For nostalgia.

Music I've bought the Rage Against The Machine single. For nostalgia. It was one of the key tracks I'd dance to at The Krazy House in Liverpool when I was still young enough to go there without looking like somebody's parent. The band incongruously appeared on the BBC's 5 live Breakfast in the white heat of promotion and after a fairly clueless interview played the track live. The iplayer version has a Guidance notice "contains language that may offend". Oh yes they did:



Apart from the swearing, the best bit, as they're being faded out, is Shelagh Fogarty saying "We asked them not to and they did it anyway". Clearly forgetting:

(a) They're called RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and

(b) The lyric is: "FUCK YOU, I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!!"

The sad thing is, in this media saturated world, this is the modern equivalent of The Sex Pistols vs. Reg Grundy on Windmill, but all the BBC needs to do is issue an apology and neither Campbell or Fogarty will lose their jobs. As if more proof were needed that swearing has lost the power to shock.

No comments: