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Old 12-06-2010, 11:46 PM   #34
june_soma
Whore of Saul Goodman
 
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Location: Gotham
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Okay, and who is Charm Bags, who posted this:

Billy's behavior over the past couple years has been not unlike the downward spiral of a drug addict. this interview is like the part where he pawns his mother's wedding ring for $50 worth of coke. stooping so low for five minutes of payoff....

BC is completely approval-oriented. he's willing to sell any narrative that he believes will earn him approval and respect, and he's represented himself in so many disparate ways that his words have lost all meaning. one minute he's the anti-sellout, all about "the common man", the ordinary fan, connecting with the suburban malaise. when that idea no longer serves him, because it either violates the beliefs he holds onto in order to deal with the reality of his diminished status, or because it no longer is getting him attention, he moves on. then he gives the middle finger to the vulgar and ignorant commoners who don't understand his god-given talent. he sells a song to Visa to make a pathetically transparent statement about how money doesn't matter. he's stadium rock and then he's self-involved jam band. he's a rock star and then he's a serious, introspective poet. he has no values, no core, and he'll sacrifice everyone around him in an attempt to build himself up.

his entire identity is tied to what other people think of him, which obviously worked at least functionally well when his albums were going platinum. but now he's having to live in a world where not only do his albums not sell very well, but the mythology of rock no longer has much relevance in American culture. BC's whole paradigm was centered around the idea that rock 'n' roll "mattered", and how he knew it mattered was that millions of people said so. now that that's fallen apart, he's willing to listen to any bullshit artist who can come up with some justification for what he perceives to be a mistake. Billy never talked about god until religion could be used to give him a position of superiority over others. he now feels that god has given him a favored, prophet-like role as an artist, and it seems plain that somehow this is supposed to make up for the loss of such a role in the eyes of the public. it's not surprising that he went with this New Age Christianity, not traditional Christianity, nor Buddhism, nor Islam or any other such religion, because a strict adherence to any of those religions would offer no opportunity to give himself special worldly importance. they all teach of the humility and equality of man. (more or less)

when Billy made good music, it was when he could tap into the desperation and destruction of these feelings of inadequacy. he actually wallowed in them, and seemingly accepted them as an identifying feature of who he was. he rejects all of that now, probably because it was draining to live that way, but he'll never make the kind of music he used to, despite his skill. he's totally out of touch with himself now and the songs are all shit because of it. they're flat, emotionless and dishonest. I feel sorry for Billy, and I pity anyone who tries to convince themselves that they enjoy his music.

 
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