The Times They Are A-Problematizin'

When I visit the record store, I tend to flip through all the records in several genres, from rock to metal and punk to soul, and then browse other bins (J-pop, hip-hop, alternative) as the mood strikes. This turns each hunt for vinyl into a curious inventory of pop culture imagery across the decades, and the results are often disturbing when seen through a politically sensitive 21st-Century lens.

Rockabilly provides a perfect example. I recently went into Shinjuku to see what I could drum up at Disk Union’s new location. I was hoping for some Stray Cats neo-rockabilly from the Eighties, as well as some old rockabilly from the Fifties. If you’re unfamiliar with the term rockabilly (until recently I associated it solely with the dancers in Yoyogi Park), think old rock-n-roll like Elvis’s “Blue Suede Shoes” and Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue.” I found records by these artists and many more, but I was surprised to see that many album covers showed the Confederate flag.

 

So it was time to learn something. Apparently, the “billy” in “rockabilly” comes from “hillbilly,” as in old country music, which has deep roots in the South. Thus, instead of slick suits and greased back hair, many rockabilly musicians sported Western blazers and cowboy hats, and played for record labels based in Tennessee. The sound caught on, moved around the country--and across the Pond--and evolved through blending with other styles of music. In America, however, the ties to Dixie were strong, and thus all the white guys holding guitars and grinning in front of Confederate flags.

I'm sure much of that music is unobjectionable, but I would be willing to bet that some of it reflects nostalgia for the antebellum South, slavery and all. Some listeners might be able to overlook the Confederate flag and troublesome lyrics in favor of the music, but I for one cannot, so as a record shopper, I steer clear of Confederate flags.

One artist whose sound I took an immediate liking to was Wanda Jackson, known as the Queen of Rockabilly. I love her spunky attitude and edgy voice, but she also displays, not Confederate flags, but a propensity to use lyrics of questionable taste for laughs. For example, in “Fujiyama Mama,” she talks about a woman so feisty she levels cities like the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. No doubt many would consider such lyrics to be mere harmless fun, but can events of such extreme horror ever be funny?

Luckily, much of Jackson's music really is just harmless fun:

 

Every genre has its own visual language. Hard rock and heavy metal bands insist on images that sexualize women, show them subordinated, and make them targets of violence. Our reactions to such images do not have to be narrow ideological indignation--depending on the exact nature of the image, we may even see something to celebrate in what others find deplorable--but at the very least, the times have problematized much that often went unquestioned before, and I see that as a good thing because it furthers the discussion that leads toward a better society.

As I’ve written before, we each make our own decisions as to how much we’re willing to overlook disagreeable signals in pop culture, and the choice isn’t always clear. Personally, I won’t waste my time, money or attention on anything with a Confederate flag, but when it comes to Wanda Jackson, I’ll just remove “Fujiyama Mama” from my playlist and enjoy the other songs. Nonetheless, overlook we must--at least sometimes--because in our sensitive times, almost everything is problematic from some angle or another.