Jon Lansman’s Disappointment/(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais

sadmanbarty

Well-known member

"(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" starts by recounting an all-night reggae "showcase" night at the Hammersmith Palais in Shepherd's Bush Road, London, that was attended by Joe Strummer, Don Letts and roadie Roadent, and was headlined by Dillinger, Leroy Smart and Delroy Wilson.[3] Strummer was disappointed and disillusioned that these performances had been more "pop" and "lightweight" similar to Ken Boothe's brand of reggae, using Four Tops-like dance routines,[1] and that the acts had been "performances" rather than the "roots rock rebel[lion]" that he had been hoping for.

The projections we make on to others and when they let you down.
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
That quote makes Strummer sound fairly revolting. I hate that shit. Projecting your revolutionary inadequacies into another culture and their music. Black people actually enjoying themselves is a betrayal of the revolution. Fuck that shit.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
Never really got into the Clash but after watching a doc on Strummer he came across as a bit of a poseur. In the same vein as Russell Brand. They had some nice tunes tho
 

john eden

male pale and stale
That quote makes Strummer sound fairly revolting. I hate that shit. Projecting your revolutionary inadequacies into another culture and their music. Black people actually enjoying themselves is a betrayal of the revolution. Fuck that shit.

Another group Class War didn't attract was people racialized as 'non-White'. "Class War is, and always has been, an almost exclusively white organisation ... we have tried many times to put it right but always with a lack of success" (p.5). The latter 'failure' bothers a lot of revolutionary groups, mainly because they see in the African British led urban riots of the 1980s evidence of a militant and combative section of the working class. They imagine that black communities are the front-line of revolution. Class War attempted to translate this supposed militancy into the culture, the language, of white working class males: to say to them, 'don't just kick each other in at football matches, be like the blacks, and kick the police'.

There are two mis-readings inherent in this approach, one about Britain's 'black communities', the other about 'the working class'. I'll deal with the former first. Black people in Europe and North America are burdened with expectations of radicalism: they are supposed to be heroes of resistance, perpetually taking on the forces of oppression. They are the political fantasy objects of white and black radical intellectuals par excellence. Truth to tell, however, these communities, at least in Europe, are neither incredibly politicised nor radical. Like an awful lot of communities of recent migrant origin, they mostly just want to make a decent living for themselves, to get a decent education for their kids and get ahead. The last thing most British African or British Asian people want is trouble with the police. The fact that the authorities give them trouble, and the fact that British society is a racist one, has prompted periodic bouts of fighting back. But, relative to the provocation, these bouts have been pretty tame affairs. The secret history of Britain's black communities is that they put up with an awful lot, they ignore a lot of insults, and they potter along, not particularly radical, not particularly combative.

https://libcom.org/library/mark-s-tey-ends-class-war
 

john eden

male pale and stale
Strummer's exoticisation of reggae is fairly common amongst white reggae fans to be honest.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
UK whites were always misinterpreting black culture. Blues guys wearing jeans as a sign of authenticity etc. I've done it myself too, but trying not to now.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I mean, presumably strummer was projecting that stuff based on the reggae music he'd heard (with revolutionary lyrics) so I don't think it's necessarily "revolting" for him to have been disappointed.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Just read the lyrics to the song and they're much dodgier — patronising in the manner alluded to upthread.

OTOH I have seen similar sentiments directed at rap music.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
It's fair enough if something was (cough) not what you were hoping for, to be honest.

It's a bit different to write a song about it all with a reggae bassline.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
Denim is very tough. They were originally designed to be durable work wear for the slaves. British bluesmen saw photos of the original blues musicians and started to wear the same stuff thinking they were keeping it real.

Edit: Just read up on this a bit more. I'm not sure if denim was designed with salves in mind now. Probably more just work wear in gen. I think miners also wore it a lot. But, the cotton it was made from during that time came from guess who.
 
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craner

Beast of Burden
Denim is very tough. They were originally designed to be durable work wear for the slaves. British bluesmen saw photos of the original blues musicians and started to wear the same stuff thinking they were keeping it real.

So, uh, you don't wear jeans anymore, in solidarity with black culture?
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
I don't wear jeans personally, but it's got nothing to do with that. The point it seems I failed to make was that the British blues musicians were wearing it thinking that it represented authenticity when it in fact represented slavery. It was a contentious topic back in the civil rights time. The context was misguided exoticism of black culture.
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
Strummer's exoticisation of reggae is fairly common amongst white reggae fans to be honest.

There was a brilliant piece on reggae fans in the NME years ago which I wish I'd kept. It featured a white reggae fan in high leg DMs berating a black colleague in the Housing Benefit office on how it was ethically unsound for a black man to like Kylie Minogue.
 
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