I finished my latest article at about 4:30 pm on Monday afternoon. I was mentally drained and kind of depressed by my conclusions. But, no time for that. I was taking the family to the Muse/Cage the Elephant concert at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. I was going to see two of my favorite bands for the price of one. We had good seats on the lower level. I love powerful rock and roll with powerful lyrics. These two bands fit the bill. Cage the Elephant went on at 7:00 and gave a fantastic high octane performance. Their front man – Matt Shultz is a young Mick Jagger on stage. He dances aroung like a freaking maniac, crowd surfs, and gives every song the max. Their fantastic songs Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked (basis for one of my previous articles), Back Against the Wall, and Shake me Down set the tone for the evening.
Then Muse came on around 8:30 and gave one of the most powerful performances I’ve ever witnessed. Matthew Bellamy might be the most talented all-around musician on earth. He is a fantastic guitarist and piano player. His version of the Star Spangled Banner last night was approaching Hendrix’ version. His lyrics are politically, socially and economically critical of the establishment. His singing voice is awesome. They did a 19 song set that built to a tremendous cescendo. The combination of powerful music, powerful lyrics, lasers, and visual effects was food for my soul. Great music inspires me. By the end of this concert I was fired up and inspired to add some fighting words in the last paragraph of my article.
In prior Fourth Turnings, the mood of the country was reflected mostly in literature like the Grapes of Wrath, Brave New World, Lord of the Rings, and 1984. Today, I believe the mood is reflected in music, since no one reads anymore. Muse’s songs are a reflection of the anger rising among the population against the lords of finance and our government keepers. I had never heard their song Animals before. The special effects and depiction of a Wall Street banker were mind blowing. There were green stock symbols crossing the stage and the video of a happy Wall Street banker urging his minions to lure more dupes into the market. As the song builds toward a crescendo, the ticker symbols turn red and move faster and faster. The banker gets angrier and angrier and is killed at the end of the song. The crowd of mostly Millenials cheered wildly.
I declare Muse the official band of the Fourth Turning. Below are some videos from last night and some lyrics to give you a hint of the revolutionary spirit that is in the air.
Time is Running Out
And our time is running out,
And our time is running out,
You can’t push it underground,
You can’t stop it screaming out.
I wanted freedom;
Bound and restricted,
I tried to give you up
But I’m addicted.
Now that you know I’m trapped;
Sense of elation,
You’d never dream of
Breaking this fixation.
Uprising
The paranoia is in bloom, the PR
The transmissions will resume
They’ll try to push drugs
Keep us all dumbed down and hope that
We will never see the truth around
(So come on!)
Another promise, another scene, another
A package not to keep us trapped in greed
With all the green belts wrapped around our minds
And endless red tape to keep the truth confined
(So come on!)
They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious
Interchanging mind control
Come let the revolution take its toll if you could
Flick the switch and open your third eye, you’d see that
We should never be afraid to die
(So come on!)
Rise up and take the power back, it’s time that
The fat cats had a heart attack, you know that
Their time is coming to an end
We have to unify and watch our flag ascend
They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious
Animals
Animal
You’re an animal
Don’t take anything less
Out of control
Strike those in distress
Analyse
Advertise
Expand
Bend more rules
Buy yourself an island
Animals
We’re animals
Buy when blood is on the street
Out of control
We’re out of control
Crush those who beg at your feet
Analyse
Franchise
Spread out
Kill the competition
Buy yourself an ocean
Amortise
Downsize
Lay off
Kill yourself
Come on and do use all a favour
Knights of Cydonia
No one’s gonna take me alive,
The time has come to make things right,
You and I must fight for our rights,
You and I must fight to survive,
No one’s gonna take me alive,
The time has come to make things right,
You and I must fight for our rights,
You and I must fight to survive
Resistance
http://youtu.be/CHBJkfaqFCc
Love is our resistance
They keep us apart and they won’t stop breaking us down
And hold me, our lips must always be sealed
If we live our life in fear
I’ll wait a thousand years
Just to see you smile again
Quell your prayers for love and peace
You’ll wake the thought police
We can hide the truth inside
I dunno. Revolution was in the air in 1968 and we all know how that turned out…the war petered out and the would-be revolutionaries (mostly) sold out. I think of the band Jefferson Airplane. In it’s first incarnation it was all about love and enlightenment; when it re-grouped in the 70’s it was merely for the purpose of getting some top 40 AM tunes and the resultant bankroll, the perfect metaphor for much of the boomer generation at that time. It’s no wonder that disco followed.
Back then there was also love in the air while today I see mostly anger and hatred. I can only see it overwhelming the fledgling liberty movement. I can only see the next revolution following the french model; I wonder who our Napoleon will be…
1968 was during the Awakening. Revolution and wars of finality don’t occur during the Awakening. They occur during Fourth Turnings. The form of the revolution is up to us.
I agree with Zara. In 1774 we were a small colony far away from most civilization, and the merchant class wanted to rid itself of far-away rulers who skimmed more than the merchants wanted to share.
Today the merchant class is largely extinct, and we have a significant group of corrupt, wildly out of touch elites centered around a few big cities, and a huge underclass (including much of the former middle class) that doesn’t really know what happened but can figure out that they don’t have it very good compared to the elites. People who understand what’s going on, but aren’t part of the corrupt elites, are probably less than 100,000 nationwide (at most) and many of that few can be found here or at zerohedge. The rubber band will keep being stretched longer than anyone thinks possible, then food and energy will suddenly dry up, and violence will follow rapidly in 2-3 days. It could happen this year, particularly if we go into Syria and start WW3, or it could be 5-10 years away.
The most similar precedents are the 1789 French Revolution and the 1917 Russian Revolution. I would not be the least bit surprised if actual believing communists (undoubtedly ivory tower intellectuals, since no one who’s experienced communism would want anything to do with it) are genuinely trying to have the US be the next communist revolution.
I agree with Zara, we will come out of this much like the French did. Our worldwide influence will collapse overnight, and Russia/China will fill the power vacuum.
For the rank and file in the US, the American dream will finally be shattered. While we still struggle to enjoy even the thought of that dream, for most of us we still labor on under the delusion that it will be ours if we just work a little bit harder, if we borrow just a little bit more and if we dream just a little bit bigger.
But that dream has been slowly dying almost since its inception, and the years since Regan have really been putting the final nails in that coffin.
Today we lay the Dream to rest, in favor of a war torn reality where the upper class strips the middle of any power or money, and use the poor as the excuse to do it. The same poor they actively create and support with their plutocratic moves.
When a person’s Dream dies, they do not simply go on in mute acceptance. They find a new Dream, one they can believe in passionately and follow without thought.
For France, it was the Revolution. For the USA? Well, can you honestly see a different conclusion? This country is split down the center, between producers and consumers. The Revolution will absolutely be fought between these two classes. Those who are sick of supporting, and those who think society is abandoning them.
The only way this ends in a positive way is with a lie. A grand lie. A great lie? Large enough to make Goebbels and Hitler proud, if not in substance then in style.
Who am I kidding? The kind of persona that could pull off such a stunt doesn’t exist. Perhaps if Rand had fire, I would say we have hope. But he doesn’t. And I don’t.
Admin’s just saying it, the rest of us are thinking it: We are well and truly fucked.
Even the fucking Philadelphia police couldn’t ruin my evening. I’ve parked in FDR park across the street from the stadium complex for the last 25 years rather than pay for parking and get stuck in the jam getting out after an event. The park is officially closed at dark, but hundreds of cars would park there for the various events. The police just winked and did nothing.
Last night I had a $41 ticket on my windshield. This is another sign of desperation for the Phila fuckers who have budget deficits in the hundreds of millions as they attempt to achieve Detroitification. The police are nothing more than revenue generating thugs at this point. Their job is to bully and milk the sheep.
Fuck you Phila PD.
Cordially Admin
I guess this means you missed the spankfest put on by a 395 lb. spheroid Chip Kelly and Michael “Yea, baby, I’m still out on parole” Vick last night. Was your parking ticket more than the concert ticket?
I missed the Eagles game. Super Bowl baby!!!!
The concert ticket was $50. The parking in the lot would have been $20.
The Broncos are going to really crush some people this season. I know the Ravens are nowhere close to being the team they were last year, but that was about as thorough of a dismantling as I have seen of a “premier” team.
They are just flat scary in the second half.
Thanks for the post Admin and turning me on to Muse, Paranoid was the only song I was familiar with. Will definitly add them my ever growing library.
admin, your parking story reminded me of an incident that set off a train of thought which led me to leave the city for good. i was trying to find parking in center city on a sunday night. instead of getting clipped by the parking garages, i doggedly drove round and round for a half hour to find a little space for my golf vw. eureka! i shoehorned myself on a street corner near filter square. my car’s rear end extended less than a foot beyond the sign that says something like, “no parking past this sign” or whatever. i thought to myself, “what kind of asshole would give me a ticket over a matter of inches?” well, i had my answer the next day when i fetched my car. it was gone: bagged, tagged and towed to south philly. so, i spent over 300 bucks and 2 hours to get it back. so, i will chime in with the admin:
thanks a lot you fucking psychos.
holy moly, my memory is jogged again. one time i was zooming down 13th st. i think, and i was cut off by a big white van. to avoid getting hit i hit the curb and blew my tire. i called AAA from a pay phone to get help. in the meantime, i was getting written up by a parking nazi for illegal parking. incredulous, i explained to him that i couldn’t move because my fucking tire blew out so as to avoid the hit man psycho in the white van. he just shrugged and wrote the ticket anyway, because “once you start writing the ticket, you issue the ticket” or some such nonsense. so, again:
get stuffed you psycho fuckfaces!!
i now remember a half a dozen “philly stories”. sorry for swearing if any youngsters are reading this! but you’ll know in time what it feels like to be a tax donkey and cash piñata, especially if you live in filthydelphia. (fucking psychos!!)
yes T4C, you’re right, i don’t know what i was thinking. i swear like a french chef in person but in writing i am reluctant to do so. you may have cured my of this “quaint” habit. kiska yebar’!!
i have to relay another story. one afternoon, i was walking to the train station en route to bar tending “school”. i thought i might not get a teaching job so i thought i might as well hedge against this possibility by getting a good cash rich job. of course, i hate people and idle chitchat so i would have been a terrible bar tender but i would have been near a lot of free booze so i thought why not? i pulled out a cigarette but i had forgotten my lighter so i approached a street vendor, a scruffy, skinny white guy who wore his ball cap slightly sideways like a gangster. i asked him politely, “do you have a book of matches?” he paused, and then looked at me in silence with a murderous look on his face. 4 seconds passed. i kept looking at him. he finally said to me, “WHAT WORD DIDN’T YOU UNDERSTAND?” apparently, at the time, i didn’t understand phillyspeak, a unique street language that consists of grunts and facial expressions. i believe he raised his eyebrow slightly as if to say, “are you fucking kidding me?” a subsequent sideways twitch of the head meant “get the fuck outta here!”. the charm of that city i will never forget.
No wonder Russia is such a damn backward-ass place. Any place that needs 11 (proklyatiye) letters to convey the word “damn” is fucked.
Same goes for the ragheads – they are at a serious language disadvantage.
T4C says:
“The antidote to Medicare: “(hip hop dancing) is good for your health and you won’t need to take medicines!”
my wife, the church lady goes to zumba class dancing to tribalero music: