated to his friends his desire to make a grand gesture of defiance with regard to the principal . This gesture was to flip him the bird as he walked across the stage at graduation time. We all have our dreams of rebellion but, unfortunately for Eddie, he never lived to see his dream come to fruition. However, when graduation time came for the rest of the members of the Hellfire D.& D. club, they decided to honour his memory by realizing his grand vision on his behalf. After the valedictorian speech given by a character named Dustin, he rips his diploma, flips off the principal and unveils his Hellfire Club t-shirt that he was wearing under his graduation gown. Confetti rains down. Eddie’s memory has been honoured. For added relevance, “The Trooper” plays in the background. All seems fitting. But when you know the story behind the song, the ending seems a little more ambiguous, depending on how you view warfare and those who conduct it.
As mentioned earlier, Iron Maiden’s song “The Trooper” was inspired by the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson called “The Charge of the Light Brigade”. At the time that this poem was written, Alfred, Lord Tennyson had assumed the role of Poet Laureate in England. He is considered by those in the know as being one of the greatest Victorian era poets. In his formal role as Poet Laureate, one of Tennyson’s jobs was to wax poetically about major events of the day in England and the colonies it controlled. Needless to say, the political necessity to show England’s endeavours in a grand and glorious light caused him to often put a shiny spin on the events referenced in his poetry. Such is definitely the case with “The Charge of the Light Brigade”.
Engraving of Alfred (Lord) Tennyson (1809-1892), English poet. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)In historical terms, the Crimean War was a political spat that erupted between Russia (on the east), Britain and France (on the west), regarding the territorial vacuum created by the coming end of the formally formidable Ottoman Empire that stood between them. When negotiations failed to arrive at any sort of territorial accommodations, war began. One such battle that happened came to be known as the Battle of Balaclava. This battle took place near the Black Sea port/fortress of Sevastopol in Russia. As events unfolded, the French took up positions to the southwest of the city with the English in the southeast. Unfortunately, at a moment in time when English reinforcements had not yet fully arrived, a series of miscommunications ensued that caused the horse back-ridden Light Brigade to believe that it was being ordered to advance toward the Russian front lines to seize the gun emplacements positioned there. The men of the Light Brigade mounted up and charged forward. It was only after they had begun to attack the Russian forward positions that it became clear that the real order was for them to attack but only after the reinforcements had arrived. By the time clarity came to the chain of communications, the undermanned Light Brigade had charged forward. The Russian gunners picked the soldiers off easily. Eventually, the surviving members of the Light Brigade retreated but not before the loss of many men and horses. In military terms, the attack was a colossal failure. It stands as one of the British military’s most embarrassing losses in their storied history.
The doomed “Charge of the Light Brigade”.But when it came time for Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate of England to weigh in and report to the nation about the outcome of the war efforts, he could scarcely do so honestly because to do so would be to publicly criticize the military which, at that time, was viewed with great respect. Instead, Tennyson cloaked the poem with terms that described the noble nature of sacrifice and the valour displayed by Her Majesty’s loyal fighting forces. *(“The Charge of the Light Brigade” is a relatively short poem. I encourage you to stop and click here in order to read it in its entirety before proceeding onward with this post). To this very day, the official language used when speaking of the efforts of our soldiers during times of war tends to involve flowery terms such as valor and sacrifice and courage and determination and the like. Soldiers may feel that way, too but they are the ones who will also speak of mud and destruction and loss and fear and the futility of it all at times.
We often tell ourselves stories to blunt the force of the reality in which we tend to find ourselves. Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” certainly does that. In the early 1980s, Iron Maiden bassist and main songwriter, Steve Harris took a slightly different approach. While sticking to the general outline of Tennyson’s poem, Harris also took time to describe the carnage from the point of view of one of the members of the Light Brigade who, in the end, becomes a casualty. When the song is performed live, lead singer Bruce Dickenson often dons an authentic red military jacket and waves a tattered British flag. Their song “The Trooper” has gone on to become one of their most successful and popular songs and is widely regarded as one of the foundational songs in the entire genre of Heavy Metal.
I have no doubt that it takes great courage to go into actual battle against a foe who is equally determined to kill you and end your life. So, before going any further, a giant tip of the helmet to any and all soldiers who put their lives on the line for their country. However politics, being what they are, often end up making a mockery of the sacrifices of the very soldiers that were ordered out onto the fields of battle. The battles written about the Crimean War by Tennyson and others back in the 1850s seem remarkably similar to the geopolitical tensions of today. Borders come and borders go. Flags wave in the whispering wind. Young soldiers die for the ambitions of those in suits and ties. War is easy to wage if you are stationed far from the front lines. It’s not so easy when you are in the thick of it.
But warfare of the military kind was not what was really happening throughout the television series Stranger Things. That show was about the power of community, of the importance of empathy and inclusivity and just how wide-ranging the mental and emotional battles are that people face as they attempt to do something as simple as just making it through their day in one piece. Those enormous mental health challenges played out in various ways again and again throughout this series. So, in the end, as Dustin flips the bird at his principal in honour of Eddie Munson while”The Trooper” plays in the background, the misfits of the world united in a moment of triumph. However in the end we are left to determine among ourselves the extent to which this is actually a victory. Has anything actually changed? The power structures that were in place prior to Dustin’s cathartic act remain in place. The social construct of our schools and our society remain as daunting and potentially isolating as ever. I guess that if we are to take any lesson from Stranger Things and from the world of Heavy Metal fandom it is that there is power in union and that as long as kindred spirits exist, we are never truly alone. There is something reassuring to know that even in the darkest of moments, there is someone else out there feeling the exact same way as we do. The trick is to not let the monsters get us before we find each other.
The link to the video for the song “The Trooper” by Iron Maiden can be found here. The lyrics video is here.
The link to the official website for Iron Maiden can be found here. ***Note how prominently displayed is Eddie the mascot on their website.
The link to the official website for Alfred, Lord Tennyson can be found here.
The link to the video for the scene involving Dustin’s graduation speech from the series Stranger Things while “The Trooper” by Iron Maiden roars in at then end can be found here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2026 www.tommacinneswriter.com
#AlfredLordTennyson #EddieMunson #IronMaiden #Music #StarsOfStageAndScreen #StrangerThings #TheChargeOfTheLightBrigade #TheTrooper -
Have you ever been to a dinner party or found yourself in a bar or some other social gathering where you know some of the people but not all of them? Then, as you sit there, someone starts telling the most amazing story about sailing solo around the world, or escaping a burning building while rescuing a litter of kittens or else, meeting a famous celebrity and getting the better of the encounter. All the while, you find yourself sitting there, mouth agape, as you listen to someone you are meeting for the first time who suddenly seems like the most interesting person in the world? Well, being drawn to storytelling as I am, I have met a few interesting people in interesting places over the years and have heard all manner of tales. So, it was with some excitement on my part that I got to watch the Academy award-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man the other day. Not only did this documentary win an Oscar for itself, it also won the British Film Association version of Best Documentary of the Year, as well as winning the Sundance Film Festival top prize and just about every other prestigious prize for documentaries that were available to be won. Searching for Sugar Man won all of these awards because the story that it depicts is highly unusual and is very unique to its time period (which was the early 1970s). It is a story of myth, of poetry, of humility, of the power of music and the importance of the Arts when it comes to giving hope to people in times of darkness. Searching for Sugar Man is a story that could not be told in today’s modern times because privacy is so hard to maintain. But back in the early 1970s, it was possible to be the face of a political movement and yet, be completely mysterious and unknown. It was the absolute anonymity of the man who sits at the focal point of this documentary that fuels this story. The documentary clocks in at approximately an hour and a half but the time spent watching it flew by in the blink of an eye. The story of the global search for this mysterious shaman-like figure known only as Rodriguez will leave your own mouth agape. It is truly that interesting. And the music is terrific, which is also one of the points of this film. As always in cases such as this, I intend to discuss the film in greater detail in the paragraphs to come. I will place the trailer for Searching for Sugar Man here. Watch it now. If you haven’t seen this film and think that you may wish to do so then stop reading this post, go and watch a terrific documentary and then come back and finish the post at another time. If you have watched the documentary or don’t think that you will then, by all means, continue reading below. In either case, thanks for being here. See you soon.
Welcome back. SPOILER ALERT time!
I hope that you gave the documentary trailer a try because it is hard for me to watch that and not want to relive the story of the search for Sixto Rodriguez all over again. For me, one of the things that makes Searching For Sugar Man such a stellar tale is that it works on so many different levels at the same time.
First of all, it is the character study of one of the most talented and yet humble people I have ever heard about. As I watched his story unfold, I found myself thinking that Sixto Rodriguez was a cross between Bob Dylan and Mother Teresa and even at that, it didn’t quite capture this mysterious, quiet, profound man’s spirit properly. So for much of the documentary, the true search is to try to get to know who this wise man really was and if how he seemed to be to others was how he really was deep inside himself.
Secondly, this is the story of music in Detroit at the height of Motown Record Company’s fame and power. I’m going to assume that anyone reading this post has an idea of what the “Motown sound” was like and who some of the main stars were that emerged from the hit-making factory founded by Berry Gordy III. Motown was such a colossus in a city that came to bear that name as its own, that it would not seem improbable for someone playing quietly down by the river to go unnoticed and unheard. The politics of the music business in Detroit at the time played a key part in how the story of Sixto Rodriguez came to be and why he was able to disappear so completely while continuing to live and work in plain sight.
Thirdly, Searching For Sugar Man is the story of the importance of anthems for people in need of hope. The Arts has long been a source of inspiration for those in troubled times. It is no wonder that Jewish people continued to sing and draw while struggling to exist in the death camps of the Holocaust. The act of creativity gave them a reason to live. In Searching for Sugar Man, it was the inexplicable appearance of the music of Sixto Rodriguez, halfway around the world in South Africa during the height of Apartheid, that caused many to rally to his music and the essence of his spirit as a human. And all the while, he had no idea that his mysterious countenance had become the face of the resistance movement by a small but determined faction of liberal whites in that country.
Fourth, this is a music documentary. Searching for Sugar Man does a great job of introducing the rest of us to the music catalogue of Sixto Rodriguez. His music reminds me of Bob Dylan in terms of the substance of his poetry and in the vocal stylings of his singing. If you are of the opinion that the 1960s version of Bob Dylan is one of the most important and influential singers of our time then you can get some sense of what a revelation it was for the world to undercover music that rates just as highly in the minds of many.
Fifth, as much as the politics of the music business in Detroit in the late 1960s and early 1970s had a lot to do with what happened to the career of Sixto Rodriguez for several decades, it was the politics of Apartheid in South Africa that made this story possible on the other end of things. At the time that Apartheid was in full swing, the power of the South African government was absolute. As part of this power, censorship was practiced. Anyone who spoke out against the policies of the government was subject to being banned. There was no such thing as freedom of the press or freedom for citizens to gather their own information and communicate information to others. Everything was very strictly controlled. There were no exceptions. So, when the music of Rodriguez first began to gain popularity with young white academic types, the anti-establishment nature of what was being sung about earned Sixto Rodriguez a ban, even though he never offered an opinion on South African politics, had never traveled to that country and never knew that his music was even known by anybody who lived there. Thus, the way in which the odious nature of censorship worked in South Africa helped to make the search for Sixto Rodriguez by a pair of South African fans initially more dangerous and difficult than it would have been otherwise.
Sixth, Searching for Sugar Man is a story about privacy and how much information about others we are entitled to as consumers on the information highway. We live in a world in which it has become almost impossible to enjoy any measure of privacy. One of the surest ways to be left alone is to be completely uninteresting. But even then, somebody is bound to seek access to your information at one time or another, especially if there is money to be made from that intrusive act or if doing so has political implications. To exist in anonymity in our modern society is difficult. So part of the allure of Searching For Sugar Man is watching how hard it was for the South African fans to learn almost anything at all about who this mysterious figure of Rodriguez actually was. For them, the original inspiration for their search was that they were under the impression that Rodriguez had committed suicide while on stage in the 1970s. This accounted for his “disappearance” from the world’s music scene in their minds. SPOILER ALERT: it is when they discover that the rumours of his demise were inaccurate and that Rodriguez was very much still alive that the search took on new urgency. It is in this second phase of their search that we get to discover how someone can disappear completely while hiding in plain sight. As I have said, I doubt this same scenario could unfold in our modern times.
Finally, Searching for Sugar Man is a story of family and of love and of holding on to the original inspiration for your own dreams, even if it appears that those dreams are not going to come true. Imagine creating music or paintings or poetry because you believe in the power of the message your art conveys to the world. But then, you watch as your art gets ignored and your message appears to wither on the vine, as it were. Eventually you put your art away and stop being creative and go on about the business of trying to make a living for yourself and your family. Unbeknownst to you, your art has been discovered and celebrated by people you do not know on the other side of the world. There, your message has been received. Your art is venerated. You are respected as a prophet. And yet, you toil away doing odd jobs just to put food on your table, completely unaware that a world away your dream has come true. What a story! And the best part is that it was all real and that it ended in a very uplifting and satisfying manner for all concerned.
Sixto Rodriguez walks through working class Detroit.As a young troubadour, Sixto Rodriguez recorded two albums in Detroit called Cold Fact and Coming From Reality. Rodriguez, as he called himself on his albums, was a quiet, humble man. He was discovered singing in small bars down by the Detroit RIver. He was so shy and socially awkward that when music executives came to see him play, they found that he was actually singing quietly in a corner with his back to the stage. Despite his quiet demeanor, Rodriguez was a popular figure in the working class areas of Detroit. At one point, after his music career seemed to have come to an end, Rodriguez even ran to be mayor of Detroit. Apparently, he received 139 votes. When Rodriguez was first scouted by record executives, they were all dazzled by the beauty of his song lyrics and the intricacy of his musical arrangements. Everyone who worked with him on the two record albums felt that he was every bit as big a talent as there was in America and that he was a star in the making. And yet, his albums tanked in terms of sales. He was released from his contract after his second album failed to make any money. In the eyes of Motown execs, Rodriguez was just another singing poet that nobody really cared about paying money to hear. With no record company support or interest, Sixto Rodriguez gave up on his dream of being a professional musician and became a day labourer in Detroit. Working on the demolition of derelict properties and clearing away the debris was what he ended up doing. Meanwhile, copies of Cold Fact had made their way to South Africa in the suitcase of a white American who had moved there. Once people there began to hear this album, demand for their own copies grew exponentially. In almost no time at all, despite a ban on all things Rodriguez by the government, Cold Fact sold almost half a million copies in South Africa. Without any realization that any of this was happening, Sixto Rodriguez had become the voice of the liberal white Apartheid resistance movement. His songs about sexual freedom and about anti establishment sentiments touched the hearts and minds of many young liberal-minded white South Africans. His music provided them with anthems around which they could gain inspiration and organize. To hear the white South Africans in the documentary speak, Sixto Rodriguez was every bit as big a musical figure in that country as Elvis or Simon and Garfunkal. It was against this backdrop of fan idolatry that two South African men decided to discover what happened to their hero (who was reportedly dead). It was through their unrelenting detective work that it was discovered that not only was Rodriguez still alive but that he had a first name and that he was living in Detroit. That a search was on for exact contact information came to the attention of one of the daughters of Sixto Rodriguez. From there, contact was arranged between the searchers and the subject of the search himself. From a series of phone calls and then, face to face meetings, the enormity of the impact of the music of Sixto Rodriguez was made clear to him. I can’t imagine what a complete mind f*ck it must have been to learn that a dream that died several decades early had, in fact, had a profound impact for tens of thousands of people who considered him to be a hero. Needless to say, Sixto Rodriguez and his family were invited to come to South Africa. A red carpet welcome was arranged. A series of completely sold out concerts were held. ***You can watch the audience reaction to his first concert in South Africa in 1998 here. Although money was now pouring into his bank accounts, Rodriguez remained humble to the end. He gave most of it away to others. He even refused to sleep in the hotel beds given to him because he didn’t want to create work for the maids the next day. So, he slept on the floor or the couch in every hotel room at which he stayed.
A conquering hero returns.Not surprisingly, since the premiere of the documentary Searching for Sugar Man, interest in the two albums Cold Fact and Coming From Reality has been renewed. Sales have remained brisk and Sixto Rodriguez had finally received the financial compensation that he had always been due. What had happened to the money generated from the sales of all those South African albums was discussed in the documentary but the issue was never resolved. None of that money made its way to Sixto Rodriguez in Detroit. South African officials stated that they sent their share of payments to the record company listed on the albums. But when the record company was contacted, the documentarian was met with curt and combative replies. We are left to assume that the sales money, if it was ever even sent to Detroit, disappeared into the bank accounts of those running the company. Sixto Rodriguez never offered a complaint about how it all turned out. His demeanour through it all highlighted the stark contrast between the art of making music and the business of making music. Some were enriched because of the money involved. Some were enriched because of the poetry involved. I am fairly confident that Sixto Rodriguez cared more about the poetry.
Sixto Rodriguez passed away in 2023 of natural causes. In the time between the release of the documentary about his life and the time of his death, Sixto Rodriguez had been accorded a second wind to his career as a performer. He appeared on many stages around the world and played at some of the biggest festivals such as at Glastonbury and Coachella. Everywhere he went, he was greeted with rapturous applause. I am sure it did his heart a lot of good to know that his music mattered and that his efforts as an artist were not in vain. All that I know for sure is that I enjoyed his music too. I feel fortunate to have become aware of Rodriguez through this documentary and that I got to learn about his incredible life story as a result. He seems to like someone who I would have liked knowing in real life. Sixto Rodriguez has more than earned his rest. Thank you for your music and your presence as a human. May you rest in peace now and forever more.
Sixto Rodriguez in Detroit.The link to the video for the song “Sugar Man” by Sixto Rodriguez can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to a website about the life of Sixto Rodrtiguez can be found here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#Apartheid #Detroit #Rodriguez #SearchingForSugarMan #SouthAfrica #StarsOfStageAndScreen
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Have you ever been to a dinner party or found yourself in a bar or some other social gathering where you know some of the people but not all of them? Then, as you sit there, someone starts telling the most amazing story about sailing solo around the world, or escaping a burning building while rescuing a litter of kittens or else, meeting a famous celebrity and getting the better of the encounter. All the while, you find yourself sitting there, mouth agape, as you listen to someone you are meeting for the first time who suddenly seems like the most interesting person in the world? Well, being drawn to storytelling as I am, I have met a few interesting people in interesting places over the years and have heard all manner of tales. So, it was with some excitement on my part that I got to watch the Academy award-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man the other day. Not only did this documentary win an Oscar for itself, it also won the British Film Association version of Best Documentary of the Year, as well as winning the Sundance Film Festival top prize and just about every other prestigious prize for documentaries that were available to be won. Searching for Sugar Man won all of these awards because the story that it depicts is highly unusual and is very unique to its time period (which was the early 1970s). It is a story of myth, of poetry, of humility, of the power of music and the importance of the Arts when it comes to giving hope to people in times of darkness. Searching for Sugar Man is a story that could not be told in today’s modern times because privacy is so hard to maintain. But back in the early 1970s, it was possible to be the face of a political movement and yet, be completely mysterious and unknown. It was the absolute anonymity of the man who sits at the focal point of this documentary that fuels this story. The documentary clocks in at approximately an hour and a half but the time spent watching it flew by in the blink of an eye. The story of the global search for this mysterious shaman-like figure known only as Rodriguez will leave your own mouth agape. It is truly that interesting. And the music is terrific, which is also one of the points of this film. As always in cases such as this, I intend to discuss the film in greater detail in the paragraphs to come. I will place the trailer for Searching for Sugar Man here. Watch it now. If you haven’t seen this film and think that you may wish to do so then stop reading this post, go and watch a terrific documentary and then come back and finish the post at another time. If you have watched the documentary or don’t think that you will then, by all means, continue reading below. In either case, thanks for being here. See you soon.
Welcome back. SPOILER ALERT time!
I hope that you gave the documentary trailer a try because it is hard for me to watch that and not want to relive the story of the search for Sixto Rodriguez all over again. For me, one of the things that makes Searching For Sugar Man such a stellar tale is that it works on so many different levels at the same time.
First of all, it is the character study of one of the most talented and yet humble people I have ever heard about. As I watched his story unfold, I found myself thinking that Sixto Rodriguez was a cross between Bob Dylan and Mother Teresa and even at that, it didn’t quite capture this mysterious, quiet, profound man’s spirit properly. So for much of the documentary, the true search is to try to get to know who this wise man really was and if how he seemed to be to others was how he really was deep inside himself.
Secondly, this is the story of music in Detroit at the height of Motown Record Company’s fame and power. I’m going to assume that anyone reading this post has an idea of what the “Motown sound” was like and who some of the main stars were that emerged from the hit-making factory founded by Berry Gordy III. Motown was such a colossus in a city that came to bear that name as its own, that it would not seem improbable for someone playing quietly down by the river to go unnoticed and unheard. The politics of the music business in Detroit at the time played a key part in how the story of Sixto Rodriguez came to be and why he was able to disappear so completely while continuing to live and work in plain sight.
Thirdly, Searching For Sugar Man is the story of the importance of anthems for people in need of hope. The Arts has long been a source of inspiration for those in troubled times. It is no wonder that Jewish people continued to sing and draw while struggling to exist in the death camps of the Holocaust. The act of creativity gave them a reason to live. In Searching for Sugar Man, it was the inexplicable appearance of the music of Sixto Rodriguez, halfway around the world in South Africa during the height of Apartheid, that caused many to rally to his music and the essence of his spirit as a human. And all the while, he had no idea that his mysterious countenance had become the face of the resistance movement by a small but determined faction of liberal whites in that country.
Fourth, this is a music documentary. Searching for Sugar Man does a great job of introducing the rest of us to the music catalogue of Sixto Rodriguez. His music reminds me of Bob Dylan in terms of the substance of his poetry and in the vocal stylings of his singing. If you are of the opinion that the 1960s version of Bob Dylan is one of the most important and influential singers of our time then you can get some sense of what a revelation it was for the world to undercover music that rates just as highly in the minds of many.
Fifth, as much as the politics of the music business in Detroit in the late 1960s and early 1970s had a lot to do with what happened to the career of Sixto Rodriguez for several decades, it was the politics of Apartheid in South Africa that made this story possible on the other end of things. At the time that Apartheid was in full swing, the power of the South African government was absolute. As part of this power, censorship was practiced. Anyone who spoke out against the policies of the government was subject to being banned. There was no such thing as freedom of the press or freedom for citizens to gather their own information and communicate information to others. Everything was very strictly controlled. There were no exceptions. So, when the music of Rodriguez first began to gain popularity with young white academic types, the anti-establishment nature of what was being sung about earned Sixto Rodriguez a ban, even though he never offered an opinion on South African politics, had never traveled to that country and never knew that his music was even known by anybody who lived there. Thus, the way in which the odious nature of censorship worked in South Africa helped to make the search for Sixto Rodriguez by a pair of South African fans initially more dangerous and difficult than it would have been otherwise.
Sixth, Searching for Sugar Man is a story about privacy and how much information about others we are entitled to as consumers on the information highway. We live in a world in which it has become almost impossible to enjoy any measure of privacy. One of the surest ways to be left alone is to be completely uninteresting. But even then, somebody is bound to seek access to your information at one time or another, especially if there is money to be made from that intrusive act or if doing so has political implications. To exist in anonymity in our modern society is difficult. So part of the allure of Searching For Sugar Man is watching how hard it was for the South African fans to learn almost anything at all about who this mysterious figure of Rodriguez actually was. For them, the original inspiration for their search was that they were under the impression that Rodriguez had committed suicide while on stage in the 1970s. This accounted for his “disappearance” from the world’s music scene in their minds. SPOILER ALERT: it is when they discover that the rumours of his demise were inaccurate and that Rodriguez was very much still alive that the search took on new urgency. It is in this second phase of their search that we get to discover how someone can disappear completely while hiding in plain sight. As I have said, I doubt this same scenario could unfold in our modern times.
Finally, Searching for Sugar Man is a story of family and of love and of holding on to the original inspiration for your own dreams, even if it appears that those dreams are not going to come true. Imagine creating music or paintings or poetry because you believe in the power of the message your art conveys to the world. But then, you watch as your art gets ignored and your message appears to wither on the vine, as it were. Eventually you put your art away and stop being creative and go on about the business of trying to make a living for yourself and your family. Unbeknownst to you, your art has been discovered and celebrated by people you do not know on the other side of the world. There, your message has been received. Your art is venerated. You are respected as a prophet. And yet, you toil away doing odd jobs just to put food on your table, completely unaware that a world away your dream has come true. What a story! And the best part is that it was all real and that it ended in a very uplifting and satisfying manner for all concerned.
Sixto Rodriguez walks through working class Detroit.As a young troubadour, Sixto Rodriguez recorded two albums in Detroit called Cold Fact and Coming From Reality. Rodriguez, as he called himself on his albums, was a quiet, humble man. He was discovered singing in small bars down by the Detroit RIver. He was so shy and socially awkward that when music executives came to see him play, they found that he was actually singing quietly in a corner with his back to the stage. Despite his quiet demeanor, Rodriguez was a popular figure in the working class areas of Detroit. At one point, after his music career seemed to have come to an end, Rodriguez even ran to be mayor of Detroit. Apparently, he received 139 votes. When Rodriguez was first scouted by record executives, they were all dazzled by the beauty of his song lyrics and the intricacy of his musical arrangements. Everyone who worked with him on the two record albums felt that he was every bit as big a talent as there was in America and that he was a star in the making. And yet, his albums tanked in terms of sales. He was released from his contract after his second album failed to make any money. In the eyes of Motown execs, Rodriguez was just another singing poet that nobody really cared about paying money to hear. With no record company support or interest, Sixto Rodriguez gave up on his dream of being a professional musician and became a day labourer in Detroit. Working on the demolition of derelict properties and clearing away the debris was what he ended up doing. Meanwhile, copies of Cold Fact had made their way to South Africa in the suitcase of a white American who had moved there. Once people there began to hear this album, demand for their own copies grew exponentially. In almost no time at all, despite a ban on all things Rodriguez by the government, Cold Fact sold almost half a million copies in South Africa. Without any realization that any of this was happening, Sixto Rodriguez had become the voice of the liberal white Apartheid resistance movement. His songs about sexual freedom and about anti establishment sentiments touched the hearts and minds of many young liberal-minded white South Africans. His music provided them with anthems around which they could gain inspiration and organize. To hear the white South Africans in the documentary speak, Sixto Rodriguez was every bit as big a musical figure in that country as Elvis or Simon and Garfunkal. It was against this backdrop of fan idolatry that two South African men decided to discover what happened to their hero (who was reportedly dead). It was through their unrelenting detective work that it was discovered that not only was Rodriguez still alive but that he had a first name and that he was living in Detroit. That a search was on for exact contact information came to the attention of one of the daughters of Sixto Rodriguez. From there, contact was arranged between the searchers and the subject of the search himself. From a series of phone calls and then, face to face meetings, the enormity of the impact of the music of Sixto Rodriguez was made clear to him. I can’t imagine what a complete mind f*ck it must have been to learn that a dream that died several decades early had, in fact, had a profound impact for tens of thousands of people who considered him to be a hero. Needless to say, Sixto Rodriguez and his family were invited to come to South Africa. A red carpet welcome was arranged. A series of completely sold out concerts were held. ***You can watch the audience reaction to his first concert in South Africa in 1998 here. Although money was now pouring into his bank accounts, Rodriguez remained humble to the end. He gave most of it away to others. He even refused to sleep in the hotel beds given to him because he didn’t want to create work for the maids the next day. So, he slept on the floor or the couch in every hotel room at which he stayed.
A conquering hero returns.Not surprisingly, since the premiere of the documentary Searching for Sugar Man, interest in the two albums Cold Fact and Coming From Reality has been renewed. Sales have remained brisk and Sixto Rodriguez had finally received the financial compensation that he had always been due. What had happened to the money generated from the sales of all those South African albums was discussed in the documentary but the issue was never resolved. None of that money made its way to Sixto Rodriguez in Detroit. South African officials stated that they sent their share of payments to the record company listed on the albums. But when the record company was contacted, the documentarian was met with curt and combative replies. We are left to assume that the sales money, if it was ever even sent to Detroit, disappeared into the bank accounts of those running the company. Sixto Rodriguez never offered a complaint about how it all turned out. His demeanour through it all highlighted the stark contrast between the art of making music and the business of making music. Some were enriched because of the money involved. Some were enriched because of the poetry involved. I am fairly confident that Sixto Rodriguez cared more about the poetry.
Sixto Rodriguez passed away in 2023 of natural causes. In the time between the release of the documentary about his life and the time of his death, Sixto Rodriguez had been accorded a second wind to his career as a performer. He appeared on many stages around the world and played at some of the biggest festivals such as at Glastonbury and Coachella. Everywhere he went, he was greeted with rapturous applause. I am sure it did his heart a lot of good to know that his music mattered and that his efforts as an artist were not in vain. All that I know for sure is that I enjoyed his music too. I feel fortunate to have become aware of Rodriguez through this documentary and that I got to learn about his incredible life story as a result. He seems to like someone who I would have liked knowing in real life. Sixto Rodriguez has more than earned his rest. Thank you for your music and your presence as a human. May you rest in peace now and forever more.
Sixto Rodriguez in Detroit.The link to the video for the song “Sugar Man” by Sixto Rodriguez can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to a website about the life of Sixto Rodrtiguez can be found here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#Apartheid #Detroit #Rodriguez #SearchingForSugarMan #SouthAfrica #StarsOfStageAndScreen
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Have you ever been to a dinner party or found yourself in a bar or some other social gathering where you know some of the people but not all of them? Then, as you sit there, someone starts telling the most amazing story about sailing solo around the world, or escaping a burning building while rescuing a litter of kittens or else, meeting a famous celebrity and getting the better of the encounter. All the while, you find yourself sitting there, mouth agape, as you listen to someone you are meeting for the first time who suddenly seems like the most interesting person in the world? Well, being drawn to storytelling as I am, I have met a few interesting people in interesting places over the years and have heard all manner of tales. So, it was with some excitement on my part that I got to watch the Academy award-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man the other day. Not only did this documentary win an Oscar for itself, it also won the British Film Association version of Best Documentary of the Year, as well as winning the Sundance Film Festival top prize and just about every other prestigious prize for documentaries that were available to be won. Searching for Sugar Man won all of these awards because the story that it depicts is highly unusual and is very unique to its time period (which was the early 1970s). It is a story of myth, of poetry, of humility, of the power of music and the importance of the Arts when it comes to giving hope to people in times of darkness. Searching for Sugar Man is a story that could not be told in today’s modern times because privacy is so hard to maintain. But back in the early 1970s, it was possible to be the face of a political movement and yet, be completely mysterious and unknown. It was the absolute anonymity of the man who sits at the focal point of this documentary that fuels this story. The documentary clocks in at approximately an hour and a half but the time spent watching it flew by in the blink of an eye. The story of the global search for this mysterious shaman-like figure known only as Rodriguez will leave your own mouth agape. It is truly that interesting. And the music is terrific, which is also one of the points of this film. As always in cases such as this, I intend to discuss the film in greater detail in the paragraphs to come. I will place the trailer for Searching for Sugar Man here. Watch it now. If you haven’t seen this film and think that you may wish to do so then stop reading this post, go and watch a terrific documentary and then come back and finish the post at another time. If you have watched the documentary or don’t think that you will then, by all means, continue reading below. In either case, thanks for being here. See you soon.
Welcome back. SPOILER ALERT time!
I hope that you gave the documentary trailer a try because it is hard for me to watch that and not want to relive the story of the search for Sixto Rodriguez all over again. For me, one of the things that makes Searching For Sugar Man such a stellar tale is that it works on so many different levels at the same time.
First of all, it is the character study of one of the most talented and yet humble people I have ever heard about. As I watched his story unfold, I found myself thinking that Sixto Rodriguez was a cross between Bob Dylan and Mother Teresa and even at that, it didn’t quite capture this mysterious, quiet, profound man’s spirit properly. So for much of the documentary, the true search is to try to get to know who this wise man really was and if how he seemed to be to others was how he really was deep inside himself.
Secondly, this is the story of music in Detroit at the height of Motown Record Company’s fame and power. I’m going to assume that anyone reading this post has an idea of what the “Motown sound” was like and who some of the main stars were that emerged from the hit-making factory founded by Berry Gordy III. Motown was such a colossus in a city that came to bear that name as its own, that it would not seem improbable for someone playing quietly down by the river to go unnoticed and unheard. The politics of the music business in Detroit at the time played a key part in how the story of Sixto Rodriguez came to be and why he was able to disappear so completely while continuing to live and work in plain sight.
Thirdly, Searching For Sugar Man is the story of the importance of anthems for people in need of hope. The Arts has long been a source of inspiration for those in troubled times. It is no wonder that Jewish people continued to sing and draw while struggling to exist in the death camps of the Holocaust. The act of creativity gave them a reason to live. In Searching for Sugar Man, it was the inexplicable appearance of the music of Sixto Rodriguez, halfway around the world in South Africa during the height of Apartheid, that caused many to rally to his music and the essence of his spirit as a human. And all the while, he had no idea that his mysterious countenance had become the face of the resistance movement by a small but determined faction of liberal whites in that country.
Fourth, this is a music documentary. Searching for Sugar Man does a great job of introducing the rest of us to the music catalogue of Sixto Rodriguez. His music reminds me of Bob Dylan in terms of the substance of his poetry and in the vocal stylings of his singing. If you are of the opinion that the 1960s version of Bob Dylan is one of the most important and influential singers of our time then you can get some sense of what a revelation it was for the world to undercover music that rates just as highly in the minds of many.
Fifth, as much as the politics of the music business in Detroit in the late 1960s and early 1970s had a lot to do with what happened to the career of Sixto Rodriguez for several decades, it was the politics of Apartheid in South Africa that made this story possible on the other end of things. At the time that Apartheid was in full swing, the power of the South African government was absolute. As part of this power, censorship was practiced. Anyone who spoke out against the policies of the government was subject to being banned. There was no such thing as freedom of the press or freedom for citizens to gather their own information and communicate information to others. Everything was very strictly controlled. There were no exceptions. So, when the music of Rodriguez first began to gain popularity with young white academic types, the anti-establishment nature of what was being sung about earned Sixto Rodriguez a ban, even though he never offered an opinion on South African politics, had never traveled to that country and never knew that his music was even known by anybody who lived there. Thus, the way in which the odious nature of censorship worked in South Africa helped to make the search for Sixto Rodriguez by a pair of South African fans initially more dangerous and difficult than it would have been otherwise.
Sixth, Searching for Sugar Man is a story about privacy and how much information about others we are entitled to as consumers on the information highway. We live in a world in which it has become almost impossible to enjoy any measure of privacy. One of the surest ways to be left alone is to be completely uninteresting. But even then, somebody is bound to seek access to your information at one time or another, especially if there is money to be made from that intrusive act or if doing so has political implications. To exist in anonymity in our modern society is difficult. So part of the allure of Searching For Sugar Man is watching how hard it was for the South African fans to learn almost anything at all about who this mysterious figure of Rodriguez actually was. For them, the original inspiration for their search was that they were under the impression that Rodriguez had committed suicide while on stage in the 1970s. This accounted for his “disappearance” from the world’s music scene in their minds. SPOILER ALERT: it is when they discover that the rumours of his demise were inaccurate and that Rodriguez was very much still alive that the search took on new urgency. It is in this second phase of their search that we get to discover how someone can disappear completely while hiding in plain sight. As I have said, I doubt this same scenario could unfold in our modern times.
Finally, Searching for Sugar Man is a story of family and of love and of holding on to the original inspiration for your own dreams, even if it appears that those dreams are not going to come true. Imagine creating music or paintings or poetry because you believe in the power of the message your art conveys to the world. But then, you watch as your art gets ignored and your message appears to wither on the vine, as it were. Eventually you put your art away and stop being creative and go on about the business of trying to make a living for yourself and your family. Unbeknownst to you, your art has been discovered and celebrated by people you do not know on the other side of the world. There, your message has been received. Your art is venerated. You are respected as a prophet. And yet, you toil away doing odd jobs just to put food on your table, completely unaware that a world away your dream has come true. What a story! And the best part is that it was all real and that it ended in a very uplifting and satisfying manner for all concerned.
Sixto Rodriguez walks through working class Detroit.As a young troubadour, Sixto Rodriguez recorded two albums in Detroit called Cold Fact and Coming From Reality. Rodriguez, as he called himself on his albums, was a quiet, humble man. He was discovered singing in small bars down by the Detroit RIver. He was so shy and socially awkward that when music executives came to see him play, they found that he was actually singing quietly in a corner with his back to the stage. Despite his quiet demeanor, Rodriguez was a popular figure in the working class areas of Detroit. At one point, after his music career seemed to have come to an end, Rodriguez even ran to be mayor of Detroit. Apparently, he received 139 votes. When Rodriguez was first scouted by record executives, they were all dazzled by the beauty of his song lyrics and the intricacy of his musical arrangements. Everyone who worked with him on the two record albums felt that he was every bit as big a talent as there was in America and that he was a star in the making. And yet, his albums tanked in terms of sales. He was released from his contract after his second album failed to make any money. In the eyes of Motown execs, Rodriguez was just another singing poet that nobody really cared about paying money to hear. With no record company support or interest, Sixto Rodriguez gave up on his dream of being a professional musician and became a day labourer in Detroit. Working on the demolition of derelict properties and clearing away the debris was what he ended up doing. Meanwhile, copies of Cold Fact had made their way to South Africa in the suitcase of a white American who had moved there. Once people there began to hear this album, demand for their own copies grew exponentially. In almost no time at all, despite a ban on all things Rodriguez by the government, Cold Fact sold almost half a million copies in South Africa. Without any realization that any of this was happening, Sixto Rodriguez had become the voice of the liberal white Apartheid resistance movement. His songs about sexual freedom and about anti establishment sentiments touched the hearts and minds of many young liberal-minded white South Africans. His music provided them with anthems around which they could gain inspiration and organize. To hear the white South Africans in the documentary speak, Sixto Rodriguez was every bit as big a musical figure in that country as Elvis or Simon and Garfunkal. It was against this backdrop of fan idolatry that two South African men decided to discover what happened to their hero (who was reportedly dead). It was through their unrelenting detective work that it was discovered that not only was Rodriguez still alive but that he had a first name and that he was living in Detroit. That a search was on for exact contact information came to the attention of one of the daughters of Sixto Rodriguez. From there, contact was arranged between the searchers and the subject of the search himself. From a series of phone calls and then, face to face meetings, the enormity of the impact of the music of Sixto Rodriguez was made clear to him. I can’t imagine what a complete mind f*ck it must have been to learn that a dream that died several decades early had, in fact, had a profound impact for tens of thousands of people who considered him to be a hero. Needless to say, Sixto Rodriguez and his family were invited to come to South Africa. A red carpet welcome was arranged. A series of completely sold out concerts were held. ***You can watch the audience reaction to his first concert in South Africa in 1998 here. Although money was now pouring into his bank accounts, Rodriguez remained humble to the end. He gave most of it away to others. He even refused to sleep in the hotel beds given to him because he didn’t want to create work for the maids the next day. So, he slept on the floor or the couch in every hotel room at which he stayed.
A conquering hero returns.Not surprisingly, since the premiere of the documentary Searching for Sugar Man, interest in the two albums Cold Fact and Coming From Reality has been renewed. Sales have remained brisk and Sixto Rodriguez had finally received the financial compensation that he had always been due. What had happened to the money generated from the sales of all those South African albums was discussed in the documentary but the issue was never resolved. None of that money made its way to Sixto Rodriguez in Detroit. South African officials stated that they sent their share of payments to the record company listed on the albums. But when the record company was contacted, the documentarian was met with curt and combative replies. We are left to assume that the sales money, if it was ever even sent to Detroit, disappeared into the bank accounts of those running the company. Sixto Rodriguez never offered a complaint about how it all turned out. His demeanour through it all highlighted the stark contrast between the art of making music and the business of making music. Some were enriched because of the money involved. Some were enriched because of the poetry involved. I am fairly confident that Sixto Rodriguez cared more about the poetry.
Sixto Rodriguez passed away in 2023 of natural causes. In the time between the release of the documentary about his life and the time of his death, Sixto Rodriguez had been accorded a second wind to his career as a performer. He appeared on many stages around the world and played at some of the biggest festivals such as at Glastonbury and Coachella. Everywhere he went, he was greeted with rapturous applause. I am sure it did his heart a lot of good to know that his music mattered and that his efforts as an artist were not in vain. All that I know for sure is that I enjoyed his music too. I feel fortunate to have become aware of Rodriguez through this documentary and that I got to learn about his incredible life story as a result. He seems to like someone who I would have liked knowing in real life. Sixto Rodriguez has more than earned his rest. Thank you for your music and your presence as a human. May you rest in peace now and forever more.
Sixto Rodriguez in Detroit.The link to the video for the song “Sugar Man” by Sixto Rodriguez can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to a website about the life of Sixto Rodrtiguez can be found here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#Apartheid #Detroit #Rodriguez #SearchingForSugarMan #SouthAfrica #StarsOfStageAndScreen
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I had the sweetest job ever when I was in high school. I got paid to work at the local cable TV office. My job title was Assistant Promotions Manager. My job was created at a time when specialty television channels were first being introduced. At that time in Canada, The Movie Network and Star Channel were the two being offered. When I wasn’t on the phone helping customers acquire these new services, my other job was monitoring the satellite feed to ensure that our content was streaming properly to homes. In other words, I was getting paid to watch movies. In those days, the introduction of specialty channels was labeled as Pay-TV. It was the very forefront of today’s 24/7 streaming world. It was a bold leap forward in the world of broadcasting because up until that time in the early 1980s, all television programming was created through networks such as the CBC and CTV in Canada, and ABC, CBS and NBC in the United States. As consumers, we watched only those programmes that were created by the networks. We watched these shows when the networks told us to by way of a broadcast schedule that we planned our lives around. I am sure that my family wasn’t the only family who subscribed to the TV Guide magazine and read it cover to cover whenever it arrived so that we could plan our TV viewing week. The introduction of Pay-TV changed everything. It allowed viewers to access a wider variety of content. But even at that, it was still content created elsewhere and delivered to us on a predetermined schedule. What really changed things…and what has brought us closer to the world we live in now…was a broadcast licensing requirement that, at the time, didn’t seem like that consequential a thing. It was the requirement that each cable company provide a channel in the regular programming bundle being offered to customers that was completely dedicated to locally produced content. For many people in Canada, that community channel became Channel 10.
One of the issues that quickly arose with regard to community broadcast channels was that there was a sudden need for content and lots of it! By the very nature of the terms of their broadcasting agreements, local cable companies couldn’t import or purchase pre-existing shows and rerun them to fill in the time on Channel 10. They had to create fresh content. So, the call went out that anyone who had an idea for a television programme could apply to have it broadcast on air. Many people responded to the challenge. One of the most popular local programmes in my area was live Bingo run by one of the service clubs in town. There were cooking shows, talk shows, home fix-it shows, astrology call-in shows and many more. Most of these shows were somewhat cheesy, but all of them were born from the desire to create personal content and place it in the homes of their friends and neighbours. These early community channel hosts were the original content creators. Today, we have broadcast services such as YouTube that generate multi-billion dollar revenue streams and make celebrities out of some of its content creators. It is amazing to think that the whole notion of social media developed out of these local cable shows that featured interviews with school crossing guards or local politicians or, in the case of Public Access Channel 10 in Aurora, Illinois, a television show about music and the goings-on in the lives of two guys named Wayne and Garth called Wayne’s World.
Wayne’s World was originally a sketch on the television show Saturday Night Live. The idea for that sketch came from the creative mind of comedian Mike Myers. The SNL bit starred Myers and fellow cast member Dana Carvey and helped introduce many phrases into the national conversation, such as saying “Schwing!” whenever the name of a beautiful woman was mentioned, as well as adding the word “Not!” to the end of any sentence such as “This is a really good post today, Tom……Not!!!!!” While Saturday Night Live was its own broadcast entity, there was a long history of helping cast members transition from life on the sketch comedy show over to the world of film. Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, David Spade, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler and Billy Crystal are just a few of the many SNL cast members who went on to have productive careers in Hollywood. Producer Lorne Michaels was always on the lookout for sketches that seemed to resonate with audiences and then spin them out into movie franchises. Wayne’s World became one of those sketches that seemed to have legs as the old saying goes. So, in 1992, a deal was reached to make a movie out of the Wayne’s World sketch. For the sake of continuity, this movie was simply called Wayne’s World. It starred Myers and Carvey, along with a host of other well known character actors at the time, such as Rob Lowe, Donna Dixon, Ed O’Neill, as well as with musicians such as Meatloaf and Alice Cooper. The idea behind the plot of Wayne’s World was that the boys’ public access show had grown in popularity and, as a result, they were being offered a syndication deal that was close to happening. In the course of negotiations, we got to follow Wayne and his friends as they moved about the fictional world they created in the real town of Aurora, Illinois. How the actual storyline of the movie unfolded is not what most people remember from the movie. Wayne’s World is most noted for its musical soundtrack. In fact, the movie played a big role in helping the rock classics “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, “Dreamweaver” by Gary Wright and “Foxy Lady” by Jimi Hendrix to all have a second life in terms of record sales and chart listings. *(You can read posts about these songs here, here and here).
For today’s post, I am going to focus on another classic rock tune that had new life breathed into it because of its inclusion in the Wayne’s World movie, and that is “Ballroom Blitz” by Sweet. First things first: the band Sweet does not appear in the movie, nor does their version of their own hit song appear, either. In the movie, Wayne has a crush on the lead singer of a band called Crucial Taunt. Tia Carrere starred as the object of Wayne’s desire. In the movie, Carrere does all of her own singing. One of the songs that she sings in concert, while Wayne watches from the audience, is “Ballroom Blitz”. She actually does a pretty good job of covering this tune. So much so, that it is her cover version that is on the official soundtrack. But one of the things that attracted Wayne to Carrere’s character, Cassandra Wong, was that he approved of her musical influences. In “Ballroom Blitz”, one of her musical influences is obviously the 1970s glam rock band Sweet.
Sweet was a fairly popular band when I was growing up. Their songs “Ballroom Blitz”, “Love is Like Oxygen” and “Fox on the Run” were all songs that made up the soundtrack to my teenage years. Like many Glam bands, Sweet blurred the lines between rock ‘n’ roll and theatrical pageantry. Depending on the night and the audience and the venue, Sweet had a history of putting on killer shows, as well as putting on shows that elicited a hostile response from audiences that came for a rock show and got costumes and makeup in reply. At one such show in a small community in Scotland, Sweet were subjected to something that has become known in rock circles as bottling. In rock, there is a history of some performers and audiences having antagonistic relationships during shows. The most infamous story of this nature that I have read involved my boy, Iggy Pop, during his time with The Stooges. Apparently they were playing a gig in which the bulk of the audience members were from motorcycle gangs. It is said that the bikers yelled and cursed at Iggy Pop who, in turn, told them to be quiet or else he would leave the stage, come into the crowd and shut them up himself. Needless to say, the bikers took him up on that invitation, and soon a melee broke out. Pop was beaten up, the band’s instruments were smashed and the venue was damaged during the riot that ensued. In the case of Sweet, they had all manner of projectiles launched toward them during their Scottish concert. While they were veteran performers by this stage of their career, being in the middle of such a hostile, rapidly-devolving situation was nerve wracking. This experience became the basis for their greatest hit, “Ballroom Blitz”. As much as I admire Tia Carrere for having the chops to cover this song in a decent way, it is Sweet’s version that I really like, and which I will feature in the links to come.
Director Penelope SpheerisThe fact that Wayne’s World is noted for the rock ‘n’ roll pedigree of the musicians and bands that appear on the soundtrack should not come as a surprise. After all, the person who directed the film was none other than Penelope Spheeris. For those who may not know who she is, Penelope Spheeris gained fame in the 1980s for a trilogy of music documentaries that she produced that were called The Decline of Western Civilization. The original documentary focussed on the underground punk rock scene in Los Angeles. As much as any one band or singer, Penelope Spheeris is credited with introducing the whole genre of Punk Rock to U.S. audiences via her documentaries. The second documentary in her series featured Hair Metal bands. The final documentary looked at street kids and skateboard culture. It was her participation in the movie, as much as anyone else, who convinced rockers such as Alice Cooper to lend their own musical credibility to Wayne’s World. As time has gone on, Spheeris has disassociated herself from the movie because of creative disputes with actor Mike Myers. However, having said that, she admits that the money she made as director has helped fund many other music-related projects that she is passionate about, and as a result, she remains grateful for having had the opportunity to be involved in Wayne’s World.
As seen on Seaside Cable TV Community Channel 10This brings us back to the whole notion of what motivates people to put themselves out there and create content for others to consume. In Wayne’s World, the ability for characters such as Wayne and Garth to broadcast from Wayne’s basement into every house in Aurora, Illinois, meant that they could build a sense of identity that they never could have in their regular, everyday lives. Their endless promotion of their musical heroes gave them an air of expertise on the subject matter that they probably didn’t deserve, but which they undoubtedly attained anyway. For many content creators, becoming somewhat of a local celebrity is as good as it gets. However, as we are seeing time and time again in our own world, celebrity culture is a very real thing. The very fact that there has become a whole sub-set of people known as social media influencers, whose whole reason for being is to create trends and drive them forward, tells you all you need to know about the power of creating your own content. There is money and fame and power in being a content creator these days. The world of content creation has changed a lot since I was a teenage boy working to introduce Pay-TV to the customers of Seaside Cable TV Ltd. Back then, things seemed a lot simpler. The biggest commotion anyone caused back then was when the Kinsmens Club doubled the Bingo jackpot one week! Man, you should have seen the phone lines light up with people demanding to know where they could purchase their own bingo cards so they could play along from home! Channel 10 never had bigger ratings than on Bingo day. Party time, my friends! Excellent! What a great job that was!
The link to the video for the trailer for the movie Wayne’s World can be found here.
The link to the video for the song “Ballroom Blitz” by Sweet can be found here. ***The lyrics video can be found here. ***The Tia Carrere cover version can be found here.
The link for the video trailer for the documentary Decline of Western Civilization by Penelope Spheeris can be found here.
The link to the official website for Sweet can be found here.
Just for kicks, the link to the official website for Seaside Cable TV Ltd on Cape Breton island can be found here.
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#BallroomBlitz #SaturdayNightLive #StarsOfStageAndScreen #Sweet #TiaCarrere #WaynesWorld