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Eric Clapton's Racist 1976 Rant Resurfaces After Announcing Lockdown Protest Song with Van Morrison - PEOPLE https://people.com/music/eric-clapton-racist-rant-resurfaces-after-lockdown-protest-song-van-morrison/
It was at a Birmingham gig in August 1976 when an extremely drunk Clapton went off on a slurry tirade from the stage, praising controversial MP Enoch Powell and claiming Britain was becoming “a black colony”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/racist-rants-anti-lockdown-songs-has-eric-clapton-escaped-cancellation/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/racist-rants-anti-lockdown-songs-has-eric-clapton-escaped-cancellation/
Clapton’s remarks were reported in “shock-horror” terms, and heavily criticized in the music press.
'Rock Against Racism' was formed, and proceeded to do sterling work in highlighting endemic racism in music and combatting the rise of the National Front in Britain.
'Rock Against Racism' was formed, and proceeded to do sterling work in highlighting endemic racism in music and combatting the rise of the National Front in Britain.
The remarks were made when Clapton was deep into alcohol and heroin abuse, flirting with “fascism” and “racism”, and on a mean-spirited, self-destructive course that would almost certainly have killed him had he not, finally, after many personal battles, got sober in 1989.
Read biographies of Clapton and the picture that emerges of his personality during the 1970s is pretty repugnant: a damaged, bitter soul, alienating many of his closest friends with his anti-social rudeness.
“I sabotaged everything I got involved with,” he admitted in an interview in 2018.
“I was so ashamed of who I was, a kind of semi-racist, which didn’t make sense. Half of my friends were black, I dated a black woman, and I championed black music.”
“I was so ashamed of who I was, a kind of semi-racist, which didn’t make sense. Half of my friends were black, I dated a black woman, and I championed black music.”
From a child, Clapton idolized black musicians, studying and copying Muddy Waters, BB King, Blind Blake, Bill Broonzy and other blues players.
He often befriended his heroes, collaborated with them, and took every opportunity to introduce others to their work.
He often befriended his heroes, collaborated with them, and took every opportunity to introduce others to their work.
A new documentary film, White Riot, highlights the 1970s inception of Britain’s Rock Against Racism (RAR) movement, and its ground-breaking carnival event held on 30 April 1978. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200819-white-riot-the-music-activists-who-took-on-racism
Between 1976 and 1982, RAR harnessed creative energies and diverse youth culture, organized live tours, published a highly influential fanzine, TemporaryHoardings, released music, and arguably proved instrumental in trouncing National Front support, at the ballot box and beyond.
White Riot revisits an era when Britain’s post-war multicultural youth was coming of age, but the hate-filled diatribes of racist politicians such as Conservative MP Enoch Powell and the National Front’s Martin Webster were also disturbingly pervasive.
Their white nationalist speeches were even parroted by mainstream entertainers who owed their careers to black inspirations; in 1976, Clapton made a notorious outburst at a Birmingham gig, praising Powell and ranting against “foreigners”.
“In the ’70s, we were very much fighting in different battlegrounds; there was the Bradford Asian Youth, and the Southhall Asian Youth, the white punks, Birmingham Afro-Caribbean groups… we tried to bridge that gap, to a certain extent.”
The legacy of RAR is multi-stranded; it fuelled collaborative culture.
Yet by the mid-’80s, commercial acts seemed increasingly reluctant to appear “political”, and the Labour party-affiliated movement Red Wedge was derided in the pop press.
Yet by the mid-’80s, commercial acts seemed increasingly reluctant to appear “political”, and the Labour party-affiliated movement Red Wedge was derided in the pop press.
"Rock against Racism made it cool to be anti-racist," says Professor John Street, who has written on the relationship between music and politics. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/20/popandrock.race
Where RAR and Red Wedge were about raising awareness, Live Aid was about raising funds.
Three months after the 1978 concert in Victoria Park, Bob Geldof told Sounds magazine he did not believe in political rallies, adding "I think all revolutions are meaningless".
Three months after the 1978 concert in Victoria Park, Bob Geldof told Sounds magazine he did not believe in political rallies, adding "I think all revolutions are meaningless".
With notable exceptions - Stephen Lawrence, Anthony Walker - there is little attention paid to killings with a suspected or known racial motive.
Meanwhile, as East Europeans and white Britons also face race attacks, racism itself has become less black and white.
Meanwhile, as East Europeans and white Britons also face race attacks, racism itself has become less black and white.
In 2002, Rock Against Racism was revived but renamed Love Music Hate Racism.
In May 1976, David Bowie was photographed at Victoria Station on his return to Britain after two years in North America. Standing in an open-topped Mercedes, he appeared to give his fans some kind of open-handed, straight-armed – possibly fascist – salute. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n22/david-renton/what-s-going-on-eric
Good thing social media wasn’t around in 1976 when David Bowie went through one of his darkest transformations — his career might not have survived it. https://www.openculture.com/2018/07/thin-white-duke-close-study-david-bowies-darkest-character.html
The Thin White Duke was one of David Bowie's many personas. He portrayed the persona from 1975 to 1976. https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2016/aug/25/david-bowie-tour-thin-white-duke-photos
Bowie would later refer to this period as “singularly the darkest days of my life.”
Describing the time in 1999, he claimed it was “so steeped in awfulness that recall is nigh or impossible.” https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-david-bowie-brought-thin-white-duke-to-life-on-station-to-station-125797/
Describing the time in 1999, he claimed it was “so steeped in awfulness that recall is nigh or impossible.” https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-david-bowie-brought-thin-white-duke-to-life-on-station-to-station-125797/
Having begun his musical career originally as David Jones, the more generic name was matched with an equally generic appearance of an office-like suit and tie.
Once he rebranded himself as Bowie and began creating personas, his style followed in an innovative way.
1972 saw the iconic Ziggy Stardust persona and with it, one of the most highly regarded albums of all time – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.
1972 saw the iconic Ziggy Stardust persona and with it, one of the most highly regarded albums of all time – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.
Continuing on from his breakthrough hit ‘Space Oddity’ Bowie continued the otherworldliness of space and alien life through his Ziggy alter-ego, a messenger for extraterrestrial life.
Furthermore, Ziggy Stardust was characterized by his bisexuality and androgyny, which became Bowie’s staple for years.
Fans of David Bowie arrived at his shows dressed in similar Ziggy style, seeing him as the ultimate rock n roll ‘Starman’ for a new era.
Fans of David Bowie arrived at his shows dressed in similar Ziggy style, seeing him as the ultimate rock n roll ‘Starman’ for a new era.
In 1976, Bowie’s next endeavor came with the controversial persona of The Thin White Duke – explained by Bowie as “A very Aryan, fascist type; a would-be romantic with absolutely no emotion at all but who spouted a lot of neo-romance”.
Accompanied by his tenth studio album Station to Station and an escalated cocaine addiction, it became evident that the persona captured David Bowie at his darkest moments, which he later confessed he struggles to remember.
The Thin White Duke culminated in an understated move to Berlin for Bowie, where he retreated for his deteriorating mental health.
What followed was the Berlin Trilogy, a collaboration with ambient music extraordinaire Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti.
What followed was the Berlin Trilogy, a collaboration with ambient music extraordinaire Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti.
Hari Kunzru: "For those of us whose identity (sexual, racial, national or otherwise) is involuntarily ambiguous, who have to make the best of our inauthenticity, David Bowie has been a kind of secular saint. " https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/12/david-bowie-was-a-secular-saint-hari-kunzru
Always hard to predict, Bowie, who married the Somali fashion model Iman in 1992, told Rolling Stone he was “always a closet heterosexual” and coming out was the “biggest mistake I ever made”. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/how-david-bowie-became-gay-icon-a6806041.html
”As a self-concocted alien, he was drawn to other people’s otherness.
Yet no matter how otherworldly and genderless he made himself, David Bowie was aware that he was a white man.“ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/arts/music/how-david-bowie-used-his-stardom-and-race-to-challenge-mtv.html
Yet no matter how otherworldly and genderless he made himself, David Bowie was aware that he was a white man.“ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/arts/music/how-david-bowie-used-his-stardom-and-race-to-challenge-mtv.html
“Let’s Dance” was his first album of the MTV era (and still his best-selling studio recording), and you can sense that he wanted to use his stardom — and his race — to mock the network’s priorities.
The video is shot from the point of view of an aboriginal couple (Terry Roberts and Joelene King) in New South Wales, Australia.
Directed by David Mallet, a comically prolific music-video surrealist, it hocks an impressionistic loogie at imperialism.
Directed by David Mallet, a comically prolific music-video surrealist, it hocks an impressionistic loogie at imperialism.
Bowie wrote “China Girl” with Iggy Pop for Pop’s 1977 album, “The Idiot.”
Was the song racist?
Yes.
But racist on purpose. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/20/how-david-bowies-china-girl-used-racism-to-fight-racism/
Was the song racist?
Yes.
But racist on purpose. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/20/how-david-bowies-china-girl-used-racism-to-fight-racism/
I stumble into town just like a sacred cow
Visions of swastikas in my head
Plans for everyone
It’s in the white of my eyes
My little China girl
You shouldn’t mess with me
I’ll ruin everything you are
...
I’ll give you eyes of blue
I’ll give you man who wants to rule the world
Visions of swastikas in my head
Plans for everyone
It’s in the white of my eyes
My little China girl
You shouldn’t mess with me
I’ll ruin everything you are
...
I’ll give you eyes of blue
I’ll give you man who wants to rule the world
Critics argued that the video does more harm than good by presenting stereotypes with little explanation.
It didn’t help that “China Girl” was actually based on a real relationship co-writer Iggy Pop had with a Vietnamese woman, Kuelan Nguyen.
It didn’t help that “China Girl” was actually based on a real relationship co-writer Iggy Pop had with a Vietnamese woman, Kuelan Nguyen.
Whether Bowie’s politics were understood was beside the point commercially.
“China Girl” peaked at No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and beat Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” for “Best Male Video” at the very first MTV Music Video Awards ceremony in 1984.
“China Girl” peaked at No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and beat Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” for “Best Male Video” at the very first MTV Music Video Awards ceremony in 1984.
» Systemic racism’s scary monster: David Bowie, MTV and uncomfortable truths - New York Daily News https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-bowie-mtv-racism-20200615-g2eyasw53nbuvfxxci6uum77c4-story.html
It has been well-documented that Bowie was intrigued by Nazi imagery in the coke-addled period following Young Americans.
He’d been introduced to German history by Christopher Isherwood, whom Bowie had met after a concert in Los Angeles in 1974. https://www.thedailybeast.com/on-race-david-bowie-delved-deep-into-the-darkness-and-came-back-human
He’d been introduced to German history by Christopher Isherwood, whom Bowie had met after a concert in Los Angeles in 1974. https://www.thedailybeast.com/on-race-david-bowie-delved-deep-into-the-darkness-and-came-back-human
His time in West Berlin seemed to turn him against fascism.
His mythologizing of the city had been tied to his romanticizing of “old Europe,” born of disillusionment with America and with standard rock music.
His mythologizing of the city had been tied to his romanticizing of “old Europe,” born of disillusionment with America and with standard rock music.
In 2007, when six black teens were charged in an alleged attack on a white classmate in the tiny central Louisiana town of Jena, Bowie contributed $10,000 to a legal defense fund for the youngsters, who’d been targeted with hate crimes prior to the incident.
Bowie’s history with race and racism is, much like everything else in his public life, a study in phases.
Whether you want to declare him “progressive” is debatable, but he seemed to at least believe in the redemption that could come from addressing ills as he saw them.
Whether you want to declare him “progressive” is debatable, but he seemed to at least believe in the redemption that could come from addressing ills as he saw them.
» Van Morrison and Eric Clapton Strike the Wrong Note About COVID-19 - Variety https://variety.com/2020/music/news/van-morrison-eric-clapton-covid-19-1234843728/
