I exploit you, still you love me...I'm the Cult of Personality...

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Look into my eyes, what do you see?
Cult of Personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
I've been everything you want to be
I'm the Cult of Personality
Like Mussolini and Kennedy
I'm the Cult of Personality

http://us.news3.yimg.com/img.news.yahoo.com/util/anysize/380,http%3A%2F%2Fus.news1.yimg.com%2Fus.yimg.com%2Fp%2Frids%2F20050501%2Fi%2Fra340467859.jpg

Neon lights, a Nobel prize
The mirror speaks, his reflection lies
You don't have to follow me
Only you can set me free

http://us.news3.yimg.com/img.news.yahoo.com/util/anysize/380,http%3A%2F%2Fus.news1.yimg.com%2Fus.yimg.com%2Fp%2Frids%2F20050501%2Fi%2Fr1192362703.jpg

I sell the things you need to be
I'm the smiling face on your tv
I'm the Cult of Personality
I exploit you still you love me
I'm the Cult of Personality

http://us.news3.yimg.com/img.news.yahoo.com/util/anysize/380,http%3A%2F%2Fus.news1.yimg.com%2Fus.yimg.com%2Fp%2Frids%2F20050501%2Fi%2Fr2142410897.jpg

I tell you one and one makes three
I'm the Cult of Personality
Like Joseph Stalin and Ghandi
I'm the Cult of Personality

http://us.news3.yimg.com/img.news.yahoo.com/util/anysize/380,http%3A%2F%2Fus.news2.yimg.com%2Fus.yimg.com%2Fp%2Fap%2F20050501%2Fcapt.dcev10805010321.bush_correspondents_dcev108.jpg

You gave me fortune
You gave me fame
You gave me power in your God's name
I'm every person you need to be
I'm the Cult of Personality

[Rick Myers]

1. Excellent use of lyrics and pix!!!

:toast:

[halobeam]

2. Wow

very well done. :applause:

[Mojambo]

3. Great job BeB

Now I want to hear that record though.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

4. It's definitely one of those earworm songs, isn't it?

Thanks to all for the kind words.

:toast:

[Robeson]

5. Bravo. Very nicely done.....

....I applaud you...:applause:

[Huckebein the Raven]

6. I love that song

and nice mixing the lyrics with those pics

:D

[lady lib]

7. Good job...good job...good job!

n/t

[Spinzonner]

8. Isn't it amazing, they almost look human

[AntiCoup2K4]

9. Living Colour - a tragically underrated band.

I think the critics sabotaged them early on by trying to tag them as the "Black Van Halen" which was a ridiculous comparison, especially in 1988 when that unspeakable abomination OU812 was being marketed under the Van Halen name.

I mean, why did they have to be the "Black" anything? Hadn't that bridge been crossed already? Jimi Hendrix. Thin Lizzy. Chuck Berry & Little Richard, for Christ's sake. Not to mention all those guys the Stones & Zeppelin "borrowed" from. Why can't they be just a kick ass rock n roll band?

Some bands are true originals and those are the ones whose music stands up over time decades later. The real Van Halen fits that description, as does Living Colour. I can put "Vivid" in my CD player right now, and know that it's going to sound every bit as good as it did in 1988.

How many albums from that year can you say that about?

Unfortunately, I still haven't seen these guys live. I hope they tour again soon.:headbang:

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

10. The critics had to find a box to put them in, and couldn't

For some reason, "rock journalists" just HAD to superimpose some kind of circus freak veneer on the band because they played straight-ahead, in-your-face rock & roll...and they were black.

If the band WANTED to make a point of that, it would have been another story. I remember hearing LC vocalist Corey Glover say things in interviews like "we just want to play our music." The band never really seemed comfortable engaging in extended debates with critics on the subject of "black musicians playing heavy rock." I don't blame them. At the time, many of these interviews seemed like racist crap to me.

No one pulls Brett Michaels from Poison aside and asks "Brett, what is your purpose statement in your music? As a white guy, what are you REALLY trying to say?"

:grr:



Vernon Reid was never simply a "rock" guitarist, either, just as the guitar is not a "rock instrument." It's an INSTRUMENT, and Reid was / is a MUSICIAN (currently in "The Yohimbe Brothers"), and maybe some day, in our lifetime, musicians will be able to pick up instruments and play them without immediately being categorized or "color coded."



:toast: